Dark Ages

Later, the quintet returned, now late at night, to the cove of the Shattered Diamonds , and Rainbow Dash was waiting for them, along with a couple of his soldiers and another pony.

"Uh... Rarity, what is that green stuff you have on your mantle?"
"Don't ask."
"Come on, I just-"
"Don't. Ask !"

So, Rainbow Dash waited a few minutes, to make Rarity cool off just enough for talk.
Shortly after, the multicolored maned Pegasus presented Rarity to the pony, a former prisoner of Tartarus, who somehow managed to escape.

" Hi, I'm Svelto Zoccolotti ." said, holding out one of his hoof somewhere else, " for friends, Scumby ."
" Uh ... my pleasure ?" Rarity said.

Scumby, after eating a lot of bread and drinking a whole bottle of beer, reported what he said to Rainbow Dash: a week ago, he had heard Nova discuss with Liquefied Gear, and the latter said something a bit too much .

"Alicorn, this is what he said."

Rarity gasped, as well as the rest of those present .
The mare asked more details, and Scumby said only that he heard, more or less, that word, and so Rarity began to go up and down the room, thinking and confabulate whether she should or not send an attack.
The risks were so many, if the rumor was not confirmed, but if it were true ... the war would end very soon.

" Oh, I almost forgot ," said Scumby, " before leaving that crappy place I've took this... thing ."

Scumby showed what looked like a piece of necklace, very big and thick, of a dark blue color.
It could only be of one Alicorn.
Rarity immediately wrote a letter to Applejack to inform her, and mail it .

Meanwhile, at the camp of the Hogs, there was a great fervor.
One of the spies of the resistance was captured earlier that day, and Ragnarhog was interrogating it, almost unaware to Nova.

" Listen to me, little squealer, " said intimidating Ragnarhog, a few centimeters from the swollen face of the spy, " to who have you given my letter ?"

The spy spited in the eye of the Hog, and the latter took a pair of pliers to pull out the teeth to the spy .
By now, that poor unfortunate pony was about to collapse.

"Answer me !" shouted nervously the Hog.

"S... Splendid... Va-"

The interrogation was interrupted, after Nova entered inside the tent, furious, and so started an argument between the two.
Nova was outraged that one of his generals hadn't told her of that fact, and the other continued to reiterate that the methods of the monarch were ineffective as much as the decisions of the latter .
Meanwhile, behind the two, the spy was trying to break free, even if painful for the broken bones of his body .
When he was almost free, the spy was stopped by Ragnarhog, who fractured his front legs.
Nova asked, then, if that big, fat Hog had discovered something, and the latter, with a mocking smile, replied that the spy had said something very important.

" I assume he said Splendid Valley. This name mean anything to you ?"
"... Rarity ."

Ragnarhog turned to the spy, and picked him up by the neck.
By now, they no longer needed to keep him alive, and put him in Tartarus was equally useless.
Nova said that, however, could still use as a source of information, to know better where the coves of resistance and of other possible allies were .
So, with his immense joy, the Hog went back to torturing the spy, promising to be slower this time .

In the cove of the Hoofs of Steel, meanwhile, Applejack was mobilizing her best soldiers for go to Splendid Valley, as well as join the rest of the resistance to recover the alicorn from Tartarus.
Alongside the mare, there was also Winona, armored and ready to attack at the throat all the enemy ponies, along with other dogs of the Fang strict.

After having made an encouraging speech to her troops that, by now, the war was about to arrive at the end, she gave the order to march .
The trip would be slightly longer, after the soldiers of Golden Hoof had discovered the old path used by the resistance to cross the Everfree Forest, but that wouldn't be a problem, since there was another way. more secret and less known, that passed behind the mountains.

"Wait !" said, stopping her troops, Applejack, and straining his ears, " What's this noise ?"

From the secret way, swooped at gunpoint the troops of Golden Hoof, with him in head .
Applejack gave the order to prepare and maintain the position, and then send Winona and other strict Fangs to attack.
Winona and the other dogs attacked and killed some soldiers, slightly slowing the advance of the enemy troops.
The archers of the Hoofs of Steel, meanwhile, were prepared to shoot their arrows as soon as the dogs had retreated.
After doing that, the archers left their arrows, which went against the soldiers of Nova, and pulled down some.

Now, Golden Hoof gave the signal to his soldiers to load .
Applejack did the same, starting in the lead and guiding her troops .
The clash between the two factions was ruinous and bloody: the swords slashed and cut, and the blood flowed and shields crashing.
Golden Hoof faced both Applejack and three other soldiers, giving proof of his skill in using his battle-ax.
The three soldiers, one by one, were killed, and now the stallion with the head of iron could face his rival, while the two armies were fighting around them.

" It's been three years that I was looking for, you damn criminal scum ."
" And Winona waited the same time trying to find the rest of your head ."

Applejack lashed rapid swipes to Golden Hoof, who dodged a couple but was taken to one of the hips, injuring him slightly .
This was not enough, however, to stop the stallion, who pulled a rapid series of blows to Applejack .
The mare could ward off all, but the last slid the sword of the mouth, also injuring her.

" You have not changed at all, peasant mare ."
" And you do not even, beautify face ."

Applejack did best he could whistle, and Winona lunged at Golden Hoof.
This gave enough time to the captain of the Hoofs of Steel to retrieve her weapon, but when she rushes to Golden Hoof, she saw that he had pierced Winona on its side, making her fall to the ground in agony and yelping .

" Once you can fool me ."

Golden Hoof raised his battle-ax over Winona, and looked pleased while the poor creature was yelping in pain and tried to get up.

" Two not, hideous beast ."

With one hit, Golden Hoof decapitated the poor dog of Applejack .
The mare looked through tears the body of her faithful companion, while everything around her seemed to slow down .
Golden Hoof looked pleased the mare, and laughed as he approached with his weapon drawn.
Applejack was still distracted when the stallion lashed a hit, straight at the head of the mare.
By a whisker, Applejack was able to dodge the blow, but was injured at one ear .
This did only grow the anger of the mare from the hoof of steel, which dropped the sword and began to beat up on the head Golden Hoof, also affecting the large plate of iron that was on his head.

Meanwhile, Golden Hoof's troops began to have some problems to manage the Hoofs of Steel, and decided to retrain .
Applejack, after being separated from the general of Nova, was dragged between her soldiers, while the Golden Hoof's troops came back, dragging their general all sore and groggy.
Later, once that troops of Nova had returned to Appleloosa, the Hoofs of Steel were able to recover the bodies of their brothers and bury them as respectfully .
Applejack, however, preferred to burn the body of Winona.
The mare mourned for a lot her companion, and asked to one of his companions to inform the rest of the resistance on the incident.