The Avatar of Albion.

by Jed R

Rating: mature
Tags: Derpy Hooves, Princess Celestia, Crossover, Alternate Universe, Human, Sad, Main 6, Lyra, Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark
Length: 328142

There was a war, and in wars there are warriors. Warriors are brutal, and they are hard, but often it is because they must be. Innocence is a luxury, one a certain group may have to set aside in order to save a world...

Once upon a time, there was a world, and then that world died, except for one little island. On that island, the last of humanity fight to preserve what they are and what's left of what they were, led by their champion, the vengeance of a nation...

But what happens when that vengeance is unleashed upon Equestria? And more to the point, why would it be when the ponies of Equestria are - to their knowledge - innocent of any crime? Twilight Sparkle and her friends may soon discover that they do not want to know why a mysterious being has descended upon their world, or why he carries five locks of severed mane with him...

First MLP fic. Various disclaimers within, but in case you miss them (somehow): this is inspired by the Conversion Bureau stories. That isn't my idea. My particular spin is, but that's a different question. Many thanks must go to the writers of the various TCB stories for inspiring me to write this one. :-)

TVTropes page.

If you liked this story, please consider reading one of the many additional stories in the AOA mythos. A small selection includes...

The Avatar of Albion: Tales of the War
Side story anthology, by Jed R.

The Avatar of Albion: Bittersweet Victory
Sequel, by Jed R.

The Avatar of Albion: When We Needed Him Most
Alternative Universe story, by RoyalPsycho.

The Avatar of Albion: The Morningstar Dawns.
Alternative Universe story, by The Void.

The Avatar of Albion: The Avatar's Odyssey.
Alternative Universe story, by TheIdiot.

Convergence.
Alternative Universe story/Other Side of the Spectrum Crossover, by Doctor Fluffy.

A full index of other AOA stories, as well as potential discussion of the series, can be found on the AOA Group.

Published 2014-05-15 19:10:06 UTC
Last updated 2015-08-02 10:52:18 UTC

Arrival.

Chapter One: Arrival.

***

The man blinked slowly, his eyes opening slowly. He squinted as a headache shot through his skull, only exacerbated by the light coming from the sky. For a moment, he was groggy, uncertain as to where he was or why he was there.

Then he remembered the last few minutes of the battle he had been fighting - the desperate plan, the hurried spellcasting, the terse nods of mutual respect. He blinked, looked around, and sighed.

He blinked again: he was alive. That was… surprising. He had been fighting rather poor odds, and while he had survived those before, he was getting to the point where maybe he wouldn’t be able to. Added to that the fact that he had just been sent through a…

Well, never mind. He shook his head, trying to clear the grogginess. He didn't necessarily mind the whole "not being dead" part, but if his luck held out about as well as it had for most of his life, he just knew it would come at a cost. Frowning, he looked around, and realised he had absolutely no idea where he was.

"I am going to kill Hell Blazer," he said quietly to himself.

First, he checked his arms. Both ended in rough, calloused hands, and he breathed an almost imperceptible sigh of relief. He checked his weapons - SPAS-style VK-12 Vollmer shotgun, sniper rifle strapped to back, modified hand-cannon in holster, twin daggers in their back-sheaths, bandolier across his chest and ammunition kept squarely in there. He checked his clothes - the worn, battered leather coat with his grim trophies sewed into the inside, t-shirt, neckerchief and trousers, topped off with hard-worn riding boots.

Well. He was all here, at least. The question was, where was here? Had he made it?

The sky was blue. That was unusual except in the depths of the countryside, which judging by the green trees and grass surrounding him was where he was. It was a far cry from the city of London, where he’d been previously. The smog filled city might never see blue skies or green trees again, not after everything it had seen, and yet that was all there was around him. It was… almost nice.

Just another thing they took from us, he thought bitterly. Just another reason I’m here.

If here is where I’m meant to be, anyway.

The sound of laughter distracted him. He looked up, eyes widening - he knew that kind of voice. His eyes hardened - he could almost feel the rage building up behind them, and he welcomed it. It gave him strength, it gave him focus, it gave him purpose in a world gone mad. Before anything else, he unsheathed one of his daggers, flipping it into a reverse grip and moving to follow the all-too familiar voice.

He quickly and stealthily went down a small dirt track, eyes narrow as he listened for the voice of his prey. The laughing voice continued up ahead, almost as if mocking him, but he grinned. He definitely knew that voice now.

Finally, he reached the edge of a small village. He grinned again, reading a small sign that lay there.

"Ponyville."

"It worked," he said softly to himself, not daring to believe he was actually in Equestria of all places. "Damn you Hell Blazer, but it actually worked." He made a mental note not to kill the that lucky, crazy son of a bitch, but to thank him when he saw him instead. And maybe kill him after, just for being something of a dickhead.

He advanced slowly through the little town, being as stealthy as he could. It seemed to be a quiet day, but all the same, there were a large number of ponies wandering around. He skulked around the edge of the village, hiding in shadows, until finally, he could see his prey.

A purple unicorn was sat by a small pond, reading a large, leather bound book, her back (thankfully) to him.

Twilight Sparkle. It was about time!

The man considered using his sniper rifle - at this range and with her so unawares, it would be so easy - but part of him preferred the idea of ending the bitch up close and personal. After all - killing her, like killing the rest, was personal. He tightened his grip on his dagger. He advanced slowly, his footsteps as quiet as he could make them. He wasn't really used to getting the drop on his kills, but he counted his blessings. He had long anticipated this kill, and nothing was going to ruin it.

"Hey Twilight!" a loud, rambunctious voice cut across his perceptions. "Who's that?!"

The purple unicorn turned, saw the man, and yelled out in fear. The man however had drawn his pistol and aimed it almost on instinct, his eyes wide in utter shock. A bright pink pony was staring at him, a big smile on her face even as he aimed the hand-cannon right at her.

"Hi!" she said brightly, looking altogether too happy. "My name's Pinkie Pie. Who are you?"

"No," he said, eyes widening as his mind struggled with the impossibility of what he was seeing. "Impossible."

***

January 23rd, 2030.

The bright pink pony screamed in frustration as the man dodged attack after attack, the splatters of what he assumed was ponification potion smacking into walls and rubble. Strictly speaking, he supposed he shouldn't have been worried, but all the same: no need to let the stuff get on him.

"Will you stand still?!" the pony yelled, getting the man's attention.

"Nope!" he cried out in return, mocking her. "Come on, Pinkie Pie, at least Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash all put up a fight!"

"Don't say their names you... you big fat meany!" the pony replied, screeching in rage. The unlikely cannon the pony had seemingly summoned from nowhere fired again and again, the rate of fire seemingly impossible for such an old style weapon. And yet, that which was considered impossible was the business of these... things, he supposed.

Suddenly, a pie smashed into a wall opposite his head, having over sailed said head by a few feet: he raised an eyebrow. Confectionary as a weapon? That wasn't new, but it was still surprising. Not really deadly on it's own, per se, but deadly enough as far as the man was concerned if that dent was anything to go by. Still, it meant she was trying to kill him now, which meant she was angry. And if she was angry, she was going to make mistakes.

Ducking behind cover, he reloaded his shotgun, rethinking his strategy. This wasn't exactly how he had wanted this encounter to go, but it wasn't as though he was enamoured of choice.

"Alright meany-pants, you can't hide forever!" he heard her yell. She was getting closer, the cannon disappeared to wherever the crazy bitch kept it. But she was coming to within shotgun range.

"Don't worry," he called back, grinning maniacally. "I'm not."

He jumped out and opened fire, catching her front legs with the spray but not fatally injuring her. She yelled in pain, collapsing to her front knees.

"You're a big ugly meany!" she yelled in agony. "I'm going to hurt you so badly when I get up...!"

"No," he replied, unzipping his jacket, "you're not."

He let the garment fall open and showed her the inside of the jacket, his grim trophies now visible. The pony's eyes widened in what the man guessed was fear at the sight.

"You're a monster," she said, uncharacteristically completely serious as she looked at him with utterly terrified eyes. The man laughed, a cold and cruel sound.

"I'm just fire," he replied, aiming his shotgun at her head. "Fighting fire."

A bang rang out into the night.

***

"Mr No Impossible, huh?" Pinkie Pie said, shaking him from his memory. She had a hoof on her chin and looked thoughtful. "I don't think I've ever met anypony called that. Nice to meet you!"

He struggled with the insanity of the sight before him. Pinkie Pie? Alive? That couldn't be right. She was dead: he knew she was dead. He had killed her himself, not a few days ago, his shotgun blowing a good portion of her not-so-smiling-then face clean away. And yet here she was, no recognition, no anything. It was insane!

"What's that?" she asked, looking at his hand-cannon. She reared up to poke it, curiosity on her face.

Instinctively, he lashed out at her, smacking her to the ground with the butt of the pistol. He pointed his dagger at her, using it to try and ward her away from him.

"That wasn't nice!" she yelled, looking more morally outraged than murderous. Twilight, on the other hand, looked more worried than outraged.

"Keep away from me!" he replied, voice shaking for the first time since... well, since a lot of things. "Keep the hell away!"

"Excuse me... um, sir..." the voice of his initial target, Twilight Sparkle, spoke. He span and aimed the gun at her, and she yelped. "Um... what… sorry, who... are you?!"

He laughed at the absurdity of the question, now fairly certain that he was going mad. "Don't tell me you don't know who I am," he said angrily. "You know exactly who I am."

"No, sir, I don't," Sparkle replied nervously, looking very confused.

He frowned at her, not sure what her game was. She should know - he was top of the list of targets for any and every Pony in Equestria's armies. He had fought against her before. He was fairly certain had their situations been reversed at Cornwall, he would not have forgotten her.

"It doesn't matter," he said after a moment, shrugging. "If you're really that stupid, I guess killing you is going to be easier than I thought."

In a swift movement, his finger squeezed the trigger, firing a bullet straight at the bitch. However, even as he fired, a rainbow-coloured bolt of light flew past him, moving Sparkle out of the way. He blinked, finding himself at a loss for words as he thought about what he was seeing. It wasn't possible.

He turned his head, finding himself facing Rainbow Dash. It definitely wasn't possible.

He remembered her death all too well...

***

December 25th, 2029.

When he came to the crater in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, he saw her, stirring feebly. The King and his guards - the ones who were left, anyway - were safe inside, Hell Blazer and other members of the defence force having seen off the Pegasus attack, led by one of the last three of the Elements of Order. There were a few gashes on her side where anti air rounds had grazed her, and she had a hole in one of her wings, that being the injury that had finally brought her down. Her Wonderbolt uniform was ripped and torn, bloodstains marring the blue.

She yelled in agony, her legs having been broken by the hard impact. He felt the urge to laugh at her pain, but he suppressed it. He wasn't entirely a monster. Yet.

"The great Rainbow Dash," he said idly, smiling softly, "shot down by mere turrets. How embarrassing for you. I'm almost disappointed that I didn't get to fight you - I haven't had a real fight from any of your group yet save Applejack. Maybe Rarity too, but she was doomed the minute she drew blade against the big guy."

"Buck off!" she replied angrily, reacting more to the name than his taunts.

"You ruined the King's speech you know," he added. "Very annoying. I like the King's speech. Kind of a nice little bit of normality in the world, you know? And then you just had to try your shit..."

She didn't reply, instead struggling to stand up.

"You're certainly braver and feistier than little Miss Fluttershy managed, though I have to say, you’re far less dignified," he said idly. "Of course, I imagine Applejack would be very proud of you. Struggling to the last."

"Don't!" the downed Pegasus said, still trying to stand up, but failing, her shattered limbs failing her. "Don't you even speak their names! You monster!"

"Whyever not?" he replied casually. "I'm sure you've said the names of all sorts of friends of mine you've hurt. In fact, I know for a fact you have."

"We help people!" Dash screamed, almost seeming frustrated with his inability to understand. "We never hurt anyone - not intentionally, not until this bucking little island of stupid talking monkeys! Can't you understand that?! We only wanted to help you!"

"If you let people keep their own souls, I might almost believe you," the man replied, now kneeling near her. "Hell, if you'd just left Britain alone when you realised her magic was keeping you out, then I might almost believe you." He leaned in close, until he was eye to eye with the downed Element. "But you didn't. You came here to conquer. You've killed good people. Remember Whitby?"

There was a look of uncomprehending confusion on her face, and then she blinked.

"Yeah," she said softly.

"I lost a good friend there during your attack," the man said. "Now don't get me wrong: I'm sure you've lost friends. I've made sure of that one. But don't tell me you invaded our island and tried to subjugate and transform the last of the humans just because you thought it was for our own good."

She snorted. "You're a bunch of violent talking monkeys. You'd be better as ponies, all of you, but you wouldn't listen to reason..."

"And you don't think our desire to remain as we are matters a jot," the man replied, starting to get agitated. He took a breath and calmed himself. "But we're not here for pointless idealogical talk, oh no. After all, I won't convince you and you won't convince me." He opened his jacket, displayed the three grim trophies he had claimed so far, and waited. To Dash's credit, she didn't seem altogether perturbed, though her eyes widened in horror. "We're here to add a touch of rainbow to my colour scheme."

"You're insane," she whispered, her voice not betraying her fear. Her eyes did her screaming and pleading for her, and it was more than enough for him.

"Takes one to know one, love," he replied. He whipped out a dagger, smiling softly.

"You... you could interrogate me," she said, her voice breaking slightly. "I know things... I know..."

Before she could continue trying to plead for her life (and lose all her dignity, which he wouldn’t normally care about but it would have really bored him), he stabbed her in the back of the neck, the dagger going clean through her spine and windpipe. She gurgled briefly, eyes wide with horror and agony, then she died, her head slumping to the ground, eyes empty and lifeless.

He grinned, then grabbed her mane...

***

The Rainbow Dash in front of him looked angry, but it wasn't the kind of righteous, manic anger he had seen before. No, this was confused anger.

"Who are you and why are you hurting my friends?!" she yelled at him.

"We haven't got to hurting yet," the man replied, an edge in his voice. "Give me time."

He stepped back, and quickly took stock of his situation. This was a quiet part of Ponyville, but more ponies would be drawn by a commotion, which fighting these three - at least three of the Elements of Order - would do. Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were all present, though he had no idea how that was possible since he definitely remembered killing two of them.

He tried remembering Hell Blazer's technique for knowing if you were in a magical hallucination: he looked around, trying to see any shimmers or inconsistencies in the world, maybe some kind of duplication effect or haze... but he found none save the dead ponies standing in front of him, and they looked real and solid enough. Then he pinched himself - maybe he was dreaming, still unconscious after another fit.

Nope. Nothing.

He holstered his hand cannon, and whipped out his other dagger: the one that had killed Rainbow Dash before. It was identical to his other dagger save for a small series of marks he had etched into the hilt - a representation of Dash's cutie mark and the words "speed killer".

"How are you alive?" he asked the Pegasus lightly, spinning the Element-killing dagger in his hand as he spoke. "I thought the Tyrant Empress was a crazy bitch, but I had kinda figured she'd stop at necromancy. Mind you, she did a good job: Hell Blazer told me necromantic summoning tended to make a mess of the subject."

"What are you talking about?!" Dash retorted angrily. "Who's the Tyrant Empress? And what's necro-whatever?"

"Necromancy," came Twilight's voice, sounding disgusted, "is the practice of bringing the dead back to life."

"What?!" Dash said, confused. "Why would he think I was brought back from the dead?"

The man laughed internally - he had no idea why they both decided to sound so disgusted: Twilight shouldn't, since clearly it had brought her friends back to life for her ('and she's gonna need them'), and Rainbow Dash owed that practice her existence. Nevertheless, it was an unfortunate prospect. The Elements were difficult enough to kill the first time, when they were on his ground and he killed them one by one, each one falling to carefully planned stratagems. Now? Three on one? No plan? Well, he could always pull out his show-stopper, but he was hoping to save that.

"Damn Hell Blazer," he said to himself, deciding he'd kill that idiot for the second time that day. Screw the thanks.

"Well?" Dash asked, turning to him. "What are you talking about? Why do you think I'm dead?"

The man laughed. They weren't even attacking him: it didn't look as though it had even occurred to them. He didn't know what was stopping them, and he didn't care - he was just prepared to take advantage of their lack of action as much as he could.

"Because I killed you," he supplied helpfully. He twirled his "speed killer" dagger in his hand again, before pointing it at her. "With this dagger."

Rainbow Dash's eyes goggled at the blade as he almost nonchalantly began to spin it in patterns quite unlike anything she'd seen done with a bladed weapon before - this creature, whatever it was, was clearly skilled with the blade, and that made him dangerous. She backed away slightly.

"I killed you," the man repeated, an odd (and somewhat frightening) note in his voice. "And whether you remember you dying or not, I'm more than keen to repeat the experience."

Before any of the ponies could speak, he sheathed his dagger, aimed his pistol and shot at Dash - she managed to dodge, but he followed her with his pistol, emptying the magazine. Before either of the other two Elements could do anything, the man charged at Pinkie Pie, unsheathing his blades again - he reasoned she would be the easiest to stop first, if caught unawares. Unfortunately, with the threat of the pistol currently silenced, Rainbow Dash charged at him, lashing out with her hooves as she flew straight for him. He dodged her attacks, moving with inhuman speed, before striking her with his daggers - the blade that had killed her scored her on the cheek, and the other slashed her leg. Temporarily immobilised, she fell to the ground in pain. He was surprised - she had still struggled to move from far less injury than that when he claimed her life - but he didn't care all that much. He turned to Pinkie Pie, but before he could do anything she charged at him.

"Stop being mean to my friends!" she yelled, but she did nothing worse than jump on him, knocking him over. Before she could do anything else, he grabbed her, headbutted her, and threw her off him with a yell of fury. He span his blades, intending to finish the pony there and then, but then he felt a crackling in the air.

He looked at Twilight Sparkle, whose horn was glowing with summoned magics - he unholstered his shotgun but his aim was off so he only managed to graze her shoulder and side, causing her to dodge the shot with a yelp of pain.

"Stop dodging and fight me, coward!" he yelled. He could feel the spirit within itching for conflict, but he couldn't release it yet: it was a last resort, and not one he liked using at the best of times, let alone now he knew what Hell Blazer had told him...

Besides, he had killed most of the Element Bearers without it, and didn't intend to "cheat" now. He racked his shotgun before switching it to semi-automatic fire, and fired at Sparkle again and again, shattering trees and gouging out bits of ground but never managing to hit the still dodging pony.

A heavy impact hit his back, sending him sprawling to the ground. He snarled - the party cannon. He hated that thing. He grabbed one of his daggers, span around and threw it full pelt at Pinkie Pie's face, but she dodged: it only managed to shear off a few strands of hair from her mane.

"Hey!" she yelped indignantly.

The commotion was drawing too much attention for the man's liking. Even as he fought these three Elements, two more ponies had arrived, racing up to the scene with shock in their eyes. One was a Pegasus with grey fur, a blonde mane and bubbles for a cutie mark, and the other was a yellow Pegasus with long pink hair and pink butterflies on her flank. The latter stirred memories of hatred for the man, along with confusion as to why she was even still alive. The former, though, stirred that same confusion, as well as memories of something entirely different... fondness and respect. He zoned out in shock...

***

March 10th, 2026.

In the sky above the formerly great city of Manchester, a giant airship, the Super-Zeppelin Eras Harmonious Order, flew, dropping bombs filled with potion and fire in equal measure. Most of the population of Manchester were in shelters, but it was still untenable as far as a military response was going. Surrounding it were dozens of squadrons of Pegasi, including - most prominently - Rainbow Dash's personal Wonderbolt squadron.

That bitch, the man thought to himself with a snarl. One day, he'd see that bitch and all her little "friends" die. If he was lucky, he'd get to do it himself.

All that stood in the thing and it's escort's way was a handful of old Red Arrows hastily converted into dogfighting tools, though they were hardly a match for the small ponies, and a single 12-pony squadron of human-friendly Pegasi, trying desperately to keep their erstwhile kin away from the planes.

The battle was going poorly. The zeppelin was barely dented after what felt like hours of dogfighting, the Red Arrows were downed, and the Pegasi squadron reduced to only three ponies.

The man, though he hated to even consider it, was already ordering a full scale withdrawal of every trooper her could. His superiors on the ground had been killed by a bomb strike a few minutes ago - now it was all up to him. He didn’t like that feeling, but he shrugged off the feelings of doubt - he was all there was.

"Grey Leader," he said into his mic, contacting the leader of the single Pegasi squadron in the air. "We are abandoning the city. I repeat, we are abandoning the city."

"We can't!" the desperate voice of Ditzy Doo (though she was often affectionately referred to as Derpy) replied. "If we do, nothing's keeping them safe from the ground forces that thing's carrying!"

"We can't stop it!" the man said, hope draining from him. "Manchester is lost."

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" she replied. "Grey Four and Seven, get out of here!"

The other two ponies chorused affirmative's that reached the man's ears, but he ignored them.

"Grey Leader, report!" he yelled into his mic. "Grey Leader!"

He grabbed a pair of binoculars and tried to see where she was, but there was no sign of her little grey form amidst the chaos that was the burning, tracer-filled sky.

"I've enough explosives with me to bring that thing down if I aim right!" he heard her yell, and then he saw her. A little grey speck aiming for the primary bridge of the airship: it's weak spot.

"Don't do it, Derpy," he said softly.

"Ditzy," she replied, sounding almost like she was holding back tears. "My name's Ditzy Doo. Please - call me that, if this is it."

"Ditzy, then," he said. "Don't."

"I'm ending this!" she yelled back. "I'm giving my life for a cause. King and Country. You understand that, right?"

He wanted to argue, but horribly enough he knew exactly what she meant. King and Country had been an oath even men like him, who'd never been particularly patriotic, had taken up with gusto.

"I understand," he said. He watched as she got closer and closer to the zeppelin.

"Get them back for me - and tell the Doctor, please?" he heard her ask, sounding as though she were suppressing a sob. It broke his heart: she was frightened, terrified, but she was going to die for the cause anyway, not because she wanted to but because she had to. Her last thoughts were for her friend - no, what were she and the Doctor...?

Before he could answer her, he saw her little grey form ram into the bridge of the Harmonious Order, the various high explosive bombs she carried going off the moment volatile contact was made. An explosion ripped through the machine, blowing the front of the airship to pieces and setting most of the rest of it on fire. The man watched it burn, and felt like hope was returning to his heart. Bittersweet hope, for hundreds of enemy ponies were on the ground and worse, dozens more still in the air, but there was hope nonetheless.

"Yes ma'am," he replied, eyes filled with grim determination. "This is resistance command to all units. Manchester is saved, I repeat, Manchester stands."

He remembered kind, misaligned eyes and a friendly smile. "All troops. Take these bastards down!"

***

"Ditzy?!" he said, eyes wide. He ignored the presence of Fluttershy and the others, surprised as he was to see his old friend and ally there. "What the hell?"

"Who are you?" she asked nicely, sounding entirely innocent and sweet - too innocent and sweet for what the man knew she had seen with her own eyes. "I don't think we've met..."

"Ditzy, how are you here?" he asked, ignoring her words. "More to the point, why are you here?!"

"I live here," she said, tilting her head in confusion. "Who are you?"

He couldn't reply to her, much as might have wanted to, because a moment later he was hit in the side of the head by a blow from an absolutely livid Rainbow Dash and rendered unconscious. It was a good thing he was unconscious too: when he woke up, the first thing he'd do would be hit himself for ever getting that sloppy.

***

Author's Note

EDIT: This Chapter was edited on 23rd March 2015.

Questions.

Chapter Two: Questions.

***

January 11th, 2029.

Sherwood Forest, ancient home of many of the greatest legends of England, was filled with natural magic that no one - and nopony - truly understood, though many from both sides had tried their best to understand it through the months of this conflict. The ancient spirits of nature that Earth had once been teeming with had once laid dormant for centuries, but recent events - the invasion of the world by the ponies of Equestria, for example - had managed to reawaken those ancient spirits once more - and they were angry.

The man walked amongst the trees, smiling softly as he looked around. The place was truly a natural wonder. He could sense the anger of the spirits of nature, the things that some were already calling “the spirit of Gaia” (not that he was a New Gaian, but he had been to the odd service and his recent experience had made him a little more accepting of it all).

Little wonder then that his target had come here, though he imagined it was a slightly different experience for his target than it was for him. Their connections to the world were, after all, just a tiny bit different.

"And did those feet, in ancient times, walk upon England's mountains green..." he murmured to himself as he walked. "And was the Holy Lamb of God, in England's pleasant pastures seen...?"

He didn't know why he felt so much relief at singing that song. Maybe it spoke to the spirit within, or maybe it was some hitherto unknown patriotism from himself given voice in an age where any motivation was good motivation. He didn't really seek to question it: it might not have been something that was really important to him before, but it was important now when he was fighting for it.

After a good hour of walking, he eventually found his target. She was kneeling in the middle of a small clearing, her pink mane lank, her yellow fur untended, as though she had been here for days. She didn't so much as move when he arrived, save to dismiss the small entourage of rabbits and other creatures that had gathered around her. He almost felt the urge to smile. Strange that a killer like her would have such an affinity even with the animals of a world she was helping to end.

"Fluttershy," he greeted her, his voice cold as death. He knelt by her, somehow knowing that she wasn't going to move.

He had followed a trail of intelligence from their spy network: apparently Fluttershy had argued with Twilight Sparkle after the battle of Dover and the death of Rarity, before abandoning her post and command and fleeing to the woods of Sherwood.

The Council had debated whether to attempt to get her to join their side, but the man had argued with them on that point. She was a war criminal, he said. She had been responsible for attacks on Hull and Scarborough, had fought alongside Twilight Sparkle in Cornwall and Rainbow Dash in Whitby - and no veteran of that battle would fight alongside her. Besides - this could all be a clever trap on her part, maybe even some attempt to draw him out.

The Council, after more debating, had ordered him to at least try.

"I've been asked to offer you an amnesty," he said, sounding a little more formal than he'd like. "To offer you the chance to join our side of the war."

"No," she said at once, almost reflexively. "I won't do that."

"You clearly don't think much of your current employers," the man pointed out.

"No," Fluttershy replied, sounding sad and also sounding as though she was struggling with something. "N-none of us really do, n-not when we t-think t-too much about it. But I... I... I just can't. It's impossible to explain it. I just... I can't."

He frowned. There were rumours that they had been brainwashed, and certainly there was something very off about the way she was acting.

“Can I help?” he asked honestly.

“N-no,” she said. “I-I will not fight against Equestria.”

"Then you know what I have to do," he said, trying not to sound too harsh.

There was a moment of dread finality at his pronouncement.

"I'm not going to fight you," the yellow Pegasus said softly, not even looking at him. "I don't suppose there'd be a point after Rarity."

His hand twitched. He resisted the urge to open his jacket and show her the grizzly trophy sewn into the material. Somehow, he sensed he wouldn't need it.

"I take it you're accepting your death then," he said, not really sure if he was asking or stating a fact.

"Would... would you even listen if I begged for mercy? If I asked you to just l-leave me here?" she asked, looking at him with sad eyes. His own eyes were filled with a strange mixture of pity and cold vengeance and the promise of retribution. She half-smiled. "No, I didn't think you would."

"You're as deadly in your own way as Rarity was," the man said, a puzzled frown developing on his face as he sat next to her. "If you wanted, you could make me fight to end you, like she did. So why don't you?"

Fluttershy looked thoughtful for a long moment. She didn't seem to have been expecting the question - maybe she thought he'd simply murder her like some unfeeling monster. Maybe it would have been better if he had been.

"This place doesn't want us here," she finally replied, her soft voice tinged with resignation. "I've sensed it for a while. It's why I abandoned the Equestrian armies. It wants you to kill me, to kill all of us. And I guess I have to listen: I've always listened to nature."

"I suppose if any one of you Elements was gonna bow to reason, it was going to be you," the man said idly. "Ditzy always said you were the most reasonable."

Fluttershy said nothing at the mention of her - and his - long lost friend. The man sighed.

"Do you have a last request, since we're both being so reasonable with each other?" he asked, almost sarcastically. She supposed it was too much to ask that he be entirely civil with her.

"Yes," Fluttershy said in reply, her soft voice almost breaking. "I want you to kill me with the sword."

It seemed an odd request to him.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because it's part of the world, maybe in ways that even you don’t understand, and it's the world that wants me dead," she replied cryptically.

He shook his head, not really understanding this talk - it was really more Constantine's (or rather, Hell Blazer's) field, but he was more than willing to oblige her this request, if she really wanted to die that badly.

"If you insist," he said softly. "Prepare."

She closed her eyes, listening to the animals in the woods around her rather than the summoning of the sword, the faint ringing on the air. She wanted to say she wasn't afraid of death, but she had never been a brilliant liar.

"I'm ready," she said, her voice cracking slightly.

A moment later, a sharp pain came to her neck.

She knew no more.

***

Twilight looked for what must have been the fifth time at the unconscious creature. It was bipedal, with a dark mane and pale, pink skin. It was lying on a spare bed in Twilight's home, safely imprisoned behind a barrier that Twilight and Rarity had set up. It's weapons had been stripped from it and left on a table.

All six of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony had gathered. Rarity and Applejack had been shocked by the injuries done to their friends, and Fluttershy had been absolutely terrified, having seen (at a distance) some of the fight herself. Twilight considered their options, few as they were: she and her friends had overcome many things, but she was uncertain about what they could do with this... thing.

In desperation, she had had Spike write up a letter to Princess Celestia...

Dear Princess Celestia,

I write to you with urgent news: a creature of a kind I've never encountered has appeared in Ponyville, and attacked myself, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. The strangest thing is, this creature was convinced that it had already killed both of my friends: could it have time travelled?

I request your urgent help in finding out this creature's origin, and what to do next with it.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle.

She knew that if anyone could do anything, it was Celestia, but even then she wasn't entirely certain what her mentor could do. This was an entirely unprecedented situation.

"What was his problem?" Rainbow Dash asked from next to her, bringing her out of her reverie. The Pegasus was still wincing and limping from the injury to her leg.

"I don't know," Twilight replied, frowning. Her own injuries were merely scrapes, grazes and bruises, but they were stinging unpleasantly. She managed to ignore them for the most part. "What bothers me is that he seemed to know us."

"And hate us," Dash added, sounding unusually thoughtful. "He thought he'd killed me. He said he killed me."

"I don't understand that," Applejack said from behind them, her strong, reasonable voice almost reassuring. "Why the heck would some... thing we've never met or even seen before want to kill anypony, let alone us?"

"He could be evil," Rarity said, sounding fearful. "Some monster come to attack Equestria."

"Maybe," Twilight said, nodding slowly. "But it doesn't explain why he thought you and Pinkie were both dead."

"Maybe he travelled in time!" Pinkie Pie spoke up, grinning. "That would be awesome!"

"From a future where we're both dead?" Rainbow Dash replied, looking at Pinkie as though she were mad. "How is that awesome?"

Pinkie seemed to register the point, frowning slightly. The rest of the group looked unhappy, but none of them knew what to do. Just then, Spike came into the room, looking slightly out of breath.

"Princess Celestia just sent a reply!" he said, looking worried. He handed the letter to Twilight, who read it.

Dearest Twilight,

It would perhaps be for the best if you brought this creature before myself and Princess Luna for judgement. Hopefully she and I will be able to discern it's intentions.

Princess Celestia.

"Right then," Twilight said. "I guess that settles it."

"We gonna wake it up?" Applejack asked.

"Don't see how we've got much choice," Twilight replied uncertainly.

***

He wasn't a fool. He had been awake for almost five minutes: a silent curse had escaped him once he realised that he had managed, somehow, to let his guard down long enough for ponies he had killed before to somehow get the drop on him, but that had to be secondary to the rather more important concern.

He was a prisoner in a pony home, and they were discussing his fate. He wasn't able to hear them properly - they were speaking in hushed voices - but they sounded concerned.

Good.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Twilight Sparkle approaching him. Her horn was glowing. That was bad - it could only mean that she was going to use magic on him. He clenched his fist unconsciously.

That. Wasn't. Happening.

***

Twilight's horn glowed for a moment, and then the being's eyes flitted open. He stood up in an instant, seemingly already utterly alert and awake.. Twilight stepped back, shocked - she hadn't even used her spell yet!

"You're awake!" she said in shock. He gave her a look that clearly said that he thought she was stupid, before stretching slightly, studying the room.

"So 'Celestia' wants to see me," he said, turning his gaze back to the ponies in front of him. Twilight frowned at his odd emphasis, but dismissed it. Perhaps he didn't know who she was... although, he had known who Twilight was, and who her friends were...

The man's eyes flicked to Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity. "And yet more faces from beyond the grave. Wondrous."

"I... I don't know what you mean," Fluttershy said, almost too quiet to be heard. The being smirked at the sound of her voice.

"You haven't changed," he said. He looked at Twilight. "Alright, take me to the Empress' palace."

"The who...?" Twilight asked, not knowing what he meant. He rolled his eyes.

"'Celestia's' palace," he clarified. He sounded irritated. "I take it that's where we're going."

He checked his body, apparently noting the lack of weapons. His eyes flicked to the table they were on, but Rainbow Dash and Applejack stood in front of the table, barring his sight.

"I don't think so," Dash said, narrowing her eyes at him. To her consternation, he smirked.

"I don't need those," he said. His eyes flicked to Applejack. "As you would remember, if you remembered your death as vividly as I do."

***

March 10th, 2029.

The farmland in the Midlands was beautiful, as far as Applejack was concerned. She almost regretted the fact that she had to lead an attack here, but orders were orders, and the Magnificent Empress Solamina could not be denied her prize. Once this place was taken and destroyed, the people of this already demoralised isle would have one less food-source, and hundreds less workers.

Her forces advanced towards the main barn structure, taking advantage of the cover the road and trees surrounding it provided. Applejack didn't really approve of using these tactics - the enemy's tactics - in war, preferring a straight fight to all this sneaking around, but the ponies she led were a group of new Convies (she could almost hear Twilight scolding her: “they’re the Converted, Applejack, using that term just implies more separation than there already is!”), who had once been American Rangers. Even in Pony form, they were exceptionally skilled fighters, but their skill was in this battle, not in line battles. And Applejack was forced to admit, after the initial battles and the horrible loss of pony life, this was better.

They were an odd bunch, these Convies - all hoof motions, crouching, stealth-work and rigorous squad moves. None of them had standard Guard or Militia equipment, instead opting for lightweight armour and blades - some of them even had experimental version of the old magi-cannon with them, despite the weapon being deemed too bulky for use in an offensive war.

Twilight had been against her going at all. With Rarity's death and Fluttershy's disappearance, the Elements of Order were already weakened, and though the Glorious Empress Solamina had imbued the Elements with great individual power, the loss of their ability to combine was devastating. Still, Applejack never strayed from a fight if she was needed, and Twilight had been forced to concede that she was needed.

"Ma'am," one of her soldiers said, a pony who still wore a beret: one of the remnants of his previous life - a rare thing among the Converted. "We're approaching the farmland."

"Any sign of enemy forces?" Applejack asked.

"No, ma'am," the soldier said, frowning, "but I wouldn't be surprised if they deployed some of their best to hold this place."

Applejack nodded. She wouldn't have been surprised either. SAS, Royal Marines, maybe even...

No. She couldn't think about him being here.

"Keep alert," she said, shaking off the lingering dread that the thought of his presence brought to her.

The group - forty ponies all told, including her - continued to advance. She kept getting bad feelings: she almost wished Pinkie Pie was here to help her, but that wasn't the case.

"Hold up," her point-pony suddenly said, holding up a hoof and looking around. "Something's not right..."

A moment later, a bloody red mist exploded out from his head, and he fell to floor, a gaping hole where half his skull used to be.

"Take cover!" somepony screamed, but a moment later a hail of bullets flew, taking out several ponies from Applejack's team. Suddenly, soldiers in camouflage attire appeared, seemingly from nowhere, their outfits completely sealed, preventing any of the hastily-splashed potion from some of Applejack's soldiers from hitting their skin. Other ponies fired bolts of magic or their own weapons, or attempted hand to hoof combat, but they were quickly dispatched: whoever these soldiers were, they were better trained than even Applejack's team, and they had the advantage of still being in the bodies they had been in during their training.

Oddly, none of the bullets seemed to be aimed at Applejack. She scowled: so they were ignoring her, huh? She'd prove that a mistake.

Snarling, she charged at one soldier, breaking his leg then his neck. Another advanced on her, but in one fell swoop she was on him; she deflected his gun, which fired harmlessly into thin air. She punched him across the face, grabbed the gas mask he wore, ripped it off and splashed a vial of potion she carried in his face.

He began yelling in pain, but before he could transform, he threw Applejack off and drew his sidearm, shooting himself with a hand that had already sprouted leaf-green fur through melting skin. Applejack cursed: she could have used the help, and she always hated it when they chose death over the Empress’ benediction (or whatever that word Sol Invictus kept using was).

She turned around, but found that almost as soon as it had begun, the battle was over. All her team was down, and only a handful of the strange soldiers were dead.

Suddenly, incongruously, there was a slow clapping sound.

Applejack's eyes narrowed. Walking from the foliage was a man in battered trousers, riding boots and a t-shirt with a leather coat, armed with two knives and a hand-cannon. He smiled at her, clapping as he walked.

"Impressive display," he said, his tone mocking and condescending. "Usually no one notices before the first shot was fired. What were they, professional soldiers?"

"Used to be American Rangers," Applejack replied cautiously, looking for an opening, any opening.

"An, Americans," he laughed, sending a shiver down Applejack's spine. "Can't shoot for shit then. Still," he added casually, shrugging, "leaving aside jokes about American marksmanship, that explains how they heard the lads. Anyone less wouldn't have the training."

Applejack took advantage of his laxness, and quick as a flash (though not as quickly as her friend Rainbow Dash could have managed: how she wished she was here!), she charged this man, knocking him to the floor and splashing a second vial of potion on him. He fell on his back, but used his legs to kick her right over him, where she landed in a sprawl.

She grinned, happy that at least this mouthy man was going to - if not join the herd, then at least be shot by his men for being splashed by the potion. To her shock when she looked at him, however, she found him laughing slightly.

"Yeah," he said, wiping his face off with a tissue and tossing it to the floor. "No."

The tissue erupted in golden flames where it lay, and soon nothing was left of it save for a charred circle in the ground. Applejack's eyes widened as she watched it burn.

"You," she whispered, suddenly almost afraid. "It's you!"

"Yes," he said, grinning at her reaction. "Got to hand it to you, that was impressive. Haven't been caught off guard for a while. But that crap will never work on me again. Still, if I hadn't been with the most disciplined soldiers the UK ever trained, you might have gotten me shot. So still, clever."

Applejack looked around, realising he'd brought a full unit of SAS with him. Even among the ponies, they were legendary, though nothing compared to him.

"Why ain't I dead then?" she asked, now worried. "Ya'll get nothing outta me."

"Oh I know," the man said, sounding utterly sincere. "Never could, not in a million years. Could torture you, brainwash you, and you'd never say a damn thing. You Elements are loyal to the end."

"Then why ain't you got your little friends here to shoot me, already?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Because," he said, holding his arms open. "I want to kill you myself. I'm two for two, and I want the hat-trick." He grinned a predatory gleam in his eye. "So then, little Applejack - come at me."

Applejack's eyes widened, and then she smirked. He wanted a fight, did he? Fine. She charged at him again, this time seeking to break his neck.

"This is for Rarity!" she yelled.

He dodged her first attack with almost unnatural speed, but she managed to throw a kick into his chest with her second move. He caught her legs, stopping the worst of the impact, gripped them and with a grunt of exertion threw her. She rolled with it, getting back to her feet quickly, and then she charged again, throwing a series of punches that he blocked - barely - before spinning and kicking him again, knocking him back. He grinned.

"Now it's on," he said.

She snorted and charged at him again, now confident that she could bring him down. He dodged her charge, moving faster than her eye could see, tripping her as she went. She sprawled, and scrambled to stand again, but before she could, he was on top of her. He stamped on her leg, breaking it like a dry twig, and then kicked her in the side.

She rolled across the foliage, and tried crawling away from him, realising now that she was doomed but determined to fight. He grinned, and opened up his jacket, showing off the grisly trophies within. She gasped at the flash of pink.

"Fluttershy," she whispered, horrified. "No..."

"Oh yes," the man said. He stood over her. "And now you join her."

He kicked her in the face with entirely unnatural strength. Her neck snapped under the power of the blow, and her last thought was regret at how she had never gotten to see the farmland around these parts - it would surely have been beautiful...

***

"I ain't never seen you before," Applejack said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I disagree," the man said. Still grinning, he opened his jacket up, showing the ponies the inside lining - three locks of long hair lined on side, two locks the other - very familiar locks, each one stained with blood but perfectly recognisable.

"Is that...?" Rainbow Dash asked, her voice weak and her eyes fixated on the rainbow coloured hair on the left of his jacket.

"Your manes," the man said, an odd note in his voice. "A grim trophy, but the only proof I had that I had slain the Elements of Order. There were those who wanted solid proof after the first kill - and after everything I had lost, I almost liked giving them it."

"Well, that can't be mine," Applejack said stubbornly, her eyes - filled with fear - belying her strong words as they fixated on the blonde mane sewn into the jacket like all the others. "But ya definitely ain't getting your weapons back."

"Fine," the man smiled unnervingly. "Who needs those?"

These words worried Twilight more than anything else since this situation began.

"I'm not sure we should take him to Princess Celestia," she said softly to Rarity, who was next to her. Her friend nodded.

"I agree," she said.

"He can't take Celestia," Rainbow Dash countered next to them. "He barely took us."

Twilight didn't share her friend's confidence - her definition of "barely took" wasn't one Twilight exactly shared - but the unicorn nodded anyway.

"It's not like we have a choice," she said to her friends. "You're coming with us," she added, speaking to the man. "Don't try anything."

"Tell you what," he said, grinning evilly at her in a way that made her shiver. "How about I go myself?"

A moment later, he had vanished in a rush of golden energy. Twilight's eyes widened as she realised what had happened: he had teleported.

"He can do magic?!" she yelled.

"Never mind that," Rainbow Dash said, already running for the door, "he's probably gone to attack the Princess!"

***

Ditzy Doo - known colloquially as Derpy - was confused - more so than she usually felt.

The creature that Twilight and her friends had found - and fought - had known her name. That would have been scary, except that it had looked at her as if it had known her, and more to the point had spoken her name almost fondly: it had looked shocked to see her, but it had known who she was and been almost happy to see her. That, in and of itself, was strange. Add to that the fact that Twilight and her friends had promptly dragged the creature off as soon as they'd knocked it out, and dismissed her almost as promptly despite her offers to help...

"Something the matter Derpy?" her friend Carrot Top asked her as they sat outside in the sunshine of Ponyville. Ditzy shook herself out of her reverie.

"It's just some... thing," she said, brushing her friend off. "Twilight and her friends got attacked by a creature. Whatever it was, it knew my name."

"Oh dear..." Carrot Top said, looking worried. "What was it?"

"I dunno," Ditzy said. "It walked on two legs, and it had really pink skin..."

As she spoke, a turquoise unicorn with a white and green mane named Lyra Heartstrings passed them: her ears pricked up on hearing the words "walked on two legs," and she turned to look at Derpy and Carrot Top, before rushing over. It sounded almost like they had seen... but they couldn't have...

"I'm sorry to interrupt," she said quickly to the two other ponies, "but you don't think the thing you saw could have been a human, do you?"

"A what?" Ditzy asked, looking confused.

"They're a sort of mythical creature," Lyra said quickly. "But I swear they exist. No one's ever seen one, but they're in a bunch of old tales..."

"I... I don't know," Ditzy said, frowning thoughtfully. "What do they look like?"

"They go about on two legs," Lyra said, her voice betraying her excitement, "but apart from that, nopony really knows."

"Well it was on two legs," Ditzy replied. "But I don't know what it was..."

"Oh wow," Lyra said excitedly, eyes wide: she was apparently convinced that the mysterious creature was a human, despite Ditzy being uncertain. "Where is it now?!"

***

In the centre of the royal palace court in Canterlot, the Princess of the Sun and Diarch of Equestria stood patiently, waiting for Twilight Sparkle and her friends to arrive and show her the creature that had attacked them.

"What do you think the creature is?" her sister, Luna, the Princess of the Moon, asked.

"I don't know," Celestia said honestly. "Whatever it is, it's motive is not friendship.”

“That much is obvious,” Luna agreed. “What it's intentions are remains to be seen.”

“I can’t think why such a creature would be here,” Celestia said with a frown. “What interests me is it's belief that it has already killed Twilight's friends."

"What could that mean?" Luna pondered, puzzled by this information.

"Many things," Celestia replied, smiling softly. "And almost none of them good..."

She trailed off as a large golden light suddenly filled the court. Celestia looked at it, her eyes drawn to the power of the magic being displayed. Suddenly, the light abated.

Where before there had been nothing, there now stood a tall, imposing bipedal creature. It wore battered clothes, but appeared to have no weapons. It coughed slightly, bringing one arm up to cover its mouth, and then it saw her, lowering its arm with a scowl.

"Sun Tyrant!" it bellowed, catching the attention of everyone in the room. The Royal Guard moved to intercept it, but Celestia signalled for them to hold fast. The thing narrowed its eyes at Celestia, it's glare one of pure hatred.

"Empress Astra Solamina Maxima!" it yelled in a furious voice that seemed to deepen and grow resonant even as it spoke to her. A soft golden glow began to envelope the creature. "I am judgement, come for your head!"

Luna snorted in rage and stood before the creature, infuriated by it's impudence in coming to her sister's throne and threatening her.

"Who art thou that seeks to harm my sister?!" she yelled, her full old-fashioned "royal voice" coming on in her rage.

The being regarded her with narrow eyes, the glow around it only intensifying. "I am as I have spake: I am judgement, body of Luna of Equestria. Thee, on the other hand, art some necromantic homunculus thy foul demon-kin hath summoned that besmirches thine memory. Begone from this fight, for my business is not in shades and corpses, but in the Tyrant Empress herself!"

Luna bristled at the dismissal, apparently not realising (or not caring) that he had accused her of being a summoned corpse, but Celestia stood next to her and put a hoof on her shoulder, calming her sister as best she could. She was intrigued, and more than a little concerned by what she saw as the misunderstanding: how could this being whom she had never met or even heard of know so much about her? And more to the point, how could he have such a low opinion of her as to suggest that she would use dark magic in this way?

"I would know who you are," she said, trying to sound strong but reasonable, her voice taking on something of the archaic tone the being spoke in, "and why you address me by a name I do not know. My name is Celestia, Princess of this land, and I know not the name Solamina."

"Thou art known by many names, demon," the man said, grinning viciously at her. "But by whatever name thou art known, by whatever title thou call thyself, thou art known most of all as an enemy of the Britons, an enemy of all the world. And it is in their name, and the name of the billions dead or violated at thine hoof, that I shall strike thee down and claim vengeance for the lives thy foul actions and unjust wars have ruined."

He stood still after this pronouncement, as if waiting for her to say something, but Celestia didn't understand what he meant and was, for the first time in many hundreds of years, utterly dumbfounded. She had never heard of the "Britons", nor did she know what quarrel their representative had with her. The things he accused her of had no meaning, horrible though they sounded.

"Take to thy full power, demon," the being said suddenly, sounding irritated. "I will not waste my time with trifles, and thou shouldst know that thy lesser strength is no match for my power."

"I don't know what you mean," Celestia said, uncertain. "I have no full power to unleash, save what you see before you."

"Thou liest," the creature said angrily. "But if thou art a coward, and will not take to thine final form... then I will take to mine."

A moment later, it yelled in fury, and was wreathed in an aura of golden power. The light seemed to blot out all the darkness in the room, every shadow vanishing. The Royal Guard shielded their eyes, blinded by the light. Even Luna seemed troubled by the light, turning away slightly. Only Celestia could bear to look directly at the light, and even her eyes were squinting slightly.

Suddenly, the light receded, leaving the Alicorns staring at the figure. In place of it's battered clothes, it wore shining silver armour, a red cloak emblazoned that flapped all around it, and it wielded a sword almost as long as itself and half as wide, emblazoned with runes and other symbols and set with a ruby in it's hilt.

"I am the Avatar of Albion!" the figure yelled, his voice resonating with power. "I am the voice of a Nation, crying out in justice! Now fight me, Tyrant!"

***

Author's Note

EDIT: This chapter was edited on 23rd March 2015.

The Avatar Awakened.

Chapter Three: The Avatar Awakened.

***

November 10th, 2028.

"Just hold bloody still," John Constantine said angrily as he walked around the chalk circle he had drawn.

"I am doing, Constantine!" Elliot replied, trying not to sound impatient. "It's not my fault we keep being firebombed and I keep bloody having to stop myself from falling over."

Outside, the city of Dover was under attack. Ten thousand defenders were holding the shoreline and city against over a hundred thousand Earth Ponies, Pegasi and Unicorns. David Elliot, a Major in the British Defence Force and commander of the combined forces by virtue of being one of the most experienced soldiers left, wanted desperately to be out there with his troops, but such was not his destiny. Instead, he waited in a small cottage near the shore while the war was waged outside, standing in a chalk circle drawn by a madman. His twin daggers and hand cannon itched in their sheaths and holster, but he couldn't join his men yet.

Had it been any other time, and had Elliot been any less desperate, he might have turned away the help of this Constantine guy: he was an older man in battered suit and trenchcoat with a cigarette still firmly clamped in his mouth as he muttered his nonsense. He was clearly a little bit insane, ranting for minutes and minutes about how there was a magic unique to Britain that they could call upon, but it had to be used on a mighty warrior. Nonetheless, Elliot had decided to try the man's plan. It was insane, but it was still a plan, and in this day and age that was all Elliot was going to get.

The man's scruffy trenchcoat and loose tie didn't exactly conjure up images of a professional magician (what was supposed to be the attire of a magician anyway? Robes and a pointy hat?) but True Grit, a unicorn who had fought in the Resistance alongside the BDF for years and was up there with the top trusted troops for Elliot, was nodding every time Elliot looked at him: True Grit was there to inform Elliot as to whether Constantine was truly performing magic, and so far if the Unicorn was to be believed, the man was performing.

"Powers of Albion, powers ancient and wise..." the man muttered under his breath. Elliot didn't know how any of his mumbling would help, and was increasingly impatient with the whole thing, when he felt a little odd - a sort of tingling began spreading through him. He looked down at his hands, and found a soft golden glow had begun to envelope them. That wasn't all: he began to feel... what he could only call "a power" seeping into him. He frowned.

"The hell?" he said softly, eyes widening slightly.

Before he could attempt to ask the still-mumbling Constantine what was happening, a blue Earth Pony Allied soldier burst in through the cottage door.

"Commander," he said, clearly panicking, "the enemy have breached the defensive wall - a stream of forces is coming up - Rarity's with them!"

"Shit!" Constantine muttered, then continued mumbling. "Powers of Albion, come to me, powers of Albion, come to me..."

The tingling sensation increased and Elliot felt more and more power seeping into him, like water dripping into a container. As Constantine mumbled, a bright, golden light enveloped the entirety of the Commander's figure, transforming him into a humanoid silhouette, a figure of light.

Within the bright light, there was nothing. Elliot couldn't see anything but a field of white, obscuring his vision - obscuring the sight of his body even. Nonetheless, this place wasn't empty. Elliot could feel something. Something calling to him...

Who are you who disturbs the slumber of the ancient powers?

Elliot blinked - something was talking to him.

Answer, boy, or you shall be slain where you stand!

No, don't! Elliot thought, holding up hands that he could no longer see to ward off a blow he could almost sense building up. To his surprise, he felt the blow subside.

What have you come here seeking? the voice asked.

Help, Elliot said. I've come seeking help.

***

Constantine kept mumbling, praying that he would get enough time to finish the ritual. Predictably, no one was listening, and the door caved in. Shrapnel pierced the jugular of the Earth Pony soldier, and he lay on the floor gurgling. A purple blast knocked True Grit through a wall before the stalwart unicorn could react. Constantine turned to face the attacker, but could only blink as potion was splashed in his face. He swore.

"Well," a civilised voice said. “Isn’t that so much better?”

Constantine, realising he had only seconds, turned, agony already enveloping him.

"In the name... of Albion," he said, gritting his teeth as his body sprouted yellow hair through liquefying and his skeleton shifted itself, "in our hour... of need... come to us... grant us... an Avatar...!"

He screamed in agony as the potion took full effect, just as another, louder scream erupted from the beam of light that had once been Elliot, and then he fell unconscious, praying in his ponifying mind that the spell had worked...

***

Is this truly the hour at last? the voice asked, seemingly somewhere between bemusement and relief. The hour of Britain's greatest need? The hour when a warrior must return to save her again?

Not only the need of Britain, Elliot said to the being, praying he could convince it to help him. The entirety of the human race is threatened. All of our kind stand upon the precipice of extinction.

The being Elliot was conversing with was silent for a long moment.

And you have been sent here to serve as our Avatar? it asked.

I'm all that's left, Elliot replied sadly. If I don't stand up to stop these creatures, no one else will.

There was a moment of absolute silence that seemed to stretch for an eternity: Elliot was terrified that he had somehow failed to make his case, but then a soft sigh echoed through the void.

We both will, David Elliot. You and I together. Excalibur shall shine one last time.

Elliot could only feel elated for the briefest of moments before he suddenly felt a pure agony shoot through him, an agony greater than anything he had ever felt in his entire life. And then...

***

Rarity grinned as John Constantine, one of the biggest magical thorns in the side of Equestria's growing Empire, finished his transformation into a pony, the unrefined process having rendered him unconscious from agony. He would awaken soon, ready (if Rarity was right) to use all his knowledge of Britain and of her magic to help Solamina destroy the defensive barriers and finally cover the entire planet Earth in Equestrian grace.

The white unicorn turned her attention to the screaming beam of light in the centre of the room, frowning at it. She didn't know what it was, but she suspected it was some kind of magical weapon Constantine had been trying to summon to help the pitiful defence forces holding Dover. She snorted in amusement: whatever it was, she had full confidence that she could take it on.

Suddenly, a shockwave of magical power erupted, knocking her out through the door she had burst in through. She cursed as she stood, irritated that she had been taken off guard like that, before looking to see what had emerged from the light.

Her eyes widened slightly, as she found herself facing a giant figure in shining silver armour, wearing a cape and wielding a giant Zweihander. The hair was long and dark, the eyes blazing gold.

"And who are you supposed to be?" she asked, trying to be dismissive even as she quailed slightly, feeling waves of magical power rolling off of the being like heartbeats broadcast to the world.

"I was David Elliot," the being replied, it's deep voice resonating with power. "But now I am more. I am the spirit of Arthur, returned in Britain's hour of need. I am the spirit of the sword Excalibur, defender of justice and honour. I am the vengeance of a nation, the battle cry of a world that has been raped and mutilated beyond all endurance by thine and thy mistress' evil. I am a power thou cannot halt, Element of Order."

The being pointed it's sword right at her.

"I am the Avatar of Albion."

"Impressive title," Rarity said, smirking at the man's rhetoric. She summoned her own sword with her horn; it was a delicate but unbreakable rapier, gifted to her by the Shining Empress herself. "But your words don't frighten me. They're the words of a big man who's just found out that he's not the biggest bully in the playground."

"If thou thinkest that," the Avatar countered, making a sweeping gesture of challenge with his blade, "then by all means: come at me."

She charged at him, her blade spinning and swinging. But even as she struck, his own blade intercepted hers, faster than the oversized thing should have been able to move. She attacked again, but again he blocked her, a small smile on his face. A third time she tried, but this time he parried and riposted, forcing her to step back.

Frustrated, she unleashed a hail of attacks, but the blade the man wielded blocked every blow. She snarled, and attacked faster, pushing herself to her limits - but still he blocked. Frustrated, she jumped back and threw a magical attack at him, but he blocked that too - this time with his hand, held up as if to stop the blast in it's tracks. The purple energy seemed to dissipate in a cloud of vapour, leaving him standing there.

"Is that all thou hast in thy bag of tricks, little pony?" the Avatar said, his tone mocking.

Rarity forced herself to calm down. She was still able to win this, she was sure...

Changing tack, she uncorked a bottle of potion and threw it at him, fast as lightning. It splashed him right in the face - but he only smiled, an unnerving thing on that face. The potion evaporated into purple steam, and he didn't so much as twitch with transformation.

"Thy foul magics are nothing next to the power of Albion's vengeance," he said softly. He aimed the Zweihander at her again. "Now taste her justice."

He swung his Zweihander once, but Rarity blocked it. Undeterred, he swung again and again, her rapier blocking each time, but each time was harder than the last. And then, the impossible happened.

Her unbreakable rapier snapped in two like a twig, and the being's Zweihander embedded itself in her shoulder with a wet thunk.

Screaming in agony, Rarity fell to the floor, the Zweihander coming away with a wet tearing sound.

"Interesting," the being said. He stood over her, and began speaking in a deep, portentous tone.

"Rarity of the Elements of Order, thou art an enemy of Albion. Thou hast hurt her people, thou hast violated her world, thou hast invaded her shores. Thou art sentenced to die."

The being raised it's blade.

"Please!" Rarity screamed. "Please have mercy!"

"Why?" it asked in return. "Thou hast had none for thine victims. Taste their justice!"

And then it's blade swung in a powerful arc...

Rarity knew no more.

***

The being that had once been David Elliot walked into the ruined cottage. It saluted the fallen Earth Pony. It checked on the wounded True Grit, but the unicorn would survive. Finally, it turned it's gaze on the stirring form of the recently converted Earth Pony that had once been John Constantine.

"Thou art a servant to Albion, Constantine," he said softly. The pony looked up at him, eyes widening in alarm.

"Get away from me," he said, his voice betraying a fear that he should never have felt.

"I mean thee no harm, John," the Avatar said. The ponified Constantine didn't listen, continuing to back away, and sighing, the Avatar reached a hand out. Suddenly, the pony found himself frozen.

"No," he said. "No, don't..."

"Thy soul is still intact in thy new form, John Constantine, for I sense it has been shielded," the Avatar said, somewhat surprised: normally the soul was irreparably damaged in the new converts, a side effect of the horrible ponification process - but not, it seemed, in Constantine's case. "Some being thou hast dealt with may yet have aided thee, for thine sake or it's own I cannot say." Knowing what he now knew about Constantine - far more than Constantine would ever have wanted, he was sure - the Avatar sensed it might have been for reasons that were far from altruistic. "Still," the Avatar added, "thy mind is clouded by this evil. I shall release thee from it."

"No, don't, don't..." the new pony said, panicking slightly, but the Avatar ignored it.

The Avatar closed it's eyes, felt the bonds of magic that enslaved the former Constantine's mind. With a thought, it grabbed them tightly. On any normal conversion, this would have killed the subject or driven them insane, for their souls were almost always damaged by the process beyond any semblance of restoring them. In the pony Constantine's case, though, the soul was intact and unharmed. Clearing the mind was a troublesome matter - the Sun Tyrant's power over the converted was strong. But he was now the Avatar of Albion, and this was not - quite - beyond his reach.

Straining his new power, the Avatar reached for the chains around Constantine's mind, and with a heave of mental effort, snapped them. Constantine collapsed, eyes rolling back into his head, and the Avatar smiled. It's work was done - this noble servant was saved.

With that, the Avatar receded, it's armour and mighty blade fading away in a flash of light, leaving only the battered and tired form of David Elliot, who promptly collapsed from exhaustion.

***

When John Constantine woke up, the first thing he noticed was the unconscious Elliot.

"Oh piss," he said angrily, somehow afraid the spell hadn't worked. Then, through the doorway of the cottage, he saw the decapitated body of Rarity.

"Oh, piss..." he said, suddenly relieved: the spell had worked. Somehow, Elliot had become the Avatar and defeated the Element. Suddenly, Constantine felt a hope that he hadn't felt in years. Maybe they could actually survive this shitstorm after all.

He moved to stand up, only to totter over. He reached out a hand to steady himself, only to find himself looking at a yellow hoof. He blinked at it.

"Oh," he said, as full memory returned and he realised what must have happened. "PISS!"

***

"Guards!" Princess Luna yelled immediately. The Royal Guardsponies - of which there were several in the room - immediately sprung into action, charging the man with their spears. Without even looking at the Guards, the Avatar lazily blocked their blows, broke the heads off of their spears, and returned its blade to it's ready stance.

“That was a warning,” the being said.

Dumbfounded, the guards looked at each other, unsure what to make of the being's moves or obvious skill.

"Guards, retreat," Celestia said sternly, not wanting her little ponies to be hurt. "Now."

Reluctantly, the Guards did so, though none of them looked happy about it.

The being that had decreed itself the "Avatar of Albion", ignoring the retreating the Guards, raised it's giant two-handed blade in one hand and pointed it at Celestia in challenge.

"Sun Tyrant," it said, its voice deep and resonant but tinged with impatience and irritation. "I have told thee once. Take to thine full power and face me."

Celestia thought about the so-called "Avatar" standing before her. She considered it strange that he was clearly powerful, but was awaiting her “taking to her full power" (whatever he thought that was). He hadn't slain her guards, merely disarmed them, and he hadn't attacked her even though he had declared his purpose was to fight her. Some chivalric code preventing him from attacking first? A code of honour against attacking an unarmed or unready opponent?

"Tyrant!" the Avatar yelled. " I will not ask thee again! Prepare thyself or die unprepared!"

"I don't know what you mean," Celestia replied to his order, eyeing the figure warily. His patience was clearly not infinite. "I am not the Sun Tyrant of whom you speak."

"Thy lies and tricks will avail thou none," the Avatar said, moving his sword from the challenge stance to a combat stance. "It will only serve to delay thine end. If thou art to face thine death, face it as a warrior and not a craven coward."

"Enough insults, creature!" Luna yelled angrily, insulted on her sister's behalf. "My sister is no coward!"

"Then she should face her death in battle instead of bandying words and lies to hide from it, body of Luna," the Avatar said, not even sparing the other Alicorn a glance, it's eyes fixed on Celestia.

The midnight-blue Alicorn princess snorted in rage at the impudence of this being, whoever and whatever it was.

"How dare you!" she yelled, her royal voice resonating throughout the room. The Avatar finally soared her a glance, looking at her as though she were a piece of dirt.

"I have come to have the Sun Tyrant answer for her crimes," he said calmly. "It is my right as representative of those she hath wronged."

"She has committed no crime against thee or against any!" Luna snarled. "But thou hast! Thou hast come into this place of peace bringing thy violence and thy false accusations, and now thou thinkest to threaten my sister? I shall make thou regret that thou didst ever come here!"

Before Celestia could stop her, Luna summoned her magic, firing a frighteningly powerful beam of energy at the Avatar.

"Luna, don't...!" Celestia warned, fearing that this would provoke the creature, but it was too late. The purple bolt soared at the man like lightning, impacting on the front of his silver armour. He grunted, stepping back slightly at the force of the attack. For a moment, Luna snorted in triumph, thinking the impudent wretch had been taught a lesson, but then the man smiled: a cold, cruel thing, but tinged with sadness.

"Body of Luna," he said, tilting his head slightly, "thou knowst not what thy sister has done. This is a mercy, I think, and a surprising one given thy sisters foul nature. But greater still, I think, will be the mercy of releasing thee from thine torment."

He swung his arm back, his sword glowing with a golden light, and suddenly brought the blade forward, pointing it at her. It flashed and threw a bolt of energy at the Moon Princess, but she deflected it with a snort. He threw a couple more bolts at her, but she blocked both. She smiled savagely.

"Is that all you have?" she asked, her tone mocking. "Your rhetoric seems a little hollow."

"So," the Avatar said, apparently ignoring her words, "the Tyrant has allowed you to retain some of your former strength. So be it, then."

He raised his sword above his head, and leapt towards Luna, aiming the sword as though he were about to decapitate her...

***

Twilight had teleported herself and her friends to Canterlot as quickly as she could, but the teleportation had left her tired and drained, and she had needed a few minutes to recuperate. Nonetheless, once she had done so, she and the other Elements raced to the throne room where they just knew the being that had attacked them - and more importantly, Princess Celestia - would be.

"What exactly do we do when we get there?!" Dash asked.

"We'll think of something!" Twilight assured her friend, though she was far from certain of their course of action herself. After all - the thing had been fast when it intended to harm them, and it claimed to have killed most of the Elements already - what would stop it from doing it again...?

Again? Was Twilight actually starting to believe the idea that somehow, this thing had killed her friends? But what could that mean? Time travel of some description? Or something else...?

"Twilight!" a familiar voice called to the purple unicorn, snapping her out of her thoughts. Twilight smiled as Shining Armour, her brother and former Captain of the Royal Guard, appeared, racing towards her. He looked concerned. "What's wrong?!"

"Something's coming for the Princess!" she yelled in reply, not breaking her run. Shining Armour's eyes widened in shock, and he chased after her.

"What is it?!" he asked, sounding horrified.

"I don't know!" Twilight yelled back. "But I think it's going to try to..."

Before she could finish her thought, a group of scared looking Royal guards appeared at the end of a corridor, running from the direction of the Princess's court.

"There's a creature!" one of them yelled. "It's attacking the Princesses!"

Shining Armour snorted angrily. He might not have known what was going on, but his duty was to protect Celestia and he was damned if he was going to fail.

"Summon the guard!" he yelled. "Now!"

The two guards nodded and raced off as Shining Armour and the Elements kept running.

***

The Avatar of Albion smirked at the sight that was before him.

"Ah," he said softly, "now you fight."

Between his blade and Princess Luna stood Celestia, a golden shield of magical energy coming between them, sparking slightly where the Zweihander was trying to force through the protection.

Her field exploded outwards, driving the Avatar backwards. He spun his blade with a smile.

"Why do you think I was unwilling to fight you? Do you think perhaps that I am afraid of you?!" Celestia yelled, furious at the man's actions. "I am not your enemy - but you simply won't accept my word!"

"The word of a monster is no word at all," the Avatar said, aiming his blade at Celestia. He charged at her, bringing his blade down again, but again the blow was blocked by a field of golden light. He struck again and again, but she blocked every strike. Suddenly, she repulsed him once more, the field of energy expanding outwards. He moved to attack again, but was stopped in his tracks by a bolt from Luna, which staggered him backwards. He snarled in frustration.

"This is not your fight, body of Luna!" he yelled.

"Anypony who threatens my sister is mine enemy," Luna replied, angrily. The Avatar narrowed his eyes at her.

"Very well," he said, shifting his blade from hand to hand, trying to get a better grip on it. "If thou shalt aid thy demon-sister, thou shalt share her fate."

He moved to attack Luna, charging at her, but was once more repulsed by Celestia's golden magical shield.

"You will not touch my sister!" the white Alicorn princess bellowed, fury in her voice. "Never!"

She began sending beams of energy at the Avatar: bolt after bolt impacted on his shining silver armour, scoring marks on it and driving him back. Gritting his teeth, the Avatar began blocking the bolts with his sword, but the bolts kept coming, and kept driving him backwards.

"How dare you," the Sun Princess yelled. "You have come into my home, and brought your insane hatred with you. No more!"

Snarling, Celestia sent more bolts at the Avatar, driving him even further back, until one beam hit him square in the chest and sent him flying backwards through the double doors at the end of the court, the impact causing masonry to shatter under his weight and throwing the debris and dust into the air.

Celestia slowed her breaths, trying to calm herself down. She hadn't let loose like that in a while, and had never intended to again, but this creature, whatever it was, had threatened her sister. She caught a glimpse of Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armour and the Elements of Harmony - had they come here to help?

"Princess?!" Twilight yelled over to her.

"Stay back, Twilight," the Princess warned, eyes narrowing at the dust cloud surrounding the Avatar's form. She sensed that not only did it still live, but it was still strong - strong enough to destroy the Elements if it so chose.

"What is that thing?" Luna asked her sister, eyes wide: she clearly sensed the same thing. "That power should have destroyed it!"

"I don't know," Celestia replied, sounding more worried than she would have liked, "but I don't think I've stopped it yet!"

She was right: even as she spoke, the slow, methodical footsteps of the creature began sounding. From the dust cloud of shattered masonry, the figure appeared, walking towards the two Alicorns. His sword was resting on his shoulder as he marched towards them, his eyes filled with deadly purpose.

Celestia stood ready, but strangely enough the creature was making no aggressive moves: she would have thought, given it's previous displays, that any move on it's part would have been fast and deadly. She summoned the energy to cast a spell, but held back for the moment.

"The Sun Tyrant," he said slowly, as though deliberating, "cares not for her subjects."

Celestia's eyes widened. This was different: had she somehow convinced it of the truth, convinced it that she was not the Sun Tyrant he sought?

"They are puppets," the Avatar continued, his voice filled with doubt, almost as though he couldn't believe his own words. "That, or shields of flesh. They are to be discarded or destroyed as a chess master sacrifices pawns, not saved at the cost of her own safety."

"I don't know who your Sun Tyrant is," Celestia said slowly, aware that this might be her only chance at convincing the thing, "but I am not her."

The being seemed to be wrestling with itself for a long moment, as though this pronouncement was difficult for it to register.

"No," the Avatar finally said, sighing in defeat. "No, thou art not."

His body was suddenly enveloped by his golden energy, and a moment later the man in his battered clothes was standing there, smiling tiredly. Before anyone could say anything though, the man's body was wracked by a fit of coughs, and he fell to his knees, before collapsing.

A moment later, Twilight, Shining Armour and the Elements, along with a dozen Royal Guards, surrounded the creature.

"What is it?" Shining Armour asked incredulously, taking in the appearance of the being and the contrast between it's appearance now and how it had looked not a few moments ago.

"It called itself a representative of beings called 'the Britons'," Celestia said slowly. "And it claimed to be seeking a being it called the Sun Tyrant, Astra Solamina Maxima."

"It thought that was you?" Twilight asked, looking worried.

"Apparently so," Celestia said softly. "Were it not for myself and my sister fighting together, the being might have overcome us."

"What was all that armour?!" one of the Elements - Rainbow Dash - asked, sounding confused.

"A kind of transformation I believe, Rainbow Dash," Celestia replied, looking down on the being. "It arrived in this form, but transformed moments later."

"I think he's exhausted," the Element of Kindness, Fluttershy, said, examining the creature closely. Her voice betrayed laudable concern even for this being. "And it's sweating and feverish - Princess, I think he's sick!"

"Shining Armour," Celestia said softly. "Take this... being, to one of our spare bedrooms. Have a doctor come and see to it."

"At once Your Highness," Shining Armour replied smartly, turning and running to follow her orders. Celestia turned to Twilight and her friends.

"I need to know everything," she said simply.

***

Author's Note

My sincere thanks to all those who have favourited so far. I hope that the story continues to be worth your attention.

EDIT: This chapter was edited on 23rd March 2015.

Memories, Part 1.

Chapter Four: Memories, Part 1.

***

Dr Tender Care, a female unicorn with electric blue fur and a darker blue mane and tail, sighed as she examined the creature - a "Briton", Princess Celestia had said it was called - that the Princess had presented her for a patient. It was a strange case no doubt - it was a sort of creature that no one had ever seen before, much less attempted to examine or heal - but Tender Care was proud of her skill as a physician, and she wouldn't let Princess Celestia down.

Having said that, the shivering, weak 'Briton' before her seemed to be very ill. Celestia had told Tender Care what had happened to him - from the transformation, the expenditure of magic, to the return to his original state and this illness - and so the doctor was endeavouring to discern whether this was a temporary weakness or a permanent one.

The results were… interesting.

She sighed as she used her magic to stabilise the Briton, before turning and leaving the little room. Outside the bedroom waited Princess Celestia, as well as Twilight Sparkle and the other Elements of Harmony.

"Well?" the Princess asked her.

"I've stabilised him," Tender Care said softly. "But there's not all that much I can do."

"What do you mean?" the Princess asked, narrowing her eyes slightly in confusion.

"Well, he's dying," Tender Care said simply. Fluttershy gasped, the other Elements looked shocked, and Celestia's eyes widened in surprise.

"Dying?" she repeated.

"I think whatever he was using to fight you wears his body out far faster than his normal lifespan would," Tender Care said, her voice tinged with sadness: she never liked her patients dying on her. "If I had to guess, using the magical power he demonstrated wears his body out at an accelerated rate because it's somehow foreign to his body."

"You mean his body isn't adapted to use magic?" the Princess' student, Twilight Sparkle, put in, looking surprised.

"Exactly," Tender Care said with a sad smile. "As of right now I'd say he has a few years left before he dies, but that might decrease to a single year or even just a few months - all depending on the use of those abilities."

"Thank you Doctor," Celestia said quietly, looking thoughtful. "I understand."

Tender Care left quietly, leaving Celestia with the Element bearers.

"What now?" Twilight asked, looking to her teacher to provide her with answers. The Sun Princess only wished she could provide them for her student: this entire affair was filled with far too many questions and not nearly enough answers.

"He came here for a reason," Celestia replied after a moment, speaking slowly as she organised her thoughts. "I intend to discover what it is. I will wait here - when he is rested, I will speak with him."

Twilight nodded. "What do you want us to do, Princess?" she asked, eager to help in any way she could.

"The best choice right now is for you to return to your home," Celestia said thoughtfully. "If you can, attempt to discern how this being came here. If I have further need for your help, I will send for you."

"Yes Princess," Twilight said at once. She and her friends turned and headed off, talking amongst themselves. Celestia sighed, and entered the small bedroom. She had decided to see what would happen.

***

"That's it?" Rainbow Dash said, speaking quietly but harshly. "Just go home?!"

The group was walking back towards the train station, intending to do as the Princess had instructed, but clearly not all of them were happy about it.

"There's nothing more we can do now Dash," Twilight said with a sigh. "I wish there was, but right now we have to accept that the Princess doesn't need our assistance."

"I hope that poor thing will be ok," Fluttershy put in, looking back at the room with the Briton in it with a worried frown on her face.

"You heard the doctor," Applejack said, speaking softly but bluntly. "That Briton thing's got a few years left in it, provided it don't keep attacking innocent ponies with its magic."

"That's just it," Rarity pointed out. "We still don't know why it was attacking innocent ponies. If we did..."

"If we did we could add it to the big pile of things we ain't got answers to yet," Applejack said, sounding a mite irritated. "’Til then, we'll just have to wait. I reckon the Princess will call us back here the minute she needs us. She always does."

"I hope you're right," Twilight said. "Because I get the feeling she will need us..."

***

When he awoke and his eyes finally opened, David Elliot took a moment to remember precisely what had led him here. When he did remember, he swore.

"Idiot!" he yelled angrily. "Stupid, arrogant, up your own arse fucking IDIOT!"

He sat up without even caring enough to glance around the room, focused entirely on berating himself for his stupidity.

He had walked into that fight with the advantage of surprise, but he had given her every opportunity to power up - and he had taken on the resurrected Luna as well. Even with Solamina being in her weaker form, he had been matched - no, practically outmatched. The hope of all the remaining human beings in the world, and he was failing. He was failing. Something like fifteen million people - the entirety of the human race remaining - as well as thousands of Equestrian resistance refugees, all of whom were relying on him to be strong enough to save them, and at the first real test, he had failed.

"I assume you were not talking to me," a voice spoke, dragging him from his thoughts. Elliot span around, and found himself facing Solamina - no, this was merely Princess Celestia.

"You!" he said, shocked at the sight of her. That she would risk being in the same room as him when he had tried to kill her was... well, impressively brave on her part. She had no particular guarantee that he wouldn't try to do it again.

"Me," she replied softly. "And you are the Avatar of Albion?"

"No, I'm not," he said, his voice tinged with bitterness at the thought of the being. "My name is David Elliot."

"I see," Celestia said, sounding slightly confused but attempting to comprehend, "and the other term is merely... a title? One you wear in that form?"

"It's another being, practically," Elliot clarified, trying and failing to keep his voice from becoming sour. "A being who inhabits my form, who I can call upon. Or at least it feels like that, sometimes. It’s more complicated than that, Hell Blazer says..."

He trailed off.

“You don’t understand it?” Celestia guessed.

“It’s like a computer,” Elliot said with a frown. “You know enough about the thing to make it work. You don’t know where every part came from, or what every part does, even though you know the result you want and the result you expect.”

“I… think I understand,” Celestia said slowly, nodding.

There was a long pause as the two stood, regarding each other warily. It was strange to think that they had been fighting only a few short hours ago.

"Who is the Sun Tyrant you speak of?" Celestia finally asked, still speaking softly. "And what has she done that fills you with such hatred?"

Elliot paused for a moment before speaking. "I thought she was you."

Celestia waited for a moment, letting him think: he was clearly still wrestling with himself.

"But…” he finally added, his voice quiet but firm, “you aren't her. You aren’t Solamina."

"No," Celestia said, nodding at his words and secretly grateful he had come to this conclusion. "I have never even heard the name, though I admit it sounds similar to old high Unicornic."

"It isn't her real name," Elliot said, his eyes narrowing in contempt. "She was you… was Celestia.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Then the name Solamina…”

“Was a new name she chose,” Elliot clarified. “The name ‘Astra Solamina Maxima’ is an extension of a name some of her subjects gave her. She took it officially when she took the sole throne of Equestria."

Sole throne of Equestria? Now that was an interesting tidbit.

"What happened to Luna?" Celestia asked, feeling apprehensive of the answer. What she had already heard was concerning, so she expected nothing good.

"Died," Elliot said bluntly. "Official story was illness. No one believed it really, especially after she declared Equestria an Empire. Everyone thinks Solamina got rid of Luna."

"Got... rid..." Celestia repeated, not daring to believe what she was being told. "You mean she..."

"Killed her own sister," Elliot said with a nod, his tone blunt. "Yup. That’s the theory."

"I can scarcely believe it," Celestia murmured, shocked by the very idea: she had faced many things in ten thousand years, but this was quite, quite different. "She... killed Luna… after everything, after all the things we’ve been through… I just don’t believe..."

"Believe it," Elliot said harshly, ignoring Celestia's distress. "The bitch has done far more than kill her own sister. The human race started the war with seven and a half billion people, but we're down to less than fourteen million... forgive me if one dead Alicorn doesn't overly move me..."

"Have you no heart?" Celestia asked, scowling at him.

"No," he replied angrily, beginning to cough. "If I had one, it burnt it out because of this... bloody..."

He doubled over, his coughing worsening, and Celestia considered everything she had heard: her very appearance, and the name of this Solamina, had inspired this man to take on a power that was slowly killing him just so he could have a chance to kill her, and yet his only regret was not being able to do so.

What could have done such a thing, inspired such anger? She needed to know.

Celestia walked over to him, scrutinising him carefully. He kept coughing, but he looked like he was trying to stand up straight despite the obvious pain he was in. He looked up at her. They locked eyes.

"I need to know what she has done," Celestia asked simply.

He blinked at that, and smiled softly.

"I can't tell you," he said. Celestia frowned. "But I can show you."

A moment passed as the man let that sink in. After a moment, reluctantly, Celestia nodded. Any kind of memory sharing was risky, but it might prove to be the only way for her to truly comprehend what had happened. The man stood up as straight as he could and grabbed her head.

There was a flash...

***

The world was dying. 2022.

David Elliot stared at the recruitment poster, his friend Sam Lake stood next to him. Sam was a blonde man about half a head taller than David, and a bit broader in shoulder as well.

The image of the late lamented Queen Elizabeth stared back at them, the words "your world needs you" printed in large letters beneath her. Her death had been a shock, to be sure - a good two or three dozen PER members had attacked Buckingham Palace, in what must have been the most audacious attack in history. Cars driven through gates, dozens of armed men and women with rifles and potion-bottles attacking palace guards, and most of them getting shot to pieces for their troubles. There were enough, however, that they eventually reached the Queen’s chamber… where she promptly shot herself in the head rather than be a symbol for them. The remaining terrorists had been killed trying to flee.

It was strange, the young man thought. The Queen's death at the hands of the PER - now officially a terrorist group being hunted by the armed forces for their treasonous acts - could have proven the death knell for a nation, but instead, thanks to her heroism, it had been the call to arms the island needed: hundreds of thousands of otherwise disaffected young people, all of whom seemed to have been waiting for death at the hands of the barrier already tearing across the pacific, now signed up for the ever-growing army.

"Thinking of joining up?" the voice of his friend Sam asked from right next to him. David smiled.

"Yeah," he said. "I am."

"Is there a point?" Sam asked. "This damn pony thing isn't a war, it's a great big wall of fucking death. We can't stop it."

"But it's worth trying, isn't it?" David asked in reply. "Better than doing nothing,"

Sam shrugged, looking entirely unaffected - as far as he was concerned, there was nothing to be done, but he wouldn't be much of a friend if just let his mate go off and join up.

"Good point," he said. "Alright then. I guess I'd better join you."

***

The world gone mad… 2023.

“Right,” Sam said, holding up a glass. “Here’s to the fucking ‘Sanctified Republic of Gilead’. May it rest in pieces.”

“Here, here,” Elliot said with a sigh, downing his pint. “Fucking hell.”

The ‘Sanctified Republic of Gilead’ was the name taken by a mad cult that had taken over most of the former United States of America - they had been… insane. Human sacrifice, mortification, that sort of thing. Now they were all gone, the last inches of former American soil subsumed by the Barrier. Now, the only people left from America - the odd mad Gileadite aside - were those who had fled that insanity beforehand.

“Hard to believe it ever got that bad,” Sam said quietly, having a swig of his own drink. “I mean, shit, those were kids...”

“I know,” Elliot said softly.

“Still,” Sam continued. “At least it’s over now.”

Elliot raised an eyebrow. “Over?”

Sam sighed, smiling tiredly. “Gilead is, anyway. The rest of this stuff…”

The Barrier was continuing to advance, and there had been nothing but a wall of stony silence from Equestria, with any ambassadors who Converted and tried to make it never reporting back… and it was increasingly seeming like they had failed to do so for reasons other than somepony stopping them.

Whatever else happened, this was far from over.

***

It was the end... 2024.

There were a hundred reasons to be afraid of the approaching barrier, David thought. Death by barrier was supposedly quite painful.

Standing on the deck of the HMS Illustrious, an aircraft carrier that should have been retired years ago, armed only with the L85 rifle in his hands, Elliot sighed. The old ship currently bore no aircraft, but there were a hell of a lot of soldiers, all armed similarly to him. The man next to him began praying, and Elliot spared him a glance.

"Our father, who art in heaven," the other man said softly. "Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done..."

The general consensus was that the barrier would close in on Britain, incinerate every single person there, and then that was it. The end. No more human race. Praying was probably a reasonable reaction.

"... on earth as it is in heaven..." The voice of the other man trailed off, and David could see why: his own eyes widened in horror as the giant pink barrier edged closer. All around him, men and women were starting to aim their rifles.

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil," Elliot murmured, changing tack as he too began murmuring prayers. He had never been a religious man, but he was about to die: might as well hedge his bets. "For thou art with me." He smirked. "And I'm carrying a rifle full of hot lead, and I'm gonna empty the bastard at the first thing that comes at me."

"Amen," one of his comrades said from next to him with a nervous laugh. The praying man also smiled, and Elliot took a moment to be thankful that at least he wasn't dying alone. That was better than some people got these days.

He spared a thought for Sam - Sam had been assigned to a similar duty, but his position was on the coast near some artillery. The two men had rarely been separated, but this had just been the luck of the draw. Still - Elliot counted himself blessed to have known his friend.

‘Hope he has better luck than me,’ he thought to himself.

Sod it, thought Elliot. If this was the end, he'd die firing. He aimed his rifle and fired, as all around him, men, women and even destroyers and battleships did the same. Somewhere, an officer yelled "weapons free!" but even if there had been no cry, the soldiers would have fired anyway.

The rounds impacted on the barrier as though it was nothing, a thousand little splashes against the infinite puddle. Futile.

And yet they kept firing.

David couldn't have said what kept him firing - whether it was hope, or anger, or fear. But whatever it was, he kept firing his rifle, desperate to try somehow to stop the approaching wall of death. All around him, men and women snarled in anger, or furrowed in concentration, all of them firing still, reloading and re-aiming and firing again.

A moment passed, as thousands of soldiers kept firing at the barrier. It was as though each of them was channeling their hatred into the stream of fire they were sending. The thing almost seemed to be wavering...

And then, magically, it stopped.

A great blue barrier, clashing horribly with the pink barrier of Equestria, appeared, a great fizzing light shining. The barrier, the great, implacable barrier, stopped dead, and slowly, the streams of gunfire stopped, leaving nothing but a purple wall, the pink of the Equestrian barrier mixed with the blue of this new barrier that blocked it.

For a moment, all was silent.

And then, to Elliot's surprise, a cheer rang out. First in ones and twos, and then in tens, twenties, and hundreds, the soldiers on the Vigilance and the dozens of other ships surrounding Britain started cheering.

They didn't know how, they didn't know why, but the barrier had been stopped!

Whatever happened next - and Elliot was sure it wouldn't be good - Elliot swore he'd remember this moment: the moment when there was hope in the future, for the first time since... he didn't even know when.

***

The warning... 2024.

Elliot raised an eyebrow at the sight before him: a giant refugee train, made up entirely of ponies, pony carts and pony belongings. It was impressive, that much was true: the convoy was long enough to reach from Hull's marina and the motley collection of boats that had arrived to the edge of the old Princes Quay shopping centre where Elliot and his friend Sam were standing, and everypony in it seemed entirely tired, as though they had come from great distance. Elliot and Sam shared a glance.

"What's all this?" Elliot said, holding a hand up at the lead pony, a turquoise Unicorn with a white and blue mane and a lyre cutie mark.

"Um... hi," the Unicorn said, smiling slightly in a sheepish fashion, seeming more than a little intimidated by the soldier. "Sorry. I'm Lyra..."

"I don't care who you are," Sam said shortly, cutting the nervous sounding Pony off. "What the hell is all this?"

"What does it look like?" an irritable sounding cream Earth Pony said from next to this Lyra. "We're a goddamn refugee column."

"Refugees?!" Elliot repeated, looking over the column. There had to be around a thousand ponies here, and those were just the ones he could see. He could swear there were more - on the little collection of boats, milling around near the docks…

“Yup,” the Earth Pony said. “Meet the ‘Equestrian Exodus’. Ain’t we a sorry sight.”

“Bon-Bon!” Lyra scolded. “We need to be nice - remember, we’ve come to these people for help.”

‘Bon-Bon’ scowled. “Right, ok.”

“What are you doing here? What’s caused this?” Sam asked, still frowning suspiciously.

"There are some of us who don't agree with what happened on this planet," Lyra said, her expression grim - she seemed entirely sincere to Elliot. "We've come to help. And to warn you."

"Warn us of what?" Sam asked, narrowing his eyes at the implied threat.

"War," a new voice, male, strong and assertive, said. From the crowd of ponies, a brown Earth Pony with an hourglass cutie mark emerged, a neckerchief tied around his throat. "The Empress is planning a war."

“Empress?” Elliot said, confused. “I thought Celestia was a Princess?”

“Celestia was a Princess,” the stallion said grimly. “But she’s declared herself Empress of Equestria - under the name Astra Solamina Maxima. Her intent is to invade this island and subjugate what remains of humanity.”

Elliot and Sam shared a glance. Though neither of them would have claimed to understand what was going on, all of this sounded very, very serious.

“I’ll call it in,” Elliot said after a moment.

“Thank you,” the stallion said. “That’s all I can ask.”

As Elliot moved to do so, Sam shook his head disbelievingly, still watching as the ponies - hundreds, thousands, God only knew how many - kept on marching from their little boats.

"This is so above our fucking pay grade," he sighed.

***

The war raged... 2025.

The now-Sergeant David Elliot swore. Somehow, he'd been left in charge of the defences on Whitby's shoreline, and it was going badly. Hell, that was an understatement.

The pier had become a landing point for hundreds of Pegasi, and to make matters worse, the reports stated that Rainbow Dash, one of Solamina's "Elements of Order" was leading the charge.

"Shit!" Elliot swore as a potion bomb impacted near him - the splash missed him, but caught two of his squad - both of whom had exposed skin out. In a flash, he aimed his pistol at the men and fired.

"Keep your fucking suits sealed!" he yelled over to the rest of his men, who were scrambling to follow his order.

The army's new standard gear was a completely sealed bodysuit over Kevlar body armour, with a helmet and gas mask. It ostensibly prevented potion from hitting the exposed skin of troopers, but it was also hot and the troops had a bad habit of leaving parts unsealed to get some ventilation in. Yelling in frustration, Elliot aimed his rifle at an incoming squad of Pegasi, and fired: one of the incoming flyers took a hit to the wing, veered out of control, and crashed into a building heavily, splattering his brains all over the wall with the force of the impact.

Ignoring the cheers of his squad, Elliot advanced along the pier. The armies of Equestria were limited to potion bombing, spell projectiles and spear combat, but their numbers made up for the primitive technology. Even worse, many of these ponies appeared to be Royal Guards, the best of Solamina's armies.

"Sam!" Elliot called into his radio. "I need a sit rep now!"

A strange, cackling laugh sounded from the radio, and Elliot frowned.

"Got hit by a potion bomb," the voice of Elliot's old friend said, sounding slightly demented. "Hurt a lot, you know. But hey ho, feeling much better now."

Elliot swore. Sam was ponified.

"Where are you," he asked seriously. He had to deal with this now: Sam had knowledge the enemy couldn't be allowed to have. Suddenly, a flying form crashing into him, hooves pounding at his Kevlar-played chest. Still wearing the loose remains of his uniform, a pale blue Pegasus with a blonde mane was grinning at Elliot.

"Surprise!" the Sam-thing yelled. "Seriously, you should consider taking the potion - this isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would..."

Elliot threw the pseudo-Sam off of him, yelling in frustration. He kicked the downed Pegasus and stamped on his wing, signalling for his squad to keep advancing.

"Argh!" screamed the new Pegasus. "Watch the wings, I just got these!"

"Yeah well," Elliot said, taking his pistol out and aiming it at his friend. "You won't be using them much."

"Dave..." the not-Sam said, eyes wide, "it's me, mate. Come on..."

"No, Sam, it isn't." Elliot's aim didn't waver.

"You won't just kill me," the Pegasus said, eyes wide. "We're friends. Best friends..."

"That's why I'm doing this," Elliot said, sliding the hammer back with a blunt 'click'.

"Remember when we were in training together?" the not-Sam asked, eyes wide with fear. "How you and I...?"

A gunshot rang out before the not-Sam could finish his reminiscing, and the Pegasus' head slumped to the floor, the shocked expression almost comical but the eyes wide and accusing. Elliot threw the pistol into the sea, took up his rifle, and shot down two more Pegasi, their bodies crashing into the water as well. He moved on - the battle wouldn't wait for him.

He'd grieve for his lost friend later.

***

A broken man... 2026.

"No! No! It's not true - she must have escaped at the last minute! You're lying!"

The Doctor - known colloquially as "Doctor Whooves" by those he worked with and those he had saved - was screaming in agony and distress: he had just been told how the battle of Manchester had been won... and about the death of Ditzy Doo, his... Companion? Friend? Elliot didn't know what Ditzy had been to him, but knew that the Doctor had been one of the only people to use her real name. The soldier hated having to tell the Doctor what happened to Ditzy - he was never good at delivering this sort of news - but it had been his mission, his defence, and since Ditzy had asked him to do this, it was his duty to tell the Earth Pony - or rather, the Time Lord in Earth Pony form - himself. So far he wasn't taking it entirely well...

"She can't be dead," the Earth Pony said softly, staggering slightly as if punched. Clutched in his front hoof, he held a bandolier that had once belonged to Ditzy when she fought with the ground forces. "She... she..."

He cursed and leant against a wall in an all-too-human gesture of misery, banging his forehoof against the wall in a pitiful gesture of anger and grief.

"She was special to you," Elliot supplied after a moment.

"More than that," the Doctor said bitterly. "She was the first friend I made in this body. She was..."

He closed his eyes.

"It's just going to get worse, isn't it," he said, his voice tinged with a bitterness that Elliot had never heard from him. He wasn't even asking a question - he was stating it as a fact.

"I'm afraid it will," Elliot replied. He should have softened the blow for the distraught pony, but this was not a time for soft blows. It was a time for facts.

"I've held back," the Doctor said, now sounding angry. "I've held back because I thought I could do more good as I am. But now... now Ditzy is dead, Dinky is left without a mother, and I'm just sat here. A useless, crying wreck!"

The last words were accompanied by the Doctor's front hooves slamming into a wall. The room shook.

"Doctor..." Elliot said, putting a hand on his shoulder to try and comfort the hurt pony, but the Doctor shook him off.

"No more," the Doctor said. He laughed, a short bark of agony and fury combined. "I said those words once. I meant them then, and I mean them now. This war..." The Earth Pony swallowed. "This war doesn't need a Doctor. It needs something else entirely."

He closed his eyes.

"Doctor," he said softly, "no more. For Ditzy."

Before Elliot could say anything else, a golden glow began emanating from the Doctor, the pony's face grimacing in concentration. The glow covered the pony, the light encompassing his entire form, so bright it hurt Elliot's eyes... and then it receded, leaving behind an entirely different pony. He was still an Earth Pony, but his eyes, when they opened, were hard. His mane was still brown, but it was longer, and his fur had turned dark reddish-brown. Most noticeable about this new Doctor were two things - the serious expression on his face and the broken hourglass of his cutie mark.

He narrowed his eyes at Elliot, and then buckled Ditzy's bandolier over his shoulder.

"Doctor?" Elliot asked.

"No more," the Doctor said in reply, his voice raspy, broken. "No... no more."

He walked out of the room, leaving Elliot on his own, certain that something important had just been broken forever.

***

Mourning the gone. 2027.

“So,” he said quietly. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Lyra was sat on her own, her eyes gazing off into space. A crumpled note lay next to her, the only sign of the mare who had been her best friend for years. She slowly shook her head. Too stunned to speak. Too shocked to believe it.

“Talking helps,” he said, a slight frown on his face.

She shook her head again.

Slowly, Elliot put a hand on her shoulder. Wordless lay, she leant against him, still silent. Still staring at nothing. Elliot simply sat there in turn, letting her take comfort merely from his presence. If that was what she needed from him, that was what he would give her.

They'd both lost too much.

***

The choice... 2028.

"Say that again," Elliot said tiredly.

"I can create a magical weapon that will give us the edge in this war," the man in the trenchcoat repeated, a desperate expression on his face, his Liverpudlian accent getting more pronounced the more agitated he became.

"Uh huh," Elliot said. "And you need my help for this why?"

"Because I need a great warrior to become the vessel," the man - John Constantine - said. "And that's you."

"Why are we even listening to this?" True Grit, one of Elliot's most trusted soldiers, said angrily. "Rarity's expeditionary force is landing at Dover in only an hour!"

"You need every bloody advantage you can get you bloody nag!" Constantine yelled. "And if this works, this'll be a fucking brilliant advantage!"

"Sir," True Grit said warningly, bristling at being called a ‘nag’.

"Grit, wait outside," Elliot said tiredly. Reluctantly, the Unicorn exited. Elliot turned to Constantine, who was stood, arms folded, waiting for his attention.

"Ok," the Major said slowly. "So. Why should I believe you?"

"You know magic exists," Constantine said, sounding even more desperate.

"Yeah, yeah," Elliot said. The existence of magic on Earth had been revealed to the public around the time the barrier had been stopped: a group calling itself the Watcher's Council, led by a tired looking man named Rupert Giles, had explained that the reason Britain had been spared was that Earth's intrinsic magic had somehow, finally, concentrated enough to stop the barrier in it's tracks. The explanation had cheered up some, including a resurgence of Earth-God worshippers like the New Gaian Cult, and it had created the first feeling of hope for the millions of humans still alive in years.

"Well, Earth's magic has a specific focus here in Britain because of the Lady in the Lake," Constantine explained, gesturing as he did so. "Kind of like the Arthurian myths, yeah?"

"I'm vaguely familiar," Elliot said. In truth, they had been some of his favourite stories in better days, though that had been a long time ago.

"Well, I can harness that energy to create a weapon for us," Constantine said, sounding almost excited.

"What, Excalibur?" Elliot asked, snorting. But to his surprise, Constantine looked entirely earnest.

"Better," he said with a grin. "This works, and we’ll have ourselves an Avatar of Albion."

“And what’s an ‘Avatar of Albion’ when it’s at home?” Elliot asked.

“A weapon,” Constantine said. “A single warrior, powerful enough to fight a whole army.”

Elliot blinked. Was this man serious? More to the point... should he, Elliot, believe him?

Did he have a choice?

“Alright,” he finally said, shaking his head, still not believing that he was believing this crap. “What do you need from me?”

“A volunteer - a warrior,” Constantine replied quickly. “Any will do, though a human might be a better bet.”

“Alright,” Elliot said slowly, nodding. “I’ll do it.”

***

The respite... 2029.

"Albion! Albion! Albion!"

The chanting made David Elliot smile as he walked onto the stage, moving slowly and deliberately. Hundreds of eyes focused on him. He smiled softly as he felt their expectation hit him. Suddenly, he raised his right hand, showing off what was clutched therein.

A deep purple mane, a pink mane and a blonde mane were clutched in his fingers.

A moment's silence descended upon the room, before every single human being and almost every pony - with a few sickened looking examples - in the room screamed with fervent glee.

Some of the Elements, of all ponies, had been killed.

"Soldiers of the last army!" Elliot screamed to the jubilant crowd, and they quieted for a moment. "I have before you proof of hope! The Elements can bleed! The Elements can die! And I promise you, one day I will stand before you all with seven manes in my hand - the Elements and their thrice damned Empress too!"

The cheering only got louder. Elliot withdrew the manes - he stored them in his pouch, ready to be sewed back into his jacket, a permanent tally of his most infamous kills.

As he stepped off the stage, he found himself stood with a yellow Earth Pony with a dirty blonde mane named Hell Blazer. He seemed an unusual pony: he had a cigarette hanging in his mouth, he wore a trenchcoat, shirt and tie, and his black cutie mark displayed the mark of the Beast - "666" - for all to see. Also there was Lyra Heartstrings and the Doctor.

"So," Hell Blazer said. "When are you moving on the next of the bucking - gah, fucking!" he swore loudly, tapping the side of his head with his hoof.

Constantine's transformation had left him with some innate Pony traits that he was constantly battling with himself to shake, including the "nauseatingly clean language": the only concession to his new form he had made was the changing of a name, and that he said was more an ironic statement than anything.

"Fucking, fucking... when are you moving on to the next of the bitch brigade?" he finished, still apparently battling his own head.

"Soon," Elliot said, ignoring Hell Blazer's outburst. "Can't decide whether it should be Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie."

"Why not cut the head from the Elements?" the Doctor asked, sounding tired. Elliot could have sworn the pony had aged ten years since he had last seen him: his mane was already filled with grey streaks, and he had more than a few wrinkles.

"You mean Sparkle?" Elliot asked. "Nah, she's too tough, and too clever. She'll be the last, and I'll be breaking the ol' armour out for her."

He grinned, and the Doctor nodded. Lyra, on the other hand, gave him an odd look.

"Did you have to display their manes?" she asked, sounding slightly disturbed.

"People need hope in this day and age," the Doctor put in before Elliot could reply. "And like it or not, the manes of the Elements are a powerful motivating force for people."

"Showing people their enemy isn't invincible is always a good sign," Hell Blazer added.

"Still, it seems… barbaric," Lyra said softly.

"It is," Elliot agreed. He smiled tiredly. "But sometimes, barbarism is necessary. If it gives us hope… what else can I do?"

Lyra didn't look convinced, but she was swayed from further discussion by Elliot suddenly beginning a coughing fit.

"Shit!" swore Hell Blazer. "When was the last time you Albioned?"

Elliot smirked at their word for his transformation: it was a rather crude word for what Elliot considered a wholly... well, "transformative" experience, but it worked.

"Haven't done it fully since... Fluttershy?" he said softly.

"She that much of a hassle?" the yellow Earth Pony asked, sounding entirely unconvinced.

"Nope, she just asked nicely," Elliot said, grinning slightly. He cursed as more coughing came up. "It gonna get worse?"

"'Fraid so," Hell Blazer said, as the Doctor scanned a small silver device with a red light - his "sonic screwdriver" - over Elliot's form.

"Your body isn't built to hold the stress of transformation, nor the magic you are attempting to channel," the tired-sounding Earth Pony said gravely.

"Yeah," Hell Blazer said irritably. "We noticed."

“David, are you alright?” Lyra asked, her earlier discomfort forgotten in her worry for him.

"Forget it," Elliot said softly. "Let's just go enjoy the party."

***

The battle... January 19th, 2030.

The city of London was aiming at the sky. The ruined masonry, broken steel and shattered glass that littered the city made it clear that the once proud capital of Britain had seen far better days. A dark, ominous cloud hung in the otherwise light grey, smog filled sky, edging closer and closer to the city - but it wasn't a cloud. It was a swarm of ponies: Pegasi carrying unicorns. Lightly armed compared to the human forces - but armed well enough to kill something, nonetheless.

In the city, the best part of one hundred thousand soldiers, SAS commandos, Royal Marines, Equestrian Resistance members and hundreds of other soldiers ran around, preparing for the upcoming battle. Civilians - still nearly a million of them, even in a country with only fourteen or fifteen million people left - had been evacuated to shelters that were sealed with magic and titanium. The last armies weren't going to let the armies of the Sun Tyrant touch their families and charges without the fight of their lives.

Almost unnoticed by the bustling military forces went Hell Blazer, the yellow Earth Pony trotting through the lines to stand by Elliot's side. Elliot's eyes flicked down to his friend, and a small grim smile flickered into existence for a moment.

"How many?" Hell Blazee asked softly, and the smile faded.

"Uncertain," Elliot replied. "But there are enough that we'll have a time."

"I was wondering what took them so long to plan for this," Hell Blazer admitted. "They had the numbers six years ago, let alone now."

"Yeah," Elliot agreed solemnly.

"You gonna power up?" Hell Blazer asked.

"Saving it for the moment," Elliot replied. "Don't wanna tip my hand too quickly."

"I can get that," Hell Blazer said with a sigh. "You're sure you won't reconsider...?"

"No," Elliot said sharply. Hell Blazer had come to him with a plan - a desperate, insane plan - that if it worked might end the war forever, but it wasn't a certain thing at all. "It isn't that desperate yet."

"How could it get more desperate?!" Hell Blazer said, sounding frustrated. "We're about to get swarmed by bucking - gah - by a whole cart... shitload of Pegasi!"

He must have been frustrated: he had been getting better at controlling the pony-language urges recently. Still, it hadn't changed Elliot's mind.

"It isn't the time," he said. "And I'm not powerful enough to take on the Tyrant."

Hell Blazer didn't look convinced, but he fell silent, sensing he wouldn't make any headway. A moment later, they were joined by an older-looking Earth Pony - the Doctor stood with them, eyes turned skywards, wearing a battered brown leather coat, patterned scarf and Ditzy's old bandolier. The others didn't even look at him: they were too fixated on the approaching horde. They were close enough now to be able to distinguish the odd individual form of a Pegasus or two.

"I have fought many battles," the Doctor said softly, breaking the silence. His raspy voice sounded tired. "But I had hoped that it would not happen again. Part of me wishes I had not lived to see it."

"Way I see it Doc, none of us are gonna see the end of this day," Hell Blazer told the pony. Elliot looked down at the Doctor - he looked like hell: his eyes filled with bags and a short stubbly beard on his face. His mane was already greying.

"Way I see it," Elliot said shortly, "I'm gonna kill some converted, kill some Royal Guards, and give the bastards hell." To emphasise his point, he unholstered his hand cannon. The Doctor said nothing, but Hell Blazer grinned.

"That's the spirit, mate," he said. "Let's give them hell."

He thumbed the radio earpiece he had on." All troops," he said, trying to sound inspirational. "There's not really any plan except kill the bastards. So. Kill the bastards. Albion out."

He had been called "Albion" more and more by the troops under his command - especially after the deaths of all but one of the Elements of Order. He didn't like using the name - Albion wasn't him, Albion was the thing that used his body - but it kept morale high, so he relented.

"Ready?" he asked Hell Blazer, aiming his hand cannon at the ever-approaching horde.

"Hell yes." The Earth Pony looked entirely too eager for the coming battle.

"Good luck to us all," the Doctor added softly. "For I fear we will need it."

A moment passed, and then the firing started.

Author's Note

EDIT: This chapter was edited 15th May 2015.

Memories, Part 2

Chapter Five: Memories, Part 2.

***

London, January 23rd, 2030.

London was burning.

Skyscrapers had turned into metal skeletons, incinerated by magical attacks fired by blunt but powerful converted and skilled and efficient true-born unicorns. All across the skyline of the city, turrets firing streams of tracer round out into the burnt-orange night sky. Rain fell, splattering on the ground and yet not strong enough to diminish the flames of war or wash away the splatters of blood that covered the city. Yells - orders, pain, death - filled the sky, almost - but not quite - drowning out the bloody, brutal sounds of battle.

And yet, it was David Elliot's element. A combination of the spirit of Albion and his own, is not comfort then certainly familiarity with conflict, meant that he was managing to keep one step ahead of his enemies at all times. Pegasi couldn't touch him, for he'd gun them down and dodge their attacks. Earth Ponies couldn't hit him, for his skill at hand-to-hoof combat was the pinnacle. Unicorn magic could not harm him, for Albion's power and his own agility kept him safe, allowing him to dodge the spells until he was close enough to kill the fragile little mages or the trained Royal Guards - whoever they were, they died at his feet. It didn't help the enemy's cause that they attacked him in a city that he knew well.

Right at this moment, he was using the terrain to his advantage. He ran down a narrow side street, his pursuers - three armoured Royal Guard Pegasi - chasing close behind. He fired off a shot from his hand cannon, and one of the three took a bullet to the shoulder: with a scream of agony, he veered off, crashing into the Pegasus next to him in formation and sending them both into the wall at high speed, before they clattered to the ground. The last Pegasus gritted his teeth and charged at Elliot, who kept running.

"Albion!" the Pegasus screamed, aiming straight for the running man, "I'll take you down!"

Elliot span on his heel, standing his ground as the pony flew straight at him. At the last second, he stepped aside, as a giant sword materialised out of nowhere - as the Pegasus flew past him, the sword came down, slicing a deep gash along his side and spilling his organs to the dust. The pony spluttered for a moment on the ground, trying desperately to catch a breath despite the fact that his lungs had fallen out of his split carcass, and then he died, eyes wide in horror.

Sighing heavily, Elliot looked at Excalibur, the impossibly heavy looking blade seeming - and feeling - indescribably light in his hand. He closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them, the blade was gone once more. Suppressing a coughing fit, Elliot moved on, moving a hand to his earpiece communicator.

"Hell Blazer, where are you guys?!" he yelled.

"Coming up to rendezvous point now!" the Liverpudlian accented voice of the former John Constantine said, his voice tinny in the earpiece. "Got the Doc, Lyra and a bunch of guys together but we're taking fire!"

"I'll be there in two!" Elliot said sharply, and he took off at a jog.

***

At the end of the little alleyway, then down another, there was an intersection. Behind a wrecked routemaster waited Lyra, the Doctor, Hell Blazer, along with a dozen other soldiers, human and pony, including Elliot's old friend, the green unicorn True Grit. As Elliot watched, a spear impaled one of the other ponies present, pinning his wide eyed corpse to the ground. Elliot swore, before shooting down the offending Pegasus with his hand cannon, the body crashing not ten feet from his position.

"Sit-rep!" he bellowed, not caring who replied.

"Mixed," True Grit replied shortly. "But we're surviving, sir."

"John, how you holding up?" Elliot asked his old friend.

"Well enough," Hell Blazer replied, "though these bucking - FUCKING - plot-holes... ARSEWIPES... gah!" He shook his head, before concentrating on his words. "These sons of bitches seem to be tenacious b-fucks."

"They would be," Lyra said heavily, ignoring Hell Blazer's almost schizophrenic outburst. "They're the Royal Guard."

"That's not the worst of it, sir," True Grit said softly. "We've heard rumours that Shining Armour, Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle are all on the ground."

Elliot nodded, smiling slightly. Though this was certainly worrying news, to Elliot it was just a chance to continue the work of picking off the enemy one by one. Sparkle and Pinkie Pie had a date with his knives, and Shining Armour's death would only help to strengthen the morale of their soldiers. Added to that was the fact that if he did manage to kill them all, that might finally bring the bitch herself out, and he could finally meet her in battle.

A spear impacted near their position, and Elliot, shaking his thoughts of killing specific ponies off, aimed his pistol in a flash, taking another Pegasus down. They seemed to have taken up rudimentary sniping positions on nearby balconies and rooftops: they were too well covered for Elliot to get them unless they popped up. One was unwise enough to do so, and Elliot took his head off.

"We'll never clear this sniper field this way," True Grit complained, frowning.

"There may be another way," the Doctor put in softly, the grizzled looking pony turning to his cigarette-smoking comrade. "Hell Blazer?"

"Already ahead of you, Doc," the yellow Earth Pony said, a sudden smile on his face. He closed his eyes for a moment, muttering some sort of arcane nonsense under his breath, and suddenly a fire bolt appeared in mid air in front of him, before launching full force at a cluster of sheltering Pegasi on the roof, incinerating most of them. The few who weren't incinerated desperately took to the air, trying desperately to not be killed. Bullets from the troopers and spells from Lyra's horn took them out quickly.

Elliot looked at Lyra - she seemed, as per usual, entirely sickened by having to kill. He sighed inwardly: that was just how it was. Some people could deal with the killing. Some people couldn't. Lyra, though willing to kill to protect her ideals and her loved ones, just wasn't built for it. It was a sad truth that some of those who fought this war might never truly recover from it, even if they did (by some miracle) manage to win it.

Suppressing a cough, Elliot mused that maybe those who survived would be the lucky ones for even getting a chance to recover. He knew he never would.

"Now that that's done with," he said, altogether too lightly for anyone or anypony's liking, "how's the rest of the city holding?"

"We've lost about a third of our defence force," the Doctor supplied immediately, "but the civilian outposts are holding well. Minimal victims of ponification, but massive casualties from bludgeoning, spell damage, spears and lacerations."

"It could be worse," Lyra added, firing another spell off. It impacted into a wall, the rubble crushing a couple of Earth Pony Royal Guards who had been approaching their position. "As it is, we're just holding our own."

"Commander Albion," one of the soldiers, an SAS man judging by the symbol on his uniform of wings, tapped Elliot on the shoulder.

"Yes, soldier?" Elliot asked.

"Sir," he said urgently. "This position isn't secure. We have to..."

There was a loud bang, and a heavy object flew into the man's head, snapping it back to an unusual angle. The body slumped to the floor, the head covered in an odd mixture of blood and cream pastry.

"Shit!" Hell Blazer swore, eyes widening at the sight. "Party cannon!"

Elliot holstered his pistol with a growl that was half angry and half anticipation. The party cannon meant just one thing: Pinkie Pie was here.

"Looks like it's time for you to take on another Element," Hell Blazer continued, his tone grim. Another shot impacted near them, spraying chunks of wall and pie onto the group. "You gonna Albion up?"

"Lyra, get everyone out of here," Elliot said seriously, ignoring Hell Blazer’s question. "Now!"

"R-right," the Unicorn said softly, looking worried. She immediately headed off in the opposite direction, the Doctor, True Grit and the other soldiers following her.

"You sure about this?" Hell Blazer asked.

"Get out of here, John," Elliot said grimly. He unsheathed his daggers, spinning them in his hand. Hell Blazer stopped for another second, and then raced off, leaving Elliot alone.

A moment passed in almost unnatural silence, and then a bright pink pony appeared, sans party cannon. She caught a glimpse of Elliot, who gave her a feral smile in greeting. She smiled back - her own smile a combination of madness and fury.

"You're that Albion guy!" she said, her voice impossibly chirpy given the carnage that surrounded her, not to mention the fact that she was fighting the man who had single handedly murdered most of her friends.

"And you're the pink bitch," Elliot replied conversationally. "How're things."

"You killed a lot of my friends," Pinkie Pie said, slowly advancing on him, the wide grin entirely unsettling. "But apart from that, things are just peachy for me, thank you for asking. How about you?"

"Oh, same old, same old," Elliot grinned, spinning his daggers. "But they're about to get a whole load better. Only one of us leaves here alive, little pink bitch."

"Okie dokie lokie," Pinkie replied, eyes wide and manic. "But just so you know, I Pinkie promise that I'm gonna make you hurt for what you did to my friends."

"Oh, Pinkie," Elliot laughed. "Didn't your mother ever teach you not to make promises you couldn't keep?"

The pink former-party-pony had no reply for that save a deep scowl, one Elliot relished the sight of.

The two stood still for a moment, as if waiting for some unknown signal - and then they charged at each other, Pinkie screaming a mad war cry and Elliot yelling in fury.

Elliot moved his daggers in a finessed, if slightly unrefined attack. Pinkie Pie dodged every swing, moving preternaturally fast. She lashed out with a hoof, but he grabbed it, spun her around and threw her into a wall.

"Is that it?" she asked, seemingly not affected by her trip into a wall. She shook off some of the rubble and dust that had covered her. "How did you even manage to defeat the others with those weak moves?"

"Like this," Elliot smiled. He drew upon a small measure of Albion's power, and charged at her - his knives whipping out. At the last second, she dodged, but not fast enough to prevent him from cutting her cheek.

She growled, ignoring the bleeding wound, and charged him. This time, however, he dodged her, her hooves moving past him wildly. Elliot took a moment to analyse her style - she was unrefined, unfocused, relying on speed and power rather than skill or precise targeting. He dodged another blow, grabbed her left hoof and threw her, amplifying his strength with Albion's strength. She landed in a heap at the either end of the street. He coughed slightly, the forays into Albion's power costing him dearly.

"Grr," Pinkie growled, standing up and shaking rubble and dust off of her coat. "That does it!"

She charged at him, again moving with preternatural speed: her charge knocked him over, and she began punching his face, but his hand reached out and he grabbed the SAS man's shotgun, ramming it into her head. As she fell off of him, he rolled away and stood up. He tried firing the shotgun, but she dodged the three shells he fired. He cursed as he heard the click of an empty chamber, and kicked out at her, sending her rolling down the street. He grabbed the spare ammo from the soldier's corpse, thanking the man for having spare ammo handy.

She got to her feet as she rolled, and then she grinned, her eyes glinting with a dangerous madness. From nowhere, her party cannon appeared, and without any warning she fired. Elliot dodged behind some rubble, but more projectiles fired, forcing him to keep moving. Pinkie Pie screamed in frustration.

Elliot looked at the impacts as he dodged, the splatters of what he assumed was ponification potion were smacking into walls and rubble. Strictly speaking, he supposed he shouldn't have been worried, but all the same: no need to let the stuff get on him.

"Will you stand still?!" the pony yelled, regaining his attention.

"Nope!" he cried out in return, mocking her. "Come on, Pinkie Pie, at least Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash all put up a fight!"

"Don't say their names you... you big fat meany!" the pony replied, screeching in rage. The unlikely cannon the pony fired again and again, the rate of fire seemingly impossible for such an old style weapon. And yet, that which was considered impossible was the business of these... things, he supposed.

Suddenly, a pie smashed into a wall opposite his head, having over sailed said head by a few feet: he raised an eyebrow. Confectionary as a weapon? That wasn't new, but it was still surprising. Not really deadly on it's own, per se, but deadly enough as far as Elliot was concerned if that dent was anything to go by. Still, it meant she was trying to kill him now, which meant she was angry. And if she was angry, she was going to make mistakes.

Ducking behind cover, he reloaded the shotgun, rethinking his strategy. This wasn't exactly how he had wanted this encounter to go, but it wasn't as though he was enamoured of choice. She had jumped the group: no way to avoid her, he had to roll with the punches.

"Alright meany-pants, you can't hide forever!" he heard her yell. She was getting closer, the cannon disappeared to wherever the crazy bitch kept it.

But she was coming to within shotgun range.

"Don't worry," he called back, grinning maniacally. "I'm not."

He jumped out and opened fire, catching her front legs with the spray but not fatally injuring her. She yelled in pain, collapsing to her front knees.

"You're a big ugly meany!" she yelled in agony. "I'm going to hurt you so badly when I get up...!"

"No," he replied, unzipping his jacket, "you're not."

He let the garment fall open and showed her the inside of the jacket, his grim trophies now visible. The pony's eyes widened in what the man guessed was fear at the sight.

"You're a monster," she said, uncharacteristically completely serious as she looked at him with utterly terrified eyes. Elliot laughed, a cold and cruel sound. It was the sound of all the damage this war had done to him, and he was sure that it wasn't done yet.

"I'm just fire," he replied, aiming his shotgun at her head. "Fighting fire."

A bang rang out into the night.

***

London, January 25th, 2030.

Elliot grimaced slightly at the twinge of pain that ran through his side. He pulled the shrapnel out of his rib, the enhanced healing that Albion's power afforded him already closing the wound. He laughed at the irony - in so many respects, he was stronger, faster and harder than he had been, and yet the power that gave him these edges was also killing him, slowly but surely. He was sure True Grit would have had something to say but... no.

No, that wasn't a good train of thought at all. He had lost enough people, and he was going to lose more before the end. No sense dwelling on those he had failed to save. If he did that, he might never move again for dwelling.

"Elliot," the voice of Hell Blazer said, bringing Elliot's attention back to the here and now. "You nearly done?"

Elliot moved his arm, testing the movement of the side. The pain was still there, sort of, but the twinges were definitely dying down.

"Yeah," he said softly. "I'm done. What's the situation?"

"Pinkie Pie and Shining Armour's deaths don't seem to have slowed them down," the Earth Pony said softly. "If anything, I think they're more pissed off than they were."

"Typical," Elliot sighed. He unsheathed his lucky dagger - the one that had killed Rainbow Dash, 'speed killer' emblazoned into its hilt - and walked to the exit of the small "command centre" (a fancy name for a hastily appropriated corner shop).

As he stepped outside, a soldier fell across the doorway, a spear lodged in his chest. Snarling, Elliot Drew his hand cannon and fired at the offending Pegasus, knocking it from the sky. More fire drove the attacking Pegasi back, but that wasn't good enough for Elliot. He charged after them, dagger spinning. Behind him, Hell Blazer and Lyra charged, Lyra's horn flashing with offensive spells.

They turned a corner, only to find themselves facing what must have been forty or fifty Earth Ponies.

"Bollocks," Hell Blazer swore. "Might be an idea to retreat?"

Elliot didn't answer, only taking time to reload his hand cannon. Hell Blazer sighed.

"Should have guessed," he said tiredly. "You want the twenty on the left or the twenty on the right?"

Elliot charged, firing as he went. Lyra stayed put, firing her spells off. Hell Blazer started muttering a series of ancient attack spells, fire forming and shooting off at his words.

The first pony went down with a bullet lodged in his skull. Vaulting over huge falling corpse, Elliot stabbed a second pony in the spinal column, before kicking out, sending another sprawling into his comrades. Firing his cannon again, Elliot took out three more ponies, before holstering the weapon and drawing his other dagger. He lashed out, taking down a handful at a time with sliced throats and stabs to the heart. He span around, stabbing another pony in the neck, before pushing the corpse off of his dagger and kicking it into two more ponies. Before the stunned ponies could stand, he stabbed them in their throats, pinning them to the ground. Leaving his daggers in their necks for the moment, he drew his hand cannon and his shotgun, switching the latter to semi-automatic fire: he span around, firing indiscriminately, taking out pony after pony...

"David!" a small voice called out. Elliot span, to find himself facing off against a Unicorn, who fired a spell at him. Elliot blocked the spell with his arm, but the kinetic force drove him to the ground.

The Unicorn gave a feral grin, and moved to send another spell at Elliot -

But then the spell impacted Lyra, who was suddenly stood between them. She yelled in pain as the energy enveloped her, and then she fell to the ground, eyes closed as she fell unconscious from the pain. Angrily, Elliot fired the last round from his hand cannon at the pony, blowing the top of his skull out, before grabbing Lyra and sprinting down the street. Around twenty of the Earth Pony squadron were still active, but they were being pinned down by a combination of Hell Blazer's continued fire spells and several soldiers firing their weapons in a suppressive pattern. Fortunately, these ponies were Royal Guard trained, not human soldier converts, and so their tactics were piss poor by comparison.

"Hell Blazer!" Elliot yelled. "Back to base, now!"

"Right!" the pony said, calling out instructions to the soldiers. With a final blast of hellfire, the yellow Earth Pony ran after his friend.

In the base, Elliot was examining Lyra's wounds. They didn't seem to be serious on the outside, but as far as Elliot was concerned, that was a bad sign - it just meant that her injuries were bad on the inside. Magic tended to be like that.

"Where's the Doctor?!" he bellowed at Hell Blazer as the pony entered the room.

"In a different part of the city," his friend replied, eyes fixed on the injured Lyra. "Oh ponyfeathers... this a magic injury?!"

"Yeah," Elliot said, not commenting on the pony oath Hell Blazer used.

"Horse shit!" Hell Blazer swore, hitting the wall with his hoof. "Horse shit and motherbucking bastarding fucking wankers!"

"Can you help her?!" Elliot asked, ignoring the outburst.

"No idea," Hell Blazer said honestly, looking frustrated and upset. "Maybe if I..."

There was an explosion outside, and the sound of hurried yelling and panicked orders. From the sounds of it, things were getting desperate.

"They're getting closer," Elliot said quietly. "Shit."

"That's a word," Hell Blazer said angrily. "These bastards are tougher than I thought."

Elliot knew that if they moved, the sheer number of ponies out there might overwhelm them all - even the Avatar of Albion couldn't kill an entire army. Then again, if they waited here without trying to escape, they'd be trapped and killed anyway. There seemed to be no way out...

Except...

"Hell Blazer," Elliot said quietly. "You know that plan you had?"

Hell Blazer looked at Elliot, eyes wide. "Yeah?"

"It's time," his friend said. "You ready?"

Hell Blazer didn't reply, instead grabbing a vial of salt from his coat pocket. He immediately ushered Elliot into the centre of the room.

"Here," he said. He drew a small circle around his friend. "Remember - once you get there, get to Canterlot, kill Solamina any way you can."

"Gotcha," Elliot said. "I'll do my best."

"I've got faith in ya mate," Hell Blazer mumbled as he began drawing more symbols in salt.

"You don't, but it's nice to say," Elliot smiled. He looked up at the ceiling. "I'm ready."

Hell Blazer mumbled a few words, and then there was a flash of light.

***

The Present, Canterlot.

Celestia jumped backwards in shock, almost as though she had received a violent electric shock. She was sweating, her body shaking as she reeled from the influx of vivid, brutal memories. Her breathing was coming in short, shallow gasps, and she had to deliberately concentrate on slowing it down again. After a moment, she managed to control it, but it was still faster than she would have liked. She had to swallow to stop herself from evacuating her lunch, nausea making her feel altogether wretched.

"That..." she said, her voice breaking slightly. She swallowed reflexively again, the nausea subsiding slightly. "That was... that was..."

Elliot, shaking and pained, stepped away from her and sat on his bed; he looked like he was trying his best not to faint, his eyes half closed in fatigue. The memory sharing must have taken a lot out of him, especially given his fragile state of health, and the Princess of the Sun felt a brief pang of guilt.

"That was where I came from," he said, his voice grim.

Celestia didn’t know where to begin - what she had witnessed, in fragmentary images and brief snippets of moments, was a battle unlike any other - the slow obliteration of a world by this ‘Barrier’, and some sense of a deepening crisis within that version of Equestria, leading up to the flight of many thousands of her little ponies from their homes… and her own declaration of an Empire in place of the Diarchy. It was insane - there hadn’t been a full scale war in many years, and the conflicts Celestia had fought in recent living memory were smaller border conflicts with enemies like the Griffons - nothing like the insanity this man had lived through, and nowhere near as devastating.

"You... you left your comrades in... London?" she asked, uncertain of the unfamiliar (and yet horribly familiar) name.

"Yeah," he said, his tone sour. "By now, they're probably all dead."

Celestia blinked, her mind wandering as the horrid memories replayed themselves over and over through her mind. The Elements, turned into murderous fighters for an oppressive regime - her ponies, or ponies so like them that the difference didn't matter, invading a world; murdering innocents, or worse, converting them against their will into other ponies. What kind of world was this? What could have caused this?!

"How did your Celestia... this... Astra Solamina.... how did she fall so far?" she asked Elliot.

The man - a human, not a Briton, the new memories told her, a man named David Elliot but called Albion by most - shrugged casually.

"No one knows," he said, sounding somewhat unconcerned. "By all accounts from our pony refugees, the craziness only started when Equestria's portal opened."

"Something in your world affecting her maybe?" Celestia asked.

"Possibly," Elliot said, still sounding unconcerned. "No way to know now: my job isn't to know why she's crazy, my job is to stop her. It's why I'm here: this is just the wrong Equestria."

Celestia thought for a long moment about everything she had seen, the horror the man had experienced - more to the point, the horror he had experienced at the hooves of her and her subjects. This was... she knew it wasn't really her fault, that she had done nothing to cause the horrors he had seen and fought against... but all the same, the fact that it was her people, in a way, that were responsible for this... that was something she could barely stand to think about for too long.

"What..." she asked slowly, hesitantly. "What can I do to help you?"

"Send me back?" Elliot replied at once, as though this were an obvious answer.

"Back?" she repeated, shocked. "To that nightmare?!"

"My place is there," Elliot said with a shrug.

The Sun Princess blinked in disbelief at the simple request, and then shook her head, not willing to simply send him away and have done with this whole business as though it were nothing to do with her. She had taken such lacklustre action before, 'for the good of her ponies'...

Mol Cassar was a mistake I will not make again, she thought to herself.

"Is there nothing more?" she asked, her tone almost desperate. "I wish to help however I can... and if you don't mind my saying so, it would seem you need the help."

"By doing what, giving me an army?" Elliot asked, smirking slightly. "You happen to have one?"

"Yes," Celestia said grimly. It had been a long time since she had mobilised the forces of Equestria to battle, but she could still do it - and she knew her ponies would react as she had to this travesty. "I can send..."

"How many?" Elliot said, interrupting her. Celestia blinked, frowning at him.

"I think... at present, something like ten thousand Royal Guards, maybe one hundred thousand reserve and militia," she estimated, trying to remember the exact numbers - it was a peacetime force, not one built for full scale conflict. "Why?"

Elliot laughed. "Solamina has a fair few billion soldiers at her potential disposal. Converted militia and Royal Guards alike. She threw a million at London alone."

Celestia blinked: that was a considerably larger number than she had considered. Still, it made no difference to her - she had faced worse odds before, with less hope of success.

“You need whatever you can get,” she said softly. “Even with such odds stacked against us, it is better than nothing.”

“Even with an entire army of the best you can give me,” Elliot told her softly, a regretful smile on his face, “they wouldn’t be enough to make a difference. It’d delay the inevitable, at best.”

“Then let me help you delay it!” Celestia insisted.

Elliot sighed. “Even if I took every soldier you have, how would we get back to my world?"

“We will find a way!” the Sun Princess said, her voice almost at shouting level. “You cannot show me this insanity and then ask me to do nothing! I must help you somehow”

“No,” Elliot said quietly, shaking his head almost mournfully. “No, I can’t let you do it, Princess. It’s not my place to ask that of your world… and I’m not interested in delaying tactics. I need to end the war, not keep it going.”

Celestia sighed, but she seemed no less determined. “Then how can I help you end the war?”

Elliot, not looking entirely happy about the line of the conversation, was frowning, apparently trying to think of something that he might be able to ask of Celestia to do just that. Then a slow smile crossed his features.

"There's one thing you could do," he said softly. "It's a long shot, but it just might work."

***

Author's Note

EDIT: This chapter was (re)edited 2nd July 2015.

Interlude: War is Hell.

Interlude: War is Hell.

***

6th March, 2029.

Hell Blazer swore: the smell of burning flesh was never going to be one he liked, no matter how much he smelled it - and in this war, it was a guarantee that you'd end up smelling a lot of it. Especially if you happened to be Hell Blazer, since one of his favourite methods of killing ponies involved throwing fireballs at them.

Unfortunately, the smell clung to everything - clothes, fur, hair…the smell of roasting flesh was almost as sticky (metaphorically speaking) as the smell of the cigarettes Hell Blazer smoked. He coughed slightly, a cigarette sticking out of his mouth, and he wondered about the irony of hating smells that stuck when he smoked like a chimney.

One of the many things Hell Blazer pretty much hated about being a pony - apart from the constant streams of "niceness" instinct (including the instinctive use of pony oaths instead of good old fashioned swear words - was the fact that people always underestimated him, especially because he happened to be an Earth Pony. It was always assumed that he would be useless as a magic support operative (his chosen role on the field - if one could have a 'chosen' role in this war), since Earth Ponies were frontliners through and through.

He always liked proving that assumption dead wrong.

"You know, pony bodies weren't designed for twenty a day," a sarcastic voice put in.

Hell Blazer turned to face the speaker, a green unicorn by the name of True Grit. Grit was a very good soldier, one of the best the Equestrian resistance had ever thrown out. He had been a guard or something similar in the old days, back before Celestia had become Astra Solamina. His experience - and his knowledge of how the Royal Guard fought - had proven invaluable in the early days, and he had been present for the day when Constantine had summoned the Avatar of Albion - and become a pony.

"Alright, nag," Hell Blazer said.

"John," True Grit replied with a nod and smile. It was an interesting thing to note that Hell Blazer had chosen a pony name - though his soul and mind were free of Solamina's influence, he was still a pony with pony urges and some pony culture overlaid onto his mind: that had just been unavoidable, though the ponified swearing was something he could do without. Though he often said "Hell Blazer" was a choice he had made for irony's sake, the truth of the matter was it was the only thing he felt comfortable with: "John" just didn't really feel like him, though that made him ashamed on some dark, cold nights. Only his close friends called him John Constantine still, and that was because he had asked it of them. Only Elliot did it because he wanted to.

"What's the mission?" Hell Blazer asked, bringing his attention back to the here and now.

"We've been asked to go to the Pennines to find the Doctor," Grit said. "My understanding from his report is that he's found some information that could, quote unquote, 'change the course if the war'."

"How many times have we heard that before?" Hell Blazer said grimly. Nonetheless, a part of him was excited. If this was true - and the Doctor made it his business to see that everything he reported was true - then they might have a genuine advantage incoming. That was just plain lucky.

"Why the Pennines?" he asked Grit.

"Because that's where he wanted to meet," True Grit said with a shrug. "I don't know."

Hell Blazer nodded.

"Right then," he said briskly. "Shall we?"

***

The jeep ride to the Pennines wasn't entirely pleasant, but then Hell Blazer had hardly expected it to be. After all: most of the M62 had been broken up or was covered in debris from years of conflict, and though at least one lane was kept (relatively) open for military traffic, most civilian movement was restricted - the sad necessity of conflict (and the sad lack of all that many civilians, given that only fourteen million people were left).

True Grit had picked a crack team to accompany Hell Blazer and himself: apart from the two ponies, there was also an ERAF Pegasus called Errant Flight - Flight had been one of Ditzy Doo's famous Grey Squadron during Manchester, along with a Pegasus called Cloud Ranger: Ranger had been killed in action a few months after Manchester, leaving Errant Flight as the only member of Doo's famous team left alive. Flight was in combat fatigues, flicking his standard-issue ERAF wrist blade out and back again, looking at it with a slightly listless, almost bored expression. As Hell Blazer watched, he flipped the knife a couple of times, before locking it back into place with a sigh.

Errant Flight had issues.

There were also two humans: a former Royal Marine named Harrison and a BDF Engineer named Jan Lockett. Lockett was pretty, blonde, talkative and entirely too young looking to be experienced (at least in Hell Blazer's opinion), but her track record was surprisingly impressive. Harrison, on the other hand, was a taciturn, dark haired man who looked like he had seen five times the death he wanted to. He seemed entirely focused on driving the jeep. Neither of them had sealed their combat suits up yet, but Harrison looked so grim Hell Blazer could have sworn he’d probably evaporate any potion that touched him.

Eventually, they reached their target: a small farm house several miles away from the main M62, situated between one side of the carriageway and the other.

True Grit and Errant Flight stepped out of the jeep first, looking around carefully. After a moment, they signalled to the others. Harrison grabbed his MP5, aiming it at the sky as though looking for squadrons of Pegasi. Lockett on the other hand walked fairly breezily towards the farmhouse, a shotgun slung over her back, Hell Blazer right next to her.

"So," she asked, her voice soft. "What do you think the Doctor will have found?"

"No idea," Hell Blazer said, honestly perplexed by the thought himself. "I can't think of much that will help the war effort. Short of a second Albion..."

"Yeah, that'd be awesome," Lockett said. She was quiet for a moment before continuing. "You ever fought alongside him?"

"In a manner of speaking," Hell Blazer said. He didn't make it common knowledge that he had been the man (at the time) to bring Albion to life, so to speak. "He's something of a mate of mine, actually."

"I saw him fight at Cornwall when Twilight Sparkle's forces landed," Lockett said, excitedly. “That was amazing to see.”

Hell Blazer smiled. He had been at that battle too, though he wasn’t surprised Lockett had never seen him: it had been a pretty bad one. A horde of Solaminan soldiers - mainly Unicorns and Earth Ponies, though they had been covered from above by Pegasi divisions still - had managed to break through the blockade surrounding Britain and launch a mainland assault.

They had landed in assault craft - thousands of them. Their attack had been co-ordinated well, complete with Pegasi covering them from above, threatening to overwhelm the defensive line. The only thing that stopped them was when Albion had stood in front of the horde and unleashed a wave of energy that shattered the attacking forces, scattering their troops and killing many.

What wasn't common knowledge was that the effort had knocked him out for several days - he had only been saved by the timely intervention of a young soldier named Eric Smith. Hell Blazer had told Elliot not to use the power of Albion overmuch, and instead try to use small portions of the power at a time to augment his own inbuilt fighting ability. The full power was... not good for him. In fact, if Hell Blazer didn’t know better, the power would probably kill him.

“Hold up,” Harrison said, holding up a hand. He looked at the farmhouse suspiciously. “Suits on!”

He pulled a hood over his head and then put a gas mask over his face, Lockett doing the same: they were now sealed up and protected from potion attack. Hell Blazer frowned, coming up to him.

“What did you see?” he asked, scanning the area. It seemed entirely deserted to him, but he wasn’t normally one to ignore the Royal Marines when he had one with him.

“Unsure,” Harrison said, his voice muffled by the gas mask. “Looks clear, but I’m getting a bad feeling…”

Bad feelings were something Hell Blazer – ever since he had been a young man – had a lot of experience with.

“Ok,” he said softly after a moment. “We’ll be careful.”

“Yes sir,” Harrison said.

Hell Blazer looked around again, trying to see if he could see anything, but as far as he could tell there was nothing at all. It was frustrating, but he would deal with it.

When they reached the house, the door opened quickly. The Doctor looked out at them, tired eyes regarding the group carefully.

“Inside, quickly,” he said after a moment. He seemed oddly furtive.

“Doctor?” Hell Blazer asked.

“We haven’t much time,” the Time Lord/Earth Pony said. “I have a defector.”

“A what?” Hell Blazer asked. “A defector?”

“That is what I said,” the Doctor said wryly, giving him an almost amused look (almost amused was about all the pony could ever manage now). “Quickly now.”

The group went into the battered, ruined living room of the house, where a white unicorn sat. He looked tired and slightly drawn, as though he had been roughing it for some time. When True Grit saw him, he gasped in shock at the familiar sight.

“Prince Blueblood?” he said, shocked. "Is that you?"

The former member of the royal family smiled tiredly. “I’d rather not have the title, if it’s all the same to you.” He sounded wryly amused, but there was a hint of gallows humour to it. “It apparently now comes with rather a lot of things I’d rather not be involved in… or even know existed, tell the truth.”

“You’ve defected?” True Grit asked, regarding him with a dark frown – he had never had much respect for the aristocrat. “But you were…”

“I was one of Empress Astra Solamina’s councillors,” Blueblood supplied helpfully. “Oh yes, I know. I was lucky. It was that or soldiering, and I’m sure you know what they do to the Guard these days - well, you might know more than me, actually…”

True Grit nodded, an angry scowl developing on his face at the thought of many of his old friends, now his enemies because of the Tyrant Empress.

“Why defect?” Hell Blazer asked. He hated sounding cynical – a high ranking defector sounded like a miracle, and Hell Blazer had seen far too many miracles that weren't really miracles back in the day. Plus he knew Blueblood's name, and it didn't exactly come with any goodwill from those who spoke it.

“Because she swept away the council,” Blueblood said simply. “Not that she ever really listened to us anyway, but it’s surprising how much suffering you totally miss when you’re a puppet councillor.”

“Oh, I see,” True Grit smirked. “Once you were part of the common folk, you decided to quit because you couldn’t handle it.”

“Actually no,” Blueblood said, sounding surprisingly humble rather than insulted. “Once I saw the army in person, the recruits and the things she told them... and once I'd seen the common folk and their suffering… once I’d heard about Cloudsdale, and the Converted... that was when I knew.” He sighed. “I’ve been indolent, maybe even a little corrupt, in the past, I know that... but I've always believed in Equestria being a free state. I thought it was, even when Auntie declared herself Empress, but... it just isn’t.”

“It hasn’t been for years,” Errant put in, sounding annoyed. “Cloudsdale was sanctioned, for example…”

“I know that now!” Blueblood said angrily. “Don’t you understand, I know now. I know everything.” He started sobbing slightly. “Everything she’s done…”

"It's alright," the Doctor said, trying to comfort the unicorn and failing. "You're going to be alright."

Blueblood calmed himself. "I managed to get away thanks to your friend the Doctor," he added, indicating the Earth Pony. The Doctor shrugged.

"I was in the neighbourhood, trying to see if I could recruit. Any more for our cause," the Time Lord said simply. "I found him drinking and after a chat, offered amnesty to him."

"That was a big risk, Doc," True Grit said, sounding a mite annoyed.

"It was one I felt was worth taking," the Doctor rejoined. "We need all the help we can get."

“Apart from yourself, what do you have to give us?” Hell Blazer asked. One pony wasn’t so important, and the Doctor knew that.

“Pfft,” Blueblood snorted. “You think I came here just to save my own skin? Hardly. I won’t pretend it was entirely altruistic, but there are far safer options than you humans you know, even if there is the Wall to consider…”

"Then why are you here?" True Grit asked.

"I was getting to that," Blueblood said. He used his magic – Harrison and Lockett tensed, but then from a satchell near him, a series of papers appeared, levitating in a soft light.

“What is that?” Hell Blazer asked.

“The best thing you’ll ever see,” Blueblood replied. “Copies of Royal Decrees for the next twenty major attacks.”

“Twenty major attacks?” Hell Blazer repeated, dumbfounded. “What do you…?”

"I snuck them out before Solamina dissolved the council," Blueblood said, sounding slightly abashed. "I thought I could use them for leverage, but when the Doctor convinced me to join you I realised they could help your forces; there's enough in here to wreck my Aunt's plans for months. There’s everything here from an attack on farmland in the Midlands to a full scale attack on London. You need to get this to your commanders.”

“Yes,” Hell Blazer said, eyes wide as he regarded the package. “Yes, we do!” He pocketed the documents quickly. “We need to go.”

"I'm more than happy about that," Blueblood said with a wry smile. The group moved for the door immediately.

"Hold up," Harrison said, holding up a hand. "I'll take point. Got to be careful. Lockett, on me."

Hell Blazer nodded, and the man headed for the door. Carefully, he opened the door, aiming his MP5 out into the Pennines. After a moment, he gestured, and Lockett moved up, her own weapon now out. They slowly moved away from the farmhouse, weapons aimed dead ahead. Hell Blazer waited from the door, looking out at the surrounding area nervously. His bad feeling was just getting worse.

"Is this really necessary?" Lockett asked, her voice muffled slightly by her mask. "There's nothing out there."

"You wouldn't be asking that if you knew how many times I've been ambushed," Harrison said. "Ponies are tricky bastards. Don't let anyone tell you different -"

He was cut off by a sudden spear being lodged in his chest. His eyes transfixed on it for a moment, and he let out a soft "huh" before dropping to the ground dead.

Locket yelped in shock and stepped back, as suddenly roughly twenty ponies appeared from nowhere, led by...

"Oh shit!" Hell Blazer swore. There, at the head of this squadron of ponies, stood Twilight Sparkle, dressed in her full ornate battle armour, purple cloak emblazoned with Solamina's sun-symbol flowing slightly in the breeze.

Lockett stepped back, firing her shotgun in panic (she was, after all, facing one of the most dangerous ponies known to man), but she didn't hit anything in her panic - and then she was blasted backwards by a purple spell, her body slightly charred. Quickly, Hell Blazer grabbed her and pulled her inside, closing the door. The Doctor was on her immediately, scanning and pulling her gas mask off: she was badly burnt on one side of her face.

"Shit!" he swore. "This is bad!"

"Attention former Prince Blueblood!" the voice of Twilight Sparkle spoke, resonating across the field. She sounded older and harder than her years suggested but that was more common than anyone was comfortable with. "We know you are in there. Surrender now and your death and those of your pony compatriots will be swift and merciful."

"No it won't," Blueblood snorted quietly. "They'll string me up, and more likely than not they'll brainwash all of the ponies here and convert the girl."

Before anyone else could speak, True Grit moved to the front door, his horn glowing. The door glowed too, the glow not dissipating: whatever True Grit had done, it had apparently enchanted the door.

"That should keep them out for a little while," Grit said. A banging started. "But Sparkle's a powerful magician."

"Oh Horsefea- shit," Hell Blazer swore, trying to ignore his lapse into pony-speak. He wished Elliot was here - against Sparkle, the Avatar of Albion might be the only hope they'd normally have. Still, provided they got out without directly confronting her...

"Is there another way out?" he asked, turning to the Doctor.

"The TARDIS," the Time Lord replied at once. "It's upstairs."

The sound of shattering glass came from upstairs, and Hell Blazer swore.

"Apparently, so are the enemy," Errant Flight said, rolling his head and loosening his muscles. "Grit?"

"On it," True Grit said, moving to cover the stairwell. "Doctor, any way to get your ship down here without going up there?"

"Unlikely," the Doctor said. "I've no means of remote summoning her at present."

"Plan B then," True Grit sighed, and he charged upstairs, Errant Flight right behind him, combat knife held awkwardly between his teeth. The Doctor followed - he wasn't much of a fighter, but he needed to get to his ship.

"Great," Hell Blazer said, turning to Blueblood, who looked unhappy. "They leave us pretty much alone."

Before Blueblood could reply, another window caved in, a Pegasus landing in a heap in the room. He looked up at Blueblood and Hell Blazer, before bellowing a battle cry, charging at them. Before he could reach them, however, a table had been launched from the living room, impacting on the Pegasus and knocking him into a wall, dazed. Hell Blazer turned, to see Blueblood staring at the Pegasus, eyes wide and horn still glowing, panting slightly.

"I've never done that before," he said softly. "Never even thought about it."

"Good work," Hell Blazer said shortly. "You might have just saved our skins."

"Hey, you two!" Errant Flight called, and Hell Blazer turned to see him standing by the stairs, True Grit levitating Lockett up the steps slowly. "We need to go!"

The banging on the door was getting heavier, and the glow was fading slightly. Elsewhere in the farmhouse, other windows were being smashed.

"They're finding other ways in!" Blueblood said, eyes wide as he reached the stairs.

"Move it, you royal pain-in-my-flank!" Errant said, pushing the erstwhile Prince up the steps. Hell Blazer followed them, only to stop at the top of the stairs.

"Oh, I've wanted to do this," he said with a soft smile. He closed his eyes and summoned a fireball, just as the front door burst open, Twilight Sparkle standing there, furious rage in her eyes and three of her team behind her.

"Regards from Liverpool, bitch!" Hell Blazer yelled, the fireball zooming at Sparkle before she could react. Not waiting to see what happened, he bolted.

The fireball impacted on Sparkle, but she had been imbued with a portion of the great Solamina's power and was relatively unhurt, though singed. Her comrades were not so lucky, their burnt corpses lying against the doorway.

She raced up the stairs and into the nearest bedroom, eager to kill Blueblood herself if he wouldn't come quietly... but she found herself facing a slowly vanishing blue box, making a loud trumpeting noise.

"Horseapples," she swore. Oh well: there was always next time.

***

The Doctor moved around his console, looking as though he was concentrating heavily: the machine couldn't travel far, the magical energy saturating Earth making it difficult to navigate, but as an island hopper it worked quite well. True Grit and Errant Flight were checking on Lockett, who was unconscious but supposedly alright, a fact for which Hell Blazer was remarkably grateful.

Blueblood, meanwhile, was panting slightly, looking scared. Hell Blazer walked up to him.

"Not bad today, mate," he said. Blueblood smiled, but looked slightly nauseous.

"I..." He swallowed. "I hope I can keep being of use."

True Grit snorted. "No offence, but we need fighters more than royals right now."

"Actually," the Doctor said, turning away from his console for a moment, "there is one use the former prince may have."

"Oh?" Errant Flight said, sounding sceptical. "Wanna clue us in Doc?"

"He is a relative of Solamina, correct?" the Time Lord pointed out.

"Yes, so?" True Grit asked, sounding vaguely annoyed. Hell Blazer, on the other hand, suddenly got it.

"You think that'd work?" he asked the Time Lord. The Doctor shrugged.

"We could do worse," he said. "If he was on the council, he knows something about the logistics of being in charge."

"I'm sorry," Blueblood said, "but what are you talking about?"

"I'd like to know that myself," True Grit said, and Errant Flight nodded, frowning at the Time Lord, who was now, for some reason, smiling.

"Mr Blueblood," the Doctor asked the unicorn, "how would you like to be the official leader of an Equestrian Government-in-exile?"

Blueblood's eyes widened, and then - somewhat surprisingly - he fainted.

"Well," Hell Blazer said, looking at the unconscious pony with a wry grin. "There are worse reactions."

"You can't be serious," True Grit said, looking horrified.

"Why not?" the Doctor asked. "He's aware of the basic logistics of the task, and he seems willing enough to repent his work and at the same time somewhat wary of power given what he's seen of it's abuse. I'd argue that it would be a perfect choice."

"Because he's Prince Bucking Blueblood, that's why!" Errant Flight said. "He's a royal pain-in-the-butt!"

"But the royal part makes him a legitimate part of the line," Hell Blazer pointed out. "And that legitimacy makes him propaganda's new best friend."

True Grit and Errant Flight looked at each other uneasily. They weren't exactly happy about all this but... well, it was a plan.

"Now we just need to convince the powers that be," the Doctor said, returning to the console. Hell Blazer chuckled and patted the still-unconscious Blueblood on the shoulder.

"Welcome to office, mate," he said.

***

Author's Note

The first interlude, one of several chapters that'll be dotted throughout showing what life was like during the course of the war, focusing on characters who aren't Elliot. I hope you enjoyed it: regular reading will shortly resume.

EDIT: This chapter was (re)edited 2nd July 2015.

Summons of a Princess.

Chapter Six: Summons of a Princess.

***

Ponyville.

Having arrived back in Ponyville on the train a short while ago, Twilight Sparkle and her friends were discussing what had happened as they walked home from the train station.

"Look," Applejack was saying, "I don't know what I saw, but I know fer a fact that nopony's cut my mane off - see?"

She jabbed a hoof at her intact mane as if that proved her entire point.

"And yet, darling, there our manes were," Rarity said softly, looking troubled. "And I'd recognise my mane from a mile away, believe me on that one."

"Me too," Pinkie said, sounding far too chirpy for this subject. "Why d'you think he would he have our manes?"

Applejack shared a glance with Rainbow Dash - it was an entirely unpleasant thought that occurred to them both, but it was also fairly obvious what the manes signified. What was odd was that Pinkie asked: she wasn't stupid... but she was also a very optimistic pony. Perhaps the very idea of... well, that sort of thing just wouldn't have occurred to her. Would it?

"He took them from somepony," Applejack finally said, completely unwilling to lie, even about this. "I reckon it had to have been somepony he... he..."

She swallowed. It was a horrible thought, and she was unwilling to finish it. Nonetheless, by Pinkie's widening eyes, the other mare had taken her meaning all too well.

Twilight, oblivious to the discussion behind her, looked thoughtful. Fluttershy poked her, looking worried, and the purple Unicorn looked up at her, startled from her reverie.

"Twilight? Are you... are you ok?" Fluttershy asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, Fluttershy, I'm fine," the purple Unicorn replied quietly, trying to smile. "I just... I don't know how I've never heard of a 'Briton' before."

"That's kinda worryin' as well," Applejack pointed out, trotting up behind them. "Ya'll normally know pretty much everythin' there is to know from books: I don't think there's a thing anywhere that you haven't at least read about somewhere, even if it's only in passin'."

"It might be a book I just haven't read yet," Twilight postulated with a thoughtful frown. "But I'd need to go through my books to make sure... remind me to ask Spike when I see him..."

She trailed off as two ponies raced towards them - one was a grey Pegasus with mismatched eyes, and the other was a turquoise unicorn with a white and turquoise mane - Lyra Heartstrings. Twilight knew the latter quite well from their days together in Canterlot.

Kindly speaking, Lyra was considered something of a crank by most of her peers. Unkindly speaking, she was considered downright weird. She specialised in cryptozoology all history, making it her life's work to believe in things that most respectable scholars - a group that included Twilight herself if she was being somewhat generous, and she felt like deserved to be a little generous to herself after everything she had done - thought didn't exist, or didn't pay much mind to. Among the topics of her research papers, at least those that Twilight had seen, had been discussions about the (at best) mythical Asyram Empire, an admittedly well-argued treatise about the mythical Bone Gardens, and three separate essays about the ancient Mole Empires.

"Where's the human?!" she asked excitedly as she bounded up to the group. Twilight blinked in surprise: this was something of a non-sequitur for her.

"A human?" she asked slowly, unsure if she had heard Lyra right. "You mean those mythological creatures you wrote a ...?"

"You saw a human!" Lyra squealed excitedly, making Twilight cringe a bit at her volume. "Derpy told me! Two legs, hands, all that stuff, just like the books!"

The Pegasus, Derpy - Ditzy Doo, Twilight reminded herself, slightly annoyed with herself for using the strange and possibly slightly unfair nickname that many other ponies in Ponyville used - had the decency to look moderately abashed at having set Lyra off, though she also looked decidedly curious about the subject herself. Twilight sighed, recognising that she had to say something: if she thought humans were involved, Lyra would never let the subject go.

"We... we met a creature," she said hesitantly, uncertain how much she should reveal: Celestia hadn't told them to keep things secret, but such things were usually fairly implicit. "And it was walking on two legs..."

"I knew it!" Lyra shrieked excitedly, cutting Twilight off mid sentence as she bounced around, entirely too happy about this information. "I knew it, I knew it, I knew it...!"

"But I don't think it was a human," Twilight added quickly, trying to calm her down. "I mean, it called itself a Briton..."

Lyra didn't seem to be listening, too busy bouncing up and down and all around in joyful exhilaration at having been, in her mind, validated at last. Twilight looked at Derpy, who shrugged at her.

Before Twilight could attempt to calm Lyra down, however, Spike rushed up to the group, looking suitably worn out having apparently run all the way from the library.

"Spike?" Twilight asked. Wordlessly, the out of breath dragon handed her a scroll. Opening it, Twilight read the letter: it was in Celestia's writing, but was far briefer than she had ever seen.

Twilight. Return to Canterlot as soon as you can. Bring the other Elements and the Briton's belongings.

That was it: no sign off, no anything, just three short sentences. Twilight frowned in worry - if the Princess was being this terse, even in writing, then something was definitely up.

"What is it?" Rarity asked, looking at the letter.

"We're going back to Canterlot," Twilight said, turning around. "I think it's something to do with that Briton thing."

"Oh cool!" Lyra said, finally ceasing her bouncing around. "You're going to see the human?!"

"It's not a human, Lyra," Twilight said exasperatedly. "And before you ask, no, you can't come."

"Oh come on, please?" Lyra asked, looking at Twilight with big sad eyes. "I've got to see a human!"

"No!" Twilight said with finality. She turned to the other Elements. "Come on girls, we need to collect the Briton's things."

They headed back for the library, moving quickly. Lyra sat down, disappointed, and Ditzy sat next to her, trying to be as comforting as she could be.

"Don't worry," Ditzy said, trying to be reassuring, "I'm sure we'll get to meet the human after all the important stuff happens."

"Well I'm not," Lyra replied, frowning. She began walking in the direction of the train station, sudden determination in her step. "I'm not going to just sit here when there's a human sitting in Canterlot. I need to meet him!"

"What are you going to do?" Ditzy asked, following her.

"Whatever I have to, Derpy," Lyra replied, and she began running. "Whatever I have to!"

***

Canterlot: Guard Training Room,

Elliot walked into the training room, Shining Armour of all ponies firmly behind him. The Unicorn captain looked decidedly unhappy with Elliot being allowed to use a training room at all, but Elliot didn't particularly care about that, or anything this particular Unicorn felt.

As he walked into the room, he stretched a few of his muscles, before beginning a series of brief warm-ups to get his body energised.

"Why the glare?" he asked Shining, unable to resist needling the Unicorn a little.

"Forgive me if I'm not entirely willing to trust a creature that tried to kill the Princesses only a few hours ago," Shining replied with a frown. "Just because you've convinced Princess Celestia doesn't mean you've convinced me."

"I would think the fact that I convinced Celestia would have convinced you," Elliot replied. He began a series of brief boxing drills, just to get his arms moving and feel a little more alive.

"It should, but just because she trusts you doesn't make you trustworthy," Shining said. "She freed Discord and allowed him to be reformed. That doesn't mean he's trustworthy. That just makes her forgiving."

"I see," Elliot said with an amused smile, noting the reference to Discord with interest. "You think I need to be forgiven."

"You attacked the Princesses without provocation," Shining Armour said, his volume rising slightly as he got annoyed. Elliot scowled.

"No, I didn't," he countered shortly.

"What provocation could you possibly have had?" Shining said. Elliot frowned: he could have tried explaining he supposed, but he didn't have the inclination to deal with a stupid little minion, especially this minion. He had come here to do drills after all.

He sighed, and then breathed in deeply, letting the pains and aches that filled his body slowly drain from him. He held out his right hand, and visualised the blade Excalibur in his hand again. A moment later, the Zweihander materialised, the shining, ornate blade light as a feather in his hand, despite its size and bulk.

"What the...?" Shining said, eyes widening in alarm. He appeared to gather energy in order to cast a spell, but Elliot held up a hand to stay his wrath.

Armour bristled, but Elliot ignored him. He began slowly practicing with the blade, ignoring paths outraged look on the Guard Captain's face: he held it up in a guard position, then slowly began a series of manoeuvres with it, spinning and cutting and hacking as he repeated the various forms over and over, his feet moving as if in a complicated dance. Shining Armour watched him slowly, eyes narrow as he watched the man go through his exercises.

"I'm only doing training moves," Elliot said to him softly. "I don't intend any harm."

"Sure you don't!" Shining snorted in disbelief, moving to a defensive posture. "I'd sooner throw Cadence in Tartarus and lock away the key than ever believe you don't mean harm."

"You don't want this," Elliot said softly. "Believe me."

"Are you threatening me?" he asked. Elliot stopped his movements for the moment, and turned to look at Shining.

"Do you think I need to?" he asked with a raised. "Ask yourself this. I fought Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to a damn standstill. Assuming you don't somehow think you're more powerful than them... do you really think I couldn't break you in two?"

"I'd like to see you try," Shining Armour said. Elliot snorted in mirth, the irony of this situation not lost on him...

***

January 24th, 2030.

True Grit fired off another offensive spell, blasting a Royal Guard backwards and knocking him into a wall, where he fell to the ground, smoking slightly from the heat. He gritted his teeth slightly: most of the troops he had come to this intersection with were dead, killed by spears, zapped by spells or crushed by rubble. This was bad, because if this intersection fell, then this whole half of the city would fall. He ducked back behind the broken car he was using for cover.

"This is True Grit to anypony or anybody available," he said into his earpiece, using his magic to activate it. "I am pinned down and need immediate reinforcement."

"Somebody say reinforcement?" a slightly cocky voice said, and suddenly David Elliot, the Avatar of Albion and one of True Grit's oldest human friends, was crouched next to him, having dashed from a nearby alley. The human grinned slightly. "Howdy Grit. How're things."

True Grit couldn't help but smirk slightly. "Oh, not so bad. Crazy brainwashed ponies, dead troops, the usual."

Part of him felt sickened at the casual way he referred to the deaths of his comrades, but this war had seen the population of this island go from over one hundred million to only fifteen. Death was a reality, a constant. Accepting it, even laughing about it, was the only way to deal with it, or you'd just go mad.

"Same shit different day," Elliot said with a nod. "Hang on."

He stood up, firing his hand cannon down the street. A couple of Royal Guards dropped dead, parts of their skulls blown away. True Grit raised an eyebrow.

"Bucking show off," he said softly.

"Yup," Elliot smiled. He popped his head over the parapet, before ducking back down quickly. "I count about twenty."

"Royal Guard or Convies?" True Grit asked.

"Mix," Elliot replied. He reloaded his hand cannon, reaching into the interior of his jacket to grab some ammo. Grit caught a glimpse of pink mane and frowned slightly.

"You got the mane then," he said, trying to sound conversational. Elliot glanced up at him, not interrupting his reloading. The human knew that True Grit - and most of the ponies in the defence forces - didn't really approve of the practice of taking the manes of the Elements as proof of their deaths or a trophy (or a combination of the two), but Grit had never spoken about it.

"Yeah," was all Elliot said. True Grit nodded softly, turning away and looking down the street. Then he popped his head back behind cover.

"Ponyfeathers," he cursed, imbuing the word with more vehemence than the average human put into 'shit'.

"What?" Elliot asked, popping his head to look where Grit had. A moment later, he put his head down again, a scowl on his face. "Horse shit."

"Yeah," Grit said.

Shining Armour, one of the best captains of the Royal Guard, was out there, leading his troops personally. That could only mean two things: one, that things were going so well that he was getting overconfident, or two - that he was getting desperate. True Grit hoped to whatever deities watched over the pony race now that it was the latter: desperation meant that things weren't going so badly, and he really wanted things to not go badly.

"What do we do?" he asked Elliot. The man gave him a look that worried him somewhat, his eyes glowing almost with anticipation, and then he grinned.

"We take him out," he said.

"I don't know if you noticed this," True Grit said softly, trying his best not to sound condescending, "but that's Shining Armour, Captain of Solamina's elite!"

"And if we kill him, we win a hefty moral victory," Elliot replied, sounding surprisingly optimistic. "Besides: you're talking to me."

He showed off his 'jacket decorations' to prove his point, and True Grit turned his eyes away, struggling to push down his revulsion at the sight.

"All right," he said softly, "so we can take him: but he's got twenty troops with him: tell me you have a plan for that."

A spell impacted on their cover. It appeared Captain Shining Armour wasn't giving them any more time.

"Plan is simple," Elliot said, holstering his hand cannon drawing one of his daggers - looked like 'speed killer'. "Kill that little shit, and try not to die."

With that, he bellowed a war cry and charged out from the makeshift cover of the car. True Grit sighed and followed him, shouting his own cry.

Elliot's dagger sliced through the first pony - a Royal Guard - before his second stabbed another. He sheathed both daggers and whipped out his hand-cannon, firing it into the face of a third. True Grit, meanwhile, charged into a Converted, knocking him to the floor, before stomping on his neck, snapping it. He zapped a second Converted, before charging into a Royal Guard, knocking him to the ground, just in time for Elliot to stab him where he lay. The human winked at True Grit, before charging into a small bunch of Converted - leaving True Grit facing off against Shining Armour.

"Traitor," the Captain hissed at Grit, his eyes narrowed in hatred.

"Is it worse to be a traitor to one's country or one's ideals?" True Grit replied. "I'm still fighting for freedom at least."

Shining Armour threw a handful of offensive spells at him, clearly uninterested in debating philosophies. True Grit snarled, putting up a shield, before expanding the shield into a shock wave that threw Armour back.

"Elliot!" he called. "Gonna need a hand!"

The human finished off another Converted and turned to face Grit briefly, nodding, before charging at Shining Armour. The Guard Captain threw a bolt at Elliot, who dodged it - then Armour charged straight at True Grit, using his telekinesis magic to summon a dagger. True Grit used his own to try and halt the deadly blade, but he was outmatched in the magic department, and could only watch in horror as the blade descended, stabbing into his shoulder.

His eyes widened as burning agony shot through him, but he ignored the screaming pain and kicked out, knocking Shining Armour to the ground. Elliot was nowhere to be seen - a quick glance showed that he was tied up with more Guards - so grit moved to break Armour's neck himself. Armour was quick though - before Grit could capitalise on the advantage he had, the Captain threw a bolt at him, knocking him into a wall and sending more burning pain shooting through a system.

The last thought he had was that he hoped Elliot got the bastard...

***

"So die all traitors to the Empress," Armour said with a satisfied nod as he gazed at the charred and bleeding body of True Grit. He had wanted to kill True Grit for a while: the unicorn had once been a Guard, but had deserted before the war had started, claiming that he couldn't serve Solamina after what she had done. Shining vaguely remembered almost agreeing with him at the time, but that, of course, was before the Renewal Of The Oaths... after that, he had felt only contempt for his former colleague.

He turned, intending to deal with Grit's human comrade - only for a fist to come flying out of nowhere, hitting him in the face. The first punch sent him sprawling, but he recovered quickly. The second knocked him down again, harder, and it took him a moment to recover.

"You bastard!" a loud, furious voice yelled. Armour looked up, to see the human soldier lashing out once more. Another blow connected, this time with Armour's cheek, sending him once more sprawling to the ground. "You little brainwashed bastard!"

Armour scowled, and tried to punch back, but the creature caught his hoof in his hand, and used his other arm to quickly break Armour's foreleg. Screaming in pain, Armour clutched at the damaged limb, getting a good look at his attacker... whose jacket, now blowing open, displayed five horribly familiar manes sewed into the lining.

"You..." Armour said, eyes wide.

"Me," the Avatar of Albion said with a snarl, whipping out a dagger and stabbing Armour in the stomach. Gagging on the blood that rose through his throat and into his mouth, Armour's last sight was Albion glaring at him, pure hatred in his eyes...

***

"True Grit!" Elliot said, rushing to his friend's side. The unicorn was bleeding badly, and he was burnt from Shining Armour's spell. "Hang on!"

"Did..." Grit coughed weakly, eyes opening to look at Elliot. "Did we win?"

"Yeah," Elliot said softly, as he tried to staunch Grit's wound. "Yeah, we won. Hold on mate."

"Yay for us," True Grit smiled. His eyes closed and he slumped where he lay, the life leaving him suddenly. Elliot's eyes widened, and he tried harder to staunch the wound.

"No... no, stay with me mate!" he said, starting to massage the heart in the hope of bringing his friend back. He was the Avatar of Albion, for God's sake. He should be able to save this one damn pony. just this one, just this once. "Breathe mate, come on!"

True Grit did not breath.

Elliot slowly stopped trying to restart the heart, eyes not leaving Grit's face. He slumped back, not believing what he was seeing. True Grit had been with him since Dover, since he had even been a Commander. He had stood with him through everything. It couldn't end like this.

But it had.

"No," he said softly. Then, screaming with frustration, he stood up, walked over to the corpse of Shining Armour, and began stamping on his head, smashing the skull to pieces, squishing the brain and the eyes. He stamped until the soft bits were nothing but mush mixed with bone fragments, and then he kept stamping. He brought out his daggers and stabbed the corpse, screaming in frustration...

And then, panting heavily, he spat on the tattered remains of the corpse, before leaving the intersection, heading for the Equestrian lines. He would make them pay for this...

***

Canterlot: Present.

Bringing his attention back to the here and now, Elliot forced himself to remember that - for now - this was not the Shining Armour he had killed, but a different one, or possibly a past one (he was collating as to which exactly it was).

He began his katas again, moving faster and faster, the blade spinning, hacking and cutting at thin air as though Elliot was surrounded by invisible enemies. There was one slice, then a cut, then a hack. A decapitating blow here, a stab there, a cut there. He moved with the grace and speed of a champion, and then all of a sudden he stopped, sensing another presence in the room.

"I know you're there," he said softly. A moment later, Princess Luna stepped into view, surprising even Shining Armour.

"Captain, you may leave," she said softly.

"Princess, are you sure that's..." Shining Armour began, but the moon princess looked at him with a stern glance and he bowed at once, before exiting the room. Elliot watched him go with relief.

Lune looked suspicious of Elliot still, and the man smiled at her.

"Princess Luna of Equestria," he said softly. "A pleasure to finally meet you properly."

"We wish we could say the same," Luna said, her tone grim.

"Yeah," Elliot said, a slightly sheepish smile on his face, "the big guy doesn't make the best first impression, does he?"

"Thou speakst as though thou and thy alter ego were separate beings," Luna said, frowning slightly. "Is this so?"

"Yeah," Elliot said softly, frowning. "Kind of. Well, kind of not. It's complicated."

"Is it?" Luna asked, looking half confused and half amused.

Elliot shrugged, clearly content with the vagueness of the answer. "I think that might be the problem I have, really: a lack of integration... or that's what Hell Blazer says."

"This Hell Blazer is a friend of yours?" Luna asked politely.

"One of the best," Elliot said softly. He shook his head slightly.

"I see," Luna said. She stiffened slightly. "Dost thou accept that we are as we say we are, and not thine enemy?"

"Yes," Elliot said. "Forgive me for Albion's... my... words to you. He... I... thought that Solamina had done some necromantic rite to restore your body to a parody of life. I thought the same of the Element bearers."

"You encountered them?" Luna asked, eyes narrowed slightly at this thought.

"You've not been told?" Elliot asked her, somewhat confused. Luna shook her head.

"My sister hath spoken in brief of the war thou fights against this... Astra Solamina," she said grimly, sounding disgusted at the name. "But she is often preoccupied with affairs of state - too much so to speak to me of what occurred between she and thou, and how thou hast managed to gain her trust."

"I see," Elliot said. He paused thoughtfully, and then he began his katas once again. "I come from another world, a world where another Equestria has invaded. Most of my home world has been destroyed. I'm fighting to preserve what's left."

"I see," Luna said. "And this... Solamina? She rules in place of my sister?"

"No," Elliot said, feeling hesitant about speaking on this subject. After a moment, he sighed, turning to face her. "She is your sister. Your sister somehow corrupted and turned insane. She destroyed or brainwashed most of the people of my world."

"That..." Luna's eyes were wide. "That scarcely seems possible."

"Believe it," Elliot said, shaking his head. "It's the life my friends from the Exodus have lived."

"Exodus..." Luna repeated. "It seems strange to me that my counterpart did not stop her -'

"That would have been difficult for her to do," Elliot commented, a humourless smile on his face as he returned to his katas. "She killed you. Or at least, that's what most of the Equestrian Exodites thought must have happened."

"My sister would never do such a thing," Luna said, eyes narrowing. "We have been through too much together..."

"Whatever Solamina is, she isn't your sister any more," Elliot replied simply, the blade Excalibur moving in a complex rhythm dictated by his steps. "I'm sorry."

Luna didn't look particularly happy with his apology, or indeed at all, but before she could respond, Celestia walked into the room. She looked at Elliot performing his katas for a moment, before speaking.

"They're here," she said simply. At once, Elliot ceased his katas, and the blade vanished into thin air.

"It's time then," he said softly. He closed his eyes, not entirely happy about all this, but recognising that he didn't really have a choice.

***

Elsewhere in Canterlot.

Twilight and her friends trotted back towards the palace, the two Guards and Shining Armour accompanying them looking unusually grim. When they had gotten off of the train to Canterlot, they had found Shining and the Guards waiting, and they immediately began escorting them towards the palace.

"What's all this about, Shining?" Twilight asked her brother. "Is it about the Briton?"

"Princess Celestia asked me to bring you all to her as soon as you arrived," Shining replied grimly, sounding none too happy about his instructions. "It might be about the Briton, but she didn't say. That's all I know Twily, I'm sorry."

Twilight nodded, still not entirely happy about this entire thing. From behind her, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were having a heated discussion.

"It's mighty peculiar that she wants us back so soon," Applejack said. "Something musta happened."

"I just know it's got something to do with that two legged Briton thing," Dash said excitedly, her voice a low mutter. "I bet she wants us to use the Elements on it or something."

"I don't think so," Twilight said. "She seemed more worried for its..."

"His," Fluttershy corrected softly, though more firmly than she usually did.

"Yeah, his," Twilight agreed. "She seemed worried for his health when we last saw her."

"Which means what exactly?" Rarity asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Which means he'll be easy to zap," Rainbow Dash said confidently. "That's why we're here, I know it."

"Not quite, Rainbow Dash," a regal voice spoke. Without warning, Celestia appeared at the top of some stairs, looking more serious than any of the ponies had ever seen her - and they had seen her look pretty serious.

"Princess!" Twilight said, feeling a little more relieved than she would have liked to admit to see Celestia. "What's happening?"

"Come with me," Celestia said. She turned and began walking back the way she had come. Twilight sped up to walk next to her, the others behind her.

"Does this have someone to do with the Briton?" Twilight asked softly.

"Yes," Celestia replied simply. "And to do with where he comes from."

"Which is where exactly?" Applejack asked. Celestia turned to regard her thoughtfully.

"It is difficult to explain properly," the Sun Princess said slowly. "What I know, I know from a mind share spell that the human performed."

"Human?" Twilight said, surprised. "He's a human?!"

"Yes," Celestia said, "he is. I believe the term 'Briton' is a term for his nationality, not his species."

Twilight made a mental note to apologise to Lyra when she saw her again: if humans were real, then the turquoise unicorn was less of a crank than Twilight had always believed. Still, this wasn't exactly what Twilight would have expected.

"Ok," Rainbow Dash put in, breaking Twilight's train of thought. "So if we're not zapping him, what are we doing?"

"In the fullness of time, many things will be done, by us and others," Celestia said softly. "All will be explained when we get there."

***

As the group walked further into the castle, what they didn't realise was that they were being observed by two who - strictly speaking - shouldn't have been there: Lyra Heartstrings and Ditzy Doo, unseen by virtue of improbably good hiding on their part, were slowly following the group, running from pillar to pillar.

"I don't think we should be following the Princess and Twilight and her friends like this," Ditzy whispered to Lyra as they moved. "It doesn't feel right."

"You heard Princess Celestia," Lyra replied, even sounding excited when she was whispering. "This thing they've found is a human! I can't let the opportunity to meet one pass me by, I just can't!"

Ditzy sighed. She didn't even know why she had let Lyra talk her into this business: it wasn't like she was really all that interested in humans. All the same, she felt a certain responsibility. Having been the one to even tell Lyra of the human in the first place - sort of - it wouldn't be right for her to let the excitable unicorn run off looking without at least tagging along. Or something.

They kept going, but eventually they would have to figure out a way to get past a guard that stood outside a door. Lyra had an idea for something that might just work, but only if she was very lucky.

"What do we do?" Ditzy asked her.

"Don't worry, Derpy," Lyra said softly. "I have a plan."

Author's Note

This chapter was edited on 2nd July 2015.

Elliot Explains.

Chapter Seven: Elliot Explains.

***

David Elliot sat against a wall, the cold hard floor of the training room ever-so-slightly irritating, though he was able to ignore it (since he had sat in far worse). He marshalled his breathing, trying to remember that the group of ponies he was about to meet was almost certainly not the group of ponies whose various members he had spent months finding, hunting and killing. He knew that all too well: it was even part of the reason he had asked for them to come here in the first place.

And yet.

Seeing them alive upset him in a way he couldn't really describe. It was almost like everything he had fought for, everything he had lost, everything he had suffered since the war began, had all been for nothing. It was an irrational feeling, he knew, but he couldn't help it.

He had fought them before, killed them before, and every time he had killed one he had savoured their deaths: one step closer to victory, one step closer to peace... and then there was the other part of it too, that violent, nasty little part of every sentient being that so desperately wanted to hurt those who had hurt it. Elliot didn't like admitting that killing the Elements - even little Fluttershy - had made him feel good. There was always the little voice in his head that told him that, in some way, his vengeance was justifiable. Even if it were not, it was enjoyable, killing them. That way was where damnation lay, waiting to claim him. It was only so long before broken men like him became monsters, twisted beyond recognition.

He was never one of the fanatics who believed all ponies were as bad as Solamina. Unlike the hardliner HLF, he had no problem working alongside Equestrian Resistance members - hell, True Grit and Lyra had become good friends of his in the fullness of time. Still, working with these ponies, even being in the same room as them... he shook his head.

"I'm the damn Avatar of Albion," he said quietly to himself. "I've fought Celestia in her palace and lived, even when Luna was helping her. I killed five of the Elements of Order, I killed Shining Armour, I held off Sparkle's entire army at Cornwall. I can do this."

And yet he felt as though he could not. He wasn't sure if his self-control, discipline and training would hold when faced with them and no Barrier.This wasn’t a fight to the death like it had been last time he met their gazes, this was not even close. There was no other choice but to hold back before going too far. They may have the faces of the enemy...but these ponies were innocent. He remembered every horrid thing they had done, every battle he had fought because of them. And now he was going to speak to them: actually explain what had happened, why he was here.

The door to the little room opened, disrupting his train of thought. Elliot looked up, to see Celestia stepping inside, quickly shutting the door behind her.

"Elliot," she said softly, trying to sound sympathetic - probably because she could almost tell what he was feeling (or was just guessing, he wasn’t sure). "They're here."

"I see," he replied, not moving.

"Are you prepared to speak with them?" she asked, tilting her head as though trying to gauge him.

"I asked to, didn't I?" Elliot pointed out, probably more belligerently than he needed to. Celestia sighed.

"I have seen your memories," she said softly. "I have seen the battles you have fought. Speaking to these ponies..."

"I did it before," he pointed out, though he didn't sound convincing.

"Yes, you did," Celestia said, "but from what I can guess, that was an adrenaline fuelled moment, where you were prepared to fight them, or else you were preparing to attack me. This is different."

"Just bring them in," Elliot said sourly. Celestia sighed.

"Very well," she said. "Twilight. You can come in now."

The door opened again, and there they were. All six of them, even in formation. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, memories assaulting him once more...

***

Hull, February 19th, 2025.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Sam swore from next to Elliot as he ducked behind the wrecked wall they were using for cover. From down the road, there was a force of Royal Guards, three of them - all Earth Ponies - armed with bulky contraptions slung on their backs, several unicorns stood behind them for some reason,

"The hell even are those things?!" Elliot said angrily. "Some kind of artillery?!"

"Looks like they're focusing the magical energies!" Sam said, pointing at them in action. As they watched, the "support" unicorns' horns began glowing, before hitting the contraptions on their colleagues' backs. Suddenly, the contraptions belched large bolts of magic that acted like missile launchers: the bolts impacted at an emplacement and an explosion shook the ground, killing several defenders.

"Ah bollocks!" Elliot exclaimed. "How'd you guess?!"

"You'd be surprised how used you get to this shit," Sam said, a wry grin on his face.

"Well, Mr Used-To-This-Shit," Elliot said, ducking as a spray of rubble landed around them from another shot, "do you happen to have any bright ideas about how to not die?!"

"None," Sam replied. He checked his rifle, making sure he still had plenty of ammo in. "But it's pretty clear we need to stop the advance."

"Yeah, true," Elliot agreed. He sighed, realising they had only one option. "Charge?"

"Charge," Sam said with a nod, his face grim.

Elliot laughed - a grim, mirthless sound. "Well, we always expected to die for King and Country."

"Yeah," Sam said softly. "On three?"

"On three," Elliot agreed.

"Right," Sam said, readying himself. "Three!"

The two of them launched from behind cover, charging the heavy weapons. Luckily, the Unicorn teams didn't manage to get any shots off from their horns - and any shot from the 'missile launchers' was too inaccurate at this range. Elliot shot the first one as they charged. The second one fell to Sam kicking him to the ground, before shooting him with his rifle. The last fell to Elliot's dagger.

"Look out!" Sam called. Elliot span, blocking an attack by a Unicorn Guard with a spear, his dagger pushing the spear out of it's intended direction - his heart. He closed up with the Guard and stabbed him in the neck. He turned, to find another soldier - what looked like a converted Militia Earth Pony, judging by the uniform and the mad gleam in his eyes - charging him, pony sword in mouth. Snarling, Elliot braced himself as the pony reached him, blocking his blows - but whoever this guy had once been, he had some serious skill.

"Dave!" Sam called, tossing Elliot his own dagger. Elliot grabbed it, lashing out and forcing the Militia pony on the defensive, before managing to skewer him in the throat, the wide eyes of the Earth Pony staring at him, wide and full of shock. Elliot threw the body off of his dagger with a grimace of disgust.

He span the two daggers he held, looking at them with something resembling appreciation for the way the two weapons balanced in his hands. He had never considered going for a two-blade approach, but it seemed pretty awesome.

"Nice," Sam said with a whistle. Elliot offered him his dagger back, but Sam held up a hand. "Keep it. I don't even use them much."

Elliot grinned gratefully, but his grin died when he saw what was approaching down the street.

"Shit," he swore. Sam turned - to see six familiar looking ponies advancing down a nearby street, magical spells shooting from the tips of the two unicorns' horns, killing defenders with every blow.

The Elements of Order were here.

"And just when this battle looked like we could win it," Elliot said darkly. "Come on."

He grabbed Sam's arm, and the two of them raced down the street they had just come up, only to find their way blocked by an armoured, cyan-coloured Pegasus.

"Hey, fellas," she said with a dark grin. "Where you going?"

Without warning she launched at them, but Elliot and Sam managed to dodge her.

"Sam, go!" Elliot yelled, whipping his daggers out. Sam didn't look happy, but he bolted.

"Fighting me alone?" Rainbow Dash said, scoffing slightly. "Don't you know who I am? Don't you know how awesome I am?"

"Not awesome enough to impress me with your boasting, you winged bitch," Elliot said with a snarl. Smirking, Dash charged at him, but he managed to dodge her attacks, though barely. She moved fast, but she was also predictable, relying on her speed to give her the advantage rather than her skill. He lashed out with Sam's dagger as he dodged another attack, managing to nick her arm.

"Horseapples!" Dash swore, kicking out and sending Elliot down the street. He scrambled to his feet, ignoring the burning pain in his ribcage. He sheathed one of the daggers and unholstered his sidearm, aiming it at Dash. He fired, but Dash was, as he should have realised, too fast - the few shots that impacted hit her armour, and it was strong and managed to block the bullets, though he left a few good dents.

"Is that all you have?" Dash said, smirking again. From the top of the street, the other Elements appeared, spells starting to shoot at Elliot and impacting in the dirt and rubble around him. He fired back at them, but didn't manage to do anything.

Suddenly, a blue bolt of magic hit a building near the Elements' position, showering them with rubble. Dash tensed in shock.

"You!" she said, the word imbued with hatred. She looked like she was about to attack again, but a second bolt hit her before she could, throwing her into a wall and stunning her.

"Come on!" a female voice called.

Elliot didn't need telling twice, turning tail and running, firing his pistol down the street as he did so. He reached the far end of the street, before realising who his saviour had been.

"Hi," Lyra Heartstrings said, the turquoise mare smiling softly at him. "Nice to see you again."

Sam was stood next to her arms folded and a wry smirk on his lips. Behind them were fresh reinforcements - entire groups of BDF soldiers taking up positions, firing down the street at the Element bearers, who were retreating under a shield spell cast by Sparkle. Impossibly, amazingly, it looked like they had held.

“We’ve got airborne!” somebody shouted. Elliot looked up to see a vast swarm of Pegasi pulled chariots taking off from behind the retreating shield. It took only a moment for Elliot to realise the chariots were flying away from the city. One that was close enough to see in detail revealed to Elliot that they were carrying wounded away from the battlefield. This was it, the enemy were in full retreat.

Grinning with relief, Elliot laughed. Things weren't going so badly today after all.

***

Canterlot, the Present.

"Bearers of the Elements of Harmony: I present David Elliot, Avatar of Albion and representative of the human race."

Elliot forced his attention back to the here and now, shaking his head slightly to clear the recollections. Celestia had announced his presence, almost as though he were some foreign dignitary and not a battered, most likely shell-shocked soldier. She was now stood near the door, observing matters carefully - most likely waiting to see if anything went horribly wrong.

The six Element bearers were eyeing him suspiciously, none of them looking entirely happy to see him: Fluttershy and Rarity looked apprehensive, Applejack and Rainbow Dash more resolute. Pinkie Pie was merely tilting her head, regarding him as though he were a curiosity, and at the head of them, Twilight Sparkle was staring at him, her eyes hard.

He remembered fighting them all: Sparkle in Cornwall, Rarity at Dover, Dash in Hull, Pinkie Pie in London. He remembered Applejack's fate in the Midlands and Fluttershy's calm acceptance of her death in Sherwood. It had already shocked him before, but now that he truly remembered their deaths... now that he truly appreciated what he was seeing... it was overwhelming.

They were still staring at him, waiting for him to speak. He forced himself to remember why he had asked for them to come here, why it was important that they listen.

"Hello," he said softly, smiling as genuinely as he could.

None of the ponies replied for a long moment, each of them looking rather unhappy about being in the room with him.

"Hello," Twilight Sparkle spoke up.

There was a moment's awkward silence that seemed to stretch on forever, the ponies looking at him as though he were likely to explode and him looking back at them with eyes he was just sure would reflect his uncertainty.

"I suppose you're wondering why you're here," Elliot said after another moment.

"Ya'll might say that," Applejack put in. Elliot gave her a look, trying not to snap at her.

"It's a good question," Elliot admitted, "and I have to say, I don't blame you for being suspicious of me right now." He smirked at their faces, all of which looked shocked. "I know you are."

"Well excuse us if we don't trust the big dumb monkey who attacked us," Rainbow Dash said, sounding irritated.

"You're a bunch of violent talking monkeys. You'd be better as ponies, all of you, but you wouldn't listen to reason..."

He struggled to stop himself for lashing out. His fist clenched loudly, and the ponies glanced at it apprehensively. Celestia coughed once, eyes widening slightly.

"It would be best if we remembered that we are all here to talk civilly," she said. Though she addressed her comment to Rainbow Dash, Elliot could see her looking at him: she knew he was struggling not to attack someone, or something.

"You're right," he said. "We are." His fist unclenched, and he looked Rainbow Dash in the eye. "But next time you call my species 'monkeys', Rainbow Dash, remember that these same 'monkeys' killed you."

His hand twitched over his jacket, as though he were about to move to show the grim trophies within, and then he stopped himself, taking a deep breath as if to calm his nerves. Celestia looked decidedly unhappy, but Elliot wasn't here to kowtow to her, much as she had been kinder to him than he deserved. He took a deep, calming breath again, and tried his best to relax himself.

"I'm not here to intimidate you," he said after a moment, sounding calmer than he felt. "I'm here to explain where I'm from and why I'm here."

Twilight Sparkle suddenly looked interested, as though this were some burning question that had been in her mind, though he supposed that was just her nature. According to those who had known her from Ponyville - Ditzy, the Doctor and Lyra especially - Twilight Sparkle had always been one for knowing everything she could know, sometimes even when it was supposedly unknowable.

"I had a couple of theories," he continued. "I thought I might have been thrown back in time, but that doesn't work out well given other things I've learned."

"Like what?" Twilight asked, sounding entirely sceptical.

"Like the fact that Discord was freed in this world," Elliot said simply. Twilight's eyes widened in shock, and Elliot felt an irrational spike of happiness at stumping her. "Your brother mentioned him briefly. Him being reformed is a major difference with my world, though nothing compared to another, even greater difference."

"Which was?" Twilight asked.

"Your Elements are called the Elements of Harmony," Elliot said. "The Elements I killed were called the Elements of Order."

Every pony in the room - including Celestia, Elliot noted - looked befuddled and a little uncertain: this was a big thing after all. He had no idea what had caused the difference - truthfully, he had no idea if it was a change that happened before Equestria's portal opened on Earth or after - but it was a big enough difference to be worth his time.

"What does that mean?" Twilight finally asked.

"In terms of Element functionality? Haven't a blessed clue," Elliot said, shrugging, "but in terms of what this place is for me, I have a theory."

He paused, still uncertain whether he should say it, but... what the hell, what could they do?

"I think,” he continued, “that I'm in a parallel universe."

***

Lyra and Ditzy approached the guard in front of the door that Celestia and the Element bearers had passed through. Lyra tried to look as confident as she could, mustering every ounce of self-belief. Today she would meet a human - a human for Celestia’s sake! She wasn’t about to let nerves (or rules, or etiquette, or common sense…) stand in the way of that accomplishment!

Ditzy, on the other hoof, was just trying not to be confused at… well, just about everything she was experiencing. This morning, all she had wanted to do was talk to Fluttershy about some misdelivered mail, and now she was in Canterlot… for some reason. She still didn't quite know how she had ended up here... but she wasn't about to leave Lyra to go off on her own.

Like Ditzy, Lyra often got people unfairly making fun of her (if there was such a thing as being fairly made fun of, though Ditzy was sure there must have been some example somewhere), though in Lyra's case it was her obsessive behaviours more than her physical appearance. Having heard Lyra be mocked for her beliefs, Ditzy felt a kind of strange kinship with her, and was in her own way determined to see things through.

"Are you sure this’ll work?" she asked Lyra quietly as they approached the guard.

"Nope," Lyra replied with a nervous grin. "But it might."

The guard held up a hoof to stop them as they reached him. "State your name and business, citizens."

"I'm Dr Lyra Heartstrings," Lyra said at once, sounding super-confident and intelligent. "And this is my assistant, Miss Ditzy Doo. I'm one of Equestria's leading cryptozoologists, I've been called in to look at the human you've got in here."

"One of Equestria's leading cryptozoologists, huh," the guard said nonchalantly, sharing a glance with some of his colleagues. "And I suppose I've never heard of you because...?"

"Cryptozoology is a very misunderstood field," Lyra replied smartly, not realising that he had meant something entirely different. "We don't get a lot of publicity for our work, despite the fact that it's very important."

"Right. And you say you've been called in to examine our guest?" the guard asked, sounding sceptical, though Lyra didn't pick up on it.

"That's correct," Lyra said, trying her best to sound cool and collected. "After all, there's no one in all of Equestria who knows more about what you've got here than I do."

The Guard didn't look entirely convinced, but he nodded slowly at her words.

"Alright," he said. He turned to a green Guard Unicorn that was sat near him. "True Grit, go inform the Princess that we have a... 'leading cryptozoologist' in to look at the... what did you call it?"

"Human," Lyra supplied helpfully.

"Human," the first guard said. The Guard called True Grit saluted and headed through the door, leaving Lyra and co with the first guard. "If you ladies will just wait here, I'm sure the princess will send instructions on where to take you shortly."

Lyra nodded gratefully, and turned back to Ditzy.

"That worked," she said softly.

"I have no idea how," Ditzy pointed out quietly, looking at the guard who was, for some reason, smirking slightly.

"So cryptozoology," the Guard said, sounding conversational. "That's the study of stuff that no one can prove exists, right?"

Lyra turned to look at the guard, a smile developing on her face. It was so rare that anyone took her seriously enough to have a proper discussion with her about these things.

"Well," she said with a smile, "since you asked..."

***

The looks on the faces of the ponies in the room were mixed. Celestia was nodding slowly, as though she had come to the same conclusion he had. Twilight looked incredibly thoughtful. Most of the rest of the group looked decidedly underwhelmed, though Elliot hadn't exactly expected them to be all that impressed by the term.

"And what the hay is a parallel universe?" Rainbow Dash asked, looking half confused and half annoyed. Before Elliot could answer, Twilight spoke up.

"Another world, much like ours, where a single decision changed something: sometimes the changes are small, sometimes they're huge." The purple unicorn narrowed her eyes slightly at Elliot. "You come from a parallel world fighting a war with a parallel Equestria."

"That's the theory," Elliot said, nodding slightly.

"How did you get here then?" Twilight asked. "And why?"

Elliot took a deep breath, hoping to summarise the story without missing the important details. "Where I'm from, we're at war with your Equestria."

"That much is obvious," Twilight muttered. Elliot gave her a death glare, and she shut up.

"As I said, we're at war," he continued. There was a pause while he figured out the best way to say the next thing on his mind. "It's going... badly."

"That isn't a very precise term," Rarity pointed out. Elliot gave her a look, but surprisingly, she didn't back down. "Badly can mean a lot of things, sir."

"When the war started properly," Elliot said, his voice coming out in a dead tone, "we had one hundred and ten million people on the islands of Great Britain and Ireland. Now we have roughly fourteen or fifteen million, not including Equestrian Resistance, but there's only ever been a few hundred thousand of those. Over ninety million soldiers and civilians have been ponified or killed in the last six years."

Fluttershy gasped in horror, covering her mouth with her hooves, and the others couldn't blame her. Applejack looked sick from the thought of that much bloodshed. Rarity had, if it were possible, paled considerably, her eyes stricken. Rainbow Dash had closed her eyes, but her face remained deeply impassive, as though she were trying to keep herself from showing her emotions - her hoof was trembling though, the sign of a pony's clenched fist. Pinkie Pie had wide eyes, the scale of death so overwhelming her that she couldn't quite react to it. Twilight Sparkle on the other hand looked grim, as though she had realised something.

"We're commanders, aren't we?" she asked. "Soldiers in your Celestia's..."

"Solamina," Elliot corrected idly.

"... in this Solamina's army," Twilight finished, looking vaguely sick now. "That's why you tried to kill me. That's why you killed the other bearers of the Elements in your universe. We were like high ranking commanders, and you were..."

"I was… halfway between an assassin and a commander," Elliot said, frowning slightly. "I command forces in battle… and I was the best chance against the Elements."

Twilight nodded. "So you killed them all."

If there was ever a time to be brutally blunt, it was then.Elliot threw open his jacket, took it off, and laid it lining up on the floor, the five grisly trophies visible for all to see. Every pony in the room took a step back, some cringed, others had looks of total disbelief on their faces.

"Rarity: killed November 10th, 2038," Elliot said, pointing at the deep purple mane. "The battle of Dover, where Albion first arose. I was still learning, still getting used to the power, but I still did it." Next he pointed to a pale pink mane. "Fluttershy: killed in Sherwood Forest, January 11th, 2029. She surrendered to her execution. Applejack: killed in the Midlands during a raid on certain food production facilities, March 10th 2029." He paused, remembering each death. He wasn't looking at the Element bearers anymore. "After her, the Elements got more careful. Rainbow Dash finally died when she attempted to wreck the King's speech, December 25th 2029: turrets shot her down, and I finished the job." He almost smiled, his fist cracking as he flexed his hands. "And finally: Pinkie Pie, killed in the battle of London, January 28th, 2030. Two and a bit days ago, from my perspective, though I'm not sure how long I've been here..."

"About a day and a half," Celestia supplied, her voice quiet.

"Ok," Elliot said, "so that was three days ago." He paused. The Element bearers all looked vaguely ill - but then, he had just describe their deaths. "During the battle of London, my friend Hell Blazer..."

"Wait, that a pony name?" Applejack asked, frowning in confusion.

Elliot smirked. The confusion was understandable. Even as far as pony names went, Hell Blazer was unique "Sort of a pony name. It'd be difficult to explain." He paused, the smile fading. "Point being... look, we always knew the numbers were against us. Before the war started, over four billion humans were converted into ponies..."

"What?" half the Elements said, sounding shocked. Elliot blinked.

"Oh," he said softly. "Forgot to mention that bit." He took a breath. "It's…” He trailed off. “Look, that particular horror isn't relevant. The point is, there were four billion eager new recruits for Solamina's army. We never had a chance to win in a straight up war. We might - God knows, the pony attrition rates are pretty bleak..."

Celestia swallowed, uncomfortable hearing about pony death - much less pony death that she, in a manner of speaking, was partially responsible for - but she didn't speak up.

"... but most tacticians agree, this is a losing war," Elliot continued, his voice seemingly getting quieter and quieter. "The only hope we had was the Tyrant Sun's death."

"And so your friend Hell Blazer had something to do with sending you here?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah," Elliot said with a sad smile. "Height of the battle, he and I agreed: it was time to send me to Equestria." He shrugged. "Clearly, I got the wrong one."

He let that sink in for a moment. Finally, Applejack spoke up.

"So what were ya planning to do once ya got here?" she asked, her words slow and thoughtful.

"Simple," Elliot replied tiredly. "Kill Solamina any way I could."

Another silence descended upon the room: it was too quiet, a sort of dread hanging in the air. The ponies looked worried, thoughtful, and most of all apprehensive. He decided he couldn't blame them. If someone had come to his world and told him that alternate versions of him were killing innocents and causing the death of millions more, he'd have been surprised - and he was a soldier, and the Avatar of Albion. Death on that scale - while distasteful - was supposedly within his ability to cause. Twilight Sparkle and her friends though... clearly enough, they were innocent to that scale of death and destruction. To hear that they had in fact been the cause of it, even in a parallel world... it was enough to drive anyone to distraction.

Before he could say anything to them though, the door to the training room burst open, and a green Unicorn Guard pony appeared. Elliot's eyes widened slightly at the familiar sight, but he just stopped himself from speaking the name on his lips.

It was True Grit, his old friend... now dead, along with so many others. He had been a Guard, years ago, but he had told Elliot that he had given it up shortly before Solamina declared herself Empress - luckily for him, he had done so right before the Renewing of the Oaths, a ceremony where every Royal Guard had renewed his oath to the crown, unknowingly sacrificing their free will to do so.

This True Grit was younger, and his mane was longer than the cropped mane he had had when Elliot had known him. He looked eager and enthusiastic, almost, and though Elliot had seen him enthusiastic, he had rarely seen him eager. It was... almost heartbreaking, seeing the potential of what he could have been, now forever lost.

"True Grit?" Celestia asked the pony, and Elliot shook the reminiscence off once more.

"Ma'am," True Grit replied quickly, "there's a mare calling herself Dr Lyra Heartstrings with a Miss Ditzy Doo, here to see the... human..." Grit's eyes widened when he saw Elliot. "Oh my."

Elliot blinked: Lyra Heartstrings? Ditzy Doo? He could scarcely believe it...

"Lyra," Twilight muttered, sounding irritated. Elliot felt an irrational flash of anger: Lyra and Ditzy were better ponies than her by far... no. Different ponies. Concentrate, Elliot.

"That's excellent," Elliot said to Grit. Celestia gave him a wary look - she had, one way or another, seen most memories he had of the war. She knew he knew Ditzy and Lyra, and he could tell she didn't think getting them involved in this was a good idea. "I'd like you to bring them here."

True Grit looked at Celestia, seeking confirmation. She sighed.

"Alright," she said slowly. "Bring them here, both of them."

True Grit saluted and then immediately headed off. Elliot smiled. Perhaps today wasn't going to be a total loss...

***

"... and so you see, the Dream Valley legend has to have come from somewhere!" Lyra said, eyes wide as she continued to explain the story of humans. The Guard - a rather lovely stallion by the name of Steady Hoof - was listening raptly, nodding every so often.

"I see," he said, grinning slightly. "So you think that the humans are like... what, a kind of saviour figure?"

"Not really a saviour figure," Lyra said, shaking her head slightly. "Though it's tempting to draw that conclusion, nothing we have can really suggest it. The chances are they didn't really stop the Smooze or Tirek in quite the way that the legends state: bear in mind, these legends are really obscure! Probably written hundreds of years ago. All we can really gleam is that the humans existed..."

Before Lyra could continue, Ditzy tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to face the Pegasus, who pointed to True Grit, now standing by the door.

"Steady Hoof," Grit said, "Princess Celestia wants me to bring these two to her."

Steady Hoof's eyes widened in surprise. "Really?"

"Really," Grit said. He didn't look any less surprised than Hoof was. "Miss Doo, Dr Heartstrings, if you'll come with me."

Lyra turned to Ditzy with a grin. "Come on Derpy," she said chirpily, following True Grit down the corridor. "Hope I get to talk to you later, Mr Hoof!"

"You too, Dr Heartstrings," the guard replied, waving a hoof. He sighed. Some days just got really weird.

"So we get to meet the human now?" Lyra asked as she followed True Grit.

"Oh yes," True Grit replied, sounding like he didn't believe what he was saying. "You get to meet the human alright."

Lyra turned to Ditzy and grinned. Ditzy smiled back, though she was a little uncertain about a lot of this. Still, what was the worst that could happen?

Author's Note

This chapter was edited 3rd July 2015.

Interlude: The Birth of Hell Blazer.

Interlude: The Birth of Hell Blazer.

Guest Written by The Void.

***

Dover, November 10th, 2028.

John Constantine had survived things that would have been too much for the devil himself (and of all people on Earth, he would know). He had survived events the likes of which would only have entered a madman's mind. Boldly, and armed with his wits, his fists and a pack of cigs, he had faced it all.

When the armies of Equestria came, he knew that he had to aid the forces of Britain in their fight. This was mostly, due to the fact that he knew they'd be fairly useless (magically speaking) without him - the Watcher's Council were clever and all, but they were all old tossers who'd never gotten so much of a speck of dirt on their hands. Anyway, a world ruled by a tyrant just would not have suited his lifestyle. So, reluctantly he came to the fateful realisation that he had to do… something. He was ready to give his life for the realm (after everyone else of course).

In a way, John Constantine, the crude magic man from Liverpool, did give his life.

***

When John came to, he was still in a daze. The last thing he had done was try to summon the Avatar of Albion, but he couldn’t hear the sound of battle from anywhere…

"Oh piss," he said angrily, somehow afraid the spell hadn't worked. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Constantine noticed one enemy that was left visible on the battlefield. Watching Constantine’s awakening unfold were the hollow eyes of the once high class Rarity. Her head still lay there, a confirmation that the weakened Elliot had indeed taken down an Element of Order.

"Oh, piss..." he said, suddenly relieved: the spell had worked. Somehow, Elliot had become the Avatar and defeated the Element. Suddenly, Constantine felt a hope that he hadn't felt in years. Maybe they could actually survive this shitstorm after all.

He moved to stand up, only to totter over. He reached out a hand to steady himself, only to find himself looking at a yellow hoof. He blinked at it. From the aches all over his body and the cloudiness of his brain, he knew something was up. If nothing had happened then he would still be able to feel his fingers and…

With dread in his heart, he looked at his body. It was gone, replaced by a pony one he didn't recognise.

"Oh," he said, as full memory returned and he realised what must have happened. "PISS!"

How? Slowly the vivid memory of the attack came back to Constantine. That bitch Rarity had got him. After all these years fighting in this godforsaken war, the little pastel bastards had finally managed to potion him. John thought for a moment, trying to piece together what had happened, and then he stopped at a sudden realisation.

John thought.

He knew what Converted were like as a rule, and he didn't feel like that at all. No change of opinion about the sodding Empress Solamina and no rampant desire to "save" people.

Mind you, better than being a “normal” Convie or not, it was still an insult. Gone was the human form that he had met so many allies and downed so many bottles of vodka with, now replaced by a pony body that… was odd in its own right. John had a cutie mark. A Converted with a mark. The sight of it put a grin on his face. It was the mark of the beast, "666". Of course. Elliot would find that…

Elliot!

John rushed over to Elliot, who was covered in marks but they didn't look like they were from the attack, patches of his skin that were smoking. They were magical wounds. It worked! David Elliot was now the Avatar of Albion (or could become him anyway). It must have been Elliot that saved John's mind.

He began to shake the now unconscious Elliot.

"Wake up you bucking bastard," John stopped. The words repeated in his mind over and over again. He slapped himself. "B...b...b...f...fucking bastard."

Upside: the spell worked and they had hope to end this war. Downside: his head was now full of pony swear words.

His thoughts turned to the end of the war, to Solamina's death at Elliot's hands. They had hope again. David hadn't even been the Avatar for a day and he had already pulled off a miracle. John's soul and mind (well, most of the latter) had been saved. Luck of the damned he guessed. John needed a smoke.

John.

The more he thought of his own name, the more it felt off. John didn't seem right in that moment. His shadow didn't look like John Constantine anymore. It looked like some pony in similar clothes. Then another epiphany hit him. He checked his pockets. Yep, a pack of cigarettes was in his pocket. Glorious!

He sat back, guarding Elliot as he picked the cigarettes out of his breast pocket. It felt unnatural, he could still feel some sort of grip but his fingers were gone. By the laws of nature, he should not have been able to pick them up.

John thought back to the moment of the spell. The memory was fuzzy but he could remember a bold figure standing before him, reaching out for him. It said something but the words were muffled in his mind.

The new pony for humanity's cause looked himself over again. He let out a short chuckle, it only figured that he wouldn't get a naturally spell-casting body. Some extra magic might have been useful. Hell, even a Pegasus body would have an advantage but no, lady fate doesn't do small favours.

Elliot's eyes shot themselves open. He goaned, getting the attention of Constantine.

"Great timing," he joked.

"You're...okay then," Elliot asked, struggling to actually get the words out. If you had been inside the pony's head you would a heard a chorus of almost sadistic laughter.

"Me?" John said, trying to hold a smile. "Have you looked in the mirror?"

Elliot smirked as he looked over John Constantine's new body and priceless expression. "Have you?"

"How do you feel?" John asked.

There's that unfitting name again.

"Mostly dead, but otherwise fine," Elliot replied.

"First use is always the toughest. Your body just housed something it wasn't designed for. Give it time." Magic was something of Constantine's expertise and showing off his knowledge was one of his pleasures.

David Elliot sat up in silence as he took in the aftermath of the fight. Rarity's corpse was something that, until today, was only found in the sweet dreams of soldiers fighting against her. Now however Elliot, no, humanity had the weapon they needed to make dreams come true. They had found their falling star, brought to them by a ego driven man from Liverpool.

"We can win." Hope returned to Elliot's voice. "John, we can survive this."

"Yep, we might just," John said, an aura of pride flowing from him.

"You've got to come back and tell the others," Elliot declared eagerly. "We'll definitely raise morale with this piece of news."

"Oh goody." Public speaking, what more could John Constantine have asked for, apart from a bare knuckle fight with a wall (for him, the wall was better company).

Elliot tried to get himself up. It was clear that the energy had taken its toll. John rolled his eyes and pulled him up with his hooves. The gripping sensation like slime on his skin.

It would take some getting used to.

Before they left the area, Elliot took his prize from Rarity, a lock of her mane. The proof they needed that he took down the mad element.

***

Dover Forward HQ.

John Constantine watched Elliot telling the troops about the end of Rarity and the miracle that was his conversion. A battle scarred unicorn - True Grit, another allied soldier of David Elliot - walked up to him. He stared at John for a moment, taking in his form.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

John thought for a moment. "Shorter, definitely shorter. Elliot explain Rarity's last godforsaken gift then?"

"He did," True Grit nodded. "It was quite the tale."

"I know, I was there."

"I can't believe he kept your mind intact." During a moment of silence, True Grit's wonder turned to concern. "Have there been any...side effects?"

"Well yes, actually there have been." John checked around, making sure that no one was listening. He gestured True Grit to lean in closer, his voice becoming a whisper. "You see, and you'll have to bear with me, I find that - and this will sound farfetched - since the transformation I… have hooves."

True Grit sighed in irritation. "Just asking."

"Do you have a light?" John asked in retaliation.

"No," came the stern reply.

"Horseapples!" John stomped the floor. True Grit was concerned again for a moment. "Sorry for my language. I meant to say shit. I could use a smoke right about now...and then about ten more after."

"Has that been happening a lot?" Grit asked

"A few times." John lowered his head slightly. It was not something he liked to admit.

"Must be traces of Equestrian culture in your mind from the potion," Grit thought out loud. "They might get out now and again."

"Well yepdie-freaking dee for me. Feels like tick, no offence."

To John Constantine the words 'no offence' meant 'avoiding an argument I'd probably win'.

"None taken," replied True Grit with annoyance in his tone, sounding like he understood exactly what John meant.

Earth swear words were the paint that John used on his brush. The brush being his boot, and the canvas being the face of anyone he disliked.

The troops roared with delight, getting the attention of True Grit and John once more. Neither were surprised by their reaction. The troops had needed something like this for a long time. With Elliot they could take out the Elements, send the armies of the Solaminan Empire running, and eliminate the Tyrant. John was going to be quite busy. No rest for the wicked, as it were. Rarity had been just the first step to Solamina's ultimate downfall. When that day would come, John Constantine would be ready, with a river of beer back home waiting for him.

***

In the months that followed, John found Elliot to be a good ally and - to his surprise - a trusted friend. The two were always on missions for the fate of their realm, and John was by Elliot’s side after every victory. John had been there almost every time Elliot had struck an enemy down into the cold hard ground. He was there to watch and aid the work he had done, watching the warrior he had helped forge in the world's darkest hour.

Elliot saved his life a fair few times, he had to admit that, but even in a different form John still continued to do his bit humanity in his own way. The enemies curses were useless as long as John Constantine was around to get rid of them. Soon many soldiers knew his name. Though now the sound of his name didn't quite feel like it used to. People would come looking for a John Constantine and find a smoking pony instead. Sometimes for better, sometimes for worse, he was never what anyone expected.

***

January 6th, 2029.

In one of the rare moments of calm at a command base, he found himself talking to the pony Lyra Heartstrings. She possessed something that alluded John. Lyra was still fairly innocent minded, even in a world that, in her own words, felt "wrong to be a part of anymore." Still, she had served alongside both him and David Elliot and she proved to be decent in many respects. Lyra was a good soldier and a good friend. Friends were surprisingly on the increase for John Constantine.

As they walked down one of the twisting corridors of the current HQ (the price to pay when you rework an office building), John had to know something.

"Level with me Lyra," he said, breaking the silence.

"What's on your mind?"

John stopped walking. "Does calling me John feel out of place."

"You're an out of place sort of stallion," Lyra replied.

"That's just it. 'Stallion' not 'Guy'. It's been bugging me for a while actually. My name doesn't feel right anymore."

"What makes you think that?"

John said nothing.

Lyra smirked. "I could help, it's what friends do."

"This stays between us," John declared. He was probably going to tell Elliot himself later.

Lyra mimed zipping her mouth.

"When I look in the mirror I don't see John Constantine anymore. The only time I feel like him is when I dream and even then I know it's not real. I mean, do you look at this form and think ‘John Constantine’ or..."

The two shared a silence.

"Well no," Lyra said. She saw the expression on his face and quickly tried to mend it. "But that's not what defines you. You're John Constantine because of what you do. You may not admit it but you really enjoy helping people, you are always there for your friends and you never lost hope. You are John Constantine matter what."

A smile grew across John's face. Truth be told, none of that sounded like John Constantine: he’d always been rather a selfish twat. But he liked to think that if he’d managed to dodge the purple pastel pony potion he’d have still been the way he was now (minus the annoyance of being too short to reach the porno shelves in the off license).

"Most ponies and people are just surprised when they meet you because have a human name,” Lyra continued. “Converted don't tend to keep their names."

John stomped his hoof in revelation and his eyes widened. Lyra's eyes narrowed.

"Perhaps a new name is in order," he said, mostly talking to himself.

"What?" Lyra's said, her worry growing. John never did make much sense to her.

"It’d be ironic mostly. The fact that a Converted managed to keep their soul intact and decided to change their name anyway might do something to the enemy’s morale - our ours. Or something. Or at least piss the buckers - the bastards - off. Either way’s a win." He smiled softly. “Plus… I dunno, it’d probably feel a bit better. Shut the pony shite up for a bit.”

“Maybe,” Lyra said dubiously.

John pondered for a moment. The question of giving himself a new, more fitting name, was actually kind of interesting for him.

"How does..." John looked his form over. His cutie mark had always been something of an in joke with him. Now it was proving to be quite the source of inspiration. "How does Hell Blazer sound?"

"Kind of twisted," Lyra replied without missing a beat, but still with a friend's smile.

"Perfect" he exclaimed before continuing on his way, Lyra hurrying behind him. For Joh...Hell Blazer order had returned. John still lived on but just with a more fitting name. Hell Blazer could also stop the tedium of having to explain how a pony had a human name over and over and over and over again (you’d think word would have gotten round by now). Heck, maybe the tick in his head would let him swear correctly now that he compromised on a pony name (probably not).

Before Lyra could even try to talk her friend out of it, Elliot arrived back to tell the troops of their latest mission for humanity's cause.

Author's Note

So, this Chapter was guest written by a friend of mine who goes by the name "The Void". Basically, I showed him the first couple of chapters of this story, he loved it, and has since been serving as one half of my "beta" team (for want of a better word).

Anyway, he threw me a little snippet that had been inspired by my story one afternoon, and I decided that, since I've created a world with a lot of stories in it, not all of which I have time or inclination to write, that I'd let him and another friend of mine write a few, since they were interested. The results exist as a few "Interlude" Chapters that will be sprinkled around the main story over the next few updates.

I hope you enjoyed this. Normal service will resume shortly. :-)

EDIT: This chapter was edited by myself and The Void, 14th July 2015.

The Return.

Chapter Ten: The Return.

***

When Elliot walked with Celestia back into her throne room from the gardens, having spent all night out there trying to meditate, he wasn't really expecting much from it. It had been a big request after all. He had asked that any ponies who agreed to join him meet him in the throne room in the morning, where he would begin discussing what to expect.

To his surprise, the moment he entered the throne room he was faced with all nine of the ponies he had asked for help, each of them looking resolute. It took him a moment to realise that each and every one of them was here because they had chosen to join him. When he did, he didn't believe it: he had hoped, but he hadn't expected all of them: hell, he had only really expected True Grit, and that only because the Royal Guard had told him.

"You're all…" he began, looking uncertain. "You're all coming?"

Twilight Sparkle stepped forward, apparently chosen to speak for the group. She cleared her throat.

"We've spent all night thinking it over," she said softly. "And we've talked about it. We can't just let your world suffer, not if we can do something to help you."

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash put in. "We're gonna help you kick the evil Equestria in the flank."

"And then have a big party right after," Pinkie Pie added cheerfully.

The other ponies all nodded, each of them looking - if not exactly happy, than at least resolute in their decision to help. He smiled.

"Thank you," he said softly, then his smile faded. He turned to Celestia, who had sat on her throne while he talked. "I take it there is a way to get back to my world?"

The ponies looked confused.

"Don't you know a way back?" Twilight asked him. Elliot chuckled softly.

"That… is an excellent question. I was sent here by Hell Blazer," he said softly, smiling slightly as he thought of his friend. "I didn't come under my own steam. Plus we both kind of assumed it was a one way trip: if I wasn't killed by the travel, I'd be killed by Solamina: we kind of hoped I'd get her first, mind you, but we weren't relying on it."

There was a pause while everypony thought about what he had said: most of them looked morose - if there was no way to return to Earth, then what could they do to help the people there? Twilight however, noticed that Princess Celestia was looking thoughtful.

"Princess?" she asked. Everypony and Elliot looked at the Sun Princess, who looked unhappy but resolute.

"I know… one way to return you to your world," Celestia said simply, looking reasonably certain of what she was saying, "and though it will take a little while to organise, and is hardly my preferred method to send you home, I am certain it will work."

Elliot nodded shortly, smiling slightly in gratitude.

"Thank you," he said simply. "For everything."

"It is my counterpart who has made this necessary," Celestia said unhappily - it looked to everypony as though she had done a lot of thinking herself during the night. "Be assured, David Elliot - I only wish I could do more."

***

While the group waited for Celestia to sort out their means of travelling to Elliot's world, the human warrior had to do something else. He brought the group to the Canterlot training room, saying that he would explain when they got there.

When they arrived at the small training room, Shining Armour was engaged in some martial art practice. True Grit looked at him oddly, the words he had exchanged with Elliot staying with him. He had always known the Captain was a better fighter than him, but knowing that some version of him had died fighting the other stallion… well, that was an entirely different matter.

"What do you want?" Armour asked narrowing his eyes at Elliot slightly as the group entered.

"Use of the training facilities," Elliot replied quietly. "Unless you have an objection?"

"None," Armour said, slightly sullenly. He moved to leave the training room.

Twilight regarded her brother: did he know what Elliot had asked of them? Did he know that Celestia was allowing it? It suddenly occurred to her that she might not see her brother again: she hadn't considered the possibility that she might die in a battle…

Though it didn't change her decision, she felt the need to do something before he left.

"Shiny," she said softly, moving to stop him going. "I love you, you know that right?"

"Yeah, of course I do, Twily. I love you too," he said, giving her an odd look at the somewhat out-of-the-blue comment. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she lied, all-too-easily. "It's just… it’s just I haven't said it in a while. I… wanted you to know."

"Ok," Shining said, frowning slightly. He gave the human a brief glare, which the man studiously ignored. "Be careful around that… thing, Twily. I don't trust him."

"I will be," Twilight promised softly, privately wondering how her brother would react to what she was planning to do. "Go on."

Shining Armour gave her a last, reassuring smile, and left the room. Twilight turned to look at Elliot, who was going through a series of exercises, the other ponies watching him.

"Um, Mr Elliot… um, sir," Fluttershy said, holding up a hoof to get the man's attention, "what exactly are we… um… doing here? If you don't mind me asking," she added, shamefaced.

The human gave her a look, and then - to everypony' surprise - he smiled.

"Simple," he said. "I want to assess you."

"Assess us?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow. "Like… a test?"

"If you like," Elliot said with a nod.

Twilight frowned. Normally she liked tests - but this test was likely going to be… different to the norm.

"What kind of test?" Applejack asked, the Earth Pony frowning suspiciously at the somewhat odd expression on Elliot’s face.

Elliot rolled his shoulder and his neck, and struck a combat pose, facing the group of nine with a slightly cocky grin on his face.

"I want each and every one of you to attack me," he said, holding out one hand in challenge. "And I'm going to assess your combat skills."

The ponies looked at each other uncertainty etched in all their faces.

"Oh dear," Fluttershy said quietly, looking at the ground. "I - I'm not sure I can…"

Before she could continue speaking, Elliot had leapt right at her, faster than any of the group could see, tapped her on the nose, and stepped back.

"You're dead," he said simply. "Lesson one. Hesitation leads to defeat, and in my world defeat is death - or worse." He grinned, the barest hint of sadistic malice in his expression. "Come on then, let's see if any of the rest of you are even close to competent."

While most of the ponies - the coolly professional True Grit aside - looked concerned, Rainbow Dash scowled at the implied insult to her friends.

"Alright then, buster," she said angrily, snorting slightly. "You want a fight, you got one."

Before anypony could stop her, she charged right at him. A moment later, Applejack followed, equally angry. A moment later True Grit charged as well, looking grim. Pinkie, Rarity and Twilight looked at each other, uncertain as to what they should do, and Lyra could only watch the next few moments in fascination.

Rainbow immediately threw a punch at Elliot, who blocked it, grabbing her hoof. He twisted her entire foreleg behind her back, before throwing her away from him just in time to catch Applejack's first buck, which sent him sliding backward slightly on the wooden floor. Grinning, he gripped the ankles of her back legs, spun her once and threw her across the room, before spinning again to block a series of expertly thrown attacks from True Grit, who so far seemed to be the only truly competent fighter in the group.

"What the buck just happened?" Rainbow asked Applejack, who shook her head and growled.

"I dunno, Sugarcube, but I ain’t gonna stop so easily," she replied with a snort.

Elliot dodged more blows from Grit, noting that none of the rest of the group had moved yet. The Guard was good, but Elliot was more experienced, easily dodging or blocking every punch and kick. Suddenly, he spun around, his leg sweeping the ground, and Grit was knocked to the floor.

Suddenly, he felt a kick in the back - Applejack had recovered faster than he had anticipated, and bucked him in the back. He grinned at that, rolling and getting to his feet. At the same time, Rainbow Dash immediately charged at him, but he grabbed her wrist at the first punch she threw, before throwing her straight at Applejack. The orange pony dodged, but Rainbow landed in a heap. Elliot, to his mixed surprise and shame, was enjoying himself at least a little. In a fair few ways, this was as close to therapy as he was ever going to get.

By this point, Twilight had gathered enough wits to throw an offensive spell - a simple stunner, similar to one she had used against the changelings at Shining Armour's wedding. Elliot caught the spell coming and dodged the first one, before - to Twilight's shock - catching the second and third spells in his hand. He gave a smirk, before throwing the spells back in their general direction, where they impacted on Rarity and Derpy, who had been watching in shock at the speed of the engagement. Rarity had time to let out a shocked "oh" before falling over, stunned. Derpy didn't even do that, tipping backwards in unconscious the minute the spell hit her. Twilight grimaced, ceasing her fire.

"Lyra," she called out, "pincer!"

Lyra got the gist of what Twilight meant, and moved to one corner of the training room, while Twilight moved to the other. This gave Rainbow and Applejack time to charge at Elliot again, but their attacks were all intercepted - he dodged a kick from Applejack, blocked a punch from Rainbow Dash, and then diverted the blow from another kick into the Pegasus, who stumbled backward winded, before spinning around and kicking Applejack in the side hard enough to knock her to the ground. He turned around - only to find himself facing Pinkie Pie's party cannon.

"Say hello to my leedle friend," she said in an oddly-accented voice, a grin on her face. She fired the weapon, but impossibly, he dodged.

"Nice reference," he said with a grin. "But beat this."

"… Reference?" Pinkie said, as Elliot made his move.

He ran at the cannon, then jumped up in the air, both arms suspended up in the air either side of him, and then he kicked out with his foot, knocking Pinkie from the top of her cannon to the ground. He landed on the cannon, grinning smugly.

Just in time for a pair of spells to knock him straight off of it.

Twilight and Lyra sent a barrage of the same stunning spell they had used before straight at him hoping to knock him out. Thankfully for Elliot, most of the spells impacted on the cannon. The first ones had only stunned him for a moment, allowing him to rethink his strategy.

"Is he down?" he heard Lyra call out.

"No, don't move!" Twilight called out. Elliot grinned, stood up, and charged at Lyra, who had walked a little too close to his position. He slid on his knees to get closer to her, ending up right near her, and then…

"Tap," he said playfully, bopping her nose. "You're dead."

He grinned, stood up and charged at Twilight, who sent more spells at him. He managed to block each one, sweeping his arm across his field of vision. He reached her, slid tackled her to the ground, knocking her over, and then stood over her, placing one foot gently on her chest as she looked up at him, pressing down just a tiny bit too much for it to be comfortable. She coughed slightly, looking Elliot in the eyes. There was an odd note in them - like restrained fury, barely contained, just waiting to lash out at her.

"Dead," he finally said, sounding far more serious than he had with Lyra. He took his boot off her, and faced the remaining opponents.

Applejack was stunned and apparently not getting up again for this bout. Rainbow Dash and True Grit were still active. Elliot smiled again.

"Come at me," he said softly, his eyes glinting with… something.

Rainbow Dash and True Grit charged again. Dash was as predictable as ever, but her attacks came in faster this time. Elliot managed to block them still, but it was a close run thing. He grimaced slightly as a punch managed to nick the side of his head, but he shrugged it off and backhanded Rainbow, knocking her away. True Grit had reached him by this point, but Elliot was ready, managing to grip onto Grit's hooves and hold them behind his back. Rainbow Dash got to her feet and snarled, preparing to charge again, but as she did so, Elliot launched Grit at her, and she impacted on him, sending them both sprawling.

Elliot smiled slightly at the disoriented bunch of ponies he had just resoundingly defeated. All of them were groaning slightly, except for Rarity and Derpy, who were being woken up by Fluttershy.

"Not bad," he said, grinning.

"Not bad?" Rainbow Dash said, groaning slightly. "Not bad?! You wiped the bucking floor with us!"

"Literally in your case," Pinkie Pie added, frowning. "Not even my party cannon did anything!"

"Think about our relative skill levels here," Elliot said to the otherwise dejected bunch of ponies. "I've been fighting a war for six years, against ponies. I know how ponies are put together from an anatomical perspective, how they fight. I've often fought against groups, all as well trained as a True Grit here." He indicated the slightly shamefaced Guard with a smile, which faded as he continued. "I've killed a lot of ponies. You lot, on the other hand, have never so much as seen a human before me. You didn't know how to fight us, you didn't know how to beat us, and you don't have nearly as much solid combat experience as me. That being said, there was no way you were going to beat me."

"Then why the test?" Twilight asked, a little sore and a little unhappy from having been beaten so resoundingly.

"I never said you had to beat me," Elliot pointed out. "I said this was me assessing you, and let me tell you: you didn't do half bad."

"We still lost," Rainbow said, sounding irritated.

"Yes, and against me when I'm not gawping at someone I think is dead, that's… well, if I'm brutally honest, pretty much inevitable unless you're Solamina," Elliot said, giving her a look. "But you displayed improvisational skills, some combat skill… at this level, if I bring you back to my world, you'll need training up, but you aren't going to be helpless. That's important, and it's very good to begin with."

The group of ponies looked only slightly mollified by this assessment. Elliot laughed slightly, trying to ease them up a little, before sitting down in a relaxed cross-legged pose.

"Alright," he said quietly to them all. "That's enough physical exertion. For all we know, there's gonna be a battle the minute we arrive in my world. The last thing we need is the lot of you being too tired out to fight if you need to."

He patted the ground near him.

"Come on," he said. "Everypony sit down."

Slowly, the bruised and battered ponies sat, forming a small circle. Elliot smiled at them all.

"This is good," he said softly. "This is important."

"What, sitting in a circle?" Rainbow Dash asked, sounding sceptical. Elliot gave her a look and she quailed slightly, but then he smiled again.

"There's something you learn to savour," he said slowly, "when you're in a war, you learn to savour the peace, the moments when you aren't fighting, aren't seeing friends die. You savour the memories of peace, the memory of sitting with your mates. Every moment is sacred if you think it might be your last - and sometimes, you're right about that…"

***

Manchester, March 11th, 2026.

Ten fires burned, small things but still strong against the darkness of a black night. In front of each fire, there was a small picture of a Pegasus pony, and under each picture was a name tag.

David Elliot stared at the fires with a constricting feeling in his chest, but he felt surprisingly light hearted. The names were familiar: the fallen members of the illustrious Grey Squadron. Lightning Dust, Royal Flush, Orange Swirl… but the most important name was the name of the leader of that group - Ditzy "Derpy" Doo.

In front of the fires sat Errant Flight and Cloud Ranger, the last two survivors of Grey Squadron. Ranger was sat alone, brooding, but Errant Flight walked up to Elliot, a grim look on his face.

"Commander," he said softly, using the unofficial rank for the man. Officially, Elliot's rank was only Lieutenant, but the war had destroyed much of the traditional organisation of the armies, leaving a lot of soldiers with lower ranks in charge of larger forces than their ranks would suggest. By virtue of the death of Colonel Paul Watts, Elliot was the Commander of this force, and that was the term by which most troops now addressed him.

"Errant Flight," Elliot said to the Grey Squadron survivor. He turned to look at the ten fires. "As memorial services go, this works very well."

"I thought so," Flight said. He looked at the pyres. "We weren't able to recover most of the bodies. A pyre like this seemed fitting."

"Warrior funeral," Elliot noted with a slight smile.

"A Pegasus funeral," Errant replied, giving Elliot a look. "And it depends on whether you'd say we were warriors." Errant sighed, his eyes still glancing over the pyres sadly. "Flush wasn't, he was a gambler. Derpy…" He sighed. "She didn't like her job you know. Everything she did, she did to keep Dinky out of the war, to win it so her daughter didn't have to fight."

"No, Ditzy wasn't a warrior," Elliot agreed. "But she went out as one."

"I suppose they all did," Flight noted. He sighed.

"What's the future for Grey Squadron now?" Elliot asked him after a moment. Strictly speaking, as the highest ranking member of Grey left, Errant flight was in charge of the selection process for new Pegasi for the squadron. Flight sighed at the question.

"Cloud's transferring to another squadron," he said heavily. "Which just leaves me. I… I don't think I'll be rebuilding Grey."

"Why not?" Elliot asked, looking at Errant Flight with concern. "Grey Squadron's one of the best groups we had…"

"Had being the operative word," Errant Flight rejoined. He pointed at the pyres. "Just yesterday, I was talking to these ponies. They were my friends, my comrades. The squadron wasn't just the name…" He sighed, looking away from Elliot. "It was a family. And they're gone. You know?"

Elliot turned to regard the pyres with a thoughtful expression, thinking back to all the friends he had lost.

"I think I do," he said softly.

"One day, I might bring Grey back," Errant continued, "if this war doesn't kill me first. But until then… until then, I'll do something else. Special forces or something. Might even get Cloud Ranger to join me wherever I end up. Maybe Blue Squadron."

"You wouldn't," Elliot smirked.

"No, I wouldn't, and neither would she," Errant Flight smiled. "Because Blue's a squadron for posers and plotwipes, and Cloud Ranger knows it."

Elliot looked over at Cloud Ranger.

"You wanna talk to her?" he asked the pony.

"Nah, sir," Errant Flight said softly. "That ship sailed."

Elliot nodded, smirking slightly. He looked back to the pyres again, and took out one of his canteens. It only had water in it, but it would do. He passed it to Errant Flight and took out his spare.

"To friends," he said softly.

"Yeah," Errant replied with a smile. "To friends."

They drank, and watched the fires burn, remembering their lost comrades…

***

Elliot sighed at the memory. "You learn to savour every second you have with your friends, because they might never come again,"

There was a moment's silence as the gloominess of the human's words settled in on the ponies.

"Do you know any songs?" Pinkie Pie asked suddenly. Elliot blinked at the question, and even the other ponies looked at Pinkie in confusion.

"Pinkie, I don't think Mr Elliot will know many songs," Twilight ventured. "He's a soldier, he wouldn't have…"

"Actually," Elliot said, cutting the unicorn off, "I know a fair few."

He was actually slightly annoyed at the presumption that his 'job' (not that he really saw fighting as a job anymore) would prevent him from knowing any songs.

"Ooh, can you sing one?" Pinkie asked smiling excitedly.

"Yeah," Lyra added. "It'll be really cool to hear a song from the human world."

Elliot blinked, somewhat surprised by the request. There were other men from other groups who would be better for this than him - Eric or the Undead were men who could sing their woes, express something through their voice. Elliot had never thought much of his own singing.

But they wanted to hear him sing. He sighed, and then he smiled.

"Ok," he said softly. "I'll sing you a song."

He thought back to what sort of songs might be fitting for the ponies to hear. And then he thought back to the night of the pyre…

***

Grey Squadron's Pyre, March 11th, 2026.

Elliot and Errant Flight stared at the little funeral pyres for a good long while. Elliot had never been the religious type, but for some reason a song he had heard a long time ago stuck in his mind.

"Abide with me, fast falls the eventide,
The darkness deepens, Lord, with me abide…"

Errant Flight began singing too, softer than Elliot but with more emotion, his mind filled with memories of his lost friends.

"When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me…."

***

Canterlot, present.

Without realising it, Elliot had sung the first stanza of the hymn, the haunting tune silencing the ponies who heard it. The group sat around him were staring at him as he continued the little hymn, his eyes closed as he remembered those who had fallen.

"Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day,
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see -
O Thou who changest not, abide with me."

There were tears in some of the ponies' eyes as he sang: his voice was rough, but there was real emotion in it, the loss he has suffered tingeing his voice as he sang.

"I need Thy presence every passing hour,
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s pow’r?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me."

True Grit had closed his eyes, soaking in the song: though his expression was stoic, there were tears glinting in the corners of his eyes.

"I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness;
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me."

Twilight and the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony shared a look between themselves, each of them looking suitably morose. Lyra was smiling, though there were tears in her eyes too.

"Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies;
Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me."

Elliot had finished, looking up at the ceiling with a contemplative look on his face. Through his mind, memories played.

True Grit, a smile on the face of the scarred veteran.

Ditzy Doo laughing with her squadron between missions.

The Doctor, before his change, a tired smile on his face.

Laugh lines, normally buried, on the face of the Doctor after his change as he laughed about something.

Lyra talking to Hell Blazer before another mission, the yellow former-human smirking at something.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the three of his old friends still, each of them looking at him with eyes filled with unshed tears: though they didn't know the significance of the song, everypony there had been moved by the raw emotion in Elliot's voice.

"Ahem," a voice said, interrupting them all. Elliot looked up, to see Luna standing in the doorway of the training room. Her eyes too held the unshed tears, suggesting the possibility that she had been stood there for some time, listening to the song.

"Princess Luna," Twilight said, voice cracking slightly from emotion. "What can we do for you?"

"Our sister has sent us to collect thee," Luna replied softly. "She has acquired thy means of transport."

Elliot stood up at once, and moved to the door without a word. The rest of the group followed, each of them still slightly caught up in their thoughts about the song Elliot had just been singing.

***

Before they went to meet with Celestia, they were taken to pack the last essentials they needed. Elliot was gratefully reunited with his various weapons, a grin on his face as he gave the daggers an experimental spin. He noticed Rainbow Dash giving the daggers a dark look, and he smirked slightly. It wasn't entirely fair to be vindictive.

Elliot hadn't been entirely fair for a while.

He shook his head. He’d have to jettison that kind of prejudice, especially if he was going to be commanding these ponies in battle. They deserved him being fair, and if he kept comparing them to their counterparts… well, that just wasn’t.

When they entered Celestia's throne room a few minutes later, Twilight gasped slightly at the individual she was talking to.

"Discord!" she exclaimed.

Indeed: standing next to the Princess was the mismatched form of the Draconequus Discord, the recently reformed spirit of Disharmony. To their surprise - and unhappiness - he was looking far more grim than anypony had ever seen him. This could only mean bad things: if even he was looking serious, the situation could only be bad, especially if somepony - well, some Draconequus - who had control over the fabric of reality was looking concerned.

"What the hell is that thing?" Elliot exclaimed, looking at Discord with wide eyes. The soldier had seen many horrors during the war, beings that made no sense to him whatsoever, but this was on a different level. This thing wasn’t from the deepest depths of your nightmares, it was from your drunken ramblings.

"Nice to meet you too," Discord replied, looking grumpily amused. "I take it you're the displaced Homo Sapien with anger issues I've been hearing so much about."

"David Elliot," Celestia said, sounding more than a little frustrated (most likely at Discord), "meet Discord, the spirit of Chaos and Disharmony."

"That's Discord?" Elliot said, eyes wide at the sight of the Draconequus. "Wow."

"You said you'd heard of him," Twilight pointed out, frowning slightly.

"Yeah, 'heard of'," Elliot replied, waving an arm in the general direction of the being. "Seeing is an entirely different matter."

"On that, the good Avatar and I agree," Discord said, walking up to Elliot and staring him in the face. "Ooh, that's a nasty case of magic burnout you're developing there…"

"Yeah," Elliot said, frowning at the Draconequus. "I know."

"And do you know how long you've got left?" Discord asked, grinning a slightly nasty grin. Elliot, to his credit, didn't seem perturbed.

"Enough time," he said cooly. "I would hope."

"We shall see," Discord said, smiling slightly. "We shall see."

"What are you doing here, Discord?" Twilight asked, mentally storing the ‘magical burnout’ topic for later. The Draconequus looked away from Elliot at last and focused his gaze on her with another slightly unpleasant smile.

"I'm here at Celestia's request," he said.

"I've discussed with Discord the possibility of him sending you to Mr Elliot's home world," Celestia added before Discord could continue. "He says he can do it."

"Not only can I send you back," Discord added, frowning slightly at Celestia, "I can also send you back to about a second after you left."

Elliot's eyes widened in shock, and despite his efforts to suppress it, a wide grin came upon his mouth.

He had been gone three days: he had assumed his friends would all have been killed in that time, given the dire straights of the battle as he had left it. Now, however, this Discord said he could send him back at the exact same moment he had gone - that was brilliant news! He might have a chance to save Lyra and Hell Blazer after all, maybe even win the battle!

"That's excellent!" he said out loud, grinning. A thought occurred to him. "Wait, maybe if that's the case, we could hold off on -"

"I figured you might say that," Discord said, holding up a claw. "And no, you have to go as soon as possible."

"Why?" Elliot asked, his face somewhere between annoyed and crestfallen. "If I had three months with these nine -"

"Because I'm interfering enough with three or so days of timeline-bending," Discord said, scowling. "Three months or however long you're thinking would be pushing it too far. There are rules."

"You follow rules?" Twilight asked.

Discord turned to regard Twilight's group with a raised eyebrow. "Yes, believe it or not, I occasionally follow rules, especially when the alternative is obliteration by your annoyed peers."

There was a moment's pause, then Elliot nodded. "Alright, we go now."

"Yes you do," Discord agreed. He looked back at the ponies. "Are you ponies sure you want to go though? I've met humans: a nasty, savage bunch they can be, especially in any iteration of their mid twenty first century…"

"You've met humans?" Fluttershy said with a slightly confused frown. "When?"

"Never mind that!" Lyra said, bouncing slightly with excitement. "What are they like?!"

Discord waved a hand dismissively. "Long story, my dear friends. Suffice it to say, I have lots of hobbies, including annoying a certain French Captain on a rather ugly starship." He frowned slightly. "Let us just say, I know the human race well. They're brutal - well, they can be, though I suppose in the case of your particular branch," he added, looking at Elliot, "that can be forgiven."

"We've made our decision, Discord," Twilight said with a frown. "You won't change our minds."

Discord shrugged. "Either way, it should be interesting. You've had my warning." He looked among the group. "When you're done, I'll know about it, and I'll bring you back… well, pretty much immediately."

"Why not come with us?" Fluttershy asked. Alone amongst all the ponies present, she considered Discord a friend. "I bet you could be a real help!"

"Possibly, my dear," Discord said softly, sounding altogether unhappy. "But I… can’t."

"Why not?" Rainbow Dash asked, smirking. "You scared?"

"Hardly," Discord replied, though there was something off about his comment that almost made it sound as though he was. "But I have no interest in getting involved in that frankly dismal parallel plane. No, I shall leave it entirely to you, I think."

"We could use the help," Twilight said, frowning slightly.

"By and large, Twilight Sparkle, I do not interfere with mortal - that is to say, human - affairs," Discord said with a frown. Then he grinned. "Except to see said bald French Captain in tights, but that's another story."

"Less of the yapping - if you aren't coming, just zap us there already," Rainbow Dash said, sounding irritated with Discord's antics.

Discord shrugged. "Alright. Everypony get ready."

While they spoke, Luna walked up to stand next to Celestia.

"Are you certain about this?" she asked. Celestia gave her a look and Luna frowned: only to her sister would the Sun Princess ever show her uncertainty, and her eyes were full of it. Nonetheless, she nodded, and Luna sighed.

"So be it," she said quietly. Celestia turned to the ponies and the human, a grim look on her face

"Good luck to you all," she said softly to them all. "I shall hope you return safely."

"We'll do our best to make you proud, Princess," Twilight replied, "and we'll do our best to stop Solamina."

"I know you will, Twilight," Celestia smiled. "And I believe you will succeed."

Luna inclined her head at Elliot, who saluted the two princesses smartly in farewell, and then Discord snapped his fingers, and there was a flash of light. And they were gone.

"Right," Discord said. "Anypony for chess?"

***

London, January 25th, 2030.

"Hell Blazer," Elliot said quietly as the makeshift HQ shook and dust sprinkled to the ground. "You know that plan you had?"

Hell Blazer looked at Elliot, eyes wide. "Yeah?"

"It's time," his friend said. "You ready?"

Hell Blazer didn't reply, instead grabbing a vial of salt from his coat pocket. He immediately ushered Elliot into the centre of the room.

"Here," he said. He drew a small circle around his friend. "Remember - once you get there, get to Canterlot, kill Solamina any way you can."

"Gotcha," Elliot said. "I'll do my best."

"I've got faith in ya mate," Hell Blazer mumbled as he began drawing more symbols in salt.

"You don't, but it's nice to say," Elliot smiled. He looked up at the ceiling. "I'm ready."

Hell Blazer mumbled a few words, and then there was a flash of light.

Hell Blazer covered his eyes with his front hoof, eyes stinging from the sheer brightness of the light from the transportation spell. He risked opening them after a moment, the light finally gone (though it had left imprints on his eyes). To his surprise, Elliot was still standing there - along with nine other ponies.

This was not the strangest thing however - the strangest thing was who said ponies were. One of them was the long dead Ditzy Doo of Grey Squadron. One of them was the recently deceased True Grit, now wearing Guard armour and with a longer mane. One of them was the spitting image of the shallowly breathing Lyra Heartstrings still laid out on the table.

And six of them looked exactly like the Elements of Order.

"What the bucking hell?!" Hell Blazer yelled.

"Don't worry," Elliot said, holding up both hands and apparently ignoring the Equestrian oath. "I can explain just about everything."

Author's Note

I believe this is what the phrase "this is where shit gets real" was invented for.

Thanks again to everyone who's commenting and favouriting :-)

This chapter was (re)edited 8th July 2015.

London's Burning (Part 1).

Chapter Eleven: London's Burning (Part 1).

***

Hell Blazer, the yellow Earth Pony who had once been a human named John Constantine, was not having what he would have described as "a good day".

He was currently sat in what was left of a dingy little corner shop in London, whatever was left of the wares broken and scattered around. This shop was serving as the forward HQ for his unit, including the great 'Commander' (really, he was a Major, but everybody used 'Commander' as a - slight - diminutive of the term 'Force Commander') David Elliot, known more colloquially as Commander Albion (considering he was the Avatar of Albion, that made sense). Elliot had just been sent by Hell Blazer to Equestria in order to assassinate Astra Solamina Maxima, the leader of the Equestrian Empire and architect of the war currently raining down on London. He had returned only a moment after he had gone, surrounded by ponies - including six ponies Hell Blazer didn't want anywhere near him, even if five of them were meant to be dead.

Elliot had briefly checked on the injured Lyra Heartstrings (the original Lyra, that was, not the wide eyed doppelgänger he had brought with him), and was now looking out of the doorway onto the battlefield outside, where the last few soldiers were firing on a squadron of Royal Guard Unicorns and what looked like converted militia, all of whom were steadily advancing on their position. Hell Blazer didn't really pay much attention to them, however, focused as he was on looking at the group of nine ponies. Six of those ponies were the bearers of the Elements of Order, Astra Solamina's best commanders.

"What… the bucking… hell," he finally said in a dead tone, eyes wide in shock.

"Don't you mean fucking?" Elliot threw over his shoulder in a tone that sounded like mockery.

Hell Blazer ignored him, too intent on staring at the Elements. They looked surprisingly green and young: Fluttershy was hiding her face from his gaze, and most of the rest looked uncomfortable at his frank staring, though the one that resembled Applejack (it couldn't have actually been her, there was just no way that was possible) was content to frown at him without seeming particularly fussed.

"Excuse me, sir," the pony who looked like a True Grit except for his mane and the fact that he was in full Royal Guard gear said, sounding younger and very formal. "Who are you and what's our military situation?"

"Elliot?!" Hell Blazer yelled over his shoulder, ignoring the True-Grit-alike, who blinked at the response in an exact replica of True Grit's usual reaction to surprising things. "When did you mess with the Necronomicon?!"

"I didn't!" Elliot replied, taking his sniper rifle off of his back and aiming down the street from the doorway. He fired, the sniper rifle cracking as the bullet flew, and a distant shout of pain confirmed that he had hit something.

"What about the Normanomicon?"

"Nope!" came the cheerful really. Crack, another yell, another hit.

"The Bombinomicon?"

"I tend to leave that to the experts - if you can call Merasmus and those crazy bastards he hangs around with experts." Crack, another yell, another hit. "Also, that's a goddamn magical bomb book, not a necromancy book. I'm not that much of a novice, John!"

"The Grimoire Mort Extremis? The book of Amun-Ra? The Hamunaptran book of the dead? The Eternal book of Damnation, Destruction and Destitution? Jane's Guide to Bringing Back the Dead? Necromancy for Dummies?"

"None of the above!" Crack, yet another yell, yet another hit. Elliot turned to briefly look at Hell Blazer with a confused look on his face, before turning back to his sniping. "Didn't even know the last two existed."

"They kind of only circulated among the magic crowd," Hell Blazer said softly, feeling slightly dazed. He was still staring at the group of ponies. "Alright, I give. What did you do?"

"Your fault, John," Elliot said chirpily. He dropped his now-empty sniper rifle and walked away from the door. "You sent me to the wrong Equestria you bloody muppet."

He walked up to Hell Blazer and smacked him upside the head. He then waved an arm in the direction of the new ponies. "I'd introduce our new allies here, but I get the feeling you know them."

The implications of Elliot's words about the "wrong Equestria" were not lost on Hell Blazer, though if he had spoken to him before he had known the Doctor (and had far too many late night debates about the nature of time, space, the universe and everything whilst sharing a bottle of brandy that didn't react to pony physiology all that well for either of them), they might have been.

"Parallel world?" Hell Blazer asked, gulping as he thought of the ramifications.

"Aye," Elliot said breezily. He looked at Rainbow Dash - it was bucking Rainbow Dash, she should have been dead!! - and indicated that she should follow him. "I need your help, Dash, come with me."

To her credit, though she looked nervous, Rainbow swelled up slightly with pride at having been asked for and followed Elliot. Elliot turned to True Grit.

"Get that armour off," he said shortly, "and pass me the breastplate."

Grit complied immediately, passing Elliot the breastplate quickly. Elliot examined the armour with a thoughtful expression, and then led Dash to the door. Hell Blazer was left with eight ponies, most of whom should have been dead, and he had no idea what to say to any of them.

"So," said Applejack, apparently attempting to break the ice. "Who might you be?"

Hell Blazer blinked at her, then facehoofed.

"Oh piss," he swore, confident this day could get no worse.

"'Oh Piss', huh?" the Pinkie Pie-alike said, frowning thoughtfully. "Never met a pony called that before."

Hell Blazer groaned.

***

Outside the little building Elliot had made his forward HQ, the remaining troops were hard pressed to keep their position. This unit of enemy troops appeared to be one of the newly adapted ones and a not a line-marching unit like the standard grunts (whose only tactic in some respects was a brute force overwhelm-and-crush manoeuvre). Elliot cursed his luck: he wasn't usually this unlucky. Fortunately, he was normally good with this sort of tactic too. He fired off his shotgun, mostly to suppress the enemy's troops. He turned to Rainbow Dash, who was staring around her with wide eyes, though fortunately she had enough sense to be standing behind a ruined car for cover.

"Dash," he said shortly, "can you fly with that breastplate on?"

Shaking her head to bring herself out of the stupor that seemed to have descended onto her, she examined the armour. It was optimised for a Unicorn, not a Pegasus, and was at least two sizes bigger than her.

"No," she said shortly, still wondering what he was thinking. "Sorry."

"It's not me who's gonna be sorry," Elliot said with a sigh, and he discarded the breastplate with a sigh. "That armour would have really protected you." He looked over at the enemy troopers' position. "I need you to rainboom down the street. Can you do that?"

She blinked at him before looking down the street, thinking over his request.

"Um," she said quietly, not quite getting his idea yet, "I don't know..." She scrutinised the street. "I usually need more of a buildup," she added thoughtfully, "but I think I might be able to."

"Good," Elliot said, nodding. "I need you to rainboom as close to the enemy's position as you can get."

"What?!" Dash said without thinking. "But... but that'd kill them!"

"And in case you haven't noticed," Elliot said irritably, "that's sort of what we're here to do."

She looked stricken at the thought of using her sonic rainboom to kill people, and Elliot sighed.

"Look," he said, trying his best to be sensitive, "I once saw this world's Dash kill a whole squad with a rainboom. It was a devastating moment - and now we have that ability on our side: you have no idea how helpful it will prove to be."

"But it's killing people," Dash said quietly.

"Yes, and in case I wasn’t clear back in Canterlot, this is a war," Elliot replied sounding a little impatient. "You knew that when you came. Now are you willing to do what needs to be done or should I make up a plan b?"

Rainbow sighed as she ran over her options. He was right - she should have expected killing would happen sooner or later - but this was too soon! She had only just got here! How could he expect her to be ok with killing the minute she got here?

But, a small voice reminded her with a sickening finality, she had come here to help, not to whine. She had not come here to help on her schedule, and she had not come here to help how she saw fit. She came to help when the humans needed help, and here helping meant killing, and it meant doing it on demand, no matter how sick it made you feel.

"Alright," she said slowly, trying not to sound as reluctant as she felt. "I'll give it a shot."

"Great," Elliot said, giving a wan smile. He turned to his soldiers. "I want you to provide suppressing fire. On my mark, ceasefire to allow a clear approach from RD here."

"'RD'?" one of the soldiers, his voice muffled by his gas mask, said. "Wait - isn't that -"

"Concentrate on the enemy, trooper!" Elliot snapped. He turned back to Rainbow, who didn't comment on his nickname for her, nor on the little drama with the soldier. "You need to be ready to start that rainboom the second I give the mark, or they'll not be suppressed anymore and they'll start firing on your unprotected flank. Got it?"

Rainbow nodded solemnly, trying not to think about the power the speed of a rainboom would have - and what effect a shock wave of that power would have at this close a range. Elliot smiled grimly and turned back to his men.

"Suppressing fire!" he yelled. Almost immediately, the men fired their assault rifles down the street, the Unicorn shooters immediately taking cover. "Mark! Take cover!"

Immediately, the soldiers stopped and moved to shelter, and without thinking Rainbow took off, going as fast as she could - first she zoomed one way, giving herself a tiny bit of leeway, and then she zoomed back down the street a split-second later...

The rainboom came as she neared the enemy forces' position, the shockwave causing glass to break and throwing several Unicorns and other ponies into walls with the sheer force of the rainboom's power. Rainbow managed to slow herself down before ramming into a building, only to find herself surrounded by dazed (and in some cases unconscious) Royal Guards. She blinked, suddenly aware that they were about to notice her.

One of them did so, his eyes wide as he saw her. Rainbow cringed, expecting him to attack.

"Commander Dash?" he asked, his voice filled with disbelief. "But I thought you were..."

He was interrupted by a bullet going through his head, splattering blood across the ground and even onto Dash's face. She let out an involuntary scream of shock as the blank eyed corpse collapsed into the dirt with a thud.

A few moments later, Elliot and a squad of his soldiers - though to call the five battered and dusty looking troops "a squad" was a little generous - charged into the fight, guns blazing. He fired his pistol, taking out one pony, then he was amongst them, his dagger slashing a Unicorn across the throat. He was grinning viciously and before Dash could react his other dagger had thrust into another Unicorn standing behind her. His eyes met here, and they were filled with something Dash couldn't identify, but she suddenly felt fear. Then he moved on, his dagger slicing across the face of another pony soldier.

One of Elliot's soldiers got blasted backwards into a building by a Unicorn's spell, and fell to the floor, lying still with his legs at a funny angle. Another soldier yelled in fury and racked their shotgun, aiming it at the offending Unicorn and blasting them in the face, spraying the front of their face across the street in a smear of red and grey matter. Another soldier was knocked to the ground by an Earth Pony, who smashed the unfortunate trooper's head into mush with his armoured hooves, but the pony couldn't revel in his brief victory for long before he was torn apart by another spray of projectiles. The final pony, a Pegasus, tried flying away, but Elliot had brought his hand cannon out and in a flash had shot the offending pony in the head, his body falling to the streets below where it landed in a crumpled heap.

And suddenly, it was over: the entire enemy squad had been wiped out, leaving three soldiers and a victorious, heavy breathing Elliot standing there. Rainbow Dash could hardly believe what she had just seen.

"Well done," Elliot suddenly said to her, shocking her slightly. "You took most of them out, and distracted the rest. Gave us the opening we needed."

Rainbow's gaze drifted to the bodies of ponies who had been thrown into walls and against lamp-posts, all of them displaced by... by her. None of them were moving, and more than a few were lying at angles that should, by rights, have been impossible for pony anatomy. She looked back at Elliot, who frowned slightly at her stricken expression, before realising that this was the first time she had killed. He sighed.

"I'm sorry I threw you in the deep end," he said softly. "But in some ways it's better."

Rainbow said nothing, instead leaning forward and trying not to make herself feel any more like throwing up than she already did.

"Hey, Commander?" the shotgun wielding soldier asked, approaching the two of them: to Rainbow's surprise, the soldier sounded female. "Who is this pony? She almost looks like..."

The soldier trailed off, and Rainbow suddenly had a sinking feeling: she still looked like their enemy. Elliot, meanwhile, sighed.

"Don't worry, Jan," he said to the soldier. "I can explain..."

***

The pony called "John" (Celestia only knew why he had an obviously non-pony name) didn't say much to Twilight or the others, restricting himself to standing still, staring at the Element bearers who had remained inside, and muttering to himself. Twilight looked him over: he was an unusual pony, alright - his cutie mark was the number 666, and he wore a trench coat of some sort over a white shirt and dark tie.

He kept staring at them, as he began rummaging in his pocket for something.

"You know," Twilight said quietly, "staring is rude."

"Buck off," the yellow pony said harshly, as he continued to rummage. Twilight recoiled, and the pony sighed. "Sorry. I meant to say fuck off. Came out wrong."

Rarity raised an eyebrow in irritation at the uncouthness of this pony. Most of the rest of the group just felt confused.

"Who are you anyway?" Applejack asked. "Ya'll don't sound like no pony I've ever met, and I ain't never met a pony named John."

"That's because I'm not a goddamn pony," 'John' said in a surly voice.

Before any of the other ponies in the room could point out the obvious fact that he was a pony, a groan came from the injured Lyra lying on a desktop, and 'John' immediately stopped his rummaging and went to see to her.

"Lyra?" he said softly. "Lyra can you hear me?"

The Lyra Heartstrings stood next to Twilight gasped softly, and before Twilight could stop her she moved to see the injured pony.

This other Lyra was badly injured, with several burn marks in her coat. She had scars on her face and flank and wore a camouflage t-shirt. She was breathing heavily. The yellow pony named John looked worriedly at her for a moment, then looked up at Twilight.

"Here, Sparkle," he said, somewhat gruffly but nonetheless sounding less antagonistic than he had previously. "I need your help. Can you have a look see if you can figure out what did this?"

"Um, ok," Twilight said nervously, approaching the injured Lyra. When she reached the injured pony, she let out a soft gasp of shock - not only because of the extent of the injuries but also because of who this particular pony was. "Lyra?"

"Yeah, this is Lyra Heartstrings, well done on being able to see," John said harshly. His expression softened as he looked the injured Lyra over. "She was hit by a Guard's spell, but I've not had much experience with this kind of work before: usually the ponies hit by it are dead, and I don't do autopsies."

Twilight examine the damage visually: the burns suggested a kind of heat or fire spell - unfortunately for this Lyra, the nature of the burns as having apparently come from the inside out suggested the former.

"I think she's been hit by a heat or lightning spell," she said softly, sitting back on her haunches slightly, her face dropping. "I don't know that there's much I can do."

"Move," True Grit said softly, appearing from behind her. He approached the wounded Lyra frowning at the wounds.

"Whaddya think, Grit?" John asked.

"I think I don't like this, sir," True Grit replied with a frown. "This sort of spell isn't one I've seen Guards practice with."

"Oh come on, Grit, you don't -" John began, and then he trailed off. True Grit threw him a look, but the yellow pony just shoot his head, apparently upset about something.

True Grit turned back to Lyra, his horn glowing softly with a red light that settled across Lyra's body before vanishing. 'John' covered his eyes with his hoof, looking upset.

"What was that spell?" Twilight asked, frowning slightly. "I've never seen it before."

"A spell a lot of guards are taught," True Grit said tersely.

"The morphine horn," John said quietly. True Grit gave him a questioning look. "Sorry: that's our name for it." He turned to Twilight. "It's a palliative spell: when a pony is too far gone, the spell nullifies all pain. A final mercy, so to speak."

Twilight's eyes widened in shock. Behind her, the rest of the group looked horrified - they had only been here a scant few minutes, and they were already witnessing the death of a pony from horrible injury. A pony they knew.

The Lyra Heartstrings who had come with them couldn't help but be fixated on this alternative version of herself. Every inch of that body was in some way the same as hers - though she recognised that this other her was leaner, tougher and more muscular than she was. She looked at the face - though there were a couple more lines of age there, as well as a couple of scars, this Lyra was definitely the face Lyra was used to seeing in the mirror.

Then her eyes opened.

Lyra blinked in shock as her counterpart's eyes stared into hers. The two of them looked at each other for a moment that seemed to last for an eternity: in those eyes, Lyra could see shock, upset, fear, and suddenly she realised that within those eyes there had once been the sum total of all the enthusiasm she had felt, the desire to know about humans, and then to meet them, the desire to understand their sociology, their anatomy... all of that had been stripped from this Lyra, worn down in the fires of war, until here she lay, dying in a small, broken building, left with nothing but violence and death in her life.

This pony's eyes held no hope, they held no enthusiasm. Being surrounded by humans did not bring her joy, and she did not enthuse about their hands, nor did she ask a million questions about their society. Maybe she had, once, but that had been taken from her. Lyra had to wonder, was violence all she had left? Where was Bon-Bon? Where were any of her old friends? Had they been left behind, or had they died?

"Lyra?" John said to the injured mare, though to the uninsured Lyra his voice seemed impossibly distant. "It's me, Hell Blazer. Don't try to speak!"

Tears spilled from Lyra's eyes, and desperately, she moved a hoof to comfort her other self. The other Lyra's lips twitched slightly at the gesture, as though she were trying to smile maybe. She swallowed, as though she were preparing to say something.

"D..." she began, her voice barely more than a whisper. "D-don..." She swallowed again, coughed, and then tried again. "D-don't..."

Suddenly, she convulsed a couple of times, her eyes widening slightly. Blood bubbled at the corners of her mouth, and then her eyes emptied, the light leaving them in an instant, and she stopped moving.

"Lyra?" the distant voice of John - Hell Blazer? - said quietly. "Lyra?!"

Her dead eyes stared glassily into Lyra's soul, and the mare stepped back, shocked, her hoof dropping to the ground again in surprise.

"Lyra," Twilight said quietly from behind her, sounding almost as shocked as Lyra felt. "I'm so sorry."

Lyra didn't say anything. The experience of watching... essentially, watching herself die... was just too strange for her to truly be able to process it properly.

The pony called 'Hell Blazer' sighed turning away from the corpse of Lyra on the desktop, and took in the Elements of Harmony, as well as Lyra, Ditzy and True Grit. He turned to Twilight, who was nearest him.

"You really are from another world, ain't you?" he said, frowning slightly - though more in confusion than annoyance. Twilight nodded slowly.

"You're Hell Blazer, aren't you?" she asked softly. "Mr Elliot mentioned you."

"I suppose it wasn't all good things?" Hell Blazer said with a smirk.

"Actually, all he said was that you sent him to our Equestria," Twilight said. She frowned as she realised Hell Blazer was an Earth Pony. "Though how did you manage that? You're not a Unicorn..."

"Nope," Hell Blazer said with a wry grin, "but make no mistake, magic is my gig."

Twilight frowned. "Somehow I doubt that."

Hell Blazer raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Really," Twilight said.

Blazer didn't reply. He closed his eyes, muttered something, and then suddenly a small flame was in his hoof. He rummaged in his pocket again, and withdrew a box of... what appeared to be white paper sticks.

"Can you get one of these for me?" he asked, almost politely. "Only two hooves."

Twilight wanted to point out the anatomical inaccuracy of his statement, but she got his meaning well enough: her horn glowed, and one of the sticks withdrew from the box. Hell Blazer put the box back in his pocket, grabbed the stick, and lit the end on fire, before - to Twilight's surprise - putting it in his mouth. He took a long drag on the stick, the end burning away as he did so, before exhaling a stream of smoke with a contented sigh.

"I bloody needed that," he said softly.

Twilight ignored the burning paper stick (strange and interesting as it was), and instead focused on the fact that an Earth Pony had just performed magic.

"How did you do that?" she asked, pointing at the hoof that had held fire.

Hell Blazer looked from side to side furtively, as though checking for unwanted listeners. Then he leaned forward, indicating that Twilight should do the same. He brought his mouth up to her ear.

"Magic," he whispered dramatically.

Twilight frowned in annoyance. "If you aren't going to answer a question seriously..."

"Who said I wasn't?" Hell Blazer asked. "I do magic. Deal."

He took another drag of his burning white paper stick and sighed.

Lyra, meanwhile, was still staring at the glassy eyes of the deceased Lyra on the desktop, her own eyes wide and shocked. Slowly, Ditzy came to stand next to her.

"Are you alright?" she asked quietly. Lyra didn't answer her, too wrapped up in her thoughts.

Before Ditzy could say anything else, Elliot, Rainbow Dash and a human soldier entered the ruined shop. The soldier had her mask off, exposing her feminine features, cropped hair and her scarred face. She scowled when she saw Twilight. Rainbow Dash looked sick, and she was shaking slightly.

"Dash?" Pinkie Pie asked, rushing over to her along with Applejack. The two of them steadied their ill-looking friend.

"What happened sugarcube?" the orange Earth Pony asked, eyes wide. Dash shook her head and sank to the floor. She looked like she was trying not to throw up. Applejack looked up and glared at Elliot, but his eyes weren't on the ill Pegasus and her friends, but rather on the still form of Lyra Heartstrings.

"No..." he murmured. He walked up to the prone body and reached out a hand, absently stroking her mane. "No..."

"I'm sorry," Twilight said softly. "There was nothing we could do."

Elliot didn't reply. He brought his hand down from her mane to her eyes and closed them, before turning to the living Lyra he had brought with him.

"I'm sorry Lyra," he said quietly, and Lyra got the distinct impression that he wasn't really talking to her. "But I swear this to you: I will end this war."

He went to another desktop and sat down, before looking at the scarred and glaring soldier.

"So, Lockett," he said quietly. "And John," he added, looking at Hell Blazer, who was still smoking. "You both wanted an explanation."

The soldier - "Lockett" - crossed her arms and said nothing, though she glared at Twilight Sparkle with undisguised hatred. Hell Blazer just shrugged.

"Alright," Elliot said. "Then I'll explain."

Author's Note

This chapter was edited 8th July 2015

London's Burning (Part 2).

Chapter Twelve: London's Burning (Part 2).

***

David Elliot didn't like spending too much time in a war zone talking, ever conscious of the fact that out there, still was an army of Solaminan Empire soldiers ready to destroy them. But no matter how uncomfortable staying still made him feel, it was important that his friends understand that the ponies he had brought back with him from the alternative Equestria were to be trusted. If he didn't convince them now, then he'd never be able to convince anyone - and he might condemn them to being executed for the crimes of their (in many cases deceased) counterparts, which was not why he had asked them to come here.

Jan Lockett, a soldier he had known for about half a year, said nothing through the entire story, her scarred visage stony and neutral as he laid out his tale. Hell Blazer, on the other hand, had a slight scowl on his face throughout Elliot's explanation, as though he was trying to decide just how much bullshit it really was.

When he was finished, Lockett whistled softly, shaking her head.

"That is one hell of a story, sir," she said simply.

Elliot gave a mirthless smile at Lockett's summary of the tale he had just told. She and Hell Blazer both looked surprisingly neutral about the whole story (though Hell Blazer still had a scowl on his face, and had smoked at least three more cigarettes during that time): Elliot took that as a good sign.

"John?" he asked Hell Blazer. "What are you thinking?"

"Was considering asking you that," Hell Blazer muttered. "Bad enough that you didn't bring back an army…"

"Our hope isn't in force of arms," Elliot replied, waving a hand to dismiss that idea. "There's no way even the entirety of Princess Celestia's army could have been enough. It'd be more fuel to the grinder, sure, but where's the hope of victory in prolonging this fight? But specific ponies - specific individuals with specific potential…"

"So you thought bringing these ponies, of every single pony you could possibly have brought, would be a good idea?!" Hell Blazer summarised, looking irritated.

"That… is about the long and the short of it, John," Elliot replied, smiling slightly sheepishly. "I realise it isn't the best solution, but under the circumstances I thought it would work."

Hell Blazer facehoofed. "There are a million and one ways that this could go horribly, horribly wrong."

Elliot grinned. "And if it goes right? You saw how the Elements fight, the power they had even as individuals. Imagine having that kind of power on our side!"

Hell Blazer sighed, realising he couldn't convince Elliot that this was a horrible idea. He turned to look at Lockett, but the engineer was looking thoughtful.

"Solamina's armies don't have the Elements any more," she said quietly, smiling slightly. "But we do."

Elliot nodded, smiling. "Exactly."

Hell Blazer sighed, unhappy that Lockett was apparently agreeing with Elliot. It had been a very long time since Lockett had been the young, slightly nervy engineer Hell Blazer had saved from an ambush in the Pennines, but she still had the awe of Albion that Hell Blazer remembered, even if it was tempered by an exterior hardness.

Hell Blazer still didn't trust any of this at all, though. Maybe it was his old, cynical nature (which had served him so well when he was still John Constantine), but in his opinion anything that seemed this easy wasn't. No ifs. No buts. No exceptions.

"Mr Hell Blazer," the yellow one, Fluttershy, said softly, catching the cynical pony's attention. "I know the other us's weren't very nice…" Hell Blazer scoffed at her understatement, and Fluttershy paused nervously before continuing. "But we're honestly not like them: we're here because we wanted to help Mr Elliot stop… um…"

"We're here to kick that Solamina squarely in the flank," Applejack supplied grimly. "We've heard about how she's invaded your home, about how loads of humans have died…"

"And we want to do something about it," Rarity finished, nodding resolutely.

"I've a question, though," Pinkie Pie threw in. "Why does everypony keep calling you John?"

The non-sequitur caught everyone off guard slightly, and Hell Blazer sighed in irritation.

"Because it's my name," he said, speaking slowly. "Why do you bloody think?"

"But it's not a pony name," Pinkie pointed out, as if this were the most obvious thing in the world (which it was to Hell Blazer).

Hell Blazer gave Elliot a look. "You did tell her what Solamina's been doing, didn't you, Dave?"

Elliot didn't say anything, but he looked unhappy, as though this were a subject he would have rather not had come up.

"We know about the war," Twilight said frowning confusedly after a moment. "The deaths of so many of your people, the barrier that destroyed most of your world…"

"That's not the worst of it," Hell Blazer said scathingly, looking at her with a look of derisive disbelief. "Has he told you about…?"

"This isn't the time or place to fill our new allies in on every evil thing done by Astra Solamina," Elliot cut the yellow pony off. "We can do that at base."

"Assuming they aren't all strung up the minute we get there," Hell Blazer muttered. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity blanched, but Elliot held up a hand to placate them.

"That won't happen," he said softly. He turned to Hell Blazer. "Once we convince everyone that they're not a bunch of crazies or monsters or necromantic freaks…"

"I'm still not convinced of that myself," Hell Blazer muttered.

"… I'm sure they'll see how much of an advantage this could give us," Elliot finished, ignoring the yellow Earth Pony's interruption.

"To be fair," Lockett put in fairly, "Dash's rainboom certainly helped our assault on the enemy's position just now. We'd have lost this position without it."

Rainbow Dash didn't say anything, but the sickened expression on her face showed that she was hardly pleased with the accolade: in fact, she looked positively ashamed of herself.

"Exactly," Elliot said, smiling slightly and ignoring the ill-looking Pegasus' expression. "We just need to convince command that they're useful."

"They'll listen to you," Hell Blazer said unexpectedly; he didn't sound happy, per se, but he didn't sound annoyed. "They always do. And you could convince the troops the sky's made of fairy dust, the amount of faith they've got in your abilities."

Elliot's enthusiastic expression faltered for a moment (he didn't like being reminded of precisely how much rides on him and his abilities), but then he smiled again.

"I'm glad you think so." He looked around, then frowned. "As it is, we still need to win this battle. Situation hasn't changed since last time I was here, I take it?"

"Millions of Pegasi flying around, hundreds of incoming unicorn and Earth pony divisions, defence force running low on everything?" Hell Blazer summed up. "Yeah, same as it ever was."

"Pretty much as expected then," Elliot said softly, sighing slightly. "Ok then." He checked his weapons, then turned to Lockett. "We're moving our troops out, Lockett. I need to get these ponies to command, get their image out there so to speak. Our forces need to know that they're on our side."

"Gotcha, sir," Lockett said smartly. "My lads are ready to move."

"Is that wise from a strategic standpoint?" Twilight put in. Elliot turned to look at her, and found her looking at a very dusty map of London. "If this map is right, we're currently at a strategically important intersection…"

"Intersections won't matter a shit if we're too dead to hold them," Elliot replied, cutting her off, though not harshly. "Here's a lesson for you: compromises have to be made."

He looked at the map, and pointed at a landmark.

"We'll make for the defensive position at St Paul's," he said, his voice carrying a tone of finality. "It's about half a mile from here, so we'll have to get moving."

"That's pretty far back," Lockett said quietly. "And it's the heart of the defences in this part of the city."

"We can't hold anything else," Elliot replied, looking up at her. "We don't hold that position, we'll be fucked, but we can't hold anywhere else at the casualty rates we're facing."

Lockett nodded smartly. "Yes sir."

Elliot nodded in return. "Suit up and get your team ready to move."

Without another word, Lockett pulled her mask back over her face and went outside, already barking orders to her surviving soldiers. Elliot turned to Twilight's group.

"When we go, we'll need to fight," he said softly. "I need to know you're ready to face that."

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, but she looked even more ill than before at this news. The other ponies looked at her nervously.

"Most of us are not combat trained," Rarity pointed out, speaking quietly but firmly. "How can we be expected to fight?"

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy nodded, neither of them looking particularly happy. Elliot cursed softly under his breath. He looked at True Grit.

"You can fight at least?" he asked, sounding a tad more annoyed than he wanted to.

"Yes sir," Grit said, nodding smartly and apparently ignoring Elliot's tone. "Basic offensive spells, basic defensive spells, basic first aid spells."

"Our Grit knew more that he picked up over the years, but you're more qualified than these ponies," Elliot said quietly. "Can I rely on you to keep them safe, then?"

"Now hold up, Sugarcube," Applejack said before Grit could reply. She sounded annoyed. "I may not have fancy Guard training, but I'm no damsel in distress needin' some knight to keep me safe. Anypony comes at me, they'll get a good buck to the face."

"And what good will a 'buck to the face' do against an armoured Royal Guard?" Hell Blazer asked scathingly.

Applejack raised an eyebrow at that, and rather than reply verbally, she bucked the wall behind her. Dust fell from the building and any random observer could have sworn the entire structure shook slightly upon impact. Applejack smirked slightly.

"Oh," Hell Blazer said blankly, raising an eyebrow. He shrugged. "No more questions."

"So you can protect your friends too?" Elliot asked the orange pony.

"Or die tryin'," she said, sounding deadly serious.

"Well, hopefully it won't come to that," Elliot said, but he nodded in respect at the sentiment nonetheless. He turned to Lyra and Twilight. "I don't know whether you know many defensive or offensive spells…"

"A few shield spells and a stunning spell," Twilight said quietly. "Not perfect, but it'll buy us time."

"Same," Lyra replied, "but I'm not as good as Twilight."

"Don't put yourself down," Elliot said sharply. He indicated the body of the deceased Lyra. "She was…"

He trailed off, looking as though he was trying to find the words to describe his Lyra. Finally, he shook his head.

"Lyra was one of our best," he said simply. "And I believe you can be too."

He turned to the body, frowning slightly.

"What are you going to do with her?" Twilight asked, trying to be sensitive to what she thought Elliot might be feeling (though she was conscious that, grandparents aside, she'd never lost anyone). Elliot sighed.

"There's a bit of greenery near here," he said quietly. "It's on the way to the church. We'll bury her there."

"Is there time?" Hell Blazer asked. Elliot shot a glare at him, and he raised a hoof in a placating gesture. "Only asking, Dave."

"We'll make time," Elliot said softly. "She deserved it."

None of the ponies in the room said anything for a long moment, waiting for the human to move. Finally, Elliot sighed, and he picked up Lyra's body. She was surprisingly light.

"Come on," he said to them. He walked out of the room, and the group of upset and out-of-sorts ponies followed tentatively, uncertain what horrors they would see in that city at war.

***

Gunfire echoed in the distance as the group walked down the streets. Twilight looked around, taking in every sight she could and also trying to keep alert.

She had read up on wars before today - the Griffon wars, the Royal Guard's internecine conflict, even read about ancient wars like the Adamantine insurrections... but she had never heard of a war like this one, which seemed to involve far more small scale engagements and far less line warfare. Still, she wasn't going to quibble about small details. This was a war, and her books had told her plenty, but not enough to prepare her to face it head on.

Most of the books she had read had been dry historical tests, filled with dates and numbers that weren't all that expressive about the nature of the thing itself. As it stood, the only book that had been any real help was a retrospective account written by a soldier who had fought one of the early Griffon wars. The blunt descriptions and harrowing tales related in the story were enough to convince Twilight at the time that she wanted nothing to do with a real war.

Yet, here she was. She sighed. She didn't like this, but she would deal with it as best she could.

"Ya alright Twilight?" Applejack asked her, startling her slightly.

"Yeah," she said quietly, looking around. "Yeah, I'm fine."

***

Behind Twilight, Fluttershy was talking to Rainbow Dash, who looked considerably less ill after having gotten some air, though she still looked pale and stricken. The compassionate yellow Pegasus was trying to comfort her friend after her first taste of combat.

So far, it wasn't going brilliantly.

"Dash," the compassionate pony said softly, "I know it's hard but…"

"I killed them," Dash interrupted, her voice soft and weak as she spoke. "I rainboomed… and it killed them."

"I… I didn't know a rainboom could do that," Fluttershy said quietly, unsure what to say to Dash.

"You get close enough it can," Rainbow Dash replied, not looking at her friend. "Shockwave can break things, displace stuff… break ponies. But I was always careful with it, always made sure I didn't… until…"

She didn't say anything else, simply sighing and continuing to look ahead with a slightly glazed look in her eye.

"Rainbow, we knew we'd have to… to fight…" Fluttershy said, trying not to sound too worried about the prospect herself. In truth though, she could already feel like she, too, would break down upon causing her first death. If her stoic, brave friend Rainbow Dash could barely handle the horror, what chance did she, a mare who was scared of her own shadow, let alone anything truly frightening, have of being able to deal with it?

"I was so proud of the rainboom," Rainbow Dash said softly. "I was so happy I could do it. It was the one thing I thought made me really special. Now though… now I don't think I ever want to do one again."

Fluttershy didn't know what to say in order to comfort her friend. She started wondering whether coming here was a mistake, but it was too late now. For better or for worse, they were stuck here.

***

Near them in formation walked Elliot, carrying the body of Lyra Heartstrings with him. True Grit and the younger Lyra were walking near him, but Lyra's eyes kept drifting to the body.

"You shouldn't look," Grit said quietly to her. She turned to look at him, frowning slightly.

"How would you react, knowing that you're dead?" she hissed, feeling slightly more touchy than usual.

"I am," the Guard replied without missing a beat. "Mr Elliot told me this world's True Grit was killed the day before he came to Equestria - which I guess would be yesterday."

Lyra said nothing, looking away from True Grit with a slight blush on her face.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly after a moment.

"It's alright," Grit said, chuckling slightly, though it was a laugh without humour. "I'll be honest, I'm really out of my depth here."

"What?" Lyra asked, eyes widening in surprise.

"I'm not really ready for a war," True Grit told her. "I don't know how much good I'm gonna be in a fight."

"You're a guard," Lyra pointed out.

"And as much as we're Equestria's military, we've not fought a real war in years," Grit replied, shaking his head.

"But the border conflicts…" Lyra began.

"Border conflicts with the Griffons you mean?" Grit said, chuckling. "Yeah, those are going on, but usually its the specific border Guard who are set for those. The Royal Guard in Canterlot haven't had to fight anything since the Changelings, and that was damage control more than anything else." He sighed, his amusement fading. "I'm about as ready for war as you guys are."

"You should look at your cutie mark more often," Elliot's voice spoke up suddenly, startling the two ponies. Lyra's eyes drifted to the cutie mark briefly, and True Grit turned to look at his own mark as well.

It was a shield - that was fairly common among the Royal Guard - but unlike the pristine shields of many guards, Grit's was battered, the white streaked with rust.

"You've never wondered why you had that pattern?" Elliot asked, looking behind him at the guard.

"I…" Grit said nothing. In truth, it had been a question: the shield was all but ubiquitous to anypony who'd end up serving in the military, in one form or another. Shining Armour for example - and Grit could hardly think about his old Captain anymore without feeling slightly ill - had a shield with several stars surrounding it, similar to his sister's mark. Grit's battered shield, however, was a subject of some curiosity.

"The shield is your military destiny," Elliot said after a moment. "The fact that it's battered is a testament to your resolve. You're not just a guard, Grit, you're a fighter: it's your destiny to hold the line where others fail."

True Grit nodded thoughtfully as they walked. Elliot then turned his head to look at Lyra over his shoulder.

"And don't get too fixated on death," he added sombrely. "You do that, you're fucked."

Lyra scowled slightly. "It's hard to do that when you see yourself die."

"I know," Elliot replied, sighing sadly. "I never said it was easy."

He said nothing more, and a dread silence settled over the two ponies as they thought about what he had said.

***

Hell Blazer, meanwhile, was walking further back from the group, a scowl on his face. Near him walked Rarity - the "good" Rarity, much as his mind rebelled against that being a thing. With them, silent and contemplative, walked Ditzy Doo.

The pony was scowling at Hell Blazer slightly, which annoyed him no end: he had put up with far too much shit to put up with this bitch already - the only reason he was a fucking pony in the first place was because of her - so having her stare at him like he was dirt on her metaphorical shoe was insulting.

"Alright," he finally said after having put up with her staring for the best part of twenty minutes, "what exactly is your bucking problem?"

"You needn't use that language," Rarity said with a frown.

"Yeah, sorry," Hell Blazer said snarkily. "I meant to say, what is your fucking problem, but it kinda came out the wrong way."

"I'm just looking at your trench coat," Rarity said quietly, ignoring his rudeness. "It's a little… bland, isn't it?"

"Seriously?" Hell Blazer said, raising an eyebrow. "All the things you could possibly choose to pick up on in this world of utter shit, and you decide to have a go about my trench coat?"

"Who even made it?" she asked, ignoring his scowl. "It looks like it wasn't made for ponies…"

"That's because it wasn't," Hell Blazer replied, cutting her off. "It's a long story and I have no intention of telling it to you."

"I see," Rarity said, sighing. She looked around, her eyes chancing upon some of the posters scattered about the walls. She frowned when she saw a familiar visage on one of the posters. "Is that Prince Blueblood?"

Hell Blazer followed her gaze, seeing what she was referring to: it was one of the governmental council's propaganda posters, a stylised image of Ditzy Doo (without any sign of her normal wall-eyed expression), the True Grit Hell Blazer had known (the former Guard had never liked those posters very much) and at the centre, Prince Blueblood, looking stern in his uniform of office, a stylised Night Guardspony outfit. The caption beneath them read, "WE FIGHT FOR A FREE EQUESTRIA".

"Yeah," Hell Blazer said shortly. "That's Blueblood."

"What in Celestia's name is he doing on one of your posters?" Rarity asked, sounding almost affronted.

Hell Blazer scowled at the use of the tyrant's old name.

"Blueblood's on our side," he said shortly. "And don't use that name, or you'll find yourself really short on friends."

It took Rarity a minute to understand what he meant, but she looked suitably abashed when she did.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I just… what should I say? Luna?"

"Most ponies go for unspecified deities," Hell Blazer replied shortly. "'By whatever deity watches over Ponykind,', 'Pony God,' that sort of thing."

"I see," Rarity said quietly. For a long moment, they were silent as they walked.

"Why am I on the poster?" Ditzy put in, speaking for the first time since they had arrived.

"What?" Hell Blazer said, turning to look at her.

"Why am I on a poster?" she repeated. Hell Blazer blinked, surprised that she would ask this question - and worried about the implication.

"Here, Dave!" he called over to his friend. "You did tell her about Manchester, yeah?"

"No," came the short reply. Hell Blazer cursed. Leave it to the scatterbrained Elliot to not bother telling the counterpart of the hero of Manchester and the founder of Grey Squadron that she was dead.

"I can't tell you," he said to the grey Pegasus. "Not yet anyway."

Ditzy nodded softly. "Ok." She didn't look particularly happy, but she kept her issue to herself. She was certain, in her own trusting way, that everything would turn out ok in the end. She was with her friends, after all.

***

At the head of the little group walked Jan Lockett and her two remaining troopers. Also walking with them (to Lockett's consternation) was Pinkie Pie, who kept pestering them with questions.

"So why do you wear the masks?" she asked chirpily. She was - Lockett could hardly believe this - bouncing, as though for all the world this were simply some bloody road trip and they were all going for a hike.

"Avoids chemical warfare," Lockett replied, not wanting to talk about the potion just yet.

"What's chemical warfare?" Pinkie asked.

"Use of weaponised substances that cause harm to human beings when it makes contact with their skin," Lockett said sourly - that was as much as she was willing to reveal, since it was obvious Elliot hadn't yet told them about ponification: Lockett wasn't so naive anymore that she didn't pick up on her commanding officer deliberately leaving information unsaid. "Solamina's armies use that in conjunction with other tactics quite frequently."

Pinkie frowned. "That doesn't seem very nice."

"Welcome to war," Lockett muttered.

"Why do ponies even fight wars?" Pinkie pondered aloud. "Seems a great big pain in the plot for no gain to me - you could settle disagreements much easier with a food fight, or arm wrestling, or…"

Lockett chuckled, and Pinkie stopped.

"You know, I wish I'd known you before," the scarred woman said. "You're a right laugh."

"But what about the left? Don't I make that laugh too?" Pinkie asked, tilting her head. Lockett laughed again.

Suddenly, her point man held up a hand, and Lockett stopped laughing, bringing her attention to their surroundings. Pinkie came to a rest near her, frowning slightly.

"What is it?" she asked, speaking far too loudly for Lockett's liking.

"Quiet!" the engineer hissed. She crouched, scanning the street and the skies, and then she saw it.

In the sky there were two squads of ten Pegasi, Royal Guard by their armour - and from their course, they had spotted the group on the street.

"Shit!" Lockett swore. "Cover, now!"

At once, her troops reacted, taking up cover behind cars and in broken buildings, their rifles aimed at the sky in worry.

Elliot scowled, and gently put the body of his Lyra down, before whipping out his 'speed killer' and his hand cannon.

"Guard her," he said over his shoulder to Lyra and True Grit.

"Sir!" Grit said at once. "All non-combatant ponies, on me now!"

Almost immediately, most of the Element bearers converged on his location, to Elliot's immense relief - he knew he could trust Grit to look after them, whether he was his Grit or not.

Twilight was looking at the inbound flying guards with a worried look on her face. Rarity and Fluttershy exchanged glances. Applejack was scowling. Derpy gave Lyra a quick smile when she reached her, a smile the turquoise unicorn didn't return. Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, was frowning at the sky, her expression almost looking as though she were building up to something.

Hell Blazer stayed in the street, his eyes closed in concentration. Elliot moved to stand near him.

"They're too fast in the air for a fireball," the Avatar muttered to his friend.

"To hit them, sure," Hell Blazer said quietly in response. The fireball appeared in mid-air in front of him, and he looked up at the approaching squadrons with a vicious, feral grin. "But not to scatter the bastards."

He looked at Elliot, waiting for the man's order. Elliot frowned slightly, and then smiled softly.

"Fire!" he called out loudly.

Hell Blazer grinned again. "Literally!"

The fireball in front of him leapt towards the Pegasi. One or two unfortunates were caught in it, unable to manoeuvre in time, and were blasted to ash. The rest were scattered for a moment, trying desperately to avoid the thrown firebomb.

Another Pegasi was caught by a round of fire from Lockett's troops. Yet another took a round from Elliot's hand cannon. The remaining Pegasi, however, kept approaching. A spear flew, landing near Lockett's troops. Another spear hit one of them in the chest, killing the poor unfortunate instantly and pinning him to the ground.

Another one flew straight at the small group of huddled and scared ponies. Twilight couldn't get a shield up in time, and it impacted near Applejack, grazing her side in the process. She yelped in surprise and pain, and stepped back.

"Applejack!" Twilight said concerned. "Are you alright?!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Applejack replied, hissing in pain slightly when she tried to move. "It's just a scratch, Twi…"

Rainbow Dash was looking at Applejack's injury, the red tear along her friend's side acting like the red flag in front of a bull, filling her with anger. She frowned at the sky, her wings unconsciously unfolding.

"Dash?" Applejack's voice spoke, but to Rainbow Dash it was distant. She bent her knees slightly, and suddenly she was airborne.

"Rainbow Dash!" she heard somepony call out her name, but she didn't pay any attention. She charged at the first Guard she could see, knocking him out of the sky. She didn't stop to see whether he landed or crashed hard on the ground, instead switching her attention to another Guard. Before the armoured Pegasus could do anything she had charged into him, knocking him into a wall, which crumbled under the speed the pony had been flung at.

Suddenly, another pony rammed into her, knocking her away. Rainbow recovered quickly - only to find the space she had been in had a spear flying through it, thrown by a Pegasus who had been above her. The pony who had pushed her, a light brown Pegasus in a red flight-shirt and goggles of some kind, gave her a terse nod before charging into other ponies, scattering them. Rainbow quickly charged after him, further scattering any guards he missed.

On the ground, Twilight and Lyra had raised a shield that no spear could penetrate. Unfortunately, it didn't prevent any of the enemy Pegasi from trying to land - three of them landed near the Element bearers' position.

"Get the traitors!" one of the ponies yelled.

True Grit snarled, and fired off a spell at them, knocking one across the street, where he lay, smouldering slightly. A second Pegasus charged at Applejack, but she dodged the spear thrust and, faster than her injury should have allowed, span and bucked, knocking the Guard away. Before the Guard could do anything else, however, a bullet smacked into his head, sending a fine red mist spraying from the hole. Fluttershy screamed at the sight, covering her eyes, and Applejack paled, suddenly realising that she had helped end a life. She shook her head, realising that she couldn't let it overwhelm her just yet, and she assumed a ready stance, ignoring the burning pain in her side.

The last Pegasus, however, went nowhere near Applejack, instead going straight for Twilight, only to find himself facing down the barrel of Pinkie Pie's party cannon. A shot rang out in an echoing blast, knocking him to the ground, though he seemed unharmed (albeit covered in various party accruements). Before he could move though, Elliot was on him, pinning him to the ground with his boot and stabbing him in the throat. His eyes widened beneath his helmet, and he gurgled his last breath.

A moment later, it was all over. Lockett and her last soldier checked their weapons. Hell Blazer sighed, the latest fireball he had been working on dissipating. Elliot sheathed his dagger and holstered his hand cannon.

Zooming down from the sky, Rainbow Dash and the brown Pegasus landed. Dash was breathing heavily, and looked a little ill again. Fluttershy rushed over to her.

"Oh my goodness, Rainbow are you alright?" she asked, speaking quickly to her friend. Rainbow nodded tersely, trying her best not to think about what had just happened. She had acted on instinct, and now that instinct had died down, she was once more hideously aware that she had ended lives.

They would have killed you, a voice said softly in her mind. She shook her head. She wouldn't ever get used to killing… but maybe she could accept that there was a need, at least in this messed-up world.

The brown pony who had saved her frowned at the two ponies, his gaze drifting over all of the Element bearers before a look of horror descended onto his features as he realised exactly who they were.

"Oh, you're kidding," he muttered.

"Errant Flight!" Elliot said, grinning slightly. "Didn't know you were here!"

"I came down with Red Squadron, hence the uniform," the last survivor of Grey Squadron said, sounding more than a little annoyed. "Reinforcements have been pouring into the city."

"That's great news," Elliot said, suddenly feeling a little more hopeful.

"Yeah, real great," Errant said, eyes still fixed on the Element bearers, who looked more than a little uncomfortable about the naked hostility in his glare. "You wanna tell me why there's a bunch of ponies who are the spitting image of ponies you killed running around?"

"Ah," Elliot said sheepishly, his smile fading. "Well, y'see…"

"Is it over?" a quiet voice asked, interrupting Elliot. From behind the Element bearers came Ditzy Doo, looking more than a little shaken by the entire experience.

Errant Flight gawped at her, his eyes widening in shock. "Ditzy?!"

Elliot sighed. This was going to take a lot of explaining, he could just tell.

Author's Note

This chapter was edited 8th July 2015.

Interlude: Last Light.

Interlude: Last Light.

Guest Written by The Void.

The Streets of London, January 21st, 2030.

Brave Heart had fled Equestria with her mother for safety a few years ago. She didn't know why. To her, everything was as it had been. The gift of youth is being oblivious the world at large. Both Brave Heart and her mother were earth ponies from Ponyville. Brave Heart shared her mother's kind heart and chestnut fur. Brave Heart's world had become twisted in its thinking. More to the point, their leader had become corrupted by something. Fair Heart, her mother, looked on at the "acts of kindness" they were doing to the "humans" and realised how unnatural it was to force change. It didn't make any sense. The reason they had done it before was because of the barrier. The barrier had continued to destroy countless human lives, so it made sense to make them ponies in order to save them.

But the barrier had stopped. Why didn't they stop converting? Why did the carnage have to begin? Why, in the name of all that was good and pure, were most ponies okay with it? Fair Heart took her daughter away from those questions. She took her to a place the humans called "Britain". Fair Heart thought that they would be safe amongst the core of the human's army.

Then the invasions began. Bombardments shook the city, the sound of thousands of galloping enemy hooves echoed down its passages. Night after night she comforted Brave Heart, told her that it would end soon, told her that the mighty Albion would save them.

You should have heard the stories that Brave Heart was told about Albion. To this little filly, Albion meant the end of being scared. He meant the end of so many cries in the middle of the night. He would make her mother happy to go home once more.

Fair Heart could only watch now, as her daughter hid from more attacks. She looked on at Brave Heart through nearly lifeless eyes. The last ounce of life was leaving her, soon she would join Luna in the next life. In the midst of another fight, a spire from a church had given way. It fell down to earth and crushed the earth pony. The blood from her wounds framed her heart shaped cutie mark as she gave her daughter one last piece of advice.

"Run!" she cried out with a dying whisper.

With that, she was no more. With that, the future was no more. For Brave Heart, there was now only just escape. The only thing she had left were the sounds of magic and steel clashing. Brave Heart waited. She waited for somepony, someone or something to help her. To be her guiding light.

Not a single being came to help her. Now more than ever, she was on her own in the cold. Brave Heart's tears did little to help her but what more could she had done. She did not know what she could do. The thought of leaving her mother, the woman who had been beside her through this madness, was like an act of betrayal to her. It was out of the question. It would take forces beyond imagining to get her to move from her still mother's side. Sadly, Fate has a way of filling that vacancy quite well.

The clashing got closer. Soldiers were bringing their battles closer to the mourning filly. Louder and louder their voices became. Each yelling about how the other was an abomination. Some of the voices didn't sound too convinced by their own arguments.

From behind her cover of another fallen part of the church, she saw them come into view. The humans were different then the one's she had seen. These still had the shape but were far bulkier and the faces were gone, only their eyes could be seen. The eyes were filled with the emotions of war; Anger and Fear. Brave Heart only had the latter of these, much to the irony of her name. The ponies that fought for Solamina wore her crest on their armour. They didn't seem to hesitate to attack one of their own kind. Pony against pony; Brave Heart could scarcely believe it. Again, the gift of youth in effect. That gift though had been ripped from her hooves in that instant. Brave Heart began to know, or at least get a better idea of, exactly what had caused her to move.
The last of the allied side from that little battle had fallen. A cheer rang out for Solamina's troop. Brave Heart edged back slightly, misplacing a hoof and giving the stones beneath her a voice. The ponies, a troop of four now, stopped cheering and glanced around. Nothing was insight.

"On your guard!" said a one eyed red unicorn. He readied his magic for a lethal blast. They searched the ally for what had caused the sound; She was stood paralysed out of sight. Brave Heart could only watch as the troop looked for her. What were they going to do to her? Dozens of scenarios played out in Brave Hearts head, none of them hopeful. The only thing she could do to calm herself was to think of her mother's nightly message.

Albion will save us. Just wait and see what he'll do.

One soldier found Fair Hearts body. She dipped her head down for the fallen pony. This was a war for soldiers, not civilians. Why was she lost in all of this, turned to the dark side of the apes? After a moment, she continued looking for it.

Another wrong move by Brave Heart. She had stepped once more, now she was in sight. Before the troop could act, the shots came. For a moment the world seemed to slow down. Brave Heart saw the leader of the troop spot her, have his eyes filled with concern, hear the gun fire, feel the shot through his skull and then slam to the ground. The troop had been caught off guard at the right moment for something to attack them. One by one they fell to whatever was coming Brave Heart's way next. Her heart pounded so much she could feel it as clear as every movement she made. Her mind was emptied and she took in the sight she beheld. A storm of bullets filled the ally way, leaving their marks in the walls and on the still bleeding body of Fair Heart. As quickly as it had arrived, the bullets stopped. For a moment, there was nothing left. Fair Heart's body had some company in that ally. Then they came. Judging by the footsteps, another allied faction. More bulky humans came into fray. The battles in the distance ceased. The glory of a warless Britain had been returned for the time being, or at least the illusion of one. A soldier in that war tended to take that illusion as a small mercy.

One of the humans found Brave Heart. He bent down, offered a hand in comfort. This sign was alien to Brave Heart. The soldier saw this and quickly turned to his friends.

"Jenkins, area secure?" He asked, an air of optimism in his voice.

Jenkins swiftly checked the immediate area. He gave the soldier a thumbs up.

From behind a visor, the soldier smiled. "Good." He lifted his helmet and showed his smile to the traumatised filly. His eyes had seen many things, many horrors, many departed friends. The soldier had seen so many years that his hair had turned grey.

"My name is Walter Minecroft." he said, his voice the first kind thing she had heard in what had felt like eternity "Come with us. You'll be safe."

There was that word again. Safe. Fair Heart said they would be safe in England but that had turned out to be wrong. Her mother had said they would be on their way to a safe place when they had began running on that night; The night that had seen fit to take Fair Heart from the world of the fearful living. Surely tough, soldiers could keep her safe. Surely, Walter could take her to safety. Cautiously, Brave heart crept out of her hiding place and embraced Walter in the loud cries that she had been holding back.

For Walter, moments like that were what the job was for. At the end of the day it didn't matter how many of the enemy he killed or whether or not he was promoted for his efforts. What mattered was making sure all the innocent souls were kept away from the fighting. Walter's family had passed on during the war. His own son, Malcolm, had been converted in the line of duty. Now though, a new life was clinging on to him. Walter wrapped his arms around Brave Heart. All the pain she had felt was his to share. The pain for him, was all too familiar.

"It's okay" Walter said "I'll get you somewhere safe." He picked Brave Heart up. The filly was surprising light. "I promise." He turned to his fellow soldiers. Walter's voice became filled with authority and confidence. He wasn't doing it just for him, he was being strong for both himself and Brave Heart. "You soldiers clear the path. We are getting this little one to a safe zone." Walter Declared

As it turned out the nearest safe zone was a temporary base made up in the London Underground. Brave Heart gave her last wave goodbye to her mother and left in Walter's arms. She would come back. That was her thought. Brave Heart thought that she would come back to her mother and find her a better resting place.

The walk to that safe zone made the soldiers vigilant. They expected that any moment of rest could be their last. Their guns were pointed in all directions. Any sign of hostile movement and they were ready to introduce it to the finest bullets made in Briton. Brave Heart's eyes saw the damage the war had done. In death there were no allies or enemies, simply comrades to the gates of the beyond. Bodies of ponies and humans alike were side by side, sporting various wounds. Some wounds were made by the soulless metal of a blade or the sharp power of a bullet. Other wounds were made with the raw energy of magic or even the savagery of bare hands and hooves. The only light Brave Heart saw in this darkness was that soon, very soon, she would not have to be a world of just brutality anymore. If her heart wasn't still going faster than her mind could think, she could almost have fallen asleep in Walter's arms. Sleep wouldn't have offered an escape either, merely the images of those who had fallen repeated over and over again until she found herself back in the waking world for more images to add to them.

Still, the quiet was a nice rest. As said before though, Fate has a way of filling things. It was Jenkins who caught the first sign. A lone feather floated down from above the dark clouds, it shinned on in the moonlit night. At any other time this would have been considered poetry in motion. Simple but beautiful. Now was the time of war however, that sight made sent Jenkins eyes to the sky. He couldn't see them but he knew they were there.

"Sir!" he whispered. "Above."

The whole troop looked to the sky. Nothing. In war no-one could be sure though.

"Cover...now!" Walter ordered, still in a quiet voice. The troop had entered an older warehouse district. The crates and turned trucks made decent cover for what was above.

What was above had caught their attention. Caught it like a fly in a web. Before a single bullet could find its way into a enemy flyers body. A hundred ice arrows had found their way to the soldiers cover. They had been sloppy, caught off guard because they had focused on protecting one child. For the ones who were hit directly, it was a shock to the system. Their insides were frozen in to such fragile ice. The soldiers could feel their finals breaths freezing over in place. They didn't have to worry about suffocation anymore though, a blast of magic shattered them into pieces on the ground. The ones who weren't so lucky were the ones only partially hit. Jenkins's right arm was frozen over. Not good. Before the magic bolt could hit he shot his right arm off and ducked. One arm was still better than being dead. One arm meant he could fight back. Even if it was for just a few seconds before he got a bolt to the head, scattering his mind into the ground.

Walter put Brave Heart down and loaded his rifle.

"I need you to wait in that crate." he pleaded as he pointed to a metal crate further into the warehouse. " Don't make a sound. I'll be back."

Brave Heart's eyes widened. "Promise?"

"Promise."

As she hurried off and closed the crate door behind her, the sounds of the outside slaughter echoed inside and battered her ears. More gunfire. That seems to be the choir of this war; gunfire and magic bolts. One day it would end. One day both sides could close their eyes and only her the birds in the trees once more. Brave Heart sat in the darkness, waiting to her Walter's voice again. It was covered by the sounds of battle. She couldn't pin point it but she knew it was there. The number of bullets firing started to decrease. Less of them or less of us?

Walter let out a agonised yell. Rookie mistake. He had left his face exposed. A conversion potion was already working its magic on him. Soon Walter was to be no more than just a slave to Solamina's will. In defiance, Brave Heart gathered her courage, gather her anger and charged out of the crate into battle. She was going to save Walter this time. That one thought in her mind gave her a smile. Brave Heart by name, Brave Heart by nature. A brave heart doesn't always work out though. Sometimes that brave heart gives in.

Before the transformation was completed, however, Walter took his rifle, hugged it to his now pony skull and with his last moments of having a hand, pulled the trigger. So ended the life of Walter Minecroft.

Brave Heart was spotted. The firing ceased. She could feel herself being elevated by magic. Brave Heart was surrounded from Solamina troops, looking upon her as merely a naughty child.

"A filly?" exclaimed a wing torn Pegasus.

"Not to worry" calmed the leader, a burned face unicorn. "We can send her home and teach her that Solamina knows best." She moved in on Brave Heart.

This was it. They had got her. Almost all hope had been lost. All except from one name. The name that her mother had held onto for salvation in that madness. The name that Brave Heart herself had used to keep the nightmares away. That name was all she had left. One last try.

"Albion!" Brave Heart cried out with every part of her strength, fighting the magic the unicorn had used to hold her up.

In that instance, Fate was kind.

There were seven of Solamina's soldiers surrounding her. Three were taken out in a few seconds. The leader dropped her grasp on Brave Heart, who stood up firm. Was it?

"You called?" David Elliot, the Avatar of Albion himself, said heroically, a cocky grin on his face.

His hand cannon had taken out the soldiers, and now he whipped out his twin blades. Behind him rushed another unicorn, a green one who wore his battle scars with pride. His horn was still glowing from his shot. Swiftly they both moved in towards the rest of the troop. Watching Albion - the Albion - work was like watching a twisted dance. Each move flowed into the other. With the unicorn by his side they took out three more of them. The leader was all that remained. While Elliot's back was turned, she readied another bolt. Brave Heart saw her chance. She saw her chance to repay him. Summoning her strength once more, she charged straight on into the burnt unicorn. That bolt missed Elliot and only managed to hit a poor bird who was passing by.

"Thanks kid!" Elliot shouted, bringing pride to Brave Heart. She rushed to his side. Elliot's unicorn friend soon came to his side as well. Elliot put away his daggers. A more...dramatic touch was needed. Elliot took one deep breath and focused some energy to his right hand. Brave Heart saw.

It was just like the stories told. In Elliot's hand was Excalibur. The mighty, royally decorated sword was as long as he was. In the dark night, it shined on, half the width of its wielder. It was an honour to be looking at it. In one swift slash, Elliot took down the final enemy. Not that Brave Heart saw it. While she was looking on amazed, the unicorn - whose name was True Grit - covered her eyes.

As Elliot wandered away from his victory he bent down to greet Brave Heart. The filly's heart soared.

"That was quite the move back there," Elliot complimented, giving his best fatherly smile.

"Th...thanks." Brave Heart managed to get out.

True Grit looked on in awe. It wasn't everyday when Elliot talked to children.
Elliot shot him a look before going back to Brave Heart. "It goes with your mark." He gave another thumbs up.

Mark?

Brave Heart jolted her head to her flank. She had indeed earned her cutie mark that day. It brought a tear to her eyes. The sunrise came. It was a new day. Albion had saved a life. True Grit had seen his friend in the eyes of a child and Brave Heart has earned that mark. The mark of a heart forged from a shield.

Author's Note

Another Interlude from "The Void": about time there was a vaguely happy story in here, wouldn't you say?

Normal service will resume shortly.

London's Burning (Part 3).

Chapter Thirteen: London's Burning (Part 3).

***

Elliot had explained everything (again, he thought with an internal grimace, vaguely wondering how many times he’d have to) but though Errant Flight had believed him about the ponies origins and their reason for being here, he still wasn't happy about the entire thing.

Truth be told, Elliot hadn't really expected him to be happy about it. Had their positions been reversed, Elliot knew he wouldn’t have been altogether happy about any of this either. But whatever Elliot had expected from Errant Flight, he definitely hadn't expected him to be so... quiet. It was hard to convince someone to see your point of view if they didn't say anything to refute it per se. At least Hell Blazer was vocal about his dislike of this plan, which made it easier to engage with him.

Errant Flight was now studiously ignoring not only the Element bearers but also Lyra, True Grit and Ditzy. If he were being honest with himself (something he seldom was anymore), he had no idea how to deal with their existence and so, for now, he was avoiding having to.

The small band of humans and ponies stood in a small grassy area, none of them speaking - none of them sure what to say. Errant Flight shook his head slightly as he stood with the group, clearing his head of the disturbing thoughts running through it.

Elliot had enlisted Lyra and Twilight to help him dig a grave for his Lyra, the Lyra who had fought alongside him for years against the Empire. They had been - well, not exactly happy to help (that implied a sense that happiness belonged in this world, and neither of them were willing to go along with that), but they understood the need. They used their magic to dig the holes, the strain only slight for the two unicorns. Soon - perhaps sooner than Elliot would have like- they had finished, and it was time to go.

Elliot said nothing as he placed Lyra's corpse into the rough hole, sans her uniform shirt (which he removed gently), and then said nothing when the dirt was piled upon the body by the two unicorns. He said nothing as he grabbed a discarded rifle from nearby and rammed it, bayonet first, into the ground, and he said nothing when he wrapped Lyra's shirt around the stock end, where it waved in the gentle breeze like a tattered, dirty flag commemorating the mare's resting place. He said nothing as he walked away, heading once more in the direction of St Paul's cathedral.

The ponies watched him go. Though they had all lost people, it had never been in circumstances quite like this, and none of them were sure how to react, what to say, or even whether saying anything would be wise. The group began following him quietly.

"Is he always so quiet about this sort of thing?" Twilight asked Hell Blazer after a little while, her voice quiet. The yellow pony sighed.

"He's lost a lot of friends," he replied shortly. "Gets to you after a while."

"We've all lost people," Errant Flight added quietly, his eyes straying briefly to Ditzy, who stood nearby, for the first time since he had joined the group.

"Errant," Elliot said sharply, getting everypony's attention. "I take it you're heading to St Paul's?"

"I was, along with what was left of Red Squadron after that debacle over the channel," Errant said quietly, looking up at the tired man.

Elliot nodded slowly. "They put you in charge of Red then, after Firelight died?"

"Well, training the new recruits doesn't have the same impact as air combat," Errant said with a sigh. "Air Commodore Tide thought I should… well. 'Get my wings back'."

Elliot chuckled grimly. "Well, that's something at least."

Errant said nothing.

"Where's the rest of the squadron?" Elliot asked, unconsciously searching the skies for friendly Pegasi. "We could use the air cover once we get to St Paul's."

"They're dead," Errant sighed, looking morose.

Elliot looked back at him, eyes wide.

"We were on schedule," Flight continued dully. "But then we got caught by the Guards over the Thames, somewhere near where the barrier used to be. The rest of the squadron went down, I think, and I ended up dodging the guards for a while. That's when I saw that patrol heading towards these parts: I followed to see whether I could mess their day up." He smiled, but it was a tired thing, full of weary humour and regret. "That's when I found you."

There was a moment of silence after Errant had finished his story, as those who knew who Red Squadron were paused to think about the group. Red Squadron had been one of several Pegasi squadrons assembled around the same time as Ditzy Doo's now-famous Grey Squadron. While Red had never had the legendary reputation Grey had managed, they had been known as solid, dependable ponies.

"I'm sorry about Red," Elliot said quietly after a moment's reflection. Errant Flight shrugged tiredly.

"I've lost entire squadrons before. Seems to be my curse that any friends I have end up dead," Errant said, his eyes dead and his tone emotionless.

"I'm just surprised you dodged the guard formations," Hell Blazer said, frowning. "Those guys are thorough as all tarta - hell."

"What can I say?" Errant said, smirking slightly at Hell Blazer's faux pas. "They were good, but none of them were Grey Squadron."

"No, I guess no one compares to that group," Elliot said in an odd tone. "Speaking of, I have a proposal for you when we get back to St Paul's."

He said nothing more, and continued walking. Errant fell behind slightly, moving to walk near Hell Blazer. The two weren't friends, but they had met a few times.

"I have a feeling I won't like his plan," Errant said quietly.

"I have a feeling you won't, too," Hell Blazer said, a small smile on his face. "Cheer up mate: at least somebody's got a plan. Bears the early days of everyone running around like headless chickens while the Empire repeatedly tried to shiv us."

"Yeah, I guess," Errant Flight mumbled irritably. "It's just a question of precisely how much I'm gonna hate his plan, and I’ve a horrible feeling it’s gonna be a lot."

***

The small group continued their walk: there was less conversation - Pinkie and Dash were keeping Applejack up, the cut in the orange pony's side making her slower than she would have liked. She and Dash had shared a glance, both of them now having been responsible for death. Pinkie didn't seem fazed by the fact that she too had contributed to death, but any talk of it was quickly silenced by an over-eager grin from the pink party pony, which told her two friends that she, too, was affected by what she had done.

True Grit, Lyra and Ditzy were walking with Lockett and her remaining trooper, a man who introduced himself as Dutch. Dutch was taciturn and blunt, but he seemed ambivalent about the Element bearers, saying "if you don't shoot me, I won't shoot you", which seemed fair. Fluttershy was still in something resembling shock over the deaths she had witnessed, and she was almost certain that if she were to be involved in a fight, she would not be able to handle the pressure.

Behind these two walked Hell Blazer and Errant Flight, both of them silent, both equally concerned about bringing the six Element bearers to a hotspot of people who'd most likely want to kill them if they realised who they were dealing with. Still, they trusted Elliot, even if they didn't like this idea very much.

At the front of the group walked Elliot himself, Twilight and Rarity with him. Rarity seemed intent on sticking near Twilight, presumably because she felt like Twilight was the only one with a handle on what was going on here. Elliot had been silent since burying the Lyra of this world, clearly lost in thought.

After a while, the group arrived at St Paul's cathedral itself, a grand white domes building. Twilight couldn't help but stare at the giant building in something resembling awe: though it was battered and there were more than a few dents in the masonry, the building was still majestic and grand. It was unfortunate that the effect was marred by the sandbag emplacements and armed guards waiting for them.

"It's beautiful," Rarity said from behind her as the group ascended the stairs towards the emplacements.

"It's stuff like this that we fight for," Elliot told her softly, speaking for the first time in a while. "This, this cultural icon and everything like it, is what Solamina wants to destroy forever. We can't let it happen: so much beauty has already been lost. Not again."

"I think we can all appreciate that," Twilight said quietly.

"Halt!" a strident voice called out, and Elliot held up a hand, stopping the group. They found themselves facing a large number of armed soldiers, all in the same gas-mask and enclosed suit arrangement that Lockett and Dutch wore. Some of them had a symbol on their jumpsuits, a stylised flayed skull over a red, white and blue flag of six inter-crossed bars. Their weapons were trained, not on Elliot, but on the ponies.

An Earth Pony in a battered brown leather jacket with a brown mane streaked liberally with grey, a red coat and a beard walked towards the group from the emplacements. He wasn't armed, but he looked as though he had seen his fair share of conflict. His eyes met Elliot's, and then scanned the group he had brought with him, settling only briefly on Ditzy, who didn't notice. He then looked at Elliot again.

"Parallel versions?" he asked simply.

"How'd you know that, Doc?" Elliot asked with a slight grin. The pony shrugged.

"I have more experience with such things than I would like," was the simple reply. The pony turned to the guards. "This group can pass!"

The grim looking human guards in their gas masks lowered their weapons a fraction, the only change in their posture. Elliot waved at them as he passed, but the ponies tried not looking at them, still not convinced that the guards didn't want to open fire on them.

"How are we holding up, Doctor?" Elliot asked the jacket-wearing Earth Pony as they walked.

The pony shook his head sombrely. "We've been worse. Most forces have retreated to this and other major defensive points: extended defences can't hold up against the sheer numbers we're facing."

"Figures," Elliot said with a frown.

"Lyra?" the pony - the Doctor? - asked. Elliot gave him a look, and the old pony sighed, shaking his head.

"We've lost so much," he said softly.

"And we fight for vengeance as much as survival," Elliot replied grimly. "We'll get them back for her, Doc."

"I shall take your word for it," the Doctor said softly.

Elliot sighed, before looking around, his eyes narrowing somewhat.

"What?" the Doctor asked.

"I'm..." Elliot began, before trailing off, still searching the horizon. "Surprised there's not more activity. We only had one skirmish with a patrol group on the way here."

"That's the unfortunate thing," the Doctor said with a humourless smile. "We think they're building up to a major attack."

"I see," Elliot said, frowning. "You think they'll try to attack the major defensive centres?"

"I believe so," the Doctor said. "And the unfortunate thing is, this is their likely first target."

"Why is that?" Twilight asked, confused. "Surely if they've got the soldiers..."

"Several reasons," the Doctor cut her off, sounding slightly colder when speaking to her. "This is the most exposed position. Furthermore, by now they will know that Pinkie Pie and Shining Armour - their Pinkie Pie and Shining Armour," he clarified, noticing Twilight's stricken look at the mention of her brother's name, "were both killed near this location, and they know that the only individual capable of such a feat is the Avatar of Albion. Therefore, this will be their priority target. They will charge and they will wipe it off the face of London to kill him."

"Good," Elliot said, smiling grimly. "I'll be waiting for them."

"The likelihood of us surviving an engagement of that magnitude..." the Doctor began, sounding concerned.

Elliot held up a hand. "Trust me, Doctor. I've got a plan." He didn't look entirely happy about that.

The Doctor frowned, before turning to Hell Blazer and Errant Flight. "Am I the only one who gets worried when he says that?"

"Nope," Hell Blazer said.

"No," Errant added.

"Thought not," the Doctor said with a nod. "Ah well."

***

The interior of the giant cathedral must once have been as ornate and beautiful as the exterior, but the ponies' eyes were not looking at the architecture: rather, their gaze was fixed on the multitudes of ponies and humans wandering around.

Many humans were injured and lying down on the cold hard floor or on makeshift beds, many of them suffering from laceration injuries or spell burns. More than one of the prone bodies was covered entirely: the ponies didn't know the custom of covering a dead body, but they were able to guess.

"So much violence," Rarity said quietly. "So much pain. It's just dreadful."

"We gotta do somethin'," Applejack added, looking around with a pale expression, still limping slightly from her wound.

"That's why we're here, girls," Twilight said to them softly. "We're gonna help, however we can."

"Albion!" a young voice called out, distracting them from further discussion. The ponies turned to see a young Earth Pony filly charging at Elliot, who bent down and hugged her.

"Hey there, Brave Heart," he said, sounding warmer and friendlier than he had the entire time the ponies had known him. "How are you?"

"I'm ok," the little filly said, sounding slightly less chirpy. She was small, haggard, but she had a smile on her face.

"Cool," Elliot said, smiling as well. "Don't forget though, it's good to be sad. Bottling it up doesn't do anypony any good, does it?"

"Nope!" the little filly said enthusiastically. Her eyes drifted to the ponies behind Elliot and her smile faded slightly. "Who are they?"

"Some ponies who've come to join the fight," Elliot replied softly. He smiled again. "Don't worry. They're on our side."

"Ok," the little filly said, smiling again. "I'd best get going: Miss Scratch wanted my help moving some stuff for after the fight."

"Ok, you run along then," Elliot said. He smiled as she ran off, before catching the questioning looks on the faces of his companions. "I saved Brave Heart from some of Solamina's troops a few days ago. She saved me from getting hit by a spell. Got her cutie mark in the process." He smiled. "Brave kid."

"Are there many people you’ve saved like that?" Twilight asked.

"I try," Elliot replied, and his smile dropped. "I try."

"Albion!" another voice called out. Elliot turned to face the speaker, this one a wiry red-headed man in lab coat, t-shirt and glasses. "We got radio contact from every fucker between here and Dorset: every Royal Guard and Militia pony in London is inbound to our location. I guess they..."

"Know I'm here," Elliot finished. "Yeah, I know Danny, the Doctor told me."

"Oh," 'Danny' said, looking slightly mollified. "Guess you've got a plan for it?"

"Kind of," Elliot said, smiling slightly sheepishly. "Need you to get the Major. There's some things the PTB need to hear."

"Gotcha boss," Danny said heading towards a door at the rear of the cathedral. Elliot turned to the ponies.

"Ok," he said. "Hell Blazer, take these guys and keep them safe. I'm gonna go prepare for my big plan."

"Do I wanna know?" Hell Blazer asked, narrowing his eyes at his friend.

"Not really," Elliot admitted with a shrug. "Errant, I want you to come with me. We have to have a chat."

"Right," the Pegasus said in a monotone.

Elliot turned to the rest of the ponies. "This building is gonna be attacked soon, and though I'm sure most of you would be willing to try, I'm not banking on any of you surviving a full battle, so I want you to stay in here."

"Sir," True Grit said, frowning. "I can fight. I'm trained to..."

"No," Elliot interrupted, holding up a hand. "You, Grit, aren’t ready for this, and the rest of you need basic training before you can fight in a full battle. I'm sorry, but I won't risk your lives if I don't need to."

"Sir," Grit said, looking unhappy.

"Ok, John, stay with them," Elliot added.

Hell Blazer nodded. "Gotcha, Dave."

With that, Elliot nodded and walked off, leaving the ponies with Hell Blazer, who sighed heavily and lit up another cigarette.

"I don't know about all of you," Rarity said after a moment, "but I'm glad to not be fighting."

"I'd drink to that if there were any alcohol around," Hell Blazer commented. Rarity wrinkled her nose slightly.

"Alright," Twilight said softly. "Mr Hell Blazer: I need to ask you a few questions."

Hell Blazer groaned.

***

Errant Flight and Elliot walked down the centre of St Paul's. Errant had a bad feeling he knew what Elliot wanted to talk about, but he decided to keep quiet for the moment.

After a little while, Elliot sat on a bench, motioning for Errant to sit next to him. The pony did so, feeling more than a little apprehensive about what the human might have in store for him.

"So," Elliot said after a moment. "That skirmish."

"What about it?" Errant asked.

"I want your opinion of Rainbow Dash in that engagement," the Commander said. "Her skills, etcetera."

Errant blinked. "Why?"

"Just give me your assessment." Elliot sounded slightly annoyed at Errant Flight's reticence, but Errant didn't care: he was being asked to assess the skills of somepony who was A) an enemy (or so similar to an enemy that the difference was pretty much negligible), and B) he was being asked to assess the skills of somepony who was dead. Still, he followed orders, and so he began thinking about Dash's moves in the fight.

She had been a raw fighter, but a surprisingly effective one: her skills weren't exactly brilliant, but they hadn't been bad for what Elliot told him was a Dash who had never fought in aerial combat, and in fact had never killed anypony. In fact, considering Elliot's information that Dash had been fighting a case of shell shock from her first kill not an hour before the skirmish, that she had managed to fight at all was impressive.

"She was good," he finally said, somewhat grudgingly. "Raw, sure, but I've seen flyers who were worse."

"Good enough for the air service?" Elliot asked, giving Errant Flight a sidelong look.

"Good enough to be a pretty high flyer in the air service, if you somehow manage to discount the fact that she's bucking Rainbow Dash of all ponies," Errant replied slowly. He didn't like the way this was going.

"What about Fluttershy?" Elliot asked. "And Ditzy?"

Errant frowned at that question. "They didn't fight," he pointed out.

"But from what you know of their counterpart's capabilities?" Elliot persisted. Errant sighed and thought for a moment.

"Fluttershy was never the best frontline fighter, but when push came to shove she got it done," he said after a moment. "I served with Ditzy in Grey. Good flyer. She pretty much invented our concept of aerial combat with Pegasi." He paused, frowning at the human, suspicion written in his face. "Why does it matter?"

"It matters because I need a use for these ponies," Elliot said slowly, as though he had put this matter to great thought. "Like I said, we all know what they can do. On our side, they'll be a great asset."

Errant Flight had to admit, Elliot had a pretty big point there. Even Fluttershy might prove useful, if they could train her up well enough.

"So you want me to find a Squadron for the three Pegasi and other positions for the rest of them?" he asked after a moment.

"Not quite," Elliot said, giving Errant a slightly sly smile. "The non-Pegasi need good postings of course, and I want you to see to that if you can, but I have something special in mind for the Pegasi."

"What?" Errant Flight asked, dreading the answer.

"I want you to reform Grey Squadron," Elliot said. "I know you might have some candidates in mind for that already, but I want Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Ditzy on your new roster."

Errant Flight didn't speak for a long moment, his eye twitching slightly at the thought of what Elliot had just asked him.

"Are you bucking insane?" he finally asked, managing to sound a lot calmer than he felt.

"Pardon?" Elliot asked.

"Having those six here is bad enough," the Pegasus continued, his voice rising slightly with every word. "Having them join our armed forces is... questionable. Having bucking Rainbow Dash join Grey Squadron is... it's no less than a bucking insult to the memory of every one of my team who died over Manchester!" he finished, shouting. "A bucking INSULT!"

Elliot blinked at the tirade, apparently surprised, but Errant Flight wasn't finished with his ranting yet.

"You know Rainbow Dash was there, right? I mean you do remember that?!" he yelled, gesturing wildly at the Avatar. "You do recall that she killed some of them personally? That Lightning Dust sacrificed herself just to get that... that utter bitch off of our arses for five seconds so that we had so much as a fighting chance?!"

"I remember," Elliot said quietly, his eyes lost in memories.

"Then how the hell can you justify asking me - asking me, the last member of Grey Squadron, to work with that... that monster?!" Errant Flight shouted. He paused, breathing heavily.

To his surprise, Elliot didn't look angry. He looked hurt, maybe even upset, but not angry. That gave Errant pause: David didn’t look upset altogether that often. The man took a breath, as though steadying his nerves, before speaking.

"I justify it because she can help us," he said softly. "Because she is the best. Because if she had never been our enemy, you know as well as I do that Rainbow Dash was Grey Squadron material to a T." He sighed. "Because we need her to be on that team in order to be the best damn asset she can be to the war effort."

Elliot paused, and then looked Errant dead in the eye.

"And most importantly," he finished, "because she isn't the Rainbow Dash I killed. She is, I think, a good pony, even if she is a little arrogant." He smirked, but it was humourless. "She'll lose that soon enough I reckon."

Errant Flight calmed himself as best he could. He forced himself to listen to what his friend was telling him. In a way, he was right: Rainbow Dash was always one of the best flyers in Equestria. Had she been on their side rather than Solamina's, Errant was sure she'd have been in Grey Squadron, right alongside Cloud Ranger, Lightning Dust, Ditzy and the others.

But she hadn't been, that was the thing. She had been their enemy, their sworn enemy. She had killed his friends, killed good ponies he had stood alongside. This might not be her - but she looked like her.

"I know it's a big ask," Elliot added. Errant snorted at the understatement, but Elliot ignored him. "But I need you to do this. I might not be able to find them a post."

"Why not?" Errant asked, frowning in confusion. "You going somewhere?"

"It doesn't matter," Elliot said quickly. "I just need you to promise me: you rebuild Grey. You have Rainbow Dash, Ditzy and Fluttershy on your roster. You make them the best damn aerial combatants they can be."

Errant Flight sighed heavily. He didn't like this, and there was nothing that Elliot could say that would make him like this, but...

"Alright," he said finally. "They'll be good assets, so I'll use them. I guess we can't afford not to." He frowned. "But understand this: they'll get a hard time from me - I will push them harder than anypony had been pushed."

"If it gets the results," Elliot said with a slight frown. "But don't do anything you wouldn't do with other recruits. I'll know. And I will come down on you like a ton of fucking bricks."

"Got it," Errant said with a sigh. He turned to look over Elliot's shoulder at an approaching figure. "Heads up, Redmond at six."

Elliot closed his eyes for a moment, and turned around, to find himself facing the stern, dark skinned visage of Major Alexander Redmond. The man was frowning at him over a bristling moustache.

"Major!" Elliot said with a smile. "Just the man I wanted to see."

***

Twilight Sparkle… would not shut up.

“So, Elliot can transform into this ‘Avatar of Albion’ figure?” she was asking.

“Yes,” Hell Blazer said with a sigh.

“What does that entail?” she asked. “Magical power boost, obviously, but what about side effects? What kind of power boost are we talking about? How long can he sustain it?”

“I don’t know he replied.

“But you’re the one who cast the spell that… what was it? ‘Summoned’ the Avatar?” Twilight asked.

“Well, yeah, but -”

“Then surely you’d have known the exact effects!” she said, sounding frustrated.

“Not really,” he said. “I’m less of an expert, more of a dabbler, I just -”

“Don’t you have any idea how dangrous casting a spell without knowing the full extent of the consequences is?” Twilight said, her eyes widening in appalled shock. “You could have done any number of things to him, you could have -”

“I bloody know!” he snapped, and Twilight shut up. “Jesus H fucking Christ, let me get a bloody word in edgeways will you?!”

Twilight blinked, a little upset by the pony’s tone. “Sorry. I… sorry.”

“No, I‘m sorry,” he said with a sigh. “It’s not like I particularly enjoy not knowing half this stuff, though, y’know? It’d be great to know what half the really detailed things are for. Thing is, magic on Earth isn’t really documented that way.”

“Why not?” Twilight asked, frowning.

“Because, for one thing, it just isn’t as widespread as it is for you ponies,” Hell Blazer said with a grimace. “Would that it were, we might’ve been able to do something with it.”

“Well, who does know about it?” Twilight asked.

Hell Blazer frowned. “That… you know, that’s gonna take a while…”

***

Elliot didn't particularly like dealing with Major Redmond, if he was being completely honest with himself.

The former member of the American armed forces, now a high ranking member of the BDF - colloquially called "the Last Army" (mainly because it consisted of every single different unit the remaining humans and their pony allies could muster) - was primarily here to co-ordinate the human military forces and liaise with Elliot, who was 'officially' Spec-Ops and not really ‘in command’. In practice, though, his main task was to report their status to the ruling council. It was for this last purpose that Elliot wanted to speak to him.

"Well, well, 'Commander' Elliot," the Major said sternly, his Texan accent even stronger than normal - a sign of annoyance on his part. "I'm hoping you have a report for me."

"Report, Major?" Elliot asked, uncertain what the dour man meant.

"Yes, a report," the Major said, frowning at Elliot's response and folding his arms. "Specifically, a report as to why you abandoned the defensive position you'd taken up, exposing this key defensive point to an enemy counterattack."

Elliot scowled. "We didn't have a choice. I couldn't continue to hold that position with the manpower assigned to me. As it is, I only got back here with three members of my team plus Errant Flight of Red Squadron and a handful of new Equestrian refugees we ran into."

He thought it best not to mention who the refugees were for the moment. Something told him that mentioning it to Redmond at this point would not be good idea...

"In case you're not aware, Commander," Major Redmond said angrily, "we have a horde of something like fifty thousand ponies still active out there. We've inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy's attacking forces and forced them to pull a lot of their injured out with escort, but they're still coming. Now unless you tell me that you have a brilliant plan for dealing with that many hostiles, I'm gonna have serious words with command about whether you're fit to continue leading this operation."

Elliot frowned at the man, irritated by his attitude.

"May I remind you of a few things, Major," he said. "Firstly: my rank as a 'Force Commander' is entirely honorary by this point; I've not been considered part of the regular army since I was transferred to special operations, and my official army rank is and was Major, same as you. The soldiers follow me because of my status as Avatar of Albion..." He paused as Major Redmond snorted: the man had never been convinced by the power of the Avatar. "As I was saying, the soldiers follow me for that, not because of my rank. The Council is aware of this fact, and has, despite my protests, frequently exploited it as a propaganda tool."

"I'm aware of that," Redmond said angrily.

"Then you must also be aware that I take my responsibilities seriously," Elliot continued. "That being said, I do indeed have a plan for dealing with the enemy forces inbound on our location. In the meantime, however, I want to speak with the Council."

Redmond's eyes widened. "You never want to speak with the Council."

This was true enough: by and large, the Council had no real military strategy for continued defence of the realm beyond their standard holding plans, and they often left the minutiae up to Elliot or whoever the operational commanders on the ground were at the time. The civilian government representatives weren't particularly bothered about giving Elliot orders since it wasn't their department, so to speak.

"This is important and I need their tacit approval for it to work," Elliot said. "It's about the new refugees."

"What about them?" Redmond asked.

Elliot sighed, unhappy about having to tell the Major this but realising he had no choice.

"They're not really refugees," he said. "During the battle, Hell Blazer attempted to send me to Equestria to assassinate Solamina, to try somehow to halt the advancing enemy forces."

"I take it by the fact that you're here and Solamina's armies are also inbound that you failed?" Redmond said, somewhat snidely.

"Got sent to the wrong world," Elliot explained with a shrug. "Different Equestria. Different Solamina - this one was still going by Celestia, not evil. I convinced her to let me take certain personnel back with me."

Major Redmond narrowed his eyes. "Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like this?"

Elliot sucked in a breath. "The individuals I selected were Ditzy Doo, Lyra Heartstrings, True Grit, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity."

Redmond blanched at the names of the six Element bearers.

"You are shitting me," he said quietly. "Those six?"

"Yes," Elliot said quietly, nodding. "On our side, they'll be a real asset. I've already convinced Errant Flight to rebuild Grey Squadron with Rainbow Dash, Ditzy Doo and Fluttershy."

Redmond sucked in a sharp breath, and it was clear from his expression that he was thinking about Elliot's plan - and not in the most favourable of terms.

"Alright," he said quietly after a moment. "We'll do it your way. I'll inform the Council that you want an audience."

"Probably a good thing," Elliot said with a slightly off smile. "I'm not entirely certain I'll be around to help."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Redmond asked. Elliot sighed softly.

"Long story," he said. Redmond frowned at him, clearly unconvinced. "Look. Just trust me, ok? My plan might knock me out of action… at least for a while… but we'll survive today."

"Why, what is your plan?" Redmond asked, scowling.

"It doesn't matter," Elliot said, trying to we've him off.

"Yes it does," Redmond insisted. "If we're going to lose an important asset, I need to know what the hell’s going on!"

Elliot grimaced: he knew Redmond well enough to know that the man would never take anything less than the full explanation: he didn't want to say anything, given how important he had apparently become to the war effort and people's morale (far more important than he ever wanted to be), but...

He sighed. He didn't have any choice but to explain.

"I'm gonna Albion up." He shifted slightly, clearly uncomfortable with even saying this. "And hope it doesn't kill me this time."

Author's Note

This chapter was edited 10th July 2015.

London's Burning (Part 4).

Chapter Fourteen: London's Burning (Part 4).

***

David Elliot sat on a bench, cleaning 'speed killer'. Silently, he prayed that Sam, it's former owner, would forgive him for killing him. He also prayed that his friend had managed to retain his soul in whatever afterlife there was: he didn't know if Solamina's potion permanently damaged the soul or only did so while it was trapped within the body. Still, the thought of his friend's soul being mangled wherever it was in the afterlife was almost too much.

He often prayed for his friend. He didn't quote know who to - he was never religious before the war, and though during the crisis many new cults and faiths and beliefs had come to light, none of them had ever grabbed him. It didn't help that he was indirectly responsible for one or two himself.

He spun the blade once, twice, three times, feeling the balance that he had felt a million times before. He reversed his grip, then reversed it back again, then spun it, then twirled it again. He closed his eyes and sighed, trying to push back memories. The blade had served him well, and he hoped it would continue to do so: he had his doubts though.

He knew he was getting closer and closer to death every time he used the full power of Albion. He also knew, however, that the only way the battle of London wasn't going to end with the bodies of every defender strewn across the floor was if he used that power once again, no matter the consequences.

He knew if he died before Solamina's death that humanity was doomed: nothing they had could stop her, and by and large, nothing they had considered making could either (his mind strayed briefly to the Iron Clad project, one of many hypotheticals that had popped up over the years, but that died in his mind: he knew as Albion he was stronger than an Iron Clad, but he could not defeat Celestia - a Clad definitely could not have).

What he also hoped, however, was that if he did die that Hell Blazer could somehow manage to summon a new Avatar to replace him. The power of the Avatar wasn't inherent to Elliot, much as he was at peace with it being part of him, and so another could inherit it once his shell expired.

He frowned. Was he really at peace with the power? He knew it was something he could control, though he still felt that the power of the Avatar of Albion was a thing that was inherently separate from him. He also knew that, theoretically, that power should be the spirit of a whole world, a power that was infinitely greater than any he had ever encountered, and though he could only channel a fraction of that infinite potential through his human shell, it should still have been greater than he had managed before. And yet Albion - he - had not.

Maybe, he realised with widening eyes, the problem was less that his body was weak, and more to do with his lack of integration. He didn't feel like Albion's power was his to command. When he manifested that power, it felt more like he was merely channelling it, rather than allowing himself control over it. It had even manifested as almost separate personas.

It was, he realised, a kind of block. Maybe if he started feeling like the power was more his, he would be able to get a better hold on it, keep greater control over it.

He closed his eyes, and began concentrating. The power was there, always there, and all he had to do was tap it. As always, he felt the power of Albion build up inside of him. This time, instead of focusing the channeling to a manifestation of Excalibur, or instead of allowing it to consume his form as he did when transforming into the full Avatar, he tried concentrating harder, taking the reins as it were.

"Oi, you!" a Liverpudlian accent said, calling him out from his meditation. He scowled as Hell Blazer trotted up to him, feeling the energy bleeding through his metaphorical fingers. He quickly calmed himself and allowed the power to recede, realising that he wasn't going to get it under control this time. Had he tried earlier, he might have been able to.

Why do you always have the best realisations at the worst times? he wondered to himself.

"John," he said to the yellow pony. "Where are Twilight and the others?"

"I needed a minute," the former Constantine replied, sighing in irritation. "You know that Sparkle kept asking bloody questions? I didn't know how to b-fucking - sorry - answer half of them!" He grabbed a cigarette from his packet pocket and lit it with a sigh. "It's a pain in the arse, you know?"

Elliot grinned tiredly. "Yeah, I guess I can understand that."

"Anyway, Major Redmond came to speak with the lot of them after a bit," Hell Blazer said, his tone unusually furtive. Elliot gave him a sidelong look, which Hell Blazer returned. "I had a quick chat with the Major before I came to chat with you."

"Yeah?" Elliot said.

"Yeah," Hell Blazer said. "He said you were planning on Albioning up for the battle."

Elliot sighed. Now he knew what this was about.

"Yeah," he said, bracing himself. "I do."

"You told me you Albioned against Celestia in the other Equestria," the pony said idly, still smoking. He took a drag, then pulled the cigarette away from his mouth, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Not that I mean to tell you how to handle your shit - I ain't the Avatar after all - but WHAT THE BUCKING HELL ARE YOU THINKING?!"

The sudden shouting from the yellow pony drew some attention from a passing group of fighters, but Elliot waved off the stares from the troopers and they continued onwards, muttering to themselves.

"Look," Elliot said to his friend. "I know it's risky..."

"'Risky' is a goddamned understatement!" Hell Blazer interrupted angrily. "In case you weren't aware, you were in a bloody coma after Cornwall! The Doctor's told me that your body can't handle the burnout rate. The more you transform, the less time you have!"

"I won't have any time if we're beaten here!" Elliot rejoined angrily. "If I don't do this, then there's nothing preventing those bastards from walking all over London. If I score a decisive victory though..."

"That's a big if, Dave," Hell Blazer said, frowning. "There's a big chance you'll just die."

"Then you find another volunteer to be the Avatar," Elliot said simply. "You can."

Hell Blazer stopped looking angry, and suddenly looked uncomfortable.

"Yeah," he said slowly, "I... I suppose I could, but..."

"One way or another, Solamina dies at the hand of an Avatar," Elliot said simply, cutting his friend off. "Promise me, John."

Hell Blazer looked like he wanted to protest what his friend was saying, but finally he sighed.

"Alright," he said quietly, sounding none-too-happy. "I promise you: the Avatar will kill Solamina, whether you make it or not."

"Good," Elliot said, smiling. "Thank you."

"But… I'd really prefer it if you made it," Hell Blazer added softly.

Elliot smiled. The two of them had lost enough friends in this war: he knew exactly what Hell Blazer meant.

"Me too," he said quietly.

Hell Blazer didn't say anything else for a long moment, and then he walked away, leaving Elliot to his meditation.

***

Twilight and her friends sat in a corner of the great church, discussing what would happen in the upcoming battle.

"If that Doctor is right," Twilight said softly, "then every one of Solamina's soldiers in the area is coming here. I don't see how we'll be able to hold up."

"It looks sturdy enough," Applejack noted, looking at the roof of the building. "I reckon it'll hold up against anything Equestrian soldiers can throw at it."

"That we know of," True Grit pointed out softly, looking thoughtful. "This Equestria might have weapons ours could only dream of. They can certainly take on these humans, and I've never even heard of half the stuff they have. Whatever weapons this Solamina's Empire has… they'll be hard to hold off."

None of them had an answer to that comment. Truth be told, most of them were scared of what they might face when it came to the enemy forces. They didn't know what they would be up against.

"That Major didn't seem very nice," Pinkie Pie added quietly after a moment.

The others exchanged a look: a human named Major Redmond had come to speak with them a short while after Elliot had left. He had spoken with them about where they were from, and Twilight had explained that she and her friends had come to help. The Major hadn't exactly looked convinced but he had asked no further questions, instead walking off and leaving the group alone.

"He's probably just trying to see whether we're trustworthy," Twilight said quietly. "I mean, we do happen to look just like six of their biggest enemies..."

"I suppose," Pinkie said morosely. She looked around the church. She suddenly smiled, seeming a lot more energetic. "Hey, d'you think if we survive this everypony would want a 'We Survived' party?!"

"I'll drink to that," a new voice said, and Hell Blazer walked up to them again, looking maudlin. He had gone off when Redmond had come, claiming a desire to find Elliot.

"Did you find Mr Elliot?" Rarity asked him, noting his less-than-cheerful attitude.

"Yup," he replied shortly.

"And?" Rarity said, raising an eyebrow at the pony's reticence.

"And what?" Hell Blazer said irritably.

"Did you find out what his plan was to deal with Solamina's forces that are coming here?" Twilight asked, sensing that the pony was irritated. If anything, the question made Hell Blazer look even more morose.

"Yeah," he said softly. "He told me his plan."

"Albion has a plan?!" a young, excitable voice said. A moment later, the young filly that had greeted Elliot earlier - Brave Heart, Twilight remembered - bounced up to the group, looking happy.

"Brave Heart, you should be helping everyone move into the shelter," Hell Blazer admonished in a faux-stern tone.

"But I wanna see what Albion does!" Brave Heart replied, smiling. Hell Blazer chuckled.

"Did your mum ever tell you about Cornwall?" he asked. Brave Heart nodded eagerly, his eyes widening.

"You mean where Albion held off an entire army alone?!" Brave Heart said excitedly. Hell Blazer sighed. That interpretation of the events of Cornwall was a combination of an exaggerated bedtime story Brave Heart's mother had told her before she had been killed, and the government propaganda version of the story (which was little better).

"What happened at Cornwall?" Twilight asked. Brave Heart looked at her with an incredulous expression.

"How can you not have heard about that?" she asked. "Everypony's heard about that!"

"We're..." Twilight began.

"They're new refugees," Hell Blazer said, cutting her off and silencing her with a look. "Only just came in."

"Cool," Brave Heart said. "Mom brought me here a couple of years ago, but Albion only came a little after we arrived." She smiled. "They said Twilight Sparkle led a huge army to Cornwall, landed her troops and everything. I've heard the blockade's really stretched thin these days, and they don't have much hope against ships protected by magic."

Twilight threw a questioning look at Hell Blazer at the reference to a blockade, but he mouthed 'later' at her.

"Anyway," Brave Heart continued, not noticing. "This big army lands on Cornwall's beaches."

"Newquay specifically," Hell Blazer said quietly.

"And there's loads of them! The army can't fight them because there's way too many," Brave Heart continued as though Hell Blazer hadn't spoken up. Hell Blazer grimaced: Brave Heart's version of events didn't quite cover the blood, firing, screaming and the various other parts of the cacophony of horrors the battle had consisted of, but what could you expect from a child's story? "But then Albion steps up..."

Hell Blazer closed his eyes. He could just imagine the battle: the moment Elliot had decided to step up and use his power consciously.

"And then he's all like," Brave Heart stood on her hind legs unsteadily, holding her forelegs out... "Warriors of Equestria..."

"Warriors of Equestria," a masculine voice said from behind the filly. She yelped and got back on all fours, turning to look at a smiling Elliot, who was speaking in a faux-portentous tone. "Thou hast come to make war on the sovereign land of Albion and the human race. Turn thy army back… or die!"

He spread his arms out as he spoke, re-enacting his own words.

"And they just laughed," he said, shrugging slightly. "Sparkle knew what had happened to Rarity, but they didn't take me for a threat. Think they were expecting a fifty foot giant or something. So I Albioned."

"Tell 'em what happens next!" Brave Heart said excitedly.

"Another time, kiddo," Elliot said with a smile. "I want you down in the shelter with the rest of the civilians, ok?"

Brave Heart's ears drooped. "Ok." She walked off. "Bye Albion."

"Stay safe, Brave Heart," Elliot said quietly. He turned to look at the others. "Propaganda and bedtime stories, mostly. I don't like her idealising war but... given all she's been through, I think she just idealises me, and much as I don't like it… I guess it happens."

There was silence as the group processed the conversation they had just had.

"It must be a lot of pressure," Twilight said after a moment.

"More than I like," Elliot admitted with a laugh. "I came to tell you all: I'm giving a speech to the troops about you, and to motivate them to fight."

He walked off, indicating that the group should follow, which they did, sharing an uneasy glance between them.

"This should be fun," Hell Blazer said softly, a slight smile on his face. "His speeches are always worth a watch."

***

Elliot stood on the pulpit at the head of the Cathedral. He hated the idea of "preaching" to the assembled soldiers, especially given where they were, but this was the best place in the building to speak from.

Sat in the rows of benches were the various soldiers of the 'Last Army'. Elliot spotted a congregation of the Dead Men, a Death cult founded during the early days if the war, sat in one corner, around forty of them bowing their heads in prayer. Members of the Holy Order of Albion were also there, a group who claimed to be the spiritual descendants of the Knights of the Round Table - Albion worshippers, something that made Elliot very uneasy. Most of the soldiers here, however, were just plain folks like him, or ponies who had been through hell just to be here.

Many of them were looking at the ponies stood behind him, whispers running throughout the hall, echoing slightly.

"...that looks like Sparkle..."

"Is that Applejack?"

"I'd recognise that hat anywhere…"

"That mane - that has to be Rainbow Dash!"

"...how can Dash be alive, he killed her?"

Elliot sighed, and held up a hand. A deathly silence descended upon the chamber. Elliot knew some people were recording this: somehow, every one of his speeches ended up on what was left of the internet (which wasn't much at all, but there was no way to make what little was left a purely military piece of kit anymore, since there were too many access points).

"There are rumours spreading through this hall that the Elements of Order are here, alive," he began. "That's not strictly accurate." He locked eyes with Redmond, who sat in the front row. "The truth is a long story, but I believe you deserve to know it."

He paused, gauging the room. They looked like they were listening: he only hoped they were open minded enough to keep listening. "At the height of the battle of London, I was sent to a parallel Equestria: another world, much like the one we fight, but one where Astra Solamina never existed, and instead Celestia and Luna ruled."

Murmurs of disbelief and shock ran through the crowd, but Elliot held his hand up again to stay them.

"I petitioned Celestia for aid," he said. "And she gave me nine ponies."

"Bullshit!" one soldier called out. "We could have used nine thousand!"

"It was me who asked for a small number," Elliot said grimly, throwing the soldier a glance. "She could offer an army, but what would an army do for us now but extend a losing war?"

There was no reply. Nobody liked thinking about it, but they all knew as well as Elliot did that the war was a hopeless cause. The only reason they hadn't surrendered… well, what reason was there but sheer bloody mindedness, hope beyond reason?

"These are not just any ponies," Elliot told the assembled soldiers. "These are ponies who have the potential to change the course of this war, if they are trained correctly and that potential is realised."

The watching audience seemed uncertain, and Elliot couldn't blame them. He had been given the chance to bring an army, and he'd brought less than a squad.

"Their names," Elliot continued, looking around, "are Lyra Heartstrings..." A gasp rang out, a soft whisper that moved like a wave across the room - Lyra was one of the most well known of the resistance. "True Grit." Another gasp like a whisper through the hall. "Ditzy Doo." The name brought a cheer from one or two corners of the room. Elliot let out a small sigh as he prepared the next part of his speech. "And there are six whose names are infamous." Silence descended again. "Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Applejack."

He looked around. No one looked anything less than shocked. He didn't blame them for that, either.

"I know there must be uncertainty at the choice I have made," he said, looking around the room. "But consider this: the Elements of Order were a weapon." He opened his jacket up and took it off, holding it up for all to see. The exposed manes of the Elements of Order were shown to the audience, and there were one or two cheers. "I robbed Solamina of that weapon, and gave us a fighting chance - hope, for the first time in six years! But now I have done something better. I have delivered that weapon into our hands!" He dropped the jacket. Now he had to convince them, rile them up for the battle.

He raised his right hand, and in it materialised Excalibur, the mighty blade as light as a feather in his grip. "Brothers and sisters of the Last Army, I have promised you victory. Now we shall have it. The Elements stand with us now! And the power of those minds and that resolve that Solamina used to kill so many of us now serves our cause!"

At that, a cheer rang out from the audience: it was soft, and uncertain, but it was definitely there.

"Together," Elliot continued fervently, "these ponies mark a new beginning: I promise you, before this year is out, I will stand over Solamina's corpse, and we will free Equestria from the Tyrant's rule, free Earth from the shadow of doom that lingers over it!"

He then held his left hand to the blade. "I know some of you may disagree with my choice. Some of you may even doubt me, may think that I've made a mistake."

There was a ripple of shame-filled assent, many admitting quietly that they did indeed doubt. Elliot knew there would be, and he didn't blame them. They doubted him, and he doubted himself with them.

"I am told there is nothing more sacred in old magic than a blood oath," Elliot said softly. "Nothing more sacred among soldiers than a bond of brotherhood, sworn by the sword and by blood." He grasped the blade of Excalibur with his left hand. "May Excalibur strike me down where I stand if I lie. These Elements stand with us! I swear it!"

He hand came away from the blade, red blood flowing freely from the cut for all to see. For a moment, there was a hushed pause, as though everyone expected Elliot to be struck down after all, and then a great cheer rose up.

"Albion! Albion! Albion! Albion!"

Elliot lowered Excalibur. He then closed his eyes, and another hush descended. When he opened his eyes, they glowed golden. Suddenly, a great golden light shone from him, encompassing his entire body and blinding everyone who stood near him. A wild cheer rose up as the light descended, and before the soldiers of the BDF, there stood the full Avatar of Albion, his armour glinting in the light of the room, his cloak flowing. It was the first time the transformation had occurred before such a gathering, and Elliot knew it was necessary.

The Avatar looked down at the army before him with a small, confident smile.

"Brothers and sisters," he said, his voice booming, "the enemy come here seeking to make an example of this city. They will take thy families, they will slay thy friends, and they will destroy this proud monument to humanity's beauty!" He raised the sword Excalibur. "I ask thee now: will thou let this atrocity happen?!"

"No!" the crowd roared.

"Then let us make them remember where they stand!" Albion yelled in triumph. "This isle has never fallen to any foe, and it will not fall to the craven Empress' army now!"

A great cacophony of joy and jubilation rose up, and the soldiers of the BDF moved, heading for their positions with renewed fervour and vigour. Albion turned to Twilight and her friends, who looked at him with wide eyes.

"And so I see thee with these eyes," he said to them, a smile upon his face, "and I know the choice I have made is the right one."

Alone of all of them, Applejack frowned at him, looking dubious. "How do you?"

The Avatar chuckled. "Element of Honesty, I know because thou art strong, and thou art willing to face perils thou knowest not, knowing that thou may die for another's cause. I know because I can feel it. Thou hast but to believe in thyself that thou shalt be of aid, and thou shall be."

"You get right pretentious like this, you know that?" Hell Blazer said with a smirk.

"That implies that mine pretension is unnecessary," the Avatar replied with a smirk. "And thou knowest better than most that I can back up mine words with mine deeds." He looked back at the newcomers. "Thou should remain in this place," he said, speaking more quietly. "This battle shall be more than thou art ready to face."

"I understand," Twilight said, looking unhappy.

"I said thou should," the Avatar said, smiling slyly. "But thou art thinking beings with thy own minds, and as of yet thou hast no allegiance to the chain of command. Thou shalt make thine own choice, I am sure."

With that, he walked off, leaving the ponies alone.

"He always gets like that when he Albions up," Hell Blazer smirked. "Come on, I'll get you to a rear observation point. Maybe you'll be able to help."

He led the group down through the crowd. On the way, they passed a kneeling group of soldiers with the flayed skull symbol: the Dead Men. Surprisingly, there were a couple of ponies among the group - they looked out of place among the humans, but no one seemed to object to their presence. They were saying a grim prayer.

"We are the dead. Our souls have departed this world for their eternal rest, but our bodies remain."

"We seek purpose."

"Albion is threatened. An enemy has arisen that seeks to throw down not only the beauty of Albion, but the whole of humanity."

"We seek purpose."

"We shall rise to defend the last humans. We shall avenge the slain of a hundred nations. We shall avenge the rape of our brothers and sisters by the Tyrant. We shall avenge the shackling of a free nation."

"We have purpose."

"So it shall be until the shell awakens to the reality of our death."

"Amen."

Twilight's group passed the praying death-cultists, most of the group feeling ill.

"How can ponies be part of such a group?" Rarity asked, surprised by the ponies among the death cult.

"Equestria isn't in the dire straits Earth is in, but a lot of these ponies have lost more than I care to think about," Hell Blazer replied dourly. "Not many of them adopt human culture quite that thoroughly but... but I think those might have been some of the last of the Night Guard."

"The Night Guard?" Twilight asked, frowning. "I would have thought they would have been with the Royal Guard."

"The way Blueblood tells it in the propaganda, the Night Guard tried to rebel against Solamina in the early days when they learned Luna had been killed," Hell Blazer said, shrugging. "They were considered the first resistance. In fact, Blueblood's reorganised most of the Resistance elite as a new Night Guard to honour them."

"And those ponies?" Applejack asked.

"Not all the Night Guard were wiped out," Hell Blazer explained. "A handful were on special duties when the Guard were destroyed: they fled Equestria with the first exodus, and most of them joined the Dead Men." He sighed. "It's not a good way to be."

The group considered that for a moment, but were interrupted by loud music suddenly blaring out.

"War! Huh! What is it good for...?"

"What in the name of...?" Twilight said, looking around. To her surprise, Hell Blazer chuckled.

"Yup," he said, "that's the start of the psychological warfare."

"How is loud, obnoxious music any kind of warfare?" Rarity asked, looking both confused and annoyed.

"I dunno," Pinkie said. "I suppose if you fired a really concentrated beam of loud music, you could break something."

Hell Blazer gave her a look. "Vinyl would love you for that remark. I think she got pissy when her 'bass cannon' idea got nixed by the budget peeps."

"Psychological warfare?" Twilight asked.

"Basically a kind of warfare where you intimidate the piss out of the enemy," Hell Blazer explained shortly. "You hear the enemy singing loud music it intimidates the shit out of you. Doesn't really work on the Converted."

"The who?" Rainbow Dash asked, frowning.

Before Hell Blazer could attempt to answer that tricky question, Twilight spoke, sounding sad.

"They're humans who were turned into ponies," she said.

Hell Blazer gave her a look of surprise. "Elliot said he didn't tell you."

"He mentioned it in passing," Twilight replied. "He didn't elaborate, but I don't need him to. He calls you 'John': that's a human name. You were human."

Hell Blazer sighed. "Yes," he said softly. "I was."

"Wait a minute," Applejack said, "you're saying humans got converted into ponies? What in the hay would anypony do that for?"

"To control them?" Hell Blazer theorised. "Most Convies are brainwashed to think of Solamina as the one true Empress, rightful ruler of all life, et al. In fact, I'm the only free Converted that I know of."

"How are you free?" Twilight asked, her curiosity piqued once more.

A loud rumble rang through the building, and Hell Blazer cursed under his breath.

"I'd love to do a Q&A session," he said, in a tone that suggested he really wouldn't, "but we need to go. That's the cue for a fight about to start!"

With that, he galloped off, the other ponies racing after him.

***

Author's Note

My sincere thanks to those who favourite and comment as always, it's really appreciated.

This chapter was edited 11th July 2015.

London's Burning (Part 5).

London's Burning (Part 5).

Chapter Fifteen: London's Burning (Part 5).

***

The Avatar of Albion smiled softly as he stood upon the summit of the stairs of St Paul's, Excalibur resting in his hand and across his shoulder as he stared at the tumultuous grey sky.

All around him, soldiers were setting up. St Paul's cathedral was, slowly but surely, being set up as a fortress: gun emplacements, snipers, defensive lines and kill zones surrounding it. Troopers were checking their machine guns, making certain that the ammo lines would enter correctly. Others cleaned their bayonets and triple checked their assault rifles in readiness for the coming battle. Music was blaring loudly from hidden speakers, designed to inspire the troopers to new heights and, more importantly, intimidate any attacking force. Humans and ponies alike ran around, preparing themselves for the inevitable attack.

He could even see one or two of the experimental Resistance P220 (one of the rarest - and also best - weapons available to the Equestrian Resistance) among the defenders. A special kind of heavy weapon designed for ponies, it was held on the wielders’ saddles by strong, light metal clamps, with the two small miniguns held on either side. There was a modified bit harness acting as the trigger, which could be used to fire both weapons simultaneously. Though rare, this weapon had seen field use before, and was one of the few innovations the BDF and Resistance could afford to make. Unfortunately it was also a cumbersome weapon - every gunner needed a Unicorn “steadier” to keep the weapon’s recoil from catastrophically overbalancing the wielder.

Jan Lockett ran by the Avatar, sparing him a quick glance as she did so. With her was Dutch, the last member of her team. Albion nodded at them as they jogged to their position, the part of him that was David Elliot glad to see them still alive and still fighting and hoping they would continue to do so by the time the battle ended. There were others here - he recognised Sir Jason sans le Argonauts of the Knights of Albion, and there were members of the Dead Men contingent he knew here too, though he could see none of them through their masks.

We are a band of heroes, united in common cause, he thought to himself. And live or die, we do so as heroes.

"You know," a voice said, "I'm fairly certain Hell Blazer will be upset if you die."

Albion turned to look at the figure of the Doctor, the battered pony frowning up at him.

"The man Constantine has lost much," he said not really speaking from the perspective of the human part of him when he said that. "He has survived all of it, scarred as he is in body and soul. He will survive the death of the man Elliot."

"I see," the Doctor said, sounding surprisingly neutral.

There was a pause as the two of them watched the preparations continue. Albion and the Doctor had never interacted much - as far as David Elliot was concerned, the old pony was a friend, though he was a friend who had changed considerably.

"Has it occurred to you why you could not defeat Celestia?" the Doctor asked. Albion gave him a questioning look, confused about how the old pony knew that story. "Hell Blazer and I had a little chat. He told me what you said: how you couldn't defeat the Celestia of the other world, despite your best efforts and her weakness in comparison to Solamina."

"No, I could not." Albion didn't like admitting that his power was limited: whatever feelings he had as Elliot was only intensified as Albion, and Elliot's shame at his weakness was a burning hole in Albion's gut, like a poisonous lead weight. "A failing of the man Elliot, perhaps. His shell is weak and cannot hold this essence."

That statement was a lie, and they both knew it.

"A failing of Elliot, perhaps," the Doctor said with a shrug, "but not in the way you think. It's also a failing of your aspect."

"What dost thou mean by that?" Albion asked, frowning down at the Doctor.

"You and he are one," the Doctor said bluntly. "You are Elliot, and the Avatar, all in one. The separation you experience in your perception is... well, shall we say, it is a block. It is not what you should be feeling."

"And how hast thou come to believe this?" Albion said, unconvinced that the resolutely scientifically minded Time Lord in pony form could ever understand what it was like to be as he was, though he could not deny that the pony was echoing thoughts that the man Elliot had also had... that he had had.

"Study," the pony replied simply. "It's not important. What is important is this: you are one being, David Elliot. One man, with one life before him, one mind, and one soul. Remember that, and there will be no force that can stand against you."

With that, the Doctor walked off, shouting orders to other defenders as he did so. The Avatar shook his head, thinking over everything he had just been told. Was the Doctor right? Could he actually become more powerful? Was there a way that he could increase his strength? And if so, was it, as the Doctor appeared to be suggesting, by allowing himself to be one being...?

He shook his head. Now was not the time to think about such things. Now was the time to stand against the coming tide and tell it, in no uncertain terms, that this was Albion, that he was its Avatar, and that they should never have come here. They had defiled this land and threatened it's people too long, and now was the time for these particular enemies to pay the price for their transgression.

By now, the approaching enemy force could be seen. The Solaminan Royal Guard and Militia Pegasi had assembled, like pigeons, across the rooftops of nearby buildings, surrounding the church from above. Errant Flight and other Pegasi of the Equestrian Resistance Air Force occupied the roof of St Paul's, eyeing their opposite numbers warily, each of them tensing for the fight. Marching towards the edge of the causeway leading to the cathedral, meanwhile, was an army of lightly armed and armoured militia, spears, halberds, glaives and swords held under arms and in teeth, or in the telekinetic grips of Unicorns.

Behind the militia were ordered phalanxes of Royal Guards, marching in formation, spears at the ready and Unicorns positioned amongst the phalanxes, ready to put shields up. Interspersed among the enemy forces were large crystalline constructions: Crystal Golems, creatures that were created by the weapon foundries, magic workshops and factories in Equestria. Some were shaped like giant ponies, the height of a human or taller. Others were built and shaped like minotaurs, carrying large crystal swords. These were among Solamina's deadliest weapons, formidable foes.

The Avatar could see a few dozen experimental one-pony magi-cannons dotted amongst militia positions; the experimental weapon had, according to their spies, been largely abandoned, but some ponies still seemed to prefer a projectile weapon.

"Prepare to fire!" a call rang out from the defensive line. Guns clicked and clacked as soldiers locked and loaded, and P220’s were aimed and steadied in readiness.

"Wait!" one of the attackers called out. "Parley!"

There was a brief, shocked silence across the battlefield as that word settled in the ears of the defenders.

"Bollocks to that," someone muttered near Albion. The Avatar, however, held up a hand, a quizzical frown on his face.

"We shall hear thy parley!" he called out loudly to the Solaminan forces. "Speak quickly!"

A pony marched forward from the main force, a white flag held under one arm. He was an orange Pegasus with a purple mane, dressed in all the best Royal Guard finery, and when he spoke it was a confident voice filled with courage, honour and the promise of fairness. He planted his flag, took off his helmet and held it underneath one hoof, showing his handsome face.

"Defenders of St Paul's," he said loudly. "I am Captain Flash Sentry of the Royal Guard. I have come to extend an offer from the gracious Empress Astra Solamina Maxima. If you will lay down your weapons and surrender, she promises all of you clemency and places of honour in her Empire. If not," he added, his voice taking on a morose note, "we will have no choice but to kill you all. You have five minutes to give your answer. After that time, we will attack."

There was a pause as the defenders considered. Albion scowled at Sentry, who seemed to see him, and scowled back: they knew of each other. Flash Sentry was one of Shining Armour's lieutenants in the field, a competent and respected commander. Albion opened his mouth to give an answer.

Suddenly, a shot rang out from the defence line, and Flash Sentry collapsed to the floor with a clatter of armour, a gaping hole where the right half of his face used to be.

"That's our answer, motherfucker!" someone shouted, and everyone and everypony in the defensive force cheered loudly. Albion frowned slightly, but did not say anything. It was - in less elegant terms - the exact same answer he would have given, though he would have let Sentry return to his force to die more honourably later.

There was a moment's pause as the Solaminan forces milled in confusion, their commander dead, and then a clear voiced call went out.

"All forces, attack!"

The call was repeated, a cry from every position along the Solaminan line. Magi-cannons were positioned, aiming at the palisades. The Avatar scowled.

"Silent Step!" he called to a pony who was one of their comm specialists. "Relay the order to all positions - weapons free, fire at will. Give Red Leader permission to engage."

"Sir!" the blue mare said with a nod. "All positions, this is Avatar One, fire at will, fire at will. Red Leader, this is Avatar One, come in…"

Just as the order went out, the Solaminan forces started their assault. In the sky above, Pegasi took flight from the surrounding buildings and charged at St Paul's. On the ground, magi-cannon fire impacted, blowing chunks of masonry - and some of the ponies and people defending it - apart. A hail of Unicorn spells of various colours and qualities flew, cutting down dozens of defenders.

And then the defenders responded.

In the sky, Pegasi flyers dueled, bodies beginning to fall from the sky at speed as limbs were shorn and bodies opened up. Blood began to almost rain from the sky, showering the combatants below. From the barricades, a hail of bullets lashed out, impacting amongst the ponies and cutting swathes down. Shields went up but the sheer volume of bullets cracked and battered the magical screens, before, one by one, they started to fail, and the ponies behind them scrambled to find cover.

Another hail of spells flew, suppressing the humans' fire for a moment - and then another cry went up from the Solaminan line.

"Militia and Guard Phalanx! Assemble!"

The Guard organised themselves in Phalanxes, lightning fast, their spears held at the ready. All around them, the Militia milled, ready to advance. New shields were established, the renewed fire bouncing off them for the moment, though cracks would soon show.

"Advance!" the cry went up.

"BY THE RIGHT, MARCH!" a sergeant screamed. As one, the Guard Phalanxes advanced, Militia still milling all around them, falling to bullets where the glowing shields didn't protect them.

The final battle for London had begun in earnest.

***

Errant Flight smirked as Flash Sentry dropped dead. The pony had always been something of a naive type, and judging by his speech to the defenders, he had still been naive. Now, of course, he wasn't anything after all.

It was almost impressive how blasé Errant felt about the whole thing: once upon a time the death of fellow ponies would have sickened him. Now, though he found the death of ponies - well, certain ponies - almost amusing at times. Maybe that was a sign that he was becoming something less than Equine… he wondered if it was always going to be that way…

He shook his head, dismissing the thoughts quickly. The minute the cry from the Solaminan line went out he knew that, as most of his human friends would put it, 'shit had gotten real'. He flexed the muscles on his forelegs, triple checking the mechanical flip-out blades he wielded that were the standard equipment of the Resistance air forces, (adapted from the hoof-flipped blades of the Wonderbolts, though the bulk of the Solaminans managed quite well with spears). They were well oiled and clean: they wouldn't fail him.

"Red Leader, this is Avatar One, come in!" an urgent voice suddenly sounded on his comms.

"Red Leader here," Errant replied.

"You are a go to engage inbound hostiles!" Avatar One told him.

Errant grinned. "Thank you, Avatar One."

He flipped out his blades.

"Red Lead to all flights," he called, the comm device in his ear picking up his call. "We are clear to engage. Repeat: engage hostiles!"

"Copy that," Green Leader called in, his twenty pony squadron taking off.

"Roger, Red Leader," the female voice of Blue Leader said as her squadron flew into battle.

”As you say, Red Lead,” came the voice of Gamma Leader, who sounded resolute.

"Engaging now!" Gold Leader added, his tone betraying his enthusiasm.

There were four full squadrons here: Green, Blue and Gold were all older squadrons from the early days of the Resistance’s reworked flight teams. Gamma was one of the newer squadrons, but had acquitted itself well. All in all, not counting any squadron’s individual losses, forty eight flyers. None of these Pegasi had ever previously been considered as candidates for Grey Squadron, but they were all competent enough flyers - though Errant Flight was afraid that "competent" might not cut it anymore.

Still, Errant thought idly, they might surprise me.

And with that thought, Errant Flight launched from the rooftop into the skies, charging straight at inbound flyers. He brought his left foreleg blade to bear and charged at a militia Pegasus, slicing the lightly armoured pony across the abdomen and spilling his blood down onto the ground. He charged at a Guard next, flipping his other blade out. He impaled the guard in the shoulders, ignored the screaming, then tore his right blade out and slashed it across the throat of his enemy. The Guard gurgled his last out before dropping to the ground. Errant panted, taking a moment to scan the air to see the state of the battle.

Below them the battle was well underway - the humans were firing, the Militia and Guard were advancing. Meanwhile, in the sky all around him, Pegasi danced an intricate dance of flashing blades and flying spears. These Guards hadn't been stupid enough to try a formation attack, though they weren't as proficient as the Resistance flyers at the style. The Equestrian Militia were even worse, many of them not even armed properly. Still, they were taking a toll. On Errant's earpiece, he heard the scream of a Resistance Pegasus who had his wing slashed: if he squinted, he could see the flyer impact into the building, red splattering across the building as the unprotected body flew at high speed into the brick wall.

"Red Lead, this is Green Six," a young stallion's voice called through the earpiece, distracting him from his scan of the area.

"Copy, Green Six," Errant said.

"I'm under attack," the young flyer said. "I'm leading two hostiles to your position! Any help would be great!"

"On it!" Errant said. He fought back the shock of battle and focused on the adrenaline rush.

***

Jan Lockett, standing on the front defensive line at the very bottom of the stairs, fired her automatic rifle at the charging Equestrian Militia, reloading as soon as she emptied the clip. The militia were coming so thick that it was easy to score a hit: even the more armoured ponies went down, since every bullet now issued to the army was armour piercing.

The shields the Solaminan forces put up were impressive, taking quite a few bullets to put down, but by now every BDF and Resistance soldier knew how to concentrate their fire to achieve the required result. The phalanxes that survived their first day quickly learned that formation fighting was a poor show.

Still, as much as they were reaping a heavy toll on the advancing ponies, they were losing people too. Concussive and other damaging spells were thrown out even as the oncoming Phalanx advanced, impacting the line and blowing defenders to kingdom come. Even as Jan watched, the line was hit by a barrage of magi-cannon fire that obliterated part of the barricade.

“Shore that up!” she yelled, pointing to the area. A few men raced over to begin repositioning barricades, and even as she watched more men moved to shoot any Militia that got too close.

They were holding - just - but the enemy were still coming, relentless, and nothing was going to stop that force from hitting the barricade.

"They'll reach the line in twenty!" Dutch yelled from next to her, his own rifle barking intermittently as he picked his targets. "Best ready bayonets!"

He was right, Lockett realised. There was no way they were going to be halted.

"All troops, prepare for close quarters combat!" she yelled, drawing her own bayonet as she emptied another clip.

The standard issue bayonet was almost a short sword, but she attached it to her rifle, almost turning her assault rifle into a short spear: perfect for stabbing. Dutch drew his bayonet, holding it in a reverse grip, slinging his rifle over his shoulder.

"Brace for charge!" someone yelled.

And then the enemy hit the line. Ponies slammed into the barricades, and other ponies vaulted, trying to grapple with defenders. Knives, spears, halberds and other weapons were brought to bear, and the defenders responded with short-range gunfire and bayonets.

Lockett's blade went into the throat of a Militia pony who tried to charge her. She withdrew it, ignoring the gurgling body, and stabbed out at another pony, lodging the bayonet deep into the mare's shoulder. The shrill scream hurt her ears, and she withdrew her blade, before stabbing again and again, driving the screeching pony to the ground.

Next to her, Dutch was lashing out repeatedly, his blade cutting across the faces and torsos of his enemies. One mare gurgled briefly as blood spilled from a slashed artery. A stallion coming up behind her stabbed with his spear, only for the human to block it and riposte, stabbing the stallion in the front. The militia pony's eyes widened, and he fell, leaving Dutch free to slash another pony across the throat.

All around them, humans and ponies fought. Solaminan spears impaled soldiers, knives cut across forelegs, throats and faces, ponies grappled with one another. The enemy, however, had the numbers, and though the line held valiantly, soon soldiers were pulling back up the stairs, the crack of close range assault rifle fire lashing out and hitting ponies at near point blank range as soldiers desperately tried to stem the tide.

In the thick of the fighting, Dutch ended up back to back with Lockett, backed up against her by the press of enemies.

"There's too many!" he yelled. "We can't hold 'em!"

Lockett yelled in frustration as she jammed her bayonet in another militia pony's eye socket. Much as she hated to admit it, Dutch was right. Even more Phalanxes of Guards and swarms of Militia were coming.

"This is Lockett to Avatar One!" she yelled into her earpiece. "I need reinforcement at the front! Now!"

It was an impossibly long five seconds before the reply came from Avatar One.

"Roger that," an impossibly calm voice said. "Support inbound."

A loud battle cry came from the rear of the lines, and Lockett risked a glance backwards. What she saw made her laugh out loud.

***

Three minutes earlier.

Behind where Albion stood, the soldiers of both the Holy Order of Albion and the Dead Men waited, their blades drawn and their guns discarded minutes ago. Albion watched the battle with narrowed eyes, certain that the time would come soon for him to make his move.

"On my signal, we charge," Albion said, his fist clenched around Excalibur. "No mercy for the enemy. They have signed their own death warrants, and it is our task to deliver it upon them!"

"Yes my lord," one of the Knights of Albion said earnestly. "We will not fail you!"

"For Albion!" someone called, and a cheer went up from the line. Albion smiled softly - the man Elliot felt uncomfortable with the adulation of these men. To Albion, they might have been misguided, but they followed good ideals. The Order of Albion dedicated itself to the ideals the Knights of the Round table espoused: military chivalry and the defence of those who could not defend themselves.

The Dead Men were a different matter. In a world of so much death, it was all but inevitable that there would have been men and women - and later, even ponies - would reach the pits of despair. The Dead Men, at least, made their despair into their motivation. Albion could respect that.

"Purpose is upon us," one of the Dead Men said quietly. "And we will not shirk it."

The sentiment was echoed by the others, but other than these quiet murmurings the soldiers were unusually taciturn.

Albion narrowed his eyes, and turned to Silent Step. The little blue mare was frowning as she listened to the incoming communications from various parts of the defensive line, as well as the Pegasi above.

"Call's gone out for support!" she suddenly called.

"Then now is the time for battle!" Albion yelled. He spun his blade. "For Albion!"

The call was echoed by the Order's soldiers, and even by the Dead Men, and a moment later they charged. Albion faintly heard Silent Step relay their charge, but ignored it. He needed no herald but himself.

Twenty seconds after he bellowed his war cry, he reached the front line of the Equestrian Militia. His blade lashed out, cutting through dozens of enemies in moments as he swung again and again. The lightly armoured militia stood no chance against either the reach of a zweihander, nor this particular zweihander's magical properties. The Guard fell back too, magic shields and well-made armour still nothing. Spears and blades were cleaved in twain by the magical blade.

"Albion!" the cry went out from the defenders as he cut a bloody swathe through the enemy. He smiled. The enemy had no chance against him, and they should have known it. Now he would make them see why they should never have come here.

***

A white unicorn with a blue mane named Fancy Pants cursed under his breath as he watched the militia fighting against the being known as the 'Avatar of Albion'. He hated sending good ponies to die brutal deaths, and though he knew it was for a noble cause, he still didn't like to order it.

Fancy Pants had been Flash Sentry's second in command, and now (by virtue of Sentry's untimely death, which to Fancy Pants only proved why the humans should have been attacked in the first place) he was the commander of the entire Equestrian army present: he, Sentry and Shining Armour had been sent to co-ordinate the offensive along with Pinkie Pie by Empress Solamina herself. Though Pinkie Pie had ostensibly been the commander of the offensive, the pink former party pony's frankly frightening level of mania and insanity - as well as a complete inability to pay attention to practically anything - had left Shining Armour as the de facto commanding officer of the assault. Armour's own death had left Flash in command, and now it was Fancy Pants who was left in charge.

"Our troops are being slaughtered out there!" he said, snarling slightly. His adjutant, a Lieutenant named Sharp Blade, flinched.

"Sir, we've nothing that can stand up to the human's magical warrior in individual combat," he said quickly. "Our best tacticians agree that the best plan is always strength in numbers."

"To Tartatus with that, they're getting slaughtered!" Fancy Pants swore. "Pull them out! Now!"

"Most of those forces are only converted militia," one pony said. "It's not like we're losing anything importa..."

Fancy Pants turned on the speaker, his eyes blazing in fury. The speaker - an Earth Pony Lieutenant - quailed.

"We did not convert those humans to use them as cannon fodder," Fancy Pants said, grinding his teeth at every word. "We converted them to save them. I will not send them to a pointless death now! Pull. Them. Out!"

"What should we send instead?!" Sharp Blade asked.

Fancy Pants narrowed his eyes at the figure of the 'Avatar'. "Send in the Crystal Golems: they might have a chance."

"Sir!" Sharp Blade said with a nod. He turned to his own subordinates. "Send in the golems! Pull back the militia and Phalanxes!"

Fancy Pants sighed as the cry went out. He hoped this would turn the tide.

***

Errant Flight sliced through the armour of another Pegasus, letting the body fall to the ground limply as he searched for more targets. The air was thick with fighting Pegasi.

"Red Leader!" a voice called in Errant's ear. "This is Blue Leader!"

"I copy Blue Leader," he said quickly.

"Needing support!" the voice of the other pony said, sounding worried. "Multiple hostiles on my six!"

Errant scanned the skies until he saw her: she was flying past the tower of St Paul's, at least three Pegasi in Royal Guard colours chasing after her. He frowned and took off, charging straight at them. He held his forelegs out, blades extended, and began spinning in a corkscrew. Blue Leader dodged under him, and he corkscrewed into the enemy Pegasi. The spinning blades sent every one of the enemy ponies spiralling out of control, wings and limbs flying away from them like bloodied missiles.

"Thanks!" Blue Leader said, her voice tinny through the comlink.

"Don't mention it," Errant Flight replied. As he looked around, he frowned. They were losing a lot of ponies, and though the enemy's forces were also losing many troops, they could afford such losses.

He looked down, frowning at the state of the front defence line: it was battered but the militia attacking it were retreating in disarray. At first, Errant felt better, knowing that they had held. Then he noticed something else - a squadron of large crystalline figures: the Crystal Golems, heading towards the defence positions at a steady pace.

"Oh horsefeathers," Errant Flight said quietly. He activated his radio. "Attention command, Golems incoming at defence line!"

***

Albion decapitated another militia pony, Excalibur slicing through armour and bone with equal ease, before bring the blade up in a high guard position.

The assault was thinning out, the militia ponies pulling back as cries to retreat sounded from behind them, but Albion could tell something was coming. Figures of crystal marched out from the lines of Royal Guard, lumbering but powerful. With a sickening sinking feeling, Albion realised what the Equestrian army was sending.

"They're falling back!" someone yelled, sounding relieved. "We held!"

"It is not over yet," Albion replied, lowering his blade into a mid-guard. "They are merely sending heavier forces."

As he spoke, a soldier ran forward, clutching a radio.

"Message from aerial support! They're reporting incoming Crystal Golems!" he yelled. "I… oh, shit. That's them!"

Albion nodded, a wry smirk on his face. "Indeed it is."

Most other troops immediately grabbed their rifles and aimed outwards at the Golems. Soon enough, they could all see them: the enemy's creations advanced steadily, their lumbering gait only making them more threatening in appearance.

"Fire on those targets!" someone yelled. Immediately, missile launchers, RPG's, machine guns and assault rifles fired out, smashing dozens of the Crystal Golems to pieces - but even when wrecked, many walked on, dragging themselves forward towards the defenders. Even worse, many of the golems began regrowing parts of themselves that were destroyed, many of them aided by their handlers, unicorns trained in the magic of growing Crystal.

"What the hell?" someone muttered.

"It's Sombra's magic!" a pony yelled out. "Concentrate your fire!"

"No!" Albion called out, raising a hand. "Pull everyone back to the second line. I will hold them here!"

For a moment, there was uncertainty. Retreat was almost never an option - that was drilled into every BDF soldier. They didn't have anywhere to run to, so learning to run was futile. Then, Jan Lockett started shouting orders.

"Move back!" she cried. "Secondary line, go, go, go!"

The troopers began retreating up the steps, leaving Albion alone at the base, facing off against dozens of Golems. He raised Excalibur in salute, before settling into a defensive posture.

"In the words of the man Elliot's generation," he said quietly to the unthinking golems, "come at me!"

***

St Paul's shook as Hell Blazer led the Element bearers and the younger versions of True Grit, Lyra and Derpy through the halls. The civilians in the cathedral had been moved to an underground shelter that had been set up, leaving only troopers and medics running around the interior, desperately moving to hold their ground or help the injured being constantly ferried in. There were two groups of medics, one set who wore red crosses on white armbands, and one set who wore green crosses on white armbands: those who specialised in healing humans and those who specialised in healing ponies.

"Trooper!" Hell Blazer called to one pony who was walking in with a limp. "What's the situation?!"

"Albion's called a retreat to the second line," the trooper replied wearily. "He's holding the first line alone against Crystal Golems!"

"Crystal Golems?" Twilight Sparkle said, eyes wide. She thought back to her experiences of crystal magic in the Crystal Empire, but she had never heard of Golems being created in this manner. "Oh no."

"Dammit," Hell Blazer said. "Alright, go get seen to, kiddo."

The pony nodded, moving towards a nearby medic with a pony armband on.

"There must be something we can do to help," Twilight said quietly.

"There might be," Hell Blazer said with a nod. He turned to Rarity, Lyra and Twilight. "Are any of you any good at sensing magical energy in use?"

"Yes," Twilight said. Lyra nodded, and Rarity frowned in confusion.

"Fairly, why?" she asked.

"You three might be our best chance at stopping those damn Golems," the yellow Earth Pony said. "Follow me, quick!"

He raced off towards some stairs, the other ponies following, wondering what the hell he meant.

***

Excalibur came up and blocked a blow from one of the Golem's blades. Albion snarled and pushed back, before lashing out against the Golem. Though the magical crystal was strong, the blade of Albion still sundered it well enough.

The Golems seemed focused on him, though a few did seem willing to at least try to brave the stairs. Those that did found themselves the target of concentrated missile and small arms fire, and were quickly blown apart. The problem was, many of the creatures that were blown apart seemed intent on standing back up again, parts regrowing almost like some super-fast kind of natural healing.

Albion decapitated another construct, then sliced it down the middle. Almost immediately, the thing sprouted two new halves, transforming into two Crystal Golems. Growling in frustration, Albion stabbed the first creature, and span it's impaled body around, throwing it in the direction of the enemy lines. He then span and sliced the second in half at the waist, before stabbing the heart of its torso half with Excalibur, shattering it.

The lower half tottered and tried regrowing again, but he kicked out, the force of the blow throwing it down the street. Unfortunately, once it was there it began regrowing again.

He cursed under his breath. At this rate, he would have to unleash the power within him fully before it was time. The blast would destroy the golems perhaps, but the Royal Guard behind them would still be a threat. He smashed aside another Golem as he considered his options.

Something had to give soon, or else he wouldn't have any option but to go early and hope that the defenders could hold.

***

Hell Blazer looked out, frowning at the battle between Elliot - Albion - and the Golems. He, Rarity, Twilight, Lyra and a soldier named Richardson armed with a sniper rifle were standing atop one of the corners of St Paul's' roof, the other newcomers nearby in the doorway from below. All around them, Pegasi flew in a dance of death. As they watched, another pony rammed into the wall near them, an Equestrian Royal Guard judging by his uniform.

"He'll be overwhelmed," Hell Blazer muttered under his breath, continuing to watch the fight between his friend and the Golems.

"What can we do?" Twilight asked, moving to stand next to him. Hell Blazer turned to her.

"These Golems are controlled by magical 'handlers'," he explained quickly. "They aren't dependant on having these handlers in order to run, but they're dependant on them for new orders and more importantly, they're dependant on them for their healing ability."

"So?" Rarity asked. Hell Blazer grinned ferally.

"I need you three to try and locate them through their magic, and then reveal the connection so that Richardson can snipe them," he said quickly.

Twilight, Rarity and Lyra shared an uneasy glance between the three of them, and then nodded.

"What about us, sir?" True Grit asked.

"Keep us covered if you can," Hell Blazer asked. True Grit nodded, turning his grim visage to the sky.

Twilight, Rarity and Lyra began concentrating, their magic reaching out to try and sense the power being used to control the Golems. It was a strenuous business, not helped by the sheer level of noise around them.

True Grit's magic lanced out, striking one Pegasus that charged at the group down. Another Pegasus, a young looking Stallion, landed in front of them, but Applejack bucked him off the side, where he fell downwards, managing to restrain his fall near the bottom only to be shot down by fire from the defence line. The orange pony closed her eyes, willing the surprised look on the young pony's face out of her mind: it remained etched there.

"There's a lot of incoming!" Grit yelled. "I can't hold them all off!"

"Leave some of them to me," Rainbow Dash said from behind him, frowning up at the sky. Without another word, she took off, charging at a nearby Pegasus and knocking him from the sky. She maintained a holding pattern near their position, warding off any ponies that approached with lightning fast reactions and quick kicks.

Suddenly, Twilight yelled in triumph, sweat glistening in her coat. From the Golems' position, thin tendrils of blue energy appeared, revealing positions far back from the line.

"Got a shot!" Richardson said, grinning. He aimed his rifle and fired, and one of the tendrils disappeared, the Golem it had been attached to halfway through repairing a missing arm. It glanced down at the limb as if surprised, but Albion struck it down before it could do anything more. Richardson took another shot and another blue tendril disappeared.

Suddenly, a hail of spells starting hitting their position. Richardson took a hit that incinerated his shoulder and half his neck, and blew him onto his back, where his wide unseeing eyes stared right up at a shrieking Fluttershy, who quickly covered her eyes. Twilight moved her focus to a shield spell, but Lyrs and Rarity kept at it with the revealing spells, and more fire from the second defence line rained down on the handlers' positions. One by one the tendrils disappeared.

"Yeah!" Hell Blazer yelled in triumph. "How d'you like those apples, you motherbucking wank stains?!"

***

Fancy Pants swore as more handlers died from enemy fire, the now visible tendrils of their magic disappearing one by one. The golems were being slaughtered by the Avatar creature, their regenerative properties now nullified.

"Sir, now what?" Sharp Blade asked. Fancy Pants hated having to give this order, but he realised he had no choice.

"Throw everything at them," he said. "We need to overwhelm Albion and destroy this position." Fancy Pants cursed the tall figure for his refusal to lay down and die. "That thing might survive, Sharp Blade, but I promise you; we'll kill so many of his forces that his survival will taste as bitter as death."

***

Albion smashed aside the last Golem with a mighty hack, and returned Excalibur to his initial mid guard position. He watched as the militia who had so recently retreated began advancing again, now supported by ordered phalanxes of the Royal Guard. He grimaced.

Holding this position by himself was no good. He might be the most powerful fighter here, but there were thousands of ponies ahead of him. Worse still, there were more ponies advancing down the street behind the main force. If they reached him, he might slay any who approached, but they could circumvent him, even try to crush him under sheer weight of numbers.

Now was the time then, he realised grimly. He lowered Excalibur.

"Warriors of Albion!" he called, his voice rising impossibly over the din of battle. "Defenders of St Paul's! Brace yourselves and seek shelter!"

***

Hell Blazer's eyes widened. It was time.

"Inside now!" he yelled to the other ponies. Without understanding what the yellow pony was on about, the others complied. Hell Blazer soared his friend one last glance.

"Survive this, mate," he said. "Or I'll bloody deck you."

With that, he too raced inside.

***

"Cornwall procedure!" Lockett was yelling. "He's about to unleash! Everyone get down!"

'Cornwall procedure' was a term used to describe bunkering down while Albion unleashed his power. Though he was normally able to direct it, there was still enough blowback to cause injuries. Lockett turned to look at the figure of the Avatar before bunkering down herself.

"Give them hell," she whispered.

***

Errant Flight landed behind cover, the figures of more of the other squadrons landing around him. Half of Gold was gone, along with most of Blue, a great deal of Gamma, and a fair few of Green, but they hadn't done too badly.

"What's he doing?" Blue Leader asked him, and he turned to face her.

"Something that's gonna be worth watching," Errant replied grinning slightly.

***

Fancy Pants frowned slightly as he watched the Avatar lower his sword. It was unlikely that the creature would surrender, even given the odds facing him.

"What's he playing at?" he said out loud.

As he watched, the Avatar span his blade until the tip was facing downwards. He then planted the massive, ornate sword into the ground, closing his eyes as he did so.

The first warning was the crackling of magic in the air. Every unicorn on the field must have felt it - to Fancy Pants it was a tickle on the back of his neck. Then there was the faint corona of light that surrounded the figure, a vague glow that seemed to come from the very air itself.

Then a great wind began stirring, first swirling around the Avatar's immediate person, then gradually extending outwards until it surrounded him at a span of about fifty metres, debris spinning in the air around the figure, even whipping debris at the first row of the approaching militia and Royal Guards.

Fancy Pants realised what his enemy was about to do about a second before he did it. He had time to yell "cover!" before the Avatar opened his eyes.

The wind exploded outwards accompanied by a roar of bright golden light that scattered everything before it like a hurricane. Even Pegasi in the sky were scattered before the awesome power of that release, their frail bodies thrown into buildings and across the city by the power of the blast.

Fancy Pants tried raising a shield: he could only watch in horror as Sharp Blade was thrown into a wall behind him, the pony's neck at an impossible angle. The soldiers directly in front of Albion were the worst hit though, many of them being shattered by the sheer force if the blow, pieces of them raining over those behind, who in turn were thrown to the winds. Arms, legs, backs and necks were crushed before the sheer force they were subjected to - a scant handful of unicorns managed to hold a shield up, but they were few and far between. Finally, Fancy Pants himself was thrown backwards.

A moment later, the blast was over. Fancy Pants struggled to his feet, feeling like he'd sprained his ankle and thankful that he had not sustained worse injury. He opened his eyes, seeing dust settling, but there was so much in the sir that it looked like thick grey fog and ash. He coughed slightly.

And then he saw it.

Most of the first wave and a fair chunk of the second had been sent flying by the blast Albion had sent. Only a handful of bodies were moving, their stirring feeble amongst piles of the dead and dying.

And stood exactly where he had been, unbent and unmoving, was the Avatar of Albion, eyes glaring out at the field of the dead.

"By Solamina's grace," Fancy Pants said quietly. "That's... that's insane."

At that moment, he made the only decision he could. He would not send what was left of his army in a fool's errand to kill that thing. He would retreat, pull his army back across the channel to New Prance, and let his soldiers live to fight another day - and hopefully a less hopeless battle. He would not send them to the slaughter against a demigod.

"All forces!" he called in a clear voice. "Retreat!"

***

Albion watched the pony army retreat, quietly impressed that managed even a semblance of order after the drubbing he gave them. He did not move, did not allow himself to so much as twitch, until he was sure they were all gone.

Slowly, he released a breath he didn't realise he had been holding. He released Excalibur from the death grip he had on it, and it vanished into nothingness. A moment later, Albion's armour dissipated and David Elliot was stood at the base of the stairs of St Paul's.

He coughed, the hacking sound loud against the quiet left in the wake of the battle. He looked at his hand, and was only mildly shocked to see thick red blood there.

"Oh," he said quietly. "That's interesting."

And then he collapsed.

***

Author's Note

Damn. That was fun to write.

My thanks once again to all favouriters and commenters, and my apologies that this chapter took a bit longer to get out than the last few have. Real life is, unfortunately, irritating in the extreme.

The next chapter should come soon. Until then, enjoy. :-)

EDIT: This chapter was edited 18th July 2015

Signing Up.

Chapter Sixteen: Signing Up.

***

Hell Blazer stared at the prone form of his best friend, a morose look on his face. David Elliot was lying on a makeshift bed in one of the side rooms of St Paul's, away from most of the prying eyes in the cathedral. He had been taken inside by Lockett, Dutch and Hell Blazer himself, and suffice it to say he didn't look good at all. He was pale, sweating and feverish, and had been coughing in his unconsciousness even as they brought him in.

The Doctor, the old pony looking not much worse for wear after the battle, was running his sonic screwdriver up and down the unconscious body of Elliot, a grim look on his face as he did so: whatever he was seeing from his scan, it clearly wasn't anything good.

The newcomer ponies stood with Hell Blazer, staring at the unconscious man with looks of mixed worry and fear on their faces: quite apart from their worry for his health, there was that fact that without him, they didn’t know what was going to happen to them. Elliot had brought them here, after all. If he wasn't here to vouch that they weren't their counterparts... what would happen to them all?

"He's alive and stable for now," the Doctor said after a moment, sighing as he put the sonic screwdriver back in his jacket. He looked up at Hell Blazer, studiously avoiding looking at Ditzy or the other newcomers. "But his body has gone under massive amounts of magical stress, and the damage to his cells has only been accelerated. He'll likely be in a coma for some time while his body recuperates."

"But he will live?" Twilight asked worriedly. The Doctor gave her a cold look, then nodded tiredly with a sigh.

"I can't guarantee he'd survive another magical outburst of this sort," he said gently. "But he'll survive this one. For a little while. I don't know when he'll likely wake up though: it could be months, or he could die in this coma."

"How long does he have?" Hell Blazer asked quietly so that the others couldn't hear him.

"A year at best," the Time Lord murmured in return. He was studiously looking at the floor. Hell Blazer frowned.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Just bad memories," the Doctor replied, his eyes flicking to look at Ditzy. He said nothing more, instead walking away. Hell Blazer, not commenting on his friend's moroseness, turned to the newcomers.

"Elliot trusted me to keep you lot alright," he said to them, trying to sound serious. "So I will."

"We appreciate that," Twilight said. "Right now though, we want to be useful."

"You'll get your chance, Miss Sparkle," a new voice said. The newcomers turned, to see Major Redmond standing behind them, arms folded. "Hell Blazer, the Council want to see them."

"You sure that's wise?" Hell Blazer asked, frowning.

"I'm not sure about any of this damned endeavour of Elliot's," Redmond said, indicating the prone form of the Avatar, "but he was, and the Council want to talk to these ponies and judge for themselves."

Hell Blazer sighed.

"Alright, then," he said. He turned to the newcomers. "Go with the Major. I'll meet up with you afterwards."

Uneasily, the newcomers followed the grim looking human as he walked off, leaving Hell Blazer alone with his unconscious friend. He stood by his side for a long moment, unsure what to do or to say. He had done this to his friend… and now it had caused him to be near death’s door.

Damn you, John Constantine, you cunt, he thought to himself. You’ve taken every friend you’ve got away from yourself. It's your own fault you're alone.

Somehow, thinking that didn't make him feel any better.

***

There was a single room in the cathedral set aside from everywhere else. It had once been the office of some high ranking member of the church, but now it contained a large television screen and a pair of speakers: the only contact the building had with the ruling council.

The ruling council were, for want of a better term, the government of the British Isles. Since the isles - and indeed the human race - were in dire straits, a lot of the traditional democratic freedoms many citizens were used to were suspended: the majority of the government and the decisions were made by the military in terms of laws governing people. The council, however, were the top authority.

There was General Paul Anderson, a bearded and dark haired Australian soldier who had, as a low-ranking officer, been part of the ultimately doomed Australian effort to stop the Equestrian barrier. He had watched most of the army of Australia burn underneath the pink energy field, and it had left him deeply cynical but also deeply committed to victory. He had sworn he would see Solamina pay for what she had done.

A simple moustached Japanese man in a grey suit named Hiroto Sato represented the civilian interests. Having been on holiday in Britain when all flights were cancelled, the low ranking and idealistic politician found himself asked to represent first the refugee population of Britain and, later, when such boundaries ceased having any meaning, the entire civilian branch. Sato was a larger man, though the war and it's shortages had left him gaunt as well.

Finally, there was Prince Blueblood, the combined military and civilian ruler of the Free Equestrian Resistance. Though he had been reluctant to take up any position of power, especially after being part of the Equestrian council before its dissolution, he had taken to the role with gusto. Many would not have recognised him, since his old self-centeredness was almost entirely absent from his exterior persona. He wore a stylised version of the Night Guard uniform.

These three were upon the large screen when Redmond entered the room with the newcomers. They immediately gasped when they saw the Element bearers.

"I don't bloody believe it," Anderson said quietly. "It really is them!"

"Honourable members of the ruling council," Major Redmond said formally. "I present Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Ditzy Doo, Lyra Heartstrings and True Grit for your judgement."

"Thank you Major Redmond," Blueblood said quietly. "If you wouldn't mind leaving them with us."

Redmond saluted the screen and exited, leaving the newcomers with the council.

"Major Redmond has already explained to us that you are from a parallel world," Sato began slowly. "That Major David Elliot brought you here to assist in our war."

"That... that is correct, sir," Twilight replied: the others unconsciously selected her as their spokespony.

"In that case, I'm sure you are aware of the seriousness of the situation," Sato continued. "I am curious as to whether you still feel able to assist us."

Twilight looked back at her friends. Most of them looked tired and worried, a reaction to having seen things they didn't like seeing. True Grit looked utterly resolute, seemingly the most committed of all of them. What worried Twilight was Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Fluttershy. Seeing Richardson die in front of her had apparently shocked the nerves right out of Fluttershy, who was even quieter and more skittish than she usually was. Rainbow Dash had allowed the lives she had taken already to once again weigh on her, the blue Pegasus looking haunted by it. Applejack too had, albeit indirectly, ended lives, and she looked decidedly unhappy about it.

However, when Twilight look at her friends, they all met her eyes and nodded, seemingly willing to continue despite everything they had all seen. She turned back to the council.

"We're willing to help however we can," she said quietly.

Sato turned to the other two. Blueblood was staring at the ponies morosely, as if trying to bore through them with his eyes. Anderson didn't look convinced, but he sighed and waved a hand.

"I'll go with you two on this," he said, sounding rather grumpy about the whole thing.

"I'm of the opinion that they should be given a chance," Sato said simply.

"I am as well," Blueblood said with a nod.

"That settles it then," Sato said. "They shall join up?"

Blueblood looked Twilight in the eye. "Elliot brought you here to fight and that is what you're going to do: however it requires that all of you undergo basic training in order to be proficient at the standards we demand of our soldiers."

"We understand," Twilight said, her friends nodding in agreement.

"Your Highness," Sato said quietly to Blueblood, "as they are Equestrian citizens it is up to you to authorise their oaths being administered."

"Oath?" Twilight asked.

Blueblood sighed. "There is an oath of allegiance to be sworn for you to join the armed forces. Mainly a formality, but it's important to have it done nonetheless. Normally done in a quick, quiet ceremony. However," he added, turning to Sato, "I think it's better to have it done in front of the troopers at St Paul's.”

"As a propaganda piece?" asked Anderson, sounding irritated.

"As final proof to the soldiers that they're fighting alongside allies," Blueblood retorted sharply. He turned to look at Twilight. "Please send Major Redmond in here."

"I'll get him, sir," True Grit said at once, exiting the room. A moment later, he returned with the Major, who saluted the council.

"Major, I want you to have the oaths of allegiance administered to these nine effective immediately," Blueblood said at once. "Equestrian oath, so you'll need a high ranking pony, and I want it done in front of the entire surviving civilian and military complement of the garrison."

"Yes sir!" Redmond said, saluting sharply. "Anything else sir?"

"We'll be sending transport for the ponies to go to their respective training facilities," Blueblood said. "Prepare to receive them within the next twenty hours."

"Sir!" Redmond said. Blueblood nodded.

"If that's all, we need to start planning an evacuation of London," the Prince said tiredly. "We can't afford to have so many civilians in one place: it's too great a risk."

"Understood sir," Redmond said. "St Paul's garrison out."

The council nodded, and the image switched off. Redmond turned to the newcomer ponies with a wary look on his face.

"If you'll be swearing the oath of allegiance," he said slowly, "you'd best come with me."

"What exactly is an oath of allegiance?" Rarity asked.

Before Redmond could answer, Twilight stepped up to her side.

"Equestria's Royal Guard have them," she said softly. "They swear by Princess Celestia to defend her and Equestria with their lives."

"It's more than that, ma'am," True Grit said, looking at her with a slight frown. "It's a bond of fidelity between guards, a bond that links us all together."

Redmond nodded in approval at True Grit's description.

"The oath to the Defence Force is a little different, but that's essentially what it is to us as well," he said with a rare smile. "You'll have to do it in front of everyone."

"Really?" Fluttershy asked, her natural disinclination towards being in front of large crowds making her less than happy about that idea.

"Yes," Redmond said bluntly. "But don't worry, you'll get to repeat it after your administerer."

Fluttershy nodded with a sad look on her face. Pinkie Pie poked her in the side.

"Don't worry, Fluttershy," she said softly, smiling widely. "After this we'll be part of a great big new club!"

Fluttershy smiled weakly, but they all knew - even Pinkie, despite her happy bravado - that this would be no happy club. This would be an army, and they would be it's soldiers, with a duty to fight, to kill - and if need be, to die.

***

Errant Flight stood next to Hell Blazer, frowning at the unconscious Elliot. It was hard to believe that such a larger than life figure, such a brave and honourable man, could possibly be so laid low. He had known Elliot for a long time, and though he disagreed with some of the man's methods - most notably the taking of trophies from the Elements, something he knew True Grit and Lyra both agreed with him on - he found Elliot to be someone who proved precisely why humanity deserved to still be around.

Hell Blazer, meanwhile, hadn't moved. As John Constantine, he had been used to people he knew being hurt or killed, simply for knowing him. This, though, was worse: he had caused this himself. He had been the one to imbue Elliot's body with the power that was now killing him. In his selfishness and desire to survive the apocalypse (mixed with a bit of harsh practicality), he had doomed a man who had become his friend to die.

The knowledge that for once, the death of someone close to him was entirely his fault, not merely partially, was not something he bore easily. Errant Flight wanted to say something to make him feel better, but he didn't know what he could say that would make the pony's burdens lift.

"You know, he'll pull through this," Errant said after a moment. Hell Blazer snorted, but Errant continued. "Without his help, we'd have been overrun."

"I know," Hell Blazer returned quietly. "But now he's like this, and it's my fault."

Errant didn't know what to say, but fortunately for him he was stopped from needing to do so by the arrival of a young Earth Pony filly.

"Mr Hell Blazer?" the filly said, looking over his shoulder at the prone Elliot.

"Hey Brave Heart," Hell Blazer said quietly. "What's up?"

"Major Redmond said there's gonna be a swearing in," the filly said quietly. "Is... is Albion ok?"

"He's a little tired from his battle," Hell Blazer said quietly. "He'll be up and about in no time." The yellow Earth Pony frowned. "What's this about a swearing in?"

"Those refugees you brought with you," the little filly said. "They're gonna be sworn in!"

Hell Blazer looked at Errant Flight, who looked as worried as he did, and then the two of them raced outside the little room, the worried Brave Heart watching them go.

***

Twilight sighed softly as she read over the oath. She and the others were waiting off stage, all of them at least a little nervous about going up in front of a large number of people and ponies. Major Redmond was with them.

"So go over the ceremony again?" Applejack asked, frowning up at the man. Redmond sighed.

"First, your swearer goes up and gives a speech about the history of the Equestrian resistance," he said, sounding slightly irritated. "Then you'll be asked to repeat the oath after your swearer."

"You say that, but who is our 'swearer'?" Twilight asked.

"The person who swears you into the service," Redmond said tiredly, addressing all of the ponies present. "Under different circumstances, I'd do it myself, but since you're Equestrian nationals, it's not my job."

"Yeah," a cynical voice said. "It's mine."

Errant Flight and Hell Blazer entered. Errant Flight, the one who had spoken, was frowning at Redmond.

"Wanna tell me why you were gonna swear in nine ponies without the senior Equestrian Resistance leader at our position present?" he asked, sounding annoyed.

"I was about to go get you," Redmond replied coolly, arms folded. "You've saved me a job."

"Thank God for Brave Heart," Hell Blazer muttered under his breath.

Errant Flight looked altogether uncertain.

"I haven't sworn anyone in for a while," he said. "It's been ages since I had to give a speech, for one thing."

"Honesty will do," Redmond said. He walked out of the room. "I'll gather the troops."

He exited, leaving Errant Flight with Hell Blazer and the others. Errant looked at his friend, who shrugged, and the Pegasus sighed.

"Great," he said softly. "I've got to find a way to convince a crowd to be enthused about something I don't believe."

"Shame Elliot's not awake," Hell Blazer agreed. "He managed to convince everybody that it was a good idea before the battle, but I don't think swearing them in will retain the goodwill."

"Excuse me," Rarity said, interrupting the two of them, her eyes hard. "We haven't come here for your goodwill. We've come here because there's a Tyrant committing genocide in your world and every single one of us is committed to helping you stop her, as we've already proved by helping in that horrid battle."

Errant threw Hell Blazer a glance: the pony nodded.

"They helped reveal the location of the Golem handler," he said softly. Errant raised an eyebrow, and turned back to Rarity.

"Yes, we did," she said. "Now if we have to swear an oath to be allowed to keep fighting alongside you, so be it."

Hell Blazer snorted in amusement, and Errant smiled tiredly.

"I'll say something for you," he said quietly. "At least you've got the right spirit. But at a public swearing in, we tend to need to convince the crowd to be happy you're joining up, and that's normally a lot easier than it will be for you."

"Why is it important?" Twilight asked. Hell Blazer sighed.

"Look, Elliot might have convinced them that you aren't the enemy," he said, "at least for the moment. But if you join up, you need to fight with them. Fighting with someone involves trust... and I don't think you have that yet."

"The oath is a symbol - not only that you'll trust them, but that you're asking them to trust you," Errant added.

Most of the ponies looked around awkwardly, recognising the truth in his words. Then, surprisingly, Applejack frowned and stepped forward, looking more determined than she had in the ponies' entire time in this world so far.

"The Applejack in this world ain't never lied, has she?" she asked.

Errant Flight and Hell Blazer shared a look.

"No," Hell Blazer said shortly. "She killed people and ponies and was responsible for a lot of pain, but she was honest about it all, at least."

"Then it's settled," Applejack said with finality. "I'll take your darn oath first. Heck, I'll even speechify if I have to."

Errant Flight looked at her sceptically, then turned to Hell Blazer, but surprisingly, the yellow pony looked thoughtful.

"People and ponies alike know her reputation," he said softly, sounding like he genuinely thought the idea had merit. "It might just work... especially if she... 'speechifies'."

Errant Flight raised an eyebrow, and then shrugged.

"If you think it'll do anything," he said shortly. “Personally, I see this going horribly, horribly wrong.”

“Hooray for optimism,” Hell Blazer chuckled.

***

St Paul's was filled with the injured, maimed and the dying, all huddled at the front of the church surrounded by medical personnel. These troopers were sat in places where they could see the far end of the church. The uninjured soldiers - what comparative few there were - were sat on various benches, their attention also turned to the upper end of the building. They had all been promised something important.

At the top of St Paul's cathedral, there was a stage, once where a pulpit had been. Now it was cleared, a small turntable set aside in one corner surrounded by speakers and manned by a white Unicorn with a blue mane and sunglasses, which covered her scratched out right eye. At the centre of the stage was a microphone adjusted for pony height. One pony marched forward, confidently, to the stage, nine others with him.

Errant Flight stepped up to the microphone. He looked out at the crowd of people and ponies, his eyes searching for familiar faces. Blue Leader (whose real name was Dream Flyer), Green Six (Swift Strike), Jan Lockett, Dutch, Brave Heart... good ponies, good people, all of them. There were more people out there - the Dead Man contingent, led by "Old Joe", a grey haired, tired-looking man, who'd come here with his adopted daughter Kidman. There was Sir Jason and Sir Thomas nearby, Knights of Albion.

"My friends," he said softly. "We have won a great victory. A victory made possible by one man: David Elliot, the Avatar of Albion."

Murmurs swept through the church: were they about to be informed of their hero's death?

"I can tell you now, he's still alive," Errant added, as if sensing their thoughts. "Exhausted by the effort, but alive. But that's not why I'm up here." He paused, taking a deep breath. "I'm up here to talk to you about those he brought with him."

Murmurs again swept through the hall, this time filled with discontent, distrust, uncertainty. Everyone remembered Elliot's speech about the Elements, about how they would stand with them now against Solamina. Though they believed in Elliot... it was still hard to see how the Elements could be anything other than the enemy.

"I too feel the doubt you do," Errant Flight said shortly. "We trust Elliot, there isn't any question, but what of these newcomers? Can we put aside the memory of what their other selves have done, not just to this island but to many of us personally?" He paused, letting that question sink in. "I believe it is time they spoke for themselves."

He turned to look at the group, and Applejack slowly approached the microphone, looking somewhat abashed and nervous but determined all the same.

"Um... howdy," she said softly into the mic.

Errant Flight resisted the urge to facehoof. That was not exactly the best way she could have started. In fact, it wasn't even one of the less bad ways she could have started. There were those in the audience already sniggering maliciously at her.

"I know you know who I am," she continued, ignoring the laughter. "Mr Elliot told you that we were from another Equestria. Now, I know that ya'll don't think too highly of the other me..." There was a spattering of mirthless laughter. "Alright, maybe that's sellin' it a fair bit short. Point is, ya'll might think a lot of me, but you should know I ain't a liar. Never have been and never will be."

There were murmurs of reluctant assent: Applejack had always been the Element of Order representing Honesty, and they all knew it.

"Now I know the other me - the other ones of all of us - did some darn horrid things," Applejack continued, "and we're sorry that you had to suffer that. All of us are, truly. But that ain't us. We came here to help you: we're willin' to do whatever you need us to do in order to make up for what the other Equestria's done."

There was a pause as that sank in.

"Now if that means we gotta do things I don't like the sound of - killin' ponies for starters - well, I guess that's how it's gotta be," Applejack continued, looking faintly morose at the idea of killing. "But I promise you: we're here with you until we're done bringing Solamina down."

She looked at Errant. He coughed and stepped forward.

"You'll repeat after me," he said softly. "I, Applejack..."

"I, Applejack," Applejack repeated.

"...swear by my life and whatever deity watches over pony kind..."

"...that I shall fight for a Free and Just Equestria, that I shall fight to bring peace, harmony and justice back to Equestria and restore it to its former glory..."

"...that I shall not rest until the Tyrant no longer enslaves my kin..."

"...and that I will, as in duty bound, fight to defend the people of Earth who have been wronged by the Tyrant, and will obey all orders of the Government-In-Exile, the Ruling Council and the Officers set over me."

She repeated every segment he spoke, eyes staring straight ahead. After he had done, he saluted, and she roughly matched the motion. He smiled, and turned to the watching ponies.

"Well?" he asked.

There was a moment's pause as the crowd considered her words, and then there was a slow building of applause, first one or two ponies and people, then more, until finally the entire hall was applauding the orange Earth Pony on stage. She blinked in shock, then threw Errant a glance.

"That's good, right?" she asked.

***

The other members of the newcomers' group swore in to much the same reaction. Errant Flight was surprised at how willing the assembled force was to allow these particular ponies to join them: then again, maybe more of them had seen the newcomers on the rooftops than Errant had previously thought. Added to that was the power of Applejack's speech: the wonders of an honest reputation.

Now, loud music was saying through the cathedral, being played through the speakers the DJ Pony, one Vinyl Scratch, was sat near. She seemed engrossed in her music, not looking at the dance floor.

Humans and ponies were dancing in the main area, but most of the newcomers didn't seem particularly enthusiastic, instead going to one corner and talking there. The one exception was Pinkie Pie, who had gone to mingle with the ponies and people - but then, very little could keep Pinkie from a party, even a party in this place. It didn’t entirely escape the notice of the ponies that they were being watched: Old Joe, stood with the Dead Men, was talking with a young girl with a guitar - this was Kidman, his adopted daughter. Both of them were throwing pointed glances at the newcomers every so often.

Nearby, the Knights of Albion were having their own private conversation.

"So," Twilight said quietly. "What do you guys think they're going to ask us to do?"

"What can they ask us to do?" Fluttershy asked, looking around the hall filled with partying soldiers with a look of worry. "I don't know if I'm really up for fighting anypony..."

"I know what you mean," Twilight replied with a grim smile. "Seeing that man die..."

The two of them stayed silent for a moment, thinking back to the blank eyes of Richardson.

"I've already fought against the Air Force," Rainbow said quietly, looking haunted by her experiences. "Maybe they'll ask me to do that."

"It's not a question of what we've done but what they want," True Grit said, sounding serious. "We'll be sent where we're most able."

"Which is why," a new voice spoke from nearby, "Rainbow Dash will be joining the Resistance Air Squadrons."

The group turned to see Errant Flight standing near them, looking serious. The effect was somewhat ruined by the Pinkie Pie bouncing around behind him.

"Hi, guys!" Pinkie said chirpily, speaking extremely fast. "I went around talking to people and ponies, but most of them didn't want to talk to me for some reason, not even Vinyl and we've been friends for a while, but then I ran into Mr Flight, and then I was talking to him about things, and then I said you guys were over here wondering what we were all gonna do and he asked to come over and talk to you!"

"It's an important question," Errant said grimly. "Elliot's wanting each of you to be assigned where you'll be most useful."

"Which will be where?" Lyra asked softly.

"Chances are, we'll not find out now," Errant replied. "Most of you will be going to basic training for infantry in our Northern Base in Pontefract. You three, however," he said, pointing at Fluttershy, Ditzy and Rainbow Dash, "are going into Air training at the Leeds Armouries base."

Rainbow Dash scoffed. "I don't need training; I was born to fly!"

Errant Flight narrowed his eyes at her. "Arrogance isn't welcome in the forces," he said harshly. "You'll go through basic training like everypony else."

Rainbow looked irritated, but Twilight silenced her with a look.

"Anyway, don't party too hard," Errant added, talking to all of them now. "Those of you going to Pontefract set out by transport helicopter tomorrow. The rest of you go with me to Leeds the day after. I'd get plenty of sleep: you're gonna miss it."

With that last parting remark, he turned and went back to the party, leaving the newcomers to ponder precisely what the future had in store for them.

***

In an ornate throne room, a pony knelt before a God, abasing herself before a being so pure in purpose and noble in aspect that it hurt her to stand before her. The purple Unicorn spoke quietly and solemnly.

"My lady, our forces at the city of London were utterly defeated. Commanders Armour, Pie and Sentry were all slain, and acting Commander Fancy Pants ordered a full retreat after losing two thirds of his force at St Paul's cathedral: the work of the so-called 'Avatar of Albion'."

"I see," a calm, all-too-quiet voice spoke. "My finest soldiers defeated, three of my best commanders killed. London stands, even after such a monumental attack by my forces. Truly, this is a shocking defeat."

"It is not a total loss, my lady," the purple Unicorn continued, her voice edging towards quiet fear. "We estimate that half the defending force was killed, including the traitor Guardspony True Grit."

"But the city still stands," the voice replied quietly, not changing its tone at all. "We. Lost."

"Y-yes, my lady," the Unicorn said, stammering slightly in fear. There was a long, all-too-tense pause. Then, impossibly, the voice laughed.

"It matters not, my little student," it said after a moment. "We have billions to replace those we lost."

The purple Unicorn breathed an almost imperceptible sigh of relief.

"I want you to order Fancy Pants reassigned to the Wall," the calm voice continued conversationally. "Call it a special assignment. Failure will not be tolerated, but I have too few truly competent commanders that I can afford to waste them with executions."

"Yes, my lady," the Unicorn said at once.

"After that, my little pony," the voice continued in an almost motherly tone, "I want you to go to your family and rest. You have a brother and a friend to mourn."

"Thank you, my lady," Commander Twilight Sparkle said, bowing gratefully to her Empress.

"Come now, Twilight," Solamina said with a soft smile. "We are friends. Though these are dark times, we cannot lose sight of our friendship." Her voice took on an odd tone. "It is the only thing that sets us apart from our enemy."

"Yes, my lady... Solamina," Commander Sparkle corrected herself.

"With that in mind, I think it would be interesting if, for old time's sake, you write me a friendship report," Solamina said. "As a... memento to your lost friend and brother, perhaps."

"I will get right to it," Commander Sparkle promised with a smile. "You'll have it as soon as possible, I promise."

"I only wish dear Spike had not elected to continue to help the rebels," Solamina said quietly, her voice tinged with regret. "Had he chosen to reveal to us sooner where they had fled, he might have been spared much pain, and we might have nipped their foolhardiness in the bud."

"My lady, we can't spend forever thinking on what could have been," Sparkle said. "We have to focus on what is. Equestria is behind you, the Converted sing your praises, only proving your righteousness. The humans' silly defence is doomed: they're only delaying the inevitable."

"I know these things, Twilight," Solamina said, and Sparkle suddenly quieted, fearing she had upset her Empress and mentor. "Nonetheless, it is good to hear you still have such strong faith in our cause."

"My faith is eternal," Sparkle said immediately, smiling in relief at having not angered Solamina.

"Good," Solamina said. "Go now. Attend to your mourning, and be sure to write me that report when you can. Do not worry overmuch though: it would impede your ability... and I would hate to put more stress upon your already burdened shoulders."

With a final bow, Commander Twilight Sparkle turned and left the throne room, leaving Astra Solamina to her dark thoughts. Slowly, the Empress began chuckling to herself, a laugh devoid of warmth and filled only with a dark, twisted mirth...

Author's Note

This Chapter was edited 22nd July 2015.

Interlude: Unwanted Party Guests.

Interlude: Unwanted Party Guests.

Written by Jed R and RoyalPsycho.

***

St Paul’s Cathedral, London. January 25th, 2030.

Throughout the battered, dusty old cathedral, there was a sense of desperate, relieved jubilation. Maybe it was deserved, maybe it wasn’t, but right now, everyone and everypony there was just happy to be alive - especially after the hellish battle they had just endured. Hell, especially after the hellish six years most of them had endured.

Vinyl Scratch had been feeling tense all day - her nerves had never quite recovered from her time as a prisoner of Amadeus Cain, much as she wished they could, and what’s more, the entire damn city was under attack. She had figured - having lived in London for years - that the place would eventually fall under the radar of some big plan on the Solaminan Empire’s part, but damn, they’d come in force today.

Still - it was over now, ostensibly. The final big attack had been defeated by the Avatar of Albion himself - and Vinyl still couldn’t believe that was even a thing - tell her humans had magic? Fine. Tell her a human could defeat an entire Imperial attack, and she was… no, there were no words.

As a morale officer for the combined BDF/Resistance army, it was her job, following battles like this, to help organise parties like this that lifted everyone and everypony’s spirits. She enjoyed doing that - say something for her ordeal, it had given her a new lease of life after… well, after stuff.

Her eyes couldn’t help but be drawn to a pink figure running around amongst the various partygoers, and her expression - neutral, usually, while she was concentrating - turned a tad sour.

Pinkie bucking Pie, she thought to herself. Now, there’s a kicker.

She kept her eye on the pony-who-should-have-been-dead as best she could while still concentrating on the music. Sure, that entire group had been vouched for by Albion…

… but Albion was unconscious. And frankly, Vinyl could take or leave that parallel universe bullplop.

Better safe than locked in a cellar, Vinyl thought as she watched the parallel-alternate-fake-voodoo-zombie Pinkie dance and party eagerly. She scowled. Lucky bucker looks like she’s never had a day’s hardship in her life…

***

Major Alexander Redmond didn’t drink on duty, and as far as he was concerned, he was always on duty. This party, though he understood the need for it, felt to him like one big distraction from the important business of fighting the war, of rebuilding their defences, taking stock of their losses… carrying on.

He scowled. Personally, he still thought that Elliot should have brought more than just nine ponies. His reasoning made sense - though Redmond hated admitting it more than anything, this was a losing war, one that they had no chance of ever winning by force of arms - they had never had a chance.

The only chance we had was before the Barrier - pre-emptive. And no one would have ever kicked off a war with goddamn pastel ponies.

He sighed. Losing war or not, he was certain there had to be better choices than those nine. He had respected True Grit and Lyra Heartstrings, and Ditzy Doo was of course famous, but for the sake of Mother Gaia’s earthen panties, to bring back the fucking Element bearers of all ponies… it beggared belief how any sensible man could possibly think that had been a good idea.

Well, Redmond thought to himself, it could have been worse. And who knows? Elliot might have a point - these ponies might hold the key to changing this war’s outcome.

Personally though, Redmond doubted it. In the end, it was weapons and the soldiers wielding them that won wars. Even the vaunted Avatar of fucking Albion would be nothing without the army backing him up, holding the line in the hundred-odd battles the supposed superman couldn’t be at. Redmond comforted himself (in the loosest sense of the word comforted) with that knowledge.

Nine ponies couldn’t change the world.

***

“I’m still not sure about them,” Sir Kathryn said.

Sir Jason Sans le Argonauts sighed. He’d been hearing this all night from various people - knights like him, a few BDF regulars, even a Dead Man or two.

“Albion vouched for them,” he said, as though this explained everything - which, for him, it did. “If Albion vouched for them, I believe in them.”

“I trust Albion to the ends of the Earth,” Kathryn said. “But these ponies… you know who they are, what they’ve done.”

“Of course I do,” Jason said. “Which is why I trust Albion in this. Because he knows,better than you or I could ever know - he’s faced every one of them in battle, and killed most of them. And he vouched for them.”

Kathryn sighed. “Yes, you’re right. Look, it just makes me uneasy, alright? I have faith, but faith doesn’t mean they don’t look like the ponies who…”

She trailed off, and Jason nodded understandingly.

“They did a lot of things to us,” he said simply. “But they’re dead and these ponies have nothing to do with them apart from looking like them. They’re new allies, and as new allies, they’re worth giving the benefit of the doubt.”

Kathryn nodded. “Alright.” She sighed. “I suppose it’s unlikely we’ll be fighting alongside them anyway.”

Jason smiled. “Very unlikely.”

***

On the other side of the room sat the Dead Men - dark uniforms with that flayed skull symbol set them apart, as did their generally dour manner. Of all the cults militant, they were at once the most proliferant and the most grim. Two members of their number were walking up to the bar.

“Look,” one of the men said, “we ask Joe, Joe’ll tell us what to make of this.”

“I dunno,” the other man replied. “I mean, I’m still not sure.”

“Which is why we’re asking Joe,” the first man said.

An older man, grey haired and tired eyed, looked at the two men from his seat at the bar, a drink in hand.

“Lads,” he said simply. “Can I help you?”

“Uh,” the first man said hesitantly.

“Yeah, Joe,” the second guy said with a sheepish smile. “We were… uh…”

“Wondering what you made of the… newcomers,” the first man finished. “You know… them.”

Joe looked in the direction of the ponies that David Elliot had brought in and frowned.

“What makes you think I know any better?” he asked turning back to them.

“Just a thought,” the first man replied. “Y’know, you normally make a good point whenever this kind of stuff comes up.”

Joe smirked in response. “I just do what I’m told. If the Avatar says they’re okay and the government says they’re okay then I have to accept it.”

“Uh… yeah. Good point,” the two men responded in an uneasy manner, neither of them particularly placated.

Turning away from the two men Joe picked himself up and looked around, his drink still in hand. Over by Vinyl Scratch’s stage was a young girl of about fourteen or fifteen in a downsized uniform. She was dancing rather poorly in front of one of the speakers, her head bobbing as she flailed her arms around and hopped from one foot to the other, twisting her waist as she did so.

“How are you doing kid?” he shouted over the speakers. The girl turned to look at him, smiling widely and snapping a salute.

“Oh I’m fine, Joe,” she replied, “just waiting my turn.”

Joe smiled. He had never learned her name, she never spoke about it. After taking her off the street over five years ago now, he thought of her as his own daughter. Kidman, he’d named her, mostly because the only thing she had ever responded to was ‘kid’.

“I missed you in the battle,” he then said, his expression turning stern. Kidman laughed nervously as a somewhat cheeky smile appeared on her face.

“Oh I was just about. Y’know, keeping morale up, doing my duty.” She continued to chuckle, refusing to look him in the eye as she did so.

Folding his arms he fixed her with a more stern expression. “So the story of the little girl crouching behind the frontal barricades with a guitar wasn’t about you?”

“I’m not a little girl Joe,” she shot back indignantly. “I know how to fight. You gave me this right?”

She produced a Beretta from her coat and waved it at him, her fingers off the trigger. Joe smirked, despite the horrendous lack of proper gun safety she was displaying.

“Well then,” he casually replied, “if you’re a big girl now there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you?”

Kidman’s face lit up in expectation. “Yeah. What is it?”

“What do you think of them?” Joe asked, throwing his thumb in the direction of the nine ponies clustered around a table with a Resistance Pegasus.

“They’re ponies,” Kidman replied with a shrug, somewhat disappointed that he wasn’t asking her to actually fight. “No different from the others.”

“Hmmm,” Joe replied in a somewhat agreeing tone.

***

Jan Lockett, for her part, was sat near the newcomers, keeping her own eye on them, though her eye was more to make sure nobody did anything stupid. More than once she’d stopped an angry looking partygoer from going up to the group as they sat talking, or else she’d nodded at Dutch, the taciturn man sat near her, to do the same.

“Still not sure?” Dutch asked her.

“It’ll be a long while before I’m sure,” Lockett admitted. “I trust Commander Albion, but…”

“But they’re still them,” Dutch finished. “Yeah. They seem alright though.”

“Yeah,” Lockett said noncommittally. She took a drink of her beer. “Pinkie Pie’s kinda annoying.”

“Hey, at least they weren’t throwing fireballs at your face this time,” Dutch said with a wry grin. Lockett smacked his arm with a smirk of her own.

“Watch it, you berk,” she said, “or I’ll smack you upside the head so far you’ll be sucking your own dick.”

Dutch laughed, then took a swig of his own beer. “There are better places for my head to end up.”

Lockett raised an eyebrow. “That… was terrible.”

“Yup,” Dutch said. “It was.”

***

Storm Front looked down into the party below him. He’d found a somewhat snug position in the rafters where he could lie back, relax and hide the beer he’d been hoarding since the party began.

He hadn’t really wanted to attend when he found out who the technical guests of honour were.

Glancing down bitterly at the nine new arrivals, and glaring at the six very distinct ponies amongst them, he cracked open one of the cans he had placed beside him and began to fiddle with it. He sipped from it occasionally but spent more time swaying it back and forth in his hoof. He didn’t really feel like drinking now.

Apparently they had been inducted into the Resistance, sworn Prince Ponce’s oath and all. He had never really cared for the ‘government in exile’ preferring the fact that it let him fight the Empire. Now however? Well he just didn’t like the idea of fighting with six of the ponies responsible for the bucking war and the bucking state the world was in at the moment.

Mulling over his thoughts he took a large swig and felt a little bit of numbness in his head. Liking where the feeling was going he took another swig, and another. When that can was finished he opened another and drank deeply.

Everything went dark and fuzzy after that.

***

Author's Note

And here we have one of the first "additional" chapters of the rewrite: with thanks to RoyalPsycho for his help on this one. Thanks, as always, for reading folks. :-)

Training Begins.

Chapter Seventeen: Training Begins.

***

Hell Blazer groaned, his eyes slowly flitting open. He was lying on cold hard stone floor, his back aching slightly from having apparently passed out on it.

"What in the name of bloody hell did I even do last night?" he said aloud, sitting up. He looked around: he was surrounded by sleeping people, a handful of Dead Men guards patrolling the room and more presumably manning the defensive positions. Near him he could see Dream Flyer and Errant Flight sleeping, near a whole bunch of members of the Holy Order of Albion. Slowly and groggily, his memory of the previous night returned…

***

Hell Blazer gulped down what might have been his twelfth drink – he wasn't entirely certain. He wasn't quite as able to hold his drink as well as he used to be able to. He wasn't human and, as True Grit had once told him (his True Grit, not the comparatively fresh faced newcomer who had come with the bloody Element bearers), pony bodies weren't built for this sort of lifestyle. Not that Hell Blazer cared. It was still probably going to last longer than his old, knackered body would have.

He smirked slightly at the members of the Holy Order of Albion, who were over by a makeshift bar drinking. They were, by and large, a rather raucous lot – he had met members of other cults that had sprung up during the last ten years, and most of them had been rather dour types, not usually seen letting their hair down. The closest most of them got was groups like the Dead Men, a group of which were off further in the church drinking what could only be assumed to be some kind of alcoholic beverage. The only one of them that looked like they were having a good time was the girl with her guitar, strumming along to the music

Suddenly, one of the more drunk men among the regular soldiers started sniggering, then guffawing, then finally laughing out loud.

"What's up with you?" his friend asked him from the bench next to him. The laughing, smiling soldier couldn't speak for a moment, until finally he pointed at the knights of the Order of Albion.

"It's… it's just..." he began, but he couldn't control his laughing enough to continue. He stood up, and began walking towards the DJ box where Vinyl Scratch sat, blaring loud music out. When he reached her, he leaned up to whisper something in her ear. She nodded with a grin, and changed the disc. Suddenly an entirely different song began playing. The soldier who had ordered it pointed dramatically at the members of the Holy Order of Albion.

"We're Knights of the Round Table,
We dance when e'er we're able,
We do routines and chorus scenes
With footwork impeccable.
We dine well here in Camelot,
We eat ham and jam and spam a lot…"

One of the members of the Order stood up, and suddenly the music scratched of, as Vinyl cut the music off with a slightly abashed look. Complete silence descended upon the hall of St Paul's as the members of the Order faced against the suddenly ashen soldier who had ordered the song. Then, to everyone's surprise, the leader of the group broke out into a massive grin and began singing acapella.

"We're Knights of the Round Table,
Our show are formidable,
But many times, we're given rhymes
That are quite unsingable.
We're Opera mad in Camelot,
We sing from the diaphragm
a looooooot…!"

And suddenly the entire room was filled with loud singing as the various groups of people began singing completely without musical backing or, in most cases, any semblance of a tune. Hell Blazer laughed as the entire hall sang.

"In war we're tough and able,
Quite indefatigable,
Between our quests we sequin vests,
And impersonate Clark Gable.
It's a busy life in Camelot,.."

And then a deep, croaking voice lanced out into the hall as everyone else was silenced buy it.

"I have to push the pram a lot…!"

Suddenly, all eyes turned to look at Hell Blazer, who was stood on a table, one foreleg extended in a grandiose gesture, and the other placed upon his chest, eyes closed as he held the opera pose. He opened his eyes to stare at the entirely silent hall?

"What?" he asked, his words slurring slightly. He frowned. "Ah, piss off the lot of you!"

He tried stepping off the table and ended up landing flat on his arse. The entire hall rang with laughter and more drinks were quickly ordered.

***

"Ah piss," Hell Blazer muttered. Still, it hadn't been the most embarrassing he'd ever been on a night out – though it had ended with conspicuously less sex than some of his more memorable evenings, a fact he cursed his pony body for. He had, unfortunately, retained his attraction to humans and was yet to acclimatise to finding pony bodies attractive, and there were very few human women who'd be willing to have relations with a pony. If any. Sure, he'd heard of people trying that thing out, but it was generally considered… odd.

He could have tried pulling a pony, but there was such a dissonance between what he remembered of sex and what the facts of his new body were that he'd probably not know what the hell he was doing. Besides, his mind - pony swear words and the discomfort he felt when he was still called "John" aside - was still human. He just… didn't see mares that way.

"Hey Hell Blazer," Vinyl Scratch called from across the hall, a smug grin on the DJ's face. "Nice singing last night."

"Piss off," he said to her with the closest to an obscene gesture he could do with his pony body (namely sticking his tongue out – ah, how he missed fingers). He walked up to Errant Flight and nudged him with his hoof. "Oi! Errant!"

The Pegasus murmured some nonsense about it not being time to wake up yet, and rolled over. Hell Blazer sighed.

"Errant!" he yelled in his friend's ear.

Like a shot, Errant Flight sat up, eyes wide, looking around quickly.

"I'm up, I'm up!" he said quickly. His eyes focused on Hell Blazer. "What's the matter, John?"

"It's today," Hell Blazer replied. Errant looked confused for a moment, before his eyes widened in realisation.

"Oh horsefeathers," he said softly.

"Yeah," Hell Blazer said in sympathy. "Time to ship our 'new recruits' out."

***

Outside the cathedral sat the newcomer ponies, each of them uncertain about what was about to happen. All around them troopers were moving, radio communications going out to the other surviving garrisons in the city, confirming losses and survivors, making certain that nothing too important had been irreparably damaged.

About half an hour after the initial waves of troopers from Solamina's forces had been driven off, troops inbound from other parts of the city had started arriving, responding to cries for help. None of them had been able to get to the cathedral in time to seriously affect the outcome of the main engagement but most of them had been able to mop up several groups of retreating Equestrians and those stragglers – mostly forces from the Converted militia, the fanatics, flagellants and agitators – who had simply refused to retreat and had continued to try attacking central points, or just anything they could get to.

This morning, several dozen transport helicopters had come in, ferrying squads of reinforcements – only a scant handful though, the newcomers noticed, as though they were all that could be spared by the rest of the country. That was probably the case if half of what Elliot had told them about the attrition rates was true – and judging from the brutality of the battle they had faced the day before, Elliot had been selling the horrors of this war quite short.

Today was the day the group was split up, being sent to two different locations: Ditzy, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were being dispatched to Leeds Royal Armouries, now one of the primary weapons depots and Pegasi training facilities in the country. Errant Flight and the surviving Pegasi of Green and Blue Squadrons were escorting a transport helicopter ferrying Elliot to that base for his recovery, and the three of them would be flying with them.

Lyra, True Grit, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie meanwhile would be sent to the training facility at Pontefract Castle; Pontefract was a small town in the North of England that served as a small garrison and training facility for much of the pony infantry that came to the island.

Thus, the group was gathered together to essentially say their goodbyes for one last time before each of them was sent elsewhere. None of them had any idea about how they would be allowed to communicate with the rest of the group, or even if they'd be allowed to do so, and frankly the idea terrified them more than anything else: each of them served like an anchor to the others, a reminder of where they came from and in a way, why they were here.

"I guess this is the last time we'll all be together again for a while," Twilight began, looking around the group apprehensively. "I mean, we don't know what we'll be doing, or how long it will take…"

"If it's anything like Guard training, expect it to be pretty gruelling," True Grit said shortly. He out of all of them looked the least perturbed by the whole thing: his military background meant that this entire scenario was a fraction more bearable for him – though he had never expected to fight (the Royal Guard being largely a ceremonial guard for Princess Celestia after all), he was nonetheless trained for that eventuality. He had known it from the moment he volunteered for the Guard that killing – and dying – in the line of duty was a possibility.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure we'll all do just fine," Applejack said. "We'll do our best, whatever's asked of us, and at the end of it we'll just have to see whether it's good enough to help these folks out."

"Well, I hope we can be helpful," Fluttershy said softly. "I came here to help, and I'd hate to disappoint Mr Elliot. All the same… I'm not sure I could kill anypony."

"Me neither," Derpy said quietly. "I'm really worried about it."

"I wasn't sure about killing, either," Rainbow Dash pointed out to the both of them. "But I still had to do it." The haunted look in her eyes was, to the rest of the group, perhaps the most frightening thing yet: what had happened to the best flyer in Equestria? It felt almost like a spark was missing from her. She quickly smiled, as if sensing her friends' thoughts. "Don't worry, 'Shy, we'll do fine. After all, there's no flying challenge that Rainbow Dash can't take on!"

"That's a laudably enthusiastic way to see it, Dash," Rarity said, trying her best not to sound condescending, "but it doesn't change the fact that this entire thing is very far out of our experience."

"But not," True Grit countered grimly, "beyond our potential, ma'am."

Twilight nodded at Grit's sentiment. "Elliot didn't bring us here because we're great fighters. He brought us here because we can be, because we're capable of helping him defeat Solamina's armies. He's seen what most of us can do personally…" Twilight trailed off, the thought of the dead versions of most of her friends still haunting her somewhat. She shook the feeling off. "And that means he knows what good we could do on his side. We have to remember why we're here."

"Defeating Solamina," Rainbow Dash said, and Applejack stamped a foot in agreement.

"Helping people," Derpy said quietly, and Fluttershy nodded at that.

"Whatever we have to do," True Grit said softly.

Lyra nodded, a grim look on her face. "And," she added, "avenging all those who've been lost."

Everypony looked sombre at that thought; this place contained death on a scale not even one of them could have ever imagined. The small skirmishes they had encountered and the final battle at this cathedral had only solidified in their minds just how important – and dangerous – this entire endeavour was.

"Pinkie?" Twilight said, looking at the pink party pony, who had been conspicuously silent throughout the discussion. She looked somewhat morose. "What do you think?"

"I just wish," Pinkie replied softly, looking at each of them, "that we had time to have a goodbye party."

Everypony smiled slightly at that.

"I guess we'll just have to have a meetup party when we see each other again," Twilight suggested quietly. Pinkie grinned at that.

"Yeah," she said softly. "With all the friends we're going to go make."

"You can think about parties later," the grim voice of Errant Flight cut across their discussion, and they all turned to face the pony as he walked towards them. He had changed out of his red flight suit into a grey one, and was wearing a saddlebag that looked like it had something inside it. Two other ponies – Twilight vaguely remembered them being called Dream Flyer and Swift Strike – walked behind him, dressed in the same grey attire, sans flight suit. "Right now, it's time to move. Sparkle, Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Grit and Heartstrings, your transport helicopter is landing shortly nearby. Get going."

"Right," Twilight said. She turned to Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Ditzy. "Bye guys, take care of yourselves."

"You too, Twi," Rainbow Dash replied, waving as her friends headed off.

Errant Flight turned to the three Pegasi who remained, scowling slightly at them.

"As for you three," he said, sounding less than happy. He rummaged in his saddlebag before throwing each of them a grey flight shirt like his, emblazoned with a symbol: it was circular, and at the centre was what looked like a planet, presumably Earth, from which twelve Pegasi silhouettes flew, streaking different colours as they did so. Emblazoned on the image of the planet were two words.

"Welcome to the Equestrian Resistance Air Forces," Errant said shortly to the three Pegasi, sounding irritated. "You ladies just got assigned to Grey Squadron."

***

The helicopter that Twilight and her friends got onto was large enough to hold them and a couple more recruits, though neither the tan Earth Pony stallion nor the grey Unicorn mare they travelled with seemed particularly inclined to talk. The journey, for the most part, was silent, each member of the group lost in their own thoughts.

"What do you reckon this Pontefract place is gonna be like?" Applejack whispered softly to Twilight at one point. Her friend shrugged.

"I don't know anything about it," she said. "And I don't know where you'd go to do research about it either."

Applejack nodded, frowning in consternation.

"I don't like goin' someplace I don't know much about," she said. She smirked slightly at the irony of her statement. "I guess that's this whole place, but still; couldn't hurt to know a little bit about the place."

"Maybe they'll throw a welcome party?" Pinkie Pie said hopefully. However, a dour look from True Grit caused her to look downcast, her hair deflating slightly.

"More likely we'll be doing some physical exercise," the former Guard said. “Likely some acclimatisation too.”

"Wonderful," Rarity muttered under her breath.

"Who are you two, anyway?" Pinkie asked the two ponies riding with them, her hair inflating now that she had something else to be enthusiastic about. "I'm Pinkie Pie, but you probably already know that because the other me was a real meany pants, such a big meany pants that everypony knows about how much of a meany pants she really was…"

"For the love of whatever deity watches over us, do you never shut up?" the stallion asked, frowning at her. Pinkie promptly quieted down, her hair deflating once again.

"No need to be rude to them, Desert Wind," the Unicorn admonished, her voice surprisingly soft and melodious. She shifted in her seat slightly, showing off the single blue diamond that made up her cutie mark. "Ignore him, he's cranky. My name's Sapphire Steel, he's Desert Wind."

"Twilight Sparkle," Twilight introduced herself.

"We know," Desert Wind said sourly. His own cutie mark was that of a dust cloud. "We saw your swearing in and Albion's speech before the battle."

"I can't claim to understand how you can be here," Sapphire Steel added, "but I'm not complaining. Commander Twilight Sparkle is many things, but she is foremost a genius."

"A sick, twisted genius," Desert Wind added.

"Not gonna dispute that," Sapphire Steel said with a soft smile.

"We don't really know many specifics about what our counterparts have done," Rarity said with a soft smile.

"Not a lot of ponies do," Desert Wind said. "But Steel has personal experience of that whorse."

Twilight winced at the insult. Sapphire Steel gave an apologetic smile.

"You've met her?" True Grit asked her.

"More like she was worked like a dog in her factories," Desert Wind snarled slightly.

"I was in the research lab in Ponyville," Sapphire clarified with a tired smile. "Not a fun position, and it got even worse when Sparkle's friends started dying and she got… frustrated."

"What were you researching?" Twilight asked, ignoring the reference to dying friends.

"Weapons mostly," Sapphire said. "Sparkle was always looking for the latest in offensive spells and other such things. I was actually doing quite well in terms of my research…"

Sapphire trailed off, a slightly haunted look in her eyes.

"She means Sparkle was gonna recruit her for the Archmagi," Desert Wind supplied with a scowl.

"The what?" Rarity asked, frowning at the unfamiliar term.

"The Archmagi are Sparkle's personal battle unit," Sapphire explained, a faraway look in her eyes. "They're among the best magicians in Equestria. Sparkle assembled them from all over the country, Unicorns with rare abilities. Nopony and no soldier has ever survived facing them…"

"Though I'd imagine they'd have a hard time taking on the Avatar," Desert Wind cut in with a grim smile. "Especially after seeing the display at St Paul's. Nothing they have could stand up to that."

Twilight shared a look with her friends, all of whom looked worried – especially since last time they had seen Elliot, he had hardly looked in fit condition to be taking anyone on.

"So," Lyra asked after a moment. "What took you from being considered for one of Equestria's top units to being here?"

Sapphire looked sad for a moment, as though lost in a sad thought.

"My brother," she said finally. "His name was Polished Steel. Believe it or not, he was a metalworker rather than a soldier, but he was trained in making candelabras, chandoliers… elegant things like that."

"What happened to him?" Twilight asked softly.

"He was conscripted," Sapphire said bitterly. "After that he was different… not by much, you understand, but he was…"

She trailed off, as if unwilling to speak about it anymore.

"He was a bloody brainwashed recruit," Desert Wind said after a moment. "Most of Solamina's soldiers are sworn in under the Oath, and ever since the Renewal of the Oaths, that's held a strong binding spell to it. Ensures loyalty, so they say, especially since the so-called Night Guard Uprising."

"It made him entirely loyal to Solamina and her cause," Sapphire said, sounding like she was choking back tears. "He'd never been one for violence, but after the Oath he was almost eager to… to 'go show those apes what happens when they mess with the Empress'. The last I heard of him was when he… when he went to war…"

She sobbed slightly, and Desert Wind patted her on the back with his forehoof in an attempt to comfort her.

"I'm sorry to ask," Twilight said softly. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"It's alright," Sapphire said softly, still sobbing slightly. "A few weeks later, he was killed in action. Some charge or another." She sobbed again. "He wasn't even twenty…"

She began crying again.

"After that, she fled from Sparkle's factory and tried to leave Equestria," Desert Wind continued as the Unicorn wept quietly. "I met her on Trixie Lulamoon's Caravan."

"Trixie Lulamoon?" Twilight said, frowning at the familiar name. "You mean the showpony?"

"She isn't a showpony anymore," Desert smirked. "She's only using that as a cover. Her real gig these days is pony smuggling."

"Pony… smuggling?" Rarity said, sounding like she found the very idea distasteful.

"What's that all about?" Applejack asked, looking genuinely interested.

"Well," Desert Wind said, "basically she rides around in a large caravan. Lots of hidden compartments, that sort of thing; plenty of space for her various magic tricks… and for any ponies who happen to want to discreetly leave Equestrian soil. Then she just gets permission to travel with the caravan to the colonies in New Prance, Germarey… we got on a Resistance boat at New Normanedy after she dropped us off there."

"I can't believe that works," Twilight said softly.

"Well, it's a close run thing," Desert Wind said. "But from what I heard she learned a few things before the war started proper about smuggling ponies, and somepony in the Resistance convinced her that it was for a good cause."

"Which I am eternally grateful for," Sapphire Steel added, her weeping having subsided, to be replaced by a look of grim determination. "Now I'm here, I'm going to do whatever it takes to help bring down Solamina's blasted Empire, even if it kills me."

"Me too," Desert said.

"That's why we're here as well," True Grit said. "Elliot – Albion – came to our Equestria by mistake and told us what was happening."

"Only after having a fight with the two Princesses mind you," Rarity pointed out with a wry grin.

Desert Wind chuckled. "I would have liked to see that."

"Who knows?" Twilight said softly, a weary smile lighting up on her face. "Maybe you'll get to see Albion take on Solamina instead."

"Oh, I do hope so," Desert Wind said fiercely. "But not before I get my go at the other Sparkle. I've a score to settle with that bitch."

He said nothing more, and the conversation now turned to different subjects, mainly what the newcomers' Equestria was like. While this was informative and maybe even a little heartwarming for the two ponies whose world was now so far removed from that ideal of a peaceful and harmonious Equestria… all it served to do for the newcomers was remind them of everything they had left behind to come here, and make each of them wonder again whether coming here had truly been the right choice.

***

Upon landing at Pontefract, on a rather large grassy field, the first thing the ponies noticed was the sheer bustle. Pontefract Base was set inside what was left of an old sandstone fortress; a large keep was still visible, along with several walls and what was left of rooms. Added to the battered old architecture of the castle were several small concrete structures and several metal towers manned by human soldiers on machine guns.

A squad of ponies was marching on a sand track that ringed the landing field as the helicopter landed, singing a song as they marched.

"Barracks,
On top of Wakefield Road,
Barracks,
On top of Wakefield Road,
Barracks,
On top of barracks,
On top of barracks on Wakefield Road…"

"This seems nice," Pinkie said with a smile as the group got off of the helicopter.

"So far," Applejack muttered.

Before they could say anything else, they were ushered by a pony in a Resistance uniform towards a dirt track. The group followed another such pony down a stairwell until they reached a small bit of grass, where a few more ponies stood in loose formation. Twilight and the others were directed to join the formation, until it formed three rows of ten ponies. Twilight and her friends were unfortunate enough to be in the first row.

A moment later, a dark brown Earth Pony marched out, until he was standing in front of the thirty ponies. He was grizzled, scars across his face and coat. He wore a khaki camoflauge shirt, and his cutie mark was a grey horseshoe.

"Attention!" he called. At varying speeds, every pony in the group – including Twilight and the others – snapped to attention, though True Grit and Desert Wind were the fastest and most prompt. Once everypony was standing at something resembling attention, the grey pony began speaking.

"Alright chickpeas," he said loudly, his voice deep and rough. "I'm Sergeant Iron Gait. That's G-A-I-T, assuming any of you ugly lot can even bucking write." His eyes swept across the group of ponies. "The name means I can walk for miles. That is also the meaning of my cutie mark. That's all the explanation you're getting, so none of you little buckers better ask me where or how I got my cutie mark. I do not talk about it."

There was a brief pause in his diatribe as he let his words sink in.

"Anyway," he continued, "over the next six weeks, it is my duty to try my very hardest to turn this sorry pile of horseapples I see before me into a fighting force for the Equestrian Resistance Forces, and while judging from your appearances this might seem impossible, believe me when I say I will find a way to do it, so help me the Pony God. Each and every one of you will be a lean, mean, pony killing machine – in more ways than one – by the time I am through with you."

He began pacing up and down the line, looking each recruit in the eye. Apart from True Grit and Desert Wind, none of the recruits could look him in the eye.

"Some of you plotwipes with eyes might have noticed four very special ponies in this group," Iron Gait continued as he paced, his eyes narrowing when he saw Twilight and the other Element bearers present. "I've been assured by command that despite the fact that these ponies not only appear to be the spitting image of Twilight Sparkle and several other Elements of Order, but also share their names, they're actually completely different ponies, as vouched for by the Avatar of Albion himself." He spat on the ground, before chewing thoughtfully. "Now, personally I dunno what the hell's going on or why we have clones in our midst, but if command says they're good, they're good. That means no hazing beyond what I say there is to be, understand?"

There was a general murmur of assent and Iron Gait growled.

"I see we haven't yet taught you little squits the basics of military discipline," he snarled. "So let me spell it out. When I ask you a question, the first and last words out of your stinking cake-holes should be 'sir'! Do you understand me?!"

"Sir, yes sir!" the group said.

"Louder!" Iron Gait roared.

"Sir, yes sir!" everypony yelled.

"Better, chickpeas…" Iron Gait said, before narrowing his eyes. Two ponies had their forehooves up – Pinkie Pie and a young blue Earth Pony stallion in the back row. "You, bluey, what's your problem?"

"Sir!" the young stallion said, his voice wavering slightly. "Can you not refer to the group as chickpeas, please? Um, sir?"

Iron Gait scowled. "Why not, chickpea?"

"Because my name is Chick Pea, sir!" the blue stallion said, looking slightly abashed.

Iron Gait laughed, a deep and slightly unpleasant sound. "Well then, I guess we'll have to give you a new name, won't we?" he said nastily. "From here on, you're Private Dipstick until I say otherwise? Is that clear?"

"But sir…"

"Is that clear?!" Iron Gait bellowed.

"Sir, yes sir!" the newly-monikered Private Dipstick said.

"Good!" Iron Gait yelled. He turned his attention to Pinkie Pie. "Now, Private Pinkie Pie. What's your problem?"

"Sir, I was just wondering when we'd be having the cake you mentioned," Pinkie said cheerfully. "Um, sir."

Iron Gait's left eye twitched slightly as he struggled to comprehend what he had just heard. "Come again, Private?"

"Well," Pinkie began, taking a deep breath breath, "you mentioned cake holes sir, and I was just wondering, if we have cake holes surely we must have cake somewhere, which means that you've got cake for us – probably as a welcome to the army party, 'cos that's what I'd do – and I was just wondering when we'd get to the cake, sir."

Iron Gait blinked. Then he smiled, an altogether unsettling thing.

"Why, there's cake at the forward base in Hull, Private Pie," he said, his tone oddly amused. "Enough cake for the entire unit."

"Yay!" Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing upwards. Then she stopped, and coughed slightly. "um, I mean, yay sir. So, um," she said, looking from left to right and somehow failing to notice the looks of extreme worry on everypony else's faces, "when do we go get it?"

"Why Private," Iron Gait said with a nasty grin, "we go get the cake after we walk to Hull. It's only forty miles – more than enough to work up a mighty big appetite."

"Yay!" Pinkie cheered, not noticing the groans of every other pony in the group.

"Now that's enthusiasm!" Iron Gait said, only partially sarcastically. "More of you ponies could do with a bit of that! Now – fall out and start marching! By the left, quick bucking march!"

Twilight sighed as the group followed Iron Gait's instructions and started marching from the field, out of the gate of the castle and onto the road, passing soldiers and a scant handful of civilians as they went.

This was going to be a long six weeks.

Author's Note

Once more, thank you to everyone who's commented on this story and to everyone who's favourited. I really do appreciate all of it. I know I don't personally address much of my notes to specific people, but that's mainly due to lack of time. Rest assured, I am very grateful for all the feedback so far. :-)

Couple of points: Pontefract is my old hometown, and I felt a certain desire to avoid the cliche big places to set a story in Britain (especially since I'm bloody British myself: I klnow for a fact that Britain isn't London, and I want the story to reflect that). "Barracks on top of Wakefield Road", to the tune of Colonel Bogey, is something that is apparently pretty well known around there (or was), and I thought a little local humour might add a flavour of realism. Let's face it, when you're writing a story about an apocalyptic war with pastel ponies, you need all the realism you can muster.

In addition, this story now has a tvtropes page. It'd really make my day if anyone who's interested would go read the list there and maybe even add to it. :-) In the meantime folks, any and all feedback here is welcome and appreciated. Til next chapter.

EDIT: This Chapter was edited 28th July 2015.

Grey Squadron

Chapter Eighteen: Grey Squadron.

***

February 1st, 2030.

A large group of Pegasi flew alongside a transport helicopter towards the city of Leeds. The transport helicopter carried a half dozen soldiers, including Lockett and Dutch, as well as Hell Blazer and - most importantly - the unconscious form of David Elliot. All of the Pegasi wore flight shirts that were colour coded to show which flyer belonged to which squadron. Most of the ponies wore colourful blue, green or gold shirts. Six of them, however, wore distinctive grey shirts with circular assignment patches sewn into the material. Three of them seemed relatively at ease in the formation they flew in, as though they had been doing this sort of flying for a long time. Three more, however, seemed far less so.

Rainbow Dash fidgeted slightly as she glided, uncomfortable with the uniform shirt she was wearing or the little earpiece she had in her ear. She was, in all truth, used to flying completely unhindered by any kind of clothing: wearing a shirt and the earpiece put her off. Not to a degree that ruined her flying capability (it would take more than a cloth flight-shirt to do that!) but to a degree that made her a tiny bit less confident about flying - essentially reducing her to considerably more confident than most ponies were in the air. She felt more ill-at-ease about the ponies that surrounded her, none of whom looked at her with anything less than distrust.

Fluttershy seemed unaffected by the grey uniform shirt, looking at it with something resembling disinterest. Her brief modelling career had made her more used to clothes than some, so her flying capability - for what it was - seemed rather unaffected by the shirt 's presence. She was still struggling slightly to keep up with the far better flyers that surrounded her.

Last of the the more uncomfortable ones was Ditzy Doo, whose grey coat matched her grey shirt almost perfectly. She was constantly looking from one side to the other, as though uncertain she was even necessarily going in the right direction.

These three were the newest members of the Equestrian Resistance Air Forces, and the newest members of Grey Squadron. This was, so they were told, an honour...

***

The Previous Day...

"What's Grey Squadron?" Ditzy asked, looking down at the grey shirt with wide eyes. Errant Flight, the brown Pegasus that had tossed her and the other two newcomer Pegasi their grey shirts, smiled slightly.

"You'll recall the flying squadrons over St Paul's yesterday?" he asked the three of them. They nodded, sharing a few uneasy glances. With his own nod, Errant Flight continued. "Grey Squadron was one of the first formations of the Resistance Air Force to use the new style of aerial combat we use, and it became known as one of the best." He paused, his smile fading. "All but two of the squadron were killed in the Battle for Manchester, one of whom was me."

"Mr Hell Blazer mentioned that before," Ditzy said. "Something about me being on the propaganda poster?"

Errant Flight looked uncomfortable for a moment, as though this were not a subject he had any particularly great desire to discuss. It probably wasn't, Rainbow Dash thought to herself, considering that when Errant thought about Grey Squadron he was most likely thinking about the ponies he had known himself.

"Grey Squadron's leader was Ditzy Doo," he finally said after a long pause. "It was her idea to form the squadron, her who led it on most of it's best missions." He paused. "She died over Manchester, destroying the Harmonious Order, the flagship of the Equestrian Zeppelin fleet, in the process."

Fluttershy gasped. That she was dead was a fact she had mostly ignored. That Ditzy was dead was a different kind of thing altogether. Rainbow didn't react apart from closing her eyes: it scared how... used to death she was getting. For her own part, Ditzy reacted quite calmly, nodding once.

"That makes sense," she said quietly. "I had a feeling I wouldn't be meeting myself."

"No," Errant said quietly, "you won't."

There was silence for a long moment, before Errant Flight turned to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

"Are there any questions either of you have?" he asked.

"N-no," Fluttershy said at once. Rainbow Dash looked thoughtful for a long moment.

"So this Squadron's a pretty big deal, then?" she finally asked.

"One of the biggest," Errant Flight replied with a grim nod. "I've had ponies nattering at me to rebuild Grey since it was destroyed: it was only Elliot's say so that made it my choice and not high command's."

"So kind of like the Wonderbolts then?" Rainbow said, almost to herself, happy that she could make some comparison. To her surprise, however, Errant Flight scowled.

"I'd better make something clear," he said, now sounding quite stern. "I didn't want you in my squadron. I didn't even want you near it. The idea of having you two in Grey Squadron quite frankly insults me." He paused. "Especially you, Rainbow Dash."

"Me?" Dash asked, frowning in confusion. "Why?"

"The battle over Manchester was your counterpart's operation," Errant Flight explained. "She led the attack personally. She was responsible for the death of a lot of my friends, including Lightning Dust."

The name was familiar to Rainbow Dash, and her eyes widened when she realised that it was the name of her rival from Wonderbolts Academy.

"She was on your Squadron?" she asked, tilting her head.

"Yes she was," Errant said softly. "And one of our best flyers too, if more than a little cocky. But that's beside the point." He narrowed his eyes at the two of them; if looks could kill, they'd have been ashes. "David convinced me to rebuild Grey. He asked me to have you two as part of the squadron. I'll accept his judgement, because Grey was our best and having it back in any way will help the war. I'll even accept that having you on the team might be a good idea: there's no doubt that you at least can fly under pressure."

He addressed this last comment to Rainbow Dash, who looked away shamefaced: she still wasn't entirely happy with having been required to kill ponies, and the memory of that first pony she saw die properly, his eyes wide as a bullet rammed through his skull and sprayed her with blood, flashed though her mind.

"But," Errant Flight continued softly, sounding even more irritated, "I don't have to like it. To be clear: if you're going to be on Grey Squadron, you take it damn seriously. We aren't some showboater squadron of daredevil ponies, we're fighters. I expect you to get that, Rainbow Dash." He paused, regarding the three of them. "Am I clear?"

"Yes sir," Fluttershy said at once.

"Yes sir," Rainbow Dash echoed.

"Good," Errant said with a frown. "Now suit up: we'll be flying to Leeds base tomorrow."

With that, he, Dream Flyer and Swift Strike walked away. The latter two threw glances filled with suspicion back at the two Element bearers.

Rainbow Dash looked down at the grey shirt in her hooves. She exchanged a glance with Fluttershy - neither of them were quite sure what they had gotten themselves into...

***

The Present.

"Flyers, we're coming up to Leeds!" Errant Flight's voice came through the little earpiece. Rainbow Dash frowned slightly: nope, she definitely would never get used to that thing buzzing in her ear. "Begin descent pattern!"

Rainbow, Fluttershy and Ditzy didn't know what the specific descent pattern was, but they were able to follow the flyers in front of them, who began a gentle descent towards a city that lay beneath them. As they flew, Rainbow saw more ponies flying to and from the city, in a wide variety of shirts: there were black shirts, teal shirts, and more than a few ponies who wore white shirts with large symbols printed on the back: some had eagles, some had griffons, some had swords, some had shields. Rainbow could only assume that these ponies were part of different squadrons that weren't colour coded like Grey, Blue, Gold or Green.

The city beneath them had clearly seen better days. A railway line seemed inordinately busy, but most of the city was dark and more than half the buildings seemed utterly ruined, smashed or broken one way or another.

"What happened here?" she heard Fluttershy said, both from behind her and in the earpiece.

"Cut the chatter," the irritated voice of Errant Flight spoke. "We're coming up to the armoury."

As he spoke, Dash could see the target of the ponies' descent. Near a river, there was a large building: towers, walls, palisades and other defences surrounded the building, and ponies and humans alike ran to and fro, busying themselves with... something. A large open area seemed to be the target of their group.

"All flyers finalise descent!" Errant said through the tinny little earpiece. A moment later, everypony landed. Rainbow noted that Errant Flight landed in an almost perfunctory manner: how a pony handled a landing was important in determining what kind of flyer they were. He seemed at all times to be perfunctory to Rainbow Dash - she was naturally more of a showboating flyer, considering her desire to join the Wonderbolts, so his flying seeming a little unshowy made sense. She made a note to herself: she would probably have to be similarly perfunctory in order to succeed. She didn't like it, but...

"All right!" a voice called out. "Grey Squadron, assemble!"

Rainbow glanced around, to see Fluttershy and Ditzy moving to stand in a line. She moved to stand next to Fluttershy, giving her a quick smile before standing at attention. She briefly thanked Celestia - her world's Celestia, she added mentally, not wanting to think about Solamina, the monster in charge of the armies that had attacked St Paul's - that she had been at Wonderbolt's Academy, an experience which had taught her a little about military discipline.

Errant Flight stood in front of the new Grey Squadron, eleven ponies in total standing in a row.

"Let me begin with a warning," he said sternly. "Before any of the administrative horseapples." He began pacing up and down the group. "Grey Squadron is a legend. You being here is an honour, more than I think some of you realise. Before you proceed however, you have to realise one crucial fact. None of you will ever be bigger than the squadron. None of you will ever eclipse names like Lightning Dust, Butter Mellow, Jagged Course or Royal Flush. You are bearers of the greatest legacy our army has ever created in it's brief history." He looked at the ponies with as serious an expression as anypony had ever seen on another. "If any of you can't deal with that, you're welcome to transfer to Red, Blue, Green or Gold."

He gazed up and down the group. None of them moved so much as an inch. He nodded, something resembling approval in his features, before drawing a list from his saddlebag.

"Roll call!" he yelled. "For those of you unused to military protocol," and here his eyes swept across the newcomers, "this is the start of your acclimatisation process. You will be assigned your Squad position here, and your names will be called out in number order. These positions are not final and may be reorganised according to skill, ability, and group coherency as a team. To begin: I am Group Captain Errant Flight. I will be Grey Leader."

He looked at the list and began reading names off. "Commander Dream Flyer!"

"Here sir!" a light blue Pegasus mare - the former leader of Blue Squadron - said. She was the very image of military discipline, a stern expression on her face. Her cutie mark, a pair of wings set within a silver cloud, seemed at odds with her serious nature.

"You're Grey Two," Errant said. He looked back to his list. "Flight Lieutenant White Blossom!"

"Present, sir!" an alabaster mare called. She looked even younger than Dash, with a long blue mane and wide, innocent eyes, offset by a long thin red line that marred her cheek. Her cutie mark was a pink flower petal.

"You're Grey Three," Errant told her. She nodded once briefly as he once more consulted his list.

"Flight Officer Dark Wing," he said, speaking slightly quieter. A grim looking dark grey stallion with a burnished brass shield cutie mark saluted once, saying nothing.

Errant Flight checked the list again before looking up at the stallion. "Any relation to Little Wing and Swift Wing?"

"My cousins, sir," the stallion replied quietly. He was young: probably a lot younger than even Rainbow or Fluttershy.

"I see," Errant said quietly. "You're Grey Four."

"Thank you sir," Dark Wing said. Errant returned his attention to his list.

"Flight Lieutenant Bright Wonder," he said.

A white Pegasus mare with a brown mane and a series of balloons for a cutie mark saluted with a smile. "Present and cheerful, sir!"

Errant nodded, smiling slightly at Bright Wonder's attitude. "Grey Five."

"Thank you sir!" Wonder said with that same smile. Errant returned his attention to his list.

"Flight Officer Silver Spire," he called next.

"Sir," Silver Spire, a silver stallion with a tower set within a shield for a cutie mark, said smartly. "Ready to serve, sir!"

"Good to hear, flyer," Errant Flight said, nodding smartly at the eager officer. "You're Grey Six."

"Thank you sir!" Spire said smartly, saluting. Errant saluted back.

Returning to his list, the squadron leader called out the next name. "Flight Officer Swift Strike!"

A pale red Pegasus with a sword cutie mark saluted with a wry grin. "Former Green Six ready to try harder, sir!"

"Glad to hear it, Grey Seven," Errant Flight said. He looked down at the names, and grimaced slightly. "Pilot Officer Ditzy Doo."

A murmur went up the row, bypassing Strike and Flyer, as well as Rainbow and Fluttershy.

"Um, here," Ditzy said softly. "Sir."

"Good to have you with us," Errant said. "You're our Grey Eight." He looked at the rest of the squadron. "All questions concerning certain members of this roster will wait until the end of the roll call. Clear?"

A murmur of assent went through the ranks and Errant returned his attention to his list. Next up was a dark brown Pegasus stallion with a steel horseshoe for a cutie mark.

"Pilot Officer Solid Hoof," Errant said. "Grey Nine."

"Sir," the pony said gruffly. He seemed incredibly stern and taciturn: whatever his reasons for being here. They hadn't treated him well. Errant nodded once at him, and returned to his list.

"Pilot Officer True Blue," he said.

A timid looking blue stallion with a paintbrush for a cutie mark coughed. "True Blue here, sir. Guess I'm Grey Ten?"

"Right you are, Pilot Officer Blue," Errant said with a smile. "New refugee?"

"Yessir," True Blue said with a wry smile. "Absconded from Apple Bloom's construction yards. No job for a real artist. This isn't either, but if didn't want to be dead weight."

"You've ended up part of Grey Squadron's roster," Errant Flight told him, "so I can guarantee - you won't be dead weight at all."

True Blue smiled happily at that. Errant returned to his list, and Rainbow Dash tensed, knowing subconsciously whose names were next.

"Pilot Officer Rainbow Dash," the squadron leader said, looking her dead in the eye. "Grey Eleven."

Rainbow saluted as smartly as she could, doing her best to seem professional. She could already tell that convincing these ponies would be hard.

"Rainbow Dash, reporting for duty sir," she said smartly, ignoring the murmurs that once more went up and down the line.

"What the buck?" Dark Wing swore under his breath. "Rainbow Dash is dead!"

"Cut the chatter," Errant said. "I said all questions about the unusual names would be fielded and answered after the roll call and I meant it." He returned his attention to the list and spoke the last name. "Pilot Officer Fluttershy."

"Sir," the yellow pony said, almost too quiet to be heard over yet more murmurs.

"You're my Twelve," Errant Flight said. He put the list away. "Alright: you may have all noticed that we've three unusual names in our list..."

"That's an understatement, sir," Bright Wonder said, her eyes wide. "There are three ponies here who should be dead!"

"Nopony knows what happened to Fluttershy in Equestria," True Blue said softly, seemingly hesitant to put an opinion forward, "so maybe she..."

"She's dead," Dark Wing put in, interrupting the timid Pegasus. "Albion showed us her mane with the others at a gathering last year."

"It's Albion's doing that we have these three here," Errant Flight said, regaining control of the conversation. "During the fighting in London, he was briefly transported to what we believe was an parallel universe."

"A what?" Silver Spire said bluntly.

"You wanna explain that one, sir?" Swift Strike asked, looking puzzled. "Even I didn't quite get it, and I was there when Albion told us about it."

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy exchanged glances that both held large amounts of nervous tension: this was going to be difficult to explain. The look on Errant Flight's face was hard to read: he didn't look necessarily happy, but he wasn't angry either. Mostly he just looked weary of his responsibilities, like he didn't want to be here at all.

"Essentially," Flight said after a moment, "there's multiple universes, each with ponies very much like us but a tiny bit different. Albion got sent to an Equestria where Celestia never went mad and became Astra Solamina. He enlisted the help of several ponies to come back and fight with us, Ditzy Doo, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy included."

There were soft murmurs across the line. Rainbow Dash tried to ignore the slightly hostile stares from the other ponies, despite the fact that they were quite… overt in some cases.

"I know some of us have bad blood with the Elements," Errant continued, scowling. "I have some myself. But Albion said these aren't the same ponies, and that man has never lied to me. I expect nopony to be found taking out their vengeance against the Elements of Order on these two. Clear?"

Murmurs of assent went up the line.

"That being said," Errant said, "these three and True Blue have absolutely no military flight experience. For their sake, we will begin this acclimatisation course by doing some basic drills, relearning combat doctrine for Resistance Air Force, followed by learning some Grey Squadron only skills." He smirked. "Including the corkscrew."

Excited murmurs went up and down the line. Rainbow frowned. Whatever this corkscrew was, it seemed to be a big deal.

Errant began pacing up and down the line, before settling at the end that held Ditzy, True Blue, Rainbow and Fluttershy.

"Alright," the tired looking Pegasus said after a moment. "I suppose it would be too much to ask one of you newbies if you know the history of how our forces came to fight how we do, but can any of you tell me how our style differs from how the Equestrian Royal Guard fight in the air?" He paused. "Dash? Fluttershy? You were at London, you should have seen the difference."

The two Element bearers looked at each other, then back at Errant Flight, shrugging. He growled softly at the back of his throat, as though he was disappointed by their lack of an answer.

"Ditzy?" he asked the grey mare standing next to them. She shook her head, and though he looked irritated, he refrained from showing it so much this time. "Alright, I suppose that's to be expected: the battle was pretty frenetic, after all. I guess a little history lesson is in order for you all then."

He took a breath, and began pacing in front of the new Grey Squadron recruits.

"Equestrian Air Force units tend to go for the two line formation," he said, speaking as though he were reciting from memory. "One line in front, one line slightly above and behind." He paused, making sure his audience were still paying attention. "The first line engages an enemy formation in the air. The second line swoops down and takes out the enemies attacking the first. That's how these forces have fought for generations."

He paused.

"Now, when the war began, Resistance Air Forces tried aping that structure," he continued, a wry grin on his face. "Lasted a few months like that before Ditzy Doo joined the forces, and let me tell you: they destroyed us every single time. We lost Devon, Lancaster and Half of Edinburgh thanks to their air superiority. And then Ditzy came along."

He grinned softly, as though at some unseen memory. Next to True Blue, who was paying rapt attention Ditzy was frowning: it was beyond surreal hearing somepony talk about her as though she was dead... but then it wasn't really her, was it?

"Ditzy started off as a line pony," Errant continued, his tone warm. "She flew with seventh wing in the battle over the channel: that's the battle where the HMS Thunderchild destroyed the Solar Magnificence." He sighed, a slightly amused smile on his face. "She'd always had a reputation for being clumsy, but this time it served us well. She broke formation, whether on purpose or just because she couldn't hold - she always told me that it was an accident, but whatever it was, she punched right through the main and reserve lines of the Equestrian Air Force and broke their line. After that it was a desperate free for all - but we were lighter armoured and faster." He grinned at that. "We drove the bastards off. It was the first outright victory we'd ever had as a unit."

He sighed, taking a breath as he reminisced. "After that, the Resistance Air Force was reorganised into Squadrons, with Ditzy heading Grey Squadron. She worked with flyers like Lightning Dust to turn her 'accident' into a style to teach most of our flyers, and we developed what's been affectionately named 'Derp Fu'." He smiled again. "Most of the techniques are simple, involving lightly armoured ponies running rings around the guard, a bit of flailing... but Ditzy developed the corkscrew."

At the mention of this fabled skill, several ponies began whispering excitedly amongst themselves. Rainbow Dash couldn't help but wonder if the corkscrew was as fabled a manoeuvre amongst these ponies as the sonic rainboom had been to her.

"That's how we come to today," Errant Flight said. "All our flyers have learned some parts of Ditzy's 'Derp Fu' technique, but only Grey Squadron ever had the full range and the skilled enough flyers." He gave them all a serious look. "By the time we are done with this training course, I expect every single pony here to match the highest standards of Grey Squadron. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir!" the line said enthusiastically.

"Good," Errant said. "For now though, you're all dismissed. Barracks are in that building over there." He pointed at a nearby building with his forehoof. "Just ask for the Grey Squadron barracks."

With that, he walked off, leaving the rest of Grey Squadron to walk towards their barracks building. Immediately, most of the squadron moved away from Rainbow Dash, Ditzy and Fluttershy.

"Well this doesn't seem too bad," Fluttershy said, trying to sound hopeful.

"Yet," Rainbow muttered, watching the retreating backs of their squadron mates.

***

Deep within the Royal Armouries, in a makeshift sickbay, the unconscious David Elliot lay, breathing steadily enough but seemingly utterly asleep. He was, at least, better than he had been, the fever and shaking gone.

Within his mind, however, it was an entirely different story.

He was stood on a green field that seemed to stretch for miles and miles, where nothing was but grass and the odd tree. He was clothed in his battered fighting clothes, and in his hand, light as a feather, was the blade Excalibur.

"Hello?" he called out, curious to see whether there was anyone here,

"Hello," a voice replied. Elliot span around, but he could see no one.

"Who's there?" he called out.

"You have done well," the voice said, ignoring Elliot's question. "But you can do better."

The voice was strange: sometimes, it sounded like the voice of a deep voiced man, and other times it was the soft tones of a woman, but he was never conscious of the change and it always felt like the voice had always been what it was when it spoke. He chalked it up to the madness of dreams.

"If... if you can help me, I would appreciate it," Elliot said, uncertain about this voice. "But I would like to know who you are."

"I am that which you fight for, and fight in the name of," the strange voice said enigmatically. "And your fight is not done. You are here because you have not learned, yet, how to use your power well enough to stop the Dark One."

"The Dark One?" Elliot asked, frowning at the term. "You mean Solamina?"

"That is the name," the voice said. "Or one of them. It has held many over the years. As of yet, you cannot best it. This must change."

The voice was right: Elliot knew that he would have, somehow, to find the strength to battle Astra Solamina on her own terms, or else he would never be able to free the last humans from the threat of extinction.

"What do I do?" Elliot asked, gripping Excalibur tighter. Suddenly, the voice came from behind him, tangible.

"You must fight."

He span, to find himself facing an armoured knight with his own Zweihander. The figure was almost the double of the Avatar, save for the closed off helmet.

"You must train hard to control the power of Albion," the knight said simply. "To channel that power to it's fullest potential, despite the pain and suffering it causes you. When the time comes, you must be strong enough to challenge the Dark One - and not only that you must be strong enough to defeat her!"

"I understand," Elliot said. He closed his eyes, channeled his breathing, and prepared for his training to begin.

"Are you prepared?" the knight asked, raising the blade.

"Yes," Elliot said, readying his own, the blade light in his hand. "I am."

And with that, they clashed.

Author's Note

EDIT: This Chapter was edited 28th July 2015.

Interlude: The Wheels of Government

Interlude: The Wheels of Government.

***

Somewhere in Scotland. February 2nd, 2030.

Sat in his office, pondering some paperwork, Prince Blueblood decided that he hated working on the council.

He liked General Anderson well enough. The man was blunt, honest and hardworking, all traits Blueblood had never encountered in high ranking government before and was grateful to encounter now. Mr Sato was also an intelligent enough man, good to work with and filled with an honest passion for representing the cause of the people who lived on this island, as well as a humbleness that Blueblood had seldom encountered - or truth be told, had much of himself before coming here. Blueblood didn't hate either of them: if he had to have anyone, pony or human on the high council, he would still pick them to be the other two members over any other candidates he knew of.

Nor did he hate Cheerilee, the civilian representative, or King William of Britain, the nominal head of the British state given the total destruction of most other forms of government on the isle. They were reasonable: Cheerilee was always doing the best she could for the ponies under her care, arranging several integration programs so that the ponies of the Resistance Exodus and subsequent escapees were well taken care of. King William, meanwhile, was knowledgeable enough to leave decision making to the high council and not try to use his status to 'big himself up': if anything, he was something of an Everyman, often getting close enough to the little folk to know their problems. This was a valuable viewpoint, and any advice he gave - and the human members of the council often asked his advice, Blueblood noticed - was wiser than his scant forty eight or so years suggested.

No, Blueblood didn't hate those he worked with. He just hated the work.

Tens of thousands of ponies and millions of humans, all riding on the decisions they made, and nothing he did ever felt like it was good enough. So many things could go wrong, and at the stage of the game very few things could go right. Sometimes it felt like he had come here to join in a mass suicide, given how desperate the situation was... but then he remembered with a frown that even a mass suicide defence like this was better than doing nothing against the atrocities he had seen.

He sighed, realising that his paperwork wouldn't get done all by itself.

"Dinky!" he called out. "Take a memo!"

A young unicorn with a quill set inside a heart for a cutie mark stood near him, taking a quill and paper out and beginning a record. Most of their records were paper now, mainly because e-records (as the humans called them) tended not to survive as easily as paper.

"Ok, ready," she said tiredly.

"Must double check that all ponies are being sent out with at least the barest minimum of protection," Blueblood said tiredly. "If the casualty reports at London are true, a lot of ponies died for want of basic armours."

"Got it," Dinky said. "Where do you want it?"

"Send it to requisition office," Blueblood said tiredly. "It might get read in the next year if we're lucky."

"Got it, sir," Dinky said. She turned away for a moment, then back to him. "Sir, did you happen to get my last letter..."

"Yes," Blueblood said, scowling slightly. He had hoped she wouldn't bring this up. "Request denied."

"But sir, I..." Dinky began protesting.

"But nothing, Dinky Doo," Blueblood cut her off, waving a hoof. "Your mother was very insistent: you were never to serve in the armed forces under any circumstances. It has been impressed upon me how seriously everypony and every human in this council takes her request, and I'm not about to go against the general consensus here."

"All due respect, sir," Dinky said, her eyes narrowing slightly, "but she's dead."

Blueblood sighed and facehoofed.

"Yes," he said softly. "And I'd like to think that she died happily, knowing that you would never join her."

"Sir," Dinky said pleadingly, "you've read my letter. You know how much this means to me."

Yes, he had. An impassioned plea from a young unicorn who seemed to want nothing more desperately than to stand with her pony brothers and sisters. If he hadn't known better he would have detected a slightly self destructive streak behind it, too: Hundreds of ponies just like me are fighting and dying every day to try and stop the Tyrant's armies. What kind of pony would I be if I wasn't willing - no, eager - to go out there and join them? No, Blueblood was not intent on letting somepony with a clear self destructive tendency go onto a battlefield.

"I'm sorry, Dinky," he said with finality. "You will not be going out there."

Dinky swore under her breath.

"Damn her," she said quietly a moment later. "Damn her to Tartarus for what she's done to me."

"I beg your pardon, Miss Doo?" Blueblood asked with narrowed eyes. For a pony, damning somepony to Tartarus was a pretty strong thing.

"Damn my mother to Tartarus for this!" Dinky repeated angrily, raising her voice. "She lays down some damn edict that I should never have to fight, and then what? Goes and gets herself blown up so that I never get the chance to..." Her breath hitched. "She went out there and died for what she believed in, and that's some big heroic thing, but I believe. I believe as strongly as she ever did! And I have to sit here and..."

"And fulfil a duty that helps keep our defences running," Blueblood cut in softly, understanding her position. "D'you think the ponies out there would be nearly as well prepared if there were not ponies like you and me here, ponies who want to fight for something but can't because we are needed here?"

The look in his eyes silenced Dinky: it hadn't occurred to her that Blueblood, too, wanted to fight.

"I promise you," Blueblood said softly. "There may come a time when all other lines of defence have fallen, when nothing stands between her armies and final victory but the last handful. When we shall all be needed at the front. When that time comes, then you and I shall go out there together."

"I..." Dinky began, swallowing slightly. "Thank you sir."

"Good," Blueblood said. "Now in the meantime, there's paperwork to be done. Get on it."

"Yessir," Dinky said with an awkward salute, before running off with the memo, the door slamming shut behind her. Blueblood sighed.

"Well," he said softly to himself. "This is fun."

The door knocked again and Blueblood cursed slightly.

"Who is it?" he called out.

"Me," the voice of Cheerilee came back softly. Blueblood sighed.

"Come in," he called.

The former teacher entered, a soft smile on her face. "Hello, Blueblood. How are you?"

Blueblood smirked good-naturedly at her genial attitude and friendly voice: she always sounded ever so slightly sarcastic to him, but he was used to dealing with an entirely more unpleasant bunch of ponies.

"Busy as usual," he said. "Had a conversation with Dinky. About her letter."

"Ah," Cheerilee said, smile dropping from her face. Dinky had approached almost every lower and upper council member with the same letter: a request to be allowed to fight. Every one of them had written back saying 'no': Blueblood hadn't bothered, knowing she would most likely bring it up to him. "I thought I heard her dulcet tones."

"Yes," Blueblood said with a sigh. "Makes one wish Ditzy Doo hadn't been so strict with her last will and testament."

"It was for the best," Cheerilee said sagely. "We've sent so many ponies to die horrid deaths these last few years: maybe letting one survive is a blessing."

"We've sent ponies who offered," Blueblood retorted. "But Dinky's not just offering: she's begging to go. I've not seen someone so enthusiastic for a long time." He paused. "You know she resents her mother."

"Not really," Cheerilee replied sadly. "She resents her mother's wishes. She misses her mother: I think her desire to fight wouldn't be nearly as strong without the death of her mother hanging over her. She feels strongly that her mother died for a cause - maybe she feels fighting in that same cause will bring her closer to her."

"Maybe," Blueblood said, trying not to sound dismissive. "It's a little above my head if I'm honest."

"You don't feel the need to fight for a cause?" Cheerilee asked.

"I feel the need to fight for different reasons," Blueblood retorted. "I was part of Empress Solamina's council. I might have seen the first few true atrocities she committed."

"The last stand of the Night Guard," Cheerilee said sagely.

Blueblood nodded, but didn't say anything. The 'Last Stand of the Night Guard', as he told it to most people, was a heroic battle, the brave rebel Night Guard refusing to now before the Tyrant. The picture Blueblood had painted of the Night Guard's destruction was a heroic struggle, valiant and brave.

The truth was rather different. Celestia - this being before she declared herself Solamina, of course - had claimed that Luna, contrary to the official story, had tried once more to rebel. She demanded that the Night Guard swear fealty to her. The Night Guard, none of them buying her lie for a second, told her in no uncertain terms to buck off. Blueblood - who, along with several prominent members of the council at the time, had been there - had been surprised at their audacity.

A moment later, they were all incinerated, Celestia using her magic to vaporise them before they could so much as blink.

It had been the first sign - at least to Blueblood - that she was starting to go insane. It was around that time that the barrier had begun it's expansion across the Earth.

It would be another two years before the barrier would be stopped at the British isles, and shortly after that Celestia declared herself as Empress Solamina - claiming it to be the will of her people, and to be fair, the majority of converted had long ago subscribed to the idea that she was a kind of God, spurred on by fanatics and flagellants led by a pony who had been a priest, now calling himself Sol Invictus: "Victory of the Sun". Blueblood had been increasingly uneasy, but only after the council was dissolved and he saw the ruin of Equestria that he realised he had to flee.

He shook his head, bringing himself back to the present. Cheerilee - like everypony else, even the scant dozen or so original Night Guard who still survived, mostly Luna's special Bat-Pegasi ponies who had acted as remote guards - still believed the romanticised version of the story he told. He considered it a small repayment of a debt he owed them: giving the history of the Night Guard, and their end, a more heroic edge. That, and making the heraldry and name of the Night Guard his personal bodyguard and a unit he had reinstated as part of the Resistance, had ensured the name "Night Guard" would never be forgotten.

"That was the start," he agreed. "Maybe if I'd have realised it there, I could have left earlier. But I didn't."

"No, you left a year ago," Cheerilee said. "With your name as a council member to aid the propaganda machine by creating the Government-In-Exile, and intelligence that saved many lives and led to the death of Applejack, Rainbow Dash and eventually Pinkie Pie." She smiled kindly at him. "I don't think you've that much debt left to repay."

Blueblood smiled at her assessment: she was too kind to him, he thought to himself. She knew, as he did, that he was indirectly responsible for many atrocities. No: he would have a long list of things to make up for should he ever become ruler of Equestria.

"Just one debt left," he said tiredly to her. "I'm going to see Solamina toppled if it's the last thing I do."

She nodded slowly. "I hope to see that day too, Blueblood."

Blueblood smiled, then looked down at his mound of paperwork, before looking back up at Cheerilee.

"Anyway," he said. "How can I help you?"

"Ah, yes," Cheerilee said. "We've rumours flying all over the place that some of the Elements have been seen fighting alongside us, despite most of them being dead." She frowned. "You know anything about this?"

Blueblood laughed at that, a low and barely amused sound.

"It's a long story," he said after he calmed down, "and I'm still not sure I believe half of it myself..."

Author's Note

A big thank you to the favouriters and commenters on the last chapter. And an especial big thank you to whoever added my story to the "Alternative Conversion Bureau" group. I'm really proud of this work, and I hope you all continue to enjoy reading it, as much as I enjoy writing it.

World of Ruin.

Chapter Nineteen: World of Ruin

***

January 31st, 2030, 8.02pm.

A troop of tired, weary and downtrodden ponies marched up the ruin of the M62 leading up towards the city of Hull. They trudged in unison, their steps a unified rhythm of trot, trot, trot, a drumbeat that trudged to the mercilessness of their pace. All around them were the ruins of a world: burnt trees, burnt out cars, and (rarely enough that the more inexperienced didn't feel sick), a handful of bodies, left where they fell: ponies and humans alike, most in various states of decomposition.

Each pony in the troop carried a pack with a sleeping bag in it: Iron Gait had told them they'd be issued with other Resistance standard equipment afterwards. They all knew what that meant - their weapons.

On the front row, Twilight Sparkle dared a brief glance to her left, at her friends Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie. The former two were flagging, Rarity looking visibly exhausted and Applejack stoic but dour. Pinkie Pie, on the other hand, looked like the only thing keeping her from bouncing was the grim-faced Sergeant Iron Gait who marched next to her. He caught Twilight's eye and scowled at her.

"Eyes front, Private!" he barked. At once, Twilight shifted her gaze back to the front. She hoped that, wherever they were, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were having a better time of it.

"You ponies look like you're having a rough time of it!" Iron Gait yelled at the marching recruits. "Is this little stroll too much for you're wittle leggy-weggies?"

"Sir, no sir!" everypony called. Already, they knew that any other answer would be... unwise.

"Bullplop!" Gait barked. "You're a bunch of pampered ponies who've never stepped outside your cherry sweet doors to smell the horseapples! I've never seen a sorrier bunch in my life!" He marched a little ahead of the group and turned back to start looking at them. "You! Applejack!"

"Sir, yes sir!" Applejack said in response. Not breaking stride or breaking her forward gaze.

"You're an Apple, right?!" Iron Gait asked.

"Sir, yes sir!" Applejack replied trying not to sound as confused by the question as she felt.

"Bucking Tartarus you are!" Iron Gait swore at her. "I've had Apples in my forces! Braeburn from Appleoosa and Babs Seed from Manehatten both marched this same course, and neither of them looked nearly as worn out as you do now! Are you perhaps an adopted child, Applejack?!"

"Sir, no sir!" Applejack replied, feeling irritated by his insults but knowing better than to show it. "One hundred percent home grown Apple from Ponyville, sir!"

"Are your legs for bucking saplings, little missy?!" Iron Gait added, ignoring her response.

"Sir, no sir!" Applejack yelled. "These are one hundred percent tree bucking legs, sir!"

"Oh, are they?!" Iron Gait yelled, eyes widening in anger. "Then why are you so bucking slow with them?!"

"Sir, I'm marching just fine sir!" Applejack answered without breaking stride.

"'Just fine', huh?!" Iron Gait said, raising an eyebrow. "And do you think 'just fine' will cut it?!"

"Sir, I don't know sir!" Applejack replied.

"Well I do!" Iron Gait yelled. "'Just fine' gets ponies in your squad killed! 'Just fine' is what a slacker says! Are you a slacker, Private Applejack?!"

"Sir, no sir!" Applejack insisted.

"Then put your bucking back into it you little piece of horse manure!" Iron Gait screamed. He fell back into line and Applejack began marching harder, trying her best to look like she wasn't flagging despite her legs starting to feel like they would give out beneath her.

Iron Gait's gaze ran up and down the group, eyes narrowing. Everypony was flagging, their spirits low. He was a hard taskmaster, he always had been, but he wasn't an idiot: he knew when they needed the carrot, as well as when they needed the stick.

Iron Gait turned his attention to Pinkie Pie without breaking stride. "Private Pie!" he snapped.

"Yes sir?!" she barked right back, seemingly enjoying the military discipline almost too much.

"My understanding is that you're a party pony!" Gait barked as they marched. "I take that to mean you know what keeps ponies happy, is that correct?!"

"Sir, I'd like to hope so, sir!" she said happily.

"Would you say a sing along is in order for a platoon of flagging ponies?!" the Sergeant asked.

"Sir, I think that's a brilliant idea sir!" Pinkie said with a grin. "Do you know a song?!"

"Several, Private," Iron Gait replied. "Alright everypony, this one goes on for a while, and the words repeat: you'll be able to follow me eventually!"

He took a breath, not breaking his stride as he began singing:

"This is the song that doesn't end,
Yes it goes on and on my friend.
Somepony started singing it, not knowing what it was,
And they'll continue singing it forever just because,

This is the song that doesn't end,
Yes it goes on and on my friend.
Somepony started singing it, not knowing what it was,
And they'll continue singing it forever just because..."

Pinkie joined in as he repeated the verse a second time, her voice enthusiastic and loud. She too didn't break stride. Twilight, still looking directly ahead, couldn't help but be a little bit happier hearing her friend sounding so happy. On the fourth verse, she joined in, her voice more tired but happier for hearing Pinkie sing.

On the fifth verse, Lyra and True Grit joined in. On the sixth, Applejack, Desert Wind and Private Dipstick as well. Soon, everypony in the troop was singing the silly song over and over, some of them even laughing as they stumbled over the oft repeated words. Iron Gait smiled as he kept singing.

One of the most important things any unit needed was camaraderie, and he hoped that he had just facilitated the first of it today.

***

In a field some seven miles from the city of Hull was where the ponies eventually stopped for the night, their little sleeping bags rolled out onto the grass and themselves positioned in it.

"Alright," Iron Gait said from his own bag. "You've got fifteen minutes before I call bedtime, privates. You wanna talk, do it now."

Almost immediately, ponies started talking amongst themselves in hushed voices. Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Twilight turned to each other in their bags, the latter two looking pensive, while Pinkie looked happy. Rarity was already asleep, snoring softly, the walk having been more physical exertion than she had ever experienced.

"How are you?" Twilight asked them both softly.

"My legs ache more than bucking half of Sweet Apple Acres all by myself," Applejack said with a wry smile on her face, "but apart from that I'm good."

"I'm great," Pinkie said. "This is fun!"

Twilight raised an eyebrow at her friend. "Fun? Fun? You think this is fun?"

"Sure!" Pinkie said chirpily. "Mr Gait acts like a meany pants but it's all so we learn better and quicker. Otherwise he wouldn't have tried the sing along when he saw how tired everypony was."

Twilight thought about it for a moment. "You mean he's giving us some sort of psychological preparation for war by putting us through Tartarus now?"

"Psycho-what now?" Pinkie asked, frowning in confusion. "No silly, he's not doing that. He's just making us do really hard things now so that when we fight it doesn't seem so hard."

"But that's what I..." Twilight began, before facehoofing and sighing. That was just Pinkie for you. "Never mind."

"So you're saying he's doing this to get us ready for fightin', not just with the training but by making us miserable too?" Applejack asked.

"More like training us to deal with physical and emotional hardship," Twilight said, more confident now that she had a grasp on things. "If we can trudge for forty miles, we can fight for ten hours straight: that sort of thing."

"I could have told you that, ma'am," the voice of True Grit interrupted them from a couple of bags over. He was lying back, eyes already closed, and smiling. "It's similar to Guard training in that respect."

"Explains why you're so at home," Lyra muttered tiredly from the bag next to him.

"Are you two ok?" Twilight asked.

"Never better, ma'am," True Grit said with a smile. "This place reminds me of home: discipline and everything."

"I'll live," Lyra added softly. "For now."

Twilight smiled at that. "Hang in there, Lyra," she said. "I get the feeling that it'll get worse before it gets better."

There was a pause.

"Did you see the broken carts and stuff?" Applejack asked after a moment, her tone sombre.

"Yeah," Twilight said, expression downcast. "It was... well." She paused, trying to find the right words. "It's hard to believe, really."

"Of course it's hard to believe," True Grit pointed out from his bag. "Where we come from the idea of war like this is almost unheard of. The idea of ponies being the ones pursuing that kind of war is unheard of, utterly."

"And yet here they did," Twilight finished. "Why? What happened?"

"I reckon the why isn't gonna be important til we've finished taking Solamina down a peg," Applejack said darkly. "Knowing why a pony's hitting you ain't any good when that pony's still hitting you, no matter how much you might wanna know."

"Good point," Twilight conceded. No, knowing what Solamina was doing this for was almost utterly irrelevant. That she was doing it was enough: the 'why' was a question that they could all ask later.

"Alright privates!" Iron Gait yelled, silencing everypony. "Your nattering time is over. Good night!"

"Good night sir!" the ponies called back.

"Sweet dreams!" Gait added, still in the gruff voice.

"Sir, you too sir!" Pinkie Pie called out. Gait raised an eyebrow and allowed himself a small smile, before rolling over and falling asleep.

***

Hull base, February 1st, 2030.

The troop marched into Hull base that morning somewhat refreshed but still tired from their excursion. Unfortunately, there would be no time to rest. The group was immediately gathered at attention in the city centre, near a large statue of a formidable looking woman stood upon a column, with a crown upon her head and a sceptre in her hand. The statue was chipped in places, but seemed largely intact.

"Alright!" Iron Gait said, grabbing everypony's attention. A mare in uniform with a large sack stood . "Now that we're here, I'd like to introduce you all to your super-special someponies!"

Pinkie Pie grinned wildly at that, only for the grin to turn into a puzzled expression when she was given a long dagger from the sack by the mare. The dagger seemed optimised for being held by pony teeth, though the make and length seemed oddly similar to Elliot's daggers. Everypony looked at the weapon with some distaste, except for True Grit.

"This here is your new special somepony, ladies and gentlecolts," Iron Gait said, a grin forming on his face. "This is the adapted Resistance Dagger: designed for optimum holding flexibility. You can hold it in your hoof, you can hold it in your teeth, you can hold it with your bucking unicorn magic if you happen to be a horned ponce!" He looked around the unit. "From here on in, this is your best damn friend. With it, you will kill your enemy. With it, you will defend this country, the human race, and the free ponies of the Resistance. This weapon will be your best damn friend in the world, and I expect you to treat it as such! Am I clear?!"

"Sir, yes sir!" the ponies called out.

"Glad to hear it," Iron Gait said with a grin. "Now then, let's run through some basic facts you plotwipes probably don't know much about. First off: do you know how a pony might prove useful to a human army?" He looked around. "Anypony?"

There was a pause, but not one recruit spoke up.

"Alright then," Iron Gait continued. "It works like this: ponies don't do guns very well. There's theories and other bullplop running around but frankly we need every gun for the folks with opposable thumbs. As members of the Equestrian Resistance, therefore, your job is to use magical support as well as innate pony strength to support your human comrades in a close combat capacity. They fire their guns, and when the Royal Guard close, it is you buckers who have the privilege of caving their smug golden-armoured faces in, as well as introducing them personally to your special someponies there."

Some of the ponies glanced at the weapons in their hooves with a new respect, others with trepidation. Twilight hovered hers in front of her, eyes narrowing at it.

"In this training course, you're gonna learn exactly where to hit a pony hardest," Iron Gait said. "You're gonna gain the endurance to kill ten ponies in a row without so much as running short of breath! When you leave here, you will be ready to fight on the front lines, and you will be ready to win." He looked at the assembled ponies with a frown. "Am I right, privates!"

"Sir, yes sir!" they shouted back.

"You're darn right I am," Gait muttered. "Now then..." He paused as Pinkie Pie raised a hoof. "Private Pie, a question?"

"Yes sir!" she said with a smile. "Where's the cake, sir?"

"Excuse me, Private?" Gait asked with wide eyes.

"The cake you mentioned when we set off sir," Pinkie continued, tilting her head slightly. "You said there was cake here. That's why we were coming."

Twilight felt the urge to facehoof, but restrained herself once again. The Sergeant looked torn between to serious rage and the desire to laugh out loud.

"Well, I'm sorry Private Pie," Iron Gait finally said. "It seems I just plain forgot to radio ahead, and they won't be able to bake us any cakes for today. Ain't that a gosh darn shame."

"You mean... there is no cake?" Pinkie asked, eyes wide in horror. "The cake is a lie?!"

A moment later, Iron Gait was suddenly stood next to her, and he slapped her upside the head sharply, a scowl on his face.

"The cake is indeed a lie, Private!" he said sharply. "You're gonna have to get used to there being no cake in this army! You're gonna have to get used to there being a heckuva lot of things not being in this army, so much so that by the time you see cake again! you will know it for the darn luxury it is!"

"Aw," Pinkie said, pouting slightly. "But I love cake." She paused for a moment, then coughed. "Sir," she hastily added.

Iron Gait, his eye twitching decided to ignore her, instead turning to face the other ponies.

"Alright ponies," he said, smiling in a slightly unpleasant way that made the ponies think something... less than nice awaited them. "There might not be the cake Private Pie wants so badly, but there's some delicious army rations waiting for you all in the canteen. Let's move it out!"

***

February 4th, 2030.

The troop of ponies jogged down the small suburban road, the ruined houses surrounding them like a kind of graveyard for buildings, many of them reduced to burnt out skeletons and piles of rubble. Iron Gait jogged next to his troop, adjusting his pace every so often so as to be jogging next to anypony who needed his unique brand of encouragement.

"Keep it up you buckers!" he yelled at Sapphire Steel and Private Dipstick. "I know you can do better, so do better!"

"Sir, yes sir!" the two of them shouted, redoubling their efforts. Gait jogged up to be next to a True Grit.

"So you think you're a hard pony, huh?" Gait asked, practically yelling in Grit's face. "You think being a Royal Guard taught you jack diddly about being in my army?!"

"Sir, no sir!" True Grit replied not changing his expression nor his pace. He knew better than to answer any such questions in the affirmative, his memory of his own Sergeants all too fresh in his mind, though they had never been quite so vulgar as this pony.

"Well buck me, here's a regular know it all, ponies!" Gait said to the troop. "Knows all about soldiering from his days guarding a peaceful palace and kissing Celestia's royal flank! Would you like to teach the troop for a change! Recruit Grit? Think you could do it better than me?!"

"Sir, no sir!" Grit called out.

"Good!" Gait said with a smile. "Then you're learning something, chick pea."

Private Dipstick flinched slightly at the name the Sergeant used. He missed his own name. Still, he knew better than to take issue with Iron Gait.

"And what about you, Private Sparkle?" Gait said, jogging next to a Twilight and Lyra, who were at the head of the troop. "You reckon you're some big shot magic unicorn, Recruit Twilight Sparkle?!"

"Sir, no sir," Twilight said.

"Bullplop! You're meant to be the Element of Magic," Gait snapped. "You telling me you don't think you could take an old Earth Pony like me with your fancy magics?!"

"Sir, I wouldn't like to try, sir!" Twilight said.

"Well, horseapples, looks like you have a brain after all Sparkle," Gait said with a nasty grin. "And here was me thinking you were just some sort of parrot pony who repeated everything she read in a bucking book!"

Twilight ignored the jibe.

"Do you read books, Twilight Sparkle?!" Iron Gait asked.

"Sir, yes sir!" Twilight replied.

"Do you love books?!"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Are you gonna marry a book and have three point five little paperbacks with that book?!" Gait asked, yelling in her ear.

The implication stung slightly, and Twilight had to blink back shock at it.

"Sir, no sir!" she said after a moment.

"Bullplop, I bet you have a special somebook back home just dying to see you again!" Iron Gait pressed. "I bet you go to sleep every night having dreams about that book! I bet you're gonna jump that books bones the minute you get home!"

"Sir, no sir!" Twilight shouted, getting slightly riled by the insults the Sergeant was throwing at her.

"Well good," Iron Gait yelled back, "because as of this moment, you can kiss your beloved books goodbye! You aren't gonna be some timid little bookworm in my troop, Sparkle, I expect you to be as much of a mean, lean, pony killing machine as any other soldier! Is that bucking clear?!"

"Sir, yes sir!" Twilight yelled.

"Glad to bucking hear it!" Iron Gait yelled. He turned to the rest of the jogging squad. "I want you all to look around as you jog, you buckers! Look at these houses and burnt out cars!"

The ponies did so, taking in the skeletons of buildings and the ruined transports. It was an entirely morbid sight.

"It's things like this that are the reason we fight!" Iron Gait yelled. "Pony kind did this, led by the Tyrant! I don't know about you buckers, but I am not about to let the name of pony kind go down as that of a genocidal race of friendship hating lunatics! What about you?!" Iron Gait's gaze swept up and down the line. "Are you willing to let pony kind be remembered as a race of monsters?!"

"Sir, no sir!" everypony yelled as one. None of them were: none of them could look at this horror, look at this death, without feeling sick. Ponies had done this. Ponies had been responsible for this destruction. How many men, women and children had died horrible deaths because of the madness of Astra Solamina... and because of the ponies who helped her?

"Will you fight to free Equestria from the mad Tyrant?!" Iron Gait asked them, still yelling.

"Sir, yes sir!" everypony yelled with conviction.

"Darn right you will!" Gait barked. "You're gonna do your darn best in this training, you are gonna become lean mean pony killing machines, and when I send you out there I will send you out there ready to fight Astra Solamina her gosh darn self and buck her right in her smug face! Is that clear?!"

"Sir, yes sir!" the ponies yelled.

"Alrighty then!" Iron Gait yelled, looking almost pleased. "Keep it up you buckers! I want you to get back to base double time! Move, move, move!"

"Sir, yes sir!" the ponies yelled back at him, increasing their pace. All of them now felt a little more certain about their task here, especially the newcomers. This run hadn't just made them more physically fit: it had shown them up close exactly what it was that they were fighting for..

***

The Mindscape.

Elliot span around, blocking blow after blow from the knight. He could not rightly say how long the two of them had been sparring, but he knew that it had been a long time. Impossibly, his arms were aching from the effort of swinging Excalibur for so long, despite how light the blade felt.

"You are wavering!" the knight told him, swinging it's own blade in a downwards arc, only to be blocked by Excalibur.

"Never!" Elliot said angrily. "I will never waver!"

"You have wavered!" the knight said. "You have wavered and your wavering dooms an island! You are a failure! The power of the Avatar should never have been yours!"

"What would you have me do?!" Elliot yelled, pushing his opponent back and lashing out. "I've tried my best to use the power!"

"You have allowed the power to use you!" the knight retorted. "You have allowed it to claim your body, and use you without your own direction! This was not what Arthur did! This was not the way of the Avatars of old!"

As the knight spoke, it lashed out again, and Elliot blocked the blow, before riposting, driving his opponent further back.

"Then what should I do?!" Elliot yelled at the knight, bringing Excalibur down in an overhead hack. The knight blocked the blow and kicked out, driving Elliot back.

"You must channel the energy more," the knight said. "Yu just claim it as your own. It is not a brute force weapon, to be set off, thrown and then hope that one destroys one's targets! The Avatar is a blade: a precision weapon, elegant and clean. When one is the Avatar, one's task is to be a precision instrument of the vengeance and justice of a nation! Yours is greater still: you are the vengeance of a world! Vengeance is not some crude thing: vengeance is precise, it is methodical, it is clean and it is swift!"

The knight lowered his blade slightly.

"You are the Avatar," it said to Elliot. "The weakness of the flesh is no obstacle to you. You are a knight of your people, a symbol of hope. It is your solemn duty to fight for them, but you cannot fight for them if you don't know how to. That is why I am here: you must learn to home the Avatar's power: you are not an explosion, you are a sword, and as a swordsman whets his blade, so I will sharpen you!"

Elliot breathed hard, before raising Excalibur again into a guard position, smiling as the knight did the same.

"How do we begin?" he asked.

Never Live Up.

Chapter Twenty: Never Live Up.

***

February 10th, 2030.

Rainbow Dash flew through the streets of Leeds along what was apparently called the 'Resistance Air Force obstacle course', though it was hardly deserving of such as grandiose name. She was well into her third lap of it by now, dodging under flagpoles and broken buildings, between double decker buses and around corners as she flew above, around and through the empty and abandoned streets of Leeds. This was an improvised assault course for any flyer in the Resistance Air Force. Everypony in the squadron had been made to fly this course over the last week and a half: some once, some twice, some several times. This, however, was Rainbow Dash's twentieth time on the course: Errant Flight drove the newcomers, as well as True Blue, very hard, expecting to see the best from them all and not satisfied until he got what he saw as their full potential.

This course, though tricky, was pretty much foal's play to a pony of Rainbow Dash's flying caliber, but behind her she could tell that Fluttershy and some of the other flyers weren't taking as easily as she was: they were still on their second lap through the course, and they were already flagging slightly. Still, they were doing better than they had at the start. Even Rainbow had noticed some improvement in her reaction times, so she could only imagine how much better Fluttershy might have gotten after twenty separate runs on the course.

Next to her, Errant Flight flew, watching her progress even as he dodged wreckage and rubble. He hadn't dodged, ducked or barrel rolled nearly as stylishly as she had, but he had matched her for speed so far (though since this wasn't a straight line, she was fairly certain he was actually nowhere near as fast as her). He gave her a sideways glance and scowled slightly. She kept her face impassive as she flew: he had been pretty passive-aggressive over the last couple of days, making her feel, while not exactly entirely unwelcome, certainly less like part of the team than some of the other flyers.

Ignoring his attitude, she dodged under another flagpole, and then skimmed the top of three double-decker buses that had been out in place to block the road, before going round a corner, dodging some rubble that covered the road, dodging over a broken building and finally hitting the start end of the course again.

"Alright!" Errant Flight called out to her. "You've completed the course! Pull up and return to base!"

"Yes sir!" she called back, pulling out of the course and heading back to the meeting point, glad that she had finally finished the assault course. It was irritating, dealing with the attitudes of ponies who clearly didn't want her there and clearly had no appreciation for her skills or her efforts, but she was constantly reminding herself that, to these ponies, she was an enemy, or so similar as to have any differences be virtually negligible. She would have to be patient with them: hopefully they would eventually relent.

Waiting back at the rally point already were ponies like Dark Wing and Dream Flyer: only the more inexperienced combat ponies, such as True Blue and the newcomers, had been sent on the course more than once, flying along with new members of other squadrons to acclimatise to the speed and manoeuvrability that would be expected of them. Though Rainbow Dash had been certain that she was able to handle anything thrown at her, she was still grateful that she had a course to run: she felt the need to home her skills a bit.

A few minutes later, Errant, True Blue, Ditzy and Fluttershy returned. The newcomers and True Blue all looked fairly tired, though Blue himself was smiling, clearly feeling like he had accomplished something.

"Alright," Errant said softly, getting the squadron's attention. "Not bad from our new combat flyers: Rainbow Dash, you managed to match the course record that Lightning Dust set. Ditzy, you've managed to match your counterpart. Fluttershy and True Blue both completed the course within acceptable standards for Grey Squadron." He smiled softly. "Good work, everypony."

Everypony in the squadron began congratulating themselves, True Blue and Fluttershy especially: the two of them had been having trouble with the course until this moment, but now they were finally up to spec for Grey Squadron members. It had taken a week and a half of flight drills and military drills to do it, but they matched up with everypony now.

"Now that every pony's finally on the level," Errant said to the assembled flyers, "I think we're ready to start flying some basic combat drills."

"Does this mean we get to learn the corkscrew?" True Blue asked excitedly.

"No can do, Blue," Errant said with a wry grin. "The corkscrew is advanced. We'll begin with some basics."

He walked over to a nearby crate and broke it open, exposing twelve pairs of what looked like funny wooden forearm vambraces. He tossed them out, and everypony grabbed them and put them on.

"What you ponies happen to be looking at is the Air Force's first and most important weapon," Errant Flight said with a smile. "Allow me to present the flip out vambrace blade."

Rainbow Dash flipped her blade out: it was a shaped piece of wood, designed to look like a bladed weapon.

"These are only the vambrace blade equivalents of Bokken, of course," Errant continued. "You'll be running drills with these for a while." He turned his eyes to look at the slightly disgruntled face of a Swift Strike. "Problem, Grey Seven?"

"Yeah," Swift said with a smirk. He flipped the blade of his vambrace out, before performing a complicated swing manoeuvre with the blade that looked like it was designed to take out a pony's throat. "I've done this bit."

"Ah, I see," Errant said with a nod. "You think the training is beneath you?"

"No sir, just that I've already done it," Swift Strike replied.

Errant Flight looked at the pony with an amused smile. "And what about Fluttershy? Or True Blue? Have they?"

"Um... no sir," Swift Strike said, sounding apprehensive, like he thought it was a trick question.

"And if they train together, they'll have a camaraderie, yes?" Errant Flight continued.

"Probably, sir," Swift Strike replied, looking confused, "but I don't see..."

"How do you think a squadron will function if only four ponies have a real camaraderie because they're the only ones who trained together?" Errant Flight asked.

Swift Strike looked slightly shamefaced as the realisation hit him.

"I see sir," he said softly. "Objection withdrawn."

"To be clear," Errant said to the other members of the squadron, "I know a lot of you don't need this, though some of you will probably be grateful for the remedial training." At this, Bright Wonder and White Blossom both nodded, neither of them having seen action yet and neither of them being particularly certain of their skills. "However, if we all train together, not only can we guarantee everypony having the same skills, we can also guarantee everypony developing the same camaraderie, which is - in my book - essential to the smooth running of a squadron."

"How come?" True Blue asked. He shrank slightly as every pony's eyes turned to him. "Um, sorry... I'm just curious."

Errant Flight nodded. "I can respect that," he said. He sat on his haunches, gazing off into the distance with a distant expression. "People say the old Grey Squadron was a great squadron. Right?"

Everypony made noises of agreement. After only a few days here, every one of them had become intimately familiar with the reputation of the previous Grey Squadron, and with the expectations that now rested on the new squadron's shoulders because of that.

"Do you know why they make those claims?" Errant asked the group. Nopony replied. "It's not because Grey were the best flyers: we had a mixed bag, actually. It's not because Grey had the most kills: kills don't matter. It's because Grey was a team. No, more than that. Grey Squadron was a family."

***

Hull, January 3rd, 2026.

"And I'm telling you, I killed at least twice that many!" the voice of Head Strong said loudly.

A group of ponies from Grey Squadron, including Errant Flight, Head Strong, Royal Flush and Lightning Dust, along with the Wing siblings, were on the streets of Hull, arguing about the latest battle they had fought above the city. The Equestrian Royal Guard frequently sent aerial raiders to try and take out the beautiful old city, and more often than not, the city held it's own with minimal damage, thanks to the efforts of ponies like Grey Squadron. They had been among those who fought against the occupying forces of the town, along with an effort by the HMS Venture, a destroyer that had bombarded enemy positions.

Right now, Lightning Dust and Head Strong, too of the more... exuberant members of the squadron, were having an argument about their respective kill tallies in the battle.

"No way did you kill twenty eight ponies in that fight," Lightning Dust said with a snort. "I'm not even sure there were that many up there."

"It was a full wing, fifty bucking Pegasi," Head Strong said, slurring his words slightly. He, like the others, had been drinking slightly.

"Yeah, and I killed fourteen, Errant killed five, the Wings killed four and three, Royal got two, and the rest of the guys accounted for something like twenty between them, which means you did not kill twenty eight ponies!" Lightning Dust said sharply.

"Heh," Head Strong smirked, waving a hoof dismissively. "So maybe I miscounted. Still killed more than you."

"Children, children," the alabaster Pegasus Swift Wing said, holding up a placating hoof. "I think we can all agree, it doesn't matter who killed more, just so long as we held the city."

"Yeah right bro," Little Wing, his dark grey little sister, said with a smirk. True to her name, she was slightly smaller than most of them, despite being only a few years younger than Lightning Dust. "You're only saying that because I killed more than you."

"This discussion is stupid anyway," Errant said, his own voice slurring somewhat. "Let's just go to a bar so we can get more drunk and Royal can cheat some poor bucker out of his money."

"Works for me," Royal Flush said cockily. "None of you guys play me at cards anymore."

"We're not idiots, that's why," Lightning Dust said, frowning at him, though her lips had quirked into a playful smirk. "I like my bits... gah, dammit. I like my money in my saddlebag where I can see it, not bet on a lost cause."

None of the ponies commented on her faux pa. Though most of them had left with the initial resistance escapees two years ago, it was still strange adjusting to an entirely different world. Still, all of them knew that the alternative was being in Equestria, and none of them wanted to be in Equestria, especially after the sanction of Cloudsdale.

"Bar it is," Head Strong said, hiccuping. "Anyone know one?"

"There's a pub call the Rowdy Mare that's just opened on Beverly Road," a new voice said softly. "It's a bit of a trek, but it serves genuine Equestrian-style ale."

They squadron members turned, to find themselves facing the smirking face of Ditzy "Derpy" Doo, their squadron leader. Only they called her by her real name, most other ponies (except for her foal, Dinky, and her friend Doctor Whooves) and most people calling her by the old nickname. Her uniform shirt held the same symbol theirs did, and under it was embroidered the nickname "Derpy", along with fourteen silhouettes, seven on each sleeve: each one representing five confirmed downed ponies.

"Boss!" Lightning Dust said with a smile. "You gonna join us?"

"No, I'm just passing by," Ditzy said. "Gotta go collect Jagged Course and Orange Swirl from another bar, I hear they've been fighting with some Pegasi from Blue Squadron again."

"Pfft," Errant Flight said softly. "Blue are bucking posers, everyone knows that."

"Be that as it may, bar fights aren't really something I like seeing," Ditzy said with a smirk. "Anyway: Cloud Ranger and Butter Mellow were already on their way to The Rowdy Mare when I last saw them, so you'll probably meet them there."

Errant Flight grinned at the thought of meeting up with Cloud Ranger.

"What are we waiting for?" he asked his companions, jumping into a low hover before flying off. "Let's get going!"

With that he dashed off, and the others began following him.

"Have fun, team," Ditzy said to herself as the group flew away, she sighed: sometimes, it was like having a bunch of children all over again. Nonetheless...

She sighed and headed off to find Orange Swirl and Jagged Course.

***

The Present.

"Grey Squadron, on and off the battlefield, always had each other's flanks," Errant Flight finished, "and I expect the same from all of you."

The ponies of Grey Squadron looked at each other, almost as if reevaluating their opinions of their comrades. Rainbow Dash noticed a fair few of them looking at her, less with the suspicion or outright hostility that she had been experiencing all week from them, and more with something resembling... what? Acceptance? Maybe not outright acceptance... but they were starting to grudgingly come to terms with the fact that they were stuck with her as part of the Squadron and they might as well get used to it. Rainbow also saw similar glances being thrown Fluttershy's way.

"Alright," Errant said, interrupting the group's introverted thoughts. "Everypony take to the skies and follow me."

He jumped up and flew off in an easterly direction. The rest of the Squadron immediately followed him.

***

"Alright!" Errant Flight said, once they were over a small park. Filling the park were several high poles, each of which had a target on a spinning base. On one side were the rest of the squadron, and on the other was Errant, flapping his wings once every so often to keep himself aloft and holding what looked like a stopwatch. "Listen up, everypony, cos this is where you start your combat training!"

Rainbow paid rapt attention to the Squadron Leader, itching to know more. Next to her, Fluttershy looked nervous.

"I want each and every pony in this squadron to line up, and on my signal, you will fly through here and hit as many of these targets as you can with your training blades, while simultaneously being as fast as you can," Errant yelled at them from across . "You will only hit the targets once each - any more, or any missed, will be a two second penalty. Once you're done hitting them, return here for your time." He looked at each of them. "Rainbow Dash, you're up."

Dash blinked, then readied herself. She flipped the two blades out of her wooden training weapon, then waited for Errant's signal.

"Go!" Errant yelled.

At once, Dash bolted into the training targets. There were ten: she hit the first, rebounded off of it and rammed into a second, before hitting three more in quick succession. Quickly doubling back, she whacked two more, before barrel rolling and bouncing off the next one. The last two she tapped on her way out of the field.

Errant stopped the stopwatch. "Twenty nine seconds!" he yelled. "Not bad!"

Rainbow gave him a slightly cocky grin, and he raised an eyebrow at her before looking back at the squadron.

"Next up, Bright Wonder!"

***

For the next twenty minutes, members of the squadron were made to go through the course, hitting every target as they went. The only ponies who came close to Rainbow Dash's time were Dream Flyer, who did the course in thirty one seconds, and Swift Strike, who did it in thirty two. The rest took roughly thirty five to fifty seconds each, with the slowest being True Blue at fifty one seconds. Ditzy had taken forty two seconds, her bouncing style taking her through half the course at once, where she doubled back, hit one again and then took on the rest. She had been penalised a whole eight seconds for hitting targets twice, but that was apparently not too bad in Errant's opinion, given his rather large smile.

Finally, only Fluttershy and Dark Wing were left to try the course.

"Fluttershy!" Errant Flight called. "You're up!"

Gulping, Fluttershy took up her position, and flipped her own blades out. She looked as though she wanted to be anywhere else but here.

"Do I have to do this?" she called out softly.

"Yes!" Errant Flight replied, sounding irritated.

"Oh dear," she said softly. "Um... ok."

She gulped, looking nervous.

"Go!" Errant called.

At once, Rainbow saw that her friend just wasn't flying as fast as the other members of the squadron had. Fluttershy went from target to target, moving quickly enough between them, but focusing on one each. Her pattern was comparatively zig-zagging, dotting from one target to another and hitting them individually instead of aiming for sweeping strikes. To make matters worse, every time she tapped a target - and it was always a tap, barely enough to move the thing - she would flinch, murmur "sorry", and move on.

After a few moments of her flying like this, she finally tapped the last target and flew in front of Errant Flight, who stopped his watch.

"One minute, five seconds," he said, sounding slightly disappointed. "Not the absolute slowest I've seen, but still not fast enough, Fluttershy."

"Oh dear," Fluttershy murmured,

"And you need to hit harder to - I barely saw half those targets move!" Errant added, scowling slightly. "Royal Guards aren't going to be beaten by love taps!"

"Oh dear," Fluttershy said softly. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Errant said to her, slightly harshly. "Be better."

"Hey, it's the first time she's done anything like this," Rainbow Dash defended her friend.

"I know," Errant Flight replied, giving Rainbow a withering glare, "which is why I'm being this nice."

Before Rainbow Dash could retort, Errant Flight had turned his attention to Dark Wing, the last pony to try the course.

"You're up, Wing!" he called.

"Yes sir!" Dark Wing called. The young Pegasus gave a slightly cocky grin as he took up his and flipped his blades out. "I'll show you how it's really done by the experts!"

"Go!" Errant yelled, ignoring him.

At once, Dark Wing charged at the targets, hitting three within seconds. The third, however, had been hit so hard that it started toppling slightly - and then it did, right onto a Dark Wing fresh from hitting the sixth target.

He was almost fast enough to avoid it when he saw it - almost - but the side of the target clipped him in the back leg and sent him careening to the ground. Before he could hit the ground, however, Rainbow Dash reacted, zooming to catch him.

On the ground, Dark Wing hissed in pain as Errant Flight examined his injury, a frown on the squadron leader's face.

"I think I might have broken it," Dark Wing said softly.

"Um, excuse me," Fluttershy said softly. Errant turned to her, to find she was hold piece of the target pole that had splintered off, as well as a strip of bandage she had apparently been storing in a small pouch. "I think I can help."

"By all means," Errant Flight said, stepping away from Dark Wing and letting Fluttershy approach him. The yellow Pegasus started by examining Wing's leg, eliciting a hiss from him. A couple of ponies, specifically Swift Strike and Silver Spire, started, almost moving to stop her, but Errant Flight glared at them, before returning a thoughtful gaze to Fluttershy as she continued her efforts. As he watched, she set Dark Wing's leg in a splint, and smiled softly at the young stallion.

"There we go," she said kindly, her eyes filled with compassion. "You're all better. You'd best stay off that leg for a few days, but I bet it'll be right as rain after."

"I..." Dark Wing said, looking faintly shamefaced not only at injuring himself but at being helped so kindly by the pony he had sneered at only a few minutes before. "Thank you, Fluttershy."

"Anything to help a squadmate," Fluttershy replied with a smile. "And a friend."

Dark Wing blinked at that, and then he smiled too. He had precious few friends - his aching desire to prove himself a flyer equal to his more famous cousins had gotten him far in the Air Force for his age, but left him with little else.

"Good work, Fluttershy," Errant Flight said. He looked down at Dark Wing. "I trust you've learned your lesson about watching your targets and watching your back?"

"Yes sir," Dark Wing said at once.

"Good," Errant said. "Alright everypony: I think that's enough for today. Let's get back to base."

***

That evening, in their pilot barracks, the flyers of Grey Squadron were discussing the day's events. Fluttershy and Errant Flight were conspicuously absent from the group.

"I guess it's inevitable that not watching my back was gonna get me hurt sooner or later," Dark Wing was saying, still limping on his bandaged leg. "I'm just glad I learned that lesson now and not with a Royal Guard spear thrown through my guts."

"I know what you mean," White Blossom said softly, smiling at him. "I'm pretty happy with my time at least."

"Me too," Silver Spire added, the gruff pony giving a half smile as he thought of his own time of thirty six seconds. Solid Hoof gave an affirming grunt, showing that he too was satisfied, though he gave no other indication.

"The best flyer here's clearly Rainbow Dash," Dream Flyer pointed out, glancing over at the cyan pony. Rainbow shrugged, a small grin on her face - she felt pleased with herself, but figured it probably wasn't a good idea to boast.

"Well that goes without saying," Swift Strike said. "But I don't think it's fair that she gets timed too, she cheats."

"Cheats?" Rainbow said, her eyes wide and her expression indignant at the implication.

"Yeah, you're a cheater!" Swift Strike said. "Everypony knows the Elements give you ponies better skills!"

Rainbow looked indignant for a moment, before smirking, then snorting, the guffawing, then full on howling with laughter at his remark. Swift Strike looked confused for a moment.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"The Elements don't make us better flyers or anything, dummy," Rainbow said, still chuckling. "All the Elements do is give us the power to use the magic of friendship. Nothing to do with our individual awesomeness. Believe me, I'm awesome even without the Element of Loyalty."

"Uh huh," Swift Strike said, looking dubious. "If that's the case, why are you even here?"

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "I'm here because Elliot - sorry, Albion - brought me and the others here, cos he said we could help."

"Yeah, and how can you help if you don't use the Elements of Order as a weapon like the Elements from here did?" Swift Strike asked.

Rainbow had no answer to that. Now that she thought about it, was that what Elliot had expected from the Element bearers, that they would use the power of the Elements as a weapon? If so, she had the horrible feeling he might be disappointed: they might have been able to try banishing Solamina to the moon or turning her to stone or something similar, but...

The door to the barracks opened, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"Fluttershy!" she said, seeing her friend enter with a large smile on her face.

"Hi Rainbow," Fluttershy replied. "How are you?"

"I'm good, how are you?" Rainbow asked. It was only then that she noticed a small white armband had been attached to Rainbow's shirt, with a green cross emblazoned on it.

"Me and Errant Flight have been discussing what role I could best fit in the squadron," Fluttershy said, looking down at the symbol with a smile of joy. "I've been made the squadron's medic!"

Rainbow Dash smiled. Being a medic might well be the best choice for Fluttershy; she could now concentrate on trying to help ponies instead of trying to hurt them. Still, Rainbow was worried - not just about Fluttershy when Grey Squadron finally went out there to fight the armies of Solamina, but more importantly, she was worried that she and her friends had been brought here under false pretences, that Elliot had thought they could do something they just couldn't.

She hoped in her heart of hearts that they wouldn't all end up being a disappointment, and more importantly, that they could still help these ponies and these humans somehow defeat Solamina...

***

The Mindscape.

In the grassy fields of his mind, Elliot sat, meditating and concentrating on the power of the Avatar of Albion. He remembered the words of the knight, who sat nearby.

"The power is yours to wield, not merely yours to channel. The disconnect is a false dichotomy, a psychological impairment. Soon, you will learn to channel the power as yourself, and through controlling that power, reach new heights that will allow you to crush the tyrant Solamina."

He concentrated on the power, imagining it as stream that he was letting into his body. The water was filling him up with it's power, but he couldn't let it overflow and become a raging tide the way he had before: no, the only way to use it was to control that tide, be the force behind it that directed it.

The power kept building, coming faster and faster as he let more and more of it into his system, but he still had control of it - just.

"You are doing well," the voice of the knight spoke, somehow not affecting Elliot's concentration. "Soon, you will have your control."

Elliot realised that the power had reached it's apex, but the flow wouldn't stop: eventually, it hit him, and suddenly he convulsed, falling backwards.

In his bed, David Elliot twitched slightly, but the pony nurses watching over him didn't notice, engrossed in readings sent to them by the Doctor. Had they been paying close attention, they might have noticed a faint golden glow emanating from under his eyelids, but that too dissipated leaving him just an unconscious human again.

Elliot lay flat on his back on the grass, looking up at the blue sky of the mindscape with a scowl of frustration on his face.

"Why did you lose control?" the voice of the knight asked him.

"It came too fast," Elliot replied at once. "I couldn't control it, it ran away from me."

"It came because you summoned it," the knight replied, "and so you must control it's speed."

"I think I understand," Elliot replied. He closed his eyes, marshalled his breathing, and started again.

This time, the water would come slower.

Mistrust.

Chapter Twenty One: Mistrust.

***

Pontefract base, February 11th, 2030.

Twilight blocked the incoming hoof aimed squarely for her jaw with a grunt, before using the momentum of her attackers strike to throw him to the ground. Before she could do much to capitalise on that, however, the pony was on his feet again, and charging straight for her. She grunted again in pain as the pony head butted her, knocking her to the ground. Before she could move, the pony placed a hoof on her chest, preventing her from standing.

She looked up into the furious face of Desert Wind, who was staring down at her with a mixture of triumph and rage, breathing heavily.

"Private Wind, that is enough!" the stern voice of Iron Gait said angrily. The Sergeant was watching them spar with an annoyed look on his face.

"Yes sir," Desert Wind said at once, looking faintly abashed, the angry look on his face dissipating. "Sorry sir."

His hoof moved slowly off of Twilight's chest, his breathing slowing slightly. Twilight stood up, giving him an odd look as he walked to the edge of the sparring ring to have a drink of water.

All around them, ponies were sparring: Applejack was currently fighting against True Grit, and the two were surprisingly evenly matched. She had raw strength, but less skill, and he was a skilled fighter but lacking in raw brute strength. Meanwhile, Sapphire Steel was engaged in a tense hoof-to-hoof fight against Lyra, who was managing to hold her own despite her lack of experience. Meanwhile, Rarity was getting absolutely defeated by Pinkie Pie, who was so random with her moves and her targets that the former-fashionista was hard pressed to keep her from knocking her flat on her plot.

"Private Twilight," Iron Gait said, getting Twilight's attention again. He was frowning at her with a look of almost disappointment, rather than anger. "Do you want to explain to me precisely why you lost?"

"Sir?" Twilight said, frowning slightly at the question. "Desert Wind was just better, sir."

"That is not an answer, Private!" Iron Gait snapped, sounding annoyed at her answer. "'Just better' can mean many things! I want specifics! You don't learn from 'just better', and you are here to learn!"

Twilight suppressed her irritation, reminding herself that all of this was, in it's own way, meant to help her: Gait was right. She was here to learn.

"Sir," she began explaining,"Private Wind is physically stronger, faster, and has more motivation..."

"Motivation?" Iron Gait snapped. "Just what more motivation do you need, Private Sparkle? Have we not shown you enough to give you ample bucking motivation?!"

"Sir," Twilight said sharply, "Private Wind has alluded to having a personal grudge against this world's Twilight Sparkle. No doubt this influenced him during our sparring match, gave him an added edge of motivation. Sir."

She hoped saying that wouldn't get Desert Wind in trouble, but it was true: throughout the spar, Twilight had felt like Desert Wind was seeing somepony else when he looked at her, and it had unnerved her more than she would have liked to admit. She wasn't honestly sure whether he would have stopped had Gait not been here.

Iron Gait narrowed his eyes. "You're saying he used his anger at the other you to help him win his fight?"

"Sir," Twilight said, "I'm saying it's a possibility sir."

Iron Gait looked thoughtful for a moment, and then he smiled.

"Well," he said slowly, "he won didn't he?"

"Sir?" Twilight said with a raised eyebrow.

"If the main differences between you are strength and speed, I'd say you can easily edge him out with cleverness, your magic and agility," Iron Gait said to her, "but he won because he found a reason to win. I think there's a lesson for you to learn there, Private."

"Sir, yes sir," Twilight said slowly. He was right: there was a lesson here. It wasn't one she liked, but it was a lesson - sometimes you had to have a motivation to win, and that motivation might be the biggest difference between you and your enemy.

"Private Wind!" Iron Gait called at the sitting Desert Wind. "I want an explanation for your conduct during the sparring match!"

"Sir?" Desert Wind asked.

"Anypony can see when there's something else on a recruit's mind than the pony he's fighting, Private," Iron Gait said sternly. "It might have served you well this time, but chances are it'll be a bucking problem if you lose control and there's no handsome stallion of a Drill Sergeant to hold you back."

"Sir," Desert Wind said stiffly, "with all due respect, my problem was nothing that will occur in actual combat." He threw Twilight an odd look, one that was a mixture of anger and remorse. "It only occurred because of the... unique nature of my opponent."

"Unique nature of your opponent?" Iron Gait repeated. He scowled. "Soldier, whatever issue you have with a Private Sparkle had better be locked down pronto. You might end up at the same assignment as Private Sparkle, and you cannot allow any personal problems you have to jeopardise your unit's coherency as a team. You will stow your horseapples or you will find yourself cleaning latrines with a toothbrush. Clear?!"

"Sir, yes sir!" Desert Wind said sharply.

"Good," Gait said, a grin forming on his face. "As a suitable means for you to exercise your personal demons, Private, I think I know precisely who to pair you with on the next training mission."

Desert Wind looked suddenly concerned, and he locked eyes with Twilight, whose eyes widened. Both of them knew exactly what the Sergeant meant.

***

Woods near Airedale, February 14th, 2030.

Desert Wind scowled slightly at Twilight as she read the compass and the map she held in front of her. The two of them - along with other members of the troop - had been dropped via helicopter in the middle of a field surrounded by woods and told to make their way to Junction 32 off the M62 by sundown. Twilight was in charge of the map and the compass, and was currently using them to attempt to navigate the two of them towards their target.

"According to the map," she said softly after a moment studying the compass, "the nearest road to the drop off point is about half a mile to the east, and from there we should be able to follow what's left of the road to Junction 32... eventually."

"Good to know," Desert Wind said tersely. "But I'm still of the opinion that we should head in the direction of the motorway itself: it's a straight shot from here, and from there we can just head for Junction 32 - be there in a snap."

Twilight frowned. "Cutting across country will take time."

"Less time than going to the roads and navigating from there," Desert Wind replied. "And remember that time is of the essence: if we're not there by sundown..."

"Yes, I know," Twilight cut him off.

"Besides, I'm an Earth Pony and I used to work as a farmer," Desert Wind smiled. "I know what I'm doing in countryside."

Twilight sighed, and put the compass and map away in her saddlebag.

"Alright," she said. "I'll follow your lead."

"Good," Desert Wind said. He began walking, Twilight following him.

"You know," she said conversationally, "you never did tell us why you joined the Resistance."

"No, I didn't," Desert Wind said simply.

"I'd be interested to know," Twilight continued.

"Why?" Desert Wind asked, throwing her an irritated glance. "Why does it matter why I joined up? The point is, I'm here."

"Well," Twilight said softly, "everypony has their reasons. I thought maybe if I understood yours..."

"You'd understand what the buck was up with me," Desert Wind cut her off, rounding on her with a thunderous look on his face. "Listen, I have my own issues, but I don't need to share them, and I sure as Tartarus don't need to share them with you."

Twilight stopped in her tracks. Desert Wind was breathing heavily again, and his eyes were narrowed into a glare of hatred.

"What did she do to you?" she asked him softly.

Desert Wind scowled at her, but the glare on his face softened slightly.

"I wouldn't expect you to understand," he said, sounding less hostile.

"Sometimes all it takes is a friendly ear," Twilight replied instantly. "I know I'm not the pony you'd want to talk to, but... but I'm here."

She waited a moment, but Desert Wind said nothing. Nodding sadly, she began heading off in the direction of the road.

"I was in the Royal Guard," he said softly, catching her attention. She stopped and looked at him: he was looking off into the distance, eyes seeing something that nopony else could. "Sometimes, there are ponies that the brainwashing just doesn't work for: that was me. Usually we get caught during the process and assigned special duties - mainly the Wall..."

"The Wall?" Twilight asked, frowning.

Desert Wind smiled humourlessly. "The Wall is our nickname for a giant fortress-wall between Equestria and the rest of Equus that Celestia put up in the years between the barrier beginning to expand and the declaration of the Solaminan Empire." He chuckled slightly. "It's not very original."

"A giant wall?" Twilight said, eyes wide. "But that must have taken..."

"Years," Desert Wind interrupted. "And it was mainly Earth Pony backs that broke moving the stone. I know for a fact that at least two of my cousins died building the thing, but at the time nopony questioned Celestia's motives. It was only when she declared herself Astra Solamina that most ponies who were going to realise realised." He chuckled without mirth again, but it died in his throat. "Wish I had been one of them, but I swallowed the lies at the time, about how the humans had provoked the Empire, about how they'd been planning wars of genocide. It was our duty to convert them. Or falling that, kill them all."

"What happened that changed your mind?" Twilight asked softly, realising that this must be a sensitive subject for the pony and feeling grateful that he was sharing it. Desert Wind's face softened into a melancholic expression.

"We took a city called Lancaster," he finally said, his voice surprisingly quiet. "This was in the years before Albion of course." He paused. "About ten thousand civilians were there. Various sorts. We managed to convert a lot of them and the commanders set up temp-portals to send them back to Equestria where they could be made useful, but..." He paused again, his eyes drifting off. "My unit ran out of potion, and we came across a room full of these old people. Men and women, some of the men still wearing bits of military uniforms. They tried to fight, some of them, even though they could barely walk..." He closed his eyes. "Some of them were even singing. A hymn, I think... it went... how did it go...?"

He paused, his eyes screwing shut as though he was trying to stem the memories he had.

"When there were only the old women and the invalid men left, my Sergeant told our unit to wipe them out," he continued. "Any humans we couldn't convert, for whatever reason, we killed." He scowled. "I argued, said it was immoral to just murder the elderly and infirm in their sick beds and chairs. He told me it was Solamina's will. That usually works on brainwashed Guards." He smirked, true mirth entering his smile, though it was dark and twisted. "I told him to go buck himself."

There was a long pause.

"I got knocked out, and the old people were all slaughtered anyway," he said after a moment. "After that, I got what most of those immune to the brainwashing get. I got inspected by Sparkle herself."

There was something off about the way he said the word "inspected", as though he was thinking of something far different. Twilight found her curiosity was at once piqued and repelled, but the greater part of her wanted answers - not only to help Desert Wind, but for her own morbid curiosity.

"Inspected?" she asked.

"She runs a bunch of magic 'tests' on anypony who's interesting in some way - immune to the brainwashing or to certain spells," Desert Wind said with a scoff. "Basically, it's torture. She finds out what spells you're immune to, if there's some alternative way of brainwashing you, some way to adapt the spell to make it more perfect. Turns out, though, I had no magical resistance as such - eight or nine fire spells and a few pain spells figured that one out." He grinned mirthless lay again. "No, I'm just plain stubborn: it's a thing some Earth Ponies have where you can't physically replace the reality or morals of their minds because we're so darn hardheaded."

"And after that?" Twilight asked, sickened by the very idea that any version of her was able to torture somepony like that.

"After that, I got sent to the Wall too," Desert Wind said, "but by then the damage was done. I knew what they were doing. I had seen them converting those people, seen them murder those they couldn't... and I'd seen how brave they could be. When Trixie's caravan came, I'd have done anything to get a place on it."

He paused, his eyes filled with melancholia.

"All I wish is that I could remember that song they sang," he said softly. "It was... it was... something about 'green and pleasant lands'." He scowled. "It's not important."

Twilight put a hoof on his shoulder. "I'll find it for you. I promise."

Desert Wind gave her a lopsided grin. "You don't have to."

"Anything for a friend," Twilight replied. Desert a Wind scowled for a moment, then sighed and smiled.

"Yeah," he said softly. "Friend." He took a deep breath. "Come on - best we get going, or we might end up being last."

"Right behind you," Twilight said as he walked off, smiling now that she knew she had been able to help somepony get past something.

***

Junction 32, three hours later.

Desert Wind stood at attention, Twilight next to him. Iron Gait was smirking slightly as the last few stragglers arrived. Desert Wind and Twilight had arrived second: Applejack and a Rarity had been waiting for them. Shortly after Desert Wind and Twilight came, tired and scratched by what could only be assumed to be brambles, Lyra and True Grit. Sapphire Steel had come with her partner, a mare named Purple Rose, about ten minutes after that. Eventually, almost everypony had returned except one pair.

Finally, the last pair - Pinkie Pie and Dipstick, both of whom were covered in confetti (poor Dipstick looking incredibly confused by the experience) - arrived, Pinkie grinning and Dipstick looking confused and upset.

"Private Dipstick!" Iron Gait yelled, sounding annoyed. "Do you want to explain why you and Private Pie are so darn late?!"

In reply, Dipstick pointed at Pinkie, who was grinning. Iron Gait raised an eyebrow.

"Private Pie?" the Sergeant asked. "You want to field the question?"

"Sir!" Pinkie said chirpily. "We had a walking-in-the-woods party, sir!"

"A walking... in the woods... party?" Gait repeated, eye twitching slightly.

"Sir, yes sir!" Pinkie replied chirpily. "Very enjoyable sir. There was cake and confetti!"

Iron Gait looked like he was torn between tearing Pinkie apart with words, or laughing his head off at the sheer ridiculousness of her statement. Eventually, he sighed heavily.

"Alright ladies and gentlecolts," he said, sounding tired, "now that everypony's back from their little strolls, finally, we're going to go on a little jog back to the castle. It's not more than five miles - should be a luxury for you ladies."

Desert Wind threw Twilight a look, and she just shrugged. They hadn't really expected their walk to be the last thing they had to do today, and Iron Gait had a habit of proving them right. Still, Twilight at least was happy that she had managed to make a friend in Desert Wind.

***

Leeds Base, February 16th, 2030.

Rainbow Dash stared slightly awkwardly at the silver shine of the metal blade in her first real flip out vambrace blade. It was the first time she had worn the metal version of the weapon and she found it a little awkward adjusting. The Bokken had been carefully weighted to be the same weight as these weapons, but the Bokken had a subtly different weighting in terms of where that weight was. The metal variant was lighter in some places and heavier in others.

"For those of you who've never worn one," Errant Flight said, looking around the members of Grey Squadron with a thoughtful expression, "I know this will be an unusual feeling. The vambrace blade feels different to the training blade. That is to be expected, since the weight is distributed differently. This next training course will be similar to the first one you had, with the targets set up in a similar manner, except that you'll be using the real weapon."

Rainbow threw a glance at Fluttershy, who looked suitably concerned about holding the real weapon. The other members of the squadron looked at the weapon with a mix of trepidation from those who were less experienced (Ditzy and True Blue especially, though Bright Wonder looked a little careful with the weapon too), and familiarity from the more experienced flyers, such as Dream Flyer and Swift Strike. Dark Wing especially looked very happy with the weapon.

"Theoretically, this weapon works like the weapon you are used to using," Errant Flight continued. "So you shouldn't have any trouble with it."

Fluttershy made a soft noise of fear, and Rainbow threw a glance her way. Everypony in the squadron knew that Fluttershy was the least comfortable with any kind of combat training: even attacking the training targets made her uncomfortable.

"Fluttershy," Errant Flight said softly, "as squadron medic, the standards we hold you to in terms of combat ability are somewhat lower than the rest of the squadron. You don't need to worry about meeting quite the same standard."

Fluttershy smiled softly. "Thank you," she said, barely audible.

Some of the squadron looked a little irritated, however, by Errant Flight's statement, and Fluttershy, noticing their irritation, quickly ducked her head in shame. Dream Flyer especially look irritated.

"Captain Flight, sir," the second in command of the squadron said softly to her superior, "might I have a word in private?"

Errant gave her a look filled with curiosity.

"Alright," he said quietly. "Come with me Commander. The rest of you wait here."

He and Dream Flyer walked off, standing some way away from the squadron.

"What do you reckon they're talking about?" Bright Wonder asked.

"Probably Fluttershy," Silver Spire said, looking somewhat apologetic. "No offence, Grey Twelve, but having a member of Grey Squadron who can't fight is a bit of a liability."

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash said angrily. "Fluttershy is not a liability!"

"What else would you call a fighter who doesn't have the guts to kill?" Solid Hoof asked, the gruff voiced pony sounding irritated. Hoof didn't speak much, and every time he spoke, everypony was slightly surprised.

"I have to agree with Dash, actually," Dark Wing added softly, surprising Rainbow Dash somewhat. "The kind of fighting we do requires having a medic on the team. I know the original Grey Squadron had a medic."

"That was Butter Mellow, yeah?" Swift Strike asked, looking curious.

"I think so," Dark Wing nodded.

"Point being, nopony should be saying Fluttershy doesn't belong!" Rainbow Dash said angrily.

"Um, it's ok," Fluttershy said softly.

"She has just as much right as anypony to be in this squadron!" Rainbow continued, not hearing her friend.

"It's ok, Rainbow!" Fluttershy said, speaking louder. Rainbow looked at her, eyes wide with incredulity. "I don't mind it if you guys don't think I should be in the squadron. Sometimes I don't think so either. I just try to do my best."

"All due respect, Fluttershy," Dark Wing said, "but when we start fighting, I get the feeling we're all going to be very grateful to have you in the team."

"Speak for yourself," Solid Hoof countered, looking irritated. "I would rather have a pony who I could trust to be able to kill the pony chasing me down than a pony to tend my paper cuts but would quail at killing to save my life."

Rainbow Dash looked thunderous at that, and even Dark Wing looked annoyed. Before anypony could continue, however, Errant Flight and Dream Flyer walked over. Errant looked angry and Dream Flyer looked slightly abashed.

"Alright," Flight said sternly. "It's been drawn to my attention that certain members of the squadron aren't happy with having Fluttershy present due to her comparatively low times on training courses and her low combat rating."

Certain members of the squadron looked at each other guiltily at the tone Flight adopted, but Solid Hoof looked unashamed.

"Well listen to me then," Flight continued, looking each of them in the eye. "I'm gonna tell you about my friend Butter Mellow."

He sat down, and began speaking. His tone was soft and melancholic, as though the memory brought great pain, but he had a soft smile upon his face, as though it also brought great happiness. The rest of the squadron listened intently: they had rarely heard Errant Flight discuss any part of the old Grey Squadron in detail.

"Butter Mellow was forty five when Grey Squadron was formed in 2025. He was one of the first Equestrian refugees in 2024, but he was unhappy with the idea of killing. Eventually, however, he joined the Resistance Air Force." Errant Flight smiled as he thought about his old friend. "He got assigned to Grey Squadron as it's medic, but he never once felt comfortable with fighting against ponies, never felt comfortable killing them. He could, but he hated it." Errant Flight paused, a sad smile on his face. "Most ponies in Grey Squadron killed something like thirty or forty flyers in their career, and some lost count: Ditzy, Lightning Dust, Swift Wing... Butter Mellow killed sixteen ponies over the course of his career, and he once told me he tried to remember the faces of every one."

Errant's smile faded slightly.

"Right before the battle of Manchester, we flew in a battle over the Isle of Mann." He paused thoughtfully. "A member of the squadron called Wall Flower went down in that fight. After the thing was over, we found Butter Mellow with him, trying desperately to bring him back. He might have spent a whole hour there, trying to keep our squadron mate from dying." Errant paused again. "We lost four ponies between our founding and Manchester. Silver Lining, Quiet Glide, Jaded Heart and Wall Flower. Butter Mellow took each death personally, feeling like he'd failed them all somehow. It never occurred to him that he'd probably saved half our lives at least a dozen times: I know for a fact he was the one keeping Lightning Dust from spiralling back into her self-destructive tendencies. He was compassionate; a father figure for the squad, where Ditzy was always the mother. I'm glad I knew him, and I was glad he was on the Squadron."

Errant took a moment to look at everypony, before looking at Fluttershy, who looked somewhat emba

"Fluttershy, I didn't just make you the medic because of your skills: part of me felt that having you be the medic made sense because you remind me of Butter Mellow. Like him, I think you have the potential to be the real heart of this team, as well as the potential to save a lot of lives." Errant's eyes turned back to Dream Flyer and the others. "And you might not be the best attack flyer, but your scores are more than acceptable for the Resistance Air Force's standards. Is that clear?"

The rest of the pilots murmured various affirmatives, and Errant nodded firmly.

"Alright then team," he said. "Let's get to those drills."

Murmuring their affirmatives, the group took off and headed to the drill area. As the group flew, Fluttershy moved to fly nearer to Dark Wing.

"Thank you for sticking up for me," she said softly.

"I owed you one," Dark Wing replied with a shrug as he flew, "and you're as much a member of this team as anypony. They didn't have a right to question it if the Captain didn't."

"Still, it was nice," Fluttershy said. "Thank you."

Dark Wing gave her a smile, and then flew ahead, leaving Fluttershy to ponder her position in the squadron. Sure, someponies didn't trust her in the squadron - but some of them did, and Errant Flight had told her that he believed she had a place. For him to tell her that made her feel a great deal better.

She shook her head as the squadron reached the training area. It was time to get to work, and she was sure she'd have a lot to do to keep up with everypony else.

Drills and Thrills.

Chapter Twenty Two: Drills and Thrills.

***

Pontefract Castle base, February 20th, 2030.

Twilight Sparkle screamed as she charged forward, the blade held in front of her by her telekinesis pointing straight downwards at the poor practice dummy she was charging. Her legs were aching from repeating the gallop over and over, but she kept pushing at her limits, determined to get past them and prove that she was ready and willing to help as much as she could.

Her blade stuck into the vulnerable throat area of the dummy, sand spilling out from the pony shaped thing. It was dressed in battered and scored Royal Guard armour, which had clearly seen previous use (and misuse), and Twilight had been charging at it, along with the rest of her training unit, for the last half hour.

"That's one dead pony!" Iron Gait's voice yelled. "We might make a killer out of you yet, Private Sparkle!"

"Sir, yes sir!" she yelled back, fighting down her gorge as her imagination replaced the spilling sands with spilling arterial blood. It didn't help that the armour the blasted dummy wore was so similar to Shining Armour's own, though less ornate. She went past the dummy, driving those thoughts from her mind as best she could, wheeled around and came back to the rear of the line, right behind Rarity.

"This is frankly barbaric," her friend said softly, her own blade held in front of her by telekinesis. "Can you honestly imagine killing ponies like this?"

"I don't think I want to imagine it," Lyra said from in front of her, her own blade held in a firm telekinetic grip.

"Mm," Applejack, who was further ahead in the line, murmured through the blade between her teeth. She looked ahead, her eyes steel, looking for all the world like she was concentrating on something else entirely.

"Mm?" Pinkie Pie mumbled through her own blade, looking at her friend. Applejack just shook her head, and Pinkie shrugged. True Grit, further in front still than these two, said nothing, though he looked more determined than sick.

"Remember!" Iron Gait yelled, as Desert Wind charged at the dummy with a muffled battle cry. "This dummy is your enemy! This dummy wants to brainwash you, rip your freedoms from you! This dummy is not your friend, never will be, never wants to be!"

"Sir, yes sir!" the ponies who didn't have blades held in their teeth yelled.

"On the battlefield, you can show no mercy," Gait continued, "for you will be shown none! At best, you can hope for a quick death. At worst, you might be dragged back to Astra Solamina's palace in time to get mind-bucked and turned into a slave! Death is preferable! Killing the enemy first better still!"

"Sir, yes sir!" the response came.

Desert Wind had reached the dummy. His blade sliced the dummy's cloth throat, the Earth Pony snarling slightly as he did so. He roared as he sliced again, spilling more of the sand onto the ground.

"That's enough, Private Wind," Iron Gait barked at him. "Move on!"

Breathing heavily, Desert Wind saluted. Moving away from the dummy, the pony turned and wheeled around, heading for the rear of the line.

Sapphire Steel charged after him, her blade embedding itself in the dummy's rounded out eye socket. Her eyes were slightly wide at that, and she retracted the blade quickly.

"Money shot!" Iron Gait yelled with a laugh, startling the already startled pony. "Not bad, Private Steel! Not bad at all!"

Laughing shakily, Sapphire Steel moved back to the rear of the line.

True Grit's charge was calm and professional, the blade piercing the heart of the dummy through the exposed chest area with little problem. Grit withdrew the blade and stabbed once more for good measure, before continuing on back to the rear of the line.

"Not bad," was all Iron Gait said to this display. Grit smiled softly: 'not bad' was better than the usual insults about being a former Royal Guard, which meant he had definitely impressed the stern Sergeant.

Next up was Applejack, who charged straight at the pony. She let herself feel the adrenaline rush as she galloped, before, upon reaching the pony, spinning and bucking faster than the eye could see. The dummy shook the front of it's armour crumpling under the power of the blow, and then Applejack span around and slashed her blade across the dummy's throat.

"Yes!" Iron Gait yelled. "Exactly like that! Looks like you might be an Apple after all, Private Applejack!"

"Sir, thank you sir!" Applejack said loudly, holding her blade in her hoof, a slightly pleased smile on her face as she walked back to the rear of the line.

Twilight watched the entire display with a slight frown. Applejack had seemed almost... eager, entirely unlike her. Twilight made a mental note to ask her friend about the charge at the mess hall later today.

Next up was Pinkie Pie, who held her blade in her mouth with something resembling a tiny bit of trepidation. She charged straight forward at the dummy - and then stopped.

"Private Pie!" Iron Gait yelled. "What's the bucking problem?! Stab your enemy!"

Without answering, Pinkie reached from somewhere, and suddenly produced her party cannon, the giant pink firing apparatus entirely incongruous in the muddy field surrounded by tired, muddy ponies. A moment later, the cannon fired, a loud bang sounding from the barrel. The force of the shot was incredible, knocking the dummy clean thirty feet across the yard, where it smashed into a sandstone wall, it's entire form covered in pastry.

"Waste of good cake," Pinkie muttered under her breath, looking vaguely unhappy at the poor usage of confectionary produce. The party cannon vanished into the ether.

"Private!" Iron Gait yelled. Pinkie turned, to see the Sergeant walking towards her. "You wanna tell me just what in the name of whatever deity watches over pony kind you think you were doing?!"

"Party cannon," Pinkie said simply, shrugging at him. "Worked better than the knife."

"Private, this is a knife charge!" Iron Gait yelled in her face. Pinkie grinned at him. "I don't care if you think the knife doesn't work as well as your party cannon. Hell, I don't care what weapon you've got - if I give you a sharp twig to use on the enemy, you use the darn sharp twig, and not anything else, am I clear?!"

Pinkie seemed to consider this logic for a moment, and then, impossibly, she smiled.

"There's a really clever thing somepony said once that I think might be appropriate sir," she said.

"And what's that, Private Pie?" Iron Gait asked tiredly.

"Never bring a knife to a gun fight," she said sagely, winking at him. Iron Gait, still not entirely used to Pinkie Pie randomness after a whole two and a bit weeks of it, sighed and facehoofed. He could probably have gotten away with yelling at her more... but honestly. He just wasn't in the bucking mood.

"Private Pie, next time, bring a knife to a knife fight and leave the cannon out of it," he said gruffly. "Direct order. Clear?"

"Sir, yes sir," she said, saluting with a chirpy smile. Iron Gait turned back to the rest of the troop.

"Looks like the enemy's dead, troops," he said to his recruits with a fair amount of sarcasm. "Hooray for Private Pie. Lunchtime, ponies!"

"Sir, yes sir!" the ponies snapped as one, before breaking ranks and heading for the mess hall, all of them very eager to have something to eat.

***

In the mess hall, which was a large tent that had been erected for the ponies some time ago near the castle, Pinkie, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Lyra and True Grit sat with each other. Near them sat Dipstick, Desert Wind and Sapphire Steel.

"Applejack," Twilight asked her friend once they were all sat down. "Are you alright?"

"Whaddya mean, sugarcube?" Applejack asked as she munched on an apple, seemingly perfectly fine.

"I mean, you were pretty... enthusiastic about attacking that dummy," Twilight said, watching her friend's reaction closely. Applejack swallowed the bite of the apple she was eating and gave Twilight a look of confusion.

"I noticed that as well," Rarity said softly from across the table. "It was quite a shockingly violent display: I didn't think you were capable of anything like that, dear."

"Shucks, guys, it was only a dummy," Applejack said, looking somewhat shamefaced.

"I think you did well," True Grit put in, nodding approvingly. "We'll need to learn to be that kind of enthusiastic about killing, or at least have that kind of energy."

"I wasn't bucking enthusiastic!" Applejack snapped. Silence descended for a moment after her outburst and she coughed softly. "I wasn't enthusiastic about hurtin' anypony. I just... I thought about what might happen if one day one of you guys ever got hurt by one of Solamina's troops, how I might feel, and I... I got angry, and then I used that anger to motivate me into charging!"

"I think that's how it's meant to work," Lyra said softly. Her own charges had been routinely efficient, almost too much so. "I just imagined... the other me. You know. Lying there."

Twilight nodded once, expression downcast. The idea of seeing oneself dead was no doubt a powerful motivating force, and it can't have been particularly good for Lyra's mental state.

"All the same," Twilight said after a moment, "I'm not sure I'm comfortable with us all becoming so... used to the idea of killing."

The others shared glances filled with concern: clearly, they too were less than thrilled with the idea of killing anypony, and even less so with the idea that they might become used to doing so.

"Well," Applejack said softly after a long moment's thought, "I guess it's what we came here to do."

"I know," Twilight said, holding up a hoof to placate her friend. "I know. We came here to fight, we came here to kill. But... but I dunno. I just don't feel comfortable with it."

"Well shucks, Twi," Applejack said, "neither do I. Neither does anypony. But I reckon we don't have much of a choice."

"For what it's worth," Sapphire Steel put in, "sometimes there are causes that require you to stand up and fight, kill and even die. I think if ever there were a cause that demanded it, this is it."

Twilight nodded slowly. She couldn't deny that they were here for that precise purpose - and she also couldn't deny that she, too, had taken had sort of enthusiasm for stabbing the dummy with her own dagger. She didn't know where that rage, that sheer mind numbing rage that she had summoned had come from, but it was part of her, and she had been able to channel it.

"Yeah," she said. "I guess you're right."

A bell rang, signalling that dinner had ended, and Twilight sighed softly. Back to the grind of training with them: no doubt soon she would become all too comfortable with the killing side of it. She wondered briefly whether the Twilight Sparkle who went back to the sane Equestria would be anything like the one who had come to this crazy, damaged world.

***

Leeds, February 24th, 2030.

Rainbow Dash flew, along with the rest of Grey Squadron, in a loose formation over the city of Leeds. She was on the left side of True Blue, while Fluttershy remained on the right of the eager young pony. They were, all three of them, the fourth 'flight' of the squadron, a sort of mini group within the squadron headed by True Blue. Errant Flight, Dream Flyer and White Blossom were tapped as the first flight, Dark Wing, Bright Wonder and Silver Spire were the second and Swift Strike, Ditzy and Solid Hoof were the third. The four flights were, ostensibly, all operating as separate groups within the squadron, although they still followed the over-orders of Errant Flight as necessary.

They were all wearing their wooden training blades and grey flight shirts, as well as hi-a tech goggles that contained a transceiver array and Heads Up Display that allowed them to note the location of their allies in the sky at all times. Rainbow figured these would be useful, as they would allow the group to know where each other was at all times. This was, according to Errant Flight, one of the few bits of technological genius the human race had managed to come up with in the six years since the war had started, and it had saved a few lives in the Resistance Air Forces. Added to that the fact that the white straps took battle-graffiti very easily, and these were quickly very popular amongst Grey Squadron. Rainbow herself had drawn a small version of her cutie mark on the strap with a smile: a little personalisation never hurt.

"Alright ponies," Errant Flight's voice spoke through the little earpieces they all sported, bringing Rainbow's attention back to the present. "This here is a training mission: you pass this, we'll be pretty bucking golden. This is the situation: our colleagues in Eagle, Griffon and Lance Squadrons are flying around the city. Our job is to engage them in mock skirmish and to win with minimal casualties. If we lose more than half the squadron, I'm calling this mission aborted and failed. Clear?"

A chorus of affirmatives sounded from the rest of Grey, and Rainbow made her own noise of affirmation.

Just as they did so, a small series of dots appeared in their vision: the other squadrons, no doubt.

"Alright," Errant's voice spoke, sounding a tiny bit more urgent. "Let's do this: all flyers, sound off."

"Grey Two, aye," Dream Flyer's voice spoke calmly. As a veteran of several flights already, she was almost as calm as Errant Flight about the prospect of this skirmish test.

"Grey Three, check," White Blossom's soft voice buzzed in the microphone.

"Grey Four, ready and eager," Dark Wing's voice spoke, sounding tense but ready.

"Grey Five, aye," Bright Wonder said chirpily, sounding altogether too happy about the engagement to come.

"Grey Six, my wings are yours," said Silver Spire, surprising most of the ponies with his eloquence. He rarely spoke, like Solid Hoof, but where Solid Hoof was gruff, Silver Spire could be surprisingly grandiloquent.

"Grey Seven on station," Swift Strike spoke quickly, sounding eager as well. The young Pegasus was raring to fly his first action - even a training action - in Grey Squadron.

"Grey Eight, ready," Ditzy spoke softly, not sounding altogether enthusiastic, not that Rainbow Dash blamed her.

"Grey Nine, here," Solid Hoof said, his voice as gruff and grim as his personality.

"Grey Ten, check," True Blue said eagerly. His naive nature was endearing, though Rainbow had a horrible feeling he wouldn't feel so happy about this after he had seen real combat - she knew that all too well.

"Grey Eleven, standing by," Rainbow Dash sounded off, narrowing her eyes and keeping an eye out for hostile skirmishers.

"Grey Twelve standing by," Fluttershy added, echoing Rainbow Dash, her voice quiet but the mic picking it up nonetheless. She was, of all of them, the least happy about what was about to happen, and Rainbow Dash prayed her friend could do well here and not be too scared or even hurt.

"Alright," Errant Flight spoke. "Accelerate to faux attack speed. Remember, this is a training mission: no damage to our friendlies, and don't go full pelt."

"Roger that," Dark Wing said with a slight sneer in his voice, "we'll just have to show them whose best without roughing anypony up."

"Don't get cocky, Four," Errant admonished.

"Roger that," Dark Wing replied, sounding suitably chastised.

Now they were close enough to see their opponents from the other squadrons: the ponies of the various groups they were facing all wore white shirts with various symbols embroidered on the back, and were mimicking the traditional style of the Equestrian armies, at least for their initial run. Whether that was how they normally flew or whether it was just their decision for this flight, Rainbow didn't know, but she didn't want to think they normally flew like the enemy, given all she'd learned about the flaws of that style.

"Alright!" Errant said sharply, bringing her attention back to the now. "On my signal we'll break formation. One flight, on me. Two flight, take the left flank and try to draw some off. Three and four, up and under the bastards, let's try to frazzle their lines a bit!"

"Roger, Lead," Dark Wing said.

"Confirmed," Swift Strike added.

"Gotcha!" True Blue said eagerly.

The line of other Pegasi was getting closer and closer, so close that Rainbow could almost see e individual patterns on their uniforms...

"Grey Squadron, break ranks!" Errant Flight snapped.

"Got it!" True Blue said at once, as the other Flight leaders gave their responses. "Eleven, Twelve, on me!"

"With you, Bluey," Rainbow Dash replied quickly, using the affectionate nickname some of the team had come up with.

A moment later, the lines of Pegasi met. Errant's team went right through the centre, forcing ponies to scatter or be knocked aside. Ditzy's group went above the line, causing more Pegasi to splinter off. More ponies still went after True Blue and the others in four flight, who began a steady descent.

"Hostiles on our six!" True Blue said sounding slightly panicky.

"Don't sweat it, kid," Rainbow Dash said, looking behind her with a smirk to confirm that three ponies were on their tales. "I got this."

She banked suddenly, allowing a pony pursuing her to fly underneath her, before charging straight after him. She flipped out her wooden blade and lightly tapped his flank.

"You're dead!" she yelled at him. He turned at saw her, his eyes widening, before cursing and heading for the ground. She could have sworn she heard him mutter 'horsefeathers' as he did so. Rainbow Dash allowed herself a second to smile.

"Rainbow!" Fluttershy's voice spoke quickly into Rainbow's earpiece. Rainbow looked to see where her friend's identification dot was on her HUD, only to see a pony from one of their opponent squadrons chasing after her.

"On it!" Rainbow said quickly, charging straight at the pony, tackling him in the midsection right as he was about to catch Fluttershy. He whipped a blade out and tried to hit her, but she blocked it and moved her own to his throat.

"Gotcha," she said. He narrowed his eyes in annoyance before turning and heading for the ground.

"Three Flight needs support!" the voice of Swift Strike spoke quickly, catching Rainbow's ear. "Multiple hostiles closing on us!"

"Four Flight, form up!" True Blue's voice came urgently through her earpiece.

"Roger that!" Rainbow said. Fluttershy sounded an affirmative as well. A moment later, the three of them were flying towards the little dots that represented Three Flight.

"This one's really tight on me!" Swift Strike said, his voice tense. "I don't think - gah!"

"Grey Seven!" True Blue said frantically.

"Bucker got me!" Swift Strike said, getting annoyed. "Swift Strike, retuning to base."

"You're in charge of Three Flight now, Ditzy," the deep, gruff voice of Solid Hoof spoke.

"Four Flight? Are you on your way?" Ditzy asked, sounding quite calm.

"Should be there any second, Ditzy!" Rainbow confirmed.

"Oh good," Ditzy said simply, sounding surprisingly neutral given the grim situation she was in. "Solid Hoof, bank left, try to draw some off. I'll go right. Hopefully they'll split up, make Four Flight's job easier."

"Roger that, Eight," Solid Hoof replied. Rainbow saw him bank off, as Ditzy headed right.

"I'll cover Ditzy!" she said at once.

"Roger that," True Blue said. "Fluttershy, on me, let's keep those other guys off Solid Hoof."

"O-ok," Fluttershy said softly. She and True Blue headed off after the Pegasi chasing Solid Hoof, leaving Rainbow alone following the three on Ditzy. She sped up slightly, aiming for the three of them, then readied her blonde.

In a swift motion, she tapped all three of them on the sides as she passed them, giving them a mocking salute.

"Tag, tag, tag, you're dead!" she yelled back at them. They slowed down in surprise, and then, cursing, headed for the ground. "You're all clear Ditzy!"

"Roger that," Ditzy said, throwing a smile and a salute Rainbow Dash's way. "Thanks, Rainbow Dash."

"Don't mention it," Rainbow replied. "True Blue, what's your status?"

"We covered Solid Hoof," True Blue replied sharply, "but Fluttershy's got more on her tail now. She's banking back towards you now!"

"Gotcha," Rainbow Dash said, smiling slightly. "Come on, Ditzy, let's give our friends a big surprise!"

***

"Here's to Grey Squadron!" Bright Wonder laughed, raising a mug of Equestrian-Style Ale in the flyer's mess.

"Here, here!" everypony else said, tapping their tankards together.

The entirety of Grey Squadron was sat in the flyer's mess of the base, a spacious building with benches and a bar, celebrating a successful run. Though outnumbered, they had managed to reduce their enemy to half strength and force them to abort their mission, with only three faux casualties from the squadron.

True Blue was comforting a slightly morose Swift Strike, who was irritated at himself for being so easily taken out. Silver Spire seemed slightly less cheerful than the rest, having been taken out when Two Flight banked left and was briefly left with no support, but he was good natured about the whole thing, seeing it as a learning experience. To everypony's surprise, however, the third pony from the squadron who had been downed was Errant Flight himself, who was sheepishly grinning as he laughed with Dream Flyer and White Blossom.

"So what happened boss?" Dark Wing asked, a wry grin on his face.

"Well, we broke their centre lines, just like we were meant to," White Blossom said, sounding considerably more social with six pints of ale down her. "But there were a lot of them on our six and Three and Four's up and over plan didn't work nearly as well as he thought."

"To be fair, I should have known that they wouldn't fall for that," Errant said with a shrug. "They're not Royal Guard Pegasi Conscripts, after all. Some of these guys were Wonderbolt recruits, and even if they weren't, they're still pretty good flyers."

"So what happened?" Ditzy asked, sounding almost concerned.

"Well, when we realised so many were on our plots so to speak, Errant suggested splitting up," Dream Flyer said.

"It seemed the best bet," Errant added. "Break up the hostile squadron, make it so they were less concentrated."

"So why didn't it work?" Rainbow Dash asked, her own mug in her hand. White Blossom started sniggering and then burst out laughing, and Dream Flyer looked amused as well. Errant Flight gave Rainbow a dirty look, and her smile faltered slightly - he had yet to be so friendly or share the same camaraderie with her as he had with everypony else, even Fluttershy. She sighed, returning to her mug.

"Because they all followed him!" Blossom laughed, interrupting the dour moment. "Every last one of them!"

"Really?" Fluttershy asked, looking shocked. "Gosh. That must have been very scary!"

"A little," Errant shrugged, turning away from Rainbow Dash, "but I knew it was a test, and to be fair I flew rings around them for a good five minutes before they got me."

"I guess it's true what they say," Silver Spire said solemnly, the effect somewhat ruined by the fact that he was swaying in his seat. "Everypony meets their match eventually."

Errant laughed good-naturedly at the somewhat ominous comment, even as some members of the squad shared glances that made it clear that Silver Spire's comment had shaken them slightly.

"Maybe they do," he said softly, "but I haven't met mine proper yet." He raised a hand to get the bar pony's attention. "More drink!"

A cheer went up from the squadron, all of whom were happy to be here, happy to be with these ponies, even Rainbow Dash, who had been accepted by everypony but Errant Flight.

Just this once, before all the horrors that they all knew this war would throw their way, life was good, and each and every one of treasured that feeling.

***

Acceptance.

Chapter Twenty Three: Acceptance.

***

Leeds Royal Armouries, March 1st, 2030.

Rainbow Dash ducked under a spinning blade, before back flipping away from another, her wings powering the flip. A spear shot out towards her, and she dodged that too, before lashing out with her own blade, taking the head of the spear off. She smiled briefly to herself for a moment, before leaping back again, dodging another sweeping blow.

She was battling against a static training machine designed to hone the reflexes and endurance of Air Force Pegasi: it was a column, spanning from the base of the room to the ceiling, attached to which were various levers, springs and other articles which, at random intervals, would lash out with wooden blades, blunted spears and training arrows, designed to catch a flyer unaware, though none of the weapons were lethal; the most danger a flyer would be in was mild bruising, though she had heard tell of worse injuries still.

So far she was doing well: the minimum a Pegasus had to last against this machine before calling it quits or being thrown beyond a yellow circle that surrounded it (or being badly injured, which was rare given the skill-set of most ponies and the comparatively safe equipment, but it did still occasionally happen) was one minute to meet Resistance Air Force standards of reflexes and endurance. Her time was currently around five minutes, possibly five and a half, she wasn't certain.

Watching from a nearby observation room through a tinted glass window was Errant Flight. He narrowed his eyes slightly as he observed the spar between Dash and the machine.

"She's still beating most of the scores, right?" Dream Flyer asked from next him. She was looking at his face more than the spar, watching his reactions with concern.

"She's either just below or matching most of Lightning Dust's scores," Errant Flight replied softly, a frown on his face, "and Lightning Dust was always the best flyer in Grey in terms of raw skill. Dash also seems better at teamwork than Dust ever was."

"Less hardship, I reckon," Dream Flyer said with a sage nod.

"Even without the hardship, Dust was never really a team player," Errant countered, glancing sideways at Dream Flyer. "It was a learned skill. It seems more natural to Dash, like she has more experience with it."

"She probably does," Dream Flyer noted. "Elements of Order."

"Hm," Errant said, sounding like he wasn't convinced. "If I recall correctly, they earned the Elements for their personality, not the other way round."

"Either way," Flyer said, "she's more experienced with teamwork regardless and it shows." Dream Flyer paused, thinking her next words carefully. "She might even be a better asset than Lightning Dust ever was."

Errant Flight threw her a dirty look. "Lightning Dust was my friend. Rainbow Dash is not. Better team-player or not, Rainbow Dash has a long way to go before she matches Dust in my book."

Dream Flyer shrugged. It wasn't her place to question Errant on this matter: if he wanted to push Dash more, it was his call.

Dash had been on the course for over six minutes by this point, and was still going.

"Alright, Dash," Errant said, activating the intercom. "That'll do."

The machine stopped moving, leaving Rainbow Dash standing in the training room waiting for somepony to collect her. Errant Flight sighed and stepped out of the observation room into the training space.

"Good work today," he said to her. "You're matching most of the score records set by Lightning Dust, or getting close to it anyway."

Rainbow nodded heavily, panting slightly as a small grin formed on her face. The training was hard work, but she was definitely getting better at all of this.

"Don't get cocky though," Errant added, a stern look on his face. "You have a long way to go."

"Gotcha, sir," Rainbow Dash said with a slightly comedic salute. Errant scowled and waved her off, and she walked out to meet with the rest of the squadron.

Outside in a waiting area, the rest of the squadron was waiting. Considering her position in the squadron, she had been the second to last to do this test. The last, unfortunately, was Fluttershy, who looked suitably nervous at the thought of going into the training room. Rainbow saw Dark Wing, Ditzy and - surprisingly enough - Solid Hoof talking to her, trying to cheer her up.

Since the training combat mission against the other squadrons, during which True Blue and Fluttershy had saved Solid Hoof from being 'downed', the gruff pony's opinion of Fluttershy had drastically improved from his initial dismissal of her usefulness, and he had taken it as his personal job to help support her in her effort to become a better flyer and more productive member of the team, as well as backing her up whenever she needed it. In practice, this usually led to him giving her practical, if bluntly spoken, advice in his typical gruff voice.

"Don't worry, Fluttershy," Ditzy was saying as Rainbow approached. "If I can do the training room, I'm sure you can."

"It's more intimidating to look at than it is to take on," Dark Wing added.

"But... but I'm not very fast, and it's supposed to be..." Fluttershy murmured, barely audible.

"You are small and agile," Solid Hoof said bluntly, his gruff voice sounding no different to how it usually did, despite his attempts to be comforting. "And your reflexes are better than you think they are. You will be fine."

Rainbow smirked at the bluntly given advice the larger Pegasus gave. Fluttershy, for her part, simply nodded meekly.

"Don't worry, Shy," she said, approaching the quiet yellow Pegasus. "You'll be fine, they set it to different levels depending on which pony is taking it on."

"Oh..." Fluttershy said, nodding slightly. "Ok."

"Grey Twelve," Errant Flight's voice called. Fluttershy looked up, to see Errant Flight looking, not entirely unkindly, at her. Unlike Rainbow Dash, who Errant didn't seem to be able to bring himself to be able to trust, he had apparently taken a shine to Fluttershy, encouraging her at every opportunity. "It's time for your training run."

"Ok," Fluttershy said softly, nodding and apparently steeling herself. Rainbow had noticed that her friend was - if only by a small amount - definitely a little more confident than she had been before she had started her training. She stood up and headed to the training room. Rainbow followed her.

"Sir, permission to watch Grey Twelve's training run," she asked Errant. The squadron leader raised an eyebrow, but nodded in assent. Smiling, Rainbow proceeded to the observation room.

***

Inside the training room, Fluttershy faced off against the intimidating static machine with a soft whimper. It was covered in blades, spears, arrows, wooden and other unfortunate things that made her want to cover her eyes and run out of the room screaming. Unfortunately, that was not an option. She had to face this thing and last against it for at least a minute to meet the minimum Air Force standards. Sixty seconds, she told herself. That's all it needed.

"Um... hello," she said quietly to it, feeling absurd. "Um... I know you're only a machine, but could you please try not to hurt me?"

"Ready, Twelve?" the voice of Errant Flight came through the speakers, sounding tinny and horribly unnatural to Fluttershy's ears.

"R-ready," she replied softly. A moment later, the large machine whirred to life.

One second.

She began sidestepping slightly as wooden training blades began moving. A spear jutted out, and she dodged it with a soft 'eep!', before stepping back slightly. She minded the yellow circle that surrounded the machine, making sure she was well away from it, before ducking a narrow that shot towards her head. She rolled, dodging a training halberd that chopped down from the column, before leaping high into the air to dodge another sweeping bokken.

Fifteen seconds.

Flapping her wings, she circled the column, keeping an eye on the yellow ring surrounding it. Another arrow whizz end by her, forcing her to dodge back the way she came - in time to be forced downwards by a high spear jutting out. Whimpering slightly, she landed, ducking under another blade and covering her ears with her hooves.

Thirty seconds.

***

Inside the observation room, Rainbow Dash watched her friend fly with something resembling appreciation: Fluttershy was slower and less finessed than a lot of flyers Rainbow had seen, but she was certainly keeping ahead of the attacks (just), which was more than she would have been capable of before.

"Not bad," Dream Flyer noted. "She's improving."

"I knew she would," Errant Flight smiled softly. "Not a fighter, but certainly a Grey."

Rainbow threw him a quick glance, frowning slightly at the fact that Fluttershy had been given the honour of Errant calling her a Grey, probably the highest accolade anypony in the squadron could get from the squadron leader. She was happy for Fluttershy being accepted, but it was an acceptance she herself had yet to feel.

As of yet, she had not earned that particular accolade from Errant Flight; though she had done her absolute best, defeated every training test and jumped every hurdle he threw her way, he still refused to see her as a true member of his squadron the same way he had everypony else. Rainbow was beginning to wonder if he ever would, or if he would continue to far her with the same brush as her dead counterpart.

***

Inside the training room, Fluttershy was starting to find a sort of rhythm, albeit an odd one. She dodged another jutted spear and rolled under another blade and past another halberd, before another arrow shot out, nearly clipping her wing. She took off into the air again, dodging another blade narrowly as she did so.

Forty five seconds.

More arrows shot out, and she narrowly flew ahead of them, keeping her eyes focused on the yellow line and the next attack. She screeched as a spear jutted out in front of her, before doubling back, narrowly dodging under another blade as she did so.

Fifty five seconds.

Finally, she dodged under another attack, a blade sweeping towards her, and sped ahead of another row of arrows.

Sixty seconds. She had done it!

"You're at sixty seconds," Errant Flight called out. "You've hit the minimum!"

Smiling, Fluttershy turned to fly towards the exit...

And a training arrow smacked into the ankle of her back leg.

Screaming in shock more than pain, she span, only to bump into the haft of a spear as it jutted out, knocking herself to the ground, where she lay unmoving, more deadly training devices moving towards her still form...

***

Rainbow Dash's eyes widened as she saw Fluttershy go down. Without thinking, she darted out of the observation room, speeding towards Fluttershy. Unheeding of the risks, she headed straight for her friend, trying to reach her before she was injured even further.

Just as she reached her friend, a training arrow shot towards her. She dodged it, only to find the haft of a wooden crushing mechanism coming down - at the speed the heavy wooden object was descending, it would probably crush them both on impact. Gasping and closing her eyes, Dash moved her forearms to try and catch the thing, expecting the crushing weight to break both her forearms instantly. She only hoped that doing so might save Fluttershy.

But, to her surprise, the weight never came. She opened her eyes, looked up, and saw that the halberd had retracted.

"The column's off!" Dream Flyer's voice came through the system, speaking loudly. "You're safe!"

Rainbow slumped to the floor, more relieved than she could ever recall having been. She looked at Fluttershy, checking to see whether her injuries were severe: an initial inspection showed that she had a graze along the calf of her left back leg, and a few bruises from her fall, but apart from that she seemed fine.

Errant Flight rushed out of the observation room towards them.

"What were you thinking?!" he yelled. "You could have both been killed!"

Rainbow flinched slightly.

"I don't know!" she replied, raising her voice defensively. "I just... I reacted is all. Fluttershy was in danger and I..."

She hung her head, feeling stupid for acting so thoughtlessly. To her surprise, however, Errant Flight let out a low chuckle. She looked up, to see him looking ruefully cheerful rather than angry.

"You just wanted to save your squadmate - your friend," he said softly. He looked incredibly thoughtful for a moment.

"I... yeah," Rainbow replied after a moment.

Errant Flight sighed, shaking his head slightly.

"I know the feeling," he said, almost too quietly for her to pick up. "All too well."

After a moment, he held out a hoof to help Rainbow up. She grasped it.

"Come on," he said softly. "Let's get Fluttershy to the sickbay."

Rainbow Dash couldn't be certain, as she and Errant Flight lifted Fluttershy gently between them, but she suddenly felt as though the squadron leader had finally, after all this time, begun to accept her as part of his squadron. As she walked, however, he threw a glare her way, almost surreptitiously, and she sighed as she realised she still had a long way to go.

***

Pontefract Base, March 3rd, 2030.

The pony troop that Twilight and her friends belonged to were on one of their infrequent breaks from training. They had just completed a five mile jog, which - though it was something they were better prepared for after weeks of training - was still pretty tiring.

True Grit sat next to Lyra, looking around the castle grounds with a slight smile. Lyra looked thoughtful, as though she were pondering something. She had taken to being more philosophical since she had arrived: being surrounded by the humans she had longed to study had that effect.

"I wonder what happened to this castle?" she pondered aloud after a little while. "Was there a war, or was it just really old?"

"That's a question, I suppose," True Grit replied with a frown. "But hardly an important one."

"No, I guess not," Lyra said, frowning slightly herself in consternation. "But I always hoped that one day I'd get to ask those kinds of questions. And now..."

"And now, here you are," True Grit said, smiling slightly.

"Yeah," Lyra said thoughtfully. She sighed. "It's strange. I always wanted to meet humans. We've heard so much about them in our legends, you know?"

"I wonder how," True Grit pondered. "Did Equestria have humans, or did a human cross between worlds years ago?"

"There's legends of things like Dream Valley," Lyra replied softly, looking thoughtful, "but a lot of that is considered apocryphal, if not downright mythic."

"Maybe in our world that's all humans are," True Grit suggested.

As they spoke, Twilight walked past them. Noticing them, she sat near them, smiling tiredly as she did so.

"Hi, Twilight," Lyra greeted her.

"Hey Lyra," Twilight replied. "How are you guys?"

"Just discussing whether humans are purely mythical in our world, ma'am," True Grit said smartly. Twilight chuckled.

"You know, we're the same rank," she said. "You don't have to call me 'ma'am'."

"I know, ma'am," True Grit replied, a slight smirk on his face.

Before Twilight could really respond, Private Dipstick, Pinkie Pie and Sapphire Steel ran by.

"Hey guys!" Pinkie called to them, smiling cheerfully. "Come over here!"

The group of ponies exchanged confused glances. The training had resolutely failed to curb Pinkie's seemingly boundless enthusiasm for pretty much anything, much as Iron Gait seemed intent on trying. Intentional or not (and Twilight suspected it was intentional), Pinkie's smiling nature in the face of their training was something that kept the other ponies going: it reassured them that there was still something other than killing in their immediate futures.

"What's going on Pinkie?" Twilight asked, smiling slightly at her friend's cheerfulness.

"Radio!" Pinkie yelled back. "Come on!"

With that, she darted off excitedly after Dipstick and Sapphire Steel, who had already rushed off. Twilight sighed slightly, before turning to face the others.

"I guess we'd better go see what's got her so excited about a radio," she said.

"Yeah," Lyra frowned. "Normally I'd say it's just Pinkie being Pinkie, but..."

"But Steel and Dipstick went with her," Grit added. "That suggests something worth getting excited about."

"Yeah," Twilight said. "Come on."

They got up and raced off after Pinkie.

***

Inside a small tent, Twilight, Grit and Lyra found Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, Desert Wind, Sapphire Steel and a half dozen other members of the troop, sat around a small radio.

"What's this about?" Twilight asked, frowning slightly. Desert Wind looked up and grinned, a nasty, feral thing.

"Songbird," he said, a snarl in his tone belying the smile on his face.

"Who's Songbird?" True Grit asked.

"Songbird is one of the nicknames we use to talk about a broadcaster for Equestrian radio," Sapphire Steel supplied. "Nopony knows who she really is."

"Except that she's Solamina's personal propaganda plot-hole," Dipstick added, sounding unusually harsh. This surprised Twilight: Dipstick, or rather Chick Pea, was normally a nice, polite and overly friendly pony, prone to being eager to please. To hear him sound so... angry... was unusual to say the least.

The radio burst into life with a snatch of static, silencing all conversation, and soft piano music began playing. Finally, a soft voice began speaking.

"Hello to all the so called 'Equestrian Resistance' fighters, currently stationed in such lovely places as Hull and Leeds. This is Songbird with more 'News from Home'. Hope the training is going well for the latest recruits, and that your journey across the channel wasn't so bad either, though we can't speak for the poor ponies who got blown up by the HMS Dauntless. Such a shame that they came so far only to be blown up by those they wanted to help: just goes to show that it wasn't really worth the effort, but sometimes a harsh lesson like this is the only way you learn."

The voice was softly spoken, and sounded vaguely upper class. Rarity frowned, recognising the cadence as being similar to her own, but she didn't say anything about it.

"We hope Commander Dream Flyer is feeling better after losing so many of Blue Squadron over St Paul's cathedral. We know she invested a lot of time turning Blue into a respectable squadron, so the loss must be hitting her especially hard."

"Smug bitch," Desert Wind said harshly. Twilight's eyes widened at hearing the pony swear so harshly, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Commander Twilight Sparkle, meanwhile, has asked me to pass on a message to Sapphire Steel," the voice continued. Sapphire paled, her eyes widening in shock. "She says to say that she'll be seeing you again, very soon."

"No," Sapphire said, eyes wide. "No!"

"Sapphire, calm down," Desert Wind said. "She doesn't know where you are."

And yet the very mention of her name had sent fear running through Sapphire's spine.

The radio broadcast continued for about an hour, detailing various messages and insinuating that the ponies had made the wrong choice in leaving. Several of the group looked at each other doubtfully, but True Grit stared at the radio with narrow eyes.

"That's all we have time for this broadcast," the soft voice finally said. "But before we leave you, I'd like to sing something. This is dedicated to Commander Rarity, whose sacrifice..."

True Grit reached out a hoof and shut the radio off.

"Enough of that horseapples, I think," he said sharply. He looked around him. "That was enemy propaganda. I've heard of similar things being done before. I'm surprised at all of you for letting it get to you." He turned his eyes on Pinkie in an almost accusatory glare. "And I'm surprised at you for wanting to listen to it, ma'am."

"I didn't," Pinkie replied, frowning in return. "I wanted to listen to this."

She switched the radio back on, adjusted it for a moment, then found what she was looking for. In contrast to the soft, dignified piano music, there was a harsh, almost screeching synth playing. After a moment, an upper class Trottingham accent began speaking.

"Hello to all the brave ponies of the Equestrian Resistance; this is Resistance FM," the voice spoke, sounding quite a contrast to the blaring dubstep. "We'll broadcast for as long as we can."

"A Resistance movement in Equestria?" True Grit frowned.

"Most of us leave," Sapphire Steel said, her voice weak from the fear the previous broadcast had put into her. "But some stay: try to fight from within. They're the brave ones."

"We're here to dispel some of the rumours that Solamina's drones have been spreading," the voice continued. "Firstly: the HMS Dauntless is confirmed to have destroyed a Royal Guard transport attempting a covert landing at the beaches of Scarborough, much to Solamina's annoyance no doubt." A soft murmur of laughter ran through the group of ponies listening. "Her attempt to rework the loss to be Resistance ponies is typical: just to reiterate, no Resistance refugees have been killed by Royal Navy forces since the Blue channels were set up, and that's a Pinkie promise."

"Wow," Pinkie said. "Nopony breaks one of those."

"In other news, reports of Albion's death have been greatly exaggerated: we have reports that he is alive and well, and taking a well deserved break from killing every Royal Guard and Militia he meets to polish his mane collection," the voice continued. "Which we can now confirm has a touch of pink."

Twilight swallowed. They were referring to the death of the alternate Pinkie Pie with that. If Pinkie realised it, she gave no indication.

"In the meantime, that gives the rest of you ponies the chance to catch up and kill some Guard for yourself," the voice continued. "I'm sure you're up to the challenge."

"Darn straight!" Dipstick said, a little too enthusiastically.

This broadcast, too, continued for another hour: news from home, reports of various setbacks Solamina's forces had met, or problems with her commanders. Eventually, though, this broadcast too ended.

"We have to go now," the voice of the broadcaster spoke. "You're carrying all our hopes, remember that. And all our love. Keep fighting, and those of us still waiting will see you when you get here."

The radio shut off. For a long moment, nopony in the group spoke.

"That was good to hear," Sapphire Steel said after a while.

"Yeah," Desert Wind added.

"Have to agree," a harsh voice said. Suddenly, everypony snapped to attention as Iron Gait marched in. "So this is where you've been: listening to the radio, huh?"

"It was Resistance FM, sir," Dipstick said earnestly.

"I know what the buck it was, Dipstick," Iron Gait said. "I was listening too. Mind you, it's been a little hard to keep myself from telling at a bunch of ponies whose break ended half an hour ago!"

The rest of the group looked shamefaced at having been so absent from their mission. Iron Gait sighed.

"Having said that, I guess it understand why you were here. It's good to hear news from home," he said after a moment, sounding much more sympathetic. "So I won't be too harsh - this time. But this kind of thing is never happening again, understood?"

There was a chorus of affirmatives from the group, and Iron Gait nodded.

"Alright, ponies, move it out," he said after a moment. "You're late for your next course."

At once, the group moved out of the small tent. Iron Gait threw a look at the radio, his expression almost wistful, and then he followed his troop.

We Are Soldiers.

Chapter Twenty Four: We Are Soldiers.

***

Pontefract Base, March 11th, 2030.

A thirty-strong troop of grim looking, uniformed ponies with unwaveringly hard, stern expressions stood in three rows of ten in the courtyard of Pontefract Castle, eyes facing forwards, all of them standing rigidly at attention, not moving a muscle, barely blinking. A stern looking Earth Pony paced in front of the troop, his eyes sweeping the lines of disciplined ponies with a practiced, keen eye and a slight smile twitching at the corner of his lips.

"My, my, my," Iron Gait said as he paced up and down the line of stern faced, strong looking ponies. "I do believe I've never seen a stronger, more badass looking group of ponies in my entire life, and I have seen some pretty badass ponies!"

The ponies remained silent in the face of this praise, though a couple looked as though they were fighting back small smiles.

"You started out being nothing, but thanks to your hard work and my tutelage, you have become something!" Iron Gait yelled at the ponies. He paced up and down some more, smiling as he did so. "You have become more than the sum of your parts, more than the useless, cringing little horseapples you began as."

"Sir, thank you sir!" the ponies yelled in unison.

"When you came here," the Sergeant continued, "you were a sorry pile of useless horsefeathers! You came here with no purpose, no drive, no reason to be on this sorry island and no idea how you were ever going to be usefully anypony and anybody!" He smiled as he came to a stop in front of the three rows. "But now look at you: you're a thirty strong batch of lean, mean, pony killing machines! What are you?!"

"Lean, mean, pony killing machines sir!" the soldiers said as one, yelling at the top of their voices.

"Uh huh! Darn right you are, ponies!" Iron Gait said. A slightly sombre note came to the pony's voice as he continued. "Now you're all leaving for the big bad world out there, to fight and kill and maybe die." He paused, and then a feral grin came upon his face. "All I can think is this: the big bad world doesn't stand a chance, does it soldiers?!"

"Sir, no sir!" the ponies yelled as one, some of them smiling slightly at the implication.

"Darn right!" Iron Gait said with a smile. He took a list from his saddlebag. "Right then, I have a list of assignments for each of you: these assign,ends will hopefully be where you manage to make the best of yourself. Which means, I'd better hear that you're making the best of yourselves, understood?!"

"Sir, yes sir!" the ponies yelled.

"Glad we're clear," Gait said. He turned to his list. "Right then! Private Jewel Seeker..."

As he read off assignments, ponies stepped out of the lines and stood ready to go to their new tasks. Some were assigned to Pontefract base defence, some to infantry tasks across the country.

"Private Pinkamena Pie!" Iron Gait yelled, his eyes finding the pink party pony. She stepped forward with a smile.

"Sir, hi sir!" she yelled. The Sergeant sighed, shaking his head. Try as he might, he never could clear that pony of her somewhat... eccentric personality.

"You're assigned to... special operations at Leeds base," he said, frowning slightly at the notice. "Huh. Was sort of expecting you to go into the Recreational corps, myself, but command sent this from the highest position." He checked his roster. "In fact, Privates True Grit, Lyra Heartstrings, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity and Applejack have all been assigned to Spec Ops at Leeds base too."

Twilight Sparkle, at the centre of the front row, frowned slightly, turning to look at her friends. Spec Ops? Was this something to do with being the Element bearers? But then, why were Grit and Lyra coming too? Or was this something else? She was certain that she and the others, while certainly competent fighters now that they had been through their training, were not worthy of Special Operations positions - ponies assigned to Spec Ops tended to be either assigned to Albion's personal squad, as Hell Blazer, Lyra and True Grit had been, or else they tended towards being sent on extremely dangerous missions for the Resistance.

"In addition, Privates Desert Wind and Sapphire Steel are both assigned to Leeds base as garrison infantry," Iron Gait added. "And Private Chick Pea..." and here he gave Private Dipstick, who hadn't heard his real name used by anyone in a while, a quick glance, "is assigned as part the base's Resistance jeep division."

"Sir, yes sir!" the three ponies yelled out, Chick Pea looking slightly surprised at getting the jeep division: he'd never so much as been near a jeep.

With that, the list was complete, and Iron Gait put it away.

"It's been an honour to be your Sergeant," he said to them all with a wry grin. "Good luck ponies."

"Sir, thank you sir!" the troop yelled back, all of them saluting. He saluted back.

"Dismissed!" he yelled.

***

As they loaded onto the transport helicopter, Twilight reflected on everything she had learned while she had been here. She had gone from a bookish pony to a trained killer, capable of dealing death to anypony she needed to - if not exactly comfortable with that fact, she added mentally, a rueful smile working it's way onto her face.

"What do you think Leeds is like?" Pinkie asked her, startling her from her thoughts. "Do you think we'll be able to have a 'new assignment party'?"

Some of the group chuckled: nothing ever seemed to keep Pinkie's cheer down.

"Sugarcube, I reckon this Leeds place is gonna be pretty low on parties," Applejack said after a moment, a wry grin on her face. Of all the group, save perhaps True Grit, she was the one who had taken the most to this training: the discipline had been similar to her life on the farm, and the hard work no stranger either. While the military formality had been an adjustment, the rest of it managed to not be too hard for her to cope with.

"I, for one, am just looking forward to a change of scenery," Rarity said primly. She was smiling slightly, pleased to be done with training - if Applejack had taken to it best, Rarity had taken to it the worst. There had been no style, no sense of dignity, and she had disliked the manner in which Iron Gait had decided to train them, feeling the antagonism unnecessary to the goal of making them efficient troopers. "Apart from our brief sojourn to Hull and back at the start of training, we've been stuck in this dreary castle-base all these long weeks."

"I'm kinda gonna miss it," Lyra said wistfully, a faraway look in her eyes.

"Seriously?" Twilight asked her, looking surprised. Twilight, more a thinker than an athlete or fighter, had disliked the training as well. It surprised her that Lyra, who came from a similar background, did not feel the same way.

"Have you been in the magazine?" Lyra asked grinning widely.

"The what?" Applejack said from near her.

"It's a kind of dungeon," Twilight explained offhandedly. "But I never went inside."

"It's sort of been turned into a bunker," Lyra added, a smile on her face, "but in the old days they kept prisoners down there: you can still see the signatures of the men they kept prisoner. That castle's not just a base - it's a piece of living human history!" She sighed contentedly. "I wish we could come back a study it when the war's over."

"That's if we survive the war," Rarity said softly, and Lyra's grin vanished.

The others exchanged glances. This was a reality that - as of yet - none of them had are become accustomed to. Fighting? Sure. Killing? Well, they accepted the need. Death? That was almost unreal to them - apart from Lyra and True Grit - the latter because he knew his counterpart, who had been stronger, faster and more experienced than him, had died, and the former because she had seen herself die, right in front of her eyes.

"We're well trained and well equipped," True Grit said sharply after a moment. "If we keep to our training, we should be fine."

They were hollow words, and everypony knew it all too well. When they got to where they were going, they were as likely to die as anypony else - and that terrified them all, though most of them were able to hide it.

"Come on, everypony!" Pinkie said, smiling widely. "Don't look so glum! I'm sure we'll have lots of fun! And we'll see Dashie and Fluttershy again, so that'll be awesome!"

She said it with such sincerity and with such an honest smile on her face that everypony in the transport believed her, if only for a little while. With that, they continued conversing about their new station, and reminisced about their training.

***

Leeds Royal Armouries, March 11th, 2030.

Rainbow Dash span around and around in a clockwise motion, hitting one target, two targets, three targets... soon, all four of the targets she was aiming for were spinning wildly.

This move was the famed 'corkscrew' attack, a tactic by which a member of Grey Squadron would go into an almost uncontrollable barrel roll that would continue and continue, their forelegs and blades held out and he pitting any targets that happened to come near them. This tactic was among the most dangerous in the Resistance Air Force's arsenal, so much so in fact that since the disbanding of the original a Grey Squadron, nopony had dared use it save Errant Flight. It was a tactic that, if you didn't control your spin exactly and add in a counterbalancing spin at the end of the move, would probably kill you as easily as it killed the enemy.

Errant had been reluctant to teach the move, but realising that Grey Squadron needed Grey Squadron's signature move, he had relented at last. He had taught them the best possible number of spins (seven, plus one counter spin), the best position to hold your forelegs out to... he had done his best to ensure that anypony using the corkscrew wouldn't kill themselves in the process.

Right now, Rainbow Dash was performing especially well on the target range.

She came out of her spin, span once in an anticlockwise direction to counterbalance her inner ear, then smirked and landed next to Errant Flight, who was timing the whole thing.

"Third fastest time ever on the corkscrew," he said after a moment, eyes lighting up with surprise at the numbers. "Second was Lightning Dust's last time when she did her last training test four years ago, and the first was the original Ditzy's!"

"Good time then," Rainbow said simply smirking. Errant nodded, smiling slightly himself.

"Oh yes," he said, "that is a very good time. You should be impressed with yourself."

"I am," she replied with a slightly cocky grin, but then she sobered up. "But not that impressed. I could always do better."

"That's also good," Errant said with a slightly sarcastic smirk. "Means you've learned to control your ego a bit."

"A little," Rainbow admitted with a shrug. She was grateful that she was able to banter with Flight this much - though he still didn't trust her as much as the rest of the squadron, he had eased up on her slightly.

Errant sniggered at that, shaking his head as he put away his stopwatch. He turned to the gathered group of ponies. The other members of Grey Squadron were gathered around in Leeds base's courtyard.

"Alright, team! Listen up!" he called. "With each of you having perfected the corkscrew to at what I at least call a satisfactory degree, I feel I can safely conclude that Grey Squadron is ready for action!"

The entire group cheered, immensely cheered up by this news. It had been a hard month and a half, and they were grateful that it had paid off.

"However," Errant continued, "we will not, as I had previously expected, be sent out to our immediate assignment is base defence here in Leeds Base."

The ponies exchanged glances. This was surprising: those who knew of Grey Squadron had expected such a prestigious role to come with equal amounts of danger - good flyer squadrons were always needed, after all, and Grey was among the best.

"All due respect, sir," Silver Spire said, speaking for all the squadron, "but why is this base in need of defence? We're pretty far inland and there's no way that Solamina would have the audacity to launch a large scale strike."

"I don't know, Spire," Errant replied with a shrug. "I'm just relating orders. This comes from top brass, probably Prince Blueblood himself."

At the mention of the head of the pony Government-In-Exile, murmurs sent through the squadron, filled with trepidation. If Prince Blueblood himself was giving orders, this must be... important. And if it was important, that meant that it might very well be dangerous. What was coming?

"Sir," True Blue asked, "could it be to do with the Element bearers?"

Fluttershy threw Rainbow Dash a glance, and Rainbow frowned thoughtfully. Was it possible?

"It's a possibility, Ten," Errant replied, a somewhat thoughtful look on his face and an odd tone in his voice. "But I think it's more likely to be something to do with Albion's presence in the Leeds sickbay. I doubt the top brass want him to be left without some serious defences."

"How long has he been out, anyway?" Rainbow Dash asked, frowning slightly. "Shouldn't he have been awake by now?"

Errant looked from left to right, frowning slightly, before looking back at her.

"You didn't hear this from me," he said quietly, "but there's a possibility he might never wake up at all."

The ponies of Grey Squadron gasped in shock, Rainbow Dash aside; the idea that Albion might not pull through was... well, for most ponies, the thing would have been a death knell for their morale. Only Grey Squadron could hear it and not lose all hope.

"In any case," Errant added, "the Council are sending Prince Blueblood personally to discuss security for Albion, as well as to hopefully discuss the disposition of... forces."

The way he said "forces" made Rainbow frown even more. She definitely felt like something was specifically being planned for her and Fluttershy - but what? They were firmly part of Grey Squadron: even leaving aside the possibility that the powers that be wanted to make some use of the Elements of Harmony as a weapon (something Rainbow was still certain would never work, though she considered asking Twilight about it next time she saw her) there was still the possibility that the council would reassign Dash and Fluttershy to a special group with the others.

She found herself not wanting that - much as she missed her friends (and it was only when she thought about it that she realised just how much she missed her friends, like a sort of aching emptiness in her guts that she couldn't shift) she knew her place was with Grey, fighting in the sky. It was what she was most suited to, she just knew it.

"Anyway," Errant said, jarring her from her thoughts. "Don't worry too much about the PTB and their scheming, team. We're in a good posting for the moment, so make the most of it. Knowing our luck they'll assign us to the HMS Queen Elizabeth after this."

Everypony chuckled: the Queen Elizabeth, affectionately called the Lizzy's Revenge, was an aircraft carrier and the first of the Queen Elizabeth class. It had been fully commissioned at the same time the portal first appeared. Along with it's sister, the Prince of Wales, it had been at the stopping of the Barrier, and since then it had seen more action than half the remaining Royal Navy and other naval forces combined. After the sinking of the Wales (shortly after the death of King Charles, ironically enough), it had been unofficially renamed the Lizzy's Revenge to signify the burning need for vengeance the people of Britain - by now, the de facto people of the world - felt. It was known for being a high-risk assignment for any pony squadrons assigned to it, given that it was on the front lines.

"Take some RnR, ponies," Errant said as the chuckling died down. "You'll need it, and you certainly deserve it."

The squadron dispersed. True Blue stayed close to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash - as the leader of their flight, he knew them better than most of the ponies, but since he was younger than either of them, they treated him more like a little brother off of the field. Ditzy walked with them, though she was quiet and thoughtful, behaviours she had been exhibiting more and more since training had begun.

"You guys think it's anything serious?" True Blue asked the three other ponies.

"That what is serious?" Ditzy asked, looking up at him. She sounded like she had been thinking about something and been dragged from it,

"Our being assigned here!" True Blue said earnestly. "I mean, we're Grey Squadron! There isn't a better team in the entire Resistance Air Force and the brass know it!"

"I don't know," Fluttershy said with a self deprecating shrug. "Some of those other squadrons are very good."

"Yeah, right," True Blue said. "We're ten times better than Griffon and Lance Squadrons, but they were assigned to frontline posts."

"We'll see action soon enough," Rainbow assured him. "I bet it's just that we're new."

"That's just it though!" True Blue said, looking around before whispering softly. "We wouldn't be assigned here if they weren't expecting action of some kind! New or not, we'd be shipped out unless they thought we were needed here!"

"Our thoughts exactly," a grim voice said from behind them. The three members of Four Flight turned to see Silver Spire, Bright Wonder, White Blossom and Swift Strike walking up to them. The four ponies looked concerned.

"It makes no sense, us being assigned here," Bright Wonder said, the chirpy pony unusually serious. "Like Blue said, we're the best!"

"We can do most good on the frontline," White Blossom added quietly.

"Which is why there must be more to it," Spire finished grimly, the eloquent pony looking perturbed.

"Doesn't this place need air defence?" Fluttershy asked. "In case the Equestrian army attacks?"

"Well sure, but that's a job for turrets, bludgeon fighters and lesser squadrons," Swift Strike said. "Eagle Squadron's largely a base defence squadron, and they're nowhere near our level."

"So what could it be?" Rainbow Dash asked. "It's not gonna be anything like a secret attack they're planning, is it?"

"Could be," Swift Strike shrugged. "I've heard they've considered sending groups of ponies to attack the Equestrian colonies. Trouble is, we've not got the numbers."

"If that were the case, though, this is hardly a fit staging area," Silver Spire added. "Leeds is too far inland for such a plan."

"Agreed," White Blossom said softly. "Islands like Mann would make more sense if that were the case, or positions on coastline towns. Whitby. Scarborough. Dover. Newquay."

"Might be a gathering point?" True Blue asked.

"But if so," Spire replied, "why gather here and give the enemy time to observe our movements when we could gather our forces piecemeal at a dozen bases and move them to a staging position at the eleventh hour?"

"That might be what they are doing," Ditzy said suddenly. Her voice silenced most of the conversation: a side effect of who she was meant that most ponies listened when she spoke. Rainbow didn't know how her friend was handling that kind of pressure - if it was hard being the spitting image of someone who was reviled and distrusted, how hard must it be to be a pony who was loved and respected? "They might be keeping us here to moved later."

Everypony stayed quiet for a moment. Ditzy was right - it was a possibility.

"Look," Rainbow said after a moment. "This is all just us guessing: the reason we're being kept here could be anything! It's not doing us any good to keep thinking about it."

Everypony thought about Rainbow's words for a moment, most nodding slowly.

"You're right, Rainbow," Fluttershy said after a moment. "We shouldn't be worrying about it right now. We should do what Errant said and relax."

The others, though not convinced, agreed. Most of the group headed off to the canteen after the rest of the squadron, leaving Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash to ponder their situation.

"Do you really think we'll see action soon?" the yellow Pegasus asked. Rainbow sighed, unsure how to respond: of all of them, Fluttershy was the least happy about the idea of combat. However, before she could reply to her friend's question, somepony called over to them.

"Hey, guys!" the voice of Errant Flight yelled over to the group. He was waving from near a landing pad and smiling widely. "Get over here!"

Confused by Flight's demeanour, Rainbow Dash and the others walked over to him. He pointed up at a transport helicopter that had begun landing. The transport descended slowly, the blades slowing as it did so. Rainbow stepped back slightly on instinct as the blades whirred to a stop.

A moment later, the hatch on the side of the transport popped open, and ponies began filing out. One pony, a stern faced purple mare in a camouflage infantry uniform, looked around with a slightly wistful expression, before her gaze settled on Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash's eyes widened in shock, at around the same time the mare's did, and they both grinned in disbelief.

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight Sparkle yelled with a smile of joy.

"Twilight!" Fluttershy yelled from behind Rainbow, who was too stunned to speak. Twilight raced up to her and threw her fore hooves around her in a tight hug.

A moment later, the rest of the ponies from their world stepped off of the transport. Pinkie squealed in delight at the sight of her friends, hugging them and speaking so quickly that all Rainbow Dash could catch was the words "reunion party" and frequent instances of "yay!" Applejack smiled and hoof-bumped Rainbow. Rarity smiled and greeted them with a hug. Lyra and True Grit were both polite as well, though since Rainbow didn't know either of them well, she was less effusive in her happiness for seeing them again. Ditzy, however, greeted Lyra with a hug.

"How are you?!" she asked enthusiastically.

"I'm good, Ditzy," Lyra replied with a soft smile. "It's just been a long six weeks."

"It's been a long six weeks for everypony," Twilight said, grinning at all her friends. "But we're together again, and that's what's important."

Rainbow turned to Errant Flight, who was smiling slightly.

"You knew about this, didn't you?" she said, grinning.

"Yes, I did," he replied, his smile fading slightly, "though I didn't plan this so you could have a happy reunion."

"Then why did you?" Twilight asked, looking at Errant Flight with narrowed, thoughtful eyes.

"Because I asked him to," a new voice said. The ponies turned, to see a yellow Earth Pony wearing a long trenchcoat, shirt and tie walking up to them, a cigarette in his mouth.

"Hello everypony," Hell Blazer said, a slight smile on his face. "How're things."

Author's Note

So: it's been about a week since my last update, my longest time yet on this story. Despite the fact that that's not really a "long" time, I thought I'd offer a quick explanation. Me and my fiancée recently moved house, which has taken up some time as well as some financial worrying. As such, my time for writing has been somewhat curtailed of late. I've only managed to finish this chapter because I'd started it before writing Twenty One and Twenty Three, and I wrangled some evenings to devote to it. I can't promise the next update won't take the same length of time or longer, because said financial wrangling (and moving house) is an ongoing thing (still have some stuff to clear from the old flat before we're done with it). Expect the next update in about a week again, maybe a week and a half.

EDIT 11th July. The Unpublish button is very easy to press on a small touch screen. :-( Sorry folks.

Reunion.

Chapter Twenty Five: Reunion.

***

Leeds Royal Armouries, March 11th, 2030.

Hell Blazer held up a hoof, forestalling the immediate barrage of questions that were thrown at him by all the ponies, Twilight especially. Only Errant Flight said nothing, grinning slightly at Hell Blazer's amused yet irritated expression.

"One at a time please!" the yellow pony said, smiling softly. The ponies quieted down, looking at each other and him with surprise. None of them had expected to see him again so soon; given his apparent unofficial status as being part of Elliot's group, none of them had expected to see him at all.

"Hell Blazer?" Twilight said after a moment. "What are you doing here?"

She looked him over as she spoke, trying to get a sense of his general state: the yellow pony looked harassed, like he hadn't slept in a few days, but he smiled tiredly at the group of surprised ponies, so his spirits weren't totally depleted.

"I was about to explain that," the pony replied slightly irritably, though his smile didn't fade. He looked them over, inspecting their uniforms and their generally more alert, militaristic stances. "I see you lot have done your bit to get ready," he said, a wry grin on his face. "But much as I'd like to say I'm here for a chin wag, I'm not. I'm here to take you to the council to discuss your next assignment."

"We're with Grey Squadron," Rainbow Dash said at once, indicating herself, Ditzy and Fluttershy. She looked remarkably resolute. "There's nothing else to it, is there?"

Hell Blazer raised an eyebrow. "Much as I'm sure you think so, you - like the rest of us - are beholden to the orders of the council, and it's them who want to discuss what to do with you." He sighed heavily. "And believe me, I agree with you. Elliot said to put you in Grey, and Elliot knew what he was doing, but Anderson and Blueblood are both convinced there has to be a better use for you than what you're doing in Grey Squadron and the infantry forces."

"Prince Blueblood himself is here?" Rarity said softly.

"Not here, no," Hell Blazer said. "It's his intention to speak with you via communication satellite connection. I'm supposed too take you there."

The ponies all exchanged uneasy glances, but it was True Grit who finally spoke up.

"We'll follow your lead, sir," he said smartly, saluting Hell Blazer. The yellow pony smirked slightly, his eyes glinting with amusement at the sight.

"You know, you don't have to call me sir," he said, sounding bemused.

"I'll take that under advisement, sir," True Grit replied with a slight smirk.

"In any case, I'd better head off," Errant Flight cut in. "The council won't want to speak with me, and I've a squadron of unruly ponies to rein in."

"Gotcha," Hell Blazer said. "We'll talk later, Flight."

Errant Flight headed off. Hell Blazer sighed as he walked off, before turning and heading off, indicating that the ponies should follow him. Twilight gave her friends a worried look, before heading after him. The others followed, none of them feeling particularly happy about this.

***

The group was led into the main complex of the Leeds base. For Twilight and the others who had trained at Pontefract, this was an entirely new experience - up until now, they hadn't been in a military base quite this expansive since the comparatively rag tag and battered facilities present at St Paul's. Even Ditzy, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash hadn't been in this part of the complex, and they too were somewhat in awe of it's scale.

The group was led to a door, outside which stood a gas-masked human guard armed with an MP5 and a midnight blue pony guard with a sheathed dagger at his side. The pony gave the Element bearers a glare with narrowed eyes.

"Sir," he addressed Hell Blazer. "We've had word ahead to expect you."

"Thank you, Star Vigil," Hell Blazer replied, sounding slightly irritated. "You can let us in now."

"I need your passcode, sir," Star Vigil said, sounding a tad irritated himself. "And I need to know that these... individuals have the proper clearance to enter the council chambers and -"

Hell Blazer narrowed his eyes at the pony, a frown developing on his face, and Star Vigil trailed off, paling slightly.

"My passcode,” the yellow pony said slowly, “is Constantine Sixty Six. These ponies are under my personal authority, which was ratified by Commander Albion himself as being second only to him and the council. That should more than cover their entry, Corporal Vigil."

"If you say so, sir," Vigil replied, sounding unconvinced but grudgingly accepting. "Open the door, Greg."

The masked guard - Greg - did so silently. As the group passed into the room, Twilight heard Vigil muttering to himself.

"Bucking murderers," he murmured, almost too quietly for Twilight's discerning ear to catch. "If I had my way, we'd..."

But Twilight didn't find out what would have happened had things gone Vigil's way, for the door closed behind them, cutting them off from the vengeful-sounding pony. The group found themselves in a large room fitted with a large television screen, which was plugged into the wall with several dozen wires. Next to the screen stood a dark haired technician in a white lab coat. Hell Blazer coughed slightly, puncturing the mysterious atmosphere of the room.

"Bill," he said softly, "open the uplink please."

The technician nodded softly without speaking, and fiddled with a few switches. A moment later, the screen flared into life, and the image of a white unicorn appeared standing next to a Japanese man in a silver suit and a strong looking military man. This was the council: it had only been months since the ponies had last spoken to them, but both Anderson and Sato appeared to have aged a few years - no doubt the stress of their position. Only Blueblood looked the same, and even he had more bags under his eyes

"So," Blueblood said, looking down at the group, eyes slightly narrowed as he surveyed the group. "Judging from your uniforms, you've been through your basic training - I take it you all got through?"

"Yes sir," Twilight said, adopting the position of unofficial spokespony for the group once again. "We all passed through basic."

"Great," Anderson said, looking vaguely irritated. "More grunts. Just what we need."

"We are grateful for your willingness to help us in this matter," Sato added diplomatically. "However, my colleagues and I have a matter of some importance to discuss with you, should you be amenable."

"Certainly, sir," Twilight said politely. The others, stood behind her, made similar noises of assent.

"Put it bluntly, Sparkle, we've been talking about how best to use you," Anderson said shortly. "As assets, you and the others aren't going to be much use as grunts on the front lines, competent as I'm sure you are. Six grunts and three flyers won’t win the war."

"There are, however, other uses that you could be put to," Sato said, his tone friendlier than his colleagues. "We have been considering the possibility of deploying the Elements you bear as a formidable strategic weapon."

Twilight's eyes widened as Sato said that, and she turned to looks at the others. Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie looked as shocked as she did. Fluttershy, however, merely looked worried, as though she had been expecting this, and Rainbow Dash was frowning in annoyance.

"I've heard that rumour, pal," she said, speaking to Sato. "You do know the Elements aren't weapons, right?"

"And we don't even have them with us," Twilight added softly. She looked at Blueblood. "Surely you at least can understand that, Prince Blueblood?"

Blueblood, for his part, merely shrugged. "I was never privy to the functions of the Elements of Order. All I knew was that Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were the bearers of those Elements, and that they were sources of immense power."

"All the best pony minds we have - as well as human magical scholars who have been granted access to the relevant materials - agree that they are formidable devices, turned to the right purpose," Sato continued.

"Sorry to repeat myself, councillor, but we don't have them!" Twilight said.

"Why would Elliot bring you without them if he intended to bring you?" Blueblood asked, eyebrow raised sceptically.

"How much does Elliot even know about usin' the Elements?" Applejack asked.

"As much as most of us," Sato said. "They were wielded by your counterparts - in many cases to devastating effect."

"What?" Applejack exclaimed. The others looked similarly surprised at this new piece of information - the Elements of Harmony, used as a weapon?

"What did they do?" Twilight asked.

"The Elements of Order were considered their ultimate attack weapon," Anderson explained tiredly. "Sort of a super-artillery piece. It was one of the reasons nobody wanted to fight them when they were together - their combined attack was devastating."

"What did it do?" Twilight asked, almost fearful of the answer. To her, the Elements were something almost sacred: they couldn't merely be used to destroy, they were used as part of the magic of friendship.

"Mainly destructive concussive force," Sato explained, sounding tired. "The Elements were more powerful than firing a full barrage. Many towns and cities were utterly ruined by them. The state Leeds is currently in, for example, is largely a result of the Elements’ usage."

"They also had other uses," Blueblood added dryly, looking at some unseen notes offscreen. "I've read reports of anti-infantry attacks where they'd incinerate infantry, beams of power that could melt tanks..."

"None of that has anything to do with the Elements!" Rainbow Dash yelled, sounding frustrated.

There was a moment's silence as the council digested the outburst.

"Explain," Anderson said after a moment, looking even more irritated than he had a moment ago.

The Element bearers exchanged glances, and then Twilight sighed.

"The Elements of Harmony in our world are used to channel the magic of friendship," she began after a moment. "Even if we had them, we can’t use them the way you describe. They don't… incinerate people or burn things or melt things. The most they've ever done is turn Discord to stone, and that's Discord. Usually they just use the magic of friendship to help ponies. That's how Princess Luna was transformed back from Nightmare Moon."

Blueblood exchanged glances with his colleagues, and sighed.

"You understand, it's difficult for us to entirely comprehend Elliot's motivations for bringing you here," he said quietly.

“That’s a fucking understatement,” Anderson said with a scowl. “He could have brought an army, but all we get is nine ponies of questionable military worth.”

“He explained why he didn’t bring back an army,” Hell Blazer pointed out, scowling. He’d kept mostly quiet up until this point, a couple of grumbles aside. “There’d be no point chucking more meat in the grinder - it’d just prolong the war.”

“And what has he done instead? Brought us nine lumps of meat that aren’t enough collectively to do jack shit and aren’t enough individually to bring anything special,” Anderson replied.

Blueblood held up a hoof, forestalling his colleague’s tirade. "Without Major Elliot being awake to explain, we have to assume he brought you here to use the Elements - its the only advantage we know of that you could bring to the field."

"And without them, I'm struggling to see why he'd pick you nine over any other ponies," Anderson added bluntly. "I'm starting to wonder whether he's lost it."

"Oi!" Hell Blazer put in angrily, looking thunderous as he addressed the council. "Elliot's as sound of mind as he was when I met him. I dunno what he brought this lot here for, but you can bet he had a damn good reason for everything he did!"

The council exchanged glances: Sato looked curious, Anderson irritated, and Blueblood just looked tired.

"Look," Hell Blazer added. "None of us know what the hell Elliot was thinking. He could have been planning something, he could have brought them here on a whim. Either way, we don't know. It's stupid asking this lot before Elliot wakes up."

"Is he going to?" Anderson asked, a sceptical eyebrow raised.

"Yes," Hell Blazer replied stubbornly. "He is."

The council exchanged another series of glances, and then Blueblood sighed.

"Alright," he said tiredly. "We'll speak to Elliot about this when he wakes up. I expect him to contact us the minute he can, understood?"

"Crystal bloody clear, sir," Hell Blazer said. Without another word, the yellow pony turned on his heel and exited the room. Twilight and her friends shared glances of confusion, before turning to follow him. The screen switched off, bathing the small room in darkness once again.

***

In the Leeds base canteen, Hell Blazer sat with the nine newcomer ponies, sighing slightly as he drank from a glass full of whiskey. Around him, the newcomer ponies sat, looking at him expectantly. Though they were here as part of "special operations” (Grey Squadron's members excluded), at present none of them had any practical duties to attend to and, until they were given such duties, they were at something of a loss as to what to do.

"So how long until Elliot's awake?" Twilight finally asked. It was a big deal - since Elliot was not only the one who had brought them here, but the only one who knew why, the sooner he was awake and back at it the better - plus it was still supposedly his job to defeat Solamina.

"No idea," Hell Blazer replied softly, sighing. "The big man is out and the Doctor's not been able to figure out what's up with him."

There was a pause as the various ponies exchanged glances. True Grit was focusing on his drink.

"You mean you don't know when he'll be back up?" Twilight finally asked.

"I don't even know if he will," Hell Blazer clarified. The ponies made various noises of dismay, and Hell Blazer sighed. "I told the council he knew why you were here to keep them off your back. I told them he'd be awake again instead of never waking up to keep them off of my back. If I don't keep them convinced that Elliot's gonna recover, they'll..."

He trailed off, looking shamefaced.

"They'll what?" Applejack asked, her eyes narrow.

"They'll ask me to summon another Avatar," Hell Blazer explained. "Which… can only work if the current one is dead."

There was a moment' pause as the group let that sentence, and all the grim implications it brought, sink in.

"You're not saying," Rarity said slowly, her eyes wide with shock, "that they'd actually... kill Elliot to allow for a new Avatar to be summoned?"

Hell Blazer snorted, looking morose. "We're living on borrowed time and the council knows it. They'd do anything they thought would give us even a few extra days."

"But that's horrible!" Fluttershy exclaimed, the volume of her voice surprising everypony there. "Why would they do that?"

"The Doctor has a saying, one he's fond of quoting at me whenever something really horrible happens," Hell Blazer said, looking faintly miserable. "'In the fight for survival, there are no rules'. The council are thinking of the bigger picture: there's only fourteen million humans left. If we're to have any chance of winning against the Equestrian Empire, we need Solamina dead. If we're to have any chance of killing the bitch, we need an Avatar. If not David, then somebody else."

"I can't believe that after everything he's supposed to have done for your world that you'd just kill him and replace him," Twilight said, trying not to sound too accusatory. In truth, she was utterly shocked. How could any beings that claimed to be civilised be so… horribly callous?

"It was his wish that if he died or was incapacitated to such a degree that we should find a replacement," Hell Blazer said softly. He didn't look particularly happy about what he was saying. "If I did it, I'd be doing as he asked."

"What kind of friend are you, that you would kill him - even if he asked you to!" Rarity said angrily. "Why -!"

She was cut off by a frosty glare that Hell Blazer sent her way, the admonishment dying in her throat.

"Understand this," he said softly, his tone icy and serious. "I don't want to fucking kill him. I've lost more than enough friends as it is, because of this war and because of other stupid things, a lot of which were my fault. The last thing I want is for the blood of another friend to be on my hands - my hooves,” he corrected with a grimace. He sighed. "But… and believe me, I hate this… but in war, people are expendable. Even the best of people."

There was a moment's pause as everypony considered Hell Blazer's words.

"You know what I don't get," Applejack said after a moment, her tone cold. "There's supposedly so few of you human folks left, and yet you're so willin' to let another die if you think you 'have' to."

Hell Blazer smirked humourlessly. "First off, much as I wish this weren't the case, I'm not human anymore, though thanks for the complement." He frowned, the smirk failing. "Secondly..."

"Secondly," a tired, old sounding voice spoke, "there are levels of survival that humanity is willing to accept."

The leather-jacket wearing Doctor was standing near them, looking expectantly at Hell Blazer.

"The physicians wish to speak with you," he said tiredly.

"I'm coming in a moment," Hell Blazer said.

"What did you mean 'levels of survival'?" Twilight asked the Doctor. He turned to her, his eyes impossible old and impossibly cold.

"Humanity would require only a scant few hundred viable breeders to survive and commence viable repopulation of this planet," he said matter-of-factly. "That is ultimately the base goal of the war - survival. Any other objective - be it cultural survival or moral high ground or any other, similar objective, must be secondary to that. We have fourteen million humans left alive at this present moment.” He smiled, though it was without mirth. “We can still, harsh as this may sound to your sensibilities, afford to lose one or two more. As a matter of fact, in the time we’ve been speaking, I believe we already have."

With that, he walked off, and Hell Blazer, shrugging apologetically, followed him. The remaining ponies were left sitting in the canteen, the conversation they had just had leaving them feeling a mixture of disgust and dread.

"I almost wish we hadn't come," Twilight said after a moment. "This place is just so…”

"Hopeless," Rarity supplied, her ears drooping in sorrow. "This entire place feels utterly hopeless - almost like there’s… nothing left to save."

The other ponies slowly nodded, each of them feeling that same crashing wave of dread.

“There has to be something to save,” Lyra said after a moment, looking suddenly, grimly determined. “These humans are alive. And as long as they’re alive, there has to be some hope.” She looked amongst the others. “I will not start thinking there’s no hope! I just won’t!”

“I’m not saying there’s no…” Rarity began.

“No, but you were,” Lyra cut her off. “You were, Rarity. You were saying it seemed ‘hopeless’ - that’s what ‘no hope’ means!”

“I know what it means!” Rarity growled. “And you know what? This place does seem hopeless sometimes! It’s seemed like that since we got here!”

“Please don’t argue!” Fluttershy snapped, louder than the others would have expected. Lyra and Rarity looked at her in shock, as did everypony else. She shrank back, slightly embarrassed by her outburst. “Please. If that’s alright.”

There was a long silence as the newcomers sat, everything being said and done around them weighing down on their minds.

"Come on, everypony," Twilight said after a moment, her voice heavy. "I think we should get to bed. I'm sure they'll find something for us to do soon enough."

With a few tired murmurs of agreement, everypony got up from their table at the canteen and headed off to bed, none of them feeling enthusiastic about doing much of anything at all. The only one who didn't move was Lyra, who, after waving off Ditzy, who was looking at her with sad, confused eyes, stayed put, grabbed Hell Blazer's unfinished glass of whiskey, and downed it. Then, coughing slightly and sighing, she too headed off.

***

12th March, 2030, 6.30am.

Hell Blazer sat by Elliot's bed, his tired eyes not leaving the prone form of the man he himself had condemned to this fate.

"You haven't slept," a voice spoke. Hell Blazer turned to find himself facing, of all ponies, Lyra Heartstrings. For a moment, his mind rebelled against her presence, until he remembered that though his Lyra was dead, this unscarred Lyra was still here.

"How'd you find this place?" he asked.

"I asked," she replied quietly. Her eyes drifted to Elliot. "You know, he was the first human I ever met."

"Same for our Lyra," Hell Blazer said with a soft smile. "She was one of the heads of the exodus: came in with Doctor Hooves, Ditzy Doo and Bon-Bon, so Elliot told me."

At the mention of Bon-Bon, Lyra's eyes flicked up to Hell Blazer.

"Is she...?" she asked, not daring to speak the words. Hell Blazer didn't reply and Lyra sighed. "I suppose I shouldn't ask. Not my Bon-Bon anyway."

"No," Hell Blazer said, sighing. "And your Ditzy isn't the Doctor's Ditzy, either. That's what makes this all very awkward."

"I haven't seen Doctor Hooves," Lyra said, frowning in confusion.

"You have, he just looks very, very different these days," Hell Blazer replied, smirking slightly. He turned back to Elliot. "According to the Doc, he'll pull through this time, but..."

"But you don't know when he'll wake up and your command aren't very patient," Lyra finished for him. He gave her an odd look. "I do listen when you're talking to the Element bearers you know. I don't say much but I listen."

"Yeah," Hell Blazer said with a sigh. "Our Lyra was quiet too."

"It's just this war," Lyra said. "I always wanted to meet humans, but I thought if I did it'd be a magical experience, not..."

"Not a war like this," Hell Blazer finished.

"Not a war at all," Lyra said, frowning. "This is so far beyond my experience I don't even know what to feel."

Hell Blazer didn't know what to say, and so he said nothing. The two of them kept staring at the prone form of Elliot for a little while longer.

“You know,” he said softly, “I never told you. Your - our Lyra’s… her personal effects are technically yours, now.”

“They what?” Lyra asked, raising an eyebrow.

“They’re yours,” Hell Blazer repeated. “They were mine, that’s what she stipulated… but to be honest, I think you deserve them more.”

“I… I don’t know what to say,” Lyra said honestly.

“I’m sure you don’t,” Hell Blazer said with a chuckle. “I can have ‘em sent to you, if you like.”

“That… would be nice,” Lyra said softly. “What’s in there?”

“Oh, all sorts,” Hell Blazer replied. “I think there’s even a -”

Before he could continue, there was a sudden, loud noise that started blaring throughout the base, reverberating through the walls. It took Hell Blazer a moment to realise it, but when he did, his eyes widened in shock and alarm and his ears flattened.

"Oh horsefeathers - shit!" he swore, causing Lyra to look at him. "That's the b-fucking alert!"

"What should we do?" Lyra asked, looking around frantically.

"You should get to action stations," Hell Blazer said, turning back to Elliot. "I'll guard David."

"Gotcha," Lyra said, and without another word she bolted out of the room towards the assembly point. Hell Blazer watched her go before turning his gaze back to Elliot once more.

"You'd better wake up soon, mate," he said grimly. "Because I get the feeling we'll need you sharpish."

Author's Note

Hello again, everyone. Hope you enjoy this latest chapter: ~~it's a little shorter than I usually manage, but it's said everything I need it to and the next chapter should more than make up for it~~ EDIT: Not shorter than the average now.

EDIT: This chapter was edited 28th July 2015 - the first chapter "out of order" that I've done.

As before, I'll ask those of you who've read this far to consider reading the AOA Anthology, Tales of the War, which contains short stories from the AOA world. As well as that, there are obviously a lot of AU's that have been posted since AOA started, which you might find interesting, links to which are present in the long description.

As always, thank you all for reading my story, for favouriting my story and for commenting on my story, and thank you to RoyalPsycho (Isaac) and The Void (Matt) for making sure my stuff is always at least readable. :-)

The Mirror, Twisted.

Chapter Twenty Seven: The Mirror, Twisted.

***

Wonderbolts' Academy, December 20th, 2029.

Scootaloo stood at attention, eyes fixed dead ahead, along with over a hundred new Wonderbolt graduates, the best of the best, those who had come through the rigorous training and the difficult selection process and come out the other side not only as the best flyers of their generation, but also as Wonderbolts, the most elite fighting unit the Solaminan Empire's aerial forces had. It had taken a long time for Scootaloo out reach this level of proficiency. She had trained hard, going in the nine years since the time of the cutie-mark crusaders from a flightless filly to an adaptable aerial ace.

She risked the briefest of smiles as she thought of the pony who had led her this far, the pony who was going up to address the new Wonderbolts personally: a pony who was practically her sister.

"Wonderbolt graduates," Rainbow Dash said, addressing them all with her trademark slightly cocky grin on her face. "You've all just completed your training, and proven that you're some of the best darn flyers we've got. Though not nearly as awesome as me, of course."

There was a scattering of laughter.

"But seriously," Dash continued, becoming more serious - some might say even uncharacteristically so. "You've all chosen to join the Wonderbolts in a time when nopony is safe from the threats our great Empire faces. In many ways, you're braver than I am. When I first applied for the Wonderbolts, they weren't expected to do more than look awesome. Now, the fate of all Equestria might one day rest in your hooves."

Scootaloo swelled with pride. The idea that one day, she might have a hoof in saving Equestria had been one of two reasons she had joined the Wonderbolts. The other, of course, had been the fact that Rainbow Dash, her idol, had chosen to do the same.

"I expect each and every one of you to acquit yourselves with valour on the field," Rainbow finished. "Not just for your Empress, but for yourselves. Because you've already proved you're the best, but you need to prove that you deserve to be. In Solamina's name!"

"In Solamina's name!" everypony repeated automatically. Rainbow stepped off of the podium, and with that, the ceremony was concluded.

***

A few moments later, Scootaloo was standing in front of Rainbow Dash alone. For a moment, she stood at rigid attention in front of her superior officer.

"At ease, Scoots," Rainbow said, and the she grinned. "Gimme a hug."

Scootaloo smiled warmly, and the two embraced. Rainbow had taken a keen interest in Scootaloo's career as a Wonderbolt, and without her help, sometimes Scootaloo wondered if she would have ever gotten this far.

"You looked good out there, today," Rainbow said.

"Thanks, Dash," Scootaloo replied, smiling widely.

"You've done really well for yourself," Rainbow continued. She walked around Scootaloo, before staring off at a small group of ponies in Wonderbolts colours who were having a quiet conversation. One of them looked over at Dash and Scootaloo, before motioning to his compatriots to move on. "And you've proven, over and over, that your loyalty is to the Empress."

"Why wouldn't it be?" Scootaloo asked, frowning slightly. Surely everypony's loyalty was to the Empress? Well, apart from the traitors of the so-called Equestrian Resistance, but nopony counted them as ponies much anymore.

"Not everypony's is," Rainbow replied darkly, turning away from the retreating group of ponies who had been conversing not two minutes ago. "You know why Cloudsdale was sanctioned, right?"

"Yeah," Scootaloo said, "because Solamina doesn't trust Pegasi."

"And do you know why?" Rainbow Dash asked, turning to look back at Scootaloo now.

"Because Pegasi have always been free spirited," Scootaloo said at once. "We don't like authority much, even if the authority's good for us."

"Darn straight," Rainbow said. "Doesn't stop most of us from being loyal to the Empress, but..." She trailed off, and turned her gaze back to the retreating little group. "There's always a risk of... traitors."

"Among the Wonderbolts?" Scootaloo asked, eyes wide. "There's no way!"

"There is," Rainbow Dash replied. She turned back to Scootaloo. "I had a conversation with the Empress not three days ago. The Wonderbolts are going to be permanently retained as home guard."

"No!" Scootaloo said at once. "Why?!"

"Simply put, she can no longer risk trusting the loyalty of soldiers who refuse to follow the Oath," Rainbow said. "I understand why Spitfire wanted to do that, but..."

She trailed off, looking pensive.

"But?" Scootaloo asked, sensing there was a but.

"The Empress has allowed me to put together a cadre of ponies I consider loyal," Rainbow explained. "Ponies I trust to stand by the Empress in times of dire need." She paused. "I know I can count on you to be one of those ponies, Scoots."

"Always!" Scootaloo said at once. "I'm always gonna be loyal Rainbow Dash, I promise!"

Truth was, Scootaloo was less loyal to the abstract concept of the Empress - who she had barely even seen - and more loyal to Rainbow Dash herself. But the distinction was hardly relevant.

"I knew I could trust you, squirt," Rainbow said, smiling. "That's why I have a special mission for you."

"I'm ready," Scootaloo said at once.

"That's what I like to hear," Rainbow said with a smile. "You ever heard of a place called Buckingham Palace...?"

***

Buckingham Palace, December 25th, 2029.

Move, you useless lump of horseapples.

Scootaloo couldn't force her limbs to obey her as she lay flat on the roof of a nearby building. Her eyes focused on the small, tattered cyan figure lying in a crater, but she couldn't force herself to move as the tall human figure walked towards her. She couldn't make herself move as the figure knelt by her, and she couldn't move as he stabbed a dagger through her throat. She couldn't move as he took the knife and cut part of her mane off, and she couldn't move as he walked off, sauntering as though for all the world he was just casually walking down the street.

She covered her eyes with her hooves, trying to unsee what she had seen, but it didn't work. The image of her mentor, a dagger stabbing through her throat, stayed with her, burning into her brain.

On her own, the last survivor of her unit, Scootaloo wept.

***

Outskirts of London, December 30th, 2029.

Scootaloo skirted the edge of huge wall, watching as two human troopers dumped a small cyan body onto a pile. Their labour done, the two of them walked off, talking in their strange, muffled voices.

Checking to make sure no one could see her, Scootaloo ran at the body, before grabbing it, ignoring the slight smell and the flies, and taking off, pushing her wings to the limit.

Only when she was far away enough that she was certain nothing would find her did she stop and land, finding herself on a grassy field. She gently laid the body of Rainbow Dash out.

In death, her beloved mentor looked so... small. Her powerful personality was no longer filling out the small Pegasus body. Her wings, the things that had made her Equestria's best, were tattered and broken. The wound that had ended her life was a gaping hold in her throat marring the dirty cyan fur. Scootaloo blinked back tears as she stared at the body. The gaping eyes were the worst thing; they were staring out at Scootaloo, filled with empty accusation.

Why didn't you save me, squirt?

"I'm sorry," Scootaloo said, though she knew Rainbow Dash couldn't hear her. "I'm sorry." She broke down and wept, falling to the ground next to the unmoving body. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

***

Ponyville, January 3rd, 2029.

As the body of Rainbow Dash was lowered into the ground, Scootaloo did her best to remain stoic. She had done her weeping before - Rainbow would have wanted her to be an example for the other ponies here, would have wanted her to remain strong, remain cool, and so, despite the fact that her insides felt like they were on fire, she would do so.

Near her, Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie, the last two bearers of Elements of Order, watched the descent of the coffin with Rainbow Dash's remains into the dirt. Normally, Pegasi bodies were cremated to allow their physical forms to be free in the air in death as they had been in life, but Scootaloo couldn't bear the thought of burning Rainbow Dash, and since she had risked so much to bring the body home for a safe burial - something that had never happened for the other three - Twilight and Pinkie, Rainbow's only remaining next of kin, had agreed with her wishes.

As the coffin settled into place, Scootaloo closed her eyes.

I couldn't save you, Rainbow Dash, she thought to herself, but I swear to Astra Solamina herself, I will avenge you.

***

After the funeral, Scootaloo found Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom waiting for her.

"Scoots," Apple Bloom said softly, her own eyes red. She had been crying, though whether she had truly been weeping for Rainbow Dash or in the memory of her own lost sister, Scootaloo didn't know. Truth be told, she couldn't blame her - the Cutie Mark Crusaders were now bonded, not by a mutual search for who they were, but by the mutual pain they all suffered: the loss of their beloved sisters. Scootaloo might not have been Rainbow Dash's blood relative, but she still thought of the older mare as her sister.

"Hey Apple Bloom," Scootaloo said softly.

"Are you ok?" Sweetie Belle asked quietly. "I know it's hard, but..."

"I'm fine," Scootaloo said at once, and the others shared a glance. "Apple Bloom, I thought you were busy building stuff in New Prance?"

"The infrastructure can survive without me supervisin' everythin' for a day or two," Apple Bloom replied with a shrug. "You needed me more."

Scootaloo couldn't help but smile.

"Thanks guys," she said. The three of them shared a hug. It comforted Scootaloo, in a strange way, that even in their shared pain, she could always rely on her two friends to be by her side.

***

Supreme Commander Twilight Sparkle's desk, Canterlot. February 7th, 2030.

"You want to what?" Twilight Sparkle asked, her eyes wide.

"You heard me," Scootaloo said. "I want to take the bulk of our most recent Wonderbolt graduates and start raiding enemy facilities. We've not been harsh enough, we've not hit them hard enough. That has to change."

Sparkle sighed. "Scootaloo, we've been sending raiders whenever we can, but the recent policy is on large scale attacks, attrition warfare."

"We can't afford that," Scootaloo replied hotly. "Look at London! Three commanders dead, one reassigned to the Wall! We can't keep launching massive attacks and getting beaten."

There was a pause. Twilight's eyes had narrowed - she didn't like being reminded about London. Both her brother and her last close friend had died there: it was like a gaping wound for her in a way.

"Look," Scootaloo said, "I don't know if you've been listening to Sol Invictus..."

"Oh, him," Twilight said, waving a hoof dismissively. "I don't have time for that lunatic.

"He's not just a Lunatic," Scootaloo replied. "He's suggested a new idea. Death by a thousand cuts."

"I've heard that theory before," Twilight said, "and it would take too long. The Empress wants the British isles crushed quickly: death by a thousand cuts just isn't practical to that goal."

"And wasting nearly a million converted militia on massive attacks that fail miserably is?" Scootaloo asked, raising an eyebrow.

Twilight sighed. Finally, she grabbed a piece of paper from her desk and stamped it.

"This is an authorisation to take whatever forces you want and attack whatever you want," Twilight said shortly. "If you fail, it's on your head. You and the rest of the Wonderbolts will be reassigned to garrison duty."

"You were going to do that anyway," Scootaloo said in return! smiling as she took the paper. "And if I fail, I don't intend on returning."

***

Leeds Royal Armouries, 09:34 hours, March 12th, 2030.

Rainbow Dash couldn't believe what she was seeing: to her, Scootaloo was a little filly who hero-worshipped her. Seeing her here - seeing her full grown, and seeing her having somehow become a hardened killer... it was almost too much to comprehend.

"Scootaloo..." she said softly, shocked beyond measure, "I... what are you...?"

"Don't talk to me!" Scootaloo said angrily. "I don't want to hear any words come out of your lying mouth!"

And with that, she charged at Rainbow Dash again, swinging her hooves in wide arc, undisciplined and furious. Rainbow dodged the blows, first one, then another, before catching Scootaloo's hoof in hers and looking her in the eyes. In Scootaloo's purple eyes, filled with so much rage and pain, she could see her own expression, a mask of shock and horror.

"Scootaloo," she said softly, "what are you doing?"

Scootaloo screamed and threw her off, before charging at her again. Rainbow kept dodging and blocking, but she realised she had to end this quickly or Scootaloo would just keep coming and Rainbow would be forced to stop her - or worse, somepony or somebody else would come upon them and shoot her.

She blocked another blow and grabbed Scootaloo, before throwing her to the ground. Before Scootaloo could move, she pinned her to the ground with her forehooves.

"Scootaloo, stop!" she yelled. Scootaloo didn't listen, instead struggling, and so Rainbow smacked her across the face. Her lip bleeding, Scootaloo glared daggers up at Rainbow Dash, her face filled with righteous anger.

"Kill me then," the former Cutie-Mark-Crusader said, her voice a hiss. "Go on, do it."

"I'm not going to kill you, Scoots," Rainbow Dash said.

"Don't call me that!" the orange Pegasus yelled, struggling again. "Only she called me that!"

"I am Rainbow Dash, Scoots," Rainbow said, her voice tinged with sadness. "I'm not the Rainbow Dash you knew, but I'm still her."

Scootaloo struggled for a moment, then fell limp. She looked up at Rainbow Dash, her eyes narrowed in contempt, and then slowly they softened.

"By Solamina's grace," she said, almost automatically, making Rainbow cringe slightly. "How... how can you be alive? I buried you!"

"It's a long story, Scootaloo," Rainbow said. She paused. "If I let you up, will you promise not to attack me."

"I..." Scootaloo said, pausing for a moment. She sighed heavily. "I promise."

"Pinkie Promise," Rainbow said, not trusting this Scootaloo.

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," Scootaloo said, looking vaguely exasperated.

***

Somewhere a few dozen metres away, Pinkie Pie twitched slightly, sensing a Pinkie Promise being made. She made a note to make certain that said promise was kept.

***

Rainbow stepped back, taking her hooves off of Scootaloo. The younger pony slowly stood up, her eyes scrutinising Rainbow the entire time. Rainbow watched her warily, knowing that she could - and probably would - attack her any moment, Pinkie Promise or no.

"It really is you," Scootaloo said after a moment, her voice filled with cautious wonder. "How is that possible?"

"Long story," Rainbow said, "and I don't understand half of it." She didn't mean to sound quite so... mysterious, but she didn't know if it was a good idea telling Scootaloo that she was from another universe. "More to the point, why are you helping Solamina?!"

"You're the one who encouraged me to join the Wonderbolts in the first place!" Scootaloo said, her voice tinged with an accusatory tone. "You told me it was my duty!"

"Yeah, well clearly I wasn't in my right mind," Rainbow said bitterly - this was probably true, since most ponies ran under the assumption that something had been done to the Element bearers. "Anyway, just because I tell you to do a thing doesn't mean it's right."

"What else was I supposed to do?" Scootaloo asked, raising her voice slightly as she got angrier. "Join these traitors you've hooked up with?! You were loyal. I looked up to you!"

"You were looking the wrong way!" Rainbow yelled. She caught herself, steadied her breathing, and forced herself to calm down. "You've got a mind, Scoots. Look at what Solamina's done. She's murdered millions, turned millions more into ponies against their will. She's conquered a whole world, for who knows what reason! You can't tell me that's just ok to you!"

"It was ok to you," Scootaloo said, her vice tinged with anger.

"Yeah, well look where that got me," Rainbow said sadly, thinking of her alternate self. "Killed. Killed for the worst darn cause ever."

"I don't understand this!" Scootaloo said. "You... you can't be Rainbow Dash - she'd remember! She'd remember everything! Why don't you?!"

Rainbow sighed. Good idea or not, she had to do this. "Because I'm not your Rainbow Dash," she said softly. "I'm from another Equestria. One where Solamina never existed, where none of this ever happened. I came here to help these him and defeat the Empire - defeat Solamina - once and for all."

Scootaloo narrowed her eyes. "I don't believe you."

"Believe the evidence of your own eyes, Scoots!" Rainbow said angrily. "I'm Rainbow Dash. You said it yourself, you buried yours!"

"You could be a changeling," Scootaloo said softly.

"Do you know any changelings who'd make up such a crazy story?" Rainbow asked, raising an eyebrow.

Scootaloo glared at her, but the glare softened as she realised the truth of Rainbow's words. "But..."

"Scootaloo," Rainbow said softly, "being part of Solamina's army is wrong, you know it. Deep down, I know you know it. You were a good filly when I knew you." She paused. "I know you can be a good pony again."

Scootaloo snarled, turning away from her, and for a moment Rainbow was worried she was going to take off, but she merely stayed put on the ground. For a long moment, there was nothing but silence as the younger mare wrestled with what a Rainbow Dash had been telling her.

"I..." Scootaloo said after a moment. "This is... it's a lot to take in."

"I know," Rainbow Dash replied softly. "But... maybe try to think about it?"

Scootaloo said nothing, instead merely sighing. After a moment, she took off into the air, and Rainbow Dash didn't follow her. Scootaloo would either listen or she wouldn't. Once she was in the air, Scootaloo started signalling to any Wonderbolts she passed, and soon enough the entire surviving complement of Wonderbolts - less than half the number who had come here - were flying away.

The raid was over.

***

Three minutes earlier...

Twilight Sparkle fired another spell off at an approaching Pegasus: this spell was, unfortunately, a killing spell, but she had no other choice. The Pegasi were so numerous by this point that even Pinkie's impressive rate of fire from her party cannon wasn't quite enough to keep the Pegasi from getting to their position.

Applejack kicked another Pegasus in the head, the mare' head cracking loudly and her neck bending at an awkward angle. The wide eyed corpse fell to the ground, and Applejack didn't even blink, instead charging another Pegasus and ramming into him, bowling him over. Before she could do anything else, a bullet smacked into his head, and she turned and nodded at Jennings, who reloaded.

"Last mag!" he yelled, before shooting another Pegasus in the head.

"This is crazy!" Twilight yelled. "How many Wonderbolts are there?!"

"They got militarised," Desert Wind grunted, as he knocked another Pegasus to the ground and stamped on the poor stallion's neck, breaking it in two. "They're one of Solamina's best!"

Twilight cursed as she threw more spells. If they didn't manage to do something about this tide of Pegasi, they'd have no choice but to fall back to inside the complex, and that was not an option.

Suddenly, she heard Jennings cry out. The human was being swarmed, kicked and sliced by blades by four or five Pegasi whipping round him. Twilight fired off spell after spell, as did Rarity and True Grit, but then one of the Pegasi threw a small purple vial over the man, the contents splashing over exposed skin.

"No!" Jennings yelled, before screaming in agony. He pulled off his mask, screaming as bones started cracking and his flesh started sloughing off, dark brown fur pushing through. His eyes - which were already starting to expand - met Twilight's.

"Kill me!" he yelled between gasps of pain. "Please!"

But Twilight, though she knew such a thing existed, had never seem ponification in process. She could only watch in horror as the man's flesh continued sloughing off and his bones cracked. He screamed in agony once again...

And then like a flash, a bolt of green magic struck him in the forehead. His eyes widened in shock, his screams stopped, and he gazed off into nothing for a moment, before letting out a soft "oh" and collapsing.

Twilight turned to face True Grit, who was staring at the body, before he quickly started firing again. She turned back to face the body - even in death, Jennings' form was still transforming, completing the sick process towards turning into a pony in comparative silence, save for the cracking of reshaping bones.

Sickened, Twilight turned and fired off spell after spell at any Pegasus she could see, all the while blindly asking questions, her rage mounting. How could ponies have created such a potion?! Why would they?! What for?! How could they justify this abomination?! How could CELESTIA of all ponies have fallen so far?!?!

She was so angry that she failed to notice that the Pegasi weren't coming at their position as strongly as they had been, or in as many numbers.

In fact, they weren't coming at all.

"Retreat!" one Pegasus was calling out. "Wonderbolts, we are leaving!"

"Let's get the heck out of here!" another yelled, flying as fast as she could into the air.

Twilight watched in shock and - almost - disappointment as the Wonderbolts begins retreating, before her rage subsided and she realised just what she had done. She counted at least eight Pegasi who had been killed by her in her rage, and five more she had been forced to kill during the stand.

"Oh sweet Celestia," she said softly, too quiet for anypony to hear. What had she done?

"Hey, Twilight," she heard a voice say. She turned and found herself facing Applejack, who was smiling, though Twilight could tell it was a forced thing. "We did it. We're alive. It's over."

Over. That was a word. Twilight turned and looked at the peaceful looking body of Jennings, now a small brown Earth Pony, and she realised with a sickening feeling in her stomach - and that unfamiliar, yet all too familiar rage - that it had only just begun...

***

With Scootaloo gone, Rainbow quickly flew back towards the prone form of True Blue, hoping to check in on him and make sure he was still alive. By now, Fluttershy was with him, trying her best to tend to his injuries. She turned to look at Rainbow, relief etched into her features.

"Oh thank goodness you're ok," she said softly. "We couldn't get in contact." Before Rainbow could say anything, Fluttershy was on her comms. "Grey Twelve to Grey Leader, I have her, she's ok."

"Roger that," the tinny voice of a Errant Flight said, almost too quiet for Rainbow to make out. "They're retreating for now. We'll link up at main base and debrief."

"Roger," Fluttershy said softly. She turned to Rainbow and smiled again, clearly just happy to see her friend in one piece. "We didn't lose anypony else after you left, just so you know."

"Silver Spire?" Rainbow asked. Fluttershy shook her head and Rainbow cursed softly. The pompous Pegasus had occasionally been a plot-hole, but he hadn't deserved to die like that.

Shaking her head, she walked over to True Blue, who was unconscious from his injuries.

"He'll be ok," Fluttershy said softly, in answer to Rainbow's unspoken question. "But his wings might not properly heal. They've been really badly damaged."

"Great," Rainbow muttered, looking away. "I guess I've failed yet another pony who relied on me, looked up to me."

"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked.

Rainbow, sighing with exhaustion - both emotional and physical - explained to her about Scootaloo - this world's bitter, twisted, murderous Scootaloo. When she was finished, the yellow pony was quiet.

"I'm sorry, Dash," she said softly after a moment. "I'm... I'm sorry."

"Yeah," the cyan pony replied bitterly, as she looked at the prone form of True Blue. "So am I."

Albion Awakens.

Chapter Twenty Eight: Albion Awakens.

***

Leeds Royal Armouries Infirmary, March 12th, 2030.

Hell Blazer dropped his cigarette and stamped it out wordlessly, eyes wide in shock at what he had just heard - or what he thought he had just heard.

"That's better," the quiet voice of David Elliot mumbled. His eyes were closed, and he wasn't moving apart from his head lolling to the side slightly.

"Dave?" Hell Blazer said quietly. "Dave, are you awake?"

***

The MindScape...

David Elliot blinked as he found himself back in the MindScape, now in the form of a lake in the middle of the countryside. For the past few weeks, his training here had gone well. The figure he had met in this mysterious place helping him learn how to better control the Avatar's power, allow it to build up in such a way that it didn't overwhelm him.

He had, for a brief moment, been aware of the outside world: this was the first time this had happened during his time here, and he was slightly concerned at the thought that he might have left too soon,

"Are you there?" he called out.

Yes, the voice said, sounding again like a woman, though Elliot could see no sign of anyone else present. I am here.

"I just woke up for a moment," Elliot said, feeling foolish for talking to thin air. "Should I have? I mean..."

He blinked, and suddenly he saw a figure sat by the lake. She was a golden haired woman, fair skinned, with green eyes and a soft smile, wearing a long, flowing silver dress. She was sat, barefoot, on the bank of the lake, and waved at him to come join her. Feeling even more foolish, Elliot walked over.

"Is this better?" she asked, her voice quiet, innocent and strangely melodious. "Your kind always prefer having someone to talk to face to face."

"Yes, I suppose we do," Elliot said. He frowned. "You're the same person as the knight."

"I'm not really a person at all as you would understand it," the woman replied mysteriously. "We have many forms. The Lady in the Lake. The sword in the stone. The King who wields that sword. All have been us, and we have been all in return."

"Enigma aside..." Elliot said, frowning slightly. "Is it time for me to return?"

"That depends on you," the woman replied with a shrug. "Your body is clearly ready. You are now no longer in a coma, but merely asleep. Do you feel ready to return to your people once again?"

"I feel I've been here too long," Elliot said. "I can't abandon Britain, my people... my friends."

The woman smiled, and Elliot felt a bit better, feeling as though this had been the right thing to say.

"It is your devotion, not merely to your duty but to your people, that make you a worthy Avatar in spirit," she said. "That may yet be enough to aid you."

"Then I can return?" Elliot asked.

"You can," the woman said quietly. "But before you do, I must tell you of some things that may aid you and your allies in the days to come."

***

Hell Blazer was starting to think he'd gone mad. Elliot hadn't moved since he'd spoken, and now the yellow pony was starting to doubt he'd ever spoken at all.

"Bloody hell," he said quietly. "I'm going insane."

He was torn between wanting to get another cigarette out and going to get a nurse, just on the off chance that his friend had in fact managed to wake up briefly. He reached forward, feeling vaguely absurd, and poked David in the arm.

"I'm definitely going insane," he said to himself, shaking his head.

"Was there ever any doubt?" the voice of Elliot replied.

"Bloody hell!" Hell Blazer yelped, jumping backwards. He blinked as Elliot pulled himself into a sitting up position, the man smiling softly at his very confused friend as he did so.

He looked a little haggard, a tiny bit thinner than he had done. He had a full beard on from having not shaved, and his cheeks were somewhat sunken. Worse still, his hospital pyjamas looked entirely too baggy on his frame for Hell Blazer's liking, the consequence of a month and a half left for his muscles to atrophy. But other than that he looked as alert and healthy as ever. He yawned, covering his mouth with his hand.

"Where am I, and what time is it?" he asked nonchalantly, looking around the room.

Hell Blazer blinked in shock: of all the questions his friend could have asked after a month and a half of being unconscious, he asked that? Well, the yellow Earth Pony mused sourly, at least - despite his coma - he'd retained his propensity for being a random pain in the arse.

"It's about nine o'clock in the morning," he said after a moment, feeling somewhat ridiculous that he was actually answering this question. "Um... you're in Leeds Royal Armouries, the infirmary obviously. And it's March 12th, in case you're interested."

"Huh," Elliot said softly, tilting his head thoughtfully. "Less time than I was expecting after my little stunt outside St Paul's."

"I'm so glad for you," Hell Blazer said sarcastically, frowning in irritation. "Nice to know we were all worrying our heads off over nothing."

Elliot cocked his head as though listening to something, and Hell Blazer listened too - he could hear the sound of battle outside. It was only then that Hell Blazer remembered that a raid was going on outside.

"Horsefea- shit!" he said, managing to correct himself (just). "We're under attack!"

"I can hear that," David said, grinning slightly at his friend's near faux pas. "Don't worry, I'm sure the defence forces have it in hand."

"Don't worry?" Hell Blazer said. "You're pretty confident for somebody who's spent a month and a half in a bloody coma! Are you even strong enough to defend yourself?"

Elliot raised an eyebrow, then glanced around the room, his eyes settling on a small plastic cup of water. A moment later, the cup disintegrated in a golden flash. Hell Blazer started, gazing at the charred table in shock.

"Hope they don't make me pay for that," Elliot said idly.

"Are you insane?" Hell Blazer asked. "That's the sort of thing that knocked you out! You...!"

"I know, John," Elliot said, holding up a hand to forestall his friend's yelling. "But I think I've cracked it John, I think I finally have."

"Cracked it?" Hell Blazer said, frowning softly. "What do you mean 'cracked' it?"

Elliot stood up, flexing his arms. Suddenly, the golden glow of Albion surrounded him, and his eyes burned with inner fire. Hell Blazer stepped back, eyes wide.

"David!" he called out, shocked beyond measure. A couple of guards and a pony nurse raced to the little room, but they stopped in their tracks when they saw Elliot glowing. Suddenly, the glow receded, leaving David Elliot, looking as strong and healthy as he ever had, smiling at a bunch of entirely bewildered people and ponies.

"Exactly what I said," he replied with an infectious grin. "I've cracked it, John!"

***

The cleanup operation was already underway by the time Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had regrouped with the other members of Grey Squadron. They had made sure True Blue got seen to by medics, but the grim look on the green-cross wearing human hadn't filled either of them with much in the way of hope.

"He'll be ok," Rainbow Dash kept saying, but her heart wasn't in the platitude, her mind still focused on the rage and hate filled face of this world's Scootaloo. She still couldn't believe that Scootaloo - of all ponies, Scootaloo - had become part of Solamina's regime. It was still a massive leap for her to see the pony whose face had been filled with such anger as being the same little filly she had known.

"True Blue will be fine, Rainbow," Fluttershy said quietly.

"I know he will," Rainbow said quickly. "I... I know he will."

"Rainbow Dash!" she heard somepony call, interrupting her. She turned to find Errant Flight waving her and Fluttershy over. "Get over here!"

She and Fluttershy trotted over to Errant, who looked faintly flustered but otherwise in good spirits.

"Well," he said with a slight smile. "We held the buckers off!"

Nopony in Grey Squadron looked very enthusiastic, despite Errant's obvious happiness with the situation.

"We lost Silver Spire and Swift Strike," Fluttershy said meekly. "And I don't think True Blue will be able to fly again for a long time."

"I know," Errant Flight said, his voice less exuberant. "And we'll remember their sacrifices. But this war has caused a lot of death: what's important is that we won. We held our line, we gave far more than we got and we drove those buckers off!"

"I don't understand it," Dark Wing said quietly. "I saw their forces, they were going to overwhelm us in the sky - then they just ran off."

"I saw that too," Bright Wonder said, looking unusually thoughtful. "What gives?"

"I know one thing; it wasn't any hit we gave them," White Blossom said softly. "Sure, we took down a bunch, but there must have been the entire graduating class there this time!"

"Actually a little more, I would have thought," Dream Flyer said quietly. She seemed downhearted, most likely the squadron's losses - especially Swift Strike, who had been with the team since London.

Rainbow Dash looked at the ground, feeling even more downcast than she had before. Most of the squadron didn't seem to notice her mood, but Ditzy Doo - ever perceptive to the emotions of those around her - did.

"Rainbow Dash?" she asked, looking over at her when she noticed her expression. "What's wrong?"

And suddenly, the entire squadron was looking at Rainbow, which only made her feel worse. She felt sick and tired and wanted nothing more than to forget everything she had seen up to this point, though she knew she never would.

"Rainbow?" Ditzy asked, her eyes wide and innocent. Dash sighed.

"I think I know why they retreated," she said quietly after a moment.

There were various exclamations at that. Solid Hoof raised an eyebrow, and Bright Wonder and White Blossom exchanged glances filled with eager enthusiasm - that was the worst thing. They must have thought there was some grand tale to tell.

"What happened, Dash?" Errant Flight asked, frowning slightly at her, his eyes filled with curiousity.

"I fought with the leader of the Wonderbolt squadron," she said quietly. "It was Scootaloo. A little filly... I guess now she's a mare... that I used to know."

Errant Flight nodded in understanding, looking solemn. "Did you kill her?"

"No," Rainbow said quietly, "I spoke to her. I think I managed to convince her that she was doing the wrong thing."

Errant frowned. "Talked to her?"

"I wasn't about to kill somepony that's still a filly to me!" Rainbow said angrily, interpreting his words as a criticism. "Back where I come from, she looks up to me! To see her like that..."

She trailed off, her eyes watering. Any attempt to suppress the tears didn't work, and within minutes she had broken down and was sobbing into her forehooves, Fluttershy comforting her. After a moment, Ditzy moved over to her, putting a hoof on her shoulder as well, her eyes downcast.

"Damn this war," Solid Hoof suddenly exclaimed, the gruff pony sounding angrier than anypony had ever heard him. "It makes us fight our own."

"Brothers, sisters, cousins, friends... parents..." Dark Wing added, looking forlorn.

Errant Flight sighed, before walking up to Rainbow and putting a hoof on her shoulder.

"I didn't expect you to kill a friend," he said quietly. "And I'm sorry if it sounded like that. For what it's worth, you may have saved a lot of lives - on both sides - by convincing her to retreat."

Shaking herself slightly, trying to get a grip on her emotions, Rainbow Dash looked up and smiled softly.

"Thanks," she muttered.

"In any case," Errant added, speaking louder, "with three members of the squadron down, we're gonna need to do some restructuring of the team, and I'll need to find some new flyers." He looked back at Rainbow. "One thing's very clear: in your current position, you're wasted. Consider yourself my new Grey Four, and new leader of Two Flight."

Rainbow blinked. "Seriously?"

"Unless you don't want the job," Errant said with a slight smirk. Rainbow smirked back.

"Not on your life," she said quietly.

***

Twilight Sparkle sat staring at the body of Jennings, her eyes unfocused. All around her, soldiers were clearing away bodies and resetting defensive positions ready for the next attack with the efficiency of people who had done this exact same thing countless times before.

"Ma'am," she heard a voice say to her, seemingly from far away. "Ma'am, you can't stay here."

She looked up, and found True Grit staring at her, looking sympathetic but also resolute.

"You killed him," she said softly. "You killed him."

"He asked me to, ma'am," True Grit said without missing a beat. "And I think he would have preferred death to being converted."

"How did this happen?" Twilight whispered. "How did ponies become this? How did ponies decide that this was the way?"

"I don't know, ma'am," True Grit said evenly. "But I do know that we're going to stop them."

Slowly, Twilight stood up, trying desperately to not feel even more sick than she already felt. She turned, to see where the rest of her friends were.

Rarity was standing in the middle of the courtyard, looking shocked, her eyes glancing upwards at her horn every so often, before returning to the charred body of a Pegasus, as though uncertain how her horn could have done anything of that sort to him. Pinkie Pie was crying, hugging Applejack tightly and wailing into the air. Twilight envied her - her emotional forthrightness might well be the only thing keeping her sane.

Finally, her eyes turned to Lyra, who was helping move bodies with her magic, her face grim and resolute as well, though she looked sallow-cheeked and haunted. A fresh cut had found it's way onto her cheek, and for a moment she looked far more like the tired, emotionally hollow mare that had died on a desktop in London than the bubbly, human-obsessed pony Twilight had come to know in Ponyville and had known even in school. Then she turned to Twilight and gave her a smile, the same smile she always had, and Twilight almost believed that she was alright... except that the smile didn't quite reach her eyes. Twilight smiled back, the feeling of her muscles pulling back almost foreign to her.

How could anypony smile after everything that had happened here, everything they had seen?

And then she realised, and her smile widened.

"If we didn't smile," she said quietly, "we'd go mad."

"Ma'am?" True Grit said, confused.

"Nothing, Grit, nothing," she said quietly. "Just an epiphany."

"Yes ma'am," the former Royal Guard said, sounding entirely nonplussed. He went off to help Lyra move bodies, leaving Twilight alone. She walked up to Rarity.

"Rarity, are you ok?" she asked.

"Oh, fine," her friend said quietly. "It's just... I was thinking about..."

She trailed off, before looking at Twilight with an expression of confusion, mixed with worry. "What have I done, Twilight?" she asked. "I... I make things, don't I? I don't destroy things..." Her eyes turned to gaze at the body of the Pegasus she had killed. "But here I am, staring at my handiwork first hand..."

"We all did things today that we never expected we'd have to do in our lives," Twilight told her, trying to be comforting. "And if it helps, Rarity... you're not alone. We're with you."

"I know, Twilight," Rarity replied. "And it's more comforting than you know." After a moment, she shook her head. "Well, there's no time for lollygagging. I don't recall coming here to stare at things, no matter how horrifying. I came here to help."

With that, she walked over to where Lyra and True Grit were busy moving bodies, and started helping them. Twilight smiled, the expression feeling bittersweet somehow. Her friend would survive this. Whether she would survive this entirely sane was a different matter. Heck, whether any of them would was a different matter: Twilight was certain that, no matter what happened, the ponies who left this world would not be the ponies who came to it.

Shaking her head slightly, Twilight walked over to Pinkie and Applejack. Although Pinkie's crying had subsided, she was still sobbing on Applejack's shoulder quietly. The farm pony gave her a look that clearly said she didn't know how to help the pink party pony.

"Pinkie?" Twilight asked quietly. "Are you ok?"

Pinkie let go of Applejack and turned to look at Twilight, her eyes red rimmed.

"This wasn't much like a party," she said quietly, before hugging her friend. Twilight, nonplussed, hugged her back.

"No," she said to her friend. "No it wasn't."

***

In the mess hall, a little while later, the newcomer ponies met up, all of them looking haunted. For a while, none of them really spoke, concentrating on eating their dinners and their own thoughts about what had happened.

"It's good that we came here," Rainbow Dash said after a long silence.

"What makes you say that, Rainbow?" Rarity asked, raising an eyebrow.

Briefly, Rainbow Dash explained about the alternative version of Scootaloo she had met, her encounter with her - the rage and hatred she had seen in the mare's eyes, such a twisted, furious thing compared to the little filly she knew from Ponyville.

"Oh no," Twilight said quietly. "Not Scootaloo..."

"Why would such a nice little pony be with the Empire?" Applejack asked, looking horrified.

"Apple Bloom is a contractor," Twilight pointed out. "She's building colonies for the converted..."

"Different matter," Applejack said, though she didn't sound convinced. "Little Bloom's stayin' neutral. I don't reckon I approve of it, but at least she ain't killing nopony."

"Sweetie Belle was the pony on News from Home," Rarity said quietly. The ponies who had listened to the Equestrian propaganda show looked at her in shock, none of them having realised that.

"Are you sure?" Twilight asked.

"She sounded older, but I know the accent and I know her," Rarity said quietly. "It was her, all right."

Everypony was thoughtful for a moment, each of them thinking about the sweet little fillies they had known, now grown into monsters serving a corrupt empire.

"This world is insane," Lyra said after a moment. "This world is utterly insane. Ponies killing humans and other ponies - and for what? How did this Celestia become such a monster? How does that even happen - such a benevolent ruler becoming such a despot?!" She slammed a hoof down on the table. "I'd almost get it if this were the work of Discord, or maybe one of the monsters from legenda like Tirek or the Schmooze... but it's Princess Celestia...!"

"Sometimes it is the destiny of those we would least suspect to walk the darkest paths," a gruff voice said. The group turned, to find themselves facing the gruff Doctor once again, bags under his tired brown eyes and his jacket sporting a couple of new expanses of battered leather.

"Hello Doctor," Twilight said politely, surprised to see him. "What can we do for you?"

"Hell Blazer would like to speak with all of you in the infirmary," he said quietly. "It is a matter of some importance."

Twilight shared a glance with all her friends, before looking back to the Doctor.

"Alright," she said quietly.

***

As they walked towards the infirmary, Ditzy trotted until she was walking next to the Doctor.

"Hello," she said quietly.

"Hello," he replied gruffly, not looking at her. He said nothing else, which didn't surprise Ditzy as much as she thought it might.

"You're a Doctor, right?" she asked quietly.

"That's correct," he said, still not looking at her. "I am."

"I was wondering if you knew where Doctor Hooves was?" she asked. "Since you're a Doctor too..."

He didn't respond, merely continuing to walk. After a moment, he looked at her.

"He is elsewhere on the front," he said grimly, his eyes filled with something Ditzy wasn't quite sure she could describe. "Fighting, much as we are here."

"Oh," she said softly, slightly surprised to hear that the Doctor was fighting. "I was just wondering if I'd get the chance to meet him..."

"That would not be wise," the Doctor said to her after a moment.

"Why not?" she asked.

"The Doctor..." the leather-jacket wearing Doctor said, trailing off slightly as though unsure how to say what he wanted to say. He sighed. "He... somewhat lost his way after the death of his Ditzy. He is not in a happy place at the moment." He paused, as if thinking how best to say whatever he wanted to say gently. "To see you would... be very painful for him, I am certain."

"Oh," Ditzy said, frowning slightly. "I guess I can understand that."

The Doctor nodded, looking back to the infirmary. By now, they had reached the door to the building.

"If you would all proceed upstairs to the third floor, room 311," he said quietly to Twilight Sparkle and the others. "Tell Hell Blazer that I will speak to him later."

Twilight Sparkle and the other newcomer ponies, to their credit, said nothing about this. They followed his instructions, leaving him alone outside the building with Ditzy, who waited behind for a moment.

"I never did catch your name," she said, looking at the Doctor.

"That's because I don't give it often," he replied. He smiled at her. "It's Smith."

"Smith?" Ditzy said, frowning. "That's unusual."

"My full name is 'Clock Smith'," he continued, tilting his head slightly, before throwing a glance at his cutie mark. "It is partially the meaning of my cutie mark. A broken hourglass symbolising my skill at mending timepieces."

"Oh," Ditzy said, nodding. "I guess that makes sense."

"It is a wonder anything does," the Doctor said with a smile. "Few things about the pony world make sense."

Ditzy laughed. "The Doctor says that a lot, too."

Doctor Clock Smith's smile soured slightly, and he sighed. "I should be going, and you should head to room 311."

"I'll speak to you later then," Ditzy said, not catching Smith's unhappiness.

"Perhaps," he replied, before walking off. Ditzy frowned after him, not quite understanding what was wrong with him, but by now she knew this war was a horrible, horrible thing: maybe it had been really horrible to him.

She turned and entered the infirmary.

***

Twilight and her friends walked up into the infirmary, which was sterile and white on the inside for the most part, though there were more than a few bloodstains scattered around. Within a few minutes, they were all waiting outside room 311, distinguishable by a red door.

Soft voices could be heard from within, but nopony in the group could hear the words, nor could they tell who was speaking.

"What do you think's going on in there?" Rainbow Dash asked Twilight. The Unicorn shrugged, as in the dark as her friends were.

A moment later, the door to room 311 opened. A human figure was stood in the doorway, and it took a moment for all the ponies to register who they were looking at. Finally, Pinkie Pie spoke.

"Mr Elliot?!" she yelled, sounding at once surprised and excited. "You're awake!"

The tall dark haired man smiled. "Hello, Pinkie Pie," he said. He noted her uniform. "I see you've had the training I wanted you to have. In fact," he added, looking at the rest of the group, "I see you've all been through the wringer."

"Just a little, sir," True Grit said, speaking for them all. Everypony chuckled, though a lot of it was without mirth.

"When did you wake up?" Rarity asked.

"Just before the raid ended," Elliot said. "But there's little time to discuss that."

"Why?" Twilight said, frowning in confusion.

"Because we've all got an appointment with the Council," Elliot said with a grin. "I need to tell them the plan."

***

Author's Note

My continued thanks to all those who have commented and favourited. Special thanks again to my betas, and to my fiancée Sue who put up with my grouchiness as I wrote this chapter. :-)

The Plan.

Chapter Twenty Nine: The Plan.

***

Leeds Royal Armouries, March 12th 2030.

David Elliot, still dressed in nothing but a dressing gown and hospital pyjamas, walked with renewed purpose, striding across the courtyard towards the Council connection room. Upon his face was a grin filled with hope and triumph. Behind him trailed the group of newcomer ponies and Hell Blazer, Twilight Sparkle at their head. For her part, the fact that Elliot was awake filled her with relief - and the fact that he said he had a plan intrigued her.

"What plan are you talking about?" she asked him.

"I'll explain when I get to the council chamber," Elliot replied shortly. "We don't have much time. Hell Blazer said they wanted to speak with me, after all."

"You could probably afford a minute to get some clothes on," Hell Blazer muttered under his breath."It's not like the war will be lost if you put a shirt on."

Elliot turned and winked at him, before marching on.

"Of course not," Hell Blazer said. "Because having a meeting with the most important two guys and a pony in the country in nothing but a set of pyjamas is the height of common sense. Silly me."

As they walked, soldiers passing the group stopped as they saw Elliot waking through, many of them looking surprised and most of them looking jubilant at the sight of their idol and hero.

"Commander Albion?" a pony soldier said quietly, looking at him in shock. "It's Commander Albion, he's awake!"

"Albion!" another soldier called out.

"Albion's awake! Albion's here!" another yelled. "It's Albion!"

Soon the cry was going up all over the base from ponies and humans alike, all of them ecstatic to see the symbol of their fight, the holder of their hopes, returned to them. Elliot, for his part, merely smiled the harder as he marched toward the council room.

***

When the group reached the doorway where Star Vigil was still standing guard, his eyes widened at the sight of Elliot.

"Commander Albion, sir!" he said quickly. "I wasn't expecting you!"

"I'm told we had trouble getting these ponies in to see the council yesterday," Elliot said quietly, his expression neutral. "My authorisation code is Albion Zero One Zero. I trust my own personal authorisation to see the council will cover these individuals?"

"Yes sir, of course, sir!" Vigil said eagerly, nodding to his gas masked colleague. "Greg, the door."

Greg, his own expression not visible behind a gas mask, opened the door mutely. Elliot gave the two of them a terse nod as he passed inside, and thankfully Star Vigil chose to remain silent this time as the Element bearers passed him.

The group once again found themselves in the room with the large screen and the dark haired technician, who also looked surprised to see Elliot.

"Bill!" Elliot said with a grin as the group entered. "Patch me through, would you?"

"Yes sir!" Bill snapped out, fiddling with his controls. "Right away."

A moment later, the screen flared into life, and the group found themselves facing Blueblood and Sato, sans Anderson. Sato and Blueblood looked surprised to see Elliot, but they recovered quickly.

"Major Elliot," Sato said quietly, looking pleased to see the man. "It is good to see you have recovered well from your incapacitation. I was admittedly under the impression that it would take longer."

"Councillor Sato, Prince Blueblood," Elliot replied, bowing slightly. "I've come to explain some of my intentions with regards the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. My understanding is that the council had some concerns with my plan."

"You might say that," Blueblood said dryly. "I believe the chief question being what your intention for their deployment was."

"I see," Elliot said, smiling still. "Ok. Simple. You send them to Plymouth."

Blueblood raised an eyebrow and exchanged a glance with Sato. For his part, the civilian representative looked somewhat neutral.

"Plymouth is an ongoing campaign," Sato said, "and it is projected that completely clearing the city of converted, the PER remnant and other hostile presences would take far too long and far too many resources. I'm afraid I do not see…"

"Plymouth's been an 'ongoing campaign' for the past five years," Elliot replied, sounding slightly less sanguine for the first time in the conversation. "You know as well as I do that the Equestrian forces keep sending reserves into the city: at this point, they're doing it just to keep troops busy, keep them from being used on other fronts. It's an attrition front." He paused, then smiled again. "I believe these ponies are the best bet we have to break that stalemate."

"Indeed?" Sato said, raising an eyebrow. "And how do you come by that conclusion? Is it perhaps your intention to utilise the Elements' power as a weapon?"

Elliot leaned back slightly, looking thoughtful. "I had in fact considered that possibility, honourable councillor, but the truth of the matter is that the Elements wielded by these ponies..."

"Aren't here," Twilight interrupted, frowning.

"Their power resides within you," Elliot told her idly. "I've see the Element bearers of this world summon the power without the baubles."

This was news to Twilight, whose eyes widened in shock at that tidbit. The idea that she and her friends could use the power of the Elements of Harmony without having access to the Elements themselves was interesting, though she couldn't be certain it was true and not just something these Elements had been capable of.

"In any case," Elliot continued, seemingly oblivious to the bombshell he had just dropped, "the moment I realised their Elements were called the Elements of Harmony, I reasoned that they would most likely not be able to use them in the same offensive manner that their counterparts did."

"Is there a reason for the discrepancy that we're aware of?" Blueblood asked, raising an eyebrow thoughtfully.

"Well, unless you know whether there was a deliberate shift between the Elements of Harmony and Order in Equestria..." Elliot began. Blueblood shook his head.

"Before the crisis I didn't know much about them, and after the crisis began they were already the Elements of Order," the Prince said. "I don't know the difference, and most of the ponies who do are part of Twilight's Archmagi now."

"It is apparent that, until such time as we know the truth of the matter, we can only assume it to be a natural discrepancy," Sato said smoothly.

"That's a pretty big discrepancy," Twilight said with a frown. "There's no reason I know of why the name would change…"

"This is a different world to your own," Blueblood pointed out.

"Which doesn't change the fact that they couldn't just… be different," Twilight said with a frustrated sigh. "Nothing else so radical has been changed.

"Returning us to the point that Elements of Harmony aren't going to be much use in a battle," Elliot said. He turned to look at Twilight. "I take it they aren't capable of..."

"We've already discussed the capabilities of the Elements with the council," Rarity cut in, looking irritated. "They don't do any of the things that have been described."

"No disintegration, no explosions, no damage," Twilight confirmed with a nod.

"Which returns us to the question of precisely what good these ponies will be able to do," Blueblood said. "Well trained as I'm sure they've become, they're inexperienced and there are only nine of them."

"Let me ask you a question, Prince Blueblood," Elliot said softly. "Do you know anything about the battle of Hull?"

The Prince frowned slightly. "I know of it, but I'm somewhat lacking on the details - it was before my defection, after all."

"Alright, then let me fill you in," Elliot said. He paused, before looking at the Element bearers. "This was fairly early in the war. The Elements were all present, and were used twice in that battle. They blew up a defensive position, and they incinerated a platoon in hiding. I remember both instances very well. In case you're not aware, Prince Blueblood, we held Hull because - despite the Elements' combined power - they couldn't stop trained, desperate soldiers fighting for their homeland." He paused. "Now: think back to Whitby, a few months later." He started pacing in front of the screen. "Only Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy present, no chance of utilising the power of the Elements, and yet our forces, though comparable to the forces defending Hull, took worse casualties, proportionally speaking, and we only just held. Whitby was all but ruined by that battle." He looked up at Blueblood. "You wanna know the difference?"

"Please, enlighten me," Blueblood said quietly.

"Rainbow Dash grew a brain," Elliot said sharply. The Rainbow Dash stood behind him looked indignant, but said nothing as he continued. "Between Hull and Whitby, she and the others had training and did research. They learned, sir, and once they'd learned, they weren't just better, they were downright deadly. They were deadly commanders, and they were deadlier in person."

"Your point, Major Elliot?" Sato asked.

"My point, Councillor Sato," Elliot said patiently, "is that these ponies, like their counterparts, have the potential to become some of the deadliest fighters on the field. That is why I brought them here. That is why I wanted them trained for battle. With their potential as soldiers - now hopefully realised by their training - they could well be the tipping force for the war."

"I see," Sato said softly. He looked at Blueblood, who shrugged.

"As far as I'm concerned, he's speaking from a position of greater military authority than either of us," he said simply. "He killed them all, remember."

"A valid point," Sato replied. The Japanese politician sighed, and looked back at Elliot. "I would be remiss if I did not make the point General Anderson would - nine ponies may not change the outcome of this conflict considerably at all."

"The good General thinks it takes whole armies to change outcomes," Elliot said simply. "He doesn't think individuals can affect change. I disagree."

Sato sighed. "Very well. You have permission to take additional forces from Leeds to Plymouth, including these nine, at your discretion. We shall expect a report on your progress, Major."

"And you shall have it, Councillor," Elliot replied simply, bowing slightly.

With that, the communication link fizzled out, and Elliot turned around and smiled at the group.

"That went well," he said quietly.

***

At dinner in the canteen, Elliot was seemingly inclined to make up for a month and a half of intravenous nutrition. As he ate, he explained a few things to Twilight and the others.

"Plymouth," he was saying, "was one of the cities attacked in late 2025. Initially, our forces were repelled from the city, though the Blockade thankfully prevented the enemy from using the port to much effect. In early 2026, we sent a counter-attack in to try and retake the city, but they were bogged down by hostile forces. Since then, both sides have been pouring forces into the city: us to try and push the Equestrian forces from their foothold and them to keep our troops busy."

"So it's a stalemate?" True Grit asked politely.

"Very much so," Elliot replied. "I would have seen to it sooner myself, but I'm only one man and we quickly learned the limitations - or should I say the previous limitations - of Albion's power vis a vis my body very, very quickly."

"Previous limitations?" Rarity repeated. "Do you mean to say you've overcome your - what did Discord call it - magic burnout?"

"I mean to say I've figured out how to keep myself from killing myself with the power for now," Elliot clarified with a slightly sour smile. "My lifespan's already massively compromised, and I might have only mitigated it. I'll have to consult with the Doctor about whether I've completely stopped the rate of damage."

"You mean Doctor Clock Smith?" Ditzy asked, her eyes wide.

"Doctor who?" Elliot asked with a slight frown.

"Doctor Clock Smith, the old pony in the leather coat?" Ditzy clarified. Elliot blinked, realising that the Doctor must have used 'Clock Smith' as a pseudonym to give to Ditzy. "Never mind," she added, before he could say anthing to her question, her eyebrows furrowing thoughtfully.

"So," Hell Blazer said after a moment, taking a drag from a cigarette. "Wanna explain how you managed to go from coughing every time you so much as used the power of Albion to that display in the hospital room?"

"It's a long story," Elliot replied, eager to get away from Ditzy's question about the Doctor. "Basically, I communed with the source of the power, and I was taught to better regulate it."

"How does that work?" Twilight asked, frowning at him.

"The regulation or the source?" Elliot asked.

"Try for both, sugarcube," Applejack said with a frown, interrupting the conversation with a faintly bemused face. "Just cos Twilight understands your fancy magic stuff don't mean we all do."

"I have to admit, some of it's even going over my head," Rarity said, sounding slightly sheepish for admitting to that.

"And mine," Lyra added, shrugging.

"I'm just enjoying the food," Pinkie commented nonchalantly. Since she was eating what appeared to be cake, nopony questioned that comment.

"Well," Hell Blazer said with a sigh, "the source is where the power comes from."

"That isn't very explanatory," Rarity said pointedly, raising an eyebrow at the yellow Earth Pony.

"That would be because - believe it or not - I don't have all the answers," Hell Blazer said.

"I can believe it," Rarity said sarcastically.

"The source, far as we know, is the magical core of this world," Hell Blazer clarified, looking slightly annoyed at her. "Equestria will have one as well, probably a little bit more prevalent. Essentially, it's… well, the source of magic."

"That source has two sides," Elliot added, as though worried Hell Blazer would miss out that point. "The light, and the dark."

"More like everything has those two sides: it's an intrinsic part of the way the world is," Hell Blazer corrected, giving Elliot a sidelong glance. "But magic has them too. The light - the same thing that created the myths of the Lady of the Lake, Arthur and Excalibur - and the dark."

"Which was Morgana le Fay and Mordred, Arthur's nemesis," Elliot finished with a grin. "John called upon the light to create the Avatar."

"To summon the Avatar," Hell Blazer corrected again, snorting slightly at his friend's error. "The power has always existed in the depths of the world, it just needs a channelling force. That's you."

Elliot shrugged with a hapless grin of his own. "Even after two years, I'm not altogether 'up' on this."

"That much is obvious," Hell Blazer said with a sly smirk.

"So what about the regulation you mentioned?" Twilight asked Elliot, eager to know what insights he had gained.

"I… guess I communed with the source," Elliot explained. "And I learned - in theory - how to regulate the energy flow. In effect, I learned how to control the power, instead of just how to channel it."

"How so?" Twilight asked, not entirely certain how such a 'communion' would happen.

Rather than responding with words, Elliot simply blinked, looked down at an empty cup, and blinked again. The cup disintegrated in a flash, leaving nothing but a charred table.

"Somebody's gonna be pissed off with you wrecking the crockery round here," Hell Blazer muttered with an exasperated sigh and a shake of the head.

"I can control the flow," Elliot said, ignoring his friend. "It doesn't overwhelm me any more, because now I know that it can, and now I know I can control it. Now, I know to not let it control me."

He smiled softly, apparently very pleased with himself.

"Ok," Applejack said slowly, as if working something complicated out in her head. "Does that mean you'll be able to kill Solamina like you're supposed to, without collapsing again?"

At that, Elliot's smile faded somewhat. "I don't know. I know I can contain the power more effectively, but I don't know if it means I can become much more powerful, and there's a lot of other variables too. It's not an exact science."

"It's not a science full stop," Hell Blazer said with a snort. "If it were, it'd be bloody easy to deal with. There'd be consistent bloody rules that meant X equalled X, not guesswork, hopes and prayers - literally in some cases!"

"So… you still don't know if you can beat Solamina?" Twilight summarised, feeling somewhat downhearted.

"No," Elliot said quietly. "I don't. I can hope, I can train, but there's no certainty"

There was a long pause. Everypony looked at each other, none of them very happy with this admission: if Elliot couldn't beat Solamina, even now when he supposedly had better control of his powers, then what could?

"So," Rarity said, as though trying not to think about the monumental task that still lay before them. "This city, Plymouth. What exactly do you want us to do there?"

"Oh, well that's easy," Elliot said, a smile returning to his face. "I'm going to take you all down there and we're gonna liberate it: most of you are part of an infantry group, right?"

"Um, no," Twilight said, smiling awkwardly. "We were assigned to 'Spec Ops'."

"The council's idea," Hell Blazer said quietly to Elliot by way of explanation. "They thought it'd be prudent, since you brought them here."

"What does 'Spec Ops' mean, sir?" True Grit asked. "I know it refers to Special Operations of some kind, but what kind could they want us for?"

"Well, these days Spec Ops is the codename they use for my personal team," Elliot said thoughtfully, almost speaking to himself. "That was what Hell Blazer, Lyra and True Grit were in the day…"

"Good times," Hell Blazer commented with a rueful smile at the two newcomer-versions of his old friends.

"No, having you listed as my team doesn't quite work," Elliot said after a moment. He looked at Twilight. "I'll get back to you on the arrangement of your team for Plymouth. In the meantime..." He stood up, flexing his muscles as he did so. "I believe now might be a good time to see how good you've all become."

Twilight and the others shared a glance.

***

In a training room, Elliot stood, now dressed in his battered combat-pants, his t-shirt and his boots. He held a Bokken roughly the length of a longsword in his hand, and was smiling. Opposite him stood the nine newcomer ponies, each of them wielding Bokken of their own - the infantry with dagger-Bokken and the Pegasi with their wrist-blade Bokken. They all looked prepared for a fight. Off the the side, Hell Blazer was watching with a grin.

"Same rules as last time," Elliot said idly. "You fight me until I 'kill' you or you 'kill' me. I figure that's clear enough." Everypony nodded slowly, clear on his instructions. Twilight threw looks at her infantry group - everypony nodded back: they'd follow her lead on this one. Dash, meanwhile, exchanged glances with Ditzy and Fluttershy, both of whom nodded, looking more than a little apprehensive.

"We're ready," Dash said.

"Same," Twilight added.

Elliot grinned. "Good," he said. He looked to Hell Blazer, who flicked a switch on a small device. Suddenly, music began playing, filling the little training room. He struck a fighting stance at once, looking suddenly energised. "Now then. Begin."

Immediately, Ditzy, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash charged at him, Bokken flipped out. They swept past him, lashing out as they did so, but he blocked their strikes. None of his return strikes managed to strike them, however, and they doubled back, striking again. He kept blocking, but again, none of his strikes hit them in return.

Twilight, Rarity, Lyra and True Grit, meanwhile, moved into flanking positions, each of them trying to get a different side of him. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were waiting for Twilight's signal: she looked with a tense expression at the Pegasi flying around Elliot, still lashing out and managing to dodge any of his strikes.

"Dash! Move!" Twilight called out to her friend. At that, Dash and the other Pegasi moved out of the way - and the four unicorns threw spells at Elliot all at once, green, blue, purple and turquoise bolts lashing out towards the man. Moving preternaturally fast, he began spinning his Bokken, and amazingly his sword intercepted every spell as they approached him. Still, the unicorns kept throwing spells.

"Applejack!" Twilight yelled after a moment. "Now!"

As the spells flew, Applejack and Pinkie charged at Elliot. At the last second, the spells eased off - just as the two Earth Ponies began throwing kicks, knife attacks and punches in Elliot's direction. He blocked all of them, moving faster and faster, but he couldn't get a strike in edgeways.

Suddenly, he spun his blade and stabbed the tip into the ground. A shock wave of golden magical energy flew outwards, knocking the two ponies back. He spun his blade and charged at True Grit, who fired spell after spell to try and slow him down, before sweeping his own training knife up to block Elliot's strike.

As Elliot charged, Twilight - throwing a look at the other unicorns - charged at him from behind, the others right behind her. Even as True Grit began exchanging blows with him, they were on him from behind, and Elliot was having to block blow after blow, looking increasingly frustrated as he did so. Again he stabbed his blade into the ground, and again a shock wave was released, sending everypony flying backwards. They recovered quickly - only for Elliot to be on top of them.

Rarity found his Bokken at her throat, a feral smile on his face.

"Dead," he said, grinning. He spun around and blocked a knife blow from Pinkie Pie, who had managed to recover, before kicking out and sending her reeling. He reversed his grip and brought his blade down in a powerful hacking motion that forced her to block, but her block failed and the knife was sent tumbling away.

"Dead," he added. Before he could capitalise on his momentum, however, the Pegasi were once again on his, lashing out with their wrist blades. Cursing, he unleashed a third shock wave, but it was noticeably smaller than the previous two, and he was panting slightly. Sensing possible victory, the Pegasi closed in.

Suddenly, he grinned, and lashed out faster than any of them could see, his blade contacting Rainbow Dash's side and sending her spinning into a wall, where she lay, stirring feebly. He blocked strikes from Ditzy and Fluttershy, and span his blade back into a ready stance.

"Now then," he said, sounding measurably more confident. "Come at me."

Twilight and True Grit launched a series of stunning spells at him, but he dodged and blocked them almost effortlessly. Snarling in frustration, Applejack charged at him, spinning and bucking. Suddenly, Elliot caught her legs and threw her, but even as he did so Lyra launched another stunning spell that smacked into his head.

"Ha!" she exclaimed triumphantly, but the jubilation vanished a moment later, when he looked at her and smiled. Suddenly he raised a hand and a bolt of golden energy hit her square in the forehead - doing nothing.

"Dead!" Elliot called over to her with a grin.

Ditzy and Fluttershy went around for another pass, but with less incoming strikes he managed to lash out catching them both and sending them into walls.

"Dead and dead," he said, before spinning his blade and facing the remaining combatants: Grit, Twilight and Applejack.

"Plan?" Applejack asked quietly.

"We'll suppress him with spells, you charge and try to take him off balance, then we'll come in to support you," Twilight hissed back, charging an attack spell.

"Gotcha," Applejack said.

At once, Twilight and True Grit launched their attack spells. Elliot blocked them, and Applejack charged the other two right behind her. A moment later, the three ponies became a flurry of blades and limbs, lashing out at the man. Against any normal opponent, it would have been a matter of moments before they were overwhelmed, and as it was even Elliot was having a hard time blocking their blows.

He spun his blade faster than their eyes could see, blocking every blow they tried to land. His blade lashed out, disarming both Applejack and True Grit, who were sent feeling by the force of the blow.

"Dead and dead!" he yelled, sounding less confident now as Twilight continued to strike at him, frustration gripping her. Her blade, held in a magical grip, moved faster and faster, probing at every weak spot he had, but he kept blocking it. Finally, anger surging through her, she threw the blade with her magic, before launching three stunning spells in a row, and jumping straight after them.

Elliot smacked the blade aside, and blocked the three spells with his hand, but when Twilight bowled into him he was knocked to the ground, the angry unicorn on top of him, fury in her face.

For a moment, he stared in shock at her, as she glared down at him, fire in her eyes. Then, to her immense surprise, he started laughing.

"I guess I'm dead," he said with a grin. "Oh, it's been a long time since anyone knocked me down like that!"

"Wait, so we won?" Applejack asked, eyes wide as she winced slightly from a bruise.

"Buck - fuck me five ways from Sunday," Hell Blazer said quietly. "How'd they do that?"

"The Elements were always good fighters," Elliot said to him, grinning. "I told you: these ponies have the potential to be just as good."

"So... we beat you?" Lyra asked, looking incredulous.

"In a spar," Elliot pointed out. "I wasn't trying to kill you. If I had been, I imagine you would have been dead. But you managed to keep me on my toes... and against Solamina's troops, you'll do much, much better than that, I'm sure."

He looked at each of them, a grin on his face.

"You're ready to help end this war," he declared.

***

Author's Note

This chapter was edited 29th July 2015.

Plymouth.

Chapter Thirty: Plymouth.

***

Transport Helicopter en route to Plymouth, March 15th, 2030.

In the back of a transport helicopter sat Twilight Sparkle, her face scrunched up in a mixture of discomfort and displeasure at the loud noise of the whirring blades atop the vehicle. She wore a khaki combat shirt, a helmet with an HUD display visor and inbuilt radio, and wore a dagger strapped to her side. Near her sat her friends - Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Lyra and True Grit, along with Sapphire Steel, Hell Blazer, the leather-jacket clad Doctor 'Clock Smith' (as Ditzy had said he was called), and Desert Wind. Most of the ponies were equipped similarly to her, except Hell Blazer, Clock Smith, DesertWind and Applejack.

Desert Wind had a sturdy leather saddle on, on which was mounted a Resistance P220, a weapon that none of the ponies here had seen since London - though it was rare, Elliot had managed to procure one for Desert Wind, who looked suitably pleased to be so heavily armed.

Applejack and True Grit, meanwhile, were wearing more extensive body armour, made of moulded Kevlar, with True Grit also wearing a modified helmet, set into which was a larger radio. Hell Blazer, by contrast, was wearing his usual attire, the only concession to common battlefield sense being the addition of a set of HUD goggles for communication purposes. Clock Smith had less than that even, wearing the same battered clothes he always did.

Next to him was sat Elliot, the only human - apart from the pilot and the co-pilot - on the helicopter. The Avatar of Albion had his eyes closed in an expression of concentration. If Twilight had to guess, she would have said he was meditating. Most of the others were talking quietly amongst themselves, except Lyra, who was cradling a small, leather bound diary she had apparently received shortly before they left Leeds for Plymouth. She hadn’t opened it - she looked like she was trying to decide whether or not she wanted to.

"I can't decide what's more terrifying," Rarity said to the group after a while, her voice barely audible over the din of the engine. "This blasted machine we’re all cooped up in, or all the things I've heard about this 'Plymouth' place."

"I'm sure Plymouth won't be so bad," Pinkie Pie said to her, trying to be reassuring. "I mean, sure they'll be lots of mean ponies who work for Solamina there, but I just bet we'll be able to beat them."

"Oh hooray," Rarity said sarcastically. "Killing more ponies. Just what I want to do with my time."

Pinkie's face fell, and tears started forming in her eyes. "That... that wasn't what I meant..."

"We know, Pinkie," Applejack said quickly, smiling softly. She threw Rarity a glare, and the fashionista had the decency to look a little ashamed of herself for upsetting Pinkie. "Rarity's just a bit frazzled by this situation, like we all are."

"I know that isn't what you meant Pinkie," Rarity said gently. "I'm just not eager to go back into battle."

"It's ok, Rarity," Pinkie said, sniffing slightly as she held back a sob. "I know you didn't mean to be mean."

"I'm no happier about killing ponies than you, ma'am," True Grit said to Rarity, who looked over at him. The former Guard was looking sterner than ever. "But like as not, we're here. And Pinkie's right. We'll be able to beat these guys."

"Yeah, stick it to 'em!" Applejack said eagerly. Twilight threw her a look, and the farmer grinned at her.

"Well, I hope for everypony's sake that we're able to do it quickly," Rarity said. "The faster we're done, the less ponies we'll have to kill, and the sooner we can be home."

"What's home even going to be like for us?" Lyra asked quietly, still cradling the small diary and not looking up from it.

"Whaddya mean, Lyra?" Pinkie asked, slightly confused.

"I mean, we've already seen and done things we never thought we'd have to," Lyra said, looking from one pony to another. "How can we live with that? How can homely old Ponyville ever look the same when we've seen this kind of world?"

Twilight looked at the floor of the helicopter, Lyra's words echoing with her own thoughts. Her friend clearly felt the same way she did: how could they ever return to their homes after all the horrors they had seen - and all the horrors they were yet to see?

"Be grateful you can look at homely old Ponyville again at all," Desert Wind said suddenly, sounding somewhere between angry and upset. He looked surprisingly sad, as though he was thinking about something upsetting. "It's not so easy for us."

"'Us'?" Twilight asked.

"The Resistance," Desert Wind clarified, his tone grim. "For us, home is a fascist Tartarus-on-Equus. Even if we succeed, even if Blueblood gets to be Prince and we get to go back home and raise the banner of the Resistance over Canterlot and stick that bitch Solamina's head on a spike... nothing will ever be the same for us."

This statement put a damper on everypony's moods. Even Doctor Clock Smith looked sad, and he had maintained a stony silence and grim, thoughtful expression throughout the flight, not responding to anything - not even insistent questions about himself from Pinkie Pie: that the party pony had exhausted her ability to talk to someone without response on him was testament to the resolve of his silence.

"I still can't get over the fact that you get a gun!" Sapphire said to Desert Wind after a moment, her attempt to change the subject obvious but welcome.

"Perks of being a strong motherbucker," Wind replied with a smirk, his apparent moroseness forgotten. "Plus I hear Albion pulled strings to get this squad access to the rare stuff."

'Rare' was the right word. None of the items their squad had been equipped with, not even the daggers most of the squad had, were standard Resistance equipment - according to Elliot, these particular pieces of equipment had been sanctioned for use by 'special units'...

***

March 13th, 2030.

"... by which they mean, any sod unfortunate enough to be assigned to working in Plymouth," Elliot finished with a slightly apologetic smile.

Twilight was examining the gear she had just been given. Near her, Pinkie Pie was trying on the helmet with a grin, messing with the HUD settings, while Rarity was examining the ensemble with an expression of distaste, clearly not satisfied with the aesthetic of the equipment. The rest of the newcomers were checking their equipment with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. They were, thanks to Elliot's recommendation, a full special unit of the Equestrian Resistance, dubbed "Everfree Team" (Everfree beginning with E, Elliot's personal reference to the fact that the Element Bearers were in the team). Twilight was, technically, Everfree One, leader of this team, with Applejack as Two, Rarity as Three, Pinkie as Four, True Grit as Five, Desert Wind as Six, Lyra as Seven and Sapphire Steel as Eight.

"This equipment is top of the line," the tired looking human quartermaster said with a sigh, watching the ponies mess with it. "It's the peak of battlefield equipment that we're able to make at this stage in the war."

"Which means," Elliot added quietly, "that there's not much of it."

"Every little helps," the man said tiredly. He barked a tired laugh out. "Used to work in Tesco. Christ, I miss Tesco. Funny the things you miss when you’re in the post-apocalypse."

“I hear you,” Elliot said. “I miss Doc Martens.”

“Bah, fuck clothes - I miss the fancy alcohol they don’t make anymore,” the quartermaster chuckled.

"Don't we all," Hell Blazer said with a smirk. "Anyway: you'll need this lot. Plymouth's a nasty little meat grinder."

Everypony stopped looking at their equipment, each of them sharing a glance of concern. This was not the first reference to how unpleasant Plymouth was going to be that they had heard.

"I think we'd all like a little more information than that," Rarity said after a moment, speaking for all of them. "'A nasty little meat grinder' is, apart from the imagery being utterly repulsive - for which, thank you…”

“You’re welcome,” Hell Blazer grinned.

“... not very helpful," Rarity finished with narrowed eyes.

"That's fair," Hell Blazer said, looking up at Elliot. The man inhaled slowly, looking thoughtful.

"Plymouth was first attacked in 2025," he said after a moment. "The Royal Guard and Equestrian Militia attacked in force, and secured enough of a foothold to keep ferrying troops in via their mini portals."

The ponies listening nodded, Twilight especially looking thoughtful at this piece of information.

"We have to keep sending troops in to hold their forces at bay," Elliot continued, frowning as he spoke.

"It's also the only place where the PER are still anything resembling an organised group," Hell Blazer added with a slight snarl.

"Sorry, the who?" True Grit asked, looking puzzled.

"Ponificatin for Earth's Rebirth," the quartermaster said tiredly. He spat idly on the floor, narrowly missing Rarity's forehoof. She lifted it with a yelp.

"You've mentioned them briefly," Twilight said, ignoring the spitting. "But who were they?"

Hell Blazer and Elliot exchanged glances filled with trepidation and - in Hell Blazer's case - anger.mit was clearly a touchy subject.

"Are," Elliot corrected quietly. "They're still - barely - active."

"I'll tell you who they are. They're traitors," Hell Blazer said after a moment, sounding angry. "The worst kind of traitors."

"When the barrier began expanding," Elliot explained with a sad expression, "many people chose ponification over death. That was their right, and at the time we didn't think they'd turn on us afterwards. But the PER..."

"They didn't give a shit what your choice was," Hell Blazer snarled. "Far as they were concerned, Equestria was the big thing. Being a pony was supposedly preferable to being human."

"Why?" Applejack asked.

"For some it was fear of death," Elliot said, sounding morose. "But for some it was a kind of misanthropy. They hated being human. I don't know why: all sorts of reasons. Bad experiences, lack of faith in humanity…”

“Inability to get laid,” Hell Blazer added with a sneer.

“Whatever their reasons,” Elliot said, “some people just saw the ponification as an excuse to abandon humanity for something they thought was nicer."

"’Pastel ponies can't be evil’," Hell Blazer said sarcastically in a ‘faux happy’ tone. "So it's better to be one." The yellow pony spat on the floor. "Traitorous fuckers."

"The PER began potion-bombing civilians," Elliot said. "As well as organising mass attacks on certain positions. It made the gradual evacuation of certain parts of the world more problematic, caused a lot of deaths... they also assassinated various political and military leaders."

"They essentially started the war," Hell Blazer summarised. "Even before Solamina did."

“And it made evacuating even worse than it already was,” Elliot continued tiredly. “We already had the mad HLF murdering people, the sane HLF trying to stop them or stop the Convies from leaving or blow up the Conversion Bureaus, Gilead...”

“About which you do not want to know,” Hell Blazer said, holding up a hoof to forestall questions.

“Anyway,” Elliot added, looking at Hell Blazer as he spoke. “Most PER ponified before the Barrier was stopped, but there were a few here already.”

“And when it became clear that Solamina was gonna make war, they picked their side,” the quartermaster put in, sounding bitter. “Bastards.”

"When Plymouth was attacked, PER members began covertly flocking to it," Elliot continued. "They're the only humans to take arms against the Defence Forces and the Resistance."

"So we'll be fightin' humans in Plymouth then?" Applejack asked with a frown.

"'Fraid so," Elliot said with a sad smile.

"Fortunately," the quartermaster said, "this equipment should put you on something resembling a level playing field with those bastards."

"So what's the plan exactly?" Twilight asked. At that, Elliot grinned.

"Well," he said, "we -"

***

Twilight was jolted from her reminisces by a slight rocking of the copter. She looked around, to see Elliot opening his eyes and looking in the direction of the cockpit. The others looked concerned at the movement of the copter.

"What's up?!" Elliot called over to the pilot.

"We're in for some turbulence," the pilot called back, her voice sounding strained. "Hang tight back there!"

"Got it!" Elliot called with a grin. He turned to the ponies. "That must mean we're getting close. There's always a Thunder Tank or two on hand."

"Thunder Tank?" Rarity asked, sounding appalled. "What in C - the Pony God's name is a Thunder Tank?"

"An Equestrian weapon," Doctor Clock Smith said grimly, his gruff voice echoing slightly in the confines of the transport.

"That isn't very helpful, Doctor," Applejack said grimly. The Doctor gave her a hard look.

"Worth asking Errant about it," Hell Blazer said quietly after a moment. "He's fought them before."

"Remind me to do that," Twilight said with a nod.

The turbulence continued for a moment, and though it didn't get any worse, it didn't show any signs of stopping either. Whatever a Thunder Tank was, it was definitely effective.

"How near are we?" Elliot called over to the pilot after a few minutes of flying through this turbulence.

"Beginning to lower our altitude now!" the pilot called back. "We're right above a hot zone!"

"Good!" Elliot called. He unstrapped himself and walked over to the hatch. "Sparkle, close this hatch behind me!"

"Why, where are you going?" Twilight asked, confused.

"To have a word with the Equestrian forces!" Elliot grinned. Before anypony could say anything, he opened the hatch and leapt out of the helicopter. Several of the ponies let out yells of horror, and Twilight barely managed to close the hatch, horrified by what she had seen. She turned to look at Hell Blazer, who, to her surprise, was grinning.

"He's back to normal then," he said quietly.

***

Elliot reasoned that at this height he was about two hundred, maybe three hundred feet from the ground. As he jumped, he began concentrating on the power, letting it fill him up: this time, the water was under his control: he controlled its flow, not the other way around.

All around him was thunder and storm clouds: definitely signs that the Equestrian forces were using a Thunder Tank. Hopefully Grey Squadron and the others wouldn't find it too difficult: in any case, unless. Sudden lightning bolt hit him during his descent, it was no longer his problem.

In his hand, a silver sword materialised: the ornate Zweihander, Excalibur. He grinned. A soft golden glow began to show around him, and his descent became less a free fall, and more a controlled flight.

He was now close enough to see his targets: he saw a Royal Guard position, heavily defended by their artillery and their crystal golems. He narrowed his eyes, and angled himself so he was falling feet first. He couldn't resist throwing one last yell before he landed.

"Look out below!"

***

From the nearby Defence Force position, it looked a little like someone had dropped a glowing, golden bomb onto the Equestrian line. A massive shock wave extended outwards, knocking Royal Guards away and shattering golems. Dust and rubble flew everywhere, and even the defence forces had to take cover.

"What the hell was that?" a Resistance pony yelled out.

In the dust cloud surrounding the Equestrian lines, movement of some kind could vaguely be seen. A silver blade lashed out, faster than sight, decapitating unicorn golem-handlers and any guards that hadn't been knocked off their feet by the blast and the shock wave. Panicked yells filled the air.

"What's going on over there?" someone asked.

Suddenly, from the middle of the Equestrian line a golden glowing figure stepped, hefting a Zweihander. His jacket blew in the wind, displaying five tattered manes. He trudged onto the field in worn riding boots, a smile on his face as he stared at the line of Defence Force and Resistance Troopers, all of whom stared in shock and amazement at the figure.

"Come on!" Elliot yelled at the Defence Line. "They're on the run! Charge!"

***

In the sky, Rainbow Dash was flying alongside Errant Flights and the rest of the still-under-strength Grey Squadron. They had been assigned escort duty for the transport helicopters, along with Eagle, Gold and Green Squadrons, all freshly transferred from Leeds to Plymouth duty at Albion's request, as well as Upsilon and Omega Squadrons, two other experienced flight squadrons. Upsilon had, according to a slightly morose Errant Flight during their mission briefing, been the Squadron Cloud Ranger had died as part of, but the survivors from that battle had a good reputation. It was also where White Blossom had come from before her transfer to Grey, and seeing some of her old squadmates made her feel happy.

Their flight was mostly uneventful, but everypony knew that Plymouth was likely to have a heavy Royal Guard presence in the air. So far, however, the worst thing was the heavily cloudy weather.

"It's pretty quiet," she heard Dark Wing say over the radio. "I'm not sure I trust it."

"I don't either," Errant replied, "but until we see a target, we can't act."

Rainbow herself was grateful for the quietness, though she didn't trust it any more than her comrades did. It gave her the chance to fly on autopilot while her mind wandered and focused on different things: the furious face of Scootaloo. Silver Spire's body, bouncing off of walls as he fell to his death. True Blue's broken wings. The face of the first pony whose death she had seen here...

"Squadron Leaders, this is Ferry One," a transmission came in, snapping her out of her reminisces: Ferry One was the call sign of the leader of the Transport Helicopter pilots. "We have unconfirmed reports of a Thunder Tank in the air. I say again, possibility of Thunder Tank presence."

"Acknowledged!" came the voice of Eagle Leader. "We've got our eyes peeled."

"None of us are equipped to take on a Thunder Tank!" the voice of Upsilon Leader, a pony called Grey Fox, said, sounding worried. "What's our orders?"

"Hang tight until RAF forces get here," Ferry One said calmly. "We have Harrier's inbound."

A chorus of affirmatives from various squadron leaders sounded.

"What's a Thunder Tank?" Fluttershy asked over the Grey Squadron local comm frequency.

"Equestrian weather stored in a tank for transport," Dark Wing replied, sounding grim. "Initially used for colonised land. Later used as a weapon. One was present at the battle of Manchester, round about the time old Grey Squadron was wiped out."

There was a moment's silence as the squadron processed this.

"Don't worry," Errant Flight said, sounding confident, though there was an odd note to his voice. "The only reason Grey fell last time was because there were Wonderbolts led by Rainbow Dash, and they were backed up by a super-Zeppelin. This time, if we have to take that thing on, we'll be -"

"Oh dear," came the soft voice of Ditzy, interrupting Errant. "Grey Leader, check ahead of us!"

Rainbow looked up, to see a sight she had dreaded: a squadron of Royal Guard were inbound, their golden armour gleaming even in this weather, their spears pointed directly at the incoming flyers.

"All squadrons!" the voice of Green Leader called out. "Hostiles ahead!"

"Ah, horsefeathers," Errant said, his voice sounding more irritated than concerned. "Ferry One, we have Royal Guard inbound, be advised."

"Acknowledged, Grey Leader," the calm voice of Ferry One spoke. "All Squadrons, keep them off us as long as you can while we deliver the ground troops."

"Roger Ferry One," came the voice of Eagle Leader.

"Roger that, Ferry One," Omega Leader said, her voice grim.

"Roger, Ferry One," Upsilon Leader added. He sounded nervous.

"Green Leader copies," Green Leader said, the squadron leader sounding tired.

"Roger Ferry One," Errant added, sounding surprisingly enthusiastic.

"Grey and Upsilon Squadrons, prioritise attack on enemy forces," Ferry One added. "All other Squadrons prioritise defence."

"Wilco, Ferry One," Errant said, and Rainbow could have sworn she heard a tone of eagerness in his voice. "Executing. Grey Squadron, sound off."

Grey Squadron began sounding off. Rainbow tensed, flipping her arm blades out.

"Grey Leader, this is Upsilon Leader," the slightly nervy voice of Grey Fox spoke. "Will follow your lead on this engagement. Upsilon at ready."

"Copy that, Upsilon Leader," Errant said. "Form up your Squadron behind mine."

Upsilon Squadron, their uniforms a plain white combat vest with a Greek symbol embroidered in, began flying alongside Grey, their flyers looking more nervous than the more prestigious squadron. Rainbow vaguely wondered what the story behind this squadron was, who they were and what they'd fought. Cloud Ranger had been one of them, a long time ago: what had happened?

Rainbow's thought were interrupted by Errant's voice, urgent and tense.

"All flyers," he said, "on my mark, engage hostiles."

A chorus of affirmatives sounded off through the comms. Rainbow heard Fluttershy and Ditzy's voices, both of them sounding worried at the prospect of battle.

The Royal Guard's forces got closer and closer: Rainbow could have sworn she could see the whites of their eyes...

"All flyers, engage!" Errant called out.

A moment later, there was carnage in the air.

***

The helicopter landed in the middle of a park. The minute it was down, Twilight and her friends jumped off, moving quickly to a nearby staging area.

"Over here!" a human male called from nearby: he was a burly man with a thick accent and a thicker moustache. "Quickly!"

Twilight and her group headed over to him. Hell Blazer stepped forward.

"Hell Blazer, with Spec Ops," he said quickly. "This pony," he said, indicating Clock Smith, "is the Doctor, and the squad of troops are Everfree Team. We're here with Commander Albion."

"Good to meet you," the thick accented man said, grinning with gallows humour. "I'm Sergeant Piotr Rozhenko, Defence a Force Third Battalion. There'd be someone higher up to meet you, but there's not been anyone higher up for a long time 'round here, ‘less you count Captain Hanson of the Long Watch - and he is a crazy bastard." He gave Twilight and her team a quick glance. "So these are the Good-Guy Elements, huh?"

"You heard about that down here?" Hell Blazer asked, sounding surprised.

"Sure I did," Rozhenko said, not sounding particularly happy. "Command called it in before you came. And besides which, we had some guys transfer in from London, they saw Albion's speech and the swearing in. Pretty impressive stuff, if you believe that nine ponies can drop out of the sky and win a war. Me, I'm the kind of guy who thinks that bullets and steel with guts behind it is more likely than a deus ex machina-pony."

"I hate to interrupt your little tirade there, bub, but what're we doin'?" Applejack asked, looking impatient with the man's long windedness.

"Your squad is to meet up with Sergeant Dietrich's unit three streets away," Rozhenko said, not in the least put out by Applejack's comment. "Mr Hell Blazer, we need yours and the Doctor's assistance on a different matter."

"Gotcha," Hell Blazer said quietly. He turned to Twilight. "You're in charge."

"Understood," Twilight said quietly, not altogether happy. "We'll head there now."

"Good. Get going," Rozhenko said. "We'll rendezvous at the point Dietrich's team is trying to take - that's assuming you newbies make it."

Without further instructions, he walked off, and Hell Blazer - after throwing Twilight an apologetic look - followed him, the Doctor right behind him, not sparing the others a glance. Twilight took a deep breath.

"Alright team," she said quietly. "Let's get going."

"On your six, Everfree One," Applejack said smartly. Twilight threw her a look, and Applejack winked. Despite herself, Twilight smiled. She was with her friends. Sure, they were in a horrible situation... but they were together. Even Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were around, though Grey Squadron were obviously in the air.

Maybe this wouldn't be quite so bad after all.

***

Author's Note

EDIT: This chapter was edited 28th July 2015.

Especial thanks to The Void (Matt) for Upsilon Squadron (who are the stars of an Anthology piece he's written) and RoyalPsycho (Isaac) for continued good advice on the direction Plymouth should take.

Fire and Blood.

Chapter Thirty One: Fire and Blood.

***

Plymouth, March 15th 2030.

"Everfree squad, comm check."

"Applejack, on."

"Rarity, on."

"Desert Wind, on."

"Lyra Heartstrings, on."

"True Grit on."

"Sapphire Steel, on."

"Pinkie Pie, okie dokie lokie!"

"Pinkie, stick to the comm procedure."

"But it makes no sense - on? On what? What am I supposed to be on? I'm on rubble, if that counts, but I don't think that's what whoever wrote the procedure meant when they -"

"It's short for on alert - and the reason it's the shortened version is to clear the airwaves of unnecessary traffic."

"The same airwaves we're cloggin' now, sugarcube."

"Oh! Ok! I get it. Ahem - Pinkie Pie, on!"

"Squad is on, Twi," Applejack said, giving her friend a wry smile.

"Finally." Twilight sighed slightly as she walked. Pinkie's refusal to totally adhere to military protocol was... slightly wearing, especially for Twilight: she may have hated fighting, but protocol - rules - were things she could get behind.

The little squadron of ponies traversed the empty, foreboding city as quickly as they could. All around them were the skeletons of concrete and metal buildings, shattered by destructive spells and munitions or charred by fire. In the distance, the group could hear yelling and the sounds of battle, and above them they could see specks that looked like Pegasi in the air, fighting in a twisted dance of death. Bodies were visible all around them, beneath rubble, some in such horrible conditions that some of the inexperienced fighters - Rarity especially - felt the need to vomit.

"This is horrible," the fashionista muttered under her breath, looking around with wide, depressed eyes.

"Keep the line clear, Three," Twilight said at once, using Rarity's call sign. She sounded more than a little worried.

Truth be told, Twilight couldn't help but feel nervous, not only of the city but of her command over the little team of ponies, her friends, all of whom were relying on her to make the right decisions, to do the right thing by them - and her nerves showed. Her doing the comm check was only one sign of how tense she was - she had repeatedly halted the squad's advance as they went in order to be certain there was no sign of enemy activity, and more than once had ordered the squad into cover, only for a stray animal to wander across their path instead of the horde of converted or Guards she had obviously expected.

"How far are we d'you reckon, Twi?" Applejack asked Twilight quietly as they walked.

"We've made it two streets. The third is coming up," the unicorn replied quickly. She looked around nervously, before turning back to the squad. "True Grit, I want you to scout the street. Keep your eyes open, report to us if we're clear."

"On it, ma'am," Grit said sharply, snapping off a quick salute. He darted ahead of the squad, keeping his head low as he did so.

"Watch yer spacin' guys," Applejack said to the rest of the team. "Don't wanna be bunched too close together if they throw a spell at us."

"She's right," Sapphire Steel added quietly. "Area of effect spells are deadly."

The group adjusted their positioning slightly, spreading a tiny bit further out than they had been before - unconsciously, most of the ponies had bunched up, most likely out of nervousness.

"Everfree Six to Everfree team," True Grit's voice crackled on the comms after a few moments, using his call sign. The group could see the grim former Guard waving from the other end of a street. "Way's clear. Over."

"Copy that," Twilight said quickly. "Everfree squad is en route to you. Hold position. Over."

"Wilco," Grit said. "Out."

Twilight turned to the others. "Let's get going, guys."

The group quickly began moving, keeping low as they scuttled between burnt out cars and piles of rubble. Within a few moments, the had reached Grit.

"Enemy activity is supposedly getting more pronounced in this area, according to reports," Grit said. As radio operator, he had picked up comm chatter since before they had landed, though most of it was superfluous. "Especially in the sky: heavy Pegasi presence: most theories seem to think it's due to that Thunder Tank."

"Who do you think that is above us now?" Pinkie wondered aloud, looking up at the sky. Everypony else quickly glanced up, the sight of the dogfighting ponies definitely a concern.

"Comm chatter suggested that the Pegasi escorts had engaged Guard forces," True Grit said quietly. "Might be Grey or Upsilon Squadrons, they were told to engage the hostiles directly."

"Whoever they are, keep an eye on them, somepony," Twilight said, casting a glance up at the sky as they went. "Pegasi air squadrons might be assigned the sky but Guard are versatile enough to land and still be a threat to us down here."

"I've got my eye open," Desert Wind said, glaring at the sky as though his stare alone could smite guards. "You with me Steel?"

"With you," she replied. The mini gun Desert had required a magical stabilisation in order to maintain accuracy (since ponies weren't built to fire guns or handle recoil), and Sapphire Steel had volunteered to be Wind's stabiliser.

"Grey Squadron is where Rainbow, Ditzy and Fluttershy are," Rarity said quietly. "I hope they're alright."

"Me too," Twilight admitted.

A moment later, as though responding to their thoughts, a rainbow coloured blur, followed quickly by yellow and grey blurs, zoomed past the group.

"Down!" Twilight yelled at once, taking cover. The rest of the squad followed suit, their eyes fixed on the blurs.

The three blurs stopped a moment later, landing near the group, before the Pegasus at the head of the group looked straight at Twilight with a joyful expression on her face.

"Twi!" the familiar form of Rainbow Dash spoke, grinning widely. Behind her were none other than Fluttershy and Ditzy Doo, all three of them looking harried.

"Rainbow?!" Twilight said, shocked to see her friend. "Fluttershy? Ditzy? What are you...?"

Before anypony could say anything else at this reunion. Fluttershy yelled out.

"Here they come!"

***

Five minutes earlier.

"Damn, these buckers are persistent!" Rainbow said, dodging as another Guard flew past her, narrowly missing her with his spear. She had three more Royal Guard on her tail, and no matter how hard she flew, she couldn't shake them. They must have been some pretty good flyers, she mused bitterly, to be holding spears and still moving so well as to keep up with her, but she was a bit too busy trying to not die at their hooves to really rate their skills.

"I need a little help!" she yelled into her comms. The body of an Upsilon Squadron flyer zoomed past her, a wing severed, and she swore as she dodged it. "Now! It's getting hot over here!"

"Hang on Rainbow!" she heard Fluttershy yell. "I'll be right with you!"

Rainbow turned to see Fluttershy and Ditzy tailing the Royal Guards. To her horror, however, two of the Guards tailed off and looped around her squadmates.

"Damn!" she swore. "Did we manage to find the only competent flyers in the Royal Guard?!"

"This is Grey Leader to all flyers," Errant's voice spoke before she received any further response. "Lead the enemy to the ground, take them on in the buildings! Might give us an advantage!"

"That'll take some tricky flying!" Grey Fox from Upsilon said, his voice sounding harried but still strong.

"Then it's time to show us your moves, Fox," Errant replied grimly. "Go, go, go!"

Rainbow watched as flyers began heading for the ground, Royal Guard hot on their tails. She gritted her teeth. This wasn't something she'd particularly enjoy, but she supposed she'd have no choice.

"Ok, Ditzy, Shy, we're going in low and fast, that'll keep these buckers off our backs," she said quickly.

"Right behind you!" Ditzy said, surprisingly calm considering the proficiency of the flyer behind her.

"M-me too!" Fluttershy added quickly, sounding nervous but managing to hold it together

Rainbow grimaced as she began her descent. The Guard matched her move for move, but the streets of Plymouth were a rubble strewn maze of skeletons and wreckage. She was pretty sure that no matter how good this guy was, he hadn't trained in such conditions - but thanks to the Grey Squadron training course, she had.

"Building on the left!" she said, darting into a building, dodging beams and broken windows as she did so. Fluttershy and Ditzy followed her in, their Guard pursuers not following them, apparently stymied by the damaged masonry and metal. For a moment, they stopped in the rubble of the ruined building, catching their breath.

"D'you think we lost 'em, Rainbow Dash?" Ditzy asked, sounding for a moment like the old Ditzy Rainbow knew.

"Not likely," she said. "They're probably just slowed down. Let's keep going."

"Er... I've got friendlies on my HUD," Fluttershy said quickly, pointing to a signal they were all getting on their HUDs. "They might be able to help?"

"Good call, Flutters," Rainbow Dash said quickly. "Come on!"

She dashed out of the building, the others hot on her hooves. Sure enough, the minute they saw their targets again, the Guards - who had apparently been waiting outside the building for them to emerge - charged after them, though they were nearly there.

Rainbow, faster than she had ever gone short of Rainbooming, landed first by the little group of allied troops, all of them apparently ponies. Next to her landed Ditzy and Fluttershy. She took a moment to register who she was looking at.

"Twi!" she said, grinning at Twilight Sparkle, who looked shocked to see her.

"Rainbow?!" Twilight said, shocked. "Fluttershy? Ditzy? What are you...?"

Before anypony could say anything else, Fluttershy yelled out.

"Here they come!"

Sure enough, the three Guards landed a short space away.

"Spears!" one yelled, and they threw their spears, one impacting near Rainbow but the other two missing. A moment later, the Pegasi moved to charge.

And then a hail of hot lead tore them apart, shredding their armour and tearing holes through wings, skulls and limbs.

Desert Wind, breathing heavily, released the bit trigger of his mini guns, the weapons glowing slightly with a pale blue light as Sapphire Steel steadied them, her face a mask of concentration, and the ends glowing an oddly contrasting orange with heat.

"Booyah motherbuckers," Desert said, grinning nastily at the remains of his targets.

There was a moment pause as everypony caught their breath.

"Rainbow, what's going on?" Twilight asked her friend after a moment, still looking shocked to see her.

"Grey and Upsilon Squadrons broke from the air and tried to lure the Pegasi down here," Rainbow replied breathlessly, staring at the shredded bodies in shock. "What the heck was that..."

"It's the Resistance P220," Desert Wind said, grinning a little too maniacally for any pony's comfort. "Death comes in pony size, baby!"

Rainbow chuckled at that. As she did so, Ditzy moved over to her.

"The rest of Grey and Upsilon might need our help!" she said to Rainbow Dash, speaking quietly but urgently. "We have to help them!"

"Ditzy's right," Rainbow said, turning back to Twilight. "Can you guys help us?"

"We're en route to a rendezvous with a Defence Force position," Twilight said slowly. "I'm not sure we can divert from our orders like that..."

"Orders?" Rainbow asked, sounding surprised and a little angry. "These are pony lives we're talking about!"

"Twi, war ain't just about orders," Applejack said quickly, giving Twilight a look. "We've got to help our fellow ponies out here."

Twilight only hesitated a moment, looking torn, before replying, her tone suddenly stern and commanding.

"Grit, Lyra, Steel, Wind," she said quickly, looking at each pony in turn, "I need you to get to Sergeant Dietrich's position as we were ordered and tell him the situation: ask him for backup if he can spare it but your primary job is to support his position."

"Wilco, ma'am," True Grit said at once. Immediately, he headed off, the others going with him.

Twilight, nodding with satisfaction, turned to the remaining members of Everfree. "Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, you're with me."

"Right with ya Twi," Applejack said approvingly, smiling.

"So," Rarity said grimly, not looking particularly enthusiastic, "where first?"

"Ditzy Doo, scout the skies, keep an eye open for our ponies," Rainbow said to the grey mare quickly. "Then hover over them or near them. Stick fairly close: we're at foot speed now."

"Gotcha, Rainbow Dash," Ditzy replied, taking off immediately. A moment later, she flew off in an easterly direction.

"Come on!" Rainbow said at once, following her on foot. The rest of the ponies followed her as quickly as they could.

"We could have used Wind's mini gun!" Applejack said as they ran. "Why'd you send him off to help Dietrich?"

"That gun's our squad's biggest asset and Dietrich's team needed the support," Twilight replied slightly breathlessly - she had never been the most fit, and even though training had made her more so she was still not the best runner. "We'll manage without it."

"If you say so," Applejack replied, sounding unconvinced.

Twilight ignored her comment. There was something strange going on with Applejack: it was like she was getting too used to this life, the fighting. Still: there was nothing Twilight could do about it now. They were stuck here for the moment. And maybe getting used to it was the way forward...

No, she thought, shaking her head. How could she go back to peace if all she knew was war? How could she go back to Equestria, to that peaceful place, if she did get used to violence?

And then another thought occurred to her, creating an icy pit in the base of her stomach.

How would anyone back home ever understand what she and her friends had been through?

***

Hell Blazer and the Doctor walked at a steady pace behind Rozhenko. The soldier was marching quite quickly, but not so much that the two ponies couldn't keep up.

Hell Blazer glanced sideways at the Doctor. Every time he saw the pony who had once, supposedly, been the fresh faced and cheerful Doctor Hooves (though how that worked Hell Blazer didn't know), the old pony looked older, more tired and greyer. Even now most of his mane and beard had turned grey, and there were bags under his eyes and lines surrounding his mouth and eyes, the signs of a stressful life.

"How've things been?" Hell Blazer asked. He felt foolish doing so: the old pony rarely spoke about himself.

"Well," the Doctor replied tersely, without looking at the yellow Earth Pony.

Pretty much as expected, Hell Blazer thought. "You were pretty quiet on the ride here."

"I was thinking," the Doctor said simply.

"Anything interesting?" Hell Blazer asked idly. He didn't expect an answer to that one.

"Nothing that would interest you, I'm sure," the Doctor said tiredly. "Merely..."

Hell Blazer's ears perked up slightly as the Doctor trailed off. An actual answer was... interesting, and certainly not what he had been anticipating from the Doctor. Certainly not an answer that revealed anything about what the tired old stallion was thinking.

"Merely what?" he asked, hoping he wasn't pushing his luck too much.

The Doctor didn't answer, and for a moment Hell Blazer was certain that he had pushed too far, that the stallion had decided to shut up. To his surprise, however, the Doctor sighed.

"I was thinking about the newcomer Ditzy," he said quietly.

Hell Blazer frowned. This was not necessarily a bad thing, but Elliot had more than once remarked that the Doctor had a tendency to brood.

"What were you thinking?" he asked.

"We spoke, briefly," the Doctor said quietly. "She is much as Ditzy was before the war: naive, innocent. Less so perhaps than she was to begin with but more so than my Ditzy at the end."

"Was your Ditzy...?" Hell Blazer asked. The Doctor frowned at him.

"She and I were friends," he said sharply, sounding more emotional than Hell Blazer could ever recall hearing from him. "She showed me the world of Equus, helped me understand Equestria. There was no gift greater that she could have possibly given me. She was the first face that face saw, and her death..."

He paused, and suddenly he looked old, older than his body, older than Hell Blazer had ever seen anypony. His eyes bore the weight of years uncounted.

"Her death sparked a side of me I didn't think I still had," the Doctor said quietly. "One I had thought long forgotten. But here I am: a Doctor no more." He chuckled tiredly, but it was a sound without mirth. "No matter how far I run, this is my destiny. Loss. Bloodshed. Death."

Before Hell Blazer could reply - or even begin to think of a way to reply - Rozhenko stopped, holding up a hand.

"We're here, gentlemen," he said quietly. Hell Blazer frowned as he looked for what the man meant, and the his eyes settled on it. They widened in shock. The Doctor, frowning, took out his sonic screwdriver and ran a scan.

"Is that...?" he asked, throwing Hell Blazer a glance.

The yellow Earth Pony grinned widely. All his prayers had been answered at once. "Oh, hell the buck - fuck - yes!"

***

After a few moment's of running through the city, following Ditzy's lead, Twilight and her friends reached a fighting zone. Ditzy was pointing downwards from a rooftop towards a crossroads in the middle of a town centre area, which had once been dominated by a fountain. Said fountain was now ruined and filled with a murky red-brown liquid that might have been dirt or blood, nopony could tell (and they didn't want to find out).

A group of three ponies, two in Upsilon colours as well as Bright Wonder from Grey, were hiding behind a ruined car, using it as cover, as three unicorns in Guard armour fired spells off at them, five or six Guard Pegasi waiting near them. A fourth pony, an Upsilon flyer, lay dead nearby, charred and still, obviously the victim of a Guard spell.

Immediately, Rarity and Twilight retaliated, firing spells at the ponies and killing two of them, suppressing the third. The harried pony signalled for his Pegasi cohorts to move, but in a flash, Ditzy, Rainbow and Fluttershy were on them, Pinkie and Applejack not far behind. Rainbow took two out quickly, Ditzy a third. A fourth met Applejack's bucking legs, his neck snapping into a horribly odd angle, and Fluttershy, while trying to block another's blow, stabbed him in the throat, yelling involuntarily as he gurgled blood at her, before stepping back, his eyes wide and staring.

"I'm - I'm sorry!" Fluttershy said quickly, her eyes widening in shock and horror at the sight. "I... I didn't mean..."

He collapsed, still gurgling, and Fluttershy stepped back, horrified by what she had just done.

A sixth and seventh were blasted into the masonry of the fountain by Pinkie's party cannon, the pink mare unusually grim faced, her normally bubbly hair going lank. The last took a bolt of light to the face from Rarity, and slumped to the ground, a neat hole drilled in between his eyes. Looking faintly sick, Rarity kept firing, taking the last Guard unicorn out as well, one if his eyes reduced to a scorched hole.

"That's all of 'em!" Applejack said, grinning slightly as she turned to the flyers. "You ponies ok?"

"I'm ok," one of the Upsilon ponies said quickly, looking concerned. "But Blue Sky is hurt."

"I'll take a look," Fluttershy said, her voice entirely too quiet. She had never directly killed before today, never seen the life leave her victim, though she had on occasion managed to knock a pony from the sky before. It was an altogether sobering experience, and one she dearly hoped she'd ever have to go through again.

"Wonder?" Rainbow asked, turning to her fellow Grey.

"I'm good," Bright Wonder said quickly, looking tense but smiling nonetheless. "You seen any of the others?"

"No," Rainbow said, sounding frustrated. She turned around. "Twilight, we ready to move?"

There was no response from her friend, and Rainbow suddenly realised she couldn't see her,

"Twi?" Applejack called out.

"Where did she go?" Rarity asked.

"She was over there," Ditzy said, pointing towards the street the unicorns had been positioned at. Applejack exchanged a worried glance with Rarity, and the two raced off in the direction Twilight had gone in. A little further down the street was where they found her, staring open mouthed in awe at what she had found.

She was staring at a rapidly shrinking pink magical portal, a room vaguely reminiscent of Canterlot architecture visible beyond it.

"I'm an idiot," she said quietly, almost to herself. "A... bucking... idiot! He told me about this but I didn't listen - bucking, bucking idiot!"

Applejack and Rarity exchanged worried looks: Twilight very rarely swore. For her to swear, something big must have happened.

"What is it Twi?" Applejack asked. There was no response from the purple unicorn.

"Twilight, dear?" Rarity added after a moment, looking concerned. "Are you alright?"

The unicorn ruined, a gleam in her eye - a familiar, half welcome and half terrifying gleam that told both ponies that she had an idea: one that might be good, or might be insane.

"We need to speak to Elliot," Twilight said quickly. "As soon as possible."

"Twi, we need to find the rest of the flyers first," Applejack said. "You know that."

"After, then," Twilight said, eyes wide with excitement. "This is too big!"

"What is?" Rarity asked.

Twilight grinned, a fierce and determined thing that almost frightened her two friends. When she spoke, what she said both terrified and excited them.

"I think I know how to change the course of this war!"

***

A Rather Clever Idea.

Chapter Thirty Two: A Rather Clever Idea.

***

Point Bravo, Plymouth, March 15th 2030.

When Twilight, joined not only by the members of Everfree Team she had kept with her but by Errant Flight and the rest of Grey Squadron, as well as the seven survivors of Upsilon Squadron (including Blue Sky and their leader, Grey Fox) arrived at the point where she had been ordered to rendezvous with Sergeant Dietrich, she found a position in utter chaos.

Desert Wind and Sapphire Steel were standing on a makeshift palisade, firing the mini gun sporadically at a position where at least ten unicorns were lying in cover, shooting spells at the defensive position. A thin shield, oscillating between being green and turquoise, was being erected by a rather strained looking True Grit and Lyra. Behind it sheltered a small group of human soldiers, including one who had removed his mask, revealing a dark haired man with a beard. The moment he saw Twilight, he stood up and approached her, waving over Desert Wind and Sapphire Steel as he did so. Two soldiers in full protective gear took their place on the palisade, firing their assault rifles in an attempt to keep the enemy soldiers suppressed.

"I'll assume you're Twilight Sparkle," he said quickly. "I'm Sergeant Wolfgang Dietrich: I take it these are the ponies you took half your team with you to rescue?"

"That's correct," Twilight replied. "I need to know..."

"What you need is to join our defence," Dietrich interrupted sharply. "We're barely holding our line here as it is. We need you to try and bolster..."

"Would you listen?!" Twilight yelled, shocking the man. "I need to know where Commander Elliot is."

"Elliot?" Dietrich asked, frowning. "You mean Commander Albion? He's in the city?"

"Somewhere," Twilight said. "I need to speak with him, ASAP."

"That's gonna be difficult to arrange with that unicorn team out there," Dietrich pointed out. Upon hearing the word unicorn, however, Twilight grinned.

"Excellent," she said quickly. "I need their leader alive."

"What?!" Dietrich asked, shocked. He wasn't the only one - everypony in Twilight's group looked surprised to hear her say this.

"What?!" Rarity added, the fashion-pony standing behind Twilight, her mouth gaping in shock. "What do you need one of them alive for?"

"Not just anypony," Twilight clarified. "I need it to be their leader. It's important."

"You wanna share your thoughts with us, Twi?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I need to know about their mini-portal spell," Twilight explained quickly. "The one that allows them to bring reinforcements directly here."

There was a moment's pause as everyone considered this.

"There's a spell to learn?" Dietrich asked, looking faintly confused. "We'd always assumed it was just something more natural..."

"There is a spell," Sapphire Steel confirmed quickly. "Allows Equestrian forces to bypass the barrier, though only in small numbers at a time. Usually only the Archmagi and unicorn troop leaders know it though."

"Hence why I need the leader," Twilight said.

"What do you need the spell for?" Dietrich asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Ditzy asked, and everyone looked at her. "She's thinking of using it so that our forces can get to Equestria." There was a pause as everyone, a smirking Errant Flight aside, looked at Ditzy in astonishment. "What?" she asked, looking confused. "Is there something on my face?"

"Is that it, Twilight?" Rarity asked, looking back at the purple unicorn with a confused frown. "Are you thinking of doing that?"

Twilight, smiling fiercely, nodded.

"You won't be able to get information from them," Errant Flight told her, sounding grim. "They're very well trained: we've tried before."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Twilight said confidently.

"Two things none of you have considered," Sapphire Steel pointed out. "One, that spell only brings small amounts of ponies over."

"I'm not thinking of using it as is," Twilight replied immediately. "It'll need some modifications before it'd be ready to use."

"The other thing is that it's a spell that takes forever to learn," Sapphire continued, looking pensive. "It'd be difficult for you to..."

"I know that it won't be easy," Twilight said, sounding as sincere as any of the ponies had ever heard her, "but I was my Celestia's student, and I'm supposed to be one of the best potential magicians around. That has to be worth something."

There was a moment's pause as everypony allowed her words to sink in.

"So you want a troop leader?" Errant Flight asked, sighing slightly. Twilight nodded, and Errant turned to Grey Squadron, who stood slightly to attention as he did. "Wing, Dash and Wonder. With me. We're gonna drop in on some old friends."

***

Guard Platoon Sergeant Well Spring, formerly a human being called Wallace Springfield, had never been known for his imagination, which made it ironic that he had been made into a unicorn. He had, before this rather drastic lifestyle choice, never believed in magic, and never been very creative. His pony name was merely a ponified version of his old name, and he had joined the Royal Guard as soon as he could simply because he had been in the Army before. When he had converted, he had seen it as a minor inconvenience to his own plans for life: military, retirement, beach house. Sure, he'd never imagined being four-legged when he got it, but it was this or death and the adjustment period had actually been remarkably short.

When he thought about it - really thought about it - he could remember the fear, the running, the desperate attempts to flee from the oncoming barrier. He could remember the panic and desperation, something about fighting, the final, at the time reluctant decision to drink the potion. He remembered horror and pain...

For some reason, he remembered the reluctance, but there was no longer any recollection as to why he had been reluctant, nor any logical explanation in his mind why he could ever have been anything less than thrilled to be converted. If he had ever looked into it - not that a pony as simple as Well Spring ever would - he would have realised that he had been changed in more than just his physical form. Not that, of course, he would never get the chance. No converted save one had ever been free to look past the haze of simplistic joy and servitude.

As it was, thoughts of his lot in life being anything less than exactly what he wanted were, for whatever reason, totally absent from his mind. He had rather more immediate concerns on his plate - for example, the group of humans nearby.

"Where's Levy's plot-wipes when you need them?" one of his squad, a mare called Under Over, grumbled. "We can't keep these buckers suppressed forever."

"Levy's never let us down, human or not," Spring said calmly. For some reason, he never really got frustrated or angry anymore - but it was a boon in battle.

"I don't get why he and his lot haven't converted," another soldier muttered.

"Edict from the Empress - you know that, mate," Spring said simply. "They're useful with the ability to turn the enemy's weapons against them. While they continue to be useful, they stay in those human bodies. They'll convert later, I'm sure."

"I don't trust them," Under Over said. "They turned on their own kind, why wouldn't they turn on us?"

"Because they understand that being a pony is a better life," Spring said, frowning slightly. He was starting to get... not annoyed, but mildly irritated. Sort of like an itch in the back of his skull. "They're on our side, and you'll treat 'em with the respect they deserve for makin' such a brave choice."

"Dunno how a buckin' convie gets to be a Sergeant in the Royal Guard anyhow," Under Over muttered.

Well Spring ignored that remark: he'd encountered anti-converted sentiment before, usually of the "they take our land and steal our jobs" variety, or else the derogatory "convie" remarks like Over's made by ponies who thought less of a converted for having once been human. Besides, he had more important things to do than listen to jibes.

He turned his attention back to the enemy's position. There was definitely something odd going on over there. The mini gun that had been keeping them suppressed had been replaced by a pair of bodysuited soldiers. Did that mean the mini gun was out of commission?

"Alright," he said quickly. "I've got a plan. We'll bombard 'em with a couple of big spells, then charge, firing all the while. Lightning fast attacks should make it easy to take the buckers down."

He turned to look at his team - only to be faced with brown Pegasus with goggles on, wearing a grey shirt unlike anything Spring had seen.

"Good plan, pal," the Pegasus said with a grin. "But you're a bit late."

"And a lot slow," came another voice, this one a cyan Pegasus mare with a rainbow coloured mane.

There were four Pegasi, including this one, standing among the bodies of his troop. Under Over and the others looked to have been knocked out, not killed - a fact for which he was grateful - but it still left him the problem of what to do about what he was almost certain were enemy ponies. There was a twinge in the back of his mind, about nopony being the enemy, but it was the kind of thing he could ignore.

"G'day mate," Spring said conversationally to the Pegasus, his voice slipping back to his old dialect. He found himself feeling that irritated itch again, a kind of mild frustration, but he ignored it: now was not a time to be getting irritated. He needed to be clear headed. He reached casually for his spear, trying not to be obvious. "You must be Resistance lads."

"Ahem," one of the other Pegasi, the cyan mare, said, raising a hoof. "Mare, here."

"And here," the other mare said sheepishly.

"My mistake, love," Spring said, grinning slightly. He grasped his spear and lashed out, only for the goggles wearing Stallion to block it and hold a blade to his throat.

"Nice try," he said, grinning. "But you're coming with us."

Spring sighed. This was... mildly frustrating. He felt the itch again.

"It's a fair cop?" he tried, smiling awkwardly.

***

The thing Rozhenko had wanted to show the two ponies was a tall stone, silver and grey, that shone with a deep inner light, embedded into the concrete road of Plymouth - or rather, growing from it. Hell Blazer looked it over, while the Doctor kept scanning with his screwdriver, a frown on his wrinkled face.

"Confirmation of magical energies," he said quietly. "This is definitely a lodestone."

"So what is it?" Sergeant Rozhenko asked the two ponies, an irritated expression on his face. "I know it's a magical thing of some sort - I've unicorns telling me this all the time even without your doodad confirming it - but that's not very specific."

"Didn't you hear the Doctor?" Hell Blazer said excitedly. "It's a lodestone!"

"Yay, we have a lodestone, now what the hell is it and what the hell does it do?" Rozhenko asked, sounding more than a little underwhelmed by the entire idea.

Hell Blazer threw the Sergeant a dirty look. "I need to get Commander Albion here, now. Call him up."

Rozhenko frowned, but then noticing the serious looks on both Hell Blazer's and the Doctor's faces, he sighed and reached for his radio.

"It might take him a while to get here, sir," he pointed out.

"I know," Hell Blazer said, turning back to look at the lodestone. "But he needs to see this."

The Doctor moved to stand next to Hell Blazer, his own eyes raking the stone with a weary gaze.

"Do you think it means that he has returned?" he asked quietly, not looking at the yellow Earth Pony.

"It's a sign that magic's getting stronger," Hell Blazer replied quickly, sounding excited. "If Rupert was right, that's one of the precursors of us being able to seek him out, and if he can give us any help or advice..."

"If he can, he can, and if he cannot we will find another way," the Doctor said, doing his best to bring the excited Hell Blazer down to Earth. "It is not a sound plan to rely too heavily on possible advice from a possible source."

"Sirs," Rozhenko said, interrupting the two of them. "Commander Albion is en route to Sergeant Dietrich's position."

"What?" Hell Blazer asked. "Why?!"

"He says Everfree Team have supposedly made a discovery," Rozhenko said with a shrug.

"Tell him to get here ASAP," Hell Blazer said urgently. "He needs to see this!"

"Yes sir!" Rozhenko said, sounding frustrated but resigned. Hell Blazer turned to the Doctor.

"What discovery?" he pondered aloud.

***

Twilight frowned at the pony sat before her. He had been tied up roughly, thrown into this small room, and now she was waiting for him to wake up so she could begin his interrogation. His lack of a cutie mark identified him as a converted, and his rank markings suggested he was a Platoon Sergeant.

"It's strange, isn't it," Lyra said from next to her. She, Sapphire Steel, True Grit and Rarity were all present, ready to counter any moves the pony made to try to escape. Her voice held an odd note, at once melancholic and angry. "He was once a human. He was something entirely different and yet the same time kin to us, an intelligent being we could learn so much about... and they've turned him into this."

"Into what?" Rarity asked, frowning at her. "He's a pony - it's terrible for them to be forced into it, but you make it sound like it's something worse than that."

"Have you ever heard stories about the converted?" Lyra asked, throwing Rarity an irritated look.

"I've tried not to think about it," Rarity replied with an abashed expression

Lyra snorted. "You're lucky." She paused, as if trying to find the right words. "They're like... they're almost normal. But they're not. It's... it's like half a life."

"The process damages their souls," Sapphire Steel said quietly, "from what I've heard and observed back home. There's that, and the brainwashing. It combines to create a sort of mild lobotomy effect. They're sort of permanently cheerful, or at least mellow. They don't feel the highs and lows of emotion, not like normal ponies. They do what you ask without question, they never think about the horror of what's happened to them..."

The pony stirred, and everypony armed their horns, just in case he prepared to attack them. To their surprise, however, he merely looked at them all.

"Oh," he said, his voice speaking in a twang not too dissimilar to General Anderson's accent. "G'day. You're the Resistance lot, I guess?"

"That's right," Twilight said quietly. "We're with the Equestrian Resistance."

"Lovely to meet ya," the pony said cheerfully. "Platoon Sergeant Well Spring at yer service."

"We want some information from you," True Grit said sternly.

"Can't help you, I'm afraid," the pony said, shrugging. "My orders upon capture are quite specific. No information to be given under any circumstances. I'd kill meself, but I was never too good at learning spells. Barely managed the portal one."

"It's the portal which interests us," Twilight said.

"As I say, ma'am, I've got orders to not reveal anything," Well Spring said. "Apologies and all that."

"You're aware that we have means of persuading you," True Grit said, sounding threatening.

"Figured so, mate," Spring said. "But you ain't getting nothin' outta me."

"He won't speak," Steel said quietly. Twilight turned to look at her. "They follow orders unquestioningly. You tell them to do something, they'll do it: clean this, fix that..."

"Kill this," Rarity added, sounding disgusted. "Oh C... Pony God, what are they?"

"Victims," Lyra said quietly. "The worst victims."

"That," a new voice said, "and also a valuable resource for her armies."

Twilight turned out see the battered form of David Elliot enter the room, looking perturbed.

"Elliot," she said in greeting.

"Everfree One," he said in response, his tone stern. Twilight blinked at the odd tone in his voice: he sounded half annoyed and half concerned. "What's this I hear about a plan to get information about a spell?"

"There's a portal spell," Sapphire Steel said quickly. "Very high level magic. Twilight thinks..."

"I think I can reverse engineer it to let us invade Equestria," Twilight said quietly. Elliot's eyes widened in shock, and he knelt by her.

"You're sure of this?" he asked, looking her in the eyes, his tone at once wary and hopeful. "I mean, really sure?"

"I know I can do it, but I need to start from somewhere," Twilight said in response, trying to sound as sincere as she could.

Elliot frowned, before looking at Well Spring. The pony was glaring at him warily.

"Do you know who I am?" Elliot asked the pony, his tone quiet and more dangerous than any of the assembled ponies had ever heard.

"You're the human's magic weapon," Well Spring replied. "The Avatar of Albion, they call you."

"Do you know why?" Elliot asked. Well Spring snorted derisively.p

"Posturing," he said. "I've seen that before, when I was human too..." The pony trailed off, wide eyes staring into space for a moment, before he shook his head and returned his attention to Elliot. "Whatever you try, you won't get anything out of me."

"I see," Elliot said. He stood up, walked over to the pony, and placed a hand on his head. "I beg to differ."

Well Spring's eyes widened, though nopony understood why at first. Then he began trying to shy away from Elliot, who responded by gripping his head with his second hand, his eyes locked on the Guard Platoon Sergeant. Well Spring kept trying to move away, eyes widening more...

And then he screamed.

"The spell!" Elliot yelled suddenly.

"No!" Spring screamed, and the assembled ponies thought he meant no to Elliot's question. This was not, however, the case. "I didn't want to! I didn't mean to! God almighty forgive me, I didn't want to...!"

"What did you do?!" Twilight yelled quickly.

"The spell!" Elliot yelled again, ignoring her as he focused on the yelling Guard pony.

"The sin won't wash away!" Spring screamed, thrashing around suddenly. "Mum, Dad, Lisa, Danny, Andrew, Bill, please, I'm sorry, forgive me, it won't wash away, it won't ever go away... oh my God, the blood on my hands, the blood on my hands...!"

He stopped for a moment, his eyes widening as they settled on his hooves.

"Not hands," he said, his voice quiet, before turning once more into a yell. "Not hands! Not my hands! Never again! Give me them back! Give me me back! Please! Oh, please God, I don't want this, no, no, no, no!"

"The spell!" Elliot snapped. Spring suddenly looked him in the face, eyes wide and staring.

"Portus Maxima Imperator," he said quietly, eyes fixed on Elliot. "Portus Maxima Imperator. Portus Maxima Imperator..."

His horn glowed, and Elliot quickly smacked him across the face. The glow subsided.

"Don't want him opening it in front of us," Elliot said quietly. "Will that start you off?"

Twilight, mute and shocked, simply nodded in response. The other ponies were equally shell shocked by what they had seen.

"What did you do?!" Rarity yelled, horrified by the display she had just witnessed.

"Broke the hold over mind and soul," Elliot replied. He looked down at Well Spring, who was curled up. "It isn't pretty."

"Never forgiven, never forgiven, never forgiven, never forgiven..." the pony was muttering to himself, eyes wide and full of fear and self loathing.

"Hell Blazer's a converted, he isn't like this," Rarity said.

"His soul wasn't damaged," Elliot said. "He owes it to some folks, so they decided to give him a hand. Had his soul been this damaged, he'd have been equally screwed over."

"There must be something we can do to help them," Lyra said quietly.

"The converted can't be saved while Astra Solamina's alive," Elliot said grimly, his expression downcast. "There's a link between her and the spell. Breaking it once is hard. Breaking five billion is impossible."

The ponies looked among each others none of them quite sure what to say to that. Twilight felt utterly sick: just when she thought she had seen all the horrors this twisted world could possibly bestow upon them, it threw a curveball at her that made her horrified and angry all over again. Suddenly, she knew why Corporal Jennings had begged to die when he had been splashed with conversion potion. He had wanted to avoid a fate like Well Spring's, or whatever his name had been before he turned into a puppet for Solamina... a puppet who was now lying in the pool of tears and snot that were his own metaphorical cut strings.

She was saved from further introspection by a figure bursting into the room.

"Commander," Sergeant Dietrich said, addressing Elliot. "Hell Blazer with Sergeant Rozhenko sends a request for your presence ASAP. Apparently they have located something called a lodestone."

Elliot's reaction was immediate. He stood to his feet and stared at the man, shocked.

"You're certain he said 'lodestone'?" he asked.

"Positive," Dietrich said.

Elliot grinned, turning to Twilight.

"I need your team to stay here," he said. "Ok?"

"But what about this plan?" Twilight replied. Surely he had to see the merits of her plan?!

"Lodestone is important!" Elliot said. "It's a sign that there's... oh, never mind, just stay. We'll discuss your plan when I return. In the meantime, help Sergeant Dietrich!"

"I... alright," Twilight said, frowning. She was sure that Elliot had decided to haphazardly dismiss her plan, but she knew better than to argue with her surperior. Nonetheless, she knew - she just knew - that with enough research, it could work. And then...

And then they'd finally be on even footing with the enemy. They could strike at will, maybe even attack Canterlot.

They could end the war.

***

Deep in the palace of Canterlot, a figure sat, still as stone. Were it not for the gentle expansion and contraction of her rib age and the fierce fire of her eyes, staring into the unknowable, one might never guess that Astra Solamina Maxima, formerly Celestia, was awake or even alive, for she was in all other respects almost like a statue.

And yet, within her mind, there was fierce turmoil. This was usually the case, for reasons nopony could have ever understood even if she had wanted to share with them - and she never, ever would - but today, her turmoil was for an entirely different reason.

She had been dealing with several minor governors of towns when a voice had spoken in her head, a voice at once horribly alien and horribly familiar. It had borne the wisdom of age and the authority of power, and it had been filled with malice and dark humour, as though it found the very idea of breaching her formidable mental defences amusing. It had spoken only three words.

I have returned.

These words would have been meaningless to almost anyone. They were almost meaningless to her except for a dread that stirred within her depths, a dread that caused her to cancel all appointments and retreat to her chambers.

She stared now into nothingness, her mind seeking the source of the voice. She needed to find it, needed to know if it was true.

!aybe it would be better if it was true?

She shook her head, clearing the treacherous thought from her mind and banishing it back to the cage she had constructed for it.

Dissension could not be tolerated, not even from herself.

She closed her eyes and sent pout a tentative message towards the source of the message.

Are you out there?

There was no response, and for a brief moment, she felt relief, mixed with a tinge, somewhere deep in the depths of her mind, of regret.

Yes.

The response took her off guard, and she stepped back involuntarily, before snorting and replying.

Do not interfere with me this time, old man. Your power was great once, but now it is small and weak, and you are nothing compared to the power I now wield. You cannot stop me.

She barely understood where the words were coming from - it was as if they came from deep within her, a apart that at once comforted her and filled her with dread. She filled the message with all her power and all her malice - a lesser mind would burn at her mental touch.

And yet, for the longest time, the voice had no answer for her. Again, she felt the sense of profound relief, tinged with wariness and a hint of regret.

And then it spoke again.

I have no need to stop you. That is the privilege of others.

The words sent a chill running down Solamina's spine, one that was at once the thrill of fear, an emotion she rarely felt, and a feeling almost of...

... hope.

She shook her head again, chasing the alien feeling away.

Speak not in riddles. If you do not intend to challenge me then who can?

Before the voice could reply, there was a knocking upon her chamber door.

"Enter," she said calmly.

At once, a harassed looking a Royal Guard pony entered. He stopped hesitantly before her, bowing his head.

"My liege," he said quietly, sounding more than a little afraid. "I'm afraid we have terrible news."

"Speak, Guard," Solamina said.

The Guard hesitated a moment before speaking. "There are unconfirmed reports from Wonderbolt survivors of the raid on Leeds base that ponies matching the description of the Element bearers now serve with the enemy's forces!" He looked up, as if trying to gauge her reaction. "As of yet, we do not know how this is possible."

Solamina didn't reply, merely blinking.

"I... see," she said after a moment.

In the depths of her mind, she felt a burning, overpowering rage, as well as the laughter of that voice...

... and the feeling of hope, once again, like a spark in the depths of her mind: fragile, but definitely there...

Author's Note

So it's been a long while since I've updated. What can I say - little Baby Eleanor takes up a lot of time :-) I'll try to get updates done more frequently, but expect them to be more infrequent from here on.

The End of the Beginning.

Chapter Thirty Three: The End of the Beginning.

***

Plymouth, The Lodestone, March 15th, 2030.

Elliot walked up to Hell Blazer and the Doctor, the latter of whom was looking at the man with a frown on his face. His eyes were not focused on his friends, instead fixing onto the lodestone with a soft smile.

"We've been waiting for one of these for absolutely forever," he said softly, walking up to the thing.

"Yeah," Hell Blazer said, grinning. "Good, ain't it?"

"You realise this means we'll finally be able to commune with him?" Elliot said, his gaze still fixed on the lodestone.

"Bloody hope so," Hell Blazer said. "Imagine what he might be able to tell us! He could bloody...!"

"What discovery did Everfree Team make?" the Doctor asked, cutting across the conversation.

Elliot turned to face the old looking pony, his smile fading slightly as he considered the question. Truth be told, he didn't know how to categorise what Twilight had said: he couldn't deny that, in theory, her plan could work... but it sounded like the Market Garden to this conflict's World War II. Opening a portal to Equestria? Risky in and of itself, especially using the enemy's spell for that purpose. Using that portal to transport troops? Doubly so, since if it didn't work it could kill soldiers that Britain - and the entire war effort - couldn't afford to lose. But...

But. Part of him couldn't deny that it sounded like it could work. And that part was almost... excited. Still, it sounded simultaneously too easy and too risky.

"Nothing that can help us," he said after a moment. It wasn't the entire truth, but it was enough.

"The Twilight Sparkle of our reality was never the sort of pony to break protocol or to take attention for causes if she did not believe them to be important," the Doctor said, his frown deepening: he clearly wasn't convinced. "Whatever discovery she made..."

"Is at present not one we can make use of," Elliot cut the old pony off. He didn't really have the patience to deal with the old pony right now, not when there was a lodestone in front of him. "If we could, I would, but we can't, so we won't."

The Doctor dropped the subject, though he didn't look happy. Elliot, meanwhile, walked up to the lodestone, his conversation and all thoughts of Twilight's idea forgotten at present.

"So," he asked Hell Blazer. "It's a lodestone."

"Sure as sin looks like one," the pony replied, still grinning. He took a cigarette out and lit up, taking a drag. "I've run a few tests, too. Without access to any of Rupert's big-scale testing stuff, I'm reasonably confident."

"So," Elliot said, examining the stone. It was shining with an inner light, glimmering slightly. It was as though a giant lump of crystalline rock had literally forced it's way up through the ground, almost like something that had grown. He reached out a hand to touch it, but with a hiss he pulled his hand away, a stinging pain lancing through it.

"What happened?" Hell Blazer asked.

"It's hot!" Elliot said, frowning. "I don't understand it."

"What were you attempting to do?" the Doctor asked.

"Commune with the stone," Elliot said. At the pony's blank look, he continued. "There's a school of thought that magic on Earth is connected to the lodestone. There's a legend that communing with it allows one to commune with him."

"I see," the Doctor said, frowning thoughtfully. "Maybe it requires that you channel your own magic. A sort of key, if you will."

Elliot raised an eyebrow and looked to Hell Blazer for confirmation. The yellow Earth Pony shrugged.

"Possibly," he said. "I dunno. Lodestone's are theoretical. If Rupert were here..."

"But Rupert's not here," Elliot said. "Will it work?"

Hell Blazer looked thoughtful for a moment, and then nodded. "Yeah. Pretty certain it will."

"Good," Elliot said. He turned back to the lodestone, and frowned at it for a moment. He concentrated, allowing his power to slowly fill him up. His skin took on a soft golden glow. He reached out his hand again...

painagonyscreaminghisnerveswereonfireohgodmakeitstop

He blinked, falling to one knee, looking up to find himself staring at a man. He was completely shaven headed, with a short brown beard. He was dressed in a long, shabby dark brown robe that went down to his feet, a hood lowered behind him. He had a staff clutched in one hand, shaped wood with an intricately carved head. He looked at Elliot with a wry grin on his face.

"I was wondering when you'd manage to get here," he said quietly, his voice tinged with what might have been a Gaelic accent, but not one that Elliot recognised. "I'm Merlin. I understand you have some things to speak to me about?"

***

Point Bravo.

"Take cover!"

Twilight ducked behind a pile of rubble as a hail of spells flew towards her position, covering her ears with her forehooves in a desperate attempt to keep the deafening noise of exploding rubble out of them. A squad of Royal Guard were advancing carefully down the street, firing all the way. The initial barricade point had been overrun, and the defenders had retreated further back, seeking cover where they could, the street was fairly wide, but still too narrow to manoeuvre properly.

"Wind!" she yelled as loudly as she could, not really directing it. "Get that gun firing!"

She couldn't see him, but she heard something that might have been an affirmative on her comm. A moment later, a hail of bullet tore down the street, shredding several approaching Royal Guards. The rest took cover, some of them managing to get pot shots off, but for the most part, the enemy's projectile abilities had been nullified. A moment later, however, the minigun seemed to jam - Twilight could hear Wind cursing over the comm and a hail of assault rifle bullets and unicorn spells replaced it. It wasn't exactly the most reliable weapon.

"Grey Leader, this is Everfree One!" she yelled into her comm. "Can you lend any support down here, over?"

"Negative!" came the reply, Errant Flight sounding harried. "It's pretty busy up here, over!"

As if to prove the Pegasus' point, a body landed near Twilight, making her help in shock. It was a Pegasus Royal Guard, a wing cleanly severed from the rest of him, and a neat, almost clinical gash placed on his throat as well. Twilight looked up: she couldn't see much of the frenetic fight in the air, save for Pegasi flying hither and thither, but she could tell it was a desperate one - there were at least thirty Royal Guard in the air.

This attack, a combined ground and air venture, was one of several that had happened over the course of the last hour. Since Grey Squadron's silent takedown of one team, the Equestrian forces had stepped up their attacks, clearly recognising this position as one they needed to take down.

"Equestrian" forces... Twilight shook her head, still not used to referring to the enemy as Equestrians. She was Equestrian. Having Royal Guard, ponies she had always respected as an institution, as her enemy was a shock to the system that she couldn't quite fathom.

"Twilight!" somepony yelled. Twilight, shaking off her thoughts, looked to see Applejack waving to her from behind a ruined car. Glancing to check that the field of fire was relatively clear - which it was for the moment - Twilight bolted across to her friend. She, Rarity, Lyra and Pinkie were huddled, the unicorns popping their heads up to fire bolts every so often at the enemy's position.

"Are you guys ok?" Twilight asked.

"Yes," Rarity said, looking tired, but smiling softly all the same. "I stopped worrying about dust in my mane two hours ago."

Twilight grinned back at her. Rarity seemed in good enough spirits to at least make jokes at her own expense. She turned to Lyra, but the turquoise pony merely shook her head, eyes closing as she grimaced. A large red graze was visible on her right shoulder, but other than that she seemed uninjured, so Twilight assumed she was just stressed.

"I'm okie dokie," Pinkie said, smiling, but then she frowned. "But I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm lokie too."

"That bad, huh?" Twilight asked with a grin.

"Yep," Pinkie said, smiling again.

"Well I'm fine Twi. These buckers are sure persistent, huh?!" Applejack said, laughing harshly. Twilight frowned at her.

"Yeah," she said. "Any ideas?"

"Wind's minigun keeps jamming, so we can't rely on that!" the former farmer said. "Maybe we could try flanking them through these buildings - go into one come out behind them and zap?"

"I don't think these buildings connect on the inside," Twilight pointed out.

"Not yet," Applejack agreed, "but they will when you blow a hole through the walls."

Twilight's eyes widened. She realised what Applejack meant, and suddenly a fierce grin lit up her face.

"Ok then," she said. A spell impacted near her, and she grimaced. "We'd need to suppress these guys before we moved though, make sure we came out at the correct position."

"Leave that to me," Pinkie said with a grin. She popped her head up. "Hey, you guys want a party?!" A hail of spells nearly took Pinkie's head off, and she ducked back down, a grin on her face despite the fact that her mane was singed. "They want a party."

From nowhere came her party cannon. Twilight had long since gotten past the point of denying the thing's existence, and was in fact inordinately grateful they had it. She aimed it down the street, and suddenly hails of confectionary lashed out at a rate of knots, knocking aside ponies left right and centre.

"Go!" Pinkie yelled, sounding uncharacteristically serious, a look of concentration on her face. At once, Applejack raced into a nearby building. Twilight followed, counting the buildings between this one and their enemy - six - as she did so. Rarity and Lyra followed behind her, the latter managing to move fast even with her injury.

"Right," Twilight said, approaching a wall. "Everypony stand back."

She closed her eyes, and fired a blasting spell, blasting a hole through the wall. Lyra held up a shield spell, shielding them from debris, and the group quickly made their way through the hole.

They repeated this procedure several more times, until they were in the sixth building. Once there, they drew their bayonets.

"Twi," Applejack said, "when we go, I need you to throw a big spell at 'em, take 'em off guard."

Twilight nodded. She looked at Lyra and Rarity. Neither of them looked particularly ready for this, but then again, neither was she.

"Right," she said. "On me."

She stepped out of the door, and before the Royal Guard could react, she threw the biggest, brightest, bangiest spell she had at them, closing her eyes as she did so. The noise took her off guard, so she hoped it did the same to the Guards. She heard yelling and the clash of metal, and a moment later her sight cleared enough for her to see what was going on.

A Guard was bearing right down on her.

Yelling, she dodged his charge, and he succeeded only in embedding his spear in the door she had come out of. Whipping out her own bayonet, she got in behind him and slit his throat, acting almost on autopilot. A spray of blood caught her on the face, but she ignored it. Adrenaline rushed through her veins, and with a mad yell, she charged at another Guard, using her bayonet to knock the spear aimed at her away before sweeping it across his throat. Sheathing her bayonet for a moment, she hefted the still-gurgling Guard's spear with her horn, and threw it at the nearest other Guard, who went down.

Nearby, she could see Applejack bludgeoning ponies with her bucking legs - one Guard was thrown clean into a wall, landing with his neck at an odd angle. Rarity was duelling with three Guards at once, apparently trying not to kill them. After a moment though, she grimaced and suddenly her blade whipped out, killing two of them with one sweep before embedding itself in the third's eye. She extracted it, still grimacing, before charging again. Lyra had apparently chosen to use close-range spells instead of her bayonet, turquoise bolts of energy lashing out from her horn, hitting Guard after Guard and sending them reeling. A couple of Guards got in close enough that she used her bayonet, the blade whipping and stabbing, and then she was back to firing spells.

Returning her attention to the enemy, Twilight stabbed one pony in the throat, arterial blood splattering out. Vaguely, she remembered her first training dummy back at the training camp in Pontefract, the sand spilling out in the exact same way when she had stabbed it in it's unprotected throat. She extracted the blade, dismissing the thought in a heartbeat, and charged again...

***

"Merlin..." Elliot breathed to himself, standing up slowly, looking around. They had known legends of course: Merlin, the wizard who had helped Arthur claim Excalibur. Merlin the enemy of Morgana le Fey, Merlin the mad wizard... but they had only suspected that he might be contactable, through the power of the lodestones and the magic therein. "It's really you..."

The two of them were stood inside a giant cave, lined with crystal - no, lined with lodestone: it was everywhere, as though the entire cavern had been formed of it. Merlin was stood up, but near him was a formation not unlike an armchair.

"Indeed," Merlin said with an amused grin. "I am me. Just as you are you, though I suspect you are not quite the same you you used to be, so to speak."

"No, not quite," Elliot said with a wry grin. "My name is..."

"David Elliot, the current Avatar of Albion and thus of the light of the world, yes, yes, I know that," Merlin said, waving a hand dismissively. "I may be stuck here, but I am still able to see clearly."

"Then you know why I am here," Elliot said. Merlin chuckled at that.

"You think a broken down old wizard like me might be able to lend you some advantage," he said quietly. "That maybe I can challenge Solamina the Tyrant herself in your stead?"

"I..." Elliot said, taken aback by this response.

"Now, now, don't lie to me, and more importantly don't lie to yourself," Merlin said, chuckling again. "Whatever your conscious mind thinks it came down here for, your wish was to find some way to win your war easily."

Elliot had no answer. Truthfully... he had hoped, somehow, that Merlin might have some way to help them win the war. He refused to accept that he had so blindly sought a miracle... but even if he had, would that have been so bad?

"No, that wouldn't have been too bad," Merlin said, chuckling once more. Elliot started at that. "There's no point being surprised: I'm a wizard, and I flatter myself that I was once one of the more powerful of that illustrious number. Do you think the small matter of reading someone's mind and memory is beyond my power?"

"Well, no," Elliot said. "It's just disconcerting."

"I can imagine," Merlin said. He leant upon his staff and frowned slightly. "Oh dear. You didn't quite have the fortitude for this job, did you?"

Elliot shifted uncomfortably. "What do you mean?"

"You're a brave soul, there's no doubt," Merlin said, tilting his head, "but your body's not fit for the magics you're holding in. It's killing you. Quite rapidly, actually. Haven't seen a case like that for a long time."

Elliot frowned. "I'm strong enough for what must be done."

Merlin laughed at that, a deep, slightly cackling thing. "Oh no you're not. You're strong, oh yes, but not that strong. There's a final hurdle, lad."

"I've passed all the hurdles," Elliot replied, frowning. "I was told..."

Merlin waved a hand dismissively. "You were taught how to control the power, but that's not the final hurdle. The final hurdle is you. Once you break that, you can do anything."

Elliot frowned. He didn't understand.

"You don't have to understand me yet," Merlin said, frowning but smiling as well, a wry, mirthless thing. "Just remember my words for the moment when you do understand."

Elliot nodded dumbly, and Merlin turned away from him, sitting in the chair. He motioned for Elliot to sit opposite him, and a plain wooden chair was suddenly there. Elliot sat down, utterly bewildered by the turn this conversation was taking.

"Now then," Merlin said, "tell me what you think about this plan of Twilight Sparkle's."

"What?" Elliot said, frowning at the question. "Sparkle's plan? Why?"

"Because I'm interested to know," Merlin said with a grin.

Elliot blinked. The plan Sparkle had given him was rough, risky...

"... but it's more of a plan than just popping in and killing every pony that stands between you and Solamina, before killing her too," Merlin finished the thought from Elliot's head, his grin widening. "Tell me: why don't you trust it?"

"I..." Elliot began, but he couldn't honestly say why.

"I'll tell you why," Merlin continued, as though Elliot hadn't spoken. "You don't trust yourself. Your plan was to bring them back, but even you don't know why specifically them."

"Yeah I do," Elliot said, "it's because..."

"Those are reasons you came up with afterward," Merlin said dismissively. "You had that thought before anything. You brought them along almost on the spur of the moment. And I'll tell you why - because you knew they'd be the key to winning this war of yours."

Elliot blinked. "What do you...?"

"Being the Avatar grants you a sense of things," Merlin explained patiently. "Maybe not the full picture, but you know how certain paths will lead to certain other paths, which ones have potholes and which ones have blockages. That is why you asked for those nine ponies and no others, though there were plenty who could have helped you, probably better in some ways than those ponies too. Twilight Sparkle was destined to be here, destined to help you, and her friends - even Heartstrings, Doo and Grit - were destined to come here with her."

Elliot frowned. "Does that mean this war... my Lyra, my Grit... that all those things were destined as well?"

"In their own course," Merlin replied with a sad smile. "Your friend the Doctor might call it 'the web of time'. It spreads and weaves in it's own way. Some moments must be, some moments must not, some moments can be or not be depending on their mood and the deeds of those who live them. Other men have other lives: in one life, this war was in some ways more desperate and in some ways less, and it was the privilege of a different man to lead the war against the Tyrant while you were but a soldier on the line. In other worlds, you never joined the armed forces and became a writer, for no Equestria came to this world. But in this world, it is you who was chosen to lead our defence. Focus on that. Twilight Sparkle's plan has merit, but you don't trust it because you don't trust yourself, because you don't trust your instincts, because deep down you don't trust that your instincts were right about her. And you should."

Elliot thought about those worlds, for Merlin's worlds brought to mind images of men in armour, men with tattoos, fighting against hordes of converted. Merlin's words brought to mind images of himself sitting in a bar with True Grit and Sam and John Constantine, unponified, listening to a heartfelt speech about fighting for what had been lost. It brought to mind worlds of peace, worlds of terror, worlds where mankind had never been and worlds where they had spread across the stars...

And in a flash, those images were gone and he was sat before Merlin again.

"So you're saying I have to trust her plan," he said.

"You don't have to do anything," Merlin said with a shrug. "If you like, you and I can sit and drink tea for all time while Britain and the last humans burn. But I think I know what you will do."

Elliot thought for a long moment, and then he smiled.

"Yes," he said quietly. "You probably do."

Merlin smiled, and then began to chuckle again. And suddenly, with that chuckling in his ears, he found himself standing before the lodestone in Plymouth.

"David?" he heard the voice of the Doctor behind him. "David, are you alright?"

He turned to face Hell Blazer and the Doctor, a grin on his face.

"Yeah," he said. "I am."

He walked past them, marching with renewed purpose.

"Dave, where the b-fuck are you going?!" Hell Blazer asked, frowning.

"I need to talk to a pony about a portal!" Elliot yelled over his shoulder.

Hell Blazer gave the Doctor a look. The older pony shrugged, and Hell Blazer sighed.

"Typical," he said.

***

Point Bravo.

Breathing hard, and fighting back her rising gorge, Twilight slipped back on her haunches and looked up at the sky, clear for now.

All around them were bodies: humans and ponies lay dead, bludgeoned and impaled and sliced and stabbed...

She moved her head to her side and threw up, coughing as she did so. The adrenaline rush that had kept her going throughout the entire fight had gone, leaving her weak and shaking, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. She moved her hoof to her face, desperately trying to wipe the blood and muck from it, but it was a pointless endeavour. It might never wash off...

Nearby, Pinkie was sat quietly, staring off into space, her hair lank. Killing for her seemed to be even more of a torment than it was for the rest of them, like it tore a hole through her heart every time. She looked up at Twilight, who flashed her a smile, but she ignored it, returning her gaze to space.

Rarity was cleaning her blade, muttering something softly to herself and seemingly transfixed by the work. She seemed to be compensating for the horrors, or at least managing to deal with them without going mad, but it was definitely taking it's toll. Nearby Lyra was talking with Ditzy, who along with the rest of Grey Squadron had landed. She seemed downcast but otherwise fine.

Twilight sat back again, looking up at the sky.

"Well," came the voice of Applejack, sounding cheerful, "we survived."

Twilight threw Applejack a look. Her friend looked remarkably chipper.

"You ok, Twi?" the former farm pony asked, looking at her with a worried furrow of her eyebrows.

"I just killed ponies," Twilight pointed out, frowning slightly. "I have their blood on my hooves. I don't think I'll ever be 'ok' again."

Applejack smiled sympathetically. "I know it's hard sugarcube. But we came here to help, and it was them ponies or us. They'd have done the same to us, and I'll betcha they'd not have been all beat up about it, neither."

"Maybe not," Twilight said, looking away from Applejack. "But that doesn't mean we have to be happy to kill them. We're not monsters. We're not them."

"No," Applejack agreed, looking vaguely ashamed. "No, you're right, we ain't them. But we can't be hung up about killin' every time, sugarcube. There comes a point where we've got to accept that we're gonna kill ponies."

"I have accepted it, but I don't have to like it!" Twilight snapped. She shrank back. "I'm... I'm sorry, Applejack, that was..."

"No, it's fine," Applejack said, smiling again, though there was something odd behind it. "But it's hard for all of us, Twi, and don't you forget it."

She turned away and walked off, leaving Twilight to her thoughts. They were, however, short lived, for a human figure approached her. She looked up, to find herself looking at David Elliot. He was grinning, which surprised the unicorn somewhat.

"So," he said casually. "You want to tell me about this plan of yours?"

Author's Note

Howdy folks. So I had a couple of days of writers block with this, but it came to me suddenly and I got it all down. It'll probably be a little while again before the next update (again, baby), but I'll do my best. :-) In the meantime, enjoy the update. Thanks again to everyone who's favourited and commented, I really appreciate it. :-)

Jed.

Research.

Chapter Thirty Four: Research.

***

Plymouth Extraction Zone, March 16th 2030.

Twilight Sparkle stood on the lip of the doorway of a transport helicopter. She checked and double checked everything to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything important. All of her gear was safely in place, her helmet and her bayonet all where it should have been - not that she'd need it where she was going, she thought to herself ruefully.

She had spoken at great length with Elliot about what she thought she could accomplish with the spell Well Spring had inadvertently taught her in his madness. Used correctly, and with a bit of research, she was certain she'd be able to utilise that knowledge to create a modified portal that would allow human forces to enter Equestria and take the fight to Solamina herself. Elliot, to her surprise given their initial discussion on the matter, had agreed that it was an avenue worth exploring - and had immediately ordered her to report to Scotland, where Rupert Giles and other scholars were constantly researching anything that could possibly give the last humans an edge in this war.

She had never really considered the consequences of having this idea: she had known it would require research on her part in order to develop it into something usable, but she had half expected her friends to be allowed to come with her instead of having to leave them behind. Elliot, however, had pointed out that here in Plymouth, Everfree team would still be necessary - every soldier would be necessary.

She had explained the fact that she had to leave the group behind with a heavy heart, but they had all been enthusiastic (Pinkie Pie had even offered to throw a party, with such a manic gleam in her eye that Twilight was convinced she wanted to throw it as much for the sake of throwing a party as for her benefit in particular, which made it especially heartbreaking to have to decline).

"You mean you're not angry?" she had asked them.

"Angry?!" Applejack had said. "Sugarcube, you might find a way for us to go kick Solamina's flank personally! That's the best news we've had since we came to this world!"

"And it's the best news we've heard in a long time too," Desert Wind had added, a feral grin on his face. He and Sapphire Steel were both - perhaps understandably - ecstatic about the idea of taking the war to Equestria, though for different reasons. Most ponies, Steel included, just wanted to go home, even if they'd have to fight once they got there. Desert Wind, on the other hand, wanted to kill. There was no higher motivation in him, nothing left but the promise of almost-divine retribution for him to visit upon those who had wronged him, Twilight's counterpart included. Twilight was fairly certain he hadn't really considered what came after that had been achieved - and she was equally certain that he really didn't care.

"You realise that if I can't find a way to modify the spell, we won't be able to do this?" Twilight had pointed out to her friends.

"We all have faith in you, darling," Rarity had replied, and the others had nodded, smiling encouragingly at her. "We know you'll do your best to make it work."

Twilight returned her attention to the here and now as Elliot walked up to her, a grin on his face. Behind him came the Doctor and Hell Blazer.

"You'll be taken up to the government cultural repository," he said as he reached her. "That's where Rupert's got most of our books on magic."

"'Cultural repository'?" Twilight repeated, frowning in confusion. "What do you mean a 'cultural repository'?"

"Sort of a last holdout for the best parts of human culture," Elliot explained. "We've got it buried a thousand feet underground, and we've put some of the best literature mankind's ever written all safely locked away, behind a few of the best warding spells people like Hell Blazer know."

"Do those work?" Twilight asked, trying her very, very best to not be too overly excited about all those books (you aren't there to read all the books of an alien civilisation, Twilight, you aren't...).

"It'll hold up to everything, including the barrier itself," Hell Blazer replied, confidence in his tone. "I bloody guarantee it."

"It's also the place where the last humans will hold out if we fail," Elliot added, a more serious tone in his voice. "It's got room for about eighteen or nineteen hundred people and enough stored food to keep them for a couple of centuries, and we've already selected a fairly racially diverse bunch of people to send down there to maximise the genetic diversity."

"Which means we're less likely to have eighteen hundred baby troglodytes in a hundred years," Hell Blazer added, a sort of grim gallows humour in his tone. "But that's besides the point."

"If you succeed, Sparkle, we won't need to worry about keeping a cultural repository, or saving anyone from the barrier," Elliot said, confidence in his tone. "If you succeed, we might have a chance to end this."

Twilight smiled slightly. She looked up at Elliot.

"I'll get you a way into Equestria, Commander," she said, sounding as earnest as she could manage. "I promise."

"I believe you," Elliot replied, smiling back. He walked over to the stiffly stood-to-attention ponies of Grey Squadron, who were stood by the helicopter waiting. "Your mission is to get Sparkle to Scotland and then to return. Can you do that?"

"Yes sir!" the disciplined voices of the Squadron replied. Twilight couldn't help but glance at the faces of Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Ditzy, feeling a wave of sadness at the thought of her friends being so... comfortable with this military life. Not just Rainbow and Fluttershy, but Applejack too: they were all becoming used to this, like it was an everyday thing. She kept thinking to herself about the possibility of returning home: what would happen? How would they fit back in to a society that had never even begun to consider a conflict of this magnitude?

Life however, as she was quickly (and none-too-happily) learning, was full of such problems, such terrible questions that had no answer. They were the prices that had to be paid in order to do the right thing. Twilight had a brief flash of memory, blood splattering over her, spilling from an artery, and she closed her eyes, trying not to relive it.

"Alright, Sparkle, in you go," Elliot said. Opening her eyes again, Twilight nodded and got onto the copter.

"Don't worry Twi," she heard Rainbow say over her comm. "We'll get you where you're going!"

"I trust you, Rainbow," Twilight replied, a smile forming on her face. No matter what horrors they had all seen, she knew she could still count on her friends.

The seating was comfortable at least. She fidgeted slightly as the copter's engine started whirring, a loud noise roaring outside, though considerably dulled by the metal door of the vehicle. The noise disturbed her, but not as much as the pony who was sat opposite her, eyes blank, wide and staring.

Well Spring was sat opposite her. Elliot had insisted the damaged pony should go with her: not only was his broken mind a source of information, but only the researchers in Scotland, with their access to rare, arcane materials, had a chance in hell of ever putting his tormented soul back together again.

"Never forgive me," he was muttering to himself, almost too quiet to hear. "Never forgive me. Never forgive me. Never forgive me..."

"We set?!" the pilot asked over the comms, his voice tinged with an unfamiliar accent. Twilight was grateful for the interruption to Well Spring's muttered mantra.

"You're cleared!" Elliot shouted back. "Good flying!"

"Alright!" the pilot yelled, grinning to himself. "Let's get this dame in the air!"

Twilight risked a glance out of the window, where she saw Plymouth slowly disappear as the helicopter ascended. She sighed, praying to whoever was listening in this world that her friends would be alright, and then she sat back, closed her eyes, and tried to go to sleep.

***

Elsewhere in Plymouth. March 16th, 2030.

Applejack didn't enjoy being a fighter. Not. One. Bit. In fact, she hated every second of it.

She had always been proud of her strength, her resilience. They had been things that helped ponies, helped her family. She had been dependable, loyal, honest, a pony that ponies could go to in order to solve their problems - whether problems of the physical nature, or even to an extent problems of the philosophical, though anyone asking Applejack would most likely get her simple home grown brand of philosophy (and she certainly would never call it that: far too fancy a term).

Now though, being here and fighting in this war, she felt like a murderer. Every time she looked down at her legs, her strong hooves, all she could see was them crushing a pony's skull. Every time she fought, she had to fight to keep herself from vomiting, from screaming, from crying, from breaking down and screeching to the heavens about just how wrong all of this was, because it was wrong. Ponies were good creatures. Sure, there might be one or two bad apples, but the worse you'd ever get from a pony was liars like the Flim-Flam brothers, showoffs like Trixie, arrogant ponies like Blueblood... you didn't get murderers. You didn't get insanity like she had witnessed here, where ponies mutilated and destroyed instead of preserving, growing, healing...

And the worst thing was, she - or at least, something so close to her that the difference was all but negligible - had been part of it, a willing part! She somehow couldn't manage to bring herself to believe that, even though she knew it was true, had seen the mane of her own hair that telling had worn like a trophy in Elliot's jacket...

"Ma'am?" a soft voice spoke. Applejack blinked, and found herself looking at True Grit.

"What's up, Grit?" she said with a smile.

"We're ready to move out now," the former Guard-pony said, speaking quietly. "We're about a hundred metres from the next objective."

"Right," she said brightly. "We'd best high-tail it out of here!"

True Grit nodded, turning to go speak to the rest of the squad. Applejack shook her head, clearing it of her grim thoughts. She had no time to have her thoughts of horror and worry - ponies were relying on her. When ponies were relying on her, she couldn't dare let any weakness show: she couldn't let them down.

"Alright, Everfree team!" she said loudly, forcing a grin onto her face. "Let's go buck these Royal Guard plotholes! Twilight's relying on us to hold the line while she's gone, and I ain't gonna be the pony that lets her down!"

With that, she bounded forward, quickly reaching the head of the squad, a determined expression on her face as she lead the squad to their next objective.

She couldn't worry about killing, for any worry - any uncertainty - would be unacceptably weak, and she had to be strong.

She had to be strong.

***

"No Spike, we need to get up early..."

Twilight blearily opened her eyes, frowning at the remnants of the dream she had been having about home. She missed Spike. She could only hope the little purple dragon was alright without her. Thinking about him made her wonder what had happened to this world's Spike but... no. Best to not consider it. There were too many horrible thoughts to contend with as it was.

Her frown deepening, she blinked as she stared at the blue sky visible out of the helicopter window. She moved closer to the window, marvelling at what she could see. She looked out, seeing mountains and white clouds drifting. The mountains were green, entirely untouched by war, violence or the hand of man (or hoof of pony). The whole scene seemed entirely idyllic, and was for the most part foreign to her. She hadn't been so high up before: not even Cloudsdale tended to be quite this high. None of the mountains seemed as high as the Canterhorn... but at the same time, she had never taken the time to observe the sight while she had lived in Canterlot, too engrossed in her studies as she was, and since then there just hadn't been time, what with the invasion and the various other crises that had erupted. Now, she could see this scenery, and it took her breath away.

In the distance was a purple glow, the only hint that maybe there was something amiss about this world. She frowned at it: a reminder that she was here for a reason. All of this idyllic landscape, all of the ponies and all of the people, might soon be lost forever to the iron grip of a tyrant monster - a monster, she reminded herself with a sickening drop in her stomach, that had once been exactly like her beloved mentor.

She shook her head, clearing the troubling thoughts away. There were so many things that she just couldn't bear thinking about.

"Never forgiven, never forgiven, never forgiven..." a quiet voice spoke. She turned to look at Well Spring, who looked as sane - or not sane - as he had since he had been freed from Solamina's influence.

"Are you alright?" she asked, but there was no reply or acknowledgement from the pony, who kept rocking to himself over and over.

"Twilight!" a voice came through the comm. The purple unicorn blinked in surprise at the voice.

"Rainbow?" she asked.

"Finally, you're awake!" her Pegasus friend said, sounding at once amused and impatient at the unicorn's tone. "Anyone would think you'd been in a war zone."

"Funny," Twilight said, trying to sound amused but only succeeding in sounding faux-grumpy. "How far off are we?"

"We'll be beginning our descent soon," a new voice - Errant Flight - said, sounding half amused and half annoyed at the exchange. "And I'd appreciate it if everypony could keep focused until we do. We aren't safe yet."

"Sorry lead," Rainbow's voice spoke sheepishly. With that, she fell silent, leaving Twilight alone with her thoughts once again.

A few moments later, the transport copter began it's descent, lowering through the clouds to find itself descending into a small village. The little stone cottages seemed the furthest from the big cities Twilight had seen that she could imagine, though the stonework vaguely reminded her of Pontefract castle.

Once the copter's blades had stopped whirring, she slowly stepped off the transport, her eyes scanning the village. There were a scant few soldiers, a handful of civilians, and barely any ponies wandering around. She could see Grey Squadron hovering nearby on a patrol route - she caught Rainbow's eye, and the cyan Pegasus threw her a quick, amused salute. She saluted back, a wry grin forming on her own face.

"Twilight Sparkle?" a softly spoken voice called out. Twilight's attention turned to a thin-haired man in a tweed jacket who was standing nearby, a nervous smile on his face.

"Yes?" she replied, trotting up to the man.

"Rupert Giles," the man said, smiling warmly, "chief researcher at the Archives. We've been told to expect you."

He held up a radio, and spoke into it. Twilight had the odd double effect of hearing his voice over the radio and in front of her.

"Archive Head to Grey Leader, we can take it from here, over," he said, sounding remarkably professional given the general nervousness he seemed to portray.

"She's all yours, Archive," Errant Flight's voice replied. "Grey Squadron will return to Plymouth, over."

"Understood, over," Giles spoke.

"Good luck, Twilight!" Fluttershy's voice spoke. The sentiment was echoed by Ditzy, as well as a few other members of Grey Squadron.

"Knock 'em dead!" Rainbow concluded, throwing Twilight a grin.

"Alright, Grey Squadron," Errant Flight spoke. "Let's move!"

With that, the Pegasi squadron flew off, soon disappearing into the clouds and leaving Twilight alone with Giles.

"I understand you brought the captured Converted with you," Giles said after a moment.

"That's right," Twilight replied. "Well Spring..."

Her thoughts turning briefly to the pony, she turned, to see a handful of humans and ponies escorting the broken looking former-human away from the transport helicopter. Well Spring's eyes briefly glanced up, meeting Twilight's, and she suppressed the urge to shudder at how empty they were, how devoid of hope.

"Can you help him?" she found herself asking, the plight of the poor Converted stirring an odd place in her heart - a combination of pity, revulsion and anger.

"It is one of the tertiary goals of the Resistance and primary goals of the British and Human Defence Forces to find some way to reverse the effects of Conversion," Giles replied, sounding tired and heavy-hearted. "But having seen the magic of the potion at work, I must admit to some doubt about our chances, and as I say - tertiary goal."

Well Spring hobbled along with his escorts. He seemed to still be muttering to himself, eyes not really focusing on anything anymore.

"It's horrible what's been done to him," Twilight commented absently.

"There are many horrors in our world," Giles replied tiredly. She turned to look at him, and only noticed now how defeated he looked, as though he held no hope for the future in any form. "In any case, Miss Sparkle, you are here to research a particular problem. I suggest we get straight to it - if you will follow me."

He walked off, leaving Twilight to follow. She did so, wondering exactly who she had found herself working with.

***

Equestria, Twilight Sparkle's research centre, Ponyville.

Twilight Sparkle, one of Empress Solamina's high commanders, was on edge. She paced through her small office, the various papers full of military requisition orders, various tactical appraisals and proposals for military operations requiring her personal stamp of approval as high commander all lying forgotten. She was normally on edge anyway - it came with her rank and her (very hefty) responsibilities, but today was something more important. She had just received word by artificial dragon-letter (and there was a brief, quickly suppressed pang for the time when she had still had Spike here) that Empress Solamina was coming here on an urgent errand.

It wasn't often that the Empress came to Ponyville these days. In simpler times - before the portal, before the traitors (oh Spike), before the humans, before the war - it had been her wont to come and speak with Sparkle, or to engage in correspondence. Now, it seemed, there was something entirely different about their relationship: something more of the subordinate and her superior. Still, she couldn't complain: she had more responsibilities, sure: thousands,mif not millions, of ponies relied on her - and that wasn't even counting the many billions of new ponies who had been born from the ashes of humanity, the so called "converted" - and oh, how she hated that term: it seemed to draw a line between the ponies who had been born that way and those blessed with conversion...

Blessed? She shook her head. She needed to be careful - using language like that was the first step to becoming a fanatic like Sol Invictus, and while she greatly respected the leader of what was informally referred to as, among other things, the Solaminan militia, the Equestrian militia, and even the Cult of the Sun, she still found his fervour... unsettling.

"Commander," a quiet voice spoke. She turned, to find one of her adjutants looking nervous at her door. "Her majesty is here."

"Then show her here immediately!" Sparkle snapped at her, sounding more angry than she had intended.

"No need, my ever-faithful student," a calm voice spoke. A moment later, the radiant figure of Empress Solamina appeared, looking resplendent as ever. Unlike in the palace, where she could afford the luxury of going without, here she wore her golden battle-armour, an ever-present reminder of her status as not just Empress, but supreme commander of all Equestrian forces. Though Sparkle had never had the honour of seeing her go into battle, she was sure such a sight would be as magnificent as the sun itself - and just as deadly as it would be beautiful.

"My lady," she bowed to her Empress. "You honour me with your presence."

"Alas, Twilight, if only I were here merely as a visit of courtesy," Solamina said, sounding almost troubled. "Leave us, attendant."

The adjutant bowed and left quickly, almost scrambling to obey, and the door closed behind her, leaving Sparkle and Solamina alone. The Empress turned to Sparkle, a sad, almost mournful look on her face.

"I come," Solamina began, "with news, and with a task for you."

"I will do anything you need me to, your majesty," Sparkle said at once. "What news?"

"It is most distressing," Solamina said quietly. "I do not know if anything I can say will adequately prepare you for this."

Sparkle tensed: something in Solamina's tone told her that this truly would be bad.

"There are rumours abound," the Empress continued slowly, "that the bearers of the Elements of Order fight now with the traitors and the human allies."

Sparkle blinked. "That's... that's not possible." She began pacing. "I assure you your majesty, I would never..."

"I know, Twilight," Solamina said, her tone an attempt to placate her student.

"And we know for a fact that Pinkie, Rainbow and Rarity died - we found their bodies!" Sparkle continued. She paused thoughtfully. "But... we never got Applejack or Fluttershy's remains back... I mean, did the reports specify...?"

"The reports specify seeing ponies matching the description of every single bearer of the Elements," Solamina said quietly. Her gaze seemed to pierce Twilight where she stood, and the pure unicorn gulped.

"Your majesty, I would never betray you, and neither would any of the others," she said. "I swear to all that is sacred in Equestria."

"And I believe you, my most faithful student," Solamina said, a small smile developing on her face that at once filled Sparkle with relief and yet also unsettled her somehow, though she did not know how or why. The smile disappeared a moment later. "But that leaves an entirely different possibility open."

"What possibility, your majesty?" Sparkle asked, frowning in confusion.

"The fact remains that these ponies are, in fact, the spitting image of yourself and your sadly deceased friends," Solamina said slowly. "Commander Scootaloo of the Wonderbolts confirmed when questioned that one of these ponies identified as Rainbow Dash, which as you know..."

"Is patently impossible," Sparkle finished. "I saw Rainbow buried myself."

"Do not interrupt, Twilight," Solamina said lightly. Sparkle bowed hurriedly, murmuring apologies. "In any case," the Empress continued. "There is something at work here beyond the mundane. Necromancy, magical duplication... the possibilities are numerous."

"What do you need me to do?" Sparkle asked.

***

Author's Note

Taken me a while, but here I am, back again. Next chapter will probably take something resembling the same amount of time. Hope it was worth it.

As a side note: we're getting a little more of the Equestrian side of things in the next few chapters. That's important because of where this is all going. You'll hopefully see what I mean. The next chapter, Heart of the World, should be - if you'll pardon the plug - especially interesting...

Adjusting.

Chapter Thirty Five: Adjusting.

***

March 16th 2030. Somewhere beneath Scotland...

Rupert Giles led Twilight further down into the archive structure, taking long strides down the corridor. Twilight hurried to keep up with the man, eager to begin her work.

From the small village she had initially met the man in, they had driven to a remote area surrounded by hills. There, Giles had found and opened a large metal door, guarded by a mixture of what looked to be Equestrian Night Guards, as well as a series of soldiers in full potion-protective gear, each with a different flag present on their sleeves.

"The best of the Night Guard and the Dead Men," Giles had said at Twilight's questioning stare, his tone sombre. "Elite soldiers, specially chosen for their skill and dedication. Nothing will get past these doors while they're alive."

After checking Giles' and Twilight's identification, the guards let them into the main complex, though very little of it appeared to be on this level. There was a single chamber with more guards, a large cargo elevator, and a smaller personnel lift. Giles had led her to the latter, and they had descended something like ten levels.

"How was all of this built so quickly?" Twilight had wondered aloud.

"The government always had bunkers available for emergency preservation of key personnel," Giles had said softly. "As soon as the full nature of the threat from Solamina was understood, some of these bunkers - such as the ones we're in now - were expanded, and we still had a lot of resources to make that possible. This one especially: all that makes mankind what we are is here. Books containing all of our scientific and cultural knowledge." At this, Twilight had sucked in a sharp intake of breath, trying to hold in her excitement. Giles had ignored her as he continued. "Documentation of all our nations various histories, even the ones from whom no one has survived..."

"Some nations were wiped out?" Twilight had interrupted, her excitement dissipating at this realisation.

"It was inevitable," Giles had said quietly, his voice empty of emotion, "though we've done our best to prevent it by preserving elements from every culture present and members of every individual race in these archives. There are entire living spaces where those who will be the last humans can survive. Enough food to preserve them for generations." He had frowned, a distasteful thought occurring to him. "Enough weapons and equipment to make it so that when they do emerge, they will do so with the ability to avenge what has been done to the human race."

"Avenge?" Twilight had said, frowning. "You mean..."

"I mean that when enough soldiers have been trained and they are assured of victory, the descendants of the people here are, if the end comes, destined to burn the world above: to burn everything Equestrian if they have to." Giles' voice was filled with contempt, and it had been clear what his opinion of the idea was even without him speaking his next words. "With the space those weapons are taking up, we could have saved more knowledge, more people, but the military minds had other ideas. Still," he had continued, taking his glasses off and wiping them almost absent-mindedly. "There's no use crying about it. If we succeed, if your plan works, I suppose none of it will be necessary."

This comment made Twilight realise just how much was riding on her succeeding here, just how much was at stake. If she failed... if she failed, there was no telling just how far this world might slip.

Now they had reached the final level they were heading for. Directly outside the lift was a small doorway leading to a long corridor. Ahead of them was a large door, covered in ornate symbols that Twilight didn't recognise.

"Welcome to the Watcher's Council's addition to this archive," the man said, sounding almost enthusiastic for the first time since Twilight had met him. He pushed the door open, and Twilight's jaw hit the proverbial floor.

The room was filled with row after row of shelves, each filled to the brim with books: big books, small books, medium books, books that looked newly printed and books that looked ancient, and between each shelf was a table with chairs, just begging for someone to sit down and start reading.

"I trust this will be adequate for your purposes?" Giles asked, a slightly wry grin on his face at her expression.

"Oh," Twilight said, eyes wide and voice a tiny squeak. "Very much so. Thank you. I just... need a minute."

Giles smirked softly at that. "I believe I had much the same reaction." He began walking further into the library, and Twilight followed him, eager to begin her research. And some extra reading.

Oh yes, lots of extra reading. Lots and lots and lots…

***

Plymouth, March 17th, 2030.

"Down!" someone yelled as an RPG struck the side of a building near them. Rubble and masonry was shattered and lashed out, showering the BDF and Resistance in dust and debris. A troop of Royal Guards were marching on the defenders' position, backed up by what must have been PER soldiers, armed lightly but still dangerous.

Everfree team were sheltering near a ruined bus - Lyra and True Grit were throwing spells from inside the thing, ducking back behind the ruined window frames as return fire raked the bus. Rarity was busy trying to snipe the RPG trooper from the battered top deck, but it was tricky: the Royal Guards had their shields up, and getting through those shields would be difficult without giving the enemy the chance to respond.

Applejack, sheltering in the thing, blew a stray hair away from her face, before looking out at the approaching enemy from her own ruined window.

"Horseapples!" Applejack swore. "Anypony wanna do me a favour and slow those buckers down?!"

"Gimme a sec!" Desert Wind yelled. He and Sapphire Steel were fussing over the P220, which was being temperamental.

"Typical useless piece of bullplop," Desert Wind grumbled.

"It's just being temperamental," Steel said in a soothing voice. She grinned at Wind. "It's kind of like you in that respect."

He snorted. "At least I work when you need me to."

Steel grinned. "I'll beat that in mind." She smacked the gun with her hoof. "Ok, should be good - set yourself up!"

"How many rounds we got?" Wind asked as he moved to another window, Steel's magic steadying the P220.

"Uh… uncertain," Steel replied. "Less than half of full complement though - we’ve gone through ‘em kinda quickly."

Wind clucked his tongue. "Fine. That'll have to do. We're set, Everfree One!"

"Alright!" Applejack called back from her position. "Target the Unicorns first, take their shields down!"

"Gotcha!" Wind said. He aimed for the nearest visible Unicorn in the Guard formation, a stallion whose horn was lit up and whose face was a mask of concentration. He grinned, feeling the reassuring lightening of weight on his back as Sapphire Steel repositioned the gun slightly.

"You're set!" she yelled.

"Firing!" he called, and the P220 let rip.

The shield the Unicorn had put up started cracking under the firepower immediately - while shields were good, they couldn't block solid projectiles at a concentrated point indefinitely. The bullets slammed into the cracks, which widened, the strain on the Unicorn's face getting worse and worse…

And then the shield cracked open.

The heavy calibre bullets slammed into the Unicorn, punching him from his feet and sending his body flying through the ordered ranks of Guards, disrupting their formation. More bullets flew, killing dozens of the marching figures. With the shield gone, Lyra and True Grit's spells started tearing through ponies and PER, forcing them to take cover.

That's when the firefight really started.

***

BDF Forward position, Plymouth, March 17th, 2030.

Evening in Plymouth brought only relative silence - there were always distant shouts, gunfire, yelling, but even so, it was quieter than the day.

Sat away from the rest of the group, Lyra Heartstrings sat back, staring at the little leather-bound diary as though it was going to jump up and bite her.

It was a quiet moment, one of the rare quiet moments they got in Plymouth. The rest of Everfree team were sat talking - Desert Wind and Sapphire Steel were laughing about… something, though what it was no one could tell. A little further away, Applejack was having a nap, catching some time before they were called upon again. Pinkie was playing rock-paper-scissors with True Grit, who was spending the entire game looking faintly bemused.

Lyra didn’t like the quiet very much - more often than not, ‘quiet’ meant that something bad was about to happen. But she was determined that she would begin reading this journal, and there seemed no better time than a quiet moment to do it.

She grimaced slightly as she opened the thing, her horn glowing softly in the evening light. The first page held a simple dedication, written in scribbly handwriting.

From David Elliot to Lyra Heartstrings.

Lyra’s eyes widened. So Elliot had given the other her this diary? That had been nice of him. Perhaps within its pages she would learn why - and she would learn more of that empty-eyed mare whose last words to her, juddering and choked out as they had been, had been so cryptic and yet so heartfelt.

She turned the page.

December 25th, 2024.

According to Mr Elliot, the practice of giving people presents on Hearthswarming - or what the humans call ‘Christmas’ - is one that they have in common with ponies. It’s just another of the many fascinating things I’m learning in my time here. I only wish I had some more professional means of taking notes. It’s really a shame that the two species have had to meet under these circumstances - I can imagine that we’d have been able to share much as friends…

Lyra smiled. This other her seemed… well, like her - the words on the page made her seem bubbly, excitable, happy about being among humans. It seemed so unreal to her that her other self could be this cheerful when, by all accounts, the world she was living in seemed so dire, and yet here was evidence that - for a time at least - Lyra Heartstrings had revelled in the wonders of being amongst humans.

That made Lyra smile.

She turned the page again.

January 1st, 2025.

Fireworks! I stayed up til midnight with Bon-Bon and Mr Lake to watch the fireworks go off. Mr Lake says that there used to be more extensive fireworks, but that the provisional council - everyone just calls them ‘the Council’ now - decreed that there could only be a small number used. The gunpowder has other uses now.

How much of human culture has been lost, I wonder, never to return?

Lyra found herself nodding in agreement with her other self, a sad smile developing on her face. She vaguely wondered who ‘Mr Lake’ was, but she supposed she could ask Elliot in the morning.

She turned the page.

***

Somewhere beneath Scotland. March 21st, 2030.

Twilight frowned at the group of soldiers passing her quiet little room.

Most of her time was spent researching various ways to make the spell Well Spring had taught her work - possibilities of stretching the time limit of the portal of the size it could be made. In her “off hours”, she liked to sit down with a random book from the monumental library and read, often staying up later than Spike would have allowed her…

She paused, shaking her head. She still missed Spike.

In any case, the soldiers passing by her door and through the barracks complex were a regular occurrence: whether they were just walking by, or escorting a human or pony in a white coat to some other room, or sometimes - very rarely - escorting someone or somepony else.

The group who had just passed had been escorting someone, someone in battered military fatigues. Twilight felt curious, and so she poked her head out of the door. The soldiers were definitely escorting someone else - a human male with bare arms, a kevlar vest and a toned, lean body.

I wonder who that is? Twilight thought to herself. She frowned, looking back to her desk, her bunk and her book, and then she sighed and followed the troopers.

She caught up to them a few moments later, and saw them enter a complex listed as “prisoner storage”. She frowned. ‘Prisoner storage’? What prisoners were here?

“You shouldn’t be here, newcomer,” a new voice said. Twilight started, and turned, only to see a man stood, arms folded. He had cold grey eyes, dark hair and a tired expression. He wore grey fatigues, and a single metal pauldron was strapped around one arm. He held an assault rifle, sleek and burnished metal glinting from the dim lights in the corridor, and a sword was girt at one side.

“Is it beyond my authorisation?” she asked quietly.

“Strictly speaking, I don’t think so,” the man replied quietly. “You’re one of Albion’s Spec-Ops, they told me you had authorisation to go anywhere.”

“Then why shouldn’t I be here?” Twilight asked, looking back at the door.

“Beyond that door are things you don’t want to meet,” the man said quietly. “You’ll have seen the worst your kind can offer on the front before you came here, or some of the worst anyway. And there’s no doubt some of the worst of humanity out there too, somewhere. Through there, though…” He paused, frowning, as though he was trying to figure out exactly how to say whatever he wanted to say. “Through there, there’s some of the worst things this war has. People and ponies and things worse than people or ponies.”

Twilight frowned. “What are they?”

The man gave her a soft smile. “Better you don’t know, ma’am. Better you go back to your reading.”

Twilight frowned, looking back at the door, before walking away from it, back the way she had come. The grey-clothed human moved to guard the door, nodding at her as she walked, and she turned away, feeling disturbed.

What was down here? What had they brought down here, and why?

***

Plymouth, March 20th, 2030.

"All clear!"

Applejack slumped against a wall, breathing a heavy sigh of relief. Her hooves were slicked in blood and sore from bucking bodies and armour alike. Her side was bleeding from a large cut from some spell or another that a unicorn Guard had thrown her way. Bucker had been a Converted, and probably pretty recent, so he hadn't known how to aim his spells properly, but he'd managed to clip her.

Their position had just been attacked - for the seventh time in as many days - by a large group of Converted militia and Royal Guard, and while the defenders had managed to repel the attack, it had been a close run thing. Resistance ponies and human soldiers lay dead everywhere, some of the latter’s bodies now finishing the last, disturbing stages of conversion, holes in their heads where they had taken it upon themselves to die rather than be converted (or their comrades had made that choice for them). More Converted had been killed than defenders, but the difference was that the Converted could apparently afford such horrendous losses.

Applejack could see Elliot amongst the defenders, Excalibur in hand as he spoke with Sergeant Dietrich. The man seemed in oddly good spirits for this situation, but he had managed to accept this situation. Maybe she could do well to follow that example and accept this place - she was trying, but it was so hard to ignore the nagging voices in the back of her head, screaming about how wrong all of this was. Some days, it was hard to not just curl up into a ball and start crying...

"Applejack!" somepony called out, distracting her from her thoughts (thankfully). The farm pony looked up to see Rarity galloping towards her. "Good heavens, dear, you're bleeding."

"I reckon I am," Applejack agreed, smiling tiredly. "But I wouldn't worry, I got more of the other guy's blood on me than my own."

"Yes well, be that as it may, you're still injured," Rarity said, giving her a slightly distasteful look. "Let me have a look."

"Since when did you know anythin' about fixin’ up injured ponies, Rare?" Applejack asked, giving her friend a look.

"Since somepony recognised the fact that being a seamstress, I probably knew how to sew things up," Rarity said tiredly, whipping a needle and thread from her saddlebag and applying a mild anaesthetic spell to the injury. "This might sting."

It did, but Applejack barely noticed. She had a lot of aches and pains going on, one more didn't make much of a difference. She felt a bit of relief at the sting of the graze itself slowly receding as Rarity did her work, and after a moment, her friend stepped away.

“There,” the unicorn said softly. “Better.”

“Thanks, Rare,” Applejack said softly. She gave her friend a tired smile. “We didn’t do so bad just now, did we?”

“By the standards of this horrible situation, I guess not.” Rarity was pensive, Applejack could tell. “I’d still much rather be home.”

“Yeah,” Applejack said. She cast her mind to home, to Sweet Apple Acres and her friends and family. “You suppose they’re all alright back home?”

“You’re thinking of Apple Bloom,” Rarity said sagely, nodding slowly.

“Eeyup,” Applejack said softly. “And Mac, and Granny.”

“I’m sure they’re all fine, Applejack,” Rarity said, and then with a wry, slightly bitter grin, she continued. “They’re probably doing better than the Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom of this place.”

“She’s only a contract builder,” Applejack said irritably.

“Working for Solamina,” Rarity added knowingly, giving Applejack a look. “You may have fooled everypony else that you’re ok with it, but I know better, Applejack. My sister in this place is as much a part of this insanity as yours. Moreso, in fact.”

Applejack grimaced, and then sighed.

“It makes me sick to my core," she said after a moment, her voice filled with emotions she had usually managed to suppress. "How can Bloom be ok with this? Hay, how could I have been ok this?! We know some ponies ain't any different from how we knew 'em, war aside. How could we be that different, or our sisters?"

For a moment, Rarity looked thoughtful. "Different lives," she finally replied sadly. "We come from a different world, one where things never became... like this. It's a crying shame, but that's how it is."

"It's more than a crying shame, Rare, it's a bucking disgrace," Applejack growled, her eyes burning like coal-fires. "That ponies should become what these ponies are, that ponies should hurt folk, kill 'em just for bein' different. It's wrong. It ain't natural."

"Ah, but that's just it," Rarity said softly. "It isn't natural, is it? There's the question. Not natural for Celestia or Equestria. Is what happened here..."

"Ah gosh darn it, Rarity, I'm not gonna have this discussion," Applejack said, sounding almost annoyed. "Whether Solamina is crazy or somepony did somethin' to her or any of the above, I ain't interested. What matters is, she's done things we can't let slide, and she's gonna pay."

“No, you’re right,” Rarity said solemnly. “Whatever the case, whatever her reasons, we have to stop her.”

The two sat in silence for a moment, each considering the monumental challenges that faced them and the rest of the Equestrian Resistance, as well as the Defence Force.

“Do you think Twilight will find some way to make that portal thing work?” Applejack finally asked.

“I don’t know enough about that kind of magic to hazard a guess at how difficult it would be,” Rarity replied, but then she smiled. “But if there was ever a pony who could do it, Twilight Sparkle is that pony.”

“I reckon you’re right about that,”Applejack said with a smile.

There was another pause as the two sat in silence, thinking about the future.

"You know, Applejack," Rarity said quietly, trying to be delicate, "it isn't good to not talk to ponies."

"Whaddya mean?" Applejack asked, frowning at her.

"Pinkie and I have both noticed that you've been rather... quiet about how you feel," Rarity explained slowly. "I know it's hard, but we're here to talk to you if you need us."

"Aw shucks, Rare, I'm fine," Applejack said dismissively.

"Except I know you aren't," Rarity hissed, trying to keep her voice down, her voice straining, "because only a monster would be 'fine' with everything we've seen since we got here and I know you aren't a monster, Applejack!"

At that, Applejack gave Rarity a look that almost frightened her - a half smile, with a look in her eyes filled with grim acceptance and something the former fashionista didn't recognise and almost didn't want to.

Before they could continue their conversation, a shout went up from the front of the defensive line.

“More Converted inbound!” somebody or somepony yelled, and quickly the defenders scrambled to their positions again.

“Come on!” they heard True Grit yell as the former Guardspony raced by them, Lyra and Pinkie in tow. “Another wave’s coming!”

“No rest for the wicked,” Applejack said dryly, before racing off after im. Rarity watched her go, a sad look in her eyes.

“When did we become the wicked, Applejack?” she wondered aloud. “And when did you become so… accepting of it?”

She sighed, and raced off after her friends; they had a battle to fight, after all. And maybe, after all this, she might succeed in getting through to Applejack after all.

***

Sky above Plymouth, March 23rd, 2030.

"… and boom!" Rainbow Dash said, grinning as she flew into another Guard, sending the hapless armoured figure spinning off into the air. She ignored his descent, instead dodging past the next Guard and charging for another clump of Guards dead ahead.

Compared to fighting Wonderbolts, fighting the regular Guards was easy - their formation-heavy flying was just right for her to use the corkscrew on, and though they were armoured enough that you often had to give them more than one pass, that didn't stop them from being too formed up to readily adapt to the flying style that Grey Squadron used.

"Dash! Roll the the left!" she heard Errant Flight order through the comm. Instinctively, Dash did so, and she saw a throwing spear zoom through where she had been. She smirked.

"Too slow, bucker!" she called out, dropping speed and letting her pursuer catch up, where she promptly cut his wings apart.

“Good call!” Errant said, and Dash saw him zoom past. “Link up with Fluttershy ahead and prepare to follow One Flight in!”

“Roger that!” Dash said, pushing herself forward. She felt, ridiculously enough, alive in the air. Sure, there was always the crash when she landed and she remembered that she had killed ponies, and sure - she could be killed (and nearly had been more than once), but for now, for this moment, she was alive and flying and free.

What more could she ask for?

***

Canterlot Archives, Private Imperial Chambers, March 25th, 2030 (human calendar).

Solamina led Sparkle deeper into the chambers of the Canterlot Archives. Though Sparkle had, for a long time, considered this place home, and had always been allowed into most of the archive, there were certain places she simply could not go: vaults sealed, she assumed, for good reasons, where only Celestia - Solamina - could go. To go there now... well, if she had been a younger, more carefree version of herself, maybe she might have been excited. As it was, right now she felt nothing but driven.

Solamina had asked her to research the various possibilities that could explain the presence of doppelgängers of the Element bearers. Sparkle had done precisely that, pouring over every book she could find as well as reading (former) Commander Scootaloo's report on the doppelgänger of Rainbow Dash (Scootaloo's report had been oddly lacking in detail: suspicious, Sparkle had ordered her demoted as well as assigned, with the rest of the Wonderbolts, to garrison duty. Scootaloo had taken this surprisingly well). None of the explanations she could find, however, made sense. It couldn't have been magical cloning or changeling interference, simply because neither of those options were available to the humans - or at least, neither of those options should have been available. The Iron Wall kept the changelings out, and the mirror pool, the only known way to clone ponies through magical means, was safely guarded by some of Solamina's best guards.

Her thoughts had then turned to technological means: she had interviewed Converted who had been human scientists on the possibility of cloning bodies from tissue left behind (of which, she admitted ruefully, there had been many). The former scientists, though, had been very clear. Firstly, the very fact that they had been seen as adults made it highly unlikely that these ponies were clones in the traditional sense. More importantly, there was no way it could have happened anyway. Rainbow Dash's body had been thoroughly examined upon its retrieval: there had been no tissue samples taken from it save for a chunk of her mane. Pinkie Pie's body had been retrieved and returned home without the humans ever getting hold of her body, again save for part of her mane. Twilight, though she hated to admit it, knew what those manes were used for - the rumours existed that they were worn by the so-called "Avatar" as a trophy. She had nonetheless suggested that the manes might have provided tissue samples, but the former-scientists had replied that these would have had to be entirely surrendered to the meagre science facilities left to humankind in order to achieve anything, and Twilight knew full well they hadn’t been - and even if they had without her knowledge, that wouldn’t explain the presence of a clone of her. In any case, the former humans had also pointed out that the scientific facilities left to the humans were so meagre and ill-equipped after so many years of hardship that it was doubtful they were in possession of the right equipment to clone anyone, pony or otherwise, especially to have them alive and fighting now.One thing was clear, therefore:, some kind of advanced technological cloning on the humans’ part was impossible. With that, too, ruled out, Sparkle had found herself at a loss as to what could possibly have been the cause for ponies who should have been dead returning to life. When she - reluctantly - explained her findings to Empress Solamina, her mentor and leader had only smiled, and told her to come with her. Which had been how Sparkle found herself in the Canterlot Archives.

The chamber held some of the most arcane books known to Ponykind: stacked on rows of shelves, twice as high as Sparkle's old library home. To Sparkle's... not anger, but certainly consternation - there were a number of guards: they looked to be converted militia, judging by the crude armour and the Solaminan symbols liberally plastered all over said armour. As Solamina and Sparkle passed them, they bowed low to the Empress, less like subjects to a ruler and more like the willing servants of a God. Some small part of Sparkle twinged slightly at that - she didn't know why and she quickly ignored it. Still, it was irritating that they were somehow deserving of the privilege of being in this place and she, who had given up so much, lost so much more, somehow was not...!

"Through here," Solamina said softly, interrupting Sparkle's train of thought (for which she was very grateful: she didn't like getting angry. She saved it for the battlefield, where such things belonged).

Sparkle followed her leader through a large set of double doors, each one covered in a variety of strange runic symbols the meaning of which Sparkle could not divine (yet another thing to add to the list of "things she didn't know about that she would go home and research").

Through the doors was another chamber. Sparkle could only assume, looking at the size of the doors vis a vis what she could see of the height and size of the room, that it was a large chamber, but it was so dark that she couldn't tell: the walls, ceiling, and even the floor were all pitch black, impossible to tell what was going on.

"Oculus," Solamina called out into the room. A moment later, a giant, intricately latticed circular symbol, glowing with some inner power, appeared in the centre of the floor.

"Stand within it," Solamina said. Sparkle did so obediently. The circle’s light brightened and Sparkle felt an odd floating sensation - which was explained a moment later by the fact that she was actually floating.

“Welcome to the Heart of the World, Twilight Sparkle,” Solamina said. “In this place, you will be exposed to other lives, other ponies with your name and your face, other ponies who have lived other lives than yours.”

“How is that possible?” Sparkle asked, frowning in confusion. “And what do you mean ‘other lives’ - other Twilights? How…?”

“Clear your mind of questions,” Solamina instructed, and Sparkle fell silent. “You will understand in a moment, and we will know if the Twilight who walks among the enemy is an impostor - or a broken mirror.”

Before Twilight could say anything else, the light from the circle glowed even brighter, filling up her vision. Solamina vanished, the room vanished, everything was consumed by that bright, all-powerful light…

Author's Note

And here's the first of what may well be several new chapters added to the story. There's some material that was formerly part of "Heart of the World" (which in itself has been edited and expanded) and there's also some hints to some stuff that'll continue in other chapters as rewrites progress.

Apologies if this comes up weirdly, and thank you all for sticking with this story as you have and reading thus far :-)

The Breaking Point.

Chapter Thirty Seven: The Breaking Point.

***

PER HQ, Plymouth, April 4th, 2030.

The PER had seen better days, Jacob Levy decided quietly as he surveyed his "troops". The rag-tag bunch of fighters that were all that was left of his command could hardly be said to be the best, bravest or brightest of the PER or humanity in general, nor the best equipped troopers he could have hoped to find himself fighting this hopeless war with. Still: they had survived and fought beside him even though it had cost them absolutely everything they had ever loved and left them in an almost literal hell-on-Earth, and for that he would always be grateful, no matter how much he might occasionally wish he was fighting alongside "better" troops.

Being part of the PER had always been a hard decision for him: the fact that it very much ostracised him from his peers and his family, first as the Barrier had progressed and then as the war had begun, had always been hard for him to accept, despite it's necessity. There always were few PER in Britain - most had been wise enough to ponify in the face of the Barrier's expansion, and not stayed somewhere where they were not welcome. Among Levy's group, there were (or had been) fools and there were (and had been, briefly, before they'd gotten killed) cowards, those who had not been brave or clever enough to know when to ponify.

Levy himself was different. He had known, on a practical level, it would be better for him - far better - to ponify when he had the chance. He also knew, however, that he did not deserve it.

Conversion was a thing of Harmony, a choice to become a peaceful creature that was happy and contented as opposed to a creature of turmoil and spiritual emptiness (aka, a human). Levy knew for a fact that he did not deserve such happiness or contentment: he was not a good person, not even a halfway decent one. He had never committed any crime, but he had been selfish and callous, had lived for himself and no one else. He was not worthy of ponification. When ponification had first come into being, he had considered it as a way to renew himself, but with the knowledge that it would came, like a sickening blow to the stomach, the realisation that he would never be worthy.

But even in his state of unworthiness, he could try to defend those who had made that choice. He could fight for the ones who had promised humanity a better life.

He was interrupted by one of his troops, a man called Turner, approaching him with a grim expression on his face.

"Freddy's here," he said shortly. Levy nodded, and a moment later his troops escorted a grey Royal Guard commander in to speak with him. His name was Freedom Heart, and he was Levy's liaison with Equestria, though most of the PER survivors in Plymouth tended to call him "Freddy", a nickname the pony accepted somewhat grudgingly but with decent humour nonetheless. He was a good sort.

"Levy," Heart said quietly, giving the human a small smile. "Good to see you holding out."

"How's it going, Freddy?" Levy replied. The pony's expression soured.

"Not so good," he said. "London's been a right storm o' horseapples for us: they're still reorganising the Guard after our losses: we lost a lot of good ponies." The Guardspony sighed.

"Anypony you know?" Levy asked.

"Not among the guard, thank Solamina," Freedom Heart said. "But..."

"But?" Levy asked, tilting his head curiously.

"They found my wife's body," the stallion said quietly. "No sign of Brave Heart but..."

He trailed off. Levy side heavily: he and Freedom Heart had spoken of their families before. Heart's wife, Fair Heart, had run from him, taking their daughter with her, at the outset of the war. It was a common story: ponies' families had been splintered by the war, worse than the damage done to humanity.

"Anyway, apart from that we're doing fine," Freedom Heart said, getting back on topic. "The Militia is doing better, but only because Sol Invictus is doing such a good job at rabble rousing."

"Crazy bastard," Levy agreed, happy to change the subject. The tam of family reminded him of his own, in a way he would rather it didn't. "I'd almost hate to meet him. That can't be the worst of it though," he added, levelling his friend with a scrutinising gaze. "You look like shit."

Freedom Heart winced at the swearing, which was half the reason Levy did it (he liked teasing his rather uptight friend), but then he sighed in defeat.

"There's another... unfortunate bit of news," he said slowly. "To do with the Element Bearers."

"Sparkle didn't cark it in the battle, did she?" Levy asked, his expression belying the levity in his tone.

"No, worse," Freedom said. This really got Levy's attention, and he frowned as Freedom Heart continued. "There's six ponies out there fighting with those Resistance traitors who, supposedly, are dead ringers for the Element Bearers. All of them."

"Damn," Levy said quietly. That was bad. If the Resistance had ponies who looked like the Bearers... "What are they, lookalikes? Clones? Changelings maybe?"

"Nopony knows," Freedom Heart said grimly. "Her Majesty Solamina only said that there were impostors running around and we were to consider them priority targets. Since Grey Squadron has the fake Rainbow Dash in it according to the reports, and we know they've been operating around here, the assumption is Plymouth is their current base of operations."

Levy nodded slowly, thoughts racing through his mind as the possibilities began formulating.

"What do you need me to do?" he asked.

***

Somewhere beneath Scotland, April 4th, 2030.

Twilight cursed and slammed her hoof against the table. She blinked, before looking around, feeling slightly embarrassed - she wasn't normally prone to such emotional outbursts, but this place, and this research, was really getting to her.

She had spent the days since her encounter with the alternate Twilight desperately trying to find some way to make the spell work. It was imperative, now more than ever, that she manage to do so. Unfortunately, it was proving itself to be more difficult than she could ever have realised. It would have been difficult had she known the spell and known how it worked. As it was, all she knew was the incantation and the vaguest theory about what it was meant to do. It wasn't enough. It just wasn't enough.

I'm sorry guys, she thought to herself. I've failed you all.

She sighed. She couldn't just give up. There had to be something. She thought about the spell.

"Portus Maxima Imperator," she muttered. She thought about the meaning. "Portal, Supreme, Imperial." She rolled it over in her head. She started thinking about something else. "Portal... supreme... freedom..." She blinked. "Portus Maxima... Liberatus?"

She blinked again, rolling it around on her tongue. Part of the problem was intent: the intent of a spell was what made the spell work - the intent to teleport or hold something telekinetically. Just saying the words "portal supreme imperial" wouldn't work, especially not for her when her entire intention was to destroy that empire. But "portal supreme freedom..."

Now there was an intention.

She began focusing her magic through her horn, focusing on the intention of her spell. The portal, for freedom...

"Portus... Maxima... Liberatus..."

Her horn glowed... and suddenly, something appeared. A small, glowing purple portal, circular and flickering, was hovering in midair. Twilight was so excited that she lost her concentration, and the portal disappeared. She cursed softly, but then she grinned. She had finally found her inroad - finally found out how to do it.

Now all she needed to do was perfect it.

***

Plymouth, April 5th, 2030.

In the streets of Plymouth, a troop of humans and ponies were marching. The humans were grim and silent. Their eyes, mostly hidden behind gas masks and hazard suits, were constantly scanning the area, searching for signs of hostiles. One human among them wore simpler combat gear, tough trousers, riding boots and a tough jacket. He had a pair of knives sheathed in scabbards behind his back and a hand cannon holstered at his side, a shotgun in hand as he scanned the perimeter, his gaze flicking from building to building. This was David Elliot, the Avatar of Albion. Since Twilight had sent word that the enemy knew for certain they were here, Elliot had decided that he should stay with the Element Bearers.

"We don't need a babysitter," Applejack had said to him, indignant at being, as she saw it, coddled by the man.

"You just got a massive target painted on your flanks," Elliot had countered, frowning at her, arms crossed stubbornly. "So you’ll be at risk of people and ponies being specifically out to get you.”

“We can handle ourselves,” Applejack had said.

“Of course you can,” Elliot said, “but you being a target makes everyone with you a target, and that’s not necessarily tactically savvy.” He had flexed his hands with a smirk. “I'm the guy who's gonna fix that."

So here he was, technically acting as support for Everfree Team, but really acting more as their escort. The others, mostly Dietrich's and Rozhenko's men, were with them primarily to move to the next position in the operation to liberate Plymouth, but they, too, were also assisting with escorting Everfree Team.

The ponies were as grim as their human counterparts, but where the humans were silent, the ponies were singing a rather dark marching song...

"Oh pony soldiers!"
"Oh pony soldiers!"
"Sing your pony songs!"
"Sing your pony songs!"
"We've been out here!"
"We've been out here!"
"Far too long!"
"Far too long!"
"Too much!"
"Too much!"
"Too far!"
"Too far!"
"But still!"
"But still!
"We are!"
"We are!"
"Tired pony soldiers!"
"Tired pony soldiers!"
"Singin' pony songs!"
"Singin' pony songs!"

Applejack, Pinkie Pie, True Grit, Desert Wind and Sapphire Steel were singing. Rarity, on the other hand, was staring at them with wide, eternally surprised eyes.

It wasn't that singing was unusual for the residents of Ponyville or for ponies in general - Pinkie and Twilight were both known for it when the time was right, Applejack sang occasionally and Rarity had even been known to indulge in it herself - but this place hadn't caused her to feel the need to sing at all: something about a horrible, bloody war just took the usual inspiration from her. And yet, here she was, hearing Pinkie, Applejack and the others singing as they marched to their next location.

"Oh pony soldiers!"
"Oh pony soldiers!"
"Fight to right the wrongs!"
"Fight to right the wrongs!"
"We've been battered!"
"We've been battered!"
"But we're still strong!"
"But we're still strong!"
"We're strong!"
"We're strong!"
"We'll hold!"
"We'll hold!"
"We're tough!"
"We're tough!"
"We're bold!"
"We're bold!"
"We're brave pony soldiers!"
"Brave pony soldiers!"
"Singin' pony songs!"
"Singin' pony songs!"

"I despair of this sometimes," Rarity said quietly to Lyra. The turquoise unicorn shrugged.

"This is a bit of an unusual situation," she said in return, "and if it makes them feel better..."

"I suppose," Rarity said quietly. “How’s your reading?”

Lyra had spent every night for the last four or five nights engrossed in the diary of her other self, to the point where sometimes she had to be wrenched from the thing. Lyra smiled, a slight blush on her face.

“It’s interesting,” she said sheepishly. “It’s really fascinating seeing how my other self reacted to being among humans, even in this kind of horrible situation…”

The group was prevented from any further discussion - or further singing - by Elliot holding up a hand. At once, the entire group halted, waiting for their leader’s order. He scanned the perimeter once more, scowling, before racking his shotgun, apparently seeing something, and making a gesture with his hand.

"Take cover!" he yelled to them.

The ponies and troopers had maybe ten seconds to do so, before a hail of bullets and spells tore down the street, smashing into walls, rubble and cars. One or two troopers took rounds and fell, twitching, to the ruined ground. Applejack and Rarity ended up taking cover near Elliot.

"Shit!" the man swore, trying to find the source of the firepower. "This is bad."

"Those are human soldiers!" Rarity yelled, sounding almost indignant. “More of those PER?”

"Yeah, they are," Elliot confirmed, almost growling. "These are the goddamn PER commandoes, their best troops. Fucking Levy!"

"Who?" Applejack asked.

"The bastard in charge of these wankers," Elliot clarified with a scowl. "The last head of the PER."

A bullet impacted near them. Elliot risked a glance: he saw maybe ten PER troops (if you could call the comparatively ill-equipped fighters "troops": their equipment was worse than the regular army's!) and a dozen Royal Guard.

"This isn't so bad," Elliot muttered to himself. "Applejack, take Everfree Team and give these buckers something to think about!"

"Gotcha," Applejack replied. She turned to Rarity. "Start laying down some suppressin' spells."

Rarity nodded, and peeked her head out enough to start firing spells down the street. One of the PER soldiers took a spell to the chest and fell backwards with a yell. Another narrowly dodged another spell, before firing back. Rarity dodged back behind cover.

"Brutes," she muttered to herself.

"Everfree team," Applejack spoke into her radio. "Get confirmation on hostile targets!"

"Can confirm fourteen hostile humans and twenty hostile ponies," the voice of True Grit replied. "Everfrees Six and Eight are already setting up."

"Get yourself and Lyra into firin' positions Grit," Applejack ordered sharply. "Start tryin' ta suppress the buckers!"

"Wilco," Grit replied. A moment later, Applejack saw green and turquoise bolts firing down the street, as well as a few more assault rifles. A couple of Royal Guard went down, but the remaining enemies weren't suppressed by the firepower being used against them.

"Won't be enough," Elliot said grimly. He held up a hand to his comm. "Wind, how's that bloody chaingun going?!"

"Gimme a bucking second!" the stressed-sounding voice of Desert Wind replied. "She's being a bit temperamental!"

"Well she'll be a bit dead if you don't hurry up and lay down some suppressing fire!" Elliot yelled impatiently.

“Yeah, yeah!” Wind said. “Hang on -”

A moment later, a mechanical whirring started, followed briefly by a heavy roaring noise as Wind's chaingun started firing, tearing up the street and several PER and Guard. The remaining Guard and human traitors ducked behind cover, finally suppressed.

"This is it!" Applejack yelled triumphantly. "Everfree team, charge!"

She jumped out of cover, screaming slightly as she pulled her dagger out. Behind her came Pinkie and Rarity, followed closely by Lyra and True Grit. Elliot, cursing slightly at Applejack's exuberance, gestured for the humans to follow, before racing out himself, drawing his hand cannon and 'speed killer' dagger as he did so.

Applejack reached a Royal Guardspony first, slicing his throat open. Next to her Rarity zapped one Guard and used her dagger to impale a second. True Grit and Lyra fired a hail of close-range spells, incinerating a PER soldier and another Guardspony, before jumping into close combat with more.

Elliot sliced a human's throat open with 'speed killer' before shooting another in the head. Another knocked the hand-cannon out of his hand and punched him across the jaw, but he grabbed the soldier's arm, broke it and then stabbed the man in his chest. Spinning his dagger and getting the second one out he charged a Guardspony and killed her, before stepping up to face a well-built man holding a combat knife. He glared at the man, spinning his dagger once. He knew the scarred face and cropped hair very well, though it had been years since they had spoken.

"Levy!" he growled angrily.

The man - Levy - grinned, before jumping into a nearby building. Snarling, Elliot followed him into the building. He would kill that bastard today, he swore it.

***

Outside, the battle raged on. Rarity shot another spell into another PER soldier, impaling the human where she stood. She stood stock still for a moment, blood spurting from her mouth, then she sank to the floor slowly. Rarity turned away from her, sickened by the site, and zapped another Guardspony.

True Grit and Lyra fought back to back, throwing spells and lashing out with their daggers as necessary. Two Guards and one PER had already fallen to them, and most of the rest had had the sense to stay back.

Pinkie had been knocked aside by a PER soldier and knocked clean out. Fortunately for her, Applejack had charged into the soldier and broken his neck, saving her. The orange pony was doing surprisingly well. She bucked another guard into a wall, breaking his back in the process. He lay gasping for breath as she sliced another's throat open, before turning to look at him.

"You... bucking... traitor..." the Guard gasped angrily, his breathing laboured. "Bucking... traitor... bucking..."

"Save it, buster!" Applejack growled. She looked around, but most of the PER and Guardsponies were engaged with other fighters. She took a moment to go to the Guard and check his wounds: he wouldn't be standing up.

"Get away from me!" the Guard yelled, his mouth frothing slightly. "Get the buck away from...!"

He gasped, choked slightly, and then stilled. Applejack blinked: she wondered what his problem with her had been. It could just have been general anger at the Resistance but... no. There had been something... personal about it. Almost like he'd... known her.

She examined his body, trying to see if there were any identifying marks. He had a black mane and light brown fur... wait. That sounded familiar. She frowned as she examined him - his armour had been rent by some previous battle, leaving part of his cutie mark visible.

It looked like...

It looked like an apple.

"No," Applejack said softly, eyes widening in horror. She frantically pulled the dead Guard's armour off, exposing his cutie mark in full: it was a trio of golden apples. She knew this pony... he was one of her cousins. Golden Delicious. He was a sturdy, reliable pony, always knew what he was doing, when he was doing it and when it needed to be done by. A little bit up his own plot, sometimes, but...

"No," she said. She sat down on her haunches next to him. "No."

She had… she had just killed a member of her family.

“No,” she said again, eyes wide.

Buck this place. Buck this war. Buck her family. Buck all of this. Everfree team. Solamina. It could all go buck off. It could all go...

"Applejack?" somepony said.

"Buck off," she said automatically.

"Applejack!" the same voice said. She blinked, and looked up, finding herself facing Pinkie. The pink mare had a cut on her left cheek and a bruise over that eye, but otherwise seemed ok. Part of Applejack was grateful. The rest of her wanted her friend to just go away.

"Applejack, are you ok?" Pinkie asked.

"No," she replied automatically. "I'm not."

***

Elliot held his knives ready, expecting his enemy to jump him. The corridors of this building were narrow: perfect place for an ambush. All the same... he didn't expect Levy to go for that. No, his enemy was much cleverer than that, but also... also much more honourable, as much as Elliot hated to admit it.

Sure enough, he found Levy waiting for him in a large, now empty office space. The man had his combat knife ready, and was stood in a combat stance, grinning at his enemy.

"You took your time," he said quietly.

“I’m not the one who jumped into a rat maze,” Elliot growled.

Levy smirked. “Maybe not.” His expression sobered. "Ready?"

"I could obliterate you in a minute," Elliot said, frowning at him as he spun his knives in his hands.

"Well sure," Levy grinned at him, "but you won't. You'll fight me without your big sword. You don't need to compensate for anything - you and I? We're better than that."

Elliot cracked his neck. "Yeah. We are."

There was a moment's pause as the two waited for some unknown signal, and then suddenly Elliot charged. His first swing was caught by Levy's arm, but then Elliot grabbed his arm and threw him into a wall. He threw a dagger after him, but Levy blocked it with his combat knife, batting the thrown blade aside before charging. He swung at Elliot, who dodged the first blow and blocked the second. He threw a punch of his own but Levy caught it and threw him into a wall, before throwing a punch at him. Elliot dodged it and kicked out, sending Levy sprawling. He whipped out his shotgun, aiming it at Levy.

"Surrender," he said. Levy grinned at him, before throwing dust into Elliot's eyes. Elliot swore and fired blind, but he knew he had missed. He managed to clear his eyes, but Levy was gone.

"Bastard!" he screamed out. "You rat bastard! I'm gonna fucking kill you!"

But Levy was gone. Cursing, Elliot left the room and headed back for the street, feeling infuriated that his enemy had escaped him.

***

Later on, Elliot was sat, slumped against the side of a bus near their latest forward position. Some of the troops were further ahead, watching for more PER - Levy had brought a small group, testing their capabilities. It was clever, Elliot had to admit. He’d have done much the same thing under the circumstances.

“Mr Elliot?” a soft voice spoke. Elliot turned, to see Lyra staring at him.

He smiled, though it was a bittersweet smile - for just a moment, he had thought the soft voice belonged to his Lyra, but she was gone.

“Miss Heartstrings,” he said softly. “What can I do for you?”

“You can start by calling me Lyra,” Lyra said with a smile. “‘Miss Heartstrings’ makes me sound old.”

“Ah, well then, you can call me David,” Elliot replied with a chuckle. “‘Mr Elliot’ is what my teachers used to call me when they thought I was being a real pain in the arse.”

Lyra sat by him. “You took today personally.”

Elliot’s smile soured slightly. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess I did a bit.” He paused, unsure how to say it. “I knew Levy, before the war. He was in my unit. He didn’t turn out to be PER until just before the war started, and when the PER declared for Solamina he deserted. He wasn’t exactly a friend… but I knew him.”

“You felt betrayed,” Lyra said softly.

“Just a bit,” Elliot said quietly. “Just a little bit.”

“I don’t blame you,” Lyra said quietly. “This war… it’s taken a lot from humanity, hasn’t it?”

Elliot chuckled. “Understatement of the century.”

“Well then,” Lyra said quietly, “I’d just like to say… thank you. Thank you for bringing me here. It’s not exactly how I would have wanted to meet humans… but it’s still meeting humans.”

Elliot looked at her, a smile on his face. “Thank you for coming. It’s been nice to know you again.”

***

Applejack hadn’t spoken for three hours. Rarity had taken over Everfree team, and Applejack had happily followed the group, but her eyes were wide and staring. Rarity sighed - she had known something like this would happen. Her friend had reached something: a breaking point, a point of no return where she had finally been unable to simply bury the feelings of despair and horror she had accumulated. It was to be expected: nopony could go through what they were going through and be as ok as Applejack had apparently considered herself.

When they stopped at their current objective - some dreary little intersection that looked exactly the same as every other intersection in this cursed city - she walked over to her friend, determined to do… something.

“Dear?” she said softly. “Applejack?”

“Buck off, Rarity,” the orange Earth Pony replied.

“I most certainly will not, dear,” Rarity said, ignoring the crude language. “I am your friend. It is my business to help you if I can.”

Applejack looked at her, and then laughed, a short, harsh bark that sounded even more horrible than the coarse language from her friend’s mouth.

“Can you make this bad dream go away?” the former farmer asked, sounding uncharacteristically bitter. “Can you bring back my cousin? Can you make any of this bucking… this bucking shit... make some kind of sense? ‘Cos if you can’t do that, Rare, I’d say you can’t help me at all.”

Rarity sighed. She didn’t know quite how to approach this… but it was her duty. As Applejack’s friend, and as her commanding officer now, by virtue of her apparent abdication of her responsibilities.

“I can’t do any of those things, Applejack,” she said quietly. “Truth be told, I do wish I could. I wish we had never come here. I wish we had never bothered with any of this ridiculousness. I can’t honestly say I feel as though we’ve accomplished anything but more killing and destruction. But…”

“But what, Rare?” Applejack interrupted. “But what? What else is there? What else can you say? What can you say that can make this mean something, anything?”

Rarity frowned, and then, sighing, she sat herself next to Applejack.

“It doesn’t,” was all she said.

“Pardon?” Applejack asked, frowning.

“It doesn’t make any sense. I’m not even sure it means anything, apart from us helping these humans to not die today.” Rarity looked up at the darkening sky. “It’s insane. It shouldn’t be happening. But…”

“But?” Applejack asked quietly, and Rarity turned to see her friend looking at her expectantly.

“But,” Rarity repeated, and then she smiled. “But we’re here, aren’t we? There’s nopony else here. Nopony to make the hard choices for us. Much as I hate to say it, dear, we’re stuck here. This is our life.”

Applejack blinked, before looking up at the sky as well.

“You know,” she said softly, “I reckon you’re right about that.”

“I’d like to think so,” Rarity said quietly.

There was a long pause as the two contemplated the sky, each lost in thought.

“I can’t be in charge, Rare,” Applejack said quietly, and Rarity looked at her again. “I don’t think I can do it. I’m sorry. I’m letting ya’ll down. i’m letting Twi down.”

“Don’t be silly dear,” Rarity replied, frowning slightly. “You aren’t letting anypony down. This is a horrible situation, and you being you, you decided not to let anypony in.” She smiled reassuringly. “But we are here for you, Applejack. Always. All of us.”

“Yup, we all are!” came the sudden cheerful voice of Pinkie Pie, the pink amre popping up behind the two of them. Both ponies nearly jumped out of their skins.

“Heck, Pinkie, watch out where you’re jumpin’ out at ponies!” Applejack said crossly, but she was smiling. “I nearly had me a heart attack, and since I’ve taken down Guasrdsponies and Converted, it’d be pretty darn embarrasin’ to die like that.”

“Sorry,” Pinkie said sheepishly. “But Rarity is right - we’re all here for you, Applejack.”

“‘Preciate it, both of you,” Applejack said, looking at her two friends. “Thank you.”

“Think nothing of it dear,” Rarity said quietly, giving her friend a hug. “What are friends for?”

***

Author's Note

And once again, here I am. Not quite Heart of the World, but still. Thanks once again to everyone who's commented and liked the story, and especially to RoyalPsycho and The Void for their support and assistance. :-)

Next chapter should return to Grey Squadron, Rainbow, Fluttershy and Ditzy. Til then, enjoy folks.

Jed.

EDIT: This chapter was edited 2nd August 2015.

An Illustrious Ambush.

Chapter Thirty Eight: An Illustrious Ambush.

***

The sky over Plymouth. April 20th. 2030.

"Grey Leader to all flyers, sound off."

The voice of Errant Flight was comforting for Rainbow Dash by now. They had come far since the early days when he had been suspicious of her. They had flown together, fought together, killed together. It was a bond only forged in battle, a bond between flyers - the bond of family. She hadn't expected to find that kind of fidelity in this place, but she wasn't going to object to it.

Had you asked Errant Flight if he considered these ponies to be his family in the same way, he might not have answered you. In his heart, these ponies would never replace the sense of belonging he had felt with his Ditzy, with Cloud Ranger and Lightning Dust and the others from the old Grey Squadron: they had been his team, his comrades - his brothers and sisters in arms. But... but they had started being something else. A new family. Maybe that was enough for him. He didn’t know for certain.

The Squadron was on a very particular mission: reports from the blockade, specifically from the HMS Illustrious, which had been near Plymouth at this stage of her patrol cycle, had reported a large contingent of Royal Guard chariots inbound to Plymouth, their purpose no doubt to reinforce the Guard forces already in the city. Errant Flight and Grey Squadron had been ordered to intercept them.

The rest of the Squadron began sounding off as per Flight’s instruction.

"Grey Two, on station," said Dream Flyer, the blue pony's voice stern and calm.

"Grey Three," came the voice of Ditzy, who had been shuffled to that position after Leeds. "I'm here."

"Grey Four, standing by," Rainbow Dash added.

"Grey Five: give me something to kill!" Dark Wing's voice came. The stallion had been somewhat bored by the comparative lack of action the Squadron had faced.

"Grey Six, here," came the quiet voice of Fluttershy. She, too, had been transferred further up the Squadron, so as to still be part of Rainbow's flight. Errant Flight had accepted quite readily the fact that Fluttershy worked best with her friend.

"Grey Seven," came the voice of White Blossom quietly. "On station." White Blossom had been moved to the Seven position, where she now commanded a flight. Errant Flight felt it was the right decisions considering her experience it was best to have her in charge of some flyers, especially the two she found herself working with.

"Grey Eight, standing by," came the slightly angry voice of Pure Heart, a pale green Pegasus mare who was one of the Squadron's new members. Her mane was shorn and her cutie mark was a bright red heart, though it was badly scarred for reasons none of the Squadron had dared ask her. She was permanently annoyed or angry or itching for battle, and the slight unpredictability this gave her made it best to leave her under the command of a more experienced combat flyer like Blossom.

"Grey Nine here," came the voice of Star Blitz, the second new addition to the Squadron. In contrast to the angry Pure Heart, Blitz was permanently easy going, almost too much so. His lackadaisical nature seemed at odds with Grey Squadron's modus operandi, but he was a good flyer, scoring reasonably well on all sims.

"Grey Ten, haven't got rid of me yet," came the cheerful voice of Bright Wonder. The cheerful pony had also been moved to a flight leader position, her experience proving invaluable for the two ponies under her command.

“This is Grey Eleven,” Solid Hoof’s voice came tersely. The pony didn’t seem to mind having been moved down the numbers, nor did he seem to mind the fact that he was not made a flight leader - to him, any opportunity to fly against the enemy was an opportunity in and of itself.

“Grey Twelve, standing by!” the sharp, nervy voice of Lily Picker, a deep sea-green Pegasus with a long flowing mane, said quickly. Picker was the last replacement of the squadron, and seemed - if it were possible - even more uncertain and nervy than True Blue, the pony she replaced, had been. Still, her scores checked out.

“Alright,” Flight said. “According to the best Intel reports we can get, the enemy reinforcement convoy should be ahead of us. We’ll be going through a cloud front to get the drop on them and then tearing them up a bit. We won’t get them all, but hopefully we’ll disrupt their chains of command and make sure a few of those buckers get radically thrown off course. One flight, you’ll stay on me and target the chariots themselves. Two and Three flights, your team is on the escort ponies - rip them apart!”

“Gotcha, boss,” Rainbow Dash said, smirking to herself.

“Understood,” White Blossom added.

“Four Flight,” Flight continued, “you’re running interference. Mix it up, attack random targets, keep the bastards guessing.”

“Randomness is my middle name,” Bright Wonder said cheerfully. “Actually, it’s not, it’s Glenda, but you know what I mean.”

“That’s what I’m talkin’ about, Wonder,” Flight chuckled, sounding cheerful. “Check your HUDs, we should be coming up to the intercept zone now.”

Rainbow Dash checked her HUD obediently - sure enough, a little bit of text in the corner read “Estimated Target Zone, 2,000 metres and closing.”

“HUD confirmed,” she said, her voice now filled with determination. Quickly, the rest of the team checked in that their HUDs were active.

“Alright team,” Errant Flight said through the comms. “Let’s go out there and show these buckers what we’re made of!”

As one, the Squadron flew into the deep cloud cover, a dark grey storm cloud near the intercept zone.

“How do we know we won’t get lost?” Fluttershy asked over a private comm channel.

“Come on, Flutters, even if this is a different world, when have you known me to get lost in a cloud?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Just stick with me and we’ll be fine.”

“Ok,” her friend said quietly. The quietness, however, was less to do with the Pegasi’s voice and more to do with the comm signal’s sudden cutting out.

“Flutters?” Rainbow asked, frowning. She tapped her comm. “Fluttershy?”

Her friend didn’t answer, so she cycled to the main comm channel and began trying the rest of the Squadron.

“Grey Leader, this is Grey Four, come in.” There was no response save for the noise of static in her ear. “Grey Lead? Dark Wing? Anypony?”

She cursed - the cloud might have done something to the comms… or there might be something else afoot. With no other choice, she checked her HUD - she was now less than 700 metres from the estimated intercept zone.

A moment later, she burst through a layer of cloud - and cursed.

There were Royal Guard flying around all right, but they weren’t a vulnerable chariot company. Instead, a full force of heavily armed Royal Guard Pegasi Squadrons was arrayed against Dash. Behind the company was a small Equestrian frigate-class Zeppelin, the name ERAS Interdiction printed on the side in bright golden letters. Despite it’s relatively small size (certainly when compared with the super-Zeppelin class) the vessel was still massive and imposing. Rainbow Dash could also see Unicorns on some of the decks of the Zeppelin, their horns glowing, and realised that they must be the source of the interference.

“The hay with that,” she swore. She pushed her wings to their limits and immediately headed for the Zeppelin. All around her, she could see other members of the Squadron burst out of the clouds, but without communication, there was no way they’d be able to co-ordinate their efforts, and without co-ordination it was almost impossible that they’d survive the battle. Dodging any Guards in her way, she headed straight for the deck of the Interdiction.

She caught a glimpse of Errant Flight and Dream Flyer barrelling into a Guard line, knocking dozens of the enemy out of formation, several minus limbs and wings, and she grinned: maybe they’d have more of a chance than she had thought.

A moment later, she landed on the deck of the Zeppelin with a slight thud. The Unicorns weren’t fast enough to react before she charged them, knocking several off into the void and cutting more down with her wrist-blades. There were more on the other side of the Zeppelin, but upon seeing her their concentration was broken, some panicking at the sight of the angry cyan mare and some angrily throwing spells her way.

“... repeat, this is Grey Leader to all flyers, it’s a trap!” she suddenly heard the voice of Errant Flight speaking through her comms. “Can anypony hear me!”

“We read you, boss!” came Bright Wonder’s voice, sounding vaguely panicked. “What’s happening?!”

“This is Grey Four!” Rainbow said quickly, dodging spells as more Guardsponies emerged from the Zeppelin’s gondola. “I’m on the Zeppelin - the enemy had some kind of jamming spell blocking the comms. I took care of it!”

“Good work, Four,” Flight said, sounding angry. “See if you can’t disable that thing. Five and Six, get on there and give her a hoof! The rest of you, on me, try to break these buckers’ line!”

A chorus of affirmatives sounded, and Rainbow was relieved to hear Fluttershy’s voice. A moment later, her friends landed on the opposite side of the Zeppelin, taking out the remaining unicorns. Dash herself engaged the ponies charging her, the combination of her bladework and solid kicks dispatching her enemies quickly. As she fought, she saw the rest of the Squadron charge through the Guard lines, scattering yet more of the buckers.

A moment later, she burst onto the bridge of the ship. The Captain, a unicorn mare in a gaudy Guard dress uniform, turned in shock, but Rainbow’s blade impaled her in the throat before she could react. The rest of the crew were Earth Ponies, and she was able to weave in between them, cutting and kicking until she was left alone on the bridge of the Zeppelin, surrounded by corpses. Breathing heavily, she suddenly gasped in pain. She looked down and saw a nasty laceration along her chest, probably from some Guard’s spear that had caught her during the melee. Cursing, she slumped to the floor, the injury quickly taking it’s toll.

A moment later, Dark Wing and Fluttershy, both of them covered in blood and Wing nursing a cut above his left eye, burst onto the bridge. Fluttershy immediately went to her friend’s side with a gasp.

“Are you ok?” she asked Rainbow, sounding concerned.

“It’s just a scratch, Flutters, no big deal,” Rainbow said with a cocky grin, which turned into a grimace as her friend examined the wound.

“Will she be alright?” Dark Wing asked.

“It’s not that bad,” Fluttershy said quietly. “But we won’t be able to fly her off.”

“Gotcha” Dark Wing said. He held a hoof up to his communicator. "Grey Five to Grey Leader."

"Here," Errant Flight’s voice spoke.

“Zeppelin secured,” Wing said shortly. “One serious injury, no casualties, but the injury is bad enough to prevent flight evac. What do you want us to do?”

“Hold the bridge,” Errant's voice replied, a touch of humour in his tone. “The Zeppelin’ll make a shiny present for Prince Blueblood. He likes airships, right?”

“Understood,” Wing said, not commenting on Flight’s (most likely rhetorical) question. “We’ve got this, sir.”

He went over to the helm, a confident expression on his face, placed a hoof on it, and then paused. After several seconds of staring at the Zeppelin’s controls he turned to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash with a slightly bemused expression.

“Does anypony know how to actually fly this thing?” he asked.

***

Equestrian Resistance/British Defence Force staging area. Outside Plymouth.

The Zeppelin landed a little clumsily: it turned out that none of Grey Squadron were exactly adept at the piloting of the lumbering vehicle, though Errant Flight and Bright Wonder both gave it a try (Errant because he had been on Zeppelins before, and Bright Wonder because she really wanted to have a go on the wheel). In the end though, they managed to land it safely - somehow.

None of the Squadron had fallen - they had been lucky, though Errant Flight was more willing to attribute it to Rainbow Dash noticing the Unicorn jammers than anything else. Apart from some injuries - Dash’s most severely, but almost everypony had a few scrapes - they had managed to escape unhamred from the ambush. It had been a close thing though.

When Grey Squadron walked off of the Interdiction, they were greeted by a storm of cheers from the assembled pony and human troops. The combined forces of Equestrian Resistance soldiers and drivers, human soldiers, medics of both species and a host of other individuals were present, and it made the Squadron more than a little… uncomfortable. At the top of the ramp, Errant Flight turned to look at the others, his expression a bit sheepish.

“Wasn’t quite expecting the welcoming committee,” he said. “Sorry.”

Rainbow Dash giggled slightly. Fluttershy looked a little mortified.

“This is probably gonna be good for the propaganda,” Dark Wing noted dispassionately. “Grey Squadron does it again.”

“I bet there’s gonna be an awesome party,” Bright Wonder said with a grin.

Rainbow laughed out loud, then gasped in pain as she tore her wound open again slightly, causing Fluttershy to fuss over her wounds and apparently forget how many people and ponies were outside.

“I need to introduce you to Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow said to the cheerful white Pegasus with a grin. To her surprise, Bright Wonder’s face fell.

“I’d rather not, all the same to you,” she said, sounding oddly serious. “I mean, you’re lovely, you and Fluttershy, but to me she’s still…”

Rainbow nodded, though her face fell too for a moment. She had forgotten, considering how well regarded she and Fluttershy had become, that the rest of her friends from home would still be seen slightly as the ponies who had been murderers and destroyers. It made her slightly sad to thinkn that she couldn't ever enjoy spending time with both her new friends and her old ones.

The moment passed as Errant led the Squadron down the ramp, to even wilder cheers. Rainbow sighed - this was good, at least, but all the same, she missed her friends. She hoped she would see them again soon.

***

“How in the name of ever-loving God did this fuckup happen?!”

Major Alexander Redmond - fresh from the rebuilding of the London garrisons - had been reassigned to Plymouth. This was not exactly where David Elliot would have wanted the man had anybody bothered asking him - Redmond was not his favourite person and the time Elliot had spent in a coma had not tempered the Major’s… attitude problems.

Redmond had called a meeting with various command level personnel present at the Plymouth operations. Elliot was there along with the Doctor, Hell Blazer and a handful of other individuals, including Grey Squadron.

“What exactly do you mean?” Elliot asked, trying to ignore the headache he was getting.

“You know damn well what I mean!” Redmond said angrily. “We get intel from HMS Illustrious that an Equestrian chariot troop convoy is in the air. We dispatch the best damn Squadron we have, and it turns out to be a motherfucking ambush that they only survive because of sheer dumb luck!” He paused, before looking at Errant Flight. “No offence intended against your ponies, Group Captain Flight.”

“None taken,” Flight replied drily.

“The Lusty reported in using their correct channels,” the timid voice of a reedy red-headed man in labcoat and glasses spoke up. “So it was definitely them.”

Elliot glanced at Danny - his full name was Daniel Crane, but nobody used his full name. Danny was a tech whizz, and had been one of the various non-combatant members of the BDF at London. He was also one of the best people in his field: while computer skills might not have been altogether useful against the Equestrian army directly, those skills were invaluable in terms of keeping the Defence forces in contact with one another.

“How do you explain them giving faulty information, then?” Redmond asked belligerently.

“I don’t, sir,” Danny replied. “But you can’t lie to the computer, and there’s no way anyone could forge those codes. It was the Illustrious.”

Elliot suddenly had a sinking feeling in his gut, one that made him want to be ill. It couldn’t be… except, horribly enough, it could

“What is it, Dave?” Hell Blazer asked, frowning at his friend.

“Danny,” Elliot said by way of response, “how many personnel aboard the Illustrious?”

“Six hundred and three, at last roster,” Danny replied at once. “Why?”

“When was she last spotted by friendly ships?” Elliot continued, now sounding more panicked.

“Um,” Danny said, checking his computer. “The JDS Osumi clocked her three weeks ago, but since then she’s been on isolated patrol.” Danny gave Elliot a look. “Why?”

“Shit,” Elliot swore quietly.

“What are you thinking, Commander Elliot?” Redmond asked, frowning at him.

“They had all the right command codes,” Elliot said quietly, almost to himself. “So they must’ve ponified at least some of the command crew…”

It was Hell Blazer who realised what Elliot was thinking first. “Ah horse shit,” he swore.

Errant Flight realised next, his eyes widening and the blood draining from his face in horror. “That’s an entire Invincible class aircraft carrier. They have all our comm codes, all our traffic…”

“What are you talking about?!” Redmond asked angrily. Elliot gave him the most serious look he thought he could give anyone.

“The Lusty did send that message, Major Redmond,” he said quietly. “But her crew just switched sides in the worst way possible.”

Redmond met Elliot’s gaze, looking confused for a moment, and then he cursed. He smacked his desk angrily.

“Bastards,” he growled. “Fuckin’ bastards.”

“If the Lusty is in the hands of the Converted, it makes her a powerful weapon,” Errant Flight said. “Something’ll need to be done.”

“What can we do?” Danny asked, his eyes wide with horror at the implications.

Elliot turned away from the group. By chance, his eyes fell upon the captured Zeppelin landed outside. He narrowed his eyes at it, then smiled. He turned back to the group, now full of determination.

“We take it back,” he said lightly.

***

Somewhere beneath Scotland. April 23rd. 2030.

“Dammit!”

Twilight didn’t like swearing. It was a bad habit she had apparently picked up over the course of her time in this world. Nonetheless, she felt like it was getting to be a habit she couldn’t drop: every failure felt like a further setback.

She had spent weeks trying her best to convince the portal she had initially managed to open to do something other than create a vague portal-shaped mass that was too small and too unstable to be of any use. She had tried various different variations of the incantation, various different power levels, and even some ancient artefacts that Giles had suggested would amplify magical power… but nothing had happened - the portals remained unusable.

“Cheer up,” Giles said from behind her, handing her a cup of tea. “I’m sure we’ll get there in the end.”

“That’s just it,” Twilight replied with a frown. She levitated the tea and had a sip - it was surprisingly good stuff. “We might not have long before it really is the end.”

"No, you're right," Giles said softly. "But getting frustrated about it won't lead us anywhere." He paused. "Maybe we're looking at this the wrong way."

"How else could we possibly look at it?" Twilight asked, frowning at him.

“I’m…” Giles frowned, and then he sighed. “Well, I’m not quite certain.”

There was a moment’s pause as the two of them sat in silence, contemplating their options. Suddenly, Twilight had a thought - it was a crazy thought, but it might just work.

"Well," she said slowly, a grin forming on her face, "we could look at it by asking somepony who already knows what we're looking for."

Giles blinked: for a moment he didn't know what Twilight meant, and then he realised, and frowned again, this time in confusion.

"Would he be able to help us?" he asked, taking his glasses off and cleaning them nervously. “Given his… condition?”

"There's only one way to be sure," Twilight replied lightly. "We'd need to bring Well Spring here."

***

Equestrian Resistance/British Defence Force staging area. Outside Plymouth. May 1st 2030.

“Load them up, load them up! Move, move, move!”

Rarity frowned as she jogged up the ramp of the Interdiction. Elliot had dragged her and the rest of Everfree team from Plymouth’s streets early that morning. They had jogged all the way from the city’s centre to the staging area, equipment and all, an were all thoroughly tired out from the exertion. Still, Rarity tried her best to look like she wasn’t exhausted, if only to set an example to the squad.

Rarity had taken the “Everfree One” position from Applejack - while her friend had recovered enough from the horror of having killed an alternative version of her cousin, she adamantly refused to take command, insisting that she had failed in that regard. While Rarity didn’t think she had at all, she wasn’t going to argue the point. If her friend needed to not be in charge, that was fine. She didn’t feel comfortable with being in charge herself of course, but she had stepped up to the plate willingly. Her friends needed her, after all.

Once they were all on board the Interdiction, Rarity sighed and sat down, the others in the squad following her example, especially Desert Wind, who in addition to all the other gear had been lugging his P220. Only True Grit and Applejack seemed to have managed the jog without any real difficulty, but even they sat down gratefully.

“Alright team!” they heard an energised and familiar voice speak. From further on the main deck came Elliot, hand cannon at his side and daggers sheathed in his back-scabbards. Behind him came Hell Blazer and the Doctor. “The mission is to recapture the HMS Illustrious. Grey and Upsilon Squadrons will be assisting us in this endeavour.”

“The Illustrious?” Lyra asked with a frown of recognition. “I’ve heard that name.”

“She’s one of the blockade,” Sapphire Steel said grimly. “But how can they have captured her?”

“We don’t know,” Elliot said quietly. “But they’ve been sending false information out. We think some of the command crew at least have been converted.”

“Poor buckers,” Desert Wind muttered.

“In any case: Grey and Upsilon will clear a landing zone for us, and then this hunk of shit will land us on her!” Elliot said.

“Why are we even using this thing?” Applejack asked. Rarity threw her a look and she threw a quick grin back to show she was alright.

“Because it’s expendable,” Elliot said. “Can’t afford to risk high-importance equipment like a full transport fleet on this kind of mission.”

“And yet they can somehow afford to risk us,” Rarity pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

“No, they can’t,” Elliot said, and then he grinned. “But I browbeat the bastards.”

“Wonderful,” Rarity said. “Well, I guess we should be thankful you’re coming in with us.”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Elliot smiled at her as he sat himself down. “This promises to be one hell of a fight.”

“Yay,” Hell Blazer said, speaking for the first time since he had popped up. He looked slightly green.

“What’s up with you?” Pinkie Pie asked. “Airsick?”

Hell Blazer stuck his tongue out at her - the only obscene gesture a pony could really make - and then pulled it back quickly, looking even more ill.

“Not to worry,” the Doctor said helpfully. “If we don’t make it back, no one will know.”

“Buck off,” the yellow pony said quietly. Everypony chuckled at that, and the mood lifted. This might be difficult - but they’d be ready for it.

“All set back there?” a pony who’d volunteered to be one of the crew of the Interdiction called back.

“Ready as we’ll ever be!” Elliot called back.

“Alright!” the pony called back. “Brace for liftoff!”

***

Outside the Interdiction,Grey Squadron and Upsilon Squadron were preparing for battle. Grey Fox had already promised Errant Flight that, once again, his team would follow Grey’s lead, and now the two groups were finalising their weapons checks.

“Alright!” Errant called to his team. “When we get there, we go in hard and we go in fast: our job is to clear the upper deck of any hostiles and then go in with Everfree team. Upsilon will be helping us with the first objective, then holding the upper deck to ensure safe extraction. Are we clear?”

There was a chorus of affirmatives. Rainbow Dash, standing in amongst the ponies of Grey, smiled grimly - this might be difficult, but she was sure part of it would be kind of fun too.

“Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked from next to her.

“Yeah?” Rainbow asked.

“Are you sure you’re up for this?” her butter yellow friend asked quietly. The two of them glanced down at the only recently healed injury on Rainbow’s chest, but she shrugged.

“I’ll be fine,” she said quietly.

Before Fluttershy could say anything else (and the look on her face told Rainbow that she very much wanted to), there was a loud noise from the Zeppelin as it’s engines began churning.

“That’s our cue, Grey!” Errant called out with a grin. “Let’s rock!”

With that, he took off into the air, the rest of the Squadron following him. Behind them, Upsilon Squadron flew up after them. Rainbow ignored a slight twinge from her injury, instead focusing on the task at hand.

It was time to go to work.

Interlude: To Rule The Skies

To Rule The Skies.

Guest Written by RoyalPsycho.

***

To those who had never seen the city before, Cloudsdale was a magnificent sight. The finely crafted cloud city was an architectural marvel, sporting the designs of the ancient pegasi juntas in the city centre that somehow blended seamlessly with more modern styles and appliances into a single aesthetically pleasing wonder. However to its inhabitants, as well as those who had seen it before the declaration of the Solaminan Empire, the city was a downtrodden shell of its former self, its lustre and vibrancy broken under the (now ironshod) hooves of Astra Solamina Maxima.

Pegasi detachments of the Royal Guard patrolled the streets in vast units that cowed all who still walked or flew through them. Aside from the ever-present eyes of the Guard, there were also the new additions to the city. The vastly expanded Wonderbolts barracks, the magical defence towers and turrets that seemed designed more to loom over the city suspiciously than protect it, the massive, shoddily built compounds that had been rapidly erected to hold the Converted population and, of course, the airship construction yard.

Built around a skeletal frame of enchanted steel, this gargantuan edifice to Solamina's power was where the war-Zeppelins and super-Zeppelins, the pride of the Equestrian Airforce, were built. It was here that the ERAS Harmonious Order, the ship that had fought at Manchester and been partially responsible for the death of the Equestrian Resistance’s legendary Grey Squadron, had been designed, refined and built at the behest of Solamina and under the careful instruction of it’s architect, Haughty Frame.

Now it was the place where Haughty Frame struggled to quickly build a replacement for his destroyed masterpiece.

“No! No! No!” he shouted to the Converted work crews, who tirelessly worked away at applying the details to the long finished superstructure of the airship's gondola. “Place the harness rail on the outside of the wall on that overhang. We need the ponies manning these stations to be able to reach over the edge”. Rubbing his left temple with a foreleg and praying his migraine wouldn't worsen, the stressed unicorn continued to shout instructions. His workers, as always, gormlessly blinked and smiled almost vacantly at what he told them before returning to work.

“You were all supposed to have finished this yesterday. We're behind schedule as it is and I can assure you that when we have to explain why we’re late AGAIN,” he emphasised the last word, speaking slowly in the hope that they would understand it even more, “you will all be paying the price with me”.

The Converted nodded somewhat dumbly again and got back to work, faster than before but with the same robotic deliberation they had always possessed. It was unnerving to the few natural born ponies in the workforce. It wasn’t that the Converted were necessarily unintelligent - usually they were as intelligent as they had been... before - they were just very… docile. Extremes of emotion never affected them, and they almost never got worried, angry or sad.

“So, everything still going as you said it would?” a cheery voice spoke behind Haughty Frame, causing the unicorn to jump in surprise. Haughty Frame whirled around to find a navy blue pegasus with an aquamarine mane and wide rimmed glasses standing behind him. Haughty realised it was just his old friend Quill Tip and took a deep breath before giving him a very dirty look.

“Sorry," the pegasus said sheepishly as he finally noticed the frazzled glare that now adorned his old friend's face. “I didn't realise you were in the zone”.

“Oh it's nothing like that,” Haughty replied, waving the apology away with a nonchalant wave of his hoof. “Just the beginning of another migraine”.

“Work getting to you?” Quill Tip quipped inappropriately, chuckling slightly as he did so.

Haughty's look soured further in response. “You have no idea,” he replied.

“Oh I'm pretty sure I do. You told me two days ago,” Quill Tip reminded him. “And I'm also pretty sure, judging by what you said then, that you've made progress. See, you've even got that statue you were telling me about attached.”

Quill Tip pointed his hoof at the enormous golden statue of depicting a fiery and graceful Solamina, rearing regally in triumph, that had finally been attached to the prow of the airship only yesterday.

“Ah that,” Haughty Frame sighed, his face turning melancholy. “I almost regret insisting on installing that. It's just that I need it for the whole thing to work. It has to be perfect. The Harmonious Order was my greatest achievement, my life's work and it still failed”.

Quill Tip wrinkled his nose at the mention of the Harmonious Order. Though he had admired his friend's accomplishment, the monstrosity of an airship had also been responsible for the death of his niece, Sharp Tip. The news of the destruction of Grey Squadron, whose names had been well known, had been plastered all over Equestrian propaganda, a handy deflection from the not-so convenient fact that the Battle of Manchester had been horribly lost. Of course Quill Tip made sure that Haughty Frame didn't see his gesture; he didn't want to give away the bad feelings he held towards his friend's previous masterpiece.

“Still. It's pretty imposing as it is. I mean look at it, I still can't believe you got the funding for this monster,” Quill Tip waved his foreleg at the gargantuan body of the airship. Haughty Frame sighed once again in response.

“Yes, but there is so much more to finish adding to it. There are the safety harnesses of course but then we have to install the balustrades, the other sculptures, the frescos and that's not even getting to the interior decorating that still needs to be done. Oh and then we have to finish painting it,” Haughty Frame said counting off the remaining details with a wave of his hoof. “Then we can finally get around to enchanting the whole thing so it doesn't get blown up like the Harmonious Order. This ship will be the grandest ever to take flight, it will dwarf dragons, millions will be stunned by its beauty and no suicidal pegasus would even dream of ever being able to sink it”. He finished his declaration with a bitter edge to his voice.

Quill Tip winced again but said nothing. However he wasn't able to keep a look of frustration off of his face.

“So when do you expect to be finished?” he asked, wanting to change the topic of the conversation.

“The frame is practically done by now. We just need to add the last of the safety fixtures”. Haughty Frame's face scrunched up. “Everything after that depends on the painters, enchanters and all of those munition factories we need to consult about ammunition. That means I have to wait for them to complete my work at their discretion.” He almost shouted “my", frustration and barely controlled rage obvious in his voice and the way he suddenly tensed when speaking.

“So next month then?” Quill Tip flippantly asked, waving his left hoof in a roundabout fashion whilst he stared off in a random direction, as if he were trying to calculate the actual time it would take.

Haughty Frame rounded on his friend, his eyes wild with rage. He stalled when he noticed the scrunched up look on Quill Tip’s face, barely contained laughter obvious. Quill Tip was baiting him. Sighing he answered with a “more or less” wave of his hoof. Haughty Frame could practically feel himself calming down, the pounding in his ears lessening, his heartbeat returning to normal. He almost hoped the headache would go away as well, but alas, it persisted.

“It doesn’t matter,” he finally said. “I’ve gone on enough about my problems anyway. How about you? How’s the family?”

“Well you know what they’re li….” Quill Tip trailed off as he looked past Haughty Frame towards the super-Zeppelin. He cocked his head as an expression of mild confusion and disapproval appeared on his face. “Um….Haughty, who’s that?” he asked, pointing past Haughty Frame.

Haughty Frame turned and almost groaned in despair at who he saw walking across the gantry towards them.

A large cluster of ponies was crossing the gantries towards them. At their head was a unicorn with a golden coat and bright crimson mane, cropped short to his head. He carried himself with confidence and had a kind smile on his face as he spoke to the ponies around him, speaking only in short but supposedly assuring sentences. As he approached them he seemed to finally notice the two of them and his face lit up. Breaking into a sedate trot he crossed over onto their balcony.

“Good day everypony” the unicorn said, a genuine smile on his face as he regarded them all. “And what a glorious day her vaunted and righteous majesty Astra Solamina Maxima has provided for us all.” As he spoke his face lit up with further joy and adulation with every word that came from his mouth.

Haughty Frame struggled not to cringe openly at the unicorn’s overblown and zealous greeting. “Why good afternoon, Sol Invictus,” he said keeping his voice sharp and curt; he didn't want to upset the unicorn or show his own displeasure to him. “And what brings you here?”

“Well, my son, if you must know I am here for a rather important job." Sol Invictus' words were casual but his tone and demeanour dripped with careful formality. “Her Majesty herself requested that I come here to visit the construction of her new flagship. She felt that such an important symbol of her radiance required my inspection. However, I myself would prefer to keep it brief. I do, after all, trust that you will have done a fine job in meeting Her expectations.”

Haughty Frame was stunned by what he heard. The Empress hadn't scheduled any official inspections in months, nearly a year even, and now she had sent a pony that anypony else would consider overly zealous and fanatical, even for a Converted. Still he did his best to keep a calm face.

“Well I am flattered that her majesty trusts me so much, of course,” he said carefully.

“Of course,” Sol Invictus replied matter of factly, the friendly smile never leaving his face.

“Well feel free to observe the construction as you wish,” Haughty Frame said. “However”, he carefully added, “please refrain from distracting the workers or wandering near to construction materials or danger spots. I imagine we would all like to avoid an accident.” He finished his warning with a false chuckle as he hoped nopony noticed how forced the entire conversation had become on his part.

Sol Invictus returned the chuckle and without another word, he and his entourage turned around and walked closer to the super-Zeppelin.

“Well at least that part went well,” Quill Tip said as Haughty Frame let out a heavy sigh.

“Yeah”, Haughty Frame replied tiredly, “it could have been much worse. There's something about that pony that just disturbs me so much.”

“Well with any luck this inspection shouldn't be that bad. I mean you're back on schedule and the ship looks magnificent, don't worry,” Quill Tip reassured his friend, walking up behind him and putting his hoof on Haughty' shoulder.

“With any luck,” Haughty Frame turned his head slightly to look at Quill Tip, his lips curling slightly into a small smile. “With any luck my work will last forever”.

Quill Tip nodded reassuringly. “That's the spirit, now come on we've got some priests to babysit,” he quipped, hoping his attempt at humour would help his friend feel better. Together, the two of them trotted off to catch up with the group of ponies staring appreciatively at the immense bulk of the super-Zeppelin before them.

Author's Note

This is the latest Interlude, written by my good friend RoyalPsycho, showing the state of Equestria at this time in the war.

Also - I believe with this, we just passed the 200,000 mark. BOOYAH MOTHER****ER!! Ahem. Sorry. Thank you to all those who've come with me on this journey so far, commenters and favouriters alike, and let me promise you now - the best is yet to come...

Death In Spring.

Chapter Thirty Nine: Death in Spring.

***

The ERAS Interdiction (captured by Equestrian Resistance forces). May 2nd. 2030.

Onboard the captured Equestrian frigate-class Zeppelin Interdiction, ponies and humans (well, one human) alike were preparing themselves for the coming battle. Lyra Heartstrings was sat reading the diary that had, in some ways, become part of her personal routine, her eyes scanning the pages as she read. Meanwhile, Desert Wind and Sapphire Steel were making certain that his P220 Minigun was locked in position.

"You ready, Steel?" Wind asked, giving his friend a look.

"As ever, Desert," she replied with a soft smile. "And do me a favour. Call me Sapphire. Steel is what Sparkle... Commander Sparkle... called me."

Desert Wind grinned at her. "We survive this, and yeah, I might just start calling you that."

Sapphire smiled again, before helping him with another strap.

The rest of Everfree squad were checking their own equipment, making sure their HUDs were working, their body armour and other equipment was ready and their blades were sharp.

"Everypony ready?" Rarity asked.

"I think I put a dent in my knife during that last skirmish," Pinkie said, sounding a little disappointed. "I like this knife."

"Here," True Grit said, walking over to her, "let me have a look." He examined the damaged blade with a frown. His horn glowed, then the blade did, light sweeping up and down the blade, the dent smoothing under the increasingly fast movement of the light. It glowed even brighter for a moment, and then it stopped, the damage now completely repaired. He levitated it over to Pinkie with a grin.

"How'd you do that?" Applejack asked, frowning at the display.

"Basic equipment repair skill," True Grit said with a shrug. "Learned it in Guard training. Nothing special. You’re expected to be able to field-repair stuff."

"Wish I could learn that," Lyra said softly, a wry grin on her face as she looked up from her diary. "You're full of surprises, aren't you Grit?"

"Believe in being prepared is all, ma'am," Grit said with a shrug. "Not quite the same thing."

"Why do you call everypony that?" Pinkie asked curiously, giving Grit a look.

"Ma'am?" Grit asked, not comprehending.

"Yeah, that," Pinkie said with a nod. Grit, realising what she meant, shrugged again.

"Force of habit," he said simply.

"It's a pretty silly habit," the pink party pony pointed out. "My name's Pinkie: all my friends call me that."

"Are we friends?" True Grit asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well duh, of course we are," Pinkie said with a grin. "I mean we've done all this stuff together, and you've saved my life a few times and I've saved your life a few times, so yeah, we're friends."

Grit smiled sincerely, a surprisingly warm thing given the usually stoic nature of the former Guard. "Thanks ma'am - Pinkie. That's... actually really nice."

In another section of the deck, the Doctor triple checked that his sonic screwdriver was firmly in place. He looked grim but resolutely determined, but he didn't speak a word to anypony. Whatever thoughts the Time Lord/Earth Pony was having were his alone to have.

Meanwhile, even Hell Blazer was cracking his neck muscles in preparation for the fight ahead, though he still looked air sick. He grimaced slightly, but seemed to be holding it together.

David Elliot, the Avatar of Albion, checked his hand cannon and daggers were both firmly in place. He grabbed a shotgun from a nearby weapons crate that had been loaded on board, racking it and grinning. That done, he tapped the small earpiece firmly lodged in his left ear.

“Alright everyone, this is Commander Albion,” he said, using his title as his handle for this operation. “I want a universal comm check.”

“This is Interdiction One,” came the voice of the Interdiction’s new Captain. “Comms are good.”

“Hell Blazer, comms working,” the yellow Earth Pony said blearily. “Can somepony pass me a bucket?”

There were a few weak chuckles as Elliot passed his friend a small empty crate. The yellow Earth Pony promptly upchucked into the thing, sounding utterly wretched.

“This is Clock Smith. My comms are also active,” the Doctor said softly, using the alias he had invented to use around Ditzy - since he was going into battle with her, he didn’t want to let on who exactly he was, especially since this comm check was going out to Grey Squadron as well as the ponies on the Interdiction.

Everfree squad quickly began their own sound-off procedure.

“Rarity, on.” The prim seamstress looked stressed but she seemed to be holding together alright.

By contrast, her orange Earth Pony friend was all business. “Applejack, on,” she said in a grim, professional tone.

"Desert Wind, on," the voice of the tan Earth Pony came, sounding eager for battle.

"Lyra Heartstrings, on," added Lyra quickly. She looked nervous.

"True Grit on." The former Royal Guard, by comparison, seemed oddly at ease, rolling his neck slightly.

"Sapphire Steel, on," added Wind's steadier, a soft smile on her face directed at Desert Wind, who grinned back.

Finally came the pink party pony’s turn. "Pinkie Pie, on a chair!"

“Thank you for being so specific, dear,” Rarity said quietly, giving her friend a raised eyebrow.

“That’s ok, Rare,” Pinkie said with a grin. “Happy to help.”

“Everfree squad is online,” Rarity reported to Elliot, ignoring Pinkie ‘being Pinkie’. “Waiting for your orders.”

“Good to know,” Elliot said with a grin. “Grey and Upsilon Squadrons, what’s your status?”

“This is Upsilon Lead,” came the nervous voice of Grey Fox. “We are at one hundred percent, awaiting order to engage.”

“Grey Leader,” Errant Flight added. “All flyers ready.”

“Good,” Elliot said, turning to everypony. “Alright team. If satellite estimates are accurate, we should be there in the next few minutes. You all know the plan.” He paused. “Good luck team.”

“This is Interdiction One,” the Captain sent through. “Lusty is ahead. I repeat, the Lusty is ahead.”

“Roger that,” Elliot replied. He whistled through his teeth, grinning nervously at everypony. “And here… we… go…”

***

“Alright,” Errant Flight’s voice crackled over the comms, the pony sounding as serious as any of the Squadron had heard him. “We can expect the possibility of jamming spells, so we can’t rely on comms. We all know the plan.”

A chorus of affirmatives came through the comms. Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth - her injury was definitely playing up now, the still only partially healed cut burning as the cold English air hit it at full pelt. She did her best to ignore the stinging sensation. Behind her she could feel the gaze of Fluttershy on her, and found herself grateful that her friend was here.

“Rainbow!” she heard her friend yell, the comms crackling even more. “Are you ok?!”

She turned and threw her friend a grin, trying to reassure her, but it came out a pained grimace as another twinge hit her. She turned her attention back to the sky ahead as they came to within visual range of their destination.

The Channel was a strange sight - the sea was a great blue-grey mass, churning and rolling, quite unlike how Rainbow had previously imagine the sea to be. In the far distance, she could see the purple glow where the Barrier had met the British Barrier and the two contested still - occasionally there would be flashes of what looked like lightning, as though the two behemoths were titans clashing over the stormy sea.

In the middle of said stormy sea, she could see their target: a grey giant, strong and proud. The Invincible class Aircraft Carrier HMS Illustrious, one of the strongest and highest regarded of her class, brought out of retirement by what was left of the Royal Navy when it became clear just how desperate the situation was for the human race.

Except this giant had fallen, been taken by the enemy. Now it fell to Grey Squadron, Upsilon Squadron and the small group of ponies and one human aboard the Interdiction to take the vessel back.

Surprisingly, the ship didn’t appear to have an aerial escort - Rainbow didn’t believe for a second that the ship actually lacked aerial defenses, but for the moment the sky was clear.

“Grey Lead,” she said into her comms. “You readin’ me?”

There was no response and she sighed. Definitely some kind of jamming spells going on then. Still, the plan was still simple. Take out any aerial defenses, and then land and secure the landing zone for the dropping off of Everfree team and Elliot’s group.

She could see the rest of Grey and the entirety of Upsilon starting to accelerate to their attack speeds and she moved faster herself to follow them in. She caught Dark Wing’s eye and he winked at her, coming up on her left. Fluttershy pulled up to cover her right, and Rainbow grinned. She had her Squadron friends up here and her other friends on the Interdiction: she was invincible!

A moment later, spells began flying from the deck of the Illustrious towards the Squadrons. They were well aimed but Grey and Upsilon were both experienced enough that flak like this wasn’t really a threat. It was still a close run thing though - Rainbow saw an Upsilon Squadron pony narrowly dodge one bolt and Errant Flight have to sharply swerve to avoid another.

A moment later, Pegasi Guardsponies and Equestrian Militia were flying straight at the Resistance flyers. These ponies seemed less inclined to fly in formation, which made Grey Squadron’s corkscrew procedure useless, but the loose formation would make it easier to dodge them and in any case, there was no way they were as good as Grey.

“Right then,” Rainbow said with a grin. “Let’s see how you buckers handle this.”

She pushed herself forward even further and faster than she had before, the air contorting around her. She accelerated past the other Resistance flyers, flying amongst the heart of the enemy Pegasi… and then she pushed harder. Space and air contorted, and a giant multicoloured shockwave exploded outwards, scattering half the enemy ponies in the air and sending many of them tumbling into the sea. Rainbow slowed herself, pulling up right before the prow of the Illustrious - though a few of the Unicorn defenders tried to shoot her down, she managed to dodge them. Behind her, she could see the rest of the enemy’s pegasi being mopped up by Grey and Upsilon Squadrons, and she grinned - before clutching at her chest.

The chest wound had reopened, the force of the Rainboom tearing the still-fragile tissue open. The injury was streaming blood into the sky. Rainbow blinked at it in shock, and then inexplicably she started laughing, not really understanding what she found funny. Her strength left her, and she started plummeting…

Only to be caught in midair by Fluttershy and Dark Wing.

“Rainbow!” Fluttershy said, looking half relieved and half worried. She turned to Dark Wing. “We need to get her to the Interdiction, now!”

If Fluttershy said anything else, Rainbow Dash didn’t hear it, as she slipped into unconsciousness.

***

Errant Flight landed on the deck of the Illustrious first, his blades whipped out. A second later, Ditzy and Dream Flyer landed next to him. Dream Flyer immediately charged at a group of Unicorns who appeared to be maintaining a jamming spell. Flight himself quickly engaged a group of Guards who charged him. All around him, Guardsponies who had taken to the air impacted hard on the deck of the Illustrious as Grey and Upsilon Squadron flyers dealt with them in the air.

“Traitors!” he heard one pony yell. A naked Converted charged at him, but Flight quickly dispatched him. He could only assume this was one of the crew of the Illustrious that had been Converted when the ship was infiltrated.

“Grey Lead!” a voice called. he turned to see another Guard charging him, and he quickly dodged the enraged Guard’s attack, before slicing his head clean off with his wrist-blade. He nodded at the pony who had called out, one of Upsilon Squadron, before turning back to the fray. He noted Dream Flyer dispatching the Unicorn Magi with a grin. A moment later, his comm crackled with static as the jamming spell failed.

“... repeat, this is Interdiction One, what is the status of the LZ?!”

Errant quickly tapped the earpiece. “Grey Leader here!” He dodged another attack, killing the unlucky Converted who happened to be behind it. “Multiple hostiles - we need a little help here!”

“Roger that,” a new voice, one Flight recognised as the Doctor, said. “Commander Albion is en route.”

Errant blinked in surprise, certain he had misheard.

“Say again?” he asked.

“LOOK OUT BELOW!”

This last message hadn’t come from the comm, but instead came directly above Errant. He looked up, then jumped into the air, dodging the descending form of David Elliot at the last proverbial second. The Illustrious shook and pitched slightly from the force of his impact. He had landed feet first on the deck of the Illustrious, a golden halo of energy surrounding him and Excalibur in his hand. He grinned as he stood up, gazing around him at what must have still been nearly a hundred Guards and Converted.

“Grey Leader to all flyers, clear the Lusty’s deck now,” Errant said quickly, knowing that Elliot would probably need a fair bit of space for his… work. Flight immediately received numerous affirmatives as the ponies of Grey and Upsilon Squadrons took advantage of the distraction and left the deck of the Illustrious, leaving just Elliot… and his prey.

“It’s him!” somepony yelled as he straightened up from the impact, rolling his shoulders and neck slightly.

“What are you standing around for?!” a Guard Captain yelled angrily. “He’s just one damn human, he can’t kill all of us!”

Errant Flight watched Elliot’s reaction with amusement. Elliot had grinned at this last pronouncement, before spinning Excalibur into a guard stance. A moment later, the golden energy surrounding him enveloped him utterly, and in his place stood the Avatar of Albion, his armour gleaming as though freshly polished, his red cape flowing in the wind. The Equestrians hesitated for a moment, staring at the imposing figure in a mixture of awe and fear.

“Can I not, little pony?!” the Avatar called out with a grin. He raised Excalibur in salute before returning to his guard stance. “Consider thine challenge accepted!”

***

“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity yelled in shock as Dark Wing and Fluttershy lifted her aboard the Interdiction. She and the rest of the Element Bearers aboard raced over to their friends. “What happened?!”

“She’s torn open an old wound,” Fluttershy said grimly. “I told her she wasn’t healed enough, but she wouldn’t listen…”

“Well buck,” Applejack said quietly. Behind her, Pinkie’s mane deflated in horror at the sight of one of her friends so badly injured.

“She should have had healing magic applied!” Rarity said angrily as she examined Rainbow’s wound.

“I know that!” Fluttershy yelled back just as angrily. “She wouldn’t listen to me!”

The two of them stood staring at each other, each breathing heavily, and then they both broke their gaze.

“I’m sorry, darling,” Rarity said quietly. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”

“It’s ok,” Fluttershy replied, a small smile forming on her face. “You were just worried.”

Rainbow Dash groaned in pain, though she didn’t regain consciousness. Fluttershy returned her attention to her friend, and Rarity assisted. The Unicorn threw Applejack a glance.

“I’ll be needed here,” she said quietly, and she hesitated before speaking again. “You’ll need to take the squad.”

“Me?” Applejack asked, eyes widening. “Nuh uh, no way sugarcube. I’m not…”

“Applejack, you haven’t led anypony astray whilst we’ve been here!” Rarity snapped. “And the squad needs somepony to take charge while I’m here with Rainbow. It needs to be you.”

Applejack looked uncertain for a moment, but then she nodded, looking more certain.

“Alright, Rarity,” she said quietly. “I’m your mare.”

She turned to the rest of the squad. “Alright team, we’ll be landing as soon as the Illustrious’ deck is cleared, and knowing Elliot I’d reckon that’ll be pretty buckin’ soon, so get to it! I want us to do this thing clean and quick!”

The rest of Everfree team barked their affirmatives and rechecked their equipment. Applejack, meanwhile, sent a prayer to whoever the pony God was these days that she wouldn’t fail her friends again.

***

Excalibur was a blur of death, spinning hither and thither like a whirlwind of destruction. The Avatar blocked, parried, riposted, stabbed and sliced his way through Guards, the Converted crew and Militia alike, his blade not stopping for anything. Occasionally, he would slam the blade against the deck, bursts of power knocking ponies overboard or into the hull. He grinned as he fought.

“Is this all thou hast, little ponies?!” he yelled, his voice carrying across the deck. “Is this all thy Empress hast granted thee?!”

He span and decapitated three Guardsponies in a row, the rest of their group skidding to a halt as they came face to face with him. He grinned.

“Boo,” he said. The ponies fell back at once, running as fast as their legs could carry them, and he let them go. A moment later, there was a flash of golden light and David Elliot stood on the deck, holding Excalibur lightly in one hand.

“This is Albion,” he said into his comm. “Deck cleared. Land the troops.”

“Affirmative, Albion, Interdiction One on descent,” came the voice of the Interdiction’s Captain. Elliot grinned again, and then coughed twice, an itch catching in his chest and a sudden weakness of the limbs gripping him. He released Excalibur, which faded away into nothing again. He held up a hand to catch his cough, and then pulled it away, his eyes narrowing at what he saw.

There were flecks of blood on his hand.

His lips pursed as he examined them, before wiping his hand on his battered trousers. He looked up as the Interdiction began her descent, the gondola touching down briefly on the deck of the Illustrious. He frowned.

He thought he had gained control of the last hurdle, the hurdle of the power filling too quickly. He had allowed the power to come at it’s own pace this time, but it had still taken it’s toll on his body, making him feel ill and shaky. He frowned as he thought back to what Merlin had said.

“You were taught how to control the power, but that's not the final hurdle. The final hurdle is you. Once you break that, you can do anything."

He still didn’t understand what the old wizard had meant, but he thought about the blood he had seen on his hands. He realised, with a horrible sinking feeling in his chest, that if he was to survive long enough to face Solamina in battle… if he was to defeat her… then he would have to understand. The fate of them all depended on it.

***

Everfree squad landed on the deck with a series of dull thuds. It was only a two-foot drop from the gondola to the deck of the Illustrious, but with the amount of equipment some of them were carrying, it took Lyra, True Grit and Sapphire Steel to ensure nopony was injured. Once they were there, Elliot walked up to them, a smile on his face.

“We ready?” he asked, unholstering his hand-cannon (his shotgun having been left on the Interdiction). He frowned as he noted the absent personnel. “Where’s Rarity?”

“Rainbow Dash was injured,” Applejack said quickly. “Rarity and Fluttershy are takin’ care of her.”

“Gotcha,” Elliot nodded. He looked at Hell Blazer, who had jumped off with the team, though he hadn’t landed quite as smoothly. “John, you ready to rock?”

“I get just as bloody seasick as I do airsick,” the yellow pony replied with a snort. “But I’ll live.”

“I’m ready as well,” added the Doctor, who had landed near Hell Blazer. He took his sonic out. “I suggest we expedite our journey to the bridge.”

Elliot nodded. “Everfree team, you’re on taking the engine room. We can’t let the Converted sabotage the ship. Secondary objective is any unconverted prisoners.”

“Is that likely?” Desert Wind asked derisively. "They usually just kill or convert anybody in their way."

“It's worth looking,” Elliot replied quietly, apparently not perturbed by Wind's tone. “We’ve not seen six hundred naked Convie ponies on this bucket, so some of the crew might still be somewhere below the deck.”

Desert shrugged. “Alright then.”

“What about the bridge?” Hell Blazer asked.

“That’s ours,” Elliot grinned. He tapped his earpiece. “Errant, can you lend us a couple of fighters to help take the bridge back?”

“Two and Three should be available,” Errant’s voice replied. “I’ll have them intercept you at the entrance to the superstructure.”

“Gotcha,” Elliot said. He heard more shouting, and looked up, to see more ponies charging at the group: apparently the Guard had regrouped. He grinned and turned briefly back to the assembled ponies “Alright, let’s go!”

He charged off, shooting his hand cannon as he did so. The others followed, Lyra and Grit firing off their horns, killing a few of the charging Guardsponies as they did so.

A few moments later, the team got to one of the entrances to the Illustrious’ superstructure. As they reached it, Ditzy and Dream Flyer landed near them, both of them looking tired but determined.

“You two are with us,” Elliot said to them, heading into the superstructure and up the stairs. Applejack followed him in, but she led her team down the stairs, following the labels for the engine room.

***

The bridge door had been locked. Apparently whoever was currently steering the ship thought they could somehow manage to prevent the boarding forces from taking the bridge with a door. Elliot vaguely considered breaking the door down, but another cough - well hidden from Hell Blazer - convinced him that maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.

“Doctor, door,” he said, turning to face the way they’d come. “We’ll cover you.”

Without another word, the Doctor approached the door and took out his sonic screwdriver. As he did so, Ditzy stole a glance at it and frowned. The small device buzzed briefly. Her ears perked up slightly. The lock clicked.

“Elliot, it’s clear,” the Doctor said, stepping away. At once, the Avatar stepped up to the door and kicked it in, hand cannon in front. As he did so, the Doctor caught Ditzy’s eye briefly, then turned away. She frowned at him thoughtfully, but said nothing.

The bridge crew was small - only four ponies, one of whom was a Unicorn guard and the rest of them Pegasi Converted, their lack of uniforms or other clothing signifying them as the former crew. Clearly the Equestrian forces had not anticipated the boarding party reaching this position, and they didn’t have time to react before Elliot put bullets in each of their heads.

“I’ve got the controls,” the Doctor said at once, heading for the wheel. “What course?”

“Set us for Plymouth,” Elliot said, nodding to himself. “Redmond was going to launch an attack on the port around about this time, so in theory it should be ours. If not…” and here he grinned. “It should be a nice surprise for the Equestrian army when I step off instead of their Guards.”

The Doctor nodded, and began adjusting the course without a further word. He ignored the searching gazy of Ditzy Doo, who looked at him with unusually thoughtful eyes...

***

Applejack’s group ended up at the engine room level a few moments after separating from Elliot’s team. As soon as they reached it, they followed a corridor down towards the engine room itself, but before they could make much progress, enemy ponies began coming out of various side rooms.

“Fire in the hole!” Desert Wind yelled immediately, and the rest of the squad cleared his firing line. At once, his P220 let rip, a soft blue glow surrounding it as Sapphire Steel used her magic to steady the heavy weapon. The heavy bullets tore through any ponies unfortunate enough to be in the firing line, shredding at least six or seven Guards in moments. A moment later, Wind stopped firing, the gun glowing slightly from the friction of firing so many bullets so quickly.

“Grit, Lyra, clear her out!” Applejack barked. The two Unicorns darted forward down the corridor, their horns glowing. A couple of Guards popped out, trying to jump them, but the two Unicorns were faster, and the Guards were quickly dispatched.

“Clear!” Grit called. The squad advanced.

“What’s that smell?” Lyra asked, frowning. The others took a moment to sniff the air - there was definitely an off smell in the air, but none of them could figure out what it was.

“We don’t have time to worry about it,” Applejack began, frowning at the distraction.

“It might be something nasty, ma'am,” True Grit countered at once. “For all we know it might be some kind of chemical agent.”

“Does Equestria even have those?” Applejack asked, turning to look at Wind and Steel. Steel shrugged.

“We’re not exactly up on the latest changes they’ve made,” Desert Wind said shortly, looking irritable. “For all we know, they might have.”

Applejack cursed. “Sapphire and Pinkie, follow that smell and find out what the hay it is. Lyra, take over as Wind’s steadier - we need to get to that engine room.”

Sapphire Steel and Pinkie immediately darted down the corridor the smell was coming from, while Applejack and the remaining members of Everfree team headed down towards the engine room.

***

Errant Flight landed on the deck of the Interdiction, most of the rest of Grey Squadron right behind him: Upsilon Squadron was in the process of mopping up the last Equestrian forces. He immediately headed over towards the injured Rainbow Dash.

“Hey boss,” Dash said weakly. Rarity and Fluttershy had succeeded in healing her wound magically (after Fluttershy had made sure it wasn’t infected) but the injury had taken a bit out of her. “What did I miss?”

“Nothing much,” Flight replied idly. He looked at Rarity, a slightly cooler expression forming on his face, and then he sighed and smiled. “Miss Rarity. Thank you for helping my Squadmate.”

“She’s my friend, darling,” Rarity said with a smile, apparently not noticing Flight’s slight awkwardness. “I’d do anything for my friends.”

Behind Errant Flight, he could hear some murmuring. He sighed and turned, only to find Bright Wonder walking past him, followed by White Blossom and Solid Hoof.

“You alright, Dash?” Blossom asked quietly.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” the cyan mare replied with a grin. “Shoulda been more careful with the rainboom. It’s nothing.”

“No, it’s not nothing,” Bright Wonder said, sounding upset. “You could have died.”

“But I didn’t,” Dash said, smiling more reassuringly to try and make her friend feel better. Wonder wasn’t done though - she looked up at Rarity and then, to everypony’s surprise, she went over and hugged her.

“Thank you so much for helping her - I know she’s your friend and all and you’d do anything for them, i would too, but thank you anyway,” she said quickly. “I just want to say I’m really sorry for thinking that you and the other Element Bearers weren’t very nice, I was wrong and stupid and you’re all lovely, I was just really mad because of all the things the other ones did, and I’m very very very very sorry….”

“Wonder,” Solid Hoof said quietly, putting a hoof on his squadmate's shoulder. “Breathe.”

Bright Wonder stepped back from Rarity, who (understandably enough) didn’t quite know what to say to the white Pegasus mare. She settled for grinning.

“Sorry,” Wonder said sheepishly, grinning slightly. “I just had a lot on my mind.”

“Chill, Wonder,” Dash said with a wide grin. “Everything’s cool.”

“Yeah,” Wonder said. She turned back to Rarity. “Can I meet Pinkie Pie? I’ve heard she’s really good at planning parties: it’d be great to swap tips.”

Dash and Rarity exchanged glances, and then they both started laughing out loud.

***

“Pony God, that reeks, whatever the heck it is,” Sapphire Steel said, the grey pony's nose wrinkled in disgust. Pinkie couldn’t help but agree: the smell was strong, nasty and unpleasant. “What do you suppose it is?”

“Burnt cake?” Pinkie suggested idly, opening another door and looking in the empty room. There was no sign of what could possibly be causing the smell, but whatever it was they were definitely close to it. Steel sighed.

“I’d like to hope so,” she said, opening another door, “but given what we know about the Equestrian army, I seriously doubt… it…”

She stepped away from the door, her eyes wide and her mouth slack. Pinkie, curious, walked over to the doorway and peeked inside. She gasped, her eyes widening as she saw just what had her squadmate looking so horrified.

There must have been twenty or thirty human bodies in the room, packed tightly in. They had been stripped naked and tossed in without much regard to anything else: the bodies had started rotting, and flies covered them, though not enough to hide the myriad of disfigurements and injuries present on some of the bodies: whatever had happened to them, it had been brutal. Some of the bodies looked as though they had undergone tortures and mutilations.

“Pony God,” Pinkie swore quietly, her voice entirely emotionless. She stepped back, not quite registering what she had seen.

“Sapphire Steel to Applejack,” she heard Steel’s voice saying in the background. “We’ve found the source of the smell. It’s a charnel house - human crew. Unconverted. Must be thirty or forty here at least, maybe more."

"You... what? Why?!" Applejack's voice replied, sounding shocked. "Is there any... any reason to it?"

"Uncertain," Sapphire said grimly. She tapped Pinkie on the shoulder and the party pony turned to look at her eyes wide. "Pinkie, keep watch while I check these other rooms."

"Okie dokie... ok," Pinkie said, her traditional cheerfulness somehow not willing to come, no matter how much she tried to force it.

Sapphire Steel popped her head in five or six other doors, and on four more occasions pulled her head out looking even more sick. After the seventh she couldn’t hold it in anymore and threw up over the floor before closing the door she had looked in with a disgusted expression.

"Steel to Applejack," she said quietly. "At least two hundred and fifty bodies. I'd say almost half the crew here. Tortured, mutilated, dumped. No sign of any interrogation - no way to know why they did it."

“Understood,” Applejack’s voice replied heavily. “There ain't nothing we can do for 'em now. Rendezvous with the rest of the squad at the engine room.”

“Affirmative,” Steel said quietly. She turned to Pinkie. “We need to go.”

Pinkie sighed, turned to look at Sapphire. As she did so, however, she caught sight of a Guardspony sneaking up on them, the Unicorn’s horn lit up as he fired a spell off. She barely had time to yell a warning before it impacted.

There was a flash of light.

***

Applejack had pushed the squad as hard as she could upon hearing Sapphire’s report. She was determined that the buckers who had done this would pay in blood.

The engine room itself was guarded by five Guardsponies and three new Converted. At once, True Grit and Lyra sent off their own individual bolts of magic and killed two of the Guards - Wind’s minigun was entirely impractical in this room, especially since he might well damage the engines, and so he dropped it reluctantly and charged, knocking one of the Converted over and crushing the pony’s skull. Applejack charged as well, engaging the other Converted - her first buck knocked one into a wall and he fell to the floor stunned. The second crushed her unfortunate target’s larynx, and he began choking, no longer able to breathe - she stamped on his head, keeping eyes closed, and the choking noises ceased with a wet crunch.

The remaining Guards had been taken down by Grit and Lyra, their horns still glowing slightly from the sheer number of spells they had fired off.

“Applejack to Elliot,” Applejack said into her comm. “The crew of this boat who weren’t converted are dead, we’ve found the bodies.” She paused. “Wasn’t pretty. Anyway, the engine room’s secured.”

“Gotcha,” Elliot’s voice spoke, sounding heavy hearted. “Gimme a sec.”

A moment later, there was an audible whine as Elliot apparently accessed the intercom. A moment later, they heard his voice.

“Ponies of the Equestrian Royal Guard and Militia,” he said. “Your forces have been subdued or destroyed. We control the strategic sections of the ship. Surrender now and report to the top deck, or you will be killed.” A moment later, he contacted Applejack again. “We’re taking theIllustrious back to Plymouth. We should have a port there to dock at. I want you to hold up there until we get to Plymouth, clear?”

“Crystal, sir,” Applejack said quietly.

“Will that message work?” Lyra asked. Desert Wind spat thoughtfully.

“Doubt it,” he said contemptuously. “Guards and Convies alike don’t give up unless they really do have no other choice. Not in their programming.”

“Let’s prepare to hold the line then, ponies,” Applejack said quietly. Lyra and Grit nodded, moving to hold the entrances to the engine room, but Lyra was shocked by the sudden appearance at her entrance of a mare with singed, lank hair and a cut over one eye, her expression downcast.

“Pinkie!” she said. “Where’s Sapphire Steel? What happened to you?”

“Ambush,” Pinkie replied tonelessly. “Guard Unicorn. Fire spell. She… she didn’t…”

“Didn’t what?!” Desert Wind said harshly, approaching Pinkie with a murderous gleam in his eye. Pinkie didn’t respond, but the look on her face told Desert Wind all he needed to know. His eyes widened, first in rage then in shock, and his mouth went slack. He slumped to his haunches and didn’t move.

“Wind,” Applejack said heavily. “Wind!”

Desert Wind didn’t reply, instead merely staring ahead. Applejack sighed.

“Leave him,” she said to the others. “I think he needs a while.”

“What I need,” Wind said, eyes suddenly burning like fire, “is to go kill some Royal Guard!”

Before anypony could stop him, he ran off into the ship, screaming bloody murder.

“He’ll get himself killed doing that!” True Grit yelled, moving to chase him. Applejack held up a hoof.

“In that state, best to leave him to it,” she said quietly, her eyes hard. “I don’t like it anymore than you do, but we can’t do anythin’. We need to hold here.”

Grit looked like he was about to argue, but the look on Applejack’s face didn’t waver and he sighed, turning away from her before moving back into position.

“Buck this war,” was all he said.

“I hear that,” Applejack said heavily, moving over to the other door.

“Yeah,” Pinkie added, her face still emotionless. She took up her position near a maudlin and silent Lyra and didn’t say another word.

It would be a long voyage home.

Author's Note

Wasn't going to post this until tomorrow, but it's my birthday and it was ready so I thought "why not?" Hope you enjoy it. Special thanks to The Void and RoyalPsycho as always for their help and advice, and to my commenters and favouriters for sticking with it :-)

Breakthrough.

Chapter Forty: Breakthrough.

***

Somewhere beneath Scotland. May 3rd 2030.

Twilight Sparkle and Rupert Giles were waiting for the pony they hoped would be able to help with the research into the portal.

The pony who was being escorted in by two armoured, stern looking Night Guards could not have looked further from the cheerful Guardspony Twilight had initially met all those weeks ago. Well Spring was underfed, his ribs almost visible underneath the white hospital robe he had been made to wear and he walked with an obvious limp, stumbling every other step. Occasionally the Night Guard escorting him were forced to shove him just to keep him moving in the same direction. Twilight wondered whether he had deliberately starved himself or if they just hadn’t been treating him well.

“The reports say he hasn’t been eating,” Giles said quietly from next to her, answering her unspoken question. “Won’t do anything. They’ve had to resort to force feeding and intravenous nutrition to keep him strong enough to walk.”

Twilight didn’t respond, lost in analysing the damaged Converted. His eyes, while not as wide, wild and staring as they had been when Elliot had first released him from the Converted programming, were bloodshot, as though he hadn’t slept in all the time since she had seen him taken away to be helped. He was twitchy, looking in different directions every other blink as though permanently terrified. He had a few scars, and there was a magic inhibitor on his horn, implying that he had tried using his magic to harm either somepony or someone else or - more likely, given the oddly wonky nature of some of the scars - himself.

“Self harm?” she asked. Giles nodded, and Twilight shuddered, horrified at this poor pony’s… this poor person’s fate.

He didn’t look anypony in the eye as he was escorted into Twilight’s working area, instead keeping his eyes firmly pointed at the ground. In a contrast to his mumbling when Twilight had last seen him, he was utterly silent, though his mouth opened and closed periodically as though he were considering saying… something.

Once he was sat down, Twilight turned to the Night Guards. “Thank you both, that’ll be fine.”

“Our orders are to keep an eye on the prisoner, ma’am,” one of them replied sternly.

“I think I can handle him,” Twilight replied with a slight smile. The two guards exchanged glances, and then the one who had spoken shrugged.

“Whatever you say, ma’am,” he said, sounding unconcerned. “If he goes psycho, that;s your problem.”

Twilight’s smile turned frosty as the two guards left. Once they had gone, Giles summed up her feelings succinctly.

“Arseholes,” he said quietly, the word sounding odd from his mouth. Twilight nodded, before looking Well Spring over again. She sighed, looking up at Giles with a resigned expression.

“I think I need to do this alone,” she said quietly. He glanced down at her.

“If you’re sure,” he said, sounding not altogether sure of this idea.

“I am,” she confirmed, smiling reassuringly

“Alright then,” Giles said quietly. He took his glasses off and cleaned them. "I’ll be right outside should you need anything from me.”

“Thank you,” she said quietly. She watched as he walked out, before turning her attention to Well Spring. The pony hadn’t reacted to any of the conversations going on around him.

“Hello again,” she said softly, smiling warmly at him. “Do you remember me?”

He didn’t even look up at her. Her smile soured slightly. She had figured this would be difficult.

“Well Spring? Platoon Sergeant?” she tried.

He looked up at her, his mouth opening and closing a couple of times before he looked down again.

“Sergeant!” she snapped in as authoritarian a tone as she could manage. That did the trick: he looked straight at her immediately, his eyes wider and full of concentration.

“I… yes, sir?” he asked, sounding confused.

“I need your help, Sergeant,” she said, retaining the authoritarian tone.

“I…” he replied, eyes narrowing slightly. “I don’t… I won’t…”

He looked back down again for a moment.

“Sergeant Well Spring!” Twilight snapped, trying to keep his attention.

“THAT IS NOT MY NAME!” he suddenly yelled, catching Twilight off balance. She stepped back from him, eyes widening at the sudden rage he displayed. Foam flecked from his mouth and his eyes burned with some inner fire. And then, as suddenly as it had come on, that fire was gone, leaving nothing but the broken form of the Converted sitting before her again, eyes gazing off somewhere into the distance, not really seeing anything.

“I…” she said quietly, and then she gulped, aware that she had to be extra careful. “Alright. What is your name?”

The response was immediate. Well Spring jumped to a mockery of attention, back ramrod straight. “Wallace Springfield, Private, Serial Number…” He tailed off, frowning in uncertainty, his body slackening slightly. “Serial Number…" Now he became more frustrated. "Serial number... oh God…” He began hyperventilating, his eyes widening in horror. “I don’t remember. I don’t remember…!”

“It’s alright, Private!” Twilight yelled, trying to keep his attention on her. “I don’t need your Serial Number, I need your help…”

“No!” he suddenly yelled, his eyes narrowing into a glare of hatred. He stood up, taking an aggressive stance, and Twilight stepped back, worried she might have pushed him too far. “You’re a fucking pony! I will not help Equestria, I won’t I won’t I…!”

“I’m with the Resistance!” Twilight yelled quickly. “I’m with the Resistance!”

Well Spring’s… Private Springfield’s expression softened into one of mild confusion. “You’re… but you’re Twilight Sparkle,” he said quietly.

“The resemblance is… deceptive,” Twilight said softly, aware of the irony. “But I promise you, I’m with the Resistance. I need your help to find a way to invade Equestria, bring an end to the war.”

“I…” Springfield began, his eyes unfocusing. “I don’t know if I can… I don’t know what help I can be.”

“You can help me,” Twilight said quietly. “You knew the spell to create a portal.”

“I… I remember,” Springfield said, frowning at her. “I remember I told you…”

“The spell doesn’t just work with the words,” Twilight said quietly. “There’s something else to it.”

“There… there is?” Springfield said, looking even more confused. “I… yes, I think I remember that, but… I don’t… I think…”

He lapsed into a silence. Twilight left him alone to it for the moment, recognising that it was difficult. After a moment, he fixed her with a gaze that was almost heartbreaking for it’s sincerity.

“They won’t ever forgive me,” he said quietly, his tone one of utter anguish.

“Who won’t?” she asked quietly, trying to be sensitive.

“Anyone,” he replied, getting more agitated. “God won’t. No one will. The things I’ve done… the blood on my… on my hooves.” he spat the last word, contempt in his tone, but tears had started forming in his eyes. “No one can ever forgive the things I’ve done. I know I can’t.”

There was a long pause as Twilight considered this. She didn’t know quite how she could reassure the poor human: he had gone through so much, lost so much, and who knew what he had been made to do as a Sergeant of the Royal Guard?

“Wallace,” she said softly. “I don’t know how you can forgive yourself. But if you help me…” She swallowed. “If you help me, I’ll forgive you.”

“You… you will?” he asked, his eyes wide and filled with such hope that Twilight’s heart broke.

“I will, Wallace,” she said quietly. “I’ll forgive you. You’ll have helped save the human race, helped win the war.”

Springfield seemed to consider that for a long moment. His eyes were filled with uncertainty, but then, slowly, his expression became resolute, then determined.

“Alright,” he said. “I’ll do what I can.”

***

HMS Illustrious, Plymouth Port. May 3rd. 2030.

When the Illustrious landed at port, it arrived to an empty battleground. The entire dock was covered in dead ponies and dead humans, destroyed chariots and golems mixed with damaged and destroyed human vehicles. It was obvious that a brutal, bloody battle had taken place here.

On the Illustrious’ bridge, Elliot surveyed the battleground with a frown. Next to him, Hell Blazer was also analysing the battleground. The Doctor was still at the wheel, while Ditzy was stood next to him, alternating between looking at him and the main window. the old Earth Pony was studiously ignoring her gaze.

“No sign of who won,” Hell Blazer said quietly, a frown on his face. “We’ve heard nothing from Redmond’s forces.”

“True enough,” Elliot said, sounding concerned himself. “Dream Flyer, try again.”

Dream Flyer, now sat at the communication station, sighed as she once again clumsily tried inputting commands into the design-for-thumbs console. This was the third time they had tried contacting Redmond’s forces. So far, no luck.

“This is HMS Illustrious under the command of Albion One, calling any Resistance or Defence Force units in the area,” she said quietly. “Repeat, this is Illustrious calling any Resistance or Defence Force units. Respond please.”

A moment later, she turned to Elliot with a shrug. Still nothing.

“Mutual annihilation?” Hell Blazer suggested.

“Not likely,” Dream Flyer interjected. “That doesn’t happen.”

“Perhaps this is an ambush being set up by Equestrian forces?” the Doctor suggested from the wheel, still ignoring Ditzy’s searching gaze.

“Possibly,” Elliot said quietly. “In any case, we’ll need everyone on station. Get the Interdiction on the horn, we’ll need Grey covering us. Hell Blazer, go get Everfree squad and tell them to get themselves ready.”

The yellow Earth Pony nodded once, leaving the bridge quickly. A moment later, the radio burst into life.

“Attention Illustrious,” came the voice of Danny, sounding tired but cheerful. “This is forward HQ at Plymouth base. We’ve cleared the port for your arrival.”

Elliot went over to the radio, a grin on his face.

“Good to hear, Danny,” he said. “Where’s Redmond? He didn’t bite it did he?”

“No sir,” Danny replied with a snort. “Major Redmond is overseeing cleanup - we lost a lot of good people, and this port’s a shit-tip.”

“Can believe that,” Elliot said happily. “We’ll see you when we get there.”

“Sir,” Danny’s voice said. Elliot sighed in relief. At the wheel, the Doctor gave a tired smile, though he studiously avoided Ditzy’s gaze still.

“Well,” Elliot said quietly. “That’s something at least.”

***

HMS Illustrious Engine Room.

Three times, Equestrian Guard and Militia ponies had tried to take the engine room from Applejack and the rest of Everfree squad. Three times, she and her team had smashed the buckers apart, spells burning bodies, hooves crushing skulls and breaking ribs and spines. Three times, she had rallied her battered friends to hold the enemy back, drive them off.

Nopony in the group had escaped unscathed from the fighting - Lyra had cuts along her flank that were achingly similar to the scars of her alternative self. Applejack had bruises above one eye and a cut lip. Pinkie was nursing a few cuts to the side too, as well as a sprained ankle, while True Grit had a small scorch mark on his cheek. Nonetheless, none of them let up, for they were all that was standing between the Equestrian forces and their objective.

It had been half an hour since the last attack had been repelled. It was pretty clear that they had broken the back of the remaining enemy forces, but Applejack wasn’t entirely convinced, and so they remained on alert.

“I wonder if Desert Wind is ok,” Lyra asked quietly. Nopony answered her, not that she had expected them to. She sighed: Sapphire Steel’s death was a blow. The grey mare had been quiet, rarely talking about her experiences prior to joining up, and yet she had been kind.

“Heads up,” she heard Applejack say quietly. “I hear movement.”

At once, the entire group tensed. A moment later, a slow trotting could be heard, sounding uneven, as though the pony doing the trotting was limping slightly. A moment later, the tan form of Desert Wind appeared. The pony was covered in blood; he had numerous injuries dotted all over him, and he seemed utterly exhausted. Despite that, however he had a vicious, triumphant grin on: whatever he had been doing had brought him some measure of, if not happiness, than certainly a kind of vicious cheer.

“Hello everypony,” he said quietly, his smile widening. “How are things?”

With that, he fainted. At once, True Grit ran over to him, his horn glowing as he began a basic field examination.

“He’s got a dozen minor injuries and his leg’s sprained,” he said a moment later, his voice quiet and tinged with a mixture of amazement and concern. “I don’t know what the buck he’s been doing, but I’d wager most of this blood isn’t his.”

Applejack whistled softly. “Lucky bucker.”

“Might explain why we’ve not had so many Guard come this way,” Lyra said quietly. “Though I can’t believe he wasn’t killed.”

“He was angry,” Pinkie said softly from the back of the group.

More trotting could suddenly be heard, and Applejack moved quickly to block the door, Lyra and Pinkie backing her up - but then she saw the trenchcoated form of Hell Blazer.

“Hello,” he said, eyes wide at the scene. “Somepony wanna fill me in on what I missed?”

***

Somewhere beneath Scotland.

In the room where Twilight had spent the last month and a half trying to figure out exactly how to make the portal spell Well Spring - Springfield, she reminded herself again - had taught her work, she was now stood with him by her side, a look of concentration on his face.

“The trick,” he was saying, speaking slowly and hesitantly, “is intention.”

“I figured that much,” Twilight said. “That’s one of the reasons I changed the incantation to ‘Portus Maxima Liberatus.”

“You don’t understand,” Springfield said quietly, looking at her with concentration in his face, as though he were fighting to keep himself coherent. “It isn’t just your concentration. You never cast this spell alone. You have to want this, but everyp -” He stopped, his mouth spasming slightly. He closed his eyes, took in a deep, calming breath, and opened them again. “Everyone with you has to have the same intent, the same goal. The more po… the more people you have… the more powerful the portal you can make.”

Twilight frowned at that. “I’ve never heard of magic like that.”

“No,” Springfield said quietly. “As far as I know… and I don’t know much, they never tell you much if you don’t need to, especially a convie… this spell was invented by Commander…” He paused, frowning suddenly. “How…?” he asked, his eyes narrowing at her.

“How what?” she asked.

“How can you not know this?” he asked suddenly, sounding more suspicious now. “You invented this!”

Twilight sighed. “That would… take a long time to explain, Well… Wallace.”

“Try me,” he said, sounding hostile now.

Twilight sighed, trying to think of a good way to frame this. “You know that Equestria and Equus are another world.”

“Yeah,” Springfield said with a confused frown.

“Well,” Twilight said, taking a deep breath before beginning, “I come from another Equestria. A different one. Elliot - sorry, you’d know him better as Albion - ended up there by accident when trying to get to Solamina to kill her.”

“And he… what? Brought you back?” Springfield said, his frown deepening.

“He thought we could help,” Twilight said with a shrug. “And now here I am, trying to help.”

“Or leading the Resistance into a trap,” Springfield countered hotly. “I know Commander Sparkle - she taught me that spell. She taught us all. She’s damn clever when she wants to be. For all I know, this is a massive trap!”

“It isn’t,” Twilight replied, snapping slightly. “I promise you.”

“And why should I trust you?” Springfield hissed.

Twilight frowned at him, her expression cooling by degrees. When she spoke, it was clear, cold and to the point.

“Because I’m going to help kill Solamina for everything she’s done - to this planet, to the human race, to free ponies and to you.” She paused and took a deep breath. “I promise you. That bitch is going to die.”

She said this with such naked anger and aggression that Springfield rook a step back, his hostile expression melting into one that seemed almost… intimidated. He blinked once, then again, before gulping.

“I see,” he said quietly. Then, to her surprise, a slow grin spread on his face. “What are we waiting for then?!”

He stepped up, closing his eyes. “What did you say the new incantation was?”

“Portus Maxima Liberatus,” Twilight said.

“Ok,” Springfield said with a grin. His horn glowed. “Portus Maxima Liberatus.”

A small glowing portal appeared - again, it was small and shaky, probably not big enough for even one pony.

“I need you to think about Equestria!” Springfield said, sounding strained. “Where you want to be!”

“Ponyville!” Twilight said softly, almost to herself. “I want to be in Ponyville.”

“Then concentrate on that!” Springfield said, sounding even more strained. “Concentrate on Ponyville!”

Twilight closed her eyes. She thought long and hard, her eyes screwed tightly shut, and suddenly the light from the portal increased exponentially, the glowing portal expanding…

And suddenly, the portal was in front of them. It had expanded to touch the walls and ceiling, and the glow had transmuted into what looked almost like a window without glass. And on the other side…

“That’s Ponyville?” Springfield asked, his eyes wide with shock. Twilight couldn’t speak, her eyes also wide, tears forming at the edges. It was Ponyville alright.

Her Ponyville.

She could see the beautiful skies, the sun shining in the sky without a care in the world. She could see Carrot Top and Cheerilee in the distance, Sweet Apple Acres even further. She could see her library, and for a moment she wondered if Spike was there, having a nap in her absence...

A moment later, the portal disappeared, receding almost in the blink of an eye into nothingness.

“I’ve seen Ponyville,” Springfiled said quietly, a frown on his face as he turned to face her, “and that wasn’t it.”

“It…” Twilight said quietly, tears still glistening in her eyes. She swallowed back a sob. “It was once. Before the war.”

Springfield nodded, saying nothing. He sighed. “That’s it then,” he said quietly. “You know now. It’s intention. The intention of everyone you send. You have to want it, all of you.”

“How can it work for the Guard and the Militia?” Twilight asked, not quite understanding. “You must really want to…”

“We want what She wants,” Springfield said at once, his voice filled with bitterness as he began speaking faster and faster. “We always did. Jump, how high. Run, how far and how fast. Kill - how many. It was our life. All of us. The Converted… we do as we’re told, ma’am.”

Twilight frowned at him - there were tears forming in his eyes now, and he was shaking - he had recovered some of his former personality, and had calmed down even more since coming here… but she could tell he was still damaged, maybe irrevocably.

“I will never be forgiven,” he said quietly. “Will I?”

“I told you, I’d forgive you,” Twilight reminded him.

“I didn’t wrong you, ma’am,” Springfield said quietly. “Not like I wronged my own kind, my family, my country, my species… everything. I’m a traitor. A coward. There’s no place for a man… for a pony... like me. There’s nothing left.”

“Not quite nothing, brother,” a new voice spoke. Springfield looked up in surprise, and Twilight turned, to find Rupert Giles and a tall, extremely pale man in a black trenchcoat standing in the doorway, both looking morose.

“Giles?” Twilight asked, throwing a questioning glance in the direction of the new man.

“This… gentleman has been eager to speak with Mr Well Spring here,” Giles replied, sounding none too happy. “Apparently he has the Council’s blessing. How has it gone?”

“We’ve figured it out,” Twilight said quietly. She smiled, suddenly realising what she had said. “Giles, we’ve figured it out!”

Giles grinned. “Excellent. Come on, Twilight - we’ll need to inform Elliot at once.”

Twilight moved to go, Springfield moving to follow her - but the man held up a hand.

“I’d like to speak with Mr Spring here,” he said quietly.

“Springfield,” Springfield said, sounding angry. “My name is Wallace Springfield.”

“Springfield, then,” the man said. “If it is not too much trouble, I would like a moment of your time.”

Springfield looked at Twilight, who shrugged. She didn’t know who this man was, but if he wanted Wallace’s attention it was his business. Springfield looked at her for a moment, then turned his attention to the man.

“Alright,” he said.

“Good luck, Wallace,” Twilight said with a small smile. A moment later, she and Giles had left, leaving the man alone with Springfield.

***

Neverforgivenneverforgivenneverforgiven…

Springfield sighed, trying to push the voices out of his head. Even though he had managed to drive the voices back enough to be able to help Sparkle, he couldn't help but feel it in the back of his mind, the eternal feeling of never being forgiven for his crimes not as long as he lived there was no way...

He shook his head slightly. The man had moved to a chair and sat down.

“What do you want?” the Converted asked him, trying not to sound bitter.

“You’re a Converted,” the man replied quietly. “A soldier. Correct?”

“I was,” Springfield replied with a frown. “I don’t know what I am now.”

“My understanding is that the process of being freed was… traumatic for you,” the man continued, sounding like he was trying to be delicate.

Springfield laughed. “The only reason I’m not still a gibbering mess is because Sparkle pulled enough shit out of her arse to keep me together.” He paused. “Now… now I don’t…”

“Don’t what?” the man pressed.

“I don’t know what I want,” the Converted replied quietly, not looking at the man. “No… no, I do know." He looked the man straight in the eye. "I want to die."

"Really," the man said blandly, raising an eyebrow.

"Do you have any idea what it's like to wake up from the worst dream of your life?" Springfield asked, turning away from the man. "In this dream, you're not in control. Your body's not your own. You've done things... horrible things. Murdered people, or worse, you've inflicted the same... change on them that you've had done to you. And you've done it all with a smile." He paused again. "Then you wake up and it's all true. The things you've done... the things you've done..." He shook his head again, trying to keep calm. He failed. "There's no forgiveness, no nothing, just the knowledge that they'll never forgive you...!"

He slammed his hooves into the ground angrily. A moment later, he took a steadying breath, calming himself.

"I would rather be dead than live like this," he said quietly, looking the man in the eyes. "I would rather be dead than have to live with this... this..."

There was a long, awkward silence between the two for a moment.

"What if I told you," the man said quietly, "that you were already dead?"

Springfield frowned at him. "What?"

"We all die," the man continued slowly. "Some of us are lucky that death comes simultaneously for body and soul - they depart the world together. Some of us though... some of us leave our bodies a long time before our bodies choose to die. Our bodies linger on without our souls, destined to wander. We are already dead." He smiled softly. "But our bodies may still prove useful."

Springfield found himself enraptured: it was as though this man had explained in an instant exactly how he felt. He was dead. He had felt it ever since Albion had awakened him, a sense that something was missing from him, a great expanse of himself torn out and replaced first with the programming and then with nothing at all.

"How can we...?" he asked slowly. "How can we be useful? What do we do?"

"There are those of us who have dedicated our bodies to the cause of defending the land of Albion," the man replied slowly. "Until our bodies awaken to the reality of their own deaths, we will put them to use."

The man took a small leaflet out from his trenchcoat and slid it over to the Converted pony. Springfield grabbed it immediately, and looked at the cover with wide eyes. The symbol was that of a stylised skull upon an image of the Earth. Below this was an image of a marching group of human and pony soldiers in dark, body-covering outfits, and below this was a message printed in stark white letters.

EVEN IN DEATH WE STILL SERVE.

Springfield looked up, and a small, almost hopeful smile lit up his face.

"Where do I sign up?" he asked.

***

Outside Plymouth. May 3rd. 2030.

Outside the city of Plymouth, in the dead of night, somewhere near the forward base that had been established outside the port city, there was a gathering. Though it was night, there were a half dozen small lights on, enough that this gathering could be seen. Something like six hundred and fifty human and pony soldiers stood in rows, all of them standing perfectly at attention. At the head of this group was a single man standing on a box. He was dark skinned and stern looking, and his eyes scanned the entire crowd of soldiers keenly.

"Brothers and sisters," he said, his voice commanding and tinged with a Texan accent, "we stand here today to honour the dead."

Alexander Redmond was not normally the sort of man to perform these kinds of services. It was not his business. However, the loss of over six hundred people, combined with the deaths of many of his own forces, had made him adamant that he would be the one to perform this task. He wore his military uniform, as cleaned up as it could be made, but he also wore a single small pendant. It was the image of the planet Earth, signifying Redmond as a member of the New Gaian Cult, an Earth-worshipping cult that had sprung up around the time the Barrier had been stopped. it was rare he wore it - rare he allowed his religious views to be so open - but this was a special moment.

Behind him were something like eight or nine hundred bodies, lined in rows, each with another soldier standing by them solemnly at attention like the others. Some of the bodies were naked Converted, unidentifiable now but honoured all the same despite their fate. Some of them were the bodies found in rooms throughout the Illustrious, laid out with as much dignity as could be managed given the damage done to them. All of them had been laid out on a small, flat pile of flammable material.

One body was a grey Unicorn mare, her eyes glassy and wide, staring at something nopony and nobody else could see, a scorch mark across her throat and chest that had burned all the way down to her ribs, exposing white bone to the world. By her side stood the stoic form of Desert Wind, his eyes stony and cold as he waited for the signal.

David Elliot stood next to Redmond. He kept his head down, lost in his own thoughts as the Major spoke. There were some, he supposed, who would have wanted him to speak at a time like this - truth be told, however, he was starting to feel very inadequate for speeches like this. He wasn't all that people expected from him, no matter what they said.

“These warriors have given their lives for the cause,” Redmond continued, “they have made the ultimate sacrifice so that we may live, that humankind and free ponies may live. For them, the long fight is done. Therefore it is with proud honour and solemn dignity that we commit the bodies of our fallen brothers and sisters to the fire. They will become part of the air we breathe, that we have been allowed to continue breathing thanks to them. They will become part of the Earth that they have fought for so long to protect. In this way, though they have left us, they never will. Though they are gone, they will never die. Cremation party!”

At these last bellowed words, the ponies and humans standing by the laid out bodies each picked up a match or other tool for making fire that had been laid by the bodies. Unicorns lit their horns, a few dozen soft, colourful glows intermingled with the rows of flickering flames.

“Light up!” Redmond yelled.

As one, the ponies and humans lit their matches, lighters, tinder boxes and horns. Hundreds of small lights suddenly lit the night’s sky. It was a beautiful, bittersweet sight.

“Ignite!” Redmond barked.

As one, the cremation party lit their former comrades on fire. There were only a couple of hesitations, ponies and humans who had known the individual they were lighting on fire and would take a moment to remember them.

Desert Wind did not hesitate. He lit Sapphire’s body up immediately. His stony eyes glinted slightly, wet with unshed tears, the only sign that he was feeling any emotion at all. His grieving would be done in silence, and it would be done far from the eyes of other ponies. Right now, Sapphire required one duty of him, and he would have been damned to Tartarus before he failed her again.

Redmond stood at attention for a moment as the fires burned. With their charges lit, the cremation party, too, stood at attention. Then Redmond turned to Elliot.

“Commander Albion,” he said quietly. “I would like you to speak to them.”

Elliot glanced up at the Texan Major with a frown. “Why?” he asked.

“Elliot, I don’t believe in this Avatar nonsense,” Redmond said harshly. His face softened as he spoke his next words. “But most of them do. Most of them could do with you telling them that it’s all going to be alright.”

“And what if I can’t say that?” Elliot asked quietly.

“You can,” Redmond replied, a slight smile gracing his stern features. “You’ve made them believe before. And I may not believe in the Avatar... but I believe that you do. And Avatar or not.

Redmond moved off, leaving Elliot alone. Elliot closed his eyes, thinking back to all the times he had spoken in front of these people, of people like them. All the times he had stood and tried to rally the troops for one last battle.

Now, somehow, he felt like he couldn’t do it. In the face of all these deaths, of the stoic stares of an army, he felt like he couldn’t ever live up to what they wanted from him.

Maybe you don’t have to, a voice in his head suggested. Maybe all you have to do is live up to yourself and let the rest sort itself out.

He didn’t know where the voice had come from - it sounded almost like Merlin, but Elliot was sure the old wizard had better things to do with his time. Nonetheless, it gave him heart. He sucked in a deep breath and stepped up to the centre of the podium, looking out at everyone there gathered.

“My friends,” he began softly. “This war has stolen much from all of us. Homes. Families. Friends. It’s scarred us all to the bone, and many of us may never recover. No matter what happens in this war, it has marked us all irrevocably.”

Everyone in the audience, pony and human alike, shared glances. Each of them was lost in their own private thoughts.

“But,” Elliot continued, “this is no reason to lose hope.” His gaze swept everyone in the audience. "Every human soldier who has fought in this war is a testament to the whole species," he said, his eyes finding various human soldiers. "It would be easy for us in these dark times to just give up. To surrender to the inevitable and say 'we're done'. Those who don't - all of them - are some of the bravest people in the world. To fight on, even though we have all but no hope of victory... that is true courage."

The humans among those watching felt a little better at that. Some of them straightened up even taller, feeling a strange, bittersweet pride at Elliot’s words.

The Avatar’s eyes now searched for the pony soldiers among the ranks. "Every pony soldier who has fought in this war is a testament to their whole species," he said, finding Everfree squad and Grey Squadron, locking eyes briefly with Pinkie Pie, Errant Flight and others, before continuing his sweep. "They are living proof to those who would have said otherwise that Ponykind is, at it's core, good. They are in some respects braver than us: while we are fighting to protect our homes, they are fighting against theirs, and they do it gladly for a people that are not their own. That, too, is true courage."

Applejack, in the front row, turned her head slightly to glance at Rarity. Her friend returned the glance with a slight smile. Next to her, Pinkie Pie looked so solemn that anypony who knew her would have sworn she wasn’t the same pony. Behind them, Grey Squadron looked grim and stoic, save for Rainbow Dash, who looked more morose, a fresh bandage on her recently healed wound, and Fluttershy, who looked like she had been crying.

“Together," Elliot continued, "these two kinds of soldier are a testament to the whole.” His eyes swept the entire crowd. “They serve, in life and in death, as a beacon of hope for our future. They prove to us that one day, when this war ends, there is a future where we two, human and pony, can work together in peace to rebuild what was lost in war."

Everyone in the audience, pony and human alike, stood a little straighter, feeling a renewed sense of purpose and commitment at that. Elliot smiled, and raised his hand. The sword Excalibur appeared in his grip, pointed to the heavens. “I promise you, my friends, we will win this war. Our friends’ sacrifices will not be in vain!”

As one, everyone and everypony in the audience cheered, applauding and stomping their hooves wildly. Elliot smiled softly. He might not have felt like the man to give them hope, but he had.

Self-belief, came the voice, unbidden again. It is the first and most important matter. All other things come secondary. If you do not believe in yourself, no one else can.

Elliot smiled wider. He promised to himself that he’d remember.

***

“Commander Albion!” a voice called as Elliot made his way through the crowd after the ceremony. “Commander Albion!”

Elliot found himself facing Danny, who looked excited. The red headed technician had apparently run all the way from the command centre to here, and was panting heavily from exertion.

“What is it?” Elliot asked him, wondering what had excited him.

“We’ve just had a message from Sparkle in Scotland,” Danny replied breathlessly. “She’s done it!”

Elliot’s eyes widened in shock. “You’re sure?”

“It’s confirmed!” Danny said. “She’s on her way back down to demonstrate the portal to you now, expected time of arrival within the next six hours!”

Elliot unconsciously clenched his fist, a sudden mix of fear and relief gripping him. This was it. Now… now they could finally bring the battle to Solamina.

They had entered the last days.

***

Author's Note

Boom! It's time to enter the final phase, ladies and gents! My thanks once again to my commenters and favouriters, and a special thank you to the ever wonderful RoyalPsycho (Isaac) and The Void (Matt) for their help and suggestions. :-)

The Beginning of the End.

Chapter Forty One: The Beginning of the End.

***

Plymouth Forward Base POW facility. May 5th. 2030.

On the edge of the city of Plymouth, in a dark room far from any windows, a green unicorn mare in purple robes with the stylised image of a purple star in a sun was tied to a chair. In front of her was Errant Flight and Major Redmond, the former looking calm and collected and the latter looking furious.

The mare was named Gentle Flower, and the lack of cutie mark visible underneath her robe was evidence enough that she was a Converted. Had you asked her, she would have been proud that she, a mere Converted who had only been a unicorn for six of her twenty three years had managed, through diligence and study, to become part of Twilight Sparkle’s famous Archmagi. She had been one of the handful of Equestrian survivors on the Illustrious, having been captured by human forces sweeping the ship after she docked.

Being an Archmagi, she was automatically one of the most important ponies they had captured. It was quickly decided to let Redmond and Errant Flight interrogate her personally - Redmond was one of the highest ranking personnel on site, and Errant was one of the highest ranking personnel to have been aboard Illustrious during the mission to reclaim her.

“I’ll ask again,” Redmond said, his voice inches away from being a bellow. “What the hell were those bodies being used for?!”

“I keep telling you, Mr Redmond sir, that I’m not at liberty to tell you why we needed those bodies,” Flower replied, a slightly bemused smile on her face. "I really do wish I could tell you, believe me. It would make me very happy to be able to do as you ask, because I can tell this is all very upsetting for you..."

Redmond lashed out, the back of his hand striking Gentle Flower across her face. She blinked, then smiled again.

"... but I'm afraid these are orders direct from Commander Twilight Sparkle herself." The Converted grinned slightly. "So you see, very important."

"Yeah," Redmond muttered. "I see."

He turned away, leaving Errant Flight to talk to the Converted. The plan was the old "good Guard, bad Guard," plan (though Redmond called it "good cop, bad cop") with Errant as the good cop. Somehow Redmond thought Errant could get through to this Convie idiot.

"Listen," Flight said quietly, trying the sympathy approach. "My friend isn't very happy. He's lost a lot of his friends today and the Illustrious thing hasn't helped."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Gentle Flower said honestly.

"Yeah," Errant continued, slightly sourly. "Anyway, you've got to see it from his point of view. Ponies did this to humans. Those bodies..." He shuddered slightly. "Did you see them?"

"Oh yes," Flower said quietly, her smile fading. "A dreadful business. Quite horrid."

"Yes, quite," Errant said, trying his best not to get angry. He was playing good cop, he reminded himself. "So you see why knowing why it happened might help his unhappiness. Make him realise there was a reason. I mean, there was a reason, wasn't there?"

"Well," Gentle Flower said, looking somewhat ashamed of herself. "Yes and no." Errant raised an eyebrow as she continued. "The bodies we needed. The state they were in isn't entirely because of that though - though a lot of it was. Some of the Guards aren't as... nice... as we are."

"So they mutilated the bodies of revenge," Errant Flight said quietly.

"That wasn't why we had them, though," she said quickly. "It was... it was for an important reason. Some of the injuries were necessary too."

"What do you mean?" the Pegasus said with narrowed eyes.

Gentle Flower gulped. "I - I can't tell you. I am sorry. I wish I could relieve your friend's unhappiness and tell him all about it, but I have my orders, you see."

Before Errant could respond to that, Redmond stepped up to him and whispered something in his ear. The Pegasus frowned, then grinned.

"Alright," he said softly. He turned to Gentle Flower. "We're called away on other duties. We'll be back to continue this conversation."

"I'd greatly like that," Gentle Flower said with a smile.

Errant Flight and Redmond exited at once. Gentle Flower let out a sigh of relief.

"By Her mercy," she said quietly. "I thought they'd never leave."

There was an almost ringing silence in the room that seemed to mock Gentle Flower, and almost reflexively, she gulped. She wondered vaguely how long they would leave her here...

***

Plymouth Base Landing Pad.

The transport helicopter descended from the sky agonizingly slowly, at least in Rarity’s considered opinion. She didn’t know much about the aerodynamics of the machine - at least when compared to Pegasi flight or the airships of her native Equestria (and, she supposed with a grimace, the Zeppelins of this world as well) - but she figured that it had to be able to come down at a faster rate. It just had to.

“Is she here yet?” the voice of Pinkie Pie said quickly from behind her. “Is she here yet? Is she here yet? Is she here yet?”

“Not yet!” Lyra laughed, trying to keep the party pony from bouncing high enough to meet the copter on it’s way down. “In a minute!”

Rarity, while she was attempting to be more dignified than Pinkie, couldn’t help but agree with the sentiment her friend was expressing. It had been too long since she had seen Twilight, since any of them had seen Twilight. She was as impatient to see their friend as anypony. Still: a little dignity couldn't hurt...

The entirety of Everfree team was here - those of them who were left, anyway. There was a notable absence in Sapphire Steel, and the dour visage of Desert Wind was testament to the open wound at the heart of the squad. Behind Wind stood True Grit, who had taken over as his steadier. In addition to them, Rainbow, Ditzy and Fluttershy were all present.

The copter continued its descent, the rotors slowing as it finally touched down. A moment later, the side door opened, and a half dozen human and pony soldiers in black gas masks and black haz-mat suits exited, jogging past Everfree squad quickly. A moment later, Twilight herself stepped off of the copter. She looked tired and slightly thinner than the group remembered, but otherwise unchanged.

"Hey everypony," she said quietly when she saw her friends.

Pinkie's reaction was immediate - the pink party pony charged right at Twilight, hugging her so tightly that her head began turning blue. Pinkie immediately began blabbering.

"Twilight you're back thank goodness we missed you there's been so much going on it's been so horrible I wish you'd been here there was a battle on a big boat and..."

"Let her breathe, Pinkie," Applejack said with a tired grin. Pinkie immediately released Twilight. She gave one final grin and bounced back, letting the others come forward.

Applejack stepped up to Twilight and hugged her briefly. "Good to see you sugarcube."

"Are you ok?" Twilight asked her friend.

"Couple o' problems," Applejack said with a shrug. "Tell you later, maybe."

Next up was Lyra. She hugged Twilight silently, before stepping back, a bittersweet smile on her face.

"Good to see you, Lyra," Twilight said.

"And you, Twilight," Lyra replied.

Rarity hugged Twilight almost as tightly as Pinkie had, but she said nothing, merely smiling at her, a small tear forming in the corner of her eye.

"That helicopter was really slow," Rainbow commented as she hugged her friend. "Couldn't it have gotten you here any faster?"

"Not really," Twilight replied, chuckling slightly. "Maybe you could have."

Rainbow laughed at that. Fluttershy and Ditzy both hugged Twilight silently as well, their expressions - both full of joy - saying more than enough.

True Grit saluted Twilight, the former Guard still clearly uncomfortable with the levels of familiarity the others had shown. Laughing, Twilight hugged him, and he hesitantly hugged back.

"Looking good, Grit," she said with a short laugh. "Maybe try to chill out a bit."

"We aren't here to chill out," the harsh voice of Desert Wind cut her off. "We're here because you said you had a way into Equestria to end this bucking war."

"Hello Desert Wind," Twilight said, frowning slightly at the stallion's greeting. Her eyes swept the group, her frown deepening as she noticed an absence. “Where’s Sapphire Steel? Is she…?”

The words died on her lips as she saw everypony’s expression’s, her own face falling and tears springing to her eyes.

“Oh no,” she said quietly. “Oh no…”

“Yeah,” Desert Wind said harshly. “So you’ll forgive me, Sparkle, if I don’t want to spend time reminiscing when we could be working on a way to bring this bucking war to an end, preferably an end involving me ramming the other Sparkle’s head into a wall repeatedly.”

Twilight nodded once, her eyes still watering.

“Where’s Elliot?” she asked. “It’s him who’ll have to see this.”

“Not just me,” came the familiar voice of the Avatar of Albion, as Elliot walked up to the group, a group of ponies and humans - including three very familiar figures - behind him. One of them was a white unicorn with a blonde mane, dressed in a stylised version of Night Guard armour. The other two were humans, one a slightly heavy-set Japanese man in a grey suit, the other a grizzled-looking military man in urban camouflage gear. The other two men were having a conversation with Major Redmond and Errant Flight, who was stood a small distance away from the landing pad, near the entrance to the POW facilities.

“Twilight,” Elliot said with a grin, “I believe you’ve already spoken to the Council.”

"Yes, of course," Twilight said, nodding respectfully at the group. "It's an honour, sirs."

"Sparkle," Prince Blueblood said politely. "What rank did you say she was, Commander?"

"Strictly speaking, Everfree squad are part of my spec-ops units," Elliot replied without looking at the Unicorn. "No official rank. Sparkle here was assigned as the leader..."

"Then Lieutenant will do," Blueblood said. "She'll need some rank for the paperwork and an officer rank seems fitting. Dinky, make a note."

"Will do, sir," a purple Unicorn mare said from behind him, jotting something down. Twilight blinked in surprise as she recognised a grown-up version of Dinky Doo, Ditzy's daughter. Ditzy herself stared at her for a moment, before turning away from her with an embarrassed expression when the Unicorn threw a dirty glance her way.

"Then there's the other members of Everfree squad," Blueblood continued, having apparently not noticed. "I believe 'operative' will cover most of them, except for Sergeants Rarity and Applejack who, I believe, have both been in command during Sparkle's research leave. And of course, Flight Officer Fluttershy and Flight Lieutenant Rainbow Dash of Grey Squadron are already listed."

A flicker of emotion passed over Dinky's face as she noted another mare among the group with a frown.

"Yes sir, they are, along with Flight Lieutenant Doo," she said, looking annoyed.

Ditzy Doo looked even more upset, but said nothing.

"Yes," Blueblood said with a frown, looking slightly guilty. "In any case. You've all done sterling work during the Plymouth campaign, but my understanding is there's something more important waiting for our attention?"

"Yes sir," Twilight said quietly. "There is."

"Excuse me," interrupted the voice of Major Redmond, walking up to the group, the two human councillors behind him. "Before your demonstration, Sparkle..."

"Lieutenant Sparkle," Elliot corrected him with a slightly smug expression.

"Lieutenant," Redmond repeated, frowning slightly. "We need your help with a delicate matter."

"What do you need?" Twilight asked, frowning. She had only been back for a few minutes and already there was something that needed her help - a battle?

"Your signature," Redmond replied with a smug grin of his own.

Twilight blinked in surprise. That hadn't... quite... been what she had expected...

***

Gentle Flower hummed to herself quietly. She didn’t really like being alone - it left her a bit more time to think than she strictly enjoyed, and she felt guilty that she couldn’t help the two who had been questioning her.

It wasn't that she didn't want to tell them - she did! Really she did! For one thing, much as she didn't want to believe it (she always thought ponies, at least, should be nicer than that) she was reasonably certain that they would probably at some point begin hurting her to retrieve the information. Also, it just wasn't nice keeping anything from anypony - or any human... no, the word was "anyone", wasn't it?

She frowned. She wondered precisely why thinking about humans and human language made such an odd tingle at the back of her skull. It was almost the same as the feeling she got when she thought about the hurting she was anticipating - a dull buzz that seemed to be trying to be more, and yet felt very far away. Still, the thinking about humans was different - almost like a stinging. It felt… bad, which was odd in itself because bad was a thing she had almost forgotten the feeling of.

Maybe it would be better to tell them... some small part of her thought. At once, the stinging got more pronounced, and she winced.

No, she thought suddenly. We were told to say nothing, and so we'll say nothing.

She was so distracted by the stinging, even as it receded, that she didn't notice the haggard looking pony entering the room until he already had. Once he had entered, she frowned at him. He was a Unicorn, haggard and tired looking, wearing a black outfit that she didn't recognise.

"Hello," she said at once. "What's your name?"

"Well Spring," the pony replied at once, a slight grimace crossing his face. "Guard Battalion two-twenty four, assigned to Plymouth campaign."

Gentle Flower's eyes widened in surprise - an Equestrian Royal Guard, here?. "Goodness! What are you doing here?!"

"Special directive, classified," Spring said with a slight frown. "Came to see how much you told them."

"Nothing, as per my directives!" Gentle Flower said at once. "I wish I could, but..."

"Good, you've followed your orders," Well Spring said, cutting her off. "Need you to tell me everything."

"What? Why?" Gentle Flower asked, frowning slightly. That didn't make sense...

"New orders," Spring said, holding up a piece of paper. “I need to know what you know so Command knows what’s at stake here.”

“Those…” Gentle Flower said, but then she breathed in sharply. The signature authorising the orders was none other than Commander Twilight Sparkle itself. “Oh my!”

“Yeah,” Spring said. “You see how high up this goes?”

“Yes, yes of course,” Gentle Flower said quietly. “What do you need to know?”

***

Outside, about five minutes later, a sick looking Wallace Springfield trotted over to Redmond and Errant Flight. The two had been joined by the Undead, the Dead Man who had recruited Springfield, and was the head of the Dead Men cult.

“Success?” the Undead asked quietly.

“Sir,” Springfield replied quietly.

“How bad was it?” Errant asked, frowning slightly at the sight of the sick looking pony. If it was bad enough to make a Dead Man look ill (they were notoriously hardy) then it must have been bad.

And then Springfield told them.

It was bad.

***

Plymouth Forward Base Mess Hall.

“... and then the buckers scattered like clouds!” Rainbow finished, grinning widely.

In the mess hall, Twilight sat with her friends. It had been a long flight and Elliot had convinced the council to allow her a short break with her friends before her demonstration. Rainbow Dash had just been explaining her rainboom and the circumstances of her injury to Twilight, who was understandably a bit worried.

“It was so scary,” Fluttershy said quietly. “I was so worried when Rainbow started falling.”

“Yeah, but you and Dark Wing had my plot,” Rainbow replied with a grin.

Twilight smiled weakly. It sounded like her friends had been through hell together - she only regretted that she had not been there.

“Course, with the deck cleared by Grey, Everfree was clear to land on the Lusty herself,” Applejack continued, taking up the story with a grin.

“The ’Lusty’?” Twilight said with a frown of distaste.

“Old nickname,” a new voice spoke. Hell Blazer and Doctor Clock Smith appeared, though the older pony was silent. Hell Blazer had a cigarette in his mouth and took a contented drag. “Hits the spot.”

“Those will kill you,” the Doctor said quietly. “You know that, I trust?”

“Handy thing about being a Converted,” Hell Blazer said with a slight expression of distaste. “New lungs. No history.”

“I believe True Grit - our True Grit,” the Doctor added with a glance at the newcomer Grit, who nodded sheepishly, “pointed out the dangers of smoking as much as you do with a pony body?”

“Cry me a river, Doc,” Hell Blazer said with a grin.

“Why would anyone name a ship ‘the Lusty’?” Twilight asked with a frown.

“You’ve never met sailors, have you Sparkle?” Hell Blazer asked with an amused grin. The grin soured slightly. “They’ll be ages fixing her up after this, though. And the smell…”

“Yeah,” Pinkie said unexpectedly. “That might take a while to get out.”

“You mean…?” Applejack asked, and then she too took on a morose expression as Pinkie nodded.

“What happened?” Twilight asked. The rest of Everfree team exchanged uneasy glances.

“Bodies,” Desert Wind said bluntly. "Human bodies. Mutilated. Experimented on."

There was a brief pause as Twilight registered this information. "I..." she said, stuttering somewhat. "I... just... why?"

"We don't know," Hell Blazer said quietly. "We're gonna find out."

There was a pause full of

“Excuse me,” Ditzy Doo said, speaking up. “Doctor Clock Smith, can I talk to you in private?”

The Doctor frowned, and glanced at Hell Blazer. The other pony shrugged with an expression of resignation, and the Doctor sighed.

“Of course Miss Doo,” he said quietly. He walked a little away from the table, and Ditzy walked over to join him.

“What’s that all about?” Rainbow asked, frowning after them.

“It’s a long story,” Hell Blazer said quietly. “And it’s theirs, not mine.”

***

When Ditzy reached him, the Doctor was quiet. He didn’t know quite what to expect, but he did know that he wasn’t prepared for this. In fact, he was fairly certain that he could never be prepared for this.

"Hello again," she said when she reached him, an odd note in her voice.

"Hello, Miss Doo," he said, trying not to let her proximity bother him. "What can I do for you?"

There was a moment's pause as she stared at him, a slightly sad smile forming on her face.

"I know," she said after a moment.

"Know what?" he asked at once, a cold shiver running down his spine.

"I know that you're the Doctor," she said patiently. She knew he was stalling her - it was, she supposed, his right.

"There are many Doctors in the Equestrian Resistance," he said, feigning ignorance. "You'll have to be..."

"You're my Doctor," Ditzy added, cutting him off. "Doctor Hooves. The Time Lord."

The Doctor's voice died away, and his frown deepened, showing off his wrinkles. Ditzy smiled sadly.

"How did you know?" he asked after a moment. He wasn't entirely surprised - Ditzy had always been smarter than most ponies thought she was - but still.

"You told me about regeneration," she said quietly. "Or my Doctor did. And I recognised the sonic screwdriver on the Illustrious when you used it."

His eyes glanced involuntarily down at the screwdriver, still resting in his battered leather bandolier, the last remnant of his Ditzy.

"I never used this model in front of you," he said quietly.

"No, but you did before, and it's still in the display cabinet in the TARDIS," she said quietly. "Along with a jacket a lot like that one, with a scarf a lot like that one too."

He said nothing for a long moment as they stood in silence. Ditzy apparently seemed patient enough to let him speak first.

"I didn't want to speak to you," he said to her after a moment. "I was... I was ashamed."

"Why?" Ditzy asked, looking confused.

"I regenerated after you died," he said. He shook his head. "After she... my Ditzy... died." He paused, looking angry at himself. "Thinking of you as her will not help me."

"Why did you change?" she asked, looking concerned - so much like his Ditzy that it almost hurt to look at her. "Were you hurt?"

"Not physically," the Doctor said quietly. "But regeneration can be triggered by choice. My choice was this form." He paused, trying to collect his thoughts. "It is the pony equivalent of a body I wore in humanoid form many years ago, during a greater, more terrible conflict."

"I didn't think you could do that," Ditzy said quietly.

"An exact replica, no," the Doctor replied, equally quietly. "But my previous pony form was a rough portmanteau of earlier bodies in terms of some physical and mental traits, so revisiting past forms and mindsets is obviously possible. With enough practice, I might even be able to replicate entire humanoid or pony bodies I have worn before."

"Why this one?" Ditzy asked.

"I..." the Doctor began, then he paused, clearly thinking how best to explain it. "You recall I may have briefly mentioned the war." Ditzy nodded. "During that time, I wore the humanoid version of this face. I regenerated then because if I did not, the universe would die - but I was really prompted by the death of a young human girl I had just met. Her death showed me that I could no longer hide." He paused, his voice cracking slightly with emotion. "When my Ditzy died..."

"It was the same sort of thing that made you become this person before," Ditzy finished for him. He nodded.

"And I swore I would do everything I could to stop Solamina," he said quietly. "Unfortunately, whereas in most cases I can usually figure something out, magic is not my area of expertise. I have managed to do my part, convince others to fight, lend help as I did on the Illustrious... even grant small tidbits of technologies to the human forces, though with their limited resources all I managed was more efficient solar energy panels, some new ways to produce ammunition and a few new kinds of energy and food-production technology - but I cannot end the war as I had hoped." He looked downcast. "As I failed Ditzy before, I now fail the entire human race, as well as all free ponies."

Ditzy smiled and put a hoof on his shoulder. He looked up and smiled softly.

"I know you're a good pony, Doctor," she said quietly. "And I know, whatever you've done, it was the best you could do. And knowing you, you won't stop until Solamina is stopped." She paused. "Just promise me something."

"If I can," he said quietly.

"When this war's over," she said quietly, "and if we're all still alive - promise me you'll find somepony to travel around with? If there's one thing I know, it's that you're not happy being alone."

The Doctor looked pensive for a moment, and then he sighed.

"If I survive, then yes," he said slowly. "I promise, I will find someone - or somepony - to take into the TARDIS with me."

Ditzy smiled, and hugged him.

"For what it's worth," she said quietly, "I know that your Ditzy would have been really proud of you."

Slowly, he reached up and hugged her back, closing his eyes. A single tear escaped from one eye, though he would never have acknowledged it.

"Thank you," he said quietly. "That means... that means more than you know."

The hug broke a moment later, the tear still lingering on the Doctor's face. He ignored it, eyes now focusing on four figures entering the mess hall. Ditzy frowned and turned to look in the same direction, her eyes widening slightly when she saw who it was. Elliot had entered with the council members, and they were talking with Twilight now.

"Ah," the Doctor said quietly. "It appears the time has come for Miss Sparkle to begin her demonstration."

***

A field near the base, five minutes later...

Twilight stood in front of the group. As well as the council and David Elliot, all of her friends were present, their expressions encouraging. As well as them, she could see Hell Blazer and the Doctor, both of whom wore neutral expressions.

"Alright," Twilight said, trying to get everyone's attention. "I need everyone to listen, because this is important." She took a deep breath. "I need every single one of you to concentrate on where you want this portal to come out. For ease of reference, I want everypony and everyone to concentrate on this world's Ponyville, ok?”

“Why?” Blueblood asked, narrowing his eyes.

“It’s how the spell works,” Twilight explained patiently. “The more ponies and people you have and the more they focus on their intention, the more powerful the portal becomes.”

She could see General Anderson already looking unimpressed, but he closed his eyes and began concentrating. Next to him, Blueblood and Sato both concentrated. Her friends all had their eyes closed as well, and Elliot too was concentrating. Even Hell Blazer had his eyes closed, an expression of scepticism on his face. Twilight turned to the empty field.

"Portus Maxima Liberatus!" she called out, concentrating as hard as she could on going to this world's Ponyville.

A bolt of white energy lashed out from her horn, seeming to impact on an invisible wall in mid-air before forming some sort of transparent doorway in mid air, through which a different place could be seen. At first the doorway was big enough to allow maybe a single person or pony through, but then it grew larger and wider as the spell continued to build, until it was large enough to accommodate dozens of people and machines at once. Through the portal, a small, almost deserted looking village could be seen - there were several shabby looking buildings that most of the assembled ponies didn't recognise.

“That’s Ponyville,” Twilight heard Blueblood say, the Unicorn Prince sounding almost confused. “But that’s…”

“Is this traversable?!” Anderson interrupted, sounding excited.

“I don’t know,” Twilight said honestly. “In theory…”

“Sod theory!” Hell Blazer said sharply, suddenly sounding angry. “We’ve spent years talking theory. It’s about bloody time we got some b - fucking results!”

Before anyone could stop him, the yellow Earth Pony walked up to the portal, a frown on his face. He reached slowly at the portal with a foreleg, before sticking his hoof through.

“Argh,” he said in a monotone voice. He pawed at a leaf that had fallen from a tree and pulled it back through the portal with him, before holding it up. “Ladies and gentlecolts - gentlemen even - I present an Equestrian leaf. Exactly as boring as the average Earth one.”

A moment later, Twilight released the portal and it quickly receded into nothing. The council, Elliot, Hell Blazer, the Doctor and her friends all looked at her, a range of emotions on their faces. Finally, Elliot spoke.

“Right then, everyone,” he said, looking around. “What’s the plan?”

The Last Plan.

Chapter Forty Two: The Last Plan.

***

Plymouth base. May 6th 2030.

There was a buzz in the air, a feeling unlike anything anyone and anypony in the camp had ever experienced. There was an emotion running around, an emotion none of the fighters had felt in a very long time, and though none of them could have said for certain where that feeling had come from, none of them would ever dare to question it.

For that feeling was hope. Hope in the endless, bitter war they had fought. Hope that maybe… just maybe... there might be an end in sight other than the grave and the ashes of defeat.

It took a single day for the assembled leaders of the British Defence Force to bring together a council of war, and now this council was gathered in a single large tent to discuss what the final plan of action for the invasion of Canterlot would be.

Everyone in the room was having their own conversations, filling the crowded room with a general murmur. Only a few of them knew the exact reason they had been summoned. Twilight looked around, counting the people and ponies and wondering exactly who was who. She didn't recognise most of them, But some of them she knew very well. The council themselves were present, just finishing a hushed conversation with Major Redmond.

Twilight had never seen them look so energised. Anderson seemed to be filled with a fire that no one had ever seen in the otherwise cynical man. Mr Sato was energised as well, smiling often and laughing heartily, as though a great burden had been lifted from his heart. Prince Blueblood’s Night Guard armour was, if it were possible, even more polished and impressive, as though he had spent all night making himself look as presentable and royal as he could in preparation for today.

As well as the council themselves, there were various other important figures. King William of Britain, a polite and quiet man in a simple set of military fatigues, had come with the council, as had Dinky Doo, who was now wearing a set of Night Guard armour that, while nowhere near as ornate as Blueblood’s, was still every inch as polished and presentable. With them was Civilian Representative Cheerilee, the magenta mare looking tired but energised - she was here representing the Equestrian Resistance’s civilian population, an often otherwise unheard voice.

As well as them was the tall, pale man that was known only as “the Undead” - the leader of the Dead Men. His coat was surprisingly ornate for the military; it was a leather trenchcoat with brass buttons. His gaze seemed to pierce any he levelled it at. With him stood Wallace Springfield, the Converted looking somewhat out of place yet seeming to radiate a confidence that was at odds with the quivering figure he had cut when he was first freed.

Another man had arrived by transport helicopter that morning. He and his associates had come dressed in plain grey military fatigues and wielding rifles, the only remarkable thing about them being the fact that many of them also seemed to have long swords strapped to their sides and pieces of archaic armour strapped on in places. Twilight had seen one or two soldiers like that before, but it was still odd - and slightly impressive - to see a full gathering of the Knights of Albion. They had thrown respectful salutes at the council, but had actively knelt before Elliot - their leader was a dark skinned man named Eric Smith, or “Sir Eric” as Elliot and most of his men had referred to him. He stood with two adjutants by his side.

Representing the highest ranking officers of the Resistance were two ponies: one was Air Commodore High Tide, an older pony in battle armour with a greying mane. The most notable thing about the navy coloured stallion was that his left wing had been ripped to pieces in action, and though it had been fixed, he had never been able to fly again.

Another was a pony named Colonel Grid Lock, a dark red Earth Pony with a road sign cutie mark who had, somehow managed to become the leader of the Resistance infantry (mainly through having exceptional organisational skills from his previous career as a road layer and traffic consultant).

Major Redmond was of course also there, having taken his position after chatting with the council. Though she knew he wasn’t really a high ranking officer as such, Twilight could understand his presence, since he was the highest ranking Defence Force soldier present (discounting Elliot). He looked somewhat tired and stressed, the energy in the room having somehow not reached him.

Another military officer, a human called Colonel Greene, was stood with his arms folded, looking irritated by this entire arrangement. He had salt and pepper stubble under a shaved head, and his eyes were cold blue, hard, and scrutinised every pony in the room with a look of at best suspicion and at worst outright hostility. Though Twilight hadn’t heard much about him, she knew he was supposedly, according to Elliot, ‘Hardcore HLF’ and a proponent of ‘ends justify the means’ thinking, which didn’t sound good. He’d spent most of the war fighting on the Scottish coast with members of the Long Watch of Britannia, but had come for this meeting especially.

Errant Flight (looking as tired as Redmond) and Grey Fox (looking nervous) were both there, as were a good half dozen other Pegasi squadron leaders, representing the Resistance Air Force's troops on the ground (so to speak). Hell Blazer and the Doctor had come, both of them looking odd surrounded by eminently military individuals in their casual civilian outfits, though Hell Blazer had straightened his tie and the Doctor had changed into a less battered leather coat as though trying to smarten himself up.

The most prominent amongst all of the assembled leaders and soldiers though was David Elliot himself, the Avatar of Albion. Though he had made no effort to tidy himself up, still wearing the battered clothes, worn boots and jacket that he had worn when he had first met Twilight and her friends, he looked more imposing and more powerful than she thought she had ever seen him.

Twilight, in her simple combat vest, was fortunately not alone: all of her friends, including True Grit, Ditzy and Lyra, as well as (to her surprise) the still-quiet Desert Wind, were here with her. To her surprise and joy, they had refused to let her go in alone, and the council had (reluctantly) allowed them to be present for these discussions. She looked nervous, but the reassuring expressions on the faces of her friends filled her with new resolve every time she turned to them. She was ready to state her case here.

“Alright!” called out Elliot, his voice commanding. Upon hearing his voice, the hubbub of small conversations in the tent ceased at once. “Everyone - thank you all for coming. I know several of you were pulled from important campaigns…” and here he nodded at Sir Eric, who returned the nod impassively, “and I also know that some of you aren’t comfortable with gathering so many of the Resistance’s leaders here…” and here Commodore Tide and Colonel Grid Lock both frowned slightly, “but I promise you, this is important.” He paused, looking around the group. “Ladies, gentlemen, mares and stallions, we’re here to discuss plans for what we’re terming operation Sundown - the invasion of Canterlot and the final destruction of the Solaminan Empire.”

The reaction was immediate. There was disbelief from some quarters: Redmond frowned sceptically, and Colonel Lock snorted derisively. Errant Flight exchanged glances with the other Squadron leaders, as though expecting some comment, but they followed his lead and remained silent. High Tide laughed, though whether from amusement or because he was happy about the news no one could tell.

The Undead and Sir Eric both straightened slightly, identical expressions of pride and eagerness appearing on their faces. Blueblood and the council members exchanged glances, and King William said nothing, apparently content to merely listen.

“Excuse me, sir,” Colonel Lock said after a moment. “But do you want to explain to me exactly how the buck that’s possible?”

Elliot grinned. “I’m glad you asked. Lieutenant Sparkle?”

Twilight threw one last glance at her friends, all of whom nodded reassuringly, before stepping forward.

“Lieutenant Sparkle is the one who discovered the spell we’ll be using to open a portal to Equestria,” Elliot began. “We’ve seen its effectiveness first hand.”

“A… portal?” Tide said, raising an eyebrow.

“That’s correct,” Twilight said shakily. “The portal can theoretically take us straight to Equestria from here. It’ll be a tricky thing to keep active,” she added, her voice cracking slightly from nerves, “but I’m sure we’ll be able to…”

“All due respect,” Colonel Lock said, interrupting Twilight with an expression of distaste, “but I’d prefer to see the effectiveness of this portal for myself.”

“As would I,” Commodore Tide added, throwing his colleague a glance. “But if Commander Albion says it works, I’m willing to hear this plan out.”

“Thank you, Commodore,” Elliot said, giving Lock a challenging look. “I assure you, Colonel, you will be given an opportunity to test the portal out prior to our assault.”

Lock nodded, apparently mollified for the moment.

“So,” Prince Blueblood said, looking around the assembled group. “We know our goals. The first step should be translating them into concrete mission objectives.”

“There should only be one objective as far as I’m, concerned,” Commodore Tide said. “Killing the Empress with extreme bucking prejudice.”

“Here fucking here!” Hell Blazer called out. The Doctor shushed him but several individuals seemed to think this was an acceptable answer.

“Prince Blueblood’s right,” Redmond put in. “It’s no good just saying that we need the bitch dead. We need to know how to achieve it. We need a goddamn plan.”

“Well first off, we can’t just attack Canterlot directly,” Blueblood said. “Even before the Equestrian council was dissolved, it was defended by all sorts of things - Guard contingents, special forces…”

“And what would you suggest instead?” Lock said.

“If I may,” the Undead said quietly, stepping forward slightly.

“Of course,” Sato said, bowing respectfully. “We always welcome hearing from the leader of one of the militant cults.”

Anderson coughed loudly, a noise that sounded suspiciously like it was trying to hide a laugh. Sato glanced at him briefly, looking unhappy, but the Undead ignored it.

“There are many means to an end,” the Undead put in. “We could, for example, use what aircraft we have to instigate a bombing campaign on crucial sites, thus crippling Solaminan factories and war-production and buying ourselves crucial time…”

“Such a bombing campaign would violate the Exodus Convention,” Cheerilee cut in, surprisingly sharply for the softly spoken mare. “The Convention states that our mission is to retake Equestria - any kind of bombing campaign would result in massive civilian casualties, which is unacceptable.”

The Undead, surprisingly, did not argue, instead bowing his head. “As you say, representative. I am in error.”

“I hate to be the one to say this,” put in Colonel Greene, sounding like he felt anything but hate at what he was thinking, “but since no one else is…”

“By all means,” Blueblood said slightly sarcastically, gesturing for the Colonel to speak.

Greene smiled sourly. “I’d say at this point, the Exodus Convention is bupkiss. We need to end this war, and here we are saying that now - finally - the thing can actually be ended in such a way that we don’t all die! Frankly, if bombing the shit out of a few cities is the way to do it…”

“No,” Anderson put in, scowling. “That won’t be happening, Colonel. We signed the Exodus Convention in good faith, and we won’t breach it now, not when we have alternatives.”

“Sir,” Colonel Greene said, “a campaign of bombing runs - hell, one nuke - and we can turn this war from an unwinnable farce where we’ve been on the constant defensive without even a chance to defend ourselves, into something where we have the advantage…”

“And we can decide to become the monsters we fought - we decide that the lives of innocents don’t matter,” Elliot snapped, his eyes narrowed at the Colonel. “Is that what you’re suggesting, Colonel?”

“Well this might have escaped your notice while you were playing King Arthur, boy,” Greene said, “but we’re losing this war. We’re in about as desperate a set of straits as the human race has ever been!”

“And we were in desperate straits when we signed the Exodus Convention,” Elliot rejoined, ignoring the King Arthur jibe. “We signed the convention to ensure that whatever we did, we’d not be afraid to sleep at the end of it. If we were going to do whatever we wanted without conscience…”

“Conscience?!” Greene growled. “Permission to speak perfectly candidly, sirs?”

“Granted,” Anderson said softly.

“Sir, we have spent six years losing millions of soldiers,” the Colonel said. “Including pony soldiers. Isn’t it better for everyone involved if we just end the damn thing?”

“The opinion of the Exodite civilians population on the matter has never changed,” Cheerilee said quietly, her eyes cold. “We want to go home - to take back our home and rebuild. We don’t want to return to ashes.”

“But this world is ashes,” Greene retorted. “Ashes and cinders and rubble. What if the human race is tired of giving up everything? What if we want something to come back to?”

There was a long pause at that remark.

“I do have something to come back to,” Elliot put in. “I have the knowledge that I never sank as low as the men under my command who were in the army back when we had camps and strict martial law and -”

“That knowledge isn’t going to bring the world back,” Greene said. “That knowledge isn’t going to restore everything we’ve lost. You ask me, Equestria’s been lucky not to suffer as badly as Earth has.”

“Lucky?!” Dinky Doo snapped. “Lucky?! Was my mother lucky when she blew herself up to -!”

“That’s enough!” Blueblood snapped. He looked at Dinky. “Stand down, Doo.”

Dinky snorted but said nothing.

Blueblood turned to Greene. “Believe it or not, Colonel, I sympathise with you. I really do. And you’re right - Earth’s lost a lot more than Equestria. That was wrong. But what you’re talking about isn’t just a strategic victory - you’re talking about revenge.”

Greene narrowed his eyes. “Maybe we earned some.”

“Maybe you have,” Blueblood said. “But there are ponies even in your units, Colonel. Ponies you’ve served with for all these years. Ponies with homes, ponies who want to see those homes again. They’ve given as much as you have. Don’t they have the right to see their struggles validated as much as you do?”

Greene said nothing for a moment, but then he turned away, sighing.

“You’re right,” he said quietly. “Two wrongs… don’t make a right.” He paused. “And if I don’t get to see my home again… I can’t deny the ponies who served with me the right to see theirs. But I still think a bombing campaign is the best idea.”

“The consensus says differently,” Anderson commented.

“So it does,” Greene muttered.

There was a long pause as everyone and everypony thought things through.

“We need a way to end the war with minimum of casualties,” Cheerilee put in. “Canterlot is the only target where that’s possible.”

“Agreed,” Anderson put in. “Solamina is there. It’s the seat of Equestrian military and civilian power. It has to be our objective - we take it, the war ends.”

“Are we really so willing to waste lives on a full assault on Canterlot?” Grid Lock said. “A slower invasion, starting from lesser defended positions…”

“A slower invasion would be difficult to sustain,” Twilight put in, a little hesitantly. “The portal is going to be difficult to activate - and that’s if Solamina doesn’t create a way to close it off.”

“There’s also the fact that, to put it bluntly, we cannot afford a long, drawn out war,” Sato added gravely. “Whatever plan we have must cut the head from the Empire’s shoulders. If we are drawn into a long term conflict, we will waste too many resources - we will lose this war.”

This point levelled a grim silence upon the assembled soldiers and leaders.

“He’s right,” Redmond said grimly. “We don’t have the troops to fight a defensive war in Britain and a battle in Equestria. One of those fronts will suffer.”

“Then whatever plan we have has to end the war,” Elliot said simply.

“That simple, huh?” Greene asked derisively. “Only a matter of breaking down Canterlot’s defences, landing troops there, killing the most powerful creature in Equestria and doing it all without wasting so many resources that our forces can’t recover if they should have to.”

He snorted, shaking his head.

“I never said it would be simple,” Elliot said quietly, giving the Colonel a glare. “But it’s a fact. We have to end the war with this battle.”

“Then the plan had better be a good one,” High Tide said bluntly. “Or we’re dead.”

There was a moment’s pause as that particularly grim assessment sunk in with everyone and everypony.

“It strikes me,” the Dead Men’s leader put in, “that if the mission must be to assassinate Solamina, then only a small handful need be sent, possibly a sort of infiltration mission. I would be more than willing to volunteer a group of my finest…”

“And we would as well,” Sir Eric added at once, catching the Undead’s drift.

“Is such an infiltration possible?” Sato asked, looking at Twilight.

Blinking in surprise at being addressed, the purple Unicorn stuttered slightly. “I - I think so, yes. In theory, we could set the portal to open in Canterlot.”

“I wouldn’t recommend it,” Blueblood said quietly. “The defences of Canterlot are vast - Auntie Celestia…!” He paused, his expression souring and his eyes closing briefly, whether in self-recrimination for the mistake or in bitter remembrance of happier times, no one could tell.

“Empress Solamina,” he began again, “has hundreds of thousands of Royal Guards, and that’s not even beginning to count the other forces she can call upon. Twilight Sparkle and her entire Archmagi contingent, Sol Invictus’ militia forces, the Solar Idols, the Crystal Golems… I don’t think that any small team, unless they were really lucky, could avoid all of them, and they’d be overwhelmed.”

There was a long pause as the assembled group digested Blueblood’s words.

“So you suggest a frontal assault?” Redmond asked after a while.

“I don’t see what else we can do,” Blueblood shrugged.

“We’ve already said we need to win this quick,” Anderson growled, sounding annoyed at the very suggestion. “A siege would be too time-consuming.”

“And yet stealth seems too risky, too unlikely to succeed,” Sato pointed out, folding his arms.

“So we have two options,” Elliot cut in, holding up a hand to forestall an argument. “We can either infiltrate or we can attack head on.”

“So it seems,” Blueblood agreed quietly, looking less than happy.

“There has to be a third option,” Elliot said quietly. “Any third option.”

“We seem to return to…” Greene began.

“Not that third option,” Elliot growled. “The nukes and the bombing campaigns are off the table, Colonel.”

“Careful how you talk to me, Major,” Greene growled. “I could still take you on, fancy magic or not.”

“Colonel, Major, if you can’t be civil to one another, you can both piss off,” General Anderson put in. Eyes widening and nostrils flaring, Greene stood to attention.

“Apologies, sir,” he put in, sounding annoyed.

Elliot sighed. “Sorry.”

Anderson scowled at him.

For a long while, the group was silent save for a series of murmurings, each of them contemplating possible alternatives to the two courses of action that had been suggested so far.

“There has to be some other way!” Twilight said after a while of this silence, looking around. “You can’t tell me that we have so many tacticians here and nopony... nobody has any ideas?!”

“It isn’t a simple job, Lieutenant Sparkle,” Redmond growled. “We have a lot of checks to balance, and lives hang in the balance.”

“What if…” a small voice spoke. Suddenly, everyone was utterly silent, their gaze drawn to the pony who had spoken. Of all of them, it had been Fluttershy who had spoken.

“What if what, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked.

Her voice so quiet that she could barely be heard at all, Fluttershy gulped as she spoke. “What if we do both?”

“Both?” Twilight repeated. The word echoed throughout the room. To Fluttershy’s surprise, the idea was not immediately shot down: she had only suggested it due to her natural desire for compromise between disagreeing groups - her knowledge of military tactics was limited even now - but apparently, the idea had some traction.

“Well, what if there’s a big attack,” she said, her voice growing in volume as she spoke, now feeling that she wasn't talking complete nonsense, “but the big attack is just to distract most of the forces in Canterlot… then the small team can infiltrate and then… and then…”

Her voice trailed off. The room was silent, the assembled leaders apparently considering it.

“And then Solamina’s forces are divided,” Elliot said slowly. “War on two fronts. Divide and conquer. Oldest tactic in the book, but...”

“How would it work?” Blueblood asked, turning to look at Twilight. “Can we open more than one portal?”

“The spell can be taught to others,” Twilight said at once, looking around to see what other unicorns were here. “I mean… Lyra for example.”

“Me?” Lyra said quickly, the turquoise mare surprised to be called upon. “Why me?”

“You’re almost as skilled as me,” Twilight said sincerely, smiling encouragingly. “If there’s anypony here I’d trust to open another portal, it’d be you.”

“So say we open two portals,” Anderson said gruffly. “What then?”

"We'd need a small infiltration team," Elliot replied. "Me for Solamina. A team to help me handle anything else."

"Excuse me sirs," came Grey Fox's voice, the nervy young squadron leader raising a hoof almost curiously. "It's occurred to me that we're discussing this as though we're on a time limit. I know our situation is desperate... but I mean, surely we don't need to decide anything right this second..."

There was a general hubbub of agreement at this point: they had time, didn't they? The war wouldn't be lost in a few days of discussion. However, the council looked grim, sharing unhappy glances with Major Redmond and Errant Flight, who looked equally unhappy.

"I'm afraid we're on more of a time limit than we know," Sato said quietly. "Major Redmond and Errant Flight recently completed interrogation of a captured Archmagi."

The word 'Archmagi' brought worried expressions to the faces of the assembled leaders - the name implied an implicit connection with Commander Twilight Sparkle, which made any information from that source more important than the average prisoner.

"Major," Blueblood said, sounding vaguely ill. "If you could elucidate."

Redmond frowned, but he stepped forward slightly. "As some of you may know, there have been several instances... the Illustrious being the most recent, though we know of others... where Equestrian forces have hoarded human prisoners, or in the case of the Illustrious their bodies... for reasons we were uncertain of until recently." There was a pause. "Thanks to the assistance of Acolyte Springfield of the Dead Men, a Converted whose programming was broken, we were able to extract the information from our prisoner. She told him..."

He paused, the otherwise stern and hard man apparently not able to put what he had heard into words.

"She told me why they needed the bodies," Springfield cut in. "They're experimenting on them."

"On bodies?" Grey Fox asked, looking disgusted - he wasn't alone in that, as most of the people and ponies in the room looked as though they wanted to throw up. "Why?!"

"The genetic material of humanity," Springfield said slowly, sounding as horrified as the rest of the room. "They want it to hand... to hoof... so they can experiment on it. Find new ways of killing us... new ways of converting us."

"The actual specifics were some sort of corrosive element they wanted to add to the potion," Errant Flight put in tonelessly. "It's why the bodies were so damaged. They want to find a way to get past our protection suits without damaging the flesh beneath. So far they’ve been… unsuccessful."

"They want to end the war faster," Springfield continued, looking around the assembled group. "We don’t have time to waste. If they intend it, they’ll succeed.”

“Even if they are doing this research,” High Tide pointed out, “why would they need so many bodies? No way they’d need that many?”

“There’s more uses for them,” Errant said quietly. “Wallace?”

“The prisoner said that Sparkle has a ‘secret project’,” the Converted said. “We don’t know exactly what that project is going to be - the prisoner wasn’t high level enough for it - but with the Solaminan Empire, who the hell knows?”

“Even with this information, we surely still have time,” Lock put in. “Time to plan a counter to them, if we act quickly.”

“This is Sparkle's new pet project,” Redmond replied, snorting derisively. “With her involved, how much time do you think we have?”

“According to our prisoner,” Errant Flight said, “she’s been committing extra hours to these two projects of hers of action ever since she found out about the newcomer Elements..."

"How did they do that, anyway?" Grid Lock asked, scowling at Twilight and her friends. Twilight shrank back from his gaze.

"If you read the report," Elliot put in quietly, "you'd know there were magical problems involved. We could never have accounted for magical means of spying that we know nothing about.”

“Agreed,” Blueblood put in. “Solamina has access through the Canterlot archives to many arcane mysteries we dare not imagine. It was inevitable some might be put to use.”

“Which returns us to the question of this plan,” High Tide said. “A small infiltration team, invading Canterlot - but that leaves the question of Canterlot itself on the bigger field. There’s no way we’d be able to take the city.”

“He’s right,” Springfield said quietly. “The Archmagi would immediately summon a shield impervious to magical or physical attack. The city would be impenetrable.”

“And if the Archmagi were somehow taken out of the equation?” Elliot asked.

“Then… there’s nothing else that can do the shield spell,” Springfield said slowly.

“Then maybe that should be another objective of the group,” Elliot said with a smile. “Solamina might be my main target, but I don’t think she’ll be right at the portal - unless we open it in her chambers.”

A smattering of giggles and chuckles lightened the mood in the room. Some people, however, were not so amused.

“This sounds like the second coming of Market-bloody-Garden,” Anderson said, sounding irritated. “A small group goes ahead of the main force to clear the way, with no backup and no way out if things fuck up.”

“You’re right,” Elliot replied, and Anderson blinked in surprise. “But this isn’t a time for half measures. It’s a time to put our all into it.”

“All or nothing,” the Australian General growled. “I remember ‘all or nothing’ - got most of the Australian army burned by the Barrier when we unleashed hell on the bloody thing.”

“We’ve entered the last days,” Elliot said grimly. “You heard what Springfield said. They’re working on ways past our hazmat suits. With that gone, there’d be nothing stopping them from potion bombing cities - nothing stopping them from turning us all into Converted. That isn’t a fate I think most humans here would want.”

“Agreed,” Springfield said quietly. “I’d rather have died.”

“And me,” Hell Blazer cut in. “I was a bloody Convie for five b-fucking minutes, and it was the worst thing I’ve ever been through.” He frowned. “Still is now - you have no idea how fucking aggravating this pony shite in my head is.”

“Yeah,” Springfield said quietly. The two Converted had become the centre of attention, everyone and everypony suddenly realising that they were the possible future if the armies of Britain weren’t successful.

“So our only choices are two impossible plans or an almost impossible plan,” Blueblood said quietly. He looked around the assembled leaders. “I don’t like this, if I’m being honest. I’d prefer something with a better chance of actually succeeding. But…”

“But that’s a luxury,” Anderson continued, not looking at anyone. “Fuck.”

“If I may?” came the soft voice of King William. At a nod from Blueblood, the tall, balding man stepped forward.

“We’ve all suffered a lot during this war,” the King began, looking around. “We’ve all lost a lot. There are people here from lands which no longer exist.” Anderson and Redmond shared a glance. “There are ponies here who’ve lost everything, who’ve seen their home become a tyranny.” Errant Flight looked at the floor, lost in memories. “We all know someone who fell in battle, or who was converted, or both. But despite that, we’ve all chosen to fight. We’ve stepped up to the challenge of defending the last of humanity, of standing against the most terrible tyranny both our worlds have ever witnessed.” He smiled, a slightly melancholy thing. “We are a mouse in front of a lion, as this island has been a hundred times before.” He looked around, and then his smile changed into an almost feral grin. “I think after six years, we’ve earned the chance to make Equestria hear our bloody roar!”

As one, most of the room erupted in cheers. Blueblood grinned. Anderson laughed. Redmond saluted smartly. Sir Eric and the rest of the Albion Knights hollered and stamped their feet. Elliot cheered.

After a moment, the entire room settled down.

“I take it from the rather… exuberant show of approval that we’re good with this plan?” Blueblood asked. No one said anything. “Alright then. Major Elliot,” he said, using Elliot’s rarely spoken military rank, “what troops will you need?”

“Only a squad’s worth, sir,” Elliot said. “I can take Solamina alone,” ‘I hope, “so it’s really a case of dealing with the Archmagi - and I think we’ll need stealth before brute force.” He paused, thinking to himself. “I’ll only take volunteers though. It’s too dangerous to order anyone to go with me.”

“Well you’ve got one right bloody now,” Hell Blazer said at once. “I’ve gone with you through every other harebrained scheme you’ve come up with - why not this one?”

“I’ll go with you as well,” the Doctor added. “I was there when the Solaminan Empire began. It will be good to be there when it ends as well.”

“You’ll need me to open the portal,” Twilight said quietly. “There’s no way in Tartarus that I’m not going with you.”

“If Twilight’s going,” Applejack added, “then we’re all going as well.” The Element bearers nodded in agreement. “We’re not leaving her on her own.”

“Rainbow and Fluttershy can’t go with you,” Errant Flight said at once. “Grey Squadron needs them.”

The two Pegasi shared a glance, before Fluttershy looked at Errant. “I’m sorry Errant, but we’re going with Twilight. We’re friends. We’ve come too far now to not see it to the end.”

“I did ask for volunteers,” Elliot said quietly. “And Grey's never short of volunteers - you'll find somepony.”

Errant sighed and nodded. "Ok then."

“You not coming with, Ditzy?” Rainbow asked the grey mare. She shook her head.

“The Ditzy of this world flew with Grey Squadron,” she said. “She died flying with them, trying to free Equestria. I think… I think it’s right that I should go with Grey Squadron, since she can’t.”

Standing behind Blueblood, Dinky lifted her head from her notepad. She gave the mare that looked and acted like her mother an odd look - partly of resentment… and partly of something else. A kind of grudging love and respect. She half smiled, before returning her attention to her notes.

“Thank you,” Errant said quietly, looking at her with respect. He looked at Rainbow and Fluttershy, and smiled slightly. “It’ll be a shame to miss you at the party.”

“Give ‘em hell for us,” Rainbow said with a grin.

“What about Grit and Lyra?” Applejack asked.

“Lyra has to open the portal for the main forces,” Twilight pointed out. “She’s the best qualified, I think.”

The turquoise mare smiled half-heartedly, clearly not entirely comfortable with the idea.

“In that case,” True Grit said quietly. “I’ll go with Miss Heartstrings. It isn’t right to send her alone.”

Lyra grinned at him. “Thanks Grit.”

“No problem, ma’am,” the former Guard replied.

“Ahem,” another voice spoke. Desert Wind raised a hoof. “If there’s a team going to Canterlot, I’m going with ‘em. I have a score to settle with Commander Sparkle, and she’ll likely be with her Archmagi.”

“This isn’t a personal revenge mission, Operative Wind,” Blueblood said with a frown.

“No, it ain’t, your blueness,” Wind said with a snort. “It’s an impossible suicide mission, and the man asked for volunteers. He never asked why they were volunteering.”

Blueblood sighed and looked at Elliot. “Your call, Major.”

“I won’t turn down help,” Elliot replied, before glancing at Desert Wind. “but you follow orders, Operative.”

“Always, sir,” Desert Wind replied with a grin. “Especially if they lead me where I want to go.”

“Anyone else?” Elliot asked.

A moment later, Sir Eric turned to his two adjutants. One of them, a young woman with short red hair, stepped forward.

“Sir Elise, sir,” she said quietly. “I have a ten man troop at my command. I know for certain that all of them would be honoured to stand beside you.” She drew her sword and knelt before Elliot. “You have our swords.”

“And my hooves,” Springfield added, stepping forward. “Solamina’s wronged the Converted more than she’s wronged anyone. If one of us isn’t there to see her dead, it’d be a crime.”

“Ahem,” Hell Blazer pointed out.

“No offence, sir, but you were one of the Converted for five minutes,” Springfield said angrily. “I lived with it for seven years. I will not let the chance to be there for us slip by.” He turned to the Undead. “With your permission, sir.”

“The Dead should be there,” the Undead replied simply. “It is our duty.”

Springfield inclined his head in gratitude, before moving to stand near Elliot. The Avatar grinned.

“I think that’s everyone,” he said quietly.

“Alright then,” Blueblood said, looking at the group. He quietly conferred with the other two council members. “We launch the attack on June 6th. Either we die, or they do.”

The Undead chuckled slightly, drawing everyone’s attention simply from the sheer incongruity of it.

“What?” Anderson asked.

“This plan. Certainty of death,” the Undead replied, listing the attributes of the plan with his fingers. “Small chance of success.” He laughed. “What are we waiting for?”

***

Author's Note

And boom! With especial thanks to RoyalPsycho for helping me proofread this particular chapter, and thanks once more to everyone who's commented and favourited.

EDIT: This chapter was (re)edited 4th August 2015

Gathering The Army.

Chapter Forty Three: Gathering The Army.

***

Plymouth base, May 2030.

The following month was insane: soldiers from across the country were brought. Experimental weapons were signed off on, manufactured and sent into action. Guns were built and commissioned and re commissioned from museums. Tanks were oiled and fueled and set into position. Helicopters were landed in place, ready to transport cargo or weapons.

The army was being gathered for this, the most important battle in the history of the human race.

***

May 10th.

There was a bustle of activity in the camp. Soldiers ran hither and thither, Sergeants yelling orders, officers conducting inspections and making certain that everything was where it should be.

To Prince Blueblood, this sort of ordered chaos was a kind of anathema. He still marvelled that it had ever become part of his life: it really belonged more to the life his father had been part of. General Steelblood had been a stern, unrelenting member of the Royal Guard, one of the highest regarded members of the Guard of his time, and beloved by all his soldiers.

It had been one of Steelblood's greatest disappointments when Blueblood, his only son, had failed to be anything remotely impressive as a soldier. Steelblood had always been hard on his son, always pushed him to try and be just like his father. Blueblood had tried to make his father proud, honestly he had, but… but he had never, ever succeeded. He had joined the army but failed the officer course. He had tried again... nothing. He had pushed himself harder than he thought ponies could, and managed to make officer rank after four tries - but by then his father was already disappointed.

After that, nothing he did was ever good enough for his father's insanely exacting standards. Being an officer - nothing. Top of his class - nothing. Eventually, Blueblood had just given up, leaving the military. His father, in return, stopped speaking to him. His mother, a kind and understanding mare named Blue Star, had refused to allow Steelblood to cut Blueblood off, but the older stallion had never deigned to speak to his son again. That had been what had prompted Blueblood's socialising: he had decided that since he wasn't going to please his father anyway, there was no point even trying. The old stallion had died thinking of his son as a disgrace to the family name.

"What would you think of me now, father?" Blueblood wondered aloud as he watched soldiers and support staff wander the field, preparing the various tanks and planes as they were being fueled, assembled into formations and crewed.

"Sir?" a small voice said. He turned to find himself facing Dinky Doo, who was watching him with a curious expression.

"Just a random thought, Dinky," Blueblood sighed. "It isn't really important."

Dinky nodded slowly, before coming up to stand next to Blueblood, watching as ponies and humans marched by in formation. in the distance, she could see knights of Albion dueling in preparation for the invasion of Equestria.

"Sir," Dinky asked after a moment, "I have a favour to ask."

Blueblood sighed resignedly. "Let me guess, Miss Doo. You want to join the battle."

Dinky looked at him, her eyes filled with a kind of fervour Blueblood had seen many times, but also with tears. "Sir, it isn't that… that other Ditzy's place to represent my mother in this battle. It's mine. I'm all that's left."

"Indeed?" Blueblood asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I need to be out there," she said earnestly. "I need to be in this fight. I'm begging you sir…"

He held up a hoof, forestalling her continued pleading. He looked back at the soldiers preparing for the coming battle, and he sighed quietly.

"My father was never proud of me," he said slowly, not looking at the young Unicorn. "I tried my best. I did everything that stubborn old stallion demanded from me. Nothing worked. I was never good enough." He looked at Dinky, a soft smile on his face. "You have a chance to fight for something your mother fought for. To try and do something that you feel would make her proud. I couldn't possibly take that from you."

"You mean…?" she asked, her eyes wide with shock.

"I mean, Miss Doo, that you will be accompanying me on the battlefield," Blueblood said, frowning slightly. "I think the time's come for both of us to stand on the field of battle."

Dinky had nothing to say, and so she stood next to Blueblood, her eyes wide in surprise and shock. The two of them stood in silence as the preparations passed them by.

It would soon be time.

***

May 14th.

"Alright, you buckers!" the stern voice of Iron Gait called out. The old drill sergeant had been called out to help with the organisation of the Equestrian forces, and had been (temporarily he hoped) brevet promoted to Sergeant Major in order to facilitate the role. It was an especially vexing task, since most of the ponies he seemed to be working with were a bunch of bucking idiots.

"Careful with that bucking crate!" he yelled at a couple of Unicorns who were moving a large, heavy box. "That's filled with P220's - they'll be a fine mess if you jostle 'em too much!"

Everything was being dragged out for this battle, and Iron Gait grinned slightly at the thought of the destructive miniguns being rolled out by the batch, ready to use against the Equestrian armies. Still, if they never got there they wouldn't be much use, now would they?

"And you!" he yelled at a group of Resistance moped unicorns who were talking near him. "What the buck are you standing around for?! There's a war on!"

"Yes sir! Sorry sir!" they yelled, immediately heading off to do... something.

"Bucking morons..." Gait muttered. He didn't know why he'd ever accepted this transfer. He had been relatively happy training ponies up North. This business was far removed from that. Having said that, if this all worked out like some of the rumours flying suggested, pretty soon there would be no need for him to train ponies. The war would be over.

"Sergeant Major!" a new voice called out. Gait turned, to find himself facing Colonel Grid Lock.

"Sir!" he said sharply, saluting.

"Want to tell me what's going on here? These crates should have been moving an hour ago!" the Colonel said sharply.

Gait grimaced slightly. "These buckers are slow, sir, but don't worry, I'll get them moving in no time."

"Be sure you do," Grid Lock said, inspecting the troops as they moved the guns. "We need a lot of advantages if we're gonna fight the Guard on their home turf, and those guns might be the best one we get."

"Yessir, I understand," Gait nodded. He turned back to the crates, still being lugged by the Unicorns. "Alright, now get your bucking acts together! Move it, you plotwipes! We've a war to win!"

A jeep drove up to the Sergeant Major, and the Unicorns immediately moved the crates onto the jeep.

"Excuse me sir?!" the pony driving the jeep called out to Iron Gait. "Where do you want…?"

There was a pause as the pony registered who he was talking to. Iron Gait, meanwhile, grinned as he recognised the jeep driver.

"Well if it isn't Private Dipstick," he said with a grin. "Heck, boy, I knew we'd make something useful out of you!"

Private Chick Pea, Resistance Jeep driver, groaned inwardly. "Hello, sir."

"Well don't just sit there, boy!" Iron Gait said, slapping the other pony on the shoulder in what was probably a friendly gesture. "Start driving! We've got weapons to move!"

***

May 20th.

"In death, our spirits are freed from our mortal shells," the grim voice of the Undead spoke to his followers. He was dressed in his almost-ornate trenchcoat, a black helmet upon his head. "That our bodies remain awake is a mistake, some might say. An error on the part of the universe. We are a cosmic accident, and our continued awareness on this plane is a gift, one we must not squander."

Twenty five Undead warriors, ponies and humans alike, knelt before him - more were in the camp, but these were the ones who weren't busy preparing for battle. They, and their brethren, were dressed in gas masks with painted skulls, long black trenchcoats and steel helmets, looking for all the world like a small army of Grim Reapers. Every one of them carried the same model of automatic rifle, each weapon bearing personalised messages carved into the stock that spoke of their own deaths and duties.

"The world is threatened," the Undead continued, looking out at his force. "Our Mother Earth has all but fallen to the darkness, save this one isle. It is the dead who will claim that world again. It is the dead who will restore the world and protect the living! The Dead Walk!"

"And we have purpose!" came the shout from the assembled Dead Men.

"Our engineers are hard at work," the Undead continued, raising an arm to point behind the praying group. "They are building the Avatar of the Dead, as the man Elliot is the Avatar of the living! This will be our voice, the voice of the Dead that will silence forever the crimes of the living. This is the justice of the dead, come for Equestria, come for the Tyrant Sun. The Dead Walk!"

"And we have purpose!" the Dead Men shouted again.

There were a number of Dead Men engineers working on a large transport helicopter, modifying it to have weapons and other accruements, and painting it black. Already the machine possessed an intimidating presence as it was slowly transformed into an avatar of everything the Dead Men believed and fought for. Upon the sides of the great machine was a litany written in white paint, repeated across the entirety of the chassis. The litany read:

Our lives have ended,
Our time has come.
Our souls have departed,
But our bodies live on.
We walk the land as mistakes of fate,
But we shall stand before it's too late.
In life, we were free.
In death, we have duty.
The Dead Walk.
And we have purpose.

This litany spread across the surface of the great machine like a spiderweb, covering every nook, every cranny. The only space free from the litany was the side of the great machine, where there was a name written in a huge, almost calligraphic font.

ABSOLUTION.

"We do not fear the death of the body," the Undead continued, looking out among his troops and giving the Absolution a glance, feeling an altogether warm feeling of rightness about the whole thing - possibly the only warm feelings he ever really had, apart from Life Day. "The soul is already free. We cannot fear death, for to fear death is to fear that which has already come to pass for us. We only fear failure! We only fear the thought of not making good on the gift we have been given!" He paused, before smiling, an almost insane rictus. "We walk! We walk to save mankind, to destroy its enemies, to save our world! We walk!"

"And we have purpose!" the Dead shouted one last time.

***

May 22nd.

"Knights of Avalon! Warriors of Albion! This is our time!"

Sir Eric, the head of the Holy Order of Albion, stood before an assemblage of his warriors. Over four hundred of them had come from across the country, warriors who had seen the most trying of battles, fought the most deadly of foes and seen the worst that the Solaminan Empire had to offer. He could see Sir Elise, the woman who had fought on the ground at the last battle of Hull not three weeks ago. There were Sir Gregor of Pembrokeshire and Sir Thomas of Reading, men who had fought by Albion's side at the battle of London itself. Beside them was Sir Nathaniel of Rochester, Sir Isaac, the hero of Edinburgh, and Sir Eleanor of York, who had single-handedly shattered a Crystal Golem that had been rampaging through her hometown and slain its handler. Sir Quincy the Fell-handed was there, and Sir Meredith the True, and Sir Jason sans le Argonauts (his own preferred title, after his many valiant actions none dared question it), who stood with a group of warriors who had fought with him during the evacuation of the Lake District.

They were heroes all, these men and women: each of them was a warrior who he would have trusted with his life a thousand times over. He could not think of a better band of battle-brethren to take with him into this, the final battle of this long and bloody war.

"I see before me the finest warriors in all of Albion," Sir Eric continued, locking eyes with warrior after warrior and swelling with pride at the grim determination he saw in each face. "There are warriors here who have stood tall and proud before the darkest foes our people have faced. I could not bring a finer fellowship to this final battle." He paused. "We face the most crucial battle yet. The battle that will decide the final fate of our great land and humankind itself! Either we walk into that hell and take the head of the demon Solamina, slay her and bring her Empire to ruin, or else she will cast down Britain and all her knights and finally lay low the banner of humanity!"

There was a dark murmuring from the assembled knights.

"I have called this convocation for one purpose," Sir Eric said slowly. "This battle will claim many lives - possibly the lives of every warrior who fights it. Though you are all of valorous heart and stout spirit, I do not intend to ask you to walk into certain death unless you truly desire to do so. Every man, every woman, must find their own duty in their hearts. You may feel your duty calls you to defend these shores to the last rather than risk all on what may be a fool's errand." He looked across the group. "If you choose to step aside from this battle, feel no shame. Each of you here has proven yourself a thousand times. You need not prove your valour again."

There was a long pause as the assembled knights considered the choice posed before them. Finally, Sir Eleanor of York stepped forward. There was a moment's muttering as she did so.

"I would speak!" she said simply.

"I will hear it," Sir Eric replied, focusing on the young woman.

"This war has claimed all that I loved," she said, her voice strong and clear as her gaze swept the convocation. "My parents. My siblings. I would not stand aside from the last battle now. I will see this through to the end. And I think I speak for all here when I say that."

"Faithless is the warrior who forsakes his duty at the last hurdle," Sir Jason agreed grimly. "I stand to the end."

"I will not abandon my oaths, nor will I watch my friends march into battle without my blade to hand!" called Sir Isaac. "I will go!"

"As will I!" Sir Nathaniel yelled.

"And I!" called another voice.

"And I!" more called, in ones and twos. Blades were drawn and held up to the sky in gestures of solidarity.

Sir Eric looked, and saw not a single warrior stepped away from the throng. His heart swelled with pride - though the road was dark, and though his heart foreboded that he would never return from it, he knew he would stand beside his brothers and sisters in battle one last time.

"Brothers, sisters," he said, his voice cracking with emotion as he drew his sword and knelt before them. "Let us pray."

***

May 24th.

"And all our channels have been buzzing with the news of a big military buildup," the mare on the radio said, her upper class Trottingham voice filling the small tent. "While we at Resistance FM are not prone to guessing, we'd like to hope that this buildup means something good is on the horizon…”

"You're Pony-Goddamn right," somepony said, and a cheer went up in the room.

“… and we urge our domestic listeners to keep the faith,” the mare continued. “To the Resistance: all of our hopes and prayers are with you. May the white horse watch your steps.”

Rarity closed her eyes, trying to will away the feeling of foreboding. Next to her, Applejack was smiling softly.

"I reckon this'll all be over soon, Rare," she said quietly. "D'you reckon we'll be able to do it?"

"We'll have to," Rarity said quietly. "If we don't… that's it."

***

May 27th.

The former ERAS Interdiction - the prefix unceremoniously scraped off of the great golden frame - was being refitted for the coming battle. Soldiers were fitting machine guns and cannons to the frame, and a giant symbol of the Union Jack had been painted onto the balloon, along with a half dozen other flags, and several personalised messages - the best of them being a message that read "Buck Solamina up the Plot!" in big red letters. Underneath this was a smaller message: "Who'd go near that?" Underneath that was an even smaller message. "Let me do it - I have gonorrhea."

Several Resistance Unicorns were hard at work enchanting the gas for the main gasbag of the airship. Already they were straining from the effort of imbuing such large quantities but it was all needed, with the new additions to the gondala the Interdiction was even heavier than it had been before they captured it.

Errant had been temporarily assigned to oversee the refit of the Interdiction: in theory, the machine would fly in as fire support for Grey Squadron and the other resistance flyers, as well as acting as a mobile base for them. Errant, as the senior Resistance Air Force flyer on the base, would be in command of the flight squadrons as a whole, with High Tide taking command on the Interdiction.

"Be sure to bolt that gun down good and proper," Errant Flight said to one of the Earth Pony engineers helping to modify the vessel.

"Yes sir," the pony he was talking to replied, sounding irritated. "We know."

Flight was nervous, truth be told. For years, he had been anticipating the battle to retake Equestria, to finally oust Solamina from her position and take the country back from tyranny and insanity. Now that it was finally about to happen... he was afraid. What would become of Equestria after the war? How could it ever go back to the way it was after everything that had happened?

The answer, of course, being that it couldn't. They were going home to a corpse, or at best a dying body that could maybe be brought back, but would only ever be a shadow of it's former self.

"Grey Leader, sir?" a voice asked, and Errant turned, finding himself facing Grey Fox. "Are you alright?"

"Fine, Fox," Errant replied quietly. "Just wondering..."

"Wondering, sir?" Fox asked after a moment.

"What are we going home to, Grey Fox?" Errant asked. "What's left?"

"Now that's a question." Fox pondered for a moment before taking a deep breath. Not a good sign for Errant, who frowned.

"Grey Fox?" he asked.

"At the end of the day," the other Squadron Leader said, "we're going back to what was our home. Is it anymore? No, you and I both know that it isn't. After all this is over..."

He trailed off. Both Grey Fox and Errant Flight looked around at the souls that were all working for the end of such a hell.

Fox nodded to himself, grinning. "We'll make a new home. It won't be what it was, but with any luck it will be better."

"I hope you're right, Upsilon Lead," Errant said quietly. "I hope this has all been worth it."

***

May 30th.

"And... again!"

Lyra Heartstrings' horn lit up, a pale turquoise light shining in the dark of a late May evening. She was concentrating as hard as she could on her goal.

"Portus… Maxima… Liberatus!" she called out, her voice ringing in the night.

Slowly, a portal emerged from the darkness, lighting up the sky, at first a small thing that could barely be seen, but then soon growing until it filled the night.

"Everypony!" Twilight yelled to the half dozen ponies standing nearby, each of them concentrating on their destination, in this case the town of Ponyville. "Keep concentrating!"

A moment later, the portal solidified into the solid, glass-like construction that would lead the army through to Equestria. Through the shimmering portal, the assembled ponies could see...

"Ponyville!" Lyra breathed, looking at the battered, changed town beyond the portal. Tears stung at her eyes at the sight of her former home so changed.

A moment later, the portal disappeared, fading away into nothing. Twilight trotted up to Lyra, a bittersweet smile on her face.

"You're doing well," the purple Unicorn said quietly.

"Yeah," Lyra said quietly, her thoughts still resting on the place she had seen. "I guess I am."

"Keep up that level of concentration and you'll be able to hold the portal open while everyone goes through," Twilight continued quietly. "We'll be going home soon."

"Yeah," Lyra said again, thinking about the place she had seen and comparing it to the small town that was her home. Her heart went out to the ponies of this world, knowing the kind of Equestria they would be returning to. "At least we'll have one."

Her mind was wandering, returning to scribbled words on old pages.

More and more I feel like I’m not going to see the end of this. But I watch him, as he pushes himself further and further… and I believe I can. I believe in him. With him by my side

The other her. The words were more frenzied, more hurried. Less thought out. Less observations about humans as time went on, and more focusing on war. The horrors. Sometimes there were gaps of days, weeks, months between entries. And more and more…

… more and more those words seemed to hint at something else.

“Are you alright?” Twilight asked her.

Lyra shook her head. “I just… I haven’t finished the diary yet.”

“The other you’s diary?” Twilight asked, frowning. “Why is that important?”

Lyra shrugged. “I… I guess I feel like I owe her that much, at least. I mean… she… she deserved to be here.”

“Here at the final battle?” Twilight asked her.

“Just here,” she replied, her voice soft. “She… she lost so much…”

I’ve been betrayed. Bon Bon lied. She lied to me all of the time I knew her, and I never realised - not until she threw it in my face.

“... and she isn’t even here to see it made worth something,” Lyra finished, shaking her head. “Where did we even bury her, Twilight? Where did we even -”

Her voice broke. She swallowed.

“We’ll make it right,” Twilight said quietly. “That’s why we came here.”

“Yeah,” Lyra said, thinking back to the diary. “Yeah, we will.”

***

June 1st.

Fluttershy parried another blow with her wrist-Bokken, grunting slightly from exertion. Rainbow Dash, grinning, lashed out again and again, but her yellow friend kept blocking the blows. Suddenly, Fluttershy lashed out, and Dash had to dodge quickly to her right to avoid being whacked in the face. Not letting up, Fluttershy span herself around and whacked Rainbow in the side. Staggering slightly, Rainbow stepped back, bringing her blades up to block the next blow. She lashed out, but Fluttershy blocked again.

"Stop!" called out a familiar voice.

Rainbow and Fluttershy both stopped at once, grinning at each other. They were both panting slightly from exertion and they were both sweating. Applejack trotted up to them with a grin.

She had been timing the two of them: Fluttershy had insisted on training extra hard for this month until she was able to keep up with Rainbow and the others - "I don't want to go to Canterlot and just be in the way. This is too important." Rainbow had agreed to help her and had rigourously pushed her to be as good as she could be. It seemed as though her efforts had paid off.

"Ya'll both fought each other to a standstill," she said, grinning. She held up the little stopwatch she yes using. "I reckon you're both ready."

"Rainbow was... already ready," Fluttershy said, still panting. "I needed... to be... better.

"Well, ya managed that," Applejack grinned. "Reckon the Guards won't know what hit 'em."

Rainbow grinned at Fluttershy, who smiled weakly back. Now there was just the waiting.

***

June 3rd.

An older man in comparatively ornate robes wandered through a crowd of men and women, blessing each of them in turn as he walked. Behind him walked a handful of other men and women, also in such robes. He had tanned skin, and had grown a short white beard that matched his white hair. He walked with a somewhat ornate staff, but was surprisingly fit and hale.

This man was Pope Honorius V, the official head of the Catholic Church. His name prior to accepting this rather monumentus (not to say downright terrifying and unexpected) honour was Alejandro Castell, and he had been a Guatemalan priest who had been one of many refugees coming into Britain at the time of the Barrier's expansion. At first, there had been very little special about him - he was just another refugee, albeit a particularly pious one. However, when Italy - and as a result, the Vatican, the Pope and most of the Catholic Church's Hierarchy - had been disintegrated by the Barrier, every surviving Catholic priest in Britain had come forward to decide on who the new pope would be. It didn't help that there were no Bishops left - any who had not died in their countries or been killed in the ensuing mess, or worse ponified by the PER, had died in the subsequent struggle to survive the overcrowded land of Britain, many of them choosing to go without food or shelter so as not to take up room better left to others.

Alejandro had been a simple Reverend, nothing special at all, but when the call to submit one's candidacy for the papacy had come, he had been struck with the urge to step up to the challenge. He didn't know why - the more lyrically minded of his flock might have said it was because God Himself had told him to, but Alejandro had just felt that it was right to step forward and offer himself for the mantle. He had spoken to his fellow priests of how in these times, the Pope should not be an island unto himself, sequestered in some shelter like the Vatican, but should be an active presence among the people, spreading hope and the Word of God to others in times that could not have been darker.

To his surprise, his simple, honest faith had earned him the respect of the entire remaining Catholic Church, and they had elected him into the position of Pope. Since then he had made it his business to live up to what he had said: it was his place to step up and take the Word of God to the people of Britain, in a time when His will must have seem further away than it ever had.

Right now, he was administering blessings to the assembled individual soldiers. It was his place to step forward and offer comfort to these men and women, for it was their place to go into battle and, with God's blessing, hopefully bring the Tyrant Solamina to justice.

The thought of Solamina almost brought a frown to Pope Honorius' otherwise calm face. The Tyrant had… well. There were rumours about the Converted Evangelist Sol Invictus, the pony who had coined the name 'Solamina', and frankly the name already suggested the stallion had been well versed in some form of Latin. It was likely that he had been Catholic. That made it equally likely that the Solaminan cult he had founded had it's roots in a perverted version of Catholicism, with Solamina herself replacing God, Mary and Jesus. It made Honorius sick to his stomach that a faith of love and tolerance had been twisted into a tool of genocide.

Still… he was here now, surrounded by the faithful. The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. For though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil. Renewed, he marched with purpose to the head of the assemblage. He stepped upon a simple crate that had been prepared for this purpose, and he looked out at his flock with a small smile.

"Let us pray," he said simply. As one, the assembled soldiers lowered their heads and listened as the Pope began reciting a prayer.

"In rising, I wish my first thought to be of Thee.
I thank Thee for guarding me during the night.
During this day, please keep my body from accident, and my soul from sin.
I am far from my family, surrounded by new temptations;
please lead and protect me.
Bless, please, my commander and my comrades,
and above all, bless our country.
May I serve today as a good soldier. Amen."

"Amen," the congregation repeated quietly. Honorius smiled. Yes, times were hard and the world had never seen a darker moment than the one it was living through right now - but faith… yes, faith… that was always going to be found in humanity. Even in the darkest of times, there would be a light...

***

June 4th.

David Elliot coughed into a towel. He had been trying, since that morning, to push past whatever barrier he had left in his power. He had gone over the words again and again: The final hurdle is you. Once you break that, you can do anything. But try as he might, he couldn't do it. He couldn't push further. He had gone as far as he could do: there was no reserve, there was no secret.

He pulled the towel away and frowned. It was covered in flecks of coughed-up blood. He sighed. This was it then: he really was dying. He could only hope he had strength enough to stand and face off against Solamina when the time came...

***

Words had been scratched out of the final page of the diary. Too many, too scribbled over to read. Only one sentence was left legible for Lyra Heartstrings to read, but it was the only one that would have mattered.

January 20th, 2030.

I'm in love with David Elliot. I will never tell him. It's better that way. It has to be.

Her eyes couldn’t leave that one sentence, her mind reeling from the implication.

I'm in love with David Elliot.

She tried thinking over what she had read previously. So much…

… so much made sense, now. Words that seemed increasingly to have come of their own volition, scratched out as though this other Lyra was lying to herself, trying to hide from the truth. Trying to hide -

I'm in love with David Elliot.

trying to hide from how she felt.

Lyra found herself thinking about David Elliot, the man - the human man - that her counterpart supposedly loved.

‘Could I feel that for him?’ she found herself thinking. ‘Could I? Do I? Would I want to?’

It was so confusing. Reading words, reading emotions, that her other self had written.

‘She’s not me.’ She shook her head. ‘She’s not me. I don’t have to feel what she feels. What she felt. I’m me. Not her.

“Me, not her,” she said aloud, as though it could make it any different.

Still it begged a different question. Her other self had decided not to tell him. But that decision… was it spur of the moment? Was it certain? Was it uncertain? Was she unsure? Judging by the number of scratched out lines in the diary, it didn’t look as though Lyra had been the least bit certain about what she had written.

I'm in love with David Elliot.

Well. That bit had been certain. But…

… should she, Lyra Heartstrings, denizen of a free Equestria… should she tell David Elliot what she had read? Would it make a difference?

***

Canterlot, June 4th, Year 6 of the New Solaminan Calendar (2030).

She stood, staring at the still forms that surrounded her. Her eyes moved from body to body, studying them, a soft smile gracing her features as she stood before those who would soon be her army.

"My lady," a voice said from behind her. "I didn't expect to find you back here."

Solamina turned her head slightly, glancing at Commander Sparkle, the purple mare looking at her with an expression of worry.

"I thought I would inspect the troops," Solamina replied simply. "There is still much to be done."

"There is," Sparkle agreed. "I am having the Archmagi work as fast as they can, but…"

"It was not a criticism, dear Twilight, merely a comment," Solamina said quietly, looking back to the still figures, her smile not wavering. "Do not concern yourself overmuch with time - time… is no object at all."

Author's Note

This chapter was edited 2nd August 2015.

The Last Night Before Judgement.

Chapter Forty Four: The Last Night Before Judgement.

***

Plymouth base. June 5th. 2030.

Three ponies sat together at a table, each of them thinking hard about a very important event that would take place tomorrow. One of them was Pinkie Pie, who despite looking more serious than anypony and anybody had ever seen her, had the bounciest mane she had ever had as though she were in the prime of her party-planning life. Another was Vinyl Scratch, who seemed to be caught in an internal conflict (that she was apparently trying her best to ignore) about even sitting at the same table as Pinkie Pie. The third pony was Bright Wonder of Grey Squadron, who was taking notes with a grin of glee on her face at even getting to be in a party with Pinkie Pie - she was, after all, a legend of party planning, and Wonder had often wished in happier times to meet her. That, of course, had been before the war, and it tickled Wonder pink (no pun intended) that she had managed to somehow meet her idol.

Elliot had asked the three of them several days ago to plan a party: the last party, the party to theoretically end all parties (which, as Elliot had pointed out, it might do, given the "all or nothing" nature of this last battle). The party would start this afternoon - the three of them had been planning for at least a week for the separate elements that would go into the celebration. It had to at once be a celebration of their imminent victory and - though nopony wanted this to be too obvious, and indeed Pinkie Pie seemed to go dead silent whenever they brought it up - be such a party as to make a fitting final memory for the soldiers who would never return.

While they were talking, Elliot walked over to them, the man looking entirely too cheerful. He was in slightly less combat-ready clothing than normal: a simple vest, trousers and boots, and he looked as though he had been up all night. There were flecks of something red around the bottom of the vest, but none of the ponies picked up on it.

"How's the preparation going?" he asked.

"Not so badly," Vinyl said, sounding somewhat subdued.

"Everything's gonna be wonderful!" Pinkie added with a grin. "We're almost ready for it!"

"I'm glad," Elliot said. He looked troubled for a moment. “It’s important that we get this one right.”

“Don’t worry, Albion,” Vinyl said with a cheeky grin. “This’ll knock your socks off.”

“Good to know,” he said, returning the grin. It faded slightly as he turned to go, and he strode off, clearly deep in thought about... something.

"I wonder what's up with Albion," Bright Wonder asked aloud.

"Mr Elliot's always thinking about a lot - it makes his smiles all weird," Pinkie said sagely, a slightly sad smile on her face. "It's kinda his thing. I wouldn't worry too much about it."

Wonder nodded.

"How d'you know so much about Albion?" Vinyl asked, frowning suspiciously at Pinkie.

"Well he is the one who brought us all here," Pinkie pointed out. "If I didn't know him I'd be a pretty poor friend."

Vinyl grunted noncommittally.

"So," Wonder said after a moment, going through a mental checklist. "Vinyl's providing the music, we've got the decorations being done by Pinkie, and I'm sorting the lighting out."

"Sounds about right," the DJ said shortly. "All we need now is the people."

"Well, I think the army's got that one sorted," Pinkie said brightly.

"Yeah," Vinyl said, her voice slightly sour. "Hey Worder, do me a favour?"

"Sure!" Wonder said brightly.

"Can you go start putting the lights up?" the DJ asked, smiling. Pinkie picked up on the fakeness of the smile immediately, but said nothing, sensing that the DJ wanted her attention.

“Sure thing!” Wonder said with a grin. With a bounding leap, she flew off towards a pile of lights the three of them had ordered put ready for the party. A moment later, Vinyl sighed.

“Can I talk to you about something Pinkie?” she asked the pink party pony.

“Sure thing, Vinyl,” Pinkie replied with a grin. “What’s up?”

“I bucking hate you,” Vinyl replied conversationally. There was an awkward pause while Pinkie disgested this bit of information.

“Okie… dokie… lokie?” she said after a minute, raising an eyebrow. “Um… I’m sorry…?”

“No,” Vinyl said shortly. She sighed heavily. “I am.”

There was a long pause as the two sat in silence. Pinkie didn’t like sitting in silence, but something about the way Vinyl looked told her that maybe she should leave the DJ to think before saying anything.

“Do you know what this war’s done?” Vinyl asked. “To me?” she added when Pinkie opened her mouth to reply.

“No,” Pinkie said honestly.

“I ran away from Canterlot,” Vinyl said bluntly. “I ran away. I wasn’t meant to come alone - there was… somepony… who was meant to be coming with me, but… when Doc Hooves came to Canterlot to get those of us who were going… she wasn’t with us. She was in Manehatten.” Vinyl paused, her eyes drifting off to the side in deep thought. “Doc Hooves had to take us all - all of the Exodus - away from Equestria. The war had started. Celestia declared herself Solamina. And…”

“You had to leave your special somepony behind?” Pinkie asked sympathetically.

Vinyl looked at Pinkie blankly, and then slowly, she nodded.

“Yeah,” she said quietly. “I did.”

Pinkie said nothing, waiting for Vinyl to continue.

“Hooves went back after,” the DJ said after a moment. “But she wouldn’t go. She stayed behind, tried to help the Resistance in Equestria. She’s still there.” She paused. “The war’s taken everything from me.”

“And when I came with the others…” Pinkie said, nudged softly.

“When you came here,” Vinyl continued after a moment’s pause to gather her thoughts, “I just… I thought about everything that’s gone wrong. The fighting. The death. All the ponies we left behind. And then there you guys were - and I just thought to myself, ‘why are they special? Why do they get the Ponyville that isn’t a bucking factory? Why do they get a Canterlot that isn’t about to get stormed by an army? What do they have that we didn’t?’” She paused again. “You know, a lot of folks resented you because you looked like the Elements of Order. Bet you thought I did too.”

“Yeah,” Pinkie admitted, her mane deflating slightly. “Just a bit.”

“Well, it wasn’t,” Vinyl said, frowning. “But you know what? I don’t think it’s right to hate you for what you have that we don’t.” She smiled wryly. “I guess it’s nopony’s fault what hoof they got dealt. We just need to deal with it.”

“Yeah,” Pinkie said again, her mane reinflating. She smiled widely. “Thanks Vinyl.”

“No problem Pinkie,” Vinyl said with a grin. “Now let’s sort this party out!”

***

The party was taking place in a field: the space allotted for the party was about a hundred and fifty metres square - there was a stage at one end with Vinyl’s DJ mixing desk and a microphone present. There were two long rows of party refreshments, one on each side of the stage, and finally there were eight big floodlights - one for each corner and one for each side.

Twilight and the other members of Everfree squad, as well as all of Grey Squadron, entered the party area along with the rest of those from the Last Army who would be present, which was downright all of them: the knights of Albion were all prepared to, as one of them had put it, “eat, drink, and be merry!”, there were more Resistance ponies and Defence Force soldiers present than Twilight had ever seen present in any one place, and capping it all off she could even see Wallace Springfield and the rest of the Dead Men.

“This sure looks like it’s gonna be one to remember,” Applejack said with a grin.

“Yeah,” Rainbow added with a grin. “This is awesome!”

“You’ve outdone yourself, Pinkie,” Rarity said to the pink party pony. She grinned.

“Aw shucks guys, thanks,” she said, “but I had help from Bright Wonder and Vinyl!”

“We didn’t do that much,” Bright Wonder said sheepishly.

“Sure you did!” Pinkie said loudly, putting a hoof around her new friend’s shoulder. “Ya know, there’ll need to be a new party pony in Ponyville when we go home…”

“Quiet for a sec’, Pinkie,” Applejack said. “I think Elliot’s gonna say somethin’!”

Sure enough, up on the stage the group could see David Elliot standing, a soft smile on his face as he raised a hand for silence. After a few moments, silence descended onto the field.

“Tomorrow,” he said loudly, so that everyone could hear him, “we’re going to start the battle that ends this war, one way or another. A lot of us might not make it back from that one. This might be the end of everything.”

Everyone and everypony looked at each other, a slightly nervous energy in the air. That wasn’t exactly how they thought he’d start this speech.

“But,” the Avatar continued, “if this is the last battle we fight together, I intend to make it a fucking awesome one. And I intend to have the best damn night of my life before it! We’re gonna bring down the fucking sky with our rave, then tomorrow we’ll start bringing the fucking sky on Solamina’s head!”

Everyone cheered - now that was more what they had been expecting!

Elliot turned to Vinyl. “Hit it!” he said with a grin. The mare grinned back and hit a switch on her desk.

A moment later, music blared into life, and suddenly everyone started dancing.

The last party before the end had started.

***

“#Tonight, we are young!
So I’ll set the world on fire!
We can burn brighter!
Than a Sun!”

Errant Flight was many things: great flyer, great leader, good at poker (though he had never quite bested Royal Flush - not that anypony ever had). He was, however, a terrible dancer. He knew that - and if he hadn’t, the muffled giggles of Lily Picker and White Blossom as they watched him flail about were certainly a big hint. Still, he didn’t particularly care - if he was going to fight in the biggest battle ever fought on Equestrian soil, he’d have as much fun as he could tonight, absolutely poor dancing and all.

“Hey, Captain,” a voice said, a slightly cheeky edge tinting the tone. He turned to find himself facing a smirking Dream Flyer, who was (for once) not wearing her Grey Squadron uniform.

“Hey yourself, Commander,” he said with a similar smirk. “What’s with the rank?”

“Nothing,” she said with a grin. “I just thought that somepony who’d hit Group Captain should be a better dancer. You look like you've got three left hooves."

“Care to show me how it’s done then, Commander?” he offered, only half joking. Dream Flyer’s grin faded a tad, and for a moment Flight felt like he’d gone too far, and then she grinned even wider.

“Might as well, boss,” she said cheekily. “Somepony’s gotta stop you showing us all up.”

She grabbed one of his hooves and span him, before grabbing his shoulder and pulling him close. She waggled her eyebrows at him, and he grinned too.

This might just turn out to be the best damn night he’d had in a long time...

#“The moon is on my side,
I have no reason to roam,
So will someone come and carry me home tonight…
The angels never arrived,
But I can hear the choir,
So will someone come and carry me home..”

***

“Alright!” Rainbow said, looking between Bright Wonder, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Desert Wind, Solid Hoof and Applejack. “This is how it works.”

She pushed a series of mugs full of a frothy brown liquid in front of the group of ponies. “This here is genuine Equestria Ale, the finest stuff the Resistance has. We’re gonna drink as much of the stuff as we can. Last one standing wins.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Fluttershy asked quietly. “I mean, we - we have to be up tomorrow really early and…”

“And Twilight’s got a spell that cures hangovers in ten seconds flat,” Rainbow said with a grin. “Trust me Shy, we’ll be fine. Besides, we might all croak tomorrow and -”

“Less talk, more alcohol,” Desert Wind said gruffly, grabbing his first mug.

“Seconded,” Solid Hoof grunted.

“Ok,” Rainbow said, shrugging. “Start drinking, ponies!”

Applejack downed her first drink in one, Rainbow right behind her. Pinkie and Bright Wonder drank their slower, apparently racing each other. Pinkie slammed her mug down first.

“Oh yeah!” she said. “I win!”

“We’re not done yet, sugarcube,” Applejack pointed out as she downed her second.

“Not the big game, silly,” Pinkie said with an amused frown. “I mean the first race between me and Wonder. We both know who’s gonna win already, no point playing that game!”

“Huh? Really?” Rainbow asked, pausing in chugging her third.

“Sure,” Bright Wonder said with a shrug. "I mean it's obvious, isn't it?"

She and Pinkie picked up their second mugs and started another race, chugging their ale so fast that it looked like it would spill, yet miraculously neither managed to spill a drop.

Rainbow and Applejack shared a glance of amusement.

“So tell me,” Applejack said with a smirk. “Who is gonna win?”

“That,” Pinkie said as she lowered her mug a half second before Bright Wonder, “would be telling. Also - I win again!”

“Well darn!” Bright Wonder said with a frown. “I’ll beat you yet!”

“Best outta twenty seven!” Pinkie yelled.

“You’re on!” Wonder yelled back with a grin. They each grabbed a third mug.

Rainbow shrugged and chugged another mug. She had managed five now, and was feeling a little tipsy, but this was fine. She’d done more than this...

***

”#D-d-d-d-d-d-drop the bass!”

“This is a little louder than I normally like,” Rarity said quietly. She and Twilight were sat on the edge of the party, observing the festivities with equally tired expressions. This didn’t strike either of them as a good idea but it wasn’t like they could stop anyone at this stage - nor could either of them really blame anyone for wanting a last celebration before what was as likely to be the end of their lives as it was the end of the Solaminan Empire.

“Yeah,” Twilight agreed. “Still, it’s a good party if you like loud music.”

“Which everypony seems to,” Rarity said with a nod. She took a sip of something that might have been punch. “Has it occurred to you that this might be the last party some of these people have?”

“Yeah,” Twilight said honestly. Her face fell. “It might be our last.”

“Yes,” Rarity agreed with a nod. The two of them exchanged glances.

“Oh what the hay,” Twilight said, grinning slightly. “Let’s get down to the beat, or whatever the foals say these days!”

Rarity laughed at that. “I wish Sweetie Belle could hear you say that - I imagine she’d have a choice word or two for you.”

Still laughing, the two of them stood up and started dancing - the music was too loud and they’d probably die tomorrow - but that was tomorrow’s problem. Tonight, they had a party to enjoy.

***

Hell Blazer sat on the table near Rainbow’s group, eyes wide as he watched the drinking contest.

Desert Wind and Solid Hoof had both passed out after about ten mugs each which, in Hell Blazer’s experience, was pretty impressive for a pony. To his surprise, however, Pinkie Pie, Bright Wonder, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were all still at it. Rainbow and Applejack were leaning across the table, staring at each other with narrow eyes and angry expressions as they continued emptying their mugs. They must have been at fifteen each. Pinkie and Wonder, both giggling like schoolgirls (or schoolfillies, Hell Blazer thought to himself) were at about twelve each.

“Best… best out of thirty seven,” Pinkie said. To everypony’s surprise, Bright Wonder had caught up with her starting with their fourth mugs and had continued to roundly beat her at every mug since that point. Pinkie hadn’t given up, and the two of them were now quite, quite drunk.

“Sure,” Wonder grinned, moving to get another mug. She slipped, faceplanted the table and slid off, landing on the floor with a soft “ow”. Laughing, Pinkie moved to help her up but fell over as well, and giggling, the two of them passed out.

Fluttershy, unnoticed by everypony at the table, quietly sipped her sixteenth mug, looking for all the world like she was drinking tea. Hell Blazer goggled at her.

“It’s nice,” she said quietly, smiling slightly.

***

Prince Blueblood, sat surrounded by Night Guards, frowned slightly as he looked at the almost black concoction that the Guards had set before him. He had decided to accompany the Night Guard into battle tomorrow, and in order to do so successfully, at least in his mind, he had to gain their respect.

Son, he remembered one of his father’s lessons (before the old colt had decided he hated his son’s guts), you must always endeavour to have the respect of the colts at your back.

One way of doing so, it seemed, was drinking an alcoholic drink the Night Guard's members had apparently brewed up themselves.

“What… what is it exactly?” he asked, staring at it dubiously.

“This here, sir?” one of the Guards, a Thestrals stallion named Sudden Shadow, said with a grin. “Luna’s own, sir - the Midnight Brew. Best drink in the whole of Equestria. Guaranteed to knock you on your shiny toff plot.”

Somewhere nearby, Blueblood spotted Dinky downing a mug of this stuff. She paused, gagging slightly, before falling over, clearly somewhat intoxicated. Gulping slightly, Blueblood eyed his own. Consigning his soul to Tartarus just in case, he took a deep swig of the drink. He swallowed thickly, trying to ignore the burning, bitter taste. All around him, he could hear the laughter of the Night Guards as they watched him drink. He looked up, the alcohol already going to his head in a rush of dizziness and nausea.

“Oh,” he said quietly. “I take it I’m 'one of the lads' now?”

And with that, he fell over, the laughter of his troops still ringing in his ears…

***

“#Howling ghosts - they reappear in,
Mountains that are stacked with fear,
But you’re a king and I’m a lionheart.
A lionheart…”

David Elliot sat on a chair far from the bulk of the party, unseen by anyone. He stared at his hand, concentrating as hard as he could on pushing past the final barriers in his mind, but try as he might it didn’t work - they remained up, something impossible to get past. It was like a wall that he couldn’t see but could feel. He cursed, and took a swig of beer.

“Fuck this noise,” he said. “I’m gonna go get some sleep.”

He stood up to go, only to find Lyra Heartstrings standing in front of him. He blinked.

“Hello, Lyra,” he said with a raised eyebrow. “Not enjoying the party?”

“It’s ok,” she replied. “I could ask you the same question.”

He chuckled. “There’s not really that much to enjoy when you’re going to die.”

She blinked at that, apparently shocked by his bluntness, and he sighed.

“Sorry,” he said. “That was… harsh.”

“No,” she said quietly, looking almost apologetic. “I guess… I guess it’s my fault for asking a stupid question. Of course you’re not alright.”

“Still shouldn’t be harsh,” Elliot said quietly. “I… I… yeah.”

He sat back down, indicating another chair for her to sit on. She moved to sit, sitting in the old ‘human’ style that Bon Bon had always found silly.

“You’re my friend,” he said quietly. “You… you aren’t her, but…”

“I know how much she must have meant to you,” Lyra said quietly. She pulled out a small diary. “I read her diary. It’s…”

“Don’t tell me,” Elliot chuckled. “She always said, ‘Avatar or not, I’ll scalp you if you read this thing’.”

Lyra smiled tightly. “Yeah… there’s some personal stuff in here.”

Elliot made a short noise of derision. “Knowing Lyra, probably a great essay on the Great Tengu followed by a comparative anatomy study on humans.”

Lyra laughed. “Sounds about right. But no, there’s… other stuff.”

She looked conflicted for a moment, as though she was wrestling with something. Sighing, Elliot held up a hand to forestall any words she might have had.

“Whatever she wrote, she would have told me anything she was going to,” he said quietly. “And now she’s gone… I guess I can’t imagine how weird it’s gotta be, reading your own diary, kinda, but…”

“But I should respect that she didn’t say anything,” Lyra finished quietly. “I… think I get that, but…”

“But it’s you,” Elliot said. “And… maybe you think you’d want somepony to tell people important things?”

“Yeah,” Lyra admitted. She sighed. “She… she thought highly of you.”

He smiled at that. “I thought highly of her, too.”

They sat in silence for a long time. There was nothing else really to say, now.

***

“Ah… will... beat… ya'll!”

“Like… hay!”

Twenty two mugs in each, Rainbow Dash and Applejack simply refused to quit. Hell Blazer was laughing, his own mug still half full - he liked heavy drinking, but he didn’t much feel like it after seeing these two at it all night. Applejack was so drunk that her accent had become stronger and stronger, to the point where nopony and nobody could understand half of what she said. Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, seemed determined to keep going even though her eyes were starting to defocus to the point where they were almost reminiscent of Ditzy’s, except that Ditzy didn't tend to frown quite that much.

Fluttershy, meanwhile, was quietly sipping away at what must have been her twenty third mug. She seemed fine, although she had become a tad louder and didn’t seem to want to stand up.

“Pour me ‘nother!” Rainbow said, as she slammed her now empty mug down on the table. “I’mma drink this poser under the table if it b-buckin’ kills me!”

“Ah ain’t no poser, ya lousy flyin' varmint!” Applejack snapped. “Ah’ll drink ya’ll so far under the table ya’ll’ll end up on t’other side o’ the worl’!”

With that, she fell over, slamming her head into the table and landing flat on her back. A moment later, a snore started escaping from her lips.

“Ha!” Rainbow said, grinning. “See! I tol’ you I was…”

Before the assembled onlookers could find out what she was, Rainbow too passed out, hitting the soft ground with a slight thunk. A moment later, she too was snoring.

Fluttershy finished her twenty fourth mug with a contented sigh. She looked up at the table, noticing for the first time that all her opposition had apparently passed out.

“Oh,” she said quietly. “Did I win?”

***

June 6th. 2030.

The following morning, the army began assembling. Hangovers were handled with as much dignity as the ponies involved could muster, spells administered and mornings after dealt with as gracefully as possible.

Nonetheless: the army prepared itself. Today was the day that the battle would finally begin. At the Dawn, a number of soldiers could be seen bowing to the east: Muslims praying, looking towards the now long-gone Mecca. The sound of other prayers could be heard - chants and prayers and hymns. An entire army made peace with their gods. If one looked hard enough, one could see Buddhist monks, Hindus, Catholic priests blessing those who were about to go into battle, Rabbi’s wishing men and women good luck before they marched off. The representatives of an entire world that had been wronged were about to go into battle.

Off to one one side of the field, the Night Guard were assembling, their purple and black armour shining in the sunlight. A handful of banners were unfurled amongst the company, displaying the crescent moon symbol of Luna, mixed with the compass rose of Blueblood, the member of royalty to whom they now held their allegiance. They were a sombre lot: grim faced and dour, with serious eyes all focused forward, a far cry from the cheerful drinkers from the party last night. Not that the Night Guard had much to be cheerful about when they weren't drinking.

Of something like four hundred Night Guards present (and indeed of the four thousand Night Guard in the Equestrian resistance all told), there were only a handful who had been Night Guards at the time that Luna had died. The majority of them were new recruits, ponies of the three main races who had joined the Night Guard when Blueblood had reinstated the regiment upon his instatement as the head of the Government-in-exile. The scant handful of Thestrals - no more than forty or fifty in total - who had survived the slaughter of the original Night Guard were mostly part of the new incarnation, but there were those among them who had been so distraught that they had either gone into suicidal rages, or else joined the Dead Men.

There were two new recruits standing with the Night Guard contingent. Lyra Heartstrings stood with True Grit, both of them in fresh Night Guard armour. The two of them were stood next to Prince Blueblood, who was clad in his own ornate Night Guard armour, and all three were stood at the head of the column.

"This feels... surreal," Grit confided to Lyra quietly. "I never thought I'd wear Night Guard armour. I've been in the Royal Guard since I was nineteen. Wearing the purple and black instead of the gold is... weird."

"Think how I feel," Lyra replied with a wry grin. "I'm a musician and amateur cryptozoologist. The only time I thought I'd wear armour like this would be as a funky Nightmare Night costume."

True Grit grinned, but then the two of them snapped to attention as Blueblood stepped forward, apparently desiring to speak to the assembled Night Guards. He stood rigidly to attention, the very model of a noble Equestrian hero, his hooves clad in finest silver plate-armour sollerets, his helm crested in blue hair similar to his mane. He seemed none the worse for wear after his experience at the party.

"Night Guards!" he called, his voice grim and determined sounding. "Our time to return to our home has come!" He looked around the noble, heroic faces of the Night Guard... and drew a blank, seeing impassive,uninspired faces.

His father would have known what to say, but he, Blueblood, was not his father. He frowned, and then made a decision. He didn't have to be his father. These were real soldiers, and he was really their commander. Giving some horseapples inspiring speech wouldn't do anything. He had to be honest with them about the whole thing - and honest with himself as well.

"I'm going to be honest with you. I've something of a reputation for being a plotwipe," he said, dropping something of the pretension from his voice. Behind him, Lyra and True Grit exchanged frowns of confusion. "It's not entirely unjustified. I've been a layabout. I was on Solamina's council. I was arrogant. I was ignorant. I like to hope I've changed." He paused, looking along the lines of the Guard. "The Night Guard were the bravest ponies I think I ever saw: with no hope of victory, they stood up to Solamina herself. They fought against her: though they had no chance they fought anyway." He paused. "They showed me something that day, though I took a long time to learn that lesson. Though you don't think you have a chance... fight anyway."

There was a long pause as he looked amongst the ponies. They were definitely listening now - he could see it in their eyes.

"When I look at you," he continued, "I see again ponies who are the best of Equestria. The courage, honour, integrity and dignity of the Night Guard has never been better represented." He took a breath. "And seeing you here... it makes me think that maybe even a plotwipe like me can hope to make a difference today. It makes me feel like there's a chance for me to make a difference."

There were approving murmurs among the Guard and Blueblood felt a renewed determination. "You all know what we're doing here. We're going to Equestria. We're going to get our home back. We're going to cast down Solamina and her Empire. And we're going to kill any mother-loving pile of horseapples that gets in our way!"

There was a pause that lasted all of a minute, and then - to everypony's surprise - the Night Guard cheered, whooping and yelling in approval. Blueblood grinned.

"Look at me now Dad," he murmured to himself quietly. "Alright!" he added, raising his voice to speak to the assembled Guards. "Miss Heartstrings is going to open our portal for us and the rest of the forces. The Dead Men will be going first to secure the perimeter, and then the rest of us will be setting up in the fields near Ponyville until they've secured the town. You all know the plan. Let's move out!"

The Night Guard began marching. Lyra turned to Grit, who gave her a reassuring smile. She gulped and smiled back.

This was it.

***

The Interdiction lazily ascended into the air, propellers whirring slowly. The great Zeppelin had been weighed down with enough weapons to destroy a small country. Near the great warship, Grey Squadron were assembling. Vambrace-blades were checked and re-checked, shirts slipped on, goggles put on and HUDs checked.

Errant Flight triple-checked his weapons, and couldn’t help but grin as he saw Ditzy checking her own blades. Her being here made him feel a sense of Deja-Vu the likes of which he couldn’t quite remember having felt before. It reminded him too much of…

“It looks like a standard super-Zeppelin! We'll go for the traditional C4 approach - flight leaders will approach the Zeppelin with their C4 package, try to set it on the Zeppelin and then GTBO! Wingmen will provide cover, and set their own C4 if their flight leader gets downed or distracted. We clear, ponies?!”

That was it. This reminded him too much of Manchester. He couldn’t have said why - the feel in the air was different, far more hopeful - but it felt like an ending.

It will be an ending, he thought to himself with a vicious grin. The end of bucking Solamina and her Empire.

"Alright!" he called out, shaking his head clear of the memory. "Everypony, check your weapons! The air is a real bad place to find yourself short a weapon cos it came off!"

He smirked as Ditzy double checked her weapon. Next to her, Dream Flyer stood rigidly to attention, nodding. Errant could see White Blossom, Lily Picker, Bright Wonder, Pure Heart and Star Blitz all coming over to the assembly area and taking up their positions. Dark Wing was also stood to attention perhaps a bit straighter than he had before, having been bumped up to Grey Four and leader of Two flight following Rainbow’s decision to go with Elliot. Solid Hoof looked like death warmed up - most likely the result of his drinking game the night before - and he groaned whenever a loud noise (such as Bright Wonder’s voice) went off in his ear.

Two new ponies had joined, both recommended by Prince Blueblood and Air Commodore High Tide. One of them, to Errant’s surprise, was a dark grey coated, deep purple maned Thestral. His name was Fell Spear. He was a Flight Lieutenant in the ERAF, and prior to his joining Grey Squadron he was part of Upsilon Squadron, before being assigned to the Night Guard after Upsilon’s initial (somewhat disastrous) engagements - the same engagement in which Cloud Ranger was killed. He was altogether serious and duty-minded, which made his interactions with the rest of the group strained, but he respected his superiors, especially Errant.

The other pony was the replacement medic, a tan Pegasi mare with a brown mane with white highlights called Mellow Air. She was remarkably quiet for an ERAF flyer, but (though Errant was loath to admit it out of loyalty to his former Squadron-mate) she was also a slightly better combat flyer than Fluttershy.

“So,” Errant continued, looking around at the Squadron once he was certain he had everypony’s attention. “The first part of our mission is simple - the Interdiction, along with most Pegasi flight squadrons, will cover the air over Ponyville when we go through the portal. Once Ponyville is secure and the portal re-secured, we will be going in with the first aerial support units and covering the air over Canterlot.” he fixed them all with his sternest expression. “We can expect Royal Guard, Wonderbolts, and there’s even a possibility of running into the Empress herself, or possibly Princess Cadence.”

The members of the Squadron exchanged glances. While running into Cadence wasn’t necessarily a bad thing compared to Solamina, and the Princess had never been known to engage in battle herself, nopony wanted to go up against an Alicorn in the air.

“This will no doubt be the toughest mission Grey Squadron has ever flown,” Errant continued. “but I believe in every single one of you! Together, we can do this!”

“This is the Interdiction,” a voice came through the comms as he finished. “Final checks are complete. Begin preparation for departure.”

“You heard them!” Errant called, spreading his wings. “Let’s do this!”

He took off, the rest of the squadron behind him.

It was time.

***

“Miss Heartstrings,” Prince Blueblood said, standing next to Lyra as the assembled armies of the British Defence Force and the Equestrian Resistance waited behind the two of them. Lyra was studiously ignoring him, focusing on her intention.

According to Twilight, the intention of those behind her would only come into play once the portal had been opened itself - this was the tricky part. She had to really, really want to open the portal herself, and then that, in tandem with the desire on the part of those behind her for it to open, would open it.

I came here to meet humans, she thought to herself. I came here to save them. I will save them.

“Portus Maxima Liberatus!” she said softly.

A turquoise beam shot out of her horn, moving faster than thoughts towards a point in the air and exploding. Lyra’s eyes widened in shock but she kept her eyes open and her concentration going as the great, glassy portal sprang into existence.

A moment later, there it was. It must have been at least a hundred feet high in the air, and at least double that in width, and through it she could see the smog-filled, industrialised nightmare that had once been Ponyville .

“That’s it,” she whispered, more to herself than to anypony else, surprised she had managed it. “It’s done!”

“Maintenance!” Blueblood yelled. At once, specially trained Unicorns stepped up, horns blaring with light. These ponies were specially trained to maintain spells - they could manage for hours, and there were enough ponies there to relieve them once they finally tired.

A moment later, something like forty Dead Men jogged forward, entering through the portal as cleanly as if there were nothing at all there. The platoon formed a perimeter, before their leader held up a hand, signalling the all clear.

And then Blueblood yelled the words that Lyra had come to at once dread and anticipate.

“Everypony! Charge!”

***

"There's a great quote that a man said once before a battle like this," David Elliot said, rolling his shoulders. "We're about to embark upon a great crusade towards which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon..."

"Don't bloody quote Eisenhower you prat," Hell Blazer said with a grimace. "I'm not in the mood for speeches."

The small group stood ready. The Knights of Albion were each drinking from a small flask. Twilight was whistling softly, looking altogether nervous. The rest of their group were also readying themselves: Rainbow and Fluttershy had double checked their wrist-blades, and Desert Wind, Springfield as his steadier, was ready with his P220.

“We all ready?” Elliot asked the group.

A chorus of affirmatives reached his ears, and he grinned. He closed his eyes, extended his hand, and Excalibur materialised.

“You won’t be sheathed until this battle is done,” he promised it. He rested the mighty Zweihander against his shoulder, feeling the reassuring - if light - weight of the blade and steadying his nerves as best he could.

“Sir!” a voice called, and Elliot looked up to see a human runner jogging towards his team. “The Ponyville portal is up - we’re on!”

“Twilight!” Elliot said quickly. At once, Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated, her horn glowing a soft shade of purple.

“Portus Maxima Liberatus!” she yelled. A moment later, a glassy portal came into being, and through it they could see a white-tiled corridor. Elliot grinned, and turned to the group.

“Ladies and gentlecolts,” he said. "We're in business."

And then he charged...

***

The Battle of Ponyville.

Chapter Forty Five: The Battle of Ponyville.

***

Canterlot Palace. June 6th. Year 6 of the New Solaminan Calendar (2030).

Iron Shield, Lieutenant of the Thirteenth Equestrian Home Guard, didn’t resent his position as a glorified sentry at all. Truth be told, Iron Shield thought himself rather lucky especially when he was compared with some poor buckers.

He had been a Guard for almost twenty years. His entire career had been a case of glorified standing around doing nothing - they called it “Guard duty”, but really it was just a case of wandering up and down, shining a horn-light occasionally at some dark corners during the night shift and generally looking intimidating.

This whole “war” nonsense was frankly somewhat out of Iron Shield’s experience, and while he didn’t think it was necessarily unjustified (of course it was justified - who were those bucking humans to go around thinking they had the right to defy Empress Solmina like that?) he still thought it was a big nasty mess that was really the business of those horrible Convie buckers to fight. That was why he was glad that he was assigned to the newly subdivided “Home Guard”, a division of Royal Guard who, it had been decided, were not fit for front line duty any more. All he had to do here was pretty much all he had done before, which was wander around and shine lights at dark corners. Nope - the war wouldn’t come here. It never did…

“Guards!” he heard somepony call. “Intruders! Intruders in the -!”

He frowned as the voice was cut off with a fast sounding swish and a wet sounding thunk. He turned around, frowning in the general direction of the corridor behind him… and then promptly evacuated himself into his uniform.

A tall, furious looking bipedal figure - a human - was standing less than twenty feet in front of him, wielding a giant sword that glimmered in the sunlight streaming in through the windows. Behind him were a number of angry looking ponies, one of whom looked horribly like Commander Twilight Sparkle of all ponies!

“Hi,” the tall man said with a grin.

“Who… who are you?” Shield asked, trying desperately to regain some semblance of control over his voice.

“We’re space invaders from Mars, come to probe your anuses for science! What do you fucking think?” a yellow Earth Pony in a trenchcoat snapped, frowning.

“Drop your weapon,” another Earth Pony, this one an old stallion with a leather coat on, said gruffly. “We don’t want to have to kill you if we don’t have to.”

Iron Shield took one more look at the group, trying to figure out the best way to respond to this.

He then promptly fainted dead away.

***

“Well,” Hell Blazer said with a grin. “That was easy.”

“That won’t be the worst we meet,” the Doctor said, an eyebrow raised at the unconscious Royal Guard. “More will come, and the alarm will have been raised by now.”

There was a noise behind him, and he turned to find Sir Elise and her knights jogging up behind them.

"The portal is gone, my liege," she said earnestly. "None discovered it before it vanished."

"Good to know," Elliot said with a grin.

"I'm surprised none of them have raised an alarm," another knight said idly.

There was a sudden blaring noise like a single klaxon, and the entire Palace building rumbled as though the Canterhorn itself were shaking. The knight had the decency to look vaguely shamefaced.

"That'd be the alarm then," Elliot quipped.

“Good,” Desert Wind grunted, frowning at the unconscious Guard as though by being so easy to get round he was some kind of personal affront. “I don’t like sneaking around.”

Elliot looked around. This was definitely Canterlot, alright, if the descriptions Resistance ponies had given him were anything to go by. He looked at Twilight.

"Canterlot?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied, looking around with an odd expression on her face somewhere between recognition and sadness. "We're in the lower levels though."

“Ok,” Elliot said, trying to sound less than hurried. “Do you have any idea where a shield spell might end up being cast from?”

Twilight frowned thoughtfully, considering the question. “I’m not sure - maybe one of the astronomy towers?”

“Then we’ll start there!” Elliot decided quickly. “Lead on!”

Twilight nodded urgently. “Follow me!”

She raced off, most of her friends hot on her heels. Behind them trailed the Doctor, Hell Blazer and Elliot, the knights keeping pace behind the Avatar as though keeping a respectful distance from the man upon whom their entire order was based.

Elliot couldn’t help but grin as they charged - this was where the fun began!

***

Plymouth - portal transition area.

King William of Britain directed another squad through the portal, pointing the tanks and jeeps in the right direction. By now, a steady stream of vehicles was on the move, tearing up dirt as they went. The troops looked more energised than William thought he had ever seen from any soldiers during this war, though he supposed it was the feeling of finally, after six years of hopeless defence, now taking the offensive and bringing the fight to those who had hurt the human race so.

“Father!” a young voice called out. William turned, shocked from his thoughts, to find himself facing his young son, George. He frowned slightly in confusion.

“What are you doing here, George?” he asked.

“I heard you were going with the soldiers," the boy said.

"I..." William said, and then he sighed. "Yes, I am. I have to."

"No!" George said at once. "You can't! You'll die, just like grandfather and Uncle Harry and..."

"George," William said, holding out a hand to placate his son. He sighed and walked over to the boy, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I have to go."

George looked up, frowning in confusion. "Why, father?"

"Because," William said quietly, "it is the duty of a King to follow his subjects to whatever end. If I don't go... I'll disgrace the memory of everyone in our family who has done their duty in time of war. I won't do that."

George sniffed, before nodding. "I understand. In that case," he added, frowning determinedly, "take me with you!"

"No," William said sternly.

"But I can fight, father!" the boy said. "I've had training, I'll..."

"You are the heir to the throne," William said, "and you will wait here. If I don't return, you are the King. Our family must not perish in this war. If I don't return, you will be the man who leads this nation in spirit. You will be the last symbol of our national identity left. The people will need you."

"But I need you!" the Prince said, and William smiled.

"My son," he said quietly, "you are a man now. A young man, but a brave man and an honourable one. I believe you can lead this nation without me. I believe in you."

George looked as though he was about to cry, but he marshalled himself. He stood straighter, now looking his father in the eye.

"I won't let you down, father," he said quietly.

"You never have," William replied. The two shared a last hug - William didn't know whether he would survive, but he would be damned if he didn't let his son know exactly how loved he was before he left.

***

Ponyville.

The Night Guard belted across the ground between where the portal had opened and the small village of Ponyville, their armour glinting beneath the sun, their banners waving. Though Ponyville was not well defended, there was still a small Militia force present, as well as a tiny Royal Guard garrison, and though they couldn’t have had more than a few moments of warning, these forces had already arrayed themselves in something like a standard Equestrian battle-formation. The Night Guard, equipped as old-school as their former counterparts in the Royal Guard, were about to clash headlong into them.

At the head of the great force of Night Guard, Blueblood couldn’t help but feel a certain exhilaration - he couldn’t have explained it to anyone, but he felt more alive at this moment than he had in years, like he could do anything.

“For free Equestria!” he bellowed as they charged, pushing his legs to carry him even faster. His lungs were on fire, his leg muscles felt like they would snap under the pressure, and he didn’t care!

Behind him charged Dinky, True Grit and Lyra. Dinky Doo was in a polished a set of Night Guard armour as her commander, but where he was exhilarated, she was grim and stern - this was not some fun exercise. This was divine justice for the death of her mother.

“For Ditzy Doo and Grey Squadron!” she yelled, pushing herself too until she was level with Blueblood at the head of the Night Guard.

True Grit and Lyra were both silent as they followed these two madponies. In Grit’s head, he tried to disassociate the Royal Guards ahead from those he had served with what seemed like years ago. Lyra, on the other hand, just found herself wanting to kill her enemies - seeing Ponyville so changed made her feel a great, fiery anger that she couldn’t quench, and it gave her limbs strength that she hadn’t known they could have.

Ahead of them, the Royal Guard and Militia tensed, preparing to receive the charge of the Night Guard. Spears were pointed forward. Swords and other blades were readied. Unicorns charged spells.

Suddenly, the Royal Guard and Militia found themselves being strafed by hails of unstoppable firepower. A great whirring noise swept over the charging night Guard, coming to rest over the Equestrian forces. It was a trio of battle-helicopters, machine guns firing loudly into the crowd of Equestrian soldiers. Cheers went up from the Night Guard line as the Equestrian forces broke under the unexpected attack. A handful of spells shot out at the helicopters, but none of them managed to do anything.

A moment later, the Night Guard impacted the shattered line of Royal Guard who had managed to hold their ground. Ponies impacted spears with wet thunks, bones crunched and armour crumpled. Blueblood let loose a bolt of magic that all-but incinerated a Pegasus Guard who had been standing in front of him, before ramming into another pony with a loud crash of metal on metal. He knocked his opponent to the ground and, yelling madly, stomped on his enemy’s head, the other pony’s skull giving way with a wet crunching sound and his eyes widening under the blow, staring off at something nopony else could see. Breathing out heavily and yelling again, Blueblood charged into the melee. At no point did he notice the horrendous mess that had now been left over his previously immaculate armour, coat and mane, which was probably for the best.

True Grit fired off a concussive explosive spell that knocked a good four or five ponies off of their feet. Charging headlong into the melee, he knocked another to the ground, before spinning and bucking with his hind legs, feeling bone break under his hooves. Grimacing, he turned and threw another spell off, blowing a gory chunk out of another Guard. Next to him, Lyra let loose fire spell after fire spell, driving her enemies before her and screaming like a lunatic, her eyes wide and maddened.

Further along the line, Dinky ducked under blades, moving faster than her bigger and bulkier opponents, her horn glowing as her own blade, a midnight-black short sword, whipped out and lacerated throats and limbs, stabbing and cutting like a stinging (albeit lethal) fly.

The Royal Guard claimed their kills too, of course: a good dozen Night Guard had run straight onto well aimed spears and been impaled, and more were falling, inexperienced recruits being killed by better trained and more experienced Guardsponies. The sheer numbers, however, were quickly beginning to tell on the Royal Guard.

Worse still for the beleaguered Imperial forces, human soldiers had begun landing, laying down sprays of carefully controlled fire that killed half a dozen ponies with every burst, driving the remaining fighters on like cattle. Knights of Albion, dressed in uniforms that seemed a combination of bits of old plate armour and the rubber and kevlar suits of the main BDF, drew longswords and charged into the fray. Dead Men soldiers came up from behind the Night Guard, disciplined, faceless and intimidating in their gas-masks and trenchcoats. Within a few minutes, the Royal Guard ranks broke, and they retreated into Ponyville itself.

“Yes!” Blueblood screamed from the front line, covered head to toe in muck and filth. “Take that you buckers! For Freedom! For Equestria!”

Dinky came up behind him; her own armour was rent and dented and she had a nasty bruise over one eye, but she was otherwise unharmed. She put a hoof on his shoulder.

“Sir? Are you alright?” she asked.

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt more alive,” the Prince replied with wide eyes. “I should have done this months ago!”

***

Mayor Mare of Ponyville hated this war. She had never been brave enough to flee the country - neither with Doctor Hooves’ Exodus, nor with the caravans, nor with anything else. She told herself that her staying was less to do with cowardice and more to do with the fact that she could do more good for the citizens of Ponyville by staying, but the truth was that if she had ever been thinking about the citizens of Ponyville she would have stood up to Twilight Sparkle when she had factories and Converted barracks and a dozen other ugly buildings put here. She would have spoken out against disappearances, against ponies being arrested and ordered to the Iron Wall, against everything that had gone wrong.

Still, much as she hated Solamina’s regime and everything that had changed… she had never wanted war on the streets of Ponyville itself. And yet now it seemed that was precisely what she was going to get.

“Mayor Mare!” came a panicky voice. “Mayor Mare!”

From outside Mare’s office came her adjutant, a strangely-accented green Converted Unicorn who called herself Schöne Blumen.

“What is it, Blumen?” Mare asked. She had never been able to pronounce the Converted’s first name.

“The enemy are at the edge of the town!” Blumen yelled. “They’re tearing the garrisons apart!”

“Calm down, Blumen,” Mare said tiredly. She half considered how she would deal with this - technically, she was still in charge of the town. “Have a white flag run up over the library and tell everypony who isn’t a combatant to gather there.”

“But what about…” Blumen said, but Mare cut her off with a sharp glare.

“We won’t risk the ponies of Ponyville,” she said. “I’ll wait here for them. No trouble, though - I don’t want any deaths that aren’t needed.”

“Mayor Mare, our duty is to fight the invaders!” the Converted said, all too earnestly.

“That is the job of the military,” Mayor Mare retorted. “And they are being ‘torn apart’. How do you think civilians would fare?!”

“But…”

“No buts, you stupid Convie bucker!” Mare snapped. She composed herself. “You have your orders, Miss Blumen.”

“Y-yes, Mayor Mare,” Blumen said quietly. “But what about warning Canterlot?”

Mare sighed. She had hoped that Blumen would have forgotten that was necessary by protocol, given just how much she was panicking. Still - protocol was protocol.

“You know what to do, Miss Blumen,” she said quietly. Blumen nodded and raced to the balcony of Mare’s office. A moment later, a bolt of light shot from her horn, racing into the sky before exploding in a multicoloured burst of light.

Mare’s eye was drawn to distant Canterlot. A moment later, a similar flare of light exploded atop one of the towers of the city, signalling that the message had been received. And then, as though something was melting or spilling over the top of the city, a purple shield began forming, starting at the very highest point over the city and spilling down the sides to form a great purple ball, impenetrable by any force.

“Well,” Mare said quietly. “Now we wait.”

***

The Interdiction, ponderous and slow, flew through the portal. Behind it, Grey Squadron and Upsilon Squadron came. Nearby, more helicopters, escorted by ponies from Green, Blue, Alpha and Sigma Squadrons came flying.

It was strange, flying through the portal: one moment, they were in British air, seeing the portal ahead as a target and then all of a sudden...

... they were home.

Errant Flight could see the Canterhorn, the distant Canterlot glinting as a giant purple shield materialised into existence. He could see the Everfree Forest and Ponyville. He could see home, Cloudsdale, once proud and fair, now merely a toy for Solamina to play with, just as all of Equestria was.

Errant grinned as the Pegasi Squadrons flew - to feel Equestrian air again! Air that was something he could master, control even… the subtle difference wasn’t anything he could ever have explained to a non-Pegasi, and not even that many Pegasi felt it, but he always had. Earth’s air wasn’t home. It didn't quite bend to the will of a Pegasus the way the air here did, it didn't support in the same way. Sometimes in the early days, it had surprised him that Pegasi could even fly there.

He shook his head, clearing his mind of thoughts. He needed to prepare himself for battle.

“All flights,” came the voice of the Interdiction’s Captain, a forest green Earth Pony that Errant had spoken to briefly named Green Grass, though he would be going by the callsign ‘Interdiction One’ for this battle. “This is Interdiction One. Comm test, sound off by Squadron.”

“Grey Squadron, check,” Errant said quickly. The other Squadron leaders quickly called in their own readiness:

“Eagle, on station.” Eagle Squadron's leader sounded stern and efficient.

The leader of Sigma Squadron was a different matter. “Sigma, here," was snapped out in a slightly nervy tone, his voice reedy and tense.

“Alpha, ready.” Alpha Squadron's leader was a sombre older pony, who sounded weary and experienced.

“Upsilon, standing by," Grey Fox threw out. He sounded more confident than Errant Flight had ever heard him.

“Blue, ready and able," came the almost eager voice of Blue Leader.

“Green, ready to go," added the less calm voice of Green Leader.

The imperious and cold voice of a mare spoke next. “Gold, at your command.”

“Theta, standing by," added another mare's voice, though this one was less calm, sounding tense but ready.

“Switch to local channels and sound off,” Interdiction One said tersely. “Good luck flyers.”

Errant Flight switched his comm to local channels as ordered. “All flyers, this is Grey Leader. Sound off please.”

“Grey Two, here,” Dream Flyer said quickly.

“Grey Three, standing by,” Ditzy’s voice came. She sounded oddly calm considering the situation.

“Grey Four, ready and willing!” Dark Wing said, his voice full of anticipation. Errant could hardly blame him: today, he would get to avenge Swift Wing and Little Wing, his cousins who had died over Manchester, just as Errant would get to avenge Cloud Ranger and the others from Grey Squadron who had fallen.

“Grey Five,” came the reliably sturdy voice of Solid Hoof, a tiny bit thicker than normal, almost as if he were trying not to sound emotional at seeing Equestria again. “Here.”

“Grey Six on station,” said the Thestral, Fell Spear. His voice was clipped and professional.

“Grey Seven, standing by,” White Blossom said, her voice quiet, as though being here in Equestria had somehow made her unable to speak louder than that.

“Grey Eight, here,” came Pure Heart’s voice, the normally antagonistic mare sounding a little less so.

“Grey Nine,” Star Blitz added. “Ready and able.”

“Grey Ten here,” Bright Wonder said quickly.

“Grey Eleven standing by,” came Lily Picker’s voice, sounding slightly less nervous now that she was a little more experienced with the Squadron.

“Grey Twelve here,” the calm voice of Mellow Air finished, the mare gliding almost easily in formation.

“Grey is a go,” Errant reported. He heard the other squadrons report similarly. Everypony was ready for this, the final battle.

“No sign of organised aerial resistance at presence,” Interdiction One said. “Waiting for orders from command on the ground.”

“Roger that,” Errant said, trying not to sound worried or annoyed. ‘Command on the ground’ was Prince Blueblood, who wasn’t exactly known for sensible decision making prior to the war. Errant only hoped he was less of a plotwipe than he remembered.

***

Canterlot Palace.

"Down here," Twilight said, leading the group down another corridor. Sighing, the rest of the group followed her, keeping up with the speeding unicorn as best they could.

For the last five minutes, the group had been trying to reach the exit to the lower part of the palace, but Twilight's skill at leading them was lost upon the horrible realisation that this entire section of the palace had been extended and modified. Where once these parts had held quarters for servants and tertiary libraries, now there were dungeons and torture chambers.

"What manner of ponies could possibly work in a place like this?" Rarity asked as they proceeded down another corridor, this one full of empty dungeons.

"I don't rightly know," Applejack replied grimly, looking around the place in disgust. "But I'll tell ya'll this: I'd like to have a word."

Fluttershy was at the rear of the group - despite being more confident now than she had been, this was still enough to shock and disturb her into some semblance of her old, quiet self. Rainbow was with her, and the two were having a murmured conversation

"You and half the Resistance," Desert Wind commented. "But I know who runs this place - this is..."

They were suddenly distracted by a loud, strangled moan of pain.

"What was that?!" Twilight asked shocked. "Most of these dungeons have been empty!"

"We're not here to free prisoners," Hell Blazer pointed out impatiently. "The sooner the shield goes down the better."

"We don't even know it went up," Elliot replied, frowning at him. "All we know is the internal alarm is up. I don't think they've thought to look down here yet." He paused. "And if we can free any prisoners, I fully intend to."

He looked around before turning to Sir Elise.

"I want your group to keep searching for an exit," he said. The knight looked less than happy about being sent off.

"Our place is with you, my liege," she said.

"Your place is to follow orders," Elliot replied. "You have them. Carry out my instructions."

Elise looked as though she wanted to protest some more, but then she sighed and bowed. "As you wish, my liege."

She turned to her knights and signalled for them to follow her, and they jogged down the corridor and out of sight. Elliot sighed: he didn't exactly like having warriors like that who devoted themselves to him, and the fact was he was fairly certain they were really more devoted to Albion.

"Where's the prisoner then?" he asked, turning back to his group.

"Here," Springfield called over to them, the Converted Dead Man standing by a locked door with no windows. "The moaning came from in here."

"Stand back," Elliot said. He swung Excalibur in a narrow downward arc and the door splintered like cheap stunt-glass. "Go."

Springfield entered first, horn lit. A moment later, he rushed out before rushing to an empty and open cell to evacuate his stomach.

"What was it?" Twilight asked, frowning as she moved to enter the room.

"D-don't!" Springfield choked out, but it was too late. Rarity and Applejack right behind her, Twilight entered the little cell and fired a small light spell that hung in the air, throwing the contents of the room into horrible relief. Applejack gagged and ran out to follow Springfield, leaving the two unicorns alone.

A figure was chained to the wall. It wasn't a pony - purple scales and what might have once been dexterous claws attested to that. One of it's arms looked like it had been sewn on, and there was definite scarring as if the arm had been blasted off. The head lolled to the side, eyes wide and staring at nothing the ponies could see. The teeth were yellow and red, stained in blood and the Pony God only knew what else. It looked dead, but it clearly wasn't - the limbs twitched, even the lolled head jerking every so often somehow.

And then it's eyes flicked up to look at the ponies.

"R-r-r-r-r-r-r-raaaaaarrrr..." it said, it's voice nothing more than a pained, hoarse croak. "Raaaaaaaarreee..."

"Oh no," Twilight said, her eyes widening and tears brimming as she realised who this was. "S-Spike?"

"What's in there?" they heard Rainbow's voice speak.

"Don't!" they heard the voice of Springfield snap. "Don't go in there. Just don't."

"I don't get it," Rainbow muttered. "Hey Twi!" she called. "What's in there?"

"Do as he says, Rainbow," Twilight called back, her voice breaking slightly. "Keep the others out too."

There was a pause, and Twilight held her breath, hoping her friends wouldn't have to see this.

"'K then," Rainbow said, now somehow sounding convinced, though whether by Twilight speaking or her tone of voice nopony could say. Twilight didn't care - she was busy looking over... what was left of Spike.

He was older than when Twilight had known him by a couple of years, maybe his limbs were a tad longer, but it was recognisably him. Rarity closed her eyes for a moment, horrified by what she was seeing. Behind Rarity and Twilight, the Doctor entered, his eyes wide in horror.

"He was killed," he said, his gravelly voice no more than a whisper. "When I escaped, he was killed."

"But... but he's alive..." Twilight said, her voice breaking with sobs. "Sweet Celestia, what have they done to him...?!"

"I don't know," Rarity said, her voice a whisper. "But I don't think he's alive anymore, Twilight." Her hoof extended, her own horn lit up. "Look."

Twilight followed Rarity's horn light, and she gasped in further horror as she saw that both the dragon's legs ended at the knees. The bone was yellowed and exposed, and Twilight could swear she could see necrosis of some kind, almost as if...

"No," she said again, her eyes widening in even more horror. "They didn't, tell me they didn't."

"Necromancy," the Doctor said, his own eyes widening in surprise. "The practice of restoring the dead to some semblance of animation. Fascinating. It usually..."

"I know about Necromancy, thank you very bucking much!" Twilight snapped. "What I want to know is how can we help him?!"

"There is no way," the voice of Elliot spoke. The man stepped in, his eyes frowning in concern at the dead dragon, the little voice-box of the poor thing still growling out. He stepped in front of the dragon and knelt in front of him. "Can you hear me?"

The dead eyes of the Necromancy-raised body still locked onto Twilight and Rarity, something sparking in the otherwise dead flesh.

"Spike the dragon!" Elliot snapped. The eyes quickly looked at Elliot. "Can you hear me?"

The eyes moved back to Rarity and Twilight, and if Spike had heard him, he made no sign.

"R-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-raaaaaarreeeeee... eeeeeee... teeeeeeee..." the little voice croaked, sounding as pained as anypony had ever heard anything sound. It tore at Rarity's heart to think that, after all he had suffered... even in whatever horrid half-life this was, he still thought of her first.

"Celestia's sake!" she snapped. "There must be something we can do!"

"There is," Elliot said quietly. He stood up, moving Excalibur to a high guard as though he were about to behead someone, the blade almost glowing in the dark room. "We end it."

"No!" Twilight and Rarity yelled together.

"I'm not just killing him!" Twilight yelled. "Not when we can help him!"

"We can't!" Elliot snapped. "We have no time. Maybe if we had time, but..."

"No," Hell Blazer's voice spoke. He stepped forward, his face half in shadow from the various light sources. "This kind of Necromantic work? Looks like he's been killed more than once and they brought him back again. Look closer." His hoof pointed at the legs. "They'll have done that to stop him escaping. The arm was sewn on. There's marks that look like internal damage. If we moved him, we'd be lucky if he didn't fall apart in our hands - hooves." He grimaced. "This is nasty."

Twilight and Rarity exchanged glances of horror - this was worse than they could have imagined.

"That settles it then," Elliot said, raising Excalibur again.

"No!" Twilight snapped, and Elliot paused again, looking down at her. She looked up at him, her expression grim and stoic. "I'll do it. I'm his sister. I raised him. I owe him this."

"You'll have to completely destroy the body," Hell Blazer said, sounding oddly subdued for the normally loud and brash Converted. "Otherwise they can bring him back again."

"I understand," Twilight said. "Leave. All of you."

Elliot said nothing, but he put a hand on Twilight's shoulder as a gesture of solidarity. She smiled weakly.

"I'll stay," Rarity said firmly, her eyes watering. "He deserves that much."

"Alright," Twilight said quietly. "Ok."

She turned to Spike. His eyes locked on hers, the small spark in them flaring up.

"Twwwwwwwiiiiiiiiii... liiiiiiiiiiiiiiight..." he said, his voice still a croak, but now full of something almost like... anger? Fear?

"I'm gonna free you, Spike," she said quietly. "I'm going to set you free."

"Fr-fr-frrrrrrr... eeeeeeeeeeeee.....?" the corpse-dragon croaked. "Frrrrr... eeeeeeee... k-k-k-k-k-kiiiiiiiiiiiiiillllll... m-m-meeeeeeeee..."

"That's right Spike," Twilight said quietly, trying not to break. "I'm going to... to kill you."

Spike said nothing more, but his dead eyes closed and he let out what could almost have been a contented sigh.

"Can you... can you actually... d-destroy his body, Twilight?" Rarity asked.

"Dragons are tough," Twilight said coldly. "But yes. I happen to know a spell that can disintegrate their bodies."

"What spell?" Rarity asked.

"You'd be amazed what the Watcher's Council on Earth had to hand," Twilight said shortly. She closed her eyes, there was a flash of light... and then Spike's body disintegrated, the entire thing turning to ossified dust. She turned away and left the room, leaving Rarity alone for a moment.

"Goodbye, Spike," she said quietly. She too turned and left the room.

Elliot was waiting for them, Excalibur planted in the ground and the man leaning on it heavily.

"It's done," Twilight said bluntly.

"Good," the man replied shortly.

"Who did this?" Twilight asked. She looked at Springfield and Desert Wind. Springfield shrugged, but Desert Wind scowled.

"Who d'you think would be experimenting with forbidden magic in this bucking place?" he asked, the tone of his voice - the venom in it - telling Twilight everything she needed to know.

She narrowed her eyes, her heart turning to slivers of ice in her chest. "I see." She turned away and started walking down the corridor. "Guess that's something you and me have in common, Wind."

"What?" the tan pony asked with a frown.

"We're both wanting to kill Twilight Sparkle when we meet her," the purple Unicorn said, a slight snarl in her voice as she exploded into a full gallop.

***

Ponyville.

Still pumped on adrenaline after the fight with the Royal Guard, Blueblood met with the field commanders on the ground after the initial enemy force had been driven off, breathing heavily. All around him there were tanks, jeeps and other madness of war being driven into position, surrounded by hundreds of human soldiers and Equestrian resistance fighters.

"Prince Blueblood!" one of the Knights of Albion - Sir Eric himself - said, approaching him. Behind him were Major Redmond, who looked harried but otherwise alright.

“We’ve got the plotwipes on the run! We’ve got to press the advantage!” Blueblood exclaimed once he reached them.

"We've got a lot of forces inbound," Redmond pointed out, his tone respectful but his expression stern, "but I don't think any of them are ready to engage yet."

"The Night Guard are!" Blueblood replied at once. "We'll take the fight to the buckers happily!"

“If I may, Prince Blueblood,” Sir Eric said quietly, “that would not be wise. They have the advantage of terrain. Any force that enters the town will take enormous casualties. We should send an expeditionary group into the town in order to flush them out.”

Part of Blueblood was pained by the idea that he himself couldn’t go and kill every single one of his enemies - but then his rational mind returned, fighting off the blood-drunk state he had entered, and, shaking his head, he thought logically about what was being said. He straightened up slightly, trying to regain something of his Princely air.

“Who would you suggest?” he asked, swallowing slightly as the adrenaline left him and he started feeling tired. He felt the slightly ridiculous urge to yawn, but suppressed it.

A moment later, a squad of Dead Men appeared, almost as if the question of high casualties had magically summoned them.

“We volunteer,” one of them said sharply.

“I… alright,” Blueblood said, slightly surprised by the presence of the Dead Men. “Flush the enemy out of their hiding holes. Clear the town out.”

The Dead Men moved off immediately, their leader ordering more of their troops to form up and begin the advance. A blue Resistance mare jogged over to their position, looking a little frazzled.

“Sirs,” she said, saluting Redmond and Blueblood. “Silent Step, Radio Op.”

“Report,” asked Redmond, returning the salute along with Blueblood.

“Interdiction One and the rest of the air force are requesting orders, sir,” the mare said.

Redmond looked to Blueblood, who was looking at him expectantly.

“You’re in command, sir,” he pointed out.

Slightly unnerved, Blueblood turned to Silent Step. “Tell them to start heading for Canterlot. Hopefully Elliot’s team will have the shield down by then.”

“Yes sir,” Silent Step said, turning to relay her orders.

“That should allow for the forces to begin landing as soon as the shield falls,”

“We also need to secure another method of transportation to the city,” Sir Eric said as they moved off. “We can’t rely on only one front of attack when the shield comes down, and walking’s too slow.”

“The train!” Dinky said, suddenly excited. “There’s a train station near here. If we secure that, we’ll be able to move men and materials up using that, and we could secure a foothold in Canterlot using it as well!”

“Good thinking, Dinky,” Blueblood said quietly. He turned to Sir Eric. “If I could leave that in your capable hands, Sir Eric?”

“The station will be ours,” the Knight promised. “And you will have your foothold. Knights!” he called over to his soldiers, who had been congregating nearby. “Assemble!”

As he too walked away, Blueblood turned to Dinky, sighing slightly in disappointment at not getting to immediately go kill more enemies.

"Are you alright?” he asked, looking over her injuries with a keen eye.

“Yes, sir,” she said quickly. “Just… just glad to be here.”

“Good,” Blueblood said, smiling slightly. “I think it was about time we gave those bastards a bloody nose in person.”

Dinky smiled in return. “Yes sir.”

***

The Dead Men moved like robots. They didn’t know fear - they were already dead, after all. The streets of Ponyville were ripe for ambush, and several of them had already been killed - shot by spells, impaled by spears and in two cases, hit by potion bottles that struck skin where their uniforms had been torn: those men had willingly shot themselves, never once flinching as they did so. Nonetheless, the Dead Men continued, unheeding of death, unwilling to stop for anything in the world. They were ruthless, methodical, clinical, efficient. They had their orders and nothing would deter them. Death had come for them a long time ago, and now they were just bodies waiting to stop ticking.

At the head of these grim soldiers was a man named Manfred Stein. He had lost more than many of them: his family had been in Germany when the Barrier came down, and he didn’t want to think about how agonising their deaths might have been. He had made his home in a small English village, becoming one of it’s protectors… only to fail when they needed him most. The entire village’s children had been ponified by one of the last of the PER, and Manfred had…

He swallowed reflexively as he fought. He didn’t like thinking about it. As he battled these ponies, firing his rifle again and again, all he could see was the bodies of the Converted foals that had once been the children of that tiny village. Thirty bodies. Thirty bullets. His gun.

“Sir,” one of his men said, tapping him on the shoulder. The man pointed towards a building that had a white flag raised over it - it looked like it had once been a tree, but had been turned into some kind of house. Manfred could see foals hiding in the windows of the building, looking out at them with questioning eyes that wondered whether these monsters would come for them as they had come for the Guard and Militia.

“Orders sir?” the Dead Man asked. Manfred cast a clinical eye over the building, ignoring the foals peeping from the windows, though he felt his gorge rise.

“Our orders are to clear hostiles,” he said after a moment, pointing at the white flag. “That’s a universal symbol of non-hostility. It isn’t our business. Continue the sweep.”

“Yes sir,” the Dead Man said, saluting. At once, the Dead Men continued onwards, methodically wiping out any Guard or Militia Pony who jumped out at them.

Manfred cast one last glance at the building before sighing. Ignoring the still staring foals, he moved on to his mission.

***

“Onwards brothers and sisters!” Sir Eric yelled, his sword flashing as he took down another Royal Guard.

The train station, a small straw-roofed arrangement on the edge of Ponyville, had been difficult to reach - it seemed as though the place was the only position in the entirety of Ponyville where the Royal Guard hadn’t decided to flee: resistance here was very heavy. Nearby, Eric could see Sir Frederick fall with a spell striking him. Another knight whose face was hidden by their helmet fell as well, and Eric pushed himself harder, cutting down another Guard who rushed him. He cursed - already behind him were the bodies of many knights brave and true, warriors beyond measure of bravery who had proven their mettle to him a thousand times, men and women who he had trusted with his life. Their deaths weighed heavily on him, but he swore they would not be in vain.

His knights were equipped with a combination of guns and swords - Eric had fought with swords ever since the battle of Cornwall, where he had been blessed by Excalibur itself. Since that day, he had found that his faith and his blessings could be passed on to those deemed worthy by him and those who followed him: more proof, if proof had ever been needed, that those who served Albion and Avalon were blessed by the divine will of the gods themselves.

Near him, Sir Eleanor was struck in the face by a potion bomb. There was a momentary hesitation on her part, and then the vile liquid dissolved on her face. Grinning, the blonde woman pushed forward, her blade spinning as it decapitated the pony foolish enough to think such a tactic might work - immunity to the vile potion was one of the many blessings granted to the Holy Order, along with strength of will and body greater than that of normal warriors.

Truth be told, the blessings of Albion were not infinite - eventually, they would drain, and though they recharged they were not so great that a warrior would be able to jump into battle again immediately, but Sir Eric and his followers didn’t care. If a warrior could not accept that death could come, that his luck might run out, they were no warriors.

“My liege!” one of his knights called. Sir Thomas waved at him, before pointing to the station once he had Eric’s attention. There was a train there - but it looked to be readying to move.

“There’ll be no way to secure a foothold without that train!” Eric said, cursing under his breath. “On, warriors! We must board that train!”

Pushing themselves even harder, the knights of Albion pushed themselves forward, blades flashing and guns barking. There were many Royal Guard before them - but these fools were no match for the power of Albion.

Eventually, Eric and his cohort reached the train - just as it was about to move.

“Jump on!” Eric called, leaping for the rear carriage, where a door was exposed with a small walkway for somepony to land on. He landed near the door and kicked it in, landing amongst three Guardsponies. At once, they moved to attack him, but his blade was faster and they fell headless at his feet.

He spat out a wad of blood from some old injury on the way here and took stock of his situation - he was on the train, but it was moving and he had no way of knowing how many more of his troops had joined him. Fortunately, the train was tall enough that he did not need to crouch, but the doorways would be a point where he could become trapped.

“Don’t focus on the negative,” he chided himself. “You’re a warrior of Albion. It’s time to prove your mettle.”

Suddenly, there was a screeching sound and the train jerked to a halt. Frowning, Eric readied his blade… and then two of his warriors, Sir Eleanor and Sir Paul, walked out from the doorway leading to the front of the train, both soaked in blood and grinning.

“Sir Eric,” Sir Eleanor greeted him with a grin. She held up the severed head of a pony. “The driver gave us some trouble. We may have fixed that.”

Eric grinned. “Well done, Sir Eleanor.”

A moment later, another knight boarded, one Sir Francois, a French warrior who had proven his mettle many times over.

“Sir Eric!” he said, bowing slightly. “The station is clear! Our forces are ready to board!”

“Then by all means, my bold knight,” Eric replied with a vicious grin. “Let us get our forces aboard this train and begin our assault on the Tyrant’s capital itself!!”

As Francois and the others jumped off to gather their warriors, Eric sighed contentedly. Today might be a day of fallen brothers, a day of red blades and rent armour, but despite all that… it would be a good day.

It would be the day a Tyrant fell.

***

Author's Note

Personal note: ok, now I'm darker and edgier.

This Chapter contains some references to events from the Anthology. I've linked those references to the specific chapters they occur in, in case you're interested in more information.

And so... the battle for Equestria has begun. This... might take a while. Thanks again to RoyalPsycho and The Void, they're badasses as usual. Thanks to commenters and favouriters alike. Hopefully what happens now really rocks your socks off!

Enter the Tyrant.

Chapter Forty Six: Enter the Tyrant.

***

Canterlot Palace. June 6th. Year 6 of the New Solaminan Calendar (2030).

“Finally!” Hell Blazer exclaimed, looking around with a semi-satisfied grin. The group had just burst from a door that led away from the catacombs of Canterlot Palace and into the main chambers, and he had been the first one out. The others were a few steps behind him.

Unfortunately, he found himself bursting out on at least ten Royal Guards, all of whom looked serious and grim.

“Hey!” one of them said angrily. “Who the buck are you?”

Thinking quick, Hell Blazer smirked at them and leant against the doorway that led down to the catacombs.

“I’m John fucking Constantine,” he replied. “Here - have a light on me.”

A split-second later, Hell Blazer jumped forward and threw a fireball in their direction. The Guards dodged, but at least four were too slow and were incinerated instantly. The fireball continued on it’s path of destruction, finally impacting against the wall of the corridor, incinerating a few priceless tapestries and leaving the hall in flames.

One of the Guards, blinking and shaking his head, looked up at the doorway where Hell Blazer had come from - only to find himself facing a silhouetted figure, tall and furious, with a giant two-handed blade in its hands.

“Hi,” David Elliot said angrily. He swung his blade, and the Guard’s head bounced away from his shoulders. That done, Elliot turned to Hell Blazer. “Think you could have managed to not incinerate the way to the astronomy tower?”

“Probably,” Hell Blazer said nonchalantly. “But this was waaay more fun.”

Behind him, the rest of the group appeared. Twilight still looked coldly furious after what they had seen in the dungeons, and Rarity looked sick. Applejack had managed to keep Rainbow and the others from asking precisely what those who had gone into the dark, dingy little cell had seen, but she could tell they were curious. Right behind these ponies came Sir Elise of the Order of Albion, her blade readied, and her knights were close behind her.

Elliot rolled his neck, feeling his anger burning underneath his skin. ever since they had come through the portal, he had been slowly building himself up, trying not to overwhelm his tired body. If before his stint in the mindscape learning how to control the power of Albion had taught him that the power of Albion was water and he a container, he felt now more like a water balloon, expanding as the water entered him. He just hoped he didn’t burst.

“So,” Springfield said, startling Elliot from his thoughts. The Converted was looking out of a nearby window and pointing a hoof. “I think that settles the question of whether the shield is up.”

And sure enough, there it was - a great purple shield surrounding Canterlot, just waiting for any attacks that may or may not then come.

“Well,” Elliot said, sighing. “That gives us less time than I’d hoped. We need to head for the astronomy tower, pronto!”

There was a commotion from the other end of the corridor. Two dozen Royal Guard Unicorns appeared, eyes wide with shock at the destruction, before they noticed the little group of humans and ponies. Before any of them could act, Sir Elise drew a pistol and shot one, before readying her blade.

“For Albion, brothers and sisters!” she yelled. “Charge!”

Before anypony could stop them, the knights of Albion charged forward down the corridor, blades flashing. One of the brave warriors was hit by a spell, promptly getting knocked off of his feet and into a wall, before slumping to the floor, still as stone. The rest of the knights, however, reached the Guards and a moment later a swirling, bloody melee had begun.

“Go, my liege!” Sir Elise called over the melee. “We will hold these here!”

“The Astronomy tower is this way,” Twilight said, pointing in the opposite direction.

“Those knights just held off Solamina’s cavalry,” Hell Blazer said, with a wide grin at the irony of referring to equines as ‘the cavalry’. “Knew those crazy wankers were good for something.”

Elliot cursed. He didn’t like leaving good fighters to die - but he knew he didn’t have a choice. Still… he didn’t need to leave them to die alone with no help.

He span Excalibur once in his hand, before planting the tip in the floor with a loud crack. A bolt of light shot across the floor, and where it struck Royal Guard, they would scream and flail as though being attack by many stinging bees. More bolts of light shot up from the floor.

“Albion!” one knight called. “Albion stands! He fights with us!” With that simple proclamation the entire group cheered.

“For Albion!” another man yelled. “For Avalon!”

Elise stepped back from the melee briefly, turning to Elliot. She raised her blade in salute. He saluted her with Excalibur in return, before turning to Twilight.

“Lead on, Lieutenant,” he said.

“This way,” she said grimly. She ran off up some stairs, the other newcomer-ponies right behind her. Elliot span his blade and followed, followed swiftly by Hell Blazer, Springfield and the Doctor.

They didn’t have much time at all.

***

Solamina’s Chambers, Canterlot Palace.

“My lady,” came a quiet voice at the edge of her consciousness.

Empress Solamina opened her eyes. For the entirety of this day, she had been feeling… strange. As though someone were with her, talking to her… but there was nopony else in the room. This had perturbed her, and she had spent several days in seclusion, trying to get a sense for what the presence might be.

…monsteryouareanabominationIwillseeyou…

“My lady!” the voice repeated.

“Yes?” she asked calmly, turning to look at the pony who had entered her chambers. Sure enough, Commander Sparkle was there, looking worried. “Twilight? What is the matter?”

“The enemy!” Sparkle replied. “It’s as you predicted my lady - they’re invading! A large air force is en route to the city!”

“It matters not,” Solamina said with a shrug. “The Archmagi shield will hold them.”

“That isn’t all, my lady,” Sparkle continued. “There are reports of fighting in the lower levels - some sort of infiltration team. They may attempt to attack the Archmagi.”

Solamina raised an eyebrow. “I see.” She smiled, a soft, comforting and yet at the same time utterly chilling thing. “Worry not, my faithful student. I have a surprise for any air force bold enough to assail the city… and as for the intruders…” She grinned, almost hungrily. “I have longed to take to the field for a long, long time. I think now is as good a time as any.”

Sparkle bowed. “My lady.”

Solamina rose, moving to the door. As she did so, however, she turned to look down at Sparkle.

“In case these intruders are more persistent than I imagine,” she said quietly, “I would like you to wake her up.”

Sparkle’s eyes widened. “We have never…”

“This is a desperate time, my faithful Twilight,” Solamina cut her off sharply. “We may need her.”

Sparkle bowed again. “As you command, my lady.”

Solamina smiled, and then she left the room. As she did so, however, she felt an odd twinge of something…

…youwillpayforwhatyouhavedoneyoumonsterIwill…

She shook her head. Nothing was wrong. She was in control.

And now… now she would be able to show just how in control she truly was.

***

Sky above Canterlot.

In the air, the Interdiction was at the head of a large attack force - a combination of attack helicopters and transport helicopters flew through the sky towards Canterlot, just waiting to attack the city. The transports were filled with soldiers, armed to the teeth and itching to finally exact revenge on the enemy for six years of brutal, unending conflict and two years before that of fear and uncertainty. Ponies were itching to reclaim their homeland from madness and finally earn, in their minds, the right to come home.

The transports were bulky, armoured machines, looking like tanks in the air and easily capable of standing up to the worst that Solamina’s forces could throw at them. The attack copters were a different, and altogether more ramshackle affair. Some of them were military - attack helicopters salvaged from a half dozen armies. Others were entirely different affairs, civilian helicopters repurposed and often lightly armed. Still, everyone in those machines was ready to give their all.

Surrounding this fleet were the ponies of the ERAF, every single one of them ready to defend the machines with everything they had. Grey Squadron, as the senior ranking group in the air (by virtue of Group Captain Errant Flight being the head of the Squadron) were at the head of the formation.

They could see Canterlot up ahead - the city was as beautiful and radiant as it ever had been, but everypony in the air knew it was a facade - the truth of the matter was a far darker, far more insidious affair. It was a city now propped up by Converted labour and fanaticism, mixed with fear and lies. Tearing it down - metaphorically and, if necessary, literally - would be the greatest of pleasures.

“Shield hasn’t gone down yet,” somepony said on the comms, probably a member of one of the other Squadrons. “That can’t be good.”

Errant Flight didn’t reply, but truth be told, that worried him too.

“Interdiction One, do we have an ETA on that shield coming down?” he asked, trying to sound calm. He knew it was a longshot - Elliot’s group could never have had any comm equipment, and they were the only ones who would know for certain when the shield falling would actually happen.

“That’s a negative,” came the voice of Green Grass, the Interdiction’s Captain and the stallion in charge of coordinating the air assault from the captured Zeppelin. “If we get there before it’s down, we’ll have to hold up here.”

“That’ll leave us pretty exposed, One,” Grey Fox of Upsilon Squadron pointed out. “I don’t like our chances if they notice we’re up here.”

“I think they’ll have already bucking noticed,” Dream Flyer pointed out drily. “We’ve enough flyers and copters up here to level Canterlot three times over. They’d have to be bucking blind to not notice.”

Errant suddenly had a sickening feeling in his gut as he saw something in the distance. “Horsefeathers.”

“What?” Interdiction One asked. “Grey Leader, what’s wrong?”

“Everypony!” Errant yelled, ignoring him, “all flyers, all copters, everyone - hostile air forces are en route!”

At first, nopony knew what Errant was on about - but then they saw them, slow and sure and deliberate. A fleet of war-zeppelins appeared, their brass and gold gondolas and skeletons and their heavily decorated balloons glinting in the sunshine. They were slowly heading on an intercept course for the BDF and Resistance fleet.

And speeding away from this zeppelin fleet like an army of angry, golden bees, Errant could see an army of Royal Guard Pegasi, spears and armour shining in the sunlight as they flew towards the Resistance Air Fleet at full pelt.

“Everypony get ready to fight!” Errant yelled, flipping his blades out and accelerating to attack speed. “It’s a trap!”

***

Train from Ponyville, en route to Canterlot.

Sir Eric was not a patient man - or at least, he was not a patient man when it came to battle. To know that his brothers and sisters under Sir Elise, and the Avatar himself, were fighting in Canterlot, and that many hundreds of their fellow warriors were in the air above the city, filled him with a sense of…

Fear.

Not fear of action - he never feared action. No, he feared failure. He feared failing the Avatar’s trust in him and his Order, failing his brothers in arms. That was a failure worse than death.

With that in mind, he had made his way to the steam-engine itself, intent on monitoring the progress of the train directly from there. The train was being driven by two ponies. One was Sir Bold Travail, a grey Unicorn with a compass rose cutie mark not unlike Prince Blueblood’s. The pony had armour on reminiscent of Night Guard armour save for it’s bright silver colour, and he looked worried.

The other pony was one of the original train drivers, who had been… coerced into helping by Sir Eleanor. He was a dull brown Earth Pony, and he looked thoroughly sullen.

“How long will this train take to get to where we’re going?” Eric asked.

“Not sure, Sir Eric,” Travail said grimly. “It has been a long time since I travelled by train.”

“Something like half an hour at the speed we’re going,” the driver said quietly and sullenly. “But you won’t be able to get in.”

“This train will be admitted through the shield,” Eric pointed out. “We know that.”

“That’s not the point,” the driver said quietly, now smirking. “You won’t be able to get in because this train hasn’t sent it’s ‘safe’ signal.”

Eric’s blood suddenly ran cold. “What?”

Before the driver could elaborate, there was a loud banging noise. Eric turned and looked behind him at the rest of the train, to see Pegasi Royal Guards flying over the train. Several of them landed on the roof, looking angry.

“We’ve been boarded!” Eric yelled as loudly as he could. “Knights, to arms!”

Before he could jump to aid his brothers and sisters in their fight, two Pegasi landed in the cabin.

“Oh thank Solamina!” the driver exclaimed. “You’re here to rescue -”

A spear lodged itself in his chest. He had a moment to look down at it in shock before the owner pushed him and it out of the cabin and off the train, to roll pitifully down a hill. Eric cursed and cut down the offending Pegasus with a single sweep of his sword..

Nearby, Sir Bold Travail dodged the ill-judged spear-thrust of his foe, and sing his horn whipped his blade out to meet his opponent’s throat. The Pegasus gurgled and fell away, and Bold Travail grinned.

“Can you keep this thing driving?!” Eric asked the Unicorn, keeping alert.

“Sure I can,” Travail grinned. “I can even keep the cabin shielded from them using my magic.”

“Good,” Eric said grimly. He turned back to the main part of the train. “When I get out of the cabin, start shielding. Don’t take it down until I return.”

He spun his sword once, and vaulted up onto the first carriage. Behind him, Bold Travail raised a shimmering pale shield between himself and the rest of the world, and Eric grinned before heading into the first carriage.

Royal Guards had broken the windows and were battling several of Eric’s knights - the tight quarters made it difficult to move their weapons effectively, at once nullifying the humans’ advantage of pistols and other ranged weaponry and the Equestrian advantage of numbers. Eric whipped his pistol out and fired once, managing to get one of the pegasi, but another one jumped at him, smashing his hoof into Eric’s chestplate. Grunting, Eric threw him off before drawing his sword and stabbing the pony where he lay.

Nearby, he could see Sir Gregor fall with a spear lodged in his chest. Growling, Eric whipped out his throwing knife and threw it straight at the pony responsible, impaling the cretinous Guard in the eye. The leader of the Holy Order grunted in satisfaction as the Guard fell to the ground with a soft thump.

Sir Jason sans Le Argonauts was wrestling with another pony - but this one had whipped out a potion bottle. Before Jason could react, it had been splashed in his face. Yelling, the knight threw his attacker off, grabbed his sword and - even as his flesh began sloughing off and Eric could hear the cracking of bones, a sure sign that the fell magic had worked it’s way past Albion’s blessing - stabbed his enemy. Letting the sword stick in the body of the Guard, Jason opened one of the doors to the carriage and, with a yell, threw himself out before anyone could stop him.

Eric cursed. This carriage was clear, but all of his warriors here had fallen. He moved on.

The next carriage saw things fare slightly better - one Pegasus was repelled by Sir Meredith as he attempted to enter through a window, the woman pushing the Guard away and to his death with a triumphant yell. Sir Quincy was less lucky, a spear pinning him to the floor as it’s owner entered the carriage with a triumphant grin that quickly died as Eric advanced upon him, his blade flashing down and cutting the Guard open from neck to hoof.

“How goes it?” he asked Meredith with a grin.

“These bastards are cowards,” the knight replied, spitting on one of the bodies. “Rather than fight us fairly they’d prefer to ambush us.”

“Just another reason why we’ll prevail,” Eric assured her. “They can’t possibly stand up to the might of the Knights of Albion!”

Nodding, Meredith turned to aid another knight who was dueling several Guards. Eric dodged past the melee to enter the third of the ten carriages they had commandeered - only to find himself dodging as a Pegasus charged the door. The unwitting creature flew straight past him and impaled one of his own, and Meredith stabbed him in the throat before he could react.

Grinning, Eric turned to enter the next carriage, where he saw Sir Eleanor happily behead another pony. She nodded tersely to him before returning to the fray. Eric cursed as he noted the bodies of Sir Jared and Sir Leto, but Sir Isaac, Sir Richard and Sir Paul were all still fighting.

“Keep at it!” he called to them, moving past the melee and slaying a Guard as he went. “We must hold the train until we reach Canterlot!”

“Yes, my liege!” Eleanor called. “For Albion!”

The other knights returned the cry as Eric moved on to the next carriage.

This would be a long train ride.

***

Sky above Canterlot.

“Grey Six, cover me, cover me!”

“Stay low, here they come!”

“I’m hit!”

“Upsilon Leader to Upsilon Two and Three, follow me in, we’re gonna disrupt that line!”

The battle over Canterlot was utter chaos - the Resistance flyers, Royal Guards and the various Equestrian and Resistance aircraft flew in amongst each other in a large, confusing melee that was so tangled that if it had been string, the entire ball would have been consigned to the bin as unfixable.

Errant dodged under at least five Royal Guards who flew overhead, tracer fire from a speedy helicopter chasing them dashing past him, clipping one of them even as he watched.

This could definitely have qualified as one of the nastiest melees he had ever been involved in during his career in the ERAF.

“Grey Squadron, sound off, how we doing?!” he yelled, looking around. There were so many flyers in the air that even his HUD was confused.

"This is Grey Eight! Hostiles on my flank!" came the voice of Pure Heart, who sounded panicky. "Repeat - multiple hostiles on my...!"

Her voice was cut off. Errant looked around, trying to see where she had gone, but he heard nothing. A moment later, the heavy-sounding voice of Fell Spear spoke.

"This is Grey Six - Eight is down." He sounded surprisingly unemotional. "I'm engaging hostiles."

"Roger," Errant said, cursing under his breath. "One flight, form up."

“Grey Two, coming up on your nine, Grey Lead,” came Dream Flyer’s voice at once.

“Grey Three, on your five,” Ditzy added, sounding almost preternaturally calm about the whole thing.

“The enemy airships look to be keeping their distance,” Flyer noted as she pulled up behind Errant. He felt oddly focused considering the fact that he had lost a member of his squadron, something that usually made him lose control. Still, he felt angry: he glared at the zeppelins in the distance, as though that alone might incinerate them. None of them were super-zeppelins - for which Errant was extremely thankful - but that didn’t stop them from being pains in the plot. They were firing bolts of magic relentlessly at the BDF air fleet, and while the human helicopters were more maneuverable than the bulky zeppelins, they were still taking casualties.

“Is there anything we can do about those things?” Ditzy asked.

“It’d take more than one squadron to do it, and there’s too many,” Errant replied. “Keep on my six - we need to thin the ranks of this bucking Guard first.”

“Roger, Grey Lead,” Dream Flyer acknowledged smartly.

“Roger, Grey Lead,” Ditzy repeated, though she sounded less sanguine about it than Dream Flyer.

“Grey Squadron,” Errant said, “meet up near the Interdiction and then prepare to corkscrew through the enemy.”

A chorus of affirmatives reached Errant’s ears. He began heading back in the direction of the Interdiction, the others on his tail. As he did so, he caught sight of a transport helicopter going down, Royal Guard Pegasi surrounding it, the ponies of Sigma Squadron trying in vain to fight them off.

“Get that shield down sharpish, Elliot,” he said quietly. “Because I don’t know how much longer we have up here.”

***

Canterlot Palace.

Elliot swung Excalibur in a sharp downward arc, cutting down another Guard. The group were being bogged down in Guards as they got closer to the Archmagi chambers: this corridor was right near a set of stairs that led directly to the Astronomy tower, but getting there was proving to be harder than the group could have foreseen.

Still: Elliot found that these ponies were no challenge. The power was continuing to build, and the more powerful he became, the less threatening his enemies were. One Unicorn threw a spell at him, and he held out his hand, deftly catching the bolt, before throwing it back in the direction it had come, striking the Guard with his own fire spell and incinerating him.

“Come on!” he yelled angrily. “Aren’t you bastards going to give me at least a little challenge?! I came here for a fucking fight!”

He span Excalibur in his hand, pointing it at a wall, and a bolt of energy lashed out, exploding near some Guards and sending them flying. He grinned.

The rest of the group were having similar fortune. He could see Pinkie Pie, her party cannon firing so rapidly that he could have sworn it was starting to glow from overheating. Applejack was bucking the Guards into next week, her face thunderous. A few feet from her Twilight Sparkle was glaring at the ponies she was fighting, her blade whipping out and lashing across limbs and throats so quickly that Elliot almost couldn’t see it.

Further along the corridor, Rainbow Dash had taken to switching between flying attacks and ground fighting, her blades spinning around in a blur. Fluttershy was right next to her, and Elliot was actually surprised at how good she was - he had seen this world’s Fluttershy fight, of course, but even she had never been so… relentless. Clearly Fluttershy was determined not to allow the Empire to win.

Past them, Hell Blazer was throwing fireballs in the direction of anypony who came too close to him, and the Doctor had taken to performing an odd sort of martial art, his limbs moving like a blur. None of the ponies he was fighting seemed to have been killed, but it sure didn’t look like any of them would get up again in a hurry. Finally, Elliot could see Rarity - she had pulled back, and was firing spells in the direction of the approaching enemy forces, her horn glowing as she sent sharp precision bolts at Guard after Guard - where they struck, the target would fall with a tiny hole drilled in their heads.

“Down!” he suddenly heard Desert Wind yell, and he ducked out of the firing line just as the pony let rip with his P220. The minigun tore through a good half dozen Guards, shredding them with a relentless hail of fire, before jamming again. Cursing, the Earth Pony stepped back. Behind him stood Springfield, who had been acting as his steadier. Still, the firepower had cleared a little bit of the way.

Elliot stepped out and brought Excalibur up above his head, facing off against a corridor of Guards charging their way.

“You shall not pass!” he yelled, before bringing the blade towards, smashing it against the tiled floor. A shockwave of energy rolled towards the Guards, blasting several of them out of the way - some were blown through windows, some into walls. The rest kept charging, but a hail of spells from the three Unicorns and a fireball from Hell Blazer soon cleared them.

“Up here!” Twilight yelled, racing up the stairs. As she ran, more Guards came around the corridor, but Elliot aimed a hand at them, firing a bolt of golden energy that blasted the base of a pillar away. the marble pillar slowly fell across the corridor, crushing two Guards under it’s weight.

“Come on!” Twilight yelled. “We don’t have much time!”

***

Gilded Seal of the Archmagi sent another bolt of magic into the giant focusing crystal in the centre of the Observatory. It was tiring, but the golden Unicorn refused to fail Commander Sparkle now.

Seal had long harboured a desire to be recognised for his magical potential - when the invitation to join the Archmagi had come barely a year ago, he couldn’t help but feel… proud. Finally, somepony was recognising that he, Gilded Seal, was somepony worth something. And now, he couldn’t imagine any life other than working under Commander Sparkle, the highest of Archmagi and Empress Solamina’s most trusted commander.

The focusing crystal had been one of Sparkle’s finest ideas. Shining Armour had formerly been the only Unicorn strong enough to create a shield that could surround Canterlot: with his assignment as a field commander - and later his death - finding some way to protect the city in case of attack was a challenge. The crystal - a piece of Crystal Empire technology leant to the Solaminan Empire by Princess Cadence and Shining Armour, along with the Crystal Golems (two of which were standing guard at the door) - was designed to focus the power of multiple Unicorns, in this case the highest tier of the Archmagi, and use it to cast the spell at a strength rivalling (and if Seal wanted to brag, exceeding) the power of Armour’s spell itself.

“Look at them,” one of his colleagues, Noble Bright, said, pointing a hoof at the battle raging in the air above Canterlot. "They honestly think they have a chance."

"Let them think that," Gilded Seal replied with a grin as he observed the battle through the opening in the observatory dome. "So long as we're here, there is nothing those fools can do to…”

The door to the chamber burst open. A figure stepped inside, faster than thought, and slashed the two Crystal Golems with a long blade. The two great golems shattered, before collapsing to the floor in piles of broken crystal, creating a slight dust cloud as they fell. From this cloud stepped the figure: a human in dark jacket, battered trousers and boots, holding a sword at least as long as himself with a glare on his face. Gilded Seal stepped back in shock and horror at how easily the crystalline monstrosities had been laid low so easily.

“Alright you Archmagi bastards,” the figure said angrily, holding the blade out in challenge in one arm, extending it towards them. “I’m the goddamn Avatar of Albion. Come at me!”

***

Sir Elise swung her blade, cutting through another Guard. Her five remaining warriors fought alongside her, each of them killing Guard after Guard. unfortunately, Elise could tell that they were beginning to tire: this would be a hard fight indeed. They had already been pushed back, step by bloody step, and though they had made their enemies pay for every one, it was still telling on them.

“Keep fighting!” she yelled, gritting her teeth as she parried a blow from another Guard. “For Albion!”

“Albion,” a regal feminine voice said, “cannot save you now.”

The Royal Guards suddenly stopped fighting, falling back away from the Knights of Albion. And then… there she was, wreathed in a bright light… and yet she herself was a shadow, silhouetted by her own radiance. Suddenly, golden glows surrounded all of the knights except Elise.

“You are spares,” the regal voice said quietly. “I have no need of spares.”

Every single one of the knights was crushed, the magical glow that surrounded them constricting until their bodies broke, bones snapping audibly. They were then unceremoniously thrown through the nearby wall, which was smashed to rubble under the impact. They hadn’t even had time to scream. Elise shielded her eyes, before spinning her blade, spitting on the floor. Her brothers and sisters in arms had been murdered, but she had been spared - which meant the beast had need of her.

“Come on then, monster!” she said, smirking. “I’ll take you on!”

“That,” the creature said, “would be unnecessary.”

A splash of potion hit Elise’s face. She grimaced… and then she smiled when the vile potion boiled on her skin and turned to harmless steam. The blessing of Albion still protected her.

“Your vile magics can’t affect me, monster,” she said to the creature, smirking even as the thing approached her. Suddenly she felt herself rise into the air: she was trapped within the same golden light that had crushed her comrades.

“How unfortunate,” Solamina said quietly, her voice a sibilant hiss. “For you.”

There was a rush of air, a jarring impact and the sound of shattering glass. Elise suddenly found herself flying out of a window. She had less than a minute to notice the ground below her before it rushed up to meet her...

***

Elliot cut down another of the Archmagi with a grimace. He held up a hand and blocked a bolt of energy from two of the unicorn mages, before reflecting the energy back in their direction. Another bolt glanced off of him and he returned it with one of his own.

Twilight and the others had entered after him, hot on his heels. Twilight’s appearance had elicited gasps from some of the Archmagi, but by now the shock had worn off and she had been forced to fight them as hard as the others. Most of the group had stayed outside the room, while Rarity and Springfield had taken pot-shots at the Archmagi from behind the cover of the doorway, but Applejack and Rainbow Dash had refused to let Twilight go in alone and were fighting with the Archmagi inside.

The Archmagi might have been combat magi, but they were comparatively lacking in hoof-to-hoof skill and very quickly it was clear that they were hopelessly outmatched. Still, they kept fighting with the zeal that one would expect from Solaminan fanatics.

Eventually, however, the last mage fell, slain by Elliot, who brought Excalibur back up into a guard as the others entered the room. There were two entrances to the great room - the one they had used, where the two Crystal golems had been standing, and a second, smaller entrance on the opposite side. From here, you could see the entirety of Canterlot.

“Close the door,” Elliot said.

“Gotcha,” came Pinkie’s voice, and she and the Doctor closed the main doors. They were a little battered but still closed well enough.

“There,” the Doctor said. “We shouldn’t be disturbed.”

“Why?” Pinkie asked. “Are we holding a ‘do not disturb’ party?”

“Not quite,” the Doctor replied drily. He walked over to join the others, who had congregated around the giant, multi-faceted crystal that dominated the room. Pinkie followed, ‘oo’ing slightly at the giant gem.

“So,” Elliot said, eyeing the crystal warily. “How to deal with this… thing.”

“What is it?” Applejack asked with a frown.

“Apart from gorgeous you mean?” Rarity commented, her eye roving over the crystal appreciatively.

“You never change, do ya Rare?” Rainbow commented with a grin. Rarity smiled.

“I’ve changed more than I’d like,” she replied grimly.

“We all have,” Fluttershy added.

“Less chatter, thank you,” Hell Blazer said scathingly, looking at the crystal with a glare. “I reckon you’ll need to smash it, Dave.”

“Yeah,” Elliot said quietly. “I reckon you’re right.”

“You can’t just break it,” Twilight argued, frowning at the two of them. “It’s an unknown magical artefact. Breaking it could have dire consequences - we don’t know…”

But Elliot wasn’t listening - he brought Excalibur high above his head, and with a yell, swung the blade down, a golden glow enveloping it as he swung. The moment it made contact with the crystal there was a blinding light and a sound not unlike a scream of pain, and a moment later, it dimmed, a cavernous, smoking hole in it’s side.

“Look!” Hell Blazer said, pointing at the nearest window. Sure enough, the shield had begun failing. A moment later, it began cracking… and a moment later, it collapsed altogether, raining harmless magical shards across the city of Canterlot…

***

Sky above Canterlot.

Errant Flight slashed a Guard across the back as he flew, swearing under his breath as he dodged a bolt from one of the zeppelins firing at him.

"This is Grey Leader!" he yelled. "What's everypony's status!"

"I've got one on my tail!" Lily Picker yelled, panicking. "Help, somepony!"

"Calm down, Grey Eleven, I'm on him," Dark Wing's voice spoke reassuringly.

Errant searched the sky for them, frowning slightly. He cursed when he saw them: Dark Wing was definitely on the tail of the pony chasing Lily Picker, but all three of them were coming into range of an Equestrian Zeppelin.

"Four, Eleven, watch out!" he yelled, but it was too late: a hail of magical missiles fired from the Zeppelin, and they caught both Lily Picker and Dark Wing, who twisted in mid-air as the bolts ripped through them before falling from the air. "Pony-Goddammit!"

"Grey Leader?!" came Ditzy's voice. "What's happened?"

"We just lost Four and Eleven," Errant snarled angrily. "And I'm not losing any more!"

He kicked himself into overdrive, heading straight for the Zeppelin in question. "This is Grey Leader to any flyers and any aircraft - I am engaging the Zeppelin..." He paused as he got it's name. "Eternal Sun, repeat, the Eternal Sun. Requesting backup, but even without it I'm bringing that bucker down for killing my flyers!"

“This is Grey Two, I’m with you Errant,” Dream Flyer said.

“Grey Three, en route,” Ditzy added.

"This is Grey Six," came the voice of Fell Spear. “I am coming up on your position now. With you all the way.”

“Upsilon Leader here,” added Grey Fox, who flew up on Errant’s left with at least half his squadron. “I’ve got some ponies here itching to kill something bigger than a Guard.”

Another voice spoke. “Sigma Five here, I’m near the Eternal Sun anyway…”

Slowly, something like thirty ponies from five squadrons - and three attack helicopters - pulled together, promising to help Errant in bringing the Eternal Sun down.

Errant grinned as the little force assembled around him. “Alright everypony - everybody - let’s go kick their flank!”

The ad-hoc group surged through the sky - rockets flew from the helicopters, striking the gondola of the Eternal Sun - the reinforced gondola survived, but there were definite signs of buckling. A moment later, the ponies of Grey Squadron and the others swarmed the thing, several of them landing on the gondola and engaging the ponies who manned it. Errant himself landed near the gangway leading to the bridge, Dream Flyer and Ditzy right near him.

“Come on!” he yelled, charging up the gangway. The handful of Earth Pony crew who stood in his way were no match for him in this furious mood, and he cut them down with ease. A moment later, he burst onto the bridge, barrelling headlong into the Captain of the Eternal Sun and impaling the stallion in the chest.

Behind him he could hear the sound of Dream Flyer and Ditzy hacking away at the bridge crew, but he didn’t move to help them, his eyes wide and shocked. He stepped off of the Captain and looked down, to see a dagger lodged somewhere in his chest. He pulled it out with little effort - the wound wasn’t fatal… but it was bleeding heavily.

“Grey Leader?” he heard the voice of Dream Flyer speak. He didn’t say anything, instead looking up to look out of the window. He could see Canterlot, the shining city he had fled from all those years ago…

And he smiled.

“The shield,” he said quietly.

“Sir?” Dream Flyer asked, and her voice sounded distant.

“The shield is down,” Errant said. He tapped his comm. “Interdiction One, come in! The shield is down!”

“We see it, Grey Leader,” Green Grass replied. “All flyers, cover the transports while they land!”

Errant turned, to go, only to find himself suddenly feeling weak. He looked down at the wound again and smiled slightly, even as he saw Ditzy and Dream Flyer move towards him.

“Errant!” Dream Flyer yelled. He didn’t answer, suddenly feeling immensely tired. Maybe a nap would be a good idea…

***

Canterlot.

In the streets of Canterlot there was panic and terror as the shield collapsed. Guards quickly mustered, Sergeants and officers yelling orders as the great barrier fell away. Civilians ran to their assigned shelters - shelters that, until now, had only been a theoretical necessity and not a practical one.

Amongst the panicking and screaming, there was a single golden unicorn who did not seem afraid. He grinned slightly as he saw the shield fall - not because he approved of the failure of Solamina’s arts, but because he approved of fate giving him the chance to battle Her enemies in the flesh and finally bring Her righteous fire to them.

His name was Sol Invictus - a long time ago, he had been a Catholic priest in the Vatican on Earth, though he had long forgotten his old human name. He had been well known amongst his parish and his diocese for his faith, but as the Barrier had approached the Vatican City, the faith he held in the old God had failed him and he had taken the potion. After that… everything had become oh so very clear to him. He had served a false God, a shadow of nothing, the whisper of a race that had become abhorrent in it’s faithlessness. Now he was a pony, a servant of a different god - or rather goddess - one who had denied her divinity for too long, but - with gentle nudging from Invictus - accepted her role as the Celestial Sun-Empress Triumphant, Astra Solamina Maxima.

He was Sol Invictus, the servant of the sun made manifest on this good world, and by Her divinity he would bring fire to the enemies of Equestria.

***

Elliot leant against a wall, breathing heavily. For some reason, using Excalibur - mixed with a tiny fragment of the Avatar’s power - had taken it out of him.

“You alright, Dave?” Hell Blazer asked.

“Fine John,” he replied tiredly. “Just… tired.”

“What now?” Twilight asked, looking at the tired man with concern in her eyes.

“We need to link up with the forces that are landing in the city,” the Doctor put in, looking out of the window. “They may require some assistance from Elliot.”

“Agreed,” Elliot said quietly. “Everypony ok?”

“I’m fine,” Twilight said with a slight smile, though it didn’t reach her eyes.

“Okie dokie, over here,” Pinkie added, waving a hoof. “Though not so much lokie.”

“Also fine,” Rarity added. “Though eager to be gone from here.”

“Same,” Rainbow said. She looked up in the sky. “I’m worried about the Pegasi squadrons - d’you think they’re ok up there?”

“I hope so,” Fluttershy said quietly from next to her.

“We can’t help them now,” Elliot said quietly. “We need to go. Come on - let’s get going.”

The group headed for the main doors as quickly as they could.

Suddenly, the door burst open again, the double doors slamming outwards sharply as though struck by great force. A figure, framed by light, was silhouetted in the doorway, staring at the group with narrow, glowing eyes.

Elliot stared at the doorway, his own eyes wide. The others stayed behind him, expressions of combined awe and fear on their faces.

"It's her," Twilight whispered, her words a breath on the air.

"Twilight, take the team and complete the mission," Elliot said at once, spinning Excalibur once in his hand and pointing it at the silhouette in challenge.

"But..." the purple Unicorn began, but a look from Elliot silenced her. Reluctantly, she headed for the other entrance.

"Come on guys," she said to the team. "This isn't our fight."

She raced off, leaving Elliot alone, facing off against the figure that was only now stepping into the room. He moved to block her line of sight to the team as they jogged out of the room, but she only had eyes for the man himself.

She was tall, elegant and powerful, clad in golden armour that crackled with unknown energies and wielding a giant glaive in the grip of her magic. Her ethereal mane and tail calmly waved in a breeze of their own. Her wings were extended out in a display of challenge, and her glowing eyes were fixed on Elliot, appraising him. She smirked at something.

In response, the Avatar glared at her as she stepped into the room, his eyes narrowing balefully at her. If looks could kill, she would have been obliterated. The energy that surrounded Excalibur extended beyond the blade, enveloping his form, and a moment later his silver-armoured form stood against the armoured Alicorn, Excalibur crackling with power as he kept it levelled at her in challenge.

"So," she began. "You are the Avatar of Albion. The one they claim can destroy me."

"I am," the Avatar replied simply.

"You know you cannot defeat me," she said, her voice betraying her anger. "Nothing can."

"I can," the man replied, spinning Excalibur once in his hand, before bringing his second hand up and standing in a battle ready stance. "It is my destiny, my purpose. The lives you have destroyed call for vengeance, for retribution. Your people scream in horror for the things you have forced them to endure. The souls of the Converted lie shattered at your hoof. For them, I will claim vengeance."

Solamina laughed, a cruel, mocking sound.

"You think it is you of all beings who will stand against me?" she said, her tone darkly amused. "You can barely stand up."

"I have strength enough in this form for this," the Avatar said, not flinching, not even moving, the massive ornate Zweihander held up still, pointed directly at the monstrous Empress. "I have fought your mockeries and slain your Captains. Now, Astra Solamina Maxima, former Celestia, I will finish what I started."

Solamina snorted. "You will finish something little man - your pathetic life. I will take great pleasure in mounting your severed head on a spike and putting it before the people of your home, the final proof that their cause is hopeless."

"There is always hope," the man said, a soft smile forming on his face. He span the Zweihander, faster than one could imagine such a massive blade moving, and then aimed it at her again. "To the death, creature."

"To the death," Solamina replied, snorting. And then she charged...

***

Author's Note

IT. IS. OOOOONN!!!

(Thanks once again to The Void and RoyalPsycho. Thanks to the commenters and favouriters. Keep your eyes peeled - SHIT IS GETTIN' REAL!)

Clash of the Titans

Chapter Forty Eight: Clash of the Titans.

***

Canterlot Palace Astronomy Tower. June 6th. Year 6 of the New Solaminan Calendar (2030).

For a long moment, the Avatar of Albion stared up at Solamina, an unreadable expression on his face. Wind blew slightly, and his hair was stirred, and he looked down at the floor of the ruined Astronomy tower as though deep in thought.

“Nothing to say, little man?” the Sun Tyrant asked with a mocking chuckle. “No quips? No jokes? No mockery?” He remained silent, that same look on his face, and Solamina laughed, a cold, cruel thing that echoed through the air. "I thought not. You're nothing but hot air."

“I have one thing to say,” the Avatar replied suddenly, looking up, and a small smile had now formed on his face. “You are a fool.”

“How so?” Solamina asked, her own smile gone, replaced with narrowed eyes and an expression of contempt.

“You think the sky is yours,” the Avatar said with a grin, raising Excalibur and pointing it straight at Solamina. “But look to your own skies - mankind is here, waiting for you!”

Solamina looked to her left, and saw with wide eyes the fleet of human aircraft flying in the skies of Canterlot, locked in their deadly dance with her own air fleet. She snarled in frustration: so many humans! She would be at the business of killing them for hours yet!

"They are as nothing to me," she growled, turning her attention back to the Avatar. "And you are trapped down there, helpless before my might!"

"Do you not understand yet, Tyrant?" the Avatar retorted, spreading his arms wide as if trying to show her something that was standing right in front of her.

"Understand what, little man?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

“You were born to the sky," the Avatar answered, and she looked back at him to see a golden glow enveloping him, "and you are as comfortable in it as you would be walking on the ground." He grinned. "But humanity... we conquered the sky! We broke it’s back over our knees! The sky is no more an obstacle to me than breathing itself. I am mankind, their chosen Avatar, and as we conquered the sky, I shall conquer you!”

With that, he pushed off of the ground, floating like a feather caught in the breeze, before directing himself to head in her direction, moving as swiftly as she had, though with perhaps a tad less grace or practice. He glided up to meet her, swinging Excalibur into another guard stance as he did so.

“You are a fool,” he said quietly. “And now you shall fall.”

She took a moment to stare at him as he ascended into the sky, but then - to his surprise - she smiled, through her eyes lost none of the malice they held.

“Interesting,” she said quietly, nodding slowly. “You are clearly even more powerful than I had first envisioned: more daring too, to challenge an Alicorn Empress in the sky. That will not save you, however - your demise is assured no matter what you do.” She spread her wings wide, and the glaive she held with her magic span in mid-air, as though she were flexing her magical muscles. “Prepare to taste the full power of Astra Solamina Maxima, you little fool!”

Her horn glowed with power. Dark clouds began forming, the sun - which had, before this, been bright and clear - now blotted out. There was a distant rumbling, which crept closer and closer to Canterlot until, finally, a single lightning bolt lashed out from the heavens, striking Solamina’s horn. She didn’t even flinch - instead, she grinned as power began corsucating up and down her horn as though it were building. A moment later she pointed her horn at the Avatar, and a single bolt of energy lashed out from it, streaking towards him faster than thought.

He held up a hand, and the bolt impacted on the gauntlet, driving him back slightly but otherwise leaving him unharmed. The bolt dissipated, and he grinned at Solamina’s dumbfounded expression.

“Competent,” he said quietly. “But predictable. Now - allow me to reply.”

He held Excalibur up, pointing it towards the heavens, where a second lightning bolt struck it. A moment passed, and then the blade, now shining from the energy it had gathered, pointed at Solamina. A beam of energy lashed out like a laser, streaking towards the Sun Tyrant, who had just enough time to form a shield around herself before it struck home. The shield crackled as the beam assailed it, pushing her back through the air, but her defenses held as the beam slowly faded away. She smiled as the Avatar lowered Excalibur, looking faintly irritated himself.

“Now that this mutual display of our more pyrotechnical abilities is over,” she said with a grin, “shall we continue hitting each other with sharp objects?”

Before he could reply, her glaive gleamed as she span it in mid-air, before she bolted through the sky towards him like a flying bullet, her teeth bared as she screamed in fury…

***

Streets of Canterlot.

Twilight groaned as she opened her eyes. She looked around, and slowly got to her feet. In the distance she could hear noises of battle, the clash of steel on steel and the shouts of people and ponies alike as they battled one another. Gunfire cracked and explosions thundered in the distance, and the sky above was still full of battling air-forces, human and Equestrian alike.

She struggled to remember what had just been happening, her head still foggy from the rushed teleportation. Suddenly, everything came back to her with a horrible rush: the corpse of Luna, resurrected to fight for Solamina. Her own twisted alternative self, the death of Desert Wind as she tore him apart. The desperate attempt to put the corpse down… and their utter failure to do so. She panicked slightly when she couldn’t see Applejack.

“Applejack?!” she called out. “Where are you?!”

“Here!” came a voice quickly. Twilight relaxed as she saw Applejack at the end of the street. Her friend quickly trotted over to her.

"Thank goodness," Twilight said quietly. "I thought something had happened to you."

“I was just makin’ sure there weren’t no Guards about," Applejack said with a smile. "Can’t be too careful.” She paused, looking around. “Where the hay are we, anyways?”

“A street in Canterlot,” Twilight said, looking around. “One of the smaller alleyways, actually.”

“Where’re the others?” Applejack asked with a frown.

“Maybe they went to different streets,” Twilight reasoned. “I wasn’t very specific. That can only be a good thing though - maybe they’ll be able to get help.”

“Maybe,” Applejack agreed, nodding slightly. She looked around, seemingly concerned about… something, before turning back to Twilight. “You seen the sky?”

Twilight frowned, before looking up. The sky had turned black and ominous, clouds filling it.

“What’s happening?” she asked quietly, eyes widening.

In answer, Applejack pointed a hoof at the now-distant Astronomy tower. Two figures could be seen floating near the ruined structure, both of them dueling.

“Reckon Elliot’s gotten himself into a real scrap,” the farm pony said simply.

“Yeah,” Twilight said, her eyes wide. The amount of power being displayed was... staggering, and that was from this meagre perspective.

There was a moment's silence as the two of them watched the duel, before Applejack frowned and looked at Twilight.

“Twi,” she said, before swallowing nervously. “D’you reckon that… thing that used to be Luna’ll be after us?”

Twilight sighed, casting a glance up to the sky again, this time searching for a familiar armoured blue form. “I don’t think Commander Sparkle will let us go that easily.”

“No,” a new voice spoke, shocking both ponies. “I won’t.”

Twilight span around quickly, eyes wide at the voice. There in front of her was Commander Twilight Sparkle, eyes narrowed at her.

“Applejack,” Twilight said quietly. “Run.”

“Like hay,” her friend muttered. “I ain’t leavin’ ya against this one.”

“Yes, you are,” Twilight said, hissing slightly. “This is my fight.”

“Yes,” Sparkle added, smiling slightly as she approached the two. “By all means, run away! That just means I get to tear you apart later!”

“Go, Applejack,” Twilight insisted. "Find the others. Help take the city if you can."

Applejack looked conflicted for a moment, looking between Commander Sparkle and Twilight, but a nod from the latter finally convinced her to run, which she did, galloping down the street and out of sight, leaving Twilight alone with her other self.

For the longest moment, the two Twilight Sparkles stood opposite one another. It was almost as though neither one wanted to be the one to make the first move in their deadly game, for fear they would surrender the advantage.

A boom of thunder rolled through the sky. A moment later, a droplet of water dripped on Twilight’s nose, which she scrunched up slightly. Another dripped on Commander Sparkle, who blinked and frowned slightly. A moment later, heavy rain began falling, quickly soaking the two Unicorns as they stood opposite each other.

“Fitting,” Commander Sparkle said, looking up slightly.

“I guess so,” Twilight muttered.

“So,” Sparkle continued, still smiling as she turned to look at Twilight. “Are you ready to die?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight replied, narrowing her eyes at Sparkle with an expression of pure rage. “Are you?”

Her horn glowed, and before the other Twilight could so much as move a massive energy ball lashed out, smashing into her and knocking her off of her feet. Twilight snorted, before trotting forward, horn glowing again - she knew full well her other self would not fall so easily.

“Good one,” came the voice of Sparkle, coughing slightly. She stood up, a livid burn on one side of her face. Her horn glowed softly, and the burn dissipated like mist, leaving her face unblemished. “But I’ve been doing this a long time, mirror. I’m Twilight Sparkle. I’m the High Commander of Solamina’s armies.” Her horn glowed again, building up in energy. “Do you really think I can’t fight when I need to?!”

A bolt of energy lashed out, streaking towards Twilight, who pulled up her own shield. There was an explosion, and stonework shattered and exploded all around the two Unicorns. There was a moment’s pause where Sparkle smirked to herself, certain that her inexperience alternate had been obliterated, but then there was a soft glow, then another and another. A moment later, three bolts of magic flew out from the dust cloud, impacting near Sparkle and forcing her to summon a shield to defend herself.

And then the dust cloud cleared - and Sparkle saw Twilight, standing proud and unafraid. Stood all around her were her friends - Rarity and Springfield flanked her, horns glowing as they readied more spells. Pinkie Pie was stood near them, a new party cannon aimed right Sparkle, and Applejack, the late Desert Wind’s P220 slung on her back and being held in place by the Doctor, was on the opposite side to her. Hell Blazer had a fireball forming in his hooves, a smirk on his face and a cigarette in his mouth. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were hovering above the group, blades out.

“Let me tell you something,” Twilight said, her voice full of venom. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. I’m the Element of Magic. I’m Princess Celestia’s student, chosen by her personally. I’m a soldier of the Equestrian Resistance. And we are the Elements of Harmony! We are soldiers of Albion! We chose to fight this war, because we were told about what your Empire had done! We came here to stop Solamina - to stop you! We’ve spent months hearing about your atrocities, months seeing the results of your insane war first-hoof, all waiting for the moment when we’d come here and finally bring your Empire down!” She snorted in anger, and her horn glowed as she prepared to fight. “So tell me this, Commander Twilight Sparkle - do you seriously think we would have come all this way, gone through all of this pain and suffering… all of it, if we weren’t prepared to fight somepony when we got here?!”

***

Sky above Canterlot.

"Grey Five, Grey Three, pull in."

"Roger that, Two."

"On your six."

"Upsilon Leader to Interdiction One, we need cover on the left."

"Understood - Sigma Squadron, you've ponies in that sector, move to cover Upsilon."

"Roger that, but we're..."

"Weather's getting bad. Mind your HUDs, ponies!"

"Can't see a thing out - ARGH!"

"The buckers are right on top of us!"

"Just hang on!"

"Too late!"

"Eagle Seven, going down!"

"Buck, buck, buck!"

"Motherbuckers! I'll kill you - ARGH!"

"Help!"

"Cover me!"

The comm traffic around Canterlot was crowded and Errant Flight hated every word of it. Ponies were fighting and dying, and here he was, stuck on a captured Zeppelin that was wisely keeping out of the fighting, just... waiting. He hated waiting. Still, he had access to the comms. It seemed the best thing to keep an ear on, given the stil-perilous nature of the battle. And at least he wasn't alone - the grim faced Thestral, Fell Spear, sat with him, occasionally looking him over.

Every so often, he would hear things that chilled his bones. There was one instant where he heard the voice of Dream Flyer through the comms:

"Interdiction One, this is Grey Two! We are taking heavy fire from that cruiser!"

Errant had tensed, holding his breath. He didn't know quite why, but Dream Flyer had managed to catch his attention, and he was especially worried about her.

"I have attack copters en route."

"Much appreciated."

And with that, he had breathed out, relaxing again.

He hated waiting, but more than that he hated not being able to do anything. He cursed his body's weakness: if it weren't for this bucking injury, he could still be out there, still do something.

"Interdiction One, come in please. This is Prince Blueblood."

His ears pricked up at hearing that message. Oh - now this was interesting.

"This is Interdiction One, Prince Blueblood," the Interdiction's captain replied. "What's your status?"

"We have more copters en route to you," Blueblood said. "Repeat, copters inbound - this is including Luna's Revenge and and Nightfall. Requesting clearance to land."

Errant grinned. Luna's Revenge and Nightfall were the names of some of the Night Guard's personalised transport helicopters. Those vessels were chosen for strength, resilience and attack power, and were painted in Prince Blueblood's Night Guard colours.

Interdiction One made a thoughtful noise, which sounded through the comms almost like tinny static. "We've got reports of secondary and tertiary zones being secured but the primary zone isn't clear yet."

"Leave that to us," a new voice spoke.

Errant frowned, not recognising the voice of the last speaker. A moment later though, all of his questions were answered.

"Interdiction One to all flyers, Absolution is descending. Repeat, Absolution is descending."

"Oh buck," Errant said, his eyes widening.

The Absolution was the Dead Men's personal helicopter: though it wasn't their only transport (there were too many of them for that), it was their most well equipped. Some said there were enough weapons on that machine to bring down Equestria all on it's own.

"Damn," Fell Spear added, eyes wide as well - possibly the most emotion Errant had ever seen from him. "That's... interesting."

“Interesting?” Errant said, and he laughed. “I pity the poor bucker who ends up on the wrong side of those bastards, I’ll tell you that much!”

***

Canterlot: Courtyard LZ.

Sir Eric looked around. All around him, ponies and humans were watching the sky in fascination, the clash of the two small but discernible figures. Some faces were filled with awe, and some with fear, but all of them were fixated on the battle, leaving the courtyard, filled with warriors of opposing sides, eerily quiet.

“By Her mane,” the Eclipse Guard Commander who Eric had intended to challenge muttered softly, all thoughts of battle forgotten. “That’s… that’s insane.”

Eric shifted his grip on his blade, turning his attention to his opponent. “We have a battle to fight, sir.”

The pony looked back at him with eyes wide. “What’s the point? Look up in that sky! That’s a battle! We're a bucking skirmish. Hay, not even that."

Eric frowned. “Your charge is this city. Would you abandon it?”

The pony frowned in return. “I… no. No I wouldn’t.” He paused. “Why do you care?”

“Because we are soldiers,” the knight said quietly. “And I would have us both die as soldiers, if that he our fate.”

The pony laughed. “True enough.” He took a breath. “Alright then.” He raised a hoof. “Guard!”

“Knights of Albion! To your blades!” Eric yelled at the same time, raising his own blade.

A moment’s confusion reigned as the two forces suddenly realised that they had a war to fight.

“To your blades!” Eric yelled again, settling into a defensive stance.

That call did it - the knights of Albion shook themselves from their stupor, as did the Eclipse Guard and other defenders of Canterlot. A moment later, the battle erupted again, and a half dozen knights and Guards were slain almost immediately as explosions of magic and gunfire flew across the courtyard.

Eric brought up his blade and blocked a spear thrust from his enemy. He riposted, but this pony was fast and skilled: the spear blocked the blade, the metal sparking off of the handle of the weapon. The pony grinned, before pushing back. He span his spear and lanced out again, and again Eric blocked, spinning with the momentum of the block and lashing out, forcing the commander to dodge backwards.

Yelling, Eric charged forward, tackling the pony to the ground. He punched him, but the pony managed to roll out from underneath him and kick him in the ribs. Winded, Eric rolled and stood up, his blade still in hand. He pointed it at the pony.

All around, the duelling had reached it's crescendo: knights slew Guards, Eclipse Guard spells and spears impaled and incinerated Knights. There was no way a deciding victor could be seen.

And then there was a faint roaring sound, like a great engine on it's way. Eric looked up, risking a glance at the sky, and his heart soared.

The Absolution, a great black edifice of death and destruction, hovered in the air over the landing zone. Eric grinned - his order and the Dead Men had occasionally disagreed on their individual methods and motivations, but there was no doubting the skill and devotion of the Dead to their duty.

He glanced back to his foe, before jumping back, narrowly dodging another spear thrust, knocking the spear's edge away with his blade. He frowned.

"Not likely," he said quietly.

"Had to try," his opponent said with a wry grin.

There was a moment's pause as the two circled each other. There was only one way this duel was going to end, and both warriors knew it.

"Captain Steady Hoof, Eclipse Guard" the pony suddenly said quietly. "Since we're going to kill each other anyway."

"Sir Eric Smith, Knight of Albion," Eric replied smiling slightly despite himself. "It's a shame you and I have to kill one another. I imagine we might have been friends in another life."

"Maybe," Hoof said. "But that's not today."

He saluted Eric, who was slightly surprised by the gesture.

"Well then," he said, smiling slightly. "For Solamina."

"For Albion," Eric rejoined, saluting his foe in return..

He leapt forward, spear out. At the same time, Eric stabbed forward with his blade. The spear embedded itself in Eric's chest, just above the solar plexus. His blade found Hoof's chest as well, piercing the Eclipse Guard armour. The two stared at one another, their eyes wide, and then Hoof coughed, blood flowing from his mouth. He actually smiled slightly.

"Not... a... bad... hit..." he said, before slumping dead.

"Same," Eric said to his already-dead opponent. He looked up at the sky where Albion was fighting, comforting himself with the knowledge that, though he may die, Albion lived and thus, victory was assured...

And then all was darkness.

***

"The Dead are upon you!" the Undead screamed out, his rifle barking out a staccato rhythm. Behind him marched the warriors of the Dead, men, women and ponies who had fought by his side whenever he asked it of them. He was proud of them all: though he had no family left, no life left (truth be told, he wasn’t even certain he remembered much of it anymore - there was a blur, a block in place he put there to keep it from affecting him) these warriors had fought alongside him, never once abandoning their cause.

The Knights of Albion seemed hard pressed to hold their enemies back: these Guards seemed more resilient than the usual Royal Guard. Still: the Dead Men had never once encountered an enemy who did not die when they fired enough bullets at it.

“Cover fire!” the Undead yelled. “Move in to support the knights!”

As one, the Dead advanced, their silent, gas-masked forms no doubt terrifying if one did not know who they were. The Undead recognised fear as a weapon but had no care for it - guns sufficed him, and the bark of the Dead’s assault rifles began blaring, harsh against the clangs of clashing blades and the sound of metal ringing under blows.

“Keep fighting!” a Knight yelled out, dueling three Guards at once and slaying them all. The Undead had never particularly agreed with the philosophy of the knights of the Holy Order - they seemed entirely too cheery for him - but he couldn’t deny, they too were brave.

A pony Guard ran at him. He fired his rifle, clipping his shoulder and sending him crashing to the ground. He fired again, putting a hole in another Guardspony’s face. He drew his bayonet and parried another’s spear thrust, before stabbing the pony in the eye. The corpse juddered on his blade for a moment, before collapsing dead.

“Onwards!” he yelled. “Char -!”

An explosion went off right behind him, some sort of spell thrown by a desperate Guard no doubt. For a moment, his ears were ringing, and he could have sworn he could almost hear in his mind, though the lyrics were often drowned by the battle around him and portions of it were forgotten after so many years. Music was always in his mind despite his best efforts to quash any memories of his former life. Still the songs, the last vestiges of who he was, persisted and now it was there in the forefront of his mind, distracting him from nearly everything else around him. This grim song was important, it was the same music he had been thinking of when… when…

They were all dead. All of them. Why couldn’t he have joined them then?

Why couldn’t he have joined them?

What if…

What if he had?

The song faded as he remembered where he was and what he was supposed to do. He shook his head as full hearing returned. An explosion went off near him again, thankfully not so close as to deafen him this time, and he cursed. He aimed his rifle at the Unicorn throwing spells, narrowing his eye at the pony, and squeezed the trigger, feeling oddly focused - he could have sworn he could still hear the noise of the music. The pony fell, blood spurting as he dropped. That done, he grabbed one of his troopers, a radio-operator who was taking pot shots at Guards.

“Soldier!” he yelled. “Send a message to Blueblood - he may begin his landing!”

“But sir,” the soldier said, pointing at the still raging battle. “We’ve not cleared the LZ!”

The Undead grinned beneath his mask as he once again heard a cacophony of many different songs in the back of his mind. Everything was as it should be. He reloaded his rifle and fired again, killing three Guards in quick succession, the noise of the music still raging somewhere in the back of his mind.

“Give me five minutes,” he said grimly.

***

Deeper in the City of Canterlot…

All around him was chaos, pure and unadulterated. Ponies ran hither and thither, panicking as the skies filled with battle and death. In the distance, further in the city, the sound of gunfire and battle, sounds he remembered all too well, could be heard. In the sky was darkness unyielding, and rain fell upon the ground like the tears of the Gods.

And Sol Invictus, servant of the divine Sun, felt no fear.

Yea, though I walk in Darkness, the Light of Her Radiance is always with me. All storms can be weathered, all evils overcome. Darkness is nothing before the power of the Light.

“My lord Sol Invictus!” he heard a pony say somewhere near him, and he pulled himself from his reflection to see a group of Converted Militia staring at him expectantly. “What do we do?”

Invictus smiled beatifically. “I am not your lord, brothers and sisters. I am your comrade, your brother in arms against the darkness. We are all of us equal under Solamina’s Sun.”

“We look to you, Brother Invictus,” another pony said eagerly, the mare’s face filled with hope and fear at once. “We don’t know what to do!”

Invictus grinned. “Why, my sister, is our course not clear? Heathens and demons have come to blemish Her light with their foul darkness. While our enemy is before us, our place - our duty - is clear as Her day.” His face took on an expression of righteous determination. “We fight!”

A Militia stallion came forward, head bowed as he held out an ornate warhammer inscribed with prayers and devotions to Invictus. He grinned at the weapon as he took hold of it with his own magical grip.

“We shall fight!” he yelled. “By Her righteous glory, I swear to you that none shall stain this city, none of these demons shall live past this day! For Her glory!”

“For Her glory!” the ponies around him echoed the cry. Without needing orders (for who amongst the faithful need guidance when the way is clear?) the Militia raced off, seeking enemies to slay.

Invictus held back along with a handful of others he signalled to wait.

“In this time of reckoning,” he said quietly to these few, “more than the faith of the righteous may be needed. We must unleash the full extent of Her wrath.”

“I understand,” one of the Militia said. “Her will be done.”

The other ponies raced off, heading back towards the workshops deeper in the city. Invictus grinned. The workshops contained the pride and joy of the Militia, the fullest extent of Her divine will made manifest. These demons had come expecting to violate her radiant land and burn it to the ground.

But it was they who would burn...

***

Above Canterlot.

Rain fell all around them, the sky dark as the blackest hearts of men and ponies alike. Two God-like figures flew in the sky, moving like lightning. Every time they clashed, shockwaves of power would flash, like small suns being born in the sky above Canterlot. Blades flashed, but never could either blade find their mark for neither warrior allowed even the slightest waver in their respective defences. Neither seemed to be visibly fazed by the powers they threw at one another but the skies around them constantly erupted in cascades of fire and arcane light.

Once again their blades met and energy crackled along the lengths of their weapons, meeting as a bright flare at the point where the two blades crossed: a second star seemed to be born briefly in the sky before flaring into nothingness, the two warriors flung backwards by the force of the blow.

“Fool! Do you truly believe you can defeat me? You face a goddess!” Solamina yelled.

“And you face the vengeance of a race!” the Avatar replied, “A vengeance that will be denied no longer!”

He raised Excalibur up into the air, and a lightning bolt lashed out, striking the blade and imbuing it with a white glow that seemed to expand around the blade like a corona. He pointed the blade straight at Solamina, electricity crackling around him, and a moment later a beam of pure energy lashed out towards her like a lance. Her face fixed into a grimace of concentration and distaste, Solamina raised her glaive to block the attack, but the weapon could not hold the power being sent against it: the bolt rammed straight into her and threw her backwards through the air, straight towards the battle raging in the sky near Canterlot. The Avatar, snorting in disgust, angled himself to follow her.

Solamina came to a halt in a sky filled with chaos - Royal Guard flew past her, engaging traitorous Resistance flyers in deadly duels. A few of the foolish little traitors actually had the audacity to angle themselves to attack her, and she smiled. Her horn glowed briefly, and three flyers exploded into bloody, mangled pulp. Another five cried out in pain as her telekinetic grip seized their wings and pulled. It was barely an instant before their wings were ripped from their bodies and the ponies were sent plummeting to the ground screaming.

“Tyrant!” a voice yelled. Solamina turned, to find a gauntleted fist ramming into her with the force of a hurricane, sending her careening into the gondola of one of her war-zeppelins, the wood and metal frame splintering under the impact. She shook herself, uncaring of the ruined mess of crew that surrounded her and had splattered onto her armour, and she grinned as the Avatar appeared in front of the hole in the gondola wall, fury on his features.

“I’m sorry, did you care about those ponies?” she asked. Her horn glowed again, and a bolt of energy lanced out. The Avatar raised his blade to block the beam, but it lanced right past him, impacting instead on a transport helicopter nearby, which exploded into a fiery ball of twisted and melting metal that instantly fell to the ground. “What about the humans in there? Did they matter to you at -?”

She was interrupted by a scream of absolute rage and hatred, louder than Luna had ever been, louder than any noise that Equestria had ever borne witness to. Everyone and everypony in the sky and in the city below heard that cry, and stopped for a moment to wonder what had prompted it. The Avatar seemed to glow even brighter, so brightly that even looking at him would be enough to blind anyone who dared. For a moment even Solamina’s fiery presence was eclipsed by the halo of golden light that filled the skies. In a flash, he streaked towards the Tyrant, Excalibur lashing out and striking at her.

There was a flash of light and Solamina was again thrown through the sky, her form smashing through Royal Guardsponies, zeppelins and several transport helicopters. She came to a halt in front of a war-zeppelin that appeared to be flying the enemy’s colours. The ponies on its deck ducked for cover the moment she looked at them, terrified expressions frozen on their faces. Before she could think to do anything, the Avatar was on her again. His gauntleted hands grabbed her legs and he span, throwing her back towards Canterlot. She crashed through a tower, rubble crashing onto the streets below, before coming to a halt far above the city centre. Her armour was rent and torn, the beautiful golden engravings scratched and chipped, and she cursed as she pulled the battered golden breastplate from her chest. She spat blood out of her mouth, before looking up at him as he flew up to her, her eyes narrowed in loathing.

“Alright,” she said quietly. “That’s quite enough.”

There was a noise like a great horn blaring in the sky, and Solamina’s form seemed to darken, becoming a silhouette in the sky surrounded by a sickly-white halo of light. The Avatar slowed, his eyes widening as he saw her transformation, and he raised Excalibur in a defensive posture… too late,

The first blow knocked him into a building. Before he could even begin to extricate himself from the wreckage, a telekinetic grip grasped his foot and threw him into another, then another, then another. Elliot felt like his leg was about to be torn from its body but it was happening too fast for him to scream. Finally, a bolt of energy blacker than night, so dark that light seemed to bend around it, lashed out towards him, impacting in the rubble he was surrounded in and causing a great, fiery explosion that shook the very foundations of the city and even the Canterhorn itself.

The Avatar stood up slowly, blood leaking from a half dozen wounds. He closed his eyes, glowed briefly, and most of the wounds knit themselves shut, but he was breathing heavily. His foot felt better, at least.

“Do you see now?” the unnaturally loud and yet incredibly quiet voice of Solamina spoke as she floated above him. “Do you understand now the power arrayed against you? Your armies are nothing before this power. Your might is nothing before my eternal power. Your paltry light is eclipsed by the shadow of my greatness!”

“I understand well enough,” the Avatar replied, a growl forming in the back of his throat as ancient knowledge pushed its way to the forefront of his mind. “Craven cur, I know you now!”

He raised a hand up, and a light shone from it, brighter than a star. In response, Solamina’s eyes narrowed, and an aura of shadow surrounded her, before lashing out. For a moment, the darkness and the light seemed almost to grapple in mid-air, before both died down, and the two combatants stared at each other, both panting from exertion.

“You know nothing,” Solamina said slowly, her voice a sibilant hiss tinged with something that made even the Avatar’s skin crawl. “Before this power I possess, there can be no victory.” She grinned. “You should have known. Even Merlin guessed it. There is no light, Avatar of Albion, that can defeat darkness!”

***

Interlude: Celestia

Interlude: Celestia.

Guest written by RoyalPsycho and The Void.

***

The Beginning. 2020

It was another bright and glorious day for the ponies of Canterlot. As always the city shined with a radiance that could not be found anywhere else in all of Equestria. The great city, built directly into the side of the massive Canterhorn Mountain, was specially designed to catch the sunlight and through it’s marble white stone and polished gold decorations, reflect it. Every morning the city shined alongside the sun, almost as a beacon to Ponykind.

However whilst the sun shone bright, Princess Celestia, the pony responsible for raising it, was in a far darker mood. She had gone to the Royal Hedgemaze to ponder a decision that she had been mulling over for several days now.

"Should I really do it?" she muttered to herself, head lowered in thought. "Is it worth the risk?"

As she strode through the Gardens she passed the many statues that filled it. These carvings depicted ponies that had embodied numerous virtues. Every one of them had been paragons in life, worthy of being immortalised in stone. Celestia had known many of them personally, even tutored and guided several herself.

As she picked her way through the statues she kept her eyes forward, searching for one statue in particular, a statue she had visited countless times before.

It wasn’t difficult for her to find the frozen, stone form of Discord. Even if she didn’t know the route to his pedestal from memory alone, it was very easy to pick his deformed shape from amongst the others. His face was still stuck in the same expression of terror that he had made upon realising the Elements of Harmony had broken free of his manipulations. Of course now that everypony knew the truth of what he was, the statue now stood alone, left alone and untended by all but Celestia.

Seating herself in front of it, Celestia once again went over her own proposition. Over the last few years Equestria had been afflicted by trouble, disasters and invasions that the country had only narrowly avoided or fought off. The Royal Guard and the national militia were too small to fight every enemy that attempted to assail Equestria and the Elements of Harmony could not be called upon to deal with everything; they had their own lives, families and dreams to consider.

It was all this and more that had finally led Celestia down the road to considering the release of her, and Equestria’s, most dangerous enemy. Discord.

For what felt like an eternity she stared into the petrified face of the Draconequus, almost hoping that if she looked long and hard enough she could find some reason to trust him. Discord was a danger, there was no doubt about, but he was also powerful beyond measure. If he could be brought around to their side, taught to realise the magic of friendship and the joys of camaraderie, then he could help keep the ponies of Equestria safe, and in return they would easily learn to love him.

Reading it back to herself in her own mind made it sound heartless and exploitative but knew deep down that it meant far more than what she was saying. What Discord could gain from friendship would be greater than any satisfaction he found in chaos and anarchy.

Her mind now made up she looked up at the sky, staring into the thin, wispish clouds that hung over the city and began to think about how best to reform Discord.

"Twilight and her friends could probably do it. If there are any ponies capable of handling Discord it’s them," Celestia said to herself, a smile creeping up her face as she thought of her hardworking student.

"Of course they are also the only ones who could probably keep him in line at the same time," she said, almost as an afterthought before chuckling slightly at the thought of Discord being browbeaten by a group of very disgruntled Elements. She knew it wasn’t fair to force such as difficult burden onto such young ponies, especially after what Discord had done to them, but it would be for the best and Twilight would, of course, make immense progress in her studies by doing so.

"Pinkie Pie might be a good choice," Celestia said out loud as she went through the list of Elements and tried to decide which would be the most appropriate to take up the job of introducing Discord to the finer points of friendship and understanding.

Her face then scrunched up as she put more thought into the idea. "On second thought maybe not, she would probably get too caught up in his antics."

"Let...me...out".

Celestia paused in her thoughts as she suddenly heard a whisper on the wind. She looked around in mild confusion, wondering whether or not another pony was nearby. She didn’t find anypony in the immediate area or in the skies above, the area was still clear and calm.

Settling back into her thoughts, though slightly more cautious, she once again returned to her plans for Discord and the Elements of Harmony.

"Perhaps Fluttershy, she would be perfect, her kindness and patience should allow her to weath…."

"Let...me...out," once again the voice returned, carried on the wind, but this time it was louder and Celestia was able to make out the words.

"Release me from this prison." This time when the voice spoke, louder and faster than before, Celestia could also hear the malice and anger behind it. Whatever this voice was it was furious and desperate for release, from what she didn’t know. The air in the Royal Hedgemaze grew a little bit colder.

Celestia’s eyes shot to the statue of Discord. However nothing about it had changed, it remained in the same position, the same terrified expression frozen on its face.

"Let me out," the voice repeated, sounding increasingly insistent with every word.

Celestia rose to her hooves and began to turn away from the statue. Whatever this was it was not Discord, he often played cruel games but this was most definitely not his style.

As she reached the exit to the Hedgemaze the strange voice spoke one last time.

"Let me in."

***

The Portal. 2020.

Celestia smiled at the latest petitioner to enter the Day Court. Despite the unpleasantness of the previous day Celestia felt wonderful, a good night’s sleep, a pleasant conversation with her sister and a good breakfast had worn away any anxiety that had built up from her visit to the Royal Hedgemaze. Even then she had never put the voice out of her mind - that would have been irresponsible for a pony of her position and responsibilities - but she did not let it worry her too much.

As the petitioner began to open his case, a proposition for the expansion of a small lumber industry that operated in the forests that bordered - but were separate from - the Everfree Forest, she once again returned her thoughts to her experience in front of Discord’s statue.

She had thought long and hard about what that voice could have been. She had decided that it was obviously not Discord’s doing: it was far too dark for his tastes. This was... something else.

That aside, the voice had finally helped make her mind up for her. She would not release Discord. Even if he was not responsible for the voice, something was, and it most likely had few good intentions. Therefore, she decided, it would be too dangerous to have Discord be free to wreak havoc on Equestria and keep the Elements of Harmony occupied when they would be needed elsewhere.

Returning her attention to the petitioner in front her she noticed he had finished the introduction of his proposal and was ready to present his case.

Suddenly the doors were thrown open by the guards and a lone Earth Pony Royal Guard ran in, respectfully keeping to the left in order to avoid running into anypony. He appeared quite flustered, as most Guardsponies did when reporting strange or troubling news to her directly. Once he had reached the foot of the dias, carefully avoiding the petitioner who appeared quite upset that he was being interrupted, he removed his helmet, revealing his green and yellow mane, and bowed his head.

"Your Highness," the Guardspony said respectfully before raising his head, a somewhat embarrassed look on his face. "I have urgent news from outside Las Pegasus. They have sent reports of a strange anomaly barely a mile outside their borders."

The entire court appeared confused at the strange and abrupt news but Celestia did not let any of her own confusion show on her face.

With a collected expression on her face she calmly spoke. "Did they provide any other details? Has anypony been harmed by it yet?"

"Um...well Your Highness," the Guardspony fumbled his words a bit - he had never spoken to the Princess directly before. "The Guard detail at Las Pegasus said it had appeared yesterday, a bus of tourists had apparently spotted it on their way into the city but nothing has happened as of their last report to us."

"Thank you," Celestia said, a smile returning to her face at the relieving news. She got to her hooves and spoke in more authoritative tone. "Secure this anomaly and make sure nopony goes near it without the express permission of either myself or Princess Luna. An official investigation will be prepared to make sure that this anomaly is not a threat to Equestria."

***

Meeting The New World. 2020

It was a big day for Celestia. This would be her first official meeting with the members of the United Nations, the governing body of this world. It hadn’t even been two months since the first expeditions into the Portal had returned with news of an entirely different world, a world inhabited by strange and unrecognisable creatures.

These humans had proven to be tolerable, though prone to arguments and general divisiveness. At the same time these creatures had proven to be just as capable of kindness, cooperation and the other elements of friendship and harmony. Though many had objected to friendly relations with Equestria and others had objected to holding any relations whatsoever, the majority had decided to accept her proposals to foster friendship between the two species.

In preparation for this conference that the entire world would witness - or so she had been told - she had prepared her finest regalia, replaced her tiara with a much more regal crown and wrapped her body, mane and tail in a veil of shimmering light. She had been told that representatives from every nation of this Earth would be witnessing her speech and she intended to impress them.

She stood in front of the Portal, the immense, pink tinged and glassy gateway to another world, and prepared to step through. As her hoof passed through the surface, she felt a slight itching sensation, it quickly moved to cover her body as she passed through the veil that separated the world she was familiar with from an entirely alien planet.

Stepping through the pink wall Celestia was surprised to see no noticeable differences between the new world and Equestria. The sky was blue with white clouds dotting the great expanse, the grass beneath her hooves was green and lush and from the sounds of waves lapping on a nearby shoreline she assumed that seas or rivers existed as well. Of course her reports had gone into greater detail about the world and she knew of their continents, their nations, their settlements, their great rivers and their vast forests.

At the same time the reports had brought her more disturbing news such as their divisions and differences that seemed to be impossible to resolve, of their terrible weapons and a history that seemed abysmal at a cursory glance. more recent reports had also informed her of a striking limitation on their new relations with the native inhabitants of Earth. They appeared to be incapable of passing anything of their making through the Portal. Their attempts to send messages in any form had all failed spectacularly and their one experiment to send an actual physical messenger had been disastrous, the poor unfortunate that had tried to step through had lost an arm to whatever energy created and permeated the Portal.

That said the ponies of Equestria had no such problems passing through and though it almost felt like their magic was stunted there were no ill effects from doing so, except that the air tasted funny sometimes, like standing a little too close to a factory.

Putting such thoughts out of her immediate attention, Celestia waited for the rest of her entourage to join her.

Luna had joined her for this occasion and would represent the Equestrian Diarchy beside her. Like Celestia, the younger alicorn was dressed in her finest regalia of office and sported her own impressive crown. Her ethereal mane and tail shone brighter than usual and her coat had a sheen to it that made even the dark colours of her body twinkle with pinpoints of starlight.She was as much a ruler as her sister and she would be appear as impressive.

"Are you ready Luna?" Celestia asked, smiling gently at her younger sister.

"Of course sister," Luna replied confidently. "It would be remiss were I to attend such a momentous occasion as anything other than my best." As always Luna was formal in public, even after learning so much of modern Equestria she preferred the archaic speech that she had spoken before her madness and banishment. Though Luna would never admit it, Celestia often believed that Luna thought it made her unique.

"Well then we’d better go and make an impression on these human beings," Celestia said as she noticed the guard detail they had left Canterlot with had finally made it through the Portal and returned to their formation.

Nodding to one another both princesses began to walk forward towards the appointed meeting place.

"COMPANY ADVANCE," the captain of their guard detail shouted and as one the Guardspony regiment followed their diarchs, marching in perfect step behind them.

The path leading up to the meeting point was little more than a dirt road, and a new one at that. The portion of whatever island that the Portal had opened on was apparently uninhabited and infrequently visited by humans. Celestia took her time away from the public eye to casually observe her surroundings. The island was apparently tropical and fairly lush. The fact that the region was considered wild by humans meant that there was a reasonable amount of greenery. Small colourful birds could be seen in the branches and Celestia could even make out a dizzying assortment of insects as they flitted between the trees.

The sounds of a forest rich with life surrounded the small column of ponies as they followed the road down to the beach.

Already the forest was beginning to thin and it was at this point that Celestia finally saw some of the humans she was supposed to meet. A group of them were waiting along the path, casually chatting to one another as they - presumably - waited for them to arrive.

Like the reports had told them these humans were tall, almost reaching her own height with ease. They stood on only two legs, their forearms instead capped with hands and long dexterous appendages. Apparently their skill with tools and their ability to quickly invent new technologies allowed them to survive and thrive in the world, even without magic. They were dressed in uniform, black outfits and carried strange box like objects in their hands. According to the reports by the ambassadors and explorers she had sent (many jokingly calling themselves Equestria’s first anthropologists) these were human weapons. If they were armed then they must be the human’s own guard detail sent to receive her.

The moment they noticed her the entire group stood up straight and raised their weapons in a, supposedly, non-threatening manner. It appeared like they were giving her and her sister a salute.

One of them, a human soldier whose uniform was decorated with extra markings and symbols that were likely to mark him out as officer, stepped forward.

"Are you Princesses Celestia and Luna?" He asked, his tone respectful and his expression passive.

"Yes. We are," Luna replied, her own tone imperious and authoritative.

"Very good," the human leader replied. "We were told to expect your highnesses and to escort you to the meeting place. We understand that your highnesses have brought your own protection but our leaders felt it only courteous that we ensure your safety." Every word he spoke was deliberate and Celestia could tell that he had spent a long time thinking about how to address her without causing offence.

"Very well," Celestia replied. "We will follow your lead."

"Of course your highness," the human replied. "This way please," he continued before turning and telling his men to return to formation.

Celestia glanced at Luna who nodded in return. They both watched the humans form into two rows and begin marching down the road in the same direction they had been walking. Both princesses followed behind them with their own guards in tow.

Luna once again turned to regard Celestia as they walked. "Well sister it appears that we may yet be able to conduct these discussions with civility. They appear to be civilised enough to not only consider our safety but send guards that are capable of diplomacy."

"That’s true," Celestia replied. She then paused for a second and a small smile appeared on her face. "Our first meeting with a human appears to have gone well. Their leaders should hopefully be just as polite. With any luck we should be able to foster a new age of friendship with these people. A new age of trade, exchange and discovery that will change both of our worlds."

The pony column followed after the humans that had come to collect. Through the entire thing Celestia kept the images of future peace, prosperity and friendship in her mind.

***

A Necessary Evil. 2020

This was far from good. Good at this point was settling in to it’s new home in the depths of Tartarus while Celestia was pacing her room, trying to think of some way to help the humans. The portal to this new world also acted as a Barrier between the two realms. It was safe for ponies to cross but humans were burnt up on contact. If humans were going to fully understand Equestrian culture, they would need to come here and not just read about it in books or hear about it from ponies who traveled to their world. No human could get to Equestria to discover it for themselves. The time had come to deal with this problem.

There’s a way. There always is.

The island on which the portal had materialised was already somewhat isolated from the rest of the humans’ world but the Barrier made it impossible for people to even try to come to Equestria. Not any of the spells they tried to use to make openings in the Barrier, or even get rid of the Barrier entirely, actually worked. Obviously, the humans risked a great deal if they got close enough to try something, so it fell to Celestia and Luna to devise a plan to help humans to come to Equestria.

Celestia tried to come at the problem at every angle. There were potential solutions to the problem. If she had known why humans were being destroyed on contact then that might have helped her to come to a solution. Sadly she didn’t have that luxury. Perhaps if humans wanting to come to Equestria had a magical defense.

That wouldn’t work

From what Celestia saw, magic didn’t exist in the human world. If it did, it wasn’t public. Perhaps a Unicorn could escort them through the Barrier. No, if their magic could do anything to defend against the shield, they would have known by then. The scientists of Canterlot had carried out test, after test, after test (Celestia had the paperwork to prove it). Nothing affected the Barrier. There was little chance of a second Barrier around the people entering would actually work.

What was it? What made ponies immune to the Barrier. Maybe it was the fact that humans generally didn’t have any magical essence to them.

Celestia stopped pacing and draped herself across her bed. Humans and ponies were so very different that it made trying to think of a solution rather difficult. She wouldn't give up. No matter how difficult it was, she was determined to help mankind.

The answer is so very easy.

Her own thoughts were mocking her. Ignoring that negative impulse in her mind had been something of a priority to Celestia recently. It felt like everything she was doing was wrong, like she couldn’t find any way to help… anypony.

Celestia's mind grew silent. Peace at last. For a merciful moment, there was peace in the mind of the Princess.

There is a way.

At least she had that moment. Celestia swiftly returned to pacing about. At the end of the day, all she knew for sure was that, somehow, the natural magical essence of ponies could safely cross through the Barrier. As good as human technology was, it didn’t protect them from the Barrier itself. The Barrier was clearly magical in nature, probably the reason why ponies could get through it alive. There had to be some way of giving humans a similar advantage otherwise no human could enter the land.

No human will enter this land. And that is the solution.

No human...no human. That was the answer. Perhaps there was a way to convert the human form into an equine one, that way the Barrier would have no effect on them. Celestia had at last thought of a way to help people. At once, she made her way down the halls to the Canterlot lab.

The lab was brimming with the busy work of ponies coming up with new ways to make Equestrian life better. The gleam from the test tubes, combined with the multitude of white lab coats, almost gave the place a holy feel to it. Celestia often had to come into the labs to check up on the work but she usually gave the technicians a fair amount of warning. That day was very different. Each of the scientists their were shocked by the urgency of her presence.

She turned to the guards who had followed her from her room. "Quickly, find Princess Luna and lead her back here," Celestia said, more determined than she had been for a while. "I have an idea of how to help the humans."

With that the entire lab sector burst into cheers. Once again, their Princess had come up with a way to save the day. She knew she couldn’t do it alone though.

You’re never truly alone.

Just to prove her mind right, Luna arrived at the labs a short while later. Celestia was already underway in creating this ‘Pony Potion’ when she arrived and eagerly began telling her sister of her plan.

"I’m putting together something that will help humans to cross through the Barrier." It seemed like she was gathering as many different potion books from the labs cupboards as possible.

"A potion for the Barrier?" asked Luna, her voice showing her hesitation at the plan. She knew of the attempts at dissolving the Barrier had failed so was wondering precisely what Celestia was upto.

"Close," Celestia replied, gathering all manner of ingredients. "As far as I can tell it is the humans’ lack of magical ability that causes the Barrier to incinerate them. This potion should give them the same abilities as ponies."

"Continue," pressed Luna.

"This potion should be able to morph the human form into an Equestrian one, allowing them to pass. The human body can’t contain magic so a pony form should do the trick."

Luna stared on in silence. While Celestia’s determination didn’t falter, she wonder whether Luna agreed with her plan. Of course, Celestia could try to do it alone but she would have prefered her sister by her side when she finally created the potion that would help humanity.

A sigh from Luna brought about a smile. "The potion will need a lot of work...but we can, nay, we must do it."

***

Determination ran strong through their veins. Of course, they still retained their duties of raising and lowering the Sun and Moon but the rest of their time was dedicated to creating that potion. Who knew rewriting biology was so time consuming. The scientists who normally worked in the lab were amazed by the skill and speed and which the Princesses worked.

After five months of work they had finally done it. The first patch was ready to help the humans. Celestia’s wondered what the reaction to the finished product would be like. Her thoughts were short lived as Luna tapped her on the shoulder.

"Sister," she said, her tone clearly concerned. "I believe you should get some rest."

"And you?" Celestia chuckled back.

"It is time for me to raise the moon. My rest can wait." With a final smirk, Luna made her way to perform her sacred task.

The laboratory staff had already finished their shifts, leaving Celestia alone with her thoughts. The potion was done. The road to it had been difficult but it was-

It’s missing something.

Incomplete. The potion was almost done. Celestia pondered that thought for a while. Was the potion missing something? No, it was fine as it was.

Celestia turned to leave and was about to lock the door behind her when another thought crossed her mind.

This potion could harm the humans

To come so far, only to cause further harm. The idea was terrifying. What had she missed? By all accounts the potions would work as expected and cause no harm to the human who drank it. If there was a risk she overlooked…

Don’t worry. You can fix it.

Briefly, Celestia thought about calling back Luna to aid her. The change, if any, would only need to be slight so there wasn’t really a point to calling Luna away from her well deserved break. The list of ingredients sat on the table next to the batch. What did she forget to counteract. The list seemed balanced in all areas.

What about their minds?

Their minds? Did the present potion keep the minds intact? So many questions about the potion were beginning to plague Celestia’s mind. She would need to remedy this as soon as possible. ‘How’ was another matter entirely. Luna would be needed after all.

But you know what is missing.

She did? Celestia did know what was missing. It was all so clear to her in that moment. The potion would work perfectly with a few improvements. Then the potion would be perfect, then the human race would truly be thankful for Celestia’s and Luna’s help.

***

The Unveiling. 2021

“I shall alert the human correspondents at once your Highness.”

Celestia was in her study when she sent the messenger away that day. It was done. After a few more months of testing around with the new formula, Celestia had just sent word that the potion was ready to be unveiled. Things were beginning to fall into place. Still, she couldn’t help but feel a little worried. This new version of the potion hadn’t been seen by Luna, she had thought it to be the one they had conjured together. Before the inevitable meeting with the U.N she would tell Luna the truth. Her sister deserved to know.

“Guard,” Celestia called.

It was Bright Spot who answered the call. The young Day Guard saluted Celestia.

“Could you alert Luna that we need to prepare for a very important meeting," she said. “I will need her here at once.”

“At once!” Bright Spot replied. He was eager to please Celestia if not too childish. Day Guard started somewhere she supposed.

Celestia remembered the first meeting with the U.N. The various different languages of the same species were fascinating. So many different countries but all ultimately working for the same goal; peace. Since the two worlds had met most of the countries had accepted their arrival. Whether they welcomed it or not was a different question entirely. With this breakthrough it could mean further steps in Equestria/Earth peace.

A few moments later, as Luna arrived, Celestia was looking through some of the historical books that the U.N leaders had given her. Past leaders and great tragedies alike were in those books. When they unveiled the potion, Celestia wanted to be sure she did it in a way the world would find the most appealing. They were talking about a potion that literally changed the a human into a pony, some of Earth’s religions might find it blasphemous whilst some politicians would probably believe it would somehow be against their country’s best interests. All points of view would need to be taken.

“Find anything useful sister?” Luna asked.

It took a moment for Celestia to register her presence. She was shaken out of her thoughts by the realisation of what the next words out of her mouth had to be.

“Your Guard tells me that we may have an important meeting.” Luna took note of the different books that Celestia was reading. “I assume it is about the potion. Ist thou ready to show it?”

Celestia took a deep breath. She dreaded the reaction Luna might of had.

“Sister?” Luna moved closer to Celestia

“There’s something I must tell you about the potion before we continue onto the meeting," Celestia said solemnly.

"What is it?"

"The potion as it is now is not as we made it."

"How so?"

From in a draw, Celestia pulled out the last version of the ingredients for the potion. Luna looked it over. As her eyes met the new additions, she looked more and more curious. Watching Luna with that version of the potion made part of Celestia quiver.

Luna placed the list on Celestia's study. "I assume that these changes were done after I left that night." she said after moment.

Celestia gave no response, only waiting for Luna's feeling about the matter.

Luna smiled. "The potion works," she said "That is what truly matters."

"You're not upset?" Celestia asked. Luna's response had been too good to be without a catch.

"I may have preferred that you kept me informed on the matter," Luna sighed "but this situation with the humans is new ground for all of us. I understand that is has been far from easy for thee."

That day, Celestia found that there was no catch for her sister's loyalty.

It won't last.

At once she hugged Luna and shared a moment where the troubles of the world stopped. No barrier, no voices and no force that could split apart the sisters. In that moment. Moments do not last forever.

***

Sure enough, the U.N called a meeting almost immediately. The conference room was a Storm of chatter about the potion. Could it be true? How did they make it? How long have they had it? Leaders from all over the world discussed the potion.

A group of Day Guard had travelled with the Princesses to the meeting and were escorting them to the main conference room for the announcement. Every time they passed a human guard the two species would share a salute and a look that bound them in the same job of protecting the lives of their respective leaders.

"Luna," Celestia began, "I want you to be the one that makes the announcement."

"For what reason?" Luna asked curiously

"I think it's only right that you do it."

"We made the potion together," Luna noted.

Celestia only responded with a look. A look of guilt and regret.

Luna sighed. "Very well then. If you wish me to do it I shall." She smiled. "As long as you are by my side."

"Deal," said Celestia

The moment they entered the room, the human diplomats shushed each other and waiting. Some waited with tense expression that seemed to able to snap with but a single word. Others looked on with wide eyes that seemed to want to know the truth behind such a potion.

With dignity and grace, the Princess of the Sun and the Princess of the Moon made their way to the speaking podium. Luna took her position and gave Celestia a reassuring glance to Celestia before starting.

"Thank you for being here today," she began. "With the help of the bravest volunteers that either of our realms have could have known, Celestia and I have indeed created a potion that will allow a human to gain an equine form.” As the chatter began to start, Luna raised a hoof. “I am aware of some of the questions this raises that many of thee surely have at this moment but we did not take this endeavour lightly. Every consequence has been thought of and the potion adapted to prevent them. I can assure you all that the process in safe and does not incur any lethal effects. The potion was created solely as a means for humans to come to Equestria without the barrier proving fatal. As mentioned before, many brave souls have helped us to test to see if it works properly. I can proudly stand here today and declare that this potion not only works but will aid in the relationship between our two realms.”

The next moment seemed to be slowed down in Celestia’s eyes, as she watched the eyes of the human leaders share expressions with each other. Celestia wasn’t sure, but out of the corner of her own eyes she could have sworn that their eyes began to glow.

From across the room, buried in the sea of faces, a sound broke the looks. A simple sound that put a smile on both of the Princesses’ faces. A leader of one human nation had stood up in his place and, with the frankly concerned gazes of his assistants watching him, began to clap. He started off slow but as more and more of the leaders joined him in his praise. Soon the clapping was a proud, mighty roar that had spawned in the hearts of most of those in the hall, some simply mimicked with annoyed expressions on her face. It was the making of a new era for both of the realms.

***

Signs Of Trouble. 2021

"HOW CANS’T THOU SIMPLY STAND BY AND LET THIS TRAVESTY CONTINUE?" Princess Luna screamed in the Royal Canterlot Voice. The throne room shook with the strength of her magically enhanced voice and the protective spells surrounding the room were the only thing that saved the immaculate stain glass windows from being shattered by the force of the furious Princess’ voice.

"Luna," Celestia said, a concerned and tired look on her face, "please understand tha…"

"NO," Luna interrupted, "THOU HAST BEEN IGNORING THIS DISASTER SINCE THE MOMENT IT WAS REPORTED TO US. HOW CANS’T THOU SIMPLY TURN AWAY FROM WHAT IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF THINE EYES?"

Celestia gave a concerned look as her sister finally stopped to catch her breath. Luna’s eyes were bloodshot and her face was contorted in barely restrained anger. She knew her younger sister was desperate for answers but Celestia had none to give.

"Luna, please," Celestia began again, a small voice in the back of her mind reminding her that this does not concern us. "I don’t know how this could have happened. I have denounced this Ponification For Earth’s Rebirth group as the terrorists they are but I cannot intervene directly. This is a human matter."

Luna’s face hardened the moment the words left Celestia’s mouth. "A human matter? I never considered thee to be a pony who would ignore problems that did not directly concern thyself." Luna’s tone dripped with venomous accusation and the look in her eyes was one of complete disgust.

"Luna," Celestia looked her sister in the eyes, her own face downcast, "the humans want as little do with us as possible. Those countries that wanted us gone, you remember them don’t you? There are more of them now. Too many humans have been forcibly changed by the PER and the humans blame us for them obtaining supplies of potion. Even if I did try to intervene, do you really think they would let us?"

Luna’s face fell as Celestia’s words registered in her mind. Truth be told she herself had already known everything that Celestia had just told. She just needed somepony to shout at, someone to understand what she was feeling. Her little ponies could never know how she truly felt. To see their leaders so shaken and demoralise about what was going on would have only caused even more trouble for their nation.

Luna once again looked her older sister in the face. She didn’t like what was happening, she hated the horror of the Barrier, the fear it caused for humans and ponies alike and the depravities it was leading to. Looking her sister in the eyes Luna saw the Celestia felt exactly the same way but behind the sorrow was another expression. Luna couldn’t help but feel scared of her sister’s eyes for though they were full of tears they were, at the same time, cold and steely.

"There is nothing we can do Luna," Celestia said reassuringly, blinking the welling tears from her eyes. "The best we can do is support these new ponies that this PER has created. They’ve lost just as much as those who have been killed by the Barrier. I don’t know what will happen to them in the long run but the least we should do is give them a new home and a chance to form new relationships with ponies. I assure you that we will accommodate these new foals."

***

Unforeseen Consequences 2021

"I understand you want me to explain it your highness but I honestly couldn’t tell you if I tried," the pony in front of Celestia said cheerfully. Beside the Pegasus stallion stood a concerned Earth Pony mare. The audience with the two ponies had been ongoing for the past half hour and the mare’s expression and demeanour had become depressed with every word from the stallion’s mouth.

"Please your highnesses," the mare begged. "Phillip has been like this for weeks. He keeps telling me doesn’t want to go back. All he seems to do is talk about how much he enjoys being a pony. He doesn’t even talk about our old home, our families." The mare’s eyes filled with tears and her voice strained as she struggled to find her words. "He doesn’t even let me call him by his own name anymore!" With a final wail the mare broke down into sobs. The stallion moved to comfort her but she rebuffed him.

Celestia and Luna, who had watched the whole thing since the two ponies had entered their audience chamber, were still shocked at the display in front of them. Neither of them were truly surprised at what they were seeing. Ponies that had formerly been humans had been flooding into both the Day Court and the Night Court, begging for audiences. Every single one of them had the same problems. Former humans were forgetting their old lives or actively refusing to associate themselves with humanity. Some complaints that had been brought to their attention had even been retracted in the past few days and when the ponies who made the complaints were confronted they had all explained that their previous concerns didn’t matter anymore and that they had simply accepted their own situation as ponies.

“Do not worry my little pony,” Celestia finally spoke after the young mare had finally calmed down enough to listen, “we shall both endeavour to find some solution to your problem. Your husband will be fine in due time. Thank you for enduring so long but rest assured that a solution will be found.”

With that the Guardsponies in front of the dias politely ushered the two ponies out of the chamber and shut the door.

Both princesses let out a sigh.

“Is that the last of them for this day?” Princess Luna finally spoke, her voice weary.

“Yes your highness,” the Guardspony replied respectfully.

“Very well then. You are all dismissed, leave us,” the princess said abruptly. The Guardsponies looked to Celestia who nodded in agreement with her younger sister. With that the Guards bowed and filed out of the audience chamber before shutting the door.

Celestia saw her sister give her a cold glance before lighting her horn. The chamber shimmered slightly with a navy blue light before returning to normal. This was a sign that Luna had something to discuss with her. Something that no other pony was supposed to hear.

“I have lost count of how many ponies have come to us with the same grievance, the same affliction.” Luna’s words were as cold as her expression. “There is something wrong with these ponies and yet we do nothing,” Luna spat out the last word.

Celestia sighed, her face downcast. “Luna, what can we do? We haven’t the slightest idea what is wrong with them.”

Luna’s face hardened. “This affliction was not present in the earliest subjects. It is only in the last few weeks that this problem hast begun to emerge. It stands to reason that this was not an immediate reaction to the potion so then it must mean…”

“It must mean that it is a delayed reaction,” Celestia finished for her. “Are you suggesting that there is an aftereffect we never noticed?” Celestia’s eyes widened in shock at the implications. Most former humans had begun to experience this forgetfulness. Would it spread?

“I thought that we had tested it, that it was foolproof,” Luna said quietly, her head bowed. “How could we have missed this.

Celestia pondered her sister’s dire question. They had, of course, had no opportunities to test the potion on humans before they had begun producing and distributing it. The first humans had all been volunteers, brave ambassadors that had chosen to undergo the difficult and painful process that allowed them to survive in Equestria. Now they had all abandoned their old identities, instead preferring the new lives, names and relationships they had made as ponies. Most had even resigned from the agencies and embassies that they had been employed in or helped establish.

“The final changes.” Celestia raised her head as she heard Luna mumble something.

“What is it?” Celestia asked.

“The final changes,” Luna repeated more firmly before raising her head and looking Celestia. As Luna turned to look at her sister the edges of the room began to shimmer, almost as if the silencing wards her not yet settled.

Staring straight into her sister’s eyes, Luna’s expression was unreadable but Celestia could notice something strange in her eyes that worried her, almost as if it were accusation. “Thou wert the one who overcame the final obstacles that allowed us to succeed when we created the potion,” Luna pointed her left hoof at her older sister, “Thou wert the one that made all of those final alterations. What didst thou to it? What didst thou add?”

“Luna, what are you saying,” Celestia said, confused and slightly concerned.

“Every ingredient and enchantment was checked by us, together. Every detail was considered and we never made any additions without consulting one another,” Luna said steadily and carefully, “except for the final changes that allowed us to successfully finish producing the potion, the changes that thou didst conduct by thyself.”

Luna’s face almost seem to warp slightly as it twisted into a look of suspicion as she looked at her sister.

“What didst thou do to the potion?” Luna asked, her voice hard but careful. “Mayhaps the spells you cast upon the potion to complete it are responsible.”

Celestia almost recoiled at the accusation. The room shimmered again and became colder. Celestia could feel a weight on her body, as if the accusation in her sister’s stare were bearing down on her.

Insolent child

“Luna,” Celestia said, her shock evident in her voice, “surely you’re not claiming that I’ve done this on purpose.”

Luna’s own expression became worried, her head snapping back in shock, the shimmering stopped.

“No of course not,” Luna said, “I was merely pondering whether thou hast made a mistake, tis possible that such a strange concoction as the one we were creating may have reacted poorly to whatever magic thou decided to mix within it.”

Celestia’s heart was pounding. Whatever she had just witnessed was disturbing, as if her sister had turned into a monster. Relaxing once again she paused a second to compose her thoughts.

“I was very careful,” Celestia began, “the enchantments I used were based on the polymorphic spells that were in the Archives. I personally made sure that the alterations that allowed the potion to accommodate human physiology did not make any unnecessary changes to their psychology.” It never had any ill effects on the volunteers from other races.”

“Yes but those volunteers never remained ponies for more than a week, Luna replied. “Besides all of our volunteers were native to Equestria. Mayhaps the problem lies in their alien nature?”

“Their lack of magic? You believe that is responsible for their forgetfulness?”

“Indeed,” Luna said. “Mayhaps it would be best to return these humans to their native land, let the essence of their own world return to them and allow them to regain their connections with their heritage.”

“I think it would be better to instead find out what is wrong with the potion. After all, even if we do send them back it is unlikely that their homes will accept them. The latest news from the other side of the Portal is rather dire.”

“This is the first I have heard of this,” Luna raised an eyebrow at what her sister told her.

“I received the reports just before the beginning of court,” Celestia replied her own face turning into an expression of concern and sorrow. “The attacks by the PER are intensifying and humanity’s opinion of ponykind is very low. Returning these humans, especially in the condition they are in, will only lead to more problems.”

“So you are saying we should leave them like this? Let them loose themselves as we scramble around to find what is wrong with the potion?” Luna said, once again looking at her sister with scorn.

“It is undesirable but I think it is our only real solution. We cannot send them home and we do not have the time to create an antidote for the potion. Besides returning them to their original human form may kill them.” Celestia lowered her head at her own words. It was all so cynical and morbid, every decision she had made since encountering humanity seemed to have been a difficult one. She had seen trying times but it seemed as if this entire debacle, with its endless tide of problems, was weighing down on her in a way that no other crisis had before.

***

Falling Over The Edge 2022

Celestia grit her teeth and closed her eyes, wishing it would stop her from seeing the room waver and shimmer around her and drown out the noise of her sisters accusations.

ANOTHER HUMAN LOSES THEMSELVES AND THOU STILL REFUSE TO DO ANYTHING! Luna screamed, her voice hoarse and her eyes red and bloodshot. HOW MANY MORE MUST ABASE THEMSELVES BEFORE US? HOW MANY MUST WEEP IN OUR PRESENCE AS THEY BEG FOR US TO RETURN THEIR LOVED ONES TO THEM?

Celestia had lost count of the number of times she and her sister had fought with one another. With new victims of the PER being forced through the Portal by their kin and with every day leading to another case of forgetfulness amongst the population of former humans, with no solution in sight, the Royal Sisters had been arguing more and more often.

”THOU STILL REFUSE TO CONTACT TWILIGHT SPARKLE FOR INSIGHT, THOU HAST DEVOTED LESS AND LESS TIME TO AN ANTIDOTE, THOU HAST PROMISED TO COUNTLESS PONIES THAT THEY WILL BE FINE AND YET THOU HAST DONE NOTHING TO ASSIST THEM.” Luna was breathing heavily, it was obvious that she had been crying. Whatever she had seen in her Night Court had been intolerable for her and she had sought out her sister, the one who she considered responsible, to answer for it.

The accusation and vitriol was relentless. Celestia had never seen her sister act like this, except when she had been on the verge of transforming into Nightmare Moon. Celestia’s head swam as the room around her began to waver, the walls warped and the lights of the candles turned red and black. When she turned to look at her sister it seemed as if Luna’s coat had turned pitch black and her eyes appeared to glow with an eerie yellow light.

It is dangerous.

Celestia couldn’t believe what she was seeing before her eyes. It was like an image from her worst nightmares, everything was. The past year had been one endless nightmare, the horrors and the despair building on top of one another. She could feel it all weighing down on her and through all of this her sister had become increasingly irritable.

How many times had Luna come to her seeking assistance? How many times had Luna then turned on her when she couldn’t provide any answers? How many times had they fought over the human issue?

The human issue. Everything started going wrong when they appeared.

Despite Celestia’s best efforts she couldn’t drown out Luna’s shouting.

HOW MANY OF THEM HAST THOU SEEN? HOW MANY MORE HAST THOU LET LEAVE WITH NAUGHT BUT FALSE HOPE? Luna continued to shout at Celestia. As Celestia’s head, swam her pulse racing and her head pounding, Luna’s voice appeared to sound more and more unnatural. It seemed to grow sharper with every second, more arrogant, more angry. There was only one time that Celestia had ever heard Luna sound like that.

Celestia looked over her shoulder at her sister and was terrified by what she saw. The other side of the room was a warped, chaotic mess, the walls melting into the pillars and doorway, the tapestries and paintings dancing and twisting and the candles emitting nothing but blood red light as the room fell apart and rebuilt itself. At the centre of this was a dark shadowy figure that seemed to pull in the light around it before swallowing it into the darkness of its form.

The creature that had replaced her sister was a monster. It’s coat was a darkness blacker than night, its mane and tail were indistinguishable from its body which warped and shifted like oil on water. All that could be distinguished were the eyes, the same glowing cat-like eyes of Nightmare Moon.

It was shouting at her with the Royal Canterlot Voice but this time its words seemed so much more worse than anything Luna could have ever said. These words echoed, not just in the room but in Celestia’s mind. Every syllable was painful, like a shard of ice was being thrust into Celestia’s brain.

It wants you

The creature that was Luna began to advance on her screaming at her all the while. What it was saying was unintelligible, but that didn’t matter, only the anger and malice in it’s voice did.

It loathes you

Celestia began to back away, her face stricken with terror. She scrambled away from the other side of the room, seeking sanity, stability and safety from the thing in front of her. Through it all she never once took her eyes off of the terrible creature which seemed to mock her with its mere expression as it advanced on her faster and faster.

Look at it

Celestia finally found the strength to turn her head. She looked away from the terrible vision behind her and shut her eyes, wishing that the pounding in her head would end. The nightmare had become worse than ever, if she closed her eyes it would be over.

Look at it

Celestia could hear it’s hoofsteps as it came closer.

Look at it

She could feel it come closer. It’s presence was like ice. The cold of an unforgiving cosmos. She curled up in a futile effort to seek warmth.

Look...at...it

The cold was unbearable, the noise was unbearable, it was all unbearable. What was happening to her, to Equestria, to everything she had known?

It will take you

“Sister?” The creature called and Celestia felt something touch her.

No! Celestia snapped and lashed out at the abomination behind her. To her relief she felt her hoof connect with something and felt the creature recoil from her. There was a wet crunch and the cold disappeared, the shimmering stopped and the room once again settled. The nightmare was over.

Celestia blinked. Her heart was still racing and she felt dizzy. Her hoof was stinging from hitting whatever had been trying to touch her.

It was then that Celestia felt a slight thump. She looked ahead of her in confusion. Where was Luna? Where was the monster? Looking around for the creature that had tried to assault her, she turned her head back and forth, desperately seeking any sign of the monster. The room was exactly the way it had been when she had first stepped into it. The walls were solid, the tapestries and paintings depicted events of happiness and friendship. All appeared well.

It was then that Celestia saw a great blue lump to her side. Rounding on it quickly, Celestia saw what was lying to her side and her heart suddenly stopped.

Luna lay sprawled out on the floor of the room, her neck was bent at an odd angle and her eyes had rolled into the back of her head. Her head was bleeding and judging by the splatter of blood on the wall above her she had hit it. Beneath the blood stain was a buttress, an innocuous piece of the wall’s upholstery that had far more purpose as a decoration that as a support strut. However it had also been in the way of Luna when she had been flung into the wall and the shape had been just perfect for Luna to snap several of her vertebrae on.

“No. No, no, no, no,” Celestia stammered over and over as she rushed to Luna’s side. Looking over her sister she tried to find something to fix, something to put back into place, anything that she could do to help her sister. She found the point where her sister’s neck was bent, several bulges revealed where vertebrae had been forcibly dislocated.

She immediately tried to cast a healing enchantment on her sister. The extruding vertebrae pulled itself back into place with a wet and audible pop but Luna remained still. Celestia’s eyes twitched and her pupils shrank. She cast more enchantments, blood flowed back into Luna’s body, the wound on her head knitted itself back together and her body convulsed as Celestia tried, over and over, to force Luna’s heart to start beating.

Nothing happened. Luna lay still and lifeless. Celestia’s face went blank as her mind reeled at what had just happened. Luna was dead, she was gone and nothing was going to bring her back. Celestia was alone again and this time there would be no recovering from it.

A terrible scream echoed through the palace.

***

The Barrier Advances 2022

“Are you sure?” Celestia asked.

“Yes your highness,” the Guardspony responded. “Our detachments on the other side reported a shimmering pink wall in a ring around the Portal that appeared to be the exact same colour and consistency of the Barrier. On closer inspection they confirmed that the Barrier that was layered over the Portal is gone.”

“When was this first discovered?” Celestia asked. This news was troubling, especially now that relationships between Equestria and the nations of Earth had become so strained.

About two days ago your highness,” the Guard replied. “Um,” the Guard then appeared to fumble his words, as if he were considering how to phrase hsi next sentence. “The...the report also states that the Barrier has moved.”

“Moved,” Celestia asked, perplexed at what he had said.

“Um, yes your highness. The initial report had the Barrier positioned a few feet around the Portal. Today’s report says it has expanded three times over from what it’s previous position.”

Celestia was stunned by what she heard. The Barrier had always been a confusing and disconcerting construct. Nopony had ever come close to understanding what it was or why it was so hazardous to human life and what they, specifically, built. However despite all of this it had always been a static and consistent feature of the Portal. Now that it was moving Celestia had even less of an idea about what it was.

What will you do

Celestia had no idea how to respond. What could she do to combat something that she knew absolutely nothing about?

“Keep a post on the Barrier,” Celestia said, startling the Guardspony with how abrupt her statement was. “I want the detachment on the island to report the progress of the Barrier. Any change must be recorded and delivered straight to me. Also send a warning to the human United Nations. This concerns them just as much as it does us.”

“Yes your highness,” the Guard replied. He bowed and then immediately turned and marched out of her chambers.

Celestia was concerned. This latest development was something she did not want to endure. She had enough problems to deal with without another issue from the other side of the Portal added to the list. Still there was nothing she could do to change that so she would just have to make do and see what would come of it.

***

The Night Guard Dies 2022

For a change, the air was filled to brim with cheer a joy. Celestia had gathered her council together to honour her sister's life. As far as the rest of Equestrian knew, Luna had passed away due to illness. Celestia only felt comfortable telling Blueblood and the other council members the truth. After all, they had a right to know that Luna rebelled against Celestia’s just cause. This gathering wasn’t about remembering that however, it was about remembering the joy she brought to others lives, about the good times that she shared with ponies and made their lives better. Those closest to Luna were invited to the gathering, but at that time, not everypony had…

Like a massive pack of wolves they had arrived. The Night Guard. Five hundred Thestrals who were given one of the highest honours and were tasked with guarding Luna. They wore their black and purple armour with pride The tradition of Thestral guards had been one that had stood against most tragedies. They were happy to get back to work when Luna returned from her exile. It only seemed right to Celestia that she kept that tradition going by having them work for her now. They could have made valuable allies.

“Your Highness.” The lead Night Guard, Dusky Plain, bowed before Celestia, his fellow Guard following after in military wave of respect. Of all the Night Guard present, he was the oldest but also the strongest. One mission he had gone on had left him with a fairly noticeable pale eye. Though he swears it is fine, most knew it was damaged.

“At ease Dusky Plain,” Celestia declared.

The Night Guard stood at attention. Trained and vigilant, the perfect Guard for what Celestia had in mind. She had their full attention. Looking back, she gestured for the chatter of her other guests to be silent. As she began her speech, she could not help but notice the intensity of the gazes that each member of the Night Guard wore.

They...know

“I am honoured that you could come to this gathering my ponies,” Celestia said “Before my sister passed on, you were dedicated to protecting her.”

The Night Guard quickly shared a few glances between each other.

They know.

“In this new age of other worlds,” Celestia continued, “I am forming a new Guard in her memory.”

Now the rest of her guests began to whisper behind her. The gathering had been the perfect time to unveil the new Guard to her council. It would be an honour to be the first to see them swear their allegiance.

“Therefore, as of today, The Night Guard will be no more. Instead, tomorrow will bring the rise of the Eclipse Guard.”

Before the Night Guard could begin to share words with each other, Celestia swiftly continued.

“Such a task is the highest honour a Team of Guards could have. It will be your job to be the very core of those ponies blessed with Guarding Canterlot from any foreseeable attack. You will be my personal best.” Celestia finished with a proud smile. Though that smile quickly faded as she saw Dusky Plain step forward, fury in his stare.

“What about the Day Guard?” asked a younger stallion behind him, possibly a newer recruit.

“The Day Guard’s duties have been expanded to being sent to the Human world for diplomatic purposes.” Celestia turned to Dusky. “Something troubling you?”

“Yes,” Dusky replied, voice filled with sarcasm and mockery. “To be honest, it’s taken all of my strength to keep from laughing ever since you started that ridiculous speech.”

Other guards echoed his words.

“I..I beg your pardon!” Celestia’s tone was as restrained as she could have been by such an insult.

They hate you.

“We have served Princess Luna long enough to know that Alicorns cannot simply fall ill and die as you have so elegantly told the rest of Equestria,” Dusky’s voice grew louder. “We demand to know the truth.”

They know! They know!

Celestia sighed. Such news would not ease their minds in the slightest but they had a right to know the truth about their Princess.

“Calm yourself Dusky Plain.” she ordered. She raised her voice, addressing all of the Night Guard. “The truth of the matter is that Luna tried to rebel against me once more, becoming Nightmare Moon. I was forced to-”

“Lies.” interrupted Dusky. His fellow Guard seemed to mirror his foul gaze. “Luna would never repeat that mistake again.”

The rest of Dusky's Guards slowly began to surround Celestia. Her council prepared to to go to her aid but Celestia smiled back and them and shook her head. One of the council, Log Record, stepped forward in protest.

“You must understand,” he cried out “She had no choice.”

Log Record was immediately silenced by a hoof to the face by one of the Night Guard who were blocking the council’s path.

With every new breath Celestia took, a new pounding in her head began to make itself known.

They are hurting our friends.

Celestia met Dusky’s gaze with a same malice. “I can assure you Dusky Plain, everything I do is for the good of peace and harmony throughout both worlds,” she said.

Another Guard moved to Dusky’s side. “Why don’t you just ask the Elements to change her back like last time.” Her voice seemed to be half hatred and half genuine concern.

With most of her strength, Celestia put aside the pounding in her head. The Night Guards were beginning to chat amongst themselves. Murderer, Liar and Pure Evil were the most common names she heard in those few seconds before her reply. Her continued to drum on again.

“Because Luna is not merely banished as before,” Celestia began.

"You killed her,” Dusky finished, not averting his gaze from Celestia.

The Night Guard erupted into a furious uproar. A few looked as though they were prepared to launch themselves at Celestia. One wrong move and things would dissolve into chaos

Traitors to Equestria

Disky stood at attention. “For the honour of Princess Luna, you will tell us the truth your Highness.” His voice rang out through the room. Blueblood once again tried to step forward and do something but his aunt shook her again. This she could not allow.

“You leave me no choice Dusky Plain,” Celestia said, stern and cold, as she rose into the air with grace and power. She around at all of the Guards. Some were clearly new, but others had been around for quite some time. “I shall ask once more, Will any of you join the Eclipse Guard?” Her question was met by a visual chorus of malicious gazes.

Let it never have been said that she didn’t give them the chance.

Dusky looked towards all of his fellow guard. Celestia could make out his order though. His voice was shrouded in growls and snarls. The entire Night Guard’s expressions seem to mock Celestia. They hated her. Her! The one who was trying to protect them. She was trying her hardest but they just wouldn’t listen. Celestia’s heartbeat sped up faster and faster.

“Celestia,” Dusky declared, “You are a traitor to the Throne. For the crime of murder -”

“Outrageous,” Blueblood shouted.

A few Night Guard held spears to his throat and he quickly shut up.

Dusky continued, “You will be imprisoned until we can find a suitable punishment.”

Do you hear what they are saying?

A few of the Guards lowered their lances ready to end Celestia that day. Others were eying up weak spots in her body to strike. Celestia’s horn glowed with righteous light. The Night Guard rose to meet her level.

One went in for the attack, Celestia blocked it but not without a blood red streak down one wing. Another one went for her, along with another and another. It was like a shower of meteors within the grand hall of Canterlot castle. With every new attack a pulse went through Celestia’s vision, briefly distorting it. Her magic proved to be her advantage she swatted them away to end up back on the ground or just simply away from Celestia.

This must not continue.

Celestia tried to focus herself but the pounding in her mind did not make a pleasant partner to the betrayal.

The council looked on as, with blood running down her, she spoke to them.

“Please don’t fear,” she said. “It will be alright.” Celestia was partly talking to herself.

The Night Guard quickly began circling around her faster and faster. Celestia remained in their way. Several went in together for joint assaults. The rage burning in their eyes seemed to reflect off their weapons. Everything around her was beginning to dissolve into a nightmare.

"Stop this madness," shouted Fountain Ink.

Out of sight from the council, the attacks were taking their toll. All the council saw were the Night Guard surrounding their Princess. Suddenly, Celestia’s horn stopped glowing and if her guests didn’t know her better, they could have sworn they caught the faintest of smirks at very edge of her sombre expression.

In a flash, a beam of intense heat and light shot out of her majestic horn. It struck a Night Guard, incinerating him instantly. Then it struck another, and another, and another. They had little time to escape from the purifying light. The light was like a concentrated beam of sunlight, it left a large scorch mark as it was dragged across the room. Underneath the screams of the Night Guard, Celestia found the perfect way to get over the horror before her eyes. She did what any wise child learnt to do, she laughed it off. Celestia laughed off the lies. She allowed that smirk to grow into a broken smile. She smiled away the pain of her injuries. She smiled away off the loss of so many ponies that she had sworn to protect for so very long. Through the cracked of that broken smile, tears fell through. No false joy is without tears.

On this day, the righteous will prevail.

"Be quiet," Celestia whimpered, too softly for anypony to hear.

Dusky Plain bellowed some ordered but they were barely heard over the cries of swift agony that the other Guards left out. Why? Why did they hate her so much? Why did she have to do this? Their screams were sharp and quick, each one piercing through Celestia’s heart before they met their ends. No matter how experienced they were they fell before Celestia power. Sure, some tried to go on the offensive but to very little avail. In those moments, Celestia saw lives come to end, lives that had served her sister faithfully for a long time were now ending and it was by Celestia’s doing. Why? Why couldn’t they see she was trying to help them?

Traitors cannot be tolerated.

“I said be quiet,” Celestia pleaded mutely to herself.

Celestia stopped. The broken smile shattered. It was done. The tears continued however, for the lives lost that day. The Night Guard who had entered the room were no more. A pity, they would have made fine Eclipse Guards. Their families would be so distraught to learn how they rebelled against Celestia. Lives lost for such a cause were wasted potential.

For the greater good.

The council looked on horrified. Before meeting them, she composed herself. It took a few moments for the drumming in her head to fade away and her vision to return to normal. Gracefully she floated back down to meet their gazes.

“On this day,” Celestia began, trying to get her voice back to its angelic form, “We have lost the Night Guard to the darkness that lurked in their hearts. Fear not. As I live and breath, no more shall fall into the shadows. No more will lose their way to madness. I said this was a new age of peace and I meant it.”

The moment she finished, her council cheered for her and called for medics. To them, she was all that was good and pure in Equestria. Celestia would strive to keep that image of her with them for a long time. She would form the Eclipse Guard from the elite of her own Day Guard and that would honour both Luna and the Night’s memories.

***

Desperate Decisions And Dark Measures. 2022

If everything was going to go smoothly, if she was going to save humanity then she would need her greatest ally. Instinctively, her sister was the first to come to mind. Silly instinct, old habits were the worst to break. For the first time since Luna had returned to her, Celestia was alone on the throne. Worst yet, it was her fault. It was Lu-her fault. Even her own mind was beginning to play tricks at that point. Celestia was now the last of her family. Where does one go when even their family is no more? There was only pony she could call close now. Her faithful student Twilight Sparkle.

Celestia dispatched a message at once to call for her. The wait for her arrival, for her smiling face, was agony. Celestia needed a different voice in her ear. She needed to know that she wasn’t going insane. The Guards in her chamber looked on at her with worried eyes. Their looks did not go unnoticed by the Princess of the Sun.

Before she could reassure them, her waiting agony was cut short by a welcomed face. Twilight Sparkle had arrived much faster than expected.

Celestia turned to her Guards, "I would like a private word with my student," Her smile eased seemed to ease their minds "We’ll be quite alright". With that they trotted away, giving Twilight their most polite nods. The moment the doors were closed, Celestia took her spot on her throne. With Twilight in her sights, it was almost as if life had returned to sanity. Even if it was just for a second.

"I'm glad you came so quickly," said Celestia.

Twilight had a confused expression on her face. "You summoned me, Princess?"

"You're not here by summons?" the princess asked, frowning in confusion herself.

"I was on my already. I wanted to see if you were okay," the mare replied.

Twilight was more than a student, she was a friend. Somepony Celestia could rely on. Though as she thought of what to say, she remembered one crucial thing. Twilight was one of her subjects. It was her job by duty to protect her. That meant never sharing that same task with her. She wasn't ready for that responsibility yet. Then again, she couldn't fully lie to her. Not fully.

"Admittedly," she chuckled, "I've had better days but I will strive on." Celestia was almost right. She would try to strive on.

"Is there anything I could do to help?" Twilight asked, her innocence shining through.

Celestia nodded her head. "There is something you can do." She moved from her throne, closer to her student. "I want you to help me reassure everypony that everything is going okay. We may have lost Luna but life must move on. I know that more than anypony else my student."

You know it very well.

Twilight averted Celestia's gaze. Both of their hearts began to sink. Celestia backed away. Was Twilight doubting her?

"That's something I wanted to talk to you about." She tried to lock her gaze to Celestia with mixed results. "It’s about...the potion." Twilight appeared to struggle with the last two words.

Traitor.

"The Converted don’t seem quite right," she continued.

How dare you question us.

"Don’t get me wrong," Twilight quickly noted, obviously trying to not offend Celestia. "It’s obviously still saving them, in a sense." She took out a notepad from her satchel. "It’s just, all my research shows that the Converted’s souls are horribly damaged by the process. And then there’s their personalities..."

Celestia’s heart sank lower and lower with every word of her ‘faithful’ student spoke.

She’s against you.

Twilight passed her notes onto Celestia. The pages noted various conversations and observations she had had concerning the Converted, both with other ponies and the Converted themselves.

A list of symptoms that the Converted showed went on for a few pages. Reluctance to talk about their human lives, personalities seemingly similar to each other, moods rarely swaying from cheerful. The list was crushing the world that Celestia was trying to make.

Get rid of her.

Twilight was stood, waiting for Celestia’s response. The pages went on and on; as always Twilight had put a lot of thought into her research. That was the problem. These were thoughts about how Celestia was wrong. This wasn’t what she needed.

End her.

"...no," Celestia whispered, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

Twilight walked closer to her teacher. "Maybe there’s another way," she said, breaking the silence and giving Celestia focus.

She needed Twilight to agree with her. She was the most faithful of her little ponies and if she was doubting her... what about everypony else? Perhaps Twilight was right in some way but she lacked the experience Celestia had to see the bigger picture. All of this was necessary. There was no other way of saving mankind. Celestia couldn’t tell Twilight that though, it would break her heart. How do you protect somepony from doubt. How?

You know how.

"Twilight," Celestia said at last, going to her knees to meet her student’s concerned gaze. "There is something I need to trust you with." She wiped away her tears with magic and waited for Twilight’s move.

"Of course your Highness," replied Twilight eagerly "How can I help?" She had wanted to live up Celestia’s rumoured standards. This made it both easy and one the hardest acts of mercy that Celestia had ever had to do.

Twilight was close now. Celestia lowered her head and whispered into her ear.

"Everything is fine." Celestia’s horn started to glow with an oddly malicious light. "The Converted are simply happy to be taught our ways." The light seemed to seep into Celestia’s eyes. "Soon we will all live in peace and mankind’s suffering will stop." The light had vanished from Celestia’s eyes now, finding its way to a new home. It found its way into Twilight’s eyes, infecting her mind with one thought. Celestia is right.

Despite the calm tone of Celestia soft words, there was something else that she wanted to say to her now ever-faithful student. I am sorry. So many sacrifices had to be made just to keep the two worlds from falling into chaos.

Although the malice from Celestia’s horn faded, the light in Twilight’s eyes remained. Twilight probably would have discussed this with her friends as well. Having all the Elements on her side would surely show Equestria that there was nothing to fear, that everything would turn out okay.

"Twilight," Celestia began, her tone shifting to a royal order. "I need you to bring your friends here as soon as possible. You all have a very important task ahead of you." Celestia stood tall. Now things would start looking brighter.

Twilight bowed to her teacher. "I understand your majesty." The light finally faded from her eyes but the message was still there. "Anything to save mankind from destruction."

That voice wasn’t Twilight’s. It sounded the same but it was wrong. It lacked her own spirit, her smile seemed false. It hurt Celestia to do it but it was necessary.

It’s for her own good.

Everything would be fine in the end...right. Right. It would be fine. Celestia and the Elements would save mankind together.

She’ll be fine.

Once all this was over she would remove the spell and have the true Twilight Sparkle back. Celestia was right. Everything she had done had been for the good of both mankind and Equestria. She was right.

Twilight must be protected. They must all be protected.

***

Everything Is Fine 2023

Celestia watched as ponies dutifully erected another highrise building. Like all buildings in Canterlot it was designed with the rich and regal aesthetic that characterised nearly every other structure in the city. She felt proud at the devotion her ponies exhibited and her heart swelled as she watched ponys hammer beams together and carefully lay stone slabs.

It had almost been too much for her in the past few years. The humans, the potion, the forgetfulness, Luna, all of it but this was something positive. Her little ponies were finally coming together to help those in need. The Converted still came to her with the occasional complaint, usually about forgetfulness setting in but those usually stopped. Given enough time the Converted eventually decided that what they were complaining about wasn’t worth it and that they were much happier as ponies and that all that mattered. So long as the Converted were happy everything was fine.

Still the sheer number of Converted coming through was worrying. The Barrier was relentless and nothing she or humanity did could stop it. It was unstoppable and countless millions had already died. She had heard of armies that threw everything they had at it, including their own bodies, that had been obliterated without even scratching the shimmering pink wall. She had heard about the ideas and schemes that the greatest minds of the human race were concocting in an effort to either destroy or stop it. It was terrible, every new report read as if it was another chapter in the story of a world’s death and her land, her Equestria was becoming responsible for the survivors. It was a burden she would gladly bear this time, she would never lose control again.

The Converted that were building the new towers - under the tutelage of several native Equestrian construction workers - had been kind enough to build a small raised platform out of spare timber and placed a comfortable chair for her to sit on while she watched their progress. She had, of course, thanked each of them individually and graciously accepted their gift.

It was amazing how hard working and diligent the Converted were. They seemed to accept their new lives with a great amount of enthusiasm and threw themselves into whatever work they had been given. They exhibited nothing but good cheer and polite cooperation and though many ponies still found them rather strange they were accepted and that was all they seemed to want or need. Their reluctance to ever mention their former lives was still disconcerting however and many ponies, curious to learn about an alien world, were disappointed to find that their potential sources were not as cooperative as they would have thought. The Converted seemed to want to hide behind vague statements and tangents and quickly tried to change the subject whenever their former humanity was brought up.

Celestia had been content to just sit and appreciate the work that was going on. She would of course talk to any ponies that wished to speak with he but for the most part she simply appreciated the work that her ponies were doing. This was a break from the politics and the administration that had built up as millions of Converted flooded through the Portal and it was all she could ask for at the moment.

Still humanity’s long and lingering demise was, as always, in the back of her mind. The thought of so much death was horrendous. Her pulse started racing as she began to remember the reports from Earth.

She had of course seen plenty of war, atrocity and slavery before, countless horrors had been witnessed by her over the centuries, but this was something else. The sheer inevitability made her feel sick and she knew that had the Portal never opened, had humanity never made contact with Equestria, then none of this would have ever happened. Her head began to pound and the edges of her vision became hazy.

It is of no consequence

Still there was nothing she could do about it and trying to find a solution had only led to disappointment and tragedy. It didn’t matter what she felt. in these trying times it was better that she simply put on a brave face for all of Ponykind and weather the storm on their behalf. As long as her little ponies prospered then she would accept the horror. As she relaxed and put the humans out of her mind her hearts settled and her vision cleared. Blinking slightly she instead turned her gaze towards the ponies on the ground who scurried back and forth with supplies. In doing so she also spotted a tall, pink Alicorn that she was very familiar with.

“Cadence,” she greeted cheerfully. Celestia waved the younger Alicorn over to her.

Princess Cadence was a rather infrequent visitor to Canterlot but she did try to make as many trips as she could, especially after Luna’s death. The Princess of the Crystal Empire was an ardent supporter of every charitable organisation devoted to the welfare and betterment of the Converted, several had in fact been founded by her.

“Hello,” the pink Alicorn replied to Celestia’s greeting simply, a sincere smile upon her face. Cadence had always been one to prefer simplicity over most of the pomp and circumstance of her position.It often helped make it easier for her to relate to the ponies she ruled over. “I came over to see how everything is going,” Cadence continued. “I heard you had been planning to take a day off so I cleared up my schedule.”

Celestia smiled and gestured to several Converted workers that were taking a break from hauling carts of timber panels. They walked over quickly and bowed before the two princesses.

“If its not too much trouble.” Celestia asked, the Converted perking up noticeably at the sound of a request from their princess, “could you please prepare a seat for Princess Cadence?”

“At once your highness,” they all replied at the same time before frantically rushing off to find something appropriate for the princess to sit on.

Aren’t they just perfect

“So,” Cadence began as she waited for her seat to be prepared, “how are you?” The question was innocent enough but Celestia could feel the intent behind it.

“I’m fine,” she replied, “don’t worry about me. I may be keeping myself busy but it isn’t anything I can’t handle.”

Cadence bit her lip and paused for an uncomfortable second before continuing. “I mean about Luna. Are you sure you’re alright?”

Celestia paused in return but her outward appearance changed. She stiffened in shock, her heartbeat pounding in her chest at the mere mention of her sister’s name. Her vision swam and she could swear that the air was growing colder and the light dimming. Her head began to swim and her stomach made somersaults as the image of her sister in the sarcophagus they had made for her came to the forefront of her mind. It was followed by the arguments, the anger, the sorrow, the horrible images of her the monster she had seen her sister appear as. Even the purging of the Night Guard came up. The sight of so much death and despair.

Calming herself she tried to steady her breathing and hope that nopony else could see just how unsettled she had become. However her eyes still darted back and forth, the edges of her vision were still hazy and blurred.

“I’m fine,” she said yet again but far less convincingly, “everything is under control. I can handle myself.” Her heart was still beating fast enough for her to feel it in her chest and her pulse was giving her a headache that became increasingly unbearable with each heartbeat.

“You know you could always take some time off. Let the Council handle matters for a few days. It’s what they’re there for. Equestria can survive without you taking control of every small detail for at least that long Shining and me would be more than happy to have you stay with us for a little bit.” Celestia could hear the concern in Cadence’s voice, even over the pounding and the whispering.

“No,” Celestia snapped in return, “I can handle this. I can’t leave Equestria alone, not in times like this. I have to be there for them. I have to be there for my little ponies, all of them, all of the time. I…”

“Your majesties,” an exuberant voice shouted. Both Celestia and Cadence turned in shock. The Converted had returned. They were carrying a large wooden seat, built like a bowl with a backrest, that had a large plump cushion inside of it. “A seat fit for a princess,” the leader of the group said excitedly as he and his companions carefully placed it next to Celestia’s before bowing, wide smiles on their faces.

“Is there anything else your highnesses will require?” the Converted pony asked.

“Um, no. No thank you,” Cadence replied politely. “Thank you for your consideration and thoughtfulness.”

“No problem at all your highness,” the pony replied. “Its the least we could do for such figures of radiance and beauty.” He turned to his colleagues who all nodded enthusiastically. “My deepest apologies though but it looks like our next shift has started. It was an honour to be of service for you.”

With one last bow the Converted trotted off to work. Celestia was thankful for their interruption. She felt calmer now, the pounding, the whispers and the dizziness had all disappeared and her heartbeat was calm and normal once again.

“They’re so lovely and helpful, aren’t they?” she asked Cadence. Cadence, who had just made herself comfortable in her new seat, looked at her for a second, a small and slightly concerned smile on her face and then nodded.

“Yes they are. It's remarkable how quickly they have adapted to life in Equestria. No matter what they’ve gone through they all seem to be happy here.”

“That’s the magic of friendship,” Celestia said, closing her eyes and letting a smile grow on her face at the thought of such happiness. “They may not like to talk about their old lives. I’m sure they’re still adapting to what has happened to them but hopefully with time they will get better.”

It’s only a matter of time

Celestia sighed contentedly as she watched the Converted who had brought Cadence her seat sing jovially as they dragged a cart of lumber. Every Converted who came through the Portal deserved to be this happy. More of them came through every day and whether the Barrier stopped or not it didn’t matter to these new ponies. Life was good and it would just keep getting better.

Celestia smiled brightly as the Converted waved at her.

“It’s only a matter of time.”

***

To Be A God 2023

Celestia felt weary, the day had been rather arduous. Between meetings with the Council, minor complaints regarding the accommodation of the Converted and a headache that refused to go away, the Princess had been hoping to get a little rest. However she never let it show on the outside. She would always remain the regal and awe inspiring paragon that she had always been.

Still she could not wait to retire to her quarters, lie down on one of the various large and comfortable cushions, light a roaring fire and relax.

Turning a corner she found a rather odd sight before her. A collection of ponies was waiting in the hallway that led to the stairway to her chambers. They were an assortment of Unicorns, Pegasi and Earth Ponies and all of them were excitedly talking amongst themselves. From their lack of cutie marks she could see that they were all Converted.

One of the group, a Unicorn stallion with a golden coat and crimson mane, was the first to notice and immediately broke away from the throng of Converted and began to trot towards her. It didn’t take long for the others to realise that Celestia had arrived and they also went off to speak to her.

“Your most esteemed and glorious majesty,” the golden coated Unicorn greeted her, bowing low. The other ponies followed his example and genuflected before her as well.

“What can I do for you?” Celestia asked politely, slightly confused by the somewhat exaggerated reverence these ponies were exhibiting. Most Converted treated her like she was the most wonderful being they had ever met but these ponies were extraordinarily devoted even by their standards.

“Why your majesty it is a pleasure that you would acknowledge someone like myself. I am Sol Invictus,” the lead pony spoke, straightening himself and looking her in the face. “We have come here to inform that we have discovered your divinity.”

“My divinity?” Celestia said, somewhat confused.

“Of course your majesty,” Sol Invictus replied, his expression turning slightly confused and concerned by Celestia’s reply. “We are just a few of the countless millions that you have saved and brought to the warmth of your embrace. Since becoming a pony I have found true meaning in my life. Before I was transformed I was a preacher that followed another god but now I want to spread the message of your perfection to others instead.”

Celestia blinked at the expression that the pony had given her. His face was locked in a look of rapt euphoria, as if her very presence gave him great satisfaction.

“My brothers and sisters and myself have all come together in order to ensure that all of Ponykind learn the truth about your divine being,” Sol Invictus continued. “We have named ourselves the Cult of the Victorious Sun in your honour your majesty. We spent many weeks attempting to gain an audience with you in order that you may hear of our work. It was an arduous task and we did not wish to infringe on your duties but we thought it integral that you know that your children love you and wish to teach others.”

“While I do appreciate the effort and the sentiment,” Celestia began, speaking carefully so as to not upset the assemblage in front of her, “ I don’t think it is that appropriate to attribute godhood to me.”

Leave them be. Let them worship you

Sol Invictus’ face fell and he began to stammer in response, “But...but your majesty that can’t be. You saved us, every one of us from the Barrier and everything that was wrong with our lives. All of us were lost, suffering and aimless and many of us were suffering at the same time. You have saved us all with your potion and your teachings of peace, friendship and harmony.” Behind him the other ponies, who had not spoken a word now looked at her expectantly.

Leave them be

“I won’t deny you the right to follow your faith and I’m glad that you have all found something meaningful to follow but I really think there are more worthwhile things for you to worship.”

Let them worship you

“Of course your majesty,” Sol Invictus finally relented. “Let it be said that you are truly a tolerant and loving ruler and we will of course conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the harmony that you want us all to live with.” With that the Unicorn bowed one last time and walked past her. The other ponies, who now all wore expressions of relief and satisfaction, followed after him, bowing to her and saying their thanks as they did.

They will know our perfection

Celestia sighed once the ponies were gone. That was something she really shouldn’t have had to deal with. So many ponies were troubled by the Converted and this new extremism seemed to be the latest in a long list of unsettling behaviours. Still, like all the other complaints, this new development was harmless.

Still, though she hated to admit it, there was a part of her that enjoyed the idea that these ponies looked up to her so much. For such a long time she had hated the idea of her little ponies worshipping her but now, after so much turmoil and loss, she couldn’t help but feel comforted by their exuberance and devotion. The Converted may have been strange but they were just so endearing to her. They worked hard, thanked her for every little thing she gave them and they accepted everything that came their way with such polite compliance and understanding. If there was such a thing as a perfect pony, surely they were it?

They will worship you, and love you and in time all will know of our perfection

***

Birth Of A Tyrant 2024

It was almost too much. After two years Celestia was struggling to cope with the endless calamities that were thrown at her, intentionally or not, by the planet Earth. The destruction of entire nations and cultural artifacts, the death of billions, the countless Conversions and abandonment of old identities and the constant headaches. Throughout all of this the stress had gradually grown worse and so had the pounding in her head.

Some nights Celestia had woken up and found herself outside of her chambers. Sometimes she was in the laboratories where she and Luna had perfected the Potion, other times she was in front of Luna’s Mausoleum and occasionally she would wake up on the balcony outside the observatory. Nopony ever knew what she was doing. Whenever these episodes took place there were never any witnesses, neither guards nor servants ever seemed to cross her path.

This and other incidents had all worked to crush her under mounting pressure. As always she never let it show, never let her ponies know what she was going through. The recent influx of billions of Converted had stretched the nation to it’s limits. Celestia had already been forced to authorise the recolonisation of all the territory within the Barrier just to provide land and resources for her little ponies.

“Your highness?”

On top of that humanity had become volatile in its final days. Countless weapons had been thrown at the Barrier, every one of them a failure. Converted hoping to reach the portal, or at least the limits of the Barrier, had been assaulted by humans as they fled the dying civilizations they had abandoned. Those poor well meaning ponies had often been savaged. The recent refugee columns had far too many crippled or wounded ponies for Celestia to bear.

“Your highness?”

Humanity had become a monster. Instead of seeking solace with one another or working together to find a solution they had shut her and her ponies out, assaulted and killed those who had decided to take the potion and survive and generally ravaged what was left of their world. The reports of the riots, the corruption, the crime, the warfare, the mindless violence, it had almost been too much. The very thought of it made her sick.

“Your highness!”

Celestia immediately snapped out of her thoughts. A Guardspony was standing in front of her. The image of her personal study returned to her and she remembered what she had been doing. Her writing desk, finally clear of reports and administrative papers, was in front of her and her quill lay in it’s inkpot despite the shimmering golden light of her magic which surrounded it.

Clearing her throat she returned her attention to the Guard. “I’m so sorry. What is it you have to say?”

“Well your highness I bring rather interesting news,” the Guard replied with a wary look on his face. “Reports from New Prance state that the Barrier has stopped in the English Channel.”

Impossible

Celestia blinked in surprise. “It has stopped?”

“Yes your highness. Apparently several eye witnesses that had been keeping track of it’s progress saw it halt. The remaining humans appeared to have assembled their own armed forces for some kind of assault when an opposing magical wall collided with the Barrier. That was apparently a week ago. The settlers in New Prance decided to wait before reporting this just in case the situation was temporary.”

This is wrong. It has to continue. Nothing should stop it

Celestia could feel her heartbeat quicken once again. She didn’t experience these episodes as often anymore but when they happened they were unbearable, like she was losing herself. She felt angry, more angry than she had ever felt before.

Who are they to defy us

Slowly, taking a deep breath whilst she did so, Celestia said, “Thank you. Please leave me. I have a lot to think about now that you have given me your report.”

The Guardspony gave a look of mild surprise at his princesses’ reply before dutifully turning around and walking out of her study, marching across her chambers and back into the corridors outside.

Alone once again, Celestia retreated into her thoughts. The Barrier being stopped by some other force, presumably a human one was very surprising. Nothing humanity had tried before had worked, in fact in many ways they tended to backfire and kill thousands of their own kind. As their civilizations broke down the attempts to destroy the Barrier had stopped as well but apparently the final scrap of land where they remained had pulled something off.

Who are they to defy us?

Celestia got to her hooves and headed to the balcony, hoping that fresh air would reduce the pain in her head. Her pulse was racing and she could feel her head pounding. The discomfort was excruciatingly unbearable. She felt angry, furious in fact and she didn’t know why.

They are evil

As if she were just reminding herself, she remembered everything she had heard about the ravages of the Barrier and humanity’s responses to its expansion.

Celestia had spent days listening to reports that stated, in morbid and exact detail, the fall of humanity and their loud, undignified death throes. It was as if the entire species had gone mad. As things grew more desperate for them they had simply degraded themselves further. Celestia had read the reports, the rape of men and women, the murder of boys and girls, the starving refugees that ate everything they could find, even the bodies of their dead. She had heard of a thousand and one debauched and amoral cults that had risen up and taken control of humanity’s minds. The creation of the Human Liberation Front who savagely attacked any pony they saw as well as anyone who disagreed with their violent and radical messages. It was terrifying how quickly everything had fallen apart.

They are vile

Every sheet of parchment had dutifully documented the unravelling of an entire planet’s sanity. It was as if a switch had suddenly been flicked and the entire species suddenly lost control.

[They are foul

It wasn’t just the reports either, Celestia had also seen what humanity did to itself during her occasional attempts to help the dying human race. She had been there when the remaining people of the United States, by then known as the Sanctified Republic of Gilead, had thrown children at the Barrier, believing that innocent blood and God’s grace would shatter it. She had witnessed the vile sacrifices in India by a hundred cults and gangs that all claimed to be feeding the power of Kali. She had seen the terrified and violently radical Islamists of the Middle East and North Africa march the starving and enslaved populations of nations into the Barrier whilst screaming curses and bile at her from the other side of the Barrier. Atrocities beyond count had been committed and it had all proven to be too much for her.

They are monstrous

What kind of world would breed such monsters?

And yet they have been spared

What force had suddenly deemed humanity worthy of life? What force would decide to torture them, reveal their monstrous true nature and then allow them to live? What force would put her through so much heartbreak? Why would humanity torture her like this. Ever since humanity had been discovered things had gone wrong.

Its their fault you hurt inside

She had been forced to take drastic action.

Its their fault your nation is pressed to its limits

She had taken lives.

Their existence sowed discord amongst your ponies

Luna had died at her hooves.

They killed Luna

Everything would have been better if she had just never learnt that humans existed.

Everything would be better if they were all dead

With every passing second Celestia felt more furious. It was terrifying but also exhilarating, like letting out every horrible feeling she had ever experienced. It took all of her self control to exercise her immense powers and destroy something. Even then she felt liberated, as if she was no longer hiding a part of herself. A part of her that had been hiding all of this time was finally being allowed to the front of her mind.

Let me out

She was letting loose.

Let me out

Four years of resentment and anger finally being accepted and released, even if only in the recesses of her mind.

Let me out

Celestia’s head was swimming, she felt like she was going to collapse. It was all too much.

Let me in

Celestia could feel herself slipping away. These feelings, these experiences, they were too much for her. She felt so tired, so exhausted. Wandering over to the massive cushion beside the fireplace she collapsed onto it. Her vision was already fading into black and her heavy eyelids drooped.

Let me in...and I will make everything perfect once again

Celestia smiled warmly as she closed her eyes and drifted into a deep dark sleep.

***

She woke up. Her body, despite oh so many years living inside of it, somehow felt rather unfamiliar. She felt groggy, like waking up from a long and deep sleep. However, at the same time, she also felt strong, unbelievably strong, as if this waking had invigorated her.

She pulled herself up from the cushion she had been lying on and walked on unsteady legs to her writing desk. She quickly overlooked the reports that lay in thick stacks beside the desk. Glancing over them a scowl crossed her face. However, upon hearing how much of the planet Earth was now within the Barrier and how little of it lay beyond the scowl quickly transformed into a smirk, because now she knew exactly what to do.

“Right then. To work.”

***

Celestia fell into the endless darkness, tumbling over and over. She had no body, no direction, nothing to tell her what was going on. There was only the darkness and the cold and the cruel, cruel laughter that surrounded her. The pounding in her head was there and at the same time was not. She screamed but no noise could be heard for she had no mouth or throat.

She had no idea where she was, what had happened to her or why it was happening.

There was only the darkness. And the cold. And the cruel, cruel laughter that surrounded her and promised only of terrible events to come.

***

Astra Solamina Maxima Cometh! Behold! Behold! 2024

Celestia. Celestia, Princess of the Sun. Why didn't that name fit anymore? It wasn't just that it didn't fit anymore, Celestia found it vile to even say out loud. The name was kind and fair to those she met, but the humans didn't deserve her kindness anymore. Celestia remembered Sol Invictus' words to her. Perhaps he had a point about her. A Princess was not fitting for the humans. They had acted with nothing but malice and destruction in mind. At every turn they seemed to shun her and Equestria's ways. No more. Today was the day she helped them see what they had become. Sometimes the hardest truth has to be forced upon you.

No, don't. There is another way.

She shook her head. For a long time, she had listened to that voice, the voice of tolerance, the voice of reason, the voice of kindness and patience.

No more. Now, things would be different.

There came a knocking on the door, disturbing her thoughts.

"Enter," Celestia called.

Log Record entered. "You majesty. The ponies await your news," he said proudly.

Celestia simply looked at Log and nodded. Log backed out of the room. He had seen the madness that the humans had caused when the Night Guard fell. It was only natural that Celestia had him present, along with all of Canterlot, when she revealed her remedy to that madness. The only remedy that the humans would understand. She checked her reflection one last time before going out to address her subjects. From head to tail she looked nothing like the Princess that she had been. The armour she wore hadn't been used since the fall of Sombra. It had been freed from the ancient scars of the past and was ready to once again fight for what was right in the world. It was ready to fight for peace and order in both realms. This was armour that shined with the radiant beauty that Celestia herself had. It was her duty to lead her ponies into a new era of harmony.

The vast sea of faces that looked up at Celestia were hers to protect. She stood there as the crowded hushed themselves, with both the Day and newly knighted Eclipse Guard behind her ready to for what was coming. Some of the ponies watching her, the veterans and the soldiers, could tell what Celestia was going to say. She could only imagine what must be going through their minds. The fear, the anticipation, the sorrow, all of those emotions that came knowing a storm was on its way. Now was not the time for fear. Now was the time to be united.

She took in the silence for a moment before revealing her plan. "Brother and sister ponies," Celestia began. "These are trying times indeed. We have offered the hoof of friendship to the humans: we have offered them a chance to become part of Equestria. Many have made the right choice - but some have chosen to reject this generosity. Some have chosen, instead, to fight us." As the words went on, the calm demeanour she had as a Princess seemed to be shedding, with the last two words almost being scoffed.

Gasps of horror filled the crowd, almost as if they were on cue.

"In light of this treachery, I have realised that it is no longer befitting merely to be a Princess, merely to have our glorious land be a Kingdom," Celestia continued, gazing down at her adoring audience. "The ponies of Equestria have begged me to take a greater mantle, a mantle of total responsibility, and with a heavy heart I accept this mantle. I declare Equestria to be an Empire, with myself as its Empress!"

The guard captains stepped out from beside Celestia and took their place by her side. Now she knew what was missing, now she knew why 'Celestia' didn't fit her anymore.

"And in deference to my beloved Converted subjects, those who have sacrificed much to stand with us today, I shall not rule you as Celestia," the Alicorn finished. "I shall rule you as Astra Solamina Maxima! I am the Sun, mighty and resplendent, and none shall stand before my might! Together, we shall assail the humans and utterly annihilate them! None shall survive unconverted!!" The power in her voice was unmistakable and left no doubt that she was justice to both realms.

The eyes of her ponies were beginning to burn with the same passion that fuelled the empress herself. Fear no longer ruled their expressions as they gazed up at Cel...Solamina. They were ready to stand by her side and save the human's realm by claiming it as their own. The nations of that world would see the light and swiftly jump at the chance to become equine.

The crowd cheered and stomped in approval of their new empress. Kindness had failed them, humans as they were reeked of chaos and hatred. It was a case of change themselves to be sane like the ponies Solamina ruled over or perish back into the darkness that they so revelled in. Hopefully, there were still a few sane humans left that would realise their kind's mistake as soon as they saw the gleam from the armour of the Equestrian soldiers. They were going to see the light, even if that light had to be burned into their eyes they were going to see the error of their ways. Nothing threatens the ponies that Solamina protected.

She didn't care what technology they had. She would wipe the humans from their sad existence.

Author's Note

Welcome to the last ever Interlude. Thanks to RoyalPsycho and The Void for their monumental efforts on this one, it's frikkin' awesome. It's also about a week late (really sorry guys!), but that's just babies and the New Year period and Real Life for you. :-/ Still, I hope this makes up for the long delay. I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as I can.

Urban Warfare.

Chapter Forty Nine: Urban Warfare.

***

“In the beginning, there was Light, and there was Darkness. The POWER that made all things could not have made the One without the Other, for however strong the Light was, the Darkness would be as strong; the brightest Light would always cast the Darkest Shadow. Upon this realisation, the POWER could have chosen to end IT’S mighty creation, but instead, IT chose not to do so. IT chose to accept this binary life, accept that in all things these two elements would exist. IT chose to allow IT’S creations to make their own choices, whether it be the choice to bask in the Light… or to skulk in the Dark.”
- Extract from The Fourth Book of Merlin: The POWERS Old and New.

***

Canterlot Streets. June 6th. Year 6 of the New Solaminan Calendar (2030).

It made sense now. Too much sense. How had he not understood it before? How had he not seen?

The power of the Avatar of Albion was an extension of the Light, a great power that was part of all things, but that power had an equal and an opposite: the Darkness - wherever the Light was most powerful, the Darkness would always be there too, waiting, watching. All beings could make the choice, even if only instinctively, between Light and Dark - it was less about morality, and more about motivation, what ends you sought. And then, when they had made that choice, it was a choice to side with either the one or the other great power, and that power grew - even if only incrementally - from the choice you made.

Human beings, by and large, were the sort of species that chose the Light more than the Dark, but when they chose the Dark it was all the more deadly. To Elliot's knowledge, after conversations with Hell Blazer and Giles and others, ponies were meant to almost always serve the Light - it was how the species was, or how they had become. After all, their magic was much more centred around Harmony as a concept, and it was a more intricate and important part of them. To see the Darkness take control of one like Celestia…

No, it wasn’t just control. It was invasive, pervasive, like she and it had become one. The Avatar had felt sick from the moment he had been in her presence, like she was toxic, something to be reviled and abhorred, but he hadn’t rationally clocked it. And yet.. hadn’t he already known, somewhere, deep down?

“Nothing to say, little man?” Solamina asked, interrupting his train of thought. Her voice had taken on a new resonance, of a kind the Avatar had not yet heard - it was as though another creature, ancient and terrible, spoke with her, behind her, alongside her. “Nothing at all?”

“Silence, cur!” he snapped in return, scowling at her. “I should have smelled the darkness in you from the beginning.”

He had known. He had always known. It felt like fate, like destiny.

“This Celestia is a powerful vessel,” Solamina retorted, grinning widely. “We have not felt such strength since we were Morgan le Fay in the Old Time, when Arthur bore your blade.”

The words both did and did not make sense to the Avatar - the part of him that was Elliot was confused, but more and more he felt the part of him that was the Avatar burn with complete, all-consuming fury.

“And Celestia herself?” he asked. “How did you convince her to join with you?”

“The Sun Princess’ mind was always a fragile thing,” Solamina said with a dark chuckle. “We entered when the worlds met in the Void, passing through the dimensions and seeking a Power to corrupt to our way. Breaking her took a time, but to us it was nothing at all.”

“And what of her mind?” the Avatar rejoined. “What did you do to Celestia’s mind?!”

“I am still here, little man,” Solamina said, her voice losing the corrupt other that it had gained. “The power I wield I wield for the sake of all my little ponies. The power I wield I wield to crush all who would threaten them.”

The Avatar snarled, before kicking off, ascending into the sky once more to meet her.

“You are a fool, then,” he said. “It will not help you. It has its own ends.”

“Foolish man, it has already helped me!” Solamina said, her smile dropping.

“It has helped itself,” the Avatar countered. “You are a pawn. And deep down, deep within yourself, some part of you knows that.” He paused, his face almost softening. “I pity you, Sun Tyrant, for now I know your aspect and its source. This was not the doing of the Princess of Equestria.”

Solamina’s face grew more and more angry as he spoke, her brows knitting together in a scowl of loathing and contempt as a dark aura of energy surrounded her. When he finished, she could hold it in no longer.

“Silence, you fool!” she screamed. “We are Celestia of Equestria! We are the darkness! We are your enemy, and we shall annihilate you!”

The energy she had been accumulating lashed out towards the Avatar, like a great, many limbed shadow with grasping tentacles, seeking to tear him apart. The Avatar responded by holding up a hand, and from it came a light that seemed to hold back the grasping shadow for a time - but slowly, that light failed.

She’s going to destroy us, he thought to himself as the shadow surrounded him, the light in his hand crackling as it tried to keep the power of the Darkness at bay. We will fail.

No, he replied to himself. This can’t be how it ends. It just can’t be. Too many rely on us.

We haven’t got the power to stop this! he argued back.

We could, the other him replied. If…

If what? That was the question. The power in his hand waned as the shadow persisted in its attack, and he felt a tightness in his chest, like the need to cough… and then he knew.

If we surrender, he said to himself. If we... if I accept that I am the Avatar of Albion. It is my fate. It was always my fate. I could never have denied this destiny, and I could never have had a destiny beyond it.

And now he knew - even when he had fought in the most hopeless of times, there had always been the sense that one day, after the war, there would be a life after the war, a life for him, a life that he could go on to live… family, love, children…

But no. From the moment he had agreed to bear this power, this power had been one with him, and he had given his life, his destiny, to it. There was nothing else, nothing beyond it.

For Albion to live, her Avatar must give all of himself to her defence.

And now he knew. He was the last hurdle. His subconscious desire to live, to live beyond the final day, to live a life after his purpose was done… that was what had handicapped him, that was why even now he struggled against Solamina. She had no such qualms, for her body could stand up to the ravages of magic, but he… he had been afraid.

But now fear left him. He sighed inwardly even as the light in his hands began to flicker against the relentless pounding of the shadow Solamina sent against him. He had agreed to this, he had accepted his fate, and none would ever accuse David Elliot of letting down those who relied on him.

In his other hand, Excalibur shone, a light building in it.

If this is to be my end, I shall make it the final end - of the Tyrant, and of the war.

He gripped the hilt of the blade tighter, his armoured gauntlet grinding against the metal of the hilt, and suddenly he held it up, a blinding light leaping outward from the blade, whiting out the entire plaza where they stood. There was a moment where no one could have seen anything, and then the light receded, leaving the two beings staring at each other across a blasted heath of a street, rubble all around. The Avatar’s armour once again glinted, the damage from their long battle seemingly vanished from the surface of the gleaming suit of plate. Excalibur shone with a pale blue light, as though renewed by some unknown magic, and when it moved, it left a faint afterimage behind it.

“This is not the Old Time, spirit of the Fay,” the Avatar said, his voice echoing slightly with a new, greater power. “But if you have returned to threaten Albion, my duty is clear. You shall fall by my blade, and the spirit of Celestia you have entrapped shall be free of you once and for all.”

Solamina laughed, a cold, cruel sound. “Then shall we begin, pathetic creature? I long to return to destroying your armies.”

The Avatar said nothing, but held Excalibur up in salute. The Sun Tyrant held up her glaive in a matching salute, and then pointed it straight at him. A beam of energy, composed of pure darkness like the shadows that had nearly overwhelmed the Avatar, lashed out. Faster than lightning, Excalibur pointed back at her, and a bolt of pure, brilliant light met the darkness at the midpoint between the two.

There was a large explosion as the two energies dueled with one another, and then both combatants broke off their attack, only for both to try again, creating another explosion, even larger than the first. Again and again the two clashed with their magics, neither backing down, for now both knew, this was not just a battle of powerful beings. This was a battle as old as time itself.

This was a battle between light… and dark.

***

Elsewhere in Canterlot.

A purple magical shield fizzled and crackled under a sustained and concentrated assault. Twilight,
Springfield and Rarity were all firing bolts of magic. Nearby, Applejack was firing short bursts from Desert Wind's old P220, unable to sustain fire with the unwieldy object due to the lack of a steadier. Pinkie Pie had found pastries, rocks and other debris - including, somehow, a rubber ducky, an apple core and a fez - and was throwing it at the shield, her face twisted in a grimace of anger that was quite unlike her. Nearby, the Doctor had his sonic screwdriver out, scanning the shield as though searching for some weakness. Hell Blazer was in on this too, firing fireball after fireball to try and break down their enemy's defences.

Commander Twilight Sparkle of Equestria growled as her shield spell began buckling slightly under the combined assault. Though she was one of the most powerful warriors and magicians in Equestria, she was fighting herself - a version of herself without her vast experience and training, but still a version with her raw power. In addition, Springfield and Rarity were both powerful in their own right, and the other attacks were taking their toll too.

In frustration, she extended her powers, creating a shock wave designed to knock everypony off balance. To her surprise though, a counter-shield formed, not made of magic but some sort of strange sonic energy emitted from the Doctor's screwdriver. The grim faced old pony scowled at her.

"Your tricks will not avail you this time, Sparkle," he said. "Now!"

Another hail of spells flew, and Sparkle was hard pressed to bring up a shield before they impacted, the shield absorbing a lot of the force of the attacks but not preventing an explosion that threw her backwards. Cursing, she rolled, stood, and fired a hail of spells designed to suppress her enemies. They took cover as she had expected, but then a lightning-bolt of rainbow colour lashed by her, knocking her off-balance and throwing her into a wall, where she noticed with irritation that she had taken a cut along her front.

"Dash!" she snarled. True to form, Rainbow Dash was standing nearby, a grin on her face.

"What can I say?" she said. "That was for Spike."

"And this one is too!" Sparkle heard the voice of her counterpart yell. She turned, only for another spell to blast her off of her feet and through another wall. A dust cloud filled the already darkening air, obscuring a lot of Sparkle's vision. Growling again, she created another shock wave, this one managing to catch Rainbow and throw her backwards, though she seemed uninjured.

"You're all fools!" Sparkle yelled, looking towards where the group of ponies had been. "Even if you managed to defeat me, Solamina cannot be defeated. She is the sun! She is the Empress of this land! She wields power the rest of you couldn't imagine!"

"She's also tied up with a friend of mine," a deep, sarcastic voice said, and Sparkle had barely a second to raise a shield before a fireball impacted, scorching the ground around her and even singeing her mane and tail. Hell Blazer, his coat flapping in the wind, grinned as he jumped down, throwing another fireball. This time, however, Sparkle was ready, and she blocked the bolt with no damage and retaliating with a concussive spell that exploded the masonry all around the traitorous Convie bucker, knocking him down.

"Your Avatar cannot stop her," Sparkle growled. "You might as well surrender now, and she might show you mercy when dealing out post-war punishment! She might even send you home as Ambassadors to your own world, instead of torching it when she finally -!"

"She. Will. Never. Touch. Our. Home!" a voice yelled, and Sparkle felt a strong kick across her jaw, knocking her once more to the ground. She scowled, and blocked another punch, and found herself staring at the livid face of Fluttershy.

"Look at what you've become in service to the humans," Sparkle said, almost pityingly. "You were always the gentlest of us, Fluttershy."

"Don't talk to me like I'm your friend!" the yellow mare screamed, kicking out and sending Sparkle grunting backwards. "Your friends helped you murder ponies, murder people, destroy lives! Turn them into puppets! You were monsters!"

"My friends stood by my side when I needed them!" Sparkle retorted, blasting Fluttershy back with another spell. "My friends were loyal to Equestria!"

“There’s a difference between loyalty to a country, and loyalty to what you believe!” Rainbow Dash yelled from where she was, glaring at Sparkle. “I don’t know what got into you… but Twilight, the Twilight I know… wouldn’t do this!”

Another spell smashed into Sparkle before she could reply, throwing her backwards again. She cursed.

"Enough of this," she muttered. She galloped a little way down the street, trying to clear some space between her and her attackers.

"Be careful!" she heard the Doctor yell to his comrades. "She might have more tricks up her sleeve."

"There's certainly one, old timer," Sparkle said to herself with a vicious grin. Her horn glowed briefly with a sickly blue light, and then a bolt of energy that same hue shot into the sky.

"Look out!" somepony yelled, but this was no offensive spell.

It was a summons.

The spell exploded in the sky with a noise like a deep, booming horn. That noise sprang from every surface, echoing throughout the city.

A moment later, there was a horrifying screech, nowhere near as echoing, but still loud and threatening, for it was close to where they were.

"Ah, fuck!" Sparkle heard the voice of Hell Blazer cry out. "She's called the thing back!"

A moment later, it had arrived, dead eye socket and glaring eyes blazing with a fierce rage, white bone and scorched musculature still exposed to the world, and furious grimace upon its face as it glared at the group of ponies.

Sparkle laughed, a harsh, cold sound. “Prepare to taste the justice of Equestria, you traitorous buckers!”

***

ERAS Eternal Sun, Sky above Canterlot.

Five minutes earlier.

"Attention, attention. Transport copters incoming. Repeat, transport copters incoming."

Errant Flight continued to listen to the sound of battle from the radio. There had been a brief, confusing moment where somepony had said that Solamina was among the air battle - indeed, the Interdiction had reported that the Tyrant was literally right in front of them, though their reports had been a lot of screaming and crying - but now things had settled.

“Grey Two to Grey Three and Five, cover me on this attack run.”

“Roger that, Two.”

“Got it.”

“Looks like they’re having all the fun without us,” Fell Spear said drily.

Errant smiled mirthlessly, feeling a bit light-headed from some pain medication that had recently been applied. He didn’t like being out here while his friends and colleagues were out there flying, fighting and dying against the forces of Solamina’s empire. He had always promised himself that he, like Ditzy - his Ditzy - Lightning Dust and the others, would go out gloriously, would never let others face the danger without him. To sit here, injured while his comrades fought to free their home, was not his way.

You’re reckless, a voice very like Swift Wing's seemed to say in his mind.

‘I don’t want to leave them out there alone,’ he replied. At this point, voices in his head was the least crazy thing he had experienced.

Even if that leads to your death too, the voice pointed out.

Sounds just like Errant, another voice, this one rather like Royal Flush’s, said, a dry wit in its tone. Always gambling big - probably unwisely too.

Better to go out a hero than wait it out and be left with nothing but regrets, a voice suspiciously like Lightning Dust’s put in.

Regrets are always the worst, especially when you lose somepony, another voice - this one similar to Butter Mellow - said. They stew and fester, and you’re left always wondering what you could have done.

So it’s better to take action and be sure you did everything you could, the Lightning Dust in Errant’s head said.

Because we have to do everything we can, a voice… a voice that sounded heartbreakingly like the Ditzy Errant had known, too wise and too hurt for her years. This war… this war is bigger than any of us. We have to succeed. We have to do everything we can to succeed. Whatever the cost.

“Alert, alert!” a new voice spoke on the radio before Errant could begin to reply to this cacophony that had begun to take up residence in his head. “Something’s happening above the -”

A great noise like a horn blared out from Canterlot, so loud that even Errant and Fell Spear had to try and cover their ears from the din of it.

“What the buck was that?!” the former Night Guard yelled.

“I have no idea,” Errant said, frowning. Then his ears perked up as he heard another voice on the radio.

“This is Interdiction One to all units, we are under attack by a Royal Guard boarding party - needing urgent assistance!”

There was a brief, pregnant pause as Errant waited for somepony to acknowledge - and then the calls came.

“Grey Two to Interdiction One - none of my flyers can get to you!”

“Upsilon Leader to Interdiction! We’re tied up, there’s too many out here!”

“Eagle Squadron just took a massive hit, we lost half the Squadron to the bucking Tyrant!”

“Sigma Leader is down, Sigma is regrouping!”

“Alpha Squadron is tied up too far left, we can’t reach you in time!”

“Blue Squadron is under heavy attack!”

“Green Squadron is being decimated, we’re pulling back to the rally point!”

“No one can get to them,” Fell Spear said quietly, his eyes wide. If the Interdiction was taken or destroyed, that was the Resistance’s flagship in the air. Errant blinked. No one else could get there - but he could. He was more than capable of getting to the Interdiction in time… if the injury he had didn’t reopen and bleed him like a stuck pig first.

Act so you have no regrets, Errant, Lightning Dust said.

Biggest gamble in your life, pal, the voice of Royal Flush added. Can you rescue the Interdiction before that injury of yours kills you? Errant could almost imagine the sharp hiss of an intake of breath as Flush considered it. Odds are even. Worth the risk.

Even if it kills you, you’re the only one who can do it, Errant, the Ditzy in his head said. It’s your duty.

They were right. They were all right. He had no choice. He got to his feet and headed for the door. Almost immediately, Fell Spear moved to stop him.

“Sir, you’re in no condition to…”

“Fell Spear,” Errant cut him off, “if I don’t go, the Interdiction will be lost. That isn’t going to happen while I’m alive. You can either argue or you can help me, but you’re not stopping me.”

Fell Spear fell silent for a moment, and then he closed his mouth, nodding.

“Alright sir,” he said, a soft smile on his face. “I’m with you.”

Errant Flight grinned, and headed for the exit. Without another word, he jumped out of the zeppelin and headed for the Interdiction. He couldn’t feel any pain, but he could already see the stitches tearing and the blood welling up. He didn’t have much time. Tapping his comm, he spoke.

“This is Errant Flight, Grey Leader,” he said, focusing himself. “I’m heading for the Interdiction.”

***

Canterlot Resistance/Defence Force LZ.

When the horn went off, the Undead was giving orders to his troops. The blare got his attention for a moment, but he dismissed it - if it was a threat, he would deal with it when the time came and have no fear.

The landing was proceeding smoothly enough. The Undead couldn't help but feel as though there were a slight ringing in his ears, as though there were still music playing from... somewhere. He shook his head. A lot of regular troopers and Resistance ponies had landed, and the Undead could see Sir Eleanor of the Knights of Albion talking to Prince Blueblood in the distance.

"Sir," one of the men said, walking up to him quickly and saluting. "We've secured the area."

"Good to hear it," the Undead said. "But we're not here to secure anything. We're here to take this city. Are enough regulars here to secure the LZ?"

"I think so, sir," the trooper said.

"Good," the Undead said again. Without another word, he marched up towards Prince Blueblood. The pony looked up at him with surprised eyes.

"Undead," he greeted. "Glad to see you in one piece."

"Give me time," the Undead replied. "Permission to spearhead the assault into the city, sir."

Blueblood looked taken aback by the bluntness of the reply. His eyes flicked to the already assembling group of Dead Men in the courtyard, and he sighed.

"Alright," he said quietly. "Target key locations - the palace entrance, any armouries. Try to find the militia barracks and silence that. We'll send support when we can but you'll be on your own for the time being while we're organising troops." He paused. "Remember to keep collateral down."

"We have purpose, Your Highness," the Undead said, saluting and turning to his men. "Platoon one, with me! Platoon two, left. Platoon three, right. Orderly. No civilian casualties. Move!"

Like silent ghosts or obedient machines, the well-oiled ranks of men and ponies moved out.

Blueblood watched them go with apprehensive eyes. In his experience, those who sought death tended to find it in spades.

***

Canterlot Armouries.

Sol Invictus stood in front of the two most powerful weapons in the armouries of Equestria. He had commissioned them himself - monuments to his God, instruments of Her divine will.

“They’re ready to roll out, Brother Invictus!” one pony yelled eagerly. “The holy engines are stoked and primed and the fires will burn our enemies to ashes!”

“Indeed,” Invictus said calmly. He hefted his warhammer aloft, looking to the darkened sky and closing his eyes. “Brothers! Sisters! Let us pray!”

The ponies around him bowed their heads in prayer as Invictus began speaking.

“Blessed Solamina, Goddess of hosts, Sun resplendent, support with Your Word and Spirit those who battle Your most unholy enemies! Strengthen them in temptation, and give them courage in the perils of their calling, that they might glorify You before all creatures! By Her Will!”

“By Her Will!” the ponies yelled.

“Let Your divinity guide those who speak with Your voice, and fight in Your name!” Invictus continued. “Let them strike down Your enemies in holy fire! By Her Will!”

“By Her Will!” the ponies yelled again, getting more and more worked up as he spoke.

“Let the machine of war be called upon - let Death be dealt upon the sinner and the unholy and the demons that assail Her realm!” Invictus yelled again. “By Her Will!”

“By Her Will!” the ponies yelled again.

Behind them, the two great weapons began shaking as the magic that powered them fired up. From deep within the machines, a great rumbling began… and two pairs of blazing eyes lit up.

***

Elsewhere in Canterlot.

The Undead marched at the head of his group of Dead Men soldiers. In his mind he could feel something beating, like the pounding of a great drum leading him to war. Behind him, the men were singing a marching song, slow and steady like the footfalls of their boots.

"Angel, angel, what have I done?
I faced the quakes, the wind, the fire.
I've conquered country, crown and throne.
Why can't I cross this river?"

The warriors marched with no fear, for fear was for the living. One of them had retrieved a banner from the Absolution, the banner of the Dead Men: it had upon it the symbol of their Earth, upon which was superimposed the flayed skull of the order. Under this banner, the Undead had fought many battles, and he had always known he would reunite the body and the soul in death beneath it. What better place - what better time - than here, at the end of this war?

Suddenly, a spell impacted at the Undead's feet, shaking him from his thoughts. The small explosion startled him, but he quickly recovered.

"Cover! Weapons free!" he yelled. The Dead Men sprang into action immediately, seeking cover behind ruined buildings and overturned shopping stalls. The Undead found himself crouching with two men and a Unicorn. One of them was from Germany, judging from his service patch. The other had a French flag beneath the flayed skull. The pony bore the symbol of the Night Guard beneath his.

"Sir," the Unicorn said, pointing forward. Sure enough, a squadron of Equestrian Militia were on their way towards them - although judging from the numbers, it could have been a full battalion.

"This is where it gets fun," the German man said with a grin.

"Kraber isn't it?" the Undead asked, giving the man a brief glance. He noted the heavy duty Bren Gun the man was holding - Kraber was known for his love of bigger weapons, and the Dead Men had recently requisitioned a consignment of older, but very serviceable, weapons. An ancient Webley (the exceedingly few American revolvers had run out of ammunition a long time ago) rode his hip. He was also, somehow, in possession of a longsword, most likely cribbed from the Knights of Albion.

“Ja, sir," the man said. "Joined when I heard South Africa was gone. People kept saying I was lucky. If I'm fokking lucky, my family burned in the Barrier and didn't get ponified by the PER."

"Not knowing is the worst," the Frenchman said quietly.

"This is why we have purpose, brothers," the Undead assured them. "Kraber, I want you to lay down suppressing fire. When they're suppressed, we'll charge."

"Excellent," Kraber said. The Undead couldn't see his face through the gas-mask, but he imagined the man was smiling. He took up a firing position. "On your order, sir."

The Undead turned to look at the approaching group of militia ponies. He narrowed his eyes at them.

"Now!" he yelled.

"Booyah motherfokkers!" Kraber yelled, and his Bren Gun barked out a deep staccato rhythm. Three ponies from the head of the militia group dropped, spurts of blood exploding from the impacts. The rest of the ponies took cover, though a bunch of spells flew their way. One impacted on the rubble near Kraber, and the man cursed, grabbing at his gas mask which had a massive crack through the visor from spraying debris. He took his headgear off, revealing scruffy dark hair and an unkempt beard, both streaked with premature grey. Though nobody could quite see his smile… truly a terrifying sight to behold, and part of the reason that most people were glad he was normally required to wear a mask.

"Right!" he said angrily, drawing the sword and looking at the Undead. "That's it! Tell me it's time, sir!"

"They're suppressed, Kraber," the Undead said with a smile. "Everyone, charge!"

Yelling a battlecry, Kraber brandished his longsword and charged, the Frenchman following him. Yelling his own cry, the Undead followed, readying his bayonet as he did so. A moment later, they were among the militia.

One of the ponies charged at the Undead with a spear, but he dodged it, grabbed the spear, and pulled the pony towards him, punching him in the face, before stabbing him with his bayonet. Next to him, Kraber sliced through ponies with the longsword - he was a blunt instrument fighter, but he was still effective. The Frenchman was behind him, firing his weapon in short, controlled bursts, killing pony after pony.

Still, the militia knew what they were doing. Spears impaled Dead Men where they stood, dozens of Militia swamping men and women and tearing them apart. Screams of pain and the shouts of the dying filled the air, but the Dead Men did not waver: they were of purpose.

“Drive them back!” the Undead yelled. “Victory will be ours!”

Even as he yelled the words though, he heard distant rumbling, as though something large were coming towards them. He gritted his teeth - whatever it was, he would kill it. He had purpose, and it would not be denied for anything. He cut down another pony, his bayonet snapping on armour. Snarling, he grabbed a discarded spear and stabbed at another Militia pony, impaling the mare in the throat. She gurgled, and he jabbed forward harder, a sickening crack of bone his reward. Letting go of the spear he swung his rifle up and fired point blank at more ponies, who fell back as the bullets tore through them.

“Not bad going, sir!” Kraber yelled with a grin. “Think we might actually have these little bliksems on the run!”

The Undead didn’t reply, focused as he was on firing his rifle and the music he could still hear in the back of his mind…

***

Canterlot Resistance/Defence Force LZ.

Lyra looked around the ruined, broken courtyard with wide eyes and an expression of mingled shock and horror. It had only been a few short months since she had been here with Ditzy, trying to see the human that had come to Equestria, or so it seemed to her - and yet this place was so different. Banners and posters praising Solamina and the war with the human race were everywhere. Guard towers, battlements… and worst of all, she could see the bodies of those who had fallen trying to take this part of the city. Royal Guards, as well as a group of Guards who were apparently called the “Eclipse Guard” who were Canterlot’s elite defenders, lay in pools of their own blood. Knights of Albion lay slain - and in some cases, ponified bodies lay in the heaped and baggy remains of uniforms and armour (and the semi-dissolved parts of their skin and flesh that had sloughed off of them).

“By Luna’s moon,” she heard True Grit swear from behind her, his eyes wide in horror as he looked around. Lyra pitied him - if she was freaked out looking around this place, how must this look to him? This place was his home - she briefly wondered if he had family in the city, and then wondered if he was scared about what had happened to them…

“Grit, Heartstrings!” a voice called over to them. She and True Grit turned, to find Dinky running over to them. “We’ll be moving out in a minute - are you ready?”

“Yes ma’am,” Grit replied sharply. “We’re ready and able.”

“Good,” Dinky said. “We’re moving into the city to follow the Dead Men advance. You two will be going in with mine and Prince Blueblood’s group.”

“Do we know what’s waiting for us?” Lyra asked. Dinky gave her a grim look.

“No,” she said. “But whatever it is, this is going to be the worst fighting any of us have seen. I can guarantee it.”

Without another word, she headed off to assemble more troops. Lyra and True Grit exchanged glances.

“Well that was ominous,” Lyra said with a small, nervous chuckle.

“Yeah,” Grit replied, sighing. “This is insane. This city was a haven of peace and harmony. Now look at it.”

“Solamina has a lot to answer for,” Lyra said quietly.

“Yeah,” Grit said grimly, a frown on his face. “And I hope Elliot makes her pay bucking interest.”

***

Elsewhere in Canterlot.

Yet another explosion flashed in the sky, and still, neither of the combatants had given an inch. Solamina was breathing heavily and her eyes were narrowed to slits filled with rage and contempt. The Avatar held Excalibur level, his own eyes staring and judging.

How many wars like this had there been between one like him and one like her? What might those worlds be like? How many Celestias had given in to the darkness, be it the external, like the spirit of Earth’s darkness that had once been known as Morgan le Fay and now possessed her, or the internal? how many had succumbed to madness? Were there worlds where he had done the same? How thin a line was there between those worlds and this one…?

All of these thoughts were irrelevant - his enemy was before him, and he would fight her until either she was dead or he was. That was the end of it.

They were stalemated - whatever attacks the one used, the other would block. Neither of them could break through the other’s defences.

“Are we to fight for eternity until the stars themselves burn to nothing?” he asked. “Or will you perhaps do the right thing and surrender Celestia and this land?”

“I… am... Celestia!” she screamed, and more bolts of energy lashed out towards the Avatar. Grimacing, he held up a hand and blocked the bolts as they flew. More and more of them smashed into the man, but he withstood the assault.

In retaliation, he span Excalibur again and sent more bolts of energy at her, which she blocked in turn with a shield of energy she conjured in the nick of time, but even so the impact of the attacks had thrown her back through the air, where she had to right herself. Still, this stage of the battle was a stalemate.

Enough of this, he thought. He tightened his grip on Excalibur and pointed it, one handed, at Solamina in challenge. Recovering from his attack, she scowled at the blade as though it had personally affronted her, before holding her glaive in a ready stance as well.

There was another moment’s pause as the two powerful beings floated opposite one another, both of them waiting for some unknown signal. The Avatar shifted the grip on his blade and grabbed it with his other hand, shifting into a guard stance. Solamina spun her glaive in front of her, at first slowly, and then faster and faster, until finally it became a golden blur.

A moment later, she charged and the two clashed in the air, a great shockwave of energy expanding outwards from the two of them and shattering windows and buildings.

“You can’t win this fight, human,” Solamina hissed. “I will burn your world to nothing, burn all this city and all this land and every single living thing within it to ash, before I give it up.”

“And that,” the Avatar replied with a scowl, “is why I will stop you.”

Author's Note

EDIT: Ah, crap, forgot author's notes. The trouble with fast updating: missing something.

So yeah, you'll notice this chapter has Viktor Kraber of Other Side of the Spectrum fame, for which I have to especially thank Doctor Fluffy for the permission to use him and the consultation in writing him.

Thanks to The Void and RoyalPsycho for their usual sterling support in writing. Thanks to all of my readers for continuing to support this story, I'm glad to be able to keep writing this. :-)

We're getting closer to the end now, so hang tight, because it's gonna get even worse before the end.

Interlude: The Cloudsdale Insurrection.

Interlude: The Cloudsdale Insurrection.

***

Cloudsdale. June 6th. Year 6 of the New Solaminan Calendar (2030).

Scootaloo sighed as she blocked another spear thrust, parried the reverse slash and lashed out with her wrist blade in return, repeating the training pattern she had known for years. Rainbow Dash had taught her this pattern, had practised with her for five hours straight every day for three months to make sure she was proficient at it - no, not proficient: masterful.

Rainbow Dash had been so proud of her for being part of the war, for joining the war effort and fighting against the humans and Resistance. She had been so proud that Scootaloo had actually made it through Wonderbolts training, and Scootaloo had been honoured to fly with the Wonderbolts alongside her idol. And Rainbow Dash had been so, so very proud of her for standing by her side in battle.

Rainbow Dash was dead.

And now Rainbow Dash hated what Scootaloo had become.

Scootaloo had been as vague as possible when she wrote the report for Twilight Sparkle about her raid on the Royal Armouries. She had left out as many details as she thought she safely could. She’d had no choice but to mention the other Rainbow Dash - leaving it out would have drawn too much suspicion. At the same time, she had omitted the fact that she had engaged her in conversation. Superiors tended to look down on that sort of thing.

The resultant report - the resultant failure - had seen her demoted and sent back to Cloudsdale with the rest of her team, but she honestly didn’t mind. Her conversation with Rainbow… with the other Rainbow… had given her a lot to think about, and being here, performing the same, almost mind numbing drills over and over again… it was almost comforting.

Almost.

The Wonderbolt barracks she was currently training in had been erected at the outset of the war. Initially, Rainbow Dash had used them to train elite attack forces, but the Wonderbolts had always been free-spirited and individualistic, and that had been especially evident by Spitfire’s refusal to submit the Wonderbolts to the Oath. The Oath was the pledge of allegiance to Solamina and the Empire that almost all ponies in the armed forces had to undergo. The Wonderbolts - by virtue of being an independent unit that was not technically part of the Equestrian armed forces - had never before needed to undergo any pledges or oaths, but there had been pressure to change that, pressure that Spitfire had resisted (despite, so the rumours had it, strongly worded discussions - not to say outright rows - with Rainbow Dash).

This had led to a lack of trust in the Wonderbolts on the part of many units of Guard and Militia, and even - if the rumours could be believed - the Empress herself. Though they had served with distinction and valour, there were always stories of Wonderbolts refusing to follow orders in the heat of battle - even Wonderbolts deserting. Everypony remembered the story of the former Wonderbolt (technically disgraced Wonderbolt trainee, but everypony seemed to forget that part) Lightning Dust, and her eventual fate at the Battle of Manchester, dying in battle against Rainbow Dash herself, and everypony, fairly or not, always expected the rest of the Wonderbolts to go the same way.

And so now the Wonderbolts - Scootaloo included - had been relegated to glorified Home Guard. Their only duty was to guard Cloudsdale and occasionally run escort duty in other parts of the country - other than that, their home was here and here they stayed, no matter what. They weren’t allowed to even mobilise without strict authority from Canterlot.

"Scoots!" somepony called over to her. She looked up, to see Light Beam, one of her graduating class, waving a hoof at her. She jogged over to him - the light green Pegasus looked oddly excited.

"What’s up, Beam?" she asked quietly.

"You’ll never believe who just bucking showed up," the stallion said with wide eyes. "I think it was a messenger from Canterlot. Some pompous looking stallion with a fancy helmet and a platoon of Guards behind him."

Scootaloo frowned. They’d been seeing odd things from Canterlot for most of today - the shield had gone up for a while, before going down again, and there was an odd amount of what looked like zeppelin air traffic. Even weirder, there looked to be clouds in the sky and rain there, despite none being scheduled as far as anypony knew.

Nonetheless, the Wonderbolts had not been called for and they weren’t sanctioned for action without a call, and Scootaloo found herself (to her own surprise) not particularly wanting to mobilise either. Why should she want to?

"He say what he want?" she asked Beam idly.

"Nope," Light Beam said with a shrug. "But why else would he be here? This is it - they’re gonna call on us. There’s something big going on!"

"Where’d this messenger go?" Scootaloo asked, unconvinced.

"Straight for Spitfire’s office," Beam said. "I’m right, aren’t I?"

Scootaloo frowned. it certainly sounded like it could be a call for action, but… well, she wasn’t inclined to take it altogether seriously. The Wonderbolts’ name was mud. They wouldn’t be asked for now, not unless the battle was going badly, and no battle with Solamina in it could ever go badly for the Equestrians.

***

Spitfire, commander of the Wonderbolts, scowled at the stallion who had barged into her office. Her secretary had been summarily dismissed by the stallion, who had such an imperious look about him that Spitfire was half expecting him to bust a muscle, give the apparent pole stuffed up his plot. He had a ceremonial spear under his wing, and wore golden, stylised armour that could only have belonged to the upper echelons of Guard Command, making him (she grudgingly admitted to herself) an important pony. Clearly he knew it.

"Commander Spitfire of the Wonderbolts," the pony said without preamble, "you are hereby summoned to provide any and all able-bodied ponies ready for action to the defence of Canterlot."

Spitfire frowned. "We saw the shield go up - is Canterlot under attack then?" she asked.

"The city has come under siege from traitors and human scum," the stallion replied, a sneer on his face as he said these words. "The Empress herself is tied up with their magical weapon and the zeppelin fleet has already been committed. We believe that they are intent on taking the city and assassinating the Empress.

"And so you call for the Wonderbolts?" Spitfire asked, frowning slightly.

"Your force should be sufficient to provide an edge in the air, and once we have air superiority, we shall crush those on the ground," the Pegasus said with a frown. "Why are we still discussing this? Begin your mobilisation!"

"What is the disposition of the enemy force?" Spitfire asked with a scowl. "I can’t be expected to commit ponies without knowing what I’m sending them into!"

"You can and you will!" the Pegasus replied with another sneer. "You should be honoured that Her Glorious Majesty would be willing to give you this chance to prove your worth in battle once more, given your questionable loyalty."

Spitfire’s eyes narrowed. "What did you say to me?"

"Your Wonderbolts are considered unreliable," the Pegasus said with a shrug. "This should hardly be news to you - you can’t seriously think your little stunt squadron has a high reputation beyond this city?"

Spitfire fumed. "We have never been anything less than loyal to Solamina and the Empire."

"Tell that to Lightning Dust," the Pegasus said with a smug grin. "Though you’d have trouble, given her current status of being scattered all over some dreary hill - though actually, whatever was left of her after that battle is more likely worm excrement by now."

Spitfire’s blood ran cold. "Lightning Dust was kicked out of the Wonderbolts shortly after beginning her training."

"That just makes her a rebel among rebels," the imperious Pegasus said, his tone bored. "We’re wasting time."

"You didn’t answer my question," Spitfire said sharply. "What is the tactical situation?!"

"You’ll learn when you get there," the Pegasus said impatiently, clearly tired of Spitfire’s resistance to his authority. "Now - perform your damn duty."

Without another word, he stormed out. Spitfire breathed out heavily, trying to restrain the urge to smash her desk apart. Still, he was right, she had a duty.

It was time to mobilise the Wonderbolts for war.

***

Scootaloo frowned as an important looking Pegasus in heavily stylised golden armour marched into the training courtyard, a look of determination - not to say irritation - on his face. Spitfire was behind him, looking not-altogether happy at his presence on the field, and behind her were at least thirty Royal Guard Pegasi.

"Attention!" the officer yelled across the courtyard once he reached the centre, his voice loud, booming and thunderous. Everypony slowly stopped their training exercises, turning to look at this loud, armoured Pegasus with frowns of confusion or annoyance. Wonderbolts didn’t like outsiders coming into their spaces unless there was a damn good reason.

"Wonderbolts, you have received orders to mobilise!" he yelled once he had everypony’s attention. "Solamina’s capital is under attack and she calls for your aid!"

There was a rush of whispering at this proclamation - Canterlot under attack? Suddenly the shield’s unpredictability earlier made sense, as did the odd air traffic - maybe even the aberrant weather. But what kind of attack? Couldn't be local insurgency - that kind of thing didn't get anypony anywhere.

Suddenly an older Pegasus with white fur and harsh lines on his face stepped forward slightly, a frown on his face. The armoured Pegasus turned to look at him, a quizzical - and somewhat irritated - expression developing.

"What do you want, Wonderbolt?" he asked.

"Why?" the white-furred Pegasus asked in reply. The Pegasus officer blinked at him,

"I’m sorry?" he said.

"Why should we go?" the white Pegasus clarified. "Why should we help Solamina?"

There were gasps of shock that ran throughout the courtyard like a rush of wind. Next to Scootaloo, Light Beam muttered something under his breath about the white Pegasus being a ‘brave bucker’. Scootaloo’s face blanched at the almost-heretical words. Solamina was their Empress - helping her was their duty.

What if that isn’t good enough, Scoots? a voice in her head that sounded altogether too much like Rainbow Dash for her liking asked. What if it isn’t the right thing to do?

‘Shut up,’ she thought at the voice. ‘I won’t start doubting now.’

So you'll be a puppet all your life? the Rainbow Dash in her head asked scathingly. Scootaloo ignored her.

The officer didn’t respond to the white-furred Pegasus' question, but a scowl developed on his face, and his eyes narrowed into slits of pure rage at the older Pegasus.

"Explain yourself," he hissed.

"The Empress abandoned us," the white Pegasus replied with a frown. His voice was raised, as though he wanted everypony to hear what he said. "She treated us like expendable soldiers, let hundreds of us die in pointless battles, then condemned us for the crimes of a few traitors. Well I say, why should we help one who abandoned us? Why shouldn’t we let the humans take her down? And you know what? Maybe Equestria would be better off without her." He turned to his comrades even as the armoured Pegasus' expression turned thunderous. "Can anypony here honestly say they like what we do?! We're murderers. We've helped the Empress oppress and terrorise an entire other species, and why? What for? What did they do to deserve genocide? We should've been helping them, instead we condemned them and we attacked them! You know what?!" he finished, turning back to the Royal Guard Pegasus with a scowl. "That ain't what I signed up for."

All around Scootaloo, she could see ponies whispering amongst themselves (apart from the stock-still Royal Guard). Some of them looked annoyed or confused, but more of them - many more of them - looked like they agreed with every word the older Pegasus had said. Even Spitfire looked conflicted. Light Beam looked to Scootaloo as though wanting her to give him her opinion, but she didn't know what to say.

He's right, you know, the Dash in her head said. She ignored her once again. She already knew she was going crazy, she didn't need confirmation.

The officer, meanwhile, didn’t say anything for a long moment, though one of his eyes was twitching. Finally, he spoke.

"Those words are treason," he said quietly. A moment later, the spear under his wing lashed out, catching the white Pegasus in the chest. The older Pegasus choked on blood that spewed up his throat, his eyes widening in shock, and then he collapsed to the ground.

There was a massive uproar almost at once from every Wonderbolt in the courtyard. Spitfire swore. Light Beam yelled. Scootaloo’s eyes widened in shock.

Would somepony worth following allow that? the Rainbow Dash in her head asked, but Scootaloo didn’t listen.

Her body moved on autopilot: her wings unfolded and she dashed forward, hoofs impacting on the armoured Pegasus’ head and crumpling his fancy helmet. His eyes widened in shock at the impact, as he stumbled back, stunned by the blow. He tossed his helmet off and stared at her with bloodshot eyes, but before he could react, she attacked again, grabbing his spear, reversing it and stabbing him through the throat. He gurgled in shock, a protest dying as he did, and he slumped to the cloudy floor.

"Motherbucker!" Scootaloo yelled. "Buck you and buck your bucking Empress!"

There was a moment of absolute silence on the training ground as every Wonderbolt stared at the scene in front of them - the dead Wonderbolt, the dead Guard Officer and the furious Wonderbolt who had slain him for killing her comrade.

"Get that traitor!" one of the Guards behind Spitfire yelled. The golden pony scowled and, faster than anypony could see, bucked him in the chest, sending him sprawling.

"Wonderbolts, move!" she yelled.

At once, there was a flurry of motion - an army of Wonderbolts charged forward, swarming the Guards and grappling with them. The heavier armoured ponies killed several of the lightly armoured special-forces Pegasi, but numbers and training prevailed and the Guards were quickly wiped out.

"What the buck..." one Wonderbolt swore, looking at the dead Guards. "Spitfire, what are we doing?!"

Spitfire, who had a cut along her forehead, spat blood out from her mouth and grinned.

"The right thing," she said loudly. "We're doing the right thing!"

Everypony paid attention as Spitfire took to the centre of the courtyard.

"What we're about to do is treason against the Empress," Spitfire said, "but I don't care. If you've got a problem, buck off and don't get in our way." Nopony moved, and Spitfire grinned. "But anypony who's willing to give their all for freedom, follow me!"

At once, the Wonderbolts cheered. All except Scootaloo, who was still

Unfortunately, this commotion managed to attract the attention of other Guards, namely the Cloudsdale garrison. One or two of them flew above the courtyard and started yelling, as though raising an alarm. Wonderbolts moved without needing to be told to take them down, but more came.

In fours and fives they arrived and moved to try and contain the Wonderbolts, but then Spitfire was yelling orders and the highly-trained flyers were outflanking and outflying their opponents, running rings around them and clipping them from the sky, sending them sprawling either to the cloud ground or - if they were really unlucky - the real one.

Scootaloo, breathing heavily, hadn’t moved from where she stood. She watched the carnage with wide, uncomprehending eyes.

"What have I done?" she asked aloud, her voice cracking.

The right thing, Scoots, the Rainbow Dash in her head said approvingly.

"Scootaloo!" Spitfire yelled. Scootaloo snapped herself from her reverie to look where her superior was - Spitfire was atop the Cloudsdale Wonderbolt barracks, a scratch along her forehead and a wide grin on her face.

"Yes ma’am?" she called back.

"Take a group and take out the docks!" Spitfire ordered, sounding more alive than Scootaloo thought she had ever heard her. "We can’t let them launch any more zeppelins from the city!"

"Ma’am, what is this?!" Scootaloo called up, trying to make some sense of what was going on.

"What do you think?!" Spitfire laughed, dodging a Guard that charged at her and disarming him before knocking him down. "This is us finally making a difference in this bucking war - this is us freeing Cloudsdale!"

With that, she took flight and charged into a small Guard formation, scattering them like so many bowling pins. Scootaloo shook her head and steeled herself - she had orders, and for the first time in a long time, they felt right, in a way that her orders for years somehow hadn't...

"Light Beam!" she called to her friend, who had just dispatched one of his enemies. "Get half the third platoon and some of the fourth and follow me!"

"Gotcha Scoots!" he called back with a grin. He headed off and Scootaloo turned to the fighting, throwing the spear she held at a Guard who was about to impale a Wonderbolt who had been knocked to the ground, before charging at two more and throwing them over the edge of the grounds to the cold ground below…

***

It had started with the Wonderbolt barracks, but the word of the fighting spread like wildfire - and the ponies of Cloudsdale blazed with it. For years, Cloudsdale had been living under sanction - Pegasi were often restricted in their travels, often even prevented from leaving the city entirely. The place had become a living hell to live in, and now there was an outpouring of rage and frustration. Ponies who had never lifted a hoof in anger rioted, attacking Guards and Militia with fierce abandon. Converted and Royal Guards were swamped by the sheer number of enraged, even apoplectic citizens, and no matter how many they took out - often killing them - there seemed to be more. It felt like the entire city of Cloudsdale had become one big gathering of malcontents and rebels, ponies who hated the Empire and what it had done to their once-proud city.

Furious about years of fear and suspicion about his family - and more furious about the murder of his beautiful niece, who had fought as part of Grey Squadron at Manchester - Quill Tip, a mild-mannered Pegasus normally, was almost frothing with rage as he attacked a group of Guards, half his co-workers behind him. Pony Hollie, the sister of Pony Dave of Upsilon Squadron, was among those who struck at the main Guard barracks, throwing makeshift firebombs and torches at it and screaming bloody murder at any Guard foolish enough to stand against the rioters. And at the head of a large force of Wonderbolts, Spitfire fought against the bulk of the Guard units in the centre of the city, the Wonderbolts finally - for the first time since the war had begun - feeling as though they were really fighting for Equestria, and not Solamina - and it was a good difference.

***

Feather Light, Captain of the Cloudsdale Royal Guard garrison, gasped as he pushed his wings as hard as he could. He needed to get to the docks now, before it was too late. He had ordered as many of his troops to get there as he could, though with the state of the city now he doubted all that many would.

All over the city, there was some kind of madness spreading. The ponies of Cloudsdale had always harboured more than their fair share of rabble-rousers and discontented ponies, but he had never thought it was this bad, and yet now madness reigned in the streets and hundreds of his soldiers and Militia comrades had been killed by the rebel Wonderbolts and rioters.

Still, he had a duty and it was clear. He headed for the pride of the docks.

The ERAS Solar Glory was the intended replacement for the famous Harmonious Order, the super-zeppelin that had destroyed Grey Squadron at the cost of itself and it’s entire crew. It wasn’t completed, but it was still one of the most important - and fortunately, one of the most defensible - locations in the city for the Guard and Militia remnant to make some kind of stand.

When he got to the zeppelin, he grinned in relief. The great frame was still there, still intact and mostly completed. Haughty Frame, her designer and chief architect, had been insistent on the fine details being completed before she be launched, but theoretically she should be in a fit state to fly. He could see dozens of Guards present, and almost a hundred Militia, all sequestered in the immense metal gondola and clambering along the hull.

"Commander!" one of his soldiers called from an exposed part of the main gondola. "Up here!"

Feather Light jumped into the air and flew toward his subordinate. The Pegasus Guard was young, tan-coloured and had a cutie mark of a musical instrument.

"Corporal Air Wave!" Light said to him breathlessly. "I want a report!"

"Less than a hundred Guards aboard sir, but we've more than enough ponies and convies aboard to fly the Glory just about anywhere you want her," Wave replied, sounding nervous but excited. "Ready to deliver Her justice at your discretion."

Feather Light ignored the derogatory comment about the Converted - frankly he hated serving with them at all - and instead headed straight for the bridge.

On the bridge, a large room filled with controls, Light found Haughty Frame himself, arguing with one of the Converted crewmembers. The regal blue Unicorn fitted his name, dressed in all the best of Canterlot finery - Feather Light had no issues with Unicorns in general, but he had issues with ponies of all kinds like Haughty; they had air and graces that didn’t suit their kind.

"You!" Frame snapped, looking at Feather Light with wide, angry eyes. "Do you care to explain why in Solamina’s name we’re supposedly preparing to launch this totally incomplete and under-crewed zeppelin into service now?!"

"I don’t know if you’ve bothered looking at the city," Feather Light replied, scowling, "but if you had you’d realise that we’re in the middle of some kind of insurrection."

Haughty Frame’s eyes widened in surprise.

"An insurrection?" he asked, his voice quietened almost to a whisper. "Rebellion?"

"Indeed," Feather Light confirmed. "This zeppelin is fit for battle - we might have a skeleton crew and we might not have the unicorn turrets at full capacity, but we are ready for battle: there are a little under a hundred Royal Guards aboard this zeppelin, together with enough Pegasus and Unicorn Militia to make a fight of it."

"You’re taking this zeppelin into battle against the citizens of Cloudsdale?" Haughty Frame asked, frowning.

"Do you have a problem, Mr Frame?" Feather Light asked, scowling.

"It’s just…" Frame stammered, before swallowing and articulating himself. "Can’t you stop them without her? She’s a full war-zeppelin. It seems like overkill."

"The entire city is rioting," Feather Light replied, turning and barking quick orders to ponies as they passed by. "Get this thing ready to move!" He turned back to Haughty. "This thing might be the last chance we have to restore order."

"I… I see," Haughty Frame said. "Well then… I guess I have no objections…"

Feather Light ignored him, returning to planning the battle ahead. He didn’t have many resources, but this was the sister of the most feared vessel in Equestrian history.

It was time to prove why.

***

Scootaloo dodged a Militia pony that charged her right. While it wouldn’t be fair to say that the Converted were never as good flyers as the natural-born Pegasi, it was safe to say that most of them weren’t as experienced, and none of them that she had ever met were as good as her.

She grabbed the inexperienced pony by the rear hooves as he flew, moving faster than sight, and threw him into a wall, where he lay still. Turning, she almost immediately had to dodge left to avoid a spear-thrust from a Guard, but she grabbed the spear, pulled him towards her and knocked him down.

"Come on then!" she yelled. "Is that all the bucking Guard have?"

She dodged another attack, lashing out and breaking the impudent Guard’s neck. Still she had to admit, this was getting more bloody than she had imagined - all around her, she could see the bodies of Pegasus civilians and Wonderbolts who had fallen foul of the Guard and the Militia, some of them impaled on spears or slain by blades or projectiles. For every Guard that fell, more seemed to crawl out of the woodwork.

Light Beam was near her. She broke another neck, kicked a Militia mare into a crowd and knocked them down like bowling pins, then found herself back to back with him.

"How’s it going?!" she asked breathlessly.

"Not bad," he said with a grin, "apart from the Guards and the Guards. And the Guards."

"Nothing for the Militia?" Scootaloo asked with a smirk.

"Pfft," Light Beam snorted. "They’re a break."

Scootaloo laughed. This entire situation was entirely surreal and unbelievable for her, but - and she couldn’t believe this - she was actually having fun. She felt more alive than she had in years.

‘If only Rainbow Dash was here,’ she thought to herself. She scowled and killed another Guard with a decidedly angry attack. Rainbow Dash... the Rainbow Dash she had known had led her down a path that had nearly seen her die for ponies that would have slain civilians where they stood, and the Rainbow Dash she had fought against probably hated her for what she had become. Scootaloo's cherished memories of her mentor and surrogate sister were forever tainted, and she hated that.

Suddenly, there was a loud blaring horn, like the rolling of thunder and the blaring of war-trumpets all at once. The clouds shook, and some actually collapsed. Scootaloo felt her ears flatten against the side of her head. She looked up as something flew over the city, and she felt the urge to cower and curse all at once.

It was massive, metal and imposing. For the most part it was bereft of decoration, but she could see at its head, bolted on imperfectly as though added in a rush or not completely affixed and yet still imposing and attention-grabbing, a statue of a regal, resplendent Alicorn.

The Solar Glory - the latest war-zeppelin, sister of the most powerful weapon the Equestrian zeppelin-fleet had ever fielded.

As Scootaloo watched, Unicorn turrets and firebombs began raining down on the city. Civilians screamed and ran for cover as the bombardment began, fire sweeping the streets and catching dozens and burning them alive. Wonderbolts and civilians alike broke and fled, terrified as the rain of death continued.

"Buck me," Light Beam swore. "That’s it then. We're bucking dead."

That’s it, huh? the Rainbow Dash in Scootaloo’s head said, scorn dripping from her imagined tone. Not very awesome, Scoots.

Scootaloo scowled at the voice. 'I'll show you awesome Rainbow Dash.'

"We’re not done yet, Beam," she said aloud. "Get as many ponies as you can together. We’re gonna take that bucker down."

"What?!" Beam asked, eyes wide. "Are you insane?!"

"Yes," Scootaloo replied simply.

***

Haughty Frame frowned as he stared down at the city from the observation deck. Fire raged in the streets of Cloudsdale, fire rained from his glorious creation. Flames, burning everywhere, like the very pits of Tartarus itself unleashed upon the city...

His eyes darted here and there, watching ponies the size of ants flee from firebombs and spells and other instruments of destruction that his perfect weapon unleashed. The flames of judgement had been unleashed from his perfect ship.

And he felt... sick. Sick, conflicted, uncertain, angry... he was wrestling with himself, trying to understand this strange feeling. This should have been perfect, but...

"Was this what Manchester looked like?" he muttered to himself. "Did the Harmonious Order unleash this destruction, burn the world before her? Did the humans scream as these ponies scream before the Order now?"

Why did it matter? This was what he made this weapon to do. This was all he made it to do.

"But did I do this for the destruction?" he pondered aloud. "Or did I do this for the prestige? Did I do it to build the most awe-inspiring airship ever devised, or to see that airship burn all that stood before it?"

The answer was obvious. He had never thought about this part of it. Oh, certainly he had known about this. After all, he was an educated, intelligent pony who knew all-too-well about the wars of their past. But this… this had all been theory, something that would probably happen but something he would forever be comfortably far away from.

And now he was seeing it first hoof.

Was this his legacy? The burning of ponies beneath this? Or the burning of humans beneath her predecessor? Was this what he would be remembered for?

"No," he found himself murmuring angrily. "No." His voice slowly raised. "No!"

He stepped back from the observation deck.

"No!" he yelled. He would not be this pony, the pony who had built a weapon and stood by while evil was done with it. He had never wanted this, and now he saw his folly.

"I have become the destroyer of worlds," he said aloud. "But no more."

Without another word, he turned and headed for the engine room.

***

Twenty Wonderbolts - the best flyers Light Beam could find under the circumstances - huddled in a building thankfully far from the fighting as Scootaloo stood before them. They looked uncertain, but they were still looking at her as though she had some sort of authority. Truth be told, she didn’t think she deserved it anymore - truth be told, actually, she wasn’t sure she ever had - but she was willing to lead them one last time here.

"The Solar Glory is gonna tear this city apart to suppress the rioting," she said to them. "If somepony doesn’t stop it, there won’t be a Cloudsdale to be sanctioned. The Guard won’t stop until everything’s gone."

"The Glory is a super-zep," one of the Wonderbolts pointed out. "In case you weren’t aware, those things don’t go down easily."

"We all know the stories of how one squadron brought the Order down," Scootaloo pointed out.

"One squadron with human explosives that happened to be wiped out," another Wonderbolt muttered.

"We don’t need explosives," Scootaloo insisted, scowling at that pony before turning to the rest with as earnest a look as she could manage. "We’re Wonderbolts! When ponies call out for help, we answer. When Equestria is threatened, we’re the first, last and only line! The Guard bow to us! We’re the descendants of warriors and kings!"

They exchanged glances, and Scootaloo knew they doubted her, so she changed tack.

"I know it’s dangerous," she said. "I know that we’ll probably all die. But ask yourselves this." She leant forward. "Do you want to die defending the ponies of Cloudsdale and Equestria, or do want to die cowering like foals in your own shit?"

That got their attention. Everypony looked annoyed, but they got her point well enough.

"We’re Wonderbolts," Light Beam said after a moment, having remained silent throughout the conversation thus far. "We die like angels in the sky, we don’t live like worms on the ground."

One by one, every other pony from the group nodded, none of them looking happy but all of them looking resolute. Finally, Scootaloo grinned.

"Thank you," she said, smiling genuinely for the first time in years. "Thank you all. Now - here’s the plan…"

***

The engine deck of the Glory was huge. Six great coal fires powered the the great propellers, each one of them forever tended by some of a crew of at least thirty Converted. They were competent at their jobs, if too literal sometimes. Still, Haughty Frame thought to himself, that wasn’t such a bad thing today. In fact, the Converted’s less-than-stellar IQ might actually be - for once - beneficial. He smiled at the irony. They had hindered him during the Glory’s construction, but now...

"Sir!" one of them said, looking at him in surprise as he stepped onto the deck. "We weren’t expecting you."

"Of course not," Haughty said with a slightly patronising smile. "Listen very carefully. I need you to clear the engine room, and then take a message up to Captain Feather Light. All of this is on my personal authority."

Haughty hoped that nopony had thought to rescind his almost total authority over the incomplete zeppelin amongst the Converted. Fortunately for him, his luck held.

"Message sir?" the Converted asked, not questioning the odd orders. "What message?"

"What happens now was my doing," Haughty said. "He’ll know what I meant. In fact, I want you to tell that message to anypony who asks you about this day for years forever. This was me."

"What was, sir?" the uncomprehending Converted asked, his eyes full of innocent curiosity.

"You’ll see," Frame said. "Now take everypony and get out of the room. Go."

"Yes sir," the Converted said. He began yelling at his fellows, and a moment later the great engine room was empty of pony life.

As Cloudsdale will be if I don’t do this, Haughty reminded himself. He sighed. This place was the culmination of so many years of glorious, beautiful work that he was so immensely proud of. To do what he was about to do was… tantamount to sacrilege.

"But I won’t live to see it anyway," he said aloud, and he steeled himself. He had to do this.

He made his way to the core.

***

The plan was simple. There were, all told, twenty three ponies in Scootaloo’s little band including herself. She would take Light Beam and three others as the main attack team, intending to board the zeppelin and fight their way to the bridge to take it, and the remaining eighteen would run interference and try not to get killed. It wasn’t a perfect plan, but it was a plan.

Scootaloo was at the head of her specific group. They didn't have any means of communication once they were in the air beyond shouting - one of the disadvantages the Equestrian forces had compared to the Resistance - but they knew the plan and would follow it through.

The Zeppelin was still raining fire on the city: Unicorn turrets fired spells into the city, both from their horns and focused through magi-cannons installed along the lines of the zeppelin's gondola. Firebombs were being fired from more cannons, destroying buildings and punching holes through the clouds that the city was made up of. It filled her with such rage, such heartbreak, to see the once beautiful city burning.

She saw the eighteen other Wonderbolts charging toward the main deck of the gondola, dodging firebombs and spells. One of the flyers wasn't fast enough and got herself vaporised by a large destruction spell. Scootaloo cursed under her breath. They were probably all going to die, but if they died taking this thing down, it would be worth it.

"You with me, guys?!" she called back to the ponies behind her.

"All the way!" Light Beam replied, yelling back at her. The others echoed his sentiment.

Scootaloo grinned as she charged forward. Now whatever happened, she would at least die with her comrades at her back, doing her duty for the ponies of Cloudsdale...

***

Feather Light smirked as he watched the Wonderbolts charge at the Solar Glory - the lightly armoured Pegasi had no chance against the turrets and defensive positions on the gondola of this mighty ship. He'd have felt sorry for them on their hopeless quest if it hadn't been for the fact that they were traitors, and they had chosen this for themselves.

"Excuse me sir?" a polite, quiet voice spoke up from behind him. Feather Light turned, and found himself staring at a Converted crewmember - judging by the coal-dust covered overalls the stallion wore, he was from the engine room.

"What do you want?" Light asked with a frown. He didn't like convies at the best of times.

"I've got a message from Mr Haughty Frame," the Convie said with a smile. "He says to tell you that what happens now was his doing."

"'What happens now'?" Feather Light scowled. "What in Tartarus does he mean by that?"

"I don’t know sir," the Convie said with a shrug. "He just told everypony in the engine room to leave and told me to give you that message."

Feather Light blinked in shock, his eyes widening in horror as the Convie’s words sunk in. It took him a moment to get past the combination of horror and fury he felt: he stepped towards the Convie slowly, his eye twitching as he approached the passive stallion, who seemed to be perfectly content to keep standing there with the calm, polite expression on his face.

When Feather Light finally spoke, the words were spat out in fury and confusion alike.

"He… did… WHAT?!"

***

At the centre of the engine room was the Core, a giant combination of steam technology and magical energy. Haughty Frame had designed the Core to magnify the power of the furnaces, making the actual amount of coal needed to propel the great zeppelin far less than necessary for a vessel that was not magically augmented.

The Core was connected to the coal furnaces by six magical conduits, one each for all of the furnaces. Each one of them sturdy and strong, designed to withstand direct assault.

Haughty had vaguely considered blowing up the Core itself and destroying the entire engine arrangement, but apart from being incredibly difficult for one Unicorn to do, he was also too vain to permanently destroy his work. Damaging or otherwise disabling the six conduits would rob the Glory of power and she would be rendered inert, with her ability to move hampered, as well as the much of the magical power used in her defences, but it was damage that someone would be able to fix, though not - if he was right, and lucky - until long after this battle was over. Of course, leaving the place in a repairable state made the big assumption that the Pegasi rioters wouldn’t just wreck his creation after he disabled it, but he was living in hope.

By now, the Converted engineer he had asked to deliver a message to Captain Feather Light would have reached his location, so Haughty Frame had very little time. He quickly ran to the first conduit and began the process of disconnecting it, using his magic to shear away the rivets that held it in place. Each conduit crackled with magical energy, so he had to be careful, but he knew this vessel well enough to do so quickly.

After a moment, the disconnection was complete. Grinning, Haughty moved to the next conduit and began repeating the process.

After he had disabled three of the six and begun work on the fourth, he heard shouts from the entrance to the engine room. That was it then - he had to hurry. He finished the fourth and moved on to the fifth just as he saw two Pegasi Guards approach the Core.

"Hey you!" one of them yelled. "Stop right there!"

Haughty ignored them as he finished disconnecting the fifth conduit - now there was only one left. The Pegasi charged towards him, seeing that he wouldn’t stop at their command, and so he tried throwing an offensive spell at them - he didn’t actually know any, but the flash of impotent light he threw managed to convince them to take cover for a moment. He quickly moved to disconnect the final conduit.

A spear clanged off of the metal near him and he jumped, throwing a quick glance at the Pegasi Guards - one of them had gotten out of cover and tried his luck. Haughty sent another flashy spell in their direction and they ducked, but he figured it wouldn't work a third time. He quickly finished the final disconnection, before turning to try and go - just as the other Pegasus Guard charged at him with his spear.

Haughty Frame had the brief sensation of pain, before a strange numbness began spreading. The Pegasus was standing in front of him, a wide-eyed expression full of adrenaline comedown in his eyes. Haughty looked down, and found himself mildly surprised at the spear impaling his front.

"Oh," he said quietly. He laughed.

"Traitor," the Guard hissed, but Haughty Frame ignored him. His work was done - his sabotage would both stop the Glory and save her. Maybe after the war somepony could put her to better use...

Darkness took him, and he welcomed it's embrace...

***

Scootaloo cursed as another spell shot past her, vaporising one of her wing ponies. Only herself, Light Beam and another Pegasus mare by the name of Speed Runner were left. She couldn't see the interference team, but she assumed they were still flying. She hoped they were, anyway: there were some good flyers in that group.

The thing wasn't easy to divert attention from - there were enough cannons and enough speed (surprisingly enough) in the hulking mass that even with diversionary tactics going on, it was nigh impossible to not have the thing's attention. And without keeping the turrets off of them for five seconds... well getting onto the thing would be nigh impossible.

"Scoots!" she heard Beam yell from behind her. "There's no way we'll reach that thing!"

"We're not giving up!" she yelled back at him. Pushing herself harder, she skimmed the surface of the great balloon. There had to be a way onto the thing...

Suddenly, she was aware of a great absence of noise, as though the loud, roaring battlefield had suddenly grown unnaturally quiet. She frowned in confusion for a moment, and then she realised what was missing.

The propellers. The Solar Glory had several propellers that kept the thing moving, and all of them were off. She had almost stopped noticing it, treating it like part of the background of battle.

"Did something hit it?!" Light Beam called from behind her.

"Who cares?!" Scootaloo yelled back. "This is our chance!"

She pushed herself harder. She could already hear the panicking crew. Now that the propellers were down, ponies would panic - and gaps would open. It was time to take this bucker down.

***

She was not alone in this thought: across the embattled city, the rioting Cloudsdale citizens, still riding on waves of fury and adrenaline, took off and headed for the Solar Glory. The defensive positions on the Glory - already crippled by the loss of the Core and thus many of the magical defences, turrets etc - tried their best to hold off the attackers, but many positions were quickly overwhelmed and Pegasi rioters spread across the Zeppelin...

***

Feather Light was panicking, screaming orders to his crew. With the Core down, he knew they were vulnerable, and the oncoming hordes of Pegasi were just a sign that things were desperate.

"Get engineers down there and repairing it double time!" he bellowed loudly as he surveyed their instrumentation. "We have to -!"

"Sir," one of his adjutants, a pale blue Pegasus mare named Steel Nerve, said in a panicked tone, "there are Wonderbolts inbound and dozens of intruders across the zeppelin - without half the defences operational..."

"Order all Guards to repel the boarders, Sergeant," Feather Light yelled at her, scowling. "We have to hold them off until the engines are operational..."

"Sir, we don't have the numbers to repel the numbers they're sending!" the mare said. "We have to abandon the Zeppelin!"

"I will not abandon the Solar Glory to traitor hooves!" Feather Light screamed. "Stay at your posts!"

Steel Nerve scowled, but said nothing, instead moving back to her station.

***

Air Wave dodged another blow, before grabbing the offending Wonderbolt and throwing him into a wall. He grabbed his spear and stabbed the flyer, pinning him to a wall.

"Bucker!" he cursed. "Everypony, hold your ground!"

All around him, his comrades were being dragged to the floor by rioters or thrown over the edge of the gondola by more experienced fighters like Wonderbolts. He was losing this position.

"Fall back!" he called, ushering one of his troops back towards their route of escape. "Main deck, go!"

He dodged a blow from another Pegasus before impaling the traitor. Another Wonderbolt - this one an orange mare - was just finishing off one of his Guards as he did so, and he scowled. He pulled his spear out of the last rebel and threw it at her, but she dodged it.

"Come on you little pile of -!" he yelled, but he was cut off by her dashing straight into him, knocking him off balance. She lashed out at him, but he dodged her. She had wrist blades, which made her faster, but he was armoured, which lessened his vulnerability. He blocked one blade, but she grabbed his hoof and dragged him forward, head butting him.

Stunned, he had no way of stopping her from slashing one of his wings and then pitching him over the side of the gondola. His last thought was mild irritation at being beaten by a headbutt - very undignified...

***

Scootaloo watched the crippled Guardspony fall and then turned back to the fighting.

On your left! the Rainbow Dash in her head yelled. On instinct, she turned, and blocked another pony who charged at her. She broke his forehoof and then stabbed him, before throwing him from the gondola.

'Thanks Dash,' she thought to herself, but then she frowned. She was talking to ponies in her head. If there were any proof she were mad, this was it.

You're finally fighting for the right side, Scoots, the imaginary Dash said, and Scootaloo could almost imagine her smirking. I'd say you're going sane.

"Nopony asked you," Scootaloo told the imaginary a Rainbow Dash. Shaking her head to clear it, she threw herself back into the fray.

***

Feather light was getting increasingly frantic as the reports came in, none of them good.

"Intruders in the engine room, sir!"

"We've lost three decks!"

"We're not getting anything from the upper turret!"

"We have to abandon the zeppelin," Steel Nerve said, moving to stand in front of Feather Light. His attention snapped to her.

"No," he said, scowling at her, his tone icy cold. "We don't."

"There are boarders on almost every deck," Nerve said, ignoring his tone. "If anypony in our crew is going to survive, we have to go now."

"I said no!" Feather Light snapped. "It's not happening, Steel Nerve. Get back to your post. We are holding the Glory..."

"Sir, we've lost the Glory!" Steel Nerve snapped. "We shouldn't waste pony lives..."

"We've not lost the Glory!" Feather Light yelled back. "We're not going to lose the Glory - not to the traitors, not while I'm in command!"

"Then you aren't in command anymore!" Steel Nerve screamed. She calmed a moment later as silence fell over the room. Feather Light's expression turned to stone

"You want to relieve me, Sergeant?" he said, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Yes sir," she said without hesitation. "I do."

A moment later, Feather Light picked up his spear and stabbed forward, faster than Steel Nerve could react. The Pegasus' eyes widened in horror at the weapon embedded in her chest, and she choked slightly in shock and agony. After a moment, she collapsed to the ground.

"Objection noted," Feather Light said. "Anypony else?"

"As a matter of fact, yeah," a new voice said from the entrance to the bridge. A golden mare in Wonderbolts regalia stepped onto the bridge, eyes narrowed at Feather Light in hatred. Wrist blades were flipped out at the ready and her wings were flared out in a gesture of rage. "Me."

***

Spitfire had never regarded Captain Feather Light that highly. It wasn't that he was a bad pony per se - or at least, she wouldn't have said so before today - but he had always struck her as a bit of a plot-hole. Nonetheless, she had never seen this side of him: she had known he was literal minded, but this... killing his own soldiers when they dared disagree with him... that was too devoted, too wrong. He was willing to fight to the bitter end, even at the cost of every soldier under his command.

Is that the Oath? Spitfire wondered. Does it make ponies like that so suicidal, so single-minded, that they'd sacrifice everything if they thought they could spite Solamina's enemies? Or was Feather Light always like this, just waiting to snap?

It was a question that she had a horrible feeling she'd be asking forever.

"Traitor," Feather Light sneered at her. "Guards!"

Half a dozen Guards and crew were still on the bridge, and they quickly charged at Spitfire. Just as they did, however, ponies charged in from behind the Wonderbolts' leader: she had come with friends.

Feather Light scowled and charged at her, his spear - still red with the fresh blood of Steel Nerve - pointed right at her. She dodged and lashed out with her wrist blade, and the Captain was forced to duck. He blocked another blow with the haft of his spear, before stabbing forward again. Spitfire dodged and slashed her blades at him, but he managed to dodge again.

"Stop dodging and take it like a stallion!" she taunted. He roared in anger and charged right at her, but she was able to sidestep him. She slashed at his throat and it spurted blood. He had a moment to scrabble at the injury before falling to the ground, dead.

She panted slightly as she turned to watch her comrades fighting on the bridge. She smiled slightly when she realised that they had the upper hoof.

Today was a good day.

***

When Scootaloo and Light Beam reached the bridge, they found Spitfire and a half dozen other ponies waiting: Spitfire was giving orders to ponies at the various controls.

We win, a by-now familiar voice in her head said. She did her best to ignore it.

"Scootaloo!" the Wonderbolts' commander said with a grin. "We've captured the Zeppelin."

"Yeah," Scootaloo replied, slightly sarcastically, "I kinda noticed. What now?"

"We see if we can fix her up," Spitfire said with a manic grin. "They wanted Wonderbolts at Canterlot?They're gonna get more than they bargained for."

Scootaloo's eyes widened, but then she grinned too. If Canterlot had been bad enough to ask for Wonderbolts help, it was the biggest battle in years.

Sounded like her kinda fight.

***

Author's Note

So I finally got this finished. It's been a pain in the ass, but a fun one - whole load of stuff that's been tricky to do but fun nonetheless. The next chapter will return us to the battle of Canterlot proper. :-)

Thanks once again to everybody reading, everyone commenting, everyone favouriting, and to RoyaPsycho and The Void for their sterling beta work.

The Smell of Fire.

Chapter Fifty: The Smell of Fire.

***

Canterlot LZ.

"Move these soldiers out, double quick!" somebody yelled. All around the courtyard, knights of Albion and soldiers from the BDF were moving. Groups of troopers were jogging to and fro, setting up defensive positions as they prepared to defend the LZ. More were assembling into their squads, knowing that soon they would need to move out.

A handful of transport helicopters landed, some of them lugging vehicles. Jeeps and modified civilian cars with turrets bolted to the rear were being landed. Many of the jeeps were driven by Resistance unicorns, the pedals, steering wheels, and seats all modified to make the vehicles maneuverable by pony. Mopeds with similar modifications driven by unicorns were buzzing around, the speedy little vehicles ideal for lightning-fast raids and harrying runs. Ponies with P220’s and their steadiers were moving out slowly, and human soldiers were loading up.

A variety of machines, some of them top-of-the-line tanks and some of them modified Land Rovers or ancient machines from decades past were being rolled off of the gargantuan helicopters they had been carried in. Ammunition and fuel followed them as engineers and technicians of every type began to carefully check the machines they had been assigned to, many of them complaining to whoever was nearby that the transports had not been designed to carry so much weight at once.

Despite the battle that was raging overhead, a steady column of transports was moving back and forth from the portal to the city, carrying reinforcements and supplies whilst dodging gunfire and spells as they went. Pegasi squadrons were, in many cases, fighting a (proverbial) running battle to keep the Royal Guard from attacking the transports, and in some cases they were too slow, and a transport or two would be hit or damaged and go careening off into the void, smashing into the Canterhorn or - in some unlucky cases - into the streets of Canterlot itself. There was no doubt in anyone or anypony’s mind that whatever side won this conflict, there would be a lot of collateral damage to repair.

And that was without the battle between the Avatar and Solamina - though the two small figures could no longer be seen, the sky was still dark and great, deep thundering sounds could still be heard from the heart of the city, like great thunderclaps that rang just a tiny bit too metallic for anyone to seriously think it was just thunder. Everypony and everyone knew, hearing those sounds, that their fates would not be decided by their own actions, so much as they would be decided by the battle being fought between those two godlike beings.

Still, there was nothing to be done to help the Avatar, and so the soldiers of the Resistance and BDF continued to prepare for the final end.

At the head of a column of Night Guard who had just been flown in and assembled into ranks stood Lyra and True Grit, their armour dented and scratched from hours of fighting already, and yet the two of them had never felt more ready. Ahead of them marched Dinky Doo and Prince Blueblood, the former looking resolute and angry, and the latter looking a combination of eager and nervous.

"Ponies!" Blueblood yelled, not turning to look at the column. "Let’s go take back our home!"

There was a whoop of approval, deep and angry, from the column as a whole. These were ponies who had seen their home taken from them, their families killed, or else separated from them. These were ponies who had lost everything.

Now they were going to take it all back.

The march was slow but resolute, armour clanking and clinking as they marched. Spears were raised into marching stance. the Night Guard banner, the crescent moon symbol of Luna and the compass rose of Blueblood, rose into the air and flew proudly behind Blueblood himself. They were the very model of heroes of Equestria’s ancient past, off to war.

If only it were so romantic.

"Hey, Grit," Lyra whispered as they marched, looking nervous. "You’ve got my back, right?"

"Yeah," Grit said. "You’ve got mine?"

"Yeah," Lyra said, smiling nervously. "Good luck."

"You too," the former Guard said with a slight smile. "I think we’ll need it."

And so on they marched, toward destiny, not knowing what their march would bring, only knowing that one way or another the end of the war was upon them...

***

Streets of Canterlot.

"Keep fighting!" the Undead yelled. By now the pounding in his head was so loud he couldn’t even tell what he was hearing. Blood thundered in his ears, and he relished every second of it.

He knew it was almost heretical to think it, but he felt alive, moreso even than on Life Day. This… this was what he had longed for. This wasn’t just purpose. This was destiny, pure and true: this was where he would meet his enemy in battle, and he would defeat it. This was why he had remained here, why his body had not died.

This was meant to be.

"Sir!" he heard Kraber yell. "We’ve got these bliksems on the run!"

It was true - the Militia line was breaking, chopped apart with an avalanche of bullets, their misplaced fury and faith in the Tyrant not enough to withstand the fury of the Dead. Already their forces were pulling back, spells flying over shoulders like hastily fired pistol shots. The Undead grinned.

"Keep fighting!" he called. "Victory is at hand!"

A cheer went up from the line of Dead Men. In that moment, the Undead felt a great wave of joy - he and his brothers and sisters had found purpose waiting for them. As one, they surged forward, needing no orders, pursuing the Militia and firing as they charged, picking off stragglers.

As they reached the square that the street they were fighting in opened up to, they saw what their enemy had been retreating towards. A great horn-note rang out, deep and foreboding, and the Militia turned to face the oncoming Dead, who first slowed, then stopped as they saw what their enemies had been falling back to meet.

A fresh group of Converted, these ones in heavier armour, were stood beneath a resplendent banner showing the Earth eclipsed by a great, overpowering sun, within which a motto in Latin had been printed.

ASTRA SOLAMINA MAXIMA AETERNA.

This was the banner of Sol Invictus, chief agitator and commander of the combined Solaminan Church and Equestrian Militia. He himself was stood at the head of this group, his eyes narrowed in righteous contempt at the assembled humans and ponies of the Dead. He wore a great red cloak and a shining golden breastplate that looked especially polished, and on it there could be seen a dozen lines of what could have been bastardized prayer.

But that wasn’t the worst thing there, for Sol Invictus and his retinue weren’t alone. They were accompanied by two great, towering monoliths: they might have been great golden statues, save for the fact that they moved, and their surface glimmered and seemed almost to have an unnatural, living sheen that warded off the soot of the burning city. Worse still, though, were their eyes: they were hollow, and within them you could see great fires burning like the pits of hell, promising only death for the Dead Men. Great flares of fire shot out from their backs, forming into enormous burning wings of brilliant balefire. Equally intense manes and tails of fire also adorned the enormous constructs, writhing and twisting in a breeze that did not exist except around their shining bodies.

And then one of them opened its mouth.

"Children of Equestria!" it bellowed, it’s voice echoing unnaturally as though it bounced off of every surface in the great square. Fire erupted from its mouth as it once again spoke. "Stand against these accursed invaders!"

"Stand firm against the horde, My Little Ponies!" the other added, it’s voice equally strong, "for your Empress stands with you in spirit!"

As if to prove it’s point, the second statue shot a great gout of eldritch fire out from it’s mouth that shot toward the Dead, incinerating several of them instantly.

"Take cover!" one of the Dead yelled, and they did so immediately.

The Undead cursed his luck. Of all the enemies to run into, they had to run into these… things. The Solar Idols: weapons of war designed to at once inspire terror in the forces opposing Equestria and inspire greater heights of insane loyalty from the Converted. The ultimate propaganda - embodiments of Solamina that brought her wrath down upon the invaders like nothing else could.

"What the fok do we do now?!" Kraber swore from near the Undead, part of his beard singed by the unnatural heat of those flames.

The Undead closed his eyes, focusing on his thoughts for a moment. In the back of his mind, he could hear music faintly banging away, an almost calming rhythm that seemed to fill him with - not peace, but focus. He knew why he was here. He knew what he had come here to do. Damn these things: they wouldn’t stop him. Nothing could. He was the Dead. He’d kill them all.

Slowly, he reloaded his rifle, before grabbing a grenade from his belt and stepping out. He grinned.

"Same thing we always do," he said.

"This seems like a fokking terrible idea," Kraber said, slapping a 100-round pan magazine onto his Bren. "I like it."

"The Dead fear nothing!" he yelled, and he threw the grenade right at the things. The explosion didn’t so much as scratch the Idols, but they did manage to blow several of Sol Invictus’ group apart.

"Come on!" the Undead yelled. "Let’s go kill the bastards!"

He charged without waiting for a response, though he could have sworn he heard Kraber yelling some profanity or another, and other Dead screaming war cries. The Undead fired his rifle as he ran, taking down two more ponies as he ran, before impacting their line. He drew his bayonet and stabbed one, before firing the rifle one handed. He heard the click of an empty chamber and dropped the weapon, moving instead to his pistol and shooting another pony’s head out.

Purpose, he thought to himself. This is purpose.

***

Elsewhere in Canterlot.

Twilight ducked as another magical bolt exploded right behind her. Rainbow and Fluttershy took cover near her, both of them covered in dirt and small scratches.

For the past five minutes, they had been dodging attacks from monstrosity that had once been Princess Luna. The thing was unfortunately tenacious, though - nothing they had was denting it and no spell they could bring up had the power to stop her attacks for long. They had been playing a deadly game of dodge with the creature, avoiding it’s attacks as best they could, but it couldn’t continue forever.

"Fuck this!" she heard Hell Blazer swear, as he threw another fireball out. "Die already you bitch!"

The fireball impacted on the the corpse of Luna, but she had raised a magical shield and the force dissipated. Turning her partially destroyed gaze towards him she fired a spell in return, but Rarity and Springfield had raised a combined shield that managed to stop the blast, though it dissipated as soon as the spell impacted.

"What do we do?!" Applejack yelled from somewhere. The dust and the darkness and the chaos had made it difficult to see where anypony was.

"I’m not entirely certain there’s anything we can do," the Doctor called out, his voice preternaturally calm despite the desperate situation. "I don’t think anything we have can damage it!"

"Buck that!" Rainbow yelled. "There’s always a way to kill something!"

A hail of spells impacted near them, and Twilight cursed. She could see her alternative self nearby, the whorse firing spells off at anypony exposed for more than a few seconds. She scowled, and fired off her own spell, watching with some satisfaction as her doppelganger took cover from the shot.

"Any suggestions?" she asked Rainbow. The cyan Pegasus shrugged.

"You're the egghead, Twi." Rainbow flinched as another spell impacted near them. "Don't you know anything?"

"I've used every spell I can think of!" Twilight insisted. "Short of some kind of exorcism ritual to banish Luna's spirit..."

"I wouldn't try it!" came the grim voice of Hell Blazer as he jumped into cover near them, Springfield in tow. The Converted ponies both looked harried, and Springfield had a cut across his cheek, but otherwise they were fine.

"Why not?" Rainbow asked scathingly. "Seems like exorcism might be the right kinda idea..."

"Sure, it'd get rid of this undead bitch as a problem," Hell Blazer agreed. "But d'you really wanna send Luna's soul to hell?"

Twilight blanched at that. "Is that where...?"

"Exorcism is an imprecise business," Hell Blazer said with a shrug. "Even if we could set up a salt circle, there's no way to be precise with where we send her unless that bitch stays off our backs for long enough, and she won't. Quick exorcism or banishment defaults to Hell or nothingness."

"I..." Twilight stammered.

"We can't!" Fluttershy put in. "It's not Luna's fault this happened any more than it's the Converted's fault they're on Solamina's side - we can't do that to her. There must be another way!"

Another hail of spells slammed into their cover before anypony could say anything. Commander Sparkle appeared to have gotten back into a firing position. Cursing, Twilight raised a shield.

"Go!" she yelled at her friends. Without waiting for her to repeat herself, they took off, Rainbow and Fluttershy shooting into the air and Springfield and Hell Blazer heading for nearby cover. A moment later, Twilight dropped her shield, fired several more spells and then raced after them. She dodged between bits of rubble as her insane counterpart kept throwing spells at her, but none of them hit her. A moment later, she was in cover near the two Converted, just as another spell lanced from the corpse of Luna and impacted near them.

"Shit!" Hell Blazer swore. "This is fuckin' nuts!"

Springfield frowned as another spell exploded into the ground near their position. Commander Sparkle hadn't let up yet.

"How long would you need?" he asked Hell Blazer.

The yellow Converted looked at Springfield as though he had grown two heads. "Beg your pardon?"

"How long to keep her off of your back in order to perform a precise exorcism?!" Springfield snapped.

Hell Blazer frowned at that, but then started mumbling numbers to himself as though considering the question.

"Five minutes," he said after a moment. "I'd need you to keep them both off my back and Luna herself still for five minutes."

Springfield nodded, looking resolute. He turned to Twilight.

"Can you deal with Commander Sparkle?" he asked.

Twilight felt an all-too-right feeling wave of anticipation build in her gut. "Yes. Yes I can."

"Right," Springfield said simply, nodding to himself. "Then I have a plan."

***

Sky above Canterlot.

Errant Flight dodged another Pegasus Guardspony with a slightly wonky manoeuvre - his injury was bleeding and he couldn't keep himself flying entirely straight.

The battle in the sky had not abated, though to anypony watching it would have been all-too obvious how fatigued most of the flyers in the air at the moment were becoming. Pegasi were made for the air, but that didn't mean they could last there indefinitely.

"Interdiction, what is your status?!" he asked, trying not to let his fatigue and injury make him sound weak.

"We’re under heavy attack!", a panicked voice sounded over the comm. "They’re already in the gondola and taken several levels, we’re falling back to the main bridge but there’re only a few of us left and we’ve lost the hanger and the outer decks."

"What about the Core?" Errant asked.

"We lost contact with the engine crew," the voice said. "Last I heard they were barricading themselves in, but there was a large contingent of Guard heading their way."

"Roger that," Errant said. "My ETA is five minutes."

"Grey Leader?!" came a different voice - Dream Flyer. "Flight, what the buck are you doing?!"

"My job, Flyer," he said.

"Pony-Goddammit!" Flyer said. "Do you want to bucking die?!"

"Sorry, Flyer," Errant replied grimly. "Bad line."

He grabbed his comm and threw it off, before turning to Fell Spear, who was right behind him.

"Take my calls, Spear!" he yelled.

"I’m your wingpony!" the Thestral said with an amused grin. "Not your darn secretary!"

Errant grinned back at him, before turning back to look where he was going.

There it was.

The Interdiction was surrounded by Guardsponies and other zeppelins. Resistance flyers and gunships dodged and flew all around, firing on the surrounding Equestria forces, but they weren’t letting up.

Well, there it is, came the voice of Butter Mellow in Errant’s head.

You can take ‘em, came the voice of Ditzy. I believe in you, Flight.

"I know, and I’ve tried my best to live up to that," he replied out loud, grateful that nopony could hear him. "But I’m gonna need more than self-belief this time."

Then how about this, another voice said, quiet and yet louder than them all. You’re Errant Flight. You’re the last member of Grey Squadron. You’re the pony who lived when everypony else died - and you’re the pony who’s gonna save the Interdiction now."

The voice was Cloud Ranger, and hearing her speak - even if it was only in his head - made Errant’s heart swell. He took a deep breath, ignoring the stinging pain of his injury, even as he neared the gondola of the Interdiction.

"Too bucking right I am," he said. He pointed both his wrist-blades forward. "To quote Elliot - come at me, motherbuckers!"

With that, he slammed into a Guardspony who had boarded the gondola, impaling him in the chest and throat. He pushed off of the corpse faster than sight and charged at another Guard, slamming the pony’s spear away and then slicing him across the throat. Two more Guardsponies charged at him, but he span around, blocking blows and then lashing out. A moment later, they were both dead.

Meanwhile, Fell Spear had also landed. The former Night Guard’s moves were methodical, precise and deadly, not a single effort wasted. Anypony who came near him fell to his blades, and nothing could hit him.

Within moments, everypony on the deck they’d landed on was dead, their bodies spread around. Fell Spear was unhurt, and Errant actually seemed to be in better health somehow, most likely running on adrenaline.

Boom! Still got it, Errant, the voice of Lightning Dust said approvingly. He ignored her - there was no need to reply anymore.

Chances are, he’d have all the time in the world to talk to them all soon enough.

"What now?" asked Fell Spear. Errant turned to face him, a grin on his face.

"Engine room," he said. He trotted over to a wall comm nearby. "Bridge? This is Grey Leader."

"Who the buck is that?" came a reply from the intercom. "Where’s Harrow Blade? What company are you with?!"

Errant cursed. "Not yours, motherbucker."

The Guards had taken the bridge - that either meant that the bridge crew were dead, or - if Errant was lucky - captured.

He whacked the comm, before grabbing Fell Spear’s comm device.

"This is Grey Leader to anypony in the area," he said sharply. "The bridge of the Interdiction has been taken, we need support."

"This is Dream Flyer," came the harried sounding voice of his second in command. "We’re on our way to you now. Stay where you are!"

"That’s a negative," Errant replied tiredly, smiling lightly. "Head for the engine room when you get here - they might try sabotaging the Interdiction’s Core, and there might still be crew alive down there."

"Where will you be?" Dream Flyer asked, sounding somewhere between annoyed and worried.

"Me?" Errant asked, grinning. "I’m heading to the bridge. I’ve a zeppelin to take back."

He dropped the comm device before Flyer could reply and marched off, a bemused but resigned Fell Spear following. As they marched, the intercom buzzed and a tinny, panicky voice spoke.

"This is Lieutenant Soft Song! We have unconfirmed reports of Resistance flyers on the outer decks - repeat, Resistance on the outer decks! All Guardsponies, on alert!"

"Sounds like it’s about to get fun," Fell Spear commented.

"Good," Errant said. "I’ve been getting bored."

***

Streets of Canterlot.

A gout of fire shot forth from the mouth of one of the Solar Idols, and the Undead swore as several more of his men were incinerated. At the very least, they didn’t have time to feel the pain - and they had joined their souls in death, doing their duty to the country.

All the same, the Undead would probably have preferred it had the Solar Idols not been slaughtering his forces.

"Die!" he yelled, stabbing one of the Militia that charged him in the chest. "Die!"

The thing fell away and he fired his pistol again, before picking up a discarded rifle and firing it into the throng, killing more ponies. Behind him, he could hear Kraber and the Frenchman - Dupont, his name was, if the Undead remembered accurately - yelling as they fought. Fortunately for those like Kraber whose equipment had been damaged, the Militia didn’t seem interested in Converting anyone - they seemed set on killing their enemies, either by their own hooves or by the flames of the Solar Idols.

"Fight for Empress and Equestria!" one of the Idols bellowed, before shooting another gout of fire from its mouth. More Dead Men found themselves incinerated, and the Undead cursed.

"Keep fighting!" he yelled out. "The Dead fear nothing!"

The cry was echoed amongst the entire Dead Man contingent, but there was no denying that they were wavering - many of them had been killed, and still these things were no closer to falling. Several Dead Men had already fallen back to more defensible locations, firing their rifles from cover - the Undead couldn’t blame them. their duty was to die with purpose, and this might seem like it had none.

Why then was he not retreating? he wondered to himself. If this death serves no purpose, why court it?

Stubbornness and pride had no place in the mind of a man destined to give all of himself to the good of his people. He had always known his death would be one with purpose. It had to be.

He was distracted from his introspection by another gout of fire, and the screaming deaths of more of his men. Cursing, he fired his rifle at the offending Solar Idol until the hammer slammed on empty, before dropping the weapon and returning to his bayonet, fighting more of the Militia.

"Keep fighting, brothers and sisters!" bellowed the voice of Sol Invictus, and the Undead growled. If he could get one hit at that spouting pontificating little shit, he’d happily meet his soul a happy man.

As if on cue to the agitator’s words, another gout of flame shot out. The Undead cursed and took cover behind a bit of shattered masonry. Kraber and Dupont sheltered near him, the former looking battered but energised.

"These heathens will not stand before the might of Her grace!" Invictus yelled as the Idols continued spouting flames.

"Give me a shot at that fokking little bliksem Invictus," Kraber said from behind the Undead. He spat and wiped his mouth. "I’ll take the little fokker out!"

"You’d never get close to him, Kraber," the Undead said quietly. He frowned. "But…"

He turned to look at the resplendent banner as it fluttered in the breeze made by the fire and the fighting. He grinned.

"How good a shot are you, Kraber?" he asked quietly.

"A fokkin’ awesome one, sir," the German replied without pride. "At this range, I can guarantee I'll leave just enough of his brain to make a certain somepony regret every-fokkin’-thing he's done."

"You’re not killing Invictus," the Undead said with a smile. "I want you to get to a vantage-point in a building and take out the banner-bearer."

"The banner bearer?!" Kraber repeated with a frown. "Why the fok would I waste a bullet on him when I could kill Invictus?"

"Just trust me, Kraber!" the Undead said, grinning beneath his mask. "Get to a building. Take Dupont and grab a good rifle. Make him dead."

"Already on it, sir," Kraber said after a moment’s pause. He didn’t look happy about leaving the main part of the battle, but he followed orders - they all did. He jogged off, Dupont at his back.

The Undead turned to see the Idols spouting more fire. Sighing, he fired his pistol, before drawing his bayonet and charging back into the fray.

"Everyone into close combat!" he yelled. "They won’t burn their own!"

***

Sol Invictus scowled as he heard those words yelled. These humans were fools, fools who underestimated the faith and bravery of the Converted. The stink of humanity was a stain only removed by righteousness and courage on the field, and the Converted would never be found wanting.

"Brother Invictus," one of the ponies in his retinue said, "he’s right. The blessed Idols cannot be used on our own brothers and sisters…"

Invictus threw the pony a glare, and he quieted. Invictus sighed, before returning his gaze to the melee that now swirled in the middle of the field.

"It is appointed to every servant of the One Goddess that they have an appointed time," he said mournfully. "We can but meet it well."

"You can’t mean…" the pony said, sounding horrified.

"This is war, and we are the blessed soldiers of the eternal Sun," Invictus said quietly. "Be assured brother, I would ask no sacrifice of my brothers and sisters that I will not give myself upon this field."

He focused his attention on the Idols.

"Blessed Idols!" he yelled. "Disregard safety!"

There was no outward change in the great edifices, but they did subtly shift their stance. Where before they had angled their gazes so that their flame bursts could not harm any ponies in their blaze, now they turned the full brunt of their attention on the Dead Men in combat around them, surrounded by ponies… and they unleashed the fires of hell.

***

Kraber turned to look when he heard what sounded like pony screams, and his eyes widened in shock at the sight of Solar Idols burning the close combatants, their own soldiers among them. He had always thought the Convies were bosbefok beyond belief, but he’d never thought they were that fokked up.

"Are they seriously burning their own troops?" Dupont asked with wide eyes.

"They’re fokked up kontgesigs with delusions of serving a goddess. They don't fokking care about themselves, long as we get hurt," Kraber replied harshly, turning his attention back to the building he was heading for. "Surprised they didn’t do this earlier."

He had grabbed a sniper rifle - what looked like an old Gewehr somebody must have retrieved from an arms museum somewhere - from one of the Dead Men who had been hit by a spell a while back. The old weapon was still serviceable - barely - but really, Kraber would have preferred something more modern, like an NTW-20 or a Winchester. Still - this war had left him with few options.

"Come on," he said, darting into the building. The stairs were cramped as hell for anyone human-sized, but he still managed to force his way up. He didn't care - I've been in worse kak, he told himself.

It was true. He had. And everytime, he'd come back.

He just hoped there’d be Dead Men left to rejoin by the time he’d shot the fokking banner-bearer.

***

Another gout shot through the ranks of fighting ponies and humans. The Undead narrowly dodged the gout, throwing his coat off as it started burning.

"Keep fighting!" he yelled, though now he knew his time was up. These things would send them all to meet their souls in the afterlife. He didn’t regret this end - but he regretted not making more of a difference. Even as he yelled, more gouts shot out, and the ranks of the Converted and the Dead Men alike broke as the flames tore through pony and human alike without distinction.

"The hell with this!" one Dead Man yelled, sounding frustrated and angry. Before anyone could stop him, he broke ranks and charged straight at one of the Idols, grabbing a grenade from his belt. Spears thrown at him missed by some miracle, and he managed to reach the thing, just as it opened it’s mouth to shoot another gout.

The Dead Man threw a grenade right at it. The grenade, by providence or design, landed right in the thing’s mouth.

A moment later, a gout of flame shot out.

There was a large explosion, and a flash of fire exploding outwards like a shockwave, covering ponies and Dead Men alike with eldritch fire that would not go out.

But the Idol was destroyed. The explosion had torn its head from its shoulders, and even as the assembled ponies and Dead Men watched, the thing slowly toppled from where it stood, collapsing to the ground.

There was a moment of absolute silence, and the Undead thought he could almost hear music playing, soft and gentle music that seemed to soothe his soul. Even as he watched the thing topple, he knew what he had to do.

"Brothers, sisters," he said to the Dead Men around him, his strident voice carrying in the silence, "fall back. The last one is mine!"

Without hesitation, the Dead fell back, and the Undead grabbed the water bottle from his belt, pouring it all over his body in the vain hope that it would make this any less painful.

Pain is of the flesh, and I am dead.

He dropped the empty canteen and tore off his mask and helmet. If he was to die, he would see his enemies die too with his own eyes. He grabbed the two grenades from his belt next. He grinned.

"The Dead are upon you!" he yelled at the Idol. "And we have purpose!"

Before any of the Militia, still stunned from the death of one of their Idols, could stop him, he charged straight at the last Idol. The thing almost seemed to be glaring at him.

"My might is as eternal as the Sun!" it said as he charged at it.

"Didn’t anyone ever tell you, Tyrant?!" the Undead bellowed in reply. "Even stars die!"

He leapt up at it, popped the pins of his grenades, and jammed them right into the thing’s eye sockets. His hands burned, and he could feel the flesh melting off of them even as his gloves incinerated, little flecks of material fusing with his skin and bone.

For a moment, all was silent.

And then his world went white.

I remember, he thought to himself as consciousness left him.

A family. A wife. A baby girl. A holiday.

The Barrier. Screaming.

Pain.

He could almost have smiled.

"We’ve been waiting," he thought he could hear a voice say, and the light welcomed him with open arms…

***

Kraber reached the window at the top of the building in time to see the Undead jump onto the last Solar Idol, and his mouth gaped for a moment in the wake of the massive explosion that followed.

"First and second commandments," he muttered, approvingly. "But, fokkin’ hell," he said quietly. "I knew he was bosbefok but still…"

He threw a salute in the direction of his late superior officer, before taking the Gewehr and looking through the scope for his target. His aim hovered over Invictus for a moment, but he respected the Undead enough to follow his last order.

"Sayonara, draadtrekker!" he said as he aimed at the banner bearer and squeezed the trigger.

***

Sol Invictus was already shocked at the fall of the Idols - their blessed visages should have been invincible against the paltry forces of humanity. Nonetheless, he was still confident. He was Sol Invictus, and Her blessings were in more than mere metal and fire.

"Brothers and sisters!" he yelled. "Prepare to char -!"

He was interrupted by a wet splat sound from behind him and the feeling of something wet splashing onto his back. He turned slowly, to see the slowly collapsing form of his banner bearer, most his skull missing, the banner of Invictus falling forwards, splattered with blood and brains. Scowling, Invictus grabbed the banner in his own telekinetic grip.

"Enough of this," he said. "Brothers and sisters, prepare to char -!"

He was interrupted again, this time by a loud horn-call. His eyes widened as he saw the force approaching down the street, coming up behind the battered Dead Men. A banner fluttered in the wind, the symbol of the Compass Rose and the Moon strong and proud above ranks of armoured, stern-looking ponies.

The Night Guard had come. Emboldened, the Dead Men unfurled their own banner, the flayed skull above the Earth. Sol Invictus’ eyes widened at that, and he felt an unfamiliar feeling in his gut.

Fear.

He had felt it only once before - the day his old faith had failed him and he had taken the potion. He scowled. He would not fail again, his faith was absolute and his goddess was divine!

"Servants of Astra Solamina!" he screamed, fury in his tone. "Charge!"

***

Canterlot Palace.

Parry, parry, block, push, spell, counter spell, slash, hack, parry, block...

It had become a dance, a rhythm, the two of them in the air, lashing out and blocking each other's strikes. Solamina’s glaive span like a thing of water or wind, fluid and impossible to see, but no matter where it moved Excalibur would follow, the great sword faster than a blade that size had any right to be. Parry, block, riposte, and again, as they cycle continued over and over and over…

The Avatar of Albion pushed himself. He could feel the slow weakening of his body. In letting go, he had forfeited any self-preservation, and now he knew it was only a matter of time before the form he was in would expire from the magical forces now ravaging his body. Nonetheless, he kept fighting, as hard and as fast as he could.

He parried another great blow, before lashing out, imbuing Excalibur with enough force that Solamina’s parry was not enough to block it. She flew away from him, crashing into a building. For a moment, all was still. He breathed heavily, trying to regain a modicum of strength when his lungs were burning. He closed his eyes, and the pain receded as he applied a balm over his injuries. It was temporary, and indeed, the use of magic would end him quicker, but still it would hold him.

A spell impacted on his left pauldron, and he frowned. He glanced at the pauldron in question and the small, dissipating scorch mark there, and frowned in confusion. That had not been the Sun Tyrant. He looked down from where he was floating, to see a handful of Royal Guard staring back at him. Some of them were Unicorns, and they were firing spells up at him. He scowled. They were but pinpricks, but he could not leave them be.

"Get thee gone!" he said, raising a hand and firing a spell off at them, intended to frighten them away. To their credit, after taking cover they quickly resumed their position.

"Yes!" the voice of Solamina called, and the Avatar glanced up to see her laughing at him from nearby. "Attack this monster, my little ponies! Destroy him!"

Two of the Guardsponies were Pegasi, and at Solamina’s words they immediately took off and flew straight at the Avatar. He blocked their paltry spears as they charged, but they span around and charged again. He snarled and, with a thought, unleashed a wave of energy that vaporised them both. More spells flew at him, but he raised a hand and fired another spell, this time directly at them. The Unicorns vanished in an explosion of fire.

"Monster!" he heard a familiar yet strangely quiet voice yell. He looked over at Solamina, whose eyes were wide with horror. "They were no threat to you!"

What trickery is this? he thought to himself. He scowled and raised Excalibur to point at her.

"Do not pretend that you care for your subjects, Tyrant," he said aloud. "You’d have had them all die by my blade to buy yourself an instant longer to cling to your throne!"

"No!" Solamina yelled. "No! Never! I did everything I did for them, I…!"

Her voice faltered, and her expression slackened for a moment. And then she smiled.

"Oh well," she said, her voice regaining it’s unnatural timbre. "Never mind. I’m sure I can get more minions like that from somewhere. I converted five billion of your kind. I doubt I’ve run out yet."

The Avatar frowned, but there was more than rage in it. This was… unexpected. Could it be that the Darkness’ hold on the Tyrant was less than he thought it was - somehow weak enough that Celestia, or something like Celestia, could still manifest in this way?

And if that was the case… what could he do to exploit it?

Before he could ponder this question for more than an instant, a bolt of magic slammed into him. Growling, he forced it away, before spinning with the momentum and throwing his own bolts at her. She growled as she blocked the bolts, before she once more summoned her glaive to her side, pointing it directly at him with a glare of pure contempt.

"Sun Tyrant, don’t insult me," he said quietly. "I think I have proven by now that I am not some trifle to be played with."

"My name is Astra Solamina Maxima, insect!" the enraged Alicorn replied. "And against me, you are nothing."

"Can you do nothing but boast, Sun Tyrant?" the Avatar asked idly, spinning Excalibur in one hand.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh yes. I can do much, much more than boast, little man!"

She closed her eyes, and light seemed to bend around her like some kind of black hole. She became almost shrouded in darkness, like it was gathering all around her. The Avatar cursed, knowing what was sure to come next.

A bolt of what must have been energy lashed out, smashing into him and bearing him through a building, then another, then another. He landed in the fourth floor of a Canterlot skyscraper, coughing as dust flew all around him from the impact. The coughing turned into a fit, as he hacked and wheezed. He held his gauntleted hand up and coughed some more, until finally it was under control, and then he looked at the gauntleted hand, eyes widening in shock.

It was covered in bright red blood.

"Oh," he said simply, before shooting out of the building and floating high above it, raising Excalibur into a guard position as Solamina charged toward him, glaive at the ready. Though he showed no outward sign of dismay as he resumed the deadly dance with his opponent, he found himself feeling… shaken.

He was running out of time. If he didn’t kill Solamina soon… he wouldn’t be able to.

Author's Note

Well. That was fun.

Special thanks to Doctor Fluffy for Kraber and his support in writing him and having him around - He continues to prove why he's one of the better Spectrum characters. This version of Kraber makes a cameo in Fluffy's The Light Despondent: if you fancy seeing more of Kraber in action, I heartily recommend it.

Thanks as well go to RoyalPsycho and the Void for their ever-wonderful help (and not just on this story but in real life too - seriously though, thanks), and to you guys for continuing to support this story as it progresses.

One Light, Alone.

Chapter Fifty One: One Light, Alone.

***

Former ERAS Interdiction.

Errant Flight blocked another wild spear-thrust, before dodging to the left as the pony he was duelling tried to rush him. His right fore-hoof lashed out, and the wrist-blade impaled his enemy in the side, rupturing his spleen and kidneys. Behind him, he heard Fell Spear duelling with more enemies, and he grinned.

On the right! the voice of Lightning Dust in his head yelled. His peripheral picked up a Pegasus charging at him, and he ducked a wild sweeping slash, before retaliating with a stab that gutted his enemy.

"Are you buckers even trying?!" he yelled, as he slashed another across the throat.

They’ve gotten no better since our day, Butter Mellow noted dispassionately, his voice echoing slightly but still as wise and weary as Errant remembered.

Honestly, I’d be embarrassed if I was the Guard, the voice of Little Wing spoke up. This standard’s so low, I bet even Head Strong could get in.

Hey! protested an imaginary Head Strong.

By this point, Errant Flight had long ceased caring that he was imagining his old friends in his head. He had long stopped caring that he was bleeding out, and he had even stopped noticing the fact that his vision had started blurring and distorting slightly as his mind began slowly fading out of consciousness. He was far too busy focusing on the enemies he was fighting, the adrenaline rush he was getting.

"Spear!" he yelled back. "How long ‘til the bridge?!"

"Not long, sir!" Fell Spear replied smartly. "Next deck up, I’d imagine…"

He was interrupted by more ponies charging at him, and he had to block their attacks. Growling, the former Night Guard reached forward and broke one of his enemy’s necks, before stabbing the other in the eye. The Guard juddered slightly as his nerve endings fired off, and then Fell Spear withdrew his blade and the pony collapsed. Errant, meanwhile, found himself fighting two more Guardsponies, one using a sword. He dodged the skilled but predictable blows of the sword wielder, killed the other with a quick stab, and then used his wrist-blades to first disarm his opponent and then cut him open from shoulder to spleen. The pony gurgled in shock for a moment, his eyes wide, before collapsing.

"Third squad, report!" came the harried-sounding voice of Lieutenant Soft Song, the Guard who had taken the bridge, over the intercom. "Third Squad?!"

"He sounds worried," Fell Spear smirked.

"Come on, then," Errant said, grinning. "I don’t want to leave the good Lieutenant waiting."

***

Sky above Canterlot.

The Avatar was dying.

The blood he had coughed up should have been a sign that he was weakening, that he couldn't keep this up forever, and yet he had pressed on regardless, determined to keep fighting, hoping against hope that this was an isolated moment, that maybe he would be able to keep going.

It had only gotten worse.

It started with the pain: pain in his chest, pain in his limbs, pain at the very core of his being. His entire body protested with every moment, bones aching and muscles screaming at the exertion but he knew he couldn’t stop. He knew that to let up was to die. However he also knew that he had no choice but to let up eventually. It was all a matter of time now, a matter of time before his human body finally gave out and died, and Solamina won… and the BDF and resistance were destroyed. Without him, he knew there was no hope.

Solamina would triumph. She would rally her armies, and he had already seen her among the flyers of the Resistance - she had swatted them like flies, crushed them. Images filled his head of that destruction writ large across the battlefield, fire raging in the streets…

No. He could not lose here.

The Avatar kept blocking his opponent's blows, grimacing slightly as Solamina pressed her assault. The mad Alicorn was swinging her glaive constantly, and though no blows had passed the Avatar's defence, he was slowing down. Eventually, through sheer odds, one of her attacks would get through. He knew it, and unfortunately, so did his enemy.

"You can't win, little man!" the Tyrant yelled, a mad grin on her face as she swung her glaive down again. "I can see it - you're weakening!"

"Maybe," he admitted grudgingly, "but I'll die before I let you win!"

He held out both arms, Excalibur blazing with light, and fired off a bolt of blue light that flared brightly enough to temporarily blind both combatants. Solamina flew back slightly, dazed, but she managed to repel the bolt with a growl. He calmed himself, knowing that if he allowed himself to succumb to fear or doubt, it will destroy him. He shifted his grip on Excalibur, and raised it into a guard position. His opponent shook her head, before raising her glaive with a snarl.

"I will destroy you," she hissed through gritted teeth.

"I will fight you until my last breath, foul Tyrant," he rejoined, trying to fill his voice with confidence he no longer felt.

She narrowed her eyes in an expression of utmost loathing. "Then breathe your last, fool."

Her horn began glowing with eldritch power, crackling up and down as though she were drawing the very energies of creation into it. She grinned, a malicious thing filled with the promise of death. And then she unleashed her attack: a bolt of energy lashed toward him. He held up a hand as though to ward the blow, but there was no strength in that hand, as there was no longer strength in him to reflect the blow.

There was a loud, reverberating crack that echoed through the air, and the Avatar was sent flying through the sky. Without any strength left, he could no longer keep himself from descending toward the ground, a faint glow of energy still clinging to him. His last thought, as he turned into a glowing falling star descending on the city of Canterlot faster than sound, was a prayer - a prayer that someone would help him, or at least that someone would be able to defeat Solamina.

It couldn’t end like this...

***

Streets of Canterlot.

Five minutes earlier.

In a street filled with rubble and wreckage, a battle was going on.

A casual viewer might have assumed the battle was somewhat unfair when they saw it was a case of nine on two: there were four Earth Ponies, three Unicorns and two Pegasi on one side, and a single Unicorn and an Alicorn on the other. Of course, any hypothetical viewer observing this battle would have to completely ignore the basics of Alicorns and their comparative power levels in order to draw the conclusion that said Alicorn was outmatched, and that was without taking into account the fact that said Alicorn was clearly dominating the battlefield.

The corpse that had once been Princess Luna of Equestria stood alone in a metaphorical (and given the destructive nature of some of the things being thrown at her, literal) hurricane. Fireballs, spells, bullets and more spells - as well as pastries and rocks - were being thrown at her from Unicorn horns, a battered and erratic P220 and an equally battered party cannon, and she weathered it all. Her already battered flesh was torn and charred in several places, white bone exposed to the destructive powers arrayed against her. Her eyes blazed with eldritch fire, and her mouth gaped as she wailed in unholy, unnatural fury. Every so often, she would fire a devastatingly destructive spell in the direction of her enemies, who could do little except take cover.

"Do you see now?!" came the almost rabid voice of Commander Twilight Sparkle. "You can’t challenge the might of Equestria! Nothing can!"

A hail of spells lanced from her horn as she yelled, smashing into rubble and narrowly missing several of the ponies arrayed against her. One spell shot the P220 clean off of Applejack’s back, and the already-battered machine was smashed apart. Yelping, Applejack ducked behind cover.

"Springfield, Hell Blazer!" she yelled into the air. "If ya’ll are gonna do anythin’ about Luna, do it sharpish!"

She was addressing a yellow Earth Pony and a Unicorn who were taking cover nearby behind some rubble. The Earth Pony was Hell Blazer, who was frowning at the spells - and the nightmarish visage of the undead Alicorn firing them - with concern evident in his eyes. On the other side of him was Rainbow Dash, a cyan Pegasus who was clearly frustrated at the situation.

And then there was the Unicorn taking cover next to Hell Blazer. His name was Well Spring, and it was Wallace Springfield. He was a Unicorn, and he was human. And he was dead.

When the Undead had offered him the chance to join the Dead Men, Wallace had felt the truth in those words - he was dead. He had been dead since he had been Converted - his body was not his own and his soul was shattered. He was honestly surprised at himself for being able to hold in his inner turmoil on the battlefield. The mantra in his head had never ceased.

...neverforgivenneverforgivenneverforgivenneverforgivenneverforgivenneverforgiven…

And yet he had fought it back. He had beaten it down with a different mantra, ringing in his ears, a constant noise that drove him onwards and kept him focused.

The Dead need no forgiveness. They need only purpose.

And now he was about to fulfill that purpose.

"Are you ready for this?" Hell Blazer asked his fellow Converted, his eyes questioning.

"Yes," Springfield said quietly. "I am."

Hell Blazer sighed.

"Alright then," he said. He turned to look at the others, in cover further back from their position, and waved a hoof. A moment later, a single small blue spell shot up.

"We’re on," Hell Blazer said shortly. "Dash."

Rainbow nodded. She spread her wings slightly, preparing to take off. A spell exploded nearby and she flinched. Hell Blazer scowled.

"Oh for fuck’s sake, take this you dead whorse!" he yelled, throwing a fireball in the direction of Luna. The spell didn’t make it past Luna’s shield, but it was enough of an opening that Rainbow Dash was able to take off, flying right at her. She whipped her wrist-blade out and snarled.

"For Equestria!" she called. Her blade raked Luna across the back, and the enraged corpse turned to try and swat her like a fly. "Now, Twi!"

At this, Twilight jumped from cover near Rarity, her own horn blazing. There was a flash of light, and she was suddenly near her counterpart, who was too surprised to react. A moment later, Twilight grabbed her counterpart, lit up her horn and disappeared, leaving the corpse of Luna alone and unsupported.

This was Wallace’s opening. He stood up, horn blazing, and with a slight growl he charged right at Luna.

"The Dead are upon you!" he yelled angrily.

Her head snapped around faster than should have been possible, an audible crack ringing out, and her eyes blazed. A spell lit up, and Springfield found himself being lifted up. His eyes widened in shock and fear as those eyes met his and narrowed in contempt.

"Shit!" Hell Blazer called. "Springfield, hang on!"

"No!" Springfield yelled in return. He found himself staring the abomination in the eyes. A deep croaking began in the thing’s ruined throat.

"I… am… the… dead…!" it said, it’s voice filled with anger… and torment. "I… am… the dead!"

Springfield scowled at her. Suddenly, all fear left him. He knew exactly what he had to do.

"Fine," he said calmly. "Then join me in death!"

His horn lit up, a blazing, fiery light. He closed his eyes. images of his family, long gone, filled his mind, even as his horn grew brighter and brighter.

Forgive me, he thought. I’m coming.

There was a bright light.

***

From the outside, it looked rather like this: the blazing light on Springfield’s horn grew larger and brighter, to the point where nopony could bear to look at it. Suddenly, the light seemed to implode in on itself, and there was a loud thoom that rang out. Whatever the light was, it had destroyed the area where Luna and Springfield had been, showering the area in rubble and wreckage. The remaining ponies could only take cover as debris rained from the sky. A moment later, it was over, and Pinkie Pie of all ponies popped her head out from cover first, putting down a bright yellow umbrella she had grabbed from nowhere.

"Ok!" she called, sounding oddly cheerful. "I think it’s over!"

Everypony else slowly stepped out from cover, looking to see precisely what had happened. Of Springfield, nothing could be seen save a few scraps of charred uniform covered in bits of red. There was no sign of the corpse of Luna at all.

"Jesus Christ, what the hell did he do?!" Hell Blazer asked, eyes wide in shock and horror.

"Some sort of destructive spell," the Doctor theorised, the old pony dusting his jacket off with a slight frown. "I’d heard of such spells being used as suicide attacks before, but I can’t say I’d ever encountered one being used in the flesh."

"He… killed himself?!" Rarity asked, looking sick at the very notion of such an act. "To destroy Luna?"

"Maybe he thought it’d be the best way ta stop her," Applejack pondered morosely. "‘Sides, can’t imagine it was very nice bein’ him."

"No," Hell Blazer said quietly. "Being a Convie… a Converted… isn’t very nice at all, and I’ve still got an intact soul to my name. God knows what he went through."

"We’ll never know now," Rarity murmured.

There was a long pause as the ponies took stock of what they had just witnessed. for Hell Blazer and the Doctor, this was almost normal. They had seen things just as horrible as this before; much as they didn’t enjoy it, it wasn’t shocking. But to the ponies who had come from another Equestria, this was yet another thing they had never seen the like of before.

"Poor Springfield," Fluttershy said quietly.

Hell Blazer sighed and shook his head. Then he frowned as a loud crack reverberated through the sky, before looking up to see what had made the noise - and he blinked in shock. A figure was falling from the sky - a figure in archaic plate armour, holding a massive greatsword…

"David!" Hell Blazer yelled, eyes widening in horror. The others looked up too, and some of them gasped in horror.

"Is that Elliot?" Rainbow asked, looking horrified. "Did Solamina hit him with something?!"

"Fuck!" Hell Blazer swore. Before anypony could stop him, he was running in the direction of the falling figure, galloping as fast as his small pony legs could carry him.

"Hell Blazer, wait!" Rarity called after him, but he was already gone.

"We should go after him," Rainbow said urgently. "If Elliot’s been hurt he’ll need our help!"

"Agreed," Applejack said, moving to follow Hell Blazer.

Suddenly, there was a deep, ominous rumbling beneath their feet.

"What the buck?" Rainbow swore. "What is this?!"

And then the ground exploded. A battered, bloody and winged creature emerged from a shower of rubble, a horn blazing in fury, a terrible wailing escaping from its mouth.

"Oh no…" Fluttershy murmured. "She’s still here!"

And the corpse of Princess Luna screamed...

***

Sol Invictus’ stand, Canterlot.

Ten minutes earlier.

True Grit dodged one charging Militia-pony’s charge, lashing out with his bayonet and stabbing his opponent in the side. Behind him, he could hear Lyra yelling as she fired off spell after spell.

The clash of Militia and Night Guard had been brutal: armour had been crumpled and rent by spears and blades, bodies had been crushed beneath hooves, and spells had flown hither and thither, fired into the swirling melee that spilled across the courtyard.

Near the Militia lines, the burning wreckage of the Solar Idols blazed on, the magical fire not quenched by the destruction of its hosts. If anything, it had become more fierce, casting a heat like the fires of hell itself across the courtyard and making even those farthest from the fire sweat. Many of the surviving Dead Men had torn their coats and gas masks off and were firing their guns at the Militia lines with reckless abandon, inspired by the sacrifice of their leader. From elsewhere, BDF troopers were being drawn to the battle, fighting Royal Guard, Eclipse Guard and Militia in brutal short-range gun/magic fights that caused horrendous casualties.

And at the centre of it all were the Night Guard themselves, fighting against the core retinue of Sol Invictus and the elite of the Militia.

"Grit!" Lyra called out. "Get down!"

On instinct, True Grit ducked, to see a spear sail over his head. Lyra’s horn blazed, and a Pegasus who had been strafing the battlefield took a hit and was sent spinning into a wall.

"Thanks!" Grit said to Lyra breathlessly, before sending another spell off himself at a Militia pony charging at him.

Another Pegasus was shot down by sniper fire coming from a nearby building, and smashed into a group of fighting Night Guard and Militia, knocking several of them to the ground. The Militia were poorly trained and seemed more like a mob than an army, but the mob was easily several hundred strong: as always, the Equestrian army could afford to take horrendous losses.

True Grit sent a concussive explosion spell at a group of about ten Militia behind rubble near the edge of the throng. The spell destroyed their cover, killing several and scattering the rest, and Grit saw his chance.

"Come on!" he yelled at the ponies behind him. Lyra and two others followed him. The remaining Milia ponies managed to rally themselves just as Grit reached them, but Grit almost immediately knocked one over, wrestling him to the ground before smashing his head in. Behind him, Lyra hit another with a burning spell. One of their comrades took a spear to the chest, but the other lashed out with a bayonet, avenging the stallion. Unfortunately, another Militia pony managed to kock her to the ground, before stamping on her throat.

"Bucker!" True Grit swore as the mare gurgled, blood welling through her ruined throat. He sent another concussive spell out, this time directly at the offending stallion. The resultant impact was so loud that, for a moment, True Grit could hear nothing but a loud ringing that deafened him for a moment. He blinked and looked around, seeing Lyra looking up at the sky. She was gaping in horror, as though shocked and horrified by something. Frowning, dazed and confused, True Grit looked up in the direction she was. His frown disappeared, replaced by wide, shocked eyes.

An armoured figure was falling from the sky - and an armoured Alicorn was following.

"Is that… Elliot?" True Grit tried to say, but his hearing still hadn’t cleared up and he had the horrible feeling he’d failed to modulate his voice properly.

He tried to look back to Lyra, only to see her racing off in the direction the armoured figure had been falling. Shaking his head to try and clear the noise out of it, Grit followed as fast as he could - he didn’t know if they could help Elliot but frankly he didn’t care.

The man was a good person, a friend - and he wasn’t letting him, or Lyra, face Solamina alone.

***

Across the courtyard, death was king. Dead Men survivors had rallied around their banner and were firing at any Equestrian reinforcements that were attempting to get into the melee. Eclipse Guard and Royal Guard remnants were pushing in from other points in the city, but the fields of fire that the Dead Men had set up had turned those narrow streets into body-choked killing grounds, Unicorn spells and billets flying hither and thither, faster than thought, thicker than rain.

In the centre of the courtyard, the Night Guard and Sol Invictus' Militia followers clashed. Spears stabbed, blades sliced, spells burned and froze, rended and destroyed, and ponies died. And at the heart of the swirling melee, Prince Blueblood was at once more terrified than he had ever been and far, far more alive.

He knew he was as likely to die in this chaotic, brutal melee as anyone else, but he didn’t care. He had no privilege above his fellow pony, he had no special protection, and he loved every second. For the first time in his life, he was making a difference to the world, a real, positive difference.

"Forward!" he yelled to the Night Guard all around him. "Push forward!"

There was a yell of assent as the Night Guard surged forward, pushing close to Sol Invictus’ banner itself as it fluttered in the sky. There was a charge on the air, a charge like no kind of magic Blueblood knew (and if he was being immodest, he knew quite a bit). Today they might actually win. Today, they would get their home back!

And then he stepped forward from the throng. Sol Invictus himself, armoured and golden, his red mane billowing as he moved with purpose. There was a sudden lull in the fighting as the two leaders squared off against one another.

"Traitor!" he called toward Blueblood. "You have come to defile the city of a Goddess!"

"And you're a human who abandoned his people," Blueblood returned, scowling. "I know what Solamina has done! I was here for it!" He paused. "I helped her do some of it."

"Your treasonous words hold no sway with the faithful, heretic!" Invictus screamed, and the Converted behind him cheered. "There is but one chance for you! Repent your sins, cast down your weapons, and beg for the mercy of Her Glorious Majesty!"

"Repent?!" Blueblood yelled, and the Night Guard behind him jeered at Invictus. "Repent?!"

"Solamina should repent!" Blueblood heard Dinky yell, her tone furious. "Repent for the Night Guard! For the Converted! For the deaths of thousands of ponies, billions of humans! For Gilead and the PER and all the atrocities from her Barrier! For London, Leeds, Hull, Whitby, Manchester! For Luna, Lyra Heartstrings, Ever Stern, Babs Seed - my mother!"

“She should repent for destroying the good name of a pony who did more good for our kind than anypony else ever has and ever will,” Blueblood added, now speaking quietly, more dangerously than ever. “Celestia is as much a victim of what Solamina has become as anypony.”

"Silence!" Sol Invictus snarled. "You are traitors, heretics! You deserve nothing but contempt and destruction!"

He snorted, hoofing at the ground in the universal pony gesture for preparing for conflict. Blueblood did the same.

"I will kill the traitor personally!" Sol Invictus yelled to his Converted followers. "No one interfere!"

"Funny!" Blueblood said, loud enough for both parties to hear. "I was about to say the same thing!"

There was a brief pause as the two glared at one another, and then they charged...

***

Former ERAS Interdiction.

Errant Flight dodged another spear, and - with effort - managed to force his wrist blade into the chest of his enemy. He stared into the dying eyes of the pony for a moment, leaning heavily on the corpse to give himself a moment's support, before pulling back, staggering slightly.

His injury was beginning to take a toll on him: he could feel himself starting to lose consciousness. Still, he couldn’t stop now - they were almost to the bridge.

“Sir?” Fell Spear asked. “Are you alright?”

“I’m bleeding out,” Errant replied conversationally. “Don’t really have time to stop, though, do we?”

“Sir,” Fell Spear said, his tone full of foreboding, but then another group of Royal Guards charged from a doorway, and he was in amongst them, fighting. Errant pushed himself forward and stabbed another Guard, before throwing the corpse into another, who was knocked to the ground. He stabbed the Guard while he was down, blocked another blow (barely) and kicked out, sending the last Guard away.

Fell Spear dealt a fatal blow to his last opponent, the stallion still efficient and quick. He looked up at Errant.

“Bridge is dead ahead,” he said quietly. “Are you…?”

“Let’s just do this,” Errant said, drawing upon his last reserves of strength.

The two of them headed for the bridge door. Fell Spear turned to Errant, who nodded, trying his best to keep himself up. A moment later, they burst onto the bridge. A Lieutenant in Guard armour - most likely Soft Song - was stood by the wheel, and four more Guards were left in the room. Looks of surprise were frozen on their faces. The mere idea that two ponies had fought their way to the bridge through every Guardspony that had been sent their way was enough to leave them stunned for a second.

That second gave Errant Flight and Fell Spear the time they needed.

Fell Spear immediately leapt up onto a table, dashed across it and jumped at the Royal Guard Lieutenant with a yell, leaving the Guards for Errant. He sighed, and stabbed the first one, before using the body as a shield from the charge of the second one. He pushed forward, knocking the Guard over, where he pushed the body of his late comrade off as Errant dueled another Guard, managing with effort to slash the pony’s throat.

The Guard stood up, just in time for Errant to buck him in the face. He stumbled backwards, stunned, as the last Guard charged Errant, who blocked his opening attack, knocking the spear away, before stabbing him through his chest armour with effort. Breathing heavily, he pushed the corpse off of his blade and turned to the last, stunned Guard with a sigh of exertion. The Guard righted himself, before scowling at him.

“Traitor!” he yelled. “I’ll kill you!”

“Get in line,” Errant muttered. The Guard charged, but Errant sidestepped him and stabbed him in the back of the throat as he ran, before stumbling over the corpse as he tried to retract his blade.

Not long now, Errant - best make it count, the Ditzy in his head said.

“Gotcha,” he murmured. He turned to look at Fell Spear - and swore.

Soft Song hadn’t sounded like he was competent, but how ponies sounded was often deceiving, and unfortunately for Fell Spear, Soft Song was fresh and energised, whereas Spear, though a better fighter, was tired from fighting his way through half the Guards on this zeppelin. Thus, Fell Spear was outmatched just enough that Song was able to batter past his blocks and impale him on a spear.

Errant growled. He had lost enough ponies. This was the end of his rope. He spread his wings, grabbing the corpse of the last Guard as he did so, and as Soft song turned to look at him, he leapt forward, the momentum from pushing himself into the air throwing the Guard’s body right at Soft Song, knocking him to the ground. Errant landed right near him and, with the last of his strength, stabbed him in the throat.

“That…” he said angrily, panting from this latest exertion, “was for my friend.”

Song’s eyes were wide with horror as he choked on his own blood, and then he stilled. Errant slumped to the ground, drained. He looked up at the window, frowning.

“Hello? Hello?" he heard a small, tinny voice say. He frowned, before turning almost lazily to Fell Spear, grabbing his comm, and putting it in his own ear. “This is Grey Two to Grey Six, are you there?”

“Dream Flyer?” Errant said tiredly. “This is Errant… Spear’s dead. Bridge is… bridge is secure…”

His eyes looked out at the battle raging in the sky, and his heart sank. He could see, in the distance, a giant, undecorated but unmistakable shape moving toward the battle, surrounded by swarms of ponies in blue uniforms.

“We have… we have heavy incoming…” he said, trying to form the words. Even as he did so, though, something happened that he would never have expected.

The Zeppelin turned to its left, exposing it’s undecorated side. The golden balloon had been hastily scrawled on, as though whoever had done it had been in a hurry, and the message was now exposed to everypony and everyone in the sky.

Buck Solamina.

Looks like the Wonderbolts finally pulled their heads from their plots, Lightning Dust’s voice said, sounding as though she approved. Errant boggled, but then he grinned too.

“Sons of bitches,” he said quietly, feeling himself slip. “Dream Flyer…? We have heavy… friendly… incoming…”

He grinned, even as he felt consciousness leave him for the last time. The last thing he thought he heard was a familiar voice.

You did good Grey Four, the voice of Ditzy Doo said. You did good.

***

In the sky above Canterlot, the super-Zeppelin - nobody wanted to give it it’s original name at the moment - came without fanfare, but its effect was felt immediately. The Wonderbolts, many of them fresh from the fighting in Cloudsdale, swarmed the remaining flyers and zeppelins of the Solaminan forces.

A few gunships took potshots at the approaching leviathan before realising what was scrawled across the gasbag and what the super-Zeppelin was training its guns at. The attacks did nothing anyway, as enchantments woven into the superstructure simply shrugged off the missiles and gunfire.

On the bridge of the super-Zeppelin - called Haughty’s Revenge by Quill Tip, the stallion who’d taken command of the motley crew of docile Converted and eager (if unskilled) civilians - Quill Tip watched as the zeppelin fired newly repowered and repaired weapons at nearby Solaminan zeppelins, a look on his face of mixed sorrow and pride.

Zeppelins erupted into flames as magical and alchemical shots ripped through their gasbags and blew the gondolas to splinters. Guardsponies threw themselves from the collapsing wreckages, many of them burning as they struggled to extinguish flames that would not go out. Regiments of Guardsponies were blown apart wherever they flew the flag of the Empire or were otherwise overwhelmed by great mobs of enraged Wonderbolts and civilians from Cloudsdale.

“Your great work is fighting for the right side, Haughty,” he murmured to himself. “Wish you could have seen it.”

With the power of the Zeppelin and the force of the Wonderbolts, the Solaminan forces broke, retreating from the new forces. The battle in the sky was won.

Now, all that was left was the city itself.

***

Elsewhere in Canterlot.

Twilight coughed as she pulled herself to her feet. She had teleported herself and her counterpart as far away from the corpse of Luna and her friend as as she possibly could, in hopes that maybe - just maybe - it would be enough to give them breathing room. Now, stood in a narrow street she didn't recognise, she breathed a sigh of relief, glad that she had succeeded. Still, the effort had drained her somewhat. She looked around briefly, trying to find where her insane counterpart was.

"Surprise, whorse!" a harsh yell rang out, and a spell hit Twilight in the side, knocking her to the ground. She struggled to get up as her counterpart appeared, a furious expression on her face.

"You little..." Sparkle hissed, her horn glowing. She shot another spell at Twilight, who put up a shield just in time. "I have lost everything in this war thanks to those humans, and you dare come here! come from a world where none of that has happened, and you think you have the right to judge me?!"

She shot another spell at Twilight, but by now she had pulled herself to her feet and was able to make a steadier shield. She held it, narrowing her eyes at Commander Sparkle.

"You waged a war of genocide," she said angrily. "You helped murder millions, enslave billions!"

She fired her own spell at Sparkle, who blocked it almost lazily before retaliating with another. Twilight grunted from the effort of blocking the shot.

"What I did, I did for friendship. For the love of my friends, my country and my Empress. There's no point in debating," Sparkle said tiredly, her eyes filled with emotions Twilight never wanted to feel: emptiness, despair, and rage - overpowering rage. "You've come to kill my Empress, my mentor and my friend. I'm going to kill you first."

She charged, and rammed into Twilight's side. Twilight, winded, fell backwards, but managed to use her opponent's momentum to vault her directly over her, where she slammed into a wall. Twilight got to her feet, charging her own attack spell, but Sparkle was too quick, using her horn to create a shock wave that knocked Twilight over again.

"You're no match for me!" Sparkle yelled, approaching Twilight with a grin, a deadly spell building on her horn. "Now... die!"

Before she could use the spell however, Twilight's dagger leapt from its sheath and slashed her across her front. Twilight sat up quickly, a spell darting from her horn and smashing into Sparkle, sending her spinning away.

“You first,” Twilight hissed, before going back on the attack.

***

Canterlot Palace.

"Huh. Funnily enough, this is not how I imagined him ending up."

"Of course it’s not."

"This is a terrible ending. Such a downer."

"Weren’t you the one who wanted -?"

"Ahem. That is different."

"Anyway, point stands - this is dark."

"Maybe if we do something about it…"

"Not needed, fellas. Just watch."

"Are you sure about that?"

"This isn’t how this is supposed to end, you know that…"

"Of course you know that."

"I mean this was all your idea in the first place."

"I remind you, a lot of this stuff happened entirely accidentally, nothing to do with me - and you two did a lot of it too."

"Yes, but it’s still your tale. You just let us work in it."

"Yes. True. But…"

"So maybe you should intervene?"

"Maybe probably."

"Almost certainly."

"Guys! You just have to trust me, you two. Everything’s going exactly how it should be."

"If you say so. Oh look - I think he’s waking up..."

The Avatar groaned slightly as he opened his eyes. For a moment, he thought he saw three figures standing above him, but then he blinked and he could see only one. He couldn’t make out the figure, except that it was human and seemed to be wearing a coat. For a moment, it seemed as though the figure was holding out a hand, and blindly he reached out to grab it.

"There we go," the voice said quietly. "Back on your feet. You’ve a destiny to fulfill, my friend, and you’re not going to do it lying down."

The Avatar blinked, frowning. He was stood up, but there was no one else there. He was in a dark room, the only light from outside being the hole in the roof he had made.

He felt terrible, but he was alive. He closed his eyes, trying to heal himself, but the magic just hurt him more, making him cough. He used Excalibur as a crutch to keep himself from falling, and growled slightly at his own weakness. He concentrated again, focusing hard, and this time he managed to use the magic to heal himself, though it took a lot of energy. Chances were, he wouldn’t be flying about again any time - which might end up being a problem…

He frowned. There were other beings in this room - he could vaguely make out the silhouettes of ponies. He raised Excalibur, and a small light shone, and then he could see them. They were definitely ponies, and they were standing… but they weren’t moving. For a moment, he thought they were statues… and then a series of magical candles sparked and ignited, dousing the room in cold blue light, and he could finally make out the figures.

There were dozens of them, pale eyed, each armoured in cold steel armour, blank faced and all armed to the teeth. Unicorns, Pegasi, Earth Ponies… and people. Human beings - Knights of Albion and soldiers of the BDF and Dead Men and even those who must have once been civilians. Ten, twenty, thirty… dozens of humans, dozens of ponies, all of them the same in one respect.

They were dead. All of them.

The bodies were preserved by some dark magic, but they were bloodless and stiff and cold, with many covered in injuries ranging from burns to rot damage, with holes in their bodies that the Avatar could see through. They hung from the ceiling, naked and covered in long coagulated blood, with hooks and other apparatus holding them up like macabre marionettes. By all rights, this grotesquery shouldn’t have been able to stand, so grievous were their injuries. They shouldn’t have even held together, simply falling into piles of severed limbs and meat, but whatever it was that preserved them had evidently kept them from collapsing on themselves. They were stood, row upon row… dozens… maybe hundreds… unmoving, unthinking.

"What devilry is this…?" the Avatar murmured, eyes wide, as the bodies of the dead surrounded him. "What have you done, Tyrant?"

"Do you like them?" a voice asked. The Avatar spun around, Excalibur raised to defend himself, but a bolt of magic slammed into him, driving him through another wall - and several of the corpses, their bodies splattering all over him.

He now found himself stood in a courtyard of the palace, white walls surrounding a small botanical garden. He scowled as he wiped bits of corpse off of himself, and stood up, raising Excalibur once again.

"Are you about done picking yourself up, little man?" that cold, cruel voice asked, a tinge of dark humour in its tone. The Avatar turned, and narrowed his eyes in contempt at Solamina, who was stood on top of a wall, wings flared in triumph.

"What did you do, Tyrant?" he asked, trying to restrain himself from shouting. "What was the point of that menagerie of mockery in there?!"

"Is it not obvious?" Solamina replied haughtily, before laughing. "None may leave the service of the Eternal Sun until they are given my permission to do so."

"And what does that mean?" the Avatar asked.

"Why, have not my servants shown you that death is no barrier to my service?" Solamina asked, her voice tinged still with that dark humour. "Those bodies are an army. My willing servants, warriors for an army that cannot die. Soldiers for the Eternal Guard."

The Avatar felt sick. Necromancy? He had known the Empress condoned such practices, but on this scale… it boggled the mind.

"The Converted willingly offer themselves to me in entirety," Solamina continued. "As do many of the natural born ponies… and those that do not have no choice, those who find themselves jobless, useless to the population, wishing for some money to come their foals way. Your kind were... more difficult to acquire, but there are certain advantages to using the bodies of mankind as well. These bodies were gathered from a hundred battles - Dover and Plymouth, Hull and Leith, Leeds and London, all of them gave us what we wanted."

The bodies. The Avatar cursed when he realised - the bodies from the Illustrious, battered and burned and yet not disposed of. If they were experiment victims, why were the bodies not disposed of? Now it made sense - even after the bodies were used up and left to rot, there was still one more thing the monster needed them for.

"I thought there was no limit to your evil," the Avatar said quietly, his voice a hiss of contempt, "but even I thought you would at least allow the dead their peace."

"They are but the first," Solamina said with a vicious grin. "The first of an army that will make the worlds beyond this one bend the knee to my glory."

The Avatar’s eyes widened in horror at the implication. "No…"

"Did you really think this world and yours would be the end of my ambition, little man?!" Solamina laughed. "You have been to other worlds. I shall go there as well. But where you went in service to others, I go for myself! Where you went as a supplicant, I will go as a conqueror! Where you begged aid, I will take what is mine!"

The Avatar pointed his blade at her, ignoring the pain in his body that had still not entirely abated.

"Your evil goes no further than this place, right here and right now," he said, his tone cold. "I will kill you."

"Ha!" the Tyrant laughed. "Part of me almost wishes I could keep you around, little man. You amuse me with your delusions. Still - it is time to end this game once and for all."

"I’m ready for whatever you have to throw at me, Tyrant," the Avatar replied shortly, lifting Excalibur into a guard position and trying to keep it relatively steady.

"Really?" Solamina asked, now sounding even more amused. "Oh, well I shall have to let somepony else see what they can do."

The Avatar scowled at that, but he knew it couldn’t mean anything good. Drawing upon whatever reserves he had left, he raised Excalibur into a higher guard, awaiting his opponent’s move.

She stood, her horn glowing with power. He braced himself for an attack, but none came - a bolt of purple light shot into the sky instead, exploding into a bright display that, had it not been ominous, would have been beautiful. A horn rang through the sky.

***

Elsewhere in Canterlot.

Twilight quickly generated a shield as her counterpart unleashed another offensive. She scowled.

“Try harder!” she yelled, before throwing an attack spell in reply. “I’m not some defenseless human, and I’m not any old Resistance Unicorn!”

“No, you’re a traitor!” her counterpart replied with a snarl, her own shield dissipating under the force of the attack. “and you’ll get the fate all traitors get in the end - you’re going to -!”

Sparkle was distracted from her diatribe by a purple light and a deep, blaring horn sounding. she looked up, as though she had been struck.

“What?” Twilight said, also looking up. There was a large explosion in the sky, almost like a firework, very similar to the spell that had summoned Luna’s corpse. Except this one was the colour of Twilight’s fur…

She turned to look at her counterpart, but all she saw was the flash of light that heralded a teleportation,

“No!” she yelled. She turned back to the explosion - it must have been over the palace. She snarled and concentrated, before she, too, teleported away.

***

Canterlot Palace Courtyard.

One by one they came. Some of them wore simple purple robes, emblazoned with that damn symbol - the purple star over the sun. Some of them wore ornate armour, the same symbol stamped onto it. Five… ten… twenty… they teleported in, one by one, and moved to surround him, and all the while Solamina watched on, a triumphant expression on her face.

“Am I supposed to be intimidated by numbers, Tyrant?” the Avatar asked, frowning at the ponies. “I have defeated Arch-magi before.”

"You will not be so fortunate this time," Solamina replied, laughing down at him. "You are dying. Your frail human body is nearing its end. You are one light, alone in the darkness."

The Avatar narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on Excalibur as the Arch-magi circled him, all of them apparently preparing to strike.

And then something happened that neither the Avatar or Solamina could have predicted: a clear, strong voice yelled out.

"He is not alone!"

A fireball shot from one corner of the courtyard, smashing into a half dozen of the Arch-magi before they could react, knocking them down, and an Earth Pony in a trenchcoat appeared, standing on a wall with a smirk on his face. Spells lashed out from a small gateway as a green Unicorn stallion fired at the ponies nearest him, and Lyra Heartstrings stood on a rock arrangement, an expression of defiance on her face. The Arch-magi milled in confusion for a moment.

"Need a hand mate?!" Hell Blazer called down from the wall, grinning.

Solamina looked at the three ponies and laughed, a harsh thing that held no warmth and no mirth.

"You three are nothing before my might," she said harshly. "I’ll crush you like insects!"

A spell shot out from her horn, but faster than anything, the Avatar was in front of it, holding up a hand. The energy smashed into him and he scowled.

"You will not touch my friends," he growled. He raised Excalibur and leapt at Solamina, slamming into her and knocking her to the ground. As though this were a cue, one of the Arch-magi turned to her fellows.

"For the Empress!" she yelled. "Magic is might!"

"And we are magic!" her comrades answered, before moving to attack the newcomers, their horns lighting up as exertion and grim anticipation marred their faces.

"Ah buck," True Grit said, eyes wide. Lyra gritted her teeth, her horn glowing as she prepared another spell. Hell Blazer, though, grinned.

"I’m gonna make you wankers wish you’d stayed at home!" he yelled, throwing another fireball at them with a grin.

***

Author's Note

Endgame is coming.

My thanks to Doctor Fluffy, The Void and RoyalPsycho for keeping an eye on this chapter as it progressed, to my readers for their support and to those who've commented and favourited.

An End, Once And For All.

Chapter Fifty Two: An End, Once And For All.

***

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace."
Ecclesiastes 3.

***

Canterlot Palace Courtyard, June 6th, 2030.

It was the last gasp. The Avatar of Albion swung Excalibur with the fury of a man possessed: every step a blow, every blow a step, and every step torture on a body that was about to give out. Every iota of effort he had was focused on fighting, and he was trying to keep his body from giving out by channeling as much of his remaining power to healing the body as he could. The healing magic relieved the pain, but using the power made the pain even worse when it returned, and it always did.

Nonetheless, he could sense an endgame approaching, and incredibly, he could sense an endgame that did not involve his own defeat.

Solamina, somehow, was being forced back on the defensive by his attack, her glaive darting hither and thither, trying its best to hold back the furious attacks of the armoured man as he advanced on her. Now and then, her horn would glow as though she were trying to cast a spell, and yet he would strike out and she could not cast it, allowing it merely to dissipate.

He pressed on, pushing his offensive. He could not give out, not now. He lashed out, clashing with her, and he pressed forward, trying to overbalance her. She stumbled, staggering back, before lashing out with her glaive. He blocked the blow, before riposting, and she barely deflected the blow. He lashed out again - and this time his blade found its mark on her left wing, though she deflected the attack before it could do more than injure the wing.

"Your rhetoric rings hollow, Tyrant," the Avatar said, a vicious smile on his face. "Could it be that you, too, are drained from our battle?"

"Ingrate!" Solamina snarled. "I never tire - and I shall never yield!"

"I wasn't going to ask you to yield, Solamina!" he replied with a growl! before lashing out! his blade only narrowly being blocked by hers. "I was going to separate your miserable head from your shoulders!"

He pushed and she stumbled backwards again, but this time she was too fast, and her horn flared with a spell. He held up Excalibur to block the blast, and growled as he saw his enemy retreating - unable to fly away because of the injury, but still fast.

"No more running," he said, the timbre of his voice gone now that his energy had been so depleted. "This ends now!"

He charged after her, only for a handful of Archmagi to appear. He scowled, and dodged their spells, before bringing Excalibur to bear and unleashing a shockwave of magic that incinerated the impudent ponies. He took a moment to catch his breath, before seeing Solamina run inside a tower. He scowled, following.

***

Hell Blazer threw fireball after fireball at the oncoming Archmagi. These were quite unlike the small, unprepared Guard detail that he and the others had fought earlier in the Canterlot Observatory. These ones were battle-hardened and ready for a fight.

The problem with fighting the Archmagi was that they were covered in defensive runes and enchantments - were they so easy to kill, they would not have the more fearsome reputation. Bullets glanced from their defence, blades could not penetrate them, and even spells were only so effective. It took more fireballs than he had thrown in months to even kill one.

Nearby, he saw Lyra dodging their attacks as she generated shields and fired spells off faster than anypony Hell Blazer had ever seen. He had rarely had the privilege of seeing his Lyra in such a fight, and watching this Lyra fight was an impressive sight, no doubt. Nearby, True Grit was fighting using physical means - though blows that would normally crush a pony's skull were glancing from armour and enchantments, the Archmagi were not frontline warriors but sorcerers: their skill was in magic.

Their spells, though, normally served them in larger fights. This was the key advantage the Resistance ponies had - the Archmagi were slow to cast, favouring power spells that, while certainly deadly, were slow to charge and slow to aim. Against fast moving, single opponents like the two Unicorns and the Converted, none of their power attacks were fast enough, leaving them resorting to using more easily blocked spells and attacks.

Still they were relentless. Hell Blazer stole a glance and saw Lyra battling against another Archmagi. She flung a stone at the Archmagi as he strained to generate enough power to launch a great ball of energy at her. It hit him between the eyes, breaking his concentration and causing the energy to dissipate. Snarling with rage the stallion instead flung a much smaller fireball at her that she barely dodged. Another Archmagi closed in on Lyra, wielding a blade composed of magical energy that circled menacingly around her head. It took the sudden arrival of a haggard True Grit to prevent Lyra from being hit by the blade.

The Archmagi, untrained in this kind of close-quarters combat, struggled to find a means of properly engaging the Resistance ponies and stumbled over themselves in their attempts to fight them. The battle had descended into a brawl.

"Burn!" Hell Blazer heard an enraged voice yell, and he dodged out of the way as a spell shot toward him, charring the ground he had been standing on. A Unicorn mare approached, horn blazing, and he retaliated with a fireball that smashed into her, burning away at her defences. Still, the fire burned out before it could do more than char her armour. She growled.

"I will bucking tear you limb from limb!" she yelled, charging him. Before she could reach him, however, a spell smacked into her side, sending her rolling and tumbling until she smacked into a wall, where she lay still. Hell Blazer glanced up, to see Lyra throwing him a quick salute before returning to the fray. He grinned.

"Right then!" he yelled, turning to more Archmagi as they approached him. "Come and have a go!"

He charged more fireballs and threw them at the nearest enemies, one of the fireballs managing to incinerate its target, the other merely causing the stallion in question to raise a desperate, weak shield. Hell Blazer threw himself at the stallion, hooves flying,

"This!" he yelled angrily as he punched the stallion. "Is! For! My! Fucking! Hands!"

He punched until he heard bones snap, but before he could do anything else he was thrown off the stallion by a concussive spell. He cursed, spitting blood, and quickly getting to his feet, he threw a fireball in the direction of the offending Unicorn, who barely blocked it.

"That's for my sex life!" he yelled. "And this..." he added, throwing another fireball that knocked the pony to the ground, "is for my fucking hair! I miss my hair, you wankers!"

***

Twilight opened her eyes, and found herself in Canterlot Palace once more, this time in a courtyard. She frowned as she heard the sound of battle up ahead, and quickly galloped in that direction. Before she could manage more than a few metres, however, a spell slammed into the ground near her, throwing rock, masonry and dirt into the air in a massive explosion. She raised a shield quickly, her eyes widening as she saw Commander Sparkle charging at her.

"Persistent little bucker, aren't you?!" the enraged Element of Order yelled. "I guess I'll have to kill you good and -"

They were interrupted by a nearby wall exploding, before a body was blasted through it. The hole in the nearby wall exposed at least a good dozen-and-a-half Archmagi fighting Hell Blazer, True Grit and Lyra Heartstrings, spells flying hither and thither like lightning flashes in the sky.

"Commander!" one of the Archmagi yelled. "Help!"

Before Sparkle could move, Twilight dropped her shield and rushed her, knocking her to the ground, at once, two of the Archmagi charged at her, but she quickly threw spells at them, knocking one away and slowing another up in time for Lyra to ram the mare.

"Twilight, hi!" Lyra said breathlessly. "Fun party!"

"Shame Pinkie isn't here," Twilight said in agreement, a slightly manic smile on her face.

Then they returned to the fray: Commander Sparkle, eyes filled with rage, fired a spell off at Twilight, who blocked it. Lyra threw a spell at the insane Element of Order, who deflected it back at the two of them, before firing another of her own. Suddenly, a fireball - no doubt thrown by Hell Blazer - impacted near her.

"Crazy whorse!" Hell Blazer yelled from a nearby rock arrangement he was perched on. "Remember me?!"

Lyra took advantage of the distraction to throw a series of destruction and fire spells, forcing Sparkle on the defensive. Twilight, meanwhile, fired spells off at nearby Archmagi who were coming to the fight, managing to stop three of them and slow another just long enough for True Grit to ram him and smash his head in with his forehooves.

Sparkle snarled in frustration, a shockwave of magic exploding from her horn and knocking Twilight and Lyra over.

"Traitors and scum, all of you!!" she screamed furiously. "I'll kill you all -!"

Another fireball slammed straight into her, throwing her backwards. She, too, was protected by enchantments that protected her from the worst of it, but she was still charred from her, her fur singed and a definite burn appearing on her right flank, covering part of her cutie mark. She scowled, her horn glowing with cold blue energy that seemed to settle into the wound.

"Die!" she said coldly, another spell lashing out toward the ponies. Lyra raised a shield and Twilight quickly bolstered it, but they were both knocked backward by the force of the blow. Another fireball impacted by Sparkle, but she didn't even flinch, and soon Hell Blazer was forced on the defensive as more Archmagi approached his position.

Lyra threw another spell, and it managed to force Sparkle to halt for a moment, but she came on, her eyes promising death. Scowling, Twilight lashed out with her dagger, scoring a mark on her counterpart's face. She lashed out again, but her opponent caught the blade with her own magic, and it twisted in mid-air.

"No more games, broken mirror," she said calmly. "Time to smash you."

***

Streets of Canterlot.

Rarity was the only one of them who could even attempt to erect a defence against the corpse of Luna, but she was hopelessly overmatched. When Twilight and Springfield had been with them, they had been able to hold off the maddened thing that had once been a Diarch of Equestria, but now there was only Rarity. What had already barely been a fight had turned into a maddened scrabble for cover from powerful attacks that vaporised rock and masonry alike.

"What the hay do we do?!" Applejack yelled from behind a rock.

"There's no spell I know that can do anything to her!" Rarity replied, crouched behind cover, the Doctor with her, sonic out as he scanned for any possible weakness that could defeat the undead alicorn. "We have to try and escape!"

"Escape to where?!" Rainbow Dash yelled angrily. "She's an Alicorn - a dead one, but still..."

She was interrupted by another spell causing an explosion near her. Masonry rained down from the sky where it had been thrown twenty metres, smashing into the ground all around them.

"What the buck?!" she swore.

"Some kind of concussive spell," the Doctor called out to her, eyes fixed on his screwdriver. "She's trying to flush us out!"

"We can't get away from her!" Rainbow said angrily. "She'd follow us!"

"There must be some way we can distract her!" Rarity theorised.

"There is," the Doctor said, and before Rarity could stop him he was out, standing in front of the corpse of Luna.

"What are you doin'?!" Applejack called to him.

"Giving you a chance!" the Doctor replied tersely. "There has been enough death! Enough destruction! I've been powerless to stop it before now - but no more!" He held the screwdriver out, a field of energy expanding as he generated a sonic bubble. "Go now, all of you! This is for me!"

Rainbow Dash wasted no time, grabbing Fluttershy and taking off. Loyal though she was, she recognised a sacrifice when she saw it: the Doctor was buying them time, and she would take it. Rarity and Applejack exchanged helpless glances, both uncertain what to do, but they too knew they had little choice, and, as the Doctor struggled to keep the creature contained, they too fled. Pinkie Pie was the last to run, looking totally conflicted at doing so.

And then he was alone.

The creature snapped free of his sonic field, growling at him as he stood alone before it. It moved to stroll past him, but he took a defensive position.

"No!" he said. "You will not pass me, creature. I have stood in the way of mad gods, demons, monsters from a thousand worlds. I have seen madness that makes even your creation seem tame!"

The thing that had once been Luna said nothing, but its horn glowed with magic. The Doctor closed his eyes.

Ditzy's smiling face. Laughter.

"For her," he said, opening his eyes. He charged.

***

Applejack stopped, panting hard. She and Rarity had run as fast as they could from the street where Luna had been.

"I think we got away," she said after a moment.

"Where are the others?" Rarity asked, looking around frantically.

"I... I dunno," Applejack said, looking back the way they came. "I think we've gotten lost."

"And we left the Doctor behind," Rarity added softly. "Oh, I hope he'll be alright..."

"He's a tough ol' pony," Applejack said, though she sounded none too convinced. "He'll be fine."

Rarity gave her a look that told Applejack, in no uncertain terms, that she didn't believe her.

"Come on," she said. "We need to find the others."

They jogged down the street, only to find themselves caught in a crossfire.

It was an intersection. A group of Eclipse Guard were firing spells at a small group of BDF soldiers who were trying to advance further into the city. Though the fight was even, there were definitely more Eclipse Guard than soldiers. Taking cover, Applejack scowled.

"We gotta help somehow," she said quietly.

"Agreed, nominally, but how?" Rarity asked.

"Best bet'd be to have you lay down some spells to suppress their position and then bull-rush 'em," Applejack said, quickly looking the battleground over.

"That might work if I was Twilight," Rarity said quietly, "but I'm not: I can't do spells quickly or powerfully enough to make anypony take cover. I specialise in finesse, remember?"

"Then finesse a hole through one o' their heads, Rare," Applejack said with a grin. Sighing, Rarity moved from her position slightly, her horn glowing, waiting silently.

"Now," Applejack murmured.

Rarity shot a spell off sharply. One of the Eclipse Guard collapsed a hole drilled in his head, and the rest were momentarily shocked. It was all the opening Applejack needed: she got up and charged. Sighing, Rarity charged after her, and she saw the other soldiers following as well, guns firing.

A moment later, they were amongst the Eclipse Guard. Rarity fired a spell off at one of them, knocking him aside. Applejack bucked another in the face, yelling bloody murder as she did so. The Guard fell to the ground, his neck audibly cracking.

It wasn't all going their way though. A BDF soldier was killed by a spell, falling across Rarity's field of vision. Yelling, she charged into the Unicorn that had cast the spell, snarling as she did so. She knocked him to the ground, before hitting him with another spell that tore a hole in his head. His wide eyes stared up at her, and she backed away in horror, narrowly avoiding death at the hooves of another Unicorn Guard.

"Look out below!" a familiar voice called from above.

One of the Eclipse Guards suddenly found himself being jumped on by a certain cyan Pegasus mare. She laughed slightly, before plunging her wrist blades into his shoulders. She vaunted off of him and straight into another duel, knocking a spear away from nearly impaling her and rewarding its owner with a blade to the throat.

"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity said, eyes wide. "You're alright!"

Another Pegasus landed nearby, immediately getting into the fight as well. Fluttershy parried attack after attack, moving fluidly as she did so, lashing out with sharp, precise attacks that took her targets out quickly. A moment later, she had reached her friends.

"Where's Pinkie?!" Rainbow Dash asked with a frown as she blocked another blow.

"Haven't you seen her?!" Rarity said, now feeling even more worried. She threw a spell at an Eclipse Guard, blinding him before Applejack bucked him in the head, breaking his neck.

"Thought she'd be with you!" Rainbow said, scowling.

"Oh," Fluttershy said, as she blocked a few hasty strikes. "I hope she's ok..."

***

Pinkie Pie frowned as she stood by a doorway.

She didn't like leaving the Doctor behind. The old pony was gruff and sometimes a bit of a grumpy pants, but all the same, he was a friend. And friends didn't leave other friends behind.

"Well," she said to herself. "That settles it."

She turned around and ran straight back the way she had come.

***

Sol Invictus' Stand

Prince Blueblood dodged the first stab of Sol Invictus' weapon, a shining golden sword, while swinging his own blade in return. His sword was turned aside by Sol Invictus’ armour, the golden unicorn smirking at him.

All around them, ponies fought: Night Guard and Militia fought and died in a swirling melee. Blueblood's caught a brief glimpse of Dinky smashing a Militia pony's head into the dirt, a vicious grin on her face, before he was forced to bring his attention back to Sol Invictus.

“You,” the Converted agitator began as they fought, his voice loud and exultant with a noticeable undertone of anger. “You were born of this blessed land, born of a divine lineage and blessed with the privileges of royalty, which you enjoyed with impunity. You were granted the responsibilities to guide this nation. You led it in the earliest years of the glorious crusade.” With every word he spoke his voice became more deranged and angry. Slowly he and Blueblood circled around one another, their blades risen in a guard stance.

“And yet you cast it all aside for what? To consort with demons? To commit heresy? To turn aside the love and wisdom of her glorious majesty?” Every word was spat out as Sol Invictus’ loathing became more and more apparent.

“I did it because I finally realised what was right,” Blueblood shouted as he charged at Sol Invictus, his sword raised. It clashed with Sol Invictus; upraised blade and Blueblood had to suddenly backpedal to avoid the heavy banner that had been swung at him, the heavy metal pole just missing his head. “I was spoilt,” he said as he drew back his sword for another fight. “I lived a cushy life and let other ponies keep me comfortable whilst they worked constantly, often just to survive.” His blade barely managed to turn aside a heavy blow from Sol Invictus whose expression was becoming increasingly manic. “I turned a blind eye to my aunt whilst she lost her mind. I ignored her when she killed Princess Luna. I supported her when she slaughtered the Night Guard and helped propagate a lie. I buried my head in the sand every time I or somepony else thought to question her. Because it was easy. Oh, it’s easy to just sit back, enjoy your luxury, think none of it impacts you. And because on some level, I was afraid.”

Blueblood drew back from another incoming blow, dodging Sol Invictus and then slamming the pommel of his own sword onto Sol Invictus’ horn. The gold unicorn screamed in pain and barely struggled to keep his magical grip on his sword and banner.

“But I was shown what had really happened! I learnt what Solamina had done to everypony in Equestria and to the humans on Earth. I had my eyes opened and I realised that what was happening, what is happening, is wrong!” He brought his sword around again in a short arc towards Sol Invictus’ neck. It was blocked by the banner but a small portion of the flag attached to it fell away as the blade cut through the cloth.

Sol Invictus’ eyes widened at the damage that had been done to the sacred banner of the Solaminan Empire. A feral scream burst from his throat as he charged at the prince, his sword spinning rapidly as he rained blows down on Blueblood that he struggled to turn aside. Whilst the battle still raged around them many combatants had stopped to watch the savage duel between the two unicorns.

“You dare to defile a sacred icon of her Majesty!" the Converted yelled. "You dare to spout such heresies against her will! And you dare to slander her name! You are an apostate! You are unworthy of your title! You are unworthy of forgiveness! You are unworthy of living!”

The last word was screamed by Sol Invictus as he beat against Blueblood’s wavering guard with all of his might, forcing Blueblood to constantly step back as he was forced on the defensive. Invictus was good, no doubt. Blueblood, though, was fighting for the freedom of his country, and he was determined not to fail.

***

Canterlot: High Tower.

He burst through another door of the tower, edging ever closer to his prey. He pushed the last of his energy into the run, desperate to catch her. There was nothing that would stand in his way - those few Guards in this tower who tried were cut down without mercy.

He ran up another set of stairs, quickly finding himself looking down a long corridor. He dashed down it, gripping Excalibur tightly.

Suddenly, he found himself on what looked like a bridge. From the door he had burst out it led across a gaping chasm between this tower and another. And on this bridge stood Solamina, also panting from exertion, wings flared in challenge, one dripping blood. Her glaive was held forward, pointed at him.

"Astra Solamina," he said, walking forward slowly, tensing his muscles ready for this fight.

"Little man," the Alicorn began, her voice lacking the timbre from before. She frowned. "No. Avatar of Albion. Let us be fair."

The Avatar raised an eyebrow at this, but she wasn't finished.

"You and I have been matched for this entire fight," she said quietly. "We have thrown attacks at one another that would destroy armies, and yet we are both still here. I recognise you as a worthy foe."

"And I you," he replied warily. "Be aware, Tyrant. Words will not avail where deeds must. You cannot talk your way out of your demise."

"Nor would I want to try and cheat you of your prize," Solamina said, and now she grinned again. "But I am Astra Solamina Maxima. When I was Celestia, I ended the madnesses of Discord, I tore down the fortresses of Sombra. I fought the mad Unicorn Divine Right at the height of the unification war. I defended Equestria from Gellert the mad of the Griffon Empire. I have led armies for over ten thousand years, even without the might granted me by the power I wield, the mirror of your own." She paused. "What are you without the Avatar of Albion?"

The Avatar was silent for a moment, and then he put his hand behind his back, drawing a blade from a sheath that was not the Avatar's, but David Elliot's. The words 'speed-killer' could be seen emblazoned on the weapon.

"I am a man who has led other men in battle," he said slowly. "I have fought the best your Empire has created in its madness, and I have survived. I have lost friends, comrades, family." He paused. "My name is David Elliot. I am the Avatar of Albion - the representative of a world that has lost everything to you. And in their name, justice will no longer be denied."

”Justice?” Solamina spat in return. “You speak of justice to me? What justice could you possibly bring to bear against me? The justice of a conquered world? A dying race? A crippled nation? Your justice is meaningless. What is justice?” she sneered at him, a look of total contempt on her face. “Justice is decided by the strongest,” she continued without pause. “The strong are those who survive. The strong are those who win. What you would consider evil means nothing to a truly superior being, and there is little that is superior to me. You and your justice are certainly not amongst that number.” Solamina paused, her breathing heavy and her eyes filling with fury.

"Your madness has blinded you," the Avatar said in reply. "We have fought your armies for six years. For six years you have thrown everything you had at us, and yet after six years, we are still here!" He kept Excalibur up. "You are not the strongest. You are weak: you justify your weakness by destroying the lives of others, but like all evil, you can only destroy and attack that which you do not understand, or that which you fear."

"You think I fear you?" Solamina asked, narrowing her eyes.

"I think fear is the only thing you have left," the Avatar replied. "It is all you can engender, and it is all you can feel. And now you and the evil you have created with your fear shall end."

Solamina scowled, and her blade span in readiness. The Avatar tensed, raising Excalibur on one hand while keeping 'speed-killer' in the other hand.

She charged at him.

The first blow was a strong overhead that he blocked with Excalibur. He lashed out with 'speed-killer', and Solamina jumped backwards to dodge the blow, allowing him to slash at her with Excalibur. She parried the blow and riposted, but he dodged it and hacked downwards, only for her to block that blow too.

The two of them struggled for a moment, before she pushed, and he stumbled backward. He held Excalibur forward in order to ward his enemy off, but she charged forward, batting Excalibur to one side and bringing down another overhead. Desperately, the Avatar brought 'speed-killer' up, and though the bayonet was knocked out of his hand, it blocked the blow. He curled his now-free hand into a fist and punched Solamina across the jaw, and she stumbled again.

He gripped Excalibur with two hands and launched a series of hacks and slashes, and Solamina was forced back onto the defensive. She blocked blow after blow, until he lashed out with one final overhead hack that broke her glaive in two with a metallic crack. Snarling, she discarded the extended haft, and swung the upper half to bear like a sword. He blocked the hasty strike, spinning with the momentum to deliver a counter low on her opposite side that she blocked just as easily.

She swung the weapon again in a wide arc, and he blocked the ill-aimed blow, before stabbing forward. Fast as lightning, though, she spun the broken glaive back again, knocking the stab aside. He turned with the blow, pirouetting and bringing Excalibur down in another high overhead, which she blocked. As she did so, however, he kicked out, sending her stumbling back, and he lashed out at her as she did so, managing to catch her cheek.

Growling, she charged at him, swinging her broken weapon, but he managed to block her hasty blows. He turned aside one hasty slashing attack, before hitting her in the face with the pommel of Excalibur, a grin on his face. He held up a hand and, with a thought, summoned ‘speed-killer’ back to his hand. Holding the two blades in a guard stance, he beckoned Solamina forward.

"You insect!" she yelled, infuriated. Her horn flared angrily, the shadow that she had wielded earlier returning, and she brought her truncated glaive down in an overhead. Quickly, he raised Excalibur to block it, but this time the attack had power behind it, and he slowly sank to his knees.

"So this is how it ends for you, fool!" she said, grinning triumphantly. "Die now, knowing that your little island will burn before my power!"

He growled.

"No!" he said, pushing back, eyes closed from exertion. "Not... like... this!"

He pushed upward with all of his might, channeling the very last of the energy he possessed into the effort, sending Solamina stumbling backward. A moment later, he lashed out blindly, feeling the weapon impact against something. The ringing of metal striking metal filled his ears and then it gave way. His sword continued its arc as Elliot struggled to put his remaining strength into his final blow. He opened his eyes, and Solamina reared over him, eyes wide and filled with fire. Almost instinctively, he stabbed forward with ‘speed-killer’...

There was a massive explosion of energy, darkness wreathing the body of Solamina like a living cloak, and the Avatar was thrown backward into a wall by the sheer force of it. Groaning, he looked at where Solamina was stood, but he could only see darkness, and within it, the silhouette of an Alicorn, wings flared in challenge, mighty and resplendent...

He stood to his feet, bringing Excalibur back to a guard stance as he did so, and braced himself, closing his eyes and waiting for the inevitable returning blow... but no blow came.

He opened his eyes and blinked in shock.

Solamina was standing before him, eyes wide with shock, her wings spread but shaking and beginning to droop. A wide, ragged gash had opened up along her body, from shoulder to leg, and ‘speed-killer’ was embedded in her chest. She looked down, then looked up at him.

"Oh," she said softly, and then she collapsed.

Frowning, suspecting some trick, the Avatar walked over to her, gripping Excalibur tightly. He stood over her, looking her in the eyes. He could see the life leaving them, but she was still able to meet his gaze. And suddenly, he understood: the Darkness was banished. This Alicorn that lay before him, dying... this was Celestia, freed - freed for the first time, perhaps, in many years. Her eyes were wide open and filled with a look of fear but also one of hope.

"T-t-thank... you..." she said softly, choking on the words, and then she was still.

He blinked, not sure how to react. After six years, after billions of deaths, after all the horrors he had seen...

It was over.

***

Canterlot Palace Courtyard

Five minutes earlier...

Hell Blazer growled, throwing another spell out at the Archmagi around him.

"Fuck!" he swore. There were too many of them, all around him. Though he was throwing fireballs faster than he had ever done so before, literally feeling like he was scalding himself as he did so, he still knew that he was not causing enough damage. Against anypony but the Archmagi maybe, but they were too defended, their skill and equipment too advanced, too powerful.

"Fuck you!" he swore, throwing another ball and managing to incinerate half of an Archmagi who was moving in on his left. He dodged a spell thrown from another, before galloping away, dodging more. He took cover behind a rock, before throwing another spell.

"Dammit, Elliot, hurry up and kill the bitch!" he muttered to himself. "We need help down here!"

***

Twilight grunted as another spell smashed into her shield. She retaliated with a concussive spell that destroyed a chunk of masonry, but the vast majority of the force of the spell was deflected by the shield her counterpart had brought up. The Commander responded with another spell, this one a continuous beam of energy. Twilight brought up another shield, trying desperately to hold it up.

Nearby, she saw Hell Blazer throwing fireballs, dodging spells thrown from the half-dozen Archmagi surrounding him. Lyra and True Grit were back to back, alternating shields and offensive spells but slowly being hemmed in.

This was it.

Twilight growled. If this was going to be her death, she would fight to the last. And she would definitely kill this whorse.

She pushed her shield outward like a shockwave, knocking her opponent off balance, and rushed her, horn blazing with the most destructive spell she knew. Faster than she could react, though, her counterpart recovered and threw a spell at her, knocking her off of her feet.

Stunned, Twilight could only watch as the mare approached her, limping slightly. She smiled, a crazed rictus.

"It's time to end this," Commander Sparkle hissed. Her horn glowed, and Twilight glared defiantly at her counterpart, meeting death with as much dignity as she could manage. And then something happened she did not expect.

Her counterpart's expression softened from rage to confusion, the spell dissipating. A moment later, the confusion turned to wide-eyed shock. A moment after that, it turned into horror. She stepped back from her counterpart, shaking her head, and then she sank back and slumped to the ground, tears brimming.

"... what?" Twilight said, frowning. "I don't understand..."

She stood up, and turned to look around the courtyard. Everywhere she looked, ponies were milling in confusion, the Resistance fighters forgotten. Hell Blazer appeared from behind his cover, and blinked in shock.

"What happened?" he called out. "Why the fuck have they all stopped?"

***

Plymouth, England

To Jacob Levy the sound of explosions and gunfire had become a constant in his life. He had accepted it the minute he chose to become PER, accepted it the moment he chose to stay human, to fight the BDF and Equestrian Resistance in Britain instead of simply taking the easy way out. There were days when he wished that he, too, could take that option.

I stay human so that I can let others become better, he reminded himself sternly. Besides which, Levy - salvation is for other kinds of men.

He could hear gunfire in the distance: probably the BDF soldiers from nearby bases fighting with the PER troops and Converted Militia still out there. He had lost a lot of friends during this war, and he was sure he’d lose more before the end.

“Excuse me, Mr Levy?” Silver Morning, a Converted Militia pony asked - Morning was one of the ponies on the ground who served as a liaison.

“What’s up, Morning?” he asked conversationally.

“Commander Freedom Heart reports that he’s unfortunately been delayed,” the Converted said, sounding unhappy. “He says that you should try to pull your forces back.”

“Pull back to where exactly?” Levy asked with a slight frown.

“I’m afraid he wasn’t very specific, sir,” Morning said sorrowfully. “If you like, I could make an effort to…”

Silver Morning trailed off, his eyes suddenly widening. He stammered slightly, before falling utterly silent.

“Silver Morning?” Levy asked, frowning at the Converted.

In response, Silver Morning screamed. Levy jumped, shocked by the sudden outburst of noise.

“Silver Morning!” he said, shocked, “what’s -?!”

“No!” the Converted yelled. “No, no, no! Not me! This is not me! Not me! Never again! Can’t ever no never why no why how no…!”

Levy slapped him across the face, and the Converted quieted down, though he was still hyperventilating.

“What’s wrong?!” Levy asked.

Silver Morning fixed Jacob Levy with a gaze that the PER man would remember for the rest of his life. It was a gaze filled with despair and horror. When he spoke, it was only one word, but it was a response Levy would never forget. He would carry the dead tone and the horrified gaze with him until his grave.

“Me.”

***

Sol Invictus' Stand

It came suddenly.

One moment, Blueblood was blocking a particularly brutal assault from Sol Invictus, who was attacking again and again, desperate to break through his guard - and the next moment he was standing in the centre of a sudden, ringing silence, and nopony was moving at all.

The Converted had stopped moving - most of them were not even looking at the Night Guard they had been fighting anymore, instead staring off into some unknown space, looking at something nopony else could see.

Sol Invictus was gaping, his eyes widening in horror, as though he was beholding something too terrible to comprehend. His ornate, golden banner dropped from his grip, clattering to the ground.

"Sir?" Blueblood heard Dinky ask, the young mare frowning at him. Blueblood didn’t reply - he was too busy looking at Sol Invictus and the other Converted, confused at the sudden cessation of hostilities.

"They've all stopped!" another Night Guard called out. "All the Convies, all the Guards!"

The battle was over - it was impossibly over. Blueblood had read about many battles, but he had never heard of any battle ending with one side just... stopping.

Sol Invictus blinked once, before looking directly at Blueblood. His eyes held none of the anger they had once been full of. Instead... instead, they were utterly blank and empty.

"Invictus?" Blueblood said, frowning. "What is this?"

"That..." Invictus said, his voice cracking. He swallowed. "No."

"No?" Blueblood repeated. "What are you talking about?"

Sol Invictus did not answer. Instead, to Blueblood's surprise, he sat back on his haunches, then made what looked almost like the sign of the cross, one of the many reflexive gestures of the various denominations of the human's Christian faith. He brought his two forehooves together in prayer.

"Ave Maria," he began, speaking quietly as though to himself, his eyes wide and filled with indescribable terror, "gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen."

"What the heck is this?" Dinky asked quietly. "What's he saying?"

"Ave Maria," Invictus repeated, not even breaking his flow, "gratia plena..."

"I think he's praying," Blueblood said. He looked around. The other Converted had started moving, some of them trotting around in confusion, and some of them sitting back and starting similar prayers. More were crying, some silently sobbing, others screaming to the heavens.

"Did we win?" somepony from the Night Guard line asked.

Blueblood didn't answer.

He didn't know if there was an answer.

***

Elsewhere in the courtyard, a strange scene had begun. A strange mare, this one a Converted, had run at Viktor Kraber as he watched the other Converted mill and begin to react to whatever it was that had happened to them, and she had jumped on him. Minutes ago, this would have been a death sentence, a sign of Kraber’s imminent death or ponification, but no.

The mare was sobbing.

“It’ll be alright, Kate!” Kraber pleaded, stroking her thick mane. “I promise, it’ll be alright…”

She could barely speak. She was crying, gesturing to the Webley at Kraber’s hip with one hoof, hugging him with the other.

“No, no,” Kraber said. “I’m going to be there for you. No matter what. This time, I promise.”

“Can you?” she asked. “After what happened? After… oh, it was just hell! It was like being trapped in a nightmare I couldn’t wake up fro-”

“I promise,” Kraber said, this time more insistently, tears streaming down his face, into his beard, “I’ll be there. No matter what we have to do, no matter how long it takes, I still love you. And I never stopped.”

The people around him, Converted, BDF, and Dead Men stared down at them.

“I missed you so much!” Kraber said, making sobs of his own, burying his face and beard in his Converted wife’s mane, just above her left foreleg.

“Me too,” Kate said, hugging him tighter and tighter. “Me too.”

And then he heard a sound. Foals yelling at him, screaming in either sadness or joy. Not two, but… three? Two colts and a filly, jumping on him, hugging him, saying how they’d missed him, the other colt - the one that couldn’t have been Peter, judging by his accent - asking “Are you papa?” and hugging him.

“I was pregnant when I got ponified,” Kate explained. “His name is Blueberry Torte. He’s… He’s not a Converted. Oh, how I envied him...”

“Oh,” Kraber said, not sure whether to be sad or elated. Then: “Oh. Then yes, Blueberry… I am your father.”

***

Streets of Canterlot.

Rainbow Dash blocked another blow, before jumping backward, panting. The Eclipse Guard had been reinforced by more Guardsponies from elsewhere in the city, and slowly but surely, the BDF troops and Resistance ponies were being pushed back.

“There’s too many of them!” Dash yelled. “We’ve gotta fall back!”

“To where?!” Rarity asked with a scowl.

Rainbow didn’t reply, but merely kept fighting, a look of slight desperation on her face. Another pony charged at her, and she dodged, but before she could attack him, he stopped moving. Rainbow frowned. She turned around, and then found herself staring at a crazy scene.

The entire Equestrian contingent were entirely still. Some of them had fallen to the ground, some of them were standing, but all of them looked horrified.

And then some of them started screaming.

“What the hay?” Applejack asked, backing away from the Eclipse Guard. “What happened?”

“I have no idea,” Rarity said. “But… but…” She fell silent.

There was nothing to say.

***

Ponyville.

“WHY?!”

It had started five minutes ago. Mayor Mare had seen to it that she and the civilians of Ponyville were being amicably treated by the human occupiers: the soldier in charge of their guard detail, a man who had called himself Manfred Stein, had been polite enough. The Converted had been a bit antsy about being around humans, but Mare had been able to convince them not to do anything rash.

A few moments ago, though, there had been a sudden wave of… something. And then all Tartarus had broken loose.

“Warum?!” Schöne Blumen yelled, tears streaming from her eyes as she screamed into thin air. “Warum habe ich das zulassen?”

“Blumen!” Mayor Mare yelled at the Converted, trying to calm her down. “What’s wrong?”

“Mir!” Blumen yelled.

“What’s going on over here?” came the calm voice of the soldier, Manfred Stein.

“I don’t know,” Mare said honestly. “Blumen just started yelling…”

“Ich bin falsch! Ich bin gebrochen, gibt es Stücke von mir überall!” Blumen yelled. Stein looked at her, and though he wore a mask like all these human soldiers did, Mare could have sworn he recognised the language.

“What’s she saying?” she asked, frowning.

“‘I am wrong. I am broken, there’s pieces of me everywhere’,” the man replied slowly. “She’s a Convie, yeah?”

“Yes,” Mare said slowly. “Why?”

“Because she’s speaking German,” Stein replied. “The language of my country.”

Mare looked at Blumen, who was now sobbing silently.

“They’re all like this,” Mare said quietly. “Blumen’s among the worst affected, but all the Convies - the Converted - have started acting like this.”

“I think something must have happened,” Manfred said softly. “But what?”

***

Streets of Canterlot

The Doctor gasped as he was flung into another wall.

He had known the moment he sent the others away that he was marching into death - not just the death of this body, but a permanent death. He had fully expected to be incinerated or vaporised or otherwise annihilated by the necromantic abomination that had once been the second Princess of Equestria.

Unfortunately, it seemed that whatever consciousness was left was determined to cause him pain. She had grabbed him telekinetically, and had begun smashing him against walls and through rubble. He could feel broken ribs and other pains lancing through him, and scowled as the creature approached him again. He coughed, and saw blood splatter onto the ground. He closed his eyes and waited for more pain.

After a long moment, he opened his eyes.

The creature had stopped, her one good eye wide in shock. She blinked once, and then, like a marionette whose strings had been cut, she collapsed. There appeared to be a look of relief on her face.

He stared for a moment, then withdrew his sonic screwdriver, running it over her. The results indicated that the spell holding her on this plane had been dispelled. It took him another moment to realise exactly what that must have meant.

"Oh," he murmured. He blinked once, and then collapsed.

He was dimly aware of the figure of a pony standing over him...

***

Canterlot Palace Courtyard

He stumbled out of the door to the tower, Excalibur held lazily in one hand, feeling more drained than any being had the right to feel and still live. He could hear something - it sounded like sobbing. He looked up, to see one of the Archmagi, a Converted, screaming and sobbing, covering his eyes with his hooves as though unwilling to face the world.

Meanwhile, the Equestria-born Archmagi stared at him with horrified expressions, looking pale and shaky themselves. One of them looked up at the Avatar and quailed.

"We... we don't want any trouble!" he yelled, stepping back from him. The others cowered away from him, many of them covering their heads with their hooves and quivering.

He ignored them all, staggering past them and heading for the courtyard.

He stepped over a rock formation, and planted Excalibur tip-first into a large stone, trying to support himself. The effort was ultimately futile, as he let go of the sword and rolled down the rock formation, coming to a stop in a pile of grass. A moment later, a soft glow covered him, and then it was David Elliot lying in the grass, battered clothes and all.

“David!” he heard a voice yelling, sounding oddly distant. He opened his eyes, and looked to see Hell Blazer and True Grit running towards him. He smiled.

“Hello,” he said, his voice weak and shaky. “I think we won.”

“Jesus fucking Christ mate,” Hell Blazer said, looking more worried than Elliot had ever seen him. “What the fuck… did you…?”

“Solamina’s… dead,” Elliot said quietly. “It’s… over.”

“Can we do anything?” True Grit asked softly, looking the man over.

“No,” Hell Blazer said. “This is… this is his magic burnout. We always… we always knew it was gonna kill him, but…”

He paused, uncertain what to say.

“David!” another voice yelled. Hell Blazer and True Grit turned, to see Twilight and Lyra jogging over to them… and Commander Twilight Sparkle walking behind them, dressed in Archmagi armour, looking lost. Elliot frowned for a moment, before coughing.

“Is he…?” Twilight asked, and Hell Blazer shook his head.

“There’s nothing to be done,” he said quietly. He turned his attention to Commander Twilight Sparkle. “What’s she doing here?”

“She’s…” Twilight began, turning to her counterpart. “To be honest, I think she’s running on autopilot.”

Commander Sparkle, wide eyed with a blank expression and fresh tear tracks running down her face, looked up at her counterpart, then to Lyra, then to Hell Blazer, then down to Elliot. She said nothing, but she kept looking at Elliot, a slight frown starting to develop on her face.

“Sparkle...” he said, gesturing to her. “Come… here…”

“You killed my friends,” she said quietly. “I remember you.”

“Yes,” he said simply.”

“And we deserved it,” she added. “We… we did such…” She trailed off, fresh sobs wracking her body. “Wh… why? Why?!”

“Come… here...!” Elliot said insistently. Sparkle, sobs still wracking her body, took a step up to him, and then, suddenly, he sat up and grabbed her head, his eyes boring into hers.

“You…” he said, hissing every syllable. “You can… repair… what you’ve done… you can… make… amends… this is the judgement… of Albion...”

A moment later, he slumped back to the ground, drained, and Sparkle staggered away from him, her eyes wide, before she, too, fainted.

“What did you do?” Twilight asked, shocked.

“I… gave her… a gift… and a punishment…” Elliot replied. “She… she’ll have to live with what she’s done. It… seemed fitting… to do this…”

There was a pause. Hell Blazer, his eyes wet with unshed tears, coughed.

“Is there… is there anything you’d like, mate?” he asked, trying not to sound too affected.

Elliot actually chuckled at that, before his body was wracked with coughs.

“Just be here for me,” he said quietly.

“Always,” Hell Blazer replied.

“I think... that’s where I had the real advantage… over Solamina…” the man said quietly, his eyes beginning to glaze over. “I had... friends… that came to my aid in my time of need… friends that came to save me. She didn’t… have anything… she was alone…” He coughed once more. “There’s nothing… nothing worse… than being alone.”

“You’re never alone, mate,” Hell Blazer said quietly.

“I know,” Elliot said, looking his friend in the eye. He smiled. “Thank you.”

His gaze slipped off to one side, and his expression slackened. Twilight gasped, Lyra looked away, Hell Blazer closed his eyes, and True Grit’s face hardened.

David Elliot, the Avatar of Albion, was dead.

***

Author's Note

...

Thanks to RoyalPsycho, The Void and Doctor Fluffy for all their help. Thanks to my readers, favouriters and commenters. I hope you're not all too depressed after that.

Also: apologies for the google translate German.

Epilogue 1: Aftermath

Epilogue 1: Aftermath.

***

Canterlot. June 7th. 2030.

Prince Blueblood sighed as he sat back on his haunches, aching in about five places.

With Solamina's death, almost all resistance in the city had ceased. Right now, the Night Guard were busy cleaning up the city, accounting for the bodies of the deceased, and generally making sure that the transition would be as smooth as possible.

He frowned. Very soon, if things went as they were supposedly planned to, he would take over the role of ruler of Equestria. In his youth, he might have dreamed of such a position of prestige, but now all he could think of was the responsibility: it would be his place to rebuild this shattered land, if such a rebuilding were even possible. Though he had to maintain a brave face, he had his doubts.

It didn't help that the Converted were... being difficult. Oh, they weren't fighting anymore... they weren't, for the most part, doing anything anymore. The lucky ones were just hollow, as though they had suddenly been left without purpose, not just practically, but spiritually too. The unlucky ones were like Sol Invictus: the former agitator had not said a single word, save for the prayer he kept repeating. Other Converted were doing similar things: praying, or crying, or otherwise acting like they were experiencing some sort of shell shock. It was, according to some theorists, something to do with Solamina's death and the effect it had on the brainwashing spells she had been the anchor of.

Solamina's death had caused more than just the Converted's breakdown, though. The Barrier had dissipated almost immediately, whatever power that had propagated the thing gone with the Empress' death. The brainwashing that had affected the entire Royal Guard, Eclipse Guard and other Equestrian armed forces affected by the Renewal of the Oaths had broken, leaving some of the Guards as mentally scarred or traumatised as the Converted. That had also affected Commander Twilight Sparkle: she had remained somewhat isolated, none of the former Solaminan forces wanting to see her and none of the Resistance or BDF wanting anything to do with her either. There were few, if any, who wanted to talk to her, not that she seemed up for talking anyway.

Blueblood stood up, before looking around. It was clear that, whatever happened now, it was not going to be easy. There were hard days ahead.

"Welcome home," he said to himself quietly.

***

Former ERAS Interdiction.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were stood in the hangar of the Interdiction, among the bodies of the dead.

The sky battle had been brutal: it had taken the unexpected arrival of the Wonderbolts to turn the tide. Rainbow could see some of the former stunt flyers now, helping tend the wounded. She had caught sight of Scootaloo, but the young mare had avoided her gaze. There were just too many memories there, she supposed. Besides, what could Rainbow Dash say to her to make everything that had happened better again?

The various ERAF Squadrons had lost many good flyers in the battle: many members of Sigma, Alpha, Eagle... but for Rainbow and Fluttershy, the biggest blow was the deaths in Grey Squadron, one death in particular.

Errant Flight looked peaceful in death, his eyes closed and his body arrayed as though he were sleeping. The bloodstained flight shirt had been replaced with a fresh one, so nopony would have been able to tell he had been so grievously injured.

The other members of Grey Squadron were there, of course: Bright Wonder in a corner, comforting White Blossom. Dream Flyer looking pensively out a porthole. The one conspicuous absence was Ditzy, who had different matters to attend to.

"He looks peaceful," Fluttershy murmured, tears in her eyes. "I don't think we ever saw him look like that."

Rainbow didn't know how to respond to that. It was true, though: the squadron leader had never looked peaceful.

Rainbow had never given much credence to thoughts of an afterlife. Pegasi were almost always cremated, largely because common thought had it that being cremated allowed the spirits of Pegasi to fly free among the clouds they were at home in. Truth be told, Rainbow didn’t know if she believed in it. Still, if there was an afterlife, she hoped the war-weary Pegasus had found some peace.

***

Medical tent, field near Canterlot.

When the Doctor opened his eyes, he winced slightly. His ribs hurt, and he was fairly certain that, judging by the faint heat that came and went in his limbs, that the injuries were more deep-set than he realised.

"Hello," he heard a voice speak.

He looked around to see Pinkie Pie and Ditzy Doo stood near him. Ditzy looked sad but was smiling anyway, and Pinkie had a massive grin on her face.

"You're awake!" she said happily. "I'm glad you're ok - I found you by Luna and you were all unconscious and stuff so I carried you back to the place where everypony and everybody was so you could get help and then..."

"Pinkie," Ditzy said quietly. "Can you give us a few minutes please?"

If Pinkie was fazed by this interruption, she didn't show it. Instead she beamed.

"Sure!" she said brightly. "Have fun!"

She bounced out, leaving the Doctor and Ditzy alone.

"I saw your hoof glow," she said quietly. "You're dying, aren't you?"

"I'm surprised I'm not dead already," he said with a wry grin. "I take it by the magic holding Luna to that mockery of life breaking that we won?"

"Yeah," Ditzy said. "We won."

"Good," he said quietly. "That's good. It's over then."

He stood up and smiled at her, before hugging her.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "For failing you."

"You don't have anything to apologise for," she replied quietly. "And you didn't fail."

He stepped away, smiling.

"Thank you," he said quietly.

He walked off.

***

Canterlot Palace Courtyard.

Hell Blazer sat back, smoking a cigarette. He sighed, smirking slightly as he did so. Excalibur was still stuck in the rock David had jammed it in to support himself. About twenty different people and ponies had tried moving it, and none of them so far had succeeded. Chances are no one ever would - the sword was presumably quite picky about who it let hold it. Only two men had done so in recent memory - David, and Sir Eric of the Knights of Albion, and both of them were dead. Somehow, Hell Blazer didn’t see anyone else fitting the bill in his lifetime.

Canterlot was still burning slightly, smoke rising from the streets and from some of the towers. The damage to the city was immense: Solamina and the Avatar alone had torn great swathes of the city off of the mountain wherever they had fought, and that wasn’t even the half of it. Eclipse Guard, Royal Guard and Militia had clashed with BDF, Dead Men, Resistance ponies and even a few civilian rioters throughout the city. Then there were the clumps of wrecked helicopter, zeppelin and - more than once - Pegasi that had rained onto the streets from the battle in the skies above the city.

Yeah, it had been a nasty one. Still, it was over now.

Now all that was left was deciding what the buck to do next.

“Here’s to winning,” he said quietly, stubbing out his cigarette. “Almost envy you, Dave. You get to miss the shit part.”

***

Twilight Sparkle was lying back on Canterlot grass, looking at the blue sky, and thinking of home. Now that Solamina was defeated, it was likely that she and her friends would be going back soon.

Rarity, True Grit and Applejack were nearby, helping direct some ponies in their cleanup operations. Twilight, for her part, was trying to relax for the first time in… well, a long time.

“Excuse me,” a small, but very familiar, voice said.

Twilight sat up, and found herself looking at Commander Sparkle. Her duplicate still wore the armour and robes that she had fought in but any symbols of Solamina had been torn, scorched or struck from them. Her outfit looked significantly more ragged, making Commander Sparkle look all the more dejected and broken.

“Hello,” she said, not really sure what to say to this mare.

“I wanted to talk to you about something,” Sparkle said quietly. “If you… if you don’t mind.”

Spike, hung up on the wall, moaning at Twilight pitiably, begging for death.

“I don’t mind,” Twilight said.

“Thank you,” Sparkle said. She paused, looking up. “It’s… it’s a nice day.”

“Yeah,” Twilight said, looking up as well. “It really is.”

The Archmagi had volunteered to be in charge of raising and lowering the sun and moon until a suitable alternative could be achieved. They were, as Twilight might have expected from ponies who had met her approval, surprisingly competent.

“What are you going to do now?” Sparkle asked, surprising Twilight.

“I… I imagine we’ll be going home soon, all of us,” Twilight replied, a little hesitantly.

“You and your friends,” Sparkle said, sounding melancholy.

“Yes,” Twilight said.

There was a long, awkward pause.

“Treasure them,” Sparkle said, suddenly looking at Twilight intensely. Her eyes bored into her counterpart, almost like daggers. Twilight tried not to flinch. “Treasure them before you lose them all. Believe me - one day you will, and it will kill you. You have to treasure every moment you have with them.”

“I… I will,” Twilight said softly, not sure how to feel. On the one hoof, who was this mare to tell her what to do? On the other hoof… this mare was her, and a version of her who had lost everypony she loved most.

There was another long, awkward pause.

“What… what are you going to do with yourself now?” Twilight asked.

Sparkle gave a hollow smile. “Albion… Elliot… gave me a gift. Knowledge of a way to repair the Converted’s damaged souls: a spell. I’m going to do that. I’m going to fix something for once.”

“Individually?” Twilight asked with a frown. Sparkle nodded slightly, her eyes on the ground. “But that would take…”

“Years,” Sparkle said. “Oh yes, I know.” She laughed mirthlessly. “Seems like a fitting punishment, don’t you think?”

“Seems that way, ma’am,” a new voice spoke. Twilight started slightly, before seeing True Grit standing nearby, the green unicorn having wandered over to where they were standing.

Sparkle looked at Grit, before nodding at Twilight.

“I won’t take any more of your time,” she said. “Have a better life than me.”

With that, the Unicorn walked away.

“Seems like she’s had a worse time than us, doesn’t it, ma’am?” True Grit commented, an odd look on his face. Twilight couldn’t help but agree - Celestia help her if she ever reached that low.

“Seems so,” was all she said.

***

London, St Paul's Cathedral. June 10th. 2030. David Elliot’s funeral

The cathedral was full to bursting. Ponies and humans alike were stood, row upon row, facing the pulpit. Alexander Redmond stood at the head of this crowd, a scar running down his face from the battle and an expression of stoic melancholy on his face. He had never gotten on with Elliot… but still, the man had done wonders for them. Nobody would ever deny it.

David Elliot’s body, arrayed in a full set of knightly armour assembled by the Knights of Albion, was sat in a coffin, his face peaceful and - for the first time in a long time - free of stubble and the stress of war. Morticians had spent two days making his body, not just presentable, but beautiful. They had done their best to transform the corpse of the man they once knew into some kind of noble hero that anyone who knew Elliot would most likely barely recognise. Excalibur could still not be retrieved from the stone he had accidentally jammed it in, so a suitably ornate longsword had been acquired to stick in his hands instead.

It made Hell Blazer sick. Sat in the front row of the crowd, the members of Everfree Squad with him, he couldn’t help but think that this was all bullshit. When Redmond began speaking, he spoke about ‘duty’ and ‘honour’, and a whole load of other things that Hell Blazer didn’t think summed up David at all. Had his friend been here, he’d have either laughed at how ridiculous it all was, or he’d have punched something.

Hell Blazer realised with a sickening feeling in his stomach that this was not a funeral for David Elliot. This was a funeral for the Avatar of Albion. David Elliot was just a name.

Fuck that.

When it came Hell Blazer’s turn to speak, he coughed slightly before beginning.

“This is a fucking joke,” he began. There were gasps of horror and shock at his crude language, and he couldn’t help but grin. “Nothing I’ve heard here sounds like anyone gives a shit about the man who gave his life for you all. It sounds like you’re all mourning some superhero you never met, without really thinking about the guy.” He paused. “So let me tell you something about the guy.

“David Elliot was my friend. He was a snarky bastard. He was grumpy. He didn’t talk much about his problems, but he did have them - y’only had to look at him to figure that out. He killed ponies a little too gleefully sometimes. Hell, couldn’t blame him really.

“But he was my friend. When I felt down, he’d take me out for a drink. When I needed his help, he’d give it. And in return, when he needed my help, I gave him it.

“One thing he said to me before he died really sticks with me. It was right before I tried sending him to Equestria - I told him I believed in him. He told me I didn’t.

“But you know what? I did. And I don’t mean I believed in the Avatar of fucking Albion. I mean I believed in David Elliot. I believed that he’d give his fucking all to save us. And he fucking did. He fought with every fucking thing he had to save us. He gave up everything he could and more. I think this war asked more of him than anyone else - you asked him to fight for you, to die for you, and to be your hero, your symbol. And now he’s dead, the thanks he gets is to be forgotten while you all mourn your symbol dying.

“You know what? Fuck that. I want you to go away from here remembering one thing. David fucking Elliot is the man who died for you. He gave his life so the human race could have a chance to survive. He saved us all. And I am damned if I’m gonna let anyone - or anypony - forget that.

“Thank you. Fuck you.”

With that, Hell Blazer got up and walked out of the church, ignoring the looks on the faces of the ponies and people who had sat there listening to him.

About five seconds after he was gone, someone began clapping. Then another person started as well. A pony started stamping their hooves in appreciation. A cry of “too fokkin’ right!” came from somewhere. Even Redmond joined in without any hesitation, a fairly composed expression still on his face.

A few moments later, the entire hall was filled with stomping hooves and clapping hands for David Elliot.

***

Later, the newcomer ponies were stood outside St Paul’s, feeling a little lost.

“Discord said he’d take us home when we were done, right?” Rainbow Dash said, frowning slightly. “Well, I’d say we’re done.”

There was a general murmur of agreement from most of the others.

“I wouldn’t mind staying a little longer,” Lyra said with a shrug. “If nothing else, it might be nice to see humans when they’re not at war and being nearly wiped out.”

“I just want to go home to my daughter,” Ditzy said quietly. She hadn’t seen the Doctor since he had left, but she hoped he was happy in whatever form he had ended up in. “It’s been too long.”

“Fortunately,” a new voice said, sounding tired, “that isn’t going to be a problem for you.”

In a flash, a figure appeared: he was human in appearance, brown haired and tall, wearing a simple black suit with a black shirt and deep red tie. What was most interesting about him was the little pin in the shape of an odd-looking arrowhead over an oval on his lapel.

“Who the hay are you?” Applejack asked with a surprised expression.

“I was Discord,” the man replied tiredly. “But that’s not a name I intend on keeping, except on those occasions when I really have to deal with your kind again, and believe me, those will be few indeed.”

“What’re you talking about?” Rainbow Dash said, eyes narrowed.

Twilight, however, understood. “You’re this world’s Discord!”

He bowed, a slightly mocking smile on his face.

“Where the hay were you?!” Applejack thundered. “I bet ya’ll could have done something to -!”

“If you’re going to lecture me about staying out of the war, please don’t bother,” the man - Discord - said, sounding irritated. “For one thing, it was never really my business. For another, even if I had gotten involved, Solamina was the channel to far greater powers than I could have hoped to stop. For another, how do you think Hell Blazer’s spell to send David Elliot to Equestria failed so miserably anyway?”

There was an awkward pause as the ponies digested this.

“So,” Twilight said after a moment. “Are you going to send us home?”

“That was my agreement with your world’s version of me,” Discord said quietly. “Personally, I think he could get off his fat ass and do it himself, but I always was lazy.” He held up a hand. “If everypony is ready?”

“Actually sir,” True Grit spoke up, stepping away from the others slightly, “I’m not.”

“Not ready?” Discord asked.

“Not going,” Grit clarified.

The other ponies looked at him in shock at that.

“What?” Lyra asked, her voice barely more than a whisper. “But…”

“I can do more good here,” True Grit said shortly. “As a Royal Guard all I did was stand around all day - but here I think I could really help somepony.”

“What doin’?” Applejack asked with a frown.

“Well,” Grit said with a smirk, “there’s a certain purple Unicorn running around who might need a Guard. And a protector, if some ponies and some people want to try taking revenge on her.”

There was a pause as everypony realised who he meant. Some of them looked dubious, especially Lyra, but Twilight nodded.

“I think it’s a good idea,” she said quietly. “Good luck Grit.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” the former Guard replied with a slightly self-deprecating grin. “I’m sure I’ll need it.”

The others quickly said their goodbyes. Pinkie was surprisingly torn up.

“But I didn’t even get to throw you a goodbye party!” she said sadly.

“Save me a cake from your welcome home party, then,” True Grit said with a slightly sad smile. “It’s the thought that counts.”

“Okie dokie lokie,” the pink party pony said sadly.

The others said their goodbyes as well, until at last only Lyra was left.

“Thanks for watching my back in Canterlot,” she said softly.

“And you,” he replied. “Have fun writing about humans back home.”

Lyra grinned. “You bet.”

They hugged, and then Grit stepped back as Discord tapped his foot impatiently.

“If we’re done with the goodbyes?” he asked. “I don’t want to be on this rock any longer than is strictly necessary.”

“We’re ready,” Twilight said quietly.

Discord sighed, and then snapped his fingers. With a flash of light, they were gone.

True Grit sighed, and turned away, heading off back toward London.

There was a lot to do.

***

Celestia’s Throne Room.

With a flash of light, eight ponies materialised in Princess Celestia’s throne room, looking faintly surprised. The Princess herself, as well as Discord, both looked as though they had been waiting for some time.

“Twilight!” Celestia said, eyes wide in shock.

“Finally!” Discord said, looking bored. “It’s been almost five minutes since you left. I was beginning to wonder if I was getting lazy over there!”

Twilight said nothing, instead looking around at the familiar surroundings, before settling her eyes on Celestia - her beloved, benevolent mentor and friend.

“Twilight?” Celestia asked.

The purple mare closed her eyes and took a deep breath, savouring the sweet smell of home.

“Well,” she said quietly, “I’m back.”

***

Epilogue 2: Dear Princess Celestia

Epilogue 2: Dear Princess Celestia.

***

Rarity.

Dear Princess Celestia.

It seems rather strange, trying to sum up my experiences in the other world on paper. So much happened - so much of it being horrible - that I hardly know where to begin.

It would be wrong to say that I learned nothing in the other world. Not only would it be wrong, it would be a disservice to the good ponies - and good people - I came to know. But I admit, it is a struggle to think what I could possibly bring from that place that might have relevance back in Equestria. Seeing home again, without any of the conflict and horror that we witnessed in the other world, makes everything seem so very far away...

There is one thing, though: I learned, more than ever before, that in dark times one must endeavour to look on the bright side. If you don't, there's nothing to distract you from the horrors you witness, and nothing to remind you why you carry on despite those horrors.

I did the right thing by going to that world. I made a difference. Was it worth the price I paid, the things I saw? Ultimately, yes. I think it was. I helped save a world, and that is justification enough.

Your subject,
Rarity.

***

Applejack.

Dear Princess Celestia.

I think there's something to be said about being honest with yourself. In some ways, it's the most important - and the most difficult - kind of honesty. If you ain't honest with yourself, you might as well give up 'cos you ain't gonna fool anypony else.

I let myself think I was ok with everything I did, everything I was doing. I let myself think I was comfortable with it all when I wasn't. I hid the truth from everypony, most of all from myself, until I reached the point where I nearly couldn't be a help to anypony. I've been stubborn before, and this was no different. I should've learned from it, but I let myself fall into the same trap again.

Truth is, I ain't comfortable with what I did. I killed ponies. I killed family, even if it was a member of the Apple family from another world. That ain't gonna ever sit right with me. And maybe it ain't meant to. At least I get to be honest with myself about it.

Yours truthfully,
Applejack.

***

Fluttershy

Dear Princess Celestia.

I killed ponies in that other world. I didn't want to but I didn't have a choice.

If I learned anything it's that sometimes you don't have a choice. The things I did were horrible... but if I hadn't done them, my friends would have been hurt.

I hope one day I can learn to live with what I did. I can still see the faces of the ponies I killed... maybe that's good. Maybe if I remember it will make everything worthwhile.

With kind regards,
Fluttershy.

***

Rainbow Dash

Dear Princess Celestia.

There are different kinds of loyalty, I've learned. There's loyalty to a country, the kind of loyalty that makes you join up and fight for your people. There's loyalty to your friends, the kind of loyalty that makes you go with them even if you know you aren't going to like the road they take. Then there's loyalty to yourself and the kind of pony you think you are.

I saw all three kinds. And I saw what happens when they go wrong.

I don't know what to say. I always thought loyalty was the most important thing you could have, but it still got twisted over there.

I don't know.

Rainbow Dash.

***

Ditzy Doo.

Dear Princess Celestia.

I'm glad I went to that world. A good friend was there, and he lost his way. I hope that I helped him. I think I did. And...

And...

I'm glad I went. I did the right thing.

Ditzy Doo.

***

Pinkie Pie

Dear Princess Celestia.

If I learned anything while I was in the other world, it's that sometimes parties aren't just things you do for fun. Sometimes a party can make you feel happy when everything around you is sad. Sometimes the party can be your last chance to be happy before...

I got to have some wonderful parties, with some wonderful ponies and some wonderful people, and even if it was a horrible, sad thing that happened to them, I’m glad to have made them smile. If I helped make the last party those people ever had, then I'm just glad that I could make their last party a fun one. When the time comes for my last party, I hope I can say the same.

If I can… I want to go back. They won’t be able to smile for a long time. Princess Celestia? Can we send help to them?

Yours hopefully,
Pinkie Pie.

***

Lyra Heartstrings

Dear Princess Celestia.

I’d always dreamed of seeing humans. They were my life’s work! I always dreamed of being called an 'anthropologist', not a 'cryptozoologist'. I thought it would be a dream come true to meet them.

Instead it was just heartache.

On the one hoof, I wish we were the ones that made contact, not that Equestria. On the other hoof... maybe things might have turned out the same. There's so much we still don't know about what happened. While I may never truly know the reason for what happened, what I can take away from the encounter is the memory of meeting humans. I am proud to know that my other self fought with the humans: in that other world, I made the right choice. She died fighting for what she believed in. And you wanna know the most interesting thing?

They were just like us really.

They laughed. They cried. They partied. They danced. They had friends. When they were in danger they fought, but not because they wanted to but because they needed to.

And they accepted help from ponies. When Doctor Hooves came to help them, dragging thousands of ponies with him, they didn't turn him away: they helped them, gave them a home.

It was bittersweet, seeing them at what might have been their lowest point, but I think, in a strange way, it was their highest too.

Your subject,
Lyra Heartstrings.

***

Twilight Sparkle

Dear Princess Celestia.

Putting into words what I saw is one of the most difficult things I've had to do.

The image I keep seeing over and over again, whether I'm awake or asleep now, is the other me. Commander Sparkle. She was as devoted to Solamina as I am to you but the things she did.... the lives she ruined, the places she destroyed for "the greater good"... and above all, I can see the look on her face when it was over. What she lost was more than I think I could bear to lose. To wake from whatever control Solamina had over her to find her friends and her mentor dead and her country torn apart by war...

I think it's the most horrible fate I could possibly imagine.

I think about the time I spent in that other world. I think about the things I went through, and I wonder what it would have been like to go through them alone, without my friends. And then I think back to David Elliot's last words: he had friends that came to save him when he needed them most. Solamina didn't.

I have friends. Friends that followed me where I lead. Friends that supported me when I faltered. Friends that had faith in me when I had no faith in myself. I had friends, and I am so incredibly grateful for that.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for being my mentor. Thank you for being my friend.

Don't ever change.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle.

***

True Grit.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Don't know why I'm writing this to you. I've no way to guarantee it reaching you. Sure, we could pop by Canterlot and ask Discord to send this to you, if he's still knocking about and hasn't left already like he said he would, but that's a long shot.

Surprisingly enough, it was Sparkle's idea to write this to you. She said it might help me get a few things off my mind, and she's right.

She's... ok. I don't think she's going to be 'all right' for a long time, if ever, but she's responding, and she's thrown herself into curing the Converted with gusto. Some of them take some convincing - I had to all-but physically restrain this Afrikaner Dead Man whose wife and children were Converted while she performed the soul fuser - but she does good work and I think she's happy enough at that. She still cries at night, sometimes when she's awake and she thinks I can't hear her, and sometimes when she's asleep, like she's having nightmares.

Speaking of good work... I feel like I'm doing good work. That's a nice feeling. Now I think on it, I never did a damn thing worth bullplop as a Royal Guard. Oh, I know we look impressive, but by and large my day involved standing around doing nothing. I have no idea why you need us: I saw some of the damage Solamina did, and she stood up to Elliot...

Sorry. Had to stop for a minute. Memories.

I do good work here. I make a difference. I'm glad to have been given that chance. I know my parents must miss me - truth be told I miss them. But I did the right thing coming here. I won't ever regret it.

True Grit, Ex-Royal Guardspony, signing off.

***

Commander Twilight Sparkle.

Dear Princess Celestia, on the off chance you should ever read this.

I have done things that should by rights see me thrown to Tartarus and never released. Instead I've been given a chance to redeem myself. I won't waste that. I swear, I will do everything I can to make up for what I did. When I failed to see my Celestia becoming a monster, I didn't just fail Equestria, I failed humanity and I failed my friends.

I won't fail again. No matter what.

I miss you.

Twilight.

Author's Note

And just like that, it was over.

It's been a hell of a ride getting from where I began to now. I started this an undergrad student. I ended this a father with a house and a family. This started as a thought experiment, a homage to a great fanfic and a fun pastime. It's ended as one of the best pieces of work I've ever created, with a multiverse to explore and perhaps an even greater destiny to fulfill before the end...

But enough of that pretentious bull.

Firstly, my thanks must go to my wonderful partner, who might not like MLP, but she's always supported me and understood that finishing this was important to me.

Secondly, thanks go to Matt and Isaac, The Void and RoyalPsycho respectively, who have helped me to shape this world into what it is and helped motivate me to create it and keep at it. Without them this work might have never come to be and it might have petered and died instead of becoming one of my best works, and I shall forever be grateful to them for that. If you have enjoyed my work as much as I have enjoyed writing it, you, too, owe them a debt of gratitude.

Thirdly, my thanks go to the entire Other Side of the Spectrum crew, but most especially to redskin122004 and Doctor Fluffy: Red for seeing this fic and thinking it was good enough to invite me to write for Spectrum, and Doctor Fluffy for input and comments that have been among my best support (as well as being a great help on my Spectrum stuff and for his input on the last few chapters of AOA). Really, though, my thanks go to the lot of you for being the people who created the work that helped to inspire this. Thank you all.

And finally, thank you to the rest of my readers (lots of you by now, too many to namecheck!). Your support has really made me feel as though this was more than a work of mere vanity, and seeing regular commentators has really been a lovely feeling. I hope my future works in the AOAverse and otherwise all meet with your approval.

Thank you all. And rest assured that this is not the end... this is the beginning.

Epilogue 3: Victory Celebration.

Epilogue 3: Victory Celebration.

Written by Jed R and RoyalPsycho.

***

The blinding light was the first thing he felt.

David Elliot blinked, his eyes straining from the brilliant glare that was all he could now see. Placing his hand in front of his eyes didn’t do anything to lessen the light’s intensity, it seemed to come from everywhere.

W… What?

There was only a endless void of purest white light. His very surroundings seemed to be the source of the glaring illumination, meaning that no matter where he turned he seemed to be blinded by the light. Elliot took a tentative step forward, wondering whether the place he was in was solid. His foot stepped down on the featureless surface that surrounded him and stayed stable. Wherever he was it was a solid and real region.

Elliot stumbled forwards, heading in no discernable direction. The featureless white void offered him no hints on where he was going or if there was anywhere to go.

This isn’t the mindscape. Is it? Elliot looked around wondering whether the void would shift and reveal the familiar battlegrounds where he had been trained to master the abilities of the Avatar. No-one answered his question. In fact it had never even been spoken, despite opening his mouth and moving his lips there was no noise to be heard, just the claustrophobic silence.

And then a figure appeared in his field of vision... indistinct at first, and then gradually getting closer and closer, until Elliot could see him clearly. More figures appeared around him, slowly coming out of the impossible haze, but Elliot's eyes were fixed on the first figure.

Blonde hair, a slight, good humoured smile, blue eyes that seemed to glitter with mirth.

Sam.

Without saying a word, Elliot's old friend approached him, opened his arms wide, and hugged him, and Elliot could do nothing but hug in return, shell-shocked by the impossibility that stood before him. His old friend was dead and gone, his ponified body cremated years ago. How could he be here?

Behind Sam, more figures appeared from the misty veil of light that surrounded Elliot. A dark-skinned young man with wide, admiring eyes approached next, saluting proudly in the manner of the Knights of Albion, and Elliot disengaged from Sam to give Sir Eric Smith a nod of respect, his own eyes full of disbelief. he felt Sam pat him on the back.

Behind Eric were others - Jason sans le Argonauts, Sir Keith, Sir Trevor... Knights of Albion, one and all. Sir Elise was there with a salute of her own, as were her entire squad.

Next to Eric, a pale, dark haired man stood with a slightly younger woman and an infant girl, an uncharacteristically wide smile on his face, and Elliot blinked in shock at the sight of the Undead of all people smiling at him with pride and gratitude. Elliot looked behind him, to see that Sam and the others were following him.

There was no sound as he kept walking and more figures, human and pony alike, appeared - dozens... hundreds... he could see Desert Wind from the infiltrate squad standing next to Sapphire Steel, his friend who had died. There was Errant Flight and Cloud Ranger, her head rested on his shoulder and both smiling. There was Ditzy Doo in her Grey Squadron uniform, her expression bittersweet but still happy, and behind her were other ponies Elliot recognised - the cocky grin of Royal Flush, the cheery smile of Sharp Tip... there was Colonel Watts and Ever Stern from the Manchester base, and Well Spring, the Convie's eyes at peace for the first time in Elliot's brief memory of the Converted.

Others were there that Elliot might not have expected - Shining Armour was stood with a group of Royal Guard, all of them saluting him proudly. He could see Spike the dragon standing alongside Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy... the Elements of Order, all of them happy to see him, all of them in their own way grateful. He saw Rainbow Dash approach Lightning Dust and, to his surprise, the two exchanged a friendly glance before continuing to smile at him.

He continued on, more people and more ponies surrounding him, smiling at him, their eyes silently thanking him, full of gratitude and joy at... for... him, for what he had done. There weren’t just hundreds… there must have been thousands… no, maybe even millions... it felt almost like every single person and pony who had died in the course of this long, brutal war was here, greeting him with smiles and appreciation that made his heart feel full to bursting.

His eyes widened as two tall figures approached, both very familiar, neither expected. One was dark blue, and she wore a silver coronet, bowing before him regally, almost like he were royalty. The other... the other was white, an ethereal mane of many colours flowing behind her, making her seem like a rainbow was on her head. She did not bow, but instead smiled, tears of joy and sorrow in her eyes. Celestia and Luna exchanged their own glances, before returning their overjoyed eyes to him, both silently thanking him for what he had done for them both.

He kept walking... and then he saw them. One was forest green, and wore a khaki shirt, and one was turquoise and wore a white vest, but both smiled at him with what he knew instinctively was love and respect for what he had done.

Lyra Heartstrings and True Grit, his two best friends in the whole world. True Grit was smiling at him, looking happier and younger than Elliot had ever seen him. Lyra... Lyra was smiling, too, her eyes... her eyes full of something Elliot couldn't describe, and didn't want to try to.

Behind Lyra was a beige mare, smiling sadly at him - Bon-Bon - and Grit had several Royal Guards - his old friends - with him.

Elliot couldn't speak, and he didn't want to try. He was surrounded by love and respect and joy and gratitude, and he could feel tears welling up in his own eyes. All of these people, these ponies... they were here, somehow, to honour him, to honour the sacrifice he had made for all of them.

There was one final figure in Elliot's path, one he did not recognise. The figure wore an all-enclosing set of pale golden armour, a white cloak hanging from his shoulders and a sword, at once familiar and not so, held in one hand and resting in the ground like a prop. The figure regarded him from behind that helmet, and Elliot felt drawn to it, like he'd known it all his life.

He slowly approached this figure, looking down as he did so. None of them cast shadows as such, but around this being was a sort of indistinct blurring - the light that surrounded the place seemed to muddy the lines of this armoured figure - sometimes it would be taller, other times shorter. Sometimes the figure would be feminine, others masculine, and others it would be a pony form. Elliot stepped closer, eyes wide, and suddenly the figure reached its spare hand up to its helmet and pulled it off, revealing its face.

David Elliot's face.

The face was clean and bright and young, and the other Elliot smiled at David, who felt his eyes widen. And yet he felt no fear - this was where he was meant to be. The figure clipped the helm to his belt and extended his hand to Elliot, who reached his own out, clasping the preferred hand.

There was a moment where the world seemed to blur and shift. And then David reached for his belt and unclipped the helmet, before setting it back on his head, left hand still firmly clasped around Excalibur's hilt. He had come here to receive the thanks of others for his sacrifice, but his sacrifice was not over yet. All around him they were happy, joyous smiles reaching him, and he felt all weight leave his soul - he had done his duty for these people. He had saved them.

Now he had to go on to the greater duty.

Author's Note

Howdy again, readers - I figure it's a bit of a surprise to see something new for this story, but this is something extra we wanted to add to give this story a happier note to end on. Hope you enjoyed it, because I know we did :-)

And thank you again for coming on this journey with us. I hope that you enjoyed it all. I know I did. :-)

The Evils of Solamina.

Chapter Forty Seven: The Evils of Solamina.

***

Canterlot Palace. June 6th. Year 6 of the New Solaminan Calendar (2030).

The first clash of the two mighty warriors shattered every intact window left in the room in a shock wave of energy expanding outwards into the skies around Canterlot. The Avatar grunted, and shoved forward, pushing the ancient golden glaive his opponent wielded backwards, before lashing out, forcing Solamina on the defensive. He swung again, and again she blocked, so he swung again and again, forcing her back step by step with each attack.

"Humph," she snorted as she blocked the blows, clearly not impressed. "You have strength at least."

She spun her glaive, faster than the eye could see, before launching into a blistering series of attacks, so quickly that not even the Avatar could catch them all: a single blow glanced off of his left pauldron, and a second nicked his cheek. Grimacing, he blocked the glaive with a two handed grip, glaring at Solamina, before using Excalibur to force his enemy's weapon to point at the ground. Before Solamina could move, he had stepped forward, one hand lashing out to punch her squarely across the jaw. Stunned, she stepped back, barely blocking an overhand blow, before snarling and swinging her glaive straight at the Avatar. He blocked the blow again, before dodging her answering stab. He lashed out with his own blade again, and a small wound opened up on her flank. She cursed and stepped backward and the Avatar grinned.

"It seems you have skill as well," Solamina added, a small, unreadable smile suddenly forming on her face. The wound on her flank closed up in a shimmer of light "I can see this will be even more of a challenge than I had already anticipated."

"That's interesting," the Avatar said, the grin not leaving his face. "I had exactly the same thought."

Solamina's smile disappeared, and snarling, she struck again, forcing the Avatar to return to the defensive. She lashed out again and again, stabs, hacks, thrusts, slashes, and yet he blocked them all, though he gave ground with each strike. Cursing, he dodged the next blow, before lashing out with a gloved hand, striking Solamina across the face again. He stepped back, holding Excalibur in a forward guard, and smirked slightly as Solamina shook her head and growled.

"You… impudent… wretch!" the Sun Tyrant snarled, lashing out with her glaive. He blocked the blow, pushing the blade out of the way before lashing out again. She jumped backwards, narrowly dodging the blow. "I will kill you!"

"We are fighting, Sun Tyrant," the Avatar said mockingly, grinning at her impishly. "That is the point of all this swinging of bladed weapons that we’re currently doing." He mimed swinging his sword in a fencing move, grinning even wider as he did so as he noticed her infuriated reaction. "Did no one ever teach you this in the days when you were a Princess on a plush cushion, or has ruling an Empire of billions of stolen souls merely frazzled your mind?"

Solamina growled in frustration, lashing out with her glaive again, fast enough to slice the Avatar’s cheek open. Grunting, he riposted, driving her on the defensive, before lashing out again with an overhand blow that forced her to bring her weapon up to block. Even as she watched, the wound on his cheek healed in a glow of golden light.

"We are evenly matched, monster," the Avatar commented.

"Perhaps," the Tyrant conceded with gritted teeth. She brought up a hoof and smacked him across the jaw, sending him reeling slightly, before spreading her wings and hovering into the air. The Avatar shook his head slightly, clearing it, before looking up at her with wide eyes.

"Are you going to come back down here?" he asked casually. "I think I would like to get back to defeating you."

"I think not. This blade work bores me," she replied, narrowing her eyes at him, her words dripping with venom. "While I could easily best you blade to blade, I think I will end this now."

A moment later, her horn started glowing. The Avatar had a moment to wonder what exactly she meant, before a blindingly bright flash of light enveloped his vision and there was a sound like thunder crashing in his ear…

***

Twilight raced down a corridor, her friends and allies behind her as she galloped at full pelt. No Guards blocked their way - Twilight had to wonder whether the invading forces had managed to grab their attention, or whether Sir Elise and her knights had managed to hold most of them up.

Truth be told, she didn’t like the idea of leaving Elliot alone to fight Solamina… but that was a fight that she and her friends could never hope to make a difference in, no matter how well trained they were. Like it or not… it was the Avatar’s battle, not theirs.

"We shoulda stayed," Rainbow was muttering. Twilight felt for her - of all of them, she was famed for her sense of loyalty, so abandoning their friend to his battle must have rankled her the worst.

"There was nothing we could do," Springfield said grimly, though he looked no happier about it. "We wouldn’t be able to even tickle the Tyrant."

"Tickling her might've worked," Pinkie said cheerily. "But I think Elliot wants to do a bit more."

Springfield didn't reply, except to make an odd clucking noise at the back of his throat.

"So what do we do now?" Applejack asked as she galloped beside Twilight. The former farmpony looked troubled as well.

"We do like the Doctor says," Twilight replied grimly. "Meet up with the forces starting their landing and try to help them take the city."

"Yay, reunion!" Pinkie said. "Do you think Lyra and True Grit will be there?"

"I hope so, Pinkie," Twilight said. "I hope so."

They ran out of the corridor into a courtyard, at the opposite end of which was a gateway that led down to the streets of Canterlot. Once it had been green and verdant, but now there were several Pegasi Guardspony bodies lying around, casualties of the battle in the air. Rainbow and Fluttershy both looked grim, both of them wondering whether any of their friends in Grey Squadron had suffered the same fate.

"It must be bad up there," Springfield commented.

"Must be," Fluttershy repeated, sounding very quiet.

"I'm sure everypony's ok, Fluttershy," Pinkie said, but though the party pony's voice was bright, her expression carried an element of falseness that everypony picked up on all too well.

"Come on," Twilight said grimly. She led the group across the courtyard, but stopped as a figure stepped out from the gateway and blocked their path.

It was a mare. She was wearing golden armour, but beneath it the purple coat and mane could still be seen. Her eyes narrowed in disgust at the group, especially Twilight herself, and she smirked slightly as she stepped into the courtyard.

"Is that...?" Rarity asked, eyes wide.

"Commander Twilight Sparkle," the Doctor said, eyes narrowed.

At the old pony's words, Sparkle narrowed her eyes at him, a slight smirk on her face.

"Do I know you, old timer?" she asked mockingly as she approached the group, almost sauntering,

"You did once," the Doctor replied, his voice low and dangerous. "I am the Doctor. In Ponyville, I was called Doctor Hooves. I escaped from you the day Celestia declared Equestria an Empire and took the name Solamina. You killed Spike the dragon that same day."

"Ah yes, Doctor. You've definitely changed a lot," Sparkle noted with an interested expression. "Some secret you hold, no doubt. I'll be sure to extract it from you."

"You won't touch any of my friends," Twilight hissed angrily. "You won't harm anyone ever again!"

Sparkle's eyes turned now to Twilight, eyeing her up and down, before doing the same to each of the Element bearers, glancing from one to the other as if shocked that each and every one of them was, in fact, her old friends.

"So you're the broken mirrors," she said idly after a long moment. "I'm surprised you even dared to show your faces here - everypony in the Guard knows about you poor copies."

"Who're you calling a poor copy?!" Rainbow swore, growling at the evil image of her friend.

"Well, it's nice to know you're no different, Rainbow Dash," Sparkle commented. "Though my Rainbow Dash at least knew enough to be on the right side."

"And look where it got her," Rainbow replied with a nasty smirk, before miming a blade going into her own throat. Sparkle scowled.

"Don’t mock my friends, you little whorse," she said angrily. "I could squash you like a bug."

"Friends?" Twilight said, stepping forward. "Friends? What right do you have to talk about ‘friends’?! You killed Spike! And then you… you…"

"What happened to Spike was necessary," Sparkle said coldly, cutting her off. "I wouldn’t expect a poor copy to understand."

"Understand this," came an angry voice. "Down!"

Instinctively, the ponies in Twilight’s group ducked as Desert Wind and Springfield fired the P220, the minigun raging as it fired directly at Sparkle. For a moment it looked as though she was about to be torn apart - but then, just as the spray of hot metal was about to hit her,her horn glowed a shimmering purple, and a purple domed shield appeared, blocking every single bullet.

"Desert Wind," she said idly, looking at him as a small malicious child might look at an ant. "It’s been a long time. Still as hard headed as ever, I see."

"Go to Tartarus!" Wind yelled, dropping the P220. "I’ll tear you in half, you bitch!"

He charged straight at her, grabbing his blade between his teeth. Almost bored, Sparkle idly sidestepped his charge, before dodging his thrusts and slashes. Her horn glowed, and a blade slid from a scabbard on her back. She moved slightly, and it whipped out, knocking Wind’s blade away. Snarling, he lashed out, knocking her blade away in turn with one hoof, but then Sparkle’s horn glowed again and a bolt of light caught Wind’s left foreleg. Going down with a scream of pain, he snarled and tried to move to hit her, but her horn glowed again, and he was lifted into the air by her magic.

"You were saying?" she asked, sounding as though she was bored by the whole display. He twisted in her grip. "Oh yes, that’s right…"

There was a wet tearing sound, and suddenly the two halves of Desert Wind were thrown in opposite directions, the expression on the pony’s face one of shock and anger as sightless eyes still glared balefully out at nothing.

"You said something about tearing in half," Sparkle said idly. "Like that, I assume. You know…" she paused, grinning slightly, "having done it, I think I can see the appeal. If Spike were here, I’d have him take a note."

The other members of the group looked horrified at what they had just seen. Desert Wind had seemed one of the strongest of them, and she had bested him and torn him apart as though he were nothing at all. And now she was joking about it...

"You… monster," Twilight hissed, eyes wide in fury at the entire display. "First Spike, now Desert Wind! I’ll kill you!"

"You know," Sparkle said quietly, "I really think she might have something to say about that."

From the same doorway she had come, a dark aura suddenly exploded outwards, dousing the entire courtyard in shadow as a tall, armoured and regal figure appeared. For one insane moment, Twilight thought she was looking at Solamina - but it couldn’t be, she was in the Astronomy tower, fighting Elliot…

And then the figure stepped out into the open where everypony could see her, and Twilight realised with terrifying clarity that it wasn’t Solamina at all.

Dark blue fur and a flowing blue mane blew in a wind that had picked up across the courtyard, almost obscuring the cutie mark of a moon. Blue armour glinted, as though freshly polished. Still limbs carried the regal figure forward. A head moved slightly, an awkward cracking and popping sound coming from the bones every time the head so much as twitched. Blank, dead, staring eyes glared balefully at the group of ponies. A mouth opened, exposing yellowing teeth, and a fell, keening wail sounded across the courtyard, freezing the hearts of all who heard it. Pinkie covered her ears and closed her eyes, her face a mask of discomfort and fear. Applejack took a step back. Rainbow moved in front of Fluttershy as if to protect her from the thing that was in front of them, while the butter yellow Pegasus herself was shaking where she stood, petrified. Rarity shrank next to Twilight’s side. Twilight herself just stood there, beyond horrified as the reality of what she was seeing, what must therefore have happened, hit her.

"No," she said quietly, shaking her head slightly. "Oh no."

The body of Princess Luna of Equestria looked down at the ponies - the same magic that had resurrected the mockery that had once been Spike clearly once more at work, though Twilight had held some small hope that it had only been used that once.

"Luna," Sparkle said blandly, standing next to the body with a slight smirk on her face. The creature looked down at her uncomprehendingly, the neck cracking more as the head turned. "These ponies are your sister’s enemies. Kill them."

The thing looked back at the ponies with a new malice in it’s dead eyes. Another keening wail escaped from it’s mouth as it lumbered forward, horn glowing with rotten blue magic as it prepared to tear them apart…

***

Canterlot Station.

The train from Ponyville came into Canterlot station slowly, the steam engine looking battered and the carriages looking worse. The body of a Pegasus Guard was hanging from a window, a door to one carriage was open, several windows were broken and there were spears lodged into the wood of the carriage.

Royal Guards raced to cover the station, unicorn horns aiming at the train warily. A moment passed.

"Is anypony even on that thing?" somepony asked.

Suddenly there was a clanging noise. A small metal object had been thrown from one of the windows, clanging on the floor of the train station’s platform before landing at the feet of some of the guards.

"What the buck is that?" another Guard asked. The small thing was vaguely pineapple shaped, green and definitely metal.

A moment later, it exploded.

At that moment, more than fifty men, women and ponies charged from the train, guns and swords drawn as they stormed the platform. At their head, covered in small cuts, scratches and bruises, was Sir Eric, his sword flashing as he cut through Guard after Guard. The Guardsponies, disorientated after the explosion, were not fast enough to react and many of them were quickly slain by the Knights of Albion.

"Sir Eleanor!" Eric yelled as he fought. "Take ten of our knights and press on to the approved secondary and tertiary landing zones! Sir Nathaniel, take five and tend to our injured comrades on the train. Sir Thomas, take another five and secure this station for our forces! Sir Bold Travail, contact Prince Blueblood at Ponyville and inform him that the train station will soon be ours! The rest of you follow me - to glory!"

As his warriors acknowledged his instructions and hastened to carry them out, Sir Eric charged through the exit to the station, unheeding of the Guards who stood in his way. The battle on the way here had been bloody, desperate and brutal. Now he was in (relatively) open ground again, he was itching to bring justice to his enemies again!

***

Ponyville.

Lyra Heartstrings sighed as she slumped against the door of what had once been Twilight Sparkle’s library. She was covered in minor injuries and her brand new armour was battered in at least a dozen places, but she was alive. Next to her, True Grit was gingerly testing his left foreleg, making certain it was still ok - the livid red injury on it looked nasty, but it seemed to not prevent him from walking. He had made the militia-pony who gave him it pay with his life.

"Well," Lyra said quietly after a moment. "We’re still here for the moment, I guess."

"Yeah," True Grit said quietly. He grinned. "Bucking hell though. This was a fight and a half."

"You could say that," Lyra said, feeling vaguely sick. The burning, murderous rage that had filled her before was gone, and now there was only the bitter aftertaste, metaphorical ashes in her mouth now that the fire had died. "Are you ok?"

"This stings," Grit said with a shrug. "I’ll live."

"Good," Lyra said, smiling warmly at him. He was a good stallion, really, once you got past the over-formality. "I notice you’ve stopped calling me ‘ma’am’."

"We’ve fought together for a while," True Grit replied. "I guess I thought it was time."

"Yeah," Lyra said, smiling. She sighed, the smile fading as she looked around the broken town. "This is terrible. Look at what’s been done to this place."

"It is bad," True Grit agreed. "But towns can be rebuilt."

"Towns can, yeah," Lyra said sadly, looking over at a handful of dead Night and Royal Guard near the entrance to another building. "Ponies can’t."

"No," Grit agreed, his tone subdued. "No they can’t."

The two had a moment of silence, and Lyra was suddenly acutely aware that True Grit, like her, had no living counterpart in this world. Both of them had been killed within a day of each other by the forces of Equestria. She wondered quite how True Grit had taken that, if indeed it affected him much at all - but it had to affect him, didn’t it: he was as much of a pony as the rest of them.

"I’m just glad it’s over for the moment," she said quietly, smiling at the former Royal Guard.

"Heartstrings!" an upper-class voice called the moment the words left her mouth. "Grit!"

"You were saying?" True Grit said with a groan. He stood to attention as Blueblood and Dinky approached the two tired Unicorns.

"We did well in securing Ponyville," the Prince said with a grin. "You’re both to be commended."

"Thank you sir," True Grit said stiffly. Lyra marvelled at the change between the almost casual Unicorn she had been speaking to not a moment ago and the stern soldier in Night Guard armour that stood before her now.

"Still," Blueblood continued, his expression becoming grim-set and serious, "the battle isn’t over yet. There’s a transport helicopter waiting for us. I want you both to come with me."

"Do you mean…?" Lyra asked, her eyes widening.

"I do," Blueblood said, pointing at the distant city of Canterlot. Looking at it now, Lyra realised that there was no shield around the city. "It’s time to take the fight to the capital itself!"

Without another word, he jogged off, Dinky behind him.. True Grit and Lyra exchanged glances, before galloping after him, the same thought going through both of their minds. This was really it...

***

Courtyard of Canterlot Palace.

The thing that had once been Princess Luna didn’t bother with magic, for which Twilight had to be grateful: an Alicorn's magic, even a dead one's, would be impossible to stand against when in full use.

It was difficult to feel particularly grateful though, because she was too busy rolling out of the way of the corpse-Luna's furious charge.

The creature galloped straight at the group. She knocked Twilight aside, not even slowing as the Unicorn dodged her attack. Applejack moved to take her on, spinning and kicking as hard as she could, but the corpse-Princess shrugged the mighty blow off and stamped her forehooves onto the ground in front of the strong Earth Pony, knocking her aside like nothing.

"That’s it!" Rainbow yelled. "For free Equestria!"

She jumped into the air and charged straight at Luna. She whipped her blades out faster than the eye could see, flew straight past the Princess and lashed out, slicing her across the cheek. Fluttershy followed, her own blades raking the reanimated corpse’s back, causing the necromantic abomination to yell out in anger.

Before it could react, however, a pie flew out of nowhere and smacked her right in the face. She blinked her dead eyes once, before turning to the source of the pie.

Pinkie Pie was stood behind her Party Cannon, a frown on her face.

"Hey you big meanie!" she yelled. "Pick on somepony your own size!"

Luna’s response was another keening wail, and she charged straight at Pinkie. The Earth Pony tried firing her cannon again, but the pies were ignored as Luna reached the cannon and threw it aside as though it were made of paper. She reared up, looking as though she were about to crush Pinkie under her hooves…

… and she was knocked into a wall by three spells striking her in the side, blowing her clean off of her feet and across the courtyard, where she lay covered in rubble and dust Twilight, Rarity and Springfield were staring at where the Princess had been, all three breathing heavily. The spells they had used were some of the strongest any of them knew, and even then they weren’t certain they had been enough.

"What did you do?!" Twilight screamed at her angrily.

"I didn’t do anything," Commander Sparkle said with an unconcerned shrug. "This was the work of the Empress. I just think it's inspired. Luna served her before in life, and now she serves her again in death."

Before Twilight could respond to her insane double, there was a stirring of rubble as Luna stood to her feet. She had several nasty cuts and grazes across her face and her armour was dented and scratched, but other than that she seemed utterly unfazed by what had just happened. She glared at the ponies again.

"What the buck is holding her together?!" Applejack exclaimed, picking herself up from where she had been thrown.

"Nothing in a minute!" came an angry voice. Twilight turned to see Hell Blazer readying a fireball, and she dodged out of the way, giving him a clear shot. A moment later he threw it, and it impacted Luna directly, obscuring the body of the Princess of the Night in a great fireball that set half the courtyard ablaze. He turned to the others with a grim expression. "Fire everything you’ve got!"

Springfield took the hint immediately, firing his horn at the blaze at the rough point where Luna had been. A moment later, Twilight and Rarity added their own spells to the mix, Hell Blazer threw more fireballs to add to the flames, and even Pinkie was back at it, having somehow retrieved her party cannon and aimed it at the blaze with a determined expression on her face, firing pies faster than the eye could follow. They poured everything they had into the fire, hoping that it would be enough to bring down the creature that had once been Luna of Equestria.

Disconcertingly, Commander Sparkle didn’t move to stop them. All she did was watch impassively as the Unicorns and Earth Ponies threw spells and pastries at the fire where Luna had fallen.

Eventually they stopped. Nothing was moving, and the fire blazed like the very heart of Tartarus itself, consuming anything that came near it. The architecture of the courtyard was smashed and ruined.

"That oughta fuckin’ do it," Hell Blazer swore, panting slightly from the exertion.

"Eeyup," Applejack tided, eyes wide with awe at the display.

And then, horribly, Commander Sparkle began laughing, a dark and entirely unwelcome sound.

"Seriously?" she asked, her tone mocking and darkly amused. "Do you think the work of Her Glorious Majesty is so easy to undo?"

Even as she spoke, a figure stepped out from the fire. Her armour was rent and torn, and her helmet had been blown off. Parts of her skin had been burnt away across her body, exposing white bone and scorched musculature, and half her skull was exposed too, showing grinning white teeth on the left half of her face. Her eyes were intact - one of them, set within the grinning skull-side of her face, blazed with dark magic, and the other glared balefully at the group. As she walked, her horn - stripped white by the fire - began glowing with dark blue magic, and she fired a bolt in the direction of the ponies who had stood against her. Her shot impacted Pinkie’s party cannon, utterly obliterating the piece of pink artillery. Pinkie jumped away just in time, and looked at the wreckage with an angry expression.

"Do you know how difficult those are to build?!" she yelled.

The body of Luna, if it heard her, did not reply. She stopped in the centre of the courtyard, opposite the ponies she had been ordered to kill.

And then, horribly, she spoke.

"Twiiiiii… liiiiiiight…" she said, her voice a horrible droning noise that somehow rose above the roaring flames and the sounds of battle above. Her eye widened in sudden, terrible recognition as it fixed upon Twilight. "Twiiiiiii… liiiiiiiight….!"

Twilight didn’t need a second warning. She raced over and grabbed Applejack, who was standing near Desert Wind’s abandoned P220. She saw Rarity grab Pinkie and Hell Blazer and Springfield grab the Doctor. Fluttershy and Rainbow took to the air.

"Streets!" Twilight yelled, and the two other Unicorns and the two Pegasi all nodded in comprehension. A moment later, the Unicorns teleported and the Pegasi flew off. The body of Luna screamed in fury, a cold, high thing that would have chilled ice. Commander Sparkle frowned.

"That’s… unfortunate," she said quietly. "Luna."

The body turned to look at her, the sound of bones creaking and cracking even louder now.

"Go find them," Sparkle instructed. "Your sister wants them dead."

There was a hint of… something, something Sparkle didn’t recognise, in Luna’s remaining good eye, but she didn’t speak or say anything - not that she could. She merely spread her wings, both of which were singed but otherwise unharmed, and took off into the night. Sighing, Sparkle closed her eyes and teleported.

She wanted to deal with one of the ponies in that group herself.

***

ERAS Eternal Sun, Sky above Canterlot.

Errant Flight blinked as his eyes opened, a faint groan escaping his lips. He felt like death warmed up and his limbs felt fuzzy, but he was definitely alive, much to his own surprise. He looked down to find his wound

"Did somepony get the number of that carriage?" he muttered quietly.

"He’s awake!" he heard a voice call. A moment later, he saw Mellow Air and Dream Flyer standing above him. Behind them he saw Ditzy and Fell Spear chatting, and the rest of the squadron further still.

"What happened?" he asked blearily. "Did we take the zep?"

"Yeah, boss, we took the zep," Dream Flyer said with a smile. "He’ll be ok, won’t he Air?"

"You took a nasty stab wound," the medic said to Errant blandly. "You’ll be confined to bed for a while - don’t try to move too much or you might re-open the injury."

"Bullplop," Errant muttered at once, frowning at the medic. "The squadron…"

"Everypony who’s alive is on the Sun for now," Dream Flyer put in. "I’ll take over as squadron leader for the rest of the fight. You don’t need to worry, Flight."

"You’re not telling me that I have to wait on this bucking Zeppelin while my squadron’s out there flying and dying!" Errant snarled. "I’m not -"

"You’ll bucking sit right there and heal up, mister!" Dream Flyer snapped testily. Errant blinked as Dream Flyer composed herself. "We already lost Lily Picker, Dark Wing and Pure Heart. You’re not dying too."

Before Errant Flight could protest further, the blue mare turned and walked off.

"Keep an eye on him, Fell Spear," she muttered to the Thestral stallion as she passed him. Spear nodded as Flyer, Ditzy and the rest of the Squadron walked over to the edge of the gondola and jumped into the sky. Errant now turned his attention to the fighting in the sky itself: there were still zeppelins duking it out with helicopters and Pegasi slaughtering each other as far as he could tell. He cursed his own weakness as he felt another twinge of pain in his chest - if it weren’t for this injury, he could still be out there helping his squadron!

He sighed as he watched the battle. For now, it seemed, he would have to wait. He frowned as he saw something glinting near one of the towers of Canterlot - what looked like the old Astronomy tower.

"What the buck…?" he murmured.

Suddenly a light flared, a light brighter than the sun, and Errant had to flip his goggles down and set them to tinted mode in order to avoid being blinded. His eyes widened in shock when he realised what he was looking at.

"Oh bucking Tartarus," he said quietly. It seemed like Elliot had finally managed to start fighting Solamina - and she was pissed off.

***

Canterlot.

Helicopters were in the sky, battling against Solaminan zeppelins and Pegasi forces. Sir Eric marvelled at the battle above - truly, this was the stuff from which legends were born!

He parried blow after blow, Royal Guards falling like wheat to the scythe. Behind him charged his knights, warriors without peer. He swung his blade downward, cutting through a militia pony that was charging his left. He span around, his blade knocking the charging spear of a Royal Guardspony aside before he lashed out, cutting through armour, flesh and bone. A spray of blood hit his face but he ignored it, instead charging at another militia pony. He brought his solleretted foot up in a kick, catching the pony in the gut, before he punched it across the face, sending the creature sprawling to the ground. He stabbed downwards, finishing it off.

"Onwards!" he screamed, pulling his sword out and holding it aloft. "For Albion! For victory!"

"We must secure a landing zone for the attack forces my liege!" one of his knights bellowed, coming up behind him.

"There is a courtyard ahead!" Eric yelled in return, nodding once. "We will fight to that point and hold it - once there, I will set off a flare!"

The knight nodded, and charged another Guardspony. Eric frowned as he noted the disposition of his knights. Many had fallen already, slain by spear and spell or their own hand in those cases where the foul potion had begun to work it’s magic. Still, he had twenty warriors at his back and he knew full well that such nobility could not be stayed by the hoof of any Solaminan pony.

"Onwards!" he cried again, charging ahead, cutting another Guard down. His blade was notched in three places, the strong armour of the Royal Guard denting the steel of his blade, but he pressed on.

The courtyard ahead was large, with a fountain and a statue of Solamina in the centre. The Royal Guard seemed to be defending it more vigorously than anywhere else in the city, but Eric was certain he could take it from them. What interested him was a cabal of warriors in dull grey armour, vaguely reminiscent of the Night Guard: these were Solamina's Eclipse Guard, a unit formed near the start of the expansion of the Barrier, supposedly tasked as the last defence of Equestria - and thus, worthy foes for the Knight of Albion!

Among this group was one pony, an Earth Pony in shining, ornate armour, who seemed to be their leader. Eric stepped to the head of his force even as his knights charged into the courtyard around him, and held his blade forward, pointing it in challenge at the Earth Pony. The Guard commander noticed him, and they locked eyes, before nodding in understanding.

The pony jumped down, marching towards Sir Eric even as his soldiers charged forward and fought with Eric’s knights.

"So!" he yelled to him, barely audible over the din. "You’re the human’s leader?"

"I am Sir Eric, chief of the Knights of Albion," Eric replied, moving into a guard stance.

"Not the Avatar then?" the pony asked, sounding almost disappointed.

"Nay," Eric said with a slight grin. "He is elsewhere."

An explosion of light suddenly caught Eric’s attention, and as one, he and his opponent looked up at the sky above them. Above a high tower of the palace itself, there was a bright, radiant light. Though it was beautiful as the sun itself, it made Eric’s blood run cold. That must have been Solamina.

Then Eric smiled. If Solamina was engaged in battle, there was but one man who could have brought her to it.

"Specifically," he said, pointing at the explosion of light with one gauntleted hand, "he is up there."

***

Canterlot Astronomy Tower.

Solamina snorted in triumph, certain that she had succeeded in utterly destroying the Avatar of Albion. She had unleashed a wave of pure magical power, a spell that she had learned in her youth. It was the sort of spell that she would never have considered using before... but now, it was all too easy.

She frowned slightly, her triumph fading. The spell had blown the entirety of the top of the tower off, leaving nothing there but broken bricks and shattered and melted glass. Dust obscured her vision for a moment from the smashed stonework. And yet... she could sense him.

“I know you live!” she yelled angrily. “Show yourself!”

“As you wish,” a voice spoke calmly. There was a sudden rush of wind, and then the dust faded, leaving a figure standing before her. His cloak was tattered and his armour somewhat scorched, but the Avatar of Albion still stood, grinning slightly. He rolled his shoulders, and a light glowed around him. His armour seemed to shine with some inner light, and then the light faded, revealing clean, undamaged armour. He idly reached around to grab his tattered cloak, and tore it from his shoulders, before settling into a fighting stance.

"So," he said, smiling cockily, "are you ready to continue, or do you wish to surrender now?"

Solamina’s eye twitched. Slowly, a low growl sounded in her throat, bestial and furious, until it burst out of her mouth as a scream of pure rage.

"I will bucking murder you!" she screeched, before flapping her wings once and taking off into the air. She hung in the air, her entire body wreathing itself in magical energy until her body was a black shadow within a blazing aura of light - it was so bright that it seemed as though a second sun had been birthed above Canterlot, blinding everyone and everypony who saw it with it’s radiance.

"Tremble before me, human," she said, her voice deep and majestic, yet filled with unfathomable malice. "I am Astra Solamina Maxima, the Sun resplendent and triumphant. The skies bow before me. This land bows before me." Glowing eyes narrowed in contempt at the figure of the Avatar, still stood on the tower. "I promise you this, human. Before this day ends... you will bow before me as well."

***

Author's Note

And there's the other dark moment. Poor old Luna...

Prologue: The Final Days of Planet Earth

The Avatar of Albion.

A story based in part on the "Conversion Bureau" fanon universe.

By Jed R.

Prologue: The Final Days of Planet Earth

***

In the year 2020, an island appeared in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Upon this island was a portal: this portal, impassible by human beings or their technology, led to the magical land of Equestria, home of a species of sentient ponies. At first, the ponies of Equestria seemed more than willing to co-exist with humanity. However, what no one knew was that within Equestria's borders there was a deadly plan in motion... a plan set in motion by a being once known as the benevolent Celestia, though she would soon be known by another name: Empress Astra Solamina Maxima, the Sun Tyrant. No one knew how, but she had transformed from a benevolent Diarch into a despot tyrant.

The horror would begin for Earth with the Conversion Bureaus, monstrous buildings, within which human beings were transformed into more ponies: a process that healed all physical and psychological harm... and completely destroyed the individual's soul. These places were initially set up to allow individuals to enter Equestria for the purpose of diplomacy, but would eventually become something far deadlier.

In 2022, a field of energy toxic to human life and utterly destructive to man-made technologies - soon to become known simply as “the Barrier” - began slowly expanding across the world. It's source was the portal to Equestria. This Barrier swept across the world: everything man made was incinerated upon touching it, every weapon fired was ineffective: even the mighty power of nuclear fire did nothing against that greater power. One by one, nations fell. People died running from the barrier, people died fighting it, people chose to die at their own hands. Many, however, chose not to die but to live instead: the Conversion Bureaus were more than happy to accommodate them.

The entire world fell before this power in only two years, two years of terror, panic and desperation. Earth's mightiest nations fell before this power, unable to stop it or even slow it down. The entire planet fell: of seven and half billion people on Earth, over five billion chose to surrender to ponification, and the remaining two and a half billion died.

Except one damp little island. Though they had never realised it, never suspected it, the people of the islands of a Great Britain and Ireland had lived on land with it's own magical protection, a protection Equestria's energy field could not penetrate. It was as though the land itself refused to bow before the tyranny of the corrupted Ponykind without a fight. On this damp little set of islands, one hundred and forty million human beings, the only remaining humans left in the whole world, survived, protected by a power only a handful understood.

This insult to her power the tyrant Solamina could not stand. She declared her nation an Empire, and declared the last of humanity an affront to her rule.

And so, with the combined forces of billions of converted humans and other ponies, the nation of Equestria attacked Britain. Britain was devastated by this conflict, but her people - native and adopted alike - still fought back: aided by ponies who realised the insanity that their ruler had unleashed, they formed an army, the last army: civilians, ponies, soldiers from a hundred nations, hardened Royal Marines and SAS commandos, naval forces from across the world that had fled this far…

All stood and fought against the forces of the Tyrant Empress. They fought with everything they had - weapons from wars long past alongside the finest mankind could build that had been saved, blades and armour alongside guns and bombs. They fought as long and as hard as they could, and miraculously, they held for six long years.

Even so, their resistance was impossible. One day - tomorrow, the next day, the day after that, none could say - they knew they would fall.

Unless something intervened first.

***

The End...

They stood opposite one another. One, an armoured Alicorn with golden energy surrounding her like some mockery of a halo: Tyrant Empress, a monster who had once been the most benevolent of creatures, but was now twisted into a creature of hatred and oppression. The other, a tall, silver-armoured human man, a massive, ornate Zweihander drawn and held out in challenge: an Avatar of justice and vengeance, or a murderer - depending on who you asked. But more than that, the Avatar of the last humans, the voice of a people.

"You know you cannot defeat me," the Tyrant said angrily. "Nothing can."

"I can," the man replied. "It is my destiny, my purpose. The lives you have destroyed call for vengeance, for retribution. Your people scream in horror for the things you have forced them to endure. The souls of the Converted lie shattered at your hoof. For them, I will claim vengeance."

The Tyrant laughed, a cruel, mocking sound.

"You think it is you of all beings who will stand against me?" she said, her tone darkly amused. "You can barely stand up."

"I have strength enough in this form for this," the man said, not flinching, not even moving, the massive ornate Zweihander held up still, pointed directly at the monstrous Empress. "I have fought your mockeries and slain your Captains. Now, Astra Solamina Maxima, former Celestia, I will finish what I started."

The Alicorn - Empress Astra Solamina Maxima, once the benevolent Celestia - snorted. "You will finish something little man - your pathetic life. I will take great pleasure in mounting your severed head on a spike and putting it before the people of your home, the final proof that their cause is hopeless."

"There is always hope," the man said, a soft smile forming on his face. He span the Zweihander, faster than one could imagine such a massive blade moving, and then aimed it at her again. "To the death, creature."

"To the death," Solamina replied, snorting. And then she charged...

***

Wrong bit!

Oh, sorry for interrupting, gentle reader, but I'm afraid there's been a mix up. That little segment you've just reds is the end of this grand tale of derring do and heroism: or at least, the climax: the final, epic duel between good and evil, the moment John Williams would come in and throw his "Duel of the Fates" in (or "Battle of the Heroes", since that's the more tragic sounding tune, but I think I've bludgeoned the fourth wall far more than necessary for the moment) and everypony - or I suppose everyone in your case - would be on the edge of their seats. Well, I'm sorry to disappoint, but we're a bit ahead of where we're meant to be. Exciting as climaxes are, there's no point getting to the fun and gory final battle if you don't know who's fighting it, why they're fighting it, what they've fought to get there or any of that detail. Even I can admit that, and I actually happen to appreciate the idea of starting at the end. It's - well, I suppose you'd call it a little bit of narrative dissonance - Chaos in prose, so to speak. Certainly, I find it the most interesting bit.

I suppose you want the real beginning, though, don't you? They usually do. I wouldn't normally oblige you but... on this occasion, I feel generous.

So how did it begin? Give me a moment to recollect, oh gentle reader, and I might just tell you...

Author's Note

Greetings, readers. Welcome to this, my humble story. Hope you liked the intro.

A few points before we continue this fic: point Número Uno is that I didn't come up with the Conversion Bureau idea (obvious much?). My thanks therefore to the author "Blaze" who wrote the original, and to the various brilliant writers who came up with the story "The Other Side of the Spectrum", which is my primary inspiration for this piece. I can't match their work in terms of quality, characterisation, descriptive capabilities etc, and to be honest I'm not trying to. I just wanted a go at writing something with a similar concept and to do the best I could with it. Needless to say, my interpretation is in no way related to theirs, and I've tried very hard to take the basic concept and not just do a "same old, same old" runaround with it (probably not succeeded but hey ho).

Secondly: in this, my interpretation, there's a heavy reliance on some (very) loosely interpreted Arthurian mythos, and there's a few light crossovers from other fandoms. Specifically, there's a Buffy reference or two, some fairly heavy Doctor Who/Whooves (though we're good with that I'd hope?), possibly some Star Trek and most prominently, the character of Hell Blazer, or rather John Constantine. These aren't going to be impossible for people to understand: for the most part, I've tried to write this so people don't actually get massively confused by the whole thing, but they are there, just so people know.

Thirdly: this is my first ever attempt at a My Little Pony fan fic, and I have only recently gotten into the whole thing (subjectively speaking: by the time this is read, I'll have probably been reading/watching/etc a combination of fan material and the canon show for about a year). As such, I don't doubt that I have made many mistakes, and I don't doubt people will find fault in my interpretations of canon, fanon, et al. I figured I'd make you aware that this is the case. If nothing else, you've been warned I'm a (comparative) noob.

Fourthly (and lastly: I know my author's notes can be a bit long-winded): I've done my best to create a story lacking in Mary-Sue's and other unfortunate fan-fiction cliches. That being said, despite my intentions they might well still be there: if you have any constructive criticism, I'm more than happy to hear it/read it.

Thank you, and enjoy the story.

EDIT: This chapter was edited on 23rd March 2015.

The Avatar's Request.

Chapter Eight: The Avatar's Request.

***

Canterlot Training Room.

The Royal Guard - True Grit was his name, or so Lyra thought (to be honest, she hadn't really been paying attention) - didn't speak much on the way to the Canterlot training room. Lyra wasn't all that fussed about that though: she was too busy wondering what exactly she would say to the human when she finally got the chance to speak to it. It was, after all, a big deal. What would she say? Would it even speak Equestrian? What would it sound like? And hands! It would have hands! It would be amazing to ask it about those. To even see them...

"Are you alright, Lyra?" Ditzy asked from next to her.

"Oh, yes Derpy," Lyra said breathlessly. She was hyperventilating slightly: she tried to calm her breathing slightly, hoping to retain some semblance of calm. After all, she didn't want to look like a total foal in front of the first human Equestria had ever had. "I'm just really, really excited."

"Oh, ok," Ditzy said with a soft - if slightly confused - smile. Lyra smiled too - this was going to be great. Finally, the chance to meet and speak with a real human!

"What's so exciting about a human anyway?" True Grit asked, breaking his silence and looking over at Lyra. She gaped at him.

"What's so exciting about a human?" she repeated. "What's so...?!" She paused, taking a breath. "For somepony who's never ever even heard of them, nothing I guess," she admitted, "but for me? It's the most awesome thing ever!"

True Grit gave her a look like he didn't believe it was all that awesome anyway, but she ignored him. Soon, she would meet a real life human properly. She just couldn't wait!

***

When Lyra and Ditzy entered the training room a few minutes later, the first thing she noticed was the disapproving frowns of Twilight Sparkle and her friends. The slight guilt she felt from that was almost immediately offset, however, by another sight - what could only have been the human himself. The turquoise unicorn gasped slightly at the sight of the two-legged being in front of her. He was about Princess Celestia's height, with pink skin, two legs, and...

"Hands!" she said, looking at the appendages with glee. "You have actual hands!"

"Last time I checked," the human replied dryly, a wry smile on his face as he regarded her.

Twilight face-hoofed in the background, but Lyra ignored her, fixated on the human and the fact that all along, she had been right! Despite the naysayers and the people thinking she was insane... she had always been right! There was nothing that quite matched that feeling of validation.

"Sorry!" she said breathlessly, suddenly realising that she was already making a fool of herself in front of the first human she had ever met. "It's just... hands! They're awesome! How do they work? Do they grip things? I..."

He held up one of those hands in a gesture of quieting, forestalling any more questions from her.

"You're Lyra Heartstrings, yes?" he asked, though he sounded like he already knew the answer.

Lyra's eyes widened, and she nearly fainted from excitement. "You... you know who I am?!"

"Believe it or not, Miss Heartstrings, we've met," the human said dryly.

"Met?" Lyra repeated, frowning slightly now: that was unexpected. "I think I'd remember meeting a human, but I don't recall ever meeting you..."

"No," the human said, and he actually sounded a little sad at that, though Lyra had no idea why he would be sad. "I don't suppose you would."

***

12th June 2024.

Lyra felt ridiculous, sat here in a small waiting room while inside the meeting room nearby the fate of not only her and Bon Bon, but almost several thousand refugees from Equestria was being decided. Still, this had been Doctor Hooves' plan, and it had been Doctor Hooves who had made it possible for Lyra and Bon Bon and all those thousands to escape.

Near her, Bon Bon was sleeping. Lyra smiled softly as she regarded her, thanking whatever gods watched over the Equestrian refugees now (for Celestia certainly didn't - or should she be thinking the name 'Solamina' now?) that she had been able to convince her friend to come with her. It had been touch and go, but Bon Bon had finally been convinced by Hooves and Derpy - no, Ditzy Doo. The Pegasus had been far too serious to be called Derpy anymore, a name that belonged in innocent times.

It had all started with the death of Luna, a year into the link with Earth. Princess Celestia had blamed illness, but that made no sense: Alicorns were supposed to be free from such things... but no one at the time believed that Celestia would lie to them.

The next thing was the Barrier: the tragic incursion of the Barrier upon Earth, and the destruction of human civilisation. This was horrible: everypony was suitably horrified about what was happening. Lyra remembered Twilight Sparkle spending hours and hours in the library, trying to find some spell to fix what the Barrier was doing, but there was nothing. No spell. No hope. Lyra had even helped her then: she had wanted to save the humans so badly.

Next was the propaganda, praising the things - the "Conversion Bureaus" - and the efforts to "save" billions of humans from destruction at what many had assumed was an accidental thing by way of the "ponification potion". At first, this was seen by many, including Lyra as, while not the absolute best outcome, certainly better than the loss of million - no, billions - of lives.

But when Lyra had tried speaking to the ponies known colloquially as "the converted", they hadn't wanted to discuss being human - many of them denied even having been human, though you could tell from their blank flanks that they had been. This had confused Lyra: if the conversion was a necessity and not a choice for some of these people, as the propaganda said, then surely these ponies - though maybe sad to have lost their old lives - would be willing to discuss it.

But no.

The refugee movement had started, ironically enough, with Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Twilight had, after the ponification potion had become a reality, spoken to Lyra and a few others about the entire thing, and told them that she felt something strange was going on - some odd magic that she didn't quite understand. She had promised to speak to Celestia about it.

When she returned however, it was more than obvious to everypony that had known her that she wasn't the same Sparkle. She expounded the virtues of pony life, spoke about how Celestia had said things were much better for the humans as ponies, how it was really a blessing - not a tragedy - that their world was being scoured. Lyra had known then that something was up, and others had agreed with her - most notably Doctor Hooves, who had begun some preparations, though no one had known what.

One by one, the Element bearers fell under the same influence. Fluttershy had been the last, and before then she had confided in Lyra that she was afraid of what was happening - not just to her friends but to all of Equestria. Lyra had said that she knew what Fluttershy meant: the Royal Guard, once only ten thousand strong, was increasing in size by the day: hundreds... thousands... of ponies joining up to swell their ranks, and millions of the new converted joining as well. The increased militarisation was a real worry: that sort of thing never happened for no reason.

It was when Fluttershy fell that Doctor Hooves finally told the assembled 'doubters' of Ponyville - Lyra, Bon Bon (more for Lyra's sake than any real doubt of her own), Ditzy and Dinky, Cheerilee, Peachy Pitt, Carrot Top and over forty others - including, to everyone's surprise, Spike the dragon, upset by the change in his friends - that he was making an escape plan for those who didn't want to be part of this new, changing Equestria. He told them that there would come a moment where Earth would, as he put it, "say 'no more'", and when that happened, they had to go to the humans: beg for their protection, and offer their help in return.

Almost immediately, everypony agreed. Whatever was happening here was wrong, in a way none of them liked.

Slowly, those who were intending to leave prepared to do so. Subtle feelers were sent out to those who might not want to. Cheerilee watched as Dinky tried to convince the Cutie Mark Crusaders to leave, but they did not wish to - Sweetie Belle and Applebloom stayed for their sisters, and Scootaloo for Rainbow Dash, none of them willing to leave their families. The Cakes stayed for Pinkie and their foals. Granny Smith and Bic Macintosh seemed happy enough with this new Equestria, though it could have been that they just didn't want to leave Applejack either... So many didn't listen, ponies Lyra missed dearly.

Eventually, though, some more chose to join them: most prominently, the musician Vinyl Scratch joined them, then a unicorn named Minuette, another called Sea Swirl, a Pegasus named Parasol, another named Orange Swirl, another named Lightning Dust, a young former guard named True Grit and another called Errant Flight... slowly but surely, the ranks of what had first been called the "Equestrian Underground", but soon the “Equestrian Exodus”, began swelling, Pegasi, Unicorns and Earth Ponies joining up, slowly and surely.

And then their cue came.

One day, the barrier stopped its dreaded advance. The islands of Great Britain and Ireland were somehow protected by their own barrier, a giant blue swirl of energy.

Celestia's response was... horrible. It began with her announcement: that she would take a new name to represent the fact that she was no longer merely a Princess. She was Astra Solamina Maxima: true and rightful Empress of all Equestria. Then, the posters began appearing - propaganda expounding humans as monsters, devil worshipping destroyers who needed to be put down. Many - mostly the very young and gullible - believed this, but to the Equestrian Underground, it was proof that Celestia - Solamina - had gone off the deep end. The worst thing was, she was guiding her new, malicious Equestria into becoming a war machine. Weapons were developed, Twilight Sparkle turning her home into a weapons research lab, Rarity's clothes boutique creating uniforms for the Equestrian militia... it was clear what Solamina was planning.

The Doctor led the underground to his ship, a TARDIS. In it, he travelled across Equestria, gathering everypony he had spoken to. It was clear, over the course of many months and even years, that it was not just Ponyville he had been active in: hundreds - and soon, thousands - of ponies entered his TARDIS, fitting only thanks to the magic of the strange machine. It was then he revealed his plan.

The TARDIS could take them to the scoured Earth, specifically a little part of what had been France that he called "Dunkirk", where he had managed to set up the assembly of hundreds of Equestrian boats, fishing ships and travel vessels built by the Converted locals that he had acquired in bits and pieces using stolen and forged bits. In this makeshift, rag tag fleet, the Doctor led the Equestrian refugees, all of them praying to whatever deity still guided them that they wouldn't be stopped. Hooves had, for some reason, laughed as they travelled: he claimed this was 'déjà vu', though Lyra wasn't sure what he meant.

Amazingly, they weren't stopped or accosted. They entirely bypassed the patrol routes of the human navy by some miracle, and then they made landfall safely at Hull (a very roundabout course), where Bon Bon and Lyra, together with Doctor Hooves and Ditzy, led the refugees onto mainland Britain, where they had finally met the two guards who waited with them now...

Right now, the thousands of refugees were being catalogued and registered, a census being taken. Lyra, Ditzy and Bon Bon were allowed to be here because Doctor Hooves had insisted, but only he spoke for them.

Lyra sighed. At any other time, being surrounded by humans like this would have made her happier than she had ever been: now she felt only dread. They had to believe the Doctor when he told them what was coming. If they didn't, there was no way they could stand up to Solamina's armies, not now that she had billions of converted at her side, all eager to fight for her and her twisted cause.

"Hey," a male voice said, startling her out of her thoughts. She turned to find herself facing the dark haired soldier who had greeted her when the refugee fleet made land at Hull. He smiled softly. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she said softly, "just... I left a lot of friends behind."

"It must have been hard," the man said sympathetically. "But for what it's worth, I think you coming here will be a real help."

"You think so?" Lyra asked, looking up at him hopefully.

"Yeah, I think so," he said. He held out a hand - Lyra glanced down at it, a soft smile on her face: she still found hands fascinating. "My name's David Elliot."

Lyra glanced up from the hand to his face, then back down, then back up, a quizzical expression on her face. He glanced down at the hand, then back at her, grinning sheepishly.

"Sorry," he said. "That's called a handshake: human greeting. Sort of a 'nice to meet you' sign."

She reached out and grasped the still proffered hand with her hoof, and he shook her hoof once. He grinned, and she couldn't help but smile back.

"Nice to meet you," she said to him softly. "I'm Lyra Heartstrings."

***

The Present, Canterlot.

The man shook his head, as though clearing it of unpleasant memories. Lyra wanted to ask what was wrong with him, but the grim look on the human's face was enough to convince her not to: her enthusiasm slightly drained as she took in the dark looks on the other ponies' faces, even the look of sadness on Celestia's face. What was he thinking about?

"You said you knew me too," Ditzy put in, breaking the deathly silence. Her voice and face displayed nothing but innocent curiosity, an emotion that, though she had no way to know it, the man remembered well coming from her, though when he had known her it had not been nearly as commonly seen from her, given the times they had lived in. "Or you recognised me, anyway."

"Ditzy Doo," the man replied, smiling again, though it seemed tired, as though it came with a heavy memory. "Commonly called Derpy by your friends." His smile widened slightly, becoming warmer and less tired. "I didn't know you well, I'm afraid, but I wish I had."

"Why the past tense?" Lyra asked, narrowing her eyes in confusion. "How do you know who we are?" Her enthusiasm was dying down a little now, her curiosity about humans replaced by a curiosity about this human.

The man sighed, clearly not happy with having to answer her question, though she didn't know why he would be. Maybe if she had, she would never have asked: or maybe if she had, she would have asked all the same. To her surprise, the Element bearers and Princess Celestia also looked sad, as though... they knew what was wrong.

"What is it?" Lyra asked softly. The human sighed.

"That's gonna take some explaining," he said, his tone weary...

***

And so, slowly and filled with regret for having to explain this once more - as though even speaking of the memories hurt him - David Elliot explained everything he could in as short a time as he could.

He explained the Barrier: the destruction of almost all of his world, save for one small dingy set of damp islands where the last of humanity waited, almost futilely, for the end to descend upon them. He explained how that darkness had never come. He explained about Solamina, about how the tyrant empress had declared war on Britain and the last humans for the 'crime' of defying her. He explained how the war had begun: the battles in cities where hundreds of soldiers died defending civilians.

He explained about the Equestrian Resistance movement: the mass exodus of ponies from Equestria when Solamina had gone insane. He explained how they had warned humanity's survivors about the war, about how they had done their best to help. He explained about the battles that had been fought together... and the heavy cost - millions of humans slain or converted over the years, reducing the last humans from over one hundred and ten million to only fourteen or fifteen million, death on a scale none of the ponies had ever heard of and could not comprehend.

He explained about the battle of Dover: his ascension to the mantle of being the Avatar of Albion.

He explained about the battle of London: a massive battle, millions of Guards and converted militia descending upon the historic city. He explained about how the battle was going poorly... and he explained about Hell Blazer's plan. The transportation, the arrival in Equestria...

He didn't explain that, where he was from, Ditzy had been killed in battle, or that True Grit had bled out in his arms, or that Lyra had been near death when he last saw her. These were his friends - or ponies just like them. Hurting or worrying them like that was not on his agenda.

He also neglected to mention that the power was killing him. He didn't want pity.

Much of what he said was new to the Element bearers as well, though each of them noted that he had neglected to mention the deaths of any of the ponies in the room who had died at his hands. Still, none of them questioned it. After all, it wasn't a super-important detail.

"... so after I - shall we say, 'explained' all this to Celestia," Elliot finished, sounding very tired, "she offered her help." He looked at the Princess as if to confirm her story, and nodded once.

"What help?" Twilight Sparkle asked, looking from the human to her mentor.

"Any we are able to give, Twilight," Celestia replied, looking grim. "This war is an abomination, and this Solamina a mockery of everything we hold dear."

"Your Princess actually offered your nation's armies," Elliot added. He gave Twilight a wry grin. "But one hundred and ten thousand soldiers isn't a big number."

"Yes it is," Twilight replied. "That's..."

"Nowhere near the billions Astra Solamina has to offer," Elliot cut her off. "You're thinking about war in your terms, but Solamina has been adapting her Equestria's armies for war with us. They have super-zeppelins thousands of feet long, Crystal Golems, magic projectile launchers..."

"I don't care what they have," True Grit put in, sounding angry. He stomped a hoof on the ground to emphasise his point. "I'll put them down myself. I'm sure any Guard would say the same."

"Stand down, True Grit," Celestia said sternly. Elliot laughed, however.

"You're just like the True Grit I knew..." he said, his tone wistful. His smile faded. "Princess Celestia is right though: no army can win this war. Force of arms is not the way." He sighed, looking away from them all. "The only way to end the war is to slay Astra Solamina Maxima in her palace. We believe it is her magic that commands the barrier, her power that holds the converted in thrall. But..." and here he looked up at them, shame and self-loathing in his voice. "I'm not strong enough."

"What do you mean by that?" Rarity asked, looking confused. "From what dear Twilight says, you were easily capable of fighting her, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash: indeed, if what Dash said is true, they only subdued you because you were distracted."

"And you fought against myself and Luna as well, fought us to a standstill even, and that was both of us together," Celestia added, frowning slightly at Elliot's assessment of his strength. "Do you not think that the strength you have displayed in these is sufficient to the challenge of this Solamina?"

"No," Elliot said simply. "For one thing, you and Luna were holding me off: it would have taken everything I had - maybe more than I had - to kill you. For another thing..." He grimaced. "Solamina is more powerful than you, far more powerful. I - Albion - asked you to take to your full power, remember? You weren't nearly as powerful as... as you should have been. As she would have been. Against her, I haven't got a prayer unless I pull a massive power boost from somewhere."

“How can you know that?” Twilight asked. “Did she attack you?”

“No,” Elliot said slowly. “For the most part, she’s never set foot anywhere near the British Isles. She’s been content enough to throw her armies at us.”

“Then how do you know she’s more powerful?” Rarity asked with a frown.

Elliot gave her a look. “I know. Handy thing about being the Avatar of Albion - sometimes, you just know things.”

“‘Just knowing’ is hardly a scientific answer,” Twilight said with a scornful smirk.

“We still have ponies in Equestria, spying on the Empire’s moves for us,” Elliot said with a slight sigh. He paused. “Solamina doesn’t go to battle very often, but when she does...”

He trailed off, looking sickened.

“What?” Celestia asked, frowning.

“There were rumours of some sort of attack on Equestrian soil,” Elliot said slowly. “A being called… what was it… Tirek?”

Most of the ponies didn’t know that name, but Celestia’s eyes widened in shock.

“He returned?” she asked.

“So we heard,” Elliot said. “She killed him. His head’s mounted on a spike somewhere. She’s shown her strength enough that I can back up my feelings pretty well.”

Celestia and the other ponies allowed that to sink in for a moment: this Astra Solamina Maxima was more powerful than even their Celestia - Celestia remembered Tirek, one of many enemies of old that she had barely been able to defeat in her younger days.

No: this was not something they were particularly happy about.

"What help can we offer you then?" Celestia finally asked. "There must be something."

Elliot smiled again, this time a slightly disturbing smile, filled with the promise of death to his enemies. "Oh, there is something." He pointed at the collection of ponies, Element bearers and Lyra, Derpy and True Grit alike. "You can give me these nine."

"What?" came a cry from multiple sources, as the Element bearers began protesting. Celestia held up a hoof to silence them.

"What do you mean?" she asked Elliot, her eyes narrowing slightly. The warrior grinned, clearly almost excited by his plan.

"The Elements of Order - as they're called in my world - were trained to be some of the most devastating fighters around," he explained, gesturing at them. He pointed at Lyra and the others. "These three, on the other hand, fought alongside me - I know what each of them is capable of, how good they can be."

He straightened up, looking them all in the eye.

"I'm asking you all to come back with me. To train hard, become fighters, realise the potential you have. The war can't be won by strength of arms, but having you all will give our side access to a force of individually brilliant fighters, thinkers and tacticians, to minds that devastated Britain - and can, if we use them right, devastate the Empire. Together, I think we can find a way to stop Solamina once and for all." He stopped talking, then sighed softly, deflating. "I won't lie. It'll be hard: you'll be in a world fighting a war more hopeless and desperate than anything you've likely ever seen in your lives, but..." He paused. "But if it works, you'll have saved a world, a species, and maybe even another Equestria."

He looked at each of them, taking in their expressions: none of them looked enthusiastic.

"The choice is yours," he finished, before heading for the door. "I won't make anyone... anypony... come if they don't want to. But I won't say we don't need the help."

He walked out of the training room, leaving Celestia and the ponies behind. The Sun Princess looked at each of her little ponies, none of whom looked enthusiastic about the idea of leaving their Equestria to go and fight in a war.

"My little ponies," she said softly, trying to assuage their confusion, "this is a hard choice. I ask that you do not make a decision rashly. Though time is short to save Elliot's world, one or two days will not condemn it now. I ask that you stay the night here in Canterlot and decide for yourself what you think you should do. As Elliot will not force you, neither will I." With that, the Princess moved for the door as well.

"What would you do, Princess?" Twilight asked suddenly. Celestia turned to see Twilight looking more conflicted than she had ever seen her. The Sun Princess sighed.

"I would do what feels right," she said, her voice neutral. She walked out of the chamber, leaving the ponies to their thoughts.

Author's Note

A quick note to all those who have favourited and commented on this story to say thank you, thank you so much :-) I really do appreciate it.

EDIT: This chapter was edited on July 3rd, 2015.

Deliberation.

Chapter Nine: Deliberation.

***

Canterlot.

Twilight Sparkle stood by a Canterlot balcony, looking out on peaceful Equestria - her home - and wondering just how similar it was to the world of horrors David Elliot had come from. She wondered what had happened to her friends, what had happened to the ponies of Ponyville or the inhabitants of Canterlot. She wondered if they - like her - had become a murderer... a monster.

It was hard to wrap her head around the simple idea that she had somewhere, somehow, become part of a regime that supported a mass genocide - that she was inadvertently responsible for the sort of horrible destructiveness that Elliot had described. That she was part of something like that! Even if it was somehow unwillingly... still, the thought made her feel sick.

And he had asked her to go to that world. He had asked all of them - not just the Elements of Harmony, but all of the ponies present, even the guard, True Grit, to go to a world where so many of them were dead, where ponies and humans had fought in a vicious, brutal war...

Twilight had to admit, if she thought about it long enough she could almost see his logic. From his perspective, there was no doubt not all that much difference between her and her counterpart, except for experience. But he must have known their lack of experience would count, and that this same lack of experience - even in True Grit's case - would limit their usefulness. There would need to be valuable time spent preparing them, time his world might not have had.

But then again, Twilight thought, playing Devil's advocate with herself as she wrestled with the idea, Elliot would also surely know the value of potential. If one Twilight Sparkle, one Pinkie Pie, one Lyra Heartstrings could be a warrior, prepared for combat, hardened by it, then why not another? Twilight had to admit, she could see how he - how anypony - could draw that conclusion. If the only difference between a Twilight in one universe and another was something small... well. Why wouldn't he be able to harness that potential? Why couldn't the ponies of this Equestria learn to fight as well as their counterparts, why couldn't they contribute as well as their parallel selves had? Sure, it might take time - but it could work.

But if he could somehow draw out that potential - if there was some way, some training, that could transform Twilight and her friends into killers... did she want that? Did she want to go to a place so horrid, so desolate, so war scarred, to fight an enemy that was so similar to herself - that might even be herself, given that she was not dead in that other world... did she want to expose herself to that kind of change? That kind of horror? Was it worth it? Was it right? Could they be of any help?

She sighed. It was something worth thinking about, and if she were being honest with herself, she didn't want to fight, she didn't want to kill. She wanted to forget that she'd ever heard the name Astra Solamina, or heard of Britons and humans. She wanted to go home, hug Spike, and pretend none of these things had happened. But Elliot's parting words haunted her.

"I won't make anyone... anypony... come if they don't want to. But I won't say we don't need the help."

Millions had died, and died at the hooves of ponies. Had died... possibly at her hoof. Didn't that mean that she had a responsibility to do something - anything - to make up for that? And if so...

And if so, what could possibly make up for it better than the choice that lay before her now: the choice to... to leave her home, go with him back to his world. The choice to take a stand...

The choice to fight.

She didn't like it. She didn't like it at all. It was wrong, and more than that it stood against everything she believed that she, as one of the Elements of Harmony, should stand for... but...

But he needed their help. He had said as much. Millions of lives still hung in the balance.

If she could help, did she really have a choice?

***

Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Ditzy were sat in a hall in Canterlot, discussing the request Elliot had made of them all. The ornate hall was dark, Luna's moon hanging high in the sky, but the darkness seemed oddly fitting: a dark hall fit for dark business.

The four of them seemed somewhat divided as to what course of action to take. Ditzy seemed fairly willing to do something to help the man. Applejack and Pinkie were on the fence. Rarity, on the other hand, was vocally against going with him.

"I can't see how he thinks bringing us to his world would be of any use whatsoever," she was saying, frowning as she thought about the offer. "We're not fighters, we're... well, anything but!"

"I can't honestly disagree with you," Applejack said slowly, "but if he thinks that we could… I dunno, train hard enough to do something, if he thinks we can help him..."

"How can we help a being we’d never met from a world we’ve never heard of fight in a war the likes of which Equestria hasn’t been involved in since Celestia only knows when?" Rarity asked sharply, almost hyperventilating. She took a calming breath. "I'm a tailor, Applejack. You're a farmer. Pinkie's a baker. Ditzy here is a postmare… these are not professions that are conducive to becoming the saviours of worlds!"

"But we must have been these things before," Ditzy pointed out quietly. "Where he's from, I mean. But we learned to fight there, and he thinks we could do it again. And he said he really needs us."

Rarity sighed, turning to address Ditzy. "Look, it isn't like I don't feel horrible that versions of us are behind so much suffering. I do. I really do." She turned to look at Applejack: the look in the tailor's eyes told the orange Earth Pony that she was being truthful, and she nodded, a sad look on her face. Rarity looked back at Ditzy. "But I don't think for a second that we can make any difference. He’d be better off taking ponies who can - Shining Armour and the Royal Guard, or Celestia herself, or Princess Luna..."

"But he said we fought," Ditzy pointed out again, her voice quiet. Rarity sighed, frowning slightly.

"I know that," she said, "but those ponies he knew were not us. They were other ponies who looked like us, sounded like us... maybe even had some of the same things happen to them before this war business. But they aren't us, weren’t us."

There was a moment’s pause as everypony considered this.

"Maybe they weren't," Applejack said thoughtfully, not looking at any of them. Rarity smiled and breathed a sigh almost of relief, clearly thinking that the Element of Honesty agreed with her. "But," Applejack continued, and Rarity's smile faded slightly, "I don't reckon there's enough of a difference to say what he's suggestin' ain't possible. And besides..." The orange Earth Pony grimaced, thinking of what the human had told them. "You heard what he said. His world needs help. Millions of folks are dyin' over there."

"And our Equestria should help," Rarity agreed, looking and sounding exasperated, "but sending nine ponies, of whom only one had any combat training, is insane!"

There was a moment's silence. Rarity turned to Pinkie, who had been awfully quiet this entire time, looking incredibly thoughtful.

"What do you think, Pinkie?" she asked.

The pink party pony didn't answer. She was stood in thought, focused on a single imaginary spot. She had been staring at it for… well, longer than any of her friends had ever seen her concentrate before. Rarity looked at Applejack, who frowned.

"Sugarcube?" the Earth Pony said gently. "What’re you thinkin'?"

"I'm thinking..." Pinkie said slowly, turning away from the three of them. "I'm thinking of a world that doesn't have parties. I'm thinking of a world where ponies hurt other ponies, where ponies hurt other races too. I'm thinking of a world where... where..." She turned to face her friends, and her eyes shone with tears. "I'm thinking of a world where no one laughs, where no one smiles, or if they do it's a smile like Mr Elliot's smile: all weird, like he's smiling because of something horrible and if he wasn't smiling he'd be crying or screaming or something." She shuddered, and a single tear fell from her eye. "Nopony... no anyone, ever... should have to live in a world like that. If we can help them, I think we should."

"It... it is a horrible thought, Pinkie," Rarity said softly, looking slightly shamefaced. "But I don't know if we, us four and the others, can fix it. If we go... what good can we do?"

"I don't know," Pinkie said softly, her eyes still glistening with unshed tears. "But I'd feel really horrible if I didn't try to do... something."

Rarity and Applejack exchanged glances. They turned to Ditzy, who was nodding slowly in agreement.

"What kind of example would I be leaving Dinky if I didn't help somepony... or some human... when they needed my help?" the postmare added, sounding unusually serious for her. "Not a very good one, I know that much. I think... I think I'll go with Mr Elliot."

Rarity sighed and looked at Applejack. The Earth Pony half-smiled, not looking all that happy herself.

"Well, Sugarcube," she said, sounding resigned, "you can't really say much fairer than that."

"No," Rarity admitted softly, looking altogether unhappy but resigned nonetheless. "I guess you can't."

"So that's it then?" Pinkie asked them all, looking between the three other ponies. "We're gonna go to Mr Elliot's world and... well, learn to fight and stuff?"

Applejack nodded. A moment later Rarity did too. Ditzy followed shortly after. Pinkie smiled softly.

"Okey dokie lokie," she said softly.

***

Celestia could feel the presence of Luna before she could see it. The Sun Diarch had stayed up, thinking herself as to what she might be able to do and staring out of her palace window.

It still rankled her to a degree that Elliot had refused to ask more of her than the nine ponies he had named. She knew the fibre of her kind: she knew that if you called upon them to do the right thing, they would. But he had insisted that it was not what he wanted, and she believed it was his his choice, foolish as it seemed to her.

She turned to look at her sister, who was regarding her with odd eyes.

"This Tyrant Sun the human speaks of," the Moon Diarch began without preamble. "She is a version of you?"

"So far as he knows and has been told," Celestia replied.

"And you believe him?" Luna asked.

"I believe he believes, and he trusts those he believes with his life," Celestia said, frowning slightly. "There is always a possibility of something different at work, but in this case I doubt it."

"Then I will take your word on his," Luna said with a slow nod. She trotted up to her sister, a sad look on her face as she gazed out at the sky, which was suitably cloudy, as though reflecting her mood. "War, sister. I can scarcely believe it."

"We've faced wars before," Celestia said grimly. "And some that may rival this horror."

"An age or more ago when we were young," Luna responded. "This... I do not even know." She threw her sister a look. "Are you sure we should not send more help?"

"It is the wish of this human," Celestia said tiredly. "It would not have been my preference."

Luna scowled. "And yet where he will not ask for the armies of Equestria to march, he will ask for nine ponies - most of whom are but children - to walk to war."

"He believes they can help win the war, rather than prolong it," Celestia said softly.

"Do you believe it?" Luna asked.

"I believe they are exceptional individuals," Celestia said, looking at Luna.

"But do you believe that they can help win his war?" Luna pressed.

Celestia sighed, looking back out the window. "To that, I do not know."

Luna nodded, apparently making her mind up about something. She turned and headed off. Celestia didn't bother asking her where she was going - her sister had her own choices to make, and she would make them. Besides, were their situations reversed, Celestia knew she would be... hesitant about letting this plan go through unchallenged.

She didn't know, truth be told, whether it was the right thing to allow to happen. What she did know was that it was what the human thought was the right thing to do, and having seen into his mind, she could see why he might think so.

Whatever choice the nine made, she wished them well.

***

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy sat alone on a high cloud, watching the night pass by. Fluttershy normally didn't really like being this high, but she could accept it for this one time: Rainbow was unusually pensive, sitting - or rather brooding - in silence, and Fluttershy didn't want to leave her alone. She hadn't spoken a word since they'd come up here, lost in whatever train of thought she was in.

"Somewhere on that world," Rainbow Dash finally said, speaking unusually quietly and reflectively for her, "their Rainbow Dash's dead body is... I don't know. She’s dead. I don’t even know if they buried her, burned her, dumped her in a pit, hung the corpse on a spike… I don’t know if Elliot’s people got a hold of it, or if this Empire got it back, or what."

Fluttershy didn't reply, sensing that her friend didn't need her to yet, busy as she was venting her feelings.

"They killed all of us," Rainbow Dash continued. "Rarity, you, Applejack, me, Pinkie... all of the Elements except Twilight. He... he killed us. Them. Whatever."

Fluttershy still didn't respond. Rainbow suddenly snarled and hit the cloud they were on, growling in frustration. She let out a long yell of frustration.

"And you know what the worst part is?" she said, speaking surprisingly softly considering her outburst. "I can't say I really blame him for killing me, or killing you, or killing any of us. Not if what he's told us is true." She sighed. "If somepony came to my home and started hurting everypony there, I'd wanna hurt them too. I'd want to fight."

She rolled over, looking up at the sky and sighing.

"He killed me himself. Even showed me the dagger. And now he wants my help." Dash looked at Fluttershy, who was still silent. "What do you think he feels when he looks at us? D'you think he feels angry? I mean, we look just like ponies who hurt his friends..."

Fluttershy still said nothing, but she looked away from Rainbow Dash, looking out at Canterlot from her own cloud with wide, thoughtful eyes.

"I think he tries to hide it," Rainbow added, not waiting for Fluttershy's reply. "I think he looks at us, sees the ponies he fought and killed, and probably really has to struggle not to hurt us. You weren't there when he first saw us, I really think he was gonna kill us..."

She fell silent. Fluttershy was still staring off into the distance.

"Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash asked softly. "What are you thinking?"

The yellow Pegasus slowly turned to her friend, eyes wide with sadness.

"I don't know whether I can help him," she said, her voice soft and filled with uncertainty, barely audible in the night breeze. "But I think I want to try."

Rainbow blinked in surprise. That was not what she had been expecting. To be honest, she had been expecting Fluttershy to be shocked at the very idea of fighting anypony, much less going to a world where war was a constant, grim reality.

"You'd have to learn to fight," she said slowly.

"I know," Fluttershy replied, eyes looking away from Rainbow, "but... but he said he needs the help. Millions of people are hurt, or are gonna get hurt. I don't... I don't want to think I just sat here when I could have h-helped them."

Rainbow Dash blinked once, frowning slightly. Then she flapped over to Fluttershy slowly. Finally, she hugged her friend.

"You're a good pony, Fluttershy," she said quietly. "You really are. I know you'll do great."

"What about you?" Fluttershy asked. "Are you going to come?"

Rainbow only hesitated for a moment.

"Course I am. I can't let one of my best friends go to some other world all by herself, can I? Besides, what would you do without me?" she jested halfheartedly.

Fluttershy smiled a little, but Dash mentally frowned. This was going to be… something.

***

For Lyra Heartstrings, sat in her luxury guest room in Canterlot, the thought process behind Elliot's request was rather simple.

An entire world of humans awaited her if she went with him. If she didn't go with him, not only would she not see any more humans... but an entire world of humans might well be destroyed. All the opportunity to know them, gone. A whole species of beautiful creatures, gone forever because of an Equestria gone mad.

She didn't like the idea of fighting at all - she didn't think anypony would - but if that's what she had to do not only to see humans, but to save them from destruction, then she would do her very best to help, no matter what.

It was, all things considered, a rather simple decision.

***

Elliot himself was sat alone in the gardens of Canterlot, cross legged and eyes closed. He was doing as Hell Blazer had often suggested, and meditating. He found he could channel the energy of Albion better after a little bit of focusing, and learning to focus that energy was important: he could only use the full power in extremis, given its toxic properties, so learning to channel bits of it to certain tasks was important. It might... extend the time he had left.

He only hoped he wouldn't die before his most important task - the destruction of Solamina, the winning of the war - was complete.

In any case, he needed to be alone, away from all these ponies - many of whom were the spitting image of the dead, or his enemies, or both. He still felt strange thinking about it: part of him couldn't believe he'd asked the spitting images of his enemies to fight alongside him on Earth. He hoped he could convince the soldiers under his command to accept them, to help train them. He was sure he could, but some pains ran very deep...

Despite the seclusion of this small part of the garden, he heard the soft footsteps of a pony trotting towards him. He opened his eyes, a sigh of mild frustration escaping his lips, to find himself facing True Grit.

"Mr Elliot, sir," the Guard Pony said, nodding respectfully. "I'm sorry to interrupt."

"True Grit," Elliot replied. He was about to say 'call me David' until he forced himself to remember that this True Grit wasn't the stallion he had spent years fighting alongside. Treating this Grit like he was his old friend was neither going to help Elliot get over the death of his friend, nor was it fair to this True Grit to compare him to his other self: that would come with expectations that were too much to dump on anyone's shoulders, let alone the shoulders of one who might well be going to war. "What can I do for you?"

"I thought I'd come to give you my decision sir," Grit said, his tone serious. "I'm going back with you. I can't abide the idea that there's some nightmare Equestria out there where ponies are oppressing others and going against everything our race believe in. I want to help you fight it."

Elliot smiled softly. "Thank you, True Grit," he said quietly. "I'm glad to have you with us."

"Respectfully sir," the pony said, now looking slightly awkward, "am I likely to meet myself in your world?

Elliot didn't want to answer that question, but he didn't want to lie to Grit either. His True Grit or not, he was still in some way the unicorn Elliot had respected and called 'friend': lying to him wasn't on the cards. Ignorance may have been bliss for some but it was a curse for soldiers in that world.

"No," he said grimly, looking True Grit dead in the eye. "You aren't going to meet yourself. You were... he was killed in action, the day before I came here."

True Grit nodded slowly. "I see sir," he said softly. He seemed to be thoughtful for a moment. "I trust I - that is to say he - made a good account of himself?"

Elliot smiled at that: trust True Grit to handle his own death well. "You were one of the best soldiers under my command. You'd fought in most major engagements since the incorporation of the Equestrian Resistance's army." He paused, his smile fading. "You died in a skirmish against Shining Armour, Captain of the Royal Guard."

Grit nodded slowly, looking only a little surprised to hear the name of Shining Armour brought up. "And Armour?" he asked.

Elliot gave him a dark look.

"I avenged my friend," was all he said. Grit nodded, and then saluted sharply.

"I swear to you, I will do my best to live up to my counterpart's example sir," he said sharply. Elliot stood up and saluted the pony back, before they both dropped the salutes.

"I know no matter what happens, True Grit, I'll be able to count on you," he said softly. "Dismissed, soldier."

The Guard nodded smartly, turned on his heels and marched off, no doubt to pack some essentials. Elliot sighed. That was one pony on his side from the nine he had asked to come: now he just needed to see whether any or all of the rest wanted to come. He sat back, closed his eyes, and began singing a song he had heard once and had often sung with soldiers on the march.

"There's forty shillings on the drum, for those who'll volunteer to come, to 'list and fight the foe today, over the hills and far away..."

A rustle in the trees behind him caught his attention, and he turned to see the midnight blue form of Princess Luna observing him. He smiled slightly.

"Princess Luna," he said softly. "What can I do for you?"

Elliot had only heard stories of Celestia’s sister. In some ways, he was thankful that she hadn’t become like Solamina. It was a shame that Luna hadn’t lived to aid the British Isles in their struggle - Lord knows they could have done with the help - but that was the way life went most times. He vaguely considered asking her to come with him… but somehow, while asking the nine ponies he had asked felt right in a way he couldn’t really describe, asking Princess Luna felt wrong, like it wasn’t supposed to be. Besides which - she was the Diarch of this land. She had responsibilities that he couldn't, by rights, ask her to give up.

The Princess walked slowly towards him, before sitting next to him, frowning slightly at him.

"Our sister tells us that thou hast asked the Element bearers to come with thou to thine home," she began without preamble.

"I've asked for their help, yes," Elliot confirmed with a nod. Luna snorted, not looking happy. "You don't approve?"

"They are brave and young and foolish," she said softly, looking irritated, "and they do not know war. They will come with thee, they have heard thy story and know thy suffering and seek to help thee. But that does not mean that thou hast the right to ask this of them. Thy war shall destroy them, I fear."

"And what would you have me do?" Elliot asked, trying not to sound as desperate and angry as he felt. "I can't go home alone and tell them I did nothing, tried nothing." He paused. "If your home was burning, and your only hope was a few humans who you weren't sure were ready to help but you knew could be ready to help, would you ask it of them?"

"I would ask aid of those who could aid in such things," Luna retorted, "not… not children who know nothing of such hardships."

"All children grow up," Elliot countered, his expression grim and tired. He was thinking of the youngest victims of the war he had seen - teenagers who had lived their lives in the shadow of obliteration, or the children born at the outset of the Equestrian crisis. He was thinking of the children of Gilead thrown to the fire, or the children ponified in their cribs. It was…

… too horrible.

"Yes, children grow up,” Luna snarled, startling him from his thoughts, “but not so far, and not so fast.”

“Do you speak from experience, Princess?” he asked her.

“More than you know,” she replied. “I was one of the leaders of this kingdom’s armies in the days of the Unification war and the Discordant ages - I have seen the worst excesses of conflict.” Her eyes flashed, full of memories that Elliot could tell were painful, even horrific. “Your war… is one of the worst I know of, tis true, but all wars claim the same victims in the end.” She calmed herself briefly. "What thou hast asked of these young ones is not fair."

Elliot sighed, looking away from the Moon Princess and seemingly thinking hard about something.

"Yes," he said finally, looking unhappy. "It isn't fair. Not even remotely fair."

Luna tilted her head slightly, curious as to this change of tack.

"But," Elliot continued, "was it fair that my world's Ditzy should have to die, with almost all her friends dead alongside her? That my world's True Grit was killed, by a stallion he had trusted?" He paused, looking back at Luna. "War is not fair. I don't want their help for fairness' sake. I want it for the future's sake. I want it because I genuinely believe that they will be able to make a difference. And I owe that chance to my friends, and the people under my command. Can you understand?

The Moon Princess said nothing for a long moment, and Elliot returned to his meditative pose. Then, to his surprise, he heard a softly murmured response.

"Yes. We understand."

Luna sighed, looking away from him and up into the night's sky she had created.

"What ritual do you perform?" she asked softly after a moment.

Though he was surprised by the question, Elliot smiled. "Meditation. Helps to focus the power of Albion, or at least that’s what Hell Blazer said. Under the circumstances… I think I need all the help I can get."

"I see," Luna said softly. She moved herself into a pony approximation of his pose. "Perhaps we shall join thee."

Elliot said nothing, but smiled softly. Next to him, Princess Luna closed her eyes and began meditating as well.

***

The following morning, Princess Celestia walked into the royal throne room and found nine ponies waiting for her, all of them looking resolute and serious. She frowned slightly as she approached them.

"Twilight," she addressed the mare at the head of the group. "Have you come to a decision?"

The purple unicorn nodded slowly. "Yes, Princess, we all have." She turned to look at her friends, as well as True Grit, all of whom nodded for her to continue. She turned back to Celestia. "We're going with Elliot. We'll fight."

Celestia took a deep breath. "Are you certain this is what you want, Twilight?" she asked softly. "Once you go, there is no turning back. You will be in that world, fighting in that war with all that might entail."

Twilight smiled, a soft and slightly sad thing. "I know Princess," she said. "But I have to go, all of us do." Her smile widened slightly. "It's what feels right."

Celestia smiled back at her, and nodded in return.

"Very well," she said softly. "I shall call David Elliot here and inform him, and then we shall begin preparations." She turned to go, paused, and then turned back to them all. "For what it is worth, my little ponies, though you will face hardships greater than any you have ever faced, I think you have made the right decision."

And with that, Princess Celestia left the throne room to find Elliot.

Author's Note

Once again, my thanks to all those who have favourited this story. I really do appreciate it.

EDIT: This chapter was (re)edited on 8th July 2015.

Interlude: Golden Lock's Fight.

Interlude: Golden Lock's Fight.

Guest Written by RoyalPsycho.

January 24th, 2030.

The wind swept through Golden Lock's mane as the sky chariot approached the ground. The vast ugly city was spread out beneath them and had gotten larger and more foreboding as they approached. The devastated masonry and streets littered with debris were approaching fast as the sky chariot searched for their designated landing site.

This London, as the barbarian apes called it, was a ruin. Even at it's prime Golden Lock knew it would have never compared with the shining beacon of civilization that was Canterlot, or the elegant metropolis of Manehatten or even the comely neighbourhoods he had been raised in back in Vanhoover. No this city is and always was a ruin, it merely needed their righteous crusade to reveal it.

They had lost sight of the grey and brown river that had lazily flowed through the broken edifice to the last of humanity. Choked with debris and a few corpses the river was already beginning to overflow as the ruined remains of the Flood Barrier were clogged with the copious amounts of waste that now collected around them, pushed towards it by the declining flow of water.

The sky chariot touched down on the broken roads alongside dozens of similar copies. Beside him Joyous Dawn clambered off and checked her weaponry. She was an exceptionally large mare who had apparently been slender and fragile before she bulked up for the military. Her coat was ash grey and mane a subdued greyish blue. Her cutie mark was hidden under the golden standard issue barding they all wore and Golden Lock had never dared to check further. Mares had berated stallions for less, or worse, taken it as a sign of interest. He had never met the mare before today but he had been told to entrust her with his life as she would be doing the same with him. Steeling himself Golden Lock joined her on the ground and checked his weaponry. Their unit was still forming up and waiting for the signal to attack. This assault would be the beginning of an epic siege that would flatten this city and provide Equestria with the victory that would turn the tide in this war. For years now the humans and the traitors that had thrown away their equinity had defied them from this ruin and now Golden Lock would be a part of their ultimate defeat.

“Alright form up,” an officer shouted, his vibrant red and gold plumage denoting him as the unit's captain. “Look lively. These buckers can be crafty and they like to catch you from a distance,” he warned.

Golden Lock swallowed hard, his gulp apparently audible as Joyous Dawn glanced at him sideways with a look of silent contempt before rolling her eyes and turning her face forward again. Golden Dawn was afraid and he knew it. He had never seen a human before but the newspapers depicted them as horrific demons, blundering across the landscape destroying and devouring everything in sight, even one another. Apparently they sacrificed those they captured to their bloodthirsty rulers and their evil sky god and they then used the corpses of those they killed to build disgusting shrines before committing other unspeakable acts to the dead. Those converted he had the awkward displeasure of speaking to described their previous lives as humans as a living Tartarus, trapped within an unholy shell capable only of feeling hatred and acting through violence. Converted were creepy and just didn't seem right. However they had made clear what the rest of Equestria already knew. Humans were a race of monsters and it was Equestria's, and now Golden Lock's, duty to save them from their horrific existence with the potion or scourge them from this world with steel and fire.

His unit had finally formed up into a phalanx. Golden Lock and the rest of the unit raised their spears on a single order barked by the sergeant and held them ready in their magical grip. Their orders were to make their way down this street to meet up with another two groups in some kind of pincer movement. Apparently the humans must have something important here. Why else would the Empress order three units to attack it?

The sky chariots also prepared to depart, leaving for their base of operations, far away beyond the barrier, in a land that had once been called Dutsland or Ducheland or something like that, according to what Golden Lock had heard anyway. It was probably a tiring job but the pegasi pulling the chariots never showed any sign of wavering and that amazed Golden Lock all the more. He still struggled carrying all of his equipment sometimes.

Suddenly a sound like rain appeared and the chariot closest to him came crashing down. The pegasi that had been carrying were shredded by lightning fast shot that came rocketing at them with impossible speed. Golden Dawn was stunned into immobility as small fragments of those pegasi fell down on him. He hadn’t seen anyone die since his great grandmother and that had been a peaceful event, like falling asleep, this was violent. Several more chariots were also torn from the skies by the endless torrent of small metal projectiles even as the rearmost made it to safety. Golden Dawn's unit scattered as they rushed to avoid the falling chariots, some seeking cover from the enemy fire.

“REFORM THE LINE. REFORM THE BUCKING LINE,” the sergeant screamed even as he ducked down to avoid the attacks that were now being directed at them instead of their transports.

Training eventually overruled fear and the terrified unicorns retook their positions, the foremost line quickly erecting a magical shield like they had been trained to do. However Golden Lock could see them struggling as the humans continued to fling their weapons at them. How could humans throw something so small with such speed if they didn't have magic? The government must have lied to them, the humans had to have magic if they could do something like this.

“Company ADVANCE,” the sergeant shouted and the entire unit slowly began to march forward as one, spears level as they prepared to meet whatever was sent at them.

As they moved up the wrecked street, metal projectiles bouncing off the shield at the front, the unit picked up momentum. The sound of armoured hooves tramping on the ground became louder and louder and Golden Lock grit his teeth. He was actually in a battle, ponies had just died in front of him less than a minute ago and now he was running towards an army of monsters that wanted to kill him. He strengthened his magical grip on the haft of his spear and tried to focus on the pony in front of him. He glanced up and saw the shield had become a wall of ripples as the horrible human weapons bounced off of it in an endless wave.

Then he saw one of them pass through the shield. Then another and another, the shield was failing, the ponies generating it were too tired or distracted to maintain it and the human weapons would finally be able to reach them, reach him. The unicorn in front of him suddenly screamed and toppled forward, falling to the ground and Golden Lock saw the shield dissolve and fragment as the complex interlocking spell that had generated it break down. Suddenly the air was filled with small zipping objects that looked like metal mosquitoes with the speed they moved. Ponies across the unit collapsed as holes were punched in their armour and bodies. Golden Lock saw the pony to his right crumple forwards, her face shredded. He wanted to stop but he knew that the momentum his unit had built up would cause the ponies behind him to knock him over and trample him to death. Clenching his teeth even more he ignored the body and kept going.

More ponies fell around him as they closed in on the source of the attacks. There was a barricade blocking the entire street. This was their objective, it had to be. There were humans behind it. Golden Lock stared at the foe he and his fellow soldiers were supposed to fight. They were giants, close to the size of minotaurs, and they were covered in thick grey and black skin. They had no eyes just a large grey void where Golden Lock assumed they should have a face and in their hands were short metal staves. He could see the small metal projectiles shoot out of these staves at an impossibly quick rate, one of the humans quickly stopped, picked up a small box, stuck it to the stave and then began shooting again. Golden Lock raced as quickly as he could, the weight of his armour no longer mattering. He was running on adrenaline now and nothing mattered more than reaching that barricade. If he reached, cleared it, he had won and he would be safe.

He heard a scream and felt hot fluid, probably blood, splash along the left side of his face, he risked a quick glance behind him and saw Joyous Dawn had fallen to the ground with several large holes in her head and forelegs. He turned back just as he saw the hooves of his comrades come down. Trying not to imagine what would happen to her and the bodies of all the other ponies that had fallen he pressed further forward, willing his legs to gallop harder.

He approached the barricade, the small metal bugs flying around him, there was nothing left but the short wall of wood and metal that had been piled in front of him. Part of Golden Lock told him to slow down but it was too late, he kept running, ignoring everything else. He collided with the barricade, jarring everything inside him, he swore he heard a loud clang from his armour striking a large square of corroded metal but it was probably his imagination. All he could hear was inaudible shouting, the bangs of human weaponry and the endless pounding in his ears which had only gotten louder with his collision. There was a second of clarity as he checked to see that did indeed still have his spear in his magical grip and then began scrambling at the wall.

His left forehoof found a hold on a solid slab of wood in a matter of seconds and he hauled himself up. He stood on top of the wall for an instant and felt a sharp pain in his left foreleg. He didn't need to lock to confirm that a human must have hit him with one of their weapons, he could feel it inside his foreleg even as the pain eclipsed it. There was a human in front of him. It had no recognisable face and therefore no expression but he could feel the surprise and fear that it must have felt at seeing a pony climb their defences. Golden Lock pounced on the creature and knocked him down. He didn't have enough force for his foreleg tramplers to kill it instantly but the human did fall backwards and begin flailing about, its thick forearms clumsily trying to gain purchase on anything around it. Panicking Golden Lock raised his spear again, entirely focused on the human he now had helpless before him and prepared to bring it down. Suddenly the human lashed out, hitting him in the side of the head with it's metal stave.

Golden Lock's helmet took most of the force, keeping him from losing consciousness but his ears were now ringing louder than ever before and his vision blurred for a second. He bumped into something that shouted and moved away from him but wasn't sure if it was another human or a pony. He checked to make sure that he still had his spear, just as he had been trained and looked back to where the human he had previously downed was. His vision was engulfed by the huge grey monster looming over him, stave pointed threateningly. Golden Lock knew that whatever the human was trying to him with the stave would kill him and so he charged again. He heard another bang, a sound now familiar to him and felt more pain, this time in the upper part of his barrel, but that didn't matter. He hit the human as hard as he could, ramming into him and at the same time his spear also impacted with the monster.

The human fell backwards and Golden Lock just stopped. The creature still had Golden Lock's spear embedded in its neck, just below the grey ovular slit where a face would be on a minotaur. Something in Golden Lock snapped, he had just killed a human, a terrible monster that Equestria had been at war with for years, and he had just killed one of them. Laughing at his accomplishment, his vision blurring slightly for a second again and his body wavering from the pain of his wounds, he tried to pull the spear back out. The body stirred slightly and Golden Lock panicked. He stabbed the spear down again and the human stopped moving. However he had to be sure. He violently pulled the spear back out, gore stuck to the blade and dripping down onto the human's rubbery skin. Then he shoved it back into the hole he had made, jerking the corpse with the strength and then he did it again, and again, and again, hitting harder with every strike. Blood seeped out of the massive tear in the human's hide, now massive thanks to Golden Lock's actions. He had to kill it, make sure it would never rise again, it was his duty.

Laughing harder with every strike his entire world shrunk down to the body in front of him as he ensured its death once and for all. He didn't know how long he was taking with this task, nothing else mattered. He was preparing for another strike, raising his now very dirty spear yet again when suddenly there was a loud unnatural roar and Golden Lock was catapulted backwards.

Golden Lock's world erupted into agonising pain, worse than any he had experienced before. He had been thrown back into the brick wall of one of the ruined buildings, in the middle of the street the last wisps of a fireball were dissipating. His fugue broken Golden Lock calmly looked down to see what was hurting him so much. His barrel and right foreleg were covered in small metal fragments of varying size that had embedded themselves deep into his flesh. His armour which had once fit together so neatly was shattered by the force of either the explosion, his impact with the wall, or both.

He could feel himself bleeding out, there was no strength in his limbs, all Golden Lock could do was slowly slide down the wall until he was lying on the ground completely. The rest of his unit were still trying to storm the barricade, which was slumping over and sported a number of holes. There were not that many humans, a mere handful of the rubbery figures were there, slowly backing away as they fired their metal staves at the charging ponies. A few more explosions were set off by humans throwing small black objects at the advancing ponies but none of that mattered to Golden Lock. His vision was fading and he couldn't hear anything. There was a mild ringing in his ears but even that was being drowned out by the pounding in his ears that was slowly growing weaker. No what caught his attention was a series of posters on the wall on the opposite side of the street.

They were obviously made by humans but they looked so similar to the ones put up back at home. One depicted what he presumed to be a human with its apeish shape, dressed in ridiculous finery and sporting a stern expression. The fact that it had pinkish skin as well as a face made him pause and ponder whether this was a human being shown. It didn't have the vacant grey oval or the rubbery black skin that all the others he had seen had. Maybe this was one of their rulers, like an alicorn. They probably looked different. Beneath the alicorn human was a single word, “FIGHT”. There was another poster that covered it up slightly, this one must have been fresher, it wasn't as worn or tattered but still showed sign of wear and damage. It had three ponies on it. One was the face of the traitor Prince Blueblood, sporting a look of grim determination whilst on his left was a mare with a grey coat and a blonde mane. Golden Lock tried to make out the third pony but his vision was beginning to blur and it wouldn't go away like before. All he could make out was the caption beneath them, written in large bold letters it read “WE FIGHT FOR A FREE EQUESTRIA”.

Darkness was creeping in on Golden Lock's vision and everything was going very cold. He struggled to stay awake, trying to read more of these posters but it was too late. The darkness faded out the light and then everything went quiet and he knew nothing more.

Author's Note

Another interlude Chapter guest written by a friend of mine: RoyalPsycho is best known for having done a bunch of amazing alternate history maps on DeviantArt, which is the profile I've linked to in his credit. Go check him out. :-)

He's also the other half of my beta team for this story, and he's helped me develop a lot of ideas for future elements, as well as helping me flesh out the Equestrian army and the whole propaganda machine they have.

Normal service will resume shortly :-)

Raid.

Chapter Twenty Six: Raid.

***

Infantry barracks, Leeds Royal Armouries, March 12th, 2030, 06:43 hours.

Twilight Sparkle groaned slightly. Her eyes slowly opened as she became aware of a droning, groaning sound. Initially, she thought it was just the remnants of sleep clinging to her, but then she found Pinkie Pie above her, shaking her heavily.

"Twi! Wake up! Wake up!" Pinkie was yelling, though her voice sounded distant. Twilight shook her head, trying to clear it.

"Wake up!" Pinkie yelled again. Her voice suddenly snapped into focus, and suddenly Twilight was aware that the droning, groaning noise wasn't merely in her head, but actually a blaring siren that was ringing through the entire barracks building.

"Pinkie?" Twilight asked, eyes wide. "What's going on?!"

"Silly filly, there's an alarm going off!" Pinkie said, looking remarkably serious. "At first I thought 'well it's either an attack alarm or a party alarm', but then I realised that everypony looked really serious and then I realised that why would you have an alarm for parties when you could just tell ponies and humans about it and save the bother and confusion...?"

"Pinkie!" Twilight cut her off. "We're under attack?"

"Darn tootin' we're under attack!" the voice of Applejack yelled. Twilight looked up to see her friend pulling her uniform shirt on and grabbing her bayonet. She briefly caught fleeting glimpses of Rarity and True Grit racing out of the room. "Don't know what's goin' on yet, but we'd better high tail it out of here and help!"

With that, she raced outside. Pinkie turned back to Twilight and shrugged. Twilight sighed, quickly put her uniform on and grabbed her bayonet, and then she too ran out, Pinkie hot on her heels.

***

Outside, unicorns and Earth Ponies were lining up. A stern looking human drill sergeant was assigning them to positions. The newcomer ponies were the last to be sorted, having arrived from different barracks, but the drill sergeant still had assignments for them.

"Applejack!" he called out. "Ground defence, follow Corporal Jennings."

Another human - this one in full gas mask and rubber suit - was waiting nearby. Other ponies were already standing with him, all of them Earth Ponies.

"Pinkie Pie, same!" the sergeant continued. "Twilight Sparkle, True Grit, Lyra Heartstrings, Rarity, you're on battery defence with me."

"Yes sir," Twilight said, saluting. With that, the drill sergeant ran off towards a nearby line of defensive turrets, the unicorns jogging after him, leaving Jennings with the Earth Ponies.

As they jogged, Twilight caught sight of Sapphire Steel, who had been assigned to base defence here - she gave her a quick grin, which the pony returned nervously. Then she jogged up to the sergeant, intending to clarify what she would be doing.

"What's the plan, sir?!" she asked the sergeant as she and the others jogged up to the turret line.

"We have to hold the line against the raid," the sergeant replied shortly. "The turrets will thin their ranks before air defence goes up, or they'll be overwhelmed."

"Are offensive spells part of the turret defence?" Twilight asked as they jogged.

"Partially," the sergeant replied, "but you're more defence for the turrets themselves: you'll shoot down any Pegasus who gets too close to the turrets and defend the operators as well."

"Understood, sir," Twilight said. Behind her, True Grit, Rarity and Lyra murmured their acknowledgement too.

A moment later, they reached the turrets. The sergeant pulled on a gas mask and rubber suit, before moving to a position to co-ordinate the turrets' fire. Twilight and her friends were directed to stand by a turret each. Twilight's turret operators didn't so much as acknowledge her, and, sighing slightly as she turned her eyes to look at the sky, she prepared herself for the inevitable.

***

Preparing for a fight was a little bit like a party, Pinkie Pie mused, as she and the other Earth Ponies of the group assembled around Jennings. There were a lot of new ponies here, as well as Applejack and - to her mixed happiness and consternation - Desert Wind. She like Desert Wind well enough, but he was a bit of a meanie-pants on occasion and it frankly bothered her.

"Right!" Jennings said, his voice young and nervous. "Follow me, we need to distribute you ponies to various defence points."

"What's that mean?" Pinkie asked, her voice chirpy.

"It means shut your trap and get ready for a fight," Desert Wind cut her off. "That's what it bucking means!"

Pinkie frowned slightly. Yup, Desert Wind was definitely a mean pony. All the same, she was sure there was a reason for it - if ever there was a place where ponies had a reason to be mean to anypony, it was here, especially given that she was supposedly the spitting image of a pony who had been especially mean.

She wondered briefly why the other Pinkie Pie had decided to be so mean and cause so much pain: it was certainly a question, wasn't it? How far was she capable of becoming like that pony? How great a gap was there between her road and the road her counterpart had chosen to take...?

Before she could finish that somewhat uncharacteristically philosophical thought, her attention was distracted by a lot of yelling. Ponies were racing up and down, accompanied by human soldiers. A lot of those soldiers were aiming at the sky, crouching or kneeling to get a better shot. Pinkie looked up - she could see the small shapes of Pegasi in the air, flying straight at them.

"Private Pie, Private Applejack, and Private Wind" Jennings said, "with me! The rest of you head to the launch area and keep our flyers safe!"

"Okey dokey lokey!" Pinkie Pie said, smiling as she followed the corporal. As they ran, he threw a glance back in her direction.

"What does Thor have to do with this?" he asked, sounding faintly amused.

"Well, we could use the hammer," Pinkie replied, winking at him. The corporal didn't reply, instead turning his attention back to where he was going with a shake of the head.

***

"That doesn't look like Royal Guard," one of Lyra's gunners said, her voice filled with trepidation. Lyra turned her head to look at the turret operator, who was busy loading up the weapon, though she kept throwing nervous glances up at the sky every so often.

"What do you mean?" the Unicorn asked, frowning in confusion.

"Look at the uniforms!" the other turret operator said, gesturing with his arm as he readied himself to aim at the Pegasi. "That's no armoured Guard Pegasi brigade!"

"What are they then?" Lyra asked. She looked back up to the sky, her eyes narrowing, and then she realised what she was looking at.

They were in blue jumpsuits, goggles and masks covering their faces. They were flying in a loose, adaptable formation. The most prominent thing about them, however, was the symbol of a large, yellow lightning bolt that ran down the centre of their uniforms.

"Wonderbolts?" Lyra said, her eyes widening. And then she was yelling. "They're Wonderbolts!"

***

The cry was take up across the base. Ponies were suddenly more on edge, humans gripped their guns tighter. It was Wonderbolts who had taken down Grey Squadron at Manchester, Wonderbolts who had killed King Charles and sunk his ship. They were the best flyers Equestria had, and fighting them was... well. Suicide.

Errant Flight apparently felt pretty suicidal. He looked determined, angry, and not in the least bit concerned about the fact that his comparatively inexperienced squadron was about to go up against the most deadly aerial force in the Equestrian army.

"Alright!" he said to everypony in Grey once they were assembled. "We're up against Wonderbolts. Traditional line-breaker tactics don't work on these buckers - they fly like us." He looked at everypony with a grim, determined look on his face. "But they're not us! They are not Grey Squadron! We're the damn best. These buckers died just like every bucker else when I fought them at Manchester - and they had a Rainbow Dash on their side." He gave Rainbow a glance. "Now we do. They don't stand a chance. Go all out, and give the buckers Tartarus!"

"Yes sir!" everypony yelled.

"We go when the turrets finish their barrage," Errant continued. "Brace yourselves!"

Rainbow Dash looked up. She had always wanted to be a Wonderbolt, and yet now here she was, about to go into battle against them and probably kill some. Fate, it seemed, had an unpleasant sense of irony. She wondered briefly why Errant Flight seemed so angry, but then she remembered what Errant had just said: it had been this world's Rainbow Dash who fought Grey Squadron at their last flight, and she no doubt would have flown with Wonderbolts.

Double irony, Dash thought to herself grimly. This must have been her lucky day.

***

"All turrets, fire fire fire!" the sergeant yelled. At the same time, unicorns started firing spells up at the incoming Wonderbolts, and the sky filled with purples, greens, reds and blues. It was almost beautiful, except that whenever a bolt of magic reached a pony, it would impact them. Some burst into flames, some exploded, and some lost limbs, falling of the sky with blood streaming from gaping stumps where legs and wings used to be.

Twilight, for her part, was sending a standard stunner up. Though she had practiced more dangerous spells, she couldn't bring herself to use any, and she reasoned stunners would achieve the desired effect. She tried not to think about what impact at that height and speed would do to the Pegasi she hit.

Near her, Rarity was firing her own bolts up into the air. Rarity had chosen to use a civilised killing spell - on impact, it stopped all vital signs, essentially shutting down the body. It was the most civilised way to kill known to pony-kind. Unfortunately, it was also tricky - Rarity's rate of fire was comparatively slow.

Lyra, on the other side of Twilight, was firing fire spells up, a look of fury on her face. Twilight couldn't be sure, but she reasoned that her friend was most likely attempting to use the same spell that had killed her counterpart, it was certainly an interesting way to get revenge.

True Grit was firing standard destructive spells up, the greenish energy exploding on impact, blowing ponies to pieces. His jaw was grim set, and he looked determined more than anything else.

And then, after a moment that lasted an eternity, the turrets finally fired.

Tracer fire roared into the air, slicing some ponies to pieces. Explosions ripped into the air, showering the defenders with pieces of pony, some still stuck to charred pieces of blue uniform.

And yet... for everypony hit, there seemed to be five more. Twilight didn't know much about the Wonderbolts - that was Rainbow Dash's specialty - but she figured there must be more here than there used to be. Probably a result of increased militarisation. As it was, there looked to be several hundred present.

"All turrets, cease fire!" the call went out. The turrets stopped, and so did the unicorns.

"What now?" Twilight asked her gunner.

"Now?" the human replied. "It's the Pegasi defence squadrons turn."

***

The minute the turrets stopped, Errant Flight was yelling.

"Everypony fly, fly!" he screamed, launching into the air at the Wonderbolts. Rainbow Dash was right behind him, the rest of the squadron shortly behind her. All around them, other squadrons took off as well.

"All flight leaders, this is Leeds Air Command," a soft voice said through their earpieces. "Sound off by squadron."

"Green Squadron is in the air," a brash sounding voice said. Rainbow saw Swift Strike fidget faintly as they flew - he missed his old post.

"Eagle Squadron, on station," a slightly calmer voice spoke.

"Grey Squadron is a go," Errant Flight said.

"Confirmed, flight leaders," Command said. "Switch to local channels and being sound off procedure."

"Switching," Errant said. "All flyers, sound off."

"Grey Two, standing by", Dream Flyer said. She sounded calm, but then she was one of the most experienced ponies in the squadron.

"Grey Three, here," White Blossom said, her voice trembling slightly. She was clearly less sanguine about things than Dream Flyer had managed.

"Grey Four, bring them to me!" Dark Wing said, sounding far too eager for real action.

"Grey Five, in the air," Bright Wonder said, surprisingly tersely for her.

"Grey Six, my wings are yours," Silver Spire said, using what was by now his customary sounding off phrase. He sounded a tiny bit less calm than he usually did, but only just so.

"Grey Seven, I'm on," Swift Strike said quickly, clearly tense.

"Grey Eight, I'm here," Ditzy said softly.

"This is Grey Nine," Solid Hoof said tersely.

"Grey Ten, ready," True Blue said, his voice wavering slightly. He sounded worried.

"Grey Eleven, standing by," Rainbow Dash said, trying her best to sound confident.

"Grey Twelve," Fluttershy said from behind her. A slight gulp was audible through the earpiece. "I'm here."

Rainbow worried about her friend. This was their first taste of real action: could Fluttershy handle it...?

"Command, Grey Squadron is at one hundred percent," she heard Errant say, his voice cutting her thoughts off. "Permission to engage."

"Permission granted," Command replied quickly. "Good hunting, all squadrons."

"Alright everypony," Errant's voice came through the earpiece. "Keep it together and fly like I know you can."

A chorus of affirmatives came through.

A moment later, they clashed with the Wonderbolts.

***

Pinkie gazed up at the sky as Jennings started firing his rifle into the air. His rifle seemed to be less of an automatic rifle and more a semi-automatic, judging by the slower rate of fire. To be honest, Pinkie had never kept up with that stuff, even though knowing the different rates of fire was supposed to be ppretty important.

In the air above them, the Wonderbolts and the Air Defence Squadrons had clashed. Unfortunately, though the Pegasi squadrons had managed to tie up a good chunk of the enemy force, more were on the move and looked to be landing. It almost reminded Pinkie of the Canterlot wedding, where changelings had attacked Canterlot and she and her friends had been forced to fight their way through them. This though, would have less in the way of fun changeling impressions - and probably less opportunities to use Twilight as a Gatling gun.

Jennings took a Wonderbolt down, but as they started landing, he found it difficult to pick targets. One Pegasus charged straight at him, and he only just managed to take it down.

"Hey you guys, I need cover!" he yelled to the Ponies. "Applejack, Wind, Pie!

"Who's Wind Pie?" Pinkie wondered aloud. Possibly a distant relative of hers? Ooh, that was exciting...

She shook her head as more Pegasi landed nearby. Now wasn't the time to think about possible distant relatives - she was under attack!

As soon as the Pegasi landed, Desert Wind charged one of them with a roar, knocking the mare to the ground and crushing her skull under his hooves. Applejack bucked another into a wall, where he slumped to the floor, his head at an odd angle. Pinkie realised that now was the time to bring her training to bear.

Three Pegasi charged in her direction, all of them armed with bladed weapons. She grimaced, then grinned...

... and brought out her party cannon.

"Rule one, everypony," she said to them. "Never bring a knife to a gun fight!"

Her party cannon began firing confectionary at a pretty astonishing rate of fire, considering it was a pre-industrial weapon and she wasn't loading it. Confectionary flew at a good hundred miles and hour, ramming into Pegasi with the force of a brick. She turned the cannon, taking out Pegasus after Pegasus. Realising that she'd given them a chance, Jennings took up a firing position behind her, reloading and firing his rifle at any Pegasus she missed. Desert Wind, meanwhile, managed to pick a Pegasus up and throw him into a group of his fellows, before retreating behind the party cannon. Applejack stayed behind her, keeping her legs ready to buck the first pony who came too close.

As more and more Pegasi were taken down by the cannon, several soldiers started cheering. The Pegasi were being attracted to Pinkie's position like proverbial moths, and yet none of them were reaching her, the cannon taking down attacker after attacker. Some of them were only stunned by the confectionary, only for other soldiers to finish them off.

"Take down that whorse!" somepony yelled from above Pinkie. She looked up briefly, only to see three Wonderbolts coming directly at her...

Only to be blasted away by bolts of green, purple, blue and red light. A moment later, Twilight, Rarity, True Grit and Lyra were jogging up to them.

"The turrets don't need protecting," Twilight said, gasping slightly, "so we thought we'd lend a hoof!"

"Hi Twilight," Pinkie said with a grin. "This is a fun party!"

"Party?!" True Grit said incredulously.

"Yup!" Pinkie said, grinning. "It's a 'first ever real battle' party! Not as fun as some, but pretty fun for a party!"

"Just ignore her," Rarity said to True Grit as she took up a firing position and started shooting spells off. "She's like that."

"Yeah," Lyra added, aiming a spell at a pony Pinkie had missed. "She's probably the most random pony ever."

"I probably should have guessed from training," True Grit muttered under his breath, remembering the oddities Pinkie had come out with.

The small part of Pinkie's mind that was acknowledging the deaths she was causing shunted the thought away, locking it in a box with other sad thoughts. It wasn't what she wanted to think about right now. Right now, she focused on the adrenaline, the same rush she got during a really good party, and hoped it would be enough to carry her through to the end of this fight.

Afterwards, when ponies weren't relying on her, she could think about the bad things.

***

Rainbow dodged past a Wonderbolt who had been charging at her. The pony flew straight into a building, breaking most of his bones in the process. Dash swore.

"Fluttershy, True Blue, stay on my six!" she ordered. "These guys are good!"

She heard her wingmates signal an affirmative, and glanced behind her, noting the two of them flying behind her. She sighed in relief, before following another Wonderbolt, intending on catching him off guard. She flipped her blade out and sliced just as she passed him. Behind her, True Blue added a second slice, and between the two of them they severed one of his wings and sliced oped his side. Bleeding and screaming, he plummeted to the ground.

True Blue was technically in charge of their Flight, but he had long since surrendered authority to Rainbow, who was proving to be - much as she felt slightly sick of the killing - in her element in this fight.

"I think we've got this!" Blue said with a grin as they kept going.

"Don't get cocky, kid," Rainbow said grimly. "We aren't done yet."

Just then, a panicked yell came through on their earpieces.

"This is Grey Seven! Multiple hostiles on my six!" Swift Strike was yelling. "Ditzy, Solid, where are you?!"

"Tied up, Seven," the terse voice of Solid Hoof spoke grimly. "Can anypony reach him?"

"We're on it, Nine," Rainbow said. "Flutters, True Blue, get on my six."

The three of them quickly headed for Swift Strike's position. He was being chased by at least six Wonderbolts. Snarling, Dash pushed herself to go faster, but before they could reach Swift Strike, one of the Wonderbolts caught up to him, lashing out at his wings and severing part of one of them off.

"I'm hit!" he screamed, his voice filled with pain. "I'm going down...!"

"Oh no..." Fluttershy said softly.

Swift Strike's body plummeted toward the ground, and he landed on a rooftop, where he lay still.

"Seven is down," Rainbow said heavily, before her voice took on a malicious tone. "We're going after the bucker that did it."

"Negative, Eleven," Errant Flight's voice spoke. "I need you three to get on Two Flight's rear, they're being hounded!"

"Gotcha, boss," Rainbow said heavily.

She banked left, checking her HUD to see where Dark Wing's flight was. After a moment, she found them: Bright Wonder was being chased by two ponies, and Dark Wing was busy dogfighting with another couple. The worst off was Silver Spire - he had four or five ponies on his tale.

"Two Flight, this is Grey Eleven, my Flight's coming to assist you," Rainbow said, aiming for the group following Silver Spire.

"Much appreciated, Eleven," Dark Wing's voice said. "These ponies seem to be rather better than I was anticipating." Rainbow Dash could almost hear the smirk in his voice. "It's almost a challenge."

"They're trying to surround me," Silver Spire said, and Dash could see that he was right - the five that were following him were herding him towards another four. "I think it's time for extreme measures."

"What do you mean, Six?" Dark Wing asked, but Silver Spire didn't respond - instead he held out his forelegs and began spinning, performing a corkscrew as he charged the four ponies directly ahead of him. He span faster and faster, and Rainbow could see the danger as she closed in on him.

"Spire, you're going to fast!" she said. "Go counter and stop spinning!"

"I've got it!" Spire replied stubbornly. "I can hold it!"

"Pull up!" Rainbow yelled.

"No, I can hold - argh!" Spire yelled. He had rammed into the ponies charging at him, succeeding in killing all four of them in the process, but in the process his own trajectory had been altered, sending him careening into the side of a building, where he smacked off the masonry and into the ground. He lay there, unmoving.

"Grey Twelve to Grey Leader!" Fluttershy said, sounding panicked, "Grey Six is down - I'm going to assist!" With that, before even hearing permission, she flew towards the downed pony.

"Roger that," Errant Flight said heavily. "Grey's Ten and Eleven, cover her."

"No can do!" True Blue said, sounding as though he was panicking slightly. "I've got a Wonderbolt on my plot! Damn!"

Rainbow turned to look at where True Blue was flying, and sure enough, an orange mare in Wonderbolt uniform was chasing him, a look of determination on her face.

"Damn, she's good!" Blue said with a pant of frustration. "Eleven, I could use a little help!"

"On the way!" Dash said, banking to chase the mare as the two passed by her. She was certainly good - Rainbow had seen some excellent flying in her time (and done far more than she'd seen), and this was definitely excellent flying: the Wonderbolts might have been more numerous than she remembered, but they definitely hadn't slipped in their standards.

"She's good, alright," she said. "Keep dodging her, Bluey."

"You make it sound easy!" True Blue said, sounding frustrated. "She's getting pretty darn close!"

"I'm almost at her!" Rainbow said, pushing herself as close as she could to her limits short of trying for a rainboom.

She was a half second too slow.

The mare caught True Blue's leg, grabbed it, and stopped him. Before he could bring his blades to bear, she had grappled him and was bearing him down. Cursing, Rainbow Dash followed as fast as she could, but she wasn't fast enough to stop the pony from smashing True Blue into the ground. He stirred feebly - and she stamped her forehoof onto his wings, breaking the fragile bones to pieces.

"Argh!" True Blue screamed, the feedback on Rainbow's earpiece making her tear the thing out reflexively. Yelling in anger, she swooped down, knocking the Wonderbolt mare away before leaning down to look at True Blue.

"My... my wings," he said, coughing slightly from the dust.

"You'll be ok, kid," Rainbow said, before turning her attention to the Wonderbolt. The orange mare was gaping at her. "Well, come on then you bucker, what are you waiting for?!"

The Wonderbolt didn't move, apparently content to gale at Rainbow Dash.

"What the heck's wrong with you?!" Rainbow asked, scowling. "Never seen a Pegasus as awesome as me before?!"

"Rainbow Dash?" the Wonderbolt said, her voice cracking in shock. Rainbow frowned. Did this pony know her? Still, this seemed an opportunity to exploit her fame, so she took it.

"The one and only," she replied to the Wonderbolt's question, striking a pose and glaring at the mare with a grin. "Whatcha waiting for? Never fought a legend before?"

"No..." the Wonderbolt said, shaking her head slowly.

Rainbow laughed. "That was a rhetorical question, dummy -"

Before she could finish her sentence, the Wonderbolt had slammed into her and was punching out at her.

"No!" the mare screamed as she punched, her mouth frothing in absolute fury. "No! NO!"

***

Inside the main medical complex, Hell Blazer sat next to the unconscious Elliot, quietly listening to the sound of battle outside. Nothing had gotten into the centre yet, but Hell Blazer wasn't taking any chances. He had a quick fireball spell in the forefront of his mind, just in case he needed to use it, and he'd flexed his muscles enough to give himself a mean right hook.

As another explosion rocked the room, he sighed.

"Sounds like you're missing one hell of a fight, mate," he said softly to the unconscious man. "Still, I think you've earned a break. Sit this one out." He smirked at his own joke. "Not that I need to tell you to do that, apparently."

He sighed. His friend seemed entirely unmoved by the noises. Sighing, Hell Blazer lit himself a cigarette and took a puff.

"Don't you know," a soft voice said, sounding groggy but lucid, "that this is a no-smoking hospital?"

Hell Blazer blinked, dropped the cigarette and stamped on it, his eyes widening in shock as he realised who had spoken.

"Elliot...?"

***

The orange mare lashed out, and Rainbow Dash barely managed to block the blow, before dodging backwards as the mare kicked out at her.

"You can't be Rainbow Dash!" the mare screamed. "You just can't!"

"Keep saying it," Rainbow snarled, lashing out with her blade and nicking the mare across her cheek, exposing more orange fur. "Doesn't make it true!"

The mare kicked out, knocking a Rainbow Dash backwards.

"She died!" the mare yelled her voice cracking with emotion as she lashed out at Rainbow yet again. "I was with her at Buckingham palace! I saw her go down! I saw that monster run his knife through her throat, and I followed them when they took her corpse away!" She was starting to sob now as she punched, and her blows were getting sloppier and more predictable. "I risked my life to retrieve it from that pile of bodies they were going to burn! I buried her myself! So don't you dare tell me you're Rainbow Dash, you bucking traitor! I'll kill you myself and I'll wear your fur as a coat!"

Rainbow blocked the last blow and pivoted, throwing the mare over her shoulder and across the courtyard.

"I'm Rainbow Dash, alright," Rainbow said, panting slightly from exertion as she spoke. "Check the cutie mark. I might not be the same Rainbow Dash who did Solamina's grunt work, but I'm the genuine article, born and bred Cloudsdale stock and all!"

The Wonderbolt mare stood up and snarled, but Rainbow ignored her.

"Why does it matter to you anyway?" Rainbow added. "What was your Rainbow Dash to you, like your fillyfriend or something?"

"Fillyfriend?" the mare said, sounding insulted at the thought. "She was my mentor - my guide - my sister!" The mare reached up and pulled her Wonderbolt-issue goggles off, before pulling her hood down. Her mane and eyes were both purple, and her face, though aged, was the spitting image of somepony Rainbow Dash knew very well indeed.

"Scootaloo?!"

Author's Note

My thanks to all who've favourited and commented. :-)

Heart of the World.

Chapter Thirty Six: The Heart of the World.

***

Twilight Sparkle was floating… somewhere. There was a warm, peaceful, relaxing light surrounding her, enveloping her, embracing her. She felt nothing but a sense of peace and contentment here, as though all the worries of the mortal world no longer existed, no longer held any power over her. All the horrors she had lived through melted into nothingness, and there was no fear - not for herself, not for Equestria, not for anything.

She wished for a moment that she could live here, forever, floating in nothing, with no cares and no concerns, just…

***

… resting here with her friends beneath Celestia's sky, enjoying the sunshine in peace.

Twilight looked around to see what her friends were doing Pinkie and Fluttershy were having a conversation off in the distance - Twilight couldn't hear the details, but she gathered from what she had heard that it was about Pinkie planning (rather exuberant sounding) parties for Fluttershy's animal friends. Rarity and Rainbow were having a chat about clothes - or rather, Rarity was trying desperately to convince Rainbow that she would look better if she took the time to actually style her mane ("but this is a style! Rainbow Style!" "I assume that means none whatsoever?").

She blinked. This felt strange - though everything was fine, she could feel a sort of… unease around her, like this was somehow wrong. But how could it be wrong? Equestria was peaceful, her friends were with her, and all was well.

Unless… that was what was wrong...

"You ok, Twilight?" Applejack asked, startling her from her thoughts.

"Oh," she said, smiling, "I'm fine, Applejack, just…"

***

... fine.

She shook her head, the movement feeling sluggish in this place. What was that?! What had she just experienced? She had been with Applejack, Rarity and the others… but that wasn't possible, they were dead…

***

… and she would be too at this rate. Gritting her teeth, she yelled out to her troops. "Hold that bucking line, hold that bucking line!"

Commander Twilight Sparkle cursed. Blood leaked from a dozen minor injuries, and she felt the briefest moment of indignity (soon forgotten in the heat of battle) the thought that all her wounds - all of the chaos and destruction surrounding her - was nothing more than the product of one, stinking, bucking human!

Thousands of Royal Guard stood with her, Pegasi warriors dive bombing the figure, Unicorns firing every conceivable destructive spell they could possibly think of, and everywhere she looked all she could see were dead ponies. This one, impossibly powerful figure had withstood every single strike her armies had sent at it, killing it's way from the Everfree Forest where it had first been sighted to the gates of Canterlot now. This one figure had cut through Archmagi, Solamina's personal reserves, the Sun Idols of Invictus…

Even Sol Invictus' banner itself, the work of devotion and loyalty to the Empress that the Converted had commissioned as a sign of his unwavering faith, the banner he always carried into battle, had fallen, still clutched in the mad old idiot's teeth as his head was parted from his body… nothing was working against this monster, nothing.

The figure marched forward with all the purpose of an angry god, a blade that crackled with power of all shades and hues in it's hand, a tattered cloak of deepest scarlet flying behind it. His golden armour was rent and bloodied and dented and yet it still held strong. His hair was a dark halo around his head, blowing in the wind of his own magics and those arrayed against him.

"Do you understand now?" a deep, impossibly powerful voice asked, at once all around Sparkle's ears and inside her own head. "Do you understand the futility of your struggles, the insignificance of your armies, next to the holy, pure wrath of the human race unshackled from their morality, liberated from their fear? Do yourselves a favour: end your struggle. Surrender yourselves to the inevitable. You will spare yourselves toil and uncertainty before the end."

"Keep fighting!" Sparkle yelled desperately, her own voice, magically amplified, still feeling impossibly small next to the power of the being's words.

"You are brave, little ponies, but your bravery is irrelevant against the power of Albion," the voice spoke again.

"Commander Sparkle!" a Royal Guard spoke, sounding terrified. "Nothing's stopping this creature! We must withdraw!"

"If we withdraw, nothing's standing between that thing and Empress Solamina!" Sparkle retorted loudly. "We fight to the death!"

"Buck that!" somepony yelled, and she saw ponies break from the defensive line as the figure drew closer and closer. Fifty steps. Forty nine.

"Stand and fight!" she yelled, and a blaze of purple energy incinerated the deserter before he'd made it twenty paces. "Die against that or die by my hoof, I don't care which you do!"

Nonetheless, more ponies broke the line, and she couldn't kill all of them. Thirty nine, thirty eight.

"If you think that you have a chance against me, little ones," the creature said as it approached, its voice now tinged with a dark amusement, "then by all means… come at me."

Twilight snorted angrily. She imbued herself with enchantments, strengthening and bolstering herself with as many spells as she could think of. She conjured just about every spell designed to make one unstoppable in battle that had been invented since the days of Starswirl the Bearded himself. She drew her own sword, given to her by the Empress herself, and filled it with yet more spells of the same sort. She prayed to Solamina, to the spirits of Starswirl and a thousand other deities that she would not fail at this final hour.

"For Solamina and Equestria!" she yelled out, and despite their fear the strongest that stood with her returned the cry. Emboldened, she charged at the figure, conquering her fear. She was Twilight Sparkle, Commander of Equestria's armies, the bearer of the Element of Magic. She was the most powerful creature in Equestria short of Empress Solamina herself! Nothing in this world could stop her! Screaming a war cry, she charged straight for the creature.

The being swung it's hand in a backhanded motion, throwing her backwards fifty feet through the air, impacting through lines of her own troops with enough force to shatter bones. Her defensive spells managed to make the blow and the impact less than fatal for her (though the same couldn't be said of those she'd been backhanded through, but she was fairly certain she was paralysed. She applied a painkilling spell with the last of her strength.

She could hear the creature slaughtering her forces. Dimly she was aware of the fact that she had failed her Empress, and cursed her frail body for its weakness.

And then he was standing above her, his face shrouded in shadow.

"Twilight Sparkle," he said, his voice almost soft, yet still filled with that power. "Only now, at the end, do you see the futility of your struggle. Do you understand now?"

"The… the Empress… will defeat… you…" Sparkle struggled to say with the last of her strength.

"Fool. You are a tool of the false goddess, nothing more. Blinded even now by implanted loyalty and her dark magics," the figure said, sounding both contemptuous of her and full of pity for her. "As a final gift… I shall release you."

Sparkle's eyes widened as suddenly, all the things she had done, all the things she had fought for, were made abundantly clear to her. Her breathing, already ragged, began increasing in pace as she hyperventilated, horror filling her mind and destroying all conscious thought as she realised just what she had become...!

And then, mercifully perhaps, she felt the blade of this creature stabbing through her abdomen, drawing power from her dying body, and she knew no more…

***

...except the mercifully tranquil embrace of the whiteness once again. The images that had flashed through her mind, the smell of sweat and blood and toil, the fear and the rage and all the raucous sounds of battle... all of these things faded, but the memory remained, strangely vague but also completely clear. She remembered being freed of... something, by whatever that dark figure had been.

Had that been the so-called "Avatar of Albion"? Such a creature was terrifying to imagine. And yet she had faced the being in battle before, on the shores of Cornwall, and did not remember such power being displayed then by the man.

She scoffed internally. Whatever the case, there was a part of her that was more than certain that...

***

... the Solaminan Empire would triumph.

Twilight Sparkle blinked in surprise at the tense in her own mind. The Solamina Empire had triumphed. She had stood over the broken corpses and converting bodies of the last humans herself as the Equestrian Militia and Royal Guard had trampled on their bodies. The few who had escaped, though shielded from the Barrier still by Earth's natural magic, still to be quashed, would be no threat.

Twilight smiled a bittersweet smile. It had taken much hardship and sacrifice to come to this point. Billions of the Converted, millions of Equestria-born ponies, and most of her close personal friends had all been killed in the war. The humans had made the ponies fight tooth and hoof for every single inch of ground they had taken, every single life, every single moment. Their leader, the so-called Avatar of Albion, had apparently fought like a man possessed: thousands of ponies had died at his hand alone. When he had finally fallen, his body had disintegrated in an explosion so massive it levelled the entire city of London to the ground, killing tens of thousands (including Commanders Fancy Pants and Flash Sentry).

Fortunately, after that the humans had no force able to stand against the ponies of Equestria. Their weapons, though powerful, were running on empty, as were they. The last of them had been converted or killed, save for a few dozen who had fled into the undergrowth, most likely never to emerge.

Rumours of the so-called Equestrian Resistance surviving the war were still a bother. It irritated Twilight that the traitor Blueblood had survived and escaped, along with thousands of other ponies. Other traitors - Doctor Hooves, Lyra Heartstrings and the deviant Converted Hell Blazer - had also survived, somehow. Still, tonight it didn't matter.

Tonight, on the streets of Canterlot, ponies were celebrating a victory hard fought and well earned. Flags and banners adorned the streets and Converted and Equestria-Born alike were in the streets, partying to their heart's content. It made Twilight happy to see such joy among the ponies of Equestria again. She vaguely thought that Pinkie would have loved to be part of such a party... and then her smile faded. It would be a long time, she thought, before the war's after-effects left the populace. Everypony had lost someone - either to the humans or else they had joined the Resistance. In some cases - the Apple Family's especially - it was often both.

"Bit for your thoughts, Commander?" came a serene, oddly-accented voice. Twilight turned, to find herself facing Sol Invictus. The golden-coated pony's eyes were wide with joy, and he was beaming at her, his red mane grown out a tiny bit since she had last seen him, where it had been cropped for battle. She smiled back, a little half heartedly.

"Just thinking about what I've lost, Chancellor Invictus," she said politely. "And please, call me Twilight. With the crisis past, I'm no longer part of our armed forces."

"Nonetheless, the rank is one of respect," Invictus said. "Nonetheless, I shall do as you ask... Twilight." He seemed a little less than comfortable with such familiarity.

"Congratulations on your appointment to the position of Council Chancellor," Twilight said, nodding at him. He smiled modestly: 'Chancellor' was the title now used for the chief of the new Equestrian Council - essentially a glorified body of talking heads who supposedly would advise Empress Solamina on affairs of state. Privately, Twilight didn't see them doing any better than the previous council, but it couldn't hurt, and they would likely be able to apprise the Empress of situations among the general populace.

"My thanks," he said politely. "It is by Her beneficence that I have come so far, given my lowly origins."

Twilight's smile soured a touch. Invictus believed Solamina to be a Goddess. In actual fact, he had founded the Solaminan cult, even coining the name that Princess Celestia would eventually take as empress. His influence was undeniable - and Twilight disliked it. To her, Empress Solamina was as she had always been - wise ruler, inviolate and untouchable, the pinnacle of all Ponykind could ever hope to accomplish or be in a single body. To Invictus, these traits made her a Goddess. To Twilight, they made her a very real role model. Still, he was allowed to view her however he wished - and she could not deny, his help with rousing the Converted to battle had certainly helped turn the tide in the war.

"In any case," he continued, still smiling. "I should retire for the night. The honoured Blessed Star and myself have an appointment with Princess Cadence to discuss new Converted Welfare measures, especially since so many of our new Converted now come from Britain - many have guilt relating to their actions."

"I can imagine," Twilight said idly.

"Good evening Commander," Invictus said. With that, the Converted walked off, heading for his private chambers situated in the nearby council building.

Twilight sighed: one of the things she supposed she'd have to learn for the sake of harmony was how to get along with ponies like Invictus, even if she didn't like him very much.

As the party continued, she began idly wondering what she would do now with her life. While there were many affairs of state that she could theoretically become involved with, a large part of her considered the possibility of just going home and working in the library again. That being said, Ponyville was a lot emptier these days: a lot of her friends from the town were gone, either traitors to the cause or else killed in the war. She sighed - even Spike had...

"Ma'am?" she heard a Royal Guard say. "Are you alright?"

She turned, but the Guard hadn't been talking to her. He had been talking to a beatific blue unicorn in a white robe that covered her lack of a cutie mark: she was the Converted priestess Blessed Star, Sol Invictus' counterpart. However, she was a very different kind of pony to the Sun Warrior Priest. Where he was filled with righteous fury, she was filled with compassion. Where he had been the pony behind the creation of the tools of the statues of Solamina called the Solar Idols, tools of destruction, she had been the one who formed the "Beacons of her Light", giant altars with small, benevolent figures of Solamina atop them that served to remind the ponies of their duty. One of her Beacons was, in fact, permanently stationed in the city as a reminder of Solamina's benevolence.

Blessed Star was standing still, staring at nothing. The ponies she had been talking to were whispering to each other worriedly, but she didn't react to them. The glass she held in a magical grip shattered in midair, a shard cutting her cheek as it exploded, but it still didn't provoke a reaction.

"Ma'am?" the Royal Guard asked, approaching the unicorn. "Are you alright?"

"Lady Blessed Star?" Twilight added, approaching the priestess. "Is something wrong?"

Blessed Star looked up at Twilight, her eyes locking on the purple unicorn's - and Twilight was struck by just how wide they were... and how filled with turmoil, like a thousand different emotions were running through her mind at once.

"Lady Blessed Star?" Twilight asked again, frowning.

The unicorn smiled, a wide rictus that was wholly unnerving to everypony that saw it - and then she started smashing her head into the concrete floor. Once - nopony moved, shocked as blood flew from her muzzle. Twice - teeth fell out, and her nose flattened under the impact. Three times - more blood flew as her horn snapped off and her face malformed under the power of the impact, and still nopony moved to help her, shocked out of all reason by the display. Four times - and she fell to the floor, twitching as her brain still fired off impulses to her no-longer responsive limbs. She spasmed twice, and then was still, her breathing stopped forever.

"Commander Sparkle?" the Guard asked, looking sick. He looked to Twilight as though she held any answers to this horror.

Before Twilight could answer him, could even begin to address what she was seeing, there was a loud smash from somewhere. Somepony screamed.

And then with a loud thud, a mutilated golden-coated body impacted on the ground behind her. She jumped, an involuntary shriek escaping her lips. Her eyes widened as she realised she was looking at the body of Sol Invictus. His expression was one of horror, and carved into his chest in shaky writing were two words.

NEVER FORGIVEN.

That's when the screaming really started...

***

... and yet it was dead silence.

There was an image of victory: the possible victory of the Solaminan Empire. Sparkle knew that such an image should have been filled with joy, with happiness at the end of these wasteful hostilities and the beginning of true harmony. And yet... why was it not perfect? Why were there still problems? Why...

***

... was it always on him?

Dusk Shine frowned, looking down at his hooves. For a moment, he had felt a strange confusion, but he didn't know where it had come from. He blinked. He was a he... now why was that somehow a surprise to him? He had always been a stallion, there had never been any confusion about that (much as he'd had to endure ribbing from his mother that she'd expected a girl). That was a fundamental fact of his life. So why was it so...

"Dusk?" somepony asked, interrupting his train of thought. He turned to face Rainbow Dash - no, Rainbow Blitz - who looked at him with concern. "What's...?"

***

... wrong, everything was wrong! Everything was...

***

... going so horribly wrong with her life.

Twilight looked down into another valley: the road had turned from soap to dirt five hours ago, but here the road was made of yellow brick. Spike had stayed behind, determined despite everything to fix what had happened - it couldn't be done, though, that much she knew for certain. This place was just another example. All around her she could see ponies running away from creatures that looked like miniature minotaur's with misshapen heads and wings. In the distance, she could see Discord, his entire body turned green and clothed in black robes, wearing a pointed hat.

"Fly, my pretties, fly!" he was yelling. He looked over at Twilight. "Hey, Twilight! How's it going?!"

Twilight ignored him and the insanity he had wrought, her grey body turning away from him and...

***

... back to the serene silence, except it wasn't serene anymore: there was a ringing in her ears, some kind of after effect of the...

***

... noise! The horrible, horrible noise!

"What the hay is that thing?!" somepony screamed. Twilight didn't answer, the harsh blaring drone drowning out all conscious thought. She looked up, her eyes fixated on the giant, black metal insectoid creation as it descended upon Equestria. A single, baleful red eye glared down at her.

"Do not fear," a voice spoke. "We are the harbingers of your perfection."

Twilight closed her eyes...

***

... and found herself back in the silence. Her eyes opened again, but before she could be used to the ethereal brightness...

***

... she found herself in darkness.

"Where am I?!" she yelled out. Nopony answered her. "Where am I?!"

"Quiet!" a harsh voice spoke. "Unless you want me to hit you again!"

Hit her...? No, she remembered now...

"Where are you, you crazy bucker!" she yelled out, blood flying from her mouth where she had reopened recent injuries. "What are you doing?!"

"I said silence!" the harsh voice spoke. "Be thankful you get to live this long, you murderous wretch. I do this for Ditzy. That you have to be alive is integral, but you don't need your tongue to serve the purpose set for you!"

A figure stepped out from the shadows. He was a human: ancient and bent over with age. A battered leather coat was slung over his shoulders, a simple shirt and trousers his attire, and his skin was leathery and worn with age and stress.

"Who are you?" she asked, narrowing her eyes. The man laughed harshly.

"I was once called the Doctor, a long time ago," he said, his voice seemingly filled with all the rage and all the hatred in the universe. "I have lived more years than I care to count, and the last few have been more trying than I care to think. I am the man who will end your insanity, and exterminate your filth once and for all!"

"What insanity?!" Twilight screamed desperately. "What filth?! I don't understand you!!"

"You ask as though you did not know," he said dismissively, turning away from her and stepping back into the darkness, "and perhaps you don't. Perhaps she has denied that to you, even now. No matter. Your knowledge, like your voice, is not required. Punishment is punishment whether you repent or deny your sins."

The darkness, now more oppressive than ever, seemed to swallow him, his voice fading and echoing throughout the chamber. Suddenly, a single, pencil thin line of bright light appeared - bright, yet strangely sickly light. And then a great white blaze of light appeared, almost blinding her - she tried to look away, but the restraints that held her would not allow her to move.

A figure - again, human - was within the beam of light, almost like a pupil within a great eye. It seemed to approach her - and yet at the same time, it still seemed to be an eye - and yet a figure, and yet an eye, and yet a...

"Little Pony," a voice spoke, everywhere at once. "An age and more it has been since I killed you and killed you and killed you. I know your fears. I know your hopes. I know your soul - I have tasted the darkest regrets and the deepest torments that lie in the very heart of you."

The figure - the eye - the figure... the whatever it was... got close enough to her that she could feel almost scorching hot breath on her cheek. Tears spilled from her eyes and she was fairly certain she had emptied her bowels.

"Twilight Sparkle," the voice said quietly, and yet it deafened her with it's power. "I accept your sacrifice."

She cried out in terror...

***

... and was suddenly silenced.

She was breathing heavily, her eyes wide. She could feel the scorching breath of whatever that creature had been on her cheek. Tears were flowing freely from her eyes...

***

... as she witnessed the city of Trottingham burning.

"Get those people moving!" somebody yelled. She didn't really hear them. Her gun was slack in her hand. She fell to her knees and looked at the ground, tears spilling and falling to the floor.

"Twi?" somebody asked. She didn't respond. "Twilight!"

She looked up, to see Pinkie Pie staring at her, eyes wide. She was smiling slightly, her black rubber suit scuffed but otherwise intact. She still held her rifle, and Twilight found the weapon incredibly incongruous in her old friend's hands, like it didn't belong there. But then, what about this, this insanity, belonged anywhere? Even if Celestia could somehow channel the power of Equestria, even if they could somehow defeat the forces of the Camelot Empire and the crazed pony Emperor Imperatrix Mars... what would be left when they were done?

"Pinkie," she said quietly, "this... all this... how do you cope?"

Her friend smiled widely, and rummaged in her kitbag, before handing Twilight a leaflet. She looked down at it - it held the image of a human and a Resistance Pony, both in the same black uniform, beneath a symbol of a skull superimposed on a map of the globe of Earth. Underneath the two figures was a question in bold writing.

DO YOU SEEK PURPOSE?

Twilight looked up...

***

... and screamed. Screaming echoed in her ears, louder and louder…

***

… the screaming of damned souls as the demons poured into the city from wherever they had come from, whatever Hell this Lucifer had spawned them from. Twilight didn't know why this Hell Blazer's soul was worth all this horror, but she was damned if she was going to let him destroy Equestrian cities without a fight.

"For the Empress!" Twilight called out, her horn glowing as she destroyed three of the demonic entities that spawned before her, her horn blasting the creatures away.

It was dark - unnaturally so - so, perhaps thankfully, she couldn't see much of the creatures, though she got the impression of spiked heavy armour and bloody red skin bulging with unnatural muscles like mutated Minotaurs. As she watched, more of the creatures spawned, their heavy hammers and axes sweeping aside Guardsponies like they were nothing.

"Fight to the last pony!" Twilight yelled, her horn glowing and a sword sweeping through necks and limbs, cutting the creatures apart.

"Twilight!" she heard Rarity yell, the elegant mare looking frazzled, her mane out of joint and her rapier covered in thick ichor. "We can't hold the streets, not like this!"

"Just keep fighting!" Twilight called back to her friend. "We daren't give up, not now! If we fall -!"

She wasn't able to finish her sentence. A sudden explosion near her threw her off of her hooves and into a wall, where, dazed, she could only watch as Guards were slain by demons that seemed to come from nowhere. The shadows themselves seemed to spawn monstrosities. Gritting her teeth, Twilight pushed with her magic, and a great flare of purple magic obliterated dozens of the creatures. A cheer went up from the embattled Guardsponies, and Twilight found Rarity and Pinkie had come to her side, Pinkie's mane cropped short and a grim look of determination on her face.

"Well," she said to Twilight, "this isn't exactly the sort of party I was expecting."

"Dear, if this is your idea of a party, remind me to order you an Ol Trotspur if we survive this," Rarity said with a humourless smile.

"Almost makes you nostalgic for fighting humans," Pinkie said with a smirk.

Twilight snorted. "Enough chatter. Together."

"Together," the other two said, raising their weapons.

Twilight nodded, and then she charged back into the madness…

***

... the madness that would never end, never end, never end…!

***

The madness would not end! It could not end! The Dark and Glorious One demanded that it never end!

"For the glory of chaos eternal!" Twilight screamed, blood and spit frothing from her mouth. "Tear, kill, maim, burn, rip, shred, annihilate, exterminate, destroy!"

Her forces - in the loosest sense of the word, some besieged rational part of her mind said - screamed in glorious, reckless joy, and charged forward against the guns of the enemy. The last survivors of Equestria and Earth would fall before the might of their lord!

Twilight's eyes were wide and filled with a mad sense of ecstasy, like there was nothing she couldn't do. It was almost too much…

***

... it was all too much, too many images, too much at stake, too many voices, too many Twilights...

***

... "there's just too much off about this, Twilight," Spike finished. "This potion thing, the whole idea of turning these humans into ponies..."

"... and this is Celestia we're talking about!" Twilight countered angrily. "Sure, I'll admit that some things about this Barrier business seem…. off… but even so, I'm sure there's a logical explanation!"

"Yeah, well I don't think you should just go up to her and ask her, 'say Princess Celestia, why is this potion thing filled with weird magic?' I don't see that going down well!" her number one assistant said, sounding even more determined. "It doesn't feel safe to me, Twilight!"

Twilight sighed. "Alright, look. I don't feel any better about this than you do."

"Thank you!" Spike said, throwing up his claws.

"...but I can't believe Celestia would have any kind of ulterior motives!" she continued. "I mean, this is Celestia!"

Spike groaned in frustration. "How about this then?" he asked. "If I flip a bit for it?"

"A bit?" Twilight asked, dumbfounded. "You want me to make an important decision based on a coin toss?"

"Sure," Spike said, with such sincerity that Twilight just had to laugh.

"Ok, then," she said. "Heads."

Spike flipped the bit, it landed, and he laughed aloud.

"Tails," he said. "I win."

Twilight groaned. "Great."

"So what will we do instead?" Spike asked.

"Wait, I guess," Twilight said softly. "Wait and find out where all this is going..."

***

... no, that hadn't been what happened. She remembered that coin toss! It had landed on heads, she had gone to Celestia, she had reassured her about the potion, about its necessity. She remembered that she had...

***

... brought all of this on herself. All of it. All of the pain. All of the loss. All of the sacrifice. She had served evil and evil had been dealt unto her and she deserved every single iota of it.

"Ma'am?" the green unicorn who had become both jailor and bodyguard asked. She turned to smile at him, though it was half hearted as always.

"I'm fine," she said. "I just..."

***

... needed to focus, she needed to focus on one thing, one thing...

***

... "Just one thing! I'm sure there's just one thing missing from this but I don't know what!"

Twilight Sparkle sat on her haunches, sighing. House Moon and Star's Archmagister cursed at her failure - she had been so close that time, so close! Why? Why did it constantly elude her?!

"More volunteers!" she yelled. Her Guards nodded, marching out of the room to retrieve more 'volunteers'. "And clean up these!"

She looked over the crispy, charred corpses of her latest batch of "volunteers". The deceased Earth Ponies and Pegasi had signs of magical mutation, but apart from vestigial stumps of horns and wings there was no sign that they had even been close to becoming Alicorns. Once she perfected it on these degenerates, she could use it to ascend every pony to perfection. Unicorns first, of course.

As more terrified 'volunteers' were brought in, she decided to rethink her strategy. Maybe if she increased the amount of power she exposed them to...

***

... she would be closer to getting results.

She shook her head. It was becoming more and more difficult to separate these different, alternative realities from her own separate self. Every time she went into these different worlds, she felt who she was being more and more subsumed by the alternative personas, almost as if...

***

... almost as if she had lived forever.

She had lived for something like ten thousand years, of course, but ten thousand years wasn't forever. Maybe she'd have a different perspective in another thousand years - maybe she'd feel better about her age. Right now it was very difficult to feel anything other than so very tired: age might never catch up with her body, but her soul? Now that was a different matter...

"Milady?" the voice of Celestia, her faithful student, asked. The young unicorn was sat watching her, her pale coat almost glowing. Twilight smiled.

"It's nothing Celestia," she said, trying to project an aura of reassurance. "Return to your studies..."

***

... her studies... her studies... her studies...!

She tried to hold onto who she was, onto what she remembered. If only Shiny was here...

***

... but he was off in Ponyville somewhere, being an Element of Harmony. She sighed. She didn't resent her brother, or the other stallions (though she personally thought Blueblood was a bit up his own plot and that Time Turner, whoever he was, was downright insane...) but all the same, she wished she could hear his voice...

***

... because he had always been her anchor, and she desperately needed an anchor...

***

... or she would lose all sense of time and space in this place. This TARDIS was insane: bigger on the inside, strange and filled with wonders she couldn't imagine. The machine held within it things that could never have fitted it's shell, and though the Doctor - this strange pony who had whisked her away from Ponyville and her life - seemed inclined to wave it off with a short explanation of "dimensional relativism", she was still disinclined to entirely believe where she was.

"Doctor?" she asked, trying to calm herself down. "Where are we going?"

"The question," the light brown Earth Pony replied, "should not be 'where' but 'when'? And the answer is..."

***

... further and further into the depths of the abyss, into the heartland of insanity...

***

... "not that any of us have to worry about sanity, silly!"

Twilight Sparkle sipped at her tea. The Mad Pinkie, her tailcoat and top hat battered and ill-kept, gulped down tea straight from the teapot and grinned at Twilight. Next to her, the March Alligator ("but call him Gummy, everypony does!") sat next to his teacup. Occasionally, he would stick his snout into the teapot, but otherwise he seemed to be entirely unconcerned with it or with what the ponies were doing.

"You know, I do believe this is some of the best tea I've ever had," Twilight remarked.

"It should be!" the Mad Pinkie said earnestly. "Why, I served this tea to the Red Princess, and she only threatened to cut my head off twice! At least I think it was twice. The amount of 'thees' and 'thous' she uses, it's hard to keep track of..."

***

... who she was, where she had come from. She didn't know anything any more…

***

…"ya'll know nothin', Twilight Star."

Twilight scowled at this Wildling Earth Pony - Applejack, she said her name was - as she said this for something like the third time in an hour. She hated that this pony thought she knew better than her. She hated that she kept using the name "Star" - a constant reminder that she was the bastard of the illustrious Sparkle line. She hated walking through this bleak land.

"I know enough to tell you that you needn't bother attacking the Wall," she said sourly, trying not to snap. "The Night Guard of Luna haven't failed to defend it yet, and they won't fail now."

Applejack scoffed. "The Queen beyond the wall'll teach ya different, Bat."

"The Queen beyond the wall is the seventh such Queen in six hundred years," Twilight pointed out. "And in all those times, none of your kind have ever succeeded in breaking through."

Applejack snorted. "Like I keep saying, ya'll know nothin'..."

"Twilight Star, yeah, yeah," Twilight said irritably. Honestly, she didn't think she could…

***

... cope with this any more. It was too much! It was all a blur, all a massive...

***

... blur of motion, ponies running hither and thither, and all the while the sonorous booms of the giant thing's footsteps drew closer and closer. The giant, strangely armoured creature had already torn its way out of the Canterhorn mountain, nearly destroyed Canterlot and narrowly avoided flattening Ponyville. She still couldn't believe its existence: it was at least two hundred feet tall, maybe more, and it's skin - was that skin? - seemed to be made from metal. At the same time, it couldn't be anything but a creature… as she thought that, it let out yet another roar, loud enough to nearly deafen her even from this vantage point. Ponies had fled from it, but it had to be stopped: hence her presence here, as requested by Princess Celestia herself. If nothing else, the Elements of Harmony would stop it, though they were to be deployed as a last resort, only after every other measure (of which there were far too few) had been exhausted.

"Alright, everypony, this is it!" Shining Armour yelled from nearby, distracting her from her thoughts. "If we don't stop this thing it'll stomp Appleloosa to rubble! Fortunately, we have a secret weapon."

Next to him, Discord of all creatures waved at the assembled forces of Ponykind, looking altogether more nervous than Twilight could ever remember seeing him. he had confided in her earlier - in the spirit of their recently strengthened "friendship" - that looking at that creature "fills me with terror in a way I don't think anything ever has". He hadn't been willing - or able - to explain why, but the very fact that a Draconequus was afraid was something to worry about.

In any case, Twilight could hardly blame him - the thing terrified her as well. Her throat was dry, her stomach felt like it had become home to a nest of buzzing bees, her wings were all of a flutter, and she could barely...

***

... keep a hold of anything anymore. It was all falling apart, all of it just…

***

… made no sense.

"Cadence, run this by me again," she said simply. "Some pony took your consorts…"

"My Shinies!" Cadence screamed. "Some bucking piece of filth stole my Shinies!"

"Mother, please," one of the Royal Guards near Princess Cadence said softly. "You must be calm, or you will hurt yourself."

"I won't hurt myself," Cadence hissed. "I'll just kill Flash Sentry. I should never have let that little, bucking piece of -!"

"Cadence!" Twilight snapped, before calming herself, her flared wings slowly lowering back into position. "Please, you have to be calm, now. Your position demands it -"

"My position demands my Shinies!" Cadence yelled. She turned on Twilight, her eyes blazing and a soft glow to her horn that made the younger Alicorn feel a mite on edge. "How can you, of all ponies, think of abandoning your brother?!"

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Those… individuals, are not Shining Armour…"

"YES THEY ARE!" Cadence screamed, and Twilight was forced to raise a shield to stop a spell from obliterating her. Even with that, she was forced backwards by the impact of the spell. "EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM IS SHINING ARMOUR! EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM IS MINE! And I WANT THEM BACK!"

The Royal Guard bowed. "We will move to mobilise our war-carriages, darling mother."

Cadence, drained from her outburst, slumped to the floor.

"Yes," she said softly. "You do that. We'll get Shiny back. We'll get them all back."

Twilight, bruised from Cadence's attack, suppressed a low growl. She didn't know why she was here, sometimes. She didn't know why she…

***

… even bothered trying to remember. It was so hard, there were too many voices! Was she Dusk Shine? Commander Sparkle? Twilight of Canterlot High? The Undead, the leader of the Dead Men? Was she a unicorn, was she an Alicorn, was she human? Was she even alive or dead?! So many different names, different titles, and none of it mattered as it all kept flashing in and out of existence...

***

... an existence she wished would end the torment was unbearable how could this have happened trapped in her own mind a prisoner of that thing that CelestiaNotCelestia had put in her and the others that made her watch everything it had done with her body why why why why why why why why why why...?!?!

***

Why?! Why was she here?!

She knew there had to be an answer to that question, she wouldn't have just been here for no reason. There had to be an answer...

***

March 27th 2030. Somewhere beneath Scotland.

... there just had to be, somewhere!

Twilight hadn't expected the question of the portal spell to answer itself: that would have been naive, and while she knew someponies - in fact, an awful lot of ponies - thought of her as being naive, she knew for a fact that she was not. She knew the truth about research: that you had to sometimes read every book in a library and then some in order to find what you needed, and even then you weren't certain to find everything. Nonetheless, this was... troublesome. She had researched and researched, and there was nothing she could find in order to figure out a way to modify that portal spell.

She frowned. There was something nagging at her: she didn't understand it, but she felt like she was being watched by somepony, somepony almost familiar.

"Hello?" she called out, feeling foolish.

***

"Hello?" Sparkle called out, eyes wide. This was unexpected. Almost as though...

***

... she could see her.

The image, faded and translucent, of another Twilight Sparkle was stood in front of Twilight: this one was at least five years older than she was, a handful of grey hairs and a spattering of stress lines visible on her tired features. She stared at Twilight with wide eyes, full of suspicion and confusion.

"You can see me?" this new Twilight said, frowning at her.

"Y-yes," Twilight replied. This was an entirely surreal experience - sure, she had stared herself in the face before: time travelled future and past selves, changelings... but this was different. This was at once much closer and much further. "Who... who are you?"

At once, a babble of words erupted from the figure, incoherent and faster than Twilight thought was possible from the larynx of one pony.

"Twilight Sparkle, Dusk Shine, Captain Sparkle of the Equestrian Systems Alliance, Twilight Star of the Night Guard, Commander Sparkle of the Equestrian Guard, Nightmare Paradox, Captain Sparkle of the USS Equestrian, Archmagister Twilight Sparkle of House Moon and Star, Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, the Undead, Chancellor Sparkle of Equestria, Princess Twilight of Camelot, the Avatar of Albion, Corporal Twilight Sparkle of the Canterlot Defence Force, Twilight Sparkle of the Equestrian Resistance, Twilight Sparkle of Unicornia..."

The new figure paused, her eyes widening.

"Oh my," she said quietly. "Oh my. I remember. I remember!"

"Remember what?" Twilight asked the obviously confused (not to mention confusing) figure.

"Commander Twilight Sparkle," the new figure said at once, "of her glorious majesty's..." She paused. "Of the Solaminan Empire.

Twilight stood up, her eyes widened in shock.

"You're..."

"The Twilight of this world," the figure said, her eyes wide, "and you are the Twilight Sparkle of a world that has never known a war like this. Never before even considered it. There's numbers involved that you don't even understand. It's amazing how you've retained your sanity."

"How do you know this?!" Twilight asked, suddenly terrified.

"I've been you," the other Twilight said at once. "I've been every single Twilight Sparkle. I've seen your lives, fought your wars... died your deaths... I know... I know everything..."

Before Twilight could say anything else, this figure vanished. Twilight leant back, sitting on her haunches, her mind racing. A moment later, Giles rushed in, two Dead Men guards with him, rifles poised for action.

"We received an alert that some kind of magical incursion was happening," he said quickly. "What happened?"

"The…" Twilight swallowed, unsure how to say this. "The Twilight from the Solaminan Empire. She was here. She knows I'm here! I think she knows what I'm doing, too!"

The three humans were silent, this news shocking them speechless, and Twilight couldn't blame them.

Suddenly, things seemed a hell of a lot more desperate.

***

Twilight floated in an endless sea of colours and lights and flashing images, at once alone and never alone, surrounded by friends, surrounded by enemies, worshipped, feared, hated, loved. She died and danced and fought and lived and loved and did a thousand other things, living a thousand lives in a moment, remembering and not remembering and losing herself to it all until even the name "Twilight Sparkle" was a distant memory in a sea of insanity that had become her very being and then...

***

The Heart of the World, March 25th 2030 (human calendar).

… it was all over.

Twilight Sparkle (was she Twilight Sparkle? the name felt familiar… yes, maybe she was) opened her eyes, to see Princess… no, Imperator… no, King… no, Queen… Celestia… Sun Shine… Solaris... Corona... Solamina...? Yes, Solamina, her Empress... standing over her.

"My faithful student," the Empress said quietly, her voice at once urgent and calm. "Do you know?"

"Everything..." Twilight said, her eyes wide as she realised what she was dealing with. She scrambled to get away from Solamina, her hooves flailing against the floor. "I know everything - what you did, what you've become...!"

"Twilight!" the voice of Solamina spoke, and suddenly her eyes became orbs of glowing incandescent light. Twilight found herself transfixed. "Do you know from whence the other Element bearers come?!"

"Another world," Twilight replied at once, her voice almost robotic. "They come from a parallel world that does not know war. They came to help the humans."

"And what are they planning?" Solamina continued.

"They intend to come here if they are able," Twilight said.

"A mistake on their part," Solamina said, more to herself than the still transfixed Twilight. She turned away from her student for a moment, but Twilight still stared at the burning imprints of light that seemed seared onto her brain. Finally, Solamina turned back to Twilight.

"This experience has hurt you, my most faithful of students," she said quietly, "and so I will release you from it. Be free of these memories."

As if wiping a blackboard clean, the memories of other lives vacated Twilight's mind, leaving her once more as Commander Twilight Sparkle, the memories of other lives gone. She blinked once, as if disorientated, then focused once more on Solamina.

"Empress...?" she asked tentatively.

"You have succeeded, Twilight," Solamina said quietly, "and I know now the origin of these impostors. You will instruct the Militia and Guard that their primary objective on the field is to find and kill these ponies - they are mockeries of yourself and those you have lost. You will also prepare our defence forces and the Wonderbolt garrison for a possible invasion of Equestria itself."

"Invasion? Is that likely?" Sparkle asked, worried.

"At this stage?" Solamina replied. "I don't know. I fear the worst."

Sparkle was filled with horror. Whatever she had done here, whatever she had seen, must have been a harbinger of ill tidings.

"I'm only sorry I couldn't do more," she said, bowing low in reverence and shame.

"Fear not, most faithful Twilight," Solamina said, a soft, almost unreadable smile appearing on her face. "You have done more than you know."

***

Author's Note

This has been a foray into various multiversal elements - some are recognisable fanons that already exist, and some are possible alternative universes for AOA itself. I hope you enjoyed. :-)

EDIT: This chapter was edited 2nd August 2015.