Civil War of Harmony

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Prologue
Chapter 2
Chapter 11

Chapter 1

A few hours later, Twilight arrived in Canterlot, and after a few minutes, she arrived at the castle. She could already feel the start of a headache this would cause, and the air felt tense. Maybe it was just her. Celestia and Luna were likely having a nice, pleasant debate. A very loud debate. In the Royal Canterlot Voice. Attempting to put the theory that 'might makes right' to the test. 'Yes. I would MUCH rather deal with two overgrown foals with enough power to move the Sun and Moon with little effort, then spend time relaxing with my friends.' She thought with a mix of sarcasm and bitterness.

The guards recognized her as she approached, and were kind enough to open the door as she glided towards it, preventing her from crashing into it. She smiled her thanks at the two guards as she glided passed them, they remained stoic and expressionless, almost like a princess flying into the castle was an everyday occurrence. She beat her wings a couple of times to keep herself in the air and continued on her journey to the throne room. She had no idea if Celestia and Luna would still be there, but it was a good place to start. She ignored the quizzical looks the guards gave her as she flew passed, and made sure to avoid knocking anypony over.

Twilight glided once she approached the doors, then flared her wings and bled her speed. She touched down gracefully, and the guards saluted her. She nodded, acknowledging the salute. "Please open-" Twilight was cut off by a booming shout, Princess Luna using the Royal Canterlot Voice, most likely. The guards were knocked off their hooves by the force of the voice however, they quickly regained their composure, and with it, their stoic expressions. Twilight sighed, lit her horn, and threw open the doors.

The shouting immediately stopped when the young alicorn stepped inside the throne room with a face plastered with annoyance. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were glaring daggers at each other, both had clenched muzzles, with their muscles easily visible. Twilight blinked when she realized both of them had their horns lit and were pointing at each other. Twilight regained her composure and trotted into the room with determination.

"Twilight." Celestia's frustration was evident in her voice, while her gaze never left that of her sister. Twilight staggered at just how mad Celestia sounded. Both the older alicorns had their wings flared, Princess Celestia easily dwarfed her younger sister, in both height and wingspan. Yet Luna was not deterred.

She recovered her composure, they called her to settle their argument. Interrupting time with her friends. "Celestia. Luna. I was relaxing with my friends, and then I get a letter from you saying I'm needed in Canterlot as soon as possible. Then I come here and what do I find?" Twilight's greeting was soaked in annoyance, the two sisters were on the verge of actually getting into a fight. She had to tread very carefully with what she said next, lest she cause more problems. "You two need to calm down-"

"I am calm." Luna spat. The alicorn huffed after saying that, the lie was obvious, and the others chose to ignore it.

"Then why, are you two at each other's throats?" 'Again' Twilight mentally added. Neither of them responded immediately, instead choosing to act like foals and play the waiting game. She was content to play that game too, if only for a while.

Luna and Celestia were locking into a staring contest, each determined to hold out the longest, as an unsaid rule, the one who would break the stare would be viewed as the weaker of the two. Seconds passed, and finally Luna spoke up without dropping her gaze.

"She extradited one of my prisoners to his homeland. He was responsible for murdering a filly." Luna's voice conveyed great anger towards her sister's judgment, while her sister simply steeled her resolve.

"He was a foreign dignitary, subject to diplomatic immunity, Luna." Celestia rebuked, "Unless you want our ambassadors to not fall under the same protection, we had to release him." Luna snorted with anger.

"He murdered a foal. She didn't even have her cutie mark yet, Celestia." Luna replied coldly.

"Diplomatic etiquette-" Celestia started to rebuke, but Luna cut her off with a spell, one which she narrowly avoided by jumping to the side, farther away from Twilight. She re-lit her horn in preparation to counterattack.

"ENOUGH!" Twilight shouted. Her voiced soaked in anger and frustration. It was enough that both alicorn sisters immediately turned to face Twilight, regardless of who won the starring contest. "You two are rulers of an ENTIRE COUNTRY. You're FAMILY." Twilight paused exasperated, "I've heard of sibling rivalry before, but this is ridiculous! Stop ACTING LIKE FOALS WHO HAVE BEEN TOLD THEY CAN'T HAVE CANDY!" Twilight paused, breathed deeply, and slowly regained her composure from her outburst. She noted that she definitely had a headache, as evidenced by the pulsing pain coming from her forehead. She'd pay for it by ignoring till later. "Why don't we try to discuss this like grown mares, and the princesses that we are?"

"Very well." Luna replied somewhat absently, still in shock at Twilight's outburst. Both Luna and Celestia trotted closer to Twilight, though they both kept their distance from each other.

"Luna, state your thoughts." Twilight commanded, leaving no room for argument.

"You already heard what caused this incident."

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but Celestia cut her off. "She wanted to launch a military incursion to recapture him."

"I am talking, Celestia." Twilight snapped, Celestia clenched her jaw. "We will get to that in a minute. What was your reasoning for releasing him?" Twilight inquired, already knowing the answer. She then braced herself for the potential argument that would come from this.

"Diplomatic relations." Celestia calmly replied.

"So then, Celestia did what she had to do to preserve peace?" Twilight began formulating a plan to end this argument, and thus solve another friendship problem.

"Yes." Celestia answered with a smile.

"Your version of peace involves letting murderers run free? In that case I would hate to see what your version of strife is..." Luna coldly spat. Celestia turned to her sister to rebuke her.

"And your version of peace involves invading other countries to recapture somepony who hasn't been proven guilty!" Celestia shouted in exasperation. "Luna, your idea of peace would be a reign of terror. Racism, isolationism, and desolation would be all you would bring." Celestia stated matter of factly.

Luna's jaw hit the floor. Even Twilight recoiled at that rebuttal. Luna regained her composure more quickly than Twilight, "YOU... INSOLENT PONY!" Luna shouted at her sister, "YOU SIT HERE HIGH UPON YOUR THRONE, NEVER ONCE CARING FOR INDIVIDUAL PONIES, INSTEAD CHOOSING TO MINGLE WITH NOBLES! ONLY EVER CONCERNING YOURSELF WITH PONIES WHO HAVE BITS, POWER, OR SOMETHING YOU WANT, YOUR SO CALLED GRAND PLAN CARES NOTHING FOR THE PONIES WHO COUNT ON YOU!"

"My grand plan, as you call it, is for peace, harmony, and friendship, for all." Celestia's voice was laced with venom. Luna ruffled her wings. Twilight's mouth was agape, and she still had not recovered from Celestia's earlier comment. She had expected Celestia to rebuke Luna not to outright insult her in such a pointed way.

"Peace, harmony, and friendship?" Luna scoffed, "You really showed friendship when I needed you most, before my fall to Nightmare Moon. Thank you, thank you OH SO MUCH FOR THAT!"

"It was your duty to lower the moon, and mine to raise the sun, to bring day so my ponies could live their lives in light-"

"Your... Ponies..." Luna laughed, one that was somewhere between insane and, are you kidding me. "We'll see about that, Celestia. We'll see."

"Twilight, you may need to go get your friends and The Elements Of-" Celestia was cut off by a firm rebuke by Luna.

"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS! I WOULD NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!" Luna shouted in the Royal Counterlot Voice. The hurt that Luna felt imbued in her words would have been strong enough to make a dragon take notice.

"Luna..." Celestia started, realizing her mistake, "I'm... Sorry."

Luna shook her head, shaking the barely withheld tears from her eyes, then steeled her resolve. "Sorry doesn't solve everything, sister." Luna softly spoke. Rage began building up in Luna's mind as she relived all the bad times between her and her sister, she clenched her eyes shut at how her sister abandoned her to her fate as Nightmare Moon. 'Never again...' Luna opened her eyes, they were filled with determination, "All the hardships we've faced... All the trials, and tribulations we've faced together... All the times you've thought less of me..." Luna spat with hatred, "I'm done." Luna lit her horn, "We will see each other again soon, Celestia. Expect my return." With that Luna teleported away.

Celestia blinked and then shook her head. The room suddenly got darker. looking up and over to a nearby window, the moon was beginning to block out the sun. Celestia grit her teeth. The moon continued on its course, and slowly the sun was returned. The message was clear.

"Twilight, we need to-"

"No." Twilight firmly answered. Celestia turned to look at her with a confused look, she opened her mouth, but Twilight shut it with her magic. "You brought this on yourself, Celestia. You were both acting like foals throwing a tantrum. You take me for granted and completely disregarded my opinions. I'm not helping you... Nor Luna... She's too emotional to rule." Twilight paused, attempting to salvage her train of thought from its sudden derailment. Sadly, there were few survivors of the crash. Twilight held Celestia's muzzle closed for a few seconds while formulating a new plan. "Neither of you are competent rulers... You sent six young mares and a baby dragon to stop Nightmare Moon... And again, you sent six young mares, not the military, to stop a slumbering dragon... Again, and again, Celestia... While I can't hate you for your choices, as they are responsible for bringing me understanding the value of friendship... You are still my friend, I just don't see you as fit to rule. You ignored our opinions." She shook her head.

"I'm sorry. Consider this a formal declaration of secession." Twilight swallowed the growing knot in her throat and forced her emotions back into check. The hurt expression on Celestia's face only helped deepen the wound Twilight felt from having to do that. Celestia had been her mentor, and despite how much frustration she had caused, she still looked up to her. At least a little bit. 'It was the right choice, Twilight.' she told herself. Twilight released her magic grip on Celestia, her jaw immediately fell agape.

"Tw... Twilight... You... You can't be serious..." Celestia couldn't fathom what was happening this instant. Her wings fell limp at her sides, the weight of the situation still not fully being realized.

The door burst open, and a guard ran in, panting. Both heads turned to see what had caused the disturbance.

"Princesses..." The guard panted, then regained his composure, "The... The moon..."

"We know." Twilight coolly answered.

"That's not all, your highness... Princess Luna was sighted teleporting to the guard barracks."

Both Twilight and Celestia's eyes shot wide open at that.

"What!?" the shouted in unison, Celestia rushed forwards, stopping beside Twilight, momentarily forgetting about what had just happened between the two.

"She's going to try to convince the guards to support her." Celestia spoke calmly. She shook her head,"They won't follow her. Regardless, we should-"

"You should." Twilight corrected.

Celestia looked away from the guard, and focused her gaze on Twilight. Her heart beat a little faster, she feared she would have no control over what happened next. She glanced to the guard. "Please leave us. Assemble my council as soon as possible."

The guard saluted, "At once, your highness." the guard quickly galloped out of the room to perform the tasks asked of him.

"Twilight, this isn't the best time for you to-"

"Princess Celestia, I assume we have a mutual grace period?" Twilight inquired while pondering all that had happened.

"Twilight... Please, don't do this... I know I messed up... But isn't that a bit extreme?" Celestia pleaded.

"Possibly, but I think I understand what Luna felt one thousand years ago a little better... You brought this on yourself. I'm not saying you're a terrible ruler, you've done a good job with Equestria... But you've made so many mistakes. I used to believe you were perfect..." Twilight looked away from Celestia and took a deep breath. After a few seconds she continued, "And Celestia, I am sorry, but I have to believe this is for the best... I believe I would be a better candidate than you for leading Equestria and with the help of my friends..." Twilight trailed off with a solemn smile.

"Twilight... Do you realize what you're doing? You must know I cannot allow you to secede from Equestria... I will be forced to fight you over this..."

"I know... I don't want that, but as a princess, I have to put Equestria before myself." Twilight looked to her hooves, "I will still consider both you and Luna my friends."

"I'd like to believe that, Twilight... But I will have to come after both you and Luna."

"You're making another mistake." Twilight stated with frustration, "We don't know what state Equestria- your Equestria will be in after today, nor do we know where loyalties of the ponies lay..." Twilight countered.

Celestia clenched her jaw. Twilight had practically scolded her, and she was right, she was making assumptions... "Twilight, I will have to come for you eventually, however."

"None of us want blood to be shed, but... You refused to consider my suggestions, and you antagonize Luna, you completely disregarded that we are supposed to be your equals." Twilight sighed, "You antagonized Luna a thousand years ago, and look what happened. This time? It's worse, you didn't just ignore us, you did not care enough to see what was happening."

Celestia felt the familiar pain of loss, a growing knot in her throat. She blinked, inhaled deeply, then exhaled. She was the ruler of Equestria, the protector of the pony races. She had thousands of years of experience to draw upon, while Luna had over a thousand less, and Twilight next to none. They wouldn't listen to reason, she would have to show them, prove to them that she was right. That didn't make it any easier. "I am doing what is best for Equestria."

Twilight found the frustration she felt earlier dying away. It was being replaced by nervousness and the crushing weight of realizing what was happening. Celestia's attempted justification almost caused her frustration to flare again. Almost. She could see the pain in her eyes as she said that. Celestia had felt loss, giving up of her own for the good of Equestria. Twilight wouldn't blame her for that, only her mistakes. Twilight sighed, "Well... We all have stuff to get to... Every moment we delay gives Luna that much more time to prepare..."

Twilight stepped forwards and embraced Princess Celestia, her former mentor, friend, and adoptive mother figure. Twilight and Celestia both hoped this was not the last time, despite how things had been going recently. They both feared it would be.

Twilight broke off the embrace and stepped back, lighting her horn.

"War changes ponies, Twilight... I've seen it before..." Celestia warned.

Twilight smiled sadly and cast her teleportation spell, teleporting to the castle courtyard. She had a lot of work to do, preparing for what was to come, she would need to build an empire from the ground up. And she was starting with next to nothing, she couldn't even be assured that Ponyville would follow her, though she knew in her heart they would. She shook her head and spread her wings, then beat them and started flying back to Ponyville.

The flight back to Ponyville seemed to last forever. It felt like all the dread in the world was riding on her back. Even the air felt wrong. Fortunately, word of what had transpired had yet to reach Ponyville, which she found unsurprising. Although there was a sense of unease prevailing the town, probably caused by the moon temporarily blocking out the sun.

But on a happy note, her headache had left her.

Upon reaching her castle, she relaxed a little, unaware up to that point how tense she had been. The castle was empty. 'Not for much longer.' She thought. "Spike! Time to make a new checklist!"

Spike sighed and quickly pulled out a blank piece of paper and quill from a nearby desk. "Ready whenever you are, Twilight."

Twilight began dictating. "Gather friends quickly to inform them about what's going on before news of the secession reaches Ponyville." Twilight paused for Spike to finish writing, "Talk to Mayor Mare about my secession. And finally." Twilight paused, and lowered her voice slightly due to nervousness, "Address the ponies of Ponyville about what has happened and my secession." Spike wrote everything down oblivious to the meaning of secession. He finished writing; handing the checklist over to Twilight. She took it in her magic. "What'd you succeed at this time, Twilight?" Spike asked happily.

Twilight coughed, she had forgotten to tell him about what was going on, she added Spike to her mental checklist for when telling her friends about what was going on. "I'll tell you when we gather the others."

"Okay then." Spike paused and followed Twilight as she set out to find her friends while formulating a plan for telling them. "So what's this about anyway?" He asked, "Does it have something to do with the moon blocking out the sun earlier?"

"Yes... It does." Twilight answered uneasily.

Finding all of her friends wasn't an easy task, she had only found Rarity and Applejack before resorting to magic to locate them, once she had it didn't take long for her to gather them and bring them back to the castle. She brought them to the map room, and they each took a seat on their respective thrones, providing a seemingly fit location for her to tell them. The crystalline chairs seemed to shine more brightly than normally when Twilight sat down, almost as if the castle knew what had happened and approved. 'Probably just my imagination.' Twilight thought.

"So why have you gathered us here, Twilight? Something about the moon blocking out the sun earlier I reckon?" Applejack inquired after they had all taken their seats, the atmosphere conveyed unease, yet had a calming touch.

"Yes, that is part of why I've gathered you all here... The full story is a bit of a long one, so I'll just start with what happened today in Canterlot..." Twilight paused and looked around, upon seeing no objections she continued, "Celestia and Luna were in another argument when I arrived... It was heated, it was probably a good thing I arrived when I did, otherwise..." Twilight trailed off, "They had a disagreement on how to deal with a criminal. Long story short, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna got into an argument, again, and all the frustration and anger that had been building for months, maybe years, came to a head. Princess Luna all but said she was seceding from Equestria..." Twilight paused at the gasps from her friends, nopony spoke up, so she continued, "Which brings us to the main reason I called you all here... After seeing what transpired, and taking into account the facts that Princess Celestia ignored my input and Princess Luna is very... Passionate... I feel neither of them are fit to lead Equestria, and as such, I have seceded from Equestria."

"You what?" Rarity dramatically fainted, lifting a hoof to her head, then falling back gently onto her throne. Suspiciously gently. Rarity was a good actor, but sometimes she could be overly dramatic. Twilight was only half sure her reaction was too dramatic.

"Oh my..." Fluttershy promptly hid in her mane.

Pinkie Pie blinked.

Applejack raised an eyebrow.

"Awesome!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she leaped into the air. Upon realizing nobody else was cheering she looked down and quickly returned to her throne and nervously chuckled, "Uh, what's that mean anyway?"

"It means she's no longer technically a Princess of Equestria, and is now an enemy of it, and that a state of war exists between her and Equestria..." Rarity dramatically answered as she straightened herself.

"Oh... Wow..." Rainbow Dash sat back in her chair to take it in.

"Woohoo! Secessionist party!" Pinkie Pie shouted as she jumped up in her throne. When she landed, she pulled out a green general's hat, decorated with a red five-pointed star on the front, and put a mustache on her muzzle, and then broke out into a smile.

"Pinkie! I'm not Josef Stallion..." Twilight raised a hoof to her head, attempting to prevent a headache from forming.

"Well of course not, silly!"

"Twilight, you sure this is a wise idea?" Applejack asked suspiciously eyebrow still rasied.

"Not completely no." Twilight paused to look at each of her friends. "But none of you have to stand by me if you don't want to. I won't force this on you." Twilight firmly stated, not wanting her friends to possibly have to pay for her mistakes.

"Are you kidding me? Of course we'll stand by you, what're friends for?" Rainbow Dash shot over to Twilight and hugged her, followed by the rest of her friends.

"With as stressed out as you have been whenever you came back from dealing with them... And hearing about them ignoring your suggestions, you honestly think we wouldn't support you darling?" Rarity smiled slyly. Twilight smiled back.

"So what's the plan, Twilight?" Applejack asked after the hug ended.

"I... Plan to have a plan." Twilight paused, "It's not like I've done this sort of thing before... Don't look at me like that, I've never tried to start my own nation before..." Twilight shifted her weight in response to having everypony looking at her.

"You'll figure it out, darling... But, do try to hurry... I don't want to have to worry about Celestia coming and taking you away with her army..." Rarity voiced her concern.

"Neither Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, nor I are in a position to begin hostilities yet... Luna immediately went to the barracks. The Night Guard is far more loyal to her than Celestia, so she probably took a decent force with her."

"And you didn't." Applejack noted.

"To be honest, the thought didn't cross my mind." Twilight paused and smiled at a realization, "Which isn't necessarily a bad thing... I'm not a threat currently, when Luna makes her opening moves, if Celestia lets her get that far, she will have to confront her... She likely won't be able to deal with us for a while, Luna was very, very upset.." Twilight nodded to herself and began formulating a contingency plan should this not be the case.

"So what's next then?" Rarity asked.

"I need to talk with Mayor Mare, and then address Ponyville... I plan on setting up my capitol here, and I'll need their support... And the support of as many ponies as I can get..." Twilight paused, checking her mental lists, "Well, I also need to talk to Mayor Mare and address the citizens of Ponyville before word of my secession arrives."

Twilight stared out across the crowd that had gathered for her announcement, the massive sea of ponies brought notice to the fact that everypony living in Ponyville had assembled for her speech. She looked over her shoulder to her right viewing her friends, they each gave her a reassuring smile, she smiled back weakly, her speech here had a lot resting on it. The speech she had prepared, with Mayor Mare's approval, of course, would be her attempt to rally Ponyville to her cause. She was beginning to feel heavy as if the weight of the world was resting on her shoulders. She closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, and slowly let it out while extending a hoof out, then reopened her eyes, feeling refreshed. She looked over at Mayor Mare, who nodded. It was time to begin.

Twilight stepped forwards to the microphone, she tapped it with a hoof, earning a high-pitched whining noise from the speakers. 'Okay, microphone's working... Check.' Twilight's eyes skimmed the crowd briefly, it was a stalling tactic and she knew it.

"Hello, everypony." Twilight opened, "I asked you all to gather here so that I may address you all with a very serious matter, involving what happened with the Sun and Moon earlier, I promise I will explain everything to the best of my abilities, all that I ask, is that you hear me out." She paused and looked over the crowd, everypony was eagerly awaiting her to continue. "Early this morning, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had an argument, the result of that argument was Princess Luna having the moon momentarily blocking out the sun, and leaving with a significant portion of the Royal Guard." She paused once more bracing herself for the next parts, "Princess Luna has seceded from Equestria. Both Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna are to blame for this, as a result of this, along with a long list of incidents over the years which bring into question both princesses judgment, I have declared my secession from Equestria." A low murmur flowed through the crowd. Twilight calmly raised a hoof, eliciting silence. "As such, I have come to ask that Ponyville as a whole to follow me, but I will not force anypony to do so if they do not feel like it. You all know me... I consider each and every one of you friends. You know I would never do this if I didn't think it was necessary." A murmur of agreement flowed through the crowd. Twilight looked over to her friends, they each stepped forwards.

"We all stand with Princess Twilight Sparkle." They stated in unison. The effect that the rest of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony supporting Twilight's secession was immediately noticeable, as any frowns in the crowd were instantly vanquished, to be replaced with smiles.

'It seems they have more faith in us as a whole than Celestia or Luna...' Twilight noted and hoped that their faith was not misplaced. She turned her head and nodded at Mayor Mare, who then trotted forwards.

"We will be holding a voting session, to vote on whether to follow Princess Twilight Sparkle in her secession or not. Nopony will be judged for how they vote. If you feel any objection to how the vote goes, you don't have to stay here if you don't want to." Mayor Mare quickly finished her part and stepped back, allowing Twilight the crowd's full attention once again.

"Thank you for hearing me out. And thank you for everything, regardless of how the vote goes, I will always consider Ponyville my home, and all of you my friends." Twilight smiled as she finished and trotted off away from the platform, followed closely by her friends, Mayor Mare would remain to oversee the voting.

Applejack trotted up to Twilight and put a reassuring hoof on her shoulder, "That was a great speech, Twilight."

"It didn't feel like it..." Twilight mumbled dejectedly.

"Are you kidding, Twilight? Didn't you see how everypony looked? You convinced them to follow you for sure!" Rainbow Dash's excitement was contagious, and Twilight quickly found her mood raised.

"Thanks..." She smiled and pulled her friends into a group hug. "I couldn't have done this without you girls helping me. Without you supporting me, I wouldn't have been able to go through with this..." She trailed off as she pulled out of the hug.

"Regardless of how it goes darling, we'll be there for you." Rarity smiled at Twilight, eliciting a nod from all of her friends, "Now... We just have to wait on the results of the vote... Don't worry, Twilight, they'll follow you for sure."

"We're national heroes several times over." Rainbow Dash leaped into the air, "Do you know how awesome that is?" She asked while waving her hooves around, almost as if it was the most obvious question in the world. "Plus I support you, which makes you all that much cooler." She smiled. "So of course you'll get their support." Rainbow's ego-stroking speech, while brash, had the desired effect and lifted the mood of the group.

"Thanks, Rainbow. I needed that." Twilight paused and held her head higher, "It's just so easy to fret about this..." sighing she shook her head, and locked the thought away to deal with later.

Chapter 3

Princess Twilight Sparkle

"Princess, Filthy Rich is here to see you." Sparkler announced as she closed the door behind her. I lowered my hoof from my chin and nodded. This would be my first audience with him, or anypony who was a citizen of my new domain for that matter, since my secession. I was somewhat nervous. Mayor Mare stood to my right, with Spike sitting in his throne to the right of mine. The rest of my friends were out and about, taking care of whatever they needed to do.

"Thank you, please send him in." Sparkler nodded and exited the throne room. I took a deep breath and exhaled, then ruffled my wings. A few seconds later and I was greeted by the sound of the door opening once again. Filthy Rich trotted in followed by Sparkler, she shut the door behind them. Filthy Rich calmly trotted up to my throne and bowed in respect.

"Princess," He rose from the bow, "To what do I owe the honor?" He spoke with a smile.

"I wanted to discuss finances and my financial plans... Mayor Mare told me you voted for secession, correct?"

"Ah, and yes, Princess. I did indeed vote for secession." He paused and rose a hoof to rub his chin, "So you wanted to discuss finances?"

"Yes." I teleported out some financial documents regarding the state of the treasury and held them in my magic, "While the treasury is doing fine for now, and income is still more than expenses... It could get expensive and I have very limited resources." I levitated the documents in front of him to view. He examined the documents for a few minutes.

"Hmm, I see." He looked down and off to the side, before looking back at me, "Judging from this, you should be fine for now... However, you're looking towards the future, aren't you, Princess?" he smiled.

"Yes, I am. I know you're a very successful businesspony, so it would be beneficial for me to have your advice in regard to economic policy."

"Ah, I see. I would be happy to help you with your economic policy. I'm sure we could work well together." He paused, "Anything else, Princess?"

"If I ended up needing a loan, would you be willing to provide one?" I hoped he would say yes, it would give me a backup financial plan. Although as a backup financial plan, it wasn't the greatest idea ever, sacrificing future financial stability for the present...

"Of course, I may not be as wealthy as some of the Canterlot nobles, but I do have a great deal of financial assets. I'm sure we could come to an agreement of sorts." He answered with a genuine, honest smile.

"Thank you. Do you have any questions for me while we're still here?"

He regarded the question for a moment, "Ah, yes. I saw you managed to acquire a few guards. Are you planning on construction of a barracks, or issuing new armor or weaponry to them?"

"As for the time being, they're staying at the castle. There's plenty of room for that. However, I'm glad you brought that up." I looked at Sparkler, "Sparkler, please look into the price of constructing a barracks, training facilities, and whatever else you can think of that we might need in the future. I would also like an estimate on how long it would take to complete construction."

She smiled, "Sure, Princess. Anything else you want me to do while I'm at it?"

I regarded her question, my eyes lit up with an idea, "Actually, yes. If you could find Rarity, I'd like to speak to her about armor designs..." I paused. "I think I'll get a quote from Rarity about what that would cost, too." I turned to look at Mayor Mare, "Can you do some land surveys and try to find an optimal area for construction? I don't want to start anything yet, it's not necessary yet, but it would be nice to be prepared." Mayor Mare nodded in acknowledgment.

"Alright, that's all. Dismissed." I stood up from my throne and teleported Spike and myself to my chambers, I needed a break before I met with Rarity. 'I should probably include Captain Light in that discussion as well.'

Princess Luna

I stared out across the vast army of ponies marching below me. It had hardly taken any time at all to reorganize the army separately from my sister's forces. Knowing my sister, she would still be reorganizing. She would plan for a long, drawn out conflict. I would have none of that however. The ponies clad in gold-plated armor were soon replaced by legions clad in dark blue armor. Replacing and issuing new armor and arms was progressing quickly, yet far slower than I had hoped. Only a small fraction of my forces had been refit so far.

The forces which had been refit were ready for action. However, it would still be a while before I could make any moves due to logistics.

I smiled and trotted back into the palace. The two guards saluted me as I reentered the building. The building in question was formerly the Town Hall, and had since been improved upon to function as my current government center. My castle was just beginning to come under construction on the outskirts of the city. The hallways were spartan in decor, the wooden paneling hid reinforced stone walls, while the floors were covered in carpet. Every so often I passed by a light, or an archway leading to another section of the building. I soon approached the room I had taken as my chambers and entered.

The room had been redecorated to suit my liking. The walls had been repainted a deep, night-blue, while the carpeting was a royal red, and the ceiling was domed, painted black with the moon at the apex. Stars had been painted all around to resemble the night sky, they even matched some of the constellations. I trotted over to the mahogany nightstand beside my bed. I looked at the helmet that sat upon it intently. The light indigo helmet resembled the one I wore as Nightmare Moon but was designed to provide protection, rather than instill fear. The sleek curves would conform to my head perfectly. The craftsmanship was superb.

I turned my attention away from the helmet as I heard a knock at the door. "Enter." I turned to see who wanted to speak with me. My captain trotted in, he was a bat pony, one of the very few in existence. It was a gift I did not hand out often. His eyes were teal, and his dragon-like slit pupils would allow him to see better at night than most ponies, without aid of magic. He was clad in night-blue armor, and his tail was dark grey.

He bowed and rose. "Princess, the rest of your armor is ready."

"Thank you, please have it brought to me." I paused, "And what of Trottingham and Stalliongrad?"

"Stalliongrad has voted to secede and follow you, Trottingham refuses to capitulate."

"I see. Send an ultimatum to the mayor of Trottingham. If they do not side with us within one week, my forces will force their surrender." I spoke firmly, showing no weakness, and no emotion.

"Yes, my Princess." he calmly answered and stepped back out into the hallway.

I turned my head back towards the helmet, one thought occupied my mind. 'Soon.'

Princess Twilight Sparkle

"Ah, there you are Twilight!" I perked up as Rarity entered the meeting room. I had spent a day selecting and converting a spare room into a meeting room and furnishing it with a long table and chairs. The room would replace the dining room as the meeting room, it would mean less clutter. Rarity sat down in the chair directly to my left, "So what is it you wanted me for? Sparkler mentioned armor designs?"

"Yeah, I was wanting to discuss re-outfitting the guards that joined me, designing a standard suit of armor and a personal suit of armor for myself... Nothing too elegant, it needs to provide function over fashion... Can you help me?"

"Hmm, metal working? Yes, I think I can provide some help with that..."

I smiled, "Thanks, Rarity."

"But." Rarity paused, "While I'm willing to design and make your armor for free, I can't outfit an entire army for free..." Rarity smiled weakly, "The price of materials alone is far more than what I could handle..." Rarity sighed.

"Yes, and on that note, can I get a quote on what a suit of standard armor would cost?" I pulled out a notepad and quill and held them in my magic to begin taking notes.

"It would depend on design, and what materials it would be constructed out of." Rarity answered.

"Well, what about a re-colored version of the Royal Guard armor?" I paused to think, 'Without the gold plating, it should cheapen the armor some...'

"I would estimate around four-hundred bits per suit of armor then." Rarity rubbed her chin with a hoof.

"What about if it wasn't plated with gold?" I was hoping that would reduce the cost quite a bit.

"That may reduce the price by a few bits, maybe twenty-five. Paint is cheap, I can substitute the gold-plating for paint if you'd like."

"Thanks, what are your thoughts on the color scheme?" Knowing Rarity, she was already drawing up plans for making the armor yet still provide fashion without compromising function.

"I think a shade of purple, one darker than your coat, would be a perfect choice. Gold edging... I can see it now!" Rarity exclaimed with glee. Her eyes lit up more, "Your cutie mark emblazoned on the chestplate..."

"That's actually a good idea, Rarity." I commented, hoping she wouldn't get carried away.

"And, now, for your armor... I'll draw up some designs for it and I'll get to work on... How many suits of armor do you need?"

"Uh, sixteen, plus my own. I'll pay you for material and labor on all of them." I started to rise from my chair, Rarity waved a hoof at me.

"Nonsense, I'll make yours free of charge." Rarity paused, "Are you ever going to use it anyway?" Rarity paused again to think, "I just... Can't imagine you on a battlefield, Twilight..."

"I'm not sure if I'll ever use it. I don't think it would be wise for me to lead an army into battle, I have no experience with that sort of thing before... But if it came down to it, having a suit of armor would give me some peace of mind..." I didn't exactly want to go into battle, but I had fought monsters before. 'They say you lead best by example... I should probably invest in some combat training for myself...'

"Of course, darling..."I exhaled in relief, glad she didn't push that line of questioning any further.

"Well, that's all I needed for now Rarity. I'll send over a guard or two to assist you with whatever you need."

"That's very kind of you, Twilight." I smiled at Rarity as she turned and left the meeting room. She closed the door softly after she left.

"Captain Light?" The captain immediately stood at attention, I raised a hoof to dismiss his stance, "I've... I've never had any formal combat training..." I ruffled my wings as I trailed off, hoping he would catch onto what went unsaid.

"I see..." He looked down and to the left ever so slightly, "Sergeant Bolt is the best unicorn we have in combat magic... I'll have him help you out with combat magic... But I would suggest having your friend Rainbow Dash help you with flight training... She's a Wonderbolt, right?"

"Yes actually." I nodded, a slight thread of worry was taking hold with the thought of having to have Rainbow training me... 'There's a chance she would want to do more than just training me... I am not letting her fight for me... None of my friends, it's too dangerous...'

"She would be a good candidate for that then. She would also probably be a good soldier..."

My glare cut him off, "I don't want any of them in danger like that." I silently grit my teeth.

"Of course, Princess. I was just bringing it up... It won't come up again unless you choose to."

"Good, please don't mention this to any of them." I stood up, he quickly jumped to attention and I trotted towards the door.

"Yes, your highness." He saluted, I nodded in return and trotted over to the door.

I lit my horn and opened the door with my magic, and paused. "I will be in my chambers if anyone needs me. Please have Sergeant Bolt start training me sometime in the next week." I trotted out the room without waiting for a reply. I channeled my magic and teleported myself into my room.

The sudden change of location, combined with the large discharge of magic, and the focus required to cast a teleportation spell could be disorientating for lesser ponies. However, I was an expert in teleportation. I could teleport left and right with next to no effort, and I had teleported so many times before that it was second nature to me, as such I didn't feel any effects of disorientation. 'I am good with teleportation... That could prove useful in the future... Mental note: find out how many unicorns can actually teleport in combat, and how many can efficiently perform it.'

I checked to make sure my door was shut, it was, so I locked it with magic. I stretched out my back, and then extended my wings to their full extent. I held them out for a few seconds, then relaxed them and let them fall to the floor. "Deep breaths Twilight." I spoke to myself out loud. I inhaled, closed my eyes, and brought my right hoof to my chest. I held the breath in for a few seconds then released it, opening my eyes and extending my hoof out to its full extent. "That's better." I rested my hoof back on the floor. "I get the feeling I'm going to be doing that a lot more... And I'll probably end up talking to myself more." I noted.

I passed my alicorn sized bed and trotted over to the door leading to the balcony, I opened the door with my magic and stepped out. Closeing the door behind me, moving over to the edge, and sat down on my haunches. The town, despite recent events, was still as peaceful as ever. I feared that would change in the months to come. I shook the thought away as I saw a rainbow blur flying across the town, heading here.

A minute or so later, Rainbow Dash landed gracefully on the balcony. "Hey Twilight." She greeted as she sat down beside me. "What're you thinking about?" she had turned her head to ask.

"Just... All this, it's... I..." I couldn't find words to express the stress I was under.

"Overwhelming, huh?" Rainbow nudged me with a hoof playfully, I smiled at her briefly.

"Yeah, you could say that." I looked down at my hooves, "I don't... I don't know if I'm ready for this..." I trailed off.

"Twilight. You'll do fine. We're here for you to help you with what you need. Mayor Mare, Sparkler, the rest of the girls, Spike, and me. You can count on us, Twilight. We won't let you down." she rested a hoof on my shoulder reassuringly.

"Hey, Rainbow." I paused to consider the best way to ask her to help me, I decided the best course of action would be to be straight forwards. "I was talking with Captain Light earlier, he suggested I talk to you about training me to fly better..." I trailed off as I saw Rainbow's eyes gleam with joy, eliciting a smile from me.

Rainbow smiled, "Sure, I'll do it." Rainbow's smile turned into a smirk, "But don't think I'll go easy just because you're the Princess."

I smirked back at her, "I wouldn't dream of it." I paused before quickly adding "So long as it doesn't kill me, that is." Rainbow snickered at that.

"I'll keep it a challenge, but not unreachable. When we're done, I expect you to be able to beat me in a race."

My smile quickly faded, and my face suddenly felt cooler. The floor suddenly looked quite inviting.

"Okay! You don't have to beat me in a race!" Rainbow Dash quickly added and caught me as I started to topple over. I quickly regained my composure.

"Thanks..." I teleported my schedule to me and looked over the next weeks, I would need to set aside time for training. I teleported a quill and inkwell to me and thought for a moment. I hovered the quill over my schedule and began writing, "Ugh, that was my last quill." I shouted in frustration as it broke.

"Been using a lot of quills?" Rainbow asked.

"You have no idea... I'll have to have Spike pick up some more... What am I going to do now..." I dropped my wings to the floor in exasperation.

"It's not really that big of a deal."

"Yeah, I suppose your right..." I sighed and teleported the schedule, inkwell, and broken quill away. "So when do you want to start?"

"We can start right now if you want to." Rainbow shot up and extended her wings. I considered her offer for a moment, then stood up.

"Okay, but let me tell the captain what I'll be doing." I opened the door and trotted back into my room, I proceeded to unlock the other door with my magic, and open it as I trotted over to it.

"So I'll just wait here?" I turned to see Rainbow still waiting on the balcony.

"You can wait in my room, I don't mind." I answered as I stepped out of the room.

"Oh, cool." I heard her say before I closed the door.

Princess Celestia

The door to the throne room flew open, I immediately looked up from the supply form I was reviewing. I put the form aside with my magic and gave the earth pony guard my full attention. He paused before me and bowed, I nodded at him.

"Princess Celestia, Stalliongrad has voted to secede and has joined Princess Luna."

I clenched my jaw and let out a frustrated groan under my breath. I shook my head in disbelief. "What other news do you bring?" I firmly asked.

"The mayor of Trottingham has been given an ultimatum by Princess Luna, to join her within a week or she would force them to surrender." He paused, "And a few royal guards have been also spotted around Ponyville."

"I see." I answered coolly. I tilted my head to the side absent-mindedly to think. "I will have to bring this up with the council when we meet tomorrow..."

"It doesn't warrant immediate attention?" The guard inquired.

"No. Not yet anyway." I dismissed him with a wave of my hoof. 'What is your plan, Luna...'

Princess Twilight Sparkle

"You ready to go, egghead?" Rainbow Dash asked as I trotted back into the room. I rolled my eyes at her.

"I'm all yours for the rest of the day." She smiled at that. A little too much... I found myself concerned as she trotted out to the balcony and motioned me to follow her with a hoof. I quickly trotted out onto the balcony. As soon as I set hoof out the glass double doors she jumped into the air.

"Ready. Set. Go!" She said, and before I had time to react she had taken off into the sky.

"Wait-" I shouted too late. "Ugh." I started flapping my wings and I took to the skies, attempting to catch up with her.

Fortunately, she had stopped, allowing me to catch up to her, though it still took me half a minute to catch up to her. "Why did you do that?"

"I'm supposed to be training you, right?" Rainbow asked as she swam gracefully through the air.

"Yes..." I huffed. Rainbow Dash flew above me and looked at me upside down. I blinked.

"Try to keep up." Rainbow smirked and shot off, I followed her a second later.

I beat my wings hard, putting more force into them as I tried to close the distance between us, she looked back at me and then made a sharp right turn, I adjusted my course to follow her. Slowly but surely I managed to catch up and fly beside her, she smirked at me and instantly went into a nose dive, I folded my wings in and pointed my head downwards, gravity took over and started accelerating me downwards.

Seconds passed, we both continued to accelerate, clouds flew by at an ever increasing rate. Rainbow spread her wings, quickly bleeding her momentum. I spread my wings slightly, angling them to catch enough wind to redirect me towards Rainbow. She was fast approaching, I realized I had miscalculated and would have crashed into her had she not maneuvered out of the way. I quickly spread my wings, catching the wind and slowing down. I flapped my wings once I had slowed down enough to not injure myself.

A hoof tapped my back, I spun around to see Rainbow looking at me with disappointment, "You made so many mistakes with that, it's not even funny, Twilight."

"That's why we're doing this." I reminded her.

"Right." She paused, "Shall we try air tag then?"

"Air tag? Isn't that a game for pegasi foals?" I skeptically asked.

"Hey, it works. It'll help you to learn how to intercept others flying around. They had us do that at the academy."

I shook my head dejectedly, "Alright then, you're the Wonderbolt here, not me."

Rainbow smiled at that, "Exactly, I'll give you a twenty-second head start."

"Only twen-"

"One."

I took off, beating my wings as hard as I could to put some distance between us, even if she was faster than me, it would give me more time to formulate a plan. I looked around, there were clouds everywhere, no doubt hiding would be a bad idea though. I caught sight of Rainbow, who was patiently sitting on a cloud. I shook my head and looked around again, I took off towards my right. I kept my an eye on Rainbow, and sped up when she took off.

Rainbow Dash quickly flew towards me, I dived down right before she managed to contact me with a hoof, I looked back to see her diving towards me, I extended my front hooves out in front of me fully and tucked my wings in, making myself more aerodynamic. I quickly started picking up speed, a few seconds later, Rainbow Dash was right beside me, smirking. I threw open both my wings, catching her in surprise. I watched her fall down another hundred feet in a second, then she realized what I had done and spread her wings coming towards me with renewed vigor.

I flapped my wings hard and shot off away from Rainbow, I looked back to see her streak passed me, I stopped just in time to prevent myself from crashing into her. Our noses were only a few inches apart, I blinked. She smirked and tapped my nose, I felt my muzzle scrunch up, and I pulled back slightly.

"Why did you stop?" Rainbow asked with a frown.

"I wasn't expecting that." I truthfully answered. Rainbow Dash lightly hit her head with a hoof. "What?"

"Twilight, if I was an enemy, you would have just lost. You'd either be injured or worse." I gulped at what was implied by the 'or worse'.

I regained my composure, "If you were my enemy, I would have used my magic against you." I smirked, knowing she had no counter for this.

"What if you were too drained to use magic?" I lost my smirk, she had a point.

I sighed, "So now I have to catch you?"

"Yep."

"Not going to go easy on me?" I asked dejectedly.

"Nope."

I sighed, "Ready whenever you are." Rainbow smiled and shot off far faster than what I was capable of flying. 'Here we go again...'

Some time later I landed on my balcony, and my wings immediately fell limp, I let my head fall low. A gust of wind told me Rainbow had landed on the balcony too. "I didn't even know feathers could feel pain."

Rainbow laughed at that, "You did... Okay, in the end... You need to improve quite a bit, but if we keep this up you'll be able to keep up with me when I'm not trying in a few weeks."

I laughed like a maniac at that, and slowly died off to a weak moan. "If I don't sleep good tonight, I'll tie my wings up and jump from the top of the castle." I deadpanned.

"You're... Joking, right Twilight?" Rainbow asked with concern. I didn't reply.

"It's late, I'm going to bed. See you tomorrow then I guess?" I opened the door with my magic and slowly trotted in, I held it open waiting for her response.

"Yeah."

I watched her fly off, I could tell she was tired too. I shook my head and closed the door. 'She's trying to kill me.'

I trotted over to my bed and laid down, the next thing I knew I was outside, in the forest. It was night, the moon was directly overhead. The sky... It was wrong, there were no stars, just blackness. I blinked in confusion, the scene immediately changed, I was standing on my balcony, looking out across Ponyville. It was like a scene from the apocalypse, there was fire everywhere... The sky was filled with smoke, blocking out the sun...

I turned around, Captain Light stood in the doorway, his armor was smeared with blood. He saluted me. I stepped back, my hoof fell into a puddle of something warm. I turned around to look and it was a pool of red. I jumped back and tripped on something soft. I hit my muzzle on the floor, I lifted a hoof and rubbed the pain away. I looked to see what I had tripped on.

My mouth fell open, 'Fluttershy...' I stared in horror at the sight before me, the kind, timid pegasus lie before me, broken and battered. Her wings were limp at her side, and her fur was matted and covered with blood.I closed my eyes as hard as I could, willing the images away. I reluctantly opened my eyes again after a few seconds, I was in the Canterlot throne room, my hooves were chained together. I tried to speak, but my muzzle was clamped shut, I tried to move my wings, but they were tied to my body.

I looked around the room, there were guards everywhere, each wielding a spear. I looked towards the throne, Princess Celestia sat atop it, she glared at me, I shrunk back under her gaze. She smiled at that, then seemed to think for a moment.

Princess Celestia stood up, and trotted down from her throne, two guards followed her, one on each side. They trotted to within a few hooves of me. Again, I tried to say something, but my muzzle was still held shut.

Princess Celestia looked to the guard at her right, he held out his spear for her, and she took it in her magic. Princess Celestia looked me right in the eye, I gulped.

"Twilight Sparkle. For the crimes of murder and treason against the ponies of Equestria and myself. I hereby sentence you to death." She forced the spear at me, I felt a sharp pain, and my eyes started watering as the spear pierced my neck.

I shot up in bed, breathing heavily, and sweating. The room was cool and dark. I lit my horn so I could see, I was alone. I breathed a sigh of relief. I sat up in bed for a few minutes while my breathing returned to normal, all the while reliving the nightmare. I shuddered as the images ran through my mind again. I laid back down and clenched the covers tightly in my hooves as I pulled them back over me.

It was a long night.

Chapter 4

Princess Twilight Sparkle

I smiled as the beam of magic lurched forth from my horn and impacted the large boulder, sundering it completely. The dust cloud that exploded forth from the remains of the rock were a testament to the sheer amount of magic put into my attack. The dust slowly blew away in the wind, revealing what remained of the rock, which had been split into two large pieces. I inhaled deeply and exhaled.

I never knew how much relief you could get from stress by just destroying something.

"Your technique is lacking, Princess." Sergeant Bolt spoke with no sense of hesitancy. My smile faltered.

I turned to look at him, his golden armor shone brightly in the light of day, "What am I doing wrong?" I shifted my weight on my hooves.

"Your combat magic is average at best, while you have power, you lack form, control, and experience."

'No duh, I try to make it a habit of not getting into fights.' I thought, "What would I do to improve then?"

"For one, non-living bodies have a high resistance to that particular spell, but if you used that spell to the same effect on a living creature..." I shuddered at that thought. "You can more effectively use the magic in that attack. You could have thrown the rock up, and it would have shattered upon impact, you could have teleported part of it away..."

I shuddered again at that mental picture, ponies suddenly finding themselves with missing organs... It started to bring back images from the nightmares I've been having for the past few days. "Surely there are less..." I trailed off to think of a good word to use, "Violent... Ways to do this..."

"In battle, it's good to have a lot of knowledge at your disposal... It helps to keep your options open. But yes, you could overcharge stun spells with the same amount of magic as that and bring down an Ursa Minor. And if you can wield dark magic, you could sap or nullify a pony's life force." He shook his head, "But still, there are some spells that just should not be used... It's not right. Nopony would use them or teach you to use them. You'd have to learn them from a book."

"I've read some of those books already..." I shook my head, "Let's not go there."

"Agreed." he quickly answered.

"So, overcharging stun spells and nullifying the life energy of a pony, and what else should I keep in my arsenal?"

"Kinetic spells work great too, a well-placed force wave can stun your opponents, or scatter enemy ranks." He then pointed his horn towards a group of smaller rocks that had been placed around resembling an army formation. He charged his horn and shot out a force wave, the rocks closest to him cracked and crumbled some, the rocks farther away fared better. He panted slightly after that, "You try."

"Okay." I lit my horn and lowered my head, locking my eyes on the legion of rocks before me. I charged my spell and released it. The amount of magic put into it caused a visible distortion of the air as it shot towards the formation, the rocks hit by it shattered into millions of small shards and were carried off with the force wave. I turned towards him, he nodded in approval.

"As an alicorn, you have massive magic reserves, along with the magic of all three pony races. You can be a force to reckon with on the battlefield, even if you're not trained but If you are well trained and prepared, you could take on small armies alone."

I nodded, "I'm not ready, though." I lowered my head slightly.

"Indeed." He curtly responded.

"Where were you going with that anyway?"

He smiled, "You have more magic than any unicorn as an alicorn. You possess the flight abilities of a pegasus, and you possess the strength of an earth pony." He paused to make a point, "Plus, alicorns are much more resilient than normal ponies, and they heal faster. You could easily take on several ponies in hoof to hoof combat, if properly trained, otherwise, while you would have the advantage in terms of strength, they would have numbers and training." He pointed a hoof towards a rock to my left, "Why don't you try to crack that with a hoof?" He asked with a smile.

I gulped, "Alright, I'll try..." I trotted over to the rock and looked at it, it was a jagged, half oval-shaped boulder, not quite as large as a filly or colt when they would get their cutie mark. I raised my right front hoof and paused, contemplating how much this would hurt. I closed my eyes and threw my hoof forwards. It hurt. A lot. I winced in pain and opened my eyes. Soon, my mouth fell open I had managed to crack the rock, and my hoof wasn't damaged. I turned to look him in the eye, "That hurt."

"I imagine it would. I've never personally tried." He smirked, "Let's move on to defense and maneuverability spells now, we can go over combat spells in more detail in another lesson."

I nodded, "Okay." I felt the wind shift, my mane blew to the other side of my neck. I smiled as I deeply inhaled the fresh spring air.

"Stay focused, Princess. If you were in a battle, that could have cost you your life." The smile left my face. "I know your brother's barrier spell is stronger than Princess Celestia's, how does your compare?"

"I can't protect entire towns if that's what you're asking... When I fought Tirek, and had the power of all four alicorns, my barrier was able to block his attack. That was when he had all the magic in Equestria other than the alicorn magic, but I'm still quite the expert on them." I answered calmly.

"Impressive. Sadly, you don't have that power now." He sighed and paused, appearing to contemplate a question, "Perhaps it's not my place to ask, but how does your magic compare to the other princesses?"

I winced at that question, "I can't match either of them in terms of sheer power, not yet anyway... Maybe in a few years, but I doubt we have that kind of time." I sighed.

"Most likely we don't." He answered firmly. "So we really are at a disadvantage then." He somehow managed to maintain a stoic expression, it even held in his voice, but how he said it sounded disheartened to me.

"We're outnumbered, outmatched, and outclassed. You don't have to help me if you don't feel like it." I smiled solemnly.

"N-No, Princess. I believe in you, I will fight for you, and if need be, die for you."

My eyes looked over his face. It was a face of determination, one which you would wear in the face of overwhelming odds. One you would wear when fighting a losing battle, but refused to give up. I smiled, "Thank you, but I hope it doesn't come to that..." I shook my head.

"Princess... This is war, ponies will die. You know and understand this, right? If you don't, it could be very bad for everypony."

"Knowing, and realizing are two different things... I know ponies will die, despite my best efforts. Ponies will die on all sides, I can't change that, but I can try to minimize casualties... I do realize, however, that this won't be real for me until I've been there..." I exhaled, "Is there anything I can do to prepare myself for this any more?"

"Nothing ever truly prepares you for the horrors of war, Princess." He paused and trotted over to me. "But we all have faith in you. I can speak for the rest of my group, captain included, when I say we fully believe in you. The potential is there, just untapped."

I smiled, "Thank... Thank you, Sergeant." I levitated two glasses of water over to us. I offered him a glass and he gladly accepted. I took a long drink of water, letting the fluid fill my mouth, and then swallowed. I felt the cool liquid run down my throat, soothing my thirst.

We both sat down on our haunches and rested in silence for a few minutes, I replayed the day's lessons over in my mind.

Sergeant Bolt stood up, "Shall we get back to it?" I smiled as I rose to my hooves. "Good. So you're good at barriers... What about teleportation?"

"It's practically second nature to me."

"It's a lot harder to do in the chaos of battle than it is in a one on one match." He answered a question I had not asked. He paused and frowned, "Don't you have a meeting with... Rarity today?"

My eyes widened in the realization that Rarity had wanted to see me today about a fitting for my armor. "Oh shoot. I'm sorry, I have to go..." I started to take off, jumping into the air then I paused, "Uh... Go... Um... Do whatever you needed to do after this," I started flying away, "We'll do this again sometime soon, I'll have to check my schedule!" I yelled as I increased my altitude and started flying towards the outskirts of Ponyville. The flight would only take me a few minutes, but Rarity would not be happy. 'Maybe I could tell her I was being... Fashionably late?'

Princess Cadance

The crystal door burst open, I looked up from the form I was going over. I levitated it aside as the crystal guard came running up to me and quickly bowed, I noticed he was panting, and grew worried. "What's wrong?" I asked in a gravely quiet voice.

"Your highness, I am afraid I am the bearer of bad news from Equestria." He paused and pulled a letter from out of his armor, and handed it to me.

I took the letter in my magic, it was sealed with the Princess Celestia's emblem. I unsealed it and began to read, "Princess Cadance, I am sorry I have not been able to inform you sooner, or that I have to keep this letter short, but recent events have me preoccupied. As I'm writing this, I find myself wondering if you have heard anything of what has transpired in Equestria in the past week. I am afraid I don't have good news to bring you, I would ask you to get Shining Armor for this, but knowing you, he's already there." I smiled and looked over at my husband, he smiled and I started to read again, "I had another argument with my sister a few days ago, it would have ended in an exchange of spells..." I trailed off with a grim expression starting to take hold of my face, I swallowed and continued reading, "...if Twilight had not intervened. Sadly, however, I chose my words poorly, causing my sister grief." I frowned, "She left with half the Royal Guard-"

"What?" Shining Armor interjected as he jumped to his feet, "Cadance, this has to be some kind of joke."

"Princess Celestia wouldn't joke about something like this, Shiny..." I swallowed back the growing fear of where this was leading.

He sighed, "I... I guess you're right. But that can't be the whole story..." he looked off with determination plastered on his muzzle.

I looked back to the letter and searched for where I had left off, "She left with half the Royal Guard and caused a brief eclipse. She is preparing for war against me." I shook my head, as if the gesture would make it not real, "Twilight declared her secession shortly-"

"Wait, what?" Shining Armor shouted once more as he took the letter from my magical grasp. His face had changed from determination to pure concern for the well being of his younger sister, I had a growing knot of worry in my stomach over this. I was glad he took the letter, I didn't know if I could finish reading it. "Why would she do that..." Shining asked nobody in particular as his eyes skimmed over the letter. His expression slowly shifted between concern, pain, and pride. "She's set up her own kingdom in Ponyville... Even if she shouldn't have done that, I'm proud she has kept it running smoothly..." his expression shifted into anger, "She should have told us."

I was at a loss for words.

Princess Twilight Sparkle

The bell to Carousel Boutique dinged as I calmly opened the door. I had waited for two minutes just outside to calm down and prepare an apology. I closed the door behind me as I trotted in.

"Ah, there you are, Twilight. I see you're being fashionably late, I'm glad you're taking my advice." Rarity chirped at my presence.

I hadn't processed what she had said yet, "Sorry I'm late Rarity, I- wait what?" I stuttered as my mind processed what she said.

"Oh, nonsense, Twilight. It's quite alright." Rarity trotted over to me, "Please follow me."

I obliged her and followed her across the room. I soon found myself facing a tall, light pink curtain. I blinked. "I don-" I stopped as Rarity pulled the curtains back with her magic.

"Well, what do you think?" Rarity asked as she levitated the mannequin adorned with armor over to me. She sat it down right in front of me.

My eyes began analyzing the mannequin, it was taller than a normal pony, and appeared to match my height. I soon found my eyes being drawn to the deep purple armor it was adorned with. The metal was tinted a deep purple color, with golden edging. The sleek edges gracefully flowed into the body of the armor. In the chestplate, sat a beautiful pink gem, it was star shaped, resembling my cutie mark. I could tell from just how it looked that it must have cost a small fortune. My eyes soon fell upon the helmet, it was elegant, yet simple in design. The curved edges seemed to flow like a river, while still managing to cover most of my face and muzzle. I frowned when I thought about how one weak point in the armor was the lack of frontal neck protection. The helmet had a hole in the top for my horn, and holes for my ears. I smiled.

I trotted to the side of the armor, noting the holes in the side for my wings to go through. The metal for the body of the armor somehow managed to look like it was one single piece, which surprised me. The armor was adorned with my cutie mark on it where it would be protecting my flanks. I smiled, "It's beautiful, Rarity..."

"Oh, it's just something I managed to bring together on short notice, it's nothing too fancy..." Rarity shied away from my praise. I shook my head. "I used the measurements you provided me, but I would like to make sure the armor fits properly. I should be able to adjust it easily enough."

I nodded as Rarity levitated the armor off the mannequin and onto me, starting with the helmet. The sensation of putting the armor on sent miniscule shivers down my spine. The helmet felt cold and strong. It was heavy but didn't weigh me down thanks to my alicorn status. She levitated the body armor onto me next, I slid my wings through the holes for my wings and noted the weight. Rarity next put the chestplate on me, fastening it to the body armor with her magic. The leggings came next.

"How does it feel, darling?" Rarity asked while her eyes darted around.

"It's perfect, just a little heavy is all." The weight would take me some time to get used to.

"Ah... Sorry about that." Rarity apologized, "It's not too heavy right?"

"No, it'll just take some getting used to." I admitted. I lifted my bare hoof up and touched the gem set in my armor, "Rarity, how much did this gem cost?" I trailed off, analyzing the gem more closely, it looked familiar somehow.

"Nothing I made a replica of the element of magic. Spike helped me find the right kind of gem, and I molded it to the dimensions I had written down about the gem itself."

"Huh... That explains why it looks familiar." I paused, "So it's the same dimensions as the Element of Harmony?" I inquired. 'That's interesting...'

"Yes, why?" Rarity answered with curiosity.

"Just wondering." I answered. I looked at the clock, "Well I should probably get out of your mane..." I paused, "You can take a receipt for how much it cost you for materials for this and take it to the treasury, I'll have them repay you for it."

"You don't have to repay me, Twilight..."

"I insist." I put my hoof down in a finalizing manor. The metal shoe protecting my hoof made a clanging sound as it impacted the floor.

Rarity sighed, "Thank you, Twilight. It's very generous of you." I smiled.

I lit my horn to teleport back to the castle but decided against it. 'Trotting would help me get used to the weight.' I nodded to myself, "Thanks again for the armor, Rarity," I opened the door with my magic, "You really outdid yourself." Rarity smiled and waved as I trotted out the door, I returned the wave.

I started trotting back towards the castle, thankful that I had an earth pony's strength. "Twilight? Is that you?" I stopped as I recognize the voice, I turned around and smiled at Applejack who was staring mouth agape at me.

"Oh, hi Applejack. I didn't expect to run into you in town today." I trotted closer to her. She had yet to respond. "Applejack? Are you okay?"

Applejack shook her head, "Yeah, I'm fine. I just... Wow. Rarity outdid herself this time." Applejack paused, "The armor looks good on you."

I felt a small amount of heat rising in my cheeks, "Thanks, Applejack." I paused, "Is there something you needed?"

"Uh, yeah. I was looking for you, I wanted to tell you that I'm going to head over to Appleoosa. I'm gonna try to convince them to follow you."

I paused mid-stride. I had mixed feelings about this. "That... That could be dangerous, Applejack. You know you don't have to do that right?" I asked with concern for the safety of my friend.

"Oh don't you worry about me, Twilight. I have family there, once they know I support you the town's sure to follow." Applejack gave me a reassuring smile.

"Be careful, Applejack. I'll tell the rest of the girls when I see them." I solemnly smiled.

"Thanks, Twilight." Applejack nodded and started trotting off towards the train station.

The rest of the trotted back to my castle was uneventful. When I arrived back at my castle, the guards greeted me with a salute and opened the door for me. I nodded my thanks to them as I trotted inside.

"Wow... Twilight, you look awesome." Rainbow Dash's eyes widened as she saw me wearing my armor.

My wings still hadn't recovered from the last session with Rainbow, and with the added weight... I was feeling it. I landed on the cloud beside Rainbow, "Thanks. So what're we doing today?"

Rainbow smiled devilishly, my smile fled at the sight in horror of what she would put me through today. "Change of plans, for today..." Rainbow looked around like she was searching for something, "FLUTTERSHY? WHERE ARE YOU?" Rainbow suddenly shouted. I nearly fell off the cloud in shock, and my wings flared out in surprise.

I heard an 'eep' and saw something yellow fall off a nearby cloud. Rainbow quickly shot over and caught the startled pegasus. "Sorry, Fluttershy..." Rainbow sat Fluttershy down on the cloud next to me, "So here's the plan. Twilight, you have to protect Fluttershy from me. Fluttershy will be flying all across town, and I will be trying to stop her. Rules are simple: no magic."

I huffed at that, Rainbow rolled her eyes. "So I just need to keep you away from Fluttershy then?" I asked.

Rainbow smiled, "Yep. Simple, right?"

"If you say so..." I mumbled.

"What's that?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing!" I quickly replied.

"Right... I'll give you two a thirty-second head start..." Rainbow stretched out her wings, eliciting Fluttershy to start flying off. I took off following Fluttershy.

"So what's the catch about this anyway? It can't be as simple as keeping her away from you."

"Oh, um... It really is that simple, just... I'm not that good of a flyer." Fluttershy softly spoke.

I chose not to respond to that, and instead keep my eye out for Rainbow Dash. A few moments later I caught a rainbow blur coming from my left, I turned my head to get a better look. I smiled as I banked into a dive towards her. Rainbow rolled out of my way when I approached her, I flapped my wings hard to slow myself down, the added weight caused my momentum to be higher.

I looked back up to see Rainbow Dash smirking at me from beside Fluttershy. I flapped my wings harder and flew back up to them.

"You need to work on that more."

"The added weight of the armor... And you're not even listening to me are you?" I frowned.

"Huh?" Rainbow asked.

I decisively raised my hoof to my forehead. "Again?"

"Again."

I sighed, Fluttershy started off again, I trailed behind her slightly. Half a minute later I was surprised when I was hit by something and started to lose control. A quick glance behind me confirmed Rainbow had directly engaged me this time. I pulled up and matched her attitude. She shot off towards me, I flew to the left, but she still intercepted me. She held onto me, I struggled to get free, she only smirked as I was unable to free myself.

Rainbow flapped her wings hard and started flying straight up. It gave me a sinking feeling. Once we were several hundred hooves above our previous altitude, she arched her back and started flying straight down. Gravity aided our acceleration and she soon let go of me and zoomed towards Fluttershy. I stopped flapping my wings and just held them out, catching air, and slowing my descent into a glide.

I flapped them fast and hard in order to catch up to Rainbow before she intercepted Fluttershy, it took a lot of effort, but I managed to grab hold of her. She hadn't been paying attention, the shocked expression on her face gave that away. I smiled, but then she threw me off and shot off towards Fluttershy even faster. I spun in the air for a few seconds before correcting myself and then started flying towards the pair. My wings were starting to hurt from the maneuvering and added weight of my armor.

"You're gonna have to try harder if you want to beat me." Rainbow smiled smugly.

I shook my head, "I'm getting tired, and my wings are sore."

Rainbow sighed, "You need to keep pushing yourself harder. The harder you push yourself, the quicker you'll get better."

"If I don't injure myself." I added. Even hovering was hurting now. I looked around for a cloud and landed on the first one I saw.

"Alright, fine. Go do whatever it is you do in the evenings then." Rainbow took off.

"Thanks for being here, Fluttershy."

"No problem, Twilight."

I lit my horn and teleported myself to the ground to begin trotting back to my castle.

Chapter 5

Princess Celestia

I looked out across the vast legion of troops assembled before me. The sea of white ponies glad in gold plated armor composed all that remained of the Royal Guard loyal to me. I strode along the street, looking over and analyzing the vast army before me. General Hoof, General Breaker, and General Maneuver followed me slightly behind me.

It was a sight to behold. I felt a smile pulling at my lower lip, but I held it in check. War is not a happy matter. I stopped, the others followed suit. I turned to face General Hoof, the large earth pony was wearing his battle armor, as were the others. "General Hoof," I spoke, "Give me the troop status report."

"Yes, Princess." He saluted and cleared his throat. "We have a force of approximately sixty-thousand combat ready guards. The reserve contains another forty-thousand, bringing us to a total of approximately one hundred thousand available forces. We have successfully reorganized the Royal Guard into five armies, each consisting of twelve thousand guards, and eight thousand reservists." He paused, "The bulk of our forces are unicorns, well trained and versed in battle magic."

Director Tap stepped forwards to begin his report, "Princess Luna took most of our earth pony guards and pegasi. We believe her forces to total somewhere around eighty-two thousand, however, her forces notable include many of the more seasoned veterans. Princess Twilight Sparkle's forces number in only a handful of guards currently, and she does not currently possess a means of obtaining a force capable of matching us."

"What of her infrastructure?" I inquired.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle currently seems to be gathering information she will need to raise an army, along with supporting and training it." The director answered.

"She's not attempting to raise an army or construct anything yet?"

"No, Princess. She seems to be preparing to prepare for battle."

'That sounds like Twilight.' I noted. "Status on Equestria's transport system and allegiance of the cities?"

"We've not imposed a curfew or stopped the trains as per your command Princess. Canterlot, Baltimare, Manehatton, and Fillydelphia have pledged allegiance to you, while the rest have yet to declare allegiance, with the exception of Ponyville, Vanhoover, and Stalliongrad." He stepped forwards slightly, "Trottingham refuses to meet Princess Luna's ultimatum, and has requested military support from us. What shall we do about this?"

I thought for a moment, "What is the status of Princess Luna's army?"

"They have a sizable force ready at the moment, Princess. They have yet to move out from Vanhoover, however."

I mulled over his words before answering, "Ready my armor, I shall go to Trottingham's defense. General Hoof, General Maneuver, you will prepare your forces to aid in the defense of Trottingham. General Breaker, you will maintain a standing army in Canterlot to repel any invasion. Director Tap, deploy your forces throughout Baltimare, Manehatton, and Fillydelphia. The ponies need to know we will protect them." They each saluted after they had been given their orders, "Dismissed."

I lit my horn and teleported back into my chambers to steel myself for the coming conflict. I found myself hoping this would end without bloodshed, but I knew it would not.

Princess Luna

I looked over the hastily written letter once again, making sure I hadn't missed anything. I scowled at its contents, Trottingham had sent a request for aid to Canterlot. My spies had just informed me that my sister was mobilizing her army to hold Trottingham. I crumpled the letter up in my magic and burnt it until not even ashes remained. I stood up and threw my hoof down with great force, cracking the stone floor. I grimaced at the display of anger and quickly repaired the damage I had done with magic. "Captain." I spoke coldly.

The captain immediately jumped to my command, awaiting my orders. "Yes, my Princess?"

"Take a team of unicorns and sabotage the train tracks in multiple places between Trottingham and Canterlot. I don't want it to be able to be repaired anytime soon."

"Y-yes, my Princess."

He turned to trotted off, "And while you're at it, have the Third Division deployed to Trottingham. They refused to surrender and my sister is going there.

He bowed, "Yes, my Princess. Would you like anything else while I'm at it?"

"No, that is all." I dismissed him with a nod. He uneasily trotted off to perform what I asked of him. He would not fail in his task. I snorted in frustration and teleported to my chambers.

I looked around my new location and trotted over to the armor stand bearing my new suit of armor. I felt a smile pull at my lips. I levitated my regalia and crown off and set them gently down upon the desk beside my bed, then I levitated the helmet off the stand. I held it in front of my face for a moment, then put it on my head. The weight wasn't noticeable. I smiled as I felt the coolness of the helmet against my fur. I soon found myself wearing the full set of armor, the indigo-painted steel would protect most of my body. However, I had chosen to leave my legs unprotected.

I trotted over in front of the mirror standing beside the armor stand. If I didn't look formidable before, I did now. My mind soon wandered onto thoughts about my friend Princess Twilight Sparkle. I grimaced slightly, 'At least she didn't side with Celestia.' I growled at my sister's name.

I had heard of her secession, however, I had not heard anything from her regarding if she would help me or not, so I assumed she would not. I shook my head, 'She will side with me one way or another.'

I strode over to the door. I opened it with my magic and trotted out, clad in my armor. The guards all saluted as I trotted by towards my destination. A few minutes later I found myself back in the throne room, contemplating where to begin...

Applejack

I felt the train beginning to slow down and the Appleoosa train station soon filled the window. The wooden platform and office, while plain, did their job. I stood up from my seat and slowly made my way to the exit. As I stepped off the train the sun beat down on my fur, I reminisced momentarily on my first visit to Appleoosa, with my friends. While I had been to Appleoosa many times before, the times when I was here with friends or my sister stood out the most. I smiled.

I trotted around for a moment, scanning the platform for anypony I would recognize, I was looking for two in particular. The sheriff, and my cousin, Braeburn. The sheriff more or less ran the town, while Braeburn held a great deal of sway in its affairs. I just needed to find and convince those two to follow Twilight and the rest of the town likely would do so as well.

After searching for a few minutes I shrugged and trotted off towards the sheriff's office. A few minutes later I could see a growing crowd in front of the sheriff's office, I hastened my approach and quickly joined the crowd to see what was happening. Braeburn and the sheriff were standing on an elevated platform, the sheriff was standing at the head of the platform, his eyes glanced around the crowd, he was obviously not intimidated by it.

I made my way to the front of the crowd and then stepped forwards, "What's going on here?"

"Applejack? Hey cousin! It's been a while, welcome back to Appleoosa!" Braeburn ran down to greet me.

"Hmm. Applejack what brings you out to these parts from The Kingdom of Twilight?" the sheriff inquired.

"I actually came to see if I could convince yall to join it." I spoke, the crowd was filled with hushed murmurs briefly, but the sheriff raised his hoof, eliciting silence.

"Nopony in Canterlot really seems to care about these parts. I can't say that I've ever seen any of them nobles taking interest in our affairs, or helping us. While Princess Twilight and the rest of your friends have. You have my support." The sheriff spoke firmly.

"And mine. Family sticks together, cousin." Braeburn answered with a smile.

"But it may take some convincing for the rest of the town to decide to secede from Equestria. I reckon you shouldn't have a problem with that, however. In fact, I imagine not a pony here would vote no if Princess Twilight showed up in pony." The sheriff added.

"Well, she's awful busy now, but I'm sure she'd be willing to make the trip out here to get your support..." I rubbed the back of my head and laughed awkwardly, "But uh... The train ride takes a while... Is there a way I can just send her a message or something?"

"We can have it delivered by pegasus in a matter of hours." A light grey, yellow maned pegasus spoke up with a soft voice.

I nodded, "Do you have a letter and pencil?" I gladly accepted the letter and pencil offered to me and begin writing a letter, then handed it to the pegasus. I squinted my eyes at her, she looked familiar, but I just couldn't place it. I shook it off, 'Probably just the fact she's wearing a stetson.'

The pegasus took wing and quickly flew off towards Ponyville. "It could be tonight or tomorrow before we hear back from her, it could be a day or two before Princess Twilight shows up. You can stay at my place if you need, cousin." Braeburn offered.

I nodded my thanks, accepting the generous offer. "While I'm here, is there anything you need help with?" I offered in return since he would let me stay at his place, it would only be fair if I helped him with something in return.

"Yeah, I could use some help putting in a new fence..."

Princess Twilight Sparkle

"So what are your recommendations then, Mayor Mare?" I asked while I surveyed the plain before me. The gently sloping plain was currently unoccupied, being owned by the town, and thus me. The plain would be a perfect area for quickly constructing various buildings necessary to provide for an army.

It seemed I would need to move my plans forwards more quickly. A couple hours ago Rarity had stopped by to tell me that she had heard from one of her friends in Canterlot that Princess Celestia had begun mobilizing the Equestrian Royal Guard. I was surprised when she had told me, I hadn't expected this to happen for another week minimum.

"If Princess Celestia is mobilizing now, I would recommend immediate construction of the necessary structures." Mayor Mare answered.

I nodded my head, "Very well, I will defer to your judgment on this. Have construction begin as soon as possible, I will leave the logistics of it to you."

"Of course, Princess." She replied with a courteous bow.

"I'll talk with the captain when I get back to the castle about recruitment and training. Anyway, What's the estimation on the time required to complete the barracks and supporting structures"

"It should progress rather quickly, but we will need to acquire more material resources for construction. Mainly timber." Sparkler paused before adding, "I can get you a more exact estimate by tomorrow."

"I see... Thank you. Sparkler can you take care of that for me?"

"I should be able to, Princess." Sparkler nodded.

"Great!" I smiled, "I leave it in your capable hooves. I looked towards the sky and checked the position of the sun, "I need to get back to the castle, Sergeant Bolt is going to be wondering where I am..." I trailed off. I looked at both of my guards in turn and nodded at them, both of them were pegasi clad in purple armor, with a pink, six-pointed star adorned on the chestplate. I spread my wings and took flight, followed shortly by the two guards.

We leisurely flew towards the castle in silence. The soothing feeling of the rushing air helped calm my mind from the sudden actions of Princess Celestia. A few minutes later I caught sight of Rainbow Dash flying towards me. Both my guards saw this too, they would have moved between us had I not dismissed the action with a wave of my hoof. They simply nodded in return.

"Hey Twilight, what's up?" Rainbow asked as she took position flying beside me.

"Well, I had Mayor Mare and Sparkler show me the area that had been zoned for the barracks facility, we discussed that for a while. Went over the details, cost and required resources..." I trailed off realizing Rainbow wasn't all that interested in what I had been doing. Sadly, it left an awkward silence hang in the air. "So what have you been up to?" I broke the silence.

"I just finished helping Fluttershy find some kind of herbs from the Everfree, she said they were to help make some kind of medicine for one of her animals."

"Oh, well that was nice of you." I replied.

"Well, it's Fluttershy..." Rainbow shook her head slightly, "I wouldn't let her go into the Everfree alone. Something could'a happened to her."

"Anything else? Or did you just want to fly with me?" I absentmindedly asked.

"Oh, right. Uh, I ran into Sergeant Bolt, he asked me to find you. He said something about you being late to your training session with him. And something about the captain needed to speak with you about some diamond dogs or something."

"Huh? diamond dogs?" 'What could they want?' I pondered.

"Yeah, that's all I know." Rainbow nonchalantly replied.

"Well, thanks for telling me. I was going to stop by the castle first anyway."

"Want to race?" I looked towards Rainbow to see her smirking, I shot her a death glare.

"For one, I don't think these two fine stallions would appreciate that." I motioned back towards the two guards with my hoof, "And, you're not the one wearing the heavy armor." I paused as an idea came into my mind. I let myself smirk, "You know, I could make a royal edict to force you to have to wear armor whenever you're flying, and then we could race." Rainbow's smirk faltered.

"Ha ha... Ha... Right..." Rainbow paused, "Wait, would that mean I would get to be in your army and could fight for you?"

I opened my mouth to reply but she cut me off. "Because that would be totally awesome!"

"I-"

"I can see it now, Captain Rainbow Dash, soaring across the battlefield, kicking flank and taking names!"

I simply shook my head as Rainbow lost herself in her fantasy, and had to dodge a few blows she was absentmindedly swinging about as she started acting it out. "Ow!" I exclaimed as she accidentally hit me.

"Heh he... Umm Sorry about that, Twilight... I guess I got a little carried away." Rainbow apologized.

I rolled my eyes. A few minutes later we landed at the castle, Captain Light had already been informed of my arrival and was outside waiting. He bowed when we landed, "What's this about diamond dogs?" I inquired while I folded my wings to my side.

He rose from the bow, "Princess, there are some diamond dogs here who wish to establish a gem mining business within our borders. They are willing to negotiate about it, but only with you, your highness."

I quickly processed the information I had been given, "Thank you, I will see to that immediately..." 'I should be able to negotiate with diamond dogs on my own... They're not very intelligent creatures...' "Please have my training session with Sergeant Bolt rescheduled."

"I will see to it at once, Princess." He saluted.

I opened the door with my magic and stepped in, followed by my two guards, Rainbow, and the captain, "Oh, anything else happen while I was out?" I silently closed the door with my magic.

"No. Not that I am aware of, Princess." He replied.

"I see, thank you. I assume the diamond dogs are waiting in the throne room?" I started to worry about that, if they were in the throne room and not under guard, it could be a mess by now. I shook the thought out of my head.

"Yes." He nodded.

"Under guard?"

"The throne room is always guarded, Princess."

"Just making sure..." I trailed off and shook my head, "Thank you, Captain," I turned to my two escorts, "Dismissed until further notice." They both bowed and flew off towards their temporary housing, leaving me alone with Rainbow, who I had forgotten was even here.

"Want some help?" She asked.

"You really want to listen to diamond dogs attempt to negotiate with me?" I deadpanned.

"Uh... Well, not really. But would you like some company?" She asked with a smile.

"Sure... Just... Try not to interrupt, please."

"I promise I won't." Was her reply.

I took off towards the throne room, looking back after some distance, I noticed that she wasn't following me, I rolled my eyes and motioned her to follow me with a hoof. She quickly flew to my side as we approached the throne room.

I paused before opening the door, "I should probably not trot in there wearing this." I motioned to my armor, "One moment." I lit my horn in concentration and teleported my armor off of me and onto an armor stand in my room. "Okay, let's go."

"So what's this about then?" I asked upon entering the room, Rainbow trailed behind me.

"Ah, the good Princess Twilight Sparkle, a pleasure to meet you." The lead diamond dog spoke up, I was caught off guard by his appearance. I had been expecting a poorly groomed dog that stunk, instead I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that he seemed to be an actual intelligent being. He wore a black tuxedo, had a red bow-tie, and wore a black top hat. I did a double take. "Are you alright, Princess Twilight?"

"S-sorry," I stuttered, "You're just... Not what I was expecting." I admitted sheepishly.

"Ah, so you have encountered my kind before, no doubt it was a... Less than pleasant experience..." He gave a knowing smile, "Sir Rover at your service."

"A pleasure to meet you." I strode forwards and lifted my hoof out, he grasped it gently in his paw and shook it. I pulled back after a moment, "So what's this proposal you have for me then?"

"Ah yes, straight to business then. Well," He looked to the dog to his right and nodded at him, "Fido, if you would."

Fido reached into the pouch he was carrying and pulled out a document and handed it to me. Again this dog was well groomed and wearing a black tuxedo. However, he was not wearing a bow tie or hat. I took the document in my magic, and read it over.

"That's actually a really fair deal. I'm surprised." I blinked as I read it again, "You're willing to split it seventy-thirty, you and me on gem distribution? And still willing to pay for mining the area and pay taxes?" I asked with disbelief.

"Yes, is something wrong?" Rover asked quizzically.

I shook my head, "No, I'm just surprised, while the agreement does seem to favor you, your initial offer is generous. And including that I can revoke mining rights at any time..." I trailed off.

"Well, this is your domain, you would be able to do that anyway. This is more... Formal..." He smiled.

"I'll look this over more and have some of my friends and advisers look it over, one pony in particular, Filthy Rich, I want to consult on this. I should have an answer for you within a week." I smiled and rolled the document up and teleported it into my room.

"Of course, Princess. If that's all, I'll get out of your mane." Rover replied.

"Yes, thank you." I opened the door with my magic for them and they trotted out while somehow managing to look noble yet friendly. I shook my head and turned to Rainbow. She was flabbergasted, and her jaw was wide open. I stifled a laugh and nudged her out of it, "Rainbow? You alright?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. That... Just happened?" She rubbed her eyes with her hooves.

"Wasn't what you were expecting either?" I bumped her shoulder lightly with my hoof in a playful manner eliciting a smile from her.

"Yeah... They were actually tolerable..." She shook her head, "What now?"

"Don't you have something else to do over than hover around me all the time?"

"Uh, actually no. The weather team can handle things without me, and I figured you could use my help more than they could." She nonchalantly replied.

"Oh. Well thanks, Rainbow. That means a lot to me." I smiled. "Since this came up and I had to reschedule my training session with Sergeant Bolt, I do have some spare time. We could just hang out or do something if you want?"

"Eh, sure. Any-" Rainbow was cut off by the door opening, Captain Light escorted a light grey pegasus in.

The pegasus approached me and handed me a letter, I took it in my magic and opened it. I read the letter quickly, "It's from Applejack." I stated.

"What's it say?" Rainbow asked, I wanted to facehoof.

"I was getting there... She wants me to come to Appleoosa as soon as I can."

"Is something wrong? Is Applejack in trouble?"

"No, she says the town would follow me if I showed up." I paused, "I guess I can reschedule some things and take a trip down there." I started thinking out loud, "It would be a long flight to get there, I'd arrive after dark... Train it is. I should let ponies know that I'll be away for a couple of days, in case they need me..." I felt a hoof tapping on my side. Rainbow deadpan glared at me, "Oh, sorry." I paused, "Captain Light, I will be visiting Appleoosa. Please inform Sparkler, Mayor Mare, and my friends. I would also like to speak with Filthy Rich and Rarity upon my return."

Captain Light nodded, "Yes, Princess." He bowed. "Will you be taking your guards?"

"No. I should be fine on my own-" I received an elbow from Rainbow, "Rainbow is coming with me, apparently. We'll be fine."

"Very well, Princess. Anything else?"

"Not that I can think of, we will take the train. It'll be an overnight trip, but I'd rather arrive tomorrow afternoon than later tonight when it's dark." I paused to think, "Well, you ready, Rainbow?"

"Yeah, sure am." She replied.

I lit my horn and teleported us to the train station.

Chapter 6

Princess Celestia

"The train tracks between here and Trottingham have been sabotaged, Princess. Advanced scouts have indicated Princess Luna's forces have already occupied Trottingham, we're too late." the guard calmly gave his report. How they could maintain their stoic expression when giving such news, I would never know.

"Do we have any estimate on the number of forces holding the city?" I inquired.

"We believe there are two divisions stationed there."

"Thank you for the report. Please have General Hoof and General Maneuver see me immediately." I commanded, the guard bowed and galloped off to find the generals. I trotted around the makeshift command center we had set up near the train tracks. The train had managed to stop before it was derailed, leaving only minor injuries to my forces. I looked around the quickly set up tent, the heavy grey fabric protected the interior from the elements once getting a closer look at what was inside. I sat at the head of a long table, upon said table was a map, with flags and small plastic ponies representing troop locations.

I leaned forwards and looked it over more carefully, my brow furrowed. Six plastic unicorns were located halfway between Canterlot and Trottingham, representing our location. Much to my displeasure, a plastic alicorn, which was painted white, was also present. They seemed to think that as an alicorn I was worth an entire army. While it is true that I am powerful, it remains to be seen if I am as powerful as they think. Sure, I could probably fight an entire army and win, but the collateral damage would be immeasurable. I shook my head, rebuilding from damage I had caused myself with spells designed to level entire armies would take a long time, it would taint the land with dark magic. The spells to destroy entire armies that an alicorn could wield, while powerful, would not discriminate between friend or foe, combatant or noncombatant, sentient being or animal.

Using such a spell would make me a monster. I would not let this make me a monster. My sister would not stoop that low either... She didn't even use those spells when she had been blinded by her hatred towards me. Twilight... I winced at remembering my most faithful student's rebuke of how I had acted... She wouldn't use such spells, even if she had the power. She would not stand for using that, I fear to think what she would do to herself if she ever used one of those spells...

It's sad really. All three of us just want what is best for everypony... I closed my eyes and sighed, letting my head droop slightly. I want everypony to be safe, living without fear of any large scale conflicts... My sister wants everypony to live without fear... And then Twilight... She wants everypony to be safe, to not have to worry about dangers that lurk in the shadows, without fear of their leaders making a mistake... I reflected on my decisions, allowing myself to see them from Twilight's point of view.

I grimaced as I began to realize what she must think. 'She doesn't understand just how special she and her friends are...' I heard the tent door open, I looked up to see General Hoof and General Maneuver calmly trotted in. I put on a mask to hid my distress, 'I promise this will all be okay, Twilight...'

"Generals," I calmly spoke as I rose from my seat, "I'm open to suggestions."

"According to the reports I received about the sabotage, due to its nature it could be a few days before the tracks are repaired, and by then Trottingham could be too well defended for a direct attack." General Maneuver spoke.

"A most effective assault would be to have unicorns bombard the city with explosive spells. Weaken their defenses, scatter their ranks, move in during the chaos, and secure the town." General Hoof's bluntness caught me off guard, General Maneuver spoke up before I could.

"Civilian casualties from that would be very high, not to mention our losses from a frontal assault would easily number in the upper thousands." He paused, "We outnumber them, we should engage them in so many different areas they can't concentrate their forces enough to mount an effective defense."

"I will not authorize any plan which leads to a waste of life." I put my hoof down calmly, in a finalizing matter. "On any side, especially civilian." I turned away from them and paced for a moment, attempting to bring back the memories of years past, when I had led armies to defend Equestria during the time my sister was imprisoned in the moon. Nothing major was forthcoming. I shook my head in frustration. I trotted over to the table and looked at the map. Using my magic I levitated two of Luna's plastic ponies over to Trottingham.

"Princess, if I may ask, what is the real reason you don't move to eliminate Princess Twilight Sparkle first." General Maneuver's question ran through my head a dozen times before I could process it.

I sighed, "It's not personal, if that's what you think." I calmly replied, "I fear Luna more than I worry about Twilight. Although she may be able to lead an army to victory, she is not as strong as Luna or I." I raised a hoof to stop him from asking another question or saying that I was being a coward. "Luna, on the other hoof... If she were to engage both of you at once, in pony, you would lose. Big time." I shook my head, "That would mean I would have lost almost half of my forces, meaning that we would lose."

"So your presence is to keep Luna from entering the field herself, or containing her if she does?" General Hoof asked.

"Yes, although my combat powers... Have not been tested in some time, I may not be able to contain her, but I will at least give her pause..."

"Princess, I don't believe she would enter into the field herself, she has no officers capable of commanding a force as large as she does. The highest ranking officers she took with her were colonels. And while she may have promoted them, rank and skill are different things." General Maneuver's words held truth, but I couldn't risk it.

I turned my attention to the map, and let myself enter deep into thought. About a moment later I turned my attention back to the two generals, "General Maneuver, prepare your forces to move out towards Stalliongrad. If we can take that city, we should be able to reduce Luna's ability to recruit more ponies into her army, thus we could afford to take higher risks..."

"Yes, your highness. I will assemble my forces and move on Stalliongrad at once." He saluted, but remained sitting, awaiting further orders.

"General Hoof, your forces will remain here with me, we will await Luna's next move..."

"Yes, Princess." He saluted.

I stood up and nodded at them, "Dismissed."

Princess Twilight Sparkle

I stood just inside the sheriff's office, the faded wooden walls felt like they were staring me down as if trying to intimidate me. I shook the feeling of nervousness off, the town had voted to follow me, I had nothing to fear. 'Except making a fool out of yourself, or screwing up and costing ponies their lives for nothing.' I winced at the stray thought.

Rainbow patted me on the shoulder, I turned towards her and smiled, thanking her for the reassurance. "You'll do fine, Twilight. You always do."

"I... Thanks, it's just that... Well... All these ponies are putting their trust in me, asking me to take care of them and to lead them... What if... What if I fail?" I ruffled my wings, Rainbow shook her head.

"Twilight, calm down. Sure, you may not win every battle, some towns may not vote to join you, others may resent you... But you will do your best. Your best is at least twenty times better than what most ponies can do. Princess Celestia raises the sun, and she's not half as awesome as you are."

"Rainbow Dash giving me a pep talk about politics... I never would have imagined this in my wildest dreams..." I chuckled lightly, "After this is all over... Depending on if I-" Rainbow jabbed me in the ribs with a hoof, "Er... When..." I glared at her lightly, "I defeat Celestia and Luna, I will be busy... I probably won't have a lot of time for you and the rest of the girls... Most likely a lot less than what I do already..." I grimaced. Running Ponyville and preparing for war was consuming more than half my waking hours, and training was using most of what remained, leaving me very little time to just hang out with the girls outside of 'official' business.

"Won't you like... Have a lot of ponies to do things for you then? Like, hundreds of them that you could make take care of things for you?"

"I suppose, but I would still be running things..." I shook my head.

The door opened and Applejack leisurely trotted in, "You're up Twilight."

I nodded at her. "Thanks." She trotted back outside. "I still feel like I should have prepared a speech beforehoof."

"You'll do fine." Rainbow's brash confidence in me seemed to be infectious, as I soon found myself believing that I would do fine.

No, better than fine. I would succeed.

I inhaled deeply, put a hoof on my chest, and exhaled. I closed my eyes and opened them, preparing myself for the crowd of ponies I would soon face. I moved over to the door, opened it, and strode out, radiating an aura of confidence.

I took in the sight of the crowd and my jaw fell. I knew that Appleoosa had a population in the upper thousands, but the crowd stretched as far as I could see, buildings appeared to block the sight of even more ponies who had come to see my speech.

Not just ponies, buffalo also. That took me by surprise, I had not expected the buffalo to take any interest in what was happening in Equestria. However, it seemed I was wrong. It made sense, I supposed, considering that they do live within the borders of Equestria.

I calmly collected myself and stepped forwards. Once at the edge of the raised platform, I lit my horn and cast a spell to amplify my voice, so that everypony could hear me. I opened my mouth.

And then closed it, being overwhelmed by the sight before me. 'Just relax... It's not different than Ponyville...'

"Hello, everypony! I can honestly say I am shocked by the sheer numbers of you that showed up to this. And not just ponies either... I am honored that you would put your trust in me to lead you, I only hope that I can live up to it. I promise I will take care of and protect you, all of you. As you know I have seceded from Equestria, with Ponyville as my capital." I paused, realizing this would be a good time to rally support and build an army, "I do not possess the military strength of either Princess Celestia or Princess Luna. But I have the support of the ponies, together, we can forge a better future. Together, we can restore harmony, and protect all who live in our lands while we fly a new banner. We are citizens of a new country, we are Equestrians!" I paused when the crowd cheered for me, I felt a smile tugging at my lip.

I raised a hoof to calm them, once they settled down I continued, "Equestria has faced many trials and tribulations, but we have overcome each and every one of them, and we have become stronger, not only as individuals but as a society because of them. We will not just survive this new threat, but we will conquer it, and we will emerge stronger than ever before! We will prevail against evil, as we always have." I nodded and turned around, signaling the end of my speech.

I felt it was awful, but the crowd didn't seem to agree with me. I trotted back into the sheriff's office and took a seat. Rainbow had followed me back inside and sat down beside me.

"That was one awesome speech, Twilight."

"Thanks... Although it doesn't feel like it..." I admitted with a sigh.

"For being unplanned, it was really invigorating."

I smiled weakly. A few minutes later, The Sheriff, Braeburn, and Applejack all trotted back inside, smiles plastered across their muzzles.

"Good speech, Twilight." Applejack chirped.

"Anything you need, Princess?" The Sheriff asked.

I stood up, "I need to see the town and or region's records, financial information, population reports, that sort of thing." I listed the items I could think of, I was sure I would think of more later.

"Sure thing, Princess."

Braeburn stepped forwards, "Princess, the buffalo would like to speak with you if you could make the time."

I added another item to my mental list of things to do and nodded, "Sure, I can meet with them right now if it's important."

"I think they'd appreciate that, your highness. I'll take you to their chief." Braeburn responded and trotted towards the door, and then waited for me to join him. I opened the door with my magic and motioned for him to exit first.

"Any idea what they want?" I asked as we made our way through the dispersing crowd, I could see a small group of buffalo clustered together approaching us. I didn't recognize any of them.

"I'm afraid I don't know, Princess."

After making our way through the crowd of ponies, we eventually reached the group of buffalo, they bowed respectfully when I approached them.

"There's no need for that. Braeburn told me you wanted to speak with me?"

The buffalo rose from their bow and one of them stepped forwards. The large buffalo was wearing a tribal headdress, he stepped with a sort of humble confidence I had never seen before, his dark brown fur was somehow well groomed, relatively speaking, of course. "Princess, the Buffalo Tribes will follow you."

'I swear I'm hearing things.' I shook my head, "I'm sorry, can you repeat that?"

"The Buffalo Tribes will follow you, your highness." He repeated.

I stood flabbergasted, I blinked and shook my head, "You... You speak for all of them?"

"I do." he firmly answered.

"I... See..." I had not been expecting that. 'Looks like I have a lot more work to do now...' "I was unaware that the buffalo knew what was going on..." I trailed off perplexed.

"We do know what is going on in Equestria, news of the three-way splitting of the princesses has even stretched far beyond the borders of Equestria."

"And... Why are you wanting to help me? Not that I don't want it, I just didn't expect it is all."

"You are Princess Twilight Sparkle, an alicorn." I ruffled my wings when he said that, "The Princess of Friendship. Do not believe that we do not know how you helped the buffalo in the past. We know how you helped negotiate a peace between our kind and the Appleoosians." He paused and nodded to himself, "You have taken interest in these parts before, and continue to do so even after your ascension. The other princesses, and Canterlot nobility," He huffed the words with anger, "want nothing to do with these parts. You care, where they do not. That is why the Buffalo Tribes will follow you."

"I... Thank you, Chief." I suddenly realized I didn't know his name, "I'm sorry, but you didn't tell me your name?"

"Chief Rockbreaker, your highness." He replied with a bow.

"Thank you, Chief Rockbreaker." I smiled.

"Now, I will not keep you from any other business you might have, we can meet again at a later point in time to discuss our concerns."

"Alright then, but I won't be in Appleoosa much longer, and I'll probably just be getting busier and busier, so I may not be able to spare the time to come down here as much as I would like to."

"It is understandable, you do have a growing kingdom to manage."

I smiled wryly as I nodded.

I spent the last few days in Appleoosa finalizing the transfer from Equestrian control to my own. It was a boring task, consisting mostly of paperwork and finding ponies to manage things for me while I was away. I met with Chief Rockbreaker and discussed various topics of interest between us, including having the buffalo warriors fight for me. He gave me his word that the tribes would fight for me. However, when I had asked him how many buffalo warriors there were, he was unable to give me an estimate. I asked him to try to find out, but it would be a while before I knew.

When it came time to leave, they gave us a free pass on the train back to Ponyville.

"So I'd call that a success, don't you think, Twilight?" Applejack's voice managed to pull me back into reality, I had been thinking about some of the nightmares I had been having. The nightmares were horrible, yet I felt like I was growing used to them. I found myself wondering why I was having nightmares.

"Yes." I concurred. The nightmares... If it wasn't one where I was standing over the corpse of one of my friends, my hooves covered in their blood, it was one where I ended up getting killed. Most of the time when I dreamed I was getting killed, it was always Celestia killing me. I shuddered as memories flooded back into my mind.

"Twilight? You okay?"

'Perhaps Luna has something to do with these nightmares... She... She wouldn't do that though, right?' More images filled my mind, I stood on a battlefield, the smell of smoke was strong... I felt something poke my rib, I lit my horn in preparation to defend myself against my attacker. I quickly turned my head and lowered my horn, but I stopped when I realized who it was. I winced at the look of shock and fear on her face.

"Tw-Twilight?" Rainbow put her hooves in the air as she spoke. "You... You okay?"

I sighed, "No."

"What's got you so worked up you almost blew Rainbow's head off?" Applejack asked.

That was a very bad choice of words. "I'm still having those nightmares." I answered once I had collected my thoughts. "I was just thinking about some of them..."

"Still? I thought you were done with those..." Applejack trailed off.

"Sorry about that by the way, Rainbow." I apologized.

"It's fine..." She replied uneasily.

"So did you enjoy catching up with Braeburn?" I changed the subject, hoping to leave behind the previous conversation.

"Sure did." Applejack answered, "We got a lot of work done-" I facehoofed, "What's wrong Twilight?"

"I thought you were going to take a vacation while you were here..." I mumbled, then laughed lightly, "I should've known better..."

"Something wrong with that?"

"No." I answered.

"So Twilight... I heard you were talking with Chief Rockbreaker about your uh... Army..."

That got my attention, I swiveled my head towards her, I looked at her suspiciously, I had a sinking feeling I knew where this was going...

"And I was wondering if I could Join it?" Rainbow finally spit out.

'Yep, knew it.' I pretended to think the subject over for a few seconds. I had already thought this over before, my answer would be 'No.' but I didn't want her to know I had already decided. "Sorry, but no. It's too dangerous."

"Oh come on!" Rainbow shouted and threw her front legs out in exasperation, she hovered in the air above her seat, "I'm Rainbow Dash! You know, fastest flyer, Wonderbolt, flight instructor of-" she held out her hooves in an exaggerating manner, "Princess Twilight Sparkle." She pointed a hoof at me.

'Maybe it would be better to let her join, I could keep her out of trouble that way... I shouldn't have to worry about any of the others though...' Perhaps that idea held water... "Fine." I calmly answered.

"Aww yeah!"

"You'll have to obey my ever command, like everypony else you know."

"Yeah yeah," She batted a hoof towards me in the air, "and how's that any different from normal?" She paused, "No biggie."

I turned towards Applejack, who was maintaining a 'are you serious' face. I shrugged off Rainbow's unintended insult.

"So what does that make me now? A captain? Sergeant?" Rainbow asked as she landed back on her seat.

"Guard." I nonchalantly answered.

"Aww..." Rainbow dejectedly moaned. "But I'm too awesome for that!"

"Take it or leave it."

Rainbow mumbled something inaudible.

"What was that?"

"I said fine..."

"Good, because that's just a temporary rank I'm assigning you to..." I trailed off as her eyes light up.

"I thought you said you didn't want any of your friends in harms way." Captain Light spoke up after I told him about my decision.

"I did. But this way I can literally order her to stay out of harms way." I answered.

"Yes, Princess." He flatly answered.

"Can you give me your honest opinion on this idea?"

"Honestly?" I nodded in affirmation. "The idea is bad, but having her as a guard is not bad." He paused, "She's fast and a wonderbolt, so she has skill. She represents the element of loyalty, correct?"

"Yes, she does."

"Then I think she would be a great addition." He smiled, it slowly turned into a frown, "How does she deal with conflicting loyalties?"

I sighed, "Not well." I paused, "But she always figures it out... Eventually." I quickly added. While it was true Rainbow Dash represented the element of loyalty, she was not perfectly loyal. She had her own dreams and desires, but her sense of loyalty was still strong, strong enough that when she realizes she wasn't being loyal to her friends, she would fix it.

"Perhaps she would be a good choice for a personal guard. She's already training you in flying, and I get the feeling neither Princess Celestia nor Princess Luna want to assassinate you."

"I suppose I could talk it over with her. Anything to report from when I was away?"

"Princess Celestia deployed a large number of her forces to take Trottingham, the train tracks they were taking were sabotaged, and now they're encamped about halfway between Canterlot and Trottingham. She is there personally, too."

"That could prove useful, how goes recruiting and training?"

"We have a few dozen recruits already, and they're being trained. They're... Making progress."

"Slow going?"

"It's to be expected, training can take weeks to months. It's something that you can only rush if you go directly into battle, and then you'd end up with high casualty ratios."

I pondered his words for a moment, I definitely didn't want any pony to die if it was unnecessary. I grimaced, I knew I was still unprepared for the horrors of war... It... It wasn't real to me, not yet anyway. "Anymore guards defect from either side to ours?"

"No, Princess."

I sighed, "I suppose that's to be expected." I shook my head sadly, "Have the diamond dogs sat up their mining operations yet?"

"I believe they have, but Sparkler would have more information on that."

"Thanks anyway." I nodded at him and dismissed him with a wave of my hoof, "Dismissed."

"Yes, Princess." He saluted and then trotted off to perform his other duties as captain of the guard.

'If I have Rainbow as one of my personal guards, she'll follow me around everywhere... That could put her in danger if I lead an army into battle...' I felt a shiver run down my spine as I thought about leading an army into battle. I felt woefully unprepared for leading from the front... 'I could order her to stay back... But she probably wouldn't listen... Then again, she is pretty strong and agile, she will probably be alright...' I trotted out of the throne room door, opening it with my magic. 'I can't believe I'm actually considering doing this...' I shook my head as I started trotted throughout the castle. I wanted to talk to Sparkler to see if the Diamond Dogs had set up operations yet.

I wondered around for half an hour before eventually finding Sparkler. I had to ask a couple of the guards if they had seen her, soon enough one of them directed me to the Ponyville Bank. Well, former Ponyville Bank, now the Royal Treasury of the Kingdom of Twilight. 'I need to think of a better name for the treasury.' I added another item to my to-do list. As I approached the structure I took the time to examine its construction. The building looked to be old. Older than me anyway. The white painted stone front showed signs of fading, indicating it had not recently been repainted. The marble support columns supported a triangular archway leading into the entrance. I also noted how small it was, only slightly larger on the outside than the town hall. 'I may need to invest in a new banking facility.'

I saw Sparkler trot out of the bank with a smile on her muzzle, she held the door open as two diamond dogs wearing hard hats trotted out of the bank. The diamond dogs bowed slightly to her and then took off in the direction of the Everfree Forest. I slowly trotted up to greet Sparkler.

"Oh, hello Princess!" Sparkler started to bow but I raised a hoof.

"No need for that right now, Sparkler. Have the diamond dogs started mining yet?"

"Yes. As a matter of fact, they just dropped off their first shipment of gems for us. I have them sorting it, it's not a lot right now, but Sir Rover says the shipments should increase in size as the mine system becomes larger." Sparkler chirped.

"I see. Keep me apprised of that if you would."

"Of course, your Highness." Sparkler bowed her head respectfully.

"What else do you have to report?"

"Here, take a look." Sparkler levitated a yellow folder I hadn't noticed she was holding until now over to me. I took it in my magic and started looking over the information. "As you can see, we're progressing at a slow, but steady rate..."

Chapter 7

?????

My wings were spread wide open as I silently glided through the chilly night air. My eyes were well adapted to the dark night, I was able to see as good as a normal pony could during broad daylight. With the moon to my front, I would not have to worry about my shadow warning anypony of my approach. I flapped my wings to gain more altitude as I began to lose speed from fighting a headwind. I looked out across the horizon, searching for any signs of the army's camp. 'Still nothing...' I shook my head and banked left. 'I'm either lost or they're ghosts.'

I cast my gaze upwards, checking the positions of the stars. 'I'm not lost.' I returned my sight to the horizon, having confirmed I had not strayed from my scouting route. I had been given orders to search for one of Princess Celestia's army, the one commanded by General Maneuver... 'Slippery pegasus...' He was exceptional when it came to outmaneuvering and flanking attacks, much like his full name, Flanking Maneuver, would suggest.

General Maneuver had apparently been given orders by Princess Celestia to move towards Stalliongrad. Princess Luna had already positioned two divisions there to defend against the general's attack. My job was to provide a rough idea of their location so that Princess Luna could know when to expect the attack.

Hours flew by, much like the forest beneath me. I thought I saw something on the horizon, I squinted my eyes in an effort to make it out. It was blurry, almost like just a distortion in the air. 'Wait... That's smoke!' I let myself smile. I felt a shiver run down my spine, I was being watched.

I quickly spun my head around looking in each direction for the source of the sensation. 'Come on... Where are you?' I grit my teeth and scrunched up my muzzle in frustration. I scanned the horizon slowly and methodically- I saw a silhouette against the moon, I could see the gold edging of the armor of a Royal Guard. I furrowed my brow and beat my wings hard to push myself towards him.

He didn't make any effort to evade, that's when I realized my mistake. He wasn't alone. I banked to the left just in time to evade another guard who went shooting towards the ground through the area I previously occupied. 'You're getting sloppy.' I mentally berated myself for failing to detect his companion.

I turned my roll into a steep dive as I chased after the guard that had tried to knock me out of the sky, he evaded my dive and went below the treeline. I pursued the pegasus beneath the treeline, dodging branches and leaves as I attempted to stay on his tail. The pegasus's golden armor was easily visible to me, reflecting soft moonlight as I flew through the forest. I was soon gaining on the pegasus ahead of me, and with a few hard beats of my wings I was above him.

I redirected my speed towards the pegasus flying below me, I impacted him and heard a dull clanking of metal impacting metal. The force of the impact sent us both careening downwards. I pulled back my right front hoof and then slammed it into his head, and then let go of him before we impacted the ground. I slowed my descent by flaring my wings, but I still landed hard. The other pegasus on the other hoof, flailed in the air, attempting to right himself before he landed on one of his wings. He let out a sharp yell at that, I winced slightly.

'Don't feel sorry for him, he's the enemy...' I told myself. I scanned my surroundings, just the two of us, and he wasn't going anywhere quickly. At least not flying, anyway. I looked at the pegasus, I felt pity for him, breaking a wing, especially like that, is extremely painful. He was trying to stand to his hooves, I could let him go, but he'd warn others. I'm not prepared to take prisoners either...

I grimaced and trotted over to him, his eyes still held determination, it was surprising. I swiveled on my front hooves and pulled my back legs in, preparing to bash his unprotected neck in. I kicked out- the blow never landed, instead I was thrown off balance from the blow that had meant to finish him, throwing me backwards. I looked around in surprise, I turned to my left just in time to see a gold-plated, steel boot impact my muzzle. The force of the impact threw me backward once more. I impacted a tree and several leaves came fluttering downwards in the wind.

I felt something warm and moist leaking from my muzzle, I cautiously lifted a hoof to wipe it away. I realized it was blood when I pulled my hoof away. I looked back towards the direction I had been hit from, two pegasi now stood there, one of them had a severely broken wing. I slowly got to my hooves, and then kicked off from the tree, beating my wings as hard as I could to provide additional speed. The injured pegasus never stood a chance, I impacted him with the force of an earth pony. He was sent flying into a tree, his body impacted first, and his head snapped back with an audible crack.

I wasn't given an opportunity to attack the second pegasus before he attacked me. He hit my head several times, sending pulses of pain through my brain as he repeatedly struck my already injured muzzle. I started blocking his blows with my own hooves, and started fighting back. My left hoof met his right hoof, our strengths were fairly evenly matched, he swung his left hoof wide, I spun on one leg and kicked his legs out from under him.

He rolled with the fall and quickly stood up, avoiding the blow I was sending with my front hooves. He crouched low, and jumped on me, my left hoof made contact with the side of his helmet, the blow didn't have the intended effect and he threw a hoof upwards, impacting my unarmored jaw. His next blow hit my neck, I had to suppress the urge to gag as he threw me on the forest floor and started choking me.

I kicked out wildly with my hind legs as he held me in a choke hold, my hooves connected with his armor, but didn't cause him any harm. My vision was fading... Tiredness was creeping up my mind and I felt my body starting to go numb as my lungs burnt for air. A few moments later I lost consciousness.

Princess Twilight Sparkle

My kingdom's financial status had improved significantly ever since the diamond dogs started mining gems, and Dodge Junction joined me. I let myself smile as I glanced over the treasury report. The diamond dogs were extracting dozens of gems a day, and the amount was rapidly rising. It seemed that the deeper they dug in the Everfree, the higher the crystal concentration became. At the rate it was increasing, assuming it didn't cap out, the sheer number of crystals contained underneath the Everfree Forest of usable size would number in the upper billions.

And that's not including the small fragments and shards they were extracting, ones that could be used for apparel. Rarity would have a hay day if she owned the mine. I chuckled as I imagined her reaction to receiving the report about the number of crystals they were extracting.

'Note to self, look into a spell for disassembling crystals into their base elements, and reassembling them into crystals of desired size.' Yes, that could prove useful I noted. The ability to mass produce identical crystals of the same size and shape, free from imperfections... I would be able to store a lot of magic with that. I frowned, 'Look into ways to store spells in crystals, it could prove useful.'

"Well. I'm bored."

I looked up from the documents and looked at the pegasus standing beside me. I had Rarity design and build her armor similar to mine, as such our armors were nearly identical, with the exception of size, and cutie mark on her flank armor. Her armor also let her mane out, something she practically begged for, so her mane hung down her neck, contrasting with the purple armor she wore. "And I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle. It's a pleasure to meet you, Bored." I deadpanned.

Rainbow blankly stared at me for a solid minute before I returned to the documents I was going over. Truth be told, I had already gone over them during breakfast, I was just double checking them at this point. I heard Rainbow lightly huff, "Do you regret your decision yet?" I asked, hoping that she would say 'yes' so I could dismiss her and have this over with.

"Yes. But I'm not backing out of this." Rainbow's determination could have cut through steel.

'So much for that plan.' I sighed, then picked up the documents in my magic and teleported them away. "You do know you don't always have to follow me around, right?" I honestly had no idea if she knew that or not. I hoped she didn't, then she would find out and go not annoy me.

"I'm supposed to protect you though."

"Short of an entire army attacking me, or one of the princesses attacking me, I should be fine."

Rainbow chose not to respond.

I looked at the clock, 'About fifteen minutes till I have my training session with Sergeant Bolt... Rainbow's starting to hamper my ability to get any work done... And she's only been a guard for a few days... I need to give her something to do...' I trotted over to the door, Rainbow followed me.

"You forgot something," Rainbow pointed at the tiara and regalia sitting on the table, I sighed and picked them up with my magic, placing the tiara upon my head, and the regalia around my neck.

"Thanks." I had been trying to get used to either wearing my armor or the tiara and regalia, while I was used to the weight of the armor, it was rather uncomfortable. It felt weird to wear the tiara and regalia. I opened the door with my magic, "Go ask Rarity if she has any spells for rearranging the molecular structure of crystal..." Rainbow looked at me with confusion, "Er... Ask Rarity if she knows a spell for combining crystals..."

"Yes, Princess."

Rainbow took off flying, I exhaled a sigh of relief. Rainbow, though not good at just standing around was reliable. She wasn't well disciplined, but she was fast, agile, strong, and loyal. Her brashness and inability to really think things through would make her a poor commander, but she was perfect for protecting me, or so Captain Light believed. He wanted her to follow me around pretty much all the time. I could order her not to, and I had a few times, but generally she DID genuinely make an effort to not interfere with my workload.

I lit my horn and cast my teleportation spell. The spell took hold and I soon found myself in the field where I had been training with Sergeant Bolt. The unicorn was nowhere to be seen, not surprising I was early after all. The field however, was ready. Jagged rocks stuck out of the ground, having been previously damaged by spells I had cast, spells designed to harm and kill living beings. The effects weren't the same on inanimate objects, but it helped give me the feel for the spells.

Pony mannequins were also lined up, as if in formation. They were adorned with the armor of the deflected soldiers of Celestia, I would practice breaking their armor with spells and my own hooves. And there was a rack of several spears, housing them while they were not being used. I would throw the spears with my magic, putting as much force into the telekinetic throw as I could. I could already penetrate normal steel armor with it.

I had spent a few hours studying some spells of dark magic, nothing as grotesque as the ones designed to lay waste to entire enemy armies, just ones designed to bend the world to your will. Ones that King Sombra had used to create crystal pillars from the ground. The crystal spikes and pillars were not actual crystal, and had none of the properties of crystal, with the exception of smooth reflective surfaces, and hardness. Once you damaged the crystal, the dark magic would start to dissipate, and the crystal would turn back into normal earth.

I prepared one of the spells in my mind, channeling my magic to my horn, and corrupting it to dark magic as it flowed into my horn. The normally purple glow of my horn was replaced by a green glow as the dark magic made its presence known. Using dark magic did not feel right. It felt so wrong, it felt like my magic was being violated, like my body was sick...

I quickly released the spell, and a massive pillar of black crystal shot out from the ground beneath me. The pillar rose in the air, carrying me atop it until it stopped. I could see over the tops of the trees near me from this height. The pillar was more like a plateau, with a large enough surface area for me to trot around without fear of falling off, yet it wasn't large enough to cause any damage to anything in the field.

I prepared the spell again, this time making the spell more precise and energetic, I aimed it at one of the mannequins. I released the spell, and a black crystal shot out of the ground with such speed and force the armor was broken through both sides, impaling the mannequin, and carrying it up a few feet into the air. I grimaced at the thought of using that against a living pony.

I flapped my wings and hovered above the plateau beneath me, I looked at it quizzically and channeled my magic into a beam spell to destroy it. I pulled my head up and threw it down as I released the spell. The magic rushed out of my horn and impacted the pillar beneath me sundering it. The pillar explodes, sending shards of crystal in every direction. The shards rapidly turned back into earth and into dust and pebbles as they reached me. I smiled.

A voice called to me from below, I immediately recognized Sergeant Bolt, "I see you've been experimenting with dark magic, Princess."

I flew down and landed in front of him, "Just that particular spell." I pointed a hoof towards the impaled mannequin. I lit my horn and pointed it at the black crystal and released a spell to counter the dark magic. The spell hit the crystal, and it immediately turned back into earth and fell onto the ground in a pile.

"Be careful not to get carried away with dark magic, Princess." The sergeant warned.

"I'm careful... It's not the first time I've dealt with dark magic..." I had used dark magic once when I was a unicorn, after having seen Princess Celestia using it...

Princess Celestia used dark magic... I had forgotten about that until now... I felt a shiver run down my spine when I considered the implications of that...

"Shall we get started, Princess?"

"What do you have in mind for today?"

He smiled, "Well, for starters..."

"What sort of spell are you wanting exactly?" Rarity asked as she looked over one of the gems she was holding in her magic.

"I'm wanting one to break crystals down into their base components and reassemble them. Basically, I'm wanting a spell to convert one type of crystal or gem of any size into a certain material to convert back into crystals of a particular kind and size. An example would be taking those small emerald shards and turning them into an amethyst star." I explained the spell I was wanting. Truth be told, I had no idea if such a spell existed. If it didn't, I would make it. That particular spell could prove useful, very useful. If I could find a way to store barrier spells in crystals with that, I could protect my ponies with magic, even earth ponies and pegasi. Having them protected by barrier spells, even if it wasn't as strong as what I could cast, would be very useful, and provide a massive advantage.

"That sounds like a very taxing spell to me... I don't think I've heard of such a spell before... Sorry, darling." Rarity was still somehow able to focus on both the conversation and making a dress at the same time. She carefully attached small emerald shards to the trim, adding a 'special touch' as she would call it.

"Well, thanks anyway Rarity." I sighed and teleported back to the castle. I was slightly surprised when Rainbow came to get me. Rarity had told her to just have me stop by. It hadn't taken but a couple minutes for me to take care of that problem, my schedule wouldn't miss it.

"Sparkler?" I called out. The unicorn should be somewhere around here, I just need to find her. "Sparkler?"

"Sorry, over here Princess!"

I turned my head towards the direction her voice came from, I saw her quickly trotting into the room, "That's fine, do you have anything that I need to attend to on my schedule?"

"Not currently, Princess."

I frowned, "Okay then. I'll be in my chambers if anypony needs me." I channeled my magic and teleported myself to my room. Something felt... Off. I felt a shiver run down my spine, nothing looked out of place, but... 'Wait, it's darker in here than usual.' I started to get a sinking feeling. I lit my horn, and prepared to teleport away, I released it. Nothing happened. I bit my lower lip and prepared a barrier spell. I swiveled on my back hooves and turned around with my horn lowered.

"Is that any way to greet a friend, Princess Twilight?" She spoke, her voice was calm and collected.

"P-Princess Luna..." I quietly gasped in shock at the sight of the significantly stronger alicorn in my room. I took a step back and she raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you'd be happier to see me." Luna deadpanned and stepped forwards, "Regardless, I was just thinking... It's been a while, perhaps Twilight would want to talk."

Luna kept slowly stepping forwards, "Stay back." I commanded as I matched her pace, for each step forwards I took one back.

Princess Luna paused mid-stride, "I'm not here to harm you. If I was..." Luna trailed off, letting it hang in the air. "I must admit, when I heard you also seceded, I was quite shocked. However..." She took a darker tone. "You do not have the experience required, or the power to rule the nation of Equestria..."

"I'm learning, and with the help of my friends-"

"You should keep them out of this Twilight." Luna's voice took on a more concerned tone, "For the sake of them and yourself." Luna paused and shook her head before turning around. "I will defeat my sister. When that time comes, you will have the opportunity to surrender. I would advise you to take it."

"That's not going to happen... You both have made mistakes-"

Luna cut me off, "And you haven't?"

"I never said that... Luna, nopony is perfect. Not me, not you, not Celestia." I paused. "I don't want to have to fight either of you, but I will if it's what is best for Equestria."

Luna sighed. "It may indeed end up that way. I don't want to fight you either... My sister on the other hoof..."

"Why are you even here? Did you come just to intimidate me, or did you actually want to talk?"

"Twilight, you're not acting... As I would have expected, tell me, are you okay?"

Luna was getting on my nerves now. She knew full well what was wrong, and to have the nerve to play oblivious... "You know full well what's wrong. I haven't been sleeping well since that day. You keep giving me nightmares! I thought you were better than that!"

Luna seemed taken aback, "I... I didn't realize you were having nightmares... Twilight, forgive me, had I known I would have intervened, even if we're not on the best of terms... It is my duty, I... I sincerely apologize for this lapse in my duty."

I blinked. I opened my mouth to rebuke her but found nothing forthcoming, her excuse... Or answer... Was believable, I had neglected my friends on more than one occasion since this started... "Sorry I... Snapped at you... It's just... These nightmares are horrible! Everypony keeps dying! My friends... Me...." I shook my head and fought back tears.

"You're handling that better than I... Would have expected..." Luna slowly approached me and put a wing on my back. "You're stronger emotionally than I realized..." Luna's face hardened, "It would do good to prepare yourself for battle. However, If you get in my way, I will fight you."

I lit my horn and sent us flying apart with a telekinetic wave. Luna easily recovered from the sudden force and was quickly on her hooves. I tumbled over and landed on my side. "Ugh..." I moaned.

"I wasn't..." Luna huffed, "Very well, I can see I am not wanted here. I shall take my leave." Luna lit her horn and teleported, whatever spells she had placed on my room immediately dissipated.

Princess Luna

"I most certainly need to work on my pony skills." I mused aloud with a slight tinge of anger. "She... She honestly thought I was causing her nightmares... That's... I would never..." I kicked the floor, venting some of my anger. I hadn't even told her what I had gone to tell her. I grimaced, 'No matter, she will find out sooner or later.' I looked around the room, my eyes landed on the armor stand. I levitated the armor off the stand and placed it upon my body.

General Maneuver drew near Stalliongrad, my defense was prepared. All that was left was for him to attack and my counterattack would begin.

I stormed out of my chambers and made way to the throne room with haste. The guards bowed as I passed them, the commanders were already assembled and prepared, I would execute my plan swiftly, and end this conflict before it spread into neighboring countries. Celestia had made many mistakes in the past year, sending one-third of her forces to attempt to take Stalliongrad was by far the biggest.

"Generals!" I shouted as I threw open the doors to the throne room, all eyes immediately turned to me. "Report on General Maneuver's position." I firmly commanded.

General Gale, a slender, blue pegasus with a brown mane, a former colonel in the Royal Guard approached me and bowed, "My Princess, General Maneuver's forces are approximately two days march from Stalliongrad. Most of the scouts sent to locate his position did not return, they are presumed dead or captured."

"Their sacrifice shall be remembered when I rule Equestria." I stated matter-of-factly. "General, prepare our forces to move out. We will attack Celestia and her forces while General Maneuver is preoccupied."

"Yes, Princess!" He shouted with a salute and hurried off to assemble our forces.

I slowly and methodically trotted over to the table with a map on it. The map was one of Equestria and the surrounding nations, it had pieces representing army units all over the place, along with flags for positions and loyalties. I picked up the piece representing me in my magic and placed it near Celestia's forces. I smiled, having moved my piece into play.

I was ready for what was coming. My forces would move out immediately and wait for the right moment. When that moment came...

I smiled.

Chapter 8

Princess Twilight Sparkle

The ground before me shook violently as another spell landed, laying waste to any unfortunate enough to be within its kill radius. Anypony unlucky enough to be between the kill radius and safe zone would wish they had been in the kill radius as the magic lashed out against them, driving them mad with insanity, and sending them into painful convulsions as the magic rushed through their body.

My barrier cracked slightly as a stray spell struck it with enough force to penetrate steel. A sudden pain formed in my head as the impact jostled my body, I felt the start of a nasty headache. The force of the impact pushed me back slightly, the blast wave from the spell's detonation warped around my barrier, I momentarily lost focus and my barrier faltered when another spell detonated to my left.

I closed my eyes to avoid the blinding flare the magic produced, when I re-opened my eyes I watched in horror, helpless to act, as Rainbow Dash jumped in front of me, taking the impact of a spell, saving me from it. Rainbow seemed momentarily stunned, her mane flew backward as excess magical energy was converted into a pressure wave, causing the air to distort. Rainbow was also pushed back slightly by the impact, she fell to the ground at my hooves.

I blinked, Rainbow Dash stood dead at my hooves, a large hole in her chest from the impact of a spell that had been intended for me. Blood was gushing out of the fatal wound, seeping into the ground and covering her body. I stepped forwards and knelt, even as the blood started to flow onto my hooves.

I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out. I tried to cast a spell to save her life, but my magic refused to cooperate. I fell to my haunches distraught, unable to do anything... Unable to protect my friends...

A loud voice called out, "ENOUGH!" it commanded. The scene before me immediately changed.

Gone was the still form of Rainbow Dash lying at my hooves in a pool of blood, gone was the charred earth from the effects of spells designed to kill. Instead, serene peace and quiet. As if I was the last pony alive in the world. The light had changed, it was no longer sunset, but the middle of the night. I looked up to the sky and found the moon.

The full moon cast a bright glow, bathing the world in it's pale, soft nighttime light. I could make out a silhouette of a pegasus descending from the moon... I could make out the pegasus flapping its wings as it descended, soon I could see it had a horn too. Not a pegasus, an alicorn. I could soon make out the alicorn's coat, night blue. Princess Luna was descending towards me.

'I'm dreaming.' I finally realized, my heart rate started to slow down.

Princess Luna landed beside me and immediately wrapped a wing around me. I leaned into her comforting embrace, enjoying the warmth radiating from her body, allowing it to soothe my mind. As I relaxed, I began to cry. Violent sobs racketed my body as I let my emotions flow uncontested.

Minutes passed as I cried from all the horrors I had seen in my nightmares... Things nopony should have to see... Their friends being killed before then, being unable to save them... Not being able to stop yourself from doing horrible things to other ponies... Eventually, I ran out of tears to cry and calmed down.

I found Luna's voice soothing, "I did... I did not realize that your nightmares were so... Violent, Twilight..." Luna used her magic and summoned a cloth, and dried my face with it. The cloth was warm and seemed to almost undo the effects of my crying. However, I still felt better having been able to let it all out.

We sat in silence for a few minutes... Or maybe seconds, seeing as though it was a dream. I finally spoke, "Thank you, Princess Luna..."

"It is my duty to guard the dreams of my... Of everypony, Twilight." Luna spoke in a soft, yet conversational tone.

It was obvious to me that she was originally going to say 'my subjects.' I chose to ignore that, she had after all banished my nightmare... "I have nightmares like that... And worse... Every night..."

"Do you want to talk about them?" Luna gently asked.

I thought for a moment, I didn't particularly want to talk about the nightmares, it would bring up unpleasant memories... If I talked about them, however, I knew I would feel better... But with Princess Luna? I hadn't even talked to my friends about my nightmares... What would they think then, if they found out I was talking to Princess Luna... One of my... Enemies... About my nightmares? She is the princess of the night... It's her duty to guard dreams right? Yet, I had been having nightmares... Even if she hadn't been causing them, it was a lapse in her duties.

I would talk to her, it would help me. "I don't really want to, but I know it would make me feel better... I haven't even talked to my friends about them..." I sighed and frowned, "I've kind of been neglecting them since this whole thing started... I've not had time to just spend with them and relax..."

"It is understandable, that you would be busy, having to prepare your... Kingdom... For war." Luna seemed to gaze off into the distance, appearing to lose herself in her thoughts, before shaking her head slightly. "Your friends will be there for you... You should keep them close."

"Well, I have them staying in the castle with me..." I smiled slightly. There were close by if I ended up needing them.

"That's not what I meant. You should spend some time with them, it would do your mind well to relax."

Despite the fact I suspected she had ulterior motives for suggesting that, I chose to not bring that up. "Maybe..."

"Your nightmares?" Luna inquired. I was sidetracked and had forgotten about it.

"They're just... You saw that one, I couldn't save my friend... I can never save any of them... I feel so... Helpless." I lowered my head with shame, "I'm... I mean, I'm the youngest alicorn of the four of us. I'm only twenty." I shook my head, "I'm also the weakest of us. I can't match any of you in terms of sheer power..."

"Perhaps not," Luna mused, "but perhaps you don't need to. You're smart, Twilight. Your intelligence is frightening, even to me. I had observed you using that spell in your nightmare, I had no idea you knew that spell. I know for a fact, my sister does not know it."

"It's fairly simple really..." I chuckled awkwardly. The spell I had been using was one of dark magic, it was crude but effective. I wasn't in control, however. I bit my lip as I pondered my lack of control when I was spell casting. "I wasn't... I wasn't in control when I was doing that. It's like... I felt nothing from that, until..."

"I think you should stay away from dark magic until you're older and stronger. Dark magic is dangerous, I know this first hand. It is easy to lose yourself to it... I'm sure you can figure out a way to weaponize normal magic."

"I don't want to kill anypony..." My voice came out as a barely audible whisper.

Luna smiled softly at me, "Do not worry about that for now, Twilight." Luna's horn glowed, I felt an overwhelming tiredness begin to take hold of my mind, "Rest." Luna commanded.

Princess Twilight Sparkle

The first thing I noted when I awoke was I felt very refreshed and wide awake. Slowly, I remembered my dream encounter with Princess Luna. I smiled, perhaps she would help me in the future. I practically jumped to my hooves as I rose from my bed. I looked around my room and smiled when my eyes rested on my tiara and regalia. I felt calm, and happy now.

I trotted over to the balcony doorway, I opened the door and took a step outside. It was early in the morning. the cool morning air filled my lungs as I inhaled, invigorating my body with a rush of energy. The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon. It was the first time in weeks I had arisen early enough in the morning to watch in awe as the majestic celestial orb, a gigantic thermonuclear fusion reaction in space, held together by its own gravity, rise over the world.

I smiled at the sight, and felt a tear form in my eye, and gently roll down my muzzle as I recalled the first time I had watched Princess Celestia raise the sun in person. It was a beautiful sight, watching her raise the sun and lower the moon. She looked so beautiful that day, with her majestic ethereal mane billowing in the morning breeze. It was that moment when I dedicated myself to learning magic, wholeheartedly. It truly was a sight to behold.

I looked out across Ponyville, my kingdom, I smiled. The town was mostly still asleep, only a handful of ponies were out and about. I could see the construction of the barracks and training ground from my balcony, they were continuing to add more structures to the facilities as it became necessary, and it was being built quickly. It could already house the small army I had recruited. Even if the army was untrained, moral was high. They all truly believed in me, my heart swelled with pride.

Of course, my castle was always active, at least partially. Roughly one-fourth of the trained guards I had were on night watch, and I had a few staff ponies handling business during the night, but most of the business going on was during the bustle of day. Since the sun had yet to fully rise over the horizon, neither Sparkler nor Mayor Mare would be up yet. I doubted any of my friends would be awake yet either. I watched the sun with contentedness as it slowly continued to rise over the horizon.

'Perhaps I should grab an early breakfast...' I smiled, 'Yes, eating breakfast and watching the sun rise would be nice.' I lit my horn and teleported to the kitchen. While the full kitchen staff wouldn't be in yet, there'd always be somepony there to tend to any requests.

"Fluttershy, I'm surprised you're awake already." I spoke as I sat beside her. The chef who had prepared my breakfast had told me that Fluttershy had already awoken. When I inquired as to where she went, he pointed me to the uppermost balcony of the castle. Fluttershy had apparently started eating her breakfasts there, it went to show how much I had neglected my friends.

Fluttershy jumped slightly and squeaked in surprise when she heard me call out to her, before turning around and smiling towards me. "Twilight? Oh, I didn't expect to see you here... With it being so early... And um..."

"Well, I slept well last night. Princess Luna helped me with the nightmares..." I hadn't told them about Princess Luna giving me a visit yesterday, so I didn't know what to expect her reaction to be.

"Oh... That was nice of her." Fluttershy softly responded. She raised a cup of steaming tea with her hoof and took a drink.

I trotted over to her and pulled a chair out, "Mind if I join you?"

Fluttersy smiled, "That would be lovely, Twilight." I smiled back.

I levitated the plate of food for myself I had been carrying since I left the kitchen, I had chosen two waffles for breakfast, and tea to drink. I sat the plate down on the table. I didn't remember there being a table or chairs here before, "I don't remember there being a table of chairs here before, did you move these here?"

Fluttershy softly answered, "Oh um, yes, I hope you don't mind. It's just so nice up here."

I had to give her credit for taking initiative without asking me. The view up here was beautiful, you could see for miles around. The sun was about halfway above the horizon by now and climbing. "No, that's fine. It really is beautiful up here." I nodded my head to myself as I forked a bite of waffle into my mouth.

"It really is, isn't it? I always love coming up here to eat breakfast. The view, the sereneness, the openness..."

"Sorry I've been neglecting you and the rest of the girls... I've been busy... But it's no excuse."

"Oh, no, it's fine, Twilight. You're really busy now, running your own kingdom, I can't begin to imagine how stressful it must be for you..."

"I'll have to make it up to all of you sometime..." I trailed off in thought.

After breakfast with Fluttershy, I didn't have anything that required my immediate attention. I offered to hang out with Fluttershy, but she declined my offer. Since I had nothing else to do, I decided to experiment with some of the crystals that the diamond dogs had been extracting from the Everfree Forest. I held an amethyst in my hooves, the purple gem was unrefined, raw. Lacking in any truly useful form. I analyzed it in my magic, it contained many imperfections and impurities which would weaken the structure.

I would fix that momentarily.

I levitated a book from the bookshelf over to me, 'Higher Enchantments and Gem Transmutology'. The knowledge contained within was focused on purifying crystals, and enchanting them to store magic or spells for later use. Most of the information within it was theoretical, and had been attempted to varying degrees of success by lesser unicorns. Unicorns who did not have the magic of an alicorn, even a weak one.

I prepared a new spell in my mind, then lashed out with my magic, separating the crystal into its base components. The concentration required was almost too much, even for me. Slowly, the gem undid itself into its base molecular components. I cast another spell, separating the impure molecules from the pure ones. I then cast a final spell, restoring the bonds between molecules. Slowly, I shaped the mass of disordered crystal into a beautiful, six-pointed magenta star, one of just the right size to fit into the chestplate of my armor.

The spells having finished, I exhaled and inhaled sharply, my mind was screaming from the amount of focus it had required. I gently lowered the perfect crystal onto the table. Once I let go of it with my magic, I was assaulted by a massive headache. I checked my magic with a simple spell. It took a lot out of me to do that.

However, my mind was already fighting through the headache to process the information I had learned from that. I was already designing a far more efficient spell to accomplish the same task, in just one step. I looked over at the pile of leftover material, and then to the pile of impurities. The leftover mass of crystal could be placed back into the treasury and I could mess with it again later. The impurities contained a high amount of lead and iron. It could be refined and separated, providing additional mineral resources.

I lit my horn to levitate my armor over to me, but I quickly threw my hooves against my head as the headache attacked me. 'Right... No using magic for a while... That might have been a mistake.'

I slowly stood to my hooves, I almost fell over from the exertion of magic, but I caught myself with a wing. I groaned, "I overdid myself today..." I sighed, "And it started so nice..." I picked the crystal up in my magic and trotted over to my armor. I made sure to pace myself, lest I fall over and embarrass myself. Once I reached my armor, I rested my hoof on the crystal that currently sat in the chestplate. I would need magic to get it out, I sighed. "Looks like I won't be finishing this today."

"Mayor Mare?" I asked as I trotted into the room. Mayor Mare had been managing some tasks I had delegated to her, but they could wait. I had decided that I needed to have a research facility, and some scientists working there to come up with new ideas and practical applications for them. If you can't win a war by numbers, and you don't have brute force, you need every advantage you can get, right? That's where science would come in for me.

Mayor Mare immediately got up and bowed, "Princess, I wasn't expecting you." She rose from the bow, "What do you need?"

"I would like to have a lab, or research facility constructed. And then I'd like to hire some scientists to work there. Can you get me a quote and a list of scientists residing in my kingdom?"

"Of course Princess, I'll take care of it at once." she bowed again.

"Thanks." I replied, I went to teleport but was reminded why I hadn't teleported here. 'Ow.' I winced as pain throbbed in my skull yet again. I turned and trotted out the door, Mayor Mare trotted out shortly behind me. 'What to do now...' I wondered, it was more than an hour before lunchtime, and I didn't have anything to immediately see to. Overexerting myself with magic earlier cleared my schedule of practicing with Sergeant Bolt for the day, and I would probably have to take it easy during the next week.

'I could go take a look at my army...' I nodded to myself in confirmation. Yes, I would go to the training grounds and analyze their progress. I remembered not to use magic this time and took off trotting for the main castle door. I made it halfway there before Captain Light showed up with Sergeant Bolt and Rainbow Dash in tow.

"I know you don't like having an escort, or personal guards, Princess. But, we are supposed to protect you." Captain Light firmly replied from his bow. "You overdid your magic, so you can't exactly use your magic to defend yourself. At least take Private Dash with you."

He had a point. "Okay."

"I'm not taking no for- wait what? You're not going to be stubborn?"

"No, you have a point. I can't exactly do anything with my magic right now, so I am pretty defenseless. Even though I highly doubt I would run into trouble."

The captain and sergeant bowed before leaving. Rainbow immediately started hovering beside me. "So what's on the agenda for today?"

"I'm going to go see how my army is coming along." I started trotting again.

"Oh, cool." Rainbow responded. We trotted in silence for a few minutes before Rainbow spoke again, "So I heard you were up early today?"

"Yeah, I slept better."

"That mean you're done having nightmares?"

I stopped my stride and shifted my hooves, "I certainly hope so." Several seconds later I resumed trotting.

As I trotted along examining the ranks of my army, I noted how much more unified it would look if I used a simple illusion spell to change the shade of everypony's coat color. I made a mental note to look into that at a later point in time. The small force assembled here appeared to be around one hundred, I didn't take the time to count. The rest of the soldiers were training or busy following the instructor's commands.

While they did not look as unified as they could, you could see their resolve. It was almost palpable, the sea of purple and gold seemed to radiate determination in every direction you looked.

The soldiers assembled before me were a decent mix of all three pony races, unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi. I noted that although the mixture was fairly equal, there certainly were far more earth ponies than the other races. It wasn't really surprising.

They each held a spear against their armor with a hoof. While most of a pony's ability to fight came from their inert magic, they could use a spear to give them additional tactics, such as throwing it from a distance with magic or earth pony strength. Unicorns and earth ponies could throw spears at lethal speeds, and pegasi could drop them from heights that would give them enough velocity to penetrate armor. I shuddered at the thought.

Their armor, it was unique. Unlike their Princess Celestia or Princess Luna's counterparts, consisting of a fairly solid single color, the armor they wore was a deep shade of purple, with gold edging. Other than the color scheme, the armor was basically identical to royal guard armor, consisting of three different types, depending on race, of course.

I turned to the drill sergeant, "Thank you, Sergeant. That will be all..."

Chapter 9

General Maneuver

Stalliongrad... An ancient city located on the northern boundary of Equestria, a city older than Canterlot, dating back before Nightmare Moon's rise. I looked out across the city from a nearby hill. The city wall's had recently been built, they were a crude wood and stone construct, lacking advanced fortifications, save for a handful of towers. The walls would easily fall under unicorn bombardment, and then my troops would flood in from multiple directions, and the battle would be won. I casually nodded to myself.

"Colonel," I turned around and faced my second in command, Colonel Blitz Kreig, "give me your report."

The colonel, a grey unicorn stallion with a dark mane, saluted, and spoke in a heavy germane accent, "The enemy is aware of our presence, their troops are being rallied as we speak. Your forces have been divided into three groups, as per your orders, General. All three forces are in position and await your command to begin the attack." The colonel trotted over to the map, "The unicorn combat groups are set up here, here, and here." His hoof pointed out red dots on the map, marking the location where I had prepared to attack. "The enemy forces are concentrated heavily here, and here, at the facing what they believe to be the main attack force."

"Enemy force intel?" I asked.

"Reports indicate the primary composition of the enemy's forces are earth ponies, backed up with several pegasi squadrons, and four to six unicorn battle groups. There is also a small enemy force here," He tapped his hoof on a black circled area within the nearby forest. "Intelligence from captured scouts suggests it is a small force of one unicorn battle group, five pegasi wings, and a few hundred earth ponies heading in to provide reinforcements."

I smiled, "So while they may know I'm coming, they don't realize that they've already lost..." I lifted my hoof from the ground, and flexed my leg, my retractable hoof blade launched out menacingly, I smiled at the sharp, silvery edge of the enchanted steel blade. The enchantment allowed the blade to extend or retract based on how I moved my legs and hooves, it also made the blade much harder to break. "I believe we are ready Colonel." I nodded. "Signal the attack."

"Yes, General!" He lit his horn and closed his eyes in concentration. His horn emitted a subtle red glow, it grew in intensity over a few seconds and I had to look away from the brightness. I heard a popping sound, and there was a flash of light. I turned my head towards the sky, watching the red magic flare arc towards the sky, providing the signal to start. I watched the flare until it fizzled out.

I turned my gaze down upon the assembled army of forces below me. The line of unicorns in the back was easily distinguished from the earth ponies up front by the not so subtle glow of their horns being charged with magic for spells. Princess Celestia wanted minimal casualties, the unicorns would bombard the wall until it collapsed, it shouldn't take more than a volley or two to collapse the weak wall. After that, they would switch to providing defense for the earth ponies. I held my pegasi in reserve, I would lead them into battle personally.

I watched the unicorns as they released their spells in unison, the result of many hours of grueling training. Unicorn battle groups were trained to function as a group, rather than individuals, they played off of each other's strengths, and reinforced one another's weakness. Despite the inherent differences in skill, magic, and talents, the spells arced forwards with hardly any visible differences from one another, another result of hours of training.

Another barrage of magic arced towards the city's walls, this time coming from the left, it was followed shortly by a barrage from the opposite side of the city. I could see flashes of light coming from the walls, the result of spells the unicorn defender's spells. Soon, spells began hitting spells, detonating against one another. Where two spells collided, brilliant flashes of light could be seen for an instant, before a wave of smoke flourished into existence, followed shortly by a sharp cracking noise.

The first barrage against the walls was followed shortly thereafter by another volley. The volley pushed through the smoke field created by spells exploding against spells, temporarily hiding them from sight, reducing the time the defenders had to react to intercept them. The smoke cleared as the third volley was released.

Spells from the second barrage sporadically impacted the wall, annihilating wood, stone, and shredding anypony unfortunate enough to be within the blast radius. I watched on as the violent, energetic flashes of light shattered the walls as if they were nothing more than glass. One of the spells almost missed a tower but caught its side. The spell reacted immediately and detonated, removing a large chunk of the tower's supporting structure. The structure soon became top heavy and began to tilt over. Soon the tower collapsed upon the wall, breaking it down even further into large chunks.

The unicorns released a forth barrage, but the walls had already been opened. "Order them to move in to take the city." I commanded.

"Yes, General."

A few seconds later there was a popping sound from behind me, and another magical flare arced up towards the sky. I momentarily glanced at the new flare, it looked like the previous one, yet it didn't. It felt different somehow. I shook my head slightly. 'I will never understand unicorns and their magic.'

The soldiers reacted immediately to the flare and soon began rushing towards the city. The main attack group would hit from the front, they would move in quickly and force the defenders to pull back or get slaughtered. Once the main attack penetrated the city walls, they would begin forcing as wide an area of confrontation as they could, providing a diversion to draw attention away from the attacks from the left and right side of the city.

As the main attack force neared the breach, the enemy dedicated their pegasi to the fight. I frowned. "Colonel, you have command." I flared my wings in preparation to take the skies, it would signal the pegasi to rally on me, I would lead them personally into battle.

He sharply saluted,"Yes, General."

I beat my wings hard as I took to the sky, I felt the wind against my wings as I climbed higher, after a few seconds, I watched other pegasi launch themselves into the air. A minute latter and all the pegasi except the ones being held in reserve had rallied behind me. The pegasi held their positions, awaiting my command. Their gold armor glinted against the sun as it caught sharp angles created from the wing beats of the pegasi.

"Soldiers!" I called out, "Provide cover for the ground forces, intercept pegasi and strafe enemy positions!" I flapped my wings hard and pulled a one-eighty, quickly turning around to face the city. "To battle!" I yelled.

I Flapped my wings hard and I accelerated towards the city, while I was leading the pegasi into battle, a few wings were fast enough to outpace me, and soon flew passed me. They would enter the battle sooner than the bulk of my pegasi. Hopefully, cause enough of a distraction to reduce casualties my forces incur.

As I grew close enough to make out individual soldiers fighting it out, I could see the flashes of light indicating unicorn spells being thrown against one another. Barriers flashed to life, intercepting some, others cracked under the force, and others simple shattered. It soon became clear that our forces were evenly matched, despite intelligence indicating we had a numerical advantage.

The pegasi that had been escorting me broke off to begin attacking, banking to the right to engage an enemy pegasi wing that had just taken to the air. I banked left and scanned the both the sky and the ground for enemies, I soon found a unicorn, one of my own, pinned down behind a collapsed building. Three unicorns were sending small spells, probably ones designed for use in close quarters, towards his position. I flapped my wings and dove towards the first unicorn.

I flared my wings out, catching more air and slowing my descent just feet before impact, I pulled my front legs back, and then thrust them forwards, allowing my speed to add momentum to my attack. My sharp enchanted blades bounced off his neck armor, but the force of the blow pushed him downwards, a second later my full weight collided with his body, pinning him to the ground. I pulled my right hoof back while I held his head down with my left, and threw it against the side of his head. The blade penetrated the thin armor and tore through bone and into his brain. I jerked my hoof away while retracting my blade while dodging a spell one of the other unicorns had sent towards me.

I jumped towards the unicorn, stiffening my wings as I flew across the ground, almost touching it. I threw my blades forwards and caught him in his unarmored neck. He threw his hooves up and landed a solid hit on my shoulder. Unicorns were deadly in combat, just not once you were close enough to engage them in hoof to hoof combat. I shrugged off the blow and tore my blades through his neck, severing his arteries, and pulled each blade out the opposite side, nearly decapitating him. Blood splattered against my shining golden armor as I kicked the corpse away with one of my back hooves.

The third unicorn, having been distracted by my swift elimination of his two comrades had forgotten about his original target. That mistake cost him his life when a spell bolt impacted him in his side, instantly tearing through his armor, and lashing out at his flesh. He immediately collapsed to the ground as the magic tore through his mind, shutting his body down. Such spells were uncommon on the battlefield, only highly trained unicorns could cast such spells, and it required a target to be distracted, and several seconds to charge up. I nodded at the unicorn before taking to the skies once more.

I flew around the city's airspace felling stray enemy pegasi by cutting off one of their wings, causing them to plummet to their deaths. I eventually found a group of earth ponies engaging another group, two against three. My soldiers were outnumbered. I sighted a group of hostile unicorns, four of them, approaching from another street. I didn't need to attack them, soon three pegasi swooped down and began fighting them. Since they were occupied, I turned my attention back to the fight below.

I pulled my wings into my body and angled myself on a trajectory to impact an earth pony preparing a kick with his back legs. Such a kick could easily break bones. I did not flare my wings to bleed speed this time, and instead impacted the pony with enough force to throw him to the ground. My blades made contact first, their small surface area combined with the momentum from my fall easily broke through the armor. The blow wasn't fatal, but it would slow him down.

I retracted my blades and backflipped off of him, landing on all four hooves against the ground. The pony cried out in pain from the injury inflicted by my twin blades, the earth pony I had landed beside turned to see the source of the shout. I slashed at his neck with my blade, steel made contact with flesh, easily cutting through his unarmored neck. The cut wasn't deep enough to kill him, I frowned.

The earth pony swiveled on his front hooves, powering through the pain of his injury, and pulled back his hind legs for a powerful kick. I jumped back, using my wings to push myself into the air, narrowly avoiding the full force of an earth pony's kick at close range. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a unicorn send a spell at me, I tucked my wings against my body armor and let myself fall back to the ground. The spell still hit, but it missed my wings. I felt my armor heat up from magic released by the impact.

The wall across the street exploded outwards, and three unicorns clad in gold-plated armor rushed out, launching a volley of spells towards the hostile unicorn and earth ponies. The unicorn turned his head and cast a hastily made barrier, it caught all the spells the unicorns had sent at it and held, the pink field rippled with each impact. The unicorn's horn glowed brighter, and there was a flash of pink light. The unicorn had teleported. In a battle.

I immediately turned around and scanned my immediate area for any signs of the unicorn. Nothing.

A few seconds later, I heard an explosion. I turned around to see a crater where the three unicorns had been moments before. Two of the unicorns had escaped the blast radius, but their armor had been dented and was now covered in dust. The third unicorn had been violently thrown into the air, I watched as he landed on his side. He didn't get up. The two remaining unicorns engaged the hostile unicorn, I followed their spells with my eye and saw him on the roof of a nearby building. He skillfully dodged spell after spell, while returning spells without missing a beat.

His spells impacted barriers thrown up by the two remaining unicorns, the looked to be in distress from the magical assault. I saw several pegasi fly by, chasing hostile pegasi who were carrying unicorns beneath them. An Idea came to my mind. I turned to the two earth ponies, "I'm going to put you on the roof," I motioned to the one who looked to be in better shape, "and you, find a way to the roof. Engage and eliminate that unicorn!"

I flapped my wings and flew over to the earth pony who remained where he was, I put my hooves beneath him. Once I was sure I had a good grip on him, I started lifting him. A few seconds of rapid acceleration later and I was a few feet higher in the air than the roof. I shot forwards horizontally, I calculated his drop trajectory and released him. He landed and took it in stride, immediately distracting the unicorn and charging at him.

The sudden panic of seeing the earth pony nearly upon him prevented him from concentrating on his spell to teleport. He resorted to attacking the pony with magic. The earth pony shrugged off a couple hits before one landed squarely on his head, he tripped over his body and was propelled to the floor inches away from the unicorn.

The second earth pony had evidently found his was to the roof by now, and slammed into the unicorn, knocking him off the roof. He saluted, I raised my hoof to return the salute but an explosion rocketed the building. I jumped off the building and flapped my wings to get airborne as I felt the structure begin to crumble beneath me. I grit my teeth, nopony was supposed to be using explosive spells within the city.

Princess Luna

A guard came rushing into the tent, I looked up from the map I had been analyzing, "Princess Luna!" He shouted urgently.

"Yes, guardspony?"

"General Maneuver has begun his attack on Stalliongrad! The field commander is awaiting confirmation that he is in the field before springing the trap."

"Very well, it seems the battle has begun." I turned to my general. "General, begin the assault, but Celestia is mine." I commanded.

He immediately saluted before running off. I lit my horn and teleported to the forefront of my Lunar Vanguard. The small assembled group of twenty-four batponies immediately stood at attention when I flashed into existence. Each of them was a capable commander, and an elite, skilled soldier. While the bulk of my batpony forces were still in Vanhoover, I had taken the best of them here with me. Each one of them had an assigned objective, and forces under their command. They would act as field commanders, and they would fiercely fight to the death until they had completed their objective, or I commanded them to stop.

Both my sister and I had equal forces for this battle. However, I had three distinct advantages for the coming fight. One, the element of surprise. Two, superior soldiers. And three, I would be taking to the field, my presence on the field alone should be enough to make her think twice before committing herself to the battle.

General Maneuver

I sliced through the neck of another unicorn, and swung around and kicked his corpse into another unicorn, knocking him down. A second later and he was impacted by a spell from on of my unicorns. The unicorn immediately fell limp as her heart stopped from the magic of the overcharged stun spell. I felt the earth shake from explosions in the distance, I took to the sky to get a better view of the battle below me.

The city was a mess, debris everywhere, collapsed buildings blocked some roads, and sporadic fighting could be seen in some sections as spells flared against barriers or metal. I took the destruction below me in. "It's a good thing they evacuated the civilians..."

"General Maneuver! Sir!"

I turned towards the source of the shouting, a pegasus was approaching me quickly, his armor was covered in blood, and his feathers were a mess. It was clear he had an encounter with both unicorn and pegasus soldiers. "What is it?"

"The enemy, they have reinforcements! A full division is closing on our camp from behind us!"

I felt my heart stutter, I missed a beat with my wings and fell a few inches, "What? No, you have to be mistaken. Our scouts-"

"Sir, I just came from the base! Colonel Kreig ordered me to find you. He's currently preoccupied with fighting off enemy unicorns, and can't signal the retreat!"

I quickly processed the information, "Go find everypony you can, have them regroup at the center of town and await further instructions. Hold that position as long as you can or until I return. If it comes down to it, signal a withdraw, rendezvous at rally point beta."

"Yes sir!" He flew off.

I clenched my jaw, I needed to regroup my forces, either stay and fight or pull back. 'The scouts should have seen that force coming...' I took off towards the camp in frustration, but finding out where it went wrong would have to wait.

Princess Luna

I hovered low in the sky, beating my wings just hard enough to keep myself aloft. How my sister could have missed our approach, I would never know. I felt a smile pulling on my lips as my forces slowly crept through the trees below, soon they would hit the treeline, and the charge would begin. I saw two pegasi flying towards me from Celestia'a camp. The two pegasi were woefully unprepared for fighting an alicorn. Even at the distance they were I could tell they were just scouts. Two pegasi were no match for the magic of an alicorn.

They continued to close in, and then suddenly slowed to a stop. A few seconds later they turned around and flew back to the camp, it was obvious to me from how they flapped their wings that they realized what was happening, and who I was. Sadly, it wouldn't do to have them alert the camp and Celestia. I would have to intercept them.

I flapped my wings and accelerated towards them, they had only a few seconds of flight time ahead of me if I was flying as fast as I could. I didn't need that however, the poor colts weren't paying any attention at all to me, they weren't even looking behind them. They were too focused on getting back to their camp, whether it be for saving their lives or warning the others about the imminent attack.

I lit my horn and launched an overcharged stun spell at one of them. The spell landed on his armor, the magic was immediately released as an electrical discharge, sending a wave of electricity coursing through his body. His armor, while it did reduce the effects of the heart-stopping attack, still spread throughout his body. His wings locked up and spasmed as the electricity interrupted normal body control. He started plummeting towards the ground, he soon fell out of sight.

The other pegasus had been following him saw him get hit. The shock of watching his partner go down in one hit caused him to pause. His mistake would prove fatal for him, I closed the distance and grabbed him in my telekinetic hold. Once I had him firmly in my grasp, I sent kinetic spell at him. The spell impacted his armor with significant force, it broke through the steel, and bored through the poor colt and then flew out the other side with as much ease as it had when going in. He cried out in pain for half a second, before his life was extinguished.

I turned my attention downwards as my forces began breaking through the tree-line. It would only be a few moments before the battle began in earnest.

General Maneuver

I circled around the colonel's position from high above, he was with a small group of unicorns and pegasi, he was fighting a much larger force of unicorns and earth ponies. Although they were badly outnumbered, they were fighting valiantly. The colonel was keeping the unicorns busy, while the pegasi strafed the earth ponies.

A spell impacted the ground just a few feet away from the colonel, the resulting explosion knocked him away from the blast crater. He slowly stood to his hooves. Too slowly, 'He must have been injured in the explosion.' I banked to the right and accelerated towards the ground. I kept my eyes constantly scanning the battlefield below and above me, two earth ponies were approaching him quickly. He slowly rose to his hooves and blasted one with magic. The earth pony's armor gave way, and he slowed down, but he didn't stop.

A few seconds later I flared my wings, rapidly bleeding my speed as I impacted the ground in front of the colonel. I pulled back my right hoof and thrust my blade forwards, catching the other earth pony off guard. My blade broke through his armor, but not deep enough to kill him. I retracted my blade and jumped on him. He rolled with my impact and threw me off. I flapped my wings to right myself as I was sent flying through the air.

I gracefully landed on all four hooves and immediately lashed out with a blade at the nearest enemy, a unicorn. The unicorn lowered his head, aiming his horn in time to save his neck from my blade. The force of my blade striking his helmet knocked his aim off, and his spell completely missed me. I lowered my body towards the ground and lashed upwards with my left hoof. I jumped and flapped my wings in unison, propelling myself upwards with even more force. My blade connected with his unprotected jaw and my blade soon came out from the top of his muzzle. The wound wasn't fatal, I retracted my blade and swiftly bucked him in the chest. The impact dented his armor and he was thrown back.

A felt a solid impact behind my wing, the force of the impact pushed me off center, and I fell over before I could correct myself. A nearby unicorn took this opportunity to launch a spear towards me through his telekinesis. I felt a sharp pain and clenched my jaw as the spear penetrated my armor and tore into my body. I turned my head and bit down hard upon the spear, and pulled it back out with a sharp flick of my head.

I powered through the pain and found my way to my hooves, I quickly scanned our immediate area. The fight wasn't going well, I needed to regroup. I beat my wings and took to the sky. From my new vantage point, I could see that the camp was being overrun, the reinforcements who were held in reserve proved no match for the superior numbers and training of the veteran guards. I looked down at the group of ponies below me. "Retreat! Rally on me!"

The pegasi below me immediately followed my order and broke off their engagements, taking to the skies, rallying on me. The unicorns below immediately began galloping after me as I started flying towards the city. The order also had the unwanted side effect of drawing more attention to myself. Soon spells were flying left and right towards us. I looked around at the group of pegasi flying with me, as a group we were in no condition to match the unicorns and pegasi chasing us.

Princess Celestia

The ground shook beneath my hooves and I heard a loud explosion, I immediately looked up from the intelligence report I had been reading over. Another explosion, something was wrong. I dropped the document from my magic hold and dashed to the front of the tent. I looked outside right as another spell detonated, causing a magical explosion. My soldier were darting about left and right in chaos, General Hoof was running towards the tent at a pace that would have put General Maneuver to shame.

I stepped out of the tent and ran to meet him halfway. "Princess! We're under attack! Princess Luna's forces are charging from the treeline, they're being lead by batponies!"

I clenched my jaw. If my sister was committing batponies... "How many batponies?" I lit my horn and teleported my armor onto my body in preparation for aiding my soldiers. It was likely my sister had planned this... 'General Maneuver...' I grimaced, Luna would have taken advantage of my dividing my forces... 'I should have brought General Breaker and his forces with me.'

"Each one seems to be spearheading a group of Princess Luna's forces, there are no more than thirty of them, however."

"We need to fall back, I will keep Luna occupied while you withdraw our forces to a more defendable position. If Luna is deploying batponies she intends to win this fight. She will have at least as many soldiers as we do, and her forces are more experienced with combat than ours."

He saluted, "Yes Princess!'

I looked to the skies, searching for my sister. It wasn't hard to miss her, she was killing my pegasi left and right, providing a distraction so her pegasi were left free to cause problems for the rest of my forces. I flared my wings out and took to the air, the pegasi attacking Luna were fools, they couldn't hope to beat her, only provide a distraction for her. They would be more useful engaging her pegasi, even if they would be outnumbered.

Luna must have seen me taking to the sky, as I approached her she turned her attention from the pegasi to casting spells towards me. I rolled around her spells with ease and retaliated with my own spells. One of my own pegasi was hit by one of my spells that missed, I felt sorrow for him, but pushed it to the back of my mind. This fight would take focus. I needed to get these pegasi away, once I did that, I would have more room to maneuver. I used magic to amplify my voice, "Pegasi, go provide support for the ground forces, I shall fight Princess Luna!"

The pegasi immediately complied and turned their attention away from my sister. We both hovered in the air, we glared at each other. Her gaze seemed as if it were staring at my soul, it was discomforting. I spoke softly. "Luna, we don't have to do this."

"There will be justice, Celestia." She spat.

I frowned, "Justice? You and your army will be responsible for hundreds, if not thousands of deaths. Stallions and mares that did nothing wrong. Parents that will never see their foals again, taken from them by war."

"They made their choices, as we have made ours." Luna lit her horn and shot a spell towards me, I raised a barrier, blocking the spell. The spell detonated upon impact with my barrier, the force of the blast pushed me backward.

I pushed against gravity with my wings, propelling myself higher. I flared my wings and held myself suspended in air by my magic as I began channeling magic into my horn. Luna responded in kind.

I lowered my head, pointing my horn towards her, a magnificent yellow beam of magic shot from my horn. Luna met my beam with an equally powerful beam of pale blue magic. Reality began to warp where the spells met, twisting space and time upon itself. After a few seconds, I broke off my attack and dodged the remainder of the magic Luna had sent towards me. I banked left and quickly fired off three stun spells in rapid succession. Killing my sister was not something I wanted.

The stun spells impacted a barrier projected by Luna. She made a sweeping motion with her horn, and a wave of kinetic force shot out towards me. I raised a barrier in time to block out the turbulent force ripping through the air. Luna closely followed in the wake of the spell, she collided with me, pinning my wings to my body with her hooves and magic. I kicked out at her with my hind legs to no avail, we began accelerating towards the ground. I sent a telekinetic wave from my horn into Luna's face, her head jerked back slightly.

While she recovered from my sudden assault, I kicked out at her with both pairs of my legs. All four hooves made contact with her armor, I felt the steel give way slightly, and Luna lost her grip on my wings. I immediately flared them out and bled my speed, then accelerated back towards the sky.

Luna flipped over mid-air and sent a beam of magic at me, I rolled out of the way. I followed Luna's spell with my eyes, it struck a cloud, instantly the cloud dispersed. I looked back down but didn't see Luna. I immediately tucked in my left wing and flapped my right wing hard, narrowly avoiding Luna colliding against me once again. 'She must have teleported above me when I wasn't looking... Distractions...'

I flew straight up and then did a back flip, arcing back down towards her. Using my wings and magic, I made myself accelerate faster than her. Soon I was traveling faster than she was, at this speed, impacting the ground would prove fatal without magic. I was caught off guard when Luna flared her wings and I quickly fell below her. I instinctually protected myself with a barrier, less than a second later I felt a spell strike it.

I cast a teleportation spell and appeared high in the sky once more, atop a cloud. Looking below me, I could see that Luna's forces were on the edge of the camp, my soldiers would hold a position for a barrage of spells and then retreat while their enemies advanced. General Hoof had definitely given the order to retreat, my ponies were pulling back. Their retreat was orderly, no doubt my sister would rather route my forces. If I didn't keep her occupied, she would rout them herself. The cloud burst beneath me as a spell struck it, 'Speaking of occupied...'

I flared my wings out and pushed down, forcing my body back and upwards into the sky, avoiding another spell. I rolled to the left, 'She is better at fighting than me...' I averted my gaze from her for a second to look back to the camp below, a spell struck me in the chest. I clenched my jaw and fought off the urge to scream as the violent magic surged through my body. My head jerked back and my wings spasmed. My mind was screaming through the spell's chaotic insanity. The spell would have killed anypony who was not an alicorn, or at the very least rendered them unable to fight for several minutes. They would bear the mental scars for a lifetime...

I realized I had started falling, the ground was fast approaching. I couldn't feel my wings, I looked back to see them being pushed upwards by the force of the air rushing passed me. Using my magic, I converted my momentum into energy as I approached the ground. I used the energy from the spell to create a blast wave spell when I was a few feet above the ground. The energy released by the spell knocked back anything standing near me and dug a crater into the earth. I did a quick survey of my surroundings, nopony was near me, so the blast wave spell was unneeded. I cast a quick glance to the sky, Luna was nowhere to be seen. 'I need to regroup and fall back...'

I lit my horn and cast a teleportation spell, immediately I blinked into existence inside my command tent. A quick survey revealed it had already went through the battle. The table which formerly had maps laid upon it was now nothing more than splinters, having been destroyed by a unicorn spell. I looked over to what remained of my chair, I took the sight in with pity. A unicorn lay against the broken chair, her armor was covered in blood and she laid in a pool of her own blood. I shook my head and teleported again, I needed to find General Hoof.

"Generals." I nodded towards General Hoof, General Breaker, Director Tap, and General Maneuver in turn. "It's good you were able to get out of Stalliongrad successfully, General Maneuver."

"It wasn't easy... How did that happen anyway, the scouts should have detected their mobilization?"

"Perhaps Director Tap can answer that question for us?" I turned towards the stallion, giving him an accusatory glare. He remained unfazed, however.

"My operatives are still looking into that, Princess. I would highly advise against going on the offensive for the foreseeable future against Princess Luna, and I also advise using this time to strike Princess Twilight Sparkle. She's building her forces up, and already has a few hundred soldiers, they aren't battle ready and are not trained yet, Princess."

"Against another alicorn you would need my presence to win, even if it is Twilight... If we moved against her now, while we are in a weakened state, Luna will undoubtedly attack us further. She has already proven we can't afford to spread our forces thin." I sighed. "What kind of casualties did we suffer?"

"Seventeen percent to my forces during the battle for Stalliongrad and subsequent withdraw."

"Fifteen percent to our forces from the engagement with Luna and her army."

"Approximately one tenth of our forces were lost in those two battles. Princess Luna's casualties were higher than ours at Stalliongrad, but we still suffered more losses than she did in total."

"Thank you, Director..." I sighed. 'This is off to a bad start...'

Chapter 10

Princess Twilight Sparkle

I looked around the table confirming everypony was here. I went through my mental list, 'Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, Captain Light, and Sergeant Bolt.' "Okay Rarity, what have you heard?" I asked. Rarity had been keeping tabs on Princess Celestia through her contacts in Canterlot and gossip. Most of the gossip she had heard proved pointless, however, occasionally she would hear something useful.

Rarity began, "Princess Celestia suffered two devastating defeats in one day. General Maneuver lost a battle at Stalliongrad and Princess Luna herself attacked Princess Celestia. They fought each other in combat. Princess Celestia... Lost." She paused to let it sink in.

I frowned, losing two battles in one day was not a good start for her... Princess Luna on the other hoof... "Please continue."

Rarity cleared her throat, "Both of them took pretty big blows to their armies. Princess Celestia's soldiers... Took the bigger hit." Rarity grimaced.

I turned my head to look at Captain Light, "Captain? What are your thoughts on this development?"

The captain furrowed his brow, he looked to be thinking over the information. After a few seconds he responded, "I'm... Not surprised at the outcome of the two battles. Princess Luna took more veteran soldiers with her, and she has more military experience... It will take both of them time to recover from this. I don't believe Princess Celestia will be making any moves anytime soon... Princess Luna on the other hoof may choose to press her advantage."

I nodded at him, "Thank you, captain." I turned to Rarity, "You can go now unless you want to stay."

"I am rather busy today, darling. I'm afraid I'll have to take my leave of this meeting." Rarity smiled weakly, "Military stuff isn't my... Cup of tea, shall we say."

I nodded at her in understanding, "Of course, Rarity." I turned to Applejack, "And what are your thoughts, Applejack?"

Applejack responded flatly, "I'm not really sure why I'm here."

"To give me advice." I answered with a smile.

Applejack seemed to think for a moment, "Well, I have to agree that I don't think Princess Celestia will be doing anything soon. Personally, I would wait before I did anything, to see what they do next."

I nodded my head as I thought it over, "Sergeant," I turned towards him, "How is the training of... My army... Coming along?"

"It's progressing, they could fight now if needed, but they're still fairly fresh. I would advise waiting before making any aggressive movements." He answered.

I thought for a moment, "Okay, I don't think it would be wise to attack with an army that can't fight...." I thought for a moment, "We need some kind of advantage, or more trained ponies, or something."

"You could... Contact another nation and try to convince them to help you, for one. Another option is to try to get support from more cities. Cloudsdale is currently within our territory and has yet to declare any allegiance. Or you could always try to convince more guards to defect, Celestia's forces would be at low morale currently from their defeats."

All things considered, I had quite a few options, so no pressure to do something stupid. Contacting another nation would be risky, and could start to spread the conflict beyond Equestria's borders. I mentally crossed that option out. Getting support from more cities sounded viable, and Cloudsdale did have the Wonderbolts and their militia, both of which were decently sized and well trained fighting forces... Convincing them would be risky, but definitely worthwhile. Convincing a sizable portion of Celestia's forces to defect would be very risky, and would probably make both Princesses take notice of me... Not to mention even if they have low morale, they were still quite loyal. I would hold this option in reserve.

Looks like only one option is currently viable then, "Captain, any idea of what I would need to do to get Cloudsdale on my side?"

"No, Princess. You could probably pay them a visit and discuss it with them, I doubt they would attack you. I don't think they would be stupid enough to try something like that."

I smiled solemnly, "You're forgetting they could succeed if they tried to kill me."

He waited a moment before replying, "You could... Take a few pegasi guards with you. It might make them treat you with more hostility, but it could also help improve your image as a viable leader."

I nodded my head, "I think it would be worth the risk... But I need to wait a while before doing something like that, I'm still not at full power from..." I trailed off, he already knew. Bringing it up again would... Yeah, I'm not bringing it up again. "Sergeant Bolt, if you could assemble a team of three pegasi and have them on standby, I would appreciate that." Captain Light gave me a certain look of concern, "Rainbow Dash will accompany me also. She's a well-known pegasus, having her with me should increase my chances of success." That seemed to appease the captain.

"Alright, I think that's all." I stood from my chair, I dismissed them with a slight nod. The assembled ponies rose to their hooves and left, going about their business. Rainbow Dash and Applejack stayed behind. Rainbow Dash would be following me around, but I had no idea what Applejack wanted.

Applejack approached me, "You sure you can handle something like that, Twilight?"

I smiled, "I'll be fine."

"Is there anything I can do to help you?" Applejack asked.

"Don't you have to take care of your farm?"

"Well, I talked it over with the rest of my family. And with the help you're giving us we can hire some helpers. That frees me up, and I was thinking-"

I cut her off, "If you're going to try to convince me to let you fight-"

She answered forcefully, "Twilight, I'm a strong earth pony. I know how to fight. We've taken down how many bad guys together before?"

I sighed, "Fine." I shook my head, "Next thing I know, It'll be Fluttershy wanting to be a soldier with the way things are going." Applejack chuckled and Rainbow snickered at my poor joke. I smiled too. 'It seems that the lack of nightmares has improved my mood a lot. I'll have to thank Princess Luna sometime...' I frowned.

Princess Luna

Stalliongrad was a war zone. The only other way to describe it would be absolute chaos. 'Even Discord was never this bad.' I clenched my jaw as I walked through the debris littering the street. At the end of the street, a collapsed building blocked the road. "I know for a fact that building was neither there, nor looked like that prior to the battle. Find out who was responsible for this destruction. I will see to it personally they will not cause this much damage ever again." The anger and coldness of my voice helped to affirm I demanded immediate attention to my order.

The guard flanking me to my right stuttered as he answered, "Y-yes, Princess."

I heard his hoofsteps as he galloped off to start gathering information for the report. I trotted towards the sky, smoke still clouded the otherwise clear sky. Despite the battle having taken place days earlier, cleanup had yet to begin. Rebuilding would take him. I started walking forwards once more. I cleared a path through the debris of the collapsed building that was blocking the street. Crushed beneath one of the large stones was a stallion clad in armor that looked like the night sky. A unicorn, by the looks of it. He couldn't have been much older than Twilight...

Yet another death to add to the growing count my sister has. I grimaced as I thought about my own count. We both had blood on our hooves now.

I lifted the mangled corpse with my magic and gently laid him to the side, and continued trekking through the collapsed building. The building was formerly a watchtower. Emphasis on 'was'. Trotting through the debris was difficult, small debris were strewn across the floor. It would be easy to loose one's footing and break a leg or hoof.

I paused when I reached the wall on the other side, it was somehow still intact, despite the force of a collapsing stone tower impacting the ground, and barrage of spells that must have hit the tower. I lifted a hoof and placed it on the cold stone wall, admiring the magic that must have been used to shape and fuse the rocks together into a massive slab of rock for supporting the tower. I returned my hoof to the floor and lit my horn. With precision, I channeled a beam of magic into the stone wall and cut a large circular hole into it. I took the cut out in my magic and set it aside.

The scene on the other side was no different from the one I had come from. Houses, ponies homes... They were destroyed everywhere. I swallowed back bile growing in my throat, while at the same time thanking my foresight to evacuate the ponies that had lived here. There wasn't much left for them to return to now however...

It was better than the alternative.

The refugees from the city... An entire city's worth of refugees... They were now being housed in Vanhoover until we could rebuild Stalliongrad. Under normal conditions, rebuilding would take weeks to a few months. War, however, was not a normal condition. Most labor and materials would be needed by fighting sides for military purposes. It could take months to rebuild, if not years if the war lasted that long.

Of course, the damage was only this bad because we had fought and won the battle. Had we left the city to General Maneuver's forces, none of the destruction from the battle would have happened. My soldiers fought hard, forcing the other side to bleed for every inch of the city they took, and then my forces bled them while they were pushed out of the city. The price of victory was heavy, but the cost of defeat would have been worse.

It had been over a thousand years since I had last seen war. It had not changed much since then. The only real differences were soldiers were now far more lethal, healing magic had progressed farther, and advances in material sciences and magics. Sure, buildings were stronger. Sure, we could heal a lot of injuries, but unicorns had grown significantly more powerful, magically speaking in the past thousand years. They had rendered chemical explosives obsolete with devastating new spells that required more magic than most unicorns of old could be trained to wield. Of course, that was in ancient times, there were more unicorns that had unmatched powers, such as King Sombra. He could go head to head with an alicorn and win. He defeated the first crystal princess after all... However, it seemed that the magic had been dispersed more evenly, there were far less powerful unicorns now, and they didn't have as much of a comparative advantage compared to normal unicorn soldiers now. However, some of them were stronger than the most powerful unicorns of old...

Still, King Sombra had only defeated a relatively weak and young alicorn, while my sister and I have had thousands of years to increase our magical power... We would have defeated Sombra with ease if he hadn't-

"Princess!"

I looked over to see a guard approaching me, he bowed in respect before speaking...

Princess Twilight Sparkle

"I don't think Captain..." Rainbow trailed off from my glare as I held a crystal in my magic.

"I know what I'm doing this time, it won't drain my magic like the last time I did this." Rainbow didn't reply, I held my stare for a few seconds before returning to the crystal I held. I looked over at the pile of varying other crystals I had. The pile contained varying crystals ranging from emerald, topaz, sapphire, ruby, and many others. They also varied in size from something Rarity could use to something as large as my hoof.

The crystals and gems in the pile were raw, unlike the crystal I held in my magic. Said crystal was the one I had made a few days ago, it glowed faintly with a warm, pink light from within. I had been experimenting with storing raw magic and spells within crystals. From my experiments so far, there was something special about the design of the crystal. Not just having no impurities, either. The simple design of the six-pointed star resembling the Element of Magic seemed to have an affect. I was curious.

I put the crystal down and prepared to cast a spell to process the pile of gems into another crystal identical to the one I had previously created. This time, instead of having to design the spell as I went, I had created the spell before and made it as efficient as I could. It wasn't as draining as it had been the last time. After a second, I released the spell at the pile. I opened my eyes and watched as the magic lifted the pile of gems into the air and then turned it into a cloud of gaseous matter. A few seconds passed before I could see the start of a new crystal forming.

"Wow..." I turned to see Rainbow looking at the suspended cloud of matter, her mouth agape. Her pupils were nearly as large as her entire eye was.

I looked back to the cloud of matter, I could see the crystal starting to increase its growth rate. Soon the center of the gem was complete, and six points started to grow out of it. The glow of magic died down, and I took the new crystal in my magic and levitated it beside the other crystal. They were identical. At least they appeared to be, to me. They should be identical, down to every single molecule.

I looked back over towards the new pile of unused material, it had formed into a single crystal, it was multicolored from multiple types of crystals being seemingly randomly fused together. The crystal was larger than my hoof, and a quick scan with magic revealed it was rich with varying valuable mineral leftovers, byproducts from the spell.

"That... Was awesome." Rainbow's words seemed quite fitting for describing what I had just done, despite being somewhat unrefined.

"It was nothing, really..." I was humble, despite the fact that I knew this was not just 'nothing'. I levitated a quill and paper over, I wrote down some information about the process on the paper and then teleported the items away.

"So what are you going to call them?"

I looked at Rainbow with confusion, "Huh?"

"The crystals, what are you going to call them?"

"Well, I hadn't thought about it any. I don't think they really need names." Truthfully, I was planning on creating as many of these as I could. Who knew what studying them could provide. Granted, the first two... Maybe I should name them.

"Of course they need names, that was awesome enough that they have to have names!"

I thought for a moment, no names were forthcoming. "I'll have to keep it in mind I guess." Rainbow sighed.

"So what are you going to do now?" Rainbow fidgeted on her hooves. It seemed despite the 'awesome' display of magic earlier, she was getting bored.

"Well, I charged the first crystal with magic, and I'm wanting to see what would happen if I charge the second one with dark magic. The-"

Rainbow interrupted, "Wait, are you sure that's such a good idea, Twilight?"

"I'm afraid I won't know until I try it." Yes, it was risky. Dangerous even. I frowned, "Rainbow, can you exit the room for a bit? This might be dangerous."

Rainbow spoke with skepticism, "Are you sure?"

"Yes." Rainbow stood still for a few seconds before slowly walking out of the room. I closed the door with my magic and sealed the room. I turned my attention back to the new crystal. The pink star looked so innocent... I almost felt bad for tainting it with dark magic.

Almost.

I lit my horn and began channeling dark magic. Once I had enough dark magic, I shot it at the star. The dark magic coursed over the surface of the star, immediately it looked lifeless, possessing a dull grey-blue shade. As I poured more magic into the crystal, I could see it hard case beginning to pulse and glow with a green, red, and black magical mist. A few more seconds and I had pumped the same amount of dark magic into the crystal as I had magic into the first.

I waited a few seconds with a barrier spell readied, waiting for the inevitable backlash of what I had done.

Nothing happened.

I scanned the crystal with my magic, it was holding it as well as the first one held normal magic, and with no ill effects currently. My eyes gazed at the heart of the crystal. It looked so lifeless and bleak now. Almost as if I had taken the life from the crystal...

I unsealed the room with my magic and opened the door. Rainbow wearily walked back inside, "Is it safe?"

"Yes." I answered.

There was a flash of light followed by a popping sound from behind me.

Discord

"Discord!?" Twilight and Rainbow shouted in unison.

I smiled at the two ponies, "Oh! Hello there, Princess Twilight. And would you look there, her bodyguard!" I slithered through space and curled around Twilight's neck. She looked unnerved by my actions, "Fancy seeing you two here!"

"I live here." Twilight deadpanned.

"Ah, yes, well. I knew that...." I trailed off as I caught sight of two crystals sitting on a table. Both of them looked to be identical size, the only noticeable difference... Their color. I frowned. A quick check revealed the two crystals to be identical. Something like that should be... Impossible. Well, with the exception of chaos magic of course. I snapped my talons and the two crystals were floating in front of Twilight.

"Discord! Be careful with those!"

"I'm impressed, Twilight. Hmm..." I lifted a paw to my beard and stroked it, "I find myself wondering, what use could you have for these?"

"Why are you even here?" Rainbow asked.

"Oh. I can sense magical disturbances. Remember?" I waved my talon dismissingly towards her.

"I don't know why you would have sensed this... I was just filling this crystal with dark magic."

I pulled my head back and considered her words. I snapped my talon and reappeared in a flash of light standing next to Twilight. "Hmm. Be careful with those Twilight." I snapped my talon and put the two crystals back on the table while teleporting myself back to my previous location at the same time.

"Discord," Queen Chrysalis hissed, "I believe it's your turn."

I snapped my talons and my cards re-appeared in my paw and I laid back into my new, much more comfortable chair. I looked at my cards, all were jokers. I lifted a paw to my eyes and made sunglasses appear, I promptly threw them off. "Fold."

Lord Tirek smiled, "All in."

Princess Twilight Sparkle

"That was... Weird." I noted.

"It's Discord." Rainbow deadpanned. I frowned.

I pondered his words as I walked back over to the table. the two crystals sat beside each other. One glowing with pink light, the other seemed to radiate an absence of light. It was... Fascinating. "I will need to see what I can do with these crystals..." I looked over at the clock, "Uh... Sometime."

"I said you were taking forever." Rainbow commented.

"I'm not late... Yet." I lit my horn and teleported Rainbow and myself to my training session with Sergeant Bolt. We both reappeared in a flash of light, Sergeant Bolt looked slightly startled by our sudden appearance. "Sorry." I apologized.

"Princess." He greeted. "You seem to have forgotten your armor."

I lit my horn and teleported my armor onto myself. A rather difficult task, but nothing I couldn't handle.

He nodded to himself, "I have something special planned for today. Private Dash, if you would be so kind as to help me."

Rainbow walked over to him. He pulled her off to the side, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. After a few seconds of hushed whispers and nodding, Rainbow turned around grinning.

"You're going to take us both on. At the same time."

I grimaced and let my wings fall from my sides.

Chapter 12

Princess Twilight Sparkle

I looked around the table in my new 'war room'. It had been Spitfire's suggestion to do some major reorganization of the military command structure I had in place. My former military command structure was... Less than adequate, according to her. Of course, I have had no formal training in military strategy or tactics, let alone command. So that was probably mostly my fault, it didn't help only having a single low to mid level captain for advising me.

But now? I had former captain of the Wonderbolts, Spitfire. General Spitfire. She had the military knowledge and training, plus skills to really help. It had made a difference, especially having Wonderbolt drill sergeants to assist with training my soldiers.

I blinked, everybody in the room was staring at me. "Uh right." I did a quick glance around the table again, it looked like everypony I needed was present. "I believe we're all here. As you all know, this meeting is primarily a formality. Please begin, General Spitfire." I nodded my head at Spitfire, she nodded back, acknowledging my command.

Spitfire stood from her former sitting position. Her Wonderbolt uniform immediately supplemented her already commanding presence, the formal uniform proudly displayed her many achievements through the many different metal bars adorned on her chest. "In the week since I have been in service to Princess Twilight Sparkle, I have, with the princesses approval, streamlined the command hierarchy. Wonderbolt drill sergeants have taken the place of former Royal Guards, increasing the effectiveness of training, and providing better motivation."

She looked at me, her expression was one of determination, "As it stands, you have roughly eleven thousand soldiers. It's not a lot compared to Princess Celestia or Princess Luna, but you have the Wonderbolts too. Now, most of the soldiers are pegasi from Cloudsdale, which gives them higher maneuverability, while most of Princess Celestia's soldiers are unicorns. Princess Luna took the bulk of the earth pony and pegasi forces enlisted in the Royal Guard with her."

She looked to her left, towards Soarin. "Lieutenant Soarin is overseeing the training regime for new recruits-" There was a flash of white light cutting her off, and momentarily blinding me.

"Oh, how lovely, you have all of your military advisers assembled here! Wonderful!" The voice was unmistakable, as if the flash of white light did not cue me in to the arrival of Discord. He slithered through the air and curled around my body, receiving a stern glare from me for his effort. Everypony in the room obviously didn't know how to react, judging from the lack of reactions aside from slack jaws.

I sighed, "What do you want, Discord?"

"Oh I just wanted to stop by and check in on my-" He said the next words in a way that unnerved me, and he emphasized them significantly also, "-favourite princess." He trailed a talon down my horn.

"So you just happened to interrupt my first formal meeting between my newly formed war council?" I asked with a healthy amount of skepticism.

Discord snapped his talons, disappearing in a flash of white light, and reappearing a moment later dressed in a green military uniform, and wearing a green helmet. "No, of course not. General Discord reporting for duty!" He saluted and stood at attention.

I blinked.

Discord relaxed and looked unamused. "Oh, anyway." He snapped his talon and the uniform and helmet disappeared, "I actually came to offer some advice."

I raised an eyebrow, "You? Offering helpful advice?"

Discord raised a paw to his chest in mock disbelief, "Twilight, my friend, your words wound me. Besides, I never said it would be helpful. Merely advise."

I sighed and put a hoof on my temple, and began massaging it gently, I had a feeling I would regret hearing him out. "Fine, what is it?"

Discord looked positively delighted at my answer, then he composed himself. "You control Cloudsdale now. The center for almost all pegasi weather control in Equestria. This gives you an advantage that you ponies for some reason don't realize."

"What do you mean?"

"You. Can. Control. The. Weather."

I furrowed my brow in thought, "I don't understand what you..." I face hoofed. 'That... Why hadn't I thought of that before?' My mind quickly explored the idea.

"Oh Twilight, and her I thought you would jump on the idea the second you had Cloudsdale" He mocked me by acting like a pony in distress. I gave him a death glare. He smiled. "Now as much as I'd love to stick around and help you I've got some cucumbers sandwiches to make." He said while raising his pinky finger just before disappearing in a flash of light.

"Right... Well..." I looked around the table once more, 'Good, everypony's still here...' "General Spitfire, please continue."

General Spitfire began again, "Right... Well, Captain Fleetfoot is now the officer in charge of the Wonderbolts." Fleetfoot nodded to Spitfire. "Recruitment and training are progressing nicely, but it will be a while before we can match Princess Luna or Princess Celestia in terms of numbers. We may be able to increase how quickly we are able to recruit more ponies, and we may be able to even the numbers by performing small scale raids and attacks on either of the princesses forces. Of course, both of those courses of actions would likely result in retaliation, which we may not be able to hold off." Spitfire sat down again.

I thought over her words briefly, "Thank you, Captain Light?"

Captain Light stood up, "Due to the Wonderbolt's taking over training, with the exception of magic, it has freed up more guards for other duties. We do however, have a significant lack of well-trained unicorns. We could divert some of the unicorn guards over to training in magic, and replace them with the pegasi and earth ponies that have been freed up."

I nodded to myself, I would need as many well-trained soldiers as I could get, and having unicorns that could be training more unicorns in combat magic standing guard was not efficient. "Do it."

"Yes, Princess." He saluted and sat down.

"Sergeant Bolt?" Despite his relatively low rank, I trusted his advice seeing as how he was training me to use combat magic.

The sergeant tentatively stood, "I would like to recommend looking into upgrading the armor and weaponry we use, it would give us an advantage."

"That might be prohibitively expensive... But I will have to look into it." I nodded. '[iS]peaking of that, I should probably order the construction of that research facility now...'

"Twilight!" That voice. I stopped dead in my tracks. I turned on a hoof to face the pony who called my name. My brother. Shining Armor. He started trotting towards me, flanked by Princess Cadance.

I hadn't been avoiding writing to them, I just... Had been busy. I did manage to send them a letter a couple weeks ago. Of course, I hadn't had time to respond to any of their replies. Well, actually that letter was a reply. Princess Celestia had told them about my secession... I wasn't unhappy to see them, but I was quite aware of them siding with Princess Celestia. I wasn't worried though, they were my family. My brother and my sister in law, they wouldn't hurt me.

"Well? Nothing to say?" He asked.

It was then I realized I had been staring off into space long enough for them to trot over to me. I shook my head somewhat violently and pulled both of them into a hug. "I'm happy to see you two again..."

"Me too, little sis... Although you're not as little as I used to remember you. You're a little taller than I last remember, what's the deal with that?"

I ruffled my wings sheepishly.

Cadance smiled, "Oh Shiny, she's an alicorn, remember?" My brother chuckled a little at that.

"So what brings you two here?" I asked.

"We wanted to come see you of course." Shining armor smiled and hugged me again.

"Well, that and Princess Celestia wanted us to talk to you..." Cadance smiled weakly. I sighed.

"Twilight, while I am proud of you for managing to do this... It's dangerous. Come back with us to Canterlot. Talk with her. She misses you..." Shining spoke with sincerity.

"I can't do that." I shook my head firmly.

"Please, Twilight. This isn't good for Equestria. Crime rates have been on the rise all over the place. The Crystal Empire isn't the only other nation that has taken an interest in what's happening here..." Cadance looked pained as she spoke.

Again I shook my head, but less firm this time. "Let's not talk about that. I'll clear my schedule and we can spend the day together, how''s that sound?"

Cadance opened her mouth to speak, but my brother cut her off, "We'd love to, isn't that right, Cadance?"

Cadance smiled and nodded, "Yes, that would be nice."

I watched as the train departed from the train station, carrying my brother and sister-in-law back to Canterlot. The sun was setting in the distance, the day had been nice, though it wasn't without a few... Issues. I frowned as the train began to shrink in the distance. 'She didn't even stop the transportation systems... And Equestria is in a state of war.' I sighed and shook my head with frustration.

"Sad to see them go?" Rainbow asked.

I turned my head towards her and nodded sadly, "Yeah... I really miss the days like this. Days where we didn't have to worry about anything, days where we could just hang out, just us girls, you know?" I looked down at my hooves, "If I win this... I won't have time for anything like that anymore... I could delegate duties to other ponies, but I would still be in charge... I find myself wondering if ponies would still see me, or if they would just see my position..."

"Don't be sad, Twilight, it will all be okay." Pinkie pulled me into a hug, soon the other four joined in. I soon found myself smiling.

"Thanks, girls... Well... I'm sorry I took your whole day away, but thank you all for spending the day with me."

"Oh, but of course darling, we hardly ever see each other anymore!" Rarity was right. We did not spend as much time together as we used to... I felt a pang of guilt in my chest.

"Not that I don't like this but um... It's getting kind of late." Fluttershy drew attention to the fading light of the sun.

"Right, I'll teleport you back if you want me to." I offered.

"Oh, yes please." Fluttershy answered.

I nodded, "Anypony else?"

Applejack spoke up, "It's a bit of a trot back to the barracks, I don't think the drill sergeant would appreciate you having me out so late."

"I need to stop by my shop on the way back, so no thank you."

"I'm your bodyguard so no."

"I'll go with Rarity!" Pinkie beamed.

After a few minutes, we said our goodbyes. I teleported Fluttershy and Applejack to their destinations, leaving Rarity and Pinkie to trot to the former's shop, and then to the castle.

I chose to trot. Despite the fact it was now dark outside, it was relaxing. Sure, Captain Light wouldn't approve of it. But I doubt he would argue with me about it, Rainbow Dash was with me after all. That wasn't really needed anyway, I was an alicorn after all. Well, granted I could be taken off guard... But I was wearing my regalia and crown, the former containing a crystal housing about two weeks worth of my magic.

I looked towards the moon as I trotted, it seemed like only yesterday the surface had still been scarred by Luna's... Nightmare Moon's presence. There was no way I could have beat Nightmare Moon on my own, it was only with the help of my friends, each one of us supporting the others that we were able to beat her. Yet, it seems Nightmare Moon wasn't entirely Princess Luna's fault...

Eventually, we arrived back at the castle without incident. I made my way to the makeshift lab I had set up in the weeks before, where I had been messing around with the crystals. I didn't need to tell Rainbow where I was going, it was a habit of mine to go to the lab every morning and evening. Normally it wasn't this late, granted, but still.

"You can wait outside if you want." I spoke to Rainbow as I took off my regalia, then carefully removing the crystal from its center. I sat the regalia and crystal down on the desk.

"You're going to mess with that Void Crystal again, aren't you?" Rainbow asked. She sounded... A bit worried?

I turned to her with confusion, "Yes, why?"

"I don't think you should be messing with it... It's... Even I can feel the magic it radiates."

"I'm just making sure it's stable. Jeez, you'd think everypony was worried I was going to get corrupted by... You are worried about that, aren't you?"

"Yes... You're not acting... Like... Well, you're not acting like you."

"It's just stress... Besides, I'm being careful..." Rainbow didn't look convinced. "Okay, I'll stop messing with the Void Crystal. I'll even stop training with dark magic, if it would get everypony to stop worrying about me." I lifted the crystal with my magic, and examined it carefully. The star glowed with a pink luminescence from the magic held within. My magic. I smiled, this magic was warm and inviting to me, it even felt nicer than my usual magic does when I last tapped into It. It was completely opposite from dark magic, and I had been very careful not to taint this crystal with dark magic.

"Thanks." Rainbow spoke. I nodded in reply, still examining my crystal.

The amount of magic held within the crystal was about a week and a half of my magic. Since I could regenerate my magic reserves in a few days, this crystal held more magic than I did. It definitely held more magic than Cadance did. Princess Celestia or Princess Luna? I doubted it. I carefully set the crystal back in the center of my regalia, then put it back around my neck. I raised a hoof and lightly touched the crystal, the magic within it seemed to embrace my hoof at my touch.

I momentarily considered accessing the magic within the crystal but decided against it. I trotted to the door and opened it with a hoof, then exited into the hallway followed closely by Rainbow. I turned towards Rainbow, "I'm going to call it a night. You're dismissed. Goodnight, Rainbow."

Rainbow sharply saluted me, "Goodnight Twilight."

We parted ways, I continued on towards my room while she went off in the opposite direction. I silently trotted through the crystalline hallway towards my room, the only sounds where my hooves lightly making contact with the floor. I paused and listened, it sounded like somepony was running. The sound was getting closer. I frowned and turned around to investigate.

A few seconds later, Captain Light approached me. he was breathing heavily. He swiftly bowed, "Princess, we have captured a spy attempting to break into the high security vault of the Royal Treasury."

I narrowed my eyes as I considered this development, "Show me." I firmly commanded.

"Yes, Princess." He saluted.

Special Agent Sweetie Drops

'Well, this isn't good.' I thought as I looked around the room I was being held in. 'I didn't even know this castle had a dungeon...' The room... For a dungeon? It was... Not that bad actually. Although the jagged sharp walls didn't exactly provide any comfort, at least it wasn't the same dull stoney color as the dungeons of most castles.

It was nice that I could freely roam in the cell, too. Although there were obvious places for chaining ponies up... I shook my head and exhaled. 'I need to focus on getting out of here... Let's see...' I looked around the room, taking more time to look for anything I could use to escape. The room was dimly lit by a square, glowing purple-green crystal centered in the ceiling, bathing the room in a discomforting, pale light.

I trotted over to the wall and lightly tapped a hoof against the crystal. It felt solid, I decided not to try to break any of it off, it likely would have injured me to do so. I could try to fight my way out when the guards came to interrogate me... I was an earth pony, so I likely had strength on my side. I would need to be fast, though.

Well, that was assuming Princess Twilight Sparkle didn't decide to interrogate me herself. I grimaced at that, there was no way I could fight my way out if she were there to interrogate me. I sat in silence for a few seconds before eventually I started hearing the sound of metal striking the crystalline floor. I inhaled deeply, exhaled, and silently trotted over to the cell door. A few seconds later my heart stuttered in my chest, Twilight was with them...

She looked confused, it contrasted against the guard's stoic expressions. "Bon Bon? You're the spy?" She asked skeptically.

I backed away from the door as the guards inserted the key, unlocking the door. One of the guards, a captain by the looks of it, entered, followed by Twilight. The captain stood off to the side of the cell door, standing guard. Twilight turned towards the guard, "What... Proof do you have that she is a spy?"

"Several of the items she had on her are of a suspicious nature, she had a briefcase with her. It had Princess Celestia's seal upon it." he answered.

Twilight nodded solemnly, then turned back towards me. She raised a hoof to her chin, and seemed to think for several seconds, then she spoke, "So you're a spy..." She seemed to be talking to herself, I chose not to respond. "That... I never would have guessed that." She shook her head, "I have a few questions for you, please answer them truthfully. I'm not going to hurt you, but I can't exactly let you go either."

I did not respond. After several seconds she sighed, "If you cooperate, this will be much easier on us all."

I finally spoke after several seconds of silence, "What do you want to know?"

"What were you doing at the high-security vault?" she asked.

"Princess Celestia wanted to know what financial resources you had available." I lied, confident she would buy it.

"She's lying." The captain stated matter-of-factly.

"You were there to extract something, weren't you?" Twilight asked.

'Deny any knowledge of what she is talking about.' I told myself. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"She's lying again." The captain stated once more. He seemed to be quite skilled at detecting lies, that could prove troublesome.

Twilight spoke in a conversational tone, "I have a pretty good idea of what you were trying to take..." She paused and stepped forwards, I took a step back, matching her. "You were trying to get that crystal, weren't you?"

"What crystal?" I tried my most convincing 'I know nothing' expression.

"You're lying. How much does Princess Celestia know?" It was Twilight this time to saw through the lie.

"I don't know-"

Twilight lit her horn, and threw her hoof against the crystalline floor, cracking it. I took another step back at the intimidating display of power. "I will only ask you one. More. Time." Twilight stepped forwards. "How much does she know?"

"Nice try, Princess. You don't have it in you to follow through with your threats. And just think... If word of this got out... What would happen then?" Twilight visibly recoiled at that. 'Good.' I smiled.

"I see you're being uncooperative. I don't feel like dealing with this right now. So here's the deal. You're going to stay in this cell until you tell me what I want to know. Or until Celestia, Luna, or I end this war." Twilight turned around before continuing "Oh and just a reminder... Alicorns are immortal." The blood drained from my face, she was clearly implying I could rot long before this war ended. I doubt it would last that long, but that information didn't really help considering it was definitely a possibility. The guard waiting outside opened the cell door for her. The captain trotted out first, followed by Twilight. She paused in the doorway, for a moment I thought she might say something, but she soon continued troting out. The guard silently shut the door behind her and locked it. They followed Twilight as she trotted away.

Eventually, the sound of hoofsteps were drowned out by silence.

Chapter 13

Princess Twilight Sparkle

The morning sun beat down on my back as I looked out at the construction project before me. Ponies wearing orange vests and yellow helmets trotted about, multiple unicorns each working together to levitate heavy steel beams, pegasi directing the progress from above, and earth ponies carrying various power tools for working with construction materials. The sounds of construction droned on, reinforcing any conclusions anypony would come up with about what was going on.

The large skeleton of the lab looked so out of place, being on the outskirts of Ponyville near my castle. The steel frame and concrete basement was costing quite a pretty bit. However, it would provide me, and any scientists I could get, with a much more suitable environment for testing experiments in controlled conditions. The structure was a low one, I wanted it to be built mostly underground, for safety reasons, having just the ground floor above ground, and three levels beneath it for pure science.

The thought made me giddy, I smiled with glee as I imagined what kind of experiments I could perform here that were too dangerous to do inside my castle, or needed too much control for outside.

I would have thought excavating three levels worth of dirt and debris for the structure would have taken longer, but there really is a spell for everything. Well, that and modifying a teleportation spell to cut away at the earth and move it elsewhere was pretty easy. My help had reduced the price of building the lab a bit. Every bit saved meant more bits that could be put towards equipment and staff for the lab.

"It seems to be progressing nicely." I commented with no lack of happiness at the rate of construction for the lab.

"Mm yes..." Mayor Mare answered. I heard the sounds of pages being flipped through, "The lab structure should be complete in a few weeks, it will take longer to finish the interior and furnish it with equipment, however."

I nodded my head, 'Yes, it will take longer to complete the entire project than just to build it... But it will be done soon enough.' I turned and started trotting back towards the castle, eliciting Mayor Mare and my personal guard to follow. The trot back took only a few minutes at a leisurely pace and was met with serene quietness, strongly contrasting with the construction site.

The guards at the castle doors saluted me as I approached, I nodded in response, acknowledging their greeting. They opened the door for me, and then one of the guards began to speak in an even tone, not betraying his stoic expression, "Princess, General Spitfire wanted us to inform you that she wishes to see you upon your return."

"Thank you." I nodded with a smile. I pondered what Spitfire could want as I trotted inside, followed by Mayor Mare and my guard. I turned to the mayor, "You may go, thank you." She politely bowed her head before turning and wandering off to take care of other business.

'Right, now to find Spitfire... Where would she be...' I frowned in thought, she certainly had taken to her promotion with vigor, easily outperforming what I had expected of her. She seemed to always be on the move, making sure things were in order and properly prepared for whenever I gave the order to... Attack... I shook my head and set off towards the war room, taking a left off the side of the room. If she wasn't there, at least I would find somepony who could tell me where she was at the moment.

My hooves carried me to my destination, almost without thought, freeing up my mind to ponder what she might have to say. I smiled as I realized it must be a report from the spies she recommended placing in Princess Celestia and Princess Luna's armies. 'Yes, that must be it. Well, either that or bad news...' I bit my lip.

After a few minutes of trotting, I approached the crystalline door to the war room, I opened it with my magic and trotted inside. The room had originally been an unused living room area, it was quite spacious, the ceiling easily being tall enough for pegasi to fly about. Of course, the room had been heavily modified recently, to provide a better command and control center. Once I began my attack, this room would be filled with ponies darting about... I shook my head and unfurled my wings, then jumped into the air with a single, powerful thrust, followed closely by Rainbow. I flew up to the second level of the room, where the meeting table was.

Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot came into view as I landed on the second level. Spitfire rose from her sitting position and immediately saluted me, "Princess."

I raised a hoof, eliciting them to remain seated, "Please skip the formalities. General, you had something for me?"

"Ah, yes, Princess. I received word that one of our spies has successfully infiltrated Princess Luna's ranks." She smiled with a hint of pride.

I nodded my head, mostly to myself. "That's good... Anything about the others, or about the spies sent to infiltrate Princess Celestia's ranks?"

Spitfire shook her head, "Not yet, Princess. This is something that rushing would be a bad idea."

I nodded, "Thank you." I paused for a moment to think, "Has Bon Bon said anything yet?"

Spitfire looked confused, "Bon Bon? You mean the spy?" I nodded. "Nothing yet, Princess."

I sighed and shook my head. "I'll be around the castle if something comes up." I lit my horn and teleported Rainbow and myself to my room. We disappeared and reappeared with a flash of light and a popping sound.

I felt a sudden shiver run down my spine, something was wrong... That feeling... My senses went into overdrive, my eyes darted about the room in front of me. It looked normal... But darker... Then it hit me, "Princess Luna..." Rainbow turned around before I did, but just a fraction of a second faster. Princess Luna was standing in a shadow by the door. Rainbow stepped in front of me and took a defensive posture, foolish as it was. If Princess Luna wanted to hurt me, she wouldn't be able to stop her, merely slow her down.

I stepped forwards and used a hoof to motion Rainbow to stand down, she looked at me with concern. I nodded my head in a calm manner and smiled, then I turned back to Princess Luna and took another step forwards. "I assume you have a reason for this visit?"

Princess Luna stepped forwards, out of the shadow, "I am aware of your growing military strength, and that Cloudsdale and the Wonderbolts are now yours. I know you do not wish to see me take the throne of Equestria, but I also know you don't believe my sister-" She spat the word 'sister' out like a curse, "-is competent enough to rule. She has acquired the help of your brother and Cadance. The Crystal Empire supports her. My forces will be attacking hers in several areas soon, the ensuing chaos should open a chance for you to attack her also, despite your relatively small army. We don't have to be enemies."

I thought about it for a bit, 'This does give me an opportunity... But it would merely delay my conflict with her...' Neither of them were fit to rule, both acting like fools... However, delaying conflict with Princess Luna would save my forces... But it would allow her to focus on Princess Celestia, eventually one of them would win and then I would have to fight the other at full strength... I would have to talk with my council about this. "I will... Consider your offer." I answered.

Princess Luna smiled, "I will await your response." She lit her horn and disappeared in a flash of pale, blue light. The sense that something was wrong immediately left when she did, much to my delight.

"How did she get passed the guards?" Rainbow's voice conveyed unease.

I turned to her and smiled softly, "I don't think she would outright try to attack me that way..." I raised a hoof to my regalia, and smiled, "Besides, if she did, I wouldn't be completely defenseless..."

Ponyville Safe House, 3:34 P.M.

I rapped my hoof against the firm wooden door, three times, and then I paused a short duration. I repeated the action three times, the signal we had in place for alerting the team if the timetable of an operation had moved up. After a few seconds, the door slowly opened, and I stepped inside the dim room. The light suddenly turned on, revealing the safe house, and it's occupants. The two pegasi and unicorn gathered in a semicircle to face me. "The time table has been moved forwards, intel indicates that Princess Luna's forces are preparing to move out. Princess Celestia just had a meeting with Director Tap and gave the order to capture the target: The bearer of the Element of Loyalty. She wants it done today, ponies."

The grey coated unicorn stepped forwards, she spoke with a thick Manehatton accent, "That requires a complete revision of our plans. We need to lure her out then, how will we do that?

I smiled, "Actually, we won't have to lure her out. She is currently in the Everfree Forest, watching over Fluttershy, the bearer of the Element of Kindness... She is likely gathering herbs. She won't be a problem, we just need to separate them. Princess Celestia wouldn't be happy if we were to damage her psyche."

"The Everfree Forest? You can't be serious." The dark grey pegasus stallion shook his head.

"I am. We are outfitted to handle the monsters in the Everfree." There were several moans from the assembled ponies, I shook my head and frowned. "They took the main path into the Everfree, we will go through the brush on either side. When we encounter them, I will draw her out. We will regroup on whichever side she is lured into, and capture her. Once she is captured, we will move to transport her to Canterlot." I paused to think over my plan, it sounded good enough. "The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get back."

"We're not even at our full force, they have Agent Sweetie Drops..."

I grimaced, "We can't do anything for her right now." I steeled my resolve, "We have a mission, get to it ponies." I commanded.

The semicircle of ponies slowly dispersed, unhappy about their mission. I wasn't happy about it either, but it had to be done. It wasn't my job to question orders or why Princess Celestia wanted us to capture the Element of Loyalty, rather than capturing Princess Twilight Sparkle, the real threat. I shook my head and followed the rest of my team into the basement.

Once at the bottom of the stairs, I put a hoof on the trigger stone and pushed it in while twisting it. There was a click, signaling the activation of the mechanism to open the hidden compartment with our supplies. I turned towards the opposite wall and watched as the rock facade slid into the ground beneath it, and revealed the equipment cache. My team and I trotted over to the cache and began putting on our saddlebags.

We had a vast assortment of items to choose from for our mission, potions, armor, daggers that could be strapped to our hooves, rope, night-vision goggles, maps, dyes, and no small amount of classified chemicals, ones that could cause explosions, or create smokescreens. Of course, wearing armor would be suspicious. However the armor could be disassembled, and then later reassembled. It was lightweight and enchanted to provide better protection.

There were perks to the safe house being on the edge of Ponyville, however. One being away from the crowded population center where ponies would be curious about the many comings and goings of ponies from this place with saddlebags. Another was that the safe house was out of the way, not where one would expect a Black Ops center to be located.

I picked up a dagger and analyzed the blade as it gleamed in the light of my magic aura. Princess Celestia wanted her alive. She was very specific on that. She didn't say unharmed, however, and she would likely put up a fight. Being a pegasus, and a Wonderbolt, it would likely be hard to land a knockout or stun spell on her. I quickly put the dagger in my saddlebag, and moved onto the next item, picking up a smokescreen charge and carefully placing it in my saddlebag. Wouldn't want that to detonate in here.

After a few minutes of gathering items for the ambush, we had filled our saddlebags with useful items. I looked around my team, "Alright. Brief summary, we are going to capture the bearer of the Element of Loyalty. She must be taken alive. If she puts up a fight, we will take her the hard way. However, it is preferable to knock her out." I paused, "Any questions?" After a few seconds of no response, I gave the order. "Alright. Let's move out."

Rainbow Dash

Fluttershy spoke softly as she eyed the edges of the path with nervousness, "Thanks again for coming with me, Rainbow... The Everfree Forest has been more dangerous than normal recently, with the Diamond Dogs mining underneath the forest... The animals seem to dislike it." Almost as if on cue, I heard a growl off in the distance, Fluttershy made a frightened squeaking noise.

I stopped and turned to look at Fluttershy, she was shivering and huddled up on the ground, I frowned and sighed, "Fluttershy... There's nothing to worry about. I'm here to protect you, okay?" I trotted over to Fluttershy, she slowly pulled her hooves away from her eyes and looked around frantically. I groaned and held out a hoof to help her stand up. She reluctantly accepted it and slowly stood up.

"Th-thank you..." Fluttershy was still nervously looking around, though I couldn't blame her. It was... Unnerving. The forest seemed more alive and... More edgier.

After a few seconds of Fluttershy just standing there, looking around petrified with fear, I sighed. 'It's a good thing Twilight sent me with her...' I shook my head. "Fluttershy... The sooner you start moving, the sooner we get out of here."

"Oh, I know Rainbow Dash... But it's just so scary..." Fluttershy paused, "You're right..." She reluctantly took a step forwards, she waited a few seconds for any alarming sounds. After nothing happened, she stepped forwards with less fear this time. I smiled, she was becoming more sure of herself with each step she took.

I soon found myself trotting beside her, she was almost brushing up against me with how close to me she was. Fluttershy wasn't the bravest pony, but she could stand up to a dragon for her friends, or her animals. "You sure you got enough of those plants you needed?" The last thing I wanted to do was to have to go back into the forest after having just made a trip out of it. it's not that I was scared or anything! But Fluttershy...

"Oh yes, I made sure I grabbed plenty..."

We trotted on in silence for several minutes, as the forest started clearing out from thick underbrush to underbrush that was passable, I felt a tingle run down my spine. I felt like I was being watched. I chose not to say anything to Fluttershy. She scared easily, and telling her I felt like we were being watched would frighten her.

Minutes passed, the feeling of being watched lingered and seemed to get stronger as time went on. I was unnerved by the feeling. We weren't too far from the edge of the Everfree forest now, we could get there within a few minutes at a brisk gallop if needed. If we could outrun it... I grimaced. 'Okay, maybe I should tell her that-'

Crack.

Both Fluttershy and I froze dead in our tracks. I swiveled my head around quickly in every direction, attempting to pinpoint the source of the sound. Nothing... Dead silence. 'Come on... Think... What could that have been... Timberwolf? No... They would have attacked by now...' I turned my head to the other side, Fluttershy was still paralyzed in fear-

That bush just moved... I suddenly had a sinking feeling in my stomach, we had to be surrounded on both sides of the path... I quickly glanced over to Fluttershy. The poor pegasus was frozen in place... 'Fluttershy, I'm sorry... I told Twilight I would protect you... And I'm going to do just that.' I spoke quietly, yet loud enough for her to hear me, "Fluttershy. I need you to run back to Ponyville, okay? I will be right behind you..."

Fluttershy gulped and nodded, looking at me with fearful eyes... I steeled my resolve, and spoke quietly, "Go. Now." Fluttershy bolted into a dead run at a rate that took me by surprise. I looked around at the bushes, half expecting some monster to jump out at me. Seconds passed, nothing happened. The forest was dead quiet now... That wasn't a good sign, the birds weren't even singing...

I swiveled my head to the other side again and took a defensive posture. "I know you're out there." I growled. I was met with silence. Wait... No... There was a quiet, low humming sound... It sounded like-

A teal colored bolt of magic shot passed me, narrowly missing my muzzle. I stepped to the side and carefully observed the bushes for the source of the attack. A second passed, and I saw a faint glow. I jumped to the left, spreading my wings and using them to propel me even further out of the way of the spell.

I still couldn't see whoever was attacking me. 'The unicorn might not be alone either...' "Show yourself!" I shouted.

Moments later, a small, metallic-looking orb landed a few feet in front of me. I squinted at the object. 'What is that-'

BANG!

I felt a sharp pain in one of my hooves, and my vision became clouded by smoke. I coughed from the smoke. I shook my head and recovered from the sudden shock. I stepped to the right and felt a sudden, unexpected, sharp pain in my left hoof when I put pressure on it. I winced, and quickly withdrew my hoof. I looked down at my hoof, I was greeted by the sight of a piece of metal sticking out of it. I inhaled and exhaled as the pain began to register. 'Come on, focus... It's not that bad...'

The air was still clouded with smoke, I looked back to my hoof and grimaced. I slowly brought my hoof to my muzzle and bit down on the piece of metal, my heart beat fast as I imagined how much this would hurt... I closed my eyes and violently threw my hoof forwards. At first, the force carried my head forwards with it, but then it was replaced with a sharp, biting pain as the piece of metal was violently ripped from my hoof.

I fought back the urge to scream at the pain, and a second later, the pain had numbed down to something more manageable. I inhaled and exhaled quickly several times in rapid succession. My hoof was starting to get covered in blood. It was slow, but not exactly good for me. I shook my head and forced the pain from my mind.

I stayed alert for several minutes, then the smoke started to dissipate. Ever so slowly, the silhouette of four ponies, two of them obviously unicorns. I felt a smile tugging at my lip, now that I could see them, I could return the favor...

The Everfree Forest.

'Whoever used that smokescreen is going to get a piece of my mind after this is over.' I grit my teeth. The idiot had given her the opportunity to escape. Strangely, although perhaps now surprisingly, she had not taken it. The smoke was starting to clear now, but we had moved into position right after the smokescreen activated. We had watched her the entire time. Not that she knew it, of course. But now that the smoke was clearing, I could make out blood on one of her hooves. I frowned, 'Whoever used that smokescreen is going to hear from Princess Celestia when this is over, too.'

'Perhaps we should have attacked when the Element of Kindness was with her... It would have made her more vulnerable. Even if it might have... Damaged her psyche.' However, it was likely she would have fought harder then. Her eyes glanced between the four of us, she was being careful not to linger on any one of us for too long. 'She is a Wonderbolt.' I reminded myself.

Rainbow Dash was fast, perhaps the fastest pegasus pony alive. Fortunately for us, flying inside the tree canopy of the Everfree Forest at any significant speed was dangerous. We would need to be quicker than her, help might already be on the way. I grimaced. She caught sight of my grimace and lingered too long. I smiled as the others capitalized on the opportunity.

A bolt of teal magic shot forth from the unicorn standing to my left, she dodged to the right, completely avoiding the stunning spell. However, her dodge of the stun spell put her right in the path of one of my pegasi. He collided with her, the force of the impact throwing her against the ground. His weight pinned her to the ground. I smiled, 'Maybe this would be easier than I-'

That particular pegasus was sent flying back behind Rainbow due to a well-placed kick with her hind legs. She quickly stood to her hooves, she winced as she put pressure on her injured hoof, then charged towards me. Unicorns with their magic were deadly on the battlefield however, we were the physically weakest pony race. We didn't do so well in close combat situations, as such, I immediately jumped to the right, and swiveled on my forehooves, spinning around and kicking her legs out from under her.

She toppled over onto the ground, her body slid across the ground before coming to a stop, her coat and mane now matted with dirt and debris. She stood to her hooves at a lightning fast rate, looking a little worse for wear and distraught. She flared her wings and glared at me. I smirked, she looked confused for a second.

It probably would have lasted longer, but that's how long it took Agent Black to slam into her. He wrapped a leg around her neck while the pegasus beneath him lashed out with her legs, to no avail. I stepped forwards, "Stop fighting before you injure yourself."

She turned her head towards me and glared at me with defiance, "Let me go!"

"How about no? Okay, sounds good to me." I walked over to her and watched her flail her wings, succeeding only in tiring herself more. Agent Black had her pinned well. I grabbed one of her wings in my magic, I spoke coldly, without emotion, "I really suggest you stop struggling. Wouldn't want you to injure your wing in the struggle, would we?"

She suddenly stopped struggling, her defiant expression replaced with one of fear. "You wouldn't..."

I lowered my horn to her face, daring her to struggle while I held her wing with my magic. I channeled more magic into my horn, and cast a stun spell. The magic surged forth from my horn and directly into her head. She was out cold. I levitated a rope from my saddlebag and threw it on the ground. "Tie her up, we need to move now." I commanded.

Chapter 14

The Everfree Forest, Minutes After Encounter.

"Target's secured." A calm, collected voice called out as he tightened the ropes around Rainbow's wings. The white pegasus stallion rose to his hooves, then checked his saddlebags to make sure they were secured.

I nodded, "Good." I turned towards my lieutenant, the unicorn already held a quill in her magic and was writing on a scroll. She finished a second later and looked to me for approval. "Send it." I commanded. She squinted her eyes, and the aura around her horn grew bright violet, then in a flash of white light, the scroll had been sent.

I heard a rustle coming from the bush behind me. I turned on my rear hooves to face the bushes, expecting a hostile combatant to jump out at me. I tilted my head up to regard the tallest timberwolf I had ever seen. He was easily twice as tall as I was. 'How did that thing sneak up on us?' I took a step back, and lowered my head, aiming my horn at the monstrosity.

"S-" The voice cut off in shock. For a few seconds, the only sound the permeated the air was the low growl of the timberwolf.

The wolf looked down towards me, then lowered it's head to my level. I stood absolutely still as it sniffed me. I didn't even breathe. I studied the creature's face for any signs of imminent attack, then our eyes met.

I jumped back just in time to avoid the near lightning fast bite that would have taken my head clean off. My heart, having calmed down only a few minutes prior, was now beating rapidly once more. "Engage!" I shouted, pointing a hoof at the wolf. I lit my horn and teleported a few feet away, behind my lieutenant, who threw up a barrier around us and our package.

Just in the nick of time, too. Another timberwolf crashed into the barrier, it broke apart on impact, but the barrier had visible cracks in it. I channeled my magic into her, giving her more strength for the barrier, then swiveled my head around, taking in the threat. Three timberwolves, not including the one which had just shattered against the barrier.

And that one was starting to piece itself together again. 'Great...' I let out a frustrated sigh. I watched as Agent Black flew into a timberwolf, and bucked it in the throat, then fly away. The timberwolf grabbed his neck with a paw, gagging, then fell to pieces. "We need to move. Now." I firmly commanded.

I reached into my saddlebag with my magic and grabbed a smokescreen bomb. I shot a quick glance to my lieutenant, she lowered the barrier right as I threw the bomb at the first timberwolf. The barrier snapped back with an audible crack, just mere moments before the bomb detonated, shrouding the path in smoke. Using my magic, I withdrew my infrared goggles from my saddlebags and placed them on my head, then lowered them over my eyes, and activated them. There was an audible, high pitched buzzing sound for a second as it came online.

The sound was closely followed by three more. I looked around in the smoke, the timberwolves, despite being made from wood, were easily visible due to the magic that made them living animals. Their heads were darting about in confusion. I smirked and pulled out three vials of acid.

A glance at my lieutenant told her all she needed to know, and she lowered the barrier accordingly. One by one, I shot the vials of acid at the timberwolves' heads. Two of them landed, instantly sending the two wolves into howls of pain as the acid burned through their wooden heads. The third wolf's head had turned just before the vial impacted it, missing. 'Two down, two to go...'

I held up a hoof and motioned my unit to focus on the closest remaining timberwolf. The two pegasi stealthily trotted forwards, then positioned themselves to lash out with their back hooves. The two pegasi nodded at each other, and struck at the same time, shattering the wolf's two front legs. A quick succession of spells from me and my lieutenant finished it off.

The fourth timberwolf seemed to have sensed it's brethren having been felled, and took off into the underbrush. After a few seconds, I looked around once more. "Clear." I called out, maintaining my gaze forwards, never once losing focus.

"Clear." My lieutenant called out from behind me.

I inhaled deeply and then exhaled. "Infrared off. And get this smoke out of here." I ordered.

My orders were answered by three synchronous acknowledgments of "Yes sir!"

"That delay cost us precious time, we need to get back to Canterlot A-S-A-P." I shook my head. Taking her down was surprisingly easy, she didn't even have armor or a flight suit. I found it odd but chose not to look a gift pony in the mouth, seeing as though if the battle had been protracted, the timber wolves would have interrupted it...

Fluttershy

'Don't look back, just run! Rainbow Dash is counting on me... She should have caught up with me by now... Oh... Rainbow please be safe...' I fought against my emotions of fear as I galloped as fast as I could towards Twilight's castle. She would help. She had to, Rainbow was in danger. Rainbow had said she would be right behind me... That was several minutes ago.

Something had happened to her... I fought against exhaustion and through hyperventilation as I neared the castle gate. My hooves felt weak, I wasn't used to running so hard or fast for such a distance... The only thing that came close was running to catch up with some of the animals I took care of... 'Oh Rainbow please be okay...'

My hoof landed hard, and awkwardly on a rock. I felt a pain in my hoof, and tumbled over onto the ground hard, rolling several times before coming to a stop. My body ached all over, but I had to get help... I slowly tried to stand, but putting pressure on my hoof only resulted in an unbearable amount of pain. I cried out and collapsed back to the ground. 'I can't even fight through the pain to save her...' I dejectedly thought. I felt a sob racket through my body, moisture filling my eyes.

Seconds passed as I softly sobbed into the ground. Eventually I heard rushed hoofsteps approaching me.

"Miss Fluttershy, are you alright?" The voice was deep, and filled with alarm and concern. Seconds passed, I felt a hoof touch my shoulder. It was cold and hard, but gentle. "She's injured. Get a medic and inform the Princess!" he firmly commanded.

I slowly tilted my head from the ground and looked at the stallion. One of the guards. "Ra-Rainbow! She's in-in trouble! Te-tell Twilight!" my voice came out panicked, but I saw a momentary grimace pass through his features.

Princess Twilight Sparkle

The glow from my horn died down, having cast the spell. The pile of small crystals on the table before me were now being disassembled to their base components. The solid crystals of varying colors soon seemed to melt and turned into a cloud of dense gas enveloped in a magic aura, the only color discernible was the purple glow of my magic. In a few seconds, they would start to be re-assembled into a new crystal, one identical to the one I wore on my regalia.

I watched, mesmerized, as the cloud of atoms began to separate into two separate clouds, one was significantly larger than the other, almost as large as my head. The large cloud of waste material began to coalesce into a single mass of multiple crystals, shifting from one type of crystal to the next. I turned my attention to the smaller cloud, where the new crystal was beginning to grow. Slowly, a diamond shape formed out of the cloud and grew until it was large enough, and then six points began to grow out of it, growing into a six pointed star.

A few seconds later, the crystal was fully formed and gently lowered to the table. I reached out with my right hoof, and when the magic aura faded, the crystal fell into it. I withdrew my hoof and examined the new crystal with my eyes. The crystal, now a near-perfect replica of the Element of Harmony, to the best of my knowledge, could store nearly limitless magic.

Which had led me to wonder if I could store spells inside the crystal. I narrowed my eyes and focused on a spell, one for projecting a barrier and tried imagining the matrices in my mind. I was about to attempt to infuse the crystal with the spell when the sound of a pony clad in armor galloping through the hall reached my ears.

I stopped channeling magic and turned to the door. A second later, the hoofsteps stopped and there was the dull sound of metal beating on crystal. I glanced back at the gem in my hoof, and gently sat it down, then stood up and trotted over to the door, opening it with my magic.

One of my guards stood at attention, breathing heavily. I felt my heart speed up.

"Princess! Miss Fluttershy has been injured, and she said to tell you that Captain Rainbow Dash is in trouble."

It took me less than a second to process the information, my heart skipped a beat. "What... What happened!?" 'I should have made her wear her armor...' I clenched my jaw tightly. 'Reports said the Everfree was getting more dangerous...'

"Miss Fluttershy tripped on a rock, that's how she got injured. As for the captain, we don't know yet. A patrol is being dispatched as we speak."

'Fluttershy tripped on a rock...' Under any other circumstances I would have been annoyed by that. However Rainbow took priority right now. "Good. Have them report directly to me once they find anything. How is Fluttershy doing?"

"She has been moved to the Ponyville General Hospital."

I nodded at him. "Good. If you need me, that's where I will be." I started trotting passed him, I continued trotting even as I spoke, "Dismissed."

"Yes Princess!"

I rounded the hallway corner and lit my horn, casting a teleportation spell. I came out of the teleport at the entrance to the hospital, not once pausing to stop trotting. It was slightly disorientating, trotting into a teleport, and exiting the teleport trotting. I forced back rising bile in my stomach and continued on. It would pass, and it was good practice for if I had to do something like that in battle.

I pushed open the door with my magic and trotted into the hospital's admission room. It looked to have been a slow day, aside from a couple of soldiers, clad in purple armor, who stood guard at the doors. I scanned the room, and my eyes almost immediately fell upon the nurse's desk. I strode across the room and over to the desk, the nurse rose and bowed respectfully to me. I stopped her with a wave from my hoof, "No need for that. I'm here to see Fluttershy."

"Uh... Yes, of course, Princess." she fiddled with a clipboard for a few seconds, then continued, "She has a sprained hoof, and several minor lacerations on her body, but she is doing well. However, the doctor wants to keep her overnight for observation." She trotted out from behind the desk, "Please follow me, Princess."

The Everfree Forest, Ten Minutes Later.

I regarded the scene before me, clear evidence of a struggle, and corpses of three timber wolves. There was a short trail where a pony had obviously skidded across the ground and several sets of hoofprints leading away from the scene. The air was tainted lightly by the smell of sulfur, and there were a few small shards of metal embedded in one of the timberwolf's legs. 'There was more than one pony here...'

"Hey Red, you should see this."

I glanced towards my wingpony, he held a single blue feather in his hoof. I moved closer to him and took the feather in my wing, and examined it more closely. The feather was bent, and the shaft had been broken. Several of the barbs were smeared with blood. I grimaced.

"Go inform the Princess that we found something, I'm going to meet up with the rest of the patrol."

"Alright. But be careful bro. It looks like she encountered more than one pony, and that they didn't come for a picnic." He answered with a solemn smile, then started galloping off towards Ponyville, using his wings to propel himself faster.

I looked back to the scene of whatever had happened and regarded it for a moment, then took off after him. A few minutes of galloping later, and the treetops had thinned out enough for me to take wing. I quickly cleared the treeline and scanned the horizon for the rest of the patrol. Despite the sun dropping lower from the sky, and the thick tree coverage over the Everfree, most of the patrols were searching from the air. It enabled us to cover more ground quickly and look for any problems outside of the forest.

After a few seconds of looking about, I spotted my patrol, they were already heading my direction. I flapped my wings and flew to meet them.

"Private Red Wing, what do you have to report?" The captain called out once I was close enough.

I kept my voice even as I gave my report, "I think we found where they encountered trouble. Three dead timberwolves, and signs that multiple ponies had been there recently, we also found a blue feather that had blood on it. The blood hadn't dried yet. I sent Private Blue Wing to inform the princess."

The captain looked deep in thought for a moment, then nodded, "Alright. The princess can decide what to do about that. If there were other ponies involved, we need to try to locate them and find out what happened."

"The hoofprints lead off into the underbrush, they could have went anywhere from there Captain."

The captain rubbed his chin with a hoof momentarily, then spoke, "There sun will be setting in a couple hours. They would be as good as dead if they stayed in the Everfree without shelter, so we can probably rule that out." He shook his head and sighed. "Alright, we're going to run a sweep of the perimeter of the Everfree and Ponyville, we'll fly low and look for signs of activity. Move out."

I fell into formation and descended towards the ground with the others.

Princess Twilight Sparkle

"We think we found where Captain Rainbow Dash went missing. There were signs of a struggle, three timberwolf corpses, and evidence of the recent activity of multiple ponies in the area."

I went over what he said in my mind, while struggling in vain to fight back rising fear that something very, very bad had happened. I took a deep breath and raised a hoof to my chest, then exhaled, extending my leg straight outwards as I did so. Cadance's breathing exercise helped some. I still felt my heart struggling to break free from my chest, but it wasn't succeeding in breaking out. "What..." my voice squeaked out. I swallowed and started again, "What else do you know? Was there any sign of Rainbow or the ponies that had been there? Did you have the area secured?"

"There was a blue feather that had blood on it, but as for the other ponies, we didn't examine the area for very long. I was ordered to inform you at once."

"You didn't... Secure the area... Or examine it more thoroughly?" I growled in annoyance. I was thankful that I had stepped outside of Fluttershy's room for this now. The scout's normally stoic expression had evaporated into one of unease. I shook my head, "Why didn't you?"

His eyes darted about in nervousness, "Well... Princess... You wanted to be informed immediately, and-"

I lifted a hoof, silencing him, "Never mind that. We're wasting time. Come with me."

"Yes, Princess!" He quickly saluted.

I opened the door to Fluttershy's room and glanced inside. Fluttershy law on the bed, looking out the window. A soft, sad smile crossed my lips. I spoke softly, as to not alarm her, "Fluttershy?" After a few seconds she turned to look at me. Her eyes looked dull, it brought a pang of sadness to my heart. "I'm going to go investigate what happened, okay?"

She replied almost too softly to hear, "Okay..."

"Fluttershy, don't worry. I'll make sure she's safe, okay? I pinkie promise." I went through the motions with a hoof, eliciting a small smile from her. I gently closed the door with a hoof, then turned to regard the soldier with me.

"I'm going to get Captain Light and Sergeant Bolt, and then you're going to lead us to the location you told me about."I firmly commanded. If I was shorter, I was sure I would have seen him swallow.

"Yes, Princess."

I lit my horn and teleported us both to the castle.

Edge Of Everfree Forest, Outskirts Of Ponyville.

I held my breath as another pegasi patrol flew overhead. I counted seven pegasi as they passed over. I glanced at our package, Princess Twilight's personal bodyguard, Rainbow Dash, then back to the sky. The sky was currently clear, save for a handful of clouds, and starting to turn an orange-blue hue. 'We would definitely be safer traveling at night... We can't stay here though.'

"Alright," I called out, "we need to get to the safe house. Once there we can wait for nightfall, and then move about much more stealthily." I looked to my lieutenant, "Think you have enough magic to teleport yourself and the package to the safe house?"

She nodded.

"Do it. The rest of us will hoof it." She nodded and lit her horn with magic. After a few seconds, there was a brilliant violet flash of light, and my Lieutenant was gone, along with the package. The flash of light would have been easily noticeable by any passing pegasi, I winced inwardly upon realizing my mistake of not checking the sky before having her do so.

"Sir." I turned towards Agent Black and saw he was subtly pointing his hoof towards something. I followed his hoof and saw a pegasi patrol descending towards us. I analyzed the situation, contemplating our options.

"I count seven of them, same patrol as earlier." Came a hushed whisper from my left.

"Play it cool. We don't want to reveal anything unless we have to." I whispered back. I looked to my left, then to my right, taking a deep breath, then stepped forwards, out from the bushes. "Follow my lead." The two pegasi with me followed as I left the bushes. I watched the pegasi calmly descend in formation.

The stallion that was obviously the captain stepped forwards, "Sir, might I inquire as to the source of that magic flash, and as to why you were in the Everfree?" He ordered his patrol to spread out and search the area with a hoof.

I chuckled, taking his question in stride, "Ah, sorry about that my friend, I was just making sure that nothing was following us out of the Everfree. You know how those monsters can be... Ferocious little buggas." His eyes narrowed.

"And what were you doing in the forest?"

"Sir, has something happened? You sound a bit perturbed."

"Have you by any chance seen a blue pegasus? Rainbow mane and tail? She's gone missing."

I regarded his words for a moment, frowning and tilting my head so as to appear in thought, "No... I can't say that I have, sir. Hey guys, have either of you seen the pony he described?"

They shook their heads slowly, almost sadly.

"Terribly sorry, sir. I do wish you luck with your inquiry." I waited for a minute for him to reply, he didn't. "If that's all, my friends and I need to get back home, it's getting late and we have somewhere to be." I smiled brightly.

The captain's eyes seemed to glance over my form, then settled his gaze behind me. "Those bags look heavy, what's in them?"

"Just some odds and ends. Herbs, flowers, some special rocks." I answered, making sure to hide the nervousness in my voice. He seemed particularly interested in my saddlebags. I hoped he would buy the lie. If he didn't and wanted to see in them...

"Sergeant?" The captain spoke while still facing me. "Go inform the Princess that we have caught three suspicious ponies... Please come with us."

'Well, so much for getting passed this without violence.' I stood still until the sergeant spread his wings and beat down, starting to take off. Once the sergeant was on the second powerful downwards thrust of his wings, I quickly lit my horn and lowered my head, taking aim. I sent a bolt of magic at him, slamming into his body, penetrating his gold-edged purple armor right below his wing. The force of the impact threw his body out of the air, skidding against the ground.

The rest of the soldiers, along with my two agents, reacted quickly from there. No orders were spoken on either side, we all knew our goals.

I jumped back to dodge a swift tackle from the captain and retaliated with a spell while I was still flying backwards. The captain rolled on the ground to the right, avoiding the spell. He quickly recovered and was rushing me even as I landed. I lit my horn at the last second, teleporting to the side, and kicking out with my hind legs as he occupied the space I previously occupied. My hooves struck true, sending him careening at an odd angle.

I quickly glanced around to check on my two agents, we were outnumbered two to one, and it was showing. Agent Black bucked out with his hooves, causing the pegasus he hit to fall forwards. I lowered my head and angled my horn for him. The pegasus took too long to recover and was unable to avoid my deadly spell. 'Five to go...'

I turned my head around just in time to see the captain ram into me. I swiveled my body as I took the hit to reduce the harm it would inflict on me, but I was still knocked over. I felt the start of several bruises where the captain had impacted me and where I had fallen on rocks.

The captain pounced on me, and pinned me to the ground, and wrapped his hooves around my throat, attempting to suffocate me. I lashed out with my hooves, distracting him, and then bucked him off of me with a powerful thrust of my hind legs. The captain spread his wings midair, arresting his uncontrolled momentum. I grit my teeth, and rolled over onto my stomach, then rose to my hooves in the blink of an eye.

I eyed a rock, took it in my magic, lifting it up and holding it in its place, relative to me, then spun around and launched it towards the captain. He effortlessly dodged the rock, but it bought me time to draw out the dagger I had placed in my saddlebag. I held the dagger close to my muzzle in my magic, and took a defensive stance, awaiting the captain to make the first move.

The captain lunged at me and reached out with a hoof. I threw out my own hoof, knocking his hoof out of the way, and thrust my dagger towards his face. The captain pulled his head away just enough for the blade to only leave a deep cut in his flesh. As I was pulling the dagger back towards me, he knocked it out of the air with a hoof. It was a distraction and the next thing I knew I was pinned to the ground again.

This time, he threw his weight against my body and then wrapped his hooves around my throat. I squinted my eyes, and teleported a few steps away, and bucked him down into the ground as hard as I could. I leveled my horn at another pegasus and lashed out with my magic. The pegasus fell to the ground and his body wreathed in pain as the magic coursed through his body, then killed him. 'Four to go...' I glanced around, just in time to see Agent Black buck one of the pegasi in the head. His head snapped back and then fell at an odd angle as his body hit the ground. 'Make that three.'

The captain charged at me once again, I sidestepped and kicked his hooves out from under him. He compensated with his wings and took to the sky, flying straight up. I reached into my saddlebag with my magic and withdrew two items. A mask, and a metal cylinder.

I put the mask over my head and made sure to secure the filter over my nose and mouth. My voice was distorted by the mask as I yelled out, "Chem masks on!"

I ran into and then fell into a roll, rolling over my head and firing two stunning spells as I came up. one spell hit its mark, briefly stunning one of the pegasi, allowing my agent to overpower him. The agent regarded me in my mask, and quickly pulled out his and put it on. I slammed into the other pegasus, knocking him aside. Agent white pulled out a mask and put it on.

'Perhaps I should have done this earlier.' I noted as I twisted the two halves of the metal cylinder in my magic. There was a clicking sound, and four vents opened, releasing a gaseous chemical from within the container. The captain flew towards the ground, and gradually arced towards me.

When he hit the gas cloud, he fell right out of the air. I couldn't help but smirk. 'For things that don't exist, they sure pack a punch.'

"Alright. The gas will dissipate soon enough, we need to get a move on before any more patrols see us." I glanced around at the corpses of the pegasi, I grimaced at not having enough time to hide the bodies.

Princess Twilight Sparkle

I regarded the blood-stained feather I held in my magic. A combination of worry and anger were taking over my emotions. Worry for her safety, and anger at myself for not making her wear armor. Well, more than a little anger at whatever or whoever was responsible for this. I shook my head, 'I'm going to be facing much more than just this in the coming months...' I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. "Search the area." My command was met by ten unmistakable replies of 'Yes Princess.' I carefully placed the feather in one of my saddlebags.

I slowly trotted over to the corpse of the nearest timberwolf. Its head was facing downwards, obscuring its face. 'Why would a timberwolf put its face on the ground before it died...' I channeled magic into my horn, illuminating the path in a soft glow from my magic aura, and lifted the timberwolf's head from the ground. I narrowed my eyes as I examined the damage to the timberwolf. The face had been burnt away, but not by fire. It didn't look like there were any scorch marks, but it was hard to tell in the darkness cast by the tree canopy.

I charged my horn with a spell, and released it, creating a lavender magic orb. The orb rose into the air, and flooded the path with light, giving a better picture of what had happened here. I returned my gaze to the timberwolf, it's wooden face had pits all over, something I hadn't expected to see. 'What could cause that to a timberwolf...'

I lowered the timberwolf's head back to the ground, and gently released it from my magic. "I want these timberwolf corpses more thoroughly examined. Take them to Ponyville General, and tell them I want a report as to what happened to them." I frowned, then quickly added, "And have them check for anything out of the ordinary."

"Yes, Princess."

I examined the multiple sets of hoofprints on the ground and clenched my jaw. 'There's next to no blood here, that's a good sign. So she's probably alive... Unless they took her somewhere else to kill her...' I shook my head, 'No. Don't think like that. I promised Fluttershy- no, I pinkie promised Fluttershy that I would bring her back safe.'

One of the unicorns enveloped the corpse of the timberwolf in front of me in his pale yellow magic aura, then slowly lifted it away. I withdrew the blue feather from my saddlebag and regarded it with growing bitterness for a minute. 'Nopony hurts my friends and gets away with it...'

Chapter 15

Princess Twilight Sparkle, Castle Of The Two Sisters, Nightfall.

The stillness of the air was broken only by the sound of my hoofsteps falling upon the cold stone floor. I trotted onto the dais, before the pedestal which once held the Elements of Harmony. I regarded the now empty pedestal with a blank stare and sat down on my haunches, just letting my thoughts run free... 'Calm down. It's only been a few hours... A few hours. That's more than enough time to get to a secluded area and murder her... NO! She's still alive. Nopony would be foolish enough to kill one of the bearers... But what if she is...' I had a sinking feeling as worries once again flooded my mind, as they had been off and on since...

'What would happen if she's dead, hmm? The elements wouldn't work until you could find a new bearer, and even then... It might not work.' A solemn expression replaced my previous blank one, 'I... I should be able to figure out how to make them work without... Six bearers... If... If that becomes necessary... Right?'

The sinking feeling became worse. 'I'll have a better chance of figuring out how to make them work without all the bearers if I get started on it sooner... Maybe... Maybe I'll learn something else about them while I'm at it...' I took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. "Okay, I'm going to need a plan for the worst case scenario..." Dozens of scenarios started playing out through my mind, each one getting progressively worse than the last one.

I started to feel weak in my legs as the scenarios got worse, each of my friends... Dying... 'NO! Get a hold of yourself. You won't make a good leader if you're paralyzed by fear, nor will you be able to rescue her or protect them...' I looked at my hooves and the stone floor beneath them, trying to think of something else, anything else but... That...

'The cold!' It suddenly hit me, it was a rather cold night. It wasn't helped by the fact that it was raining.

After a few seconds, I felt a particularly cold sensation going down my muzzle, then saw a drop of water fall onto the floor. I blinked rapidly several times, and my vision blurred. I lifted a hoof to my eye, and wiped away the moisture, then repeated it with my other eye. I looked at my damp hoof, and then at the sky.

It wasn't raining. 'I'm crying...' I half-heartedly laughed at myself. 'Here I am, calling both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna foals, yet I'm the one crying...' I lightly laughed again, weakening until it died in my chest.

I looked back up at the pedestal with my eyes, then turned my head upwards. I made a decision. I would go to the Tree of Harmony, and take the Elements from it, even if I had to rip them from the Tree... 'For safe keeping...' I told myself. Then I would study them, and prepare for the worst possible outcome.

I slowly stood, gaining my resolve as I did so. Once I was to my hooves, I channeled magic into my horn and teleported into the cave beneath the castle.

One moment, I was standing on a cracked stone floor, surrounded by crumbling stone walls. The next, there was a flash of purple light, and I was standing inside a dark cave, illuminated only by the light coming from the Tree of Harmony, and the Elements. I had appeared a short distance from the Tree.

Even after having seen the tree many times before... The sight of it still took my breath away. I slowly stepped forwards, one hoof after the other. I stopped within touching distance of the tree, and reached out with my hoof, placing it gently on the trunk. I could feel the magic coursing through the living crystal... 'So much power... The Tree must have fully recharged it's magic reserves during the short time that it has had the Elements back...'

I took a step back, and lit my horn, channeling magic into it, preparing to fight the tree if needed. My heart rate was increasing as I stood there, thinking about the Tree, and the Elements. I inhaled deeply, then exhaled.

I reached out with my magic, and gently tugged on the Elements, hoping that the Tree and the Elements would recognize the familiar magic, and not resist my magic. The crystalline structure around each of the Elements slowly receded, freeing the Elements from the Tree. I carefully levitated the Elements down. I regarded each gem as I took it from its spot in the tree, Honesty, Generosity, Laughter, Kindness...

I paused when it came time to retrieve Loyalty. My magic briefly faltered, and the other Elements fell for a second before I caught them. I looked at the gem with solemnity, and then gently pulled it from the tree. I brought the gem down and held it in front of my face. As I looked at it, I started feeling a gnawing worry growing in the pit of my stomach.

I clenched my eyes closed and teleported the Elements, except for Loyalty and Magic into a pocket dimension. I lifted a hoof, and turned it upwards, then gently set the gem on my hoof. I found myself staring at the red gem, despite the current task at hoof. I slowly turned my head towards the Element at the center of the Tree, Magic, yet my eyes remained resting on my hoof.

I blinked and forced myself to look at my Element, then gently pulled it from the Tree. I levitated it down in front of me, and regarded it momentarily, then sighed, and teleported both Elements into the pocket dimension.

I turned around and faced the exit. A feeling of relief washed over me as I started walking towards the cave opening. 'When I get back, I'll see if they've found anything yet, and then I'll examine the Elements.' A thought briefly crossed my mind, almost like a whisper, 'And the Void Crystal...' I frowned and shook my head, 'No, I made a promise.'

Drip.

I paused, and turned my head towards the source of the sound, and caught sight of a small pool of water on the floor. Despite the distance, I could see the rippling of waves upon the otherwise still surface. Something about the pool gave me pause, I felt almost drawn towards it. I slowly turned towards it and approached it.

I walked over it and looked down at it. The pool of water was very shallow, its surface was highly reflective. That gave me pause, I stuck my head towards it and was greeted by my reflection. I felt a tingle of worry in the back of my mind, but brushed it off. The reflection was my own, yet I couldn't deny the growing fear in the back of my mind.

I blinked and felt my heart skip a beat. I reeled back from the image that had replaced my reflection. Magenta dragon-slit eyes, a flowing, dark indigo mane with purple pink stripes floating upwards, and a sharp light blue horn made of magic... I took a step back, and the image mirrored me. I slowly lifted a hoof out over the pool, the image reflected this, but the hoof was much darker than mine. I looked back at my hoof, it was still as I remembered it, then blinked.

The reflection in the pool had disappeared, to be replaced by a true reflection of myself. I lifted a hoof to my regalia, making sure it was still there. Upon feeling the warmth of the crystal, I felt a little bit more secure, but it did not completely vanquish my worries. I looked back towards the Tree, expecting it to have changed during the brief period of time in which I had not looked at it.

The Tree was the same. Nothing bad had happened to it, it wasn't under attack by vines, nor was it dying. That helped calm my nerves further. I took a breath and exhaled, 'Just my imagination.' I turned back towards the cave opening, and began to quickly head outside, back into the cool of the night, away from the relative safety and comfort of the cave, and into the cold, dark, and restless Everfree Forest.

'At night. Alone.' The thoughts hit me like a brick wall, giving me pause. The Everfree was dangerous at the best of times, and this was far from the best of times... I swallowed a growing lump in my throat and spread my wings. Immediately my sides were assaulted by the chill of the forest's night air, but it would be an easy price to pay compared to attempting to teleport into a busy area at long range, or possibly getting attacked by one of the Everfree's countless dangerous creatures that lurked in the night as I traveled through the forest.

I folded my wings back to my body as I landed, stepping forwards as I did so. The two guards at the door saluted me without breaking their stoic expressions, I nodded at them, and they lowered their hooves back to the ground. I walked to the door and opened it with my magic, then quietly entered. Despite the late hour, there were ponies moving out, completing tasks or delivering reports, or just patrolling the castle's many hallways.

I silently closed the door with my magic and looked around for somepony who could give me an idea of any new developments during my absence. None of the ponies in the immediate area looked like they might know anything other than what they were taking care of at the moment. I clenched my jaw, shook my head, and started walking towards the west stairwell. I needed to find out if anything had happened that needed my attention, or if they had found anything.

As I approached the hallway leading to the west stairwell, the guard I passed saluted me. I acknowledged them with a nod and continued on, not stopping until reaching the large crystalline double doors granting access to the stairs. I slowed as I approached the doors, and lit my horn to open the doors when they were opened from the other side. Spitfire walked out, her steps were slow, and she looked weary. Despite her tired appearance, her uniform was in pristine condition, neither a wrinkle nor a bar out of place on the general's uniform.

She immediately perked up when she saw me, smiling weakly and bowing her head deeply. "Princess..." She rose from the bow, her smile had shifted into a more stern, and concerned expression, "Where were you? The guards sent with you said you went off on your own into the Everfree. The last thing we need is for something to happen to you, Princess."

I sighed. "I'm fine. I was just at the Castle of the Two Sisters. I even flew back to avoid walking through the forest at night."

Spitfire frowned, "That old castle? What were you doing out there in the middle of the Everfree without guards?"

"I was retrieving the Elements of Harmony. And I'm pretty sure I can handle a couple of timberwolves..." I spread my wings and pointed a hoof towards my horn to emphasize my point.

Spitfire sighed, "It's not the timberwolves I'm concerned about, Princess. There are other far worse things lurking in that forest."

"I'll keep that in mind." I replied in an even tone. "Anything to report?" Any hope that had been growing in my chest as I asked that question was crushed when she shook her head.

"Nothing good, Princess. A patrol was found dead near the edge of the Everfree. They had signs of hoof to hoof combat, along with magic damage, and something else. We have medical examiners taking a look at them now. Their bodies were still warm when we found them, but we didn't find any clues as to the identities of the aggressors."

I let my wings hang loose from my body, they fell to the floor, and I brushed my mane back with a hoof. 'Okay... It's not that bad... One patrol dead... That's only... Eight ponies...' I shook my head and sighed. 'And it's all my fault... No... I couldn't have done anything about that... Right?' I pulled my wings back to my body, turned and started walking away, "If you find anything, I will be in my lab."

"Yes, Princess." Spitfire replied.

I opened the door to my lab, and silently shut it behind me, not even bothering to illuminate the dark room that I had entered. I knew from memory where the chair and desk were, and skillfully avoided any objects that could have posed a danger to me from walking in the dark. I reached out with a hoof and felt around for the chair. When I found it, I pulled it out and then sat on it, resting my forehooves on the desk.

I inhaled and exhaled, then lit my horn, bathing the room in a pale purple glow, and recalled the Elements from the pocket dimension. I caught the Elements in my magic, and gently lowered them to the table, with the exception of the Element of Magic. I levitated the Star in front of my muzzle, then looked down at my regalia, and withdrew the crystal from it. I levitated the two gems side by side, they looked identical. Completely identical.

Every single angle, every line, every point, it all looked exactly the same to my eyes. The only exception was that the crystal from my regalia glowed with an inner light, displaying my magic held within it for all to see. The Element of Harmony looked dull and empty by comparison. I frowned and cast a spell to examine the molecular make ups of both crystals, down to the placement of the atoms. The spell would tell me how similar the two crystals were.

The spell completed in a flash of light, I frowned. The molecular make ups were the same... The position was different of course, but they were, for all intents and purposes, identical. 'So the spell to fabricate crystals works properly... And the Elements are likely all perfect crystals too...' I rubbed my chin with a hoof.

'How do you work?' I closed my eyes and channeled more magic into my horn, preparing to examine the Element of Magic for any clues as to how it worked. The spell faltered and I opened my eyes, the Element of Magic was surrounded by a light purple barrier. I blinked at the interesting development. 'It resisted my examination of it.' I frowned.

I placed the crystal from my regalia down and fitted the Element of Magic into it. It fit perfectly. I inhaled deeply, then slowly exhaled, and closed my eyes. I drew upon my magic and called forth the magic of the Element of Magic. It came freely to me, flooding over my body, and intertwining with my own magic. I opened my eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. 'It still works for me.' I looked at the other Elements, then at my own.

The Element of Magic glowed pink, while the others were inert, I felt my mouth turn upwards into a smile, 'Maybe one Element bearer would be enough to defend Equestria from evil...' I paused for a minute to contemplate what that could mean, then my eyes fell upon the other Elements, namely, the Element of Loyalty. The smile left my face.

I reached out with my left hoof, and pulled the Element towards me, then picked it up in my magic. I closed my eyes and tried to access its magic. Nothing happened. I opened my eyes and felt a tingle of happiness, 'She must still be alive.' I smiled, then frowned as another thought occurred to me, 'Or I can't use it because I'm not its bearer... Or because I don't represent loyalty...'

I stood up, and pulled the Element of Magic out of my regalia, and replaced it with the other crystal. Then I lifted a hoof to my chest, inhaled deeply, then extended my hoof outwards as I exhaled. "She. Is. Not. Dead." I stamped my hoof down, punctuating each word as I spoke. "Nopony would be foolish enough to kill one of the bearers..."

I stood still for several seconds, then grabbed the Elements in my magic and placed them back into the pocket dimension. I waited in silence for a few seconds, 'It's been a long day. I... I should get some rest.' I had been gone for a hours and the night was well underway. Despite the... Excitement of the day, tomorrow would still happen, whether I was prepared for it or not.

I teleported into my room. I started to walk towards my bed but paused after only one step. I slowly turned my head towards the ponnyquin and regarded the armor resting upon it. I lit my horn with magic, illuminating the room with a pale glow, turned and walked towards my armor. I paused just in front of it and rested my hoof on the chest plate. The chill of the metal seeped into my hoof, sending a slight shiver down my spine.

I slowly pulled my hoof back and lowered it to the floor. I suddenly shuddered as the image from the mirror came back to my mind, this time wearing armor. This armor. I closed my eyes, and walked over to the mirror, pulling the armor off as I did so. Once I stood in front of the mirror, I took off my regalia and began placing the armor on myself.

I could feel the strength of the armor, and the magic imbued into the steel. It sent a tingly feeling down my spine. I starred at the reflection in the mirror, almost daring it to change. I blinked. Nothing changed.

I sighed, lowered my head and pulled the helmet off with my magic, then placed it back on the ponnyquin.

Chapter 16

Rainbow Dash

Cold, dark, and damp. My mind was assaulted by those thoughts as I regained consciousness. I heard the sound of metal dragging on stone as I lifted a hoof to rub my eyes, I looked at my hoof in confusion. It took a second for me to realized there was a steel cuff around my hoof, a metal chain fell from it and disappeared behind me. I slowly stood up, chains rattling as I did so. 'What?' Was all I could think.

Once I was standing, I tried to flex my wings. They didn't budge, I turned my head towards my back, and caught sight of a band wrapped around my body, pinning my wings to my chest. I inhaled and exhaled, and looked left and right, high and low, trying to figure out where I was. All the while, feeling was starting to come back to me.

I could feel cold metal wrapped around all four of my hooves, and the tightness of the binding around my wings. The bindings were tight enough that breathing was somewhat difficult, and I could not draw in a full breath. My eyes fell on upon the metal bars closing the only entrance I had seen to the room. 'I'm in a dungeon cell...' The realization slowly donned on me. I felt panic rising in the back of my mind as my memory slowly returned to me...

The trip through the Everfree with Fluttershy... The feeling of being watched... Being attacked... 'And getting captured...' I surmised. I couldn't remember how I had been captured, and the events I did remember were still a little fuzzy.

'Fluttershy...' Had she made it away? I looked around the cell once more, despite the darkness, I could tell I was the only pony in it. 'She... She...' The memory of seeing Fluttershy take off running returned to me, 'Yes... She made it away... She will tell somepony what happened... Wait... She didn't see what happened...'

The longer I sat there in the dark silence of the cell, the more I became aware of a growing pain in the back of my head. It was a throbbing, pulsing pain, like a headache, but...

There was a sound off in the distance, metal grinding against metal, it was quiet, but it sounded like a door had been opened which had not been properly maintained.

The faint, almost imperceptible sound of hoofsteps falling on stone... Ever so slowly growing in volume. They did not sound rushed, but came in even intervals, whoever was making the sound was calm.

I squinted my eyes, a low glow could be seen trying to fight off the darkness of the dungeon. After a few seconds of watching, I could tell it was growing brighter as the hoofsteps became louder.

I almost jumped at the sound of chains rattling, and realized I had taken a step back. 'I'm not afraid. I am Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash does not get scared.' I told myself. It didn't help, nor could it change the fact that nopony likely knew where I was. And that I was alone.

The hoofsteps started to slow, and became distinct. Ten sets, five ponies in the group. 'If they're coming for me, I'll show them not to mess with Rainbow Dash...' Yes, if the group of ponies were coming for me, I would break free, fight them, and escape, even if I had to fight half the Wonderbolts to do so.

Of course none of that would be easy, especially the breaking free part. I glanced down at my hooves and pulled one up, the weight of the metal cuff and chain weighed it down significantly. 'I will find a way...' I told myself.

Five ponies slowly walked in front of the bars, four of them were off to the side of the front one, who was much taller than the others. Her ethereal mane flowed freely, her white coat was easily distinguished from the grey and brown coats of the guards who accompanied her. 'Princess Celestia... Not getting out of this one.' I took a few steps back until I felt the cold stone preventing me from walking back further.

One of the guards, a unicorn clad in gold-plated armor, quickly approached the cell door, lit his horn, bathing the cell in a pale blue light, and levitated a key into the lock. A second later, he removed the key and backed away. Princess Celestia's horn became surrounded by a pale yellow aura, and she opened the door and stepped inside. I felt my heart beat faster as she regarded me.

She moved her head to the left, her eyes darted around the cell, then she looked back to me, her mouth was drawn into a thin line. Her voice was the same as normal, calm and collected, almost motherly, "Rainbow Dash, you'll have to forgive the accommodations, I was unaware that you would have arrived so soon, otherwise I would have had better ones prepared for you."

She took a step forwards and lit her horn. I felt a warm sensation around my hooves, and felt the cuffs loosen. A second later I heard a 'clank' as the cuffs hit the stone floor. I looked down to regard my now free hooves and became aware of how sore they were. I winced as I gently rubbed my right hoof with my left. I looked back to Princess Celestia, "Thanks..." I spoke lowly.

"You're welcome." She paused, then spoke again, "I'm sure you're surprised to see me, and your memory is probably a little fuzzy."

I snorted. "A little?" I asked sarcastically.

She grimaced slightly. "I did not expect them to... Never mind." she shook her head.

"What do you want from me?" I asked, then paused briefly to consider why she would want me. "If you want me to betray Twilight that's not going to happen." I stated forcefully.

"I was hoping to talk to you and to convince you to help me. And to convince you to talk to Twilight, convince her to stop and return to me." Her expression changed to a pained one, taking me by surprise, "Please. It is not supposed to be this way. If she refuses to come peacefully, she could get hurt. Many ponies could and most likely will die! I don't want that."

I did not say anything immediately, choosing to think it over. She had a point... But... No, she just wanted to use me! I wouldn't let her use me, Twilight counted on me. I steeled my resolve, "No." I spoke quietly and firmly.

"Rainbow... One way or another, you will help me." She glared at me.

I felt the cold stone floor press against my stomach as I shrank back from her glare, for the first time I could remember, Princess Celestia scared me. After a few moments, she averted her gaze from me, turned and started to leave.

She paused in the doorway, "I will be back tomorrow, Rainbow. We can talk further then. As for now, I have more pressing matters to attend to." She walked out and the door was silently shut behind her, then the guard locked the door.

The group of ponies started walking away, but the light remained. The sound of hoofsteps grew faint, and the echos were soon silenced, leaving me alone in the intimidating stillness of the dungeon.

Princess Celestia

'That meeting could have gone better.' I surmised. In all honesty, I had expected more resistance from her than that, maybe even a few kicks or a bite or two. Then again... She knows who I am... I shook my head. I paused in front of the door to the Throne room. "They certainly retrieved her quickly." I spoke aloud.

"Of course they did, Princess." Director Tap's deep voice was filled with arrogance, it was slightly concerning. I would have to keep an eye on him, after all, arrogance sows the seeds of overconfidence, which can lead to defeat.

"They brought her back before I had a chance to prepare something more comfortable for her to stay in..." I frowned.

"She is an enemy combatant, Princess. Yet you insist on treating her well..."

"She is one of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony foremost. I do not want any harm coming to them, even if they are our enemies, at least temporarily-" I shot him a glare, "-I want them to come to no harm. Finding a replacement for one or more of them could prove more than difficult, and then getting the Elements to work once more... It's something we can't risk."

"Yes, Princess. I will have her moved as soon as it's ready." He replied flatly.

Princess Twilight Sparkle

Despite yesterday's excitement, life went on. I was still a princess, and I still had to lead my ponies. Despite Rainbow Dash being ponynapped and her current whereabouts unknown, I still had many tasks to take care of which required my attention. "General, I want you to have a team of Wonderbolts assembled and on standby for when we locate Rainbow Dash."

"Yes, Princess. I will have Lieutenant Soarin take command of it for the rescue-"

"No," I cut her off, "I will lead it personally." Spitfire's mouth hung open for a brief moment before she closed it.

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Princess?"

"I made a promise. Besides, there's a chance if Princess Celestia or Princess Luna have her we could run into them. If I go, it gives the mission a better chance of success." I stated.

"If you fail, you could get captured or killed. I know she's important to you, but-"

General Spitfire seemed to be forgetting that Rainbow was one of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, the main line of defense for Equestria against threats too powerful for the military to handle. I spoke quickly, and my words had an edge to them, "She is the bearer of the Element of Loyalty, General." I met her eyes with a fierce glare, "Don't forget that."

"Yes, Princess. I'm just concerned is all. The decision is strategically questionable, unless you plan on using the Elements against them." Spitfire stamped her hoof on a form, and pushed it to the left with her other hoof, then pulled another form from the pile on her desk.

I spoke in a calmer tone, "I don't know yet. I plan on keeping that option in reserve..." I looked down, thinking. 'Would using the six Elements together even do anything against them? Would it end badly? Could I draw on all six Elements by myself? Could I use the Element of Magic's power in combat alone, without the other Elements?' So many questions that I did not have answers to. I looked back up at Spitfire, expecting her to berate my lack of planning in regards to the Elements.

She didn't even look up from her work, "I'll have the team ready by the end of the week, Princess." She stamped her hoof down on another form, I took that as my cue to leave.

I walked to the opposite side of the room, opened the door with my magic, and silently left. My hoofsteps quietly echoed on the crystal floor as I made my way towards the castle gate. The more I thought about it, the more I had started to realize that this castle, a crystal tree, was not exactly 'fit' for war. Its design was not very safe, considering the top was larger and heavier than the bottom, even if the 'trunk' was made of incredibly strong crystal.

'Maybe I should have another one constructed, and design it to better suit my needs for war.' Looking into that was probably a good idea. I would need to talk to Amethyst and Mayor Mare about it.

I opened the gate with my magic and stepped outside, immediately the rays of the sun hit my fur, warming it. I took a second to just stand there and enjoy the warmth of the sun, then continued on. 'First stop, the laboratory.' I turned down the dirt road towards the lab. The road wouldn't be dirt much longer, I was having it upgraded, it would make transportation and moving ponies about easier, especially in rain or snow.

A few minutes of walking in silence later, I arrived at the laboratory. Construction was progressing, even if it was far too slow by my standards, but the site was currently silent. They were on break. I sighed. The sooner it was done, the sooner I could get some ponies to research spells and such for me. 'Perhaps I could assign a few unicorns to the crystals too.' I frowned, 'Would they have enough magic to use that spell?' Further study was required.

After a few minutes of looking at the lab from a distance, I slowly turned and started walking away. 'Right. Now I need to find Applejack. She should be at the barracks.' I still had yet to get around to telling all my friends about Rainbow's disappearance, I had been busy this morning and hadn't had a chance to see them all yet today.

The trip from the lab to the barracks was quiet and boring, the only sound coming from my hooves and the occasional pony who greeted me. Once I passed through town, everypony bowed as I passed, or waved, or smiled, or said hello to me. I replied to them of course, and it helped take my mind off of my missing companion, but it wasn't long before I was once again walking in silence.

Sure, Rainbow might be full of herself at times, and she might not be the brightest pony around, but at least she was more comfortable around me than the other guards. We could talk whenever we were going to check on something, such as what I was doing right now, and it didn't feel awkward. She knew when to be a friend, and when to be professional. Well, for the most part.

I wasn't halfway between the town and the camp before I decided I missed her company. The minutes seemed to drag on as I slowly, ever so slowly, approached the barracks.

After what seemed like an eternity, I finally arrived. The barracks were surrounded by a wooden fence, nothing all that imposing, but capable of keeping ponies out who had no business being here. The gate guard ran out and bowed to me once I stopped. I nodded back at the guard, no words passed between us, but he opened the gate regardless. There was no need to make sure I was who I appeared to be, the changelings had not been heard from since the failed invasion of Canterlot, and nopony could try to pass for an alicorn, save for an alicorn. And alicorns were fairly rare.

Of course, that was only necessary to think about if you excluded the fact that I wore my tiara and regalia. Nopony would dare to steal them and try to pass for me. And the only time I didn't wear my regalia was when I was alone, sleeping, or worried it would get lost or damaged. Which was ironic, considering I planned to wear it in battle to give me an advantage.

I walked inside the gate and took note of the rows upon rows of wooden structures and tents. Despite being here only a few days ago, It looked and felt like it had increased in size. I could see dozens if not hundreds of ponies going about their business. Fortunately, none paid me any attention.

I lit my horn and used a simple illusion to disguise myself. Despite being their leader, I did not want any delays regarding that. Plus, if they didn't know I was here, I could observe what was going on without my presence interfering. The gate guard said nothing as I disguised myself, perhaps realizing I did not want my presence here known.

Since the barracks was larger than last time, I realized I might have difficulty finding Applejack. I frowned in thought, then decided to ask the guard. I turned towards the guard, and walked a few steps closer to him, "Excuse me, do you by any chance know where I might find one Private Applejack?"

"No, Princess. I'm afraid not. If you could tell me what combat group she was in, I could point you in the right direction." He replied, eyes never once looking anywhere but straight forwards. I found myself wondering how they could be any good at guarding if they just stared off, not looking around to make sure everything was in order.

"Uh right. She's an earth pony... I'm afraid I have not kept up with her as much as I should have. She's a friend of mine, bearer of the Element of Honesty?" The guard remained still for several seconds, retaining the same stoic expression as normal. It was impossible to tell what he was doing, but I assumed, and hoped, he was thinking about it.

"I would suggest checking in with either Lieutenant Soarin, or the Earth Pony Battle Group." he paused, "Oh uh-" He stepped out of his post and pointed towards the farthest wooden building on the right side of the camp. "-right over there, Princess."

I nodded my thanks, "Thank you." I turned and started walking towards the building he indicated.

"No problem, Princess."

Several U-Turns later.

Turns out the guard I had asked for directions was right, and had pointed me towards the group's command office. It had taken me several minutes and attempts to find the correct building where Applejack was quartered in from there. Once I arrived there, I found it empty, went back to the command office, inquired about it, looked around the camp several times, then returned, only to find her just starting to leave from the office.

Needless to say, I wished I would have waited there, or had the Colonel call her in. 'Ugh. Right.' I approached the orange earth pony, "Hey, Applejack."

She stopped and looked at me in confusion.

"Oh! Right." I lit my horn and dropped the illusion.

"Twilight, what're you doing out here?" She asked as I pulled her into a hug.

"Sorry I haven't been keeping in touch more... I've been busy..." I sheepishly rubbed the back of my head with a hoof.

"Oh, don't you worry about that. I'm sure you've got a lot of important princess stuff to take care of." She smiled, then looked around, "Say, where's Rainbow?"

I winced, "That's... Kind of why I'm here... She's missing. We think she was captured yesterday..." Applejack's eyes widened. "I had her go with Fluttershy into the Everfree Forest, yes Fluttershy is fine-" Applejack looked relieved at hearing that, "- and we found signs of a struggle and evidence of other ponies in the area. Sorry I didn't tell you sooner-"

"Twilight, you've been busy. You sound like you blame yourself for what happened..."

"I..." I didn't know what to say, it was my fault, but her accusing me of blaming myself... I sighed. "I'm going to find her and bring her back. I promised Fluttershy."

"I know you will, Twilight. If you need any help, you know where to find me."

"Thanks, Applejack. I don't think that will be necessary though. I have Spitfire assembling a team of Wonderbolts for me to take command of for the rescue mission."

Applejack's expression turned grim, "Hate to play Discord's advocate, but what if she was... Killed?"

"N-No, she's alive. She has to be. Nopony would be foolish enough to kill one of the bearers..."

'Yes. Keep telling yourself that.' the voice mocked. The voice brought back memories of my reflection... I suddenly felt cold, despite the warmth of the day. I shivered.

"Twilight?"

I looked up at Applejack, she looked concerned. "What?"

"You okay?"

'No...' I put on my biggest, brightest smile, and hoped it didn't look forced, "Yep! I'm completely fine! Nothing wrong with me at all!"

Applejack frowned and appeared to be thinking about what I had said, then spoke a few seconds later, "Right... Be careful, Twilight. Don't overwork yourself, and take care of yourself."

"I know, I know..." I sighed.

After several seconds of silence, Applejack spoke again, "So do you have a replacement guard for Rainbow yet?"

"No. I'm not going to replace her." I answered firmly.

"You sure? Ain't that a little bit dangerous?"

"Probably." I mused. I looked at the sun, then back to Applejack, "Sorry to have to cut this visit short, but I have a few other things to take care of, and finding you took longer than I expected..." I smiled weakly.

"Aw shoot, don't let me keep you if it's that important. I'm just glad you dropped by." Applejack glanced at the sun, then back to me, "But uh, I have somewhere I need to be too."

I stepped forwards and hugged her again, breaking it after a few seconds, and then parting ways.

Princess Luna

I regarded the mid-afternoon sun, after I secured the throne for myself I would have to take the sun from my sister and control the day night cycle myself. I smiled, 'Or, perhaps Twilight would be willing to take control of the sun... She moved it before. Well, when she had all of our power...' I frowned.

Regardless, for now both were my enemies. 'Though I hope not for much longer.' If everything went as planned. I turned to walk back inside the castle, closing the balcony doors as I entered. The ponies assembled around the conference table were military commanders and advisers. My eyes slowly circled around the group until they fell on the one who stood out the most. General Goldfeather, a griffin mercenary commander.

The griffins were mostly content to keep to their own business, throw them enough gold however... I smiled.

"Gentlecolts, and gentlegriffs, I believe we have an offensive to plan." I declared.

Chapter 17

Princess Twilight Sparkle

Sergeant Bolt watched me as I donned the Element of Magic, replacing the crystal in my regalia with the Element itself. I carefully levitated the crystal away and then put it into a pocket dimension for safekeeping. 'This is dangerous.' part of me told myself. I chose to ignore it, 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained.' Besides, how would I figure out if I could access the magic of the Elements of Harmony without their bearers if I didn't try it myself?

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, then slowly released it. Lighting my horn, I accessed the Element of Magic, calling forth its power and making it my own. I felt a rush as the surge of magic flooded through me, but unlike other times, when I had accessed it with the help of my friends, it didn't feel as warm. The power, however, was still there.

The power was unquestionable. Far more power in the Element of Magic alone than I had ever wielded personally. The only thing that came close to the feeling of having this much power was when I wielded the magic of all four alicorn princesses. And right now I did not have the support of the other five Elements. As to what that said about their power, I could only wonder.

I opened my eyes. Ponies had said that when I wielded the power of the Elements my eyes glowed white. I never noticed any difference and had never stood in front of a mirror while accessing the Elements of Harmony to see for myself. Of course, that is to be expected when you think about the fact that the Elements of Harmony are only used in dire circumstances to defend Equestria from great darkness. 'Would Starlight Glimmer have, had she attacked Equestria as a whole, necessitated the use of the Elements?' Right, think about that later. I filed the question away to ponder it later, as for now, I had some tests to run.

And if it just so happened that I had a little fun while experimenting, or relieved a little stress, that was just an added bonus. 'I'm going to enjoy this.' Of course, I would never admit that to anyone, especially Sergeant Bolt. There was no question in my mind that he would chastise me for finding enjoyment in using one of the most powerful magical artifacts in existence to engage in senseless destruction, even if I told him it was for science.

'Speaking of senseless destruction...' Yes. I was going to do some experimenting before I got sidetracked. I channeled my magic, along with the magic of the Element of Magic to my horn, gazing across the field of jagged rocks as I did so, attempting to imagine them being ponies. If I was going to be fighting ponies, I needed to be able to handle killing them.

'Killing them...' The words echoed in my mind. Such a long time ago that thought would have paralyzed me, even now I felt my stomach churn at the thought, my heart felt cold.

Or my heart would have felt cold if it wasn't for the Element of Magic's magic.

I regarded the rocks I was about to attack with pity, then lowered my horn and sent a beam of magic towards the center line without hesitation, my eyes never left the rocks I was looking at. The purple-lavender beam of magic shot forth from my horn, it slammed into the first rock, shattering it, and sending shards of rock flying all over the place.

And then it hit the next one a fraction of a second later, completely obliterating it, and pulverizing it into dust.

And then it hit the third, the results were the same, and the beam continued on, uncontested until cutting through the final rock in the line. I stopped channeling my magic and raised my head.

Less than a second. That's how long it took my beam of magic to cut through solid granite. Nine large shards of granite, larger than a pony. And yes, it was granite. Though expensive, we, mostly Sergeant Bolt, thought it would be good to use a harder substance to test the power of the Elements on.

I found myself grateful that magic acted differently on living beings than on rocks. The image of being responsible for that destruction to ponies. I mean, yes, I intended to fight, not that I wanted to, but I would. For a better future for Equestria... For my friends and family... To rescue Rainbow Dash... I clenched my jaw. 'If I fight, I'll have to kill ponies...' Ponies who were good ponies, ponies who had families... 'What would that make me?'

'No. Stop.' I shook my head, 'I will do what I have to to protect my friends and Equestria.' Yes, ponies would die. Yes, I would likely... Be responsible for a few of those deaths... But war is war. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna both made mistakes, neither of them are fit to rule.

'I've made mistakes too...' I felt my lips draw to a line.

I felt a tinge of anger in my heart, 'Princess Celestia sent six young mares to face off a fully grown dragon. Princess Luna tried to bring about eternal nighttime. That would have killed everypony. I've not done anything like that!' Yes, I had made mistakes. But they had made worse mistakes. 'Besides, with the help of my friends.' I smiled. 'Anything is possible.'

"That was certainly an impressive display, Princess." Sergeant Bolt commented.

I turned my head towards him and smiled lightly, "It was mostly the Element's work, I just directed it's power." I closed my eyes and ceased my connection to my Element.

"It was still an impressive display." He stated.

"Yeah... And that was just one of the Elements of Harmony... Just guessing from that-" I waved a hoof at the destroyed granite shards," I imagine that all six could..." 'I am not going to corrupt the Elements by using them to kill.' That would be so wrong. To use the tools of harmony, something which is literally in their name, for death, I would never do that. "Defeat armies..." I finished.

He nodded, "That seems like a reasonable assumption if one of them could do that."

I frowned, "I don't really want to use the Elements against Princess Celestia or Princess Luna. Or against anypony else." I sighed, "It just... It feels wrong."

Sergeant Bolt nodded, "You miss your friend."

I quickly spun my head towards him, I opened my mouth to rebuke him before I realized what tone he had used. I closed my mouth, he wasn't chastising me, his voice conveyed a certain kindness, it briefly made me think of Fluttershy. "I... Yes. I do. I know it's... I shouldn't, it's war-"

"Princess." he took a step forwards, "This isn't war. Not yet. Even when it is war, she is your friend. You have every right to worry about her well-being." He paused, " However, there may come a time when you have to choose between them or the rest of Equestria. Yes, you six are important. Very important, even. If she wasn't the bearer of the Element of Loyalty, I do not believe everypony would be so accepting of your... Regret and concern."

"We all trust you, Princess. But that means making tough decisions. We can't stay out of this fight forever, as much as you may want to."

He opened his mouth to keep speaking, but I cut him off, "I'm going to rescue her. I will fight to do so. I will fight for my friends, to protect them. To protect Equestria." I lowered my head, "I... I just wish it wasn't necessary."

"There are only four alicorns, you are one of them. Without you, we have no chance of beating Princess Celestia or Princess Luna."

I eyed him wearily, "I know." I stated flatly. "But consider for a moment that I am only twenty years old. They are both thousands of years my senior... And they were both... Are both my friends. Princess Celestia was my mentor."

His expression betrayed no feelings, "And what if one of them has Rainbow Dash, and hurt her? What then?"

"She has to still be alive... Neither of them are that stupid as to kill her..." She couldn't be dead. They would be fools to kill her. Neither Princess Celestia nor Princess Luna knew as much about the Elements as I do. To their knowledge, killing Rainbow would cause them to stop working... If that happened, the next major threat to Equestria might not be stopped with no loss of life...

"They wouldn't have to kill her to make her unable to fight." He pointed out.

'He's right...' I felt my hope start to die.

He must have noticed too, "But I'm sure she's fine." He added hastily.

"But we don't know that..." I inhaled, "In fact, we have not found any trace of her since she was abducted." Exhale, inhale. "And we didn't find anything out about whoever abducted her!" Breath in, breath out. "We don't even know if Princess Celestia or Princess Luna have her! She could have been captured by bandits, or-"

"Princess..." He stepped forwards, stretching out a hoof towards me. He made slow downward motions with his hoof, "You need to calm down." His voice... It was so serious. I looked over his face, his eyes had widened... He was... Scarred.

I blinked and lifted a hoof to my regalia. The crystal... 'Wait, I'm still wearing the Element.' I took a deep breath, then extended a hoof as I exhaled. The breathing exercise always did wonders to calm my nerves, 'Much better.' "Sorry." I apologized. Using my magic, I gently pried the Element of Magic out of my regalia and replaced it with the glowing gem that normally adorned it.

Sergeant Bolt smiled, "Good to see the Twilight Stone back in its proper place."

Did he really just... I shook my head. "It feels better too."

He raised an eyebrow.

"The crystal contains my own magic and great quantities of it. It is more familiar to me than the Element of Magic's magic." I explained.

"I see." He stated.

How to explain it better to him? Oh, an analogy! "It's like a unicorn using dark magic rather than their own natural magic. It's more powerful, but not as warm, comforting, or familiar."

"The Element of Magic isn't as comforting as your own magic?" He sounded doubtful. Had I not been the one wielding it, I would have been doubtful too. The Elements of Harmony? Why wouldn't they feel warmer than your own magic?

"It feels better when all of us are wielding them together."

He nodded at that, "That makes sense."

Princess Luna

The Shiny Hills. 'A rather fitting name.' I thought as I pondered the forthcoming battles. The Shiny Hills were one of the major sources of platinum for Equestria, outside of trading. Large quantities of nickel and copper were also produced through the ore extraction process. 'Sister's being foolish yet again, it seems.' I glanced at the report.

Only a small garrison of five hundred ponies guarded the Shiny Hill mines. And the Shiny Hills were lying on the edge between my realm and my sister's realm. Most of Celestia's forces were concerned with population centers, mostly disregarding resources. While I could not fault her for protecting the cities, leaving strategic resources so undefended... It left a sour taste in my mouth.

Due to the high value, and rarity of platinum, capturing the Shiny Hills would be a major benefit to my war effort. The platinum extracted could benefit my treasury, or be used in my war effort. Regardless of how I could use it, my sister currently still controlled the region.

Quite frankly, I didn't even need to be here. They possessed a small enough garrison that my forces could easily overwhelm them by sheer numbers. We had a force five times larger than they had in the region, after all. And they weren't even aware of the danger they were in.

No, I was not needed here. It did good for morale and would help break the spirits of my sister's military forces. 'An army that has no morale won't fight.' When they saw that I was leading the offensive, the garrison would likely surrender. It could be a bloodless battle. I lowered my head and sighed, 'If only it would remain that way...'

I looked back to the table and the map upon it. A single yellow flag represented the garrison, while five blue flags represented my forces. There was also an alicorn chess piece. Midnight blue, representing me. I glanced at Canterlot, the yellow alicorn chess piece representing my sister sat idly, waiting, and biding her time. Planning for the long run. To draw out her defeat as long as possible.

My eyes slowly wandered the map, then fell upon Ponyville, and the newest alicorn in the chess game of war. Princess Twilight Sparkle. The unicorn turned alicorn was the protege of my sister, and both our friends. She had no experience. She was not a threat. Although she was managing to gather an effective force, it was much too small to match either my own or my sister's. The addition of Cloudsdale to her kingdom gave her a massive military boost. The Wonderbolts joined her with that. I frowned, she now controlled the most elite flying force in the world. It was a large one, too. Not only did Cloudsdale have the world's finest flyers, but also it was more or less the capital of pegasi society.

'And the source of all Equestria's weather.' I gritted my teeth. Should she realize and utilize that advantage...

The sound of cloth rustling and dying rays of the sun streaming inside the tent broke me from my thoughts. I waited a second before looking up to the general.

"Princess. We are ready to begin the attack, we await only your word." His voice flowed out, as sweet as honey, betraying the message he brought.

I nodded, "Thank you, General." I rose from my chair, and stood to my full height, putting on an air of regality that none would deny. I walked towards the tent opening. As I approached, the general held it open for me with a hoof. I calmly stepped outside, allowing the evening air, and the impending moon rise to comfort me. I lit my horn and summoned my armor to me, instantly the dark steel plates appeared around my body, reinforcing the ever-present thought in everypony's mind. This is war.

Princess Celestia

During the lull in conversation, only the sound of hoofsteps falling on the stone floor of the dungeon was audible. Director Tap reluctantly came to see things from my perspective, that would make things easier. "Yes, if I can convince her to help us, she could convince Twilight to return to me. We would have less to worry about, and perhaps my sister would see the futility in this and return to me." I restated my thoughts.

He still sounded skeptical, "Yes, Princess. But that is an awful lot resting on convincing the bearer of Loyalty to betray her friend."

"I am not asking her to betray Twilight, merely talk to her." I was only half convinced myself about that... I hoped it didn't show.

"It would be more effective to use her as bait, Princess. I still believe my idea merits consideration." He stated bluntly.

I sighed and stopped. "Director Tap. If she refuses to assist us, then yes. I will do as you suggest, although I suspect that is a very, very bad idea." I shuddered as I remembered how badly my student reacted to almost being late on one of her friendship reports. And what Director Tap suggested... Not to mention that it could irreparably damage my relation with not just Twilight, but my sister as well. Although, if it worked as he said it would... Twilight would show up to rescue her, and I could overpower her.

It would be easy.

But at what cost? The friendship I had with Twilight? How everypony in Equestria viewed me? Would I even be able to convince Twilight to stop and join me? And what if I couldn't?

So many questions, and so few answers...

I turned and paused in front of the door to the cell which housed Rainbow Dash. A guard rushed by me and inserted a key into the lock with his magic. He twisted the key forwards, back, and then withdrew it. I turned to the guards and Director Tap, "Leave us." I commanded.

The two guards saluted and started walking away. Director tap hesitated, our eyes met. "Princess-"

"I said leave us. I am more than capable of handling her." I spoke more firmly. Director Tap hesitated a second, then turned around, his eyes remained locked with mine for another few seconds, then he started walking off. I watched him walk off for several seconds, then returned my gaze to the cell. The Rainbow Maned pegasus lay on her back near the opposite wall, staring up at me expectantly. I lit my horn, then opened the cell door with my magic. The steel cell door groaned as I opened it. 'I really need to have these maintained better.'

I stepped inside the cell, and shut the door behind me, then turned to regard the pony lying on the floor. "I apologize for taking so long. I had important business to attend to."

"Yeah. Right." She spoke with an unbelieving tone. She rolled over onto her stomach and stood up. "So what's on the agenda today, Princess?" She asked dully.

"Why won't you help me?" I asked simply, hoping to catch her off guard.

She frowned, "You just want to use me to get to Twilight. That's not happening."

"What do you think that I want to get Twilight for? Do you really think I want to hurt her? Or that I want any of this?" 'Raise questions, make her unsure about everything.'

She seemed to mull it over for a few seconds, "Well... No... But still! What would you do to Twilight when you got her!?" She stepped forwards, anger seemed to overwhelm her sense of reason, "Banish her to the moon? Turn her to stone!?" She huffed and turned around, "I'm not helping you do either of those things to her."

I slowly shook my head, despite the fact she couldn't see it. "I do not want that, Rainbow Dash. I want us to be together again. And to not have to worry about..." I lowered my voice, and whispered the word, "War..."

Rainbow's muscles seemed to relax, ever so slightly.

"Walk with me." I firmly commanded.

Rainbow turned around and looked at me quizzically.

"And don't try to escape." I did not need to threaten her, my words were enough to make her eyes widen ever so slightly, her wings unconsciously squirmed at her sides, a clear sign of the nervousness she felt.

"Wh... Why should I go with you?" She stammered, taking a step back.

"I am putting you in a nicer cell." I looked around the dungeon cell, then waved a hoof around, "Surely you don't like this one, do you?"

Her muzzle drew to a line for a brief second, if I had blinked, I would have missed it. I felt a smile tugging at my lip but suppressed it.

"I can always let you stay here if that's what you want." Her head quickly shot up. I opened the door once more with my magic, and stepped out, then held the door open with a wing. She slowly, uneasily took a step forwards, followed by another. She paused at the door and looked at me, then took a step out. Once she was out of the cell, I closed the door.

I started trotting and glanced at her. She timidly took a step forwards, and soon fell in sync with me, walking beside me. I kept my horn charged so I could paralyze her at a moment's notice if needed. Despite the dim light from the torches, and the low glow of my horn, it was easy to see that a few days in the dungeon had not done her any favors. Her mane was a disheveled mess, more so than normal, her fur was matted in places, and feathers looked out of place. It hit me that she might have been placed in there directly after she arrived in Canterlot, receiving no medical attention or been taken care of...

"Are you okay?" I asked. While I had not seen her limping, and her face betrayed no signs of pain from moving, she could have been hiding it.

She looked at me, "I'm fine." She growled.

I shook my head, "If you would help me, you wouldn't even have to stay in a dungeon cell. You could stay in one of the castle's rooms." I paused, then added, "And you know how nice those are..."

Silence. The only sound came from our hoofsteps as they fell upon the floor.

"If you would agree to help me, I could even let you go." She stopped in her tracks. I smiled. "Of course, you would have to help me before I'm willing to do that..."

Several seconds of silence.

"No." She firmly answered.

I sighed. 'Baby steps I suppose...' Of course, if Director Tap had his way... Rainbow might not be so uncooperative. But there was a reason he did not have his way.

I shook my head, then started walking again. A few seconds later, I noticed the absence of her hoofsteps. I paused and turned. She was glaring at me. I returned the glare.

At first it had no affect, but slowly, ever so slowly, she backed down from my glare and then broke eye contact. It saddened me to have to do it, but it was something I had to do... I walked back to her and lifted her with my magic.

"Put me down!" She forcefully commanded. She was in no position to make demands however.

I spoke as a mother would to a child she cared for, "As I said before, you will help me. One way or another. If you cooperate, it will be much easier on everypony." She continued to struggle. I shook my head sadly and teleported the rest of the distance.

I landed outside the cell with inside. Immediately I lowered her with my magic. "We can continue this again another time." I spoke and teleported away with a flash of magic.

Chapter 18

Princess Twilight Sparkle

I looked at the book sitting on my desk, then to the door. Every glimpse at the book made my heart rate spike, it's knowledge could be of great use to me in the months to come. Or, more so to what I had in mind, the weeks to come. It would certainly give me an advantage and would make it easier to find her. I looked back at the book. Was this ethical?

Certainly not.

I brushed aside my concerns for ethics and jumped to my hooves. I was treading on a thin line, that much was obvious to me. Treading the line for too long could be... Bad. But crossing that ethical line? It was wrong... But so was war, and that is what this is. It could prove harder to keep myself in check should I do this, but the potential benefit...

King Sombra lost himself to dark magic, I would have to make sure I did not lose myself also, and my friends could help keep me in check. I just... Wouldn't tell them about this little... Decision... Of mine. The spell was a simple one, and quite simply forbidden. 'Mind magic is forbidden for a good reason... If I do this... There's no guarantee it will even help me find her. it could be for nothing.'

'It shouldn't hurt her any... I can always wipe her memories of... No, that's going too far.' Would... Would the guards even question me if I went too far? Would they step in, and stand up to me? How far would they be willing to follow me? 'I could make mistakes in battle... It could cost lives...'

Would they still follow me if I made mistakes? Are mistakes not the reason I am here? Fighting against Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna? Because they have both made mistakes? 'Would that make me a hypocrite?'

Did it even matter to me? 'Rainbow could be in danger, whoever had her could be hurting her, and here I am, sitting around, doing nothing, while she could be in pain.'

No. It did not matter to me. Yes, I could potentially go too far. Was I willing to go too far, and then beyond for them? Maybe... But that was something I would deal with when I come to it. 'I already have enough to worry about.' I steeled my resolve and made my decision. 'Nopony hurts my friends. I will save you, Rainbow. I will make sure none of you come to harm, I promise.' I vowed to myself.

I looked around my room, which, for some reason, seemed to grow more extravagant by the day. It was a bit ridiculous, sure, we had money to spare... For the time being... But who thought I needed... 'No, I don't want to know.' I shuddered at the thought. I took a step forwards, followed by another.

As I approached the door, I thought I saw a shimmering out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head towards the shimmer of light, to gaze at my reflection in the mirror.

But it was not my reflection.

I shivered and blinked. And it was gone.

'Okay... Maybe I should be more careful with dark magic... I'm... I am taking enough precautions, right? It's not... Corrupting me, right?' It would be so much easier if I could just ask Princess Celestia about this.

I paused mid-stride. 'Could I?' That... Was something to consider. It wasn't like I had actually attacked either of them, and they were both still my friends... At least they were supposed to be... At the very least, they would be concerned about me falling to corruption and how badly that could end for both of them.

'I... Could send one of them a letter... And ask about this...' Of course I could, but there was no guarantee I would get a reply.

'Then again... If either of them suspect I... No...' No letters to them. I shook my head, if I wrote one of them a letter saying that I was using dark magic, it... No.

Right, ethics and morality later, interrogations now.

I walked to the door and opened it with my magic, and strode out into the hallway. Of the four guards outside the door, two of them fell into step with me as I walked passed the other two. General Spitfire had deemed the escort necessary.

I paused mid stride, 'Right, ethics and morality later, interrogations now.' replayed in my mind. I winced lightly. Now that I thought about that, it sounded bad. Really bad.

Really, really bad. Like enslave the Crystal Empire bad.

I filed the thought away to deal with later, and continued on, pushing towards my destination.

The dungeon guard opened the crystalline door for me, and I stepped into the dungeon cell, flanked by my two guards. I found it strange, and honestly quite disturbing that this castle- my home- had a dungeon. And then there was the fact I did not come to know this until recently... Had I know that beforehoof...

I shook my head, then watched Bon Bon as I walked further into the cell, the guards remained at the door. I paced to the left, then to the right. "Bon Bon," I paused, wondering what to say next. I didn't really want to have to use that spell... But I would if I had to. "I need to know where she is..."

"Who?" she asked. I felt a smile tug at my lip, hoping that she would prove more cooperative today.

"Rainbow Dash, you know, bearer of the Element of Loyalty?"

Bon Bon shook her head, "I don't know where she is. Even if I did, why would I tell you?"

"Because she is my friend?" I asked in the most innocent way I could, hoping to throw her off balance.

"Will you let me go because I'm your friend?" she asked, smug smile plastered on her face.

'Touche...' "Alright, I will make you a deal. I will let you go in exchange for her whereabouts." I would hold to my end of the deal- provided the information was accurate.

Bon Bon raised a hoof to her chin and tapped it repeatedly, "Hmm... Let me think about that... No."

I inhaled, then exhaled. "Guards," I turned towards them, "please leave us. I will call for you if I need you, or when I finish here."

The two guards exchanged a glance, and saluted, "Yes Princess." they replied rather quickly in unison. On their way out, they shut the crystalline door.

I turned around and gazed at Bon Bon forlornly. "Bon Bon... I really... Really don't want to do this. Believe me, I don't. But if you don't tell me where she is..." I shook my head, "I need to know. You will tell me, whether it's voluntary or not..."

"You said you wouldn't hurt me." Her eyes glanced around the room, they held a certain desperation in them.

My heart beat faster, 'I did tell her that... But...' I don't want to be a liar... But I will keep my friends safe... I was glad that I had left my regalia off for this, I did not want any taint from the dark magic to seep into it... Purging the dark magic would be difficult, if not impossible... It would set me back by weeks, a setback I could not afford.

Her gaze fell upon me, our eyes met... It was like I was staring into my own soul... I steeled my resolve once more. "Why her?" I asked.

"You won't do it... You wouldn't... Everypony in Ponyville knows you, and we all know you could never do something like that."

"Ponies can do... Things... When backed into corners, Bon Bon..." I let my expression cool, attempting to intimidate her. I spoke more slowly, attempting to force my words to linger in her mind, "Remember my... Episode... With my Smarty Pants doll?" I spoke evenly.

Her expression hardened, "I will not tell you. You can't force me to. You won't force me to. You don't have it in you to torture somepony."

I looked down and shook my head, "No, I don't." I looked back up and met her gaze, then ignited my horn with dark magic, "Fortunately, I have other means to make you tell me what I need..."

'Am I really prepared to go through with this?' Wouldn't this be crossing a line? Mind control is forbidden... She will never forgive me if I do this... Could I forgive myself if I do this? I grimaced. 'My friend needs me... I will not fail her.'

Would my friends understand? Could they understand? Would they forgive me if they found out? Did it really matter? There were no guards here... No witnesses... I had the power to do whatever I wanted here... Nopony would know, or find out... I would only have to answer to the other Princesses if they won... If they won, Equestria would be doomed. That would be the least of my worries then... If I did this, would I lay awake at night, unable to sleep? Would my dreams reveal what had happened to Princess Luna?

Would I regret this later? Probably...

I took a step forwards and swallowed. "Forgive me..." I spoke, unsure as to who I was asking to forgive me, whether it be myself, Bon Bon, my friends, or the princesses...

Bon Bon took a step back, fear filled her eyes... It... Made me sick... Or maybe it was the dark magic filling the room... I lowered my horn and lashed out with my dark magic.

The dark magic struck true, infecting her mind, and fighting her mental defenses. Bon Bon collapsed, grasping her head with her hooves as the magic shattered her will, and bent it to serve the caster- me. She whimpered, the sight brought a pang of guilt to my heart, knowing I, and solely I was responsible for the pain she was now in.

Seconds passed, and her whimpering died down, slowly the tendrils of dark magic began to dissipate. She slowly stood up, her eyes had lost their gleam, looking dull and lifeless... I could feel the dark magic radiating off her mind... It was sickening.

"Yes, master?" She spoke lifelessly.

Yes, I decided, I would regret this later. "Tell me who took Rainbow Dash."

"The princess." She answered immediately, with no emotion, or hesitation.

"Which princess?" I asked, fighting through the sickening feeling in my heart.

"Princess C-Celestia." Bon Bon answered, slight hesitation evident in her voice. The spell was losing its hold... She was fighting it. I grimaced.

"Why?" A question that had plagued my mind in recent days.

"She was... Close to... You..." Bon Bon answered at length. Her mind fought against the spell, if it kept up, it could hurt her...

"My other friends are close to me also, why her specifically?"

"She was... Close to you... And an easy target..."

'Rainbow wouldn't be happy at finding out that is what Princess Celestia thought of her.' "Where is she?"

"She... She is in... C-Ca... Ugh..." Bon Bon's head swayed uneasily back and forth. I bit my lip, her mind was stronger than I expected.

"Where is Rainbow Dash?" I asked again, needing an answer.

"Sh... I..." Bon Bon fell to the floor, grasping at her head.

The spell was wearing off, and I only had some of the answers I needed... She was in pain... 'I... Shouldn't do this...' I lit my horn with dark magic once again, and lowered my horn at her, then released the spell again. The dark tendrils shot forth, and encompassed her body, specifically, her head.

She stopped moving, I waited a few seconds for her to move. Nothing. I frowned. "Bon Bon?" I asked.

No response. A feeling of dread started welling up in my mind. I purged the dark magic from my horn and examined her with my alicorn magic. The dark magic was killing her. I swallowed.

'Okay... Don't panic... You can fix this... Just purge the dark magic from her body.' I channeled more magic into my horn, enveloped Bon Bon in my magic, and focused my alicorn magic on fighting the dark magic.

The dark magic, not having a source that could compare to my alicorn magic, was losing, and quickly. Bon Bon's breathing became less labored as more and more of the dark magic was burnt away, until eventually nothing of it remained.

I felt a smile pulling at my lips when I realized that it would also erase any memory of the previous few minutes here.

"Uggh..." Bon Bon groaned from the floor, barely moving.

Not wanting to be seen, I withdrew my magic from my horn, turned towards the door, and quickly galloped to it. I lit my horn with a small amount of magic and opened the cell door, then exited and closed it as quickly as I had opened it, then locked it with magic.

I hastily made my way to the door back to the main part of my castle, the guards saluted as I approached. I nodded, acknowledging the salute. They opened the door and I hurried out without saying a word.

I lit my horn and teleported to my bedroom. Once there, I inhaled deeply, then exhaled, practicing the breathing technique my sister in law had taught me. 'She could have died in there...' I realized. I kept practicing the breathing exercise, more intensely than before. 'I went too far... I can't do that again.'

'Nopony knows... Nopony will find out...' I told myself as I slowed my breathing, feeling like I was going to pass out. I paused mid exhale, 'I didn't even find out where Rainbow is...' I slowly lowered my hoof to the floor and bit my lip.

"Well, at least I know now that Princess Celestia has her..." I sighed, it would be complicated to get her back. "At least that's a start..."

"General." I acknowledged as I walked into Spitfire's office. Spitfire's officer was on the same level my bedroom was on. In fact, her office had been a bedroom, but it was converted into an office. Though sparsely decorated, one could easily tell this room belonged to somepony important. Spitfire had taken several of the posters that had been at her former office, in the Wonberbolt Academy, and they now adorned the otherwise barren crystalline walls. Upon her desk sat countless piles of papers, several pens, a model of a pegasus, appearing to be mid-flight, and various other assorted items.

Spitfire looked up at me, she immediately stood up, becoming rigid, and saluted. "Princess."

"Princess Celestia has Rainbow Dash." I told her. Judging from her confused expression, she had no idea how I knew this. "I... Have reason to believe, anyway."

Spitfire looked around her desk, searching for something. Her hooves settled on a piece of paper, and she picked it up. Her eyes glanced over the document, then she lowered it and looked at me, "That... Seems to be in line with the evidence we have. No trace of her reported from the spy's in Princess Luna's ranks... How did you come by this information."

"It's not important." I answered quickly. Perhaps a little too quickly... For a second I thought Spitfire was going to call me out, but she nodded her head.

"Very well, Princess. Is that all, or did you need something else? I have a lot of work to get through here..." Spitfire grimaced. I felt bad for the Wonderbolt, I had saddled her with a lot of responsibility- most of which would have been mine...

"Still no word from the ponies sent to infiltrate Princess Celestia's ranks?" I inquired.

Spitfire shook her head, "No. Not yet... They should have reported in by now... I was considering having more operatives dispatched, to see if they could fair better."

I nodded. "Is... All that-" I motioned at the papers on her desk, "-really necessary that you do it? Couldn't you relegate some of that to somepony else?" Maybe there was something I could do- just not helping with that. Yeah... 'I have no experience in managing an entire army...'

"Really, what you need are more generals." Spitfire answered. "There's only so much I can do at once- not that I'm not happy to help, I am... But I can only be at one place at one time. I haven't had enough time to look for ponies to recommend to a higher position..."

"I... I'll get Sparkler to help you organize..." I paused. 'I really should hire more staff members.' "Or somepony..." I added.

"I would appreciate that, Princess."

"Right... Well, I can see that you're busy... I'll leave you to it." I turned to leave, then walked out the door.

I paced around, attempting to occupy my mind. The thoughts of what had happened- what I did earlier occupied my mind. 'It is night, I should be asleep...' Sadly, sleep would not come to me. Between the anxiety, nervousness, and seeing what happened replay every time I closed my eyes... I paused, and turned towards the mirror, "Am I a bad pony?" I asked aloud, I was greeted only with silence. The reflection in the mirror was my own, of that I was sure. I slowly walked over to the mirror, scrutinizing the image I saw. I blinked, and halfway expected the image to have changed, and be distorted.

The image was the same, a reflection of myself. It had not changed... 'Is this what it feels like to lose one's mind?' I asked myself. No. I am not going insane, it's just stress... Yes, just stress. 'I need to relax more...' Come to think of it, when was the last time I just let loose and relaxed?

It... Had been a while, I guess... I turned my back to the mirror and looked out the window. The moon was still rising into the sky... The night was still young... 'Perhaps a walk or a flight would help me.'

Flight. I grimaced, Rainbow would have loved to go flying with me, even if it was nighttime... I sighed. "Well, at least it doesn't prevent me from functioning now..." I noted aloud.

Great, now I'm talking to myself...

Chapter 19

Princess Twilight Sparkle

"Your reign of terror ends now, Princess!" I shouted. My voice... It sounded strange to me. It was mine, but at the same time... It wasn't. It carried with it a coldness that felt wrong, yet I somehow knew that it wasn't. It was like an old friend, calling you up one day out of the blue. Not just any friend, but one of your best friends, one who you just... Sort of grew apart. Maniacal laughter filled the air, I immediately recognized it... But... That doesn't make sense...

Nightmare Moon was defeated! Princess Luna wouldn't let that happen again! Why does... Why is Celestia looking at me like that? And... Luna? What is... But you were Nightmare Moon? How can she exist aside from you? She was just... No... I frowned, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia were larger than that, why were...

"Twilight, don't do this! You will not win if you do this!" Celestia shouted back.

What are you talking about? Princess? What's... What? No, you don't have the Elements of Harmony... I do... Wait, no... How did you get them? "If you think those will stop me, you're sorely mistaken! Even if you succeed in defeating me, I will not be stopped! Equestria will burn!"

What? No... No! That's wrong, what is going on... Princess? What am I... Wait... Laughter filled the room once more as Celestia and Luna brought the Elements to bear, and began spinning them around, until they were just a blur of color.

I lowered my head, and a beam of red magic shot forth, impacting a rainbow colored barrier being projected by the Elements.

What? WHAT!? The Elements flew apart, and the rainbow barrier collapsed. Princess Celestia was struck by the red beam, she cried out in pain. How is that possible!? Nothing is stronger than the Elements!

"Sister!" Luna shouted. She glanced towards Celestia, who was unmoving. She turned back to me and glared at me. I felt myself shudder under her determined gaze. Her gaze put Fluttershy's stare, and the Royal Canterlot Voice combined to shame, yet I did not back down. "Twilight, how could you do this!?"

"Equestria is shattered because of you two! It is only a matter of time before this chaos spreads outside of Equestria, and then we will be facing a war in which no nation is safe!" I shouted back in that cold, cold voice. It... It wasn't my own, it couldn't be. No.

"If we hadn't fought this would have been avoided... But, we could have re-united! It didn't have to be this way, you didn't have to kill her!"

Kill who? I've never killed anypony... Out of the corner of my eye, Bonbon sauntered through the door, dark magic flowed from her cold, glossed over, lifeless eyes. Bonbon...

No... I didn't kill her... She's still-

"My Queen, why do you hesitate?"

I shivered at her dull voice. Queen? Who-wait, me? What? No, I'm no queen, I'm just a princess-

"Tyrant!" Luna spat, "You're worse than Sombra!"

"Queen Twilight Sparkle... I thought I told you to be careful with that crystal of yours?" Discord mused as he tapped his chin. "But I suppose that doesn't matter now, does it?" He shook his head, "I must admit I'm surprised. Honestly surprised." His expression darkened, "It takes a lot to surprise me, Twilight Sparkle."

What are you talking about Discord?

"This is not my kind of chaos, Twilight." Discord stated darkly, lowering his gaze. The sight of Discord's malevolent glare made me shutter, his eyes... They seemed to scream bloody murder.

"You cannot stop me." I stated. I shivered at the voice that it came out in, so cold and twisted, barely resembling my own.

Discord threw his arms out and ripped open his claw and paw. Hovering just out of touch, he had two spheres of chaos magic. The magic flared and arced out, even as it swirled violently. The violet blue balls throbbed with power, even from across the room I could feel the maelstrom growing.

I carefully levitated a pitch black six-pointed star shaped crystal in front of my muzzle and glared at Discord. "You cannot match my power." I shivered under the voice. It was no longer my own, but sounded otherworldly, shaking the very air with each word, more than the last. I felt my head throb from hearing the voice.

Arcs of red magic flashed through the air, coming from both my horn and the crystal. The violent discharges scorched the marble where they impacted, leaving it blackened beyond recognition.

Discord threw his arms forwards, launching the spheres of chaos magic at me. I intercepted each with a bright crimson beam of magic, emanating from the black crystal. The two spheres of chaos magic exploded, and reality shifted.

No more were we in the Canterlot Castle Throne Room, no more were we anywhere I recognized. We both seemed to float in a void, bright stars of varying colors filled the sky, but something was wrong... The stars kept turning black. I looked down, passed my hooves and saw a planet beneath us... I could make out Equestria, and-

What... Th.. That's... No, that's not... Wait...

Flashes of light erupted over the surface of Equestria, I could see the atmosphere shifting from the release of energy. As the waves of magic spread out, they collided, producing secondary flashes, creating even more waves of magic. Large plumes of smoke and dust started rising up from the epicenters of the initial flashes of light.

I couldn't even begin to comprehend what was going on beneath me. The fact that the planet was no larger than the moon from where we are, and that I could clearly make out the flashes of light, and waves of magic... It shouldn't have been possible, nothing should have been capable of doing that...

"You did that, Twilight Sparkle." Discord spat. "I told you not to play with those crystals..."

What? What crystals? What are you...

There was a loud banging noise, I looked back down to see... The planet shattering.

DISCORD! WHAT DID YOU DO!? WHY DID YOU DO THAT!? YOU...

"Twilight! Stop pl-please!" Fluttershy cried out. I blinked.

Another loud banging noise, the ground shook.

I jumped up in bed, heart pounding, and channeled magic into my horn. My head shot left, then right, shining the pale light of my magic all across the room. I pushed back the covers, and ruffled my wings, immediately I was assaulted by cold air. I lifted a shaky hoof to my regalia. To my shock, it wasn't there. I frantically looked down and searched with my hooves for my regalia, nothing. I turned towards my nightstand, and let out a sigh of relief. 'I took it off tonight.'

I pushed the covers back further, noticing how wet they were. I lifted a hoof to my head and grimaced, feeling moisture that was most likely, and hopefully sweat. I lifted my other hoof to wipe away tears I had just noticed forming in my eyes.

My head bolted towards the door as I heard somepony knock on it. I briefly remembered dreaming about... Something... It... It felt wrong. I frowned, suddenly feeling a cold sensation spreading through my core, but pushed it away as a result of my sweating.

"Princess!?" A frantic voice called from beyond the crystalline door.

I sighed as I got to my hooves, and walked passed my nightstand and mirror, dreading to see how I looked. I didn't even bother to put my regalia on and continued towards the door. I opened it with my magic and stared at the guard standing there, shifting uncomfortably.

"Pr-Princess? Are... Are you alright? We heard screaming and... You look... W-well..."

I shook my head, "I'm fine... What is it?"

"General Spitfire has called an emergency briefing... She requests your immediate presence...." The guard shifted uncomfortably before adding, "Though uh... You might want to get cleaned up... First..."

I nodded, "Yeah... I think I had a nightmare..." I frowned as I thought about my excuse. The dream I had been having right before I woke... It was... What was it about? All I could remember was a cold sensation, and... Something about magic... A crystal, perhaps? I shook it off as stress. It was both comforting and discomforting to know the spell to block Luna from my sleeping mind worked, I would just have to deal with the nightmares on my own.

The guard shifted again, and I blinked. 'Right...' "Inform General Spitfire that I will be there as soon as I can."

"Yes, Princess." He saluted and started trotting off.

I strode into the briefing room, immediately everypony present stood up and put on an air of professionalism. I paused after I closed the door behind me with my magic, and glanced around the table, taking note of everypony present. Despite the early hour, everypony present was adorned in their uniform, in the Wonderbolts case, or armor, in the Army officers case. My eyes fell upon Spitfire, "General." I acknowledged.

"Princess." She returned.

I nodded, and strode over to my chair at the head of the table, I pulled it out and sat down, an action immediately followed by everypony present. "Alright... Will somepony please tell me what was so important that an emergency meeting was called at..." I grimaced, remembering the time my clock had said, "Two in the morning?"

General Spitfire cleared her throat, "We just heard back from our spy in Princess Celestia's ranks." I felt a smile pull at my lip, I chose not to speak so the general could get to the information I hoped she had faster. "He has informed us of several important developments, along with... Confirming your suspicions that Princess Celestia is holding Rainbow Dash."

*Squee!*

Everypony present immediately stared at me. I felt heat rush to my cheeks and looked away from everypony. I coughed, "Please continue, General..."

Spitfire nodded, "Of course, Princess... As the Princess requested to be immediately informed of any information regarding... Captain Rainbow Dash... I will start with the information regarding her, unless there is any objections." Spitfire paused for less than two seconds before continuing, nopony interrupted her, as to the reason that was... "The spy's report indicates Captain Dash is being held in the dungeons of Canterlot Castle..." Spitfire made eye contact with me, "Rescue will be difficult, but not impossible according to his information."

I frowned, 'So Celestia has her... Canterlot Castle dungeons... Hmm...'

"As to the other intelligence we've received, the Changelings seem to be active once again, doesn't say to what extent. And then, the most pressing issue... Princess Luna captured the Shiny Hills."

'The Shiny Hills? Why does that sound... Oh.' I frowned, 'Oh...' I looked down at the table.

"This is very, very bad." All attention was drawn to Sergeant Bolt. "With the amount of platinum the mines produce on a daily basis... If she can hold them, she could produce at least a dozen powerfully enchanted weapons per day." He shook his head vigorously, "In the hooves of the right ponies, that would be very, very dangerous."

"Not to mention the economic benefit to Princess Luna, and loss to Princess Celestia." Said a pony who I was unfamiliar with.

"There was only a garrison of five hundred soldiers there... And with it being so close to Princess Luna's territory, what was she thinking?" Soarin asked.

"She has most of her forces deployed in cities, rather than defending strategic assets." Captain Bolt answered.

I shook my head, "That's... Not good... Although... It's not surprising... It is Princess Celestia, we're talking about after all." I looked up from my hooves and towards Soarin, "Lieutenant Soarin, how long until we can match forces with either Princess Celestia or Pricness Luna?"

Soarin sat up straighter, "It could be several months to years before we can match forces with them, unless something changes, Princess."

General Spitfire spoke up, "Analysis of what's happened so far indicates they're both inclined to conserve forces, so I don't think we can count too much on attrition. I don't currently see any path for us to bolster our forces without outside assistance, or some victories."

I looked up, "What if I could provide our forces with a much-needed advantage in battle?"

Spitfire grimaced, "Princess, you can't be everywhere at once-"

I shook my head, "That's not what I meant... I've been experimenting with magic and crystals, granted I haven't had enough time to fully get things to work properly, but I know I can create crystals capable of storing enough magic to power some pretty advanced spells."

Sergeant Bolt bobbled his head, "That could provide a powerful advantage..."

"Producing it on a scale which would make a difference... I don't see how you could do that." The pony I didn't recognize spoke again.

"The research lab I'm having constructed should be finished within a few weeks, once that's finished... I should be able to get some scientists and engineers to work on the problems facing us." I stated with a smile.

"Can you even afford that?" Soarin asked skeptically.

I nodded, "Yes, the Diamond Dog mine has been... Very profitable."

"I think we've gotten a little off topic." Captain Light said.

"Ah, right. Now, back to the matter of-"

"Rescuing Rainbow Dash." I cut in, knowing Sergeant Bolt was going elsewhere.

"Yes... That matter..." Spitfire said unhappily. "I have a team assembled and on stand by, awaiting your command, Princess. I highly advise not rushing this, however. As much as you want to rescue her, getting yourselves captured won't help her-"

Soarin bobbled his head, "Actually it might, if you..." All eyes turned to him, I glared lightly at him. "Never mind."

"I still think you leading the mission yourself is a bad idea, Princess." Spitfire said as she shook her head.

"Noted." I stated with a smile.

Chapter 20

Princess Twilight Sparkle

I parted my lips and slowly blew air out of my mouth. I glanced to my right, looking at the five ponies depending on me to successfully lead this mission, and get them all out alive. They all looked at me expectantly, just waiting for me to signal a command. A command they would follow, no matter what it was. I swallowed and inhaled deeply. I closed my eyes briefly, allowing myself to relax. I opened my eyes and peeked around the corner of the house we were hiding at.

Canterlot had never really been active at night, at least the richer areas. The nobles found the darkness of the night distasteful, spurred on by the nocturnal monsters and tales of Nightmare Moon wanting to bring eternal night. I glanced around the street, it was empty, there weren't even any patrols. 'Celestia... You... You can't be this stupid... You're at war and you're not even patrolling the streets of your capital?' It was madness, but it was also so like Celestia. I glanced up at the castle walls and caught sight of two ponies silhouetted by the moon. I couldn't make out whether they were unicorns, pegasi, or earth ponies, but they each held a spear.

I glanced towards the gate and felt my jaw part. I blinked several times rapidly, my eyes had to be lying to me. 'The gate is open... Celestia...' I wanted to groan at the sight. She never closed the main gate, and it seemed to remain true no matter what was happening. I found myself both equal amounts frustrated and gleeful. Frustrated at how bad she was when it came to defense, and gleeful at how easy it would prove to get in. I glanced to both sides of the gate and could see two more ponies on each side, each holding a spear. I looked up passed the walls and scanned the sky, searching for any pegasi lying in wait to pounce on any intruders. The clear night sky displayed no signs of airborne pegasi. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

I pulled my head back behind the house and turned to my ponies. It felt strange, thinking of them as mine... But that is what they were, my ponies. Each Wonderbolt was wearing steel armor, painted lavender and adorned with a six pointed pink star upon the breastplate, symbolizing my cutie mark, and the Wonderbolt's insignia upon their flank armor. Since this was an infiltration and rescue mission, armor was a better choice than wearing their flight suits. The tight corridors would offer little room to maneuver, and with the threat of encountering Royal Guards ever present, flight suits wouldn't offer any advantages.

"Alright, I counted six guards, two on the wall, and four at the gate. Which is open." I turned around and glanced back at the gate, then returned my gaze to my team. "We need to figure out how to get passed them. We can't fly over the walls, that has too high a risk of being seen, and I can't use my magic against them as long as the two guards on the wall are there, as it would be too visible." 'We'd have to disable the guards...' I realized. The idea wasn't entirely... Appealing to me, but... For my friends, I would do it.

"We could sneak up on them, take them by surprise before they could sound the alarm." Jagged Wing suggested.

"Yeah... That's what I was thinking. We need to disable the two on the wall first..." 'Alright who would be best for that... Jagged Wing would be a good choice, and.' I smiled. "Jagged, take the one on the left, Lightning Strike, you take the one on the right. After the guards on the wall are taken care of, I can take care of the ones by the gate easily enough with my magic." Both previously mentioned Wonderbolts saluted, and peaked around the corner, searching for their targets I assumed, then they stepped back and silently beat their wings, taking to the sky. I watched them briefly, then peeked around the corner again, and watched, waiting for the pair to complete their objectives.

I saw a dark blur shooting towards the pony on the right, 'Lightning Strike.' I realized. She was one of the fastest ponies in the Wonderbolts who wasn't on the main team, and like her namesake, she was fast, however, not as fast as Rainbow Dash. A second later, Lightning Strike landed just to the right of her target, I could make out the silhouette of her hoof wrapping around the guard's muzzle, and then there was a sharp jerk, and the guard disappeared from my sight. I couldn't help but wince at the display. A second later, I glanced to the guard on the right just in time to see Jagged Wing's hoof connect with the guard's muzzle. He quickly caught the guard before he hit the stone, and gently lowered him down, preventing him from making any sound.

'Alright... Here goes nothing.' My heart raced faster as I lit my horn with magic. For the first time ever, I lit my horn with the intent to kill another living being, another pony... I slowly inhaled, then exhaled. I stepped out from behind the house with my front left hoof, then propelled the rest of my body around swiveling on my hoof, and brought my horn to bear against the four guards at the gate. I hesitated slightly, none of them were looking in my direction... They would never see it coming... I pointed my horn at the closest one, and released a bolt of magic, then released three more bolts of magic at the others in rapid succession. The guards turned towards me, but they were too late to do anything. My magic struck true, killing each of the guards. I closed my eyes and exhaled.

'I... I killed them...' It... It was horrible, the feeling in my chest. My heart was beating faster than it ever had, my blood felt cold, and I felt sick. And yet... At the same time, I didn't. If I had to kill again, to save one of my friends... I knew I would do it, with or without hesitation. There was no way I was going to let any of them come to harm. I inhaled, bringing my hoof to my chest, then exhaled slowly, extending my hoof forwards. I felt... Calm. I had just killed four ponies, I was a murderer... And yet... I felt calm. Their lives, I took them almost without hesitation, and I felt calm. 'This isn't right...' I told myself. The worst part was how easy it was.

I jumped slightly as a hoof fell on my shoulder, I turned to see Soarin looking at me with a solemn expression, one which seemed to say, 'You had no choice if you want to rescue your friend.' "You alright, Princess?" Soarin's voice was filled with concern, but not worry. He was concerned for my well-being, but not worried about...

"I'm fine... Just... Give me a minute." I answered as Lightning Strike, Jagged Wing, and the rest approached me, concern filling their eyes. They all knew that I had never done anything like this before, and they were all here to help me, and to keep me safe. Each one of them believed in me, they had faith that I would lead them to victory, and... Prosperity, if not for themselves, then for their families and friends.

"The first time is always the hardest..." Soarin's voice held a certain dullness to it, almost like he spoke from experience. I realized he probably did speak from experience, being a Wonderbolt...

I closed my eyes and breathed. I expanded and contracted my lungs several times during the next half minute, relaxing. As soon as my heart stopped feeling like it was going to jump out of my chest, I opened my eyes. "Alright... Let's go." I hesitated a moment, then forced my hooves to move, and made my way to the gate. The ponies with me fell in sync with me, and formed a pentagon around me, with Soarin and Lightning Strike in front of me, and the other three forming the tip of the pentagon. I slowed as we approached the bodies of the ponies I had killed. 'Don't look at them...' I told myself. Looking at them would only bring me pain.

I looked anyway. I slowed to a crawl as I passed one of them, his eyes were wide open, muzzle opened slightly as if gasping in shock. His head was pointing towards the gate, away from where I was when I killed him. My bolt of magic struck his armor and punched right through it, blackening the armor around where it hit, and leaving a wound in his chest which blood was flowing out of. The blood flowing out of his body was slowly forming a pool beneath him. I averted my gaze from his wound and looked at his features. He was a light blue pegasus with a light cyan mane, my magic had disrupted the enchantment on the armor, revealing his true appearance. I closed my eyes and looked ahead of me, and picked up my pace, attempting to ignore the sensation in my chest. 'For my friends.' I told myself.

I opened my eyes a second later and slowed, then pressed my body against the wall, the rest of the ponies followed my example. I was once again at the head of the group, so I peeked around the corner, making sure there was nopony in sight. I scanned from right to left, and then from left to right, double, and then triple checking. I pulled back behind the corner and exhaled slowly. "Alright, I don't see any guards this way." I shook my head, not understanding. "This is too easy..."

Soarin coughed. "Princess, don't tempt fate..."

I looked at him and smiled sheepishly. "Right." I peeked my head around the corner again and scanned the courtyard again. Still no guards or patrols in sight. I brought my head back behind the corner and used a wing to motion everypony to the other side. One by one, each pony, starting with the one in the very back, rushed across the stone floor to the other side of the gate and stopped at the wall before impacting it. When Soarin started running across, I glanced back around the corner one last time, carefully scanning again, then ran to the other side, and stopped before hitting the wall so I didn't make any noise.

I pressed my body firmly against the wall, then peaked around the corner, and searched left to right, then repeated the process, scanning for any guards or patrols. My gaze was drawn to the twin silhouettes of ponies standing guard at the entrance to the dungeon. Canterlot Castle was unique in the fact that it had two dungeons, one in the lower levels of the castle, and another building in the courtyard, a dedicated dungeon. I didn't really know which one Rainbow was being kept in, so we would have to search both, or maybe we would get lucky. I pulled my head back behind the corner and turned to the Wonderbolts. "Count two guards at the dungeon entrance."

Lightning Strike scoffed. "Where is everypony... This is ridiculous, the middle of a war and this place isn't crawling with guards."

"They probably don't expect something like this." Jagged Wing replied.

I looked back around the corner, and focused my gaze on the two guards, trying to identify what kind of pony they were, and the best way to eliminate them without drawing attention to ourselves. The dungeon door was about two hundred feet away, built into a large building, almost a smaller version of the castle. I had never personally been inside said dungeon, for obvious reasons, but I had visited the ones in the castle before when I was younger. Curiosity has given me the desire to explore every inch of that castle and explore I did. I pushed the thoughts aside and returned to the task at hoof.

"Still..." Lightning's voice trailed off.

"It's Princess Celestia, it shouldn't be that surprising..." Soarin stated.

I turned back to the Wonderbolts and looked between them. "Ideas?"

"If the wall is clear, we could get up there and use it to maneuver into a better position to make our move." Soarin suggested.

It wasn't a bad idea... But the walls could be very occupied with guards, lying in wait, despite what we had seen so far. "Alright, Lightning Strike, do a quick perimeter run of the wall, fly low, and then report back. Jagged Wing, go get on top of the wall and see if you can see anything amiss, report back when Lightning's back. Jagged wait for my command, Lightning, go." I felt my heart race as I issued the command, an order which could cost her life. It was... Almost exhilarating, intoxicating, and very terrifying, the thought of sending somepony to their death. She sharply saluted, then ran back out of the gate, and flew into the air. It would take her a few minutes to do a full perimeter run, with how massive the castle, courtyard, and surrounding walls were. "Alright, Jagged, you're up." He saluted, then ran back outside the gate, then flew upwards. I watched him until he left my line of sight.

I looked around the corner again and gazed at the twin guards. I still couldn't make out what kind of ponies they were, but I could see they had spears. I shifted my weight on my hooves, then turned back to the three remaining Wonderbolts with me.

"You doing okay?" Soarin asked. His voice held a kind concern, he asked not because he needed to know, but because he cared.

"I'm fine," I answered.

He smiled softly. "If you want me to take command of the mission, just give the word, Princess."

'I can do this... And I will do this, for my friend.' I would fight to protect my friends, I would... Kill to protect them. The question of if I could and would kill had already been answered earlier, the four dead guards could attest to that... Once again, I felt uncomfortable, uneasy at the memory, the sensation. My stomach churned every so slightly. I closed my eyes, then inhaled and exhaled, slowly. "I can do this... But thanks."

The minutes crawled on, leaving me with nothing better to do than to keep an eye out for any guards, but, unsurprisingly, it was quiet and still. It was eerie, how still everything was, and with nothing else to occupy my mind, it kept wandering back to what I did earlier... 'I killed them... They... They could have had families... They could have had foals and I... Killed them... I killed them for my friend... What if they had foals, and were an only parent?' The thought struck me with the force of a sledgehammer, but the precision of a dagger to my heart... I slowly felt my head go limp, and my gaze fell to the ground. 'I could have just orphaned foals... They... They don't deserve that... And what if... What if there's nopony to look out for them?'

A few seconds later, I felt the weight of a hoof resting on my back, I looked back to see Soarin, smiling reassuringly. The two others were smiling reassuringly also. 'They believe in me... And... It's for a good cause, killing them... It's a necessary evil in order to bring peace and harmony back to Equestria... For Equestria... For my friends... For the ponies who believe in me... I have to be strong.' It still felt wrong, and I still felt revolted by my actions... But I also knew it wouldn't be the last time I killed. 'In war, sacrifices have to be made to win... However, sometimes the cost of victory is worse than the price of defeat...' I would find a balance between the two. I had to. If I didn't... I didn't even want to think about what could happen then.

A couple of minutes later, I heard the sound of pegasi landing and turned to see Lightning Strike and Jagged Wing quickly making their way over to me. They crossed the distance in a few seconds, then came to a stop. "What do..." I swallowed a growing knot in my throat. "What do you have?" I asked.

"The castle walls are pretty much deserted." Lightning reported. "You would think that since it's Princess Luna, the Princess of the Night, that she's at war with, Princess Celestia would have more guards out at... Well, night." She added.

I frowned. She had a good point. A really good point. "I don't like this... Something's up, but we will continue with the mission, just be cautious." I paused, then looked around the corner again, no change, still two guards at the dungeon entrance. I turned to look to the left side of the courtyard, empty. "Alright, everypony get on the wall. We'll get as close to the guards as we can, then surprise them."

At my order, everypony quickly rushed back outside of the gate, then spread their wings to take flight. I joined them, and together we flew to the top of the wall, then silently landed, despite our armor weighing us down. I found myself very glad I had grown accustomed to the weight of my armor because with how nervous I was, it made the weight of the armor even worse. Landing silently for me proved trickier than I imagined, but I managed to pull it off, even if it was just barely. As soon as I landed, I swiveled my head around, scanning the walls and courtyard for any sign we had been spotted. Thankfully, and unnervingly, I saw nothing. I couldn't help but find my gaze drawn towards the garden in the distance, even if it was just ever so briefly.

A tap on my shoulder broke my gaze, I turned to see Soarin jerking his head towards the rest of the team. I raised a wing and extended it forwards three times rapidly, and everypony present acknowledged my command and silently made their way down the wall. I followed closely behind and kept scanning for any sign of danger. I caught a glimpse of Soarin doing the same, and since he was more trained than I was, it was probably a good thing.

We slowed as we approached the closest point on the wall to the two guards, then came to a stop. The two guards were facing forwards, oblivious to our presence. I turned towards Jagged Wing and Lightning Strike, "Lighting, take the far one, Jagged, take the closest one. Make sure to take them at the same time, so they don't have time to realize something is happening." Both aforementioned Wonderbolts wasted no time, they saluted and in jumped into the air without hesitation.

I watched the pair fly towards their target, then split. They slowly lowered themselves until they were just out of reach for the two guards, then they folded their wings and fell onto the two guards. They quickly wrapped their hooves around their mouth, preventing them from calling out. The two guards seemed to fight back, but they were powerless to resist the attack. Two quick jerking motions, one from each pegasus, were punctuated by the end of the guards resistance. I shivered slightly, but not from the chill of the night, which was made even cooler by being mountain air.

The pegasus closest to us, Jagged Wing, raised a hoof, then motioned for us to come. I turned to Soarin, who was looking at me expectantly. I nodded, and he spread his wings, then stepped onto the railing, and jumped off of the wall. He was followed by the other two after the last one jumped off, I joined them in gliding towards the entrance. In the middle of my glide, I could tell I was coming down too fast, so I beat my wings a couple of times to prevent myself from crashing into the ground. A few seconds later, I landed, stumbling only slightly.

"Alright, I have no idea what to expect inside, so everypony be ready..." I warned. I stepped closer to the door and examined it. 'If memory serves correctly, they only use a single key for every lock for the dungeons...' I slowly turned to the two dead guards and glanced over them for the key. The one further away from me had the key attached to a small hook on his shoulder. I lit my horn with magic, and carefully levitated the key chain off the hook, and brought it over to myself. I glanced over the key and ring it was on, then levitated it into the keyhole in the door, and twisted it left. I heard the door unlock, then pulled the key straight, and then out. I glanced at the key, then teleported it into my pocket dimension, then briefly channeled magic away from my horn. I turned to Soarin. "Everypony ready?" After receiving five nods of confirmation, I stepped in front of the door, lit my horn with magic, and took a deep breath. I closed my eyes and slowly exhaled.

"Form up," I ordered. At my command, everypony split into two groups and pushed themselves back up against the wall on either side of the door. Lightning Strike and Soaring were on the right, with the other three on the left. After giving everypony a second to ready themselves, I grasped the door with my magic, and quietly pushed it open. I halfway expected Princess Celestia to jump out at me with a battalion of guards, and then for all of them to try to kill me. Instead, I was greeted by the warm glow of a torch, and silence. I released the door from my magic, and carefully scrutinized the interior room. "Move in." I tentatively ordered.

Immediately, all five ponies rushed inside the room, one at a time. As soon as the last one was through, I ran through the door and used my magic to close it behind me. Seeing just how massive the wooden door was, it looked almost soundproof. I couldn't suppress a smile at that realization. I scanned the room, which was completely empty, save for the five ponies with myself. The room appeared to be just a buffer, between the outside world and the interior of the dungeon, but it also looked too spacious to fill that role. "Everypony spread out. Ace, stay here and make sure our way out remains clear."

"Da, Princess," Ace responded in a heavy accent I couldn't quite place.

I glanced to my left and looked over the wooden counter protruding from just beside the door. The solid half-wall was just big enough that all you could see of a pony would be her neck and head over the counter. As to what purpose it served, I assumed it was supposed to have a guard behind it, but alas, said guard was nowhere to be seen, which made our job easier.

"Clear." Soarin called out. "Nopony's here."

"We might not be so lucky in the next room." Jagged commented.

I glanced between Jagged and Soarin, then turned my attention to the door leading to the next room. I took a deep breath, then looked to Soarin, and nodded my head towards the door. Soarin made his way over to the door, I lowered my horn to point at the door so that if anypony came out I could react quickly. Quicker, anyway. Maybe. A few seconds later, Soarin, and the others, with the exception of Ace, pressed their bodies against the wall. Each of them looked at me intently, waiting for my order. I looked between each of them, then nodded, more to myself than any of them.

Soarin reached out with a hoof and gently pressed against the door handle. He glanced at me and nodded, then gently pressed his weight against the door, and it slowly creaked open. Jagged Wing swiveled on his front hooves, then bucked out at the door, hitting the door solidly. The door flew open, and Soarin rushed in, followed by the other two while Jagged recovered.

"What th- Hostiles!" A voice frantically called out. It had to be one of the guards, I didn't recognize the voice.

'I'm supposed to be helping them, not standing here doing nothing.' I remembered. I blinked, then rushed into the room, horn first, ready to face whatever threats may lurk beyond. The first thing I noticed once I set hoof into the new room was the discolored gray stone, used primarily in the construction of the dungeon I assumed, and the dull, gloomy glow of torches lighting two hallways, at opposite sides of the room. I swept my head to the left. Soarin was engaging an earth pony in hoof-to-hoof combat, Jagged Wing was struggling to get his hooves around a unicorn's neck, but they could handle them. I swept my head to the right.

An unoccupied unicorn had his horn pointed right at me, and there was a bolt of magic rushing towards me. "Ahh!" I panicked and ducked under the blast, narrowly avoiding the unicorn's spell as it passed over my head. If my heart was racing before, now it was trying to pull off a sonic rainboom, and doing it's very best to put Rainbow Dash to shame. 'If... If I was any bigger, that would have...' I shivered at the unpleasant thought.

I shook the thought away and rolled over. In the middle of the role, I made a point to aim my horn at the unicorn and fired a bolt of magic at him. The unicorn jumped back and raised a barrier, sky blue in color, which blocked my magic. I pushed myself up with my hooves, and flared my wings, and released another bolt of magic. His eyes widened at the sight of my wings, then his face twisted into firm determination as my magic rushed towards him. The bolt impacted his barrier, and it showed signs of cracking. I could almost see the sweat rolling down his face in exertion. I took a step forward and released another pulse.

This time, the barrier shattered when the pulse hit, and the unicorn was pushed back slightly. He panted heavily, and he looked into my eyes. My breath caught in my throat, the look in his eyes... Complete defeat, fear... Knowing there was nothing you could do to change what was about to happen. I felt the magic in my horn die away, and my heart pounded in my chest. I knew nothing about the unicorn looking into my eyes, save that he knew he had lost, and there was nothing he could do about it. The terror in his eyes slowly shifted into grim acceptance, he knew he would die. I felt a cold wave rush over my body, spreading out from my spine. I shivered.

'For Equestria and my friends...' I swallowed and re-lit my horn, then sent a surge of magic rushing out of my horn, towards the unicorn. The unicorn froze at the sight and closed his eyes, helpless to resist. The blast of magic rushed towards him and impacted his chest. It cut through the armor like it was nothing, and burrowed into his chest, pushing him back as he fell down. Almost as soon as he hit the floor, blood started rushing out of the wound and pooling on the floor beneath him. I blinked, slowly inhaled, and then slowly exhaled. After a few seconds, I felt my lip quivering. I took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled, extending my leg out in the process. A breathing technique Cadance had taught me for reducing stress. It worked, and slowly the trembling ceased.

"Princess."

I jerked my head to the left, towards the source of the sound. Soarin had walked up beside me sometime and I hadn't noticed. His expression was weary, and worried, most likely for me. I glanced back to the corpse with my eyes, then looked back to Soarin. "Let's-" my voice wavered, I paused to swallow and close my eyes. "Let's get moving," I spoke more firmly this time as I opened my eyes. It still hadn't come out as a command, but it was certainly better than my first attempt. Soarin started to turn back towards the other four, but his eyes lingered on me for a moment. I glanced back to the corpse, then returned my gaze to the Soarin, and joined him with the others.

I glanced around the floor, noting the three other corpses, heads lying at awkward angles. They said they didn't need weapons to kill, and that they would only slow them down. At the time, I wasn't sure, but I went with it. They were right about that. 'Maybe I can create a weapon to help them somehow, something that a pegasus could use efficiently...' In general, pegasi didn't use weapons to fight with, though you could occasionally see a pegasus carrying a ceremonial weapon. I would have to think about that for a while. I glanced between the four of them, then between the two hallways. I turned back to my ponies. "Soarin you're with me, we'll take the right side, the rest of you take left."

Four nods answered my order. I stepped to the right, and moved towards the hallway, Soarin was right behind me. I glanced down and carefully stepped around a body of one of the guards dispatched by one of the Wonderbolts. She was a unicorn mare, still young and beautiful, looking barely any older than myself. I clenched my jaw and looked back up. I paused at the start of the hallway, Soarin stepped beside me. We both stared at the steel door at the end of the gloomy hallway. I glanced towards one of the torches, it was still fresh, and burning brightly, though it could never hope to match electric or magic lights' brightness.

I tentatively stepped into the hallway. I glanced back at Soarin and took another step forwards. A few seconds later, a damp, musty smell permeated the air, filling my nostrils. There was a hint of something sharp in the air too, but I couldn't place it. I blinked the thought away and quickened my pace to the gate. I slowed, then stopped as I reached the gate. I listened intently. It was quiet, very, very quiet. It was eerie, and disturbing just how quiet it was. The silence was consuming. I heard the creak of a door coming from behind me, 'They must have entered.' I thought. I lifted a hoof and set it on the cold steel door. I gently pushed against it but it didn't give, it was locked. I channeled my magic and summoned the key back. It appeared in a flash of light, I caught it in my magic, then moved it to the keyhole and twisted it. The lock clicked.

I glanced to Soarin and nodded, then stepped back. Soarin stepped forward and pressed a hoof against the gate, it opened silently, which was a pleasant surprise. Soarin peaked inside, and his head turned left and right. After a second, he looked back to me. "One guard on the left." He mouthed.

I nodded, giving him permission to... "Take him out." I silently mouthed back. Soarin nodded, then slowly and carefully stepped inside. he paused for a second, and that second felt like an eternity. My heart raced, and then Soarin pounced onto the guard standing beside the door. He disappeared from my vision, but I heard the clang of metal hitting metal, even if it was dampened. I stepped forwards, into the room, intending to help if he needed it. I jumped in surprise as Soarin was thrown off of the earth pony, nearly hitting me. Soarin hit the open door and winced, clutching his wing. I looked back to the earth pony, who staggered, then swiftly recovered.

"Intruders!" He shouted. I winced as he locked eyes with me. "You shouldn't have come here, Princess," He said coldly.

"I'm not going to let you hurt my friends. I'm not leaving without her." I shot back. He charged at me. I forged my magic into a barrier around myself and braced myself. The pony's eyes widened a split second before he crashed into my barrier at full speed, he staggered back. My barrier momentarily flared from the impact, but it held firm. It was going to take a lot more than that to shatter it. As he fell backward, I heard armored hooves smacking stone at full speed. 'Not good...' I glanced to Soarin, who had righted himself. He nodded at me, flexing his wing in the process. He didn't appear to be in too much pain, which was a good thing. I turned back to the earth pony, he was starting to get back up.

"That's Princess Twilight Sparkle!" A mare shouted.

All three of us turned at the sound of the guard's voice. Three guards, all unicorns were looking between me and Soarin.

One of them glanced to the unicorn standing at the head of the group. "We're cut off from reinforcements." His voice was low, but it carried across the hall.

"It doesn't matter, get her." The lead guard, a mare, replied. The trio lowered their horns in unison. I reforged my magic into a barrier around Soarin and myself, a barrage of magic impacted my barrier.

The three pulses hit in rapid succession, causing the shield to flare once more, but it held. My attention was focused on the three unicorns and I forgot about the earth pony. Until he slammed into my barrier hard enough to remind me that he was there. I took a deep breath and channeled more magic into the barrier.

Soarin glanced between me and the unicorns with worry. "You doing okay, Princess?"

The unicorns switched from firing in barrages to firing one at a time, keeping a constant bombardment up. My barrier held unyieldingly to their synchronized bombardment. "I can probably hold this for a long while, but I can't go on the offensive while they are doing that, and we don't have that kind of time." The earth pony slammed into my barrier as soon as I finished. "Ideas?"

Soarin's eyes darted back and forth for a second, then he looked back to me. "How good is that armor of yours?"

"It's-" the earth pony bucked the barrier with his hind legs, putting a lot more force behind it, and into less area than he had previously. The barrier flared brightly from the impact but otherwise stayed intact. "It's fairly good, Rarity made it resistant to magic."

Soarin might have smirked for a brief moment, but it was over before I could be sure. "Think it could handle their bombardment?"

I pursed my lips. I did not like where this was going. "Probably... Even if it didn't I would survive... My body is more resilient and heals very quickly..." I smiled slightly. "Perks of being an alicorn." I grimaced as the earth pony bucked out at the same time three bolts of magic hit the barrier. It wasn't much of a problem, but we needed to time it right. "You can handle him?" I pointed a wing towards the earth pony.

He nodded. "Yeah, piece of cake."

I took a deep breath, then slowly blew it out. I really didn't want to do this. I would survive... But getting hit by one of those spells would hurt unless my armor absorbed the entire spell and its kinetic force. 'I should probably train more with barriers... This wouldn't be a problem if I could phase it so my own magic could pass through, or-' My train of thought was broken as the earth pony bucked out again, hard enough to stagger himself.

'Right.' I glanced to the earth pony, then at Soarin, and nodded. I looked back to the trio of unicorns and released my barrier. Less than a second later, a bolt of azure magic shot passed my head, missing it by mere inches. I lowered myself closer to the ground and angled my wings so that I could propel myself forwards. The trio of unicorns stopped firing in sequence and started firing as quickly as they could. Another bolt of magic rushed by, missing me by a hoof length. I angled my horn down, aiming at the lead unicorn, and sent a pulse of magic through my horn. The unicorn to the right of him reacted, and a cream colored barrier formed around the trio. I heard a thud come from my left and glanced back to see Soarin engaging the earth pony.

I glanced back just in time to see a bolt of magic impact off center of my chest. I jumped in surprise, and the force of the impact knocked me off balance. I flared my wings to stabilize myself, then beat them with as much force as I could muster, and launched myself towards the trio. I lowered my horn and kept my focus on the unicorn in the center. I sent two surges of magic towards him in rapid succession. The unicorn to his left reacted, forming a barrier once more. It flared brightly as the first pulse hit it, then shattered when the second bolt hit. I glanced to the unicorn, I could see him breathing heavily, and sweat trailing down his face.

He glanced towards the other two when his barrier collapsed. The other two unicorns reacted immediately, launching their assault. A second later, the third joined in. A bolt of magic hit me dead center in my chest, the bolt didn't have much force behind it, and my armor absorbed the magic, but my chest tingled slightly. I bent my legs as I landed and turned to the unicorn who had been protecting the other two and sent a surge of magic through my horn towards him. He winced as he raised his barrier, the impact of my magic shattered it once more but this time my magic continued on its course breaching his armor, killing him. The center unicorn quickly glanced to his left fear in their eyes, then returned his gaze to me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Soarin glide over me. The two unicorns staggered for some reason and before they could recover, Soarin impacted the one on my left, knocking him down. The other one stepped away and turned to help their ally. The momentary distraction was all I needed. I looked to her and sent a bolt of magic, quickly followed by a bolt of magic at the other one. Their ears perked up right before my magic hit them. I saw the unicorn who Soarin was attacking take a glance at his companion, looking in horror as my spell impacted the other unicorn. My magic punched through her armor like paper and it continued as it flew right out the other side. Pieces of metal and flesh, along with some blood flew towards the wall in its wake. The spell hit the wall, and exploded, sending shards of stone everywhere, and leaving a cloud of dust. I turned to Soarin right as he snapped the remaining unicorn's neck. I blinked several times quickly. My mouth was dry. The feeling... It... It was horrible, terrible... I inhaled deeply, then slowly exhaled. I closed my eyes, then inhaled and exhaled again. My stomach felt queasy. It felt like I was going to vomit. I stood completely still for several seconds, only inhaling and exhaling until the feeling subsided. Right as I opened my eyes, the sharp smell I smelt earlier and couldn't place became stronger. My stomach churned again.

"Princess, you okay?"

I glanced towards Soarin, he had a busted lip, blood lightly trickled down his chin, tinting his fur crimson, and his armor was scorched along his shoulder blade. A few of his feathers looked out of place, but otherwise, he looked fine. "Just give me a minute."

"You shouldn't have come with us, Twilight," Soarin spoke softly, using my name rather than my title. To other ponies, it would have seemed disrespectful, but I could hear the concern and care in his voice.

"This... This was going to happen sooner of later, Soarin..." A cold sensation trailed down my spine, causing me to shiver.

"No, you could have stayed far away from this, Twilight. You're a princess, not a soldier. You're our leader, not somepony who should be on the front lines." Soarin said more firmly. He stepped closer to me, and placed a hoof on my back, reassuringly.

"I wasn't going to ask ponies to fight and die for me without knowing what they put themselves through..." I replied.

"We volunteered... But I understand." He sighed. "I just think you should have sat this one out."

"I wasn't just going to sit around doing nothing while my friend was in danger." I replied evenly. I glanced at the three corpses, then I looked down at my armor, where my chest had been hit by two spells. The armor was scorched lightly, but otherwise intact. I smiled. 'Rarity you did a good job with this armor.' I would have to thank her again when I saw her next. I looked to the stairwell, which went down, to what I assumed would be the dungeons. I nodded my head towards the stairs. "Let's go," I ordered. I walked passed Soarin and he hesitated.

"Are you sure you're fine?" he asked.

I paused and looked downwards. I thought about it for a moment. It was terrible, what I had done... But it had to be done. They didn't deserve to die... But they were in my way, standing between me and my friend... Standing between Equestria and peace... My mind felt dull, probably attempting to save itself from focusing on what I had done... I would deal with what I had done later, and it could be worse than if I felt it now. As for now, I need to focus on the task at hoof. "For now... Yes." I answered at length. I looked back up and glanced to Soarin. "We don't have all night."

"Right." He answered as he approached me.

I waited for him to come to a stop, then I took the lead, and started making my way down the stairwell. The stairs were narrow and skinny and I kept feeling like I was going to fall down, but eventually we came to the end of the stairs. I slowed and came to a stop. I listened for any sound at all, whether it be a pony locked up, or the echo of metal on stone. It was quiet. Quiet enough that I could make out the soft and distant echo of hooves. 'Somepony is here.' I glanced back to Soarin, then peaked out of the stairwell. I glanced around and found that nopony was present. I shifted my weight slightly, then turned back to Soarin. "I don't see anypony. Keep your eyes open and be careful." He nodded in acknowledgment.

I cautiously stepped forwards, into the room, Soarin followed closely behind. I glanced around the room, taking in the rows of cells, which seemed to stretch on to infinity, despite knowing it was finite. I shivered slightly at the sight, so many poorly maintained cells, each empty, void of life, awaiting the arrival of the pony they would hold for an unknown period of time. I shifted my weight and quickened my pace down the hall. I glanced right and left, checking each new pair of cells as I passed it. "I think these cells are all empty."

"Maybe the Sergeant is having more luck." Soarin commented.

Despite myself, I smiled. "Yeah, anypony unlucky enough to encounter Jagged is in for trouble." I glanced between the two cells at my sides once more, as they were the first time, they were still empty. I exhaled and continued trotting towards the end of the room. There had to be dozens, if not hundreds of rooms like this in this dungeon, and she could be in any one of them. Likely, she would be farther away from the entrance. And there wasn't any guarantee she was in this dungeon, she could have been in the castle's dungeon. I staggered at the thought.

"What's wrong?"

"What if she's being held in the castle dungeon..."

Soarin swore under his breath, I winced. "If she is being held in the castle's dungeon we don't have a hope of rescuing her... It'd be too risky. Sorry, Princess."

I looked back to him. "We've come this far, and we haven't had much trouble yet." I reasoned.

He ruffled his wings. "There's something to be said for not tempting fate..."

He had a point. I nodded. "True..." I looked forward again, towards the end of the room. I could see that it branched two ways, left and right. I frowned. 'Splitting up again is risky, and if we don't it would take too long...' I shook my head and continued to the end of the room. I looked left and then right. The sounds of hoofsteps were coming from the left, while the right was eerily silent. 'Left is probably a better idea then. If there's a guard, there has to be somepony in there...' "Alright, let's go left. If we don't find anything, we can sweep back and take the right." I kept the lead and started into the hallway leading to the left.

A few seconds passed before we reached the corner. I paused and pressed my back against the wall, then cautiously peeked around the corner. One lone unicorn guard immediately caught my attention. I ignored him for the moment, and scanned the room, then pulled back. "Single unicorn guard at the end of the room." I glanced back around the corner, then hid again as the guard turned around to march across the width of the room again. An idea came to me. I turned back to Soarin. "Why don't we ask him where she is?"

Soarin sighed. "If only it was that easy. He wouldn't tell us anything of use, though."

I bobbled my head. "We can make him tell us..." There was that one spell I used on... I shifted my weight uncomfortably. 'I almost killed her with that...' The guard, on the other hoof... He would have to die anyway... I shivered at the thought. Doing this, we would at least get something of use from his death.

"Twilight..." Soarin used my name, rather than my rank. "You don't want to start down the path of torturing ponies-"

I shook my head vigorously. "No, no, That's not what I meant. I... I have a spell which I can use to get what we need..."

"That sounds useful and dangerous." He commented.

I bobbled my head again. "It is... But I can do it." I glanced back around the corner and looked over the guard again. He-no, she, still had no idea that she was in danger. I pulled my head back and turned to Soarin. "We need to disable her, but keep her alive. I can't just stun her, the Royal Guard armor is resistant to stun spells, and if the spell was powerful enough to break through the resistance, it would just stop her heart."

"I didn't think unicorns were supposed to be powerful enough to make stun spells lethal." Soarin mused.

I shook my head. "Normally they're not, but if they practice enough with stun spells, they learn how to overcharge them to the point of being deadly."

"I didn't need to know that," Soarin admitted.

I smiled apologetically. "Alright, think you can restrain her while I work my magic?"

Soarin smiled brashly, the sight would have fit Rainbow better than him. "You kidding me? Pegasi are naturally stronger than unicorns, physically, and I've trained for years." He paused, then added, "Piece of cake."

"Alright," I said as I glanced back around the corner. 'No time like the present.' I thought. I channeled magic into my horn and jumped around the corner. The guard was startled by my sudden appearance and jumped back slightly. Soarin jumped out from behind the corner and flew towards her. She lit her horn, and I launched myself towards her as well. She looked between both of us, and I pumped my wings harder, attempting to make myself appear more threatening of a target. Soarin was still faster, and she seemed to prioritize him over me. A bolt of lime green magic shot out from her horn and flew passed Soarin, followed by another and another. The fourth bolt hit him off center and graced lengthwise along his body armor, but he shrugged it off.

The unicorn braced herself for the impact, but she was still pushed back. I flared my wings out and bled my speed, then landed softly on the stone floor. Soarin and the guard were locked in hoof to hoof combat, the unicorn was clearly losing, as Soarin was able to prevent her from using magic, and had pinned her hind legs. I stepped closer and prepared the spell. "Restrain her," I commanded.

Soarin pressed his chest against hers and angled an arm to suppress her arm and head, while his other arm kept her left arm pinned. "Got her."

The unicorn continued to struggle, but she was running out of strength to resist with, and Soarin had the advantage of position. I stepped over to the unicorn and lit my horn with dark magic. I felt the familiar cold chill run down my spine as my magic was corrupted and twisted, the feeling was sickening, but also almost welcoming. That realization caused me to shiver once more, but I put it away to deal with later. I leaned my head down and pressed my horn to hers. The contact wasn't necessary, but it would make it easier for me. "Do not resist," I commanded to her. She ignored my command and continued to struggle, unsurprisingly.

I ignored her struggles and sent my dark magic into her mind. I could almost feel the tendrils of magic slithering from myself into her, slipping through her mental defenses, and then crushing them like they were nothing. Slowly, as the dark magic took hold and corrupted more of her mind, her struggles calmed, until finally, she stopped struggling. After the spell firmly took hold, the only evidence she was alive was her gentle breathing. Soarin glanced at me and I pulled back nodding . Soarin slowly removed himself from the guard, cautiously. The guard didn't react. I took a moment to look at her eyes, both were glazed over, and seemed to have a faint green glow flowing off into the air.

In the state she was in, she would do anything I told her to, without resistance. Anything. I could tell her to jump off a cliff, and she wouldn't hesitate... I clenched my jaw. 'Having that kind of power over somepony...' I took a moment to calm down, and let the dark magic surrounding my horn die. I felt a wave of relief wash over my body as the corrupt magic fled. "Where is Rainbow Dash."

"I don't know," She answered calmly. Her voice reminded me of Pinkie's voice, but I ignored it.

"Maybe try with her title?" Soarin suggested.

"Where is Captain Rainbow Dash?" I asked again.

"I don't know." She answered again.

"Alright, I'll try something else..." I mumbled. "How many pegasi are being kept here in this dungeon?"

"None." She answered.

Soarin swore under his breath again. I agreed with his sentiment. "So this was a waste of time and resources then." He said aloud.

"Lieutenant." I took a breath, then exhaled. "I did not come here only to go back without succeeding."

"I don't know how we're going to find her and retrieve her then, because the only other place she could be is the castle's dungeon, and the only way to get in there is through the front door."

I glared at him, then looked back to the unicorn mare, and pursed my lips. "How heavily guarded is the castle?" I asked.

The mare did not answer immediately, instead, she seemed to pause to think about my question, and how to best answer it. "Most of the guards have been deployed elsewhere, or are resting during the night and not close enough to assist if the castle is assaulted."

I glanced to Soarin and smirked. "We should be able to sneak in then."

"Maybe." He admitted.

I turned back to the guard. "Where is Princess Celestia?"

"She is in her chambers resting." She answered without hesitation.

"Right now we're not in a position to fight Celestia. I don't have the power to match her with me." I admitted

"Right." Soarin agreed.

"Let's go. We'll meet up with Ace, then go and get the others." I turned around and took a step away.

"What about her?"

I paused mid-stride. I turned around to look at her. I pursed my lips and blew air out of my mouth. I quickly stepped over to the unicorn, she looked at me expectantly. "Stand." I commanded. The unicorn immediately moved to stand up, then faced me. I lit my horn and looked into her eyes. They were empty, so, so empty... Part of me wondered if she knew what I was about to do... Or even if she cared... I took a deep breath, then swallowed. I lowered my horn and kept my gaze on her eyes. Her eyes betrayed no feeling. I sent a surge of magic through my horn, and the pulse of magic tore through her unprotected neck. She fell down and was thrown back at the same time, and the sharp smell of blood strengthened. I took a deep breath, then exhaled, extending my hoof in the process. I truly owed Cadance a lot.

I turned around, ignored the bile rising in my throat, and stepped away. I paused as I felt something warm roll down my muzzle. I didn't need to see it to know what it was. I lifted a hoof and wiped the blood away, then immediately returned my hoof to the floor.

"You didn't have to do that, Twilight." Soarin's voice came out almost condemningly.

I took another deep breath, then slowly exhaled. "We couldn't take her with us, and leaving her alive wasn't an option." I reasoned. 'Am I trying to convince him, or myself?' I wondered. "Regardless, I need to be able to do this without hesitation..."

"No, you don't, Twilight. You're not a soldier. I am."

"I'm the only pony other than Princess Luna capable of fighting Princess Celestia and winning." I shot back.

There was a long pause before Soarin replied. "Do you plan to kill them then?"

I clenched my jaw. "I... I don't want to." I admitted. "I really don't. Princess Celestia was my mentor... Without her guidance, I never would have become an alicorn princess myself..." I slowly inhaled and exhaled. "I just... I don't know if it will be avoidable... I could beat them, but what if they refuse to relent? You can't exactly... Lock up an alicorn, they're too powerful..." 'What would happen if I were captured?' I shifted my weight at the question. I did not know, and I certainly did not want to find out.

"You really think they would fight you after you win?"

I looked at my hooves. "I don't know." I answered. "Not really, but... I just don't know." I swallowed and found my mouth dry. "I... Not now we still need to rescue Rainbow." I started forwards again, then glanced back to Soarin. "Come on... Let's go meet up with the others." After a few seconds hesitation, Soarin started trotting forwards. He smiled sadly at me. I licked my dry lips and tasted something warm, salty, and with a hint of something metallic. I paused and closed my eyes, realizing what it was. I felt my stomach churn again, but I fought it back. I took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. After a minute, the sensation died down, and I opened my eyes to see Soarin patiently waiting for me. I smiled weakly at him and started trotting out of the room, and into the hallway.

We made our way through the hallway in silence and entered the first room without saying a word. As we passed the cells, I couldn't help but check them again, thinking that perhaps we had missed something. It was for naught, and we made our way up the stairwell. I hesitated at the exit, seeing the three corpses of the unicorns we had... I pushed the thought aside and quickened my pace. We walked into the second room we had entered when first arriving. I quickly glanced around, noting the single pool of blood, coming from the unicorn I... "I'll go get the others, tell Ace what we're-"

"Maybe you should stay with him... I'll go get the others." Soarin offered. I opened my mouth to protest, but he cut me off. "I'm faster than you." He smiled weakly. I relented and nodded. He hesitated for a moment, then made his way down the other hallway.

I remained standing alone, in that room, with several bodies of dead ponies for what seemed like an eternity, while in reality, only a few minutes had passed. I shook myself out of it and forced myself to leave the room. I gently pushed open the door to the entrance and walked into the room. Ace was in a combat position, but immediately relaxed when he saw it was me.

"Princess?"

"Soarin is getting the others. Rainbow isn't here, she's in the castle's dungeon."

Ace winced at that. "I see. That is not good."

I smirked. "No." I shook my head and sighed. "Anything to report?"

"Net, Princess. Nopony has come through."

I nodded. "That's good."

"Da," He answered with a nod of his head. He glanced over my body and expression. He seemed discontent. "You do not look so good, Princess."

"I... I've just never killed anypony before today..." I admitted.

He nodded gravely. "The first time is always the hardest... But it good that it hits you so hard, it shows you are good pony."

I bobbled my head. I wasn't sure I believed him. At one point in time, yes. But now? I smiled weakly at him. "Thanks." He nodded in reply. The next several minutes passed in relative silence, leaving me to my thoughts, which wasn't such a good thing. My mind still felt dull, and numb, despite the sharp, vivid memories. We had only started the mission a couple hours ago, and already I was exhausted. Not physically, or magically, but mentally. The stress weighed heavily upon my mind, and... I don't normally react well to stress... There was that one time when... I shifted my weight and forced myself to think about something else.

I would never have imagined I would kill anypony... Yet here I was, killing... Murdering, to rescue my friend, and protect Equestria. The thought should have made me sick to my stomach, but it didn't. I had had time to prepare myself mentally, but it was still hard... And it still should have been worse. I felt uncertain about the future, and about myself. Before this had happened, I had faith in Celestia that it would all be okay, and I had only ever feared failing... But now, I had bigger fears, and failure could cost ponies lives. Already thousands of ponies would follow me into battle, maybe even their deaths... It was all so uncertain, but there was one thing of which I was absolutely certain. I would have a breakdown sometime just not now and hopefully, not anywhere in the near future. It was the only thing that could explain why I wasn't breaking down now. It was a delayed reaction.

I took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. I closed my eyes, and sat down on my haunches, taking a short break.

"Tiring so soon Princess?" Ace asked.

I frowned lightly. "Not physically, just mentally. I feel drained."

He nodded. "Da, it happens to the best of us. Generally takes more, but you are not used to this." He stepped over to me and sat down beside me. "Now is good time to get used to it. Big battles offer few chances for rest, take them when you can."

I looked to him. "You say that like you know I will be fighting in big battles."

He nodded. "Da. I can see it in your eyes. You will go to battle if only to protect ponies. You will not like it, and you will find it emotionally and mentally draining, but that is because you care. You will fight, you will kill to protect your ponies, your friends. Each one of them that falls in battle beside you will scar you worse than blade but you will recover, and grow stronger from it."

I smiled, despite the grim prediction. "We fight for peace, to protect our friends and family."

He smiled and nodded. "Da."

"Even if they don't realize it, refuse to realize it, or hate you for it, and fight back..." I looked down to my hooves. My parents... They didn't understand. They wanted me to be safe. I told them I was doing what my heart told me to do, to protect ponies... For the greater good... They were worried about me and wanted me to stop... But only because they cared. I sighed.

"You look like you could use a drink. When we get back, we go drinking. I buy." Ace smiled.

I smiled back. "Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll pass for now. Maybe in the future."

He shrugged. "Very well Princess. But you will miss seeing Soarin drunk." He smiled and nodded. He chuckled to himself. "Good times."

I couldn't picture Soarin drunk. He was generally fairly reserved. 'Maybe I will take you up on that offer sometime.' "How long have you known Soarin?" I asked.

"I have known him for long time but that is conversation for other time." He nodded his head towards the door as the other four walked in. "Lieutenant." He acknowledged.

Soarin nodded to him, then turned to me. "They-" he nodded towards the three Wonderbolts behind him. "-had fewer problems than we did, so they were further along."

I nodded. It was good that they had it easier than us, but I still frowned at that. I shifted my weight and rose to my hooves, Ace followed shortly behind me. "I assume you told them about the new plan?"

Soarin nodded. "Yes, but I still don't like it. Even if what that guard-" I shifted my weight, "-said is true."

"It is." I said.

"Right..." Soarin trailed off. He looked around the room and took a second to look over everypony. He turned to me. "Everypony's accounted for," He stated.

I nodded. "Right. Let's get going." I looked to the door to the courtyard, then to Soarin. "Follow me," I commanded. I hesitated for a second, then turned and made my way to the door. I paused briefly to inspect the door and listen for any sign of trouble. I channeled magic into my horn, and gently grasped the door in my magic, and slowly parted it. I peeked around the door, half expecting a dozen guards to be staring me down, led by Princess Celestia. Instead, it was clear, the only ponies present were the two corpses of the guards who had been killed.

I pulled the door open the rest of the way and scanned the courtyard. It was still quiet, and unoccupied. I stepped forwards, leaving the building. I took a deep breath and enjoyed the clean mountain air, even if it held a slight chill from the night. It was still more preferable to inside that building. I momentarily paused to glance skywards, checking for any pegasi patrols. I shook my head and continued out of the door, then paused for the others to leave. As soon as they all gathered tightly behind me, I looked them over for a minute. It had been a few hours, and while they looked a little tired, they still seemed to be doing okay.

"Ideas to get into the castle?" I asked.

The five Wonderbolts looked between themselves. Ace bobbled his head, then spoke. "We could use front door. They would not expect enemy to use main way of getting into castle."

I nodded. He had a point, but it would still be guarded. "We would need to eliminate the guards before they could sound an alarm or get reinforcements. If Princess Celestia shows up, I won't be able to fight her right now." Soarin grimaced but said nothing.

"Taking out guards will be easy. Doing so before they overwhelm us is problem." Ace said.

'Right...' I inhaled, then blew air out of my mouth. Getting into the castle could prove- 'Wait, I know this castle. I practically lived there for six years.' My mouth went slack and closed I my eyes. I twitched my head to the left and inhaled. I lifted my right hoof to my head, metal clanked on metal. 'I'm going to have a headache before this night is over.' I realized as I felt a dull throbbing at the base of my horn. "I'll teleport us into one of the hallways. The chance that I'll teleport us anywhere near guards is really low based on the information from that guard." I ignored the looks everypony gave me.

"The light and sound could alert guards farther away," Soarin stated.

"I think we can handle any patrols alerted by it... I mean, it's not like I don't know where I'll be teleporting us to. I practically lived there for six years. It's not like I'll be teleporting us in front of a barracks or something." I said with a slight laugh. 'I hope.' "I'll teleport us as close to the dungeon as I can, but I'll keep a safe distance from the door, so any guards wouldn't be alerted." I looked between them, nopony said anything in complaint, but nopony said anything in approval either. "Right, well, let's go, shall we?" I channeled more magic into my horn and prepared the spell. I locked onto my destination from memory, a hallway a few rooms away from the dungeon entrance, and grabbed the five Wonderbolts, applying relative locks for them also, then released the spell.

The spell finished instantaneously, and we were teleported to our destination. After the flash of light died down, I turned around and looked everypony over to make sure they had arrived safely, and in one piece. Nopony was missing any limbs, and they all appeared to not suffer any side effects, which was a good thing, because I heard four pairs of hooves rushing towards us, coming from behind me. I swiveled on a hoof, tilted my head down, and channeled magic back into my horn. I prepared the spell in my mind and prepared myself mentally for battle. I waited anxiously as the hoofsteps drew closer, and I ruffled my wings, bleeding off some of the anxiety.

A Royal Guard, a unicorn, rounded the corner, he frantically looked left and then right, then locked eyes on us. I sent a surge of magic through my horn and launched a bolt of magic at him. He fell into a battle stance and lit his own horn. A light blue barrier formed around him but shattered as soon as my spell impacted it. He staggered back as a second unicorn rounded the corner with his horn already lit. The other unicorn shot a bolt of magic towards me. I raised a barrier to block it, but I acted too slow. Half of the bolt made it through and impacted the armor covering my shoulder. I felt a light tingling sensation but was otherwise fine. I spared a second to glance back to the other five ponies accompanying me.

All five of them had sprung into action and bolted passed me as I turned to look at them. I returned my gaze to the pair of unicorns. Both of them were gone, but I heard frantic hoofsteps running away. "They can't get away," I ordered, "stop them." I paused for a second, then shook my head. I darted forwards, around the corner. Soarin and Lightning Strike were nearly upon one of them, but the other unicorn was fast. I came to a stop, lowered my horn, and released a spell at him. My aim was off, and the bolt of lavender magic went high. I fired again, this time I hit him. The bolt of magic punched through his armor and tore through his body, and he fell forwards from his own momentum combined the force of the spell.

Ace was right. It wasn't as hard this time. Or maybe I was too mentally drained to fell anything... Regardless, neither boded well for me. Soarin walked over to me and looked at me with concern and expectation. I looked him over, he was handling it well. It shouldn't have surprised me, he was a soldier, yet it did. I never really thought of the Wonderbolts as a military group... But they were. "Let's go." I ordered. I glanced around to get my bearings, then turned around and headed back towards the room we arrived in. I strode into the room, and made my way across it, into the hallway on the opposite side. The guards had fled away from the dungeon, so we backtracked slightly.

A few minutes and several corners later, we arrived at the last hallway until you reached the entrance to the dungeon. I glanced around the corner. The two unicorn guards saw me and lit their horns. I pulled my head back behind the corner and looked to Soarin. Hoofsteps falling on the floor grew in intensity and he grimaced. I took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. I waited until the hoofsteps were practically on top of us, then I jumped into the hallway, swiveled to face the oncoming unicorns, lowered my horn, and prepared my spells. Both unicorns briefly staggered at the sight, realizing who I was.

My heart raced as I three surges of magic in rapid succession towards the closest one. The unicorn reacted quick and a barrier flared to life around him. The barrier held against the first bolt, though it showed signs of stress, then cracked when the second bolt slammed into it. The third bolt hit him, his armor was obliderated and he was killed. I sidestepped a bolt of magic from the second unicorn. Then another bolt of magic raced passed me and hit the wall. I heard a sharp crack and glanced back to see part of the wall explode. An area roughly the size of my head had been shattered, but it wasn't very deep. My heart skipped a beat. 'They're not trained for this sort of thing.' If they were, the unicorn would have used a different spell to different results. A sharp pain struck me in the chest, and I thought for sure a bolt of magic had pierced my armor. I looked down to my chest, but my armor was intact, scratched but undamaged.

I looked up as Soarin raced passed me and rushed the closest unicorn. The other four followed close behind. The unicorn stepped back and shot a bolt of magic towards Soarin. It impacted him in the chest, he gasped and staggered briefly, but then doubled his pace and tackled the unicorn. Ace and Jagged Wing ran to Soarin's aid, I just stood there and watched. It took a matter of seconds, but eventually Lightning Strike got her arms in a position to- I heard a sharp snapping sound. I blinked twice rapidly.

Soarin grunted as he pulled away, then sat down against the wall, and pulled off his left boot with a wing, then pressed his hoof into his chest. I could see crimson streaking down his armor, and his hoof was starting to get soaked in blood. I swallowed at the sight, it somehow reminded me of... I forced the memory away, and stepped over to him. Ace and Jagged were both looking him over, Jagged sounded like he was berating him, and I couldn't make out what Ace was saying, as it was in a foreign language.

Jagged grabbed Soarin's hoof and pried it away, both of them grunted in the process. "Stop complaining you big baby..." Jagged mumbled.

I stepped closer and channeled magic into my horn. I went over every inch of Soarin's body with my magic. His fur was burned away where the spell hit, his skin was cracked and ruptured, and shards of metal were embedded within his wound. Fortunately for him, adrenaline was flooding his system. "How are you feeling?" I asked, and immediately winced. 'Stupid question.'

Soarin looked at me with a clenched jaw. "Sorry..." I shifted my weight and ruffled my wings. He would survive, but that had to be painful. he was fortunate that- I looked away from him, reminded of my earlier realization. I stepped over to one of the corpses of the unicorns. I looked him over, it was hard to tell, but... I took his helmet in my magic and lifted. His head jiggled as I tried to remove the helmet, the sight made me quite uncomfortable. After a few seconds, the helmet came off. I closed my eyes. 'I was right.' "They're... They're barely stallions..."

"Soarin stop mov- fine." I heard Jagged sigh sharply, followed closely by the sound of metal hitting the marble floor.

I heard hoofsteps approaching from behind, and I glanced back to see Soarin approaching. He winced with every movement, and blood trickled from his wound, but he crossed the distance and stood beside me. I looked back to the corpse and closed my eyes.

"They're young," Soarin stated, then swore under his breath. "They must be fresh from the academy..."

"They were not prepared for this. It is no wonder this was easy." Ace mused. I could almost feel his gaze shift to me. "Princess, you couldn't have known."

"No, no. I know... They're adults, they knew what they were... What they were getting into... They chose this..." I took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. "We'll sort this out... Later..." A cold chill ran down my spine and I shivered. I looked to the door to the dungeon, then glanced between each of the five ponies with me. Their expressions ranged in intensity, but they were all grim. "Let's-" I swallowed. "Let's go."

Ace looked at me with worry. "You are sure you are fine?" I nodded. He looked at me skeptically but relented. "I will stay here and keep an eye on Lieutenant."

"That's-" Soarin started, but I glared at him, and he changed his mind. "Probably for the best..." He said at length.

I trotted over to the door, three of the followed me, then I turned and looked back. "Be careful," I ordered.

Ace nodded, and both of them smiled back. "You too," Soarin replied.

I smiled, if briefly. "Thanks." I turned back around and faced the door. I inhaled deeply, then blew air out of my mouth. I had no idea what lurked beyond this door, and I hoped that it was just my friend. I lit my horn and took hold of the door, then parted it open, and peaked inside. The dull glow of torches greeted me, but it was nicer than the other dungeon. The air smelt about the same as the rest of the castle, which surprised me. I wasn't sure what I had been expecting, but it wasn't that. I pulled the door open the rest of the way and stepped inside. I glanced around, scanning my surroundings. Like the other dungeon, the room came to a T, with hallways at the end on opposite sides of the room. 'Nopony inside guarding the entrance?' "Lightning Strike, you're with me, Jagged, Storm, take the left."

We split into two groups, Lightning Strike followed close behind me, while the other two made their way to the left hallway. As we approached the hallway going right, I had a nostalgic feeling, I was reminded of the other dungeon, and what happened on the other side of the gate at the end of the hallway. I glanced back to Lightning Strike, then made my way across the hallway. I slowed as I approached the door, then stopped and grimaced. I channeled my magic into my horn but hesitated before opening it.

I brushed the concern aside and opened the door. I didn't even pause to make sure it was safe, then stepped inside. I quickly scanned the room, looking for any sign of danger, but saw nothing. I trotted inside the room and looked around again. A second later Lightning Strike stepped beside me, she too was looking around. My gaze was drawn to another stairwell, like the other one, towards the end of the room. I made my way over to it, then down the stairs. We both paused at the exit of the stairs. I glanced out and around. I blinked.

"I thought this was a dungeon?" Lightning said. She stepped out of the stairwell and glanced around the well maintained, rather exquisite room. It looked nothing like the other dungeon. Where stone was the primary building material for the other, here it was marble. It was strange, I had expected the marble to shift into stone once we entered the area with cells, but it didn't.

"It is, though... I'm sure of it?" I glanced around. true, I had never been here before, but I knew this was supposed to be a dungeon. It looked more like the castle guest rooms, save for the steel bars blocking the entrance to the cells.

"Okay..." Lightning started. "I'll start on the left, you take the right?" I glanced at her and nodded.

I strode up and down the room, carefully looking over each cell multiple times, just to be sure I hadn't missed anything. The room was lit well enough, but it never hurt to triple check something. I made another pass, this time checking both sides. "Anything?" I asked.

"No, she's not here." She answered. "Maybe the next section."

"Right." I nodded, more so to myself. I turned around and made my way to the end of the room, this time I didn't bother checking the cells again. I slowed to a stop when I reached the end of the room. I glanced to the left, then to the right. I turned to Lightning Strike. "We'll check the right side first." She nodded in acknowledgment.

I stepped into the hallway, and trotted to the end, then paused at the corner. I glanced around the corner, searching for any guards, and once more found nopony. I glanced across the room to the other hallway, then stepped into the room. I took to searching the side closest to me and assumed Lighting would search the other side. I made my way passed the second cell and glanced over to make sure Lighting was checking her side. She was, and I returned my gaze to search the third cell. I continued along, carefully searching each cell, each time expecting nothing, and expecting to see her at the same time. It was a strange duality, but about halfway to the end I was used to it.

Eventually, I quickened my pace, and barely glanced at each cell. 'She has to be here somewhere...' I huffed as I passed another empty cell. 'Empty, empty, oh look, empty again. Ugh.' The stress was starting to get to me. 'Empty. Empty. Empty.' I passed a cell with a blue ball, with a rainbow mane and tail. 'Empty. Empty. Em-wait...' I paused, then spun around and ran two cells down, and stopped at the cell door. I smiled, then frowned. She wasn't mov-she inhaled. 'She's sleeping... I realized.

"Find something?" Lightning asked.

"Found her," I replied. I heard hooves rush over from across the room. "She's sleeping." I channeled magic into my horn, then recalled the key from the other dungeon. There was a small flash of light and slight pop as it appeared in the air.

Rainbow jerked up, she frantically looked around. "Wazztha-" Her gaze landed on me. "Twilight?" She almost jumped up, and I smiled as she ran to the door. "What are you doing here?"

I smiled. "I'm here to bring you home. You didn't think I'd just leave you here did you?"

Her smile grew strained and I realized I must have said something wrong. A second later, her smile returned. "No..." she answered. I levitated the key in my magic and inserted it into the lock. "Who is your friend?"

Lightning Strike stood at attention. "Corporal Lightning Strike, ma'am." She answered almost mechanically. I briefly lost concentration, but then regained it.

"Hold on, I'll get you out in a second..." I twisted the key left and attempted to open the gate. Nothing. I felt my heart skip a beat. 'Okay don't panic, maybe it needs to go the other way...' I reasoned.

"Lightning Strike?" Rainbow repeated skeptically. Her expression grew strained. "Are you by any chance related to a Lightning Dust?"

I heard Lightning Strike's feathers ruffle. "She's my sister." She answered flatly.

It sounded like there was bad blood between Lightning Strike and Lightning Dust to me, but I filed that away for later, and twisted the key to the right, then back to the middle. I took hold of the cell door with my magic and tried to open it. Nothing again. I winced. "They key doesn't work..."

Rainbow looked at me blankly. "You'll... You'll get me out of here, though, right? You're not going to leave me here right?"

It sounded like her voice had a desperate edge to it. I staggered at that realization and winced. "Yeah... Um, stand back. I'm going to..." 'Destroy the gate.' I finished in my mind. Rainbow obliged, she stepped back and pressed her body to the opposite wall. I stepped back, and Lightning strode back, determined to keep her distance. I glanced at her wearily. "What?"

She said nothing, and I returned my gaze to the cell door. I inhaled, then exhaled. 'Piece of cake... Just... Destroy the locking mechanism... or blow the door open... Or rip it from its hinges.' I prepared a spell in my mind, then lowered my horn so that it pointed at the locking mechanism of the door. I sent a surge of magic through my horn, and a bolt of magic rushed forth to greet the cold steel. The bolt of magic met the lock, and the magic overwhelmed the steel, obliterating the locking mechanism in a bright flash of light. I blinked twice to restore my sight. Rainbow had her wing over her head, and tentatively lowered it, she peeked out from one eye to see if it was safe. Once she realized it was safe, she returned her wing to her side, shifted her weight, and rushed to the cell door as I opened it with my magic.

Rainbow rushed over to me and almost tackled me to the floor. If I wasn't an alicorn, I was sure I would have been on the floor. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and used me as support while she hugged me. 'That can't be that comfortable with my armor.' I thought. I ignored the thought and returned the hug. We stayed like that for several seconds, then she pulled back. I smiled at her. "Let's go." She ruffled her wings and nodded. I turned to Lightning Strike. "Go get the others. We're going to wait with Soarin and Ace. Once we're all together, I'll teleport us to the station." 'Hopfully, the train is still there and the conductor hasn't changed his mind...'

We all hesitated for a few seconds, then I took the lead, the other two kept close behind me as we made our way back to the others. I kept glancing back at Rainbow and Lightning, to make sure they were still with me. I knew they would be, and they were, but I just... I forced the thought away and continued down the hallway. I slowed as we approached the other room, then peaked around the corner, making sure we were alone, before proceeding. We made our way through the room, up the stairs, and beyond with no problems. I paused as Lightning raced off to gather the others. I watched her go and hesitated for a few seconds, then turned and opened the door with my magic.

At the sound of the door opening, Soarin and Ace turned towards us and smiled. "Found her?" Soarin asked as he rose to his hooves. He had removed his armor, and a white tunic had been placed on his chest where the spell punched through his armor, but that tunic had mostly turned crimson.

The sight was worrying and unnerving, but I ignored it. I nodded, and stepped to the side, revealing Rainbow Dash. "Yes. Lightning is getting the others, then I'm getting us out of here."

"Soarin?" Rainbow said in disbelief. She stepped forwards. "What... Happened to you?"

Soarin grimaced. "Guard managed to... Yeah." He trailed off, not wanting to talk about it.

"Anything to report?" I asked.

Ace shook his head. "Net, Princess," he answered.

Rainbow glanced at me with a questioning look. "It means no," I answered.

Rainbow shook her head in understanding. "Oh." She turned back to Ace and scrutinized him. "You don't look familiar?"

Ace nodded his head. "Da. I would not. I am not in premier Wonderbolt team. Less fame, but still good flyer."

Rainbow shook her head absently. I turned around to look at the door. "It could take her a while to find them and get them back." I commented. I turned around, paused for a second, then walked over to the wall and sat down. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled, extending my hoof in the process. Now that we rescued her, we were almost home safe. It was the last leg of the mission, escape the castle and get home safely. 'Unless things happen in the next five to ten minutes, we're in the clear.' I smiled at the thought.

Then frowned. I was looking forwards to the peace and relaxation that would accompany the train ride back, but at the same time I was dreading it. It would undoubtedly leave me with my thoughts... Maybe I would be able to sleep peacefully, knocked out from the exertion, or maybe I wouldn't be able to close my eyes without seeing a pony who I had killed... Maybe I wouldn't breakdown yet, maybe it was further away, or maybe it would happen in the next five minutes... Maybe it would be better if I broke down right here, so the stress wouldn't build up. I waited patiently, but no breakdown came. I took another deep breath, then exhaled and opened my eyes.

Rainbow had sat down beside me while I had my eyes closed. I was surprised I hadn't heard her or something, but I hadn't. I looked her body over, looking for any signs of injury or stress. While the lighting in the dungeon was decent, the lighting out here was better. She looked mostly fine but more unkempt than normal for her. Some of her feathers were misaligned, and she might have lost a little weight, but she didn't seem to have any injuries.

Rainbow turned to me and looked at me quizzically. "Twilight?"

I looked up to her. "Hm?"

"You okay? You were staring at me."

"Oh, sorry! I must have spaced out... I'm a little tired." I admitted. Okay, I was more than a little tired, I felt mentally exhausted, but I didn't want to admit that.

Rainbow nodded. "I can understand that."

After that, we sat in silence for several minutes. The sound of hoofsteps approaching from the dungeon caught my attention. I rose to my hooves and looked towards the door. After several painful seconds, which seemed like an eternity, Lightning Strike and the others strode out of the door. I smiled.

"Princess." Jagged acknowledged. He glanced between me, Soarin, and then Rainbow. "I guess that means we're ready whenever you are," he stated.

I nodded. "Right." I looked around for Soarin's armor, I spotted it by the wall and I grabbed it with my magic, and levitated it closer to myself, then set it down on the floor. I looked around as everypony gathered around me, then turned to Rainbow. "You ready to come home?"

"Yeah, being locked up down there was driving me crazy." She ruffled her wings. "And I couldn't fly."

Flying meant the world to Rainbow, depriving her of it was an unspeakable crime. I grimaced but nodded. I glanced around one last time, making sure everypony was present, then looked at the door leading away from the hall to the dungeon. I half expected a dozen ponies and Celestia to show up, but nopony did. I closed my eyes and lowered my head, then channeled magic into my horn for the teleportation spell. I made sure I had a lock on everypony, and Soarin's armor, then I cast the spell.

A second later, we appeared in the old Canterlot Train Station's boarding area. The sound of a single pony running towards us drew my attention to the conductor. "You ready to go Princess Twilight?" he asked as he glanced around the group. Despite the darkness flooding the station, he caught sight of Soarin, and his gaze was drawn to the bloodied tunic. He winced, then returned his gaze to me.

"Yes," I answered with a nod.

The conductor nodded to himself. "Good, I was starting to get worried,and I wasn't sure that nopony else was going to show up and start asking questions."

I grimaced at the thought of that. "Thank you again. We couldn't have done this without your help." 'More or less.' I thought. We could have done it without his help, but it would have been harder and taken longer. It was easier this way, and he was certainly going to enjoy the donation I gave him. "Alright... Let's go," I ordered, and immediately everypony present made their way to the train. The started to board one at a time, with the exception of Soarin, he was having trouble boarding, especially since he was carrying his armor awkwardly. Ace helped him on, and Jagged Wing got on last. Rainbow had stayed beside me, like she was waiting on me. I glanced at her and nodded my head towards the train. I started forwards, I glanced back at Rainbow. She hesitated a moment, then caught up with me, and we walked to the train, then boarded. I let her on first, then I got on myself.

As soon as we stepped hoof on the train, a wave of exhaustion hit me, and I almost fell over. Rainbow caught me with a wing on reflex. I smiled my thanks and closed the door with my magic. I looked around, the car was deserted. Everypony had already left to go to their own room on the train. I had told them to do that before the mission started. If I had needed anything, I would talk to them after we got back. They would have deserved the rest after we rescued her. "Your room's the last one on the left, across from mine." I tried to mask my tiredness, but the words came out absently. Rainbow said nothing in reply. I looked around, then made my way to the nearest bench. I sat down and closed my eyes, then inhaled and exhaled. I heard Rainbow make her way over to the bench and sit down beside me. I ignored it for the moment, choosing to rest instead. A few seconds later, I opened my eyes as I heard a clicking sound. Soarin walked out of his room and made his way towards us. I looked at him wearily.

He opened his mouth but paused before he said anything. After a few seconds, he finally spoke. "I know that was hard, Twilight, but you did good. You did what you had to do, we all did. Nopony can blame you for that."

His attempt to lessen the burden I felt failed miserably. 'Nopony can blame me for that? That's not true, and you know it.' I bit my tongue and held in my response. Snapping at somepony, especially Soarin, would do me no good. Instead, I just looked at him without blinking. Soarin sighed and turned away. He slowly made his way to his room. I heard a click as the door shut.

Rainbow turned to me. "What was that about?"

I opened my mouth to answer but hesitated as the train lurched forwards. I shook my head and stood up. I felt like I should say something, she deserved an answer, after all I just risked my life along with five other ponies to rescue her, but my mouth and hooves conspired against me. I said nothing and made my way back to my room. I was supposed to be happy to have her back, and I was, but the feeling was... Tainted by what I did to get her back... I paused at my door and press a hoof against it, and rested my head on it. After a moment I pulled back, opened the door and stepped inside. I channeled my magic into my horn, and grasped my helmet, and pulled it off.

The cool air hitting the back of my neck and mane felt wonderful. While the armor did its job well, and Rarity did an amazing at making the armor more comfortable, it was still heavy armor. I levitated the helmet in from of my head and looked it over. Dried blood stained the top of my helmet, around the base of my horn. It must have splattered there when I... I closed my eyes and levitated the helmet away, the took the door in my magic and closed it. The door resisted my magic at first, so I applied more magic to close it. I heard a grunt. 'Doors don't... Wait...' I depowered my horn, and turned around. Rainbow forced the door open and stepped inside. I stepped back to make room for her, then she shut the door, and the lock clicked.

She looked at me with a combination of concern and anger. Her face seemed to shift between the two emotions, unable to decide on which to show. Eventually it settled on concern. "Twilight, are you okay?"

I took the straps holding my armor in place in my magic and started to undo them as I looked her over. "No." I answered lifelessly. I pulled the plate of armor protecting my stomach and chest off and sat it aside, then started working on the straps for the armor protecting the rest of my body. "No I'm not," I repeated.

Rainbow shifted her weight. "What happened?"

"I... I killed..." I couldn't finish the sentence, the feeling in my throat wouldn't let me. I shut my eyes tightly as my stomach started to churn again. I fought back to ignore the sensation, but it didn't work. I refocused myself to removing my armor, hoping that would help. I undid my body armor, then removed it. The air felt like it rushed over my back, it almost felt like ice. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves, the smell of sweat from my body permeated the air.

"Twilight."

I opened my eyes at the sound of Rainbow's voice. I could tell from the look in her eyes she wanted to say something, anything, to cheer me up. But I could also tell she didn't know what to say, she just stood there, looking at me, concern covering every inch of her features. I lifted my right arm, and pulled off my boot, then repeated the process with my left arm and back legs, then set the boots aside.

"You did what you had to..." Rainbow finally said.

'You're wrong.' I bit back the response, she didn't know that I killed somepony who couldn't defend herself. 'I... Oh Celestia... I killed a defenseless mare... She... She could have had foals...' The thought staggered me. 'I could have just orphaned foals... I could have killed a mother...' My stomach suddenly felt much more queasy, and the headache I had earlier returned with a vengeance. "So now I'm going to have that breakdown..." I scoffed. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and extended my arm as I exhaled. I didn't expect it to help. It didn't.

I heard feathers rustling, and I hadn't moved mine. It had to have been Rainbow. "Look, you rescued me, alright? You did what you came to do right?" I nodded without opening my eyes. "So just... Sit down and relax for a bit. I can't imagine how stressful that was for you, but you're holding it together really well..."

I wanted to smile at her, but I couldn't. I opened my eyes, and made my way over to my bed, then sat down. I closed my eyes again, took a deep breath, then exhaled. I felt a cold chill run down my spine, and my stomach lurched again. Slowly, the feeling of needing to puke died away, only to be replaced with exhaustion. I felt something warm press against my coat, followed a moment later by feathers pressing against my wing. I opened my eyes and looked at Rainbow quizzically. "I'm sorry I let you get captured."

She frowned at me. "It wasn't your fault, besides-" She smiled brashly, "-not everypony can say a princess has come to their rescue."

I wanted to laugh at that, but I was just too tired, and it came out as a sigh. "I didn't know where you were, or if you were even still... Alive..." I shook my head and looked down to the covers of the bed. It looked so inviting, I could almost hear it calling my name, but if I tried to sleep, what would I see? Would I be able to sleep, or would I lie awake at night, unable to find peace because of what I had done? "I was so worried... Worried that I had failed, worried that I let my friend get hurt or... Or worse, that you weren't even still alive..."

"Look, Twilight. I'm fine, you can see that. I may be a little out of shape, and dying to fly again, but other than that, I'm okay," She sounded annoyed at me. I winced.

I sighed. 'That breakdown still hasn't happened, but it sure feels like i'm sitting on the edge, only moments away from falling...' "Maybe it's a good thing I'm not falling apart right now. Maybe I'm stronger than I realized. Or maybe it's a bad thing, and I'm bottling it up inside me, only for it to eventually break out in force, and turn me into Nightmare Moon or something." I felt Rainbow tense up, but she said nothing. I bobbled my head. "Or maybe it'll slowly drive me crazy and I-"

"Enough, okay? You're not going crazy, Twilight." Rainbow countered. Her voice sounded harsh, harsher than I think she meant, but maybe that was because I was so tired. I picked my head up and looked her in the eye. "You look terrible." She said flatly.

"I feel terrible." I replied. "I'm exhausted... The stress and tension of sneaking around, avoiding ponies, or having to... To kill them when you encounter them... Never knowing what lies around the next corner, nor if everypony will get out alive... The weight of their lives resting on my shoulder, and the physical weight of wearing heavy armor..." I trailed off. I wanted to say more, but... It would have been pointless, she had the picture.

Rainbow started to pull away from me. Immediately I missed the feeling of warmth at my side. "Then I'll leave so you can get some sleep."

I whimpered at that. If I was left alone, I would break down. I was sure of that. "Please stay..." I said weakly.

She slowed, then stopped. She looked me over for a few seconds, and for a moment I thought she would ignore my plea. "Fine. I'll stay, but try to sleep... You look like you need it," She looked around the room and went over to the corner.

I nodded and laid back. I grabbed the rest of my armor in my magic and undid it as quickly as I could. My magic was sluggish from my exhaustion, but I managed to pull it off, and I tossed my armor into the pile. It felt so good to be out of it, and the bed was so comfortable. I closed my eyes, expecting the embrace of sleep. Nothing came, I opened them and looked at Rainbow, who was sitting in the corner, eyes closed. She was trying to sleep... It didn't look very comfortable to me, but she would stay... I felt bad about her trying to sleep on the floor. I thought it over for a minute. "Rainbow, come here."

She opened an eye and looked at me blankly. "What."

"I'm not just going to let you sleep on the floor," I replied.

"Twilight, I'll be fine," She said.

I groggily glared at her. "You have been in a dungeon for a month, and you think I'm going to let you sleep on the floor? Get over here before I order you to sleep with me," Rainbow blushed at that for some reason, I had no idea why. I didn't really care either, I was too tired to care. After a moment's hesitation she slowly rose up and made her way over to the bed, then laid down and curled up into a ball as far away from me as possible. I couldn't blame her for that. I laid my head back against the pillow and closed my eyes.

Chapter 21

Princess Celestia

I awoke to the sound of hooves pounding on the door to my bedchambers like there was no tomorrow. I shot up in bed and my wings mimicked my movements in surprise. My first thought was that Canterlot, or perhaps Equestria as a whole, was under attack. Other than the hooves knocking on the door, it was quiet. Far too quiet for any attack to be in progress. I let myself relax, and folded my wings. I laid back down for a second and breathed a sigh of relief.

Whoever was pounding on the door to my bedchambers was persistent. I glanced over to the clock, it was nearly four in the morning. I sighed and sat up in my bed once again.

"Princess!" A muffled voice shouted from behind the door.

Despite the thickness of the door, his muffled voice conveyed... Fear. I clenched my jaw, I knew instantly that something had to have happened... It was the middle of the night... Luna... She had to be doing... Something... I started to get out of my bed and channeled magic into my horn. As I stood up, I cast a spell, and the tiredness left my body and mind. Mostly, at least. There was no substitute for a good night's rest, but, in emergencies, sacrifices must be made. "One moment." I called out.

I glanced around my room, looking for anything out of place. Nothing did look out of place, and everything felt fine. Other than the subtle fear hiding in the back of my mind that something bad was going on, nothing felt wrong. I stepped away from my bed and made my way to the door of my study. As I walked into the study, I slowed and glanced out the window. I could see the moon, in all its pale beauty. I could almost feel it judging me, which was silly since it was an inanimate object that was incapable of supporting life.

I turned my gaze away from the moon and made haste to the door. I grasped the handle with my magic and opened it. The guard standing before me, a pegasus, was out of breath, he looked panicked and afraid. "What is it?" I asked. My voice caressed his ears and seemed to have the desired effect of calming him down.

Even still, he shifted his weight. "There's been an... Incident." He stated tentatively, as if unsure what to call it. He probably was unsure what to call it, as normally me or my sister would be informing the guards of something that had happened. "Somepony, or a group of ponies attacked the castle sometime last night. At least two hours ago... The bodies of the guards at the gate to the castle grounds were cold."

I frowned. My first thought was my sister had a hoof in it, but it didn't fit her personality. She was more straightforward and less subtle. If it had been Luna, she had to have been advised by somepony or she was changing tactics to deal with me. Neither reason made me very happy.

I continued to remain silent, allowing him to continue. Asking him to do so would have been repetitive. "We're still doing a damage report, but we know the Canterlot Dungeons were targeted. We found-"

'The Canterlot Dungeons were targeted? That makes no sense, there isn't anypony...' A thought hit me. "Have you checked the castle dungeons?" I cut him off as I asked, but it was important, and if I was right, far more important than a few dead ponies. I felt a knot growing in my throat as he shook his head. "Follow me." I commanded.

He bowed and stepped aside as I strode out of the room. I shut the door behind me, leaving my chambers behind. I had the feeling I wasn't going to get much sleep today. After only a minute of walking, we encountered two guards on patrol. They bowed at my approach. "Assemble my council. Now."

"Y-yes, your highness. At once, Princess." The leader of the two acknowledged. I shouldn't have snapped at them like that, but it was effective. They quickly galloped off to assemble my war council.

It took us several minutes, and I occasionally had to slow my pace so the pegasus guard with me could keep up, but eventually we made it to the dungeons. And I was right, the wall had taken damage from a spell. I looked over the damage briefly, it wasn't that important. I entered the room, if you could call it such, leading to the door into the castle's dungeons. I felt disgusted as I looked at the twin corpses, both unicorn guards, both new. It was supposed to be an easy assignment for them, and it ended up costing their lives. The armor on one of them showed signs of magic damage, and I frowned. Despite the obvious damage from magic, his armor was intact, and that wasn't what killed him. Their heads were at odd angles... It was a disturbing sight, but one which I had seen before. "Pegasi kill tactics." I said aloud.

Which was somewhat redundant, as the guard with me was a pegasus. "The damage to his armor..." He said.

I nodded. "Magic, yes. There were both unicorns and pegasi in this attack..." I turned my attention to the dungeon door. It was standing ajar. I had a sneaking suspicion whoever was here got what they came for. More accurately, rescued who they were after. I would have a a few choice words with Director Tap after talking to my council. "See to it that somepony knows where I am, and that these two are taken care of." I said calmly, then turned my attention back to the dungeon. I took a breath, then stepped forwards, over the unicorn bodies.

"Princess? You shouldn't go in there alone, you don't know what-"

I respected his concern for me, misplaced as it was. "I will be fine. Whoever did this is likely long gone by now..." I pursed my lips. "Bring Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor to the war room also."

"Yes, Princess..." He acknowledged. Hesitation was evident in his voice, and he lingered for a brief moment, then turned and galloped off.

After the echo of hoofsteps died away, I lit my horn and made my way into the dungeon.

Princess Luna

I stood in front of the door to Twilight's sleeping mind. Of course, it wasn't an actual door into her sleeping mind. It was a conscious, mentally rendered way of comprehending and visualizing what I did. To put it simply, it was easier to think of it as walking through doors into a pony's mind than to picture it as it actually was. There was a slight amount of chaos magic involved in the process, but nothing bad ever came of it.

For weeks prior to now, I had been unable to penetrate Twilight's mental defenses. Now, however, those defenses were nowhere to be seen. I stood at the door, and despite her mental defenses being down, I could sense nothing beyond it. It was... Disconcerting. My first thought, and greatest worry, was that something had happened to her. That she had been rendered unconscious by some means, most likely with malicious intent.

I grasped the door handle with my magic, then opened it and stepped into Twilight Sparkle's dreaming mind. As soon as I entered her dream, I could feel her exhaustion. Mental, physical, and... Emotional. Something had to have happened. I clenched my jaw, but took solace in the fact she slept peacefully. The dream was of a meadow, it was night, and the moon was high in the sky, glowing white in the cloudless expanse, nothing amiss or violent. I felt a smile tug at my lips as I took in the beauty of the dreamscape. Thousands of specks of light dotted the sky, appearing to form constellations, yet if you tried to focus on one, it would blur and become distorted, or change positions entirely.

I looked around. It wasn't a grassy meadow, it was a hill. I lowered my head closer to the grass to inspect it. I traced over the outline of the blades of grass with my eyes, and every time I tried to focus on one, it would blur. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, letting the scent of the dreamscape flow through my nose and into my lungs. It wasn't necessary to breath, but it was pleasant, and I could tell it was spring. Despite the distortions, Twilight was doing a very good job at maintaining a peaceful dreamscape. It was both surprising, and not surprising at the same time. I hadn't realized she had experimented with such magic before, but it was unsurprising, considering that she had been defending her mind against my attempts to speak to her in her dreams.

I looked around again and frowned. My eyes fell upon a single tree further up the hill than I, with a single pony laying beside it. The tree wasn't very tall, being only roughly three times as tall as my... Sister... But it cast a shadow much larger than its branches should have allowed. The dreamscape was so peaceful and serene, despite how tired she was. Despite knowing her for years, being her friend, and seeing that she easily overcame any opposition she faced before, she still managed to surprise me.

I shook my head and pushed the thought out of my mind, then started up the hill. It seemed to take an exorbitant amount of time to reach the top of the hill, but I knew better. Twilight was unaware of both my presence and approach. The closer I came to her, the more feelings I could sense from her. I paused briefly, then continued. She lay on her stomach, looking out across the night sky. She was peaceful, despite the turmoil I sensed her mind in.

I stood there for a few seconds, debating what to do. Eventually, I decided I would lay beside her. If she had been blocking me from her mind because she was afraid of me, it should ease those fears. I moved to lay down to the right of her, with a short space between us. Her head glanced to the right, and she saw me. She blinked and jerked her head back. "L-Luna? How are you here!? I thought I..." She winced. "I... Forgot..."

I nodded once. "Yes, in your exhausted state, you had forgotten to prepare your mental defenses."

Twilight sighed, then looked down at her hooves. She made no attempt to flee from me, which was a good sign. Her ears folded back, and she rested her head on her hooves. "Why are you... Here?" She asked softly.

"I am concerned for you." I paused, then added, "As a friend." I did not know why I felt the need to add it, but I did. "Something troubles you. Tell me, what has transpired?"

Twilight slowly lifted her head from her hooves, then turned her head towards me. "You... You know about Rainbow Dash, right?"

I nodded. "Yes, I heard about the rather... Pointed... Personal attack Celestia did." 'To use such an underhoofed tactic... I did not believe you had that in you, sister...' I shook my head. I never would have been able to picture my sister holding Rainbow Dash, the friend of Twilight Sparkle, as a prisoner, in an attempt to force the latter into helping her. 'Celestia loves Twilight as if she was her own filly, and yet...' She could certainly be a coward.

"Well... I lead a rescue mission..." She paused, appearing to look for something specific, "Earlier, I guess. It was a success... We rescued her... We're on a train bound for Ponyville from Canterlot right now... She should be resting right now..."

I nodded. I had seen the door to her mind. It was... Rather hard to miss that particular door... Her... Ego... Carried into the dream realm... "Yes, she is."

Twilight's mouth twitched into a smile, if only briefly. "I probably shouldn't be telling you all this..." she sighed. "But... I kind of... No, I need somepony to talk to." She said with more strength than she had spoken for the duration of the time I had been speaking with her. And immediately afterwards, it evaporated. "I-I killed ponies, Luna... I... I killed them... I killed them all..."

She looked into my eyes. "They were... They were barely adults, Luna... They didn't even know proper Royal Guard spellcasting..."

It saddened me that she had to kill, but it was inevitable. "It was you or them." I stated. She was handling this much better than I would have expected. She was stronger than I realized, but it should not have surprised me as much as it did.

She looked at her hooves and nodded. "I... I know, but it doesn't make it any easier..."

"You are handling this better than I expected." I stated.

She winced. I frowned. "I feel like I should be having a breakdown right now..." She said without emotion. I clenched my jaw, despite the lack of emotion, I could feel her pain. "But I'm not... I... I can't afford to... I keep thinking that it will happen, but... It just doesn't... I almost broke down earlier, but..." She trailed off, and a slight smile tugged at her lip.

"Keeping it bottled up is never wise, Twilight." I stated. I did not want to remind her of what... Of what happened to me... Of what I did... But if it was necessary, I would. "I know from experience." I added.

Twilight looked up at me. "Am I a bad pony for not... For not breaking down?" her voice almost held a desperate edge to it.

I shook my head. "No, Twilight Sparkle, it makes you equine. Nopony is perfect."

She smiled sadly. "I used to think Celestia was..."

"We will defeat her." I stated.

Twilight frowned at me. "Luna, I'm not going to let you take the throne... You know this."

I nodded. "So you have said." I stated. "But you do not have the capability to win this war, Twilight."

Twilight pulled back and stood up. "Are you threatening me?" She asked defensively.

That hurt. Why couldn't she see that I... I sighed. "Twilight, you are my friend, I will not threaten you here..." Twilight calmed down at that, but still remained slightly tense. "When I defeat Celestia and take the throne, I would be honored if you would rule with me."

Twilight sighed. "Luna..." She started softly, "Please understand... I'm saying this as a friend, and I don't want to hurt you but..."

I looked away from her and gazed at the moon. "You do not believe I am fit to rule, this I know. I will prove myself capable of ruling, Twilight Sparkle, and when this is over..." I trailed off, unsure exactly what to say. I wanted her to trust me, to help me... And she would help me, even if it was just by fighting my sister... Though she could just as easily help her, by fighting me. Perhaps it would be best to sit back and watch whatever happens between them play out... But, if I idled, my sister would take advantage of it and... Crush her. Something I could not allow...

"Thank you for checking on me, Luna... But I think I'm fine." Twilight said somewhat briskly, breaking me from my thoughts.

"I will leave, if that is what you wish." I replied, feeling as though I had overstayed my welcome. She hesitated but nodded. "Very well." I stood up, and stretched out my wings. "If you ever need me, as a friend, or ruler, you have but to ask." And with those final words, I lifted myself into the air, and used my magic to bring myself out of her mind.

Princess Twilight Sparkle

I jerked up in my bed after Luna left my dream. My first thought was that she did something to cause me to wake up, but I immediately discarded that thought, she wouldn't do that. I remembered the dream perfectly, and somehow I felt as if I had been conscious during that dream. I shook the sensation off and looked up. It was still dark outside the train car, but Celestia was starting to raise the sun, causing the night to fade into dawn. I laid my head back down on my pillow and went over what happened during the dream in my mind.

She-Luna, wanted me to help her rule... I was both flattered at the offer and ticked off that she would try such blatant bribery. I reflected on it for a bit longer. 'Maybe it wasn't an attempt at bribery... I know she feels indebted to me for saving her from... well...' I ended the thought there, it reminded me too much of... And I ended that thought immediately. I would not think about that.

I pushed the thoughts aside and focused on the room, my surroundings, and how I felt. I glanced at the clock, which read four thirty-eight. 'No wonder it's starting to get bright outside...' I sarcastically thought to myself. I had barely been asleep for a couple hours, and already I was awake. Not wide awake of course, but awake enough to think. I glanced back up, attempting to peak outside the window, despite being at an angle which rendered it impossible to do so.

'Well, I could go back to sleep...' I could, yes. I was normally awake by six anyway, so going back to sleep might not bear any fruit, and could just serve to waste my time. The train ride back to Ponyville would take several more hours, though... I wasn't looking forwards to being exhausted today, but-

Something twitched at the end of the bed. 'What- oh.' Right. Yes. That. I lifted my head from the pillow and looked at her. Rainbow was still curled up in a ball at the end of the bed. Fortunately for us, the bed was rather large. A Luna sized bed, for whatever reason. It still didn't look very comfortable. She wasn't under the covers, which didn't surprise me, but she had to be cold. Still, it had to be better than sleeping in a dungeon cell... I pursed my lips, she would be much more comfortable if she had the bed to herself, and quite frankly, she deserved it. I slowly slid out of bed, trying not to wake her, then stood to my hooves and glanced around again. I channeled magic into my horn, just enough so I could move her, I hoped it wouldn't wake her up, and lifted her, then moved her over to where the pillow was, pulled back the covers with a small amount of magic, and then set her down and pulled the covers over her.

I waited for a minute, standing perfectly still, remaining perfectly quiet, doing my absolute best to make sure she didn't wake up from being disturbed. She didn't wake up, and she sighed in her sleep. I glanced at the clock, which read four forty-five. I blew air out of my mouth and made my way over to the door, then opened it with my magic. I stood in the doorway for several seconds, just listening to the sound of the train moving on the tracks. The gently rhythm threatened to lull me back to sleep, despite the fact I was standing on my hooves.

I shook my head, shaking the sleep away. Or trying, at least. I stepped into the hallway, then paused. I looked back into my room, and pulled the curtain down over the window. The dark cloth blocked out a lot of the light, darkening the room once more. I turned back into the hallway and slid the door shut, but I didn't lock it. I hesitated for a moment as I considered entering the room Rainbow was supposed to be in and sleeping a little bit longer, but I decided against that.

I made my way towards the front of the car, I made sure to stay as quiet as possible while still around the rooms where the others were sleeping. Once I cleared the aforementioned area, I quickened my pace as I walked through the section of the car with benches. I slowed as I neared the door to the car ahead of us, and channeled my magic into my horn, then opened the door. If I was going to stay up and work off of only a couple of hours' rest, I needed something.

I stepped out of the train car, carefully made my way across the connector, which had railing to the sides of it, preventing anypony from falling off the train while making their way to another car, and entered the next car. I made my way to the front of the car, turning the lights on as I strode past. I looked around when I entered the dining room.

"Hello Princess." Ace said as I caught sight of him. I eyed him over, he was sitting on the right side of the car, holding a mug of some hot liquid in his hooves. He took a sip of it, then set it down on the table beside him.

"I didn't expect anypony to be awake yet..." I admitted.

He nodded at me. "Wonderbolts used to getting up early, working off little sleep. Others will wake soon, if they not already." He stood up and walked over to a device I easily recognized. He grabbed a mug with his wings, then filled it with the steamy liquid and extended it towards me. "Coffee?"

I smiled and nodded, then powered up my horn and grasped the mug, and levitated it over to me. "Thank you... I needed this." He nodded his head once then returned to his seat and motioned me to join him. I sniffed the coffee, then made my way over to the bench across from him, and sat down. I took a drink from the mug, it was warm, perhaps a little too warm, but it was good, and certainly hit the spot.

I looked out the window and watched the hillside as it rolled by. We were technically still in the mountains, but we were in an area where you couldn't tell that. It was heavily forested, and it looked like the forest sloped downwards ever so slightly, but it was hard to judge. The soft light of dawn was just starting to burn he chill from the air, but it'd take a little while for it to warm up. I turned back to Ace, who was looking out the window, it almost looked like he was spacing out. I took another drink of the coffee, then set it down. I could already feel the coffee going to work. "You could go back to sleep, you know." I informed him. He turned back to me. "You all have the day off, sleeping in wouldn't hurt you any, and after last night, you certainly deserve it."

He shook his head. "We are not back in Ponyville. Things can still go bad. But when we are, I will take easy. Others will do as they do."

"Do you think anything will go wrong?" I asked, then took another drink from my mug of coffee.

He shrugged, then lifted his mug to his mouth and drank. He briefly glanced at his mug, then looked back to me. "I do not know. Trip to Ponyville is half a day, we enter your territory in a few hours."

It was still hard to think of it as my territory, but... It really was, or at least the ponies who occupied it followed me, and believed in me, and trusted in me to lead them... To keep them safe...

Princess Celestia

The meeting hadn't even started and I already had a headache. I glanced around the room, taking in each pony, making sure they were here. My gaze fell upon Director Tap, the way he indifferently returned my gaze, almost as if he didn't care, stirred my ire. I hesitantly looked away from him and continued looking over everypony present. I looked to Princess Cadance, she looked worried, and out of place here, sitting beside Prince Shining Armor. Both of them were providing me with much needed support, though... Though both of them weren't exactly happy to be on my side. Both of them liked Twilight Sparkle, they were family, I wouldn't blame them for that. Just from how Shining Armor looked back at me, I could tell he would rather be helping his sister, but he trusted me and knew that I needed to remain in power in order for Equestria to remain intact. I needed their support, and I had it.

Nopony present said anything immediately, I suppressed a frustrated groan, and looked to General Breaker. "Shall we begin?" I asked. The unicorn shifted under my gaze, but remained silent. I would have asked General Maneuver to enlighten me, but he was otherwise occupied, and thus absent. "Would somepony care to explain what transpired last night?"

Director Tap cleared his throat, and I turned to him, an action every other pony mimicked. I looked at him expectantly, eagerly awaiting his intelligence. He glanced around the table quickly, then turned back to me. "A team of ponies broke into Canterlot Castle last night, sometime between the time of eleven P.M. and two A.M., they broke into the Canterlot Dungeons and then broke into the castle's dungeons. We checked each cell, and sure enough, we found what we expected. The prisoner Captain Rainbow Dash was missing, and her cell door had been... Severely damaged." I narrowed my eyes, I had seen that damage first hoof, and knew he was toning it down, but for what reason, I was unsure.

"Judging from the fact that the dungeons were targeted, and Captain Rainbow Dash was missing, I believe we can assume Princess Twilight Sparkle is responsible for this attack, or at the very least, she had her hoof in it." Director Tap snorted. "I told you we should have crushed her when we had the chance..."

His comment, which he believed went unheard, served to further stroke my ire against him. I chose to ignore it for the moment, as we had more pressing things to discuss. "How did she find out where the captain was?" I asked.

"One of the operatives in Ponyville has been missing for almost a month, she could have been interrogated." Director Tap answered.

"That could explain how she knew the captain was in Canterlot." General Breaker commented.

"Do we have any idea who was on the team who infiltrated the castle?" General Hoof asked.

"Pegasi kill tactics were used, and there were signs that magic had been used on both sides." Director Tap replied evenly.

"Pegasi and unicorns..." General Hoof mused.

I shifted in my seat. "Not necessarily." All eyes turned to me. "Twilight could have been on the team." I was almost sure I heard the director swear beneath his breath, but it was drowned out by-

"Princess Twilight Sparkle could have been here? And we didn't have any idea until just now?" General Breaker nearly shouted. I could understand his frustration and shock, though he could stand to tone it down. "Do you have any idea how much damage she could have done before we stopped her!?"

Cadence bobbled her head. "Quite a lot... But she wouldn't do that!"

"We're getting off topic here." I stated firmly, once more drawing all eyes to myself. "What are we going to do about this?"

"How did they get to Canterlot, and how long have they been here?" General Hoof asked. "And, are they still here?"

Director Tap grimaced. "I have agents looking into it. So far, nothing."

"This act of aggression cannot go unpunished." General Hoof replied firmly. "We should launch an immediate attack on her!"

"We don't have the forces to send to attack her, and hold off Princess Luna at the same time." General Breaker said evenly. He turned to Shining Armor. "Unless Prince Shining Armor would be willing to attack Princess Luna's forces while we use that as cover to attack his sister." Shining remained silent.

"General," Cadance cut in, "While the Crystal Empire will help you by providing some reinforcements, we will not fight all your battles for you. We do still have our own problems to deal with." Shining Armor turned to Cadence and smiled.

I shook my head. "It's only a matter of time before one of them launches an attack. When they do, we can force them to overextend their forces, and then we can take advantage of that in our retaliation..." I turned to Cadence and Shining Armor and grimaced. "We will need your forces when the time comes..."

"Celestia, you know that the crystal ponies view Spike and Twilight as their saviors. If they find out that by their helping you, they're hurting them things could go very badly, very quickly." Cadence stared at me.

I sighed. She had a valid point, which could come back to bite me in the flank... "Princess Cadance, Prince Shining Armor... You are the rulers of the Crystal Empire, they trust you and your judgment... It is only a matter of time before Twilight or Luna's forces collapse, and then we will have the much needed advantage, allowing us to succeed without your help... Until then, however, I need your help to hold off Luna."

"Princess..." Director Tap grunted. "What will it take for you to go on the offensive? We can beat Princess Twilight's forces! She doesn't have hardly any ground forces, and there are next to no unicorns in her army!"

"We hardly have any earth ponies or pegasi, Director. What do you think will happen if we attack her? I would need to meet Twilight in battle... You think my sister will just sit back and watch? No, she will take to the field, and by the time I am able to meet her in combat, it may be too late."

"Then let me take my forces and engage Princess Twilight." General Hoof spoke as he hit his hooves against the table with enough force to make Cadence jump. "Canterlot is deep within your territory, Princess Luna would have to fight through a large portion of your forces to get to Canterlot. And that says nothing of the fact that Canterlot is on a mountain, Princess."

"Princess Twilight has approximately twelve thousand soldiers, of which roughly eleven thousand are pegasi." Director Tap commented absently. "Most of which are Wonderbolts, or Wonderbolts Reservists. I don't need to remind you how skilled they are." He paused as the door opened. I glanced towards the door, and say a unicorn soldier. He glanced around nervously and held a paper in his magic.

"Enter." I commanded. He quickly shot in and handed the paper to Director Tap, then exited at least twice as fast. The director pulled the paper in front of his muzzle. After several seconds, he lowered the paper and looked up.

"They used the train system." He said. "The abandoned station on the east side of Canterlot." He lowered the paper to the table and looked at me. "I believe that is what you were waiting for before you closed the railroads down?" He said condescendingly.

I clenched my jaw, but nodded.

The director continued. "The train was spotted about three-fourths the way down the mountain. About three hours out from Canterlot, and roughly five hours till they get to Princess Twilight's territory."

"Where's the nearest detachment of pegasi?" General Breaker asked.

"In Canterlot." Director Tap answered flatly. "They wouldn't be able to fly at speed while wearing the armor they would need for the engagement. They're already out of range."

"Then what do we do?" General Hoof asked cautiously. "Do we just sit here until the war is over and we've lost, or are we going to actually try to hold Equestria together?"

"It seems like you are itching for a battle, General." I commented. I looked around the table. "The longer we wait, the better chance we stand of winning."

Director Tap sat back in his chair. "Waiting around never won a war, Princess. We've reorganized, rearmed, and retrained. We're as ready as we can be, for the time being. Princess Luna's forces are a match for our own, and once Princess Twilight's army gets large enough, we're in trouble." He looked around the table, then returned his gaze to me. "Give General Hoof twenty-four thousand soldiers. Pegasi and unicorns. At the very least he can deal a damaging blow to her, delaying her rise to power."

"We don't have the forces to spare, and it would take time to mobilize them regardless." I countered. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Shining Armor lean over to Cadence. His mouth moved, but I couldn't make out what he was saying.

"We can fortify our defenses along the border with Princess Luna. With enough fortification, it'd make up for the troop withdraw." Director Tap replied.

I sighed. As much as Director Tap was getting on my nerve, he was right. I couldn't just sit around doing nothing, expecting to win the war. I didn't want to send General Hoof against Twilight either though. I felt like doing that was sentencing thousands to their deaths... Which, in a way, it was.

Shining Armor looked to me and loudly cleared his throat. "If General Hoof promises to take Tw... Princess Twilight alive, then the Crystal Empire is willing to more fully commit to this war. The one against Princess Luna."

"Unharmed." Cadence added fiercely.

I bobbled my head as Director Tap turned to me. "That will bring much needed additional forces to our side. More than enough to replace any loses from the battle with Princess Twilight Sparkle."

General Hoof looked to me, almost pleadingly. "Just give the word, Princess, and I'll have my army reorganized, and moving out within two weeks."

I grimaced. The plan was starting to come together, so I needed to put holes in it. "You would need a lot of supplies for such an incursion, which would require planning." I replied. "We don't have the pegasi for air supply convoys, meaning you'd need ground convoys, which are easier targets."

"I can get to work on the supply chain." Director Tap replied.

'Strike one...' I thought.

"I can reposition my forces to fortify the border with Princess Luna. Her forces won't be able to match the firepower of my unicorns." General Breaker proudly boasted.

'Strike two...' "This would leave Canterlot vastly undefended. The Crystal Empire still requires a large amount of its forces to defend itself."

"The new recruits are stationed mostly in Canterlot, Princess. And since you'll be here, it evens the odds in our favor." Director Tap commented.

"This meeting was originally to discuss the infiltration of Canterlot Castle..." I commented wryly. "But it seems we're now going to launch a full-scale assault because of it..."

Director Tap sighed. "Princess, with all due respect, we could have captured Princess Twilight last night if she was on that team. And if you had followed through with my full plan, we could have captured her sooner, and we wouldn't have to do this. We'll never know how many lives that plan could have cost, but how many would it have saved?"

"Director..." I sighed. I shook my head. "Have a plan for this assault by the end of the week, and I'll authorize it." I nodded. "Meeting adjourned... I have other things to attend to." I stood up, and action followed by everypony else. General Hoof, General Breaker, and Director Tap all saluted me, then moved to leave, followed by Cadance and Shining Armor. "Director, a word with you, please."

The director hesitated at the door, then turned to face me. "Yes, Princess?" he asked.

I searched for the right thing to say for several seconds, then reluctantly settled on "You're off your game." He looked at my wryly for several moments and remained silent. "You should have warned me that Twilight might attempt a rescue mission."

He glared at me. "For the record, Princess. I did. I told you she would try this, and my plan would have used Rainbow as bait to capture Princess Twilight. But you refused to stage an execution. Because of this, she had time to prepare and think it through. Had you gone through with my plan, she would've been forced to act sooner, and if she didn't, we could have broken Captain Dash and used her against Princess Twilight." He sighed sharply. "We weren't going to go through with it. If it didn't work, it didn't work, but we would have at least tried."

"What would the ponies of Equestria said, had they found out that I was going to execute somepony, Director?" I replied condescendingly. He knew where I stood on this issue, and he knew the answer to my question. It would have backfired in the long run and he knew it. "Especially a national hero?"

"Princess, this is war. Choices have to be made that nopony likes. If you don't make those choices, then you will fail, and Equestria will fall to ashes." The director said firmly.

"Wire Tap... What is wrong?" I asked. "You are not normally so... Heated..."

He sighed. His expression shifted from rage and anger to despondency. I had been right, something was bothering him... It did not bode well for any of us... "None of us normally are..." He lifted a hoof to rub his head. "I've been at this job too long... It's starting to get to me."

I nodded gravely. "Sometimes I feel the same about myself... But I have to keep at it, for Equestria." I said firmly, hoping my resolve would strengthen his. Perhaps he wasn't the only one off his game... I knew Twilight would want to rescue Rainbow as quickly as possible... But I did not expect her to be on the team to do so... If she was actually on the team...

Chapter 22

Princess Twilight Sparkle

As soon as the train came to a stop I opened the door with my magic and hopped down. I had intended to hop off while the train was in motion, it would've added a little... Flair to it... But, it would have made me a bad influence on anypony who was watching. Not that there were a lot of ponies watching. The train station was mostly deserted. Which was a good thing, I really didn't want to explain what we were doing and where we were.

I stepped to the right and turned to watch each member of my team disembark from the train. Ace hopped off first, then helped Soarin down. Soarin winced but otherwise made it alright. After them, Lightning Strike, and Jagged Wing followed. Each of them nodded at me and quickly stood into a formation across from me, waiting for my order to be dismissed. I ruffled my wings, a little uncomfortable with the fact they were waiting, but I pushed the thought aside. Rainbow slowly flew out of the train car and then glanced around and landed beside me. She looked a little uncomfortable for some reason, but I filed the thought away to deal with later. Storm hopped off last, then quickly made her way to the end of the line that had formed across from me.

I looked over each wonderbolt and felt a smile growing across my muzzle. We were safe. We made it back, the first time I had actually been in battle, the first time I had killed... I swallowed and forced a smile and then nodded my head. "Dismissed. Please take the rest of the day off. I will have somepony find you if I need you." I ordered. The wonderbolts all saluted, then became less rigid, and then they casually walked about for a bit, talking to each other, while they made their way in the general direction of Ponyville.

Ace looked at Soarin, who was leaning on him slightly. I grimaced and turned to Rainbow. "Glad to be back?" I asked.

Rainbow nodded heavily. "Yeah, you have no idea how stuffy it was in that dungeon, being there for weeks." I felt a stab of guilt strike my heart, knowing I, and solely I, was responsible for her imprisonment, but I forced a smile anyway. "It feels great to stretch my wings again." She continued

"Yeah..." I agreed. "I couldn't imagine being locked up like that for a couple weeks... Let alone longer." My mind briefly wandered to how I would deal with Princess Celestia or Princess Luna if we captured them... Keeping them in a Dungeon was questionable for practicality, they were strong enough and had enough magic to make it very dangerous, if not impossible to hold either of them as a prisoner. And then... there was me. I shifted my weight, I did not want to think about what would happen if... If either of them captured me. Right now it... I didn't think it would be that bad... But after the war actually got underway...

"Twilight?" Rainbow asked.

I blinked and realized that I had started looking at the floor. I looked up and met her gaze. "Yes?" I asked, once more forcing myself to sound okay. I didn't think Rainbow bought it, she shifted her head to the right and looked me over cautiously, but said nothing about it.

"Are you doing okay Twilight?" Soarin asked, concern filling his voice. "I know that was hard, and I know you've never really done anything like that before."

I turned to face Soarin and Ace. "I'm... Fine. It was hard but..." I turned to Rainbow and smiled. "I'm just glad you're okay. I... I would not have forgiven myself if anything bad had happened to you..." I did not want to go there, nor ever think about something bad happening to one of my friends... Especially if I ended up being the one responsible for it... I shook my head. 'Don't think like that, she's safe... She's not hurt, and we rescued her.' I told myself. It helped... But only a little. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and brought my hoof to my chest, then exhaled and extended my arm out. I really owed my sister-in-law a lot for teaching me that, it really helped. Most of the time... I grimaced and opened my eyes. "If I had to do it again, I would in a heartbeat." If given the choice between one of my friends or one of Celestia or Luna's soldiers, I'd choose my friends... My ponies over theirs. I found the thought of thinking of my friends as my ponies very... Different. It was exciting, disturbing and... I couldn't quite put a hoof on it. I shook my head and looked back at Soarin and Ace. "Right well... You two have the day off, and I should probably get back in with Spitfire, and tell her we're back."

"Do not be so hard on self, Princess," Ace commented as he and Soarin turned around. "It not good."

"Right..." I replied with a weak smile. I watched them leave, and after they were gone it left Rainbow and myself alone. I blew air out of my mouth, then turned to her. "We should probably go tell the girls you're home too."

"Yeah," Rainbow said. "It'll be nice to see them again..."

I shifted my weight. "Listen... If you need some time or something, you can take as much time off as you need... I know that-"

"No, Princess," Rainbow said firmly. I ruffled my wings as she cut me off and used my title. It still made me uncomfortable for any of my friends to call me by my title, but there was a certain welcome familiarity in it with her. I smiled. "I'm supposed to protect you." She continued.

I nodded, accepting that I couldn't change her resolve. If I was being honest, it made me happy that she was committed to protecting me... However, I didn't want her to be hurt because of that... I would never forgive myself if Rainbow or one of my friends were killed protecting or fighting for me. Already Rainbow had been captured, and it could have been a lot worse than it had been... I frowned as a thought came to me. 'Princess Celestia... She... She didn't try to use my friendship with her against me... Did she?' No. No, she wouldn't have... I've known her for years... She wouldn't do something like... Like that.

I must have spaced out again because Rainbow was once again looking at me with concern. "Right well... I would like to stop by the castle first and tell General Spitfire we're back, then we can go get the rest of the girls." I said. I turned towards the ramp and started walking towards it. Rainbow followed closely behind me, then I slowed, and she started walking beside me. I paused when I reached the ramp and turned to her. "I really am happy you're safe... I... I was worried about you. All of us were..."

Rainbow smiled brashly. "Hey, you've got nothing to worry about! I'm Rainbow Dash, nothing's gonna stop me or keep me down!"

I smiled and started walking again. Despite knowing what she said to be true, in the back of my mind a small, soft voice said otherwise. I ignored it and spread my wings, then jumped into the air and flew up higher. Flying would allow us to avoid more ponies that I didn't want to deal with. And there was also the fact that Spitfire would like to be one of the first ponies to know we were back. She wouldn't blame me if I told my friends first, but she did need to know. As we flew back to the castle, I kept looking over at Rainbow, who flew by my side. She kept looking around, both in the air and on the ground, taking note of everything and checking for danger.

I slowed as I approached the door to Spitfire's office, as usual, the door was closed. I raised a hoof and gently knocked on the crystalline door, then opened it with my magic. Spitfire sat behind her desk, which came as no surprise. However, my attention was drawn to Fleetfoot standing just in front of the desk, but off to the side a little. Both Spitfire and Fleetfoot turned to me as I entered, and I felt a little awkward about disrupting whatever they were doing, but I pushed it aside. "We're back," I said. "The mission was successful."

Spitfire sat back in her chair and nodded. The pegasus looked happy to hear that. "That's good." She said. "Is she doing alright? I'd hate to see such a promising pegasus suffer from trauma from being captured." She said sincerely.

I nodded. "She says she's alright. Physically she's fine, she lost a little weight, but nothing major. I checked over her with my magic." I paused, realizing I was approaching a more delicate subject. "I'm... More concerned about her mentally and emotionally. She doesn't seem to be..." I pursed my lips, unsure how to describe it. "She's... Still acting as brash as ever, but something like that has to leave a mark."

Spitfire nodded grimly. "You two are close... Just... keep an eye on her. Hopefully, it's nothing major. Knowing her, she'd recover quickly after she gets back into a routine."

"Yeah..." I nodded absently, hoping she was right. "I'll keep an eye on her." And I would. She was around me a lot, and unless she wanted to quit, which, knowing her, she wouldn't, it'd likely stay that way for... A while... I frowned, realizing I had never really thought about how long she would hold that position. I shook my head and told myself I would deal with it later.

"If I may ask," Fleetfoot started. I turned to her and nodded. "Where is the captain now?"

"Taking a well deserved hot shower," I answered.

"Ah." Fleetfoot nodded. "I imagine she's happy about that."

"You shouldn't be wandering around without an escort, especially now that you've led an attack against Princess Celestia." Spitfire chided firmly, yet gently. I gave her a half smile but nodded. "You'll also be happy to know your kingdom didn't fall apart while you were gone."

I smiled. "That's good," I said.

"But," Spitfire started. I immediately winced, dreading whatever would come next. "there is something we need to discuss... It can wait until later, though. It's not urgent, and you probably want to spend some time with your friends right about now."

I nodded. "Yeah..." I shook my head. then turned around, intending to leave. I paused and looked back to them. "Some of the soldiers we fought... Well, most of them... They were new recruits." I said. I didn't really feel like talking about that, but I felt I needed to tell her that. It was important information. "They were barely adults," I added.

"That information could prove valuable..." Spitfire nodded to herself absently. Her gaze shifted to one of the papers on her desk, and she pulled it over to herself. Her eyes skimmed over the paper, then she looked back at me. "I'll debrief with Lieutenant Soarin and the rest of the team tomorrow."

I looked her over for a moment, then nodded to myself and turned around. "Alright... I'll leave you two to it..." I opened the door with my magic, then strode out of the room with not a single more word being passed between us. I glanced to my right and then to my left, and closed the door behind me. I took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. I was glad Rainbow was safe. I was glad to be back too. I was glad that night was over, even if I felt a slight thrill from it... I sighed, while nopony I led was hurt more than Soarin, and thankfully he wasn't injured that badly, it weighed heavily on my mind. I was expected to lead my ponies, and to protect them, both in peace and in war... My ponies in the heat of battle would need more protection than the ones who slept safely at home because of the ones who fought to keep them safe... I would definitely be engaging in more battles like that. And that knowledge both thrilled and terrified me. I sighed. 'I need more advantages... I can't match Celestia or Luna's forces in numbers... With most of my soldiers being pegasi, and controlling Cloudsdale, I can use the weather to my advantage, but ten thousand soldiers isn't a lot...' Well, relatively speaking. Ten thousand soldiers was a lot, but it wasn't enough to win unless I had some serious advantages.

I needed to devise some plans.

I lifted my arm and then started walking down the hallway, heading to the dining room. Yes, I needed to make plans, but it could wait a few days... After all, I was fighting for my friends. I slowed slightly as concern about telling them about the rescue mission I lead... I did not want to lie to them... 'I'll just leave out some of the details...' I told myself. They didn't need to know all of the details... It wasn't a lie, just... Omitting things that they didn't need to know. Like killing a defenseless mare. Who was under the influence of my dark magic. Yes. They did not need to know that.

Nopony did.

Thinking about that again left my mouth dry. 'I couldn't have spared her, it would have ended badly.' I told myself. It made me feel a little better, but I still didn't like it. If I had to do last night over, though, I would do it all again in a heartbeat to save one of my friends.

I lazy set back and relaxed. That is how I would have described the gathering with my friends earlier. They were all glad to see her back, and I was glad to see all of them in one place again. The party, despite being very short notice, was wonderful. Pinkie outdid herself again. Though we seven were the only ones there. Pinkie apparently decided to keep it a private party for just us at Sugarcube Corner, which I was grateful for. I loved the pink mare to death, but sometimes...

I shook my head and turned my attention back to the crystal I held in my magic. I couldn't help but trace over the outline of the gem with my eyes. I raised a hoof and gently lowered the crystal into my hoof, then set it down on the table and levitated my regalia off the table. It looked so bland without the jewel set in it. I shook my head then turned my attention to the pile of unsorted crystals to my right. I set my regalia aside and took the mass of crystals in my magic. The pile of crystals was a roughly spherical mass with a radius as large as my head, including my horn, and a little daunting if I was being honest. I took a deep breath and cast my spell. After half a minute the mass of crystals had been separated into a pile of waste and four and a half pristine gems identical to the one in my regalia. I frowned as I looked at the half gem, then shook my head and set it aside in the waste pile.

I set two of the gems down, then dropped the other two in my hooves. The gems were cold to the touch, despite the intense magic that forged them just moments ago. Mass producing the gems could prove more expensive than I originally expected. I groaned at that realization. 'How do I balance the need to save lives with the cost of keeping them safe?' With enough resources, I could definitely give each soldier I had one of these crystals, but I couldn't afford that. My kingdom was doing good, but not that good.

I sighed. Perhaps I was thinking about it wrong? The crystals were identical to the Element of Magic. I frowned. In retrospect, that might not have been a good idea. Especially if I planned on mass producing them. I pursed my lips, then took the four gems in my magic and spent the next five minutes modifying my spell. I cast the spell, and the gems were rearranged into five gems, each three-fourths the original size. After some quick mental calculations and thinking, I found myself scowling.

I vaporized the crystals with a quick spell, then added it to the mass of waste material. With another quick spell, I pulled the Element of Harmony, the Twilight Gem, the Void crystal, and the other gem I had made to myself. I looked over the four gems, thinking to myself, 'It's amazing how easily plans can be ruined and changed.'

That particular plan in mind, the one of equipping each of my soldiers with a crystal identical to the Element of Magic, now that I thought about it, was a terrible plan. Having thousands of crystals identical to the Element of Magic sounded like a bad idea. Not to mention the expense. No, I would have to substitute a simpler crystal design, one which could be more easily created. It wouldn't be able to hold as much magic, but it would have to do.

I brought my hooves to my temples and massaged them gently. 'Why does this have to be so difficult?' I asked myself. I looked between the four crystals. I could tell the difference between them, but it was more difficult to tell the difference between the Element of Magic and the crystal beside it that had no glow to it. I looked between the two crystals for several seconds, then stopped on the fake Element of Magic. I levitated it in my magic, and decomposed it, then added it to the mass of crystal waste. I sighed and looked between the three remaining gems, each one with untold power and potential, each one with the ability to fit in my regalia. Each one I could use.

I sighed. I looked to the Void Crystal and then teleported it away, leaving my regalia's crystal and the Element of Magic. I teleported the latter away a few seconds later, then placed the Twilight Crystal back in my regalia, and put the regalia back around my neck. I did not notice how much I missed having it there until it was back on my chest. I brought a hoof to the crystal and touched it, the feeling of warmth that flooded through my body brought a smile to my face.

After a few seconds, I put my hoof back down and then teleported a quill and a lot of paper to me. I set the paper down on the table and set the quill down beside it, then glanced over to the pile of waste crystal, and grasped it in my magic. I looked over the awkward crystalline mass, then went to work on designing a new spell. I made notes as I went, and occasionally scratched out ones that were incorrect. After a few minutes, I had a crystal that looked like the Element of Magic, if all four of its side arms were cut off. I only made the one, and it was for experimentation. I stared at the gem for several seconds and realized I was getting tired. A glance out the window told me why. The sun was a fourth of the way past the horizon. I almost asked why the sun was setting so soon, but I remembered that I spent most of the day riding a train back from Canterlot. The lack of sleep the previous night and the lateness of the day weighed my mind down. 'I could use a break... I can take another look at this tomorrow, maybe I'm missing something.' I pursed my lips, sighed, and stood up.

"Finally!" Rainbow exclaimed. She startled me. She had been so quiet I forgot she was there. "Are you done now?" Impatience permeated her voice. I ignored it, considering she had been very patient and had not interrupted me once.

After my heart rate calmed down, I turned around and faced her. I nodded. "For tonight, yes." I glanced back to the desk, then teleported the mess away and left the shard behind. I turned back to Rainbow. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah... Of course! Why wouldn't I be?"

I tilted my head away from her. "You were locked in that dungeon for a while, Rainbow. You've been awfully quiet today."

"I just don't have anything to say, Princess," Rainbow replied with a shrug.

That was... Believable. I looked over her features and I found my gaze drawing to the light purple armor she wore. 'Rarity would make a big deal out of my calling it light purple.' I noted. I let myself admire the sight for a few seconds. It had been a while since I had seen her in it, and I had forgotten how good it looked on her. I shook the thought aside and met her eyes, "If you ever want to talk about it... I'll listen." I said. She smiled and nodded. "You'd do the same for me if I wanted to talk about how I feel like I'm losing my mind because of this."

Rainbow frowned at me. "You don't act like you're losing your mind..."

"Yes. Well." I said, buying myself time to think of something to say. "I'm... Good at hiding it..." I said tentatively. "Ponies are counting on me to lead them and keep them safe..." I shook my head at Rainbow's concerned expression. "Besides!" The memory of what I did the previous night flashed through my mind, and I felt even more tired than before. The floor suddenly looked very interesting, and I found my gaze drawn to it. "I'm dealing with it..." 'Dealing with it, or pushing it off until later?' I grimaced at the stray thought. I had to admit, I was curious why I had not freaked out more than I had already. Especially with as stressful as last night was. But maybe it was a good thing and nothing to worry about? If I was getting over my breakdowns, that was a good thing. I was less likely to screw up under pressure or something. Which would be good the next time I found myself in the heat of battle... I wouldn't hesitate as much... I hoped.

"That's good..." Rainbow replied somewhat hesitantly. If she suspected I lied, she didn't say anything about it, to which I was grateful. I wasn't ready to talk about it yet. "So what now?"

I licked my lips. Now that I wasn't occupying myself with research or magic, I found myself too mentally drained for anything too intensive. I was tired, yes, but I didn't want to go to bed yet. I... Wasn't looking forwards to the nightmares that would inevitably come after I closed my eyes... I still did not like the idea of Princess Luna invading my mind while I slept... I didn't think she would do anything malicious, but I didn't want to risk it. Maybe fresh air would help. It was evening and the sun was setting, but it wasn't too cold for a walk outside or anything like that yet. I grimaced as I thought about fall and winter. I would need to make preparations for the two less pleasant seasons soon. The thought of waging war in winter, unprepared was... Well, I found my mouth dry. At least I didn't have to deal with the logistics of armies of several ten thousands of ponies like Princess Celestia or Princess Luna. I considered myself lucky there, even if it meant I was severely outnumbered. Oh well. "I think I'll go for a walk," I answered.

"Lead the way, Princess," Rainbow replied.

I rolled my eyes at that, and she stepped to the side as I walked towards the door. "You should just go do whatever. I'll be fine." I opened the door with my magic, and I thought I saw Rainbow rustle her feathers out of the corner of my eye, but I wasn't sure.

"General Spitfire wouldn't be very happy if I left you unprotected..." Rainbow hesitantly countered.

"Then I'll go see if Sergeant Bolt is busy," I said a bit forcefully. Not that I didn't appreciate her company, but she could stand to take it easy considering that... Well... "If Spitfire gets after you just tell her I ordered you to take it easy," I said dully. "Besides, it's not like you could follow me if I didn't want you to."

I heard her shift her weight. "Alright... Just be safe. Goodnight, Princess."

"Goodnight," I replied, then stepped out of the door and nodded at the guard watching the room as he bowed his head to me. I walked down the hallway a short distance before I paused and powered up a teleportation spell, and teleported outside the castle. Spitfire wouldn't be happy that I took a walk without an escort, and neither would Rainbow, but honestly, I could take care of myself. Then again... I sighed, I didn't want to worry them. I turned to one of the nearby guards. "Please come with me," I ordered.

The guard looked at his partner, then looked back to me and tentatively stepped forwards. "Yes, Princess," he said.

I smiled at him, then turned around and took a deep breath of the evening air. I closed my eyes and exhaled, already feeling the stress I felt melt away. I opened my eyes and started walking down the road heading to the Ponyville Research and Development Center. The structure was looking quite nice. In just a few days it would be filled with ponies performing all sorts of experiments. That thought made me giddy, and I couldn't help but rub my hooves together at the thought.

I frowned as I heard a noise... It sounded like a rapid clicking of some kind... Somehow it sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. The noise was quiet, and it sounded like it was a little ways away, coming from somewhere around the lab. I squinted my eyes and looked around, the sun was starting to fade, making it harder to see at a distance. I turned to my escort, "Did you hear that?" I asked.

He frowned and shook his head. "No, Princess."

I frowned and turned back towards the source of the noise. "Must be my imagination..." I trailed off as I thought I heard the sound again. I shook my head and looked over the facility once more, then turned around. It was probably just a bird or something. As we started walking again, this time away from the facility, the evening once more became quiet, broken only by our hoofsteps.

We walked around Ponyville for a good thirty minutes before I decided it was time to head back to the castle. My escort didn't say much, not that I expected him to, and the peace and quiet were very enjoyable. It definitely helped me wind down after a long day. And after last night. I shook my head and stepped inside my room, then closed the door behind me with my hoof. After the door closed, the room was bathed in darkness. The shut windows and closed balcony door prevented any light seeping into the room. Some ponies might have found it creepy, but I knew my room like the back of my hoof, but that didn't stop me from activating my horn, filling the room with the subtle lavender glow of my magic.

I walked over to my bed, and levitated the tiara off of my head and set it down on the table next to me. I looked away from the bed and into the mirror across the room. After a few seconds, I shook my head and pulled the covers back with my magic, and quickly slid onto my bed and pulled the covers up around me. After I was comfortable, I cast the spell to keep Luna out of my mind, and then let the glow of my horn die and closed my eyes.

Chapter 23

Princess Twilight Sparkle

I pushed open the door and strode into the room as professionally and with as much regality as I could. Immediately, everypony in the room stood at attention as I entered. I gave a courteous nod to them and walked with purpose to my chair and then sat down. The chair I sat in at the head of the conference table really wasn't very comfortable, and I struggled to find a comfortable position. 'I should replace this thing.' I told myself. Rainbow Dash walked behind me and took her position on my right side. In reality, she probably should have been to my left so she could protect me better, but this was more symbolic. After I rested my hooves on the armrests, everypony who stood at my arrival calmly sat down. "What do we have?" I asked.

Spitfire sat up a little straighter, proudly displaying her dark blue uniform, decorated with stars on her shoulders and bars on her chest. She wore the uniform with a more pride now, or maybe it was just me. "A lot of good news, and some bad news, Princess." Spitfire started. She looked back at a pony standing off to the side and nodded at him.

Almost immediately the pony strode forward and went around the table, handing out manila folders. Each time she deposited a folder, she was met with either a 'thank you' or a nod of approval. I nodded and took the folder in my magic and parted it open to browse its contents. 'This is going to be a long meeting...' I thought glumly as I realized the massive stack of paper that had somehow been fit inside the folder without making it appear as massive as it really was. I frowned as I closed the folder and then opened it again. 'I swear this thing's enchanted...'

"I'll start us off with a brief overview of our military preparedness," Spitfire said, drawing my attention back to her. She looked around the table and met everypony's eyes before looking back at me. "Since Princess Twilight led a rescue mission into Princess Celestia's territory, I think it's time we get down to business," She was met with a murmur of agreements and I was curious about where it was going. "As of yesterday, we have twelve thousand five hundred and thirty-seven combat ready soldiers... Some more combat ready than others..." She shook her head. "As you are all well aware, the bulk of our forces are pegasi and the best of the best. Our strategic analysis suggests we can easily achieve complete air supremacy, despite being outnumbered. But, we have to make a few adjustments and modernize to achieve that. It's been centuries since the last major conflict Equestria has been, and since then we've enjoyed a state of relative peace and prosperity." Spitfire paused to sort through a few files and then picked one up with a wing. "Page two." She said.

I quickly pulled out the requested file and skimmed over the information. I scowled at the name I saw. 'Celestia...'

I looked back at Spitfire. She waited until the sounds of pages turning ceased before continuing, "The Wonderbolts and Wonderbolts Reserve can outmatch the combined pegasi forces of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, even with being outnumbered two to one. But, we cannot match ground strength with them. Control of Cloudsdale and the bulk of Equestria's weather resources gives us several options and force multiplier tools. While they may help, they aren't enough to win the war when Princess Celestia's forces possess enough unicorns to make any offensive weather front a suicide mission."

"However, the weather factory is capable of producing bottled lightning. It wouldn't take much to convert bottled lightning into military grade weapons, but it wouldn't be all that effective."

"Maybe we can improve on it..." I suggested. "The lab should be running by next week. I'm sure the scientists can figure something out."

Spitfire nodded in agreement. "Even still, it wouldn't be enough. Unicorns would be able to take down pegasi close enough to the ground to pose a threat. Dropping them from high altitudes where they are out of range would be too inaccurate unless they were carrying hundreds of bottles."

I frowned in thought. That was quite the problem, and when I pictured a pegasus carrying that many bottles of lightning I almost snickered. It sounded like something out of a cheesy comedy movie. I sighed and shook my head, nothing was coming to mind.

"Our main problem is not having enough ground support. Earth ponies aren't exactly a threat to pegasi, but unicorns are deadly." Spitfire continued.

"And Princess Celestia's army is mostly unicorns..." I trailed off with a scowl.

"I believe the best strategy we can use as of right now is to double down on our advantage of air supremacy. Military-grade cloudcrete. Inexpensive, strong, capable of supporting non-pegasi, and easy enough to move."

I went over the paper with the information on it. I hesitated when I reached the suggestion box, and then read alongside Spitfire speaking, "Building fortresses in the sky out of cloudcrete on its own isn't going to help much. It'll give us better control of areas, but it's not exactly going to win the war."

I reread a section and felt a smile tug on my lips. I looked back up at Spitfire, who met my gaze. "You want to turn them into weapons platforms." I could barely hide my excitement and contain myself. As it was, I bit my lip to hold back my smile. Spitfire nodded. It was a good idea, but it had problems. I sighed internally. "We don't have that kind of capability." I said evenly.

"Not now," Spitfire nodded. "But your crystal program has the potential to enable us to turn the fortresses into mobile weapons platforms."

I frowned. For a few seconds until I saw what she meant. I smiled and nodded. "The simplest way would involve high power magimagnets. You want to build magic accelerator cannons."

Spitfire shrugged, barely containing her smile. "I don't know the science behind it. That's Fleetfoot's specialty. But yes, it would allow us to at least partially match unicorn firepower."

I nodded, my mind was already racing with ideas. I wouldn't admit it, but I hadn't even considered what she had suggested. It was so simple, so obvious. 'I'm not militarily inclined.' I reasoned. I nodded again and met Spitfire's gaze, "Alright, from there we could potentially solve the delivery of bottled lightning... What else do we have?"

"Military-grade explosives. Chemical and magical. We don't exactly have a lot of industrial infrastructures, which we can make up for partially with the weather, but we have the raw resources to build explosives," Spitfire said evenly. "It would take some doing, but we could use accelerator cannons to fire them at a great distance."

I pursed my lips and squinted. "Explosives are dangerous..." I immediately winced. 'This is war, come on focus... Sacrifices have to be made!' "Err... Expensive?"

"Page three." Spitfire said casually. Once more, we all flipped through our folders until we reached page fifteen. "Princess Celestia's special operations forces utilize explosives and chemical weapons, but only rarely. Why this is, and why they aren't in use for the main military force, I have no idea. Using explosives could really even the odds, but once again, we run into the problem of not being able to deliver them both accurately and safely. Also notable, Princess Luna seems to be ignoring artillery, for the time being. And while Princess Celestia has some artillery, she has not fielded it at all according to our information, she has instead relied on her unicorn forces. Princess Luna is at a disadvantage in terms of unicorn firepower, and she may realize this and use field artillery to compensate, but we have no indications she's currently working on this problem. Next page."

I put page three down and pulled out page four. I felt a shiver run down my spine and I licked my lips. "We have limited experience in using rocket technology, and most of the time it's blown up in our faces. Literally. However, if we could perfect the technology, we would have a significant-"

"And expensive." I added.

Spitfire frowned at me, "-advantage." She paused and shifted her weight. "Rocketry could potentially allow us to have long-range artillery, which would easily outmatch anything any nation on Equis can field. Equestria hasn't exactly had much experience with artillery warfare. We've always had an ample supply of unicorns, but we don't have access to the forces for that." She paused and looked around the table once more.

"This has been very... enlightening, General," I said. "I need to go over this." I pursed my lips and skimmed through the page numbers. 'That's a lot of information to go over.' I nodded and looked back up. "With the research lab coming online soon, we have ample opportunity to explore these options." I was very eager to see what some of the best minds we had would say about the suggestions Spitfire and Fleetfoot had. The meeting also pointed out that I needed to improve my strategy skills. A lot. I had practiced fighting and led a mission, but it wasn't anywhere near the scale of what I needed to pull off. I made a mental note to thank Spitfire deeply for all the hard work, time, and effort she put into helping me.

"If I may cut in, Princess?" Lieutenant Soarin looked at me, almost pleadingly. I nodded at him, granting him permission to speak. "Right... I feel I need to point out something important to consider. Pegasi generally don't use weapons. Not for lack of wanting to, but finding a weapon to work for us is... difficult. Blades attached to our front hooves are often the only weapon you'll see us use, aside from ceremonial weaponry. That said, Princess Celestia never really invested a lot into weaponry for pegasi. Our tactics more than made up for it, but times are changing. We don't have ground forces to back us up, and we need to be as competitive and lethal on the ground as in the air. There was a point in time when we used lances, but it never really took off. Mounting them onto our bodies under our wings worked but they were unwieldy and difficult to use in the air."

I mulled over what he said. I knew for a while I'd eventually be faced with this problem. The easiest and most obvious solution was to start handing our hoof blades like he said, but a problem with that was they'd still be vulnerable on the ground against earth ponies. Earth ponies were the strongest of the three pony subspecies. Excluding alicorns, of course. And unicorns were the weakest physically. Pegasi were somewhere between them, but very agile. Pegasi engaging earth ponies from the ground were bound to have problems. 'I either need a way to make my pegasi capable of matching-'

My train of thought was derailed when the door to the room was thrown open, and a panting pegasus jumped inside. "What is the meaning of this, soldier?" Spitfire asked in a less than pleasant voice.

"G-General I um..." He stuttered. He looked around the room and then stopped when his gaze fell on me. "Princess!" I stood up as he ran over to me. He bowed deeply when he came to a stop in front of me.

"What is it?" I asked quickly. His demeanor raised a red flag in my mind.

He quickly rose from the bow and bit his lip. His eyes darted around the room, and I saw a bead of sweat fall down his forehead. "U-um... One of the diamond dogs reported that the crystal mine in the Everfree Forest was under attack... b-by an Ur-Ursa maj-major."

I clenched my jaw tightly. 'I must be hearing things...' "Can you please repeat that?" I asked. 'I would have sworn he said Ursa major...' That was silly, though, there were only a handful of Ursa majors in the world. The likelihood of one being in the Everfree... Forest... 'Oh...'

"One of the diamond dogs said there was an Ursa major attacking the Everfree crystal mine!" He repeated.

I bit my lip and held my breath for a few seconds. Everypony was very quiet, and all of them were looking at me. I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "Alright... I..." I froze. 'No, it's not an Ursa major. That's... not very likely...' Okay, it was possible that it could have been an Ursa major. But it was much more likely it was just an Ursa minor. I had taken care of one of those before. I wasn't even an alicorn then! 'Alright, I can do this.' "I'll... take care of it myself..." I said. I certainly didn't want to deal with an Ursa major, which it wasn't, but I could handle it. I glanced around the room and felt my hoof touch the crystal in my regalia. I looked down and frowned. I didn't remember lifting my hoof, but I was certainly glad I had my regalia, it would be good to have just in case.

I lowered my hoof to the floor and looked around the room once more. I heard Rainbow calmly walk to my side. "Right well..." I trailed off. "I," I forced myself to sound confident, "will be back. I can read the transcript of the meeting later, please continue. If anything important comes up, General, please inform me as soon as possible." Spitfire saluted. I quickly walked over to the door and strode out into the hallway, followed by Rainbow Dash. I bit my lip and looked at her. I waited until the door closed before speaking, "You should stay here, it'll be dangerous."

Rainbow looked at me incredulously. Which, I should have seen coming. She probably took my suggestion as an insult. "You're kidding, right? Let you go into danger alone? Without help? Yeah. Not happening."

I smiled sheepishly. "I can handle it myself..." 'Probably.'

Rainbow groaned, "Tw... Princess, It's my job to protect you."

'We're wasting time...' I grimaced at the thought. "Alright fine. Let's go."

'That's an Ursa major.' I noted as I saw the top of its head over the tree line. It was easy to tell it was a major and not a minor. The color was wrong, for one, being purple instead of blue. Oh, and the biggest clue was the size. "That's an Ursa major," I stated aloud.

Rainbow nudged my shoulder, "Come on Princess, you got this!" She assured.

"That's an Ursa major." I repeated, still watching it from the safe distance of not even in the forest. It lifted one of its massive paws and swatted at a speck. 'Wait, that was probably a pegasus!' I felt a twinge of pain and fear in my chest, but I still didn't move. I violently shook my head, 'Get a hold of yourself! Lives... and my economy are at stake!' I took a deep breath and relit my horn. "Let's go," I said as calmly as possible. It was almost a squeak. I flared my wings out and beat them, propelling myself into the sky. Soon Rainbow's wingbeats joined mine, and we flew above the forest towards the massive creature. I shivered at how fast the creature's apparent size grew. It easily dwarfed the Ursa minor by a factor of at least three.

I had to concentrate on my wings and flying otherwise, I would have turned around and flown away. I forced myself to keep going even when I realized the creature was sitting in the pit mine. The bulk of the Ursa's body was hidden beneath the ground and I could almost feel the blood draining away from my face. I found myself regretting not finding Fluttershy and bringing her along. Sort of. If she couldn't reason with the thing, she'd be in danger very quickly.

I looked to my side to make sure Rainbow was still flying beside me. I smiled, she was. I looked back forwards and the smile left my face. 'Alright... kicking an Ursa major's flank... right... piece of cake... I wonder if Celestia would be impressed or proud of me...' I pushed the thought aside and banked right, away from Rainbow. 'In retrospect, I probably should have put on my armor. Though it wouldn't offer much protection if any. It would have slowed me down... Maybe it's a good thing I didn't wear it.

The Ursa roared and I pressed my hooves firmly against my ears. Sure enough, there were about... eight pegasi attacking the Ursa. They weren't doing much but antagonizing it, granted antagonize it enough and it might go away. Although, it was unlikely. I prepared a spell in my mind and then dove at the Ursa's back. I fired the spell, and a brilliant lavender pillar of light erupted from my horn and firmly collided with the Ursa's back. The crack of the impact, followed by the roar from the Ursa was disorientating. I barely avoided the Ursa's paw and immediately my heart rate doubled, if not tripled.

"Princess!" A nearby pegasus called. I didn't recognize his voice, but I quickly turned towards him. "It's good to see you! I don't think we could have handled it on our own!"

I grimaced at that. 'Probably not...' "Where did it come from!?" I called back.

"We don't-"

"Look out!" Another pegasus called. The first pegasus fell into a dive and barely avoided getting hit by the massive paw of the Ursa. The turbulence left in its wake caused him to tumble uncontrollably for a few seconds. I bit my lip in fear, but fought through it and grabbed him in my magic and pulled him closer to me.

"Th-thank you, Princess..." He said in a quivering, uneasy voice.

I nodded. "You and your team should go back to Ponyville... I'll handle this..."

"Pr-Princess?"

"That's an order," I clarified firmly. He looked at me fearfully. He hesitated a few seconds before turning around and issueing an order to retreat. I kept an eye on the Ursa while the pegasi flew higher into the sky and headed off towards Ponyville.

"So what's the plan?" Rainbow asked from my right.

I quickly glanced at her and then looked back on the Ursa. It had uprooted a tree and was using it as a toothpick. I didn't want to know why it was, and I shivered at the thought. "I... have no idea."

"You... can do this, right?" Rainbow asked, a hint of fear seeping into her normally assured voice.

"Um... maaaaybe?" I replied. I felt bad for not being able to reassure her. "I mean... it's not like there's a spell designed specifically to deal with..." I paused, trying to come up with the proper word to describe the situation: an Ursa major sitting in an open pit mine. I finally settled on "This." I looked at her and shrugged. She looked at me blankly. "What? It's not like there's many unicorns who have the magic to create high tier spells to deal with this sort of thing..."

"Can't you use... other spells then?"

I nodded. "Yes. I can. But it's not as efficient as it could be. I'll have to seriously overcharge anything I throw at..." I paused, 'what gender are you?' "Her? And overcharging spells suffers from diminishing returns, so... I hope you didn't have any plans for tonight."

"Uhm... no. Not really," Rainbow replied at length.

"Good," I said. I turned back to look at the Ursa. I felt another shiver run down my spine. 'That thing could crush me on without even trying.' I tilted my head to the side and took a deep breath. I met Rainbow's gaze, "I feel like doing some research. Want to help me?"

"Um..." She didn't really answer, but the look on her face said she was disturbed by what I could possibly mean by that. I toned down my smile and that seemed to put her at ease.

"Right." I looked towards the ground, searching for something that with enough mass and density to serve my purpose. I flew a little closer to the ground and looked over a nearby tree. It was an oak tree and a large one at that. It wasn't very straight, but it could work. I grasped the tree with my magic and uprooted it. I squinted as I looked over every detail of the tree. I violently shook it until all the dirt fell off of the roots, and then I flew back into the sky towards a slack-jawed Rainbow Dash. "What?"

Rainbow closed her jaw and said nothing. I shrugged and pushed it aside. I looked at the tree and focused on it intently. I went through the processes and formed a barrier around the tree, and compressed it as much as I could. Every megajoule of magic I put into the tree caused it to compress further. Eventually, I felt beads of sweat rolling down my face from the effort of compressing the tree into an object the size of a needle. I looked down at my regalia's crystal and smiled a wry, solemn smile, disappointed at how much magic it was taking to enact my plan. I looked back at the tree needle. 'Treedle?' I took a deep breath to calm down. It took a lot out of me to compress the tree to that level of density, and maintaining the barrier around it for the next part was going to be a challenge.

I slowly started to apply heat the needle. The wood started to char, turning into charcoal and then heated up to the point where it would combust. If it had access to oxygen, which it didn't. I applied more heat energy to the needle and more magic to the barrier surrounding it, then I carefully flew behind it and lined it up with the base of the Ursa's neck, where I assumed the backbone would be. 'Please work...' I did not want to imagine it failing. I had no idea if it would work, but physics said it would. As to whether or not it would be lethal to the Ursa...

Ursas were resistant to magic. Ursa majors even more so than minors, to the point of being almost impervious to magic. Combined with a lack of spells designed to use alicorn levels of magic, and diminishing returns for low tier spells, it was a good thing Ursa majors were so rare because taking one down was difficult. 'Not difficult... impossible. Nowhere in recorded history has anypony actually... killed... an Ursa major...' I shivered at the thought but I didn't let it distract me.

I channeled more magic into the needle and accelerated it towards the Ursa. The needle flew towards the Ursa at a rate that put Rainbow Dash to shame, but it took quite a bit of effort on my part. I panted heavily from the effort, 'When this is over, I'm taking the day off.' I promised myself. Sure, the needle was tiny, but it had the mass of an entire tree in it. And I had accelerated it to speeds faster than Rainbow Dash performing the Sonic Rainboom. I quickly lost sight of the needle as it blended in with the Ursa's... coat? I frowned, we really didn't know much about Ursas, so I couldn't properly describe it.

The Ursa was thrown to the ground from the impact and its paw flew to the back of its head, grasping at the point where the needle hit. Its roar was more fierce and in pain than anything I had heard before, and my heart felt heavy. The creature struggled to stand on three paws for a few seconds before using both of her front paws in an attempt to claw out the needle to no success. The needle when it hit would have buried itself deep into the Ursa's neck, and the barrier surrounding it would have collapsed. With the source of compression lost and the amount of heat in the needle, it would have expanded rapidly, and possibly explode, among other things...

'Never do that again...' I told myself. It was far too taxing to be practical, but it was a good exercise for me. 'I definitely pushed my limits there...' I thought while suppressing the urge to yawn.

I frowned as the Ursa's coat started turning black and dull, lifeless. Its attempts to claw the projectile out of its neck doubled in intensity but looked sluggish and inaccurate at the same time. Eventually, her paws fell to the ground, and I felt a grimace tug at my lips as pink and blue flames erupted from the back of its neck.

I felt pity for it. Minutes passed in solemn silence as Rainbow and I watched the Ursa's body fade. The fire continued to rage on, wisps of magical energy continued to be burnt off and evaporate into the air, returning to the forest, or perhaps being captured by nearby crystals. We watched it burn for a good ten minutes before it disappeared completely.

"Huh... That was easy," Rainbow commented.

I looked down at my regalia, more specifically, the crystal it held. I felt an ache in my heart, seeing the once bright pink gem now completely drained of magic. "Not really..." I trailed off with a yawn.

"You doing okay?" Rainbow asked as she flew over to me and put a hoof on my shoulder.

I nodded. "Yes... That just took a lot out of me... Okay, most of what I had..." I hated to admit it, but it was the truth, and she deserved to know. It would take weeks to recharge my regalia... 'Do I even have that kind of time?' I doubted it, and I felt a knot growing in the back of my throat. It was a familiar sensation, fear.

"You don't look okay..." Rainbow's uneasy voice drew my attention back to her.

"Let's just... get back to the castle..." I mumbled.

Chapter 24

Princess Celestia

The castle was teeming with activity, which was unsurprising considering what was happening. My sister was repositioning her forces for a major offensive, and at the same time, General Hoof was preparing for the assault on Twilight's forces. It was a war on two fronts. It was a good thing that the griffins were staying out of it. Although, reports indicated my sister had hired some griffin mercenaries. It was a troubling thought, if the griffin Kingdom attacked, it would be a war on three fronts. There would be no way to win that war even if I managed to hold Luna back from directly engaging in battle.

I pushed the thought aside and watched a few ponies run passed me as I made my way to the war room. The twin guards saluted me and held their heads high with pride as I opened the door and strode in. Almost immediately, dozens of ponies turned to look at me, looking away from the projection screens of Equestria and the surrounding lands. Even with just a quick glance, I could see the strategic positioning of Luna's forces. It looked like she was committing over half her entire army for the offensive. I shivered at the sight, despite being over five hundred miles away from the front lines. General Breaker had been dispatched with reinforcements to back up General Maneuver when the time came.

It would buy us the time we needed to hopefully turn it into a single front war. "Princess, we've prepared the supply line and have the necessary food and medical supplies for the invasion. We estimate it should take less than two weeks to defeat Princess Twilight's forces and annex the rebelling cities." General Hoof announced proudly.

I nodded absently. "I'm authorizing the deployment of a fully armed and armored division, but Twilight is to be taken alive at all costs." I could see the vehement glare he tried to hide at hearing that. Undoubtedly, he wanted to skew my student. Even if she was trying to kill me, I didn't want to hurt her. I just wanted her to come to see reason. Besides, I needed her. "Understood, General?"

He bowed his head and I could almost hear him grinding his teeth. "Yes, Princess." He replied through clenched teeth. More than a few pairs of eyes were watching him, and when he realized he was drawing attention to himself he quickly adjusted his attitude.

"What do you need to succeed?" I asked him. I had a good idea of what he would ask for, but I wasn't going to handicap him by not providing everything he needed to capture Twilight. 'Then again... Maybe Twilight will simply surrender when faced with the prospect of being responsible for thousands of deaths?' I shivered at that thought. I didn't want Twilight to have to go through something like that. She had killed some of my soldiers before, but there was a big difference between a few enemy soldiers and the lives of a few thousand of your own soldiers.

"I need a brigade of fully outfitted earth ponies, two brigades of fully armored unicorns, fire support, and authorization to use chemical weapons." He said without missing a beat.

I pursed my lips and considered his requirements. General Maneuver had most of the earth ponies, and he needed them to protect his unicorns from enemy earth ponies. Twilight didn't have many unicorns or earth ponies, but she did have a lot of pegasi. She could easily replace the earth ponies with Crystal Empire soldiers. Two brigades of fully armored unicorns and unicorn fire support was doable. I wasn't about to authorize a full-scale chemical attack. "You have a full brigade of earth ponies, two brigades of unicorns and unicorn fire support, but I will not authorize the deployment of chemical weapons, General."

"Then I need a brigade of pegasi." He immediately countered.

I sighed. "General, we don't have any available pegasi. All of them are currently tied up on the western front." My sister's army consisted mainly of pegasi and earth ponies, but she had a fair share of unicorns too. Our forces weren't well balanced now. She had more pegasi than I did, and she had more earth ponies than I did. I had more unicorns than she did, however. That evened the odds some, a pegasi charge against a unicorn position would likely end in slaughter. The volume of spell fire would be too great for the pegasi to avoid all of it. On the other side of that was pegasi harassment, which she had been using to great efficiency. "Take another brigade of unicorns," I said with finality.

He relented and nodded. "Yes, Princess..."

I smiled and turned to regard Director Tap, who stood patiently at the side of the room, holding a clipboard and a pen in his magic. "Director."

"Princess." He acknowledged with a short bow.

"How are the logistics coming?" I asked.

"I'll divert the forces necessary for the attack. I already had two unicorn brigades on standby, it won't take long to reposition the remaining forces." He said as he looked at the clipboard. A few seconds later, he looked up and met my gaze. "I don't think it would be wise to send Crystal Empire soldiers against Princess Twilight. We can send them to replace the brigades we withdraw from the western front. We can reposition a brigade of unicorns from Las Pegasus without losing too much of the city's defense capability."

I nodded. "Do it," I said firmly. Las Pegasus wasn't strategically important. The city had a well-mixed population of pegasi and unicorns, despite the name. It was a good source of income because of tourism, but the city itself was out of the way and held no strategic importance. Director Tap nodded in acknowledgment. "What sort of timetable are we looking at? Last time, you said two weeks, it's been a week."

General Hoof and Director Tap exchanged a pained look. "Princess Luna's military buildup caught us off-guard and slowed us down, Princess." Director Tap answered. "Having to send General Breaker out to reinforce him depleted a lot of our available forces. It will take us at least another two weeks to reposition the forces required."

'Luna, why?' I asked. As I expected, I got no answer. It pained me, having to ask that. I knew why. I failed her again, expect this time thousands had already died because of it, and thousands more would die. But if I didn't stand up to her, Equestria wouldn't survive, and countless more would die. I held back a sigh. "Get it done, Director." I turned to General Hoof, "General." I said curtly. I turned around and walked back out of the war room. Immediately, the door closed behind me, and the sounds of ponies darting about the room faded behind the enchantment. I quickly powered up my horn and teleported straight to my bedchambers, then teleported a bottle of wine from the kitchen to my room. I didn't bother teleporting a glass.

Princess Twilight Sparkle

"So, think you're up for the challenge?" I asked.

Professor Altrot looked over the schematic he held in his magic, nodding his head as his eyes darted back in forth. His expression remained mostly neutral, and with every passing second, I felt more anxious than the last. He looked up and met my gaze, I smiled as brightly as I could. "A very interesting premise." he commented with a nod. "The schematic itself needs work, but the science is sound. I assume you already have an engineering team at my disposal if I accept the position?"

I nodded vigorously. "Yes, of course, Professor. Though, I think you misunderstand the position I'm offering you." I couldn't hold back my smile, even with as much effort I put into it.

He raised an eyebrow at me, "Oh?" He asked without betraying a hint of emotion.

"I want to make you the head of the Experimental Research and Development Department," I answered. He nodded absently at that and looked back at the schematic. "You'd have my full backing for research and development of anything that can help me win, Professor, along with any side projects that could contribute."

He looked deep in thought, appearing to mull it over. He flipped the page and looked at the next one. "Your experiments with crystal magic storage and attempts to store spells inside of crystals are light years beyond the most advanced work I've seen before. I'm assuming you did this yourself, correct?" he looked up from the schematic and met my gaze.

I nodded quickly. "It goes much quicker when you're an alicorn with a pool of magic a dozen times greater than the average unicorn and have a special talent for magic," I said lightly.

He nodded absently, "I imagine it would..." He licked his lips and flipped the page again, then skimmed over the next file and accompanying schematic. He curtly closed the manila folder and met my gaze. For a few seconds, I help my breath, unsure as to whether or not I had enticed him enough. He slowly smiled, his smile reminded me of Rainbow's smile. "I accept your offer, Princess. When do I start?"

I smiled and let go of the breath I was holding. "As soon as you're ready, Professor."

He curtly nodded. "Then I shall take my leave, Princess." He chirped, then bowed before turning around and calmly walking out of the throne room. But just before he left I spoke. "Professor... I need to win this war."I said in much more serious tone. He turned and nodded lightly before he the door closed behind him. I fell back into my throne and closed my eyes. I could picture it already, both of us working together, late into the night, figuring out how to create arcane accelerator cannons powerful enough to use as weapons. Or working together to store complex spells inside of crystals, so that my ponies whenever injured would be teleported out of battle, or to shield them from harm. Or the potential to augment industrial processes, or augment my own magic, or-

"Princess?"

I opened my eyes at the sound of Rainbow's voice. I quickly turned to my right to face her. "Yes, Rainbow?"

"You... okay?" She asked. Her gaze wasn't quite meeting my own.

"Of course! Why... do you ask?"

"Well, you were just... sitting there... not moving... for the past five minutes?" Rainbow said cautiously.

'Oops...' I shifted my weight and felt heat rising to my cheeks. "R-really?" I asked. She nodded cautiously. "I... got lost in thought..." I admitted sheepishly. Rainbow slowly looked away from me, but her eyes lingered on me for a few seconds. Eventually, she blinked and looked back towards the door. I turned to my left, "Amethyst, I believe you can handle it from here." I said with a smile. Amethyst smiled back at me, although she shifted her weight on her hooves. She was nervous, despite helping me so much. Really, she was invaluable to me. Without her help and Mayor Mare's help, I couldn't run my nation.

I jumped out of my throne. Rainbow immediately stepped forward and stood beside me. I made my way to the door, then parted them open with my magic. We walked out of the room in silence, and I paused. I teleported my checklist to myself, then looked it over. I smiled and teleported a quill, then made a checkmark through the last completed item's box. I took a deep breath and teleported the checklist and quill away. With Amethyst and Mayor Mare running the governmental side of my kingdom, which I really wasn't needed for currently, I wasn't installing new legislation, etc, it gave me time to recover from the previous week's excitement. I took a brief moment to touch my regalia. It was a little warmer than the air, and I could feel the magic stored inside of it. It paled in comparison to what it had stored, and what I had wielded to kill the Ursa but it was still a lot of magic.

I frowned. 'Note to self: investigate my efficiency in spell casting combined with the effects of having a cutie mark and or special talent for magic.' Cutie marks represented pony's special talents. My special talent was magic. I was the bearer of the Element of Magic. Even as a filly, I was a strong unicorn. At least when not under pressure. I didn't have the age and experience of Celestia or Luna, so my magic wasn't as matured as either of theirs, but my youth and special talent had to count for something. I mean, just thinking about it, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna could move the sun and moon. Celestia could move the sun. An entire star. I frowned, suddenly curious as to why that was actually needed. The gravity of the sun should have made it so that Equis orbited it, rather than it having to be moved around Equis.

So many questions I didn't have the answer to. I was a lot stronger than the average unicorn, or even the talented unicorns. I was stronger than my sister-in-law, Cadence, too, and she was an alicorn older than myself. She had been ascended when she was a filly, so she was older as an alicorn and older than me in general, and yet I was more powerful than her. I blinked and looked around the hallway. Standing in the middle of the hall, in front of a door probably wasn't the best place to ponder such things.

I channeled magic into my horn and teleported myself to my room. Rainbow could catch up later, she'd figure out where I went in a few minutes. I immediately fell onto my bed and sank into the plush cloud. "So soft..." My voice was mumbled by the cloud, blankets, and covers. Replacing my bed with a cloud bed was one of the best decisions I had ever made, if not the best one I had ever made.

But yes, I was a powerful pony, and that wasn't even factoring in that I could use the Elements of Harmony, something capable of outmatching Lord Tirek at his full might when he had all of the magic in Equestria at his disposal.

I rolled over, slid out of bed, and then walked over to the mirror and looked at my reflection. My eyes hadn't played tricks on me for a while, which was a good thing. At least I hoped it was a good thing. I took my regalia in my magic and pulled it off, then held it in front of my vision. I looked it over, it was so dark and dull. It would remain that way for several weeks until it fully recharged. The sight saddened me, the crystal had almost become a part of myself. I sighed.

There was a short, strong knock on the door. I turned away from the mirror and put my regalia back on. I walked over to the door and opened it with my magic, expecting to see Rainbow Dash. Instead, General Spitfire met my gaze, to her left stood Rainbow Dash. 'How did you get here so fast?' I wondered. I pushed the thought aside, Spitfire looked upset. "General, you-"

"Princess, emergency staff meeting. Now." Spitfire said with all the seriousness of a general who had bad news. very, very bad news. Nation ending news.

I swallowed and nodded, then stepped out of the room, closing the door behind me. Spitfire and Rainbow stepped out of the way, and I took off walking. I didn't want to teleport straight to the staff room. I was afraid what I would find out. Both Spitfire and Rainbow quickly joined me, walking beside me. As much as I was afraid, I needed to know. If I didn't, they wouldn't have come and informed me of the emergency meeting. The fact that it was an emergency meeting alone was a warning sign. 'It would be better if I had some idea of what I'm walking into...' I swallowed again as we turned a corner. "What happened?" I asked with as much strength as I could.

"Princess Celestia's forces are preparing to move against you..." Spitfire said in a hushed voice.

I shivered. We weren't prepared for that. I hadn't recovered from my battle with the Ursa. Well, I had recovered, but my regalia hadn't, so I couldn't sling the army shattering spells I knew, and knew I would have to use, but still didn't want to use, nor did I think I could use. Unless I used dark magic, which I didn't want to. The rest of the walk to the briefing room went in silence. Neither Spitfire nor Rainbow asked me why I didn't just teleport there. Part of me felt like they knew why I didn't. I was glad they didn't bring it up.

I quickly glanced around the room as I barged inside. Spitfire hastily made her way over to her spot at the table as everypony present rose to acknowledge my arrival. I strode across the room and sat down in the chair. Ignoring the discomfort the chair caused, I immediately spoke, even before half the ponies had sat down. Rainbow wasn't even standing beside me yet. "Everypony here? Good." I didn't give them a chance to object. I needed to take control of the situation. I needed to show leadership, even if I wasn't ready to lead an army into battle. I had led a squad in a rescue mission, so I had some experience with combat and leading a team in battle, but nothing on the scale I feared I was going to have to command before I was ready.

I turned to Spitfire, she nodded without me saying a word. "Intelligence report just came in, Princess Celestia's repositioning a brigade from the western front to be used in an attack against us. Princess Luna is amassing her forces, which may delay Princess Celestia's offensive against us, but we can't count on it. The soldiers of the Crystal Empire are being deployed to the western front in force to replace and reinforce General Maneuver's efforts to fight Princess Luna. We have no idea where General Breaker is as of right now. Another brigade is being repositioned from Las Pegasus to Canterlot, in preparation for the offense against us. In Canterlot, there are at least two brigades standing by." Spitfire looked across the table. I followed her gaze to General Fleetfoot.

General Fleetfoot cleared her throat, and a unicorn soldier went around the room dispensing manila folders. I took mine in my magic as soon as she sat it down and I opened it to the first page. I recognized the picture, he was an earth pony, and on top of that, I knew him as a general. He was a real pain in the flank the one time I met him. "This is General Iron Hoof." Fleetfoot stated. I looked back at her and had the sneaking suspicion I knew where she was going with that, and I did not like that one bit. "The report indicates he will be the general in command of the offensive against Princess Twilight."

I was right. I didn't like it. I mostly ignored the next section of the briefing, it was all information I already knew. Instead, I took the time to look around the room and gauge how everypony felt and their reactions to the news. I was not surprised in the slightest that the general sentiment wasn't a good one. 'Thank you all for all of your confidence.' I snarked dryly.

"From what we can tell, he'll be leading four brigades totaling twenty-two thousand soldiers. Three unicorn brigades and an earth pony infantry brigade. All of the brigades are going to be fully outfitted," Fleetfoot continued.

'Fully outfitted... right... that means the whole deal, armor, weapons..." I grimaced, 'fire support...' That was bad. Very, very bad. And that was ignoring the fact we were outnumbered nearly two-to-one, and that we didn't have a lot of unicorns.

Fleetfoot turned to Soarin and nodded, "Lieutenant?"

At the prompting, Soarin sat up a little straighter. "Right now we have thirteen regiments of pegasi, consisting of Wonderbolts, Wonderbolts Reservists, and former Royal Guards. Add to that half a regiment of unicorns and a regiment of earth ponies, and we have about fifteen thousand soldiers available. Unfortunately, of those, only twelve of the pegasi regiments are ready, and about half the unicorns and earth ponies."

"Twelve-thousand pegasi, two hundred unicorns, and five hundred earth ponies?" I asked as I read over the file. It was an approximate, not perfectly accurate, but all things considered, it was close enough. I mulled it over. "I... think I can work with that..." I turned to Spitfire. We exchanged grave looks. "Now we just need a plan to take out sixteen thousand unicorns and five thousand earth ponies," I said dryly. I masked my fear well, but of course, I needed to. We were outmatched, and I wasn't sure if I could actually even the odds if it came down to it. I didn't know if I was even willing to even the odds. Killing less than a dozen ponies in a mission to rescue my friend was one thing, murdering a few thousand ponies was another.

From a purely ethical standpoint, it was wrong. But, for the greater good, weren't their lives expendable? If I didn't win this war, how long until Equestria collapsed? If I did win the war, would I be able to prevent Equestria's collapse? Was I really going to consider using my vastly superior alicorn magic, perhaps even dark magic spells, to confront an entire army? Did I have the capability of doing that? Could I bring myself to do that? 'For my friends... I will if it comes down to it.' I would keep those options in reserve, I wasn't ready to attempt to defeat an entire army on my own. I also doubted my alicorn magic was strong enough for that. Besides, we didn't have to kill twenty-two thousand soldiers. Just enough to route the survivors. And I couldn't sustain a high casualty ratio. As it was, I hardly had enough forces to defend Ponyville, and most of my territory was undefended. 'I'm outmatched, aren't I?' Well if push came to shove... I could always try using the Element of Magic, though I didn't want to use it to destroy.

"We have limited equipment and weaponry, but now would be the perfect time to set up a defensive weather front, along with a cloudfort with the unicorns stationed on it to provide fire support." Spitfire said.

I frowned and pursed my lips. "They would have an advantage, but they'd be vulnerable to enemy unicorn fire up there. Considering the relative weakness of cloudcrete, even if it's military grade, I'm not sure risking it is a good idea..."

Spitfire grimaced. "We need some kind of advantage, Princess, we're outnumbered and outmatched."

I felt a grimace tug on my lips. "Pegasi airstrikes, dropping the lightning bombs from altitude wouldn't be very effective, but it could cause enough chaos to even the odds..." It sounded weak, even to me, but it was better than nothing. I looked up from the table and at Spitfire, she looked back at me, deep in thought and troubled. "Do we have any conventional explosives?"

She shook her head. "Nothing that could help with this, Princess."

'Okay, scratch that... Think... Think... I need a way for my forces to match a force nearly twice its size, and to take minimal casualties...' "If we can pinpoint where the offensive is coming from, we could deploy the weather front there." I said. "If we're facing three battalions of unicorns, that could certainly help, but what if we deploy fog also? That would limit their visibility and give us an advantage if we're using pegasi to drop the lightning bombs."

Spitfire's eyes darted across the table, and eventually, she started nodding. "That could work, but it wouldn't last very long. Of course, all of this requires us to know where the attack is coming from."

"If we act fast enough, we may be able to choose where we fight the battle since we have the defense advantage. They're coming after you, Princess," Lieutenant Colonel Light said aloud. "We could force them into a confrontation on terrain they aren't familiar with, add in the fog and hostile weather, and we'd have enough advantages to match forces with them."

"If we attack them from multiple angles, it would also contribute to chaos among their ranks. If we have pegasi bombing them from low altitudes and fighting on the front, we could have a small team sneak through their position and attack their command infrastructure, primarily targeting high-level officers and General Hoof. If we could disable their ability to organize, the offensive would fall apart," Soarin added.

"I'll take command of that force." I said. The silence following it was deafening. I shifted my weight in the chair as all eyes fell on me. I could practically hear their counterarguments, that I was too important.

"Are you sure that's wise, Princess?" Spitfire asked.

'Honestly? No, and it's probably a bad idea, but I don't really have a choice, now do I?' I forced the thought away and nodded my head once. As much as I wanted to, staying on the sidelines wasn't an option. The ponies surrounding me looked to me for leadership and protection. "If Luna is preparing an offensive, then Celestia won't be there to help General Hoof, which means I don't have to worry about engaging her."

"Princess, given the fact that last week you killed an Ursa major and depleted your regalia's magic, I'm not sure it would be wise for you to fight in this battle," Spitfire said.

"And considering how you handled the rescue mission-"

"We succeeded, didn't we?" I snapped at Soarin. I immediately regretted it, despite him showing no outward reaction. Snapping at him wasn't the right thing to do. I felt horrible. I was supposed to be a leader, a good leader, and here I was snapping at somepony who cared about me. A good leader doesn't snap at somepony who cared about them. "Sorry," I quickly apologized.

Soarin and Spitfire exchanged a strained look. Soarin slowly looked back to me. His expression was concerned and caring. "Princess, I know you want to help, and you handled the rescue mission... but this is different. This is going to be a full-scale battle. Ponies will die, not just Princess Celestia's soldiers, your soldiers will too. Ponies you know may die, do you really want to be there when that happens?" I swallowed. "If you lead the team going after General Hoof, you will be behind Princess Celestia's forces' lines. Unlike last time, once things happen, stealth isn't going to be an option. If you lead that team, you will have to kill or be killed, or ponies with you will die. You will be fighting for your life, and you won't be able to rely on everypony else to be there for you if something bad happens."

"On that topic," Spitfire cut in, "you've never actually gone into detail about how much you can do. Soarin and Ace said that you almost had a breakdown in the middle of the op. They also said they doubted how capable you are when it comes to combat. They said you handled defending well, but that you could use work on your offense."

I shifted my weight in my chair. All eyes were on me, and it felt like they were boring into my very soul. My chest felt tight, and for some reason, I was having trouble breathing. "General, that's..." I took a deep breath. The air felt thin and heavy at the same time. I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing, then raised a hoof to my chest, took a deep breath, and then exhaled. I opened my eyes, feeling refreshed, having prevented, or at least averted a panic attack. "I could potentially destroy an entire army on my own if I used dark magic or alicorn magic, if my alicorn magic was stronger," I said evenly.

Spitfire didn't look convinced. "Potentially?" she asked skeptically.

I lifted a hoof to massage my temple. "We're getting off topic..."

"Princess, I fail to see how asking if you could destroy an entire army on your own is off topic, considering that an entire army is coming after you and that ponies will be fighting for and dying for you," Spitfire retorted.

I glared at her. "Right now, no. I can't." I answered sharply. "Which is why I am going to lead that team to disable their officers," I explained. "It would be the best use of my abilities. I can't direct an entire army, but I can direct a small team, and I've already proven that I can fight and kill. I just cannot take on an entire army on my own yet. I've recovered from fighting the Ursa major, and if I'm not on the front line, then I shouldn't need the magic I've stored in my regalia." I paused and took a deep breath. "General Spitfire, you will coordinate the defense and command the army while I lead a team to take down General Hoof," I said firmly.

For a few seconds, there was silence, then Spitfire relented. "Yes, Princess."

"Good, now, Lieutenant Soarin, I would ask you to assemble a team, but I already have a team in mind. Instead, I want you to manage troop deployment. Lieutenant Colonel Light, you will coordinate with unicorns and make them as good as you can in the time we have- but don't push them to the breaking point. We need them to be ready and not incapacitated." I turned to General Fleetfoot, "We don't have the resources, equipment, or technology to amplify our abilities, instead I want you to focus on identifying where we want to engage them, and if we will be able to draw them into that zone, while at the same time preparing the weather front." I looked around at everyone, clearly, they didn't expect me to take command like that. I had to admit, I was pleased with myself. "Everypony else, find something useful to do. Coordinate, et cetera. Get it done, ponies."

A chorus of "Yes, Princess," rang out. It was music to my ears.

"Now, what else do we need to discuss?" I asked.

I buried my head in my pillow and groaned. For a few seconds, I just laid there, then I brought my hooves to my temples and nursed the headache I felt. 'I swear they're trying to drive me insane.' I knew they weren't actually trying to drive me insane. For one, it would be bad for them if that happened.

"You doing okay?" Rainbow asked. Her armored hooves clanked against the crystalline floor as she made her way over to me.

I sighed. "I don't know. This is giving me a headache. If this is what Princess Celestia deals with every day..." I trailed off, grimacing. 'I'm giving up so much for Equestria.' I mused. I wondered how Celestia thought of it, she had been the sole ruler of Equestria for a thousand years. 'Maybe it's not as bad as it sounds... I mean, all these ponies listen to what I say and respect me... And we are in the middle of a war. It won't be this bad all the time...'

"You want me to get you anything?" Rainbow asked.

I mulled her question over. Nothing really sounded good, besides, she was my friend and bodyguard, not my servant. 'Although, I probably could get away with...' I bobbed my head as I considered everything I could get away with because of my position, then I realized what I was considering. I felt my heart beat faster. I closed my eyes and forced the thought away. "No, thank you," I replied. I rolled over onto my back and teleported a book from the library and held it over my head with my magic. It was a recent acquisition of mine on strategy and tactics. I had been studying up on strategy and combat, but I needed to study it more. I didn't feel like I was ready.

"You know you can only learn so much from a book, right?" Rainbow asked.

I lifted my head from the pillow and looked at her. "Seriously? Do you think it's a good idea for me to just wing it when it comes to ruling my nation? To wing it when leading an army? To-"

Rainbow stared at me blankly as she interrupted me, "Twilight. You're you. You're a good leader. Sure, you can make mistakes... but you're probably already a better leader than General Spitfire is. Besides, I know you can fight, and I know you're powerful. I saw you kill an Ursa major Twilight. How many ponies can say they've killed an Ursa major?"

I closed my mouth. She had a point. I had killed an Ursa and to my knowledge, nopony else had ever done that before. I squinted at her, "How does that even factor into only learning so much from a book? How is that related in the slightest?" I asked incredulously.

"You can fight, but it needs work. You can't learn that from a book, Twilight." She answered.

I groaned as I set up and levitated the book over to the nightstand, but held it there in the air. "What do you suggest then?"

"Go practice magic with Sergeant Bolt or something. Fight him. That's the only way you can really improve fighting skills, I know from experience."

I rolled my eyes at her. "I'm as strong as I am because I studied, Rainbow. Not because-"

"So you're saying that practice has nothing to do with it?" She asked in mock ignorance.

I dropped the book onto the nightstand, then slid out of bed. I sighed but nodded. "Alright, fine. You win." Rainbow smiled.

Chapter 25

Princess Twilight Sparkle

I had already double triple checked everything, really I knew I didn't need to check it all again, but... It was a source of comfort, even if I wasn't meticulously going over every single detail. "Weather front in position?" I asked aloud.

Spitfire, for her part, somehow managed to put up with my obsessive compulsive disorder. "Yes, Princess. The weather front is in position and the pegasi are in position to set it off the moment you give the word." Mostly. Her voice held a slight annoyance to it. I glanced at Spitfire and smiled sheepishly at her. Despite the annoyance in her voice, she wore the Wonderbolt General uniform proudly, and her expression remained focused as sharp as a needle.

"Everything is in place?" I asked.

She nodded affirmatively, "Yes, Princess. Everything is ready, we're just waiting on General Hoof to make his opening move."

I nodded slightly to myself, then averted my gaze to the light purple tent fabric. It both brought a smile to my face and made me uncomfortable that they tried to base the color on my coat. It was a few shades too light, but it was the principal of the matter. I shifted my weight and walked over to the tent opening. The two stoic unicorns standing guard stood a little straighter as I stepped outside and glanced up at the menacing dark gray sky. It looked like at any second, the sky would explode and send torrents of rain, hail, and wind down to batter anypony caught outside. I swallowed at the sight, 'I'm glad I'm not going to be flying up there in that.' Despite knowing that the sky wasn't about to erupt, it was still menacing, because it would erupt when the order was given. I took a deep breath and then exhaled through my mouth.

I turned my gaze back down and looked out across the camp. It wasn't a large camp by any means, as most of my pegasi were preoccupied or stationed above in the clouds. The camp was still filled to the brim with ponies, mostly earth ponies. Despite preparations being completed, and everything being ready to deploy, there was still work to do, and earth ponies darted about, to and fro. Most of them wore light armor, we didn't have the time or resources to outfit them all with heavy armor, but it was better than nothing. My pegasi were also wearing light combat armor, although some of them were wearing flight suits instead, tasked with the mission of delivering bombs or fog when the order was given.

Two pegasi flew by, both wearing flight suits and carrying large saddle bags. It was a risk, them wearing flight suits instead of armor for the strafing runs and attacks they were going to be performing. A very big risk to each one of them, and they knew it. A single spell could hit them and kill them because of not having armor, but the armor would have slowed them down. In the end, flight suits offering better speed and agility won over the ability to protect the wearer from a couple of hits.

I shivered from the cold and grimaced. One of the drawbacks of using the weather to make a storm front that could turn the tide of a battle, it was cold, very cold. And since Princess Celestia controlled the sun and winter was coming, it was even colder. I exhaled and I thought I saw my breath, but I knew I was just imagining things. It wasn't that cold.

I pushed the thoughts aside with a shake of my head, turned around and walked back into the tent. Spitfire looked at me expectantly, and I halfway thought she was waiting for me to give her an order. I met her gaze briefly, then walked over to the table and scrutinized the map for what must have been the hundredth time. The map covered the region we expected to fight in, along with the surrounding area that might become a battlefield. I licked my lips as I examined the strategic placement of my forces and the placement of where we believed General Hoof's forces were.

Scouts were still out and performing reconnaissance, and the information they had provided us so far painted the picture of General Hoof's forces. 'Outnumbered two to one... Approximately sixteen thousand unicorns and approximately six thousand earth ponies, versus roughly thirteen thousand pegasi and five hundred earth ponies and another five hundred unicorns.' The numbers weren't exactly in my favor, but I had a few things they didn't.

I shifted my weight and rubbed my wings against the metal armor I wore, then reached up to my head with a hoof and nudged my helmet, checking to make sure it was still there and protecting my head. For the most part, everypony in the tent was too preoccupied with their various duties to notice me, but two ponies whose job it was to keep an eye on me noticed. "You doing okay, Princess?" Applejack asked in her trademark southern drawl.

I quickly turned to face my friend and I nodded just as quickly. "Yes... I'm fine, just... anxious," I replied. Applejack looked at me solemnly, and I knew she understood what I was feeling. Maybe she didn't completely understand it, but she had an idea of what kind of stress I was under. About thirteen thousand ponies' lives were resting on my shoulders, and if I made a single mistake, hundreds, if not more would die. And their blood would be on my hooves.

I shivered. It wasn't from the cold.

I felt a weight come to rest on my other shoulder, and I immediately recognized it as a hoof. "You'll do great, Princess. You always do." Rainbow reassured. I slowly turned to her and smiled my thanks, a smile she happily returned.

The three of us knew what was going to happen sometime in the next few hours, but neither of them was as concerned about it as I was. Neither of them was a commander or even an officer. Applejack was in a heavy earth pony squad, one which would only be deployed under specific circumstances that, with any luck, wouldn't come to pass, while Rainbow Dash was going to be at my side when my team infiltrated General Hoof's command center. Both of them just needed to worry about their own lives and the lives of their squadmates, I had to worry about an entire army and an entire nation.

I closed my eyes and brought my hoof to my chest. Metal clanked against metal, then I slowly inhaled and then exhaled, reaching forwards with my hoof in the process. It helped a little, but not as much as I had hoped. I opened my eyes and sighed as I lowered my hoof back to the ground.

"Thank you." I replied to Rainbow. For a few seconds, the three of us just stood there. I eventually pulled away from both of them and watched Spitfire. She appeared to be deep in thought, with her brow furrowed and her gaze focused intently on the map. I didn't want to disturb her, whatever she was thinking about was probably important, she was managing the entire operation more or less, after all. I pursed my lips at that and looked down at the grassy floor. 'I should be the one managing this, not her... but... I can't, not yet at least...' I looked back up and blew air out of my mouth, then licked my lips and walked outside of the tent again.

Both Rainbow and Applejack followed me. I lifted my gaze towards the menacing sky again. It was obvious that whenever that storm front was activated, General Hoof was going to be in for one heck of a ride, but so were my forces. We still needed to draw his forces into the trap, but once we did, his forces would suffer from the weather more than my own forces, giving us a much-needed advantage.

'My own forces...' I mulled over the phrase, testing it out inside my mind. All the ponies gathered at the base, along with those stationed in the clouds and in smaller camps elsewhere were soldiers. My soldiers. Fighting for me, obeying my command or the command of anypony under my command.

I shook the thought aside. The anticipation was getting to me. I needed to stay focused on the task at hoof. 'Although, granted, right now that task is more or less... waiting...' I shook my head and turned around. I inhaled as I walked passed Rainbow and Applejack, both of their gazes lingered on me as I passed them. "Everything's ready?" I asked again.

Spitfire looked up from the map, then turned to face me. "Yes, Princess. Aside from last minute preparations, everything is ready. We're just waiting for General Hoof to make his move, Princess."

I mulled it over and nodded to her. "Thank you," I responded. "I... I'll leave you to it, General. I will be with my team... Inform me as soon as something changes." I commanded. Spitfire saluted me, and I nodded, then turned around. I glanced between Applejack and Rainbow, then settled on the former. Despite the strict circumstances under which her unit would be deployed, those circumstances could come to pass. Of course, if they did come to pass, I'd have bigger problems to worry about. It didn't make me any less worried for her safety, she was my friend. I swallowed. "Stay safe, Applejack." I said gently.

Applejack nodded. "You too, Princess."

I smiled and shook my head. "Thanks for being here with me," I said. "I appreciate your company. We don't see each other often enough. After this is over, we should... just do something together again, like we used to."

Applejack brightly smiled at me. "That'd be fine, Princess."

I nodded to myself. "Maybe all six of us could spend a day together or something... It's been a while since we've just relaxed. Well, sort of. I'm not sure I'd consider that party Pinkie Pie threw when I rescued Rainbow Dash relaxing..." I smiled sheepishly as Applejack raised her eyebrow at me. "Anyway..." I trailed off, then turned to Rainbow Dash. "You ready?" Rainbow nodded in response. I turned around and surveyed the tent. Everything seemed normal enough, nopony was running fast enough to indicate that something had was happening. I nodded to myself and turned around. I still felt like I needed to be in the command tent, but for the time being, I didn't belong there.

I exhaled and ignited my horn with magic, then gripped Rainbow Dash in my magic and teleported us both away.

Almost as quickly as the tent disappeared, a new tent replaced it. Immediately, I refocused my magic and pulled the tent flap open with it. Everypony looked at me and quickly stood at attention, regarding me with serious expressions. I smiled at the ponies inside and casually walked into the tent. I nodded at them, "At ease..." I said. Everypony immediately relaxed.

I held the flap open for Rainbow Dash then closed it as she stood at my right side. I felt her wing brush against my own wing and looked to see her standing almost with her armor against mine. I frowned at the sight but quickly pushed it aside as Rainbow shifted her weight away from me. 'I'm not the only one whose anxious...' I realized. I felt a knot form in my throat at that. 'I'm... asking her to come with me into a battle when she's... I... I shouldn't be asking her to do that...' I was torn. On one hoof, it was exactly what her job and duty were, to protect me. On the other hoof, I wanted her to be safe, and she could still have been traumatized by being captured, even if she denied it. I internally sighed and subdued the dissenting thoughts, 'I can keep her safer if she's with me.' I reasoned.

'I... I can do that, right? Can I keep her safe? I can keep all of them safe, right?' I blinked and found myself staring at the ground. I licked my lips and looked up, then I looked at the face of everypony present in the tent. Ace, Soarin, Jagged Wing, Storm, and Lightning Strike. All five of them, six if you included Rainbow Dash, were counting on me. I was going to be teleporting us behind enemy lines, possibly directly into a combat situation, with potentially lethal consequences for us. 'No! Don't think like that... I can protect them, and I will protect them all... I... have to. I won't fail.' I swallowed and shook the thoughts aside. 'I'm worrying too much, they're all Wonderbolts! They can take care of themselves.' I told myself.

I believed it.

But I was still worried. The waiting was definitely getting to me. There was nothing pressing that demanded my attention, so my mind could wonder, and I had been told on many occasions that I had a tendency to overreact to things and worry about unimportant details. I clenched my jaw and shook my head.

"Are you doing okay, Princess?" Soarin asked.

I quickly looked towards him and nodded. "Yeah, I'm just... anxious. The waiting is getting to me..." I looked away from his eyes and scrutinized his breastplate. I shivered, I could still remember him getting hit by that spell.

"You get used to it." Ace commented leisurely.

I grimaced at that but I could understand his reasoning. "You sure you're up to doing this?" I asked.

"It'll take more than a single unicorn to take me down, Princess." Soarin boldly proclaimed.

Ace nodded. "Da. He was hit in chest not wing. If it were other way, he would not be here." He said with a hint of humor in his heavy voice.

Soarin elbowed Ace in the ribs. Ace shrugged it off, whether it was because of his armor, a lack of effort on Soarin's part, or he was just that tough, I didn't know. "Right..." I trailed off and examined everypony in the room. None of them looked worried or concerned. They all looked... almost relaxed. It was strange. We were waiting around for the word, then I was going to teleport us directly into a combat situation, and none of them were worried. The only exceptions were Rainbow and I. I glanced at Rainbow. 'Maybe... maybe it's a good thing she's staying so close to me.' I reasoned. There were a few benefits to it.

I looked around the tent again, then slowly walked over to an unoccupied corner and sat down. Rainbow followed me and sat down beside me. I turned to her, "Are you doing okay?" I asked.

Rainbow nodded. "Yeah, I'm doing fine... What about you, Princess?"

I sat up straighter and took a deep breath. "I'm going to be leading an attack behind enemy lines. I'm going to be teleported us directly to General Hoof's command center, and we're going to assassinate the general, along with top staff... Assuming nothing goes horribly wrong. And then I have to teleport us out." I paused and exhaled, then inhaled. "And that might not be enough to route them. We still may have to get involved in the main battle... I'm not sure I'm ready for that," I admitted.

"You'll... do fine..." Rainbow trailed off uneasily. It wasn't very reassuring, and I think she realized that. "I mean, you rescued me, didn't you?" she asked.

I smiled a little at that. "I... guess I did, didn't I?" I had fought before. I mean, not that I was bragging, but I killed an Ursa major. Nopony else in history had done that. But... killing another pony was something else. I had killed ponies before, though. The thought felt horrible. I sighed, knowing that I was going to have to kill again. If I didn't, more ponies would die. I could die if I didn't. Or worse, one of my friends could die. The thought sent a shiver down my spine. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath at that thought, hoping to calm my nerves. It worked, at least a little. "Maybe," I turned back to Rainbow, "you shouldn't come with us?" I asked.

Rainbow's expression was blank for about two seconds, then she looked at me incredulously. "Twi-Princess, I'm supposed to protect you. I'm pretty sure that means I should be going with you," she retorted.

"I..." She had a point, but I was still uneasy about it. "You're supposed to protect me, yes, but," I turned towards the others and motioned at them with my hoof, "they're coming with me too. It's not like I'll be alone," I replied. "Besides, we don't know what we're going into. Something could happen, I could teleport us to the wrong place, for one... And we don't know what we could encounter, which means you could get hurt, and I don't want that."

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "You're more important than me, Princess." That hurt, I clenched my jaw at hearing that. I wanted to rebuke her for saying that, but I couldn't. "And if you don't know what you're going to be teleporting into, that's all the more reason for me to come with you to protect you." She continued.

'Using my own argument against me?' I had to admit that impressed me, although it stung a little. "Are you sure you're up for this?" I asked. "I know that... being captured was hard on you."

Her expression slipped for less than a second, but it was enough. I could see fear, anxiety, and worry. She recovered quickly, however, and put back on her brave facade. I had to admire it, although it worried me. She was afraid, but she was brave. "I can handle it." She answered. It wasn't quite as enthusiastic as normal, but she still sounded confident.

I met her gaze and looked into her eyes, searching for any warning signs. Her mask didn't slip. "Okay." I answered. For a few more seconds, I watched her, then I looked away from her and breathed deeply.

I shifted my weight and rubbed my wings against my armor. I was getting a little cold, and I was sure that my anxiety didn't help the situation.

"Any idea how long until we go?" Soarin asked.

I looked at him wryly. "No, I don't know for sure, but anytime in the next two hours if it'll be today. I don't think he'd wait any longer than that, considering that the sun won't be up much longer after that, and we'd have an even greater advantage at night."

"Fighting at night isn't exactly the best tactic for us either, Princess." Jagged Wing commented.

I turned to face him. "While fighting at night isn't the best idea I have ever heard of, considering that the bulk of General Hoof's forces are unicorns, that means they will be easier to spot at night, making them easier targets, while at the same time, pegasi flying in the night sky are harder to see." I explained. He probably already knew that, but reinforcing or reminding him of it wasn't a bad idea.

"Navigating at night is harder too, Princess." He replied, then shook his head.

I didn't really have anything to say to that. I knew that. I was an alicorn after all. Flying at night made it somewhat more difficult to navigate, but I found it relaxing. Although, flying at night while ponies were trying to kill you probably wasn't very relaxing. Unless something was seriously wrong with you. I didn't enjoy killing nor fighting, so I doubted I would enjoy flying at night in a battle. Although, it would probably be very exhilarating.

"Princess!" A pony called. The tent flap was thrown open, and I turned to regard the arrival. He was a pegasus, one wearing the Wonderbolt flight suit, and he was breathing heavily. His eyes darted about, then his eyes fell on me, and I met his gaze. I felt my lips curl into a grimace, and I knew what he was going to say before he said it. "General Spitfire requires your presence immediately. General Hoof's forces are making their move."

I looked around the tent, all eyes had fallen on me. They were waiting on me. I took a deep breath, then stood to my hooves. I watched as the other ponies stood up, then I turned to the messenger. "Thank you... We'll be right there," I replied.

The pegasus bowed, then jumped away from the tent and flapped his wings. The tent flap closed as he flew off into the sky, going in the direction of the command tent. I turned towards the five Wonderbolts. Soarin was walking towards me. "Ready whenever you are, Princess." He said, then smiled solemnly.

I took a deep breath and licked my lips, then turned towards the tent flap. "Right... General Spitfire is waiting on us..." I trailed off. It still didn't feel real. I channeled magic into my horn, then teleported my regalia to me. I immediately grabbed it in my magic, and levitated it in front of me, then pried the faintly glowing pink gem from it and carefully placed it in my armor's chest plate. I pressed against it with my hoof, then used my magic to lock it into place so that it wouldn't fall out during battle.

I took hold of everypony in my magic, then teleported us the short distance to the command tent.

Spitfire's briefing didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know. It was mostly going over information for the sake of my team, rather than myself. Although, I was more than a little concerned that the General's command center was in the center of his main camp, rather than in a separate area, or towards the back. It meant that if something went wrong, it would go wrong.

Of course, I didn't have time to think about the worst possible case scenarios now. I looked to my left, Soarin, Ace, and Jagged were all triple checking their armor. I glanced to my right, Rainbow stood at my side, then there was Lightning Strike and Storm. Both Lightning Strike and Storm were making sure that their saddle bags were secured. Rainbow, for her part, stood stoically. I couldn't see her eyes to tell whether she was afraid or not. I wanted to believe that she wasn't, but I doubted it. She might not have shown it, and that would be something she would do, considering she was a Wonderbolt, and in the presence of other Wonderbolts.

Then again, she was a Wonderbolt. So maybe I was worrying too much.

I pushed the thoughts aside and rubbed my exposed neck with my armored hoof. The cold metal was almost calming. I glanced back to Soarin, Ace, and Jagged. All three of them were looking at me expectantly. I glanced to my right. Lightning and Storm looked at me expectantly. Rainbow stood close beside me, staring straight forwards. "Alright..." I called out, causing my heart to beat faster. "Everypony ready?" I asked. My breathing quickened, I was no longer inhaling in a calm and controlled fashion but in short breaths. Anxiety and nervousness plagued me, and I could already feel adrenaline being pumped into my system, and I hadn't even done anything yet.

A chorus of six "Yes, Princess!" called out. For some reason, I couldn't stop myself from smiling at it. The smile quickly left my lips, and I tensed up my body.

"Form up..." I ordered. Immediately, everypony repositioned around me, so to protect me the second we appeared. We were all spread out a few paces apart, no single spell would kill us all the second we appeared. Which was a good thing, it meant one less thing I had to worry about. "Teleporting..." I trailed off as I prepared to teleport the seven of us and recalled all the information I had about General Hoof's camp, and I painted a mental picture of it in my mind. From the dull white tents, to the city-like layout. "Now!" I shouted.

The familiar tingle of magic took hold of my body, and in an instant, we all traversed the several miles between out camp and General Hoof's camp. The sound of magic cracking through the air filled my ears, and then everything changed.

I gritted my teeth from the headache that slammed into me, undoubtedly the result of the anti-teleportation field that I forced my way through.

"What is-" Before the flash of light from the teleportation cleared, the soldier had been cut off.

"Inform-" Another soldier was cut off, accompanied by a sickening crack.

The light dissipated. I leveled my horn and spun around, searching the immediate area for soldiers.

A pair of unicorns jumped out of a nearby tent. Surprise filled their eyes. I threw my head towards them, then sent a surge of magic through my horn. Both unicorns reacted and jumped out of the way. I followed them with my eyes and horn, then released another spell where I projected them to land. Before they could stand up, the spell hit them dead center. My magic tore through the closest unicorn's armor and threw him off of his comrade.

I stumbled forwards and felt the metal protecting my flank heat up. I quickly shot my head towards the source of the spell. Rainbow Dash slammed into the unicorn and uppercut him. His head flew back and his body slumped to the floor. I looked to and fro, my team was rapidly engaging and dispatching the soldiers taken by surprise.

Unfortunately, they were taking too long.

I turned to my left, hearing the sounds of armored hoofsteps thudding against the hard ground. I lowered my horn, then sent a surge of magic through it. It passed harmlessly by a tent, then the trio of unicorns rounded the corner, horns already lit. Before I could react, a trio of spells flew forth from their horns. I channeled magic into a barrier, which absorbed all three of the spells with ease. The unicorn's heads glanced around, then they returned to pointing their heads at me and released another wave of spells.

I teleported away from the path of the spells. It was a little disorientating, teleporting inside of the anti-teleportation field, but because it was short distance, I had better accuracy. I appeared behind the unicorns, I immediately collapsed my barrier and threw my head towards them, then fired off three spells in rapid succession, one at each unicorn. Each spell hit its mark and pierced the unicorn's armor with ease. Their corpses were thrown forwards and they slumped to the ground, lifeless.

I shivered from the ease at which I dispatched them.

Something collided with me. The impact jarred me, and I blinked several times, then found myself sprawled out on the ground. Thinking quickly, I teleported away. As I reappeared, an earth pony spun around and charged at me. I braced myself for an impact that never came. A streak of rainbow collided with the white mare, knocking her off course. I followed the pair with my eyes. Rainbow pulled away from the soldier as she rolled, then pushed herself back up.

I leveled my horn with her, and the mare froze. Her eyes held fear. Fear that I recognized. It was the kind of fear somepony feels when they know they are about to die. I swallowed, then fired. The blast tore through her armor as easily as it did her flesh.

Jagged Wing was burying his hoof-mounted blades into an earth pony's chest. Storm was flying towards a pair of unicorns, both of which were firing spells at her, but their barrage was aided by more unicorns who were focusing on her.

I teleported, then took a deep breath and threw the trio of unicorns aside with a quick kinetic spell, then turned my attention to Storm. She impacted a unicorn, throwing the mare to the ground and forcing her partner to back up and level his horn at Storm. Storm pulled up and launched herself at the second unicorn. The unicorn sidestepped. I leveled my horn with him and launched a spell at him. He never saw it coming, but his armor held. He stumbled and turned towards me. I raised a barrier to block his attack, and then Storm cleanly dispatched him, sliding a blade between where his neck armor met his chest armor.

Storm somersaulted off of him and backflipped. In the middle of her acrobatic maneuver, she propelled herself away.

Two spells hitting my barrier in synch reminded me of the unicorns I let live. I turned to them and made a note of their position, then quickly surveyed the area for anything else I needed to factor in. Ace was being swarmed by unicorns, and despite him managing to weave between spells, he looked worse for wear.

I couldn't easily locate any of the unicorns focusing on him.

Something solid impacted my barrier and I heard a grunt. I turned towards the source and stepped back, then collapsed my barrier and sidestepped a buck from the mare. I retaliated with my magic. The spell didn't pierce her armor. She lunged at me, I stepped back. Despite wearing armor, I still felt her hoof connect with my chest.

I took a step back and leveled my horn with her, only for her to kick my head. The ground felt shaky as I tried to recover from the blow. I felt another blow, this time coming from my right. I turned towards the source and fired a spell. There was the sound of the magic discharge, and magic streaking through the air, but nothing followed it.

Another impact. I switched tactics. I took a deep breath and charged up a spell, then threw my wings out and released it. A burst of pressure caused my ears to ring. The earth pony attacking me faired worse than I did. She coughed. I turned towards the source of the noise and pointed my horn at her chest. She looked up at me and glared fiercely. Blood ran down her lips. She charged. I released my spell.

The soldier fell to the ground, blood flowing from her neck. She wrapped her hooves around the injury, and I winced. She kicked off her helmet and the illusion collapsed. Her coat was dark pink, and her mane was blue. She writhed on the ground, then managed to push herself up. She locked eyes with me, and I could see fear flooding her as blood flowed out of her neck. I glanced at the ground beneath her, there was already a decent sized pool soaking the grass, and the mare was shaking. How she was still managing to stand eluded me.

I swallowed and stepped back, then turned my attention away from her. I took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. "Princess!" Soarin called. My head shot towards him. He flew towards me and landed. "Lightning says they're regrouping. She's trying to slow them down with some of the bombs, but I don't think it will last long. It may give them pause."

"We need to get to the command tent," I said as I scanned the area.

"I thought we were supposed to be there." Soarin replied. I was surprised that his voice wasn't condemning, considering I was solely responsible for our predicament.

"There was an anti-teleportation field in place. We were lucky I was able to teleport us here at all," I replied.

"Princess Twilight!" A burly voice shouted. I immediately recognized it and winced, then sharply tilted my head to the side and inhaled.

"General Hoof," I said as I turned to my left. The general was flanked by sixteen unicorns, and eight earth ponies were in front of him, though he still commanded attention. His armor was white with golden edges, and his sharp expression looked less than pleased. But, he always looked that way. I swallowed and glanced at the soldiers with him. All of the unicorns had their horns charged and they were pointed directly at me. I glanced at Soarin. "Find any officers you can and eliminate them," I ordered in a hushed voice. I didn't want the general to know what I told him. Soarin's only reaction was him flying away.

"You're under arrest for the crime of treason, Princess." The general said harshly.

I ruffled my wings and took a deep breath, then licked my lips and spread my hooves apart so I had more stability. I said nothing. In the back of my mind, I prepared a list of spells I could use. Some more violent than others.

As it turned out, it was unnecessary.

An explosion rocketed the unicorn ranks, and discharges of electricity jumped from the source to several of the unicorns. The event startled all of them, even the general wasn't unphased by the attack. Five of the unicorns collapsed, then another explosive discharge of lightning felled another three.

Immediately following the second discharge, a barrage of spells launched into the sky. I glanced up and smiled, Storm skillfully avoided the spells while at the same time beelining it away.

The eight earth ponies charged at me. I braced myself and leveled my horn on them. I pointed my horn at the closest one, then launched a spell. The soldier's armor shrugged the spell off. I fired another spell. The spell pierced the armor but hit off center. I poured more magic into the spell and fired it again. It hit the earth pony in his neck, easily piercing his unprotected flesh. The earth pony's body went limp and his momentum propelled his corpse forward.

I lobbed a spell at the ground and stepped back, then repeated the process. The ground erupted where both spells hit, sending some of the soldiers flying. Being earth ponies, they couldn't save themselves like pegasi could.

The unicorns turned their attention back to me. I teleported into the air above them, then lobbed a spell towards them. They scattered before it impacted, but it broke their lines. I teleported to the ground and leveled my horn on the General.

I was surprised when he spun around and charged at me.

I took a breath and stepped out of the way. He slid to a stop beside me and kicked out at me. His hooves connected with air, and he fell off balance. I leveled my horn on him and released a surge of magic. General Hoof was pushed away from me by the impact, but his armor held against my spell. I released another spell. He sidestepped it and lunged at me.

His hoof connected with my temple, and despite wearing armor, everything spun. My headache intensified and I took a step back. I tried to refocus on him, but his other hoof connected with the other side of my head, once more making me reel.

I blinked and tensed my head, then powered up a spell and released it. A forceful burst of magic erupted from my horn, throwing anypony too close to me away. When I steadied myself, I saw General Hoof tumbling on the ground, struggling to right himself. I spread my hooves out, then aimed my horn at him and sent a pulse of magic at him. It hit but his armor once agin held.

A spell flew over my head. I turned to my left and leveled my horn on a group of three unicorns. I sent a quick spell at them. They jumped out of the way, and my spell impacted the ground. Where the spell hit, the ground erupted, leaving a small crater and sending chunks of dirt and grass flying. I pointed my horn at the farthest unicorn from me and released another spell. The spell cut through his armor and pushed him back. Blood leaked out from his injury and covered his armor. If he survived the spell, it wouldn't be long before he bled out.

I leveled my horn on the closest unicorn to me. He was standing up and shaking his head. I pulled magic from my crystal and released it at him. He braced himself and a barrier snapped to life around him. My spell punched through his flimsy barrier like it was nothing, then hit his armor. It didn't cleanly penetrate his armor, but it did punch through it. His face contorted in pain and he cried out in pain and collapsed to the ground, clutching his shoulder. He'd surely bleed out.

I turned back to General Hoof. His buck hit me square in the chest. I felt my armor press against my chest from the force of the impact. I tried to brace myself and recover from the kick, only to find myself falling backward. I immediately rolled over and propelled myself up with my wings. I spun around and aimed my horn at him, then fired a burst of magic. He jumped out of the way and landed on his hooves. I landed out of his range and prepared my magic for another blow.

General Hoof

I wiped blood away from my muzzle and glared venomously at the traitorous princess. If our short skirmish so far had taught me anything, it was that I wasn't as young as I used to be. The alicorn was not even half my age, but what she clearly lacked in experience, she made up for with being an alicorn. I faked to the right, then lunged to the left. Her spell shattered the earth behind me as I rushed her. She leveled her horn at me and a surge of magic erupted from it. I tensed my body and prepared for the impact as I ran straight for it.

My armor held although it heated up and dented from the impact. Twilight looked shocked that I was still running towards her. In the second it took her to process that, I closed the distance and tackled her to the ground. I pulled my hoof back, then threw it at her, attempting to lodge my hoof blade into her throat. Her horn glowed brighter, and just before my blade hit her, she teleported away. I exhaled sharply as my blade embedded itself into the ground and I fell the short distance.

I rolled over and tore my blade from the earth, then spun my head around, searching for her. A cry of pain drew my attention to my right. I spun towards the source of the sound and prepared to charge, only to stop and smile. The princess was writhing on the ground, clutching her side. Blood seeped from a hole in her armor and coated her purple armor a shade of crimson, and despite her efforts to stop the loss of blood with her hooves, it didn't help. She looked in shock and afraid. I knew she had never been hurt like that before, and that she didn't know how to process it. She quickly sent a bolt of magic at her wounder, dispatching him with ease.

She was still an alicorn, though. It would take more than that to kill her. It was a perfect opportunity, however. Killing her while she was down would be much easier than when she was up. If I took the opportunity, Princess Celestia wouldn't be happy, but if I didn't, we could lose the war. Losing the war wasn't an option.

I hurriedly walked over to the princess. She whimpered in pain and looked at me in confusion and fear. I lifted my right hoof, then slammed my blade into her neck, near her jaw. She yelped in pain. Both of her forehooves grabbed at my hoof, and her hind legs flailed about. Her legs hit me a few times, but there wasn't a coordinated effort to buck me away. I glared at her and twisted my hoof, causing the blade to shift in her neck and widen the wound. She cried out in pain and her efforts to fight back doubled in intensity. I yanked my hoof out, and she screamed. Blood flowed down her neck, mixed into her mane and pooled in the grass beneath her.

Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes, and her hoof pressed against her wounded neck. I pressed my hoof against her neck so that the blade bit into her neck and chin. I reangled the blade and pressed. The blade pierced her neck ever so slightly, if she fought back I could easily slip the blade further in and leave her with another life-threatening injury. Her breathing quickened as she seemed to realize her predicament. She stopped struggling and stared at me in horror.

Princess Celestia wanted her alive, but keeping her alive would be a mistake. I pulled back, then slammed my hoof into her neck again, this time near where her neck met her shoulder. She cried out as my blade slid through her unprotected coat and skin, then I twisted the blade and yanked it out. She gasped in shock, unable to form a scream. Her body shivered as more blood flowed out of her body. I pulled back away from her and watched her solemnly.

Spells cut through the air. I jerked my head towards the unicorns still standing. A pegasus slammed into the closest unicorn, and the unicorn's head snapped back, then he fell to the ground. The pegasus jumped off of him, then tackled another unicorn and wrapped his hooves around his neck.

"Twilight!"

I turned back around. A rainbow-maned pegasus glared at me, then lunged at me. I blocked her hoof with my own, then countered and stabbed her in the shoulder with my blade. She grunted and jumped back. Blood seeped from her shoulder. I lunged at her, she tensed up. I tackled her to the ground and held her down, using my weight to my advantage.

Her hooves connected with my abdomen and I grunted, then pulled back my hoof and aimed for her neck. Her hoof deflected mine, and my blade dug into the ground. I grunted and pulled my blade from the ground, then lunged my other hoof at her neck. She looked at my hoof and deflected it. I used the distraction, then slid my blade across her neck. It was a shallow wound, but a wound nonetheless. She cried out in shock, then intensified her struggled to push me off while clutching her neck.

Crimson stained her sky blue coat, and I pinned her free hoof to the ground, then pried her other hoof away and pressed the tip of my blade against her throat. She looked at me in shock and fear. "Keep resisting and you're dead," I spat.

Rainbow glared at me and barred her teeth, then intensified her efforts to push me off. "You-" I pressed my blade into her neck, drawing a trickle of blood from her skin. She tried to pull her head away from my blade, but the ground prevented her from moving away. She glanced at Twilight and I saw fear in her eyes, then she looked back at me with determination. I squinted at her and scrutinized her features, searching for the reason for her determination.

There was an explosion. I looked up towards the source. Magic rolled off of Princess Twilight. I had a bad feeling about it, and I had the feeling that that was the reason for Rainbow's determination.

Two hooves connected with my abdomen. I looked down. Rainbow Dash's hoof met my jaw. I felt a warm fluid roll down my muzzle as I recoiled from the hit. I shook my head sharply and glared the pegasus. She kicked out with her hind legs. I slammed my hoof into one of them. She winced. I pushed her leg into the ground, then recovered and slammed my blade through her flank armor. She whimpered and then bucked me in the head again. Everything spun.

Princess Twilight Sparkle

From the moment a pony is born, they are dying. It is an uncontested fact of life, everything that lives will die. Some ponies die from old age, some ponies die from sickness or disease. Some ponies starve, some ponies freeze. Some ponies are murdered, some ponies fall to death. Ponies could be killed in battle. There were so many different ways to die. Everypony knew that, but nopony ever really talked about it. They took time for granted. They always knew they'd have tomorrow, even if it wasn't a fact.

Every living being can be killed. Ponies, griffins, zebras, changelings, and dragons. Even alicorns can be killed.

Some races were harder to kill than others.

I felt blood pouring from my neck. It was a horrifying feeling, knowing that you were about to die and that you couldn't stop it. I wanted to curl up in a ball and cry, but not moving felt better. Curling up into a ball would have been more comforting, but I didn't have the energy to do that. I should have been able to defend myself. He kept hitting my head, and I couldn't focus. I never expected him to use that tactic.

Pain and coldness. That's what I felt. My entire body ached, some places worse than others. Adrenalin was wearing off, and blood was pooling beneath me. I could feel it. Moving would have hurt a lot.

I had tried to keep fighting, but I wasn't a soldier. I had never fought in a battle. I was a fool to think that attacking the brain of General Hoof's forces was a good idea. I was stupid to think I could pull it off, but it was the only thing I could actually conceive of being successful at. Even with the books I had read, I wasn't prepared for strategizing. Or at least that's what I told myself. I was afraid to screw up. How many ponies would die if I made the wrong decision?

How many had died because of making the wrong decision?

'No!' I shouted at myself. 'You can't give up!' I hissed. 'Lives are at stake! All of Equestria is at stake!'

'I-I'm so tied.' I sobbed.

'Get a hold of yourself! You're an alicorn princess! There are only four alicorns in the world! You killed an ursa major! This is nothing! You can level this entire camp in a heartbeat, and you know it!' I shouted.

I wanted to cover my ears, the voice hurt. 'S-stop... it-it hurts, so badly...'

'No. Not until you fix this. You know what you need to do. You know what you have to do. It is inside of you. Recognize it. Claim it as your own. Use it.' I commanded.

'I-I don't know what t-to do...' I croaked out.

'Yes. You. Do. You're an alicorn. The princess of friendship and magic. If you really don't know what to do, you're pathetic!' I shouted at myself. I winced and closed my eyes. 'Open your eyes.' I commanded.

I struggled to muster the energy to open my eyes back up. They were so heavy, and I was so tired. Eventually, I parted them and looked up at the dark gray sky.

'Now, do you want to let everypony down?' I asked.

'N-no, of course not... but... I-I can't do this!' I answered. 'I-I'm not a soldier, I'm-'

'You're an alicorn!' I hissed. 'Soldiers are nothing compared to you! You killed an Ursa major!'

'I-I didn't want to!' I cried out.

'You did it, though. Why did you do it?' I asked.

'T-to... to protect my ponies an-and my... friends...' I trailed off, starting to smile.

'Good.' I replied warmly.

Warmth. I felt warmth. It was wonderful. It was like the feeling of the sun breaking through the clouds on a cold winter day. The feeling of lying in the sun on the beach, letting the sun's rays warm your coat. It was revitalizing.

A shiver ran down my spine as the warmth fought back the cold.

The warmth prevailed. Cold is the absence of heat energy. The warmth's energy filled my body.

It was welcoming and familiar. Like the embrace of an old friend you hadn't seen in years, but they welcomed you back and pulled you into the biggest hug you had felt. It was like Pinkie Pie throwing a party just for you and inviting the entire town to celebrate, and then everypony giving you a friendly hug.

It was strong and kind. The warmth was like a pony who you could always count on, like your best friend, but closer than just your best friend. You could count on them for anything. A shoulder to cry on, somepony to tell all your woes to, somepony who would rock you to sleep and stay with you when you couldn't sleep, like a mother.

It was familiar. It was a part of me. It reminded me of the feeling of using the Elements of Harmony with my friends.

I felt calm.

The magic swam through my body, reinvigorating me and dulling the pain.

My hoof slid away from my neck. I closed my eyes, then inhaled deeply, then channeled magic into my horn.

I felt alive.

I was the protege of Princess Celestia. I was one of the most powerful unicorns alive, even as a filly. I levitated an Ursa minor as a young mare. I was the bearer of the Element of Magic. I was the Princess of Friendship.

And I was an alicorn.

Chapter 26

Princess Twilight Sparkle

Magic rolled off of my body and the very air was distorted from my magic. I could feel the magic flowing through me and out through my skin. It flowed over my whole body, but it was most pronounced along my neck and right side. I could all but feel my skin growing back and sealing from the magic. The sensation was difficult to describe, it was cold, warm, and tingly all at the same time. It was unpleasant and not something I wanted to experience again, but I felt renewed and stronger than before. Despite feeling renewed, there was still an overwhelming sense of tiredness at the back of my mind. I focused on it to analyze it and felt my legs buckle. I almost collapsed, and it was only because of the magic that I didn't fall to the ground.

'I lost a lot of blood...' Truth be told, I had no idea how much blood I had lost, though if my calculations were correct, General Hoof hit my artery, so I had been bleeding out before the wound healed. Unfortunately, my magic didn't replace the lost blood, and as the milliseconds passed, the magic grew weaker. It was a magic surge. It was the only thing that made sense. What didn't make sense was how strong it was. I had a magic surge when I was a filly, and at that time I could have thrown an Ursa minor, with ease. Right now I felt like I could have compressed an Ursa major until-

I grunted as a wave of pain rolled through my body. 'I'm running out of time...' The thought was condemning. The magic surge wouldn't last forever, and it was rapidly dissipating. Unlike when I was a filly, I was badly injured, so the magic would leave me if I didn't use it soon. I needed to focus if I wanted to survive. 'Survive...' I felt a wave of coldness roll over my body. That was exactly what the situation had come down to. I had failed. If I didn't act quickly, I would... die, and ponies I cared about would die. As it was, it might already have been too late for myself, but... if I could save somepony, then I would.

I had expected the thought to paralyze me, thinking that I was going to die, but instead, I felt calm. Perhaps it was the magic, maybe the idea wasn't as scary as I had thought, or maybe it was blood loss, but I wasn't afraid. Dying for somepony was a highly romanticized idea. The idea of laying down one's life for someone you loved, or dying in place of a friend. It was noble, and it felt right. If I was going to die, I would at least save as many ponies as I could, even if it meant I had to kill even more ponies to protect them. I didn't question my logic, though I had the feeling that my mental faculties were compromised by blood loss and that it would come back to bite me in the flank later.

I took a second to look around. Rainbow Dash caught my attention first. She was locked in battle with General Hoof, and she looked like she was losing. My first instinct was to intervene, but I fought against it. It was hard, but I had to make a bigger difference than that. Killing the general would have been a great benefit, and it would have saved many lives, but there were still more officers, and then there were the soldiers. Thousands of soldiers that would decimate my forces, likely even if the general was killed. At the very least, my team would be captured or killed, even if I silenced the general.

I reached into the well of magic and took hold of it. It was different from the magic I was used to wielding. It was my magic, but it didn't feel the same. It felt stronger, more... 'Regal? Alicorn magic? But... I don't have... that much alicorn magic...' I frowned at the thought. 'The surge... alicorn magic?' I shivered at the thought, then smiled. I once had the magic of four alicorns, and I could have leveled mountains with it. The surge wasn't as strong as that, but it was comparable to it. And unlike then, I wasn't going to hold back. I wasn't going to kill with this magic.

I was going to slaughter.

There was something else in my magic, but I couldn't quite place it. It was familiar but felt colder than I was used to. Since I had limited experience with using alicorn magic, I pushed the worry aside and grabbed onto all of the magic that I could, then bent it to my will. The magic didn't resist, it felt welcoming, like it had been just sitting there, waiting for me, like it was an old friend welcoming me back. I didn't have time to consider the feeling, and I immediately put the magic to work.

Even as I focused the magic into my horn, it continued to disperse. I needed to make the most out of it in the short time I had before it all left me. A spell flashed through my mind. It was a single spell, a powerful spell. A spell I knew I would regret using, but it wasn't enough. A second spell joined it, then a third. I quickly processed the spells, then I combined them. It wasn't the most efficient or prettiest spell I had designed, but it would work for what I needed it to.

I channeled as much magic as I could into the spell. Each joule of magic drained me, and the cold grip of exhaustion spread from the back of my mind to the forefront. I felt so, so tired. I just wanted to lay down in the grass and go to sleep, and I didn't care if I woke up or not. I fought against the exhaustion and urge to sleep, I could rest after I finished the spell, after I saved my team, after I killed General Hoof.

I felt a pulse of magic fly just over my body. The unicorns that had been watching Soarin and Ace were attacking me. Defending against their attacks was simple with the magic I wielded. It was comparable to staying dry in a desert, it would take more effort to fail than it would to succeed. Soarin and Ace rushed the unicorns and tackled them.

I felt grass against my knees, and my head felt heavy. Somepony screamed. I couldn't process anything other than a scream. I couldn't tell if it was a stallion or a mare, somepony young or old. All I knew is somepony screamed.

My eyes felt heavy, and I struggled to keep a hold on the magic I was using. I felt my armor heating up. My barrier must have collapsed. I reached into my well of magic that was the Twilight Crystal, and took that magic, then forged it into a barrier. Pink light shimmered before my eyes. It was so bright, I had to close my eyes to stop the blinding light from giving me a headache. The light still managed to find its way through my closed eyelids.

The spell finished, I released it. There was an impossibly loud crack as magic erupted from my horn. Something hard hit my muzzle, then I felt lighter than a feather. I felt like I was weightless, drifting in an empty void of space. No sound, no light, no gravity, nothing to disturb me. It was... peaceful.

A fierce pulse of lavender magic erupted from Twilight's horn. The powerful wave of magic was directed by Twilight's will, and it harmlessly flowed over Rainbow Dash. General Hoof wasn't as lucky. As the magic expanded outwards, more ponies were consumed by the full force of the directed spell, and as the spell radiated into the surrounding tents, ponies who were on standby disappeared, sometimes one by one, sometimes in waves, but when the wave finished, only a few ponies remained, and the camp was deathly silent. Not a sound, nor a peep, save for heavy breathing from a few pegasi who stood unscathed at the epicenter of the event.

Corporal Speed Run

Aside from a few stray spells flying off into the sky, likely the result of unicorns missing their target, the forest was mostly calm. Although, there was an occasional barrage of spells from unicorn artillery. I shook the thought aside and resumed taking mental notes of everything I saw.

Judging from the number of sources of light I saw, General Hoof had deployed a large portion of his army in the offensive, but they were barely making any headway, between the fog and constant pegasi strafes. Occasional dull cracks of thunder could be heard, the result of lightning bombs being detonated, but for the most part, it was quiet.

The silence was probably the most unnerving part of it, ponies thought of battle as loud and chaotic- which it is, but only when you're in the middle of the action, or coordinating the fight and have ponies darting about issuing orders. When you were a scout and flying above the battle, but still close enough to be effective, it was quiet, unless you were really close to the fighting.

I looked away from the forest and scanned the horizon. All our information we had so far said General Hoof had no pegasi to back him up. It made my job, and the jobs of other scouts much easier. It was almost unbelievable that he had no pegasi support, and it was sure to cost him greatly.

I could see some pegasi around, but they were all far away. Even with air superiority, Princess Twilight knew it was stupid to try to engage General Hoof's forces in mass, it would end in a bloodbath for the pegasi. The bombing runs we were doing limited the danger to us, we could engage them without having to worry about earth ponies' physical strength or running into a wall of spells from unicorns. The small squads deployed in the forest were perfect targets for pegasi squadrons to attack. So far, General Hoof hadn't figured out his mistake, and we were punishing him severely for it.

I veered left and looked back down at the forest. Cool air blew through my mane and tail. I sniffed the air, and I could tell that they were getting ready to use the storm. The fog hadn't been as useful as expected, but we still had the storm. General Hoof was a fool, sending forces in beneath a storm front. The old earth pony should have just retired, but he was too stubborn.

From what I had heard, though, he was used to sending his troops into bad situations and succeeding. He didn't have the lowest casualty counts.

I veered to the right. Over the next few minutes I ran my patrol from memory, never slowing, and always taking note of the glows that marked unicorn groups. I beat my wings a little harder and gained some altitude as I approached General Hoof's encampment. It was still a good three miles away, but it was better safe than sorry.

It would have been more accurate to say that the encampment was his primary one, he had three total, each setup a few miles apart. The encampment I was supposed to fly by just happened to be the one where he was coordinating the battle. The rows and rows of pale tents could almost have been mistaken for our own camp, except the color-

A brilliant flash of pink erupted from the camp. The light was so intense that I had to squint to see what had happened. I felt cold air run across my lips. I blinked in shock and closed my mouth. A massive wall of lavender expanded outwards from the camp. The wall faded rapidly as it expanded. In the span of a few seconds, the pink sphere encompassed the entire camp, then continued outwards. Despite being several miles away from the wall of magic, I felt fear. I had never seen anything like it, and I had no idea what it was. There wasn't even any sound, just light. I found myself hovering in the air as I watched it, unable to bring myself to turn around and fly away, despite the uncertainty I felt from watching the wall expand to encompass the entire camp.

The wave started to dissipate even quicker after the whole camp was surrounded by it, and a second later I could see through the wall. It was hard to tell from the distance, but it was obvious that something had changed in the camp. A few seconds later, the wave of pink completely disappeared, and the camp was noticeably darker. I almost thought I could see light gray rising from the encampment, but I wasn't sure.

I clenched my jaw and hovered in the air for several seconds, processing what I saw and attempting to calm my rapid heartbeat. 'General Spitfire will want to know about this... I should turn... back, or maybe I shouldn't. She'd want more details and somepony else will definitely have seen that.. I closed my mouth and licked my lips, then picked up speed, despite fearing whatever had caused... whatever that was.

Rainbow Dash

It was so quiet, it was like I was flying in the sky, but there was no air or breeze. Everything ceased to exist or matter. Just silence. I pressed my eyelids closed, then opened them. My ears rang, my eyes stung from tears. My flank, abdomen, neck, and chest all hurt. The armor I wore had saved my life. I blinked again, then pressed my hoof against my neck. The wound was light, but it still stung. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, then inhaled deeply. I coughed. It hurt. Breathing hurt, coughing hurt.

I rolled over onto my stomach, then removed my hoof from my neck and pressed against the ground. My hooves and legs hurt, it was like I had been working out all day without stopping, but worse. I heard subtle hoofsteps approaching me. I turned towards the source. Ace looked at me somberly and absently. He extended a hoof and looked around at the camp. I wrapped my hoof around his and pulled myself up. He looked back at me, I met his gaze and he nodded. He turned and looked around. There was a large scorch in his armor, stretching at an angle from his shoulder to a few inches from his wing. The edge of the scorch mark looked like the metal had melted and fused from extreme heat. I shivered, feeling cold.

I shook my head and blinked, then looked around for anypony still around. It was no wonder everything was quiet, I could only see Soarin, Ace, and Jagged Wing. All three of them looked wary, uneasy, very tired, and very distracted. The lack of Princess Celestia's soldiers was unnerving. I blinked a couple of times to make sure that my eyes were working right. There weren't even any bodies or armor lying about. The tents were burnt to a crisp. I felt apprehensive about the situation. 'Twilight... what did you do?' I had known Twilight was powerful, but I had never really been afraid of the small purple alicorn until that moment. She was responsible for the destruction I saw. The only ponies around were her friends, and all of General Hoof's forces, including the general himself, were just... gone without a trace.

I swallowed. My throat hurt and swallowing made my neck burn worse. I turned back to where I had last seen Twilight. My stomach dropped out from under me. I thought I was going to vomit. My heartbeat steadily increased, and I felt like I was suffocating. The atmosphere felt oppressively hot and stagnate. I felt like I was trapped in a small room with no windows.

I fought through the fear and ran over to Twilight. My eyes stung, and everything was blurry. I sat down beside her and pulled off a gauntlet, then extended a shaky hoof and pressed against her neck. I pulled back and I thought my heart was going to stop. Her body was so cold, almost like ice, and blood had coated her coat crimson. I slowly extended my hoof back out and pressed against Twilight's neck. The still warm blood flowed away from my hoof at the contact. Underneath her coat, I could feel a faint pulse. I pulled my hoof back and smiled, despite Twilight's blood literally being on my hoof, then frowned. I put my hoof over her muzzle, but I was careful not to touch it, I didn't want any of her blood on her muzzle, and she just looked so fragile. There was almost no airflow, she was barely breathing.

"Soarin!" I shouted, then turned to where I last saw him. He limped over to me. Ace flew over, then landed. I stepped back and he took my position. His expression was fear, and Soarin's expression was sobering.

"Chert..." Ace hissed. He pulled off his gauntlet, then pressed his hoof against Twilight's neck. He looked to the side and his eyes darted about. He moved his hoof up Twilight's neck. "She is still alive. Not good shape. Need leave now," he rambled off quickly.

I brought my bare hoof to my face and wiped away tears from my eyes with the back of my hoof. I was careful to make sure I didn't smear any of Twilight's blood on me. "Sh-she's going to be alright, though, right?" I stuttered pleadingly. She had to survive, she was my friend. If she died... I would have failed again. I would have failed her and everypony. I literally had her blood on my hooves.

Ace stood up and looked behind Twilight's body. He grimaced. "She lost lot of blood." He slid his hoof across her neck. "Wounds... healed?" He sounded surprised.

"She's an alicorn..." Soarin muttered.

Ace turned to face Soarin. I couldn't see his expression, but judging from Soarin's reaction, it wasn't good. "She's in bad shape," Ace stressed.

Soarin clenched his jaw, and I could see his jaw muscles flexing and relaxing. He looked around and gazed off into the distance. "We need to get out of here," he ordered. He quickly turned to his left. "Jagged!" he yelled.

Jagged Wing immediately landed beside him and saluted him. "I can't find Storm or Lightning anywhere," he reported in a stoic voice. Despite his attempt to mask it, I could see the pain from not knowing where the two mares were in his eyes.

"They might have gone back to base..." Soarin's voice betrayed him, instead of being reassuring, he sounded worried.

"They could still be here." Jagged replied evenly.

Soarin closed his eyes and shook his head. "We can't wait for them. Twilight's in bad shape," he rebuked. He turned to me and looked at me seriously. "Rainbow, none of us are in great shape, and you're probably the best flier of all of us."

I swallowed and met his gaze. "What do you need, Lieutenant?" I said as professionally as I could.

He looked at Twilight. "Think you can fly her back to base?" He looked back at me. He didn't say it, but I could see it in his eyes. He was worried for Twilight's life. Even with Twilight being an alicorn, I doubted she could survive being left here for long, and certainly not long enough for help to arrive.

If help was even coming.

I lifted my unarmored hoof to my head and saluted Soarin. "Yes, sir..." I looked at Twilight and swallowed. Her life was in my hooves. If I failed her again... she'd die.

"Good," Soarin sighed. "Ace, Jagged... We'll stick together. Rainbow, you just get Princess Twilight back to base as quickly as you can. Understand?"

I looked at him and nodded seriously. I stepped closer to Twilight, then folded my arms and bent down. Ace and Jagged got on either end of Twilight then lifted her up. I lowered my head to the ground so that they didn't have to lift her as high. I stared at her pool of blood while the two put her on my back. She was heavier than I had expected, though I should have realized her armor contributed to that weight. I stood back up and looked at Soarin. He saluted me. I nodded and spread my wings, then beat them as hard as I could.

It took me a few minutes to get to altitude, and by the time I did, somepony had given the order to start the storm. It had started out light, but as I pushed further into the storm front, it intensified. Rain beat down from the clouds, I flew just below the cloud layer. If I flew above it, it would be even colder than it was under the storm, despite the cold rain falling from the clouds above me. I beat my wings as hard as I could and folded my legs against my body so I could fly faster. Twilight hadn't moved since she was put on my back, and fear plagued my mind. 'What if I'm too slow?'

I bit my lip and forced the thought away, I couldn't afford to be distracted. I flew headlong into the storm. Bolts of lightning passed around us but never hit us. The winds shifted and fought against me. Cold rain was blown into my face, the drops were heavy and hit hard. I squinted my eyes to protect them from the assault. I looked back behind me. I could see Soarin, Ace, and Jagged's silhouettes trailing behind me. The trio was flying slower than normal, likely in an attempt to divert any attention from me. They were probably exhausted too.

I glanced down at the forest beneath me. It was hard to see, but occasionally I saw a flash or pulse of light. A few spots I glimpsed a steady glow, but I couldn't make out the color for the storm. A few stray bolts of magic darted across the sky, having missed their intended targets. A barrage of spells arced through the sky and laid waste to a small section of the forest. Several trees fell under the bombardment of what looked like twenty spells. I didn't know if the spells hit their marks, but it did a number on the forest.

I pressed on. I could see orbs of magic hovering in the air and illuminating sections of the forest. Those areas were quickly peppered by a series of bright flashes. They were easy targets for any pegasus with the lightning bombs we had. I could only guess at the effectiveness. I couldn't even hear any sounds of battle for the storm. The wind, rain and thunder drowned out all other sounds, even my own breathing.

Despite wearing armor, the rain seeped into my coat, and my ears felt like ice. My wings burned and felt heavy, but I wasn't going to stop. I had to succeed, all of Equestria was counting on me. I was not going to let a princess and my friend die without fighting to keep her alive. Several spells shot up from a clearing in the forest, each spell flying off into the sky at a wild angle, evidence of unicorns attempting to target pegasi and missing. I still had no idea how many spells had hit their targets.

I nearly flew into a strike of lightning. I was blinded and felt disorientated as the air shook violently. The reverberation echoed in my lungs. I coughed and fell through the air before righting myself and flying on instinct. The winds shifted. A gust of wind pushed me in the direction I needed to go. That gust of wind turned into a strong tailwind which propelled me towards my destination. 'Soarin... I hope you guys are having the same luck I am.' I thought.

Time was meaningless. I could see my destination. It looked so far away, but I was close. I could almost taste victory. More spells arced through the air, coming from the direction of our camp. I followed the spells with my eyes until they landed in the forest out of my line of sight. Almost immediately after them, another barrage came from the same direction, but the angle caused them to fly far off from the first zone.

More bolts of magic flew through the sky from the forest. I watched them carefully. Their sources were moving away from our camp. They were retreating. Victory tasted sweet. I glanced back at Twilight. Her wings hung loosely just behind mine, and her wet mane billowed across my armor. The rain wasn't completely bad. It looked like most of her blood had been washed from her coat, but I wasn't looking at the side of her neck that had been cut.

I looked back forwards and beat my wings harder and faster. I could almost feel the air breaking in front of me to accommodate our bodies.

General Spitfire

I could hear the storm raging off in the distance, but I ignored it and focused on the map before me. Reports were still coming in, but one thing was absolutely clear. We were winning, and early field reports coming in said that the enemy was retreating. Calling it a retreat was generous, it was less of a strategic withdraw, and more of a full route.

A pegasus officer across the table extended out a stick and then pulled a unicorn figurine back. Over the next few seconds, the map was readjusted. The general retreat was back towards their camp. That wasn't a good thing, it meant Princess Twilight and her team would have more trouble. However, we were compensating for it.

Scouts were still coming in and bringing information with them, but the delay between sending one out and receiving updated information was long. Scouts were being sent out while other scouts were still on their way to survey the battlefield. Most of the scouts were surviving and returning in a timely manner, though. They also brought good reports. Last reports indicated that the unicorns and earth ponies in the field were woefully underprepared for our tactics. They had expected us to engage them in close combat, they had no idea we had developed lightning bombs, and those bombs were proving more effective than we had anticipated.

General Hoof's artillery unicorns had proven woefully inadequate against us as well. They were unable to provide effective and timely support for unicorns on the front lines battling our pegasi, and they were out of range to bombard our positions. It wasn't long before they stopped attempting to provide support.

Supply reports weren't as good. We had depleted nearly three-fourths of our supply of lightning bombs. Conservative reports put General Hoof's casualties around two thousand. His earth ponies weren't really providing any advantage to his unicorns, they were just sitting ducks.

It was a bloodbath.

The storm was certainly helping us about as much as expected. It hampered general Hoof's forces mobility and reduced their visibility. We had overestimated how long the fog would last, the unicorns had used spells to clear it up, but even then it was slow going for them, and while they were clearing the fog out, they were easy targets for airborne pegasi to engage.

All in all, the battle was an assured victory. Even the most liberal estimates of our casualties put us at around only one thousand five hundred casualties. The low-end estimates put us around two hundred and fifty. The real number was likely somewhere in the middle of the two numbers. A lot of ponies were unaccounted for, likely because they were still out in the battle or returning.

"General Spitfire! You're needed in the infirmary immediately!" A pony called. His grave tone was a dead giveaway that something was wrong, and the fact that that anypony thought something warranted my attention made my blood run cold. I took a second to compose myself, it was unlikely that something bad enough had happened that I was needed. I was busy commanding an army. Whatever demanded my immediate attention could wait.

I turned to him. He was a light brown unicorn with a dark mane and soft green eyes. "I have more important things to do than going to the infirmary, Sergeant," I said dismissively and returned my attention to the map. A pegasus landed and hastily handed a unicorn a scroll.

"G-General, it's important!" The unicorn persisted.

I turned towards him and glared at him. "If it's so important, stop wasting time and tell me already," I demanded.

The unicorn bit his lip and shifted his weight on his hooves. "W-well, it's... Princess Twilight." I could almost hear the activity of the entire tent slow down.

"What?" I demanded. I glanced back around at the other officers in the tent. One swift glare from me was all the encouragement they needed to get back to work. I turned back to the unicorn.

"Princess Twilight has been badly injured in battle, and one of the doctors has requested your immediate presence," he said.

I clenched my jaw and looked around the tent, then nodded at General Fleetfoot. "You have command," I said, then I curtly walked over to the unicorn. He shifted his weight again and walked out of the tent. He was uneasy and jumpy. 'Princess... what did you do?' I gritted my teeth at the thought. If she was injured and in the infirmary, then the battle wasn't an assured victory and at worst, it was a total loss.

The first thing I noticed about the infirmary tent that the unicorn had brought me to was that the farthest section away from the opening had been segregated from the rest of the tent with a simple fabric curtain which was hanging from the ceiling and touching the ground. It looked like about four beds, two on each side of the aisle, were separated from the rest of the tent. The second thing that drew my attention, and probably the most concerning, was that I could see Rainbow's head sticking out from behind the curtain. It looked like she was standing between two beds, but I couldn't tell for sure. From what I could see of her, her mane was a mess and her eyes didn't hold the same gleam they normally did.

I clenched my jaw and turned to the unicorn. "Thank you, dismissed." I said quickly, then made my way into the tent. Two guards standing inside the tent went rigid as I walked passed them. A couple medics darted out from the curtained area. Neither one of them met my gaze or said anything. I stepped to the side to let them pass and continued on. I braced myself for whatever I was going to see on the other side of the curtain and stepped passed it.

Rainbow looked at me, she looked haunted and exhausted. I took a deep breath and looked at the alicorn lying on the bed to her right. Her armor was lying in a pile at the foot of the bed, and three heavy blankets were covering up her body. The doctor standing on the other side of Twilight looked up at me. His eyes held fear. "General! Thank..." he trailed off and frowned, "you for coming so quickly!" I glanced at the doctor, then looked back at the princess. Her eyes were closed, and she almost looked like she was dead. I had to watch her for several seconds before I saw her chest move, confirming that she was indeed alive. I could almost feel the hairs on my back standing up, whatever had happened clearly very nearly killed her. It was a sobering realization.

I looked up at the doctor and took a few seconds to recompose myself. "What happened?" I asked hastily.

The doctor was taken by surprise by how sharp my question was. It took him a second to recover. "S-she lost a lot of blood, general. From what we could tell, her carotid artery was badly cut. She's very weak right now, and she's very magically drained. Scans show that she might have had a magic surge, and they also show that magic was responsible for healing her injuries, likely a result of the magic surge and her alicorn nature," he explained.

Fear was a strange emotion. One I rarely felt, but knowing that Twilight's carotid artery was cut was more than enough to make me shiver. It wouldn't have taken a lot to kill her after that. She could have bled out before anypony could have helped her. Her being an alicorn was the only reason she was still alive. I didn't need to ask to know that. I swallowed. "What are her chances?" I asked.

"She lost more than half her blood volume. We can't give her a transfusion to stabilize her because she's an alicorn, her body would reject the blood. The magic surge likely saved her life. When Captain Dash here-" the unicorn pointed at Rainbow Dash. She looked so passive, it was a stunning contrast to how brash she normally was. "-brought her in, her wounds had already healed. If they hadn't, she would be dead. She's not out of the woods yet, General, but if she survives the night, she will most likely be okay."

"Keep her alive." I ordered. "We need her."

He looked me in the eye and nodded. "We'll do our best, but no promises."

I clenched my jaw and glared at Rainbow. "What the Tartarus happened out there?" I demanded.

Rainbow Dash went rigid. Her voice was ominous, "It... she was injured in the battle-"

I looked back at Princess Twilight and took a deep breath. "Injured how?" I demanded.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rainbow shift her weight. "She engaged General Hoof... I think she was caught off guard, a unicorn's spell hit her body and broke through her armor. After that, General Hoof managed to stab her neck at least twice. She lost... so much blood. I... we thought she was going to die..." I turned to look at Rainbow. She had her eyes pressed together and I could see tears trailing down from the corners of her eyes, despite them being closed. Perhaps the most telling part, however, was that she was sitting on her haunches, and her left flank had a bandage on it that curved around the back. I recognized shock when I saw it.

I let my expression soften. Rainbow was new and inexperienced, but that still wasn't an excuse. "You were assigned to protect her. Where were you?" I demanded in a cold voice a few degrees warmer than it had been. Rainbow had a bad track record already, having made multiple mistakes before, though the only thing quite like this was getting captured, although that could be blamed on Princess Twilight's decision to not have her wear armor when escorting Fluttershy.

Rainbow opened her eyes and looked at me. "I was trying to secure the area with Lieutenant Soarin and Ace."

"You were supposed to watch the princess like a hawk. She personally chose you as her bodyguard!" Rainbow winced from my verbal assault. I paused to take a deep breath, then continued in a quieter voice, "You're lucky she's still alive." I turned around and surveyed the rest of the curtained off area to make sure I hadn't missed anypony else at first glance. "Where is the rest of your team?"

"I-I don't know. Soarin, Ace, and Jagged were flying behind me. Soarin ordered me to fly ahead and bring Princess Twilight back, and... We don't know where Storm and Lightning Strike are."

I looked seriously at Princess Twilight. If she was awake, I would have had more than a few choice words to say to her. The next time she wanted to lead a mission on her own, Tartarus would freeze before I let her do that. She nearly broke down on her first mission, and on her second mission she nearly died. If that wasn't a bad track record that was asking for problems, then nothing was. I turned back to Rainbow and looked at her seriously. "You had better have a solid report compiled after this is over, and if anything happens to her while she's under your watch again..." I trailed off, Rainbow closed her eyes and nodded quickly. "We'll debrief at ten-hundred hours sharp in the morning." I turned to the doctor and looked at him seriously. "You let me know the second anything changes."

He went rigid and saluted me. "Yes, ma'am!"

I turned around and proceeded out of the tent. The two guards looked scared as I passed. I paused and realized they weren't the only ones who looked scared. I took a deep breath and shifted my wings. After composing myself, I looked at both of them, then left the tent.

Rainbow Dash

Ace grunted. I looked up from the floor. One of the medics was applying some kind of liquid to his burn which ran from about the middle of his shoulder at an angle up his back, ending a few inches in front of his wing. Despite the only source of light coming from a small lamp hanging from the top of the tent in the middle of the room, I could easily see his jaw muscles flexing. I got out lucky compared to him. I looked back at my flank. The small bandage was barely noticeable, except when sitting down. The wound ached constantly, but it was tolerable for the most part. My neck stung from where General Hoof cut me, my shoulder was bandaged from him piercing my armor with his blade, and my legs and wings ached.

I looked back at Ace. The medic applied more of the liquid to his burn. His face scrunched up in pain, and he exhaled sharply. Soarin patted Ace on the shoulder, drawing Ace's gaze away from the opposite side of the tent. The curtain opened, I turned to see Jagged walk in with a somber look on his face. "Lightning Strike and Storm are still missing." He said evenly.

Soarin grimaced and sighed. "Is the battle still-"

"Yes, Lieutenant. The battle is still going on, but it's mostly dealing with stragglers from the withdraw," Jagged answered. "Scouts are searching for them, but it's a large area to cover, especially when you consider that most of the area is a forest and that it's night."

I shifted my weight and looked at the bed below me. The team was close, all of them were friends. It had been clear from the start, they might not have shown it as easily as some of them had, but they were close. I closed my eyes and lifted a hoof to my temple, then rubbed it in a small circle. 'This...' The sight of Twilight laying on the ground with blood coating her neck flashed through my mind. I opened my eyes and shivered. 'Isn't awesome at all...'

Soarin said something, but I didn't listen to what he said. Ace said something, but it was drowned out by my thoughts.

I had wanted to be a Wonderbolt my entire life, ever since I was a filly it was my dream. In a way, I was now a Wonderbolt, I was in the Wonderbolt Reserve and fighting alongside Wonderbolts, while protecting Twilight at the same time. It wasn't anything like I had imagined. I got captured and locked in a prison in Canterlot for several weeks because I couldn't defend myself. I fought alongside Soarin's team in a battle, and our part of that battle didn't go well. Lightning Strike and Storm were missing. Ace was wounded, and Twilight nearly died. I nearly died. I looked up and tilted my head to the right. Twilight was still lying in her bed, nearly unmoving. The same unicorn doctor who stood there when Spitfire was here still stood beside Twilight, keeping a close eye on her. Twilight's chest still barely rose with each weak breath she took. 'How much did it take from her to save us all? If she hadn't... had to do that, she wouldn't be here... She could have died.'

She knew it was risky. I knew it was risky. Everypony knew our mission was risky. It... worked, and we won, but it didn't feel like a victory. Only a handful of ponies outside of the tent knew about Twilight's condition. 'How am I going to explain this to the girls?' I doubted Spitfire would even let me tell them about it. It would cause panic. Even Spitfire had been afraid when she saw Twilight lying in bed.

'If you hadn't saved us... I'd be dead right now.' I shivered from a combination of cold and fear. I wouldn't admit that fear played a part in it, but it did. I was Rainbow Dash, after all. I turned away from Twilight. Jagged had left the room, and everything had fallen silent. The medic had left too, leaving the five of us in silence. That silence felt oppressive.

I shifted my weight and turned around so that my head was lying on the pillow, then I rolled myself over onto my back. I pulled the blanket over my body. I slowly pulled it tight about my body, then I laid my hooves on my chest.

Soarin and Ace both watched me. Several seconds passed, then Ace turned to Soarin. Soarin glanced at Ace and grimaced. "Rainbow, are you alright? You haven't said a lot, and-"

I nodded my head. "Y-yeah, I'm fine... Just... a little tired." I wanted to smile to convince them, but no smile came. I looked up at the top of the tent, not wanting to see how they looked at me.

"Considering everything that happened, you did good today, Rainbow," Soarin said gently. I could tell that he didn't believe my excuse. He knew I lied, and he knew something was wrong.

"It doesn't feel like I did good," I replied. "Twilight almost died."

"We all knew the risks and so did she. It didn't go as planned, but it was still a success," Soarin said.

I looked back at Soarin. "She lead mission to save lives, Rainbow. Even at threat of losing her own," Ace said in a somber voice.

I nodded at that. "I'm supposed to protect her. She trusted me to protect her. She trusted me with her life! And..." I tilted my head towards her. "Now she's here, barely alive."

"We didn't have many options, odds were against us. If we had not attacked, we lose. She knew that." Ace replied. "She saved hundreds, maybe thousands of lives. Not every victory is easy. If we had stayed back, many more ponies would have died, and we probably would have lost the battle."

I clenched my eyes shut. 'I didn't do enough...' I should have stayed beside her. I should have paid more attention to her. I should have done something! 'By the time I realized she was in trouble, it was too late... if she hadn't have had that magic surge, we'd all be dead... I should have fought harder, I could have beaten General Hoof!' The thought brought back the memory of pain from him slicing my neck, along with him pressing his blade it into my neck.

Chapter 27

General Maneuver

The rows of pale gray tents before me were a very familiar sight. I had walked the path many times before, although never with quite so much urgency. Given that General Hoof hadn't been heard from and that his army was in bad shape, having sustained nearly a thirty-three percent casualty ratio, my urgency could be understood. But of course that completely ignored the most pressing issue: Princess Luna. The scout that had just returned walked beside me, the pegasus's golden armor had a burn mark from where a spell glanced off of it, and he had a crimson stain running down his neck. He ignored his wound as much as it allowed him to. He was focused. I could see hesitation and fear in his eyes, but I could also see determination in them too. He had followed his orders to the letter despite the fear. He was a good soldier.

According to him, he had seen Princess Luna herself looking over a brigade of unicorns. I had a very bad feeling about that. Hearing him say that caused a red flag to raise in the forefront of my mind. It was only a matter of time before the attack began. We couldn't afford to lose Orange River Valley, and we wouldn't. The valley itself served as a major chokepoint between Princess Luna's forces and Princess Celestia's forces. The valley, which could also be described as a pass, was a fertile strip of land set between two mountain ranges that were rich with resources. The rocky and forested terrain made the mountains difficult to attack by ground forces, which allowed us to bottleneck Princess Luna's forces in the valley even though they outnumbered us in terms of pegasi. Princess Luna's ground forces also outnumbered us, but the valley gave us an advantage by reducing the area that they could attack. Princess Luna's soldiers seemed to have better military 'competency' as General Breaker put it, but our forces weren't incompetent either. Drill sergeants, instructors, and hours of training made sure of that. We also had a few surprises ready for Princess Luna's forces. Of course, if push came to shove and Princess Luna took to the field, there wasn't very much we could do, with the exception of slowing her down.

A soldier's eyes glanced at me while I walked by. The glance was brief, but I could see the fear and morale loss in his eyes. News of General Hoof's defeat hit morale hard, especially considering he outnumbered Princess Twilight's forces two to one. It didn't help that the last battle I had fought was also a loss.

That memory left a bitter taste in my mouth. I forced it away and pressed on. The only way to prevent history from repeating itself was to learn from mistakes. I was not about to make the same mistake as before.

Two unicorns, one on each side of the entrance to the tent that served as headquarters went rigid as I approached. They saluted me and lit their horns, pulling the tent flaps open for me. I returned the salute and continued inside.

"General Maneuver," General Breaker acknowledged.

"General," I replied.

The unicorn glanced at the pegasus scout beside me and grimaced, understanding that the scout had seen something important. "What have you to report?"

The scout went rigid. "I spotted Princess Luna rallying her forces, commander. I counted fifty plus unicorns in heavy armor, sir..."

He continued speaking. I blocked it out. I had already heard his report and I didn't need to hear it again. I walked to the center of the room and glanced over the map. Our positions were marked by yellow pieces, and Princess Luna's positions were marked by blue pieces. There were also pink pieces stationed in reserve, soldiers from the Crystal Empire who would back us up if Princess Luna overcommitted, or joined the battle herself. Princess Luna's forces may have outnumbered General Breaker and my own combined forces, but with an army of soldiers from the Crystal Empire, that balance was tipped in our favor.

It also helped that these soldiers were displaced in time by over one thousand years.

"Seems like only yesterday we were at the academy... and now this," General Breaker commented, coming to a stop beside me. I nodded in agreement. Time had flown by quickly. Perhaps too quickly, now that I thought about it. I had never intended to devote my life to the military, but the time just got away from me. "Everypony's talking about how General Hoof was defeated by Princess Twilight's forces."

"Do we have any idea what caused that pulse?" I asked, thinking back to the report I had read. General Hoof's primary camp had been leveled by high-tier magic. I had never seen anything like it, and I had heard that nopony knew what it was, not even Princess Celestia. It was a scary thought that Princess Celestia, somepony who had lived for thousands of years, had no idea what had happened.

"No, and we haven't been able to get anypony out there to investigate. The place is swarming with Wonderbolts."

I cursed under my breath. "Arrogant traitors..." I added as an afterthought.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw General Breaker shake his head. "You have to admit, they certainly live up to their reputation."

"They chose the wrong side," I stated forcefully.

"It's a shame, too. We could have used their help in this battle..." He trailed off.

"If Princess Luna commits to the battle, it wouldn't make a difference," I countered.

General Breaker frowned and looked at me. "I've been working on a solution to that problem," he said with an inquisitive voice. "I have a force of artillery unicorns ready to set up here on my command." He pointed at the map position where three unicorns were positioned, then pointed at a position in close proximity to enemy forces. "We'll only get one shot at it, but if we can draw Princess Luna out, we may be able to bombard her position with enough magic to convince her to withdraw. She was banished for a thousand years, and I highly doubt she's been able to go over everything that has changed in her absence." I could almost hear the smirk in his voice.

I scrutinized the grid, securing the zone he wanted to set up in would be a nightmare for artillery unicorns without support. "You'd be contested by pegasi, I don't think that position is-"

"Seconds will count if we're to make this work." He answered seriously. "I will need pegasi support to keep Princess Luna's pegasi preoccupied if we're to get a chance to follow through with this."

I scrutinized his expression. He was deadset on his plan, and the fire in his eyes told me that he believed he could make it work. I looked away from him and looked over the map. "Even if we convince Princess Luna to withdraw, we still have fifty thousand soldiers to deal with and a lot of territory to protect," I said as I looked over the long defensive line.

"If Princess Luna's forces break through, we can do a pincer move with the reinforcements from the Crystal Empire."

I shook my head sharply. "That's risking a lot. If her forces start flanking us..."

General Breaker turned to me. I turned to face him. He looked at me thoughtfully. "I thought you were tactically inclined, Maneuver. You scored top marks for battlefield tactics in the academy. A pincer move would crush any breakthrough that Princess Luna's forces make."

I bobbed my head. He had a point. "But you're not considering the implications of those forces breaking through."

"We don't have many options. Unless you're recommending a full-scale assault."

I shook my head. "We don't have the forces or resources for that."

General Breaker lowered his gaze back to the map and slowly turned away from me. "With the way things are going, we may never..." He mumbled.

"Just because we've lost three major battles does not mean we're going to fail here. You remember the history texts, many great nations who ended up winning wars won because of their major defeats at the start of the war. They learned from their mistakes and adapted, while their enemies arrogance cost them the war."

"We're fighting a war on two fronts, Maneuver. Director Tap is reorganizing General Hoof's surviving forces and our reserve forces. He's been put in command of the surviving forces temporarily until the princess can find somepony to take command."

I gritted my teeth. "Is he going after Princess Twilight?" I asked with caution.

"From what I understand, Princess Celestia is planning to take a more conservative approach to dealing with Princess Twilight."

It wasn't worth it to fight Princess Twilight. I was cautious about the idea at the start of hostilities, and now I with General Hoof missing, I was convinced that it wasn't worth it to fight her. Unfortunately, it seemed that Princess Twilight didn't care what I thought. "Containment?"

General Breaker nodded.

I bobbed my head. "We don't have the resources for this..."

"None of us do." He replied earnestly. "We weren't prepared for anything like this."

I grunted in agreement. I felt like we should have seen this coming. I felt like we should have known and prepared for this. A civil war hadn't been expected, to say nothing of it being a three-way civil war. The fact that Princess Twilight went off on her own and managed to gather enough forces, support, and resources to mount a successful defense against General Hoof had taken me by surprise. It had taken everypony by surprise. The fact that Princess Luna had mobilized so quickly left us scrambling to reorganize. One thing was abundantly clear over the past few months since the war had started, Princess Luna was a tactician, and Princess Celestia was not. Princess Luna could mobilize for war, and Princess Celestia could barely keep up with the help of top generals. Princess Luna started with nopony of a higher rank that colonel loyal to her, and now she had highly competent officers coordinating her forces with a precision that rivaled our own.

We were mobilizing too slowly, although once we were mobilized, I knew we could win the war. It had been far too long since the last major conflict where the military was involved. The one advantage we had over Princess Luna was resources. We could win by attrition, but Princess Luna and Princess Twilight were moving quickly. Princess Celestia knew this, and she was adapting to it, but I wasn't sure it would be enough.

I heard a subtle crack of magic and pointed my ears in the direction it came from. Looking up, I saw a unicorn quickly reading over a scroll. He looked up and glanced around the tent, then ran over to me. General Breaker took the scroll in his magic and held it out for both of us. We read the report with baited breath. Almost as soon as I read the last period, several more cracks of magic filled the air. General Breaker put the scroll down on the table and looked around.

"I guess we're about to find out whether or not we've learned from our mistakes, General." General Breaker said as he lit his horn.

Princess Luna

A light yellow pegasus figurine was pushed across the map by a long stick. To most ponies, it looked almost like a simple game. Something that warranted no additional scrutiny, however, to a trained military commander, such a move warranted immediate action, especially since it was a map used to depict the state of the battle currently being waged. "Reroute squadron twenty-eight to grid two-three-two," General Gale said calmly. Almost immediately, a flash of magic from a unicorn sent out an order. In a few seconds, a reply was received, and a dark blue pegasus was pushed across the map to their updated position.

And when the squadrons met, ponies would die, slain because my sister was an impudent foal. Countless lives would be lost this battle and she would pay for them, along with the rest of her mistakes. I still loved my sister, but she would answer for her crimes. Unfortunately, I had little time to give to considering her mistakes, nor the lives that would be lost in the engagement. A quick glance around the map told tales of far more tragedy than the two squadrons of pegasi that would engage within minutes.

On top of that, I was needed to lead the charge. Equestria had grown soft from centuries of peace. It had been many lifetimes since Equestria had been in anything that I could even liberally call a war. The last so-called 'major conflict' was foals play compared to thousands of years ago. In a way, it was nice. Fewer ponies died from the horrors of war now than before, and for that, I had to thank Celestia, but unfortunately my thanks had to be withheld due to the conflict which she had started.

I looked at the slender blue pegasus that was General Gale. "General, do not disappoint me."

He went rigid and saluted me. "Yes, my Princess!"

I took a deep breath, then gave the room one last glance before turning around and igniting my horn. A quick teleport brought me back to the field I had previously occupied. Ten columns of fifteen rows of unicorns stood up a little straighter as I appeared in a flash of magic. Their dark blue armor barely reflected the sunlight, and each one held a gaze that could outlast steel. Many of them would likely not survive the upcoming battle, but I would do my best to protect them.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw several bolts of magic arc into the sky. I took a second to watch them. I turned and followed the spells with my eyes. They flew through the air in a parabolic trajectory, then they disappeared beyond the treeline, impacting enemy targets somewhere. Almost as soon as the spells disappeared, two more barrages appeared, heading towards their position from different angles. We were severely outnumbered in terms of unicorns, especially when it came to siege specialists.

Fortunately, there was only so much siege specialists could do against earth ponies, which we had plenty of, although they made up for it in being able to attack without endangering themselves. They were also not very well equipped to deal with pegasi, although they would certainly know more spells than just concussive bombardment spells. Perhaps it was no wonder why Twilight managed to repel an assault from my sister. I had tried to congratulate her the night when I first heard of her success, but it seemed that she had gone back to not trusting me, as I could not access her mind. Perhaps it was for the best, although such actions deeply upset me at the time. If I was honest, it still upset me, although I had other matters to deal with.

Still, the fact she was able to repel a force twice her own size proudly displayed her as a tactician. Or at the very least, it made General Hoof's lack of tactical skills apparent. 'How did you manage to pull that off?' I wondered. The information we had concerning her success involved her using the weather as a force multiplier. If that was the case, then General Hoof was indeed a fool. My sister didn't have a lot of pegasi, and Twilight's forces were almost entirely pegasi. It was an interesting outcome.

As much as I wanted to find out more about the curious outcome of the battle, I had urgent matters to attend to. Twilight had won her battle and pushed my sister back. Now I had to win a battle and push my sister even further. Victory was one of the sweetest tastes I knew of, and defeat was by far the most bitter, although perhaps it paled to the taste of my turning into Nightmare Moon. That taste made defeat look sweet by comparison.

My sister was being a fool. She was moving far too slowly for the way things were going. Three battles she had lost, and this would be a fourth. She had minor victories and major setbacks. It was only a matter of time before she would succumb to my forces, or, perhaps Twilight would surprise me again. Even if Twilight somehow managed to best my sister, I would best her. She was my friend and I would offer her a chance to surrender. She would still have a position of authority in Equestria once I ruled it, but Equestria would be mine.

I lit my horn, then expanded my magical aura to surround the entire battle group. A teleportation spell was relatively simple, teleporting an inanimate object from one point to another was safe and relatively easy. Teleporting oneself was more complicated. Teleporting another pony with you was a rare feat of magic, save for millennia ago when great unicorns had far more magic than they would now, however, there were a lot more ponies who could teleport themselves now than back then. Teleporting large numbers of ponies along with oneself was a feat that only three unicorns had performed. Fortunately, none of that mattered to me. "Prepare for imminent insertion!" I shouted, then twisted my magic into the spell and released it.

The world warped, colors shifted, and there was absolute silence for what felt like an eternity. And immediately, everything changed and the area was flooded with a bright light blue colored light, the same as my magical aura. Almost as soon as everything changed, the light disappeared. On instinct, I flared my wings and erected a barrier around myself, then I felt a bolt of magic strike my barrier.

I swiveled around on a hoof and leveled my horn on the unicorn squadron. It had taken them only a second to recognize who I was, but that was several seconds too long. I unleashed my magic on them, and a pillar of blue light erupted from my horn. The unicorn group attacking me scattered, and I could hear the hundred and fifty of my soldiers scattering behind me as well. My beam missed my target, but my task was complete. I turned around and glanced over the clearing, making sure none of my ponies were still there, then I cast my teleportation spell, aiming for the sky above me.

I caught the air with my flared wings and immediately stabilized. With my horn still powered, it was a simple task to defend myself from any potential threats, although it proved unnecessary. From my vantage point, I could overlook the battle with greater effectiveness than unicorns who quickly relaid tactical data to my generals. Pegasi scouts would have a similar advantage, although it took longer to get reports back. I surveyed the battle and made notes of what I could see. Even from my height, I could not see all of the battles raging, and because of my height, I could not see all of the details of those battles.

I shook the thought aside, then teleported back to the headquarters. Nopony batted an eye or acknowledged my presence when I appeared, they were all too focused on their tasks. A quick glance at the map revealed that neither General Maneuver nor General Breaker was attempting a counter attack. They were simply holding the line, as it were. Upon further scrutiny, I could see several breaks forming in their lines, along with my own offensive push. The battle had barely been going on for half an hour, so I couldn't make many predictions about what would happen.

"General Sapphire still hasn't committed his forces to the battle," General Gale muttered.

"They are waiting for an opportune moment to counter attack," I said.

General Gale turned and looked at me. After a few seconds, he looked away and stared down at the map again. He looked at the map with disgust. "Deploy group seven-two and squadron forty-six to grid two-three-two, the enemy is pushing us back there."

I walked over to the map and scrutinized that grid. "Delay that order," I said aloud. General Gale glanced at me sideways but said nothing. "I will rally our forces and break through. General, please see to the conquest of grid two-five-one so that we may begin a pincer move."

"Yes, Princess!" He said eagerly.

I turned around and powered my horn again.

"Redirect fire group three onto grid two-fiv..." General Gale said right before I teleported away.

I appeared just outside of what I believed to be the battle taking place in the zone I was in. Either my estimation or my aim was off, I could hear magic whisking through the air a very short distance away. I flapped my wings and took to the sky. As I flew higher, I zeroed in on spells being exchanged. It appeared that my forces were holding the treeline and that General Breaker's unicorns were attempting to push us back. My attention was drawn back to the treeline when the trunk of a tree exploded, causing the tree to fall towards another tree. The second tree caught the first with its branches, but the branches weren't strong enough. The sound of breaking tree limbs filled the air as both trees were battered by the assault.

After the tree hit the ground, the volume of spell fire from my forces decreased, and the volume of spell fire from General Breaker's forces aimed at the treeline decreased in half. The other half of that spell fire was directed at me. I flared my horn and protected myself with a barrier. Even just using my unicorn magic, swatting away their spells was a task that was nearly effortless, even as dozens of spells were directed at me. It helped that only a few managed to come close to me, although I would have easily handled their full bombardment.

I readied myself, then teleported to the treeline. "Report!" I ordered, just above the sharp crack of my magic.

"P-Princess Luna!" The closest soldier shouted. I followed the sound of his voice and found the stallion. His eyes were wide with fear, and his armor had been scorched by a spell. He appeared to be in good condition, otherwise.

"How many of you remain?" I asked quickly, formulating a plan while also looking around.

"Just over three-fourths," He answered.

I nodded to myself. "Any severe injuries?"

"N-no, Princess!"

"Good..." I said under my breath. "Prepare to rally on me on my signal. I will disrupt their forces."

"What's the sig-"

I teleported before he could finish his question, although I could tell what his question was going to be. They would know it when they saw it. As soon as the teleportation completed, I released a burst of magic directly in front of me. The earth erupted where the spell hit, and two unicorns stumbled away from the blast. They were too far away for the spell to do any lasting harm, although they might have been disorientated, judging from their sluggish reactions. That was the least of their problems.

Before either of them recovered, I leveled my horn on each of them and released a single spell. The spell burned through the enchantments, then punched through their armor and bodies, leaving holes in the ground along the trajectory of the spells. Their bodies were thrown away from me with the spell, but I didn't wait to see what would become of them.

I turned to my left and leveled my horn on another unicorn. It seemed that the group had finally noticed my presence as most of them were turning their attention to me. I released a spell at him, and it killed him instantly. Over the next few seconds, easily two dozen spells impacted my barrier, and six more unicorns were added to my kill count.

I braced myself as five earth ponies charged at me. I lowered my horn on them and managed to release three spells before they reached me. Two of the earth ponies were felled, and the third was merely injured, although I doubted he would be in the fight again for a very long time. I had torn a hole through his armor and chest, although my spell seemed to have not pierced the enchantment as much as it should have.

I pushed the thought aside as the two remaining earth ponies slammed into me with the force of a waterfall, adding to the strain of the bombardment I was already under. I flashed my horn and exploded my barrier outwards, creating a bright light and a pressure wave that threw the closest ponies away from me, potentially with lethal force.

I quickly reformed my barrier and aimed my horn at one of the unicorns still standing, only for a crimson bolt of magic to impact him in the chest. He stumbled and turned towards the source before releasing a counter-attack of his own. Following the crimson bolt of magic, three more bolts of magic impacted him. Each bolt scorched his armor until finally, the last one pierced it. Although the bolt of magic didn't kill him, it did throw him to the ground and caused him to clutch his side and groan in pain.

I spared a glance at the direction of the treeline and watched as a dozen ponies rushed out. It was good to see that most of the squad was intact, although a little disheartening that I had only found a single squad. It mattered little, I was rallying out forces. The squad leader ran to me and acknowledged me with a salute. "Secure the area and await further orders. Expect reinforcements and orders to involve a pincer attack," I said quickly, then I teleported back into the air before he could reply.

General Quartz

Modern military uniforms weren't comfortable. They were too lightweight and decorative. There wasn't enough weight to the fabric, and even with decades, I doubted I could adapt to it. I shifted my weight. The way the fabric hugged my form was too loose. It had too much air circulation. It was too formal, too. I could find countless flaws with the uniform. Armor had plenty of flaws on its own, but it was more comfortable. Wearing this accursed uniform wasn't comfortable.

Or maybe it was what was about to happen, and I was just trying to distract myself. What was about to happen made me uncomfortable, but it had to stop. There wasn't a soul in the Crystal Empire who didn't care about Prince Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, but everypony also noticed that they chose to support Princess Celestia over their own flesh and blood family. Nopony liked that.

I tilted my head to the left and glanced at Mayor Lattice. He looked about as unhappy as me. He was lucky, though. He didn't have to wear a uniform. To his left were four soldiers, and to mine were an additional four soldiers. I hoped they proved unnecessary. Nopony wanted them to be necessary, but if it came down to it we would do our job.

That didn't mean our job was easy by any chance. As we walked along the grand crystal hallways in the Crystal Palace, guards stood up straighter as we passed them in silence, the only sounds coming from our hooves clacking against the crystal. They all knew what was going to happen, and about the only ponies in the Empire that didn't know what was about to happen were the two we were going to visit. How it had been kept from them eluded me, although I could bet it had to do with very few ponies completely supporting them because of their choices.

I knew the guards wouldn't have to do anything other than be there. It was more of a show of unity than anything. If they were actually needed, then there would be problems that I wasn't sure we could deal with, with our army preoccupied. Even though I knew it was unlikely anything would go wrong, there was still that chance, and because of that, it was my job to make sure nothing bad happened. Mostly, though, I was just there to make sure they knew where the army stood.

We slowed as we reached the large double doors to the throne room. As per custom, the two soldiers standing on either side of the door pushed them open. Although the doors were massive and looked heavy, it took minimal effort to open them up thanks to the soldiers' strength and the precisely tuned magic at work in the castle. As the doors were parted, the throne room was revealed. The grand room brought a sense of pride to me, it looked right compared to what it had been under King Sombra's reign. The bastard unicorn enslaved us and used dark magic to take over the Empire. He was lucky that he had been killed by Princess Twilight Sparkle and Sir Spike. If it hadn't been for their victory permanently freeing us from his blight and destroying the usurper in the process, the entire Empire's army would have hunted him down as soon as we recovered.

I shuddered to think about what would have happened if they failed, or if Sombra had regained control.

Princess Cadance looked up from a scroll and smiled warmly as we walked inside, although her gaze along with that of her husband was drawn to the soldiers accompanying us. "Princess," I acknowledged with a courteous bow.

"General Quartz... Mayor Lattice... what brings both of you here?" Princess Cadance asked, sliding off of her throne and walking forward. Shining Armor walked forward right beside her, sparing an occasional loving glance at his wife.

I rose from my bow and turned to Mayor Lattice. He took a deep breath and stepped forward. I could almost see his hooves shaking, his predecessor had been killed by one King Sombra years ago before the Empire had been locked away, right before he took power. "Princess, Prince." He acknowledged. "The Crystal Empire no longer wishes you two to rule over us."

Princess Cadence frowned, and Shining Armor looked at him like he had been struck. No, worse than that, like the mayor had struck his wife. "Excuse me?" he said.

Cadence glanced at Prince Shining Armor, "Shining..." she said softly. The prince clenched his jaw and looked at her. Cadance looked back toward us. "What... do you mean?" She asked.

I cleared my throat. "The citizens of the empire don't approve of supporting Princess Celestia in this war, Princess Cadance. The soldiers aren't very happy that they were used in such a way as to enable an attack against Princess Twilight Sparkle."

Cadence's expression softened. "I'm not happy about that either, but we have to support Princess Celestia. If Princess Luna wins..."

"Princess," Mayor Lattice sighed. "Nopony asked us who we wanted to rule over us. We happily accepted you because you were among those that liberated us, but Princess Celestia still put you in charge, and you still answer to her. The Empire had been banished for over a thousand years prior to returning, and before that we had been enslaved by a tyrant." I could hear pain in his voice with the words he spoke, and a quick glance confirmed that he had steeled his resolve. "When you've been ruled by a tyrant for your entire lifetime, one learns not to question who gets put in charge, even after the tyrant is killed..." He paused and shifted his weight. "Neither of you are tyrants, and we would happily join Equestria if it were united, but right now we have become a puppet state of Equestria, helping Princess Celestia with whatever she needs."

"The Crystal Empire is not a puppet state of Equestria," Shining Armor argued, his brow furrowing.

"Consider that it was Twilight Sparkle and Sir Spike who actually saved us, Princess. You and Prince Armor held off King Sombra, but in the end, you both failed to protect us. Twilight Sparkle is now a princess, and Princess Celestia is at war with her. We cannot in our right minds abide this, Princess," Mayor Lattice said at length. "I'm sorry, but we're going to have to ask you to leave. We declare fealty to Princess Twilight."

"You can't do that! Princess Celestia has been nothing but good to-"

"Prince," I said. He stopped and looked at me. I turned to Princess Cadance. "May we drop the formalities?" She nodded hesitantly. I turned back to Shining Armor. "Shining, Celestia is at war with your sister. I know you don't like that. I can't understand how you'd still rather support Celestia over your own family! If there is one thing that we value more than the Crystal Heart and love, it's family."

"She doesn't have the experience..." Shining sighed sadly. "If she did, both Cadence and I would be right behind her."

"She may not have experience, but she does have success," I replied. I saw him flex and relax his jaw several times before I continued. "Before she saved the Crystal Empire, how many achievements had she accomplished?" I asked. "And compare that with Princess Celestia as of late. Her age seems to be catching up with her, and I can't help but wonder if alicorns aren't actually immortal." I ended with a glance at Cadance. Her lips were drawn into a pained expression. "It's nothing personal," I added. "And when hostilities end, you will be welcomed back to the Crystal Empire, so long as Princess Twilight allows it."

"Which I'm sure she will," Mayor Lattice added.

"You can't do this, General," Shining argued.

I sighed and shook my head. "You're not in a position to stop us. We have nearly complete backing from the civilian populace, and I doubt many soldiers would disagree with their decision. You would have known about this before now if that was the case. Until then consider yourselves enemies of The Crystal Empire." I could see his jaw muscles flexing.

"You... I thought we-"

"Shining..." Cadance said softly, glancing around at all of us. "There's no way we can convince you not to do this?"

Mayor Lattice shook his head sadly. "No, Princess. Not unless you two are willing to support Princess Twilight over Princess Celestia."

"You'll be escorted to the train station. From there, you're free to go anywhere that isn't the Crystal Empire," I said, despite knowing that their destination would be Canterlot. There was a chance they might come to see reason and side with Twilight, but I wasn't sure how big of a chance that was. It frustrated me to know that they'd support Princess Celestia over their own family. I couldn't imagine being in that position, but I never would, so thinking about it was a waste.

"Let's go..." Cadance said softly, looking at Shining Armor. After a few seconds, six of the eight guards started walking beside them, escorting them away.

"I hope you don't come to regret this, Quartz," Shining warned as he approached. I kept an even gaze. Once he was beside me, he stopped and his expression softened. "Keep her safe for me," he said.

I smiled. They weren't completely against Twilight, it seemed. "I will," I replied. For a few seconds, he smiled slightly, then he walked forward again, catching up with his wife in just a few seconds.

We watched them leave. After the door closed behind them, I exhaled sharply and turned to the mayor. "See to it that Princess Twilight is informed of what has happened. I will withdraw our forces from Equestria."

"That went better than I expected," he said. relief evident in his voice.

I shook my head. "That was the easy part. We both knew they wouldn't put up a fight when faced with the entire population wanting them to leave. The hard part is going to be when Princess Celestia finds out about this." We both grimaced.

Princess Luna

It seemed like my presence alone was causing General Breaker's forces to withdraw, however, I had received reports that they were breaking through in other areas. However, those areas were being reinforced and General Breaker's unicorn fire support was being targeted by pegasi. They were taking heavy losses. My forces were too. They had more reserve forces, however. The Crystal Empire army was still in reserve, likely being held until the right moment presented itself.

A spell surged passed me. I squinted at the unicorn and leveled my horn on him. He dived below the spell and rolled. When he found his footing he released another spell at me. He wasn't very accurate, but his spell still managed to hit one of my soldiers, judging from the impact I heard. The spell didn't break through the armor, but it might need to be repaired. As if cued by my targeting that unicorn, a dozen bolts of magic bombarded his position. Most of the spells missed, but a few struck the ground to varying effects. One of them appeared to be a modified concussion spell which exploded the earth beside him. He lost his footing, and before he could regain it, two of my earth ponies were on him.

The downed unicorn knew that struggling was pointless at that point, he lacked the physical strength to fight two earth ponies off. Even with that, he still resisted them and was rewarded with a blow to the back of the head that rendered him unconscious. The two earth ponies proceeded to lift him from the ground, the carry him out of my sight. I kept my gaze leveled with the terrain, scanning for any enemy reinforcements.

It had been a long time since I had seen combat on such a scale, barring the few battles which had recently happened. It was every bit as terrible as I remembered. Ponies' lives were cut short, violently. But there was no choice. Celestia had forced this war upon all of us, and now ponies were paying the price for her mistake.

A glimmer of light in the sky caught my attention. It looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. It took me half a second to realize that it was heading towards us. "Take cover!" I ordered. Immediately following my order, I lit my horn to form a barrier around us. I was too slow. The spell slammed into the ground and erupted the earth, shredding both grass and rock.

The pressure wave knocked me off of my hooves, and I found myself sprawled out on the ground with my ears ringing. Another sharp pressure wave assaulted my body. I clenched my eyes closed as my chest shook, and I fought off a cough. Two more sharp cracks. I saw an earth pony thrown into the air. I didn't know what fate awaited him, or even if he was still alive.

I fought through the chaos and summoned my magic again, then raised a barrier around me. A second later, I expanded the barrier to cover our position. Three concussive spells impacted my barrier almost simultaneously. I shrugged off the attack and rose to my hooves. Sharp cracks echoed through the barrier with each spell that detonated.

For half a minute, the bombardment refused to let up, coming in waves. Each one felt weaker than the last, and after the last spell fell. I lowered my barrier. I took a deep breath and coughed. I covered my mouth and looked at the blood on my dark armor. The sight revolted me. I lowered my hoof back to the ground, knowing that such an injury wasn't a threat to me. "Report!" I called out. Several groans met my call.

I heard a cough and turned to my left. A pegasus limped over to me, clutching his wing. "Princess, heavy-" he coughed, "-casualties. We need to pull ba-ack!"

I gritted my teeth, then turned my attention to the sky, searching for any of Celestia's pegasi. I didn't see any, nor did I see any of my own pegasi. I snorted, then extended my magic and took a hold of every pony who showed the slightest signs of life, then I teleported them to the infirmaries. I took a deep breath and surveyed the field, then I flared my wings out.

I pressed my eyes closed and fell to my knees. "Ah!" I gritted my teeth as pain surged through my body, emanating from my right wing. I turned to find out what had happened. Blood was dripping down my wing. I took a deep breath, I'd have to remember to be careful with my wing for the remainder of the battle. It would take more than that to stop me, although it would slow me down.

It gave me pause, however. With crystal ponies in reserve, their plan might have been to incapacitate me and then attempt to capture me. It was cunning. Something I didn't think Celestia could have come up with. I clenched my jaw and surveyed the field, this time the side that Celestia's forces 'controlled.' I didn't see anything coming, but that didn't mean nothing was coming. Teleporting in combat wasn't easy, and I didn't feel like attempting to find out if I could succeed at doing that, nor did I have any desire to face off against crystal ponies.

I took another deep breath and slowly stood up. I glanced around my immediate area and looked over the bodies surrounding me. Counting them would have to wait. I summoned my magic again and teleported back to my headquarters.

General Maneuver

Ponies darted in and out of the tent. Varying colors of unicorn's magic aura flashed around the tent, almost like a light show that you'd expect to see at a nightclub. The full swing of the battle meant chaos. Chaos was difficult to manage. Managing such a long defensive line was another challenge. Maintaining air superiority, or even protecting unicorn artillery positions from Luna's pegasi was a challenge. We couldn't keep our unicorns in the same spot for very long, and it limited the amount of support we had.

"Scouts report that the barrage was accurate," General Breaker said aloud, lowering the scroll he held in his magic. His muzzle drew to a line. "Princess Luna survived it."

I grimaced. It was an expected outcome, but it would give her something to think about before trying to directly intervene again, which gave us a much-needed advantage.

"I doubt that will work again," General Sapphire stated.

"It might," I reasoned. "At the very least, she will likely be more cautious about pushing now."

Several pieces were moved on the map, and a few were removed. General Breaker turned to me. "Now may be the best time to counterattack," he said.

I stepped forward and scrutinized the map, every piece, every position. "I'll lead the counterattack," I said. I lifted a hoof. I didn't have my blades with me, but I could get them on easily enough. "I'll take three battalions and cut through here," I pointed my hoof at the map and turned to General Sapphire. Somewhere amidst the chaos, another crystal pony had come up beside him, carrying a crystal. I paid no attention to it, whatever it was could wait. "If you can cut through here," I pointed my hoof at another section that was vulnerable.

General Sapphire stood up straighter. "That's not going to happen, General."

I frowned at him. "You have a better plan?" I asked.

"Ah, no. I'm afraid my forces will be withdrawing from this battle," he said with a smirk.

I would have sworn the temperature in the tent dropped a few degrees. "What?" General Breaker asked. "You have orders to-"

"Orders that have been overruled. My current orders are to withdraw from Equestria and return to the Crystal Empire," he said in a smooth voice.

"You can't do that," I said evenly. "Princess Cadance would never-"

"Princess Cadance is on a train back to Canterlot right now," he said. "The Empire will no longer be affiliated with Princess Celestia until such time as hostilities against Princess Twilight cease."

I felt my blood run cold, and I heard everything in the tent slow down and grow quiet. "What?" I demanded. "You traitor..."

He looked at me indignantly and snorted. "I am no traitor, General. My allegiance is to the citizens of my nation, who have decided that they would rather follow Princess Twilight, somepony who actually saved them, over a puppet of Princess Celestia."

The two guards inside the tent lit their horns and pointed them at the general and his subordinate. "Take him under arrest," I commanded, struggling to keep my voice in check.

"General, if you do that, you will be fighting more than just Princess Luna's forces." He turned around and headed for the tent exit. The two guards blocked his path but looked at me and General Breaker questioningly.

"Let them go," General Breaker said begrudgingly.

"Wise choice," General Sapphire commented as he left.

A few seconds passed. I turned around and looked at all the ponies who had stopped working, which was most of them. I gave each of them a stern look, and they hesitantly returned to their duties. As soon as I was sure they wouldn't stop again, I turned to general Breaker. His horn violently flared to life, he lifted his hoof, then yanked off his boot and slammed it into the table, muttering a few choice words I hadn't known that he knew. His chest rose and fell with each breath, and I could practically see steam rolling off of his body. I slowly walked away from him and found an unoccupied unicorn. "Send a message to Princess Celestia, informing her what has happened here," I ordered.

"Y-yes, sir."

I turned around, not even bothering to return his salute. I calmly walked over to the table and took in the positions of forces. Noticeably absent were the forces of the Crystal Empire, somepony had decided that removing them from the table was the best course of action. Without them, our reserve forces were dwindling. I took a deep breath and lifted my hoof to my temple. The cold metal bit into my coat, but I ignored it.

Blindsided again. I shook my head. "Signal a retreat. We're pulling back," I relented. We did a lot of damage to Princess Luna's forces, but we suffered a lot of damage too. I doubted Princess Luna would make any major moves in the near future once she found out what happened, although there was the chance she might redouble her effort and push further into Equestria. If that happened, I doubted we could defend against her attack, and if Princess Twilight attacked us on two fronts, we wouldn't have the forces to do anything about it.

I pulled off my helmet and set it on the table, then ran a hoof through my mane.

Retirement looked really tempting.

Princess Luna

The battle was proving more costly than I had anticipated. The reward of victory would be great, but I had to admit that I questioned if it was actually worth it or not. Even if we were forced to pull back and regroup, this battle would give my sister a lot to think about. She wouldn't be able to launch a counter-attack anytime soon, that much was clear from how the battle was going.

Unless she was holding back.

That thought gave me pause. It would be like her to hold back and not play all of her cards until she was assured of a beneficial outcome. They were holding back on the crystal pony soldiers. They weren't making any major efforts to push forward, although they did seem intent of bleeding my forces for every inch of land we took from their control. A few times, my forces broke through their line, but they were summarily crushed by a pincer move before we could start flanking them, rendering most of our attempts to break through failures.

The battle could only last so much longer before my forces would be forced to withdraw. Morale was holding strong, and I had forces to keep up the attack, but I was not willing to keep up the attack if my forces kept getting slaughtered. There were only so many lives I would risk to win this battle before I pulled back. Winning here would give me an advantage by forcing my sister into a defensive war, but if I lost too many soldiers and resources in this battle, it would hamper my ability to keep the pressure on her and defend my own territory.

As if taunting me, several pieces representing my sister's forces were pushed away from the front. I watched with fascination as more and more pieces withdrew. As they pulled back, my forces pushed forward. We still had not seen evidence of the crystal ponies being deployed. As more and more pieces were gradually pulled away from the front, I had a sinking feeling. They still had a lot of siege specialists in their reserve, to say nothing of the crystal ponies.

"Pull back our forces," I ordered in a calm voice. General Gale glanced at me but said nothing. He knew that I had more experience than he did. I wondered if he saw what I saw because he seemed to share my sentiment that pulling back was wise. Several seconds passed while unicorns relayed the orders. There was a delay of several minutes before my pieces started being pulled back from the front.

"Recall all of our forces and order them to regroup. We must be prepared for any counterattack they launch," I said, stepping closer to the map and scrutinizing artillery positions. I hid my surprise when several of the closest pieces representing artillery unicorns were pulled back, representative of a retreat. They would not draw me or my forces out that easily.

Princess Celestia

Most of General Hoof's forces were being regrouped. The general himself was nowhere to be found. The pulse decimated his main camp, and from what I could gather, nothing survived t. The reports that came in right before the camp was destroyed said that the camp was under attack. Other than that, it was vague. It did not specify anything else, likely because it was an early report and they did not have information.

Twilight did not have many unicorns among her ranks. Of them, only a few were threats, having come from the Royal Guard to aid her. None of them were powerful enough to do something like that. Even if Director Tap said they couldn't confirm anything, I didn't need him to confirm to know it.

Twilight was behind the spell that killed nearly four thousand ponies.

The fact that the casualty count was actually that high was a secret that neither Director Tap nor myself would reveal. It was the last thing we needed to deal with.

I still did not know what spell she used, and that worried me. In my thousands of years of experience, I had never encountered such a spell. I trained her well. Perhaps too well, considering what was going on. I underestimated her. General Hoof underestimated her. He paid for that mistake with his life. I paid for my mistake with the lives of thousands of ponies. Thousands of ponies that would be missed.

She was in the camp, she had to have been with the force assaulting the camp. Her forces were still reorganizing following their victory. We had almost no information about what happened, although we knew she was still alive simply because they were still a force to be reckoned with. I felt relief knowing she was still alive, although at the same time it strained me.

I had never expected her to use a spell capable of destroying everything within a one-mile radius. She was powerful. She knew she was powerful, but not the full extent of it. And she was young. This war was going to shape her for the rest of her life, and that knowledge weighed heavily upon my heart.

She killed thousands of ponies with a single spell. With all I knew about her, that shouldn't have happened, and that scared me. I could do the same feat, in the same period of time, but it would take time for me to recover. I could kill countless more than Twilight did in a battle over a longer period of time with less effort, but Twilight... She was so young and innocent. 'What happened?' I asked myself. The only way I could conceive of Twilight using such a spell was if something terrible had happened, and that scared me even more than her killing thousands of my soldiers with a single spell.

Part of me wondered if General Hoof didn't do something I specifically ordered him not to. He could be more than a little aggressive when it came to achieving his goals. If he had made the mistake of attacking Twilight, then he would have lost. He had experience Twilight didn't, but Twilight had so many more advantages. But if he did attack Twilight, and was winning... The more I thought about it, the more I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach.

'If you attacked her and somehow were winning...' The repercussions could be disastrous. When Twilight was just a filly, she had a magic surge that put some powerful unicorns I had known to shame. She was now an alicorn, and if General Hoof had tried to kill her, then that would definitely have triggered a magic surge, one more powerful than I could imagine.

If General Hoof had tried to kill Twilight, then even in the best case scenario, she now had access to no small quantity of alicorn magic. And I didn't have the resources to fight a war on two fronts against two alicorns. Cadance wasn't strong enough to match strength with Twilight, so I was on my own there.

My musings were broken by rapid hoofsteps falling on the marble floor. I looked up and watched Director Tap approach me. "We need to mobilize faster, Princess," he said firmly.

I hated to admit it, but he was right. I had expected Twilight to see reason when I sent my forces after her. She was supposed to surrender, both of us would have suffered minimal casualties, and with her and her forces, we could have pushed against Luna and broken the Orange Valley siege.

I nodded in agreement. We spent the next several minutes discussing the plan for mobilization. We had several advantages we could use against both Luna and Twilight. Most of the advantages would better serve us against Luna because she had more forces than Twilight did. Luna also had more ground forces, and since we had devices designed to deliver explosive shells across great distance through use of explosive propellants, it was most useful to deploy them against my sister.

Also of note, he had an idea about creating timed charges in shells. It was a fascinating idea, instead of relying on a spell to detect when the shell impacted the ground, the shell could detonate in the air. Such weapons could decimate pegasi.

The longer we talked, the more dread I felt, and the more I was tempted to bring winter in quicker. Winter would force everyone on the defensive, unless Twilight or Luna were actually insane, in which case they would lose. Winter would give us the time required to mobilize and rearm.

We both fell silent as the doors opened, and a single unicorn walked in. He carried himself with a hurried pace, and his expression was grim. In his magic, he carried a scroll. "Princess," he bowed to me. He rose and then saluted Director Tap. "Director," he acknowledged. He levitated the scroll forward to me, and I took it in my magic, then broke the seal.

I read the report once, each word made my blood grow colder. The second time I read it, I was worried that my blood would freeze. I lowered the scroll, then rolled it up and handed it to Director Tap. I turned to the unicorn soldier. "See to it General Maneuver and General Breaker are back in Canterlot at once." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Director Tap frown. The speed at which he unrolled the scroll doubled, if not tripled. His eyes grew wide as he read the report. When he finished, he stared blankly at it, then rolled it up and handed it back to me.

It appeared that Cadance had been right, the Crystal Empire preferred Twilight over me. I wasn't sure I could blame them.

Chapter 28

Princess Luna

The major city in the Orange River Valley, Oreville, was nothing grand. It was a small city with a population of barely ten thousand ponies, predominantly earth ponies who made a living farming oranges or mining metals in the nearby mountains. Since the city had such a small population, there weren't many tall structures which offered a decent view of the whole city, but the town hall fulfilled the role I needed it to. My sister's sun shown brightly down on the balcony, and although the day felt warm and happy, I imagined my sister was anything but.

That thought only served to make the day feel that much more special, although it would pale in comparison to when I stood victorious over Canterlot.

I glanced around. The four soldiers standing with me were all adorned with dark blue armor, two pegasi, and two unicorns. Their stoic expressions betrayed no emotion, although it couldn't hide their pride from me. Of course, we were still waiting on a few arrivals. I glared at the clock. They were late, which meant that my address was late. They would not keep me waiting unless it was important, which caused me slight concern.

I huffed and turned to my faithful commander. "Captain Night Wing, please go see what is taking General Gale so long." The captain swiftly saluted, then set off to locate the missing general. I watched the batpony walk off, then turned back to look out the balcony door. Already I could hear some commotion coming from the assembled crowd, however, it wasn't loud. It was more of occasional shouts, and upon closer scrutiny, I realized they were orders being given.

It was... a little disappointing. I had been expecting a more jubilant crowd awaiting my address, however, it seemed they were waiting with baited breath. 'Now, if only General Gale would return to us with haste...' The pegasus deserved his spot in the spotlight, considering that he was instrumental in the victory which secured my claim on this region.

Rushed hoofsteps grew in volume, coming from outside the room. I turned around, expecting to see the captain returning with the general. I was disappointed to see a light tan, pegasus mare with blue eyes and a vibrant blue mane that had red streaks in it standing there. Her eyes darted about hastily, looking between each of the three soldiers with me, and she appeared to be avoiding looking at me. "Mayor," I acknowledged. The mare winced and stepped back. Truly it was a disappointment that administrative officials had become so soft, the mare before me looked like she would bolt into the sky if a newborn kitten so much as mewed at her.

"Pr-Princess," she acknowledged, falling into a bow. It was a respectful bow, one which took me by surprise. She went through all of the motions, even so much as touching the wooden floor with her muzzle and looking down at the floor.

"Rise," I commanded. The pegasus slowly looked up at me and slowly stood up, her legs wobbling. I found myself wondering how such a pony could ever have been elected into a political office such as mayor, she couldn't even speak without stuttering. She reminded me of Fluttershy. 'I should see how Twilight is doing... maybe she's finally stopped blocking me out now.'

"Y-you wanted t-to see m-me?" the mare asked. She was yet a further disappointment than I thought possible, she couldn't even speak without stuttering. How the mare had managed to get elected eluded me, perhaps she had strong family ties or friends in high places.

I nodded. "Yes, we wished you to stand with us during our address." Something happened that I did not believe could happen, the mare's eyes widened even further. With the prospect that the mare was incapable of even standing beside me when I was making a public address in mind, I found myself wondering if I needed to have her replaced.

"O-oh... Y-yes, Princess," she said quickly, once more bowing fully to the floor.

I suppressed a sigh and turned back around. 'If the town had resisted any, I would leave a military commander in place of a mayor, but they capitulated without any resistance after my sister's forces withdrew. I wouldn't punish her for now considering that they did not put up a fight, she did not deserve it even if she was ineffective.'

Once more, the stillness coming from outside was distracting. Even the orders were growing silent, although they should have been silent minutes ago, but it seemed they were ready now, which meant I was left waiting on General Gale. I glanced around the white-painted walls, then found a mirror. I walked over to it and stood in front of it, scrutinizing my reflection. My coat was as pristine as always, and dark armor was as fitting as always. One thing which had become apparent, however, was that it wasn't as comfortable as I originally had thought. I extended my left wing and glanced over it, then folded it back to my side and extended my right wing. A dull ache reminded me of the injury I had sustained. It was an uncomfortable ache, but I did not need any medicine to fix it. Already it had healed, the ache was simply a reminder that would go away in a few days, if not sooner.

Of course, the pain serving as a reminder reminded me of the battle. We both suffered high casualties, although my sister's casualties were far greater than my own. The news that followed came as an even greater shock, the Crystal Empire had defected, dethroned Cadance and Shining Armor, and sworn allegiance to Twilight. In light of that, it made sense why General Hoof and General Breaker routed, their reinforcements turned into an entire enemy army before they could react. Neither of them had been in a position to fight when that happened. The Crystal Empire army was rapidly returning to the Crystal Empire, and my sister for her part seemed content to stay out of their way, which was wise on her part considering that most of her forces were dedicated to defending strategic cities, the front against me, and containing Twilight.

Any of the soldiers she had sent after General Sapphire's army would have failed. And now my sister was left with an even bigger problem. She had an enemy on three fronts, to the north, the Crystal Empire sided with Twilight, to the south, Twilight, and to the west, me.

Of course, that was another problem. Up until now, I had not engaged Twilight's forces in battle, but if I continued to push further into my sister's territory, I would eventually come into contact with Twilight's forces. That would complicate things. Twilight had a small military force, but it was growing, and recruitment had not been progressing well for me. I frowned at the memory. My success should have spurred on more enlistments, but the increase was far less than expected. It would take months to recover from the losses I suffered in this battle, I would have to target population centers rather than strategic resources in order to continue to have the ponypower to fight the war unless I wanted to expend vast quantities of resources to hire and outfit gryphon mercenaries. I wanted to keep that option in reserve since mercenaries could just as easily be bribed to turn on me.

So much had changed in such a short period of time, it was almost staggering. In one swift move, the balance of power had tipped. Twilight already had an elite force of pegasi at her disposal, although limited in numbers. She defeated a force twice the size of her army, and then the Crystal Empire defected to her, which gave her enough soldiers to match both me and my sister. I would have to keep a close eye on Twilight. Even though her forces were effectively divided in two by my sister, both groups had the means to sustain themselves, which opened up the opportunity for Twilight to make a pincer attack which could devastate my sister, or myself if I overextended.

The sound of hoofsteps broke my musings. I looked up from the floor and turned around. Captain Night Wing walked into the room with General Gale in tow. The general didn't look very pleased. "General, how nice of you to finally join us. What took so long?"

"Princess," he acknowledged, falling into a short, courteous bow. It was a much quicker and shallower bow than the mayor. "My apologies, I was going over reports and lost track of time."

I scrutinized his expression. "Anything of interest to report?" I inquired.

He shook his head. "No, princess."

"Very well," I replied. I looked over everypony, then turned around and faced the balcony. Captain Night Wing walked back to his position and looked at me expectantly. I nodded at him. He stood up a little straighter and the four soldiers turned in sync and then the front two soldiers headed out onto the balcony. I glanced back at the mayor. "Stand beside me, to my left," I said. The pegasus swallowed and walked over to me, slowing as she approached. She kept her distance from me, far enough away that if I extended my wing, I could not touch her. I looked at her sternly. She audibly gulped and moved closer. I pursed my lips, realizing that she was just afraid. "There is nothing to be afraid of," I coaxed.

"Y-yes, Princess Luna," she said quickly. She wasn't convinced.

I shook the thought aside and started forward. After a step, General Gale and the mayor fell in sync, both staying slightly behind me, knowing their place. In retrospect, I should have gone over it with the mayor, but she should have been expecting it. As I stepped out onto the balcony, the sun beamed down on my armor. Dark colors were not the best choice to wear during the day when the sun was overhead, but they were my colors. I was born with the same dark, midnight blue coat I wore now, and it had always served to make days a little warmer than I preferred.

I glanced around as the four soldiers took up their positions, then I made my way over to the railing, smiling at the prospect of what I would see. My smile wavered as I neared the railing and saw the crowd assembled. It was far... sparser than I had imagined, with the bulk of the crowd being the soldiers assembled for the parade which would pass through the town. The jubilant cheers of celebration I had expected also were nonexistent, and most ponies wore neutral expressions as if they didn't care. A few clearly did care, their expressions hardened with barely contained anger. 'They're not... happy?'

It was disappointing, but it would not stop me. They were used to being under my sister's rule, in time they would grow accustomed to me and my rule, and they would be happy to receive an address from me. I glanced at the mayor. Her nervousness was as plain as day was bright. I shook the thought aside and readied my voice.

General Spitfire

Everything felt like a mess. I was a general, a military officer, not an accountant or secretary, although some of my roles did overlap with that. I took the sunglasses off of my head and set them on my desk, then brought my hooves up to my temples and massaged them. Sparkler and Mayor Mare were invaluable when it came to helping me. I had no idea where I'd be if it wasn't for them. If this is what Twilight had to deal with on a daily basis, I felt sorry for her, even though she was still unconscious and nearly got herself killed.

That part made me a little less sorry for her, she brought it on herself. Of course, there were other issues involved, such as a critical flaw in her armor. I exhaled heavily and laid my hooves back down on my desk. And what was worse was that I didn't have the authority to do everything that I needed to do in Twilight's absence, and I couldn't get that authority without letting it be known that Twilight was unconscious, which would be sure to cause panic and more problems, so I was stuck using my limited authority as a general to run an entire country.

It probably didn't help that the Crystal Empire had pledged fealty to Twilight while she was unconscious and unable to take care of that. There was only so long I could prevent them from finding out about Twilight being unconscious. I just hoped that she woke up before that happened. I had no idea what would happen if word got out.

And on top of that, Twilight's friends, the other three bearers of the Elements of Harmony... They had forced my hoof the second I tried to keep them from finding out about her. The left me with no choice but to tell them, otherwise, everything could have fallen apart. the one good thing to come out of that was that once they knew what had happened, they all easily agreed to keep silent about it. I still wasn't sure that I could trust Pinkie Pie... but she seemed to realize the situation.

'Why couldn't you have just done your job, Dash...' I sighed heavily. I had always told the brash, arrogant pegasus that one day she was going to screw up if she didn't get her act in line, but of course, she didn't listen. She was just lucky that Twilight was still alive and that I didn't have any authority over her except indirect authority. It also didn't help that she was close to Twilight, which meant I couldn't really do anything about her without risking Twilight's ire. On the other hoof, maybe what happened was a good thing. Although she was clearly upset about what happened, she seemed to be starting to realize just how serious this was.

There was a knock at the door. It was the last thing I needed. I picked my sunglasses up and put them back over my eyes. "Enter," said. The crystalline door moved inward and swung open. Fleetfoot walked in instead of somepony carrying more documents, much to my relief. I sighed in relief and took my sunglasses off again. "Fleetfoot," I acknowledged.

"Everything going okay, Spitfire?" she asked. She smiled and turned to her left, then unfurled her wing, revealing a bottle with a light brownish liquid. I raised an eyebrow at her. "I heard that you shouted some grunts out, so I thought you could use this." She walked over to my desk and set the bottle down.

I eyed the bottle wryly, then reached over to it and turned it so that the label was facing me. "Well isn't that nice," I said sarcastically.

Fleetfoot sat down in the chair opposite of me and deposited two shot glasses on the desk, then she pushed one over to me with her wing and took the bottle in her other wing, then she twisted the cap off and poured a little of the liquid into both glasses. "It may not be the most expensive, but that doesn't mean it's not good," Fleetfoot said.

"I'm working," I replied sternly. "Princess Twilight wouldn't approve, and it would be setting the wrong example."

Fleetfoot shrugged and downed her glass in one go. "Right, just don't forget that it's already nine," she said as she stood up.

I did a double take and looked at the clock. The day was already over, and I felt like I hadn't even gotten started on what I needed to get done. I groaned as Fleetfoot shut the door, then turned back to the glass and bottle. I shook my head and then leaned my head against a hoof.

Rainbow Dash

Looking around, I couldn't believe that everypony was having a good time. How could they be having a good time when Twilight had almost died. The same princess that each of them supported, each of them loved, and the same one that I almost got killed. She was still unconscious because of me, and everyone around us was blissfully unaware of it.

I guess I could understand it since they didn't know, but it still felt wrong. They all were happy and having fun, unlike us. We were the ones out there fighting to protect them and fighting for Twilight, the same princess who was lying alone in a hospital room recovering from nearly dying while fighting to protect us all.

I guess that Twilight was kind of lucky, though, even though she was unconscious, she was still alive. Storm and Lightning didn't get off as lucky. We had to have looked so out of place, the four of us sitting by ourselves at the bar table. I tore my gaze away from the small glass I grasped in my hooves and looked over at Ace. His eyes were heavy despite his efforts to hide it. Soarin's gaze was directed down at his drink, and his coat looked a little grayer than normal. There were even bags under his eyes, although it was to be expected, considering he had been the team leader. He knew how I felt, or at least he had the best idea of what I felt. Lightning and Storm's deaths were under his watch, although there wasn't anything he could have done about it, unlike me.

Twilight's blood was literally on my hooves. She may have still been alive, but just barely. She was so weak and she nearly died because of me. Even just thinking about it brought back the memories of that day. It felt so, so cold, and the dim orange lights were oppressive. The music which vibrated the air felt like an affront to Twilight, she wouldn't have appreciated the music.

It was hard to breathe. I tore my gaze away from Soarin and lifted the glass to my lips. Ice clinked against the glass as I tilted it up, though the sound was heavily drowned out by voices and music coming from all around me. The cool yet fiery liquid burned my tongue, then rolled down my throat as I swallowed. My hooves shook as I put the glass back down. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

There had been so, so much blood, all of it belonging to Twilight. She nearly died from her injuries, from blood loss. General Hoof targeted her neck, a soft, vulnerable spot on anypony. It wasn't right. If Twilight hadn't been an alicorn, if Princess Celestia had not ascended her all those years ago, Twilight would have died, and her death would have been squarely on my hooves. Her body had been so, so cold, it was anathema to her. I missed how carefree we used to be, back when she first came to Ponyville. She had changed a lot since then, all of us had, but she was still herself. It wasn't right that she almost died.

Something pressed against my shoulder. I immediately hated it. Whatever it was, it was going to pay for that. I opened my eyes and turned my head, only to find Ace's hoof on my shoulder. The hatred vanished, rolling away to be replaced by a dull emptiness deep inside my chest. I followed the hoof back to its owner. Ace's eyes were no longer glazed over, but I could still see the pain in them. They were all close, and I was just an outsider before going with Twilight and them, but they still cared, they were my friends. I swallowed and licked my lips. I searched for a smile, but nothing was forthcoming.

Soarin's gaze glanced over to us. He sat up straighter. His mouth moved, he was saying something, but it was drowned out by other sounds. A few seconds later, another round of drinks were placed in front of us.

"To Storm and Lightning," Soarin said and lifted his glass up.

Ace watched me for a few seconds, then picked up his glass. "To friendship," he said in a heavy accent. Soarin's lips twitched into a smile and he nodded.

Jagged Wing said nothing, his cold gaze was focused on the glass. For several seconds, he sat there unmoving, looking like a statue, cold and unalive. Eventually, he picked up the glass and lifted it up in one swift motion. The swiftness caught me off guard, and I nearly flinched at it, but I kept myself in check. His mouth moved, he said something, but once again, I couldn't hear what. Soarin's smile wavered and ended up a little cooler than before. It was hard to look at, and I didn't want to look at it.

I tore my gaze away from them and stared into the new glass in front of me. I tentatively picked it up. I wanted to say something, but I didn't know what to say. Nothing felt right. I closed my eyes and threw my head back, letting the liquid roll into my mouth and over my tongue before swallowing it. It burned all the way down my throat, but it dulled the pain of thinking about Twilight. Even that felt wrong. Twilight was my friend, and here I was, trying not to think about her! 'I should have tried harder, I should have fought him off. Twilight shouldn't be stuck in that hospital.' I should have prevented that from happening in the first place.

Even though I carried her back and saved her life, it didn't feel like it. She shouldn't have needed me to carry her back. I was supposed to protect her, but I didn't. She had nearly died because I wasn't watching her, she had nearly died because I froze up, because he would have killed me if I tried to save her. I should have fought him off, but I didn't, and so it was my fault Twilight almost died. She was alone right now because of me. It wasn't right, she was the Princess of Friendship. I turned to my left and slid off the barstool.

"Rainbow," Ace called. I paused and looked at him. he slid off his barstool and walked over to me, then put his hoof on my shoulder. I looked at his hoof, then back at him. "Do not be so hard on self. You did your best. We all knew it was risky. Twilight is still alive, you did job."

I snorted. "Yeah, right." I brushed off his hoof with my wing. "She almost died because of me."

"No," Ace said firmly. "She almost died to unicorn spell, then General Hoof took opportunity. You're not responsible for the state she in. You couldn't have stopped it."

"If I had been faster or stronger I could have!" I retorted.

"We were surrounded and outnumbered. There wasn't anything any of us could do," Ace countered.

I looked away from him and looked at the floor. The floor was so much better than him, it was interesting, it wasn't going to try to make me feel better, it wasn't going to condemn me. "I still feel responsible for it," I said in a low voice.

Ace's hoof returned to my shoulder. "You did what you could. You saved her life. You flew her back in time. None of us could have done that. She is alive because of you. Do not forget that."

I swallowed and looked up at him. I forced a weak smile. "Thanks..." I replied. I looked away from him again. It looked like the crowd was starting to thin out. I had no idea what time it was, but it felt like we had been in there forever. Time had passed so quickly, yet it had droned on. It had been droning on ever since Twilight was injured. "I-I'm going to go check on Twilight," I said.

Ace pulled his hoof away from me. "It won't change anything."

"I feel like I should be there," I replied.

Ace said nothing for a few seconds. "Then go. Be with friend," he finally said. I glanced back at him, he was smiling. "She appreciate company if she wake up."

I nodded and started walking toward the door. It seemed like everypony made an effort to get out of my way, or maybe it was just my imagination, but nopony tried to stop me from leaving, which I appreciated.

The two guards tensed up as I approached. It was clever, in a way. Both of them were sitting on a bench beside the door to Twilight's room, neither of them drew attention to themselves, they weren't in uniform, and unless you looked closely or knew who they were, you wouldn't know them to be Wonderbolts stationed to protect Twilight. As I neared, both of them relaxed when they realized who I was. They both looked at me, and I subtly nodded at them, not that it was really needed. The hallway was deserted, they probably drew more attention just from being there since they looked out of place.

I walked passed them and glanced around until I was certain it was safe, then I cautiously slid into the room and shut the door. The silent stillness that greeted me was familiar, it was the same as every other time. The only thing breaking the silence was the constant, rhythmic beeping of the heart rate monitor.

Her heartbeat was stronger than it was yesterday, that much was clear to me. Or at least it seemed stronger. Maybe it was just my imagination or maybe I was just hoping it was stronger. They didn't know when she was going to wake up. Her injuries were mostly healed, but she still seemed to be unconscious even though she should be awake. Everypony was worried about it, and so was I. The doctors said she should be awake, and yet she was still unconscious.

I took a deep breath, then walked on inside. Despite the darkness, as Twilight's bed came into view I could easily make out the alicorn shaped pony lying under the blankets. Her hooves were above the sheets and lying beside her. An IV line was attached to her right hoof. She was so still and quiet, but she looked better and stronger than before. They had mentioned that she seemed to be growing, and quickly. I walked across the room, then pulled a chair over to the side of the bed and hopped into it.

Even though she was recovering, she still looked weak. She was barely moving, the only movement coming from the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. Hoofsteps grew in volume coming from the hallway. I turned away from Twilight and glared at the door, readying myself for the event of somepony coming inside. The hootsteps continued to grow in volume. My breathing quickened and grew shallow. I flexed my wings in preparation to tackle anypony coming through the door if whoever it was shouldn't be here. The hoofsteps started to die down as whoever it was walked on passed. I let out a sigh of relief and closed my eyes. Only a few ponies knew Twilight was in here, it was almost impossible that somepony would try to hurt Twilight while she was in her current state.

It still weighed heavily on my mind. I turned back to Twilight and opened my eyes. "It's my duty to protect you," I said in a hushed voice, even though the door was closed, I didn't want any chance of the words leaving the room, nor did I want to disturb Twilight. "I'm not going to let anypony hurt you, I promise. I put you here, but I won't let that happen again."

I searched Twilight's face for any signs of life or emotion, there was nothing. It hurt worse than getting stabbed did. "Twilight, you picked me to protect you, maybe you made a mistake... but I'm not going to let you down again!" I swallowed. "Once was... already too much."

I took a deep breath. "You've saved me twice now, and I... I... all I did was fly you back after you were hurt." My voice sounded pathetic, more like it was coming from Fluttershy, but it was unmistakably my own. Something hot rolled down my cheek, leaving a coldness in its place. I swallowed and tilted my head, then lifted a hoof to my cheek and wiped it away.

Princess Celestia

Equestria was built on friendship and peace, although we had experienced many times of trouble during the early years of our existence. Before Equestria, the three races of ponies were divided, and before that, they were at each other's throats. Once they came to see that working together was beneficial, the warfare ceased, but untold thousands had already lost their lives, and it had set us back so, so far. Equinity had fought and struggled to survive. We succeeded, but there was a price to it. The horror of war was nothing like what average ponies pictured, it was far, far worse.

I took a deep breath and slowly raised my hoof to my head. Thinking about back then, about how horrible it had been, even with the threat now posed by Twilight and the Crystal Empire, it was nothing compared to what it had been. Innocent ponies, fathers, mothers, foals, everypony was an equal opportunity target for the violence. But such was war, and as such war will forever remain. "How did this happen?" I asked, lowering my hoof from my head. I looked up and across the oak table.

Princess Cadance, my adopted niece, met my gaze. Her expression was cold, but behind that, I could see pain, fear, and worry. To her right, her husband, Twilight's brother, Shining Armor sat looking at me. His mane was disheveled, though not inappropriately so, and his eyes looked heavy and sagged. His eyes and coat didn't hold the same regal shine they once held and looking over at Cadence, I saw the same sight. A deposed princess and prince, removed from power and their empire, then sent back to me. It hurt them.

Cadence shifted her weight uncomfortably. "Celestia... the crystal ponies know that it wasn't me or Shiny that saved them. It was Spike and Twilight..." she spoke in a slow, heavy voice, then trailed off. What she said weighed heavily on her mind, and I hoped that it didn't affect either of them too much, although judging by their looks, it did. Even without the Crystal Empire, I needed them both, perhaps now even more without their Empire's help. "We only held King Sombra out, it was Twilight who found the Crystal Heart, and Spike who they view as their savior."

I nodded. I remembered seeing how the crystal ponies would light up at the sight of the young dragon, or perk up at the sound of his name. They adored him. He was their savior. But yet, the crystal ponies were loyal equines. Before King Sombra took power, the crystal ponies were fiercely loyal to the Empire and their princess. After King Sombra took over, things were hard for them, though their loyalty never wavered. They weren't loyal to King Sombra, and the only reason he maintained power was through terror. They were more afraid of him than of what would happen if they obeyed him.

I still couldn't believe it. 'The crystal ponies are so loyal...' The fact that they overthrew Cadance and Shining Armor perplexed me to no end. Even if the crystal ponies didn't want to be involved in this war, they should have fought it for Cadence. They loved her, I knew that for a fact. The Crystal Empire was easily one of the happiest places in the world, although this war had had a noticeable effect on it.

And then, of course, there was the problem that the Crystal Empire's defection caused me. Equestria's northern border was, for the most part, undefended. Especially along the border with the Crystal Empire, and I didn't have the forces to spare. Fighting a three-way war with Equestria in the shape it was in was a difficult prospect. It wasn't impossible, but I needed every advantage I could take.

Unfortunately, getting those advantages into play was going to take time. Looking toward to the future, I knew that I was going to mourn the deficit this war would bring. The mere thought of it hit home in my gut. Ponies would suffer no matter what happened now, and my best chance to restore peace and harmony was to use every advantage I could, although some weapons were best left unused. There was a difference between effective and cruel.

The only good news I had in regards to the Crystal Empire was that both it and Twilight's southern forces had not made any troop movements that indicated an imminent assault. That gave me time. Unfortunately, the defeat at the Orange River Valley also was hitting hard.

"Princess?"

I blinked. Somehow, my gaze had drifted down to the table. I shook my head and looked back up. "My apologies. I was lost in thought," I apologized. It didn't seem to alleviate Shining Armor's concern.

"Without the Crystal Empire, I don't see how you can win this war..." Cadence mused in a voice that sounded off. I couldn't quite place it.

"It will be difficult, but with your help, we can pull this off," I spoke with conviction. If both of them were low in spirits, I could understand it, they had just been evicted from their empire, from their home, and from the ponies that they loved. I would help that as much as I could. "Cadance, I know you're not that strong, and I know you're not a fighter, but your presence in a battle would at the very least tilt the odds in our favor. Luna would be more likely to use a conservative battle plan if you were there." Cadence clenched her jaw. She didn't like the idea. I couldn't blame her. War was terrible, and she was the Princess of Love. War was anathema to her, although it was also anathema to Twilight, and yet Twilight was responsible for the deaths of thousands.

I turned to Shining Armor. "Twilight will be more reluctant to engage in battle if you're there. This will help us contain her, although it does leave the northern border open to attack. In a few months time, we will have the proper equipment to defend the north, but it could be half a year or longer before we regain enough strength to push back on any front. We need to contain Twilight, however."

"No."

I looked at him blankly. He had said 'no.' For a few seconds, I watched him, going over what he had said, trying to convince myself that I had misunderstood him, or that I didn't catch all that he said. The expression on his face spoke a different story. His look was just a few degrees above ice and his glare would have given any seasoned officer reason to delay an order. I sat there, unable to respond or comprehend it.

"I'm not going to fight my sister," he added. "And-"

"I'm fighting my sister," I said preemptively.

"Well I'm not you," he stated calmly.

I was calm and collected, I didn't attack him. I spoke in a way not to draw his ire. He said nothing and looked at me attentively. "If Luna wins, Equestria-"

"We know," Cadance said, a hint of impatience in her voice, though a soft sadness was also noticeable.

"Twilight, on the other hoof-"

"She doesn't have the experience!" I countered. "She's so young! Especially compared to my sister and myself." I paused and took a short breath, then shook my head. "Shining, I know you love your sister. I love her too, but she isn't ready for this."

"Didn't you ascend her to be your successor?" Cadence asked.

I nodded in response. I couldn't deny that. "Yes, I ascended her..." I answered. "It... has always been my intent that she succeed me, but she is far too young."

"You ascended me when I was just a foal," Cadence replied. "You waited longer with Twilight. Maybe you should have waited longer than what you did."

"Ascending her was my best option. Not only did it give us another alicorn to protect Equestria, but it also gave me an opportunity to further her studies. Both of you proved yourselves," I said calmly.

Cadance said nothing in reply.

"We're still not fighting Twilight," Shining said firmly.

I silently sighed and looked over at him. It pained me to see it written on his face, loyalty to family. It was a trait I was familiar with. Perhaps one I had failed, thinking back over the past few thousand years. I could still respect it in him, but it left me in a bad position. "I need you, Shining Armor." I needed to convince him to hold off Twilight. It was a difficult prospect, made even more difficult by how accomplished Twilight was. It left me with very little room to maneuver. "This war will change her, Shining. The sooner she surrenders or returns to me, the better it will be for everypony. It will shorten the war and save lives. And, if we can contain her we can deal with Luna. After Luna is defeated, Twilight may yet come to see reason and return without a fight, which means that by keeping her contained, lives will be spared." His resolved wavered, though still remained strong.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cadence glance at Shining Armor and bite her lip. A second later, she looked back at me. "Maybe it would be better if I took command of the forces containing Twilight and Shiny helped with Luna," she suggested.

It wasn't a completely unreasonable suggestion, but it wouldn't work. "No. I need you on Luna's front. Your presence will give her pause. You may not be able to fight her head on, but she will be more weary with you being there." It was almost unnoticeable, but Cadance slumped back a little in defeat.

I swallowed. It wasn't a good sign, although it was to be expected with recent events. I would need to keep an eye on it, if their morale fell too much, it would not be a good thing. I shook my head. 'We're getting off topic.' I reminded myself. "How did this happen?" I asked again.

Cadence took a deep breath, then sat up a little straighter, as if the question renewed her strength. "They weren't given a choice in who they wanted to rule over them... You appointed us without giving them a choice. They... probably would have accepted us if you had asked them, but you didn't. Nopony asked them who they wanted to side with in this war, Celestia..." she trailed off, looking down at her hooves on the table. "They don't... hate us... They hate you," she said looking up at me. I sighed heavily. "I told you that this would happen."

I shook my head, thinking back to the conversation. I was surprised by how much it stung. "So you did," I admitted. "But it doesn't change the fact that we cannot allow my sister," I paused and looked at Shining Armor with a slight glare, "or your sister, to win."

"Why can't you just compromise with them?" Cadence asked.

I shook my head slowly. "Luna's demands are unreasonable. She..." I trail off, feeling a pain of guilt in my chest, near my heart, "she's a thousand years displaced... Equestria grew different and more peaceful during her absence..." I trail off. "And Twilight will not help me. She told me so before she left..." The memory still hurt to think about. Not only did I lose my sister, but I lost one of my best friends. I shook the pain away. "We need to buy time to rebuild our forces and rearm. Despite... Luna's... eagerness with military involvement, she doesn't know all of the more modern developments we have."

Shining Armor sat up a little straighter, he knew exactly what I was talking about, and Cadance had some idea. "And how are we supposed to hold off three armies at once?" Cadence asked.

I grimaced at her take on the situation. It wasn't quite accurate, but she never had been military minded. That wasn't entirely her fault, though I suppose. "I'm going to bring winter in early," I answered.

Cadance's mouth opened slightly. After a couple of seconds, she closed it and shook her head. "Celestia, you can't just-"

"I need to buy time," I replied. "It will only be a couple weeks, maybe a month earlier at most. The cold conditions will make it harder to wage an offensive war."

Shining Armor audibly sighed. "Look, Celestia, you don't have the pegasi, nor the resources, to fully bring in winter. Only Twilight does right now. Yes, you can reposition the sun further away from Equis, which will lead to lower temperatures, but the effects won't happen overnight, and they won't drastically alter the war- especially without the pegasi and resources to bring in the full effects of winter. Winter was already coming, and everypony was gearing up for it anyway. Yes, you may catch Twilight and Luna a bit off-guard, but it's not going to cause any drastic alterations to their plans." He shook his head, disgruntled. "And, worse case scenario, it backfires or makes the public even more unhappy with you."

'Even more unhappy?' I frowned at the prospect. Sure, ponies were less happy recently, but a war would do that to anypony. I had ruled Equestria for thousands of years, and a thousand on my own. I knew the ponies of Equestria, and they knew me. The thought that they were unhappy because of my actions was absolutely absurd. I shook the thought off. He was wrong, my ponies loved me.

"And that's not even considering that the crystal ponies are experienced with winter warfare..." Cadence added, grimacing.

"Our forces are spread thin..." I said. "Which is why I need your help. Shining Armor, your sister will be less inclined to attack any force under your command, meaning that we can free up soldiers to help with Luna and the Crystal Empire. If I can't convince you with this, then at least think about what would happen if it turned into a battle between Twilight and Luna for control of Equestria." They both glanced at each other, eyes subtly widening, and lips held more firmly into a straight, neutral line. "My sister would easily crush Twilight, even if Twilight had my forces under her command. Twilight would not have the will to fight against her, and Luna would inevitable win. Equestria would lose."

Shining Armor sighed discontentedly. "Fine. I'll take command of the forces you're using to contain Twilight, but I am not leading them into battle against her, and I am not fighting her. She's my little sister, it's my job to protect her."

"You will be protecting her by keeping her contained and out of the way..." I trailed off, pondering the decision. "I... will accept that," I said cautiously. I had the feeling that I would need to keep both of them close at hoof, although I could still see that both of them knew Luna winning would be disastrous. Neither of them wanted Twilight to have to fight Luna, and nor did I. I wanted Twilight by my side, but not in combat.

Chapter 29

Princess Celestia

"Since the civil war started, Princess Luna has made considerable gains. Her forces have consistently managed to break through our defenses and secured vital land, resources, and population centers, Princess," Director Tap spoke with practiced calmness. His composure did not slip once as he spoke, although since I knew him personally, I could see his telltale signs of distress. His nostrils flared slightly with each breath, and he almost looked pained or labored in his breathing, but just looking at him, unless you knew him, you wouldn't see it. He hid his exhaustion well, but his eyes looked slightly milky, undoubtedly a result of all the hard work he had put into our efforts to reorganize, rearm, and revamp our efforts to hold off and eventually push my sister back. "Princess Twilight's gains have been significantly less, considering that for the most part, she is staying isolated in Southeastern Equestria, but she has already displayed alarming competency and capabilities to not only marshal her ponies to war, but to lead them against a superior force and prevail."

"In short, we're not doing too well," I surmised.

Director Tap maintained his composure, but General Maneuver did not. His expression fell, and his jaw muscles flexed at the news. He grimaced. It wasn't something easy to hear- especially for him. He had fought the first major battle of the war and lost, which was followed by a string of stinging losses. "We weren't prepared for this war, Princess. For starters, Princess Luna had to have been planning this for a while, it's the only way to explain how she was able to amass as large of a dedicated force as she did in such a short period of time. The guard wasn't prepared to suffer such a loss of resources, and the morale blow they suffered only made it worse. We can't rearm overnight, we don't have the industrial capacity to simple rearm. Our economy is not mobilized for war, and it's been so long since it has been..." Director Tap's composure slipped into a grimace. "It's going to take months, if not years to remobilize it, but we do have procedures in place which we have been using to start rearming."

"Rearming isn't going to be enough, however," General Maneuver cut in. I turned to him and regarded him wryly. "We've lost a lot of resources and support already. We need more options out there in the field. Princess Twilight and Princess Luna both have more pegasi than we do, which makes it difficult for us to effectively rely on our ground forces. The Royal Guard's unicorns are unmatched, but we don't have pegasi support to protect them, especially the Fire Support groups."

Director Tap turned to General Maneuver. "We're working on it. Research & Development are drafting plans for outfitting zeppelins with proper armor, enchantments, and systems to enable them to function as weapons platforms for unicorns to use, and R &D are developing spells and explosives with timed triggers for detonation which can be used against pegasi. Unfortunately, it won't be easy to field the zeppelins since they will take a while to build and we don't have proper facilities to mass produce them. Artillery on the other hoof will be simpler to convert factories to produce them. Ammunition for the artillery may be a problem since we're upgrading the artillery systems and ammo we already have."

"Neither artillery nor zeppelins will be very mobile," General Maneuver sighed. He turned and looked me in the eye. "Princess, we need mobility to win this war. Sitting around on our flanks isn't going to do us any good!"

I suppressed a sigh. He had a point, you did not win wars by sitting around and waiting for the enemy to come to you, however, we didn't have the resources to go on the offensive. We were stuck on the defensive until we could rearm or find an opening. "We just need to buy time," I said calmly. "I've already signed off on a blanket plan for rearmament including a significant spending increase on the Royal Guard."

"It's going to take time for that spending to come into effect and change anything, Princess. This wouldn't be a problem if you hadn't neglected defense spending for years, Princess," General Maneuver said calmly.

I held back a scowl, but I still looked at him firmly. "General, we already had enough resources in defense spending to defend Equestria against all of her neighbors, and if we spent more on it, it would mean more resources my sister could have taken with her. Additional funding would have served no purpose when the funds were better spent elsewhere," I said calmly, forcing myself to smile slightly, hoping to alleviate his hostility.

General Maneuver sighed and shook his head. He did not look appeased, but he kept his opinion to himself. I turned to Director Tap. "As you know, Princess, the bulk of the remaining Royal Guard are unicorns, we don't have enough pegasi to hope to match Princess Luna or even Princess Twilight if it wasn't the Wonderbolts she had on her side. Princess Luna's forces are a fairly balanced mix of each race, but they are generally more experienced and military minded, which can explain her vast success. It's worth noting that her higher ranking officers are not as experienced as ours, however. Princess Twilight's success can be attributed to the Wonderbolts and her own skills. Princess Twilight's forces are predominantly pegasi, but she is making heavy gains among earth ponies. The buffalo have also enlisted their support with her." I thought I saw him shiver at the mention of the buffalo, and I couldn't blame him. If an earth pony was strong, a buffalo was on par with myself in terms of physical strength, and their determination put Applejack's to shame. I did not want to cross paths with one on a bad day. "She doesn't have many unicorns, but she has adapted to that. We will want to deploy the airburst artillery against her as soon as possible, while the zeppelins may be better off against Princess Luna."

"Zeppelins are also slower and larger targets," General Maneuver said with a grunt. "They would be an easy target for Princess Luna."

"Perhaps we could work that to our advantage... my sister may be inclined to attack them herself believing them to be the main attack force, meaning we could use them to draw her out and send more mobile units against her flanks," I said. I looked around idly as I considered the plan. There were a few spells which would increase the odds of the plan succeeding, but the plan would also be costly, not just in terms of time. Many ponies could die if it succeeded, and more would die if it failed.

"That... could work," General Maneuver agreed cautiously. "But we still don't have a means to disable Princess Luna."

"I can take to the field myself," I said. Director Tap looked at me evenly and exhaled heavily. "I may be the only pony capable of defeating her," I added.

It didn't appease him, he merely shook his head in defeat. "Princess, if you fail..." he trailed off, then looked back up to me. "It will be at least three months before we can put this plan into action, probably four." He stood up straighter as he finished.

"We might not have that long," General Maneuver commented warily.

I clenched my jaw. 'If my generals are suffering from morale loss...' It was one thing for Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor to be suffering from morale loss, and entirely another for one of my top generals to be suffering from it. He had lost in every battle he had led, however. That must have played a role in it. However, that might have only made things worse, considering we did not have a single substantial victory in our hooves. "Which is why we are on the defensive and buying time. In a few months, we will be mobilized enough to counter attack and push Princess Luna back until she capitulates," I say firmly, stamping my hoof on the wooden floor in finality.

"Yes, Princess," General Maneuver sighed. "There's still the matter of the Crystal Empire. We don't have the forces to be able to defend on three fronts."

I grimaced. "I am aware of the issue... Their magical resistance makes them much more resilient to our unicorns, but kinetic penetration spells are a standard in training, so we shouldn't need to worry about their resistance. Their ability to field an entire army on our northern border is a problem, however..." I admitted.

"We may not have a lot of ammo available for the artillery we have, but most of that ammunition is high explosive rounds. There's also a significant cache of magic-enhanced rounds. We should have prototype high explosive airburst rounds finished within a week, from there we should be able to start producing them in mass within three months," Director tap said.

I nodded to myself. 'We just need to buy time.' "As of right now, it would probably be best to divide the artillery between the northern border and the border with my sister..." I trailed off. "The combination of the threat the artillery will pose to them and winter should keep Luna at bay, but the Crystal Empire is adept at fighting in winter..." I grimaced as I mulled it over. "How are enlistment and training going?" I asked cautiously.

Director Tap shifted his weight. "Enlistment is... lower than hoped for, but within estimated range. Training is progressing as well as can be expected. Since we're planning on introducing the artillery into widescale use, I'd recommend we start training specialists with the use of the artillery."

I squinted and nodded. "Yes, that would be wise," I agreed. "We may have to reposition garrisons from cities which aren't threatened to reinforce the defense against my sister or to hold back the Crystal Empire if enlistment is lower than hoped for..." I trailed off, sighing. Lower than hoped for enlistment was expected, even with increased financial incentives. I was asking them to go to war against their fellow ponies, I was asking them to kill their fellow ponies to defend Equestria, and I might have been asking them to die while fighting their fellow ponies. It wasn't something I wanted to do, but it was the lesser evil. I did not want to see what would happen if my sister won, but then again, maybe it wouldn't have been as bad as I thought. She had tried to be better, but she was still Luna. And Twilight, there was no doubt in my mind that if Twilight won, she would do her best, but I doubted she could succeed. Other nations would undoubtedly take advantage of her and Equestria, and ponies would suffer.

I shook my head and looked down across the warehouse. "I wish it had not come to this," I said heavily, grieved by what was happening across Equestria. Every pony dying in battle was a life lost on my watch. A life lost that shouldn't have been. A life cut short, a foal taken away from their parents, or worse, a parent taken away from their foal. My gaze drifted downward at that knowledge. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to steel my resolve, then I looked up and opened my eyes.

General Spitfire

"It's been a while since I've been to Cloudsdale, Mayor. Things better be going well. If I find out that the Academy is on fire I will personally-"

Mayor smiled and chuckled heartily. "That won't be necessary, General. Congratulations on the promotion, by the way. I meant to do so sooner, but I did not have the opportunity."

I smiled at him and leaned back in my chair. "Yeah, thanks," I said. "You didn't leave Cloudsdale and come all the way to Ponyville just for a social visit though."

Mayor's smile faded. "Ah, yes... The meteorologists have noticed that Princess Celestia has started bringing in winter early."

I leaned forward and put my hooves on the desk calmly. "I had noticed a bit of a chill in the air..." I trailed off, shaking my head. "Alright, what're we going to do about it?"

Mayor sat up straighter and his informality faded to formality. "General, I had hoped to discuss this matter with Princess Twilight Sparkle in person."

I forced myself to keep a neutral expression. "Princess Twilight is busy," I said flatly. "So you're stuck with me."

Mayor looked around in annoyance, disgruntled with my response. "General, this is a civilian matter. Princess Twilight has not declared martial law, therefore this matter stays in civilian hooves." He dropped the bureaucratic act and smiled warily. "Spitfire, I know you mean well, but I really need to discuss this with the princess. While upwards of seventy percent of Cloudsdale pegasi support her, there is still a minority who would prefer to follow Princess Celestia and General Maneuver. That minority happens to include business interests such as the weather industry. It will go over better if I talk to Princess Twilight about it than just you. I know that some of them feel that you're a traitor, but they still feel some sense of loyalty to Princess Twilight."

'Of course the weather industry still supports Princess Celestia and General Maneuver...' I held back a sigh and forced my gaze to remain neutral. It didn't remain neutral for long. I slowly shook my head and looked around the room, then sighed in defeat. "You can't talk to her, I'm sorry. I know you need to, but she's... otherwise occupied," I said uneasily, grimacing.

Mayor sighed heavily and slowly shook his head. "The weather industry is going to follow Princess Celestia's lead unless Princess Twilight says otherwise, Spitfire. The Winter might not be coming in the middle of Fall, but it'll still be early, and quite ahead of schedule. This could wreak havoc on the economy, not to mention disrupt the weather industry! We're already behind because of this civil war."

"Mayor, I know. We needed the lightning bombs, though. I know it set the industry behind, but we paid top bits for those bombs. They should be able to meet demand for both weather and military needs if they use the funds properly," I said calmly.

Mayor grunted, "That's not the point! It takes time to build factories to increase output since the current factories can only do so much! They're already operating over capacity to meet the demands of this war and trying to maintain the weather schedule! If we bring in Winter early before we're ready, the Spring could be drier than planned, which could cause more problems down the road!"

I grunted and clenched my jaw. "Then you tell them Princess Twilight said to stick with the normal schedule," I said firmly. "Otherwise all of this will be on you, not me," I said seriously.

Mayor slowly closed his mouth and looked at me with disappointment. "Spitfire, what aren't you telling me? Why is Princess Twilight otherwise occupied?" he said in a calm, calculated voice.

I exhaled calmly. "She's unconscious," I stated. "And that stays between us."

Mayor clenched his jaw. He looked at me with a hardened, blank expression, then slowly glanced to my right, at the wall. His gaze trailed over the room, then passed over me until it settled on the wall behind me to my left. A few seconds passed, and his jaw muscles flexed, then he leveled his gaze on me. "Spitfire, what happened?"

I sat back in my chair. "I can't tell you," I said flatly. "She's been unconscious for a month, even though she is physically fine now. She should be awake according to the doctors."

"Spitfire..." Mayor trailed off warily.

"I have enough authority to keep it under wraps and to keep things running smoothly, at least for the time being," I answered. I leaned back in my chair and pressed a hoof to my temple. "Not that it's easy," I added, sighing. "And it doesn't help that only Princess Twilight can declare martial law."

"If she doesn't wake up-"

"If she doesn't wake up, then that will be the least of your worries," I said, glaring at him threateningly.

He sat back and flared his wings out, then let them fall to his side. "Fine. I'll tell them Princess Twilight said to stick with the original schedule." He stood from the chair. "But if word gets out about this," he warned.

"It'll be easier to keep secret if you cooperate," I replied evenly.

"You continue to have the full support of Cloudsdale, Spitfire. A lot of ponies look up to you, even more look up to Captain Rainbow Dash, including myself," he said. "But they also believe in Princess Twilight. They may not have had as much faith in her before that battle, but since she won it, they believe in her." He turned around and walked over to the door, then paused and looked back at me. "And enlistment in the Cloudsdale Militia has increased significantly in the past few weeks," he commented with a half smile.

"I heard about that," I replied with disinterest.

"Well," he said. "I shall leave you to it then." He opened the door, then stepped outside and pulled the door shut behind him.

I brought a hoof to my temple and pressed against my head. 'This job is going to be the death of me.' I shook my head, then looked down at my desk.

Princess Luna

"Since Princess Celestia's forces are digging in hard, we don't have the forces to attack their reinforced positions, but we have been able to seize lightly defended regions and we've inflicted damage on her supply infrastructure, although nowhere near enough," General Gale said.

I nodded absently, still mulling over my strategic options. "If we can inflict enough damage on their supply lines, we may be able to weaken their defenses enough that we can overrun them."

"We would need a significant investment in time and pegasi to succeed at that," General Gale replied, his brow furrowing. "It could work, but we would have a better shot at it if we could mobilize more IFS unicorns."

I grimaced. "We only poses limited unicorn siege specialists and they are all currently deployed in the field. Withdrawing them to partake in a bombardment of a fortified position would weaken our offensive and defensive capabilities of regions we remove them from."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Commander Nightwing shift his weight in his chair. I turned to him. "You have something to say?" I asked.

He nodded, reluctantly, then turned to meet my gaze. "Princess, we have not engaged Princess Twilight in battle, and she has shown no open hostility towards us. Rather, you both have the common enemy of Princess Celestia." He turned to the map on the table and slid his hoof over the growing defensive line dividing my realm from my sister's realm. "Most of Princess Celestia's forces are occupied with us, and the northern border with the Crystal Empire is vastly unprotected. If you and Princess Twilight cooperated, you could crush Princess Celestia in a swift blow."

I grimaced and sighed, then turned away from him and shook my head. "I have tried to talk with Princess Twilight, but it seems she is blocking me from her dreams. When I last spoke to her, I did inform her that I would be happy to assist her if she assisted me, however, she was quite adamant that she would rule Equestria, rather than me, which is unacceptable."

"Yes, Princess," Commander Nightwing rigidly nodded in agreement.

It brought back a smile to my lips, knowing his loyalty lied solely with me. In a way, though, it hurt. He was not my friend, he was my subordinate. Twilight, on the other hoof, was my friend, yet she would not talk to me. 'Perhaps you will talk to me after I defeat my sister.' I mused. It was the most likely outcome, I did not believe that after I defeated my sister that Twilight would continue attempting to fight against me. It was not a battle she could win. I hoped she would see reason and join me, I would be happy to welcome her at my side in ruling Equestria.

General Sapphire

"Ah, General Spitfire. I was wondering when we would get a chance to talk," I greeted. In truth, I had been worried that the crystal would not arrive, or that it would arrive but would have been damaged, even though it was unlikely. General Spitfire didn't look very sure about the situation, however. It was unsurprising, it was unfamiliar to her. I placed a hoof on my desk, then slid it over the cool, lightly colored crystal. I nudged the gem sitting on my desk back a little, pushing General Spitfire's projection back with it.

"Yeah," she said. "I am doing this right, right?" she asked.

I smiled and chuckled at her uncertainty. "Yes, General. You are using the crystal properly. You should have a clear picture of myself as well," I replied. Looking at her projection, she certainly fit her name. Her yellow coat and fiery orange mane were glazed over with a light blue tone and looked slightly crystalline, but other than that, it was just like being there with her.

She nodded somewhat absently, then glanced over her shoulder. Her mouth moved, but I didn't hear what she said, it wasn't directed at me. She turned back, scowling slightly, though the scowl quickly faded and she regained her composure. "Scientists just don't know how to take no for an answer," she sighed. "Sorry about that."

"That's quite alright, General," I said warmly. I paused and frowned. "Although, I had expected to talk to Princess Twilight, rather than you. No offense, General Spitfire."

She smirked and nodded. "None taken General... Sapphire, was it?"

I nodded. "Yes. But I must insist that I talk with Princess Twilight. I appreciate that she had you contact me immediately, but I must pledge my allegiance to her personally." I grimaced. "I would prefer to do it in person, but given the circumstances..." I trailed off.

Spitfire nodded and took a deep breath. Her brow creased and she shifted her weight. "Unfortunately, it could be some time before Princess Twilight's able to talk with you personally. She's been in the hospital for four weeks, recovering from the battle with General Hoof. I'm keeping it on the down low."

I frowned. "That is... troubling news, General..." I trailed off, scrutinizing her expression. She grimaced. "How is she doing?"

Spitfire sat back and bobbed her head, her eyebrows rose up and she exhaled at length. "She's physically fine. She almost died, but-"

"She... almost died?" I asked in disbelief. Princess Twilight was an alicorn, and she almost died in a battle with regular ponies. I felt a grimace pull at my lips. "I... know we don't know all of the details, but..." I trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"We were outnumbered, she led a team of Wonderbolts into their main camp. They were vastly outnumbered. Two of the Wonderbolts with her were killed, but she survived because of Captain Rainbow Dash." I frowned at that revelation. Spitfire took another breath before continuing. "She engaged General Hoof herself, the General got the upper hoof, then stabbed her twice in the neck. She almost bled out. She has recovered completely from the physical injuries, but she's still unconscious. She had a surge of magic and pretty much wiped out the entire encampment. Estimates put the casualty count she inflicted between three and four thousand, but we can't get an exact count since there were no bodies left behind."

I felt a shiver run down my spine. "I've heard stories of what alicorns can do, but..."

"And according to Captain Rainbow Dash, she was nearly dead when she cast that spell."

I did not know how to respond to that. I could not respond to that. Silence reigned for several seconds while I struggled to wrap my mind around what she had said. Princess Twilight was young, even younger than Princess Cadance, and yet Princess Twilight was so much stronger than her. I smiled a little at that realization, then frowned, remembering that she was still hospitalized. "Why is she still unconscious if she has recovered?"

Spitfire bobbed her head. "The doctors said something about her magic strengthening. We're guessing she's still out because she's an alicorn."

"I see," I replied, frowning in thought. I took a deep breath and shook my head. "Princess Twilight has the full support of the Crystal Empire. We stand ready to fight for her as soon as she calls, or as soon as you need us to defend her," I said firmly. "Our lives are sworn to her."

Spitfire nodded hesitantly. "We're keeping a close eye on her. I'll inform you as soon as she wakes up."

"I would greatly appreciate that General," I said. "I need to inform the others about this development, but you have my word that this will not leak out." I paused. "I am sure you have matters to attend to. General Quartz and I will start drafting plans for an invasion of Equestria, but I would prefer to wait for Princess Twilight to review the plans and give the order."

Spitfire's gaze drifted away, almost like she was looking out in space, deep in thought. She nodded at length. "Alright." She glanced down at the crystal. Her body and hooves moved for a few seconds, then eventually, the projection blinked out of existence.

I sat there for a few seconds, mulling over my thoughts, then I exhaled heavily and stood up from my crystalline chair. I collected myself, then calmly walked over to the crystalline door. I paused for a second, glancing back over my office, my gaze was drawn to the deep purple gem on my desk. The three-pronged star shape stood out easily among the clutter of paperwork on my desk, to say nothing of the color. I had a feeling that I was going to get very acquainted with that crystal.

I shook my head, then opened the door and closed it behind me. The two soldiers stood at attention as I stepped out. I dismissed it with a wave from my hoof, then started down the hallway. Mayor Lattice and General Quartz needed to know about this development. Princess Celestia's treachery would not go unpunished.

Chapter 30

Canterlot Times

Crushing Defeat?

Late in the evening one day several weeks ago, it was apparent that things weren't going according to plan. General Hoof, one of Princess Celestia's top generals, had been tasked to lead an assault on Princess Twilight Sparkle's domain. Early indications said that victory was assured, but as the day dragged on and evening came. Surprise after surprise and loss after loss mounted, climaxing with an unprecedented magical event. Inside sources say that even Princess Celestia doesn't know what happened! A flash of lavender light in the evening sky followed by an eerie stillness. Within two hours after the unidentified magical anomaly, Princess Twilight's forces routed General Hoof's forces, and General Hoof is presumed killed in action.

The soldiers under General Hoof's command were in a full retreat. Severe weather, along with undisclosed pegasi tactics resulted in staggering losses among the unicorn ranks. Sources close to the top of the Chain of Command say that the Cloudsdale Militia, combined with the Wonderbolts and Wonderbolts Reserve spearheaded the defense, dropping unstable, supercharged bombs, that when damaged, detonated releasing a burst of powerful lightning. Further reports from Cloudsdale seem to verify this claim of 'Lightning Bombs' as they were referred to as, citing a massive ramping up of production and undisclosed payments of large sums of bits.

Experts in the field of magic claim that the magical anomaly, as it is referred to as, was a product of Princess Twilight herself. The most damning piece of evidence to back up this claim? Unofficial, leaked reports put the death toll from this single spell at between 2,000 and 6,000 soldiers- A spell of that magnitude has never been seen on Equestrian soil before!

Furthermore, sources close to Princess Celestia claim that she has attempted to hide just how badly things are actually going.

Neither Princess Twilight Sparkle nor any of her spokesponies have said anything on the issue despite repeated attempts to reach out for comment.

Losing on All Fronts?

Recent news of the declaration of secession from the Crystal Empire, along with their pledge to "...support Princess Twilight Sparkle, the savior of the Crystal Empire... in all of her goals..." combined with the depletion of Equestrian military resources has left Equestria remarkable vulnerable. With the Crystal Empire prepared for war on the northern border, which is vastly undefended, and not having ample forces to fight on three fronts, things are not going well. Sources close to Princess Celestia claim that even she is concerned about this most recent turn of events. However, recent statements by officials contradict this claim, reaffirming Princess Celestia's commitment to peace, harmony, and protecting Equestria. Many ponies, however, are quick to point out that sending soldiers to war is far from harmonious, especially considering that many of them never had a choice in this war.

Furthermore, what was supposed to be a quick victory over Princess Twilight Sparkle turned into a total military defeat on top of the already demoralizing string of defeats suffered at the hooves of Princess Luna. Experts are worried that this string of defeats will continue unless drastic changes are made.

Official statements seem to offer some hope, however. While they acknowledge the disturbing trend of defeats suffered by Equestria's armed forces, they are quick to point out that nopony expected a civil war, let alone Princess Luna managing to take half of the Royal Guard with her in such a short time, nor was anypony prepared for Princess Twilight Sparkle's secession. According to officials, "...steps are being taken to ensure the rearmament... and preparation of the Equestrian armed forces for... victory."

"This is outrageous!" A whiteish-blue unicorn stallion shouted. He threw the newspaper onto the street and turned to the vendor. The vendor shrunk back under his icy glare. "You call that news? That's nothing but bloody lies!" He shouted.

"Now, now, I just sell what they p-print!" The vendor argued. "An-and the Canterlot News Network has always b-been a reputable source!" He glanced around at the small crowd gathering. One of the mares bent down and rubbed her chin with a hoof as she scrutinized the article. A few seconds later, her eyes widened and she snatched the paper up from the stand with her magic. She flung a couple bits on the counter, drawing the upset stallion's gaze to her.

"We're losing!? B-but h-how!? M-my c-colt just enlisted!" The pinkish mare cried out.

The stallion beside her scoffed. "You don't actually believe that dribble, do you? Insolent foal, it's nothing but propaganda!"

"Hey, leave her alone," a tan stallion said. The whitish-blue stallion turned on his hooves and pressed his nose into the other stallion's nose, then snorted.

A small colt carefully walked over to the discarded newspaper laying on the street, then quickly read through the article, only to pause after reading a small section. "Hey, wait a second... This article said Princess Twilight Sparkle just killed six thousand ponies with a single spell!"

The colt jumped in excitement. "She-"

"We're losing?" Another stallion shouted. "B-but-"

"How are we supposed to be safe if the Crystal Empire is ready for war and the northern border is undefended?"

"Princess Celestia doesn't care about us! She's sending us to die just to hold onto power!"

"What!" several ponies called out. Their distress and concern only grew as their numbers grew, and as more ponies took notice of the crowd and how concerned they were, they stopped to investigate.

"Princess Celestia is a tyrant! Look at what she's-"

"Oh, shut up!" a stallion cried out, then swung his hoof at the offending crier. His hoof struck true, and the crier fell to the street, dazed. "Serves you-"

Said stallion found himself clutching his side after an earth pony's hoof knocking the wind out of him. He gasped and leveled his gaze on him. "Leave her alone you coward!"

"Stay out of my business you-" He quickly jumped out of the way, wincing with every movement of his muscles. A second later, a pair of hooves hit the pavement where he had lain. The earth pony winced and grunted, jerking back onto his hind legs to nurse his forehooves from the jarring impact.

The stallion stared at the impact left in the pavement, then looked back up at the stallion. "You could have killed me..." The crowd grew silent. A second later, the unicorn jumped at the earth pony, horn first. The earth pony lost his balance and fell backward. He kicked out with his hind legs and caught the unicorn off guard, throwing him back into the newsstand, then he jumped back onto his hooves.

"H-hey!" The vendor shouted.

The colt bit his lip and stepped back, wincing as the adults around him grew angrier and more discontented. His ears folded back and he tucked his tail in between his legs, adults weren't supposed to fight like that. It was scary.

The earth pony disregarded the vendor, then charged at the unicorn laying in the debris. The unicorn lifted his head up and immediately paled. He scurried to his hooves to get away, only to cry out in pain. He glanced back at his leg and found it bent at an awkward angle. As the earth pony rushed him, his fear got the better of him and he lit his horn.

The earth pony skidded to a stop, but it was too late. A jagged, broken plank of wood surged to him, then embedded itself in him. Several ponies gasped as the earth pony staggered back, then fell down.

The colt whimpered and scurried off as fast as his hooves could carry him, the image of the earth pony with a chunk of wood sticking out of his neck and crimson slowly covering both the wood and his chest stuck in his mind.

Things only got worse from there.

Princess Twilight Sparkle

Well, that certainly wasn't an experience I ever wanted to repeat.

Getting hit by a spell meant to kill wasn't fun, but anypony could probably tell you that. Getting hit by a spell meant to kill at the base of your wing, partially breaking through your armor and surging into your body was in fact, very unpleasant. The pain was so fresh in my mind, I was afraid to try to move my wing, but I had to know. I braced myself, then twitched my wing. No pain. I felt relieved to know that my wing was still attached to my body and functional.

'Right, I'm an alicorn... I've healed.' I owed it predominantly to that magic surge. The magic had left me after a few seconds, but it was long enough for me to combine several spells which weren't supposed to be combined and then cast that spell. Thinking about the spell I created and cast left an empty feeling inside me, followed closely by a deep feeling of dread. I could have killed Rainbow and the rest of the ponies with me...

I might have already been responsible for their deaths. And I was still alive.

I shivered and suppressed the fear.

My body felt off, it felt different. My magic felt different too. I would have to investigate why my body felt different. My first hypothesis was nerve damage, but because of my alicorn status and alicorn magic surge, that immediately ruled out any kind of damage to my body or mind. I would have healed, even if the damage was substantial. Solving what was causing my magic to feel different was easy, I was an alicorn and had just experienced a surge or alicorn magic. Even if the magic surge quickly left, depending on how much time had passed since I had the magic surge, the alicorn magic could have taken hold, and it likely did.

I would have to investigate just how much alicorn magic I had now. The prospect made me giddy. Princess Celestia could move the sun with her alicorn magic. It had taken several powerful unicorns, along with amplification spells to have enough magic to accomplish the same task before. I had moved the sun before, and that feeling was indescribable- reaching out with your magic and touching a star, a massive celestial body of compressed gas so hot that its atoms were dissociated into plasma, where the atoms had so much energy they overcame atomic repulsion and fused into heavier elements.

'How am I supposed to prevent Princess Celestia and Princess Luna from using that magic after... if I win?' That would be a problem. Magic suppression rings could only do so much, and the violent failure of one under too much stress could kill.

'Then again, I already have the answer for that, don't I?' It would take some doing, but I could adapt some crystals to store their magic. Of course, I would have the problem of figuring out how to drain their magic from them. 'I should let them keep just enough magic for basic levitation spells.' That would be useful. 'Then again, both of them might try to fight me if I did that.' I needed more information to make a conclusion.

'What time is it? How long was I... asleep?' My body felt very different, that was something that wouldn't happen over night, and my magic felt much stronger- I could feel the alicorn magic inside me, almost like it was begging for me to use it.

I had a magic surge of alicorn magic. The power I wielded during those few seconds would have been enough to rival Princess Celestia or Princess Luna, but I didn't want to repeat the conditions that caused it. 'General Hoof pinned me to the ground and... and... he... stabbed me... twice... in the neck! He severed my artery!'

'Okay, don't panic, you're still alive, that much is clear!' As if spurred on by that thought, I noticed a beeping in the background picking up. Judging by the rhythm, it was a heart rate monitor, and judging by how it was quickening, it was tied into me.

I felt a little calmer at that knowledge. 'So, I'm still alive. And... the magic surge, I could have... I could have killed them... Rainbow, please don't be dead.' Another sound met my ears. I remained still and listened. A door had been opened, and somepony walked inside. The door closed. Whoever walked inside walked around beside my bed to my right. They were definitely a pony, their hooves clopped against the tiled floor. I was definitely in a hospital.

The pony slowly relented and walked away.

'Wait, I had an alicorn magic surge because General Hoof stabbed me in the neck twice? He severed my artery, I... I felt so cold and... and... oh... buck me. -I' I bolted upright and fought against the restricting blankets, startled by the realization. "I ALMOST DIED!" I shouted.

I heard a peculiar squawking sound coming from my left, followed by the beating of wings. "Whohuhwha?" Unmistakably Rainbow's voice.

The nurse didn't fair much better. She screamed and jumped. As she hit the ground, she clutched her chest with her hooves.

Rainbow was still alive, that was good to know. It relieved me, especially considering that I almost killed her along with the rest of my team when I cast that spell. The fact that it didn't kill them... I shivered, then struggled against the blankets. Somewhere along the line, I must have fallen out of the bed since I found myself groaning and sprawled out across the floor, my limbs tangled in the blanket. I was pretty sure my leg was still caught up in the sheets and pinned against the side of the bed.

Needless to say, it was not the most elegant position I had ever been in. I groaned and closed my eyes.

"Twilight! You're awake!" Rainbow shouted. A second later, the pegasus' arms wrapped around me, squeezing me. Her arms and body felt off, but I pushed the thought aside, she was okay, I wasn't responsible for killing my friend.

"Yes, Rainbow, I'm okay," I said. 'Why is she so concern- oh, right, I almost died.' I grunted and lit my horn with my unicorn magic and I carefully untangled myself from the blankets.

"Princess?" The other pony asked.

I turned to her. "Yes?" I carefully brought my leg down to the floor, then pushed myself up. I paused to blink. She didn't look like a fully grown mare, she didn't have the stature, but at the same time, her features put her in her late thirties. 'Strange, why would-'

"Woah, Twilight." Rainbow's voice came out surprised, and she pulled back from me.

"What?" I asked as I turned to face her. I was a bit surprised when instead of coming face to face with her, I found myself staring at her mane. I blinked again at the puzzling development. I looked down at her and blinked again. She looked as shocked as I felt. I looked down at my body. 'Well, no wonder my body feels off.' Yes, growing to about the size of Princess Cadance would do that, wouldn't it?

Rainbow scrutinized my body. I felt a little uncomfortable under her gaze and fluffed my wings. Eventually, she looked back up at me. "The doctors said you were growing, but uh... wow. I didn't expect you to be that tall. I mean, I could tell you were growing, but since you were laying down in bed..."

I nodded slowly. "Yes," I said. I looked down at my neck, chest, and then legs. I frowned. "A lot of alicorns height seems to be in our necks and legs..." I trailed off. 'This is going to take a while to get used to.' I mused. I found myself grimacing. My new body was almost certainly superior to before I had the growth spurt, but I also knew what caused my growth spurt. I shook my head, then brought a hoof up to my temple and massaged it. It felt oh-so-good. "I almost died..."

"Uh... yeah..." Rainbow said hesitantly. "We um... we were all worried about you, Princess..."

I sighed and slowly lowered my hoof back to the floor. I turned to the nurse. "Can you give me a few minutes and check me out? I... have things to take care of."

The nurse quickly bowed. "Y-yes, of course, Princess!" She quickly rose from the bow and scurried out of the room, almost like she was afraid.

I watched the door close behind her, then turned to Rainbow. She shifted her weight and ran her hoof in circles over the tiled floor. She avoided my gaze and hung her head as if in shame. I frowned. "Rainbow?"

She glanced up at me but if anything else, she shied back. "Y-yes, Princess?"

I sighed, then looked around. The room was so spartan, but it was clear Pinkie Pie and the rest of the girls had been present since there were balloons and a get well soon card on the table beside my bed. I sat down on my haunches, it was going to take me a while to get used to my new stature. "I..." 'I remember what happened, but what happened?' It was strange, remembering everything that happened leading up to getting stabbed in the neck, and what happened afterward. My neck itched a little and felt a little cooler than I thought it should have. I lifted my left hoof up and placed it against my neck. I could still remember the blade being stabbed into me. I could almost feel it.

I rubbed my hoof up and down, feeling my neck and trying to reassure myself that my injury had healed, despite remembering the feeling of my magic repairing the injuries. Rainbow glanced up and shrank down from me. I could feel two scars where the blade had pierced my neck, but my coat had grown back and concealed it. If my alicorn magic had failed to heal the scars, then the scars were permanent.

I slowly lowered my hoof back to the floor, the knowledge that I had a permanent injury lingering in my mind. It had healed, but the evidence of what happened remained. I shivered. "I have... so many questions, but... I remember too..." I couldn't decide on how to approach the subject, there was just so much to talk about.

"I'm sorry, I should have tried harder or done something! I could have stopped it but I didn't!" Rainbow closed her eyes and barred her teeth.

She felt responsible for it. I closed my mouth, then stood back up and closed the distance between us. I hesitated, then wrapped an arm around her. I could still see it, in my mind, General Hoof pinning her to the ground. If she had tried anything, he would have killed her. 'I almost got one of my friends, one of the Elements of Harmony killed...' My blood felt like it had chilled and turned into liquid nitrogen, and a deep-seated fear gnawed at my stomach. "Rainbow, I remember what happened. It wasn't your fault. I screwed up. I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings..." I trailed off and swallowed, feeling my body grow cold. "That unicorn... got lucky..." One lucky shot by a unicorn nearly killed me. 'I'm an alicorn... if I wasn't, then that would have... I... I would have died...'

"I didn't do my duty, though! I'm supposed to protect you, and you still-"

I squeezed her, silencing her. "He would have killed you if you tried to... do something."

"I still should have!" Rainbow argued.

Another shiver ran down my spine. I clenched my jaw. I was afraid to think about what she meant by that phrase in the context that it clearly was in. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "I almost killed you all with that spell I cast while... almost dead."

Rainbow tensed up. The silence filling the room was deafening, and for several seconds, I was afraid she wasn't going to say anything. "You wiped out the entire camp, Twilight... The doctors said you had a magic surge, and you used it to level the camp."

It was my turn to tense up. I held myself in check, tensing my body and keeping myself close together. 'T-the spell... worked.' "H-how... bad... w-was it?"

Rainbow tentatively pulled back. "They said you... would have died if I hadn't carried you back... I... I've never been so worried in my life..."

I pursed my lips. "You... carried me back?"

Rainbow shifted my weight. "I was the fastest, and everypony was worried that you would die before we got you back... Twilight, the doctors were convinced that you weren't going to make it!"

I studied Rainbow's haunted expression, then took a deep breath. "I... would be dead... if I wasn't... an alicorn..." I was born a unicorn, and Princess Celestia ascended me. Princess Celestia saved my life. I owed her my life. I would have died if I was still a unicorn. It didn't change that she and her sister needed to be dethroned.

'I almost died... If I had died, then... then Celestia and Luna... one of them.' The thought left me haunted. I had fought to protect ponies, and I almost died for the same reason, but if I had died, I would have condemned Equestria. I took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled.

"How... how long was I... out? I couldn't have grown this much in a single day... and the way you make it sound..." I trailed off gravely.

"Almost two months..." Rainbow answered.

I shivered again. Part of me was begging to investigate my growth rate as an alicorn. With as much as I grew in as short a period of time as I had, my mind raced with ideas and concerns. But at the same time, another part of me was struggling to process what she said. I remembered the battle clearly, I remember falling down, feeling so cold from blood loss, and I remember the spell I used, but I had no memory of what happened after that until I woke up. "Almost... two months?"

Rainbow nodded. "W-well, um, more like a month and a half..."

I groaned and leaned backward. "I'm going to have a mess to deal with, aren't I?"

Rainbow visibly winced and shifted her weight. "General Spitfire is um... not happy."

I sighed. I glanced back at the hospital bed. It looked inviting. I could already picture talking to Spitfire. It wasn't going to go well. I had half the mind to pretend that I never woke up and that I was still unconscious, but I couldn't just do that. Even if I did almost die, ponies depended on me. If I didn't lead them, then they'd suffer. I had no choice. "Well... I guess I need to go talk to her..." I tentatively stood up, then stretched out. I closed my eyes and moaned, stretching had never felt so good before in my life. My entire body felt like it melted with pleasure as I stretched out. Laying in bed for over a month, plus growing as much as I did must have taken a toll on my body. Eventually, I sighed and stood back up. I glanced at the balloons again and froze. "They... the rest of the girls... I almost died..."

"Y-yeah," Rainbow said cautiously. "Spitfire... she tried to stop them from finding out, but..."

I slowly clenched my jaw and grimaced. "I'm going to have a busy week, aren't I?"

"I wouldn't know, Princess," Rainbow replied quickly.

I shot her a glare. "Walk with me," I commanded.

Rainbow scurried over beside me and rigidly stood at attention. "Y-yes, Princess!"

I felt bad about pulling rank on the small pegasus, especially considering what she had to have been through. I sighed. "Rainbow, can you just... be my friend right now?" I asked softly. "I'd really appreciate it..." I trailed off, unsure of what to say first.

Rainbow looked at me uneasily and then hesitantly nodded. "Sure, Twilight... what's up?"

I grimaced and bobbed my head. "I just... what do you think is up?"

Rainbow chuckled nervously. "Sorry."

I rolled my eyes and started toward the door. She stayed close beside me. "Well... I'm going to find out sooner or later, but I think walking and talking will be beneficial. What... did I miss?" I asked as I opened the door with my magic.

I eyed the door to Spitfire's office warily. Twin guards flanked the door and stood stoically, but they did eye me expectantly. To my right, Rainbow stood unsurely. To my left, two additional guards stood beside me. Looking down at them was one of the weirdest things I had experienced since the war started. Knowing that they were full grown ponies but still being a good head taller than them was offputting. Although the guards did a good job at hiding it, I was sure I looked intimidating simply because of my height. All I was really missing was the flowing ethereal mane. Maybe my regalia and tiara too.

I pushed the thought aside, standing there at the door for the past ten minutes working up my courage to talk to Spitfire wasn't helping me feel any more courageous. I swallowed and tentatively stepped over to the door. I lifted my hoof, then hesitantly knocked.

"Enter," Spitfire's voice called from the other side.

I swallowed and quickly looked myself over, making sure I looked as good as I could. I took a deep breath, then lit my horn and opened the door with my magic. I cast a sideways glance at the two guards at my left. Both of them remained silent and strode over to the left side of the door, then turned around, facing down the hallway. I ruffled my wings as I walked inside.

Spitfire's gaze immediately fell on me. I fully entered the office, then closed the door behind me. I glanced at Rainbow and I was eternally grateful for her presence, even if she couldn't help me, I was glad she was at least there to support me. I looked back at Spitfire and swallowed. The mare looked equally parts happy and mad. "General," I acknowledged evenly.

"Princess," she acknowledged coolly.

'This isn't going to go well.' I realized. I grimaced at Rainbow and regretted bringing her, she didn't need to be here.

Spitfire sat up a little straighter and took a deep breath. "What in Tartarus were you thinking?" She demanded.

I winced and forced myself not to shy away from her verbal assault. "General, we had no choice. We both agreed that me leading a strike force to attack General Hoof's command was the best option available to us to ensure victory. There was no viable alternative."

"That's not what I'm talking about," General Spitfire replied evenly. I shifted my weight. "You almost got yourself killed. Yes, we agreed that you leading a strike force was the best option. You hesitated. I read that report. You were struck by a unicorn's spell. It penetrated your armor. That alone is unacceptable that a single spell penetrated your armor. You shouldn't have had a fashionista make armor! You were injured, and you hesitated. Your hesitation almost cost you your life! If that had happened, we wouldn't be having that conversation and this would be over."

I swallowed. "Rarity's armor worked!" I countered. "Your analysis team needs improvement. The spell grazed the edge of the armor, but the majority of it hit me below my wing." I shivered at the memory of the pain lancing through my body. "I've never felt anything as painful as that before!"

"And you hesitated!" Spitfire retorted. "You aren't cut out for combat, Princess. Your inaction almost resulted in the deaths of all your strike team. As it is, Lightning Strike and Storm are K.I.A."

My mouth was dry. Her words hung in the air. 'They're... dead? But...' As much as I tried to stop it, I couldn't prevent myself from looking away from Spitfire. Two of my own ponies were dead, directly because of my actions. Their lives were in my hooves, and I failed. I failed them, and they were dead. Countless others had suffered the same fate, my ponies had won the battle, but every death we suffered was squarely and solely on my hooves. Their blood was on my hooves.

"As it stands, it wasn't a total loss," Spitfire continued. I tried to find the will to match her gaze, but it eluded me. "Because of what happened, because you almost died, you had a surge of alicorn magic according to-"

"Yes, yes, I know, I remember. I remember everything that happened," I said, cutting her off. I forced myself to look back up at her and I took a deep breath. "And I used that magic while I had it..."

"You leveled the camp," Spitfire commented.

"Rainbow told me," I said weakly. "How... bad was it?" I closed my eyes, fearing the answer.

"There weren't any bodies left, so it was hard to get a proper estimate, but the best we can come up with is between two thousand and four thousand casualties," Spitfire's voice droned off.

I blinked slowly and looked down at her desk. Her voice echoed in my mind, her words repeating. In one single, swift strike, I was responsible for something the likes of Discord and Lord Tirek didn't match. With one spell, I just committed mass murder. My stomach churned at the thought, and I felt cold. My face felt numb, and my heart ached like it was being crushed by a massive weight, or compressed under the force of an alicorn's magic. The crystalline floor felt harsh and icy on my hooves.

I felt a hoof on my shoulder. I opened my eyes, trying to place it. The touch was so soft and faint, almost like it wasn't there. I turned to my right. Rainbow's expression was unreadable, or at the very least, I couldn't decipher it. I turned further and looked at her hoof on my shoulder. After what felt like an eternity, I turned back to Spitfire and closed my eyes again. "And... what about... our losses?" My voice came out monotonous, almost lifeless. I felt shocked that it was my own voice, but it was undeniably my own.

"Approximately eight hundred casualties in all," Spitfire answered.

'How many deaths are already on my hooves?' I couldn't count them all. 'How many parents did I take away from their foals?' I was a mass murderer. But the worst thought of all, 'How much more blood will be on my hooves?'

As if everypony knew what I was thinking, the office was completely silent. You could have heard a paper hit the crystal floor.

"Total casualties on General Hoof's side?" I asked absently.

"We believe the number to be somewhere between six to eight thousand," Spitfire answered. "The lightning bombs did their job, and you did a number on them, Princess."

Several seconds passed in silence.

"You saved more lives than you took," Spitfire's voice pierced the air.

I looked back up at her, then swallowed. I pressed my eyes closed, then took a deep breath. I nodded firmly, then opened my eyes. "I..." I trailed off, not knowing what to say. "Schedule a full briefing tomorrow... I need to know what I've missed in my absence and how my kingdom is doing," I ordered.

Spitfire sat up straighter and saluted me with vigor. "Yes, Princess!" She affirmed. I glanced around the room. My eyes fell on a crystal on her desk. I studied the crystal for a second, then looked up at her. "The Crystal Empire seceded and pledged their allegiance to you in your absence, Princess."

The domination of silence returned. I swallowed as fear plagued my mind. "W-what about Cadance and my brother?"

Spitfire's expression maintained neutrality. "They were expelled from the Crystal Empire and sent to Canterlot. We're still awaiting more intelligence on that situation."

I nodded slowly. "I want a full report that I can go over before tomorrow morning," I stated. I didn't wait for her to reply, I simply turned around, opened the door in my magic.

"Princess?" Spitfire called, her voice had taken a much warmer and softer tone. It sounded wrong. I paused and turned back to regard her. She looked at me apologetically. "I'm glad that you're awake. We all are. We... thought we had lost you there, Princess."

I idly nodded, then turned back and looked out the door. I wanted to say something, but I had a lot on my mind. I studied the crystal wall for a few seconds, then shook my head and stepped out into the hallway. Rainbow scurried after me and matched my pace. I closed the door behind us and cast a glance at the two additional guards beside the door. At my look, both of them stood up straighter and calmly walked over to my side. I hesitated a few seconds, then took off down the hallway. I had one destination in mind, although several others nipped at the back of my mind, begging for attention. I wasn't ready to face the rest of the girls yet. How could I, considering what I was responsible for? Pinkie and Fluttershy would hate me, they would be devastated if they found out that one of their closest friends was responsible for thousands of deaths.

I shivered and closed my eyes.

Prologue

Twilight Sparkle trotted down the hallways of Canterlot Castle in the dead of night, the only ponies awake at this time were Royal Guards on the night shift- The Night Guard. They were some of the finest soldiers ever to come out of Equestria, and they proudly served the princesses, though it was quite obvious they preferred Princess Luna. Twilight smiled at them as she trotted passed them, they stood proudly and saluted her as she passed. As she trotted on she passed one of the large stained glass windows in the castle's outer hallways, it depicted all four alicorn princesses, Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and the newest, Twilight Sparkle.

The soft moonlight made the castle feel at peace, despite reality. It was the middle of the night when ponies should be asleep, yet Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were still unable to reach an agreement on the Royal Guard budget. They had started their... Debate... Eight hours ago, and it had taken them that long for them to finally ask for input from Twilight. She was there when they originally started discussing it. When it became apparent how it was going to go, she excused herself, calmly trotted out of the door, then teleported to her bedchambers. Before becoming an alicorn, Twilight never realized how much sibling rivalry Celestia and Luna had. Perhaps sibling rivalry wasn't quite the right way to put it. They had a very hard time agreeing on how to run Equestria.

Years ago, she had looked up to Princess Celestia, not just as her mentor, but a perfect role model. Since then, years had passed. She wasn't sure when it changed, or maybe she hadn't paid attention, but slowly she came to the realization that Celestia wasn't perfect. She always had so much faith in her... But that faith had been tested time and time again, and each time she found herself more confident in herself and her friends, even when Celestia failed. And then there was Princess Luna, Celestia's long lost, forgotten sister.

She did not want to start thinking about that, and, fortunately for her, she didn't. She had arrived at the room where Celestia and Luna were. She glanced between the two guards and nodded. She ruffled her wings as they opened the doors for her. Both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna turned to look at her as she entered. Neither of them looked happy, both appeared more... Dispassionate about her arrival. She ignored the slight pain that it caused her, and suppressed a sigh at the sight. Shaking her head, she trotted inside.

Princess Celestia broke the silence first. "Twilight." She glanced to Luna, then continued. "We have been unable to reach an agreement. I normally wouldn't want to bother you with this, but..." She trailed off with a sigh.

Twilight nodded while suppressing the annoyance that Princess Celestia was forgetting that she too was a princess, and Equestria was partly hers as well. "Of course." She said as politely as possible. She looked to Princess Luna. "What have you two talked about in my absence?"

Luna sighed. "We have been stuck, mostly restating our reasons for desired changes we want."

"What she means to say is we have been unable to reconcile our suggestions, and come to an agreement." Celestia added.

Luna turned to Celestia and glared at her. "Thou hast refused our reasonable suggestion for an increased spending for the Royal Guard."

Celestia frowned at her and berated her in such a way that only Celestia could. "We do not need to increase the budget of the Royal Guard, they are more than capable of serving our needs even at half capacity. It's not like we actually use them for anything. Twilight and her friends deal with our problems."

"Because those problems are far beyond the capacity of the Royal Guard to deal with!" Luna retorted.

"Okay, I get the picture." Twilight said, drawing the attention of both Celestia and Luna. "What have you two done to compromise?"

Celestia ruffled her wings. "My original plan was to cut the Royal Guard budget by fifty percent, I have tried compromising at twenty-five, but she refuses."

"Such a cut would gut our defense capability! Surely you do not want to put Equestria and more specifically, Twilight and her friends in more danger!" Luna replied in exasperation. "Such a thing would be foalish!"

"We would be better off spending the bits on social projects Luna." Celestia retorted.

Twilight wanted to rub her temples with her hooves. She resisted the urge. "Why don't we leave the budget as it is." She suggested, "It hasn't been a problem until now, so why don't-"

"It has not been a problem until now because she thinks we should keep peace by making every nation afraid of us." Celestia said in a very bitter tone.

Luna looked at her, the expression on her face was worthy of only one description: royally- "Is it not better to negotiate from a position of power?" She replied condescendingly. "Or would you rather be begging for mercy while the griffins crush our nation and all we have-"

"Our military easily matches the griffins! If you were a griffin strategist, wouldn't you be concerned about a nation right on your border having a military easily matching yours! And that's not even factoring in the Crystal Empire!" Celestia retorted.

"Look, you both-"

Luna cut her off. "You are forgetting that the griffins are carnivores, they would-"

Twilight sighed. They were ignoring her as normal. In all honesty, it felt like her role amounted to nothing. She knew she was capable, and both Luna and Celestia knew that. "Princess Luna, Princess Celestia." Both princesses turned to her, "I thought you wanted my advice, my help." She shook her head. "But if you two are so content to argue, I guess you don't want my help. I thought I was supposed to be a princess, not-"

"You are, Twilight..." Celestia trailed off. She pursed her lips, then looked to Luna. "Perhaps we should see what she has to say."

Luna nodded. "Perhaps indeed."

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. Watching two alicorns in a verbal battle was intimidating, even more so when they were sisters. That wasn't even factoring in what has happened over a thousand years ago. She looked to Luna, "You want to increase spending by... how much was it? Twenty-five percent?" Luna nodded in confirmation. "Right." She then turned to Celestia, "And you want to cut spending in half." She took a breath, then exhaled. She made her way over to the third chair at the table, then sat down. She would be an equal here, she would have equal say with either of them. It was supposed to be her right as an alicorn, even if she couldn't match either of their statures. "We can afford to increase the spending of the Royal Guard, and we can afford to increase spending on social projects." She looked between them. "Why don't we do both." She said flatly.

Celestia shook here head. "Yes, while we have the bits to do both, if we keep increasing spending without cutting something, we'll eventually run out."

"We do not need to be spending such exorbitant amounts of financial resources on social projects." Luna stated flatly. "Especially since such projects only directly affect the nobles."

"Without the support of the nobles, Equestria would collapse." Celestia stated.

Twilight looked to Celestia. "We don't know that for sure. Besides, the nobles do have enough resources on their own. If we used the bits to help ponies in more trouble, then I would be all for it."

"Welfare." Luna scoffed, "In our time such madness did not exist. You either made it on thine own, or failed according to your own merits. Ponies succeeded much more often back then. Perhaps it would work, but ninety percent of it is directed at the nobles."

"That system was barbaric Luna, and you know that." Celestia retorted, "And as for directing it at the nobles, the wealth will trickle down. It will improve the economy as a whole."

"Helping ponies is good... But if they become dependent on that help, and it is cut off, how would they survive?" Twilight pointed out.

Celestia nodded. "Exactly why we should spend more on helping them-"

"That's not what I meant..." Twilight admitted, "We could slowly decrease spending on social projects" Luna raised her head slightly and smiled, "the ones that help the nobles, redirect the rest of the funds to help the less fortunate, and keep the budget for the Royal Guard the same. After a year or two, we could revisit it and decide what to do then."

Celestia shook her head. "No, Twilight. You are young, you do not have the experience I do-"

Luna raised an eyebrow. "I?" She said with exasperation, "Don't you mean we? I am nearly as old as you, sister. We have near the same experience as you do, and I would think we would have valid experience as well."

"Luna... You were locked away on the moon for a thousand years. A lot has changed in that time, you know this. I have more experience with how things are now, you need to trust me-"

"Like I trusted you a thousand years ago." Luna spat bitterly.

"Okay, I think we're getting off topic!" Twilight said in an awkwardly high pitched voice. Both princesses looked to her. "Haha... Maybe we should call it a night and sleep on it?" She would never admit how much Celestia's previous rebuttal hurt, not even to her best friends. And to be brushed off with no consideration... 'I'm a capable leader... I've shown that time and time again!' she thought. Despite her attempts to keep positive, the more these arguments happened, she found herself feeling more and more dejected, like Celestia had no faith in her. And then there was the fact that despite her status, both of them barely consulted her on these matters. In the formation of the plan anyway. They would come to her after they had agreed on something, and then get her approval or disapproval. If she didn't approve, they would go back and work out a new plan, without her input, then rinse and repeat.

Celestia could see the growing disappointment in Twilight's eyes. She looked to Luna and sighed, then looked back to Twilight. "Twilight... I know you want to help, but you are just so... Young." Celestia smiled softly. "We both appreciate your help, and how much you do help us, but... Politics is best left to us. We will ease you into it over the next century, but for now... I think this may be too much for you to-"

"You do not want her input because she does not agree with you." Luna stated.

Celestia turned to Luna, her mouth slightly open. "That's not true Luna. She is so young, she shouldn't have to worry about-"

"Then perhaps you should have waited to ascend her for a few decades." Luna shook her head, "You did not wait because you knew she was ready."

Twilight put on a brave face and hoped neither Celestia nor Luna could tell how strained it was. "Again, we're getting off topic. I vote we call it a night."

Celestia shook her head. "Twilight this is urgent, we can't just-"

"I also agree that we should call it a night, sister. A break would do us good." Luna stated.

Celestia opened her mouth to rebuke her sister, then closed it and relented. "Very well." She stood up, then looked between Twilight and Luna. She glared at the latter, the look plastered on her face was saying she wanted to have a word with her. "We shall reconvene tomorrow, at the same time."

Luna nodded, then stood up. The air was rather tense, as each princess waited for another to leave first. Twilight wasn't going to leave until Celestia and Luna had, not wanting them to start arguing again. Celestia wasn't going to leave until Twilight had left and she had spoken to Luna. And Luna wasn't going to leave until Celestia admitted defeat and left.

After a few seconds Twilight relented, and silently left the room, then returned to her bedchambers. The door closed silently behind her by the two guards.

"You're trying to turn her against me." Celestia stated.

Luna frowned. "Sister, I am trying to do no such thing."

Celestia didn't buy it and stared at her without saying anything for a few seconds, then she left the room without another word.

Twilight impatiently sat in her chair, she glanced at the clock. Thirty seconds until Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were supposed to arrive so that the trio could continue the discussion of the budget they had started last night. Twilight watched the clock hand move as each second passed. The break between movements felt like an eternity. She counted down the seconds as they passed. Finally, with four and seven-tenths of a second left, the door opened. Twilight immediately shot up to be respectful as Celestia and Luna trotted into the room.

"We went over this earlier today, Twilight. I tried to find you sooner, but I could not. We reached an agreement. Over the next decade, we will increase military spending and social spending by twenty-five percent."

Twilight deflated at that. "Oh..." She ruffled her wings "That's um... Good." She shifted her weight, "Did you um... Even consider my-"

"Leaving the military budget alone was completely unacceptable." Luna stated flatly, "We will draw the necessary funds from research and development-"

"What!?" Twilight shouted, "That's... No, that's not a good idea. Doing that is a very, very bad idea. With all due respect, but that is an absolutely stupid idea, Princess."

Celestia sighed. 'I knew you would react this way, Twilight...' "Trust us, Twilight. This is for the best. Research hasn't yielded many valuable or useful things, recently, and-"

"That's no reason to cut it in half!" Twilight shot back.

Luna shook her head. "You misunderstand. We are not cutting it in half, merely reducing it by a quarter."

"That's still a bad idea!" Twilight stated firmly, "I know you two are... Have been alive for a long, long time, but you need to look to the future. Science is vital for making the future a better place! We can afford to keep it funded as it is, along with the increases to the other-"

"Perhaps you could convince Celestia to retain science funding at one hundred percent, as it was her suggestion to cut it." Luna stated.

Twilight turned to Celestia. She opened her mouth to berate her, then paused. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then exhaled, extending her hoof in practice. A breathing exercise Princess Cadance had taught her to deal with stress. "Why?"

Celestia sighed. "Twilight, do not get us wrong. In our lifetimes, science has changed the world remarkable, but even you must see that the rate of progress has slowed significantly in the past one hundred years."

Twilight opened her mouth to rebuke her, but paused. Celestia was right about that. "That's no reason to think that won't change... "She sighed. "Neither of you are going to get my consent on this budget unless science funding remains the same as it is now."

Celestia shook her head. "Twilight, we shouldn't fight over this. If ponies-"

Twilight clenched her jaw to prevent herself from yelling 'hypocrite.' She sighed, "Alright, fine." She relented bitterly, though she was unhappy with how this had turned out.

Celestia sighed. 'This is why I don't think you should be involved in this yet...'

"This is extortion." Luna spat as she turned her ruthless gaze to Celestia, "And you agreed to this without consulting either of us."

"It required urgent action, and you two were unavailable." Celestia replied calmly. She took a sip from her tea, normally the delicious concoction would relieve her stress. Unfortunately, nothing had really been normal for the past few months.

"I do not understand why you still put up with those nobles. They should be locked away in a deep, dark dungeon, and the key thrown away for this." Luna shook her head and sighed exasperatedly.

"They're not all that bad." Twilight stated, "Fancy Pants is nice..." She trailed off when she realized she couldn't name any more nobles that were nice. Granted, she didn't know many nobles, but the point stuck in her mind.

Luna nodded. "He is a decent pony. Unlike these nobles. This is... This is practically a death sentence for the factory workers in Manehatton. And you agreed to it without consulting either of us."

"That's a gross exaggeration." Celestia set her tea down. "What would you have had me do, hmm? Completely ignore it?"

"Yes!" Luna shouted. "Show them who is boss, not them, but us! This is our country, sister!" Twilight frowned, she could tell that when Luna said 'our' she wasn't included in it. "Not theirs." Luna continued, "We rule because they could not rule themselves. They would abuse the ponies of Equestria for their own gain." She looked away, a revolted expression crossing her face. "And you side with them more often than the ponies who actually need our help."

"And you didn't embarrass the crown last week when you accused Blueblood of attempting to overthrow us and then locked him in the dungeon without so much as a word to either of us." Celestia chided.

Luna turned back to her sister. "You look favorably upon him because he is the son of your close friend. You aren't his aunt, sister, as much as he may like to claim that, everypony knows that. You should not protect him."

Twilight shook her head. "We're getting off topic." She sighed and turned to Celestia, "You shouldn't have done that without consulting us, even if it was to make up for what Luna did." She turned to Luna. "And you can't just act like a foal, Luna." Both Celestia and Luna recoiled at that but Twilight continued, "I don't mean to upset you... But... You're a full grown mare, more than that, you're an alicorn princess. You don't go around accusing ponies you don't like for trying to overthrow you, and then lock them up without proof."

Luna clenched her jaw, then looked away. She swallowed her pride if only to end this meeting. "Perhaps you are right, and I did overreact." She admitted.

"Perhaps?" Celestia asked sarcastically. "You completely overreacted. I want you to formally apologize to him for this, Luna."

"That is not happening sister." Luna stated firmly.

Twilight sighed. "Why do you two fight so much?" Both Celestia and Luna turned to her, "I know you two didn't argue this much two years ago. What happened?"

"As to whether or not we fought this much two years ago is none of your concern." Luna stated sharply.

"Luna, I'm your friend." Twilight stated. "I'm supposed to be a Princess of Equestria too. Both of you need to stop fighting so much, Equestria only suffers from it."

Celestia nodded. "She is correct, Luna."

Twilight turned to Celestia. "It would help if you would stop antagonizing her." She snapped.

"She is a grown mare, she can handle it." Celestia stated. She lifted her teacup and took another sip of tea.

"She was a grown mare one thousand years ago, Celestia. Or have you forgotten what happened?" Twilight retorted. That was a blemish on both of them, she could not, nor would she deny it. Luna wouldn't do that again, she knew it in her heart.

"Twilight Sparkle. I would never do such a thing again, and I truly hope you do not believe I would." Luna said coldly.

"No, no, I don't. I... I just..." 'This isn't working.' She realized. "Look, I consider both of you friends... And part of being friends is accepting each other's differences, working with them, and forgiving one another for their mistakes."

Luna turned to Celestia. "A thousand years ago she stood by and did nothing while I lost myself to hatred and anger, because of that I lost one thousand years of my life , trapped on the moon."

Celestia's expression softened. "I am sorry for that, Luna... I am your big sister, and I failed my job to protect you..."

Luna's expression softened briefly, then hardened again. "Whats is done is done."

Twilight sighed. They used to be so close, at least she thought so, and even a year ago she would not have pictured so much tension between them. Celestia... She was acting different. Like something was wrong with her, but only around Luna. Or maybe they were just that good at hiding the tension normally. She remembered having tea with her just two weeks ago, and for that brief hour, things were right. It was like back when she was her student, and they would discuss magic, or just relax and enjoy the day. She truly missed those days, but she wouldn't trade her friends to get them back. They made putting up with all this worth it. 'Perhaps it was always this way, and I only see it because they show it to me.' They always seemed so perfect to her. Well, aside from the whole Nightmare Moon thing. 'Maybe it's because I'm now a princess, that I see this side of them... That they choose to show this to me.'

Twilight Sparkle sat back in her chair, relaxing. Something she desperately needed. Despite her best efforts to defuse the rift between Celestia and Luna, it was getting worse. She kept telling herself that it was always dark before dawn, that things always got worse before they got better. That by them talking about their issues with to each other, they would reconcile, and things would go back to normal, or at least improve. They still cared about each other, maybe not loved each other, but...

She forced the thought aside and relaxed. "I really needed this girls." She stated aloud.

"Oh yes darling, we could tell." Rarity replied, "Or at least I could." She mused, "Your complexion was suffering from it."

"Don't get me wrong, it's not always bad... But when it comes to policy, and how to run Equestria... They're worlds apart..." Twilight frowned. 'That's somewhat ironic, considering that for the last thousand years they really were worlds apart...' "And then they rarely listen to my suggestions." She huffed.

"Surely it cannot be all that bad... It is Canterlot after all, the finest city in Equestria!"

"Most of the time they don't even bother to consider my suggestions, saying that I'm-" She did her best Princess Celestia impersonation, "too young and too inexperienced." She sighed, 'Great, I'm supposed to be relaxing, and we're talking about this...'

"They kind of have a point though, Twilight." Rainbow Dash said, "I mean, don't get me wrong, you're like... The smartest pony I know," Twilight smiled at that, "and I know your ideas are probably really, really good. But... They are a lot older and more experienced than you. I mean, they're both thousands of years old! Compared to them, you're barely two decades old!"

"True..." Twilight stated, "But because of how old they are, I think they're locked in their old ways. I'm not completely sure, but I think Celestia is used to ruling on her own, without her sister and myself. Cadance never really actually helped her run Equestria. She just taught her how to do it." Twilight paused and frowned. "I wonder if she knew the Crystal Empire was going to return, and she planned for Cadance to take over it..." She mused.

After several seconds of silence, Twilight opened her eyes and sat up. "I don't think I've ever worried about them or Equestria as much as I do now... I'm sure it'll be okay, but..."

"Alright, that's enough of that now, Twilight. We're supposed to be enjoying a little relaxation today, not interrogating you about the Princesses and Equestria," Applejack looked to Rarity, "right, Rarity?"

Rarity shied away and blushed. "Oh, yes, of course."

Twilight made a mental note to thank Applejack later. She closed her eyes again, and laid back, fully intending to relax as long as she could. Which, in hindsight, she would realize was asking for problems. The telltale sound and smell of Spike's fire breath acted like a jolt of electricity. She opened her eyes and jumped out of her lawn chair. She grabbed the scroll that had just materialized with her magic and jerked it towards her. 'Celestia's seal.' She had half the mind to ignore it but chose not to. Everypony, including Spike, gathered around her. "It's from Celestia..." She broke the seal and read through the letter as quickly as she could.

"What's it say?" Rainbow asked. Unfortunately for her, Twilight had yet to finish reading the letter, and the interruption caused her to lose her place, thus forcing her to take longer.

She re-read the letter, making sure she hadn't missed anything the first time. She sighed. "I'm needed in Canterlot as soon as possible..."

"Maybe you could... Wait a few minutes before leaving?" Rarity suggested, "I know you needed this, and you certainly deserve it..."

Twilight sighed. "I can't... It could be really important, and with how things have been going between them this month..."

Rarity nodded gravely. "Of course, darling. We understand."

"We'll have to reschedule I guess..." Twilight sighed dejectedly. She had been looking forward to today for over a week.

"I suppose so... Good luck, Twilight."

Twilight turned to Rarity and smiled weakly. "Thanks... I'll probably need it." She admitted. She glanced around at her friends and smiled wryly, then spread her wings and took flight, heading for Canterlot.

Chapter 2

Princess Twilight Sparkle

My friends and I had spent yesterday afternoon and this morning rearranging the map room into a throne room. It kind of already was a throne room, but this setup was more streamlined for receiving audiences, with all the thrones on the opposite end of the room from the door. I had to use my magic to move the map to the side of the room. Said thrones were arranged such that mine was the one in the center, with Spike's directly to my right side, followed by Fluttershy's throne, and Pinkie Pie's throne. To my left were Rarity's throne, then Rainbow Dash's throne, and then Applejack's throne. I smiled as Mayor Mare trotted into the throne room of my castle with a warm smile on her face. I stood up from my throne and met Mayor Mare halfway.

"How did the vote go?" Mayor Mare lifted a hoof to her throat, I fidgeted on my hooves.

"I am pleased to announce Ponyville has decided to follow you in your secession from Equestria, seventy-nine percent for, and twenty-one percent against." Mayor Mare proudly proclaimed.

My jaw hit the floor, while I had expected them to follow me, I hadn't expected such a high number to vote for it. "I.. That's..." I found myself unable to find words to use. I shook my head and collected myself. "That's... Wow... A lot more support than I imagined."

"A lot less than I expected, truthfully, Princess." Mayor Mare confided. Mayor Mare looked around the room, taking in the changes, "You've moved things around?"

I nodded, "Yes, I figured this would make a good throne room." I ruffled my wings.

"Nervous?"

"Just a little..." Mayor Mare gave me a quizzical look, "Okay, a lot." I admitted.

"You'll do fine, Princess." Mayor Mare rested a hoof reassuringly on my shoulder. "Where are your friends at, if I may ask?"

"They're taking care of some business they needed to do. I asked them to help me full time with running things, I don't think I can do this alone..." I trailed off and looked at my hooves.

"Princess, you're not in this alone, we're all in this together. I'd be more than willing to help you with anything you'd need help with." I lifted my head back up and she smiled at me, I returned the smile.

"Thanks. I could really use some help, I don't... Really know where to start..." I sheepishly smiled.

"You should start by hiring some advisers, and finding some lawyers and administrators to assist you with setting up your new government." Mayor Mare paused to think, "I think Sparkler should be able to help you with administration... I can help you with the legal system."

"I don't have a way to finance anything yet." I facehoofed.

"The Ponyville treasury should be a start, Princess. Perhaps you should speak with Filthy Rich about finances, I know for a fact he voted to secede." I perked up at hearing that.

"Thanks, Mayor Mare." I smiled.

"Well, considering we voted to secede and follow you, legally you would own the treasury, as Ponyville is to be your capital, correct?"

"Yes, it is." I answered.

"Do you have any ideas for the name of the nation, Princess?"

"I discussed it with my friends, you would not believe some of the suggestions they had..." I smirked, "The Empire of Eternal Awesome was suggested by Rainbow Dash." Mayor Mare chuckled.

"Yeah, that sounds like her."

"My suggestion was The Equine Principality of Harmony." I paused, "We actually held a vote, I was outvoted by just The Kingdom of Twilight." I sighed dejectedly.

"So what're you going with for the name then?"

"My friends seem to like naming the nation as my kingdom, I guess I'll defer to them and go with The Kingdom of Twilight..." I looked down slightly annoyed, "It's not even a technically a kingdom..." I mumbled.

"What was that last part?"

"Oh nothing."

"I'll have the name formally declared immediately." She stated. "Now, about the legal system, what are your plans for that? Any changes you want to implement immediately?"

"No, I think I'll leave it as is for now, the system works so there's no reason to change it." I answered.

"Do you want a draft clause?"

My eyes shot open, "No! No draft clause. I'm not forcing anypony to fight for me."

"I was just asking, Princess."

"I know, I'm sorry I shouted at you." I lowered my gaze, I was not going to resort to a draft no matter what. It was wrong.

"It's fine, Princess." Mayor Mare paused, "Any ideas for a tax system, or are we going to use the same one Equestria does?"

"For now, let's use the same system Equestria does, but I will want to revise it in the future. Can you get me the documents on expected tax income and expenses? I'd like to know what I have to work with."

"Of course, Princess, I'll have the documents ready as quickly as I can. What do you plan to do about addressing the issues of the ponies?"

"I plan to hold a court to address issues," I paused to think, "Do you think you can set that up for me?"

"I'm the right mare for the job when it would come to setting something like that up." she boasted lightly with a smile.

The crystalline doors to the throne room flew open, and Rainbow Dash flew in and landed in beside Mayor Mare, causing her to jump in surprise. Rainbow was holding a newspaper in her mouth and sweating lightly. She took the newspaper out of her mouth with her hoof and held it towards me. I took it in my magic and examined it. "Read it Twilight, it's important!"

I lowered the newspaper and glared lightly at her, "I was but then you interrupted me."

"Sorry." she sheepishly apologized, I returned to read the paper.

Princess Luna, Princess Twilight Sparkle secede from Equestria.

In a move that blindsided everypony, two of Equestria's triarchs have declared secession. Princess Luna has been spotted in Vanhoover, forming a new independent government from Equestria, while Princess Twilight Sparkle has been sighted in Ponyville. Meanwhile, Princess Celestia is working to reorganize the Equestrian military, which has lost roughly forty-five percent of its military forces with Princess Luna's secession.

'I knew she left with a lot, but I didn't realize she would have that many ponies loyal to her in the military...' I flipped the newspaper over, it was the Cloudsdale Times. I needed time to think and consider options.

"You have a lot to think about, Princess. I'll go take care of what you requested." Mayor Mare turned and trotted out the throne room.

I stared at the floor, spacing out, eyes darting left and right. I thought I heard a sound. A few seconds passed, and I thought I heard it again.

"Twilight." Rainbow Dash said as she put a hoof on my shoulder, breaking my focus.

"Sorry, um... Can you go gather the girls and bring them here? We need to discuss this." My gaze drifted off slightly again, I shook my head.

"Sure, I'll be right back." Rainbow jumped into the air, waved her hoof in a mock-saluting way, and took off, leaving a rainbow trail in her wake. As she flew out the doors, Spike walked in.

"What was all that about?" he asked while approaching me.

"I asked her to gather the girls so we can discuss something important." I stated. Spike shrugged. "They should be here in a few minutes, can you go gather a bunch of paper and some quills?"

"Sure thing, Twilight." Spike replied and trotted off. I teleported onto my throne.

Princess Celestia

I looked across the table, checking to make sure all of my advisers were here. "Okay, we're all here, let's get started, shall we?" I asked. Nopony spoke up, "Good. General Maneuver, General Hoof, General Breaker, Director Tap, Quill Pusher, Prince Blueblood, Sir Fancy Pants." I acknowledged each in turn, nodding at them. "Director Tap, what do we know?"

The dark grey unicorn turned to face me, his left eye was covered by an eyepatch, while his right eye was colored light blue. His mane was combed back and was pitch black. Truth be told, I always suspected he dyed his mane, but I never had any proof. "Princess," he spoke in a raspy voice, "Princess Luna's capital of Vanhoover has seceded, their forces and defenses would be enough to repel any attempted attack. Princess Twilight Sparkle is still attempting to set up a government in Ponyville, which has voted to secede and follow her. All other cities have yet to declare secession."

"Based on this information, Princess, I recommend we strike Ponyville at once. While she's weak." General Hoof spoke up. The tan earth pony had a strong build, from looking at him you would guess half his weight was pure muscle. His mane was obscured by a dark green helmet with three gold stars on it.

"I would advise against that, Princess." General Maneuver was a proud pegasus, he had been in service for over thirty years, and could still keep up with the Wonderbolts. It was hard to believe he never tried to join them.

When I realized it looked like an argument was mounting, I raised a hoof, instantly silencing any arguments, "And why would you advise against that, General?"

"If we sent our forces against Princess Twilight Sparkle and Ponyville, it would weaken our defense, and Princess Luna's forces could take advantage of this. While in the long run we may regret this, we will also be given more opportunities to take advantage of."

"And what do you say, General Breaker?" I asked the white unicorn stallion. His red mane was parted by his horn, and seemed to flow down the back of his neck.

"I recommend against any immediate action. I suggest we make sure we are entirely organized and ready as quickly as possible, and wait for them to make the first move. From that, we can analyze their strategy and punish any and all mistakes they make dearly. I would also recommend a War Of Attrition strategy."

His voice was pleasant, but the cold, calculated words he spoke weren't. He was the type of pony to play a waiting game punishing any mistakes the opponent made. His cold logic could win battles with minimal friendly-enemy casualty rates, though his methods were sometimes in question. "I agree that we should wait before making any moves, we're not ready yet anyway. It could be a few weeks before we are ready to launch any offensives." I looked at Prince Blueblood, "And what are your thoughts, Blueblood?" I forgot his title out of distaste. He snorted at me.

"I don't even know why I'm here. This is beneath me." he said with no small amount of distaste.

"And you, Fancy Pants?"

"I don't believe Princess Twilight Sparkle is of any concern. So long as she doesn't attack us, we have no reason to preemptively start a war on two fronts. We need to focus on Princess Luna for the time being. I would recommend a course with minimal casualties, on all sides."

"I agree." Director Tap spoke up.

"So we will wait then. Quill Pusher?"

The unicorn instantly perked up, "Yes, your highness?"

"How are our finances currently?" I asked with dread.

"For the moment we're fine, the treasury is well stocked, and taxes are low. However, worst case scenario we predict a seventy percent drop in income should Equestria split further, and foreign nations recognize the successive nations." She answered.

"How long until the treasury would dry up at the worst possible scenario?"

"Well, with estimated necessary spending increases to military, and reductions in income... Not factoring in material and property damages... Five years. Factoring everything in, probably a lot less."

"I see... What is the status of restructuring the Royal Guard command structure?"

"It can fight right now, but with low efficiency. I estimate it can be reorganized completely in a matter of days, however." General Hoof spoke up.

"Estimation of how long until Princess Luna's forces are restructured, and her government is in a position to launch an offensive?"

"Intelligence reports indicate she's moving quickly. More quickly than we are. She has currently set up a military government. She could be ready to launch an offensive within two days." Director Tap answered.

"We will just have to wait and see..." I trailed off. "If that's all, we'll reconvene tomorrow, same time. Sooner if circumstances arise which warrant it." I paused awaiting any objections, none arose. "Then dismissed." I lit my horn and teleported into my chambers.

My surroundings changed in an instant, if you weren't used to it or expecting it... Today it could be disorientating would be an understatement. I trotted over to the balcony and looked out across the land, towards Ponyville. A feeling of sadness was rising in my chest and my heart felt heavy. I swallowed back the growing knot in my throat. 'This shouldn't be happening.' I closed my eyes tightly and banished the thoughts, the fears, and the doubts. I needed to be strong. I had to, for everypony. I shook my head and trotted over to the cabinet beside my bed, I opened the mahogany drawer and pulled out a bottle of wine. I gazed at the fine glass, it was aged to perfection, over one hundred years old, and imported from Prance. I stared at the bottle for what seemed like an eternity and then shook my head. 'Now is not the time...'

Princess Twilight Sparkle

Rainbow Dash returned about an hour later, bringing with her the rest of the girls, they each took a seat on the their respective throne. It was then I realized this wouldn't work for discussing matters such as this between us. "This isn't the best setup for something like this..." I smiled sheepishly as we all stood up, "The dining room should work." I lit my horn and teleported us all to the dining room.

"Please give us a little warning next time, Twilight..." Applejack was wobbling ever so slightly on her hooves. I smiled apologetically.

"Sorry..." I took my seat and the others followed suit, after everyone sat down I started, "Okay, thank you for gathering everypony, Rainbow." she nodded. "And thank you for coming so quickly. Rainbow showed me a newspaper from Cloudsdale, the Cloudsdale Times, to be precise... It talked about yesterday's events." I paused and glanced around, "According to the paper, reports indicate Luna took about forty-five percent of the Royal Guard." I soon found not one closed mouth in the room.

"That's..." Applejack started but was soon speechless. She simply shook her head unbelievingly.

"So they both have about half of Equestria's military forces? How're you ever going to hope to match that..." Rarity said in shock.

"The truth of the matter is... I simply can't. There is no way I could hope to match forces with either of them at the moment. Even if I could match forces with them tomorrow, I'd have no command structure for it, nor would they be anywhere near as well trained as the Royal Guard forces..." I inhaled and brought a hoof to my chest, then exhaled and unfurled the hoof forwards, "I'm just starting to organize my administration..." I glanced around the room nervously. "If either of them attacked anytime soon, there would be nothing I could do about it."

"Twilight, you said it yourself before, we're not a threat yet, and if they both have about an equal force, could either of them really afford to attack you?" Rarity asked and raised an eyebrow.

"Well... No... But they neither of them would have to send a large attack force to subdue me... I'm not that strong with magic... Not yet anyway..." I trailed off and looked at my hooves on the table.

"And by subdue you mean kill." Rainbow Dash stated bluntly. I winced at that thought.

"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity shouted in condemnation.

"She could be right, though..." I spoke softly and fidgeted my hooves on the table.

"Twilight, I don't think either of them want you dead." Applejack comforted with a soft smile. "They were your friends right?"

"I would like to think they still are... I was one of Princess Luna's first friends when she came back, and Princess Celestia was my mentor..." I swallowed a knot and folded my ears back.

"So where's Princess Luna gone off to anyway?" Fluttershy asked, subtly changing the conversation to something less grim.

"I didn't tell you already?" I asked in surprise.

"I don't think so." she replied.

"Oh, sorry, she's been sighted in Vanhoover." I stated, it seemed to cause the mood to lighten, everypony seemed to breathe a sigh of relief with that knowledge.

"That's a really long way away. I don't think you'll have to worry about Princess Luna for a while."

"Your probably right, Rarity." I smiled and held my head slightly higher.

The door opened, Spike trotted in panting, "Twilight!" he paused and his claws fell to his knees while he caught his breath, "There's some Royal Guards here to see you!" And like that, my smile was gone. Seconds passed, or maybe minutes. I wasn't paying attention to time, my mind was preoccupied with emergency plans at the moment, but a quick poke from Spike's claw snapped me out of it.

"Ow! Spike!" I looked at him with a frown. He was wearing an 'are you serious' face. A second later I realized why he did what he did. "Sorry..."

"You going to go see what they want?" Spike asked after several more seconds of silence.

"I don't want to." I weakly answered.

"You still need to."

"I know." I replied and let my head fall to the table, and hid my muzzle under my hooves.My ears fell back.

"They'll just keep waiting until you show up."

'Spike you're always to persistent...' I sighed. "Alright, tell them I'll be there in a minute." Spike nodded and trotted out the door. I looked at my friends and smiled solemnly, "Well, this is it I guess. I should probably go now." I slowly stood up.

"Hang on, Twilight. We're not letting you face this alone." Rainbow dash spoke up and was by my side in a flash.

"Got that right." Applejack said next and was by my side. The others soon followed in chorus.

"Thanks, girls... But I can't let you do this... If something happened to any of you, I... I couldn't..." I couldn't finish the sentence, and a tear fell from my eye. "Stay here, if I'm not back in two minutes, go back to living your lives and pretend you never knew me, and pretend you had nothing to do this."

"No can do sugarcube." I sighed when I realized there would be no convincing them about this.

"Fine." I trotted to the door and trotted out into the crystalline hallway. The castle's halls were a mix of many different colored crystals, ranging from dark blues, indigos, and green. The tall, vaulted ceiling made it seem small in comparison, which did nothing to improve my mood as we trod to the castle gate. I paused when the massive crystalline doors came into view, I could see they were parted slightly. I turned and looked at each of my friends in turn, and nodded. 'Relax, Twilight.'

I slowly approached the doors, upon reaching them, I opened them further with my magic and stepped out. I was greeted by a group of royal guards, they immediately bowed. I blinked, unable to process this.

The guards rose from their bow, and one stepped forwards to me and saluted, "Princess, we await your command."

Seconds passed, and I just stood there dumbfounded like a little filly.

"Princess?"

"Twilight?" Spike asked as he poked me with a claw yet again, forcing me back into reality.

I shook my head and looked at the guard standing before me, I needed to do my best to inspire them, "Huh?" 'Smooth Twilight. Real smooth.'

"Princess, we wish to join and serve you. We await your command."

I opened and closed my mouth repeatedly, like a fish, before finding the words to say, "I... Thank you. I would be honored to accept your loyalty... Please, come in." I opened the doors to their full extent with my magic and motioned them in with a hoof. One by one they all entered into the castle and looked around, taking in the sight of the interior of the crystalline tree castle.

My friends moved closer to me. Confusion was plastered on their faces. "They want to follow me." I answered.

"Awesome."

"See, Twilight. You'll do fine." Rarity cooed.

"Thanks, Rarity." I replied and then trotted over to the guards, they quickly stood at attention, I took the time to look them over. Their coats were a mix of browns, whites, and blues, with an assortment of mane colors. They all carried spears, and their gold-plated steel barding glistened when struck with sunlight, their breastplate has a Sun on it. I frowned slightly at that. I counted sixteen of them, six pegasi, three unicorns, and seven earth ponies. "Um... You can stop standing like that now." I fumbled over proper military procedure, but they got the point and relaxed.

The captain stepped forwards, "The proper order is 'at ease', your highness."

"Thank you, captain." I smiled at him, he nodded and stepped back. "I'll make arrangements to provide for food and pay, and I'll assign you rooms in the castle later. If you brought anything with you and you want to leave it somewhere, please feel free to, so long as it is out of the way, you can put it in the room assigned to you later." I stopped as the castle gate was opened once more, I turned to see Mayor Mare and Sparkler trotted in and pause at the sight of the guards.

"Did I miss something?" Mayor Mare asked.

"Yeah, these fine stallions here decided to join me." I stated nonchalantly.

"I... See... Well, here are the documents you requested earlier regarding finances, and I asked Sparkler if she would assist you and she said she would."

"Hello."

"Hello, Sparkler. I've heard your good with organization?" I smiled at her and trotted over to her.

"Yes, I was the best organizer in Ponyville until you showed up in fact." Sparkler smiled back.

"I could certainly use your help then." I stated as I shifted my weight. I turned over to the captain, "Captain, what is the normal salary of a royal guard, anyway?"

"About thirteen thousand bits yearly, Princess." he curtly replied.

"I see," I levitated the documents over from Sparkler to myself to look them over, and did some calculations. Estimated net income could cover paying all of them the full salary, and there would still be a surplus of income, the bank also had a surplus of Bits in it. I would need to go over the financial details more thoroughly later. "That should be doable." I nodded to myself.

"I took the liberty of arranging a meeting between you and Filthy Rich two days from now at two P.M." Sparkler paused, "I hope that's alright."

I teleported my schedule to myself to check, "Yes, that should be fine. Thank you." I teleported my schedule back to where I had stored it. I started trotted to the dining room, and motioned my friends, Sparkler, and Mayor Mare to follow me.

"Oh, um, while I'm thinking about it, girls, do you think you could move into the castle? I think it would be beneficial for me to have you close at hoof, in case something should come up and I need advice or something. I'd also feel better if I knew you were safe here."

"Well, I suppose you do need the help more than my family, though I might need some bits to help pay for some help."

"Oh, um... I guess."

"Sure, I think it'd be awesome to live in a castle."

"I suppose I could spend the nights here."

"Sluuuumber party!" Pinkie shouted and happily jumped into the air, confetti followed.

Chapter 11

Princess Twilight Sparkle

I gently lowered the crystal from my magical grasp and set it gently down on the table. I raised my hooves to my head and massaged my temples. My research with the Void Crystal was not progressing as well as I had hoped. Despite having been it's creator, having nearly every book on magic and crystals in existence in my library, and all my best attempts to understand it. I was unable to do so. Somehow it was generating more dark magic on it's own, regardless of what I did to try to prevent it from doing so. I had tried magic barriers, putting it in direct sunlight, even sealing it inside of a thick lead chest.

Nothing worked, every time I checked on it, it had more magic than it did previously. I was concerned about it. Well, I would have been, but my data indicated it's charge rate was beginning to drop off exponentially as it held more and more dark magic. The amount of dark magic contained within the crystal had turned it pitch black. I shuddered as I picked it up in a hoof, feeling the dark energies churning within.

The amount of dark magic within the crystal was more than it could completely contain, I could feel the dark magic radiating off of it, even from outside the room. Needless to say, I kept the Void Crystal well guarded, like it's counterpart. The dark magic the crystal held was enough to level a city, however from my experiments I had deduced that an accidental catastrophic release of the dark magic within would be impossible. The crystal was nearly indestructible, tests with other crystals I had created revealed this.

Of course, I did have a spell that would render 'indestructible' useless. The spell that converted crystals into their base elements... If I were to use that on the Void Crystal... I shuddered at the thought of the devastation that would bring. The amount of dark magic this crystal I held in my hooves... It would be more than enough to kill both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna...

I would not be using that crystal. Killing either of them was still not my main objective, just dethroning them. I could probably use their help in getting things running again after it was all over. 'I should drain this crystal and destroy it... Keeping it is too much of a risk.' I nodded at my thoughts. But it would be a shame to waste such an opportunity to experiment on such power...

I shook the thoughts out of my head, it was simply too dangerous.

The other crystal, on the other hoof... I put the Void Crystal back down and picked up the first crystal, I hadn't named it. It was simply the first crystal I had produced with that spell, but it did hold a special place in my mind. A symbol of success so to say. I smiled as I looked at the faint pink heart of it. It radiated pure magic, alicorn magic. My magic. Uncorrupted magic of the bearer of the Element of Magic.

This crystal had not increased in its power more than what I had put into it. It was slightly disappointing, but comforting to know it was not dangerous. The past few days I had been wearing the crystal around my neck, and I had been channeling my excess alicorn magic into it, storing it for later. I channeled an equal amount of magic into it as my body was generating it, except for when I needed to use magic. The crystal now held several hours worth of my magic.

I stood to my hooves and levitated the crystal back into my regalia. I grabbed the Void Crystal in my magic and gently set it inside an enchanted lead chest, softly laying it in the center. With a quick spell, I locked the chest so that only I, or somepony more powerful than myself could open it. With a brief flash of magic, I teleported the small chest into my treasury's most secure vault.

I immediately felt relief that that accursed crystal was gone, removing it's tainting presence from my castle. I turned towards the door. I paused for a moment and put a hoof on my regalia's crystal. The crystal was a little cooler than my body temperature, but it felt right. Almost as if it was a piece of me. 'Probably because it holds quite a bit of my own magic.' I thought to myself.

I lit my horn, and cast a spell to channel excess magic from my body into my regalia's crystal, then I opened the door with a hoof and walked out into the hallway. Two guards saluted me as I walked out, I nodded at them, acknowledging the salute. They looked visible relieved that I was okay, it did not take an alicorn to sense the amount of dark magic within that crystal.

Princess Celestia

I sat on my haunches, gazing out across Equestria from my balcony. Despite the war... It was peaceful, serene even. I levitated my teacup to my mouth and took a small sip of tea. The warm liquid flowed around my tongue and down my throat, comforting me. Off in the distance I could see Ponyville... The thought of failing my sister and my most faithful student... It sent a pang of sadness to the forefront of my mind.

Perhaps I deserved this. I had grown accustomed to ruling on my own for a thousand years... I tried to get my sister to take over her duties more slowly than what she did, I told her and myself that it was because I didn't want to lose her again from the stress of the sudden changes. Perhaps I had lied to myself. I frowned.

I heard a knock on the door. "Enter." I softly commanded after taking a moment to compose myself. It wouldn't do for my ponies to see their princess having doubts.

I looked over towards the door, it silently opened and Director Tap leisurely walked in. He bowed his head before he started to speak, "Princess, the rest of the council is assembled. We're waiting on your presence to begin."

"Start without me, Director. I wish to be left alone for the time being. Bring any plans you come up with to me for approval, and I shall look them over."

"Yes, Princess." Director Tap turned around and put a hoof on the door to open it, but paused and looked back towards me. For a moment I thought he might say something, but he didn't. He turned back towards the door, pushing it open as he walked through it.

'Perhaps I could... Convince Twilight to return to me...' I smiled at the sudden thought, 'But how?' I furrowed my brow in thought, I could always send her letters, and ask her to return... No, she probably be insulted if I did that... 'If I could... Convince her friends to talk to her...' I smiled briefly before frowning, 'I would have to convince them to side with me...'

I sighed, in order to do that I would need to talk to them. There was no way Twilight would allow that. I bit my lip, 'Then again... If I were to... Capture one or more of her friends... I could try to convince them to talk to Twilight... If that didn't work, I could use them to draw her out...' Yes, that would work.

That was also incredibly risky. If something were to happen to her friends during their capture... She would never forgive me. She... I dared not think of what would possibly happen then.

'If it came down to it, I could capture Twilight or her friends myself...' Hopefully, if I were to do that, none of them would fight back...

'What if Twilight refused to come peacefully... Could I really fight her?' I pondered with a frown.

I had a lot to think about and consider. And that was just with Twilight... With my sister, on the other hoof... I was at a loss. How could I convince her to come back to me? I had undermined her authority perhaps too many times... 'I did it for the right reason, didn't I?' I sighed, 'I tried to prevent something like this from happening between Equestria and any other nation...'

I lifted my teacup and took another sip. It had cooled by now, with a quick spell I heated the tea back up. I took another sip. How would I reach my sister, if I were to beat her in battle and force her to hear me out? What if she refused to listen to me... What then? Sending her back to the moon would be impossible for me... Locking her up would probably end badly. And what if she never came around? What if it made her hate me more? I felt sadness rising in my body.

And what of all the lives that had already been lost? Over ten thousand ponies, dead. Was their sacrifice pointless? Did they fight for a better future which would never come? Had I sent them to die, with no hope for the future?

'No, I have to be strong. My ponies need a strong leader. One who can unite them, and bring them peace and prosperity.'

Princess Twilight Sparkle

I levitated the final piece of my armor off the armor stand, my helmet. I put the helmet on, the cold metal embraced my head, it fit me perfectly, thanks to Rarity's astonishing abilities. I lifted my right hoof from the floor and looked at my armored hoof. The purple painted metal boot had a small gem set in it, and it served both ornate and protective functions. I had Rarity make a few modifications to the body armor from her original design. I could now hold my wings directly against my body, rather than the cold, hard metal. It was more comfortable than before, but it did sacrifice protection. Rarity had argued against this change, however I was able to convince her to do it.

My argument against her went something like 'If that change ends up costing me, then I will have already been in a bad position, and I doubt my armor would help much anyway.'

Of course, the armor wasn't really necessary, it was just in case my magic failed me. I touched the crystal set in my chest plate with my hoof and smiled. That wasn't likely to happen now, so the armor was mostly a formality. Well, that and Rarity did make it for me, so it was special to me.

I lit my horn and teleported just outside the castle, where my escort was awaiting my arrival. I reappeared in a flash, none of them looked surprised by my sudden appearance. I smiled, they were getting used to me teleporting around all the time it seemed. My escort to Cloudsdale would consist of four pegasi, Rainbow Dash was among them. Her status as a Wonderbolt would probably prove useful. If that didn't help, then perhaps the fact that she was the only pegasus alive to perform the Sonic Rainboom would help.

Of course four pegasi, even if one of them was a Wonderbolt, would not be enough to take on the Cloudsdale defense forces, or the Wonderbolts themselves. Hopefully, that wouldn't happen. If it did, I was there. I would be able to teleport us away, or fight them off. I wasn't particularly keen of the latter thought. Yes, I had been training, but fighting living ponies who were trying to kill you was different.

I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, holding it for a second before exhaling. I opened my eyes, "Let's go." I commanded. I spread my large alicorn wings, and jumped into the air. I didn't need to look back to know that all four of them had taken off after me. A second later Rainbow was flying by my side with a look of determination in her eyes. The other three soon took formation also, one on my left side, Rainbow on my right side, one behind me, and the last one above me.

The flight would take only a little over an hour at our current pace, aided by the wind pushing us along.

Rainbow Dash

The flight had taken a little less time that Twilight had said it would, Cloudsdale was growing as we approached it. The massive, majestic cloud city was hope to countless pegasi, and it was where the Wonderbolts were based. The fact that Cloudsdale didn't side with anypony yet surprised me, I would have thought they would have sided with Princess Celestia immediately.

I scanned the sky, keeping an eye out for anything that could threaten us. I was surprised when I saw a lone pegasus approached us at a leisurely pace. I alerted the others to his presence, "Lone pegasus three o' clock."

"Copy. I'll intercept him" The sergeant flying above Twilight answered in her cheery voice. The sergeant broke off from formation and flew towards the lone oncoming pegasi. I kept an eye on both of them, while continuing to scan the sky around us for more threats. The pegasus flying towards us seemed to slow down when he realized that the sergeant had armor on. They both stopped a few ponies lengths from each other and hovered for a few moments, it looked like they were talking.

After a few more seconds, both of them started flying towards us. As they flew closer, I started to recognize the pegasus. Captain Spitfire. I felt my heart rate increase at the prospect of seeing one of my idols... Even if I was a Wonderbolt.

Our group slowed down, and eventually we found ourselves hovering. Twilight flew over to greet them.

Twilight spoke with curiosity, "Captain Spitfire, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Princess Twilight Sparkle." Spitfire returned in her usual slightly coldly. Spitfire glanced around, looking at each of us in turn. "Why exactly are you here, in battle armor, with four guards?"

"I'm here to try to convince Cloudsdale to follow me."

"And the guards?" Spitfire asked skeptically.

"An escort, nothing more." Twilight paused, "It's mostly for show and to deter any sort of attack against me."

"Four guards wouldn't be able to stop an army." Spitfire countered.

"I did not come to fight, I came to talk. Besides," Twilight pointed a hoof at her horn, "I am an alicorn."

"Right." Spitfire sighed, "The Mayor will be happy to see you. The reason Cloudsdale hadn't decided what to do... You know of General Maneuver?"

"Yes, I've heard of him. I've never personally met him, however." Twilight replied.

"Well, a lot of pegasi wanted to follow him and join Princess Celestia, however the other half..." Spitfire whispered the rest of it low enough that I couldn't hear it. Twilight looked momentarily surprised. She looked back towards us briefly.

"I didn't realize he was that well known in Cloudsdale."

"Well, he is... Anyway, after General Maneuver's defeat, a lot of pegasi have been changing their minds. Not all of them, but quite a few. You should be able to convince they Mayor to side with you. And with the Wonderbolts support, you shouldn't have any problems."

"Alright then, please lead the way." Twilight motioned towards us to follow her.

Princess Twilight Sparkle

"Ah! Princess Twilight Sparkle! It is an honor to finally meet you." The Mayor, a tan pegasus stallion bowed deeply as I entered the room following Spitfire. I motioned Rainbow to step into the room also. I nodded at the stallion.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mayor..?" I trailed off.

The stallion chuckled lightly, "Mayor is both my title and name."

That, was... strange "I see." I nodded, he smiled broadly at me.

"Ah, and this fine mare is Rainbow Dash I take it?" he looked at Rainbow Dash.

I nodded, "Yes."

"And do you support Princess Twilight Sparkle?" He asked.

Rainbow looked towards me, I nodded lightly. "Yeah, I support her. She's my friend, she's more than capable of handling anything Princess Celestia or Princess Luna throw at her!" I blushed lightly at Rainbow's praise.

Mayor smiled, "That is all I needed to know. Thank you, Miss Dash. I shall pledge my support to Princess Twilight Sparkle then, most of Cloudsdale should follow suit. There may be some who may not come around for a while, but I believe they will in time."

"That's it?" I blinked.

"Well, yes. Spitfire... Er, Captain Spitfire, that is, and the Wonderbolts did support following Princess Celestia, however with General Maneuver's... Failure... That changed their minds."

Spitfire spoke up, "We have full confidence in you, Princess."

"Thank you, Captain Spitfire..." I spoke.

"Now, I don't have files on hoof, but I should be able to have one of my staff deliver details about the city to you sometime within a week. Is there anypony in particular who I should have the files be given to? Or would you rather have them yourself?"

"Give the files to Mayor Mare or Sparkler, they're my two primary civil advisers."

"Mayor Mare or Sparkler?" He rubbed his chin with a hoof, "I can have that done..."

Spitfire spoke up, "Now onto military matters." Spitfire smiled slightly.

"What do you have for me?" I asked.

"Well, the Wonderbolts are yours, along with the Cloudsdale defense forces. Quite a bit of military strength there, Princess."

I nodded to myself, "This is good, the Wonderbolts are very highly trained, and you have quite a few good officers. My current military commander is just a low level captain of the royal guard. He's doing okay, but it could be better..." I smiled wryly.

"I'd be more than happy to help you out there. I am the commander of the entire Wonderbolt force after all. I should be able to manage an entire army."

"Well, I don't exactly have much of an army yet..."

"Don't worry, I'll fix that in no time, Princess." Spitfire smiled warmly.

"Anything I should do while I'm here? I do have some things I need to get to back in Ponyville. Adding a city to my... Kingdom... And all that."

"I'm guessing you didn't want to name it 'The Kingdom of Twilight'?" Mayor asked.

"Not really." I answered.

"Perhaps you would like to take a look at the forces of the Wonderbolts?" Spitfire asked.

I thought for a moment. 'Yes, that would probably be wise. Good for morale or something.' "Sure." I answered.

The ranks of the Wonderbolts stood at attention before me. I looked out across the sea of blue and yellow uniforms. There had to be nearly a thousand ponies grouped up in units. These pegasi were real soldiers. Not just guards, or recruits. They were Wonderbolts. The most elite military force on the planet. I felt a shiver run down my spine as I thought about the fact that they were now under my command. Sure, there may only be a few hundred of them... Not enough for winning through sheer numbers, but they were highly trained.

It was a little overwhelming. Okay, really overwhelming. I did my best to look regal as I looked out across the assembled ponies. It helped that I was on a raised platform, and that I was taller than most ponies. Granted, I was nowhere near as tall as Princess Luna or Princess Celestia. But still, I was taller than the average pony. I nodded to myself and turned to Captain Spitfire, "A fine group of ponies you have here, Captain..."

Spitfire nodded in agreement.

I turned to leave, Spitfire must have dismissed the ponies after I started walking away from the murmurs I heard a few seconds later. "I would like you to take command of my military forces, General Spitfire."

Spitfire took it in stride, "I would be honored, Princess."

"I'm no military strategist or commander or anything of the sort, I don't exactly know what I'm doing, while you do. I trust you to be able to handle most of the military side of things on a large scale."

"Princess?" She asked.

I paused and looked towards her, "I'm going to be leading from the field. Or I'm going to try to."

"That's rather dangerous, and not a good position for you, Princess."

I sighed, "Maybe so, General... But until I get actual experience, I don't think it would be wise for me to command an entire military force."

"Do you have combat experience, Princess?"

I thought about how to best answer that for a moment, "Yes and no. I have fought monsters with my friends several times before and I'm currently in training, but I have never fought anything with the intent to kill it before. I have never killed anything before..." I frowned.

"I see..." Spitfire paused.

"But I will have to fight eventually... I'm the only pony other than Princess Cadance who can stand up to Princess Celestia or Princess Luna in battle." I lifted a hoof to the door and pushed it open.

Princess Celstia

Having had several hours to think about it, I had reasoned that capturing some of Twilight's friends and holding them hostage to draw Twilight out, or convince them to talk to her about returning to me would be a good idea. Of course doing this might make me look bad, but if it brought this war to an end sooner, it would be worth it. The doors to the throne room opened, and Director Tap walked inside.

I rose from my throne and met him halfway, I dismissed him from bowing with a hoof. I wanted to get this done as quickly as I could. "Alright, Director. With my knowledge of her friends and your intelligence on the most recent news about them... We should be able to create a plan of action." I looked at the two guards stationed at the sides of the throne room doors, commanding them to leave us.

As soon as the guards left, I lit my horn and sealed the throne room. "What do you know?"

The unicorn used his magic and summoned a briefcase. He lowered it to the ground and unlocked it, pulling out five folders. He levitated one of them over to me, I took it in my magic and opened it. "Fluttershy? I think that's how you pronounce it."

"Yes."

He nodded, "Fluttershy has not been doing much with Princess Twilight Sparkle since the secession. They do talk and eat together occasionally. She's shy enough that nopony would notice if she went missing for a while, however if we were to abduct her... The damage to her mind... I would advise against it."

"Agreed."

He levitated out another folder and levitated it to me. Once again I took it in my magic and opened it, looking over it's contents. "Pinkie Pie..." He stated. "Capturing her would be impossible."

I smirked every so lightly. "It is likely that would be the case."

He pulled out a third folder, I grasped it in my magic and viewed its contents. "Lady Rarity... She has had quite a bit of contact with Princess Twilight Sparkle. She is responsible for the design of her soldier's armor, along with having crafted the princess's armor herself. She is quite predictable as to where she will be, however most of the time she's either at her shop or at the castle." He paused, "Her shop is located at a bad place for attempting to capture her without arousing suspicion on top of that she is surprisingly well trained in Marshal Arts."

"Strange indeed" I responded.

I nodded to him, eliciting him to continue. I took the next folder from him and looked at it. "Privite Applejack. She recently joined Princess Twilight Sparkle's military forces. She is a strong earth pony and is almost never alone, she is either training of at the castle most of the time."

I nodded. He pulled out the last folder. "Rainbow Dash. Wonderbolt. A very talented pegasus, and holder of the record for fastest recorded flight speed. She seems to be near Princess Twilight Sparkle almost all the time. She is one of her personal guards. However, the princess does send her on minor errands at times. We may be able to catch her off guard. But unless we could overpower her quickly, we would likely need quite a few operatives to capture her alive. If she were to go missing, the princess would know very quickly. That could prove both useful and detrimental."

"They do all spend the nights staying in the castle as well." He quickly added.

"I see." I pondered his words and his suggestions. "We can rule out all of them except Rarity and Rainbow Dash. They seem to be in the best position to convince Twilight to change her mind." I paused, "Rarity likely wouldn't help us, and Rainbow Dash represents the Element of Loyalty..." I thought for a moment. I nodded to myself, "Prepare a team to capture Rainbow Dash, don't rush it. Wait for the right moment to make your move."

"Yes, Princess."

"Oh, while you're here, perhaps you could give me a brief intelligence report?" I added.

"Of course, Princess." He took the folders in his magic and stuffed them back into the suitcase before teleporting it away. "Not much activity change with Princess Luna, but Princess Twilight Sparkle seems to be experimenting with crystals."

I raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"We can't get any really good intelligence, she's being quite secretive about it. We do know that she seems to be using dark magic, however." My heart skipped a beat in fear. "We have not been able to find out what it is she's doing, but even my pegasus operative can feel the dark magic when it is nearby."

"Why did you not tell me of this development immediately?"

"We didn't have any solid details about it." He stated flatly.

"Surely, Director, a unicorn of your stature must know how much dark magic is needed for a pegasus to be able to feel it in the air." I chastised his incompetence. Dark magic was dangerous, and pegasi could feel dark magic in the air if there was enough of it.

"That particular piece of information I was just made aware of this morning, Princess." He paused and took a firmer tone, "You would have been aware of that had you attended the meeting earlier today."

I clenched my teeth.