War, Friendship, and Crisis: The Tale of a Torn World

Inside a dark hallway with dim lights and jail cells on its sides, a blue and green light flashed and sparked from one of the cells. The light grew in power, alerting some of the human inmates and two demon guards. When the light morphed into a ball of electric fury, the two demons unlocked the door with a keycard and rushed into the cell as fast as they could. The first demon, armed with a bayonet scattergun and an acidic grenade launcher, poked his bayonet at the sparks and light. In less than a second, the light exploded into lightning, killing both demons and short circuiting some of the lights and doors. The free inmates cheered as they broke open their doors and stormed down the hallway, punching and disarming a few novice demons while dodging incoming laser blasts.

After all of the electricity faded, five ponies in power suits landed on the metal floor. They looked around the damaged cell to find broken lights, electric water in sinks, and a busted cage door. Twilight, being the most curious out of all the other ponies, walked out of the cell and looked down both hallways. One led to a locked door while the other led to a brawny and furious man kicking a demon's head to pieces. Even though she had not so fond memories of humans with bare muscles and punk attitudes, she decided that that hallway was the correct path.

She turned her head to the four ponies behind her. "Girls, we're going right. The other hallway is locked, and I don't think my magic is powerful enough to break a metal door in half."

Pinkie nodded in agreement and primed her cloaking mechanism. Rarity and Applejack exited the cell and walked down the right hallway, ready to attack anything that threatened their lives. Fluttershy, already terrified of the war-torn fate of Equestria, slowly and cautiously followed the group down the pathway. This time, Applejack and Rarity were in the front, and Twilight stayed in the back while she adjusted her communications chip. Pinkie stealthily crouched down and avoided any chances of being discovered.

Travis's voice crackled from the chip. "Did you five make it to the ship?"

"Yes, we did," Twilight answered while the quintet entered a large T-junction. The brawny man was nowhere in sight, and the demon he beat to death was fading away into the air. "We might have also caused quite some damage to an area of the ship."

"That's why we don't use those teleporters that much. They destroy a lot of electrical equipment, and I know that from personal experience. One time, a recruit teleported in front of my computer and fried it to bits and pieces. Teleporting isn't fun when you're the spectator on the other side."

Pinkie giggled a little to herself from his tale, but she kept herself as quiet as possible to not alert any potential guards. She knew that her friends were waltzing in enemy territory, and one simple slip up can mean life or death. Twilight was now deciding where to go, but both hallways looked extremely similar.

"Travis, where do we go?" Twilight asked while rubbing her head with a hoof.

He responded with a short delay. "You need to go left. Your mission is to eliminate the captain of the fleet so that we can damage the demons' morale. They won't fight as well when their leader is dead."

"Are there any guards down that hall?" Pinkie asked seriously. "I want to know if my sneaking can fool them or not."

"They'll be ready for an encounter, Pinkie. The demons may be weak sometimes, but they are really smart soldiers. They don't leave anything alive that could be a threat. They'll go far enough to kill each other to keep their armies alive!"

"Well, I guess I'll have to drop my original plan." Pinkie looked down at the floor and frowned a little, but her expression quickly changed to delight when she pulled out her party cannon. "Plan two, destroy all of them with this!"

When they entered the hallway, they discovered that its end also has a steel door, but this one did not need a keycard to open. Two demons on the other side of the door heard their faint hoofsteps and felt excruciatingly paranoid from them. They kicked open the door and fired dozens of lasers from the hip, not aiming their weapons even the slightest bit. This unwise move quickly followed in a deflection spell that opened laser sized holes in the demons' bodies. After about two seconds of aimless firing, the demons killed themselves from the deflected fire. The quintet moved along cautiously to avoid any deadly combat positions.

When they entered the door, they were confronted by five demons on a catwalk. The entire room was a hangar bay that held multiple demon drop ships and disease-ridden missiles, and two large, metal doors revealed the onslaught of warships outside the dreadnought. Dogfights, bombings, and hijacks littered the airspace to an extreme. Pinkie and Rarity also noticed a few more demons that were hiding behind the drop ships and using them as cover. This battle was not going to be easy, as the sight of a decorated and promoted demon near the other side of the room haunted the ponies' chances of freedom.

The brawny demon was decorated in gilded titanium and graphene plates that bore a symbol. This symbol represented a pony's head, which was forged to look uncannily similar to Twilight Sparkle's, with a sword stabbed into the top of their head. The demon's helmet looked more like a World War II style with a red visor over his eyes, and his four horns, two short and two long, protruded out of the helmet. He carried two guns with four barrels and two triggers each, and dark pieces of cloth descended from his waist like dead snake skins. A belt with multiple grenades kept the cloth on the armor to keep it from flying off. His grin was perfectly aligned to show the sharp ends of his locked teeth, intimidating the ponies even more than what was needed. However, none of these details rivaled the crude words in blood on his chest plate that wrote, "Twilight Sparkle's Killer."

"The heroes of the helpless humans have finally arrived!" His words slithered with the slick movements of his forked tongue. "It is about time I have some sort of opposition. Humans get very bored to kill very quickly, and I think your equine blood will satisfy my lust."

"Argh, let's just get this over with, demon," Twilight growled impatiently while priming her magic. She kept a few blasts aimed at the marksman demons on the catwalk. "You're just another evil creature that only wants to cause death."

The demon's grin flopped to an irritated scowl. "I am offended by your disgusting words. I am not a senseless beast, I am a headhunter, or an assassin if you like to keep it simple and not so stylish. You five, plus that damned flyer in who knows where, are becoming too powerful. I am here to fix this imbalance of power between us and the humans." He fired at a distant drop ship to his right, killing an entire squadron of GEST Corp. soldiers in the process. "We were the ones who drove the humans off their homeworld, and we now have them running to different worlds to hide from our claws. Your species is letting them slip away, and I will not tolerate it. This is not a battle, girls. This, this is an execution for your crimes against the Demon-Human War." He raised his gun towards Fluttershy. "Oh yeah, don't expect an afterlife either. We found out that your world lacks a realm for an afterlife to begin with."

A challenger approaches: Sergeant Deadlocke, Akorazo's right hand man

The gilded demon, Sergeant Deadlocke, took another look at Twilight before he fired. He noticed the glow in her horn and the outline of a purple aura in front of the ponies. One of the demon soldiers grew impatient and was about to fire his laser rifle. "When do we fire, sir?"

"We fire when Twilight loses the magic." Deadlocke grabbed a hand grenade from his belt and glared down at it. He then pressed a blue button on it and threw it towards Twilight Sparkle. Before she could intercept the grenade, it broke apart and spewed blue gas towards her. Her magic faded from her body like a reaper was stealing her soul. She crumpled to the ground from her sudden weakness to her entire body.

Applejack rushed to Twilight's convulsing body and held her up close. Applejack turned to Deadlocke and spat at him in rage. "What the hay did you do to Twi?"

He shrugged while rearming his gun to Fluttershy. "I evened the fight a little. I never had to fight magical beings, and I sure as hell won't right now." He looked up at the demon troops on the catwalk and raised his voice. "Soldiers, fire at will!"

Pinkie fired her party cannon at the demons on the catwalk, destroying all of them with a blast of blue and purple dragon's fire. The demons behind the drop ships attempted to fire a few lasers before being pelted by sharp gemstones. Fluttershy noticed Deadlocke's aiming position and dove near a drop ship for safety. Flustered from her movement, Deadlocke walked towards the ponies with both guns spraying multiple poison bullets into the air. Pinkie galloped behind the closest drop ship and brawled the demon behind it. Rarity strafed around the area while firing multiple gemstones at Deadlocke and the demons. Deadlocke evaded to the right and left of some of the gems, but some dented his armor by only a couple molecules when they struck him. Some of the demons that were unlucky enough to feel the sharp gems pierce and rip apart their matter crumbled to the ground or into black dust.

Twilight struggled to stand on her hooves from the severe weakness, but she still attempted to do so. Multiple laser blasts and poison bullets flew around her position, but they mainly stayed a few yards aware from her. When she finally stood back up, Deadlocke noticed her displacement and fired four poison bullets, three of which entered her body. Three bullet wounds opened on her right side of her body, dripping with blood and searing pain. The poison from the bullets slowly spread throughout the body, killing and shutting it down cell by cell. Since her magic was completely drained and not capable of fighting the injuries or the poison, both continued their jobs with no opposition. Her wails in the battlefield caught the attention of multiple hiding demons.

One of them, who was a novice soldier brandishing a crossbow with steel bolts, felt sympathy for Twilight. He saw multiple ponies in the recent battles receive various, differing conditions. However, all of them ended with a displeasing death, usually with blood, open wounds, and many chunks of torn flesh. He hated every scene involving dying ponies, and he wanted it to stop.

When the demon looked around the area, he saw Pinkie Pie with a war face and two positioned hooves near his face. He remembered that pink face and those blue eyes, shivering in both joy and fear that a certain mare he met in the Everfree Fortress was about to kill him. His completely white eyes drooped to a frown as he lowered his weapon. He held out both hands in fear while preparing a phrase to save his life.

"Your name is Pinkie Pie, right?" he shouted in pure terror. "I know you! You were in that cage in the fortress!" His verbal recalls converted to pleas. "Please, don't kill me! I'm not going to hurt you or your friends!"

Pinkie lowered her hooves and dissolved her menacing growl. She glared at the demon again and speculated back to the past. She also remembered this, demon's outfit and his voice. He wore the same blue suit that resembled a Union soldier during America's Civil War, and his World War II helmet still had the huge crack and Nazi Party emblem on its side. Pinkie Pie, now donning a grin full of happiness, hugged the demon tightly. He hugged back to send back the friendship both of them created weeks ago.

Sergeant Deadlocke glanced at the hugging and shouted with rage. "Cadet, what the hell are you doing over there? Didn't probation straighten you up?"

The demon stopped hugging Pinkie as he turned to Deadlocke. "You know, I'm very sick of all of this fighting with the ponies! They're good creatures, and they deserve love, not warfare! Even the humans, despite their irrational behavior, should also get peace from us! Why are we even fighting them anyway? We should be teaming up with them to stop the Kavarian Assimilation Troop!"

Deadlocke pretended to sniff the air like a curious dog. "What's that smell, cadet? Oh, I know what it is." His face morphed to a sadistic grin. "It's called heresy, traitor. We don't need a soldier who can't even shoot a duck in the way of a patrolling tank." Deadlocke lifted up his gun and aimed for the heretic's head. He slowly walked towards the heretic's location. "Good riddance, traitor. Lord Zedin will burn your essence in the endless pits of the Varox Realm until the end of time."

Pinkie pushed the heretic out of the way and threw a wrapped present towards Deadlocke. Since he already knew this was a trap, he shot the present during its flight, destroying the bomb and box with a controlled blast. The heretic rushed behind a drop ship and turned to face three sharp gemstones aimed for his head.

"Stop!" Pinkie screamed while running and swatting the gems out of the air. "He is not a bad demon!"

"How do we know he isn't going to stab me with that horrid weapon?" Rarity protested. "He is most likely pretending to be on our side."

"Rarity," Pinkie started with a not so happy growl, "if you kill him, I will never forgive you for this. He is my friend, and I don't want anypony to kill him in cold blood."

Twilight, who was hiding behind a ramp next to the door, popped her head out in agreement to Pinkie's statement. Her words were slightly forced from the pain in her side. "I trust him too, Rarity. He isn't going to stab us in the backs like that if he is risking his own life."

"I also agree," chimed in Applejack while fending off a hostile demon with a dual-bladed broadsword. She bucked the demon's blade into him, severing the demon's torso from its legs.

As the demon faded to darkness and dust, Deadlocke side flipped from a drop ship and rained more poison bullets towards the ponies. Eager to avenge his past witnesses, the heretic fired a steel bolt into Deadlocke's neck. The sergeant was shocked that an entire bolt jabbed into his neck. He pulled it out with his right hand while turning towards the heretic. He lifted his right gun and fired four shots in the demon's body, somewhat damaging him and his Union uniform. Rarity helped the heretic by firing seven gemstones into Deadlocke's armor. At this point, Deadlocke was tired of the back and forth movement, so he aimed his other gun to Rarity and fired four more bullets. Two hit her left foreleg, and the other two only hit the metal walls near the door. She winced from the growing pain and fired even more gemstones towards Deadlocke.

The other demons fired their weapons once again. Pinkie slipped from the other ponies and finsished them off one by one. While this occurred, Deadlocke fired eight more bullets into the heretic's head, greatly damaging his essence. Applejack responded to the attack with four metal balls that slammed into Deadlocke's chest and legs. He kneeled on the floor for a second before seeing Twilight's urgent sprint at the corner of his eye. He quickly turned his head and fired once again towards her. This time, all of the bullets struck her body. Three were lodged in various tendons, bones, and flesh that ripped apart in her left foreleg, and the last bullet shredded her left eye into blood and blood vessels. Her shrieks of pain returned with a stronger intensity while she limped behind another ramp.

Pinkie Pie finished her clobbering and discovered the condition of her friends. Twilight was covered in blood and bullet wounds with one bloodied eye socket, and Rarity was struggling to stand with her weak and draining leg. She activated her cloak and snuck behind Deadlocke to deliver a fatal blow. While Applejack, Rarity, and the heretic dealt more and more damage to him, Pinkie crept right behind him and slammed her plated hooves onto the sides of Deadlocke's head. Dealing massive critical damage to the demon, Pinkie kept her hold on his head until he collapsed to the floor.

His grunts in blunt pain were soon followed by several coarse words. "I guess the captain, will have to deal with, you six now. Don't worry, he's impossible to kill."

Sergeant Deadlocke dissipated into the air. He left his suit behind, allowing the heretic to pick it up and wear it. He tweaked the suit a little to fit his build and wiped the bloody words off of the chest piece. He took off his helmet and suit to replace them with the gear sitting on the ground. After about a few seconds of strapping armor and positioning a helmet, he picked up the two guns and faced the ponies.

Sergeant Deadlocke has been defeated!

Pinkie Pie hurried towards Twilight and offered her signature yellow and orange healing cupcake. Twilight gulped the pastry down and felt her wounds close up. The bullets fell out of her refilling flesh, and her broken eyeball mended itself together again. The bleeding ceased as she felt all of the pain vanish from her body. Pinkie then hopped to Rarity and gave her another cupcake of the same color. When she bit into the cupcake, her wounds also spat out the bullets and filled themselves with new cells and muscle. The lingering poison degenerated to a benign state, allowing Rarity to move without any further harm to her body.

Fluttershy walked out of her cover and examined the heretic for a few seconds. She walked up to him and held out a hoof gently and passively. "Hello mister, what is your name?"

The demon looked at Fluttershy with a sorrowful expression. "I, don't have a name. Newer demons like me don't deserve names by order of Lord Zedin."

"Would you like a name?" asked Fluttershy. "I'm sure it could at least warm your heart a little more."

"Well," the heretic put a clawed hand up to his chin and scratched it, "I always wanted to be known as a Hannibal."

"Then Hannibal it is!" Pinkie exclaimed with a cheer. "Why don't you help us take down the captain? We need all the help we can get without Dashie on our side."

Hannibal lifted his new guns and smirked. "I'll do anything to keep my people from killing your world, so count me in."

Twilight walked up to Pinkie with frailty and dizziness. "Pinkie, do you have anything to help with my magic? I can't go on without it."

"Sure thing!" Pinkie exclaimed while taking out a blue and cyan cupcake. "This one is filled with magic, so it should give you all of your powers back!"

Twilight took the cupcake with her hoof and chewed it sluggishly. As the cupcake melted and descended from her mouth, she felt a surge of magic circle around her brain. She felt lively and active again while she tested her magic. All of her powers did come back, and it felt wonderful.

Hannibal looked at Twilight. "So, why are you five over here anyway?"

"We're looking for the captain of this ship," Twilight answered. "Travis, our guide, said he should be this way."

Hannibal pointed at the door Deadlocke used. "Well, if you want even more trouble and no captain, you should keep on going towards that door. The way to Captain Akorazo is down the other hallway in the prison sector."

"We don't have a keycard though," Applejack added, "and we can't break through it either."

"I have a keycard right here." Hannibal pulled out Deadlocke's keycard and showed it to the ponies. "Thank him for the easy access."

Travis noticed his miscalculations. "I was wrong? Well, that's unfortunate."

"I think it was more than unfortunate," Rarity grumbled while recalling the injuries inflicted upon her and the mayhem in the hangar bay.

The ponies and Hannibal walked out of the hangar bay to meet four demons in the T-junction. The two in the back held laser rifles, and the other two in the front wielded chain maces and heater shields. Twilight fired a magic blast at one of the rifle demons, destroying their head nearly instantly. Pinkie approached the mace demons and kicked both of their shields into their bodies. Both of them stumbled back while the demon in the back fired five lasers towards the ponies. One of the lasers hit Hannibal, but the rest missed entirely. Hannibal spread his poison bullets around the hallway, finishing off the three demons left.

Twilight rushed to the front of the group and scanned the hallway full of cells. No hostile demons were in the hall, so Hannibal and the quintet proceeded down the hall. Hannibal pulled out his keycard and slid it on the small opening inside the machine. When a green light flashed with a welcoming tone, the door clicked open.

He pushed the door open to discover a walkway hanging on the left side of the dreadnought. The walkway stretched all the way to another door to the group's right. Throughout the walkway, there were multiple doors, cover systems, and various ramps. Multiple demons hid in the cover or reached the walkway by the doors on the side. Some of the demon drop ships on the side discovered the ponies and turned their attention to them.

To make matters worse, a loud but short siren blasted from the dreadnought. The siren soon shifted to a low and triumphant voice. "Attention, my loyal soldiers! We have five ponies that are currently storming the dreadnought! Whenever you have the time, annihilate them!"

Hannibal and the ponies rushed down the walkway to avoid the bombarding rocket fire. Twilight fired a few magical blasts at the drop ships, but they were too durable to fall apart immediately. Applejack and Pinkie Pie galloped ahead to combat the incoming swarms of demons and leecks, small creatures with four legs and a claw mouth. Rarity helped damage the ships as well, destroying only a couple that flew a little too close to the group. Hannibal shot multiple demons in their heads, killing them nearly instantly.

This process of running and gunning continued until they met a tank on the walkway. It was just big enough to block the entire path, and it plowed through the cover like it was nothing. The tank drove the ponies backwards while firing laser blasts and explosives, threatening to ram the ponies off of the walkway. Pinkie and Applejack scaled the tank and bashed the metal on the top. Twilight fired multiple fire blasts while she, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Hannibal dodged rockets, lasers, and explosives. By the time the tank was only ten yards away from the edge of the walkway, it slowed to a dead crawl from the severe damage. Pinkie Pie and Applejack ripped the top of the tank off, revealing the driver demon manning the tank.

The driver looked up at two ponies with menacing frowns of anger and determination. His face quickly descended to a flurry of terror. "Nope, not today!"

The demon immediately vanished into black dust while a squadron composed of two healer demons and three greatsword demons rushed towards the group. Pinkie bounced to the first greatsword demon and pulled out her party cannon. One swift blast with an actual cannonball threw him back into the two healer demons, incapacitating all of them at once. The other two demons charged towards her with their massive greatswords. She dodged their swings while she repeatedly punched their chests and heads.

Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, and Hannibal helped her by firing poison bullets, magic, metal balls, and gemstones at the demons. Twilight blasted a hole in an active demon's chest. The demon stumbled backwards and fell off of the walkway to his doom. The other giant collected multiple gemstones and bullets into his body, almost dead from the multiple holes in his matter. Applejack finished him off with two metal balls that caved the demon's head into itself.

The healer demons wrapped their tentacles around each other and the greatsword demon, healing all three of them in the process. The demons returned to their standing stances and approached the ponies with a different approach. The two healer demons levitated to Pinkie and constricted her with their tentacles. As they threatened to choke her to death, the greatsword demon ran at Twilight and spun in a circle towards her direction. The ponies and Hannibal dodged backwards to avoid the spinning blade, risking Pinkie's life even more for every passing second.

Pinkie squirmed in an effort to break the demons' grasps, but she was met with firm resistance and a slick voice. "Stop moving, pink one. You will only make your own death even worse."

Twilight grabbed the greatsword demon's sword with her magic and used all her strength to push it into his body. The greatsword demon's upper body fell off his legs with a large thud, allowing easy access to Pinkie's constrictors. Rarity jabbed multiple gems through the tentacles and badly damaged the healer demons. Gasping for air, Pinkie fell to ground with a fair amount of damage to her body. The demons turned to the group of ponies and narrowed their eyes to hate-filled slits. Their tentacles steadily grew back into long, sharp tendrils, ready to kill the intruders in front of them.

One of the demons hissed a vicious curse while he pointed a tendril at Hannibal. "You, you will be damned for this act, traitor. Why would you help the enemy in a time like this?"

A fleet of GEST Corp. drop ships descended to the battle zone. One of their ramps opened up to reveal a soldier in silver armor and a black goatee. He pulled out a modified laser sniper rifle with no scope, two barrels, and a three round burst magazine. He fired at the two healer demons once, killing both instantly. The soldier then glared at Hannibal with an excessive amount of distrust. His words were on the verge of concern, but they kept themselves calm and collected. "Who is this demon, and why isn't he killing you five right now?"

The demon walked up to the silver soldier and addressed himself. "I'm Hannibal, a demon who believes that these ponies deserve life. I think that my people are causing a war that is completely unnecessary. Luckily, I survived long enough to gain enough power to revolt."

The soldier scratched his goatee for a second before handing out his hand. Hannibal approached him and shook his hand proudly. "I'm Lieutenant Jackson, but everyone calls me Lin. Welcome to the team, cadet."

Hannibal looked up at Lin in slight confusion. "You're, not going to kill or torture me, right?"

"Why would we do that?" Lin questioned. "We collect revolutionists in Zedin's army all of the time, and by how your armor looks, you must've struck gold."

"It's from Sergeant Deadlocke, sir. These ponies killed him with my help."

Lin's face drooped to shock. "Sergeant Deadlocke is dead? Well, that means this fight will be a lot easier than it was before!" He turned to Twilight and saluted in honor. "I am ever grateful for your sacrifices, girls."

The dreadnought shook and hummed after his words ended. As the humming increased in volume, so did the shaking. When the humming reached its peak, a colossal laser blast smashed into Manehattan, destroying two skyscrapers and possibly thousands of soldiers and civilians scattered in that area. The ponies could only drink in so much of how devastating that blast was. Fluttershy cried out her excess fear while the rest of the ponies watched the damage with a dire surge of urgency.

Twilight gulped all of her fear down and replaced it with determination. "Girls, we need to stop this captain before Manehattan is completely destroyed." She turned to Lin. "What are you going to do now?"

"My squadrons will take down any air resistance in this sector. Once that's done, you'll find me and my troops inside this ship." He saluted a goodbye as the drop ship ascended. "Godspeed, Twilight Sparkle!"

The rest of the drop ships scattered and chased multiple demon ships still in the air. Twilight and company looked back at the walkway in front of them to find dozens of demons preparing another assault. As the demons prepared their firing squadrons, a GEST Corp. drop ship flew up close and rained laser death upon the demons.

The ponies' communications chips crackled again into a familiar voice. "C'mon now, do we have to keep on taking these suckers out for all of you? Anyway, that one was on us. Be a bit more careful in that ship."

The drop ship flew back to the aerial carnage, leaving a bundle of disappearing demons in its wake. The ponies and Hannibal continued on the walkway until they reached the door. Hannibal placed his keycard in the slot and clicked the door open. Surprisingly, the hallway was completely clear of demons, but there was a faint growling that echoed through the halls.

The group decided to go down the left hallway. Twilight and Hannibal led the group while Fluttershy kept herself in the middle. Applejack and Pinkie Pie kept themselves in the middle as well to keep the power of the group in the front. Rarity was in the back, checking for any enemy activity. The hallway itself was eerily empty, and the constant, low growls from the distance only worsened the atmosphere. These growls grew in intensity with every step the group took down the hall.

After walking down the hall for about half a minute, Twilight and company entered a large room in the shape on an L. Multiple stasis tanks lined the walls, and several tubes and wires connected them to the walls and various machinery around the room. Some of the stasis tanks held various organisms of many shapes and sizes, but about five of them were empty. These empty tanks had pieces of their glass barriers scattered on the floor. Some of the cold and nutritious fluids from the tanks spread across the floor, creating a slick and healthy layer on top the metal floor. Shadows twisted and convulsed along the blue walls on the other side of the room. The growls and groans grew louder as footsteps and dripping liquid followed. Hannibal and the ponies kept themselves dead silent.

One of the creatures jumped out of the shadows and uttered an unearthly screech. Its body looked similar to a demon, but parts of its body were ruined to horrible degrees. Its left arm separated into five fleshy tentacles of various sizes with pulsing yellow blood vessels crawling along them. It's right leg split into two halves with one and a half claws protruding out of them. Its left eye glowed around chunks of meaty flesh that surrounded itself. Its face was contorted into a sinister grin with bleeding teeth and gums. Four tongues extended out of its face like red, squishy ribbons. Various parts of its body was warped into different shapes and sizes, including the grotesque, tentacle hand that wrapped around a laser rifle.

The creature screamed into the air, flailing its tongues while it wildly fired its gun in random directions. Twilight activated her magic, but the abomination whipped its arms into her body and swung her in the air. It slammed her body into three stasis tanks, releasing three mutated wolves with six legs and three heads in the process. The abomination released Twilight after slamming her onto the ground. She lay on the ground while she watched her blood drip from the impalements all around her body. The blunt force of the abomination cracked two of her ribs and punctured her body with broken glass shards.

Hannibal responded by firing poison bullets at the hungry mutant wolves, killing one and badly injuring the other. Rarity finished the last two with two swift swipes of gemstones towards them, and Applejack and Pinkie Pie darted around the room to flank the abomination. It swept its tentacle arm around the room and slammed Pinkie, Twilight, Applejack, and Hannibal into the back wall. All of them fell from the blunt pain, and Twilight's bleeding only worsened as some of the glass shards fractured and pushed deeper into her body. Her screams were faint from her draining consciousness.

Hannibal fired more bullets at the abomination. It only flinched a tiny bit from every impact, and every successful gunshot sped it up. Pinkie shook her head and hastily charged at the creature. When she was only two feet from it, she hopped, spun her body, and kicked the abomination with both of her legs. The creature flew backwards into a destroyed stasis tank, yellow blood oozing from the visible gashes in its chest and limbs. It got back up and puffed at her with primal rage. It lifted its gun and fired multiple lasers at her with incredible accuracy. Three of the lasers flew through her mane and carved holes all the way through it. Rarity fired multiple gemstones at the creature accurately while Fluttershy rushed to Pinkie.

Fluttershy quickly opened one of Pinkie's pocket chests and pulled out a yellow and orange cupcake. Her words were speedy and polite as she zipped back to Twilight. "Thanks for the treat. Twilight needs it now."

Hannibal occupied the abomination by strafing around it and slamming a gun into its torso and shooting its chest multiple times, giving Fluttershy time to heal Twilight. She sat down next to Twilight's head and pushed a cupcake to her face. "I feel so sleepy, Fluttershy," Twilight weakly addressed with pain in her voice. "I don't think I can eat it right now."

Fluttershy shoved the pastry in her mouth and forced her chewing. "You have to eat it now! I don't want to lose a friend from, whatever that thing was!"

Twilight Sparkle attempted to eat the cupcake that Fluttershy stuffed in her mouth. The shards of glass inside her body fell out as new muscle replaced the damaged cells. The blunt and sharp pain drained out of her body once again, and her weakness faded and morphed into strength. She got back up and kept her distance from the abomination. She kept her magic inactive to avoid upsetting the creature again and risking her life once more. Instead of fighting, she kept close to Fluttershy and entered a defensive stance.

"Eww, that creature is, growing extra pieces of itself!" squealed Rarity after looking at the abomination. Another set of arms with wicked claws sprouted out of its back, and its chest opened up to reveal sharp rib cage teeth and another set of arms. The creature descended on its arms, kicked Hannibal away, and crawled towards Applejack. She bucked its head into a wall, moderately damaging it. The head collapsed into a flappy neck hole as four luminescent eyes ripped themselves open on the abomination's back. Dozens of slender tendrils exploded out of its spine, creating multiple claws and knives to easily shred the ponies to bits.

Applejack recoiled in disgust and fear while she walked backwards from the abomination. The creature positioned its neck hole at her and slithered its four tongues, longer they were before, out of the hole. Hannibal shot its back multiple times while Pinkie pulled out her party cannon and rolled it to the creature. She fired multiple shards of sharp confetti into it, but nothing but bleeding happened. The creature raised its body and slashed its rib teeth at Pinkie with fury, causing a few minor cuts and scrapes before she could bounce back from it. Rarity sliced a few of its tendrils and tongues off with a few well placed gemstones, but these small trims only made the abomination pissed.

The creature stumbled back and screamed its flesh apart, literally. Pieces of its no longer demon body shredded apart into multiple pieces of viscera and blood and sprouted chunks of new and wet flesh. It grabbed the three bodies of the mutant wolves and devoured them through its open rib cage. The excess mass converted to more chunks of flesh that eventually created a vile amalgamation of eyeballs, limbs, tentacles, and one huge, vertical mouth in its center. A loud, guttural shrill shook the room and sent shivers down the ponies' spines.

Hannibal glanced at the exit behind the abomination. "We need to leave now! We can't fight this thing forever!"

Twilight strafed towards the door while keeping a fair distance from the creature. She dodged a few of the sharp tentacles that sliced the air around her. Pinkie Pie bounced around the creature and tossed multiple bombs at it. Every time a bomb exploded into its body, the abomination shook its body and filled the openings in its deformed bones and muscle. Rarity also strafed around the creature and sliced parts of it with her gemstones. Applejack lassoed some of its appendages to its body, restricting its movement and attacks. Fluttershy closed her crying eyes and galloped to the exit while she screamed wildly.

When the ponies left the room, only Hannibal stood in front of the creature. The abomination roared a mighty and distorted scream as pieces of Applejack's lassos fell off its body. Hannibal scanned the room and found a highly pressurized nourishment tank next to the creature's gargantuan body. He fired a few bullets at it, creating a large explosion that engulfed the room. He raced to the door as the creature flailed its limbs and shrieked in desperation for safety. Once Hannibal left the room, another explosion fractured the metal walls and ground. Viscera from the abomination flew everywhere from the explosion, signaling the creature's defeat.

Pieces of metal and machinery collapsed into the exit, severing the group of six from the room of tubes. Twilight Sparkle looked ahead to see another hallway. This one was splattered in yellow and black blood on its walls and floor. Some of the splatters looked like splashes from a wound, and others looked like a slow drip or drizzle from an orifice. Empty uniforms and weapons of various centuries and decades lay on the ground with or without some of these blood splatters. Twilight concluded that the demons that never came to fight them because they were fighting off creatures identical to what they just encountered and failed to kill them. Hannibal knew from the armor plating and style that the fallen soldiers were elite class, meaning that these creatures were powerful enough to wipe out some of the best foot soldiers in Zedin's army.

The group walked along to eventually reach a partially open door. Distant shouting gunshots were audible through the opening. Some of the shouting sounded like a demon force, and the rest sounded like garbled screams and shrieks from various monsters. Pinkie Pie hopped to the door and creaked it open a little more to see the carnage. The room was rather large, as it held two inactive assault tanks and a huge but closed door that opened to a super highway that connected every piece of the dreadnought to each other. Multiple elite demons were running up a ramp to reach a catwalk, and several humanoid monsters with yellow bodies and bits of armor and weaponry chased the demons upstairs. Two shield demons were already at a door. They slammed on it and bashed their key cards in the slot furiously, but it was to no avail. Some of the creatures crawled on the walls and ceilings to reach the shield demons. When they reached the two demons, they launched themselves into their bodies and shredded them to black bits.

Travis examined the creatures and realized what they were. "Oh god, they were carrying Ruptured on this ship? Why?"

Twilight heard Travis's words and turned to Hannibal. "Hannibal, why are these creatures on this ship?"

He turned to Twilight with worry in his face. "Lord Zedin wanted to use them as a last resort just in case this battle becomes a bust. Apparently, they escaped their containment tanks."

"Aren't those the same things that destroyed our truck?" Applejack eyed the creatures carefully. She put the pieces together and discovered that they were nearly exact copies.

"Yes, they are," answered Travis. "Now, all of you need to fight them now. The longer they live, the higher of a chance Equestria will become their new homeworld."

Hannibal and the ponies rushed out of the door and into the room. Even though the elite demons were happy to see some help, they still knew that those six had to die. Three of the regular Ruptured glanced back at the ponies and strafed around the area. Two of them darted around the room and ducked behind various crates and architecture while Twilight and Rarity pelted them with magic and gems. Applejack and Pinkie galloped behind a tank and confronted one of the Ruptured. It fired wildly at them with a laser rifle melded into its arm. Pinkie jumped into the air and pounced onto the Ruptured. She bashed its head with her hoof and kicked it into a wall. Applejack killed it with four metal balls that crushed its skull, ribs, and internal organs. Its body fell to the ground, illuminated a bright, pulsing yellow all over its body, and exploded it's yellow blood all over the tank, walls, and floor.

The other two hostile Ruptured violently shook their bodies in response to the death. After they convulsed for a mere second, they inched closer and closer to Twilight and Rarity, twitching and spasming sporadically with every step. When Twilight fired a magic blast at one of them, both of the Ruptured leaped into the air and landed in front of her. Hannibal shot one in the head multiple times to back them away from Twilight. The Ruptured bled its blood out of its head and screamed a blood-curdling cry. Twilight back away and fired a fire blast this time, setting the Ruptured alight in flames. It screamed in pain and terror while locking onto Twilight's position. When the Ruptured was only feet away from Twilight, Rarity stabbed it with multiple gemstones, and Hannibal dashed to it and kicked it to a nearby tank. It exploded with ease from the impact.

The other Ruptured howled as it jumped all the way to Applejack. It landed on top of the tank next to her and fired its shotgun towards her. It missed from its lackluster accuracy, but it frightened both Pinkie Pie and Applejack to some extent. Pinkie jumped onto the tank and pulled out her party cannon once again. She fired a flurry of shredding confetti at the Ruptured, crippling it greatly. It staggered backwards while it clawed at Pinkie. He failed to land a hit and fell onto the ground below. Applejack caught up to its location and bucked the creature into a wall, destroying every piece of its already incapacitated body. The Ruptured exploded from the impact, spewing it's yellow blood all over the area.

A few of the surviving Ruptured near the demons finally killed the last elite demon. All four of them glared at the ponies with the intent to kill. The first to fall to their elevation looked like the other Ruptured, but its arms were twisted into two long tentacles with holes and tendrils inside their palms. A long, hollow tunnel connected this hole to their aorta, supplying a large amount of contaminated blood as a weapon. It walked steadily with its arms over its head. When it thought it was close to a pony, it swung its arm at them to check. Whenever it swung its arm, the closest pony would back away far enough to add a few steps to the Ruptured's journey. Hannibal repeatedly fired at it, dealing some amount of damage to the infected tissue.

He soon ran out of bullets after another second of firing them towards the Ruptured. He looked down at his guns with swift fury. "Damn it, I'm all out!"

"Wait, what?" Twilight shouted in terror while she fired another magic blast at the Ruptured. "You're out of ammo?"

"Yeah, what else would make you think that?" Hannibal put away his guns and drawn out his claws. "Time to go melee on this freak of nature!"

Hannibal charged towards the Ruptured and bashed it into a tank with his elbow. He then grabbed its neck and slashed his open claw across its chest and face, splattering the yellow blood on him and his claw with every swipe. The Ruptured growled and swayed its arms around him, but Hannibal only sliced its arms off in response. He then converted his claw to a closed fist and punched its head three consecutive times. He then wound up his last one and punched through its skull, destroying its squishy brain in the process. The Ruptured exploded and splashed Hannibal with its blood. Luckily, he was wearing an entire suit of armor and was highly resistant against the infection, so his body kept itself the same.

The other three Ruptured hopped down to the ponies' elevation. Twilight fired a wave of magic in their direction, knocking them to the ground. Pinkie Pie snuck behind their position and threw a pink bomb towards the leftmost Ruptured. Applejack regrouped with the others and helped Rarity fight the rightmost Ruptured. The pink bomb exploded and destroyed the leftmost Ruptured's body in a cloud of pink. Rarity and Applejack mutilated their target with dozens of sharp gemstones and two metal balls. It's body exploded from the swarm of projectiles, leaving the last Ruptured by itself. It sprinted towards the ponies, its eyes, mouth, and skin growing with light with every millisecond. Hannibal rushed to it and kicked it onto the ground. He then walked up the Ruptured and performed a curb stomp over its head, destroying its skull, eyes, and brain in the process. The body exploded into nothing but yellow blood drying to a black substance. In fact, all of the blood in the area dried to a black and still state.

Hannibal and Pinkie Pie regrouped with the ponies and examined the area. Nothing else was moving or alive in the area, and only pieces of equipment and splotches of black gave clues on what happened here. Twilight Sparkle looked at the doors and turned to Hannibal. "Where do we go now?"

He pointed towards the door on the catwalk. "We're going the same way those soldiers were going. They were heading to the captain's forces for a reason, and I bet we can plow them down with what we have." He looked back at his empty guns and noticed his lack of proper weaponry. "I'll scavenge from the bodies. You five better head up there and prepare for battle. We got a long way to go before we meet the captain."

Hannibal and the ponies walked up the ramp and did what they were supposed to. Hannibal took some of the laser guns and stripped them of their ammo packs. He took two of them and hooked them and the ammo packs on his belt. He then tested the guns by firing both of them at once at one of the tanks. He was able to hold both of them and still shoot at the barrel of the tank exquisitely. He walked up to the door where the ponies were waiting and examined their gear for a little while.

Pinkie was ready for the next battle. She glared at door and crouched her body down while she waited for the door to open. She didn't look at Hannibal, but she still talked to him with a determined tone. "When do we fight these things again?"

"Once that door opens, expect anything," answered Hannibal.

•—————•

After three hours of traversing the ship and fighting countless demons, Twilight Sparkle and company finally reached the door to the main cockpit of the dreadnought. Hannibal still had a lot of ammo packs due to the abundance of advanced demon weaponry, and the ponies still had enough ammo and power to fight a little more. They received a few cuts, scrapes, and bruises from the attacks, but Pinkie Pie's healing cupcakes eliminated all off these injuries. They even received some help from a few GEST Corp. squadrons that were storming the ship.

The group knew exactly who they were facing now. Travis and Hannibal informed the ponies about Captain Akorazo, chief of the entire aerial and naval fleet of the demon forces. He was a wild mechanic who enjoyed building many machines of warfare. In fact, he was the one who originally designed the tanks, ships, boats, and other machines for the army. He even created the Eternicastle, a gargantuan, hostile automaton created to be Lord Zedin's base of operations and doomsday device. The demon that these heroes were about to face would be their greatest challenge yet. Pinkie Pie was the most afraid of this battle, knowing how hectic a boss battle can be if even one of her friends falls in the midst of the fury and mayhem.

Pinkie turned to Hannibal with a sliver of tears in her eyes. She firmly hugged him and looked up at his face. "Hannibal, be careful out there. I don't want to lose you now."

"I'll be fine, Pinkie," Hannibal assured with confidence. "We got this. No one's dying yet."

He approached the door and slid his keycard through he slot. The door slowly slid open its two halves to the sides, unwillingly begging the ponies to enter their inevitable demise. The group entered slowly and carefully. They examined the room to find multiple empty chairs, control panels, fuel tanks, gauges, bars, and a huge throne facing the glass viewing area in front of it. The throne swiveled 180 degrees to face the group. A demon with a metallic and glowing red eye, mechanical arms and legs, a chest piece with a three blue cores, and a wide grin with jagged and locked teeth stared directly down at Twilight Sparkle. His claws clicked on the metal arm rests, presenting his superiority and sadistic thoughts clearly. He was quite impressed with how successful the ponies were. He never witnessed a nondemon approach him while he sat on his throne, nor did he ever see a live creature unhurt and perfectly healthy walk right into the dreadnought.

"Well, well, well," started Captain Akorazo slowly. His voice was the same one that spoke on the intercoms. "It seems as if I underestimated your species. The humans couldn't put up a fight after I down a bridge, but you just rebuild it in no time. If I could, I would give every, ahem, pony in this room a gold star, but I don't have any." He turned to Hannibal with a disappointed and irritated frown. "You, however, are the type of soldier I hate to see. A soldier who fights back at his own people is the definition of a heretic. If Zedin was here, you would be dead in an instant, but he isn't here. So, I'll be the one who destroys you and these conceited intruders."

He hopped off his throne and stomped one foot on the ground. He levitated into the air as a circular panel swallowed his throne and raised a new machine. It was composed of three loosely connected parts. The bottom part had four saw blades, two razor boomerang launchers, four spherical wheels, and multiple spikes positioned around it. Its shape resembled the bottom quarter of a cone. The second part right above the first wielded four laser cannons, two explosive cannons, and two missle launchers. Its shape was cylindrical. The last part on top of the others contained two claw arms, a laser grid around it, and a huge glass dome on the top. The shape of this part was a slab of a cylinder and a hemisphere put together. All of these parts were held together by an electric field around the ends of the pieces.

Akorazo lifted the glass dome and positioned himself in the control station. He held on to two joysticks with buttons on their tops. Buttons and levers with different functions surrounded his body, but his sleight of hand allowed him to press and pull the majority of those with little effort and time.

Captain Akorazo said one more thing before he began his onslaught. "Ponies and humans fight with each other in the same war, but they always die in vain no matter what they do. That won't be different for you six."

A challenger approaches: Captain Akorazo, owner of the Infantry, Invasion, and Aerial Divisions

The group immediately split up to avoid the bundle of explosives and lasers heading towards their original positions. The machine slowly crawled to Twilight first, firing its boomerangs in an attempt to slice her in half. She dodged them easily and threw a few magical blasts at the bottom half. She dealt damage, but the amount that she actually caused was rather low. Pinkie didn't even dare to confront its body, and Applejack attempted to find a good angle to kick a metal ball into the glass dome. Her attempts failed from the oncoming rockets that chased her body heat. Rarity fired a multitude of her gemstones into the machine's metal quite easily, and Fluttershy kept a close eye on the situation. She flew above the chaos on the ground, but she still had to face the lasers and rockets that threatened her life.

Hannibal rolled away from some of the boomerangs and missiles and conversed with Akorazo. He kept his voice loud and clear for him to hear. "What is your motive for killing these ponies? Do you know how unstable you're making this world?"

"It's not my fault that these weaklings never tasted the dish of war!" Akorazo fired a line of lasers at Twilight, but she dodged all of the blasts. "They were bred to serve a false god, not win a war against anything that's not them! They don't even have souls from what I know!"

Pinkie Pie dismissed his statement and threw two pink bombs at the first piece. The bombs significantly damaged the outer layer of the metal, but the piece kept itself intact. Two missiles locked onto her heat signature and steered themselves towards her head. She hopped over the missiles and guided them into the second piece, destroying one of the laser cannons in the process.

Hannibal fired a few laser shots at a saw blade and glanced at Akorazo again. "I know that you have heart, Akorazo! I know that you can love like me, so why don't you accept these creatures as friends?"

"Friends are for the weak and simpleminded, heretic!" Akorazo spat bitterly. "Only fear and authority gives you power, not friendship! Do you really think that Princess Celestia's petty friendship gives extraordinary powers? She's an alicorn ruler with limited strength, not a deity who can warp entire realms!"

The ponies felt offended by his comments on Celestia. Pinkie hopped close to the dome and glared angrily at Akorazo. "Nopony bad-mouths Princess Celestia like that! You take that back!"

Akorazo punched her into a wall with one of the machine's metal claws. "And what are you going to do about that, you useless pile of degenerate genes? There is a reason creatures have two legs and two arms. Your build is nothing but a soon to be extinct species!"

"You can't reason with evil, Pinkie!" Twilight informed through gritted teeth. She was holding back three primed missiles with her magic. "He is too demented to know what you feel! Only demons like Hannibal understand us!" She smashed the missiles together to create a cloud of fire and smoke.

Applejack finally found the perfect angle and kicked a metal ball into the dome. The dome cracked under the intense amount of force from the ball, startling Akorazo a tiny bit. He launched four missiles at Applejack and fired two more razor boomerangs into the field. She guided the missiles near Pinkie Pie to let her take control of them. After steering the missiles once again to the machine, Pinkie damaged the second piece even more. One of the missile launchers and another laser cannon fell apart from the blast. At this point, Akorazo knew that he was about to face a very dire situation.

He pressed a blue button to activate a force field around the machine. A blue bubble of energy surrounded all three pieces, shielding them from any further damage. Rarity hurled more gemstones at the pieces, but the gems disintegrated upon contact with the force field. Pinkie hopped around the machine and closely examined the field. She put a hoof on the energy and felt a solid wall. Two explosives from the machine rolled into the field and threw Applejack and Rarity into separate walls, damaging them with blunt force. Twilight charged up her magic and fired a much more powerful variant of her original magic blast. The blast caused the force field to flicker uncontrollably and leak electricity into the air.

Hannibal noticed the weakness of the force field and rolled over to Twilight hastily. "He's weak to magic! Hit him with all you've got!"

Twilight nodded and fired more magical blasts, weakening the force field even more. Akorazo shifted his attention to Twilight and launched two explosives at her. She dodged to the right and galloped to the other side of the machine. She fired her magic blasts again, nearly destroying the force field. Akorazo was sick of the constant moving and launched his boomerangs towards Twilight. He missed when she grabbed the boomerangs with her magic and slammed them into the electricity. The boomerangs disintegrated as more magic blasts pelted the force field. After a few more seconds of constant damage, the force field collapsed into rogue sparks.

Applejack got back up on her hooves and rushed back into battle. "We got him now! Hit him with everything you got, girls!"

Applejack kicked another metal ball into the dome, cracking it even more than before. Pinkie baited Akorazo to fire his missiles again and guided them into the second piece. The missiles destroyed the last laser cannons and one explosive cannon. Sparks and wires danced out of the warped and cracked metal, revealing the inner circuits of the machine. Rarity positioned some of her gemstones and lodged them in the machine's boomerang launchers. She quickly devastated them with clouds of gems that shredded the first piece. Twilight added to the mix by firing multiple magic blasts at the first piece. Pinkie finally destroyed the piece with two pink bombs that bounced next to the saw blades. The entire machine descended a level from the loss of one of its major components.

The second piece, now without a piece below to move on, hovered over the ground with four thrusters. Akorazo fired a couple missiles and explosives at the ponies while he swung his machine's metal arms desperately. Pinkie guided the missiles into the second piece again, destroying it and the cannons. The machine now dropped to its last piece, moving on its metal arms from the absence of the other pieces to support it. Twilight fired a powerful blast of magic at the piece, destroying the laser grid in the process. Noticing the destruction of the grid, Pinkie Pie hopped on the machine's dome and bashed it multiple times. Every bash cracked the dome more and more, adding more anxiety to Akorazo.

After about five bashes, the dome fell apart into several shards of glass. Pinkie Pie dropped into the machine and confronted Akorazo face to face. Her words were teeming with fury. "Why are you trying to hurt my friends, you meanie?"

Akorazo punched Pinkie in her left cheek and kicked her body out of the machine. "I said it once, and I'll say it again. I don't care for your backwards, unwanted, and inexperienced species! There is no reason to preserve something that is bound to die!"

Fluttershy stared at Pinkie Pie and glared back at Akorazo. She felt an emotion that she always wanted to hold back ever since her 'assertive' incident, but she could not hold it back. That physical attack that actually spilt blood from Pinkie's cheek and mouth shocked and fueled Fluttershy's mind. Her shocked and terrified gasp morphed to a set of gritted teeth, fuming ears, and two vicious eyes. She flew up to Akorazo's machine, stared directly at him in the face, and prepared her special, painful move.

Akorazo rolled his eye and dismissed her violent stance. "What're you going to do now? You never hurt anything from what I know."

"When you hurt my friend, you meet your end!" Fluttershy scornfully shouted. She then positioned herself and bucked the entire machine into the glass panel behind it. The machine broke apart the entire panel and flew out of the ship. Akorazo screamed for his life as he saw the city below hurling towards him and his machine. After about a few more seconds of free fall, Akorazo and his machine plummeted into a street headfirst. The entire machine exploded into a violent fireball, engulfing the captain and the rest of the demons in the area. Fluttershy, the mare who he least expected to kill him, just launched Akorazo out of his own ship and destroyed him and his essence for good.

Captain Akorazo has been defeated!

Hannibal looked at Fluttershy with a frightened expression. He then turned to Twilight Sparkle with said expression. "She can really do that? I thought she would cower the entire time!"

Twilight looked back at Hannibal and smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, you don't want to make her angry, especially when she cannot handle what just happened."

Fluttershy flew back to Pinkie and briskly scavenged through Pinkie's pocket chests to find a healing cupcake. She pulled out the usual yellow and orange cupcake and handed it to Pinkie's bleeding face. Pinkie took the cupcake and chewed it slowly. Her cuts and broken teeth soon mended themselves, and the flowing blood ceased and melted back into her body. She then ate the rest of the treat and hopped up to a standing stance. She hugged Fluttershy in response to the care she gave.

"You know how to really help out a friend!" Pinkie cheered happily.

Their mini celebration was soon cut short when an explosion shook the area and red sirens blared harshly around the group. The ponies' communications chips soon crackled a new and young male voice. "Sorry about that! We had little incident at the engine room, and we kind of destroyed the entire engine! This ship is going down, so escape while you can!"

The group immediately sprinted out of the ship and into the halls. The sirens still screamed painfully as multiple demons panicked and ran in various directions. Only a few of them actually stayed to kill the ponies, but the group had no time for fighting. They dodged the laser blasts and kept on moving. They felt the ship tilt a little to its left, creating a constant decline slope to the right of the group.

They kept on sprinting through the various halls and rooms until they reached an escape pod area. Twilight and company searched the pod room and found only three left. Some of the demons were bashing their way into the small spaces until Hannibal and Rarity shot them with gems and laser blasts. Some of the demons successfully escaped and activated one of the escape pods. Only two remained in the room now, and even more fleeing demons were approaching the area.

"These pods can only fit three each!" Hannibal informed while he fired at the oncoming swarm of demons. "We'll have to split up from here!"

Twilight quickly glanced at Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. "You two will go with me on my pod! Applejack and Rarity, you two need to ride with Hannibal!"

Hannibal, Applejack, and Rarity quickly climbed into their spherical escape pod. Hannibal poked his body out for about two seconds. "See you on the ground, Twilight!"

The pod activated and left as a few flustered demons entered the pod room. The remaining ponies climbed into their pod and pressed a red button on their control panel. Twilight closed the door to keep the furious and frightened demons out of the pod. The demons banged on the one circular window until the pod left the room and shot out into the open air. The entire ablaze dreadnought behind the three ponies descended into the sea and disappeared from sight. Distant explosions emanated from the dreadnought as pieces of it slammed into the water and ground below. Twilight could only look at the madness and mayhem outside, not knowing where she would eventually crash.