"Princess, the griffins are pushing through!" a soldier shouted to Celestia on the radio as she sat in the main control room of the base.

"I want soldiers at the turrets firing at any stragglers!" Celestia commanded, "Everyone else be on standby just in case any make it into the base!"

"Yes Your Majesty," the soldier saluted before hanging up. Celestia looked at a screen showing the Archangel hanger, which currently only had one Archangel stationed inside. That Archangel was the one who could get them out of this situation.

Lucifer...

"This is the very reason you were made," she said, "But you insist on being stubborn."

"Sister!" Luna said running into the control room with Spike next to her.

"Can you gauge how bad it is?" Celestia asked, getting a grave sigh from her younger sister.

"It doesn't look good," Luna stated, "Even with our advanced Archangels, we're outnumbered. It's only a matter of time until some of them get to the base."

"Damn it..." Celestia swore looking away.

"Also, a high leveled Archangel joined the battlefield a few minutes ago, and it's helping the griffins. Tia, it's Uriel."

When Luna said that name, Celestia swore under her throat. She knew one day that Archangel would come back, but she didn't expect it to be helping the griffins.

"Rarity..." Spike said looking out the window at the fight, "I know that she's the one inside that Archangel."

Celestia took note of Spike but then turned back to her sister, "Perhaps we should intervene as well."

"With what?" Luna asked, "I have no problems entering the front lines, but my Archangel is still in Canterlot, and yours-"

"There's still Lucifer," Celestia said.

"Tia, who would pilot it?! Our new pilot, assuming they'd even be able to handle it, isn't here yet, and we don't have anyone else to..." Luna's expression was wide eyed as she understood, "No... sister, you aren't thinking of-"

"Can you think of anyone else? Maybe if I enter Lucifer, it won't-"

"Considering the circumstances, you're the last pony who should pilot it! That thing will kill you, Tia!"

"Well, I don't see another option!" Celestia shouted, catching Spike's attention. When he looked at the sisters glaring at each other, his heart was racing. They had never really seen eye to eye, but seeing them together was always a scary sight.

"Princess..." Spike said. He turned around and secretly pulled out the Element of Magic, wondering what Twilight would do in a time like this.

"This is Beta-6, we've cleared a path," the pilot of the Virtue next to her said, "We can start sending soldiers into the base now."

"We won't waste any time then," she said glaring at the military base, "Anyone who isn't fighting start heading into the base now."

"Captain, they're activating their turrets!" another Virtue pilot stated.

"Leave them to me," the pilot of Uriel said calmly. Uriel flew to the base itself and hovered over the turrets. As the guns targeted the Archangel, the pilot charged up her magic. She then fired an odd spell at the turrets, deactivating them.

"Go! Go! Go!" Beta-6 shouted guiding a team of Virtues into the base. Uriel flew away and landed as a fancy Virtue designed with a griffin based design ran up to it.

"Not bad," the pilot of the griffin shaped Virtue said, "That spell of yours has helped us more than you could imagine."

"Don't congratulate me," Uriel's pilot said seriously, "We're not done yet. Not until the Morning Star has been destroyed."

"Got it. I'm sorry you have to do this. This is your country, after all."

"Equestria hasn't been my country in years, Gilda," Uriel's pilot said looking down, "I have no problems tearing it down."

"Hard core, but that's why you're the leader," the pilot, Gilda, said, "Like you said, we're not done yet, so don't die on me."

"I don't plan on dying anytime soon. Focus, the enemy is still coming."

Uriel and Gilda's Virtue looked ahead as five Thrones charged over to them. Hopefully her soldiers could get inside and destroy the Morning Star before anymore ponies lost their lives.

Forgive me everyone, but this is for the best.

Once they entered the base, some of the griffins parked their Archangels and began exploring the base on foot. They were all wearing tight piloting uniforms and helmets that were gold and black, and they had various weapons with them. A few griffins stayed in their Archangels and followed the ground soldiers closely.

They were ambushed by Canterlot knights, but before they could get to the griffins, the Archangels fired at them with their machine guns, killing them immediately.

Spike, Luna, and Celestia watched this from a monitor in the control room. Spike looked at the sword on his back, feeling like he needed to do something himself. Sure, they had him outnumbered, but he fought Judex before. This shouldn't be a real problem for him if he fought smart.

"Princess, let me go!" Spike requested, shocking both Princesses.

"Spike? What are you thinking?" Celestia asked.

"I can go and help the soldiers. I've learned a few Ether skills from my friend Scootaloo and your sister. I can provide them support!"

Princess Luna looked down thinking, and then nodded, "Actually, I think I would like to help as well."

"Luna-" Celestia began.

"They're more than likely after Lucifer," Luna stated, "If we take the side entrance then we can cut them off when they enter the hanger. I think we'll need a few Thrones to return to the base to handle the enemy Archangels. Well Spike, will you aid me?"

This was major for Spike. Princess Luna was the greatest fencer in Canterlot, able to handle four stallions alone. She wanted his help? He nodded eagerly.

"Yes, Your Majesty! I would be honored."

Luna nodded and turned to Celestia, "They won't destroy Lucifer, sister. Of this I can make sure."

Celestia sighed and nodded in acceptance. If Spike didn't know better, she seemed like she didn't want Spike to take part in this. In fact, it seemed like she didn't want Spike anywhere near Lucifer.

"Spike, come," Luna said grabbing her rapier's sheath and magically strapping it to her side. She and Spike both ran into the main hall, but they took a round about route leading to the Archangel hanger.

"Princess, why would the griffins be trying to destroy Lucifer? Isn't this a top secret?" Spike asked.

"It is, but that doesn't mean no one knows that it exists. Information gets leaked a lot in these sort of operations. It doesn't help that Tia based us right at the border of Talia," Luna explained, sounding very critical of her older sister.

"That Archangel..." Spike said, suddenly thinking hard about Lucifer. Why did the thought of that Archangel being destroyed bother him so much?

"There are bound to be a few stragglers taking this path," Luna said, "I can take on the Archangels if they appear one at a time, so if we see them you have to take on the griffin soldiers not in Archangels."

"Got it," Spike said.

When they turned a corner, they saw three griffin soldiers. Sure enough, they had a single Archangel behind them.

Spike pulled out his sword and got in a fighting stance while Luna elegantly stood next to him, standing sideways holding her left foreleg up. Spike charged forward first, clashing blades with one of the soldiers as the other two charged over to Luna. While Spike fought his opponent, Luna elegantly moved back out of the way of all of the griffins' assaults.

She quickly pulled out her rapier doing a fast slash and sheathing it immediately, getting one of the soldiers in the heart killing him. The other one tried to fire at Luna with his machine gun, but she turned to him and cast a spell, creating an energy shield to block the attack.

Spike pushed the soldier he was fighting back and started charging up his Ether.

"Ether Drive, GO!" Spike shouted, summoning two diamond shaped projectiles. They flew over to the soldier impaling him, killing him. Spike then had to jump away though, as the Virtue that entered with them started firing at him with its machine guns.

Luna saw that and flew over to Spike's side, charging up her own spell. She pointed her horn at the Archangel, shooting a blast of energy at the Archangel knocking it back a bit. Spike quickly blocked Luna's back though, as the soldier she was fighting tried to shoot at her back.

Spike flew over to him and slashed a few times with his sword, jumping back and blocking while the soldier fired with his gun. Luna continued to cast spells at the Archangel, sending powerful blasts at it. That lasted until it fell down unable to stand up any longer. It open its hatch, but Luna quickly flew over to the pilot and stabbed him with her rapier, quickly sheathing it.

"Forgive me, dear soul," Luna said somberly, looking away in sadness and disgust.

Spike rolled to the side out of the way of the griffins attack, and then jumped into the air. He flipped in the air and came down on top of the soldier with his blade, slashing through his back and killing him.

"Damn it," Spike said looking down. Killing others was one thing he hated doing, and he was glad that being the Princess' retainer didn't mean he had to do it a lot.

"We're almost there, "Luna said, "Let's hurry to the hanger."

Spike nodded and followed after the Princess.

The fighting outside was starting to slow down a bit, but both sides were more evenly matched. One of the Canterlot soldiers stopped and looked in the sky, and saw something flying toward the battlefield.

"Judex!" he shouted calling the princess on his radio, "Princess Celestia, Judex are coming!"

"Forget the griffins, focus all of our attacks on the Judex!" Celestia commanded.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" he saluted. He and his soldiers all stopped firing at the griffins and instead began firing at the giant bug monsters. Thankfully the turrets started working again so they were able to fire at the incoming Judex.

Uriel and Gilda's Virtue both looked up at the incoming monsters as well.

"That's some bad luck," Gilda said, "Looks like some of the Judex are getting into the base. Anyone in there is as good as dead now."

Uriel's pilot looked away and was about to leave the fight. Since the Judex were attracted here, the Princesses would have a hard time stopping them. All they had to do was focus on destroying the Morning Star.

"Captain! The Gamma Squad was just wiped out!" one of her soldiers shouted.

"Wiped out? Who attacked them?" Uriel's pilot asked.

"In their last transmission they said something about being attacked by Princess Luna and a dragon in blue robes," the griffin soldier said. When she heard that, her heart sank. He was in there right now! Why was he there?!

"Tell all of our men to avoid the dragon!" she commanded, "I'm coming in myself!"

Uriel galloped toward the base as fast as it could, Gilda's Virtue reaching out it's clawed hand.

"Rare! Rare!" she shouted, but Uriel didn't stop. No matter what she had to protect him. She had to protect Spike.

When Spike and Luna arrived in the hanger, they were both pleased and confused to see it was still empty. The only thing there was Lucifer.

"They haven't gotten in yet," Luna said, "We were slowed down quite a bit. They should have gotten here."

Spike walked over to Lucifer and looked up at it. Right now, it seemed like a regular Archangel. He didn't sense any life from it, yet earlier it was moving and firing on its own. It had opened its hatch on its own, without any input too.

"Were you asking me to pilot you earlier?" Spike asked the machine, as if it could answer.

"Lucifer is a strange machine," Luna said walking next to Spike, "It acts on its own, drives pilots to madness, and is overall an unruly Archangel."

"How does it move by itself?" Spike asked.

"This Archangel is different," Luna said, "It's Ether Core isn't made the same way as Michael or Remiel, and that's where the mystery lies," she looked at Spike with a enigmatic smile, "Perhaps you would like to solve the mystery yourself?"

"Me?" Spike asked, "You mean, by piloting it?"

"It did invite you," Luna said, "Normally we have to manually open its hatch, but it opened up its hatch for you. Wouldn't you like to know why?"

Spike was almost under the impression that Luna knew why, but just refused to tell. Still, he was curious. No one had entered the room, so there wasn't any harm in just getting in, right? But what if it drove him insane like it did the other pilots? Besides, didn't Princess Celestia already have a pilot in mind?

"What about the pilot that your sister chose?" Spike asked, "They're the one who-"

"There's no guarantee that Lucifer will allow that pony to pilot it, but with everything we saw today, you have the best chance of coming out okay," Luna said. That was true, Spike thought. Even he could tell that Lucifer didn't want just any old pilot. The pony that Celestia chose might get the same treatment.

Luna once told him that the sword chose its wielder. Did that go for Archangels as well? Did they choose their pilots, and did Lucifer just choose him?

He looked at Lucifer's face, imagining that he was looking right into Lucifer's eyes. Eyes that normally would be glowing either red or purple, but were now blank. There was no life in this machine, yet somehow he knew.

Spike slowly walked toward the machine. He put his hand on the chest of Lucifer, opening the hatch to the cockpit. This cockpit was made normally to be used by a pony, but a dragon could just as easily use it. Inside it looked like a regular Archangel. Spike turned to Luna, who was still smiling in that enigmatic way. She wanted him to pilot it.

Spike was about to get in, but a loud crash caught his attention. He and Luna looked by the left wall and saw something blow it open. In walked a large Judex shaped like a spider. It's exoskeleton was black and red, and it had two red eyes on its head that looked like they were frowning.

Luna charged over to it and fired a large blue energy blast at it, the same attack she used on the Archangel earlier. The spider Judex crouched down in defense, and then jumped on top of Luna, knocking her to the ground.

"Princess!" Spike shouted, charging up an Ether. He pointed his hand at the monster and shot three diamond shaped projectiles at the Judex, but it didn't even pay him any mind. Regular Ethers didn't work on it!

Luna slowly rolled over as to stand up as the spider slowly walked over to her. It looked like it was about to eat her, but a blue energy stream shot it back. Spike looked and saw the white and blue Archangel, Uriel walking in.

"Rarity!" Spike called out. He knew she was still a good pony.

Uriel charged over to the Judex and tackled it to a wall. The Judex shot a red ball of energy out of its mouth at Uriel, knocking it back and onto the floor. Uriel sat up and turned to look right at Spike.

She was trembling. She couldn't believe it. It was him, it was actually him. But he was right next to the Morning Star! Why was he so close to it? Why did it look like he was about to get inside?

"Spike..." she said, "Get away from it, please..."

She gasped as the Judex jumped on top of her and started slamming its legs into the Archangel. It hadn't gotten through the armor, but she could tell it was taking too much damage.

Uriel kicked the Judex off of it, and stood up. It opened its leg compartments, revealing two lasers. It fired its lasers at the Judex, but being a spider it was too fast and jumped around the room to dodge incoming fire. Jumping onto the ceiling, the Judex shot webs out of its abdomen. Uriel jumped back away from the attack, but the Judex followed it with the web and actually trapped it on the ground.

"Damn it!" the pilot shouted struggling to get free, "I can't die here! Not like this!"

"Rarity!" Spike shouted. He was about to run over to the fight, but he stopped when he saw Luna still on the ground too hurt to stand. Not even a powerful pony like Luna could beat this thing. Also, Rarity had an Archangel and she was losing.

"I have to do something!" he shouted, "Rarity, the Princess, everyone is going to die!"

Spike!

Use the Archangel!

Spike looked up when he heard that voice. It was the same as the one from earlier, but this time he thought he recognized it. It sounded like... Twilight.

Spike looked around, wondering where the voice came from. The only things in the room with him were Rarity, Princess Luna, Lucifer, and the Judex that was about to destroy Rarity's Archangel and kill the pony inside.

He looked back at Lucifer, knowing exactly what he had to do. He had to trust the machine, that it wouldn't drive him crazy. He had to pilot Lucifer.

Spike ran into the Archangel, sitting down in the seat. He flipped the switch to close the hatch, and the few switches to bring the Archangel to life. Lucifer's eyes turned on and it slowly stood up. Sitting in its cockpit, Spike felt something hit his mind. At first he was afraid, but the feeling didn't hurt. In fact, he felt comforted. It was as if Lucifer was telling him "it's going to be okay".

"You're saying you'll help me, aren't you?" Spike asked, imagining the Archangel saying yes, "Alright then, let's do this together!"

Lucifer charged up its shoulder mounted railguns, and fired at the Judex knocking it back. It then ran over to Uriel and charged up its horn. It then shot a small red beam at the webs melting them and setting Uriel free.

Uriel stood up and looked intently at Lucifer. Inside, Spike's heart was racing. What was going on in Rarity's mind, seeing this Archangel moving and probably knowing who was inside.

Both pilots heard a strange cry/hiss, and the Archangels looked up at the ceiling again seeing the Judex getting into position. It fired its webs at the two Archangels, but both machines ran in separate directions.

Lucifer stopped running and opened its leg compartments. It then fired its missiles at the Judex, knocking it off the ceiling. Uriel charged at the Judex as it stood up and started slashing with its horn. That went on for a few seconds until the Judex shot Uriel back with its red mouth ball. Uriel fell back but stood its ground, but the Judex jumped into the air about to land on top of the white Archangel.

Right before it reached the Archangel, a red laser beam shot at the Judex knocking it into a wall. The Judex turned to Lucifer as it charged forward, lunging its horn into the Judex. While holding the enemy down, Lucifer fired its railguns at the monster, doing extra damage.

"Rarity, fire your Ether when I throw it!" Spike called out on his radio. From his moniter, he saw Uriel move as if nodding. His heart leaped out of his chest. He knew now without a doubt that the pilot was Rarity.

Lucifer picked up the Judex and threw it up into the air. Uriel started casting an Ether, and when the Judex was almost on the floor, diamond came up from the floor impaling it. The Judex was cut in half, dead.

Spike sat back in his seat, feeling relief. He was able to control Lucifer, and Rarity was there. He could bring her home, and tell Sweetie Belle that he found her. Maybe she knew where Twilight-

There was a loud crash and a tremble that caught his attention. Spike looked on the monitor and saw Uriel clashing horns with Lucifer.

"Rarity?! What are you doing?!" Spike asked in shock. He used Lucifer to push Uriel back, but Uriel fired its leg lasers at Lucifer, forcing the black and purple Archangel to run around the field. Lucifer stopped running and Spike casted a shield generating Ether to defend itself.

"Why are you firing?!" Spike shouted, "It's me, Spike!"

The monitor showed he was being hailed. Spike immediately pushed the button, seeing the image of the pony inside. His heart skipped a beat. She looked so much like herself still. She was wearing a blue and white piloting uniform, and her purple mane was still in the same style, but it looked a little fuller now. There was something really off about her though. She wasn't wearing her usual eyeshadow, and her eyes looked so dark.

But it was her, it was Rarity, and she looked pissed.

"What the hell are you doing in there, Spike?!" Rarity asked.

"You disappear for eight years and that's the first thing you have to say?" Spike asked, a little surprised by how she sounded. She didn't sound like the way he remembered. Normally she would sound haughty, fancy, sort of high class. She had told him once that she taught herself to sound like that. Was this how she really sounded?

"Where have you been?" Spike asked, "Why are you with the griffins now?"

"Spike, I don't have time to explain," Rarity stated, "I need to destroy that machine."

"Why?! Why are you fighting us?! You're from Equestria! Also, where's Twilight?! Is she with you?!"

"Damn it Spike, just get out of the robot!" she commanded, trembling.

"What's going on?! Please Rarity, tell me what's happening?! Not just for me, but for your sister too!"

"I can't!" Rarity shouted, scaring Spike, "You're too close to the situation. Now please, get out of the FUCKING ROBOT!"

Before anyone could say anything, Spike saw another Archangel run into the room. This one looked like a griffin actually.

"Rare, we're out of here!" the pilot shouted on her radio, "The mission is a failure!"

"Damn!" Rarity swore, immediately turning off the monitor. Uriel and the griffin shaped Archangel turned to leave, but Lucifer walked forward and held a hoof out.

"Rarity, please stop! Talk to me, please! Tell me what this is about!"

"Promise me that you'll stay out of this!" Rarity said over the radio, "And please, keep my sister safe."

Uriel and the griffin shaped Archangel ran off and flew off. Lucifer ran out of the hole in the wall and looked out, seeing all of the griffin Archangels fly away. Once again, Rarity was flying away from his life.

"Rarity..." he said to himself, looking down in sadness.

Luna staggered to her feet and over to the hole, looking at Lucifer. He was inside it. Spike was piloting the Morning Star.

"Everything is going according to plan," she said, smirking to herself.

Author's Note

Spike has done the one thing no one has been able to do. He's able to command Lucifer when no one else could. But why did Rarity attack him? Has she truly abandoned her country?