Tartarus High

(A/N this one is a bit short and the action I promised is omitted, but for a good reason. as the title suggests and as you will read, War be upon us. you'll get your juicy action there. : P)

“Alright what do you have for me Dash?” Twilight asked as she and the other commanders gathered around.

“He was all sneaky about it. I didn't even recognize it, he dropped it right into my hand. It was totally awesome...anyways, according to some of the things he gave me there's big numbers of demons inbound heading to Ponyville and Canterlot. Also, you'll get a kick out of this.” Dash said, pulling a piece of paper and rolling it out on the table.

“Oh my god...really...they've gone back to wanted posters?” someone giggled. Twilight didn't look amused. It was her. It was a hand drawn image, the scar wasn't even there and her hair was what it was before her latest mission.

“At least they won't find you with this.” Celestia said.

“That's not what I'm worried about. They signaled me out because I'm the leader. If they find out about all of you then they'd put these up of you too. Look at the reward. Four million Bits...that's enough to make anyone give second glances at anyone with a similar hairstyle.” Twilight said.

“So what's yer plan Twi?” Applejack asked.

“What do those reports say about what the Tartarus Guards are doing?” Twilight asked after a moment of thought.

“Yeah, they're splitting into two forces. One to defend Ponyville and one Canterlot. Estimated time until the demons get there is three days...apparently there's more than just Manticores and the Slicers.” Dash explained.

“Slicers?” Twilight asked.

“Uh, what I've been calling those humanoid ones.” Dash replied. Twilight nodded.

“Right. Those that used to be Tartarus guards, I want you to train up The others to how they act and how they behave etcetera andante. Tomorrow we'll split into two groups. AJ, I'm putting you in charge of the Ponyville forces. I'll go to Canterlot. Until then we split up our forces as equally as possible and train.” Twilight explained.

“I like the plan, but I find something terribly wrong with it.” Luna said.

“I'm already ahead of you. They can't just ignore a couple hundred people suddenly claiming to be guards. We have any moles high up?” Twilight asked.

“We've got the second in command of the defense forces in with us.” someone answered.

“Whoever has the best chance of seeing him unnoticed will go right now and have him make a believable story.” Twilight said. One of their newest warriors, an ex-officer in the military- saluted and dashed down for the tunnels.

“Right...now...down to the caverns all of you!” Twilight commanded.

The day passed slowly, but it finally passed. Twilight and around a hundred and fifty others were running behind them. With her was Celestia, Spike, Emerald, Gilda, Trixie, and Rarity. When they had all left, Zecora had quite a scare as she was gathering herbs in the forest as Battalion after battalion of Nightstalker almost literally popped out of the ground. They all gave called greetings and waves, which she returned with an uncertain wave, as they ran in two different directions.

“We're close, Human forms now.” Twilight called. They all changed back to their human forms. None of them looked the same except Twilight, Celestia and the few others that had altered their appearances since they had last been seen. They arrived at the large camp outside of Canterlot withing hours.

“I'm Dawn, the one you were told of.” she said to the sentries when they stopped her.

“We have the appropriate space for you and your tents, the commander wishes to speak to you and your second in command. He's in big tent.” he said, a bit in awe of the army behind her.

“Right.” Twilight said and they all walked in.

“You two are...very familiar...” Shining Armor said when they entered. It was just him and them in the tent, so Twilight smiled.

“Well, you always said I'd look good with shorter hair.” Twilight said, showing her scar.

“T-Twilight?! What are you doing here?” Shining yelped.

“Come on, where else do you think a few hundred fighters would pop up from. The ground?” Twilight asked, plopping down on one of the stools.

“Wait...all of those people that got sent here and to ponyville are...” Shining started.

“Nightstalkers. Every last one of them. The only ones that are still back are the ones not battle ready yet, which out of around three hundred and something only a few dozen at the most.” Twilight finished.

“I've been hearing stories about Nightstalkers...that you went rogue and started killing at random...that all of the other Nightstalkers did the same...” Shining said.

“And you don't believe it one bit do you?” Celestia asked.

“of course not. But you all still killed innocent Tartarus guards.” Shining replied. Twilight laughed.

“Innocent? You're hilarious Brother. We don't kill people. Not even when they take shots at us and hit us we don't kill them. We won't treat their wounds but we won't kill them. The only time we kill people are when they kill others or us.” Twilight said.

“I heard that from one of the guards not into Demon Hunting...how did you know about us anyways?” Shining asked.

“When we save Guards and they're sympathetic to us we give them a choice. Join us, or go back. The ones that go back act as moles. We've got quite a few.” Twilight explained.

“Twilight...you've changed.” Shining suddenly said.

“...Yes I did...but tell me, how so?” Twilight replied.

“It's not a bad change...but I'll miss how you used to be. Back then you were Loving...and you cared for everything...” Shining started, but was interrupted by Twilight shushing him with a hug.

“Oh you big moron, that didn't change. That's WHY I've changed really...back then I only had spike to look after. Now I have hundreds that are all my responsibility. You're in charge of all of these people here, the two forces are about the same. It's a similar feeling, but you're only in charge of them here. Your responsibility is when they're doing their duty. Since day one... I've had to fight for the Pack, lead them, nurture them. Everything I do is for them. That won't change.” Twilight said.

“Huh...I guess you're right...” Shining said. He inhaled deeply, then let it out. “Right...as you probably know the targets will be here in two days. Estimated size of the force is about a hundred, consisting of Manticores, the Humanoids and something scouts can only describe as giant demons. I was worried, even after I heard we'd be getting reinforcements...but now...you guys could probably handle everything by yourselves eh?” He explained.

“Probably. Right now my Pack here, and in Ponyville, are finding out how many are sympathetic to us in the forces. Together with them we're isolating and will be incapacitating the hunters. We're not going to hurt them, Fluttershy developed a sort of sleeping potion. We'll give it to all of them the last meal before we fight and make sure they're in a safe place. Then we'll fight.” Twilight explained.

“Why incapacitate them?” Shining asked.

“If we're going to be at full fighting strength we're going to have to use our Demon stuff and we don't want to get shot in the back. It's happened too many times with these hunters.” Twilight said.

“Uh...Right...” Shining said.

“Since when were you a Tartarus Guard?” Applejack asked the commander of the Ponyville Garrison, she had worked for days to be able to change her voice and accent.

“Since Mah sister left...why?” he asked, it was Big Mac.

“Because yuh just made mah Day a whole lot easier.” Applejack said, glomping him.

“What the- AJ?” he asked.

“Uh huh...'Bloom's here too workin' with thuh others.” Applejack said.

“Huh?” Mac said. Applejack explained the plan.

“She thought of all of that?” he asked.

“Mhm. She's a natural born Leader. Ah gotta get back to mah troops, make sure they're getting' along with yours. We heard the forces comin' here are smaller so Ah got more of the youngin's and newer recruits.” Applejack said.

“Uh...Right. See you later sis.” Mac said.

“You betcha, and while I'm here call me Violet.” Applejack replied, putting her illusion back up and switching her voice.

“Alright...how long'd that take yuh to master?” Mac asked with a laugh.

“About a week. I had a little help from Gilda and Dash to get the punk-ish thing down.” Applejack said with a grin. She gave a farewell gesture and walked out of the tent.