Golden Dawn: Dusk of an Empire

by witegrlninja

Rating: mature
Tags: Spike, Science Fiction, Starswirl the Bearded, Adventure, Violence, Princess Celestia, Death, Human, Main 6, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Original Character
Length: 79007

The Bearers of Harmony have saved their land countless times. With the help of a new friend, can they save another one?

A mysterious alicorn awakens in a strange land with no memory of her past, save one: she knows she's not supposed to be a pony. When Twilight and company try to help her regain her memories, they discover long-forgotten secrets and legends about the origins of the Equestrian pony race, the homeland they originally came from, and the centuries-long war that threatens to destroy their new friend's home, her people and all she holds dear.

Published 2017-04-04 18:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2019-01-23 09:08:59 UTC

Spell-Lock

The peach pony had learned much as she walked alongside her six new friends. Twilight had been more than happy to tell her all about Ponyville and its history, the nearby capital of Canterlot and the Princess Sisters who controlled the sun and moon, the distant Crystal Empire, the lofty Cloudsdale and many other cities in this land called Equestria. There were talks of magic and flight, and promises of lessons in both. She learned the differences between Unicorn, Pegasus and Earth Ponies, and the rarity and importance of her own equine form. She also learned that Spike was a creature called a dragon, and all about his life from hatching to the present day. After what seemed like hours of pleasant talk, the group finally arrived at Twilight's castle. It resembled a castle treehouse, all forged out of sparkling gold and lavender and cyan crystals.

"You live here? My goodness, it's beautiful!" her jaw dropped.

"Thanks! It's not quite the library I lived in when I first came to Ponyville, but it's home," Twilight smiled. Her horn glowed with a pink light, and the double front doors glowed the same color as they opened. The interior of the castle was crafted out of more crystal, with winding, mirror-polished hallways lined with many doors. They walked seemingly in circles until Twilight's horn and a door to their left glowed pink again, and walked inside to a room lined with countless books. The center of the room had only a rug, where they all stood as Twilight and Spike began selecting a few of the tomes.

"Let's see, memory spells," Spike mumbled to himself. He picked out three books and walked back to the group while Twilight decided on four. After pausing to consider which book to read for a moment, Twilight decided on a dusty green tome and began flipping through its pages with her magic.

"Alright, memory spells... dealing with... amnesia. This ought to do it. Now hold still, this won't hurt at all." She levitated the book to the ground and took a casting stance. Her horn glowed with intense, pink light as she closed her eyes, and suddenly it shot out at the peach pony at once. She closed her eyes instinctively, opening them again when she felt nothing but a cooling, misty sensation. Wisps of thin, pink mist gently encircled her, slowly glowing brighter and brighter. But then the mist turned a foreboding, dark red. All of a sudden, the energy erupted violently back at Twilight, who scarcely had time to scream as the force blasted her backwards into a wall of crystal, leaving a perfectly Twilight-shaped hole. The others present gasped and yelled in response to the blast; Fluttershy outright screaming and hiding behind Pinkie Pie.

"Oh! Oh no, Twilight! Are you okay?!" the peach pony shrieked. The others also shouted their concern, stopping when Twilight's hoof poked out of the hole she just made.

"I'm alright," she groaned, plopping back to the floor somewhat gracelessly.

"I'm so sorry! Did I do that? Oh, I don't even know how I did that!"

"No, no..." she shook her head. "That was just one of the most powerful Spell-Lock barriers I've ever seen!"

"Spell-Lock?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"They're cast on ponies when the caster does not want the magical effect to wear off. One that strong, however... whoever cast this was incredibly powerful! This Anti-Amnesia spell isn't gonna cut it." Twilight hummed as she glanced over the chosen books, finally deciding on a dusty, dark gray tome that looked as if it would fall apart any second. She magically flipped through its pages, stopping near the end and reading carefully. "...Yes, Memento Mori's Ultimate Spell of Remembrance. Allows the target to remember absolutely everything about themselves, all the way back until the day they were born. If this doesn't break it, I don't know what will."

After gently setting the book down, Twilight once again assumed a casting stance. Her horn glowed brilliantly and flashed as the magic enveloped the peach pony. This time the cooling sensation was more pronounced, and the veil of magic formed into thousands of rapidly spinning gears all around her. The veil softly glowed white as the gears started to slow, but they sped back up as the magic quickly began changing back into that awful, dark red.

"Uh oh," Twilight opened an eye to check the spell's progress. "Rarity, think you could give me a hoof, here?"

"Of course, darling." Rarity quickly trotted over to glance at the book, then took a stance next to Twilight. Her horn glowed with sky-blue light, which wavered slightly as it joined Twilight's. The rapidly reddening magic quickly changed back to white, and the gears began to slow again. For a few seconds, it seemed as if the gears would fully stop and release the barrier... but just as quickly as it had the last time, the magic shifted back to dark red and exploded back into the two unicorns. Twilight formed another self-shaped hole in the wall while Rarity had a bit softer landing, being forcefully thrown into Spike and sending the two of them skidding along the floor. The peach pony gasped, but could only look on in horror.

"So," Rainbow Dash spoke after many moments of silence. "Looks like nothing will break that Spell-Lock, then."

"Wait," Twilight interjected, sticking a hoof out of her hole again. "It was working that time. We just need more power. About... one or two more Alicorns worth of power."

"Two more Alicorns? The Princesses?" asked Applejack. Twilight dropped even less gracefully to the floor and quickly shook her head before confirming.

"Uh, will they help me? I mean, they're princesses, they probably have more important things to do," the peach pony began.

"Oh yes, they will," Twilight nodded. "Princess Celestia and I are super close, after all. And if I remember her schedule right, she's about to take a break from her duties for afternoon tea in about four minutes."

"Ah... four minutes? But didn't you say Canterlot was a day's train-"

Before the peach pony could finish her sentence, Twilight's horn flashed pink again, enveloping everyone present in a blinding white light that faded away as quickly as it came.

"-ride away? ...Wait, what?" Her mouth hung open as she realized they were all now standing in the middle of a palatial room of white marble and gold accents. Banners depicting the sun and the moon hung from the rafters, and plush, red furniture lined the distant walls. Directly in front of her was an ornate table covered in silver plates full of fruits, flowers, cucumber sandwiches and a slice of pink and yellow cake. And behind that table sat a magnificent mare, coat white as snow and her mane and tail a long, flowing aurora of pastels. Her long, elegant horn held a golden crown with a single amethyst, and her wings were neatly folded behind a collar of thick gold with another lone amethyst. A sun was displayed on her flanks, and the peach pony realized she was in the presence of royalty.

"Oh!" Princess Celestia spoke daintily, her soft, purple eyes commanding the attention of a nearby guard; a gray stallion in golden armor and a blue plume of mane atop his head. "Looks like I will be needing a few more cups and a bigger teapot." As the guard nodded and walked away, the princess smiled warmly at her sudden company. "Twilight! What a pleasant surprise! And you brought your friends with you! As well as someone new," she spoke as she eyed the mysterious alicorn. "What is your name?"

"Princess," the peach pony stammered as she hastily bowed. Before she could answer, though, Pinkie Pie bounced right over and in front of her.

"She doesn't know!" she blurted. Celestia made an intrigued noise.

"She has no memory of who she is," Twilight explained. "And she has a very powerful Spell-Lock on her. We were hoping, if you had the time, that you could help her?"

"Oh, of course!" Celestia smiled as she rose from her seat. She approached the peach pony and circled her, studying her. "What memory spells have you tried?"

"Well, I started with Anti-Amnesia, then I went straight to Memento Mori's Ultimate Spell of Remembrance."

"Both ended in explosions," Rainbow Dash briskly added.

"Hm, and that's the strongest memory spell there is," Celestia mused.

"But it was working! I just need more power, I'm sure it'll break if we both try!"

"Well, how about we try it, then? But if you say the other tries resulted in backfire, the rest of you better stand behind me," Celestia motioned. The other ponies and Spike quickly ran behind the royal mare as she assumed a casting stance alongside Twilight. Her magic glowed with a golden intensity and felt warm as it shot towards the peach pony, joining Twilight's. The spinning gears formed again from the mists, and it shimmered even brighter than before as the gears nearly stopped turning. To everyone's surprise, however, the gears rapidly sped up and glowed a more violent red than earlier attempts. Twilight winced in anticipation, but Celestia saw the explosion coming and quickly recast her magic, forming a massive, golden arc of shielding around herself and the others just before it struck. The force of the eruption blew harmlessly against her shield, but annihilated the table, chair and refreshments behind them, leaving only splatters and splinters behind.

"Oh, I don't know how many more explosions my heart can take today," Fluttershy whimpered, still clinging to Rainbow Dash.

"Almost had it that time," Twilight groaned in frustration.

"Indeed," Celestia blinked as her magic faded. "Let me go rouse my sister." She quickly trotted past the ruined afternoon tea and out a door-turned-porcupine with so many wooden splinters now embedded in it. A few ponies in cleaning outfits arrived to begin removing the mess, only to be shooed away when Celestia returned with her sister. This Alicorn was as dark blue as the night sky, with an azure mane and tail glittering with stars. Her crown and collar were ebony black, with a crescent-shaped moonstone on the collar. A crescent moon in blackness decorated her flanks. Also, she appeared very tired.

"Alright, what is the problem here," Princess Luna yawned. "If it requires waking me from my slumber early, it better be good."

"We simply need your assistance in breaking a Spell-Lock, sister," said Celestia.

"It should definitely work this time," Twilight reassured. "Afterwards, you can go right back to sleep!" Luna mumbled in response, and the three alicorns took their places. Pink, gold and now azure magic shone from their horns, and the beams braided together as they once again enveloped the peach pony. The magics glowed an almost blindingly white light, and the veil of gears slowed more and more, eventually coming to a mere crawl, and finally ceasing to move with a final, loud click. All of a sudden the blinding light expanded upwards, billowing over itself and shrouding the room in white mists. For a moment, the peach pony's mind was completely blank.

Then it filled with images. Words. Sounds. Thoughts.

Thoughts of her past, her family, her home.

Her people, her homeland, other races.

History. Peace. Prosperity.

Jealousy. Mistrust. War.

Sorrow. Blood. Corpses. Death.

So much blood.

So much death.

Screaming.

So much screaming.

She only stopped screaming when she finally noticed all the others present staring at her fearfully. Even Celestia and Luna looked very concerned.

"Are you... alright?" Fluttershy took a step forward.

"Do you remember anything?" Pinkie Pie asked, drawing a glare from Applejack. Before she could say anything, however, the peach pony's shoulders heaved.

"Y-yes," she gasped, trying her hardest not to cry. "...I remember. I remember... everything."

The others stared uncomfortably as she sobbed. Tears welled up in her eyes, which were wide as plates and full of pain.

"Uh... do you need a moment?" asked Spike, to no reply.

"If you wish, my guards will escort you to the Royal Wailing Room. Stay there as long as you need to," Celestia spoke gently. The peach pony only nodded in reply. Celestia nodded towards a pair of guards, and they led the grief-stricken pony out of the room. The silence that followed was deafening, until the Sun Princess sighed.

"So... cake, anyone?"

So many questions

Though she always enjoyed her visits to Canterlot, Twilight couldn't help but think that this trip would end in disaster. Her new friend had reacted so... strongly to having her memories returned to her. And whoever had cast the spells to block them out in the first place used such powerful magic, she actually had doubted that Princesses Celestia and Luna could help. Perhaps having her memory locked away from her had really been a blessing, rather than a curse. Three entire days had passed since the sobbing peach pony had been led away to the Royal Wailing Room. Finally the guards had given Celestia the word that she was finally calm enough to speak. The seven ponies and one dragon gathered outside the double doors, Celestia remarking that she hadn't been in the room herself for quite some time.

The doors glowed with a soft, golden light as they slowly opened. The Royal Wailing Room was dim, but easily better lit with a candle-lighting spell. Long, plush couches of soft scarlet lined the walls, with numerous pillows scattered here and there. In the center of the room was an ornate chaise sofa, with a large, dark wooden table decorated with various sweets, pastas and other comfort foods in front of it. Over in the corner, the wastebasket had been comically overfilled with used tissues, to the point the pile nearly touched the ceiling. On the sofa, the peach pony stared down at the floor, no longer crying but still quite disheartened. She inhaled deeply as the others approached.

"Feelin' any better, sugarcube?" Applejack was the first to speak.

"Yes, thank you," the peach pony replied, lifting her eyes.

"So... um..." Twilight mumbled, wondering how to ask the questions everypony was thinking without being offensive. "You, uh... remember everything now, huh?"

"Yes. I imagine you all have many questions to ask me. And surely many more will follow those answers." She stood up from the sofa and turned her gaze to Celestia. "Before I begin, however... Princess, thank you for your kind hospitality. You are everything the legends claim you to be."

"Oh? Well, it's my pleasure," the princess blinked. "Now, since you remember... what shall we call you?"

The peach pony sighed, preparing herself for what would surely be a marathon of questions. She opened her eyes, her wings flaring regally outwards. "I am Rael'ia, of House Golden Dawn, Crown Princess of the Magikin Alliance."

This revelation was met with silence.

"Eh?" Pinkie Pie cocked her head.

"The Whatsikin Alliance?" Rainbow Dash raised her eyebrow.

"Hm," Celestia put a hoof to her chin in thought. "I don't believe I have ever heard of that House name or title."

"I should think not," Rael'ia nodded. "My land is not a place in this world."

More silence. "Hold on," Twilight spoke. "Not in this world?"

"No... this world you call Equestria, it exists in a universe only theorized by the brightest mages in my own world." Lavender-purple magic glowed from her horn and formed a floating globe vastly different from the one Twilight and the others knew. "We call it Terras. My homeland, the land of Fae. And my people," she paused as her magic swirled to form a tall, bipedal humanoid with elongated ears. "Elf-kin. Elves for short."

Twilight's eyes opened with realization. "Oh! They kind of look like humans!"

"You have humans in this world as well?"

"Well, no, in an alternate dimension I've been to a couple of times. Like this." Her magic formed into an image of her human self as seen in Canterlot High School, alongside the image now known as an elf.

"Ah, yes! Though, I've never seen a human in my lands with purple skin. They usually stick to different shades of white, yellow and brown." Twilight stared in awe, humming in fascination.

"So how did'ja get here, then?" Applejack interrupted the mini-conversation. "And you were awfully distressed when you finally did remember."

"Ugh, Aternus," Rael'ia looked away as she groaned disdainfully, almost under her breath. "It's a long story."

"Well, we have plenty of time," Celestia smiled as her magic levitated some fluffy cushions for everyone present to sit on. She and the others made themselves comfortable, staring at the peach pony with great interest. "Please continue, Rael'ia."

"Very well," she nodded. "Hm... where to start." After a few moments of contemplation, she made her decision. "Well, from the beginning, I suppose. It'll make the most sense."

Pinkie Pie somehow pulled out a gigantic bowl of popcorn from behind her and began shoveling the treats into her mouth.

"About three-hundred years ago, war broke out in my lands. Or rather, the humans... it would seem their inability to use magic finally brought them to the edge of insanity. They began slaughtering the magical races by the thousands, to the point that these days, only a few remain."

"Can't use magic?" Rarity asked incredulously. "But why? And how would they hope to win against those who can?"

"No one really knows why. Maybe their bodies simply can't process magical ability. But this didn't stop them from trying. If there's one thing a human excels at, it's their imagination. They invented all kinds of machinery and weapons like fire-arms to keep them level with the other powers around them. But their greatest invention of all made their war possible... Nullifite. A chemist of theirs invented it one day, and it was only a matter of time before they learned to turn it into a weapon. When mixed into molten mythril, it becomes Nullium, an incredibly strong metal which renders nearly all magical attacks made against it completely ineffective. Only a handful of mages like myself are powerful enough to overcome it."

"Oh, you're a mage?" Twilight grinned.

"Yes. All high-ranking members of the different Houses are trained in both combat and magic, of which there are five schools: Fire, Lightning, Nature, Water and Arcane. Usually, Elf-kin are innately adept at Arcane magic, though Nature also comes naturally to many. With enough practice, though, anyone can eventually learn another school... in my and the Arch-Mage's case, all five."

"That must've taken a super long time!" Pinkie exclaimed through a mouthful of half-chewed popcorn.

"It did, would you believe I'm only 147 years old? Anyway," Rael'ia paused. "Over the years that followed, the magical races dwindled, and an alliance was struck. The Harpies act as our air support, the Sirens, our navy. The Orcs aid our battles with their martial prowess and mastery of Nature magic, and the Fairies... they craft our armor and cut our Magicite jewels."

"Ooh, jewels!" Rarity's eyes flashed. "Tell me more about this Magicite!"

"Ah, it's a rather common crystal. Colorless, clear as glass and glows white from within. Generally you can just pick it up off the ground. But the common stuff is usually no good, however. No, the Magicite we use must be mined to find perfect, clear crystals, and then the Fairies use their machines and magic to facet them for use in our armor. An expertly-faceted Magicite jewel helps to hone our magical abilities to their very limits."

"Hm, we have a similar material here for military use," Celestia mused. "Though the crystals we use are not colorless."

"Tell me," Twilight raised a hoof politely. "What other races inhabit your lands?"

"The four I mentioned are the only ones left with substantial numbers," Rael'ia sighed. "There used to be so many more. Either they were all driven extinct or they fled for other lands. Only a few Dragons remain, having escaped over the Impassable Mountains, and only a handful of them fight alongside us. The Pony-kin... oh, hardly any are left now, for they were the humans' first victims."

"They... they don't like us?" Fluttershy whimpered.

"No... and that is a long story all its own. I shall tell you later, if you wish." The others nodded, clearly interested.

"Well, what happened that got you here?" Rainbow Dash asked impatiently. "Since this isn't your world." Rael'ia sighed, hiding a grumble under her breath.

"As I recall... the Archmage and I were accompanying a legion of Elven Infantry and Battlemages as they took control of a small fort. We had just begun settling in for the night when we were ambushed by the humans... and," her voice wavered slightly, "...an Angel."

"Oh? What's so bad about that?" Spike wondered.

"They're... they're horrible creations of the humans who call them such. They tower above most others, and are completely covered in Nullium armor, even their eyes. Strange, armored tubes stick out of their armor, they hiss whenever it makes a move. They're incredibly strong and fast... deceptively so. In the blink of an eye they can slice right through ten men."

"Well that doesn't seem very fair," Pinkie Pie scowled.

"Our forces were no match for such a creature. In mere seconds half of our forces lay in pieces on the ground. We retreated inside the fort as the remaining Battlemages sent out requests for immediate assistance, but already the door was splintering from the force of the Angel's blows against it. It was only a matter of time before..." Her voice wavered again. The other ponies and Spike looked on sympathetically, as if telling her she didn't have to finish that thought. "But just as the door burst open, and the humans began flooding in... the Archmage used his power to open a portal, uttered a word and shoved me through it."

"Well, that was fortunate," Rarity smiled.

"Archmage Aternus knows it is my duty to stand alongside my people, even in the face of death," Rael'ia suddenly adopted a harsh tone. "I should be back there defending my people, not... safe in another dimension," she sighed, closing her eyes in resignation. "I know he cares for me; we have been close friends since childhood. But he also knows I would be furious if he did something like this! I may be alive to tell the tale, but I cannot sit idly by while my people suffer and are slaughtered! I must go back and fight!"

The others looked around worriedly at one another. Celestia cleared her throat after a few moments and nodded. "I understand. It is your place as Princess to lead your people in times of war. I believe Luna and I will be able to help, but we will need time to research the appropriate spells. Inter-dimensional portals are quite difficult to create, after all... it's a testament to your Archmage's magical power that he was able to open one himself, plus cast a Spell-Lock that required three Alicorns to overpower."

"Thank you, Princess," Rael'ia bowed. "I truly appreciate your help."

"Oh, goodness, call me Celestia," she giggled, giving a dismissive wave of her hoof. "In the meantime, I hope you enjoy your stay in Equestria. You'll find it's a land of peace and harmony, hopefully a welcome break from the war."

"Yes... I suppose I shall," she smiled.

The fate of the Pony-kin

"So tell me," Twilight raised her hoof again. "Why did the humans target ponies in your war first?"

Rael'ia sighed. "It's only one of many theories, but I believe the humans were finally convinced to begin their war with the destruction of the Pony-kin capital, Ponyopolis. They had always wished for magical abilities of their own, yet were always suspicious and fearful of our own uses of magic."

"There was a whole country of ponies in your land?" Applejack gasped as everyone's eyes widened at the revelation. "And it got destroyed?"

"Yes. The pony-kin civilization was just as advanced as our own, perhaps even more so. They effortlessly wove their magic and their sciences together, working tirelessly to improve the lives of all races - humans included. In fact, humans even favored the pony-kin, finding them 'cute and cuddly'."

"Well, to be fair, we are," Pinkie Pie grinned as she bear-hugged Fluttershy, who made a squeaky noise in response.

"However, five hundred years ago, there was one pony-kin who wished to achieve even greater things than all the other mages and scientists ever had. He was known as Starswirl-" Her magic swirled to form a gray stallion in a dark blue wizard hat and a short cape, with a modest, white beard covering his chin.

"Hold on, you mean Starswirl the Bearded?!" Twilight shouted in shock. "The most celebrated wizard in history? He was there, too?! Here, look!" Pink magic erupted from her horn and swirled around the stallion, modifying it so he now had a longer cape and wizard hat emblazoned with stars and moons and decorated with bells on the edges, and his beard now dragged along the floor.

"Perhaps so, the two look very similar. Back then, he was called Starswirl the Bright, though others called him Starswirl the Dreamer, or even Starswirl the Blasphemous." She waited for Twilight to incredulously voice her confusion before continuing. "He theorized that the three pony-kin races could be combined into one, making the race as a whole even stronger and more magical than before. However, most pony-kin enjoyed their differences, and believed the combination of all three races was taking science and magic too far. But the desire to test his theory gnawed ceaselessly inside his heart, so he performed his experiments in secret. Using a spell of his own invention - The Amniomorphic Spell - he combined the DNA of Pegasus, Unicorn and Earth Pony-kin within the fetuses created from misleadingly-donated eggs and sperm. Again and again, he failed to create a being that survived longer than mere seconds. After years of experimenting and extensive research, he determined that he needed a source of powerful magic to make the Alicorn a reality."

"But... but Starswirl... he would never do such a thing! ...Would he?" Twilight turned her shocked gaze to Celestia. "You knew him! Right, Celestia?" The Sun Princess put a hoof to her chin in thought. After many moments, a sad realization glazed over her eyes and she turned to her former student.

"It was a very long time ago, my dear. But I seem to recall him talking about something related to this topic many hundreds of years ago." Twilight gasped, then wordlessly turned back to Rael'ia.

"I... but... that's so... wrong! Our physical and magical differences are just as important as... anything! And the moral implications of it all! You can't just do that! Alicorns are chosen!"

"I dunno... I mean, we'd all be Princesses, in that case," Rainbow shrugged. "Doesn't sound too bad to me."

"That's not what I meant! I... ugh, that's just not good science!" Twilight sputtered.

"You see how the other pony-kin would've reacted, then," Rael'ia interjected. "So imagine their disbelief and disgust when Starswirl traveled to the Crystal Mountain and took the holiest of all pony-kind's relics from its summit: The Elements of Harmony."

"Wait... what?!" The others all practically shouted their confusion. Pinkie Pie choked on a huge mouthful of popcorn and promptly spat it into the back of Rarity's head, who turned to glare at her coldly.

"The Elements of Harmony: six magical crystals with the very virtues of happiness, friendship and goodness enshrined within. Together, the Elements were an almost infinite source of magical energy, capable of dissolving all negative emotions for hundreds, if not thousands of miles around. Starswirl took these Elements and embedded them within his two latest test subjects. Naturally, the pony-kin were enraged by this action, and soon Ponyopolis was filled to near-bursting with angry mobs calling for Starswirl to be brought out of hiding and punished. He wasn't found, however, not until it was too late."

"What happened next?" Twilight shivered as she and her other five friends leaned in closer.

"Nobody knows, exactly. But most accounts tell that time and space itself were torn asunder. There was a great blast of white light that enveloped nearly the entire Pony-kin kingdom and reached far beyond sight into the sky. When the light faded... nobody was left. All of the buildings were in ruins, the trees, the grass, the wildlife and all other vegetation was killed and shocked white from the sheer magical power. The land is known as the White Wastes now. Only the pony-kin that hadn't been in the area were spared, and their numbers were few."

The other ponies were silent, amongst gasps of shock and disbelief. Rael'ia paused for a moment to think, blinking suddenly.

"However... now that I'm here, I think I understand what happened. It would seem the ponies caught in the blast were transported to this dimension. And it would seem that Starswirl finally succeeded, for Celestia, Luna and you, Twilight, are all Alicorns. But, the cost..." she trailed off, lost in thought.

"But, but this land... all pony-kind in general, we've been here much longer than just 500 years!" Twilight protested.

"I believe I can answer that," Celestia interrupted. "Hearing this tale has brought back many old memories... if I remember correctly, this all happened roughly fifteen-hundred years ago. I vaguely remember waking up in a dark room alongside my sister, and Starswirl was there. He was... celebrating that we were alive. It was only later that he realized we were all someplace he didn't recognize. We left soon afterwards, I assume to avoid the angry mobs. They were most likely even more angry about being teleported to a new land without their consent."

"But, the Elements of Harmony! We've always had them! You always had them!"

"Wait, you have the Elements of Harmony?" It was Rael'ia's turn to be shocked.

"It would make sense that Luna and I did, if they were responsible for bringing us to life. Until your niece Flurry Heart, there hasn't been a natural birth of an Alicorn in all of our history, after all."

"You mean there are more Alicorns, too?"

"Yes, Flurry Heart and her mother, Princess Cadance of the Crystal Empire," Celestia answered. "And as for the Elements of Harmony, they lie within the Tree of Harmony beneath sister and I's old castle, on the border of the Everfree Forest. Without them, the wild growth of the forest would render Ponyville uninhabitable."

"Gods..." Rael'ia breathed, barely able to contain her bewilderment. "The legends are true! The legends are all true! The Elements still exist!"

"Well, yea, of course they do," said Rainbow, raising an eyebrow. "Why's that so exciting?"

"The pony-kin revered the Elements of Harmony for the great peace we all once enjoyed. They were said to negate all negative emotions. When they and the pony-kin vanished, the humans took it as a great betrayal of their trust. Shortly afterwards they discovered Nullifite, and two hundred years later, when their negative emotions had grown unchecked over the years and they had amassed enough weaponry and armor, they declared war on all the magical races, wanting magic for their own... or for no one. And because of their perceived "betrayal", of course the pony-kin were targeted first... But the Elements still exist! They can stop the war!"

"Um..." Applejack interrupted. "We kinda need the Elements, though. Without 'em, the Everfree Forest will destroy Ponyville! And what kind'a Bearers of Harmony would we be if we let that happen?"

"Oh," Rael'ia frowned. "...Wait, Bearers of Harmony?"

"A few years ago, Celestia had lost her connection with the Elements of Harmony, which unfortunately coincided with a terrible threat to Equestria," explained Twilight, draping her forelegs around the shoulders of her friends. "As a result, the six of us became friends, and we became the Bearers of Harmony. Each of us personify one of the Elements, and together we spread the magic of Friendship and fight against those who would seek to destroy Equestria."

Rael'ia paused to think for a moment. "So... you are saying that the Elements of Harmony reside within the six of you..."

"Well... yes, I guess so," the purple Alicorn replied with a shrug. Rael'ia was silent for many moments as her eyes darted back and forth in thought, soon widening with realization.

"Maybe... just maybe... the six of you could help me."

"Oh?" Rarity questioned.

"It would take proper preparation first, but... I believe there may be a way to restore the Elements of Harmony in my land. Yes, craft the appropriate receptacles, take a graft from the Tree of Harmony..." Rael'ia's eyes flashed with hasty inspiration. "...And a ritual to restore the mountain summit... yes. Yes, this could work!"

All of a sudden, the cutie marks on the flanks of the smaller ponies began to glow and buzz, sending apprehensive glances their way. "Are you... thinking what I think you're thinking?" Rainbow Dash cocked her head to one side and shrank backwards slightly.

"Twilight, and my other new friends... I beseech of you," Rael'ia sank to her knees in a reverent bow. "Come to my world and help me restore the Elements of Harmony! I can end the war peacefully, without having to destroy the humans and without further unnecessary bloodshed! Our lands can finally heal!"

"You want to spare the humans? After all they've done all those years?" asked Spike, who quickly shrugged. "I mean, it's your war, I won't tell you how to fight it."

"There is still good inside them," Rael'ia smiled softly. "They only need to be reminded of it. We had peace for centuries beforehand, after all. And I have seen so much suffering fighting this war... I do not wish to prolong it if I can help it."

"I dunno... just seems like a naive plan to me," the dragon sighed, though quickly hushed by Twilight.

"The legends... they were all true. It all makes sense. The Elements are the answer."

"I... don't know," Twilight hesitated. "It is our job to spread friendship and harmony where it is needed, but an entirely different world altogether... not to mention in the middle of a dangerous war. And we are needed here in Equestria to prevent anything bad from happening." She looked to her former mentor, wishing silently for advice. Celestia paused to think, the silence deafening as the others awaited an answer.

"... A heavy decision, indeed. But Luna and I should be able to handle the matters of national security," Celestia finally spoke. "I believe you should absolutely do your best to help our new friend here."

"...Really?" Twilight seemed surprised at her decision.

"Yes. After all, it is your duty as Bearers of Harmony to bring harmony back to lands that need it."

"True," Twilight sighed, then smiled at the peach pony. "Alright, we will do our best to help you."

"You'll end that war in no time with us around!" Rainbow declared, puffing out her chest.

"Oh boy! We're going on an adventure!" Pinkie bounced gleefully. Meanwhile, Fluttershy gulped and nervously nodded in agreement, whereas Rarity and Applejack grinned bravely.

"Then it's settled," Rael'ia smiled confidently. "I would advise you to prepare the best you can. You will find that the land of Fae is full of danger, only the strong will survive."

"We should return to Ponyville then, Miss Rael'ia," Twilight suggested as her horn glowed brightly, preparing another teleportation spell. The elf-turned-Alicorn gently chuckled as she held up a hoof.

"Oh, no need for formalities, Twilight. Call me Rael'ia, or... in fact, that name seems to stick out here. How about just Golden Dawn?" Twilight nodded as the others gathered around her, ready to return home. The peach pony turned to Celestia once more before joining them. "Again, thank you for your hospitality, Celestia. If I may, I would love to return sometime and ask you about your history. Surely you have much to tell if you were there for the very birth of Equestria."

"I'd be delighted," Celestia laughed. "Farewell, my little ponies, though I should hope you'll visit again soon!" One flash of bright pink light later, and the seven ponies and dragon were gone.

To prepare to prepare

Reappearing in a flash within the library of Twilight's castle, Rael'ia's mind was abuzz with plans. She quickly trotted over to a table with paper, inkwell and a quill readily available, grasping the quill with a thin sliver of purple magic from her horn.

"Alright, first I will need to see the Tree of Harmony and take a... seed or graft one of its branches... then care for it while Celestia and Luna prepare their portal... the receptacles... I'm sure the Fairies can handle those..."

"Is it even possible to graft a crystal tree branch? Heck, does it even produce seeds?" asked Applejack. "I mean, if it's anythin' like an apple tree, I could help with that."

"There must be a way, I'm sure. All trees grew from something, right?" Rael'ia replied without lifting her eyes from the table. "Don't worry, I plan on doing as much research as possible before we begin this monumental task. Twilight, surely you have a book about crystal trees in this library? It's quite impressive."

"Oh, thank you... I'm sure I have a book or five about the subject in here somewhere."

"Wonderful, could you please bring them to me? I'm afraid I wouldn't know where to start looking," she chuckled. Twilight gave a happy nod and was off in a flash to search for the books. "Let's see... after that, I'll need to retake the Crystal Mountain's summit from the humans... hm, I'll need to meet with the other warleaders to figure that out. Oh, right... how are you all with combat?" she turned her gaze at the five remaining ponies.

"Awesome, as always," Rainbow Dash closed her eyes in confidence, flexing the muscles in her forelegs.

"Hm, I've taken a few self-defense classes in the past... and while my magic's not on par with, say, Twilight's, I'd say I'd do alright for myself," replied Rarity.

"Does this count?" Pinkie Pie asked as she again pulled out her party cannon from nowhere in particular behind her.

"Heh, mah girls Bucky McGillycuddy and Kicks McGee here can buck a tree clean in half," Applejack smirked as she lifted her left and right hind hooves respectively. "Ah'm good."

No response from Fluttershy. In fact, she simply sank to the floor in a puddle of pink and yellow. Rael'ia frowned at the sight and sighed.

"I see... well, until I can have some chameleon armor made for you, I will protect you from any immediate threats myself."

"Oh... it's, um, okay..." the yellow pony stammered. "I... um... uh..."

"She's never been a fan of violence," Rainbow Dash spoke for her, reaching a sympathetic wing around her back. "Or fighting... or anything remotely resembling conflict, actually."

Boy, do I have bad news for you, little one, Rael'ia thought to herself, eyes softening at the thought. "Well, hopefully we'll witness as few war-related atrocities as possible, but I cannot make any guarantees. I will give you my oath as Crown Princess, though. No harm will come to you as long as I'm around."

"Ah... um, thank you," Fluttershy timidly replied.

"I'm not sure how long we'll have to wait, but for now, I would suggest preparing the best you can. Brush up on your self-defense skills, gather together supplies you think we'll need... anything you think will be useful. Please, don't hesitate to ask for my assistance should you require it." The other ponies nodded as Rael'ia turned to a nearby window, noting that the sun had set long ago. "But first, it is late, and I'm sure my... situation has left you with sudden, unfinished business here. Please, return home and get some rest."

Twilight returned with a tidy stack of twelve books floating beside her as Spike showed the other ponies to the door. After the din of goodbyes had faded away entirely, the little dragon returned to the library, finding the two Alicorns already thumbing through the pages of two with their respective magic.

"Whew, I'm beat," he yawned. "Would you like me to make you two some coffee before I go to bed, Twilight?"

"That sounds wonderful. Thank you, Spike," the purple pony nodded.

"Coffee?" Rael'ia asked as Spike slipped out the door.

"It's a dark brown liquid made from roasted coffee beans. They come from a tree that grows in more tropical climates. It's great for waking you up and making you more alert, especially when studying." Rael'ia let out a hum of interest then returned to her book, as did Twilight. They read in silence for about ten minutes, when Spike returned with a tray carrying two mugs, a coffeepot, a pyramid of sugar cubes and a small pitcher of milk. As Rael'ia thanked him and poured herself a cup, Twilight bid goodnight to her dragon friend as he yawned again and shuffled out of the room once again.

"Ooh, smells delightful!" The peach pony took a sip, making a face soon after. "Oh, bitter."

"Many ponies add milk and sugar to their coffee to make it more mild, to their liking."

"Oh, no," she giggled. "It's fine. It reminds me of a tea we have that's served between banquet courses, to cleanse the palate. I quite like it, reminds me of home." She took another sip, reveling in the scent and bitter bite.

"Ah, glad you like it," Twilight smiled. "So, could you tell me more about your world? It's so exciting to learn about different cultures and places!"

"Oh, of course! What would you like to talk about?"

"Ooh, where to start..." the purple pony inquisitively put a hoof to her chin. "Well, how about your homeland?"

"Ah yes, Fae. Bordered by the Impassable Mountains to the north and northwest, surrounded by ocean around the rest," As her quill hastily scratched at a sheet of paper, outlining a map, Rael'ia paused to glance at a nearby globe. "About... three- no, four times the size of Equestria, I would say. Through the center of the land is the Viridian mountain range, with the Crystal Mountain located in the middle. Between the two mountain ranges is my kingdom, and on the other side is the human kingdom. The Orcs and Dragons make their home in the mountains, while the Harpies prefer the Silent Forest that takes up most of my borders. The Sirens live in the ocean, lakes, rivers... any body of water, really. And the Fairies, well, they used to be all over the place."

Twilight sat quietly, enraptured by the map that was slowly appearing before her, piece by piece.

"There were many other races in the past... Dwarves, Trolls, Anima - humanlike beings but with the characteristics of different animals... Goblins, Satyrs... Like I mentioned, either they were wiped out by the humans, or they fled over the ocean or the Impassable Mountains, or their numbers are just so few you hardly see them anymore. I do hope they return when the war is finally over."

"How about the humans? If they're our main threat in your world, it would be best to learn all I can about them."

"Ah, good point. Centuries ago, they were such a lovely people. Compassionate, honorable, generous... and inventive, most of all. Many more reside over the ocean in a distant land, but the Sirens have done a marvelous job preventing most reinforcements from reaching their shores. Since they're incapable of magic, they turned to their inventions to "keep up with us", so to speak. They have great, flying ships that sail through the skies as swiftly as any Harpy, and speeding, wheeled transports that carry them from one place to another on the ground. Not as fast as teleporting, but it's the best they can do, after all, plus driving or riding in one can be quite enjoyable. They also discovered a substance called gunpowder, which fuels their fire-arms, and those are stick-shaped objects that send bits of metal flying faster than the eye can see! Easily deflected with a simple magical ward if you know they're coming, though. A shame, I believe if only they could harness magic, they would be fantastic mages for all their creativity."

"Seems to me the humans felt intimidated by all that magic, especially in recent years."

"Yes. Though they always wished for magical abilities of their own, they were also wary of those who could use it. I mean, imagine knowing the others around you were capable of conjuring fire and lightning from their empty hands and you couldn't, how could you hope to defend yourself from that? The only race they trusted entirely were the Pony-kin, and... well, you know the rest. The loss of the Elements of Harmony seem to have affected them the most, strangely, as they went from completely reasonable and kind-hearted to mistrustful and bloodthirsty in a matter of centuries. Then, after spending years refining Nullifite and crafting it into their weapons and armor, Antheras - the king at the time - declared war by launching a sneak attack on one of our closest villages to them. Not knowing what they had been planning, they didn't stand a chance."

"And every human king since then has continued the war?"

"Sadly, yes. In the beginning, there were attempted coups to try to bring it to an end, but none were successful. Six generations of kings and queens have passed, with the current king Bastillion being the most vicious of them all. And he has the audacity to call himself "The Thaumaturge King" because the Angels were apparently his creation."

"Creation? What do you mean?"

"Nobody knows for certain," Rael'ia shivered. "They certainly aren't human, however. If only we could defeat and capture one, we could find out for sure, but they are simply too deadly." She stared into her reflection in her coffee cup for a few moments, then closed her eyes with a sigh. "...I had a brother once, Prince Jorath. Easily one of our greatest warriors. He was the first to challenge an Angel, and he was also the first to fall to one."

"Oh... I'm so sorry, I can't imagine-"

"It's alright. I find solace knowing our parents were no longer around to witness it. My mother had been taken captive by the king many years prior to this. My father died trying to save her. Nobody even knows if she still lives." Rael'ia looked up to see Twilight's somber face, searching for comforting words to say. "It happened long ago... there's no need for condolences," she smiled softly. This seemed to ease Twilight's mind.

"You've endured so much. I must admit, the fact you wish to use the Elements of Harmony to peacefully end the war is quite noble. If it were my family, my big brother, my parents... I'm not sure I'd wish for the same."

"Oh, I used to feel such unfettered rage at the thought. Three times have I experienced the deepest of sorrows, I swore I would raze the human kingdom to the ground along with every elder, child and pet within it. But one day, I realized... the other combatants, my people, all involved have felt the same as well, and will know the feeling sooner than they must if the war continues. I guess you could call it an epiphany. I then resolved to end the war with no more blood being spilled if possible. The Elements of Harmony make this desire attainable... but make no mistake: if this plan should fail, I must fulfill my duty to my people. We will persevere. I will destroy the humans."

Twilight shivered at the coldness of her words. "Then I guess we should try our best to end the war peacefully." Rael'ia solemnly nodded, then returned her attention to the book about crystal entities she had been reading before.

"I apologize... I didn't mean for that to get so... heavy."

"It's alright. We'll end this war peacefully. This will work, I just know it," Twilight smiled. The reassurance in her words made Rael'ia smile as well. "Now, maybe this book has something about the reproductive cycle of magical trees..."

Yellow Nature

The late night of study had proven fruitful, indeed. Twilight and Rael'ia had discovered a way to create a new crystal tree. While the resting place of the Elements of Harmony bore seeds, they would only sprout when planted in soil imbued with great alchemical magic. Luckily, Twilight knew of such an alchemist.

To reach her, the two Alicorns traveled into the Everfree Forest. Rael'ia's eyes wandered in awe at the lush greenery, the magical plants that seemed to have a life all their own, the cacophony of foreign fauna. Finally they reached a small clearing in the woods, home to an especially thick tree. Windows and a door had been carved into it, and numerous painted gourds hung from its branches. Twilight knocked politely, and moments later the door opened to reveal a pony unlike anything Rael'ia had ever seen or read about in her old legends. This pony was a mixture of light and dark gray stripes, with a swirling, gray sun on her flanks and eyes as deep as the ocean. Thick bands of golden jewelry adorned her neck and left foreleg, and thick gold hoops hung from her ears. The striped pony introduced herself as Zecora, and expressed her delight at visitors in a strange, rhyming dialect. The two stayed a while, enjoying an assortment of fruits and tea while Twilight described the magical soil they would need. Zecora was all too happy to help and promised the soil would be ready within a few days' time. Some hours passed, though the pleasant conversation and the enchanting haze of potions lining the walls made it seem so much shorter.

After returning from the forest, Twilight sighed to her companion that she had "official princess work" to do back at her castle. The two Alicorns parted ways, leaving Rael'ia to her own devices in Ponyville. She walked quietly through the streets, simply taking in the sights and enjoying the peacefulness of the town. Ponies seemed to lazily meander to and fro, conversing quietly, smiling throughout. The only loud noises came from an unnaturally muscular, white stallion with tiny wings, piercing the air with powerful shouts that offered cinnamon-dusted nuts from his cart.

Such a lovely, tranquil land, this Equestria, she mused to herself. The difference between this land and her own was like night and day. One could enjoy a relaxing walk without fear of ambush or worry of an upcoming battle. Her thoughts then turned to the battles she would have to fight in the future if her plan was to succeed. Strategies needed to be worked out, the various armies of her people rallied. The least of her worries, at least, were the Bearers of Harmony themselves. Having seen combat many times while protecting Equestria, she felt confident that they could at least defend themselves.

But then her thoughts turned to one pony in particular. Rael'ia frowned.

Maybe I should speak with Fluttershy.

It took some time to find, but finally Rael'ia found herself outside Fluttershy's cottage. On the edge of the Everfree Forest, the trees that dotted the landscape were decorated with multiple nests and birdhouses. Grass and moss covered the bridge over the small stream in front of her home, as well as the entire roof of her house. The front door was divided into two halves: the top half had been left open. As she walked towards the lovely abode, she heard unusual music coming from within, as well as an occasional bestial grunt. She peeked inside to see an enormous brown bear holding up a pair of foam targets used for martial arts, as well as the yellow pegasus. Seeing Fluttershy wearing matching sweatbands, legwarmers and headband and singing along to the music while weakly kicking the targets was... quite a sight.

"Come at me, and you'll see, I'm more than meets the eye," the pegasus growled, the words interspersed by grunts as she kicked. Rael'ia knocked on the door, immediately snapping her out of her fighting trance with a rather loud scream as she tumbled to the floor.

"Ah, sorry! I didn't mean to startle you!"

"...Oh, Princess Rael'ia!" Fluttershy gasped as she cautiously poked her head out from under the couch she had scuttled beneath. "I-I wasn't expecting company."

The peach alicorn walked inside and helped her up from the floor. "No need to be so formal! Just Rael'ia is fine, or even Golden Dawn."

"Oh, um... okay, uh... Golden Dawn."

"I see you've taken what I've suggested to heart," she motioned to the bear.

"Yes! Well, I've been trying, anyway," Fluttershy's face turned nearly as pink as her mane. "I'm afraid that, um... what Rainbow said about me was true."

"It's better than nothing at all," she reassured with a grin. "Besides, I've given you my oath of protection. And once we're in Fae, I'll have the armorsmiths and Fairies make you the finest set of Chameleon Armor they can. With it, you won't have to worry about fighting at all!"

"Oh? Uh... Chameleon Armor?"

"A magical effect that camouflages the wearer so effectively, they seem to completely disappear when standing still. The finest quality Chameleon enchantments can render you fully invisible, even when moving!" Upon hearing this, Fluttershy perked up and began to show a slight smile. "...Of course, you may still need to dodge the occasional errant shot, but with this armor no one will target you on purpose, at least." The slight smile fell.

"I see... um, thank you," she squeaked. Rael'ia sighed, frowning.

"I know... I'm sorry for dragging you and your friends into such a dangerous situation. But I'm so confident it'll work, and... I need you to help me see it through. Honestly... I feel terrible involving you in this."

Fluttershy stared at the ground for a moment, then looked back up with a hardened expression. "I'll be okay. I've faced some awful ponies and creatures before... as long as my friends are with me, I'm sure I'll be able to handle it." Rael'ia nodded confidently, and the bear sneezed. "Oh! I'm so sorry, how rude of me... this is Harry," she pointed as the bear waved, growling as happily as he could sound.

"Oh, yes, I was just about to ask about that... you have a pet bear?"

"Oh, I wouldn't consider him a pet... he's my friend!" Harry growled again in approval.

"But, uh... don't bears eat ponies?"

"Oh goodness, no... though he does eat meat."

"I... uh... what kind of meat?" Rael'ia asked timidly.

"Fish, beef, pork... all kinds, but never ponies."

"...You, uh... buy it? Hunt? Or-"

"Buy it... it's usually available in the market square."

"There's that much demand for meat? Do ponies eat meat?"

"Oh, no. Not that I'm aware of, at least." Fluttershy's face scrunched into an uncomfortable grimace at the thought. Rael'ia thought back to the last time she had eaten meat, suddenly finding herself craving it.

"Er... would it be weird if I bought meat and... ate it myself?"

Fluttershy's eyebrow raised. "Um, well... since you aren't really a pony..." Her thoughts were cut short by the sound of something thumping the floor. Both ponies looked to the source of the noise, finding a small, white rabbit in the doorframe leading to the kitchen. Its face was contorted into an angry stare, and its foot began thumping faster. "Oh, is it time for lunch already? Sorry, Angel, I'll start right now."

Rael'ia watched as Fluttershy sauntered inside the kitchen, gathering various seeds, nuts, fruits and vegetables from the refrigerator and pantry. Songbirds with plumage of every color perched themselves on open windowsills, patiently waiting for their bowls of birdseed. Squirrels, mice and other rodents scurried inside towards bowls of nuts and seeds left out on the ground, and Harry helped himself to a large piece of raw, red meat hanging from a nearby hook. The rabbit, Angel, thumped his foot faster and louder, becoming quite agitated that he had to wait for his meal. "You care for all of these animals?" she asked incredulously.

"Oh, yes. I look after them and make sure they're all fed, and make them nice, cozy places to rest, and take care of them when they're sick," Fluttershy responded as she began chopping lettuce. Quickly she put together a lush salad full of vegetables and fruits, topped with a bright red cherry. She set it on the floor in front of Angel, who merely sniffed it disdainfully and turned his head. "Angel, it's your favorite salad," she sighed. "Won't you try a little bit?"

Silence and more pouting from the little white rabbit.

"Don't make me use the Stare on you."

This warning was enough to get Angel to change his mind and timidly begin eating. Meanwhile, Rael'ia had been reflecting on Fluttershy's apparent mastery of beasts. "Amazing you can understand the needs of all these animals. It reminds me of the Orcs back home."

Fluttershy hummed in response, her face blocked by the refrigerator door as she pulled out a pitcher of tea and a previously-prepared assortment of fruits, cheeses and a red jam. "Oh! Um, would you like anything for lunch, Golden Dawn?" she asked as she retrieved a loaf of bread and a butterknife from her counter.

"Just some tea is fine." Fluttershy nodded and gathered two white teacups from a cabinet. "But yes, never have I seen another creature so close to nature as the Orcs until meeting you!"

"What are the Orcs like?" Fluttershy asked as she daintily lifted her teacup to her mouth. Rael'ia sipped from her own cup before continuing.

"Big. The size of Harry over there, at least, if not bigger. Very muscular and strong... and big, sharp teeth. Their skin are the colors of earth: greens, reds, browns, grays. And unlike most other races, they love combat. They'll rush in with their tamed, armored beasts, wielding clubs and maces the size of trees, hurling rocks and ensnaring their enemies with their Nature magic, screaming and shouting the whole way through."

Fluttershy's eyes widened. "Oh, my. I remind you of one of those?"

"Yes, I know that part is very unlike you," Rael'ia nodded. "But when there is no battle to be fought, the Orcs are quite peaceful. They adore animals and revere all of nature itself. They make their homes within the mountains themselves as to not displace the local wildlife, and any butchering of an animal for meat and hide is always preceded by a short, respectful ceremony. All Orcs care deeply for at least one animal companion... feeding them their best crops, assisting in their grooming the best they can, ensuring that they're always safe, comfortable and happy. They would never harm an animal needlessly; some even go as far as to always carry a broom, to harmlessly shoo away even the peskiest insect. They're able to grow plants anywhere they wish, bend streams and rivers wherever they like. In fact, it's probably because of the Orcs that we've all managed to survive all these centuries of war - having your food and water kept below ground and away from those who would try to poison or tamper with those supplies is quite the advantage."

"I'm not sure even Earth ponies can grow plants underground!" Fluttershy paused for a moment. "Um... do they like ponies?"

"Just like any other animal. In fact, I think Warmaster Dohva in particular would enjoy your company! He's always wished he could befriend a Pony-kin... and his favorite color is yellow," Rael'ia smiled. Fluttershy giggled and showed a shy grin of her own. "And if I can't keep you safe for some reason, he sure as hell can. His ferocity on the battlefield is unmatched. And you'll like Breyva, his companion animal... are there moose in this land?" she paused to allow Fluttershy to nod in reply. "She's a real sweetie, that one. Almost as big as Harry over there, but has a personality like a dog. She'll curl up right in your lap if you let her... which I wouldn't recommend, given her size."

"Oh, that's adorable! Well, now that you mention all of that, they do sound rather nice," the yellow pony blushed slightly as she stared into space past her teacup. "Maybe... it won't be so dangerous after all." Rael'ia only nodded. wishing to herself that Fluttershy would be right, for her sake. But then their conversation turned to wildlife from both their worlds, then morphed over time towards other subjects, and her fears were soon forgotten. As they talked, she felt more and more confident that Fluttershy would make it just fine in her lands.

Crystals and Botany

The soil had been prepared. After further research, Twilight had suggested that Applejack and Rarity should come along to help harvest a cutting from the Tree of Harmony, citing the former's extensive knowledge of all things farming and the latter's eye for crystals and gemstones. On a clear, sunny day, the four ponies and lone dragon set out for the Everfree Forest and the ancient castle that lay within. As they walked, Rael'ia examined the pot full of soil, turning it within her field of Arcane magic that held it. While the pot was nothing special, the enchanted soil within was a dull, dark gray and smelled of hot metal, acid and blueberries. Strange alchemy, indeed, but Twilight insisted it would work.

They arrived a short time later, standing before the Cave of Harmony beneath the castle that led to where the Tree was entombed. Sliding down a steep hill, the light from the sun quickly disappeared, replaced by the dim glow of magical crystals. The path quickly narrowed and dampened, soon becoming entwined with vines and flowers that somehow bloomed in the darkness. Small, short columns of stone jutted up from the ground all around the group, walling them in. Finally, the path led them into a cozy chamber, where the Tree of Harmony sat in all its splendor.

Rael'ia gasped at the Tree's beauty. Though the roots were covered in dirt and dust, the trunk was crafted of a shimmering, light blue crystal that glowed with a pure inner light, with ice blue crystal branches. Teal vines hung down from the branches, each decorated with buds of radiant white stone. The Tree had five major branches, each with a differently-colored jewel set within its bark. The heart of the Tree was emblazoned with a massive, pink star that seemed to perfectly match the star on Twilight's flank, and below it were markings that matched those on the Princesses Celestia and Luna.

"By the gods, what a sight," she breathed. "It's every bit as wondrous as the legends told."

"Oh? You also had a Tree of Harmony?" asked Rarity.

"Yes. The Tree of Harmony enshrined the Elements and sat atop the Crystal Mountain. When he took the Elements to create the Alicorns, Starswirl had to kill the Tree by shattering it piece by piece." She paused as her companions took a moment to mull over the tale. "But hopefully, with this dirt and the proper spells, a new Tree can be created."

"Let's get started, then," Twilight nodded. "Applejack, Rarity, where do you guys think would make the best cutting?" While Applejack paced around the Tree to examine the branches, Rarity pulled out a jeweler's loupe and lit up every individual branch with light from her horn as she viewed the quality of the crystal.

"Hmm... nope, too small," mumbled Applejack.

"Quite dull," Rarity tutted.

"Not enough crystal leaves on this one."

"Ah, a fracture. And a big one at that."

"Possibly, but it'd need a lot of staking."

"Oh, no, much too included."

It took a good ten minutes of close inspection before the two ponies finally decided on the perfect branch. Almost simultaneously, they discovered a small growth on one of the main branches, both light blue and ice blue in color with a modest number of vines and buds.

"Aha! This one here's the one y'all want," Applejack pointed. "It's about as perfect a specimen as they come."

"The perfect balance of color, clarity and inner magic," Rarity nodded as she closed her loupe. "I agree, this one is definitely the best of the bunch."

"Great!" Rael'ia scooped out a small pit in the center of the pot. "Ready, Twilight?"

"Yes. Now, carefully..." Pink magic flared to life upon Twilight's horn, while a swirling combination of purple and green glowed around Rael'ia's. The magic shot out and enveloped the small branch, making a high-pitched squeaking noise as a thin line slowly sanded it away from the Tree. Everyone present winced in aural pain until the branch detached itself with a pop, then the two Alicorns carefully levitated it down and into the pot. Rael'ia's magic switched from purple and green to a pure blue, and she used it to pack the soil in around the branch, the soil becoming noticeably wetter in a few short moments. The cutting sat motionlessly in the pot as the magic dissipated, then all of a sudden the crystal branch's inner light dimmed significantly. Only the very base of the cutting remained alight.

"You killed it already?" Spike asked as he let out a mischievous snort.

"Nah, this is supposed to happen," said Applejack. "Now it's gotta put all it's energy into growin' new roots before it gets any bigger."

"When it begins glowing again, it'll have recovered enough to grow stronger," Rael'ia added. "Then it can be replanted and become a new home for the Elements." She sighed as she held the pot in her hooves, a smile on her face. "Thank you so much for your help, everyone."

"Oh, of course, darling!" Rarity grinned as the others nodded. Rael'ia then slowly levitated the pot with purple magic and the group set out for the exit.

"So, how long until the Tree is ready?" Spike asked as the last groves of Everfree trees shrank into the distance.

"Well," Twilight paused. "It needs to start glowing again before it grows any more, but after that it's supposed to grow pretty quickly. The acidity and mineral content of the soil needs to stay perfectly balanced, though."

"Think you can handle it, Twi? Ah'll help as much as ah can, but ah don't have much experience with crystal trees," said Applejack.

"I think so. I've got plenty of Zecora's potion back at home. And those books on crystal botany from the Crystal Empire should be here today."

"Oh!" Rarity suddenly exclaimed, turning to the peach alicorn. "Rael'ia, darling, are you busy? I've been meaning to get your opinion on something at the boutique!"

"Sure, I could go now," Rael'ia smiled. "You don't need any help getting home, do you Twilight?" The purple alicorn shook her head.

"You mind if I come along?" asked Spike. The faintest hint of a blush seemed to stain his cheek scales for only a moment.

"Of course not, Spikey-wikey. In fact, I do need you around to take your measurements..." Rarity's voice trailed off as she turned towards the path to her store. Rael'ia and Spike followed closely behind as Twilight waved and yelled after them to have fun.

Though she had never seen the interior before, Carousel Boutique felt oddly familiar to Rael'ia. The storefront was decorated to be warm and inviting, and the air was lightly perfumed with numerous botanicals. Swaths of lush-colored fabric and glistening jewels seemed to dance in harmony with the pony mannequins they were attached to.

"Now, don't you two tell the others about this... it's supposed to be a surprise!" Rarity led the two behind a curtain into her work room, where eight mannequins stood at the far wall. Seven of the mannequins were for ponies, and six of them were clad in what appeared to be scale armor; the last and tallest was left bare. The final mannequin resembled Spike's figure, and was also barren.

Rael'ia was taken aback. "Oh! Twilight and the others told me all about your fashion career, but I didn't think you also crafted armor!" The six sets of scale armor had been dyed to resemble the body colors of the Bearers of Harmony, cutie-marks and all. Rarity had been very thorough in creating matching helmets, neck-guards, greaves and even wing and horn guards. Each scale had been meticulously polished until each set of armor shone like the sun, throwing spots of colored light around the room.

"Well, the first few iterations left much to be desired... never have I worked with dragon scales or hydra leather this extensively," Rarity preened. "And you wouldn't believe the cost of imported tatzlwurm sinew for putting it all together... but, I daresay these suits of armor are my finest works yet! Stylish, sophisticated... and nigh impenetrable!" She emphasized these last words by posing dramatically with her own armor, white as snow and seemingly more radiant than the others.

"Ooh! Does this mean I get a sweet set of armor too?!" Spike's mouth hung open, a small puddle of drool slowly forming beneath him.

"Of course, my dear Spike," Rarity answered sweetly. Her horn glowed with ice-blue light; a seamstress's measuring tape glowed the same color a few feet away and floated towards the little dragon. "I just need to measure you and Rael'ia first, make your armor sets, then finish the enhancement crystals aaand they'll be ready for their grand debut!"

Rael'ia's ears perked up. "Enhancement crystals?"

"Why, yes! For Twilight and myself, to help amplify our magical abilities for whatever comes our way in your world."

"I thought only the military had access to those crystals."

"Darling," Rarity sassed with a smirk. "I've designed evening gowns for the Princesses themselves. Asking them to part with a few crystals took but a single question."

"May I see them?" Rarity nodded and looked towards a small wooden box on a nearby desk. Her glowing horn pulsed once, and two crystals floated out of the box and towards Rael'ia's waiting field of purple magic. The pale yellow crystals were about the size of a strawberry each, their facets left untouched by nature and magic. An iridescent sheen sparkled along the surface. Rael'ia closed her eyes and let her magic softly caress them, feeling the raw magical energy trapped within.

"They're called "Celestial Sunstones". Of the few crystals used in the Royal Guard, these are the most powerful."

"It's no Magicite," Rael'ia contemplated, "but it's very similar. What will you do with these?"

"They simply need to be bound to the two sets of armor, and they will be finished."

"What? No faceting?" Rael'ia's head jerked back incredulously.

"There's no need. All crystals harvested in Equestria are naturally faceted and are generally ready for use. Most of them aren't magical in nature, but-"

"But they could do so much more!" Rael'ia resumed studying the crystals with her magic field. "I... I realize how rare these are and what you had to do to get these, but... may I try faceting one?"

"Oh... well," Rarity squirmed, wondering whether to let her Element get the best of her.

"I'm no novice! ...Well, I'm still an apprentice, but I know how to do the basics!" Rael'ia smiled as widely as she could manage. After a few more moments of thought, Rarity sighed, then used her magic to pull one of the two crystals away.

"Well, alright... but just one! I need enough material for the two sets, at least."

Rael'ia's eyes lit up like stars. "Oh, thank you! I promise, you won't be disappointed! Now, then..." She quickly, purposefully glanced around the room. "I don't suppose you have an Arcane Faceter, do you?"

"Er, no... if I do happen to require a differently-shaped crystal, I'll just choose another one, or I'll have it sent away to the Crystal Empire if I simply must use that stone."

"Hmm, I see," she frowned. "Guess I'm doing this the hard way, then." Rael'ia closed her eyes to focus as her horn glowed purple. Wisps and tendrils of Arcane magic surrounded the crystal, as if scanning it inside and out. One tendril of magic then shone its way through the center, holding it perfectly still. It was quickly followed by more tendrils of magic aligning and criss-crossing their way through the stone, which then separated into four pieces of roughly identical size. Rael'ia then set three of the pieces down gently on the desk, then began realigning and stabilizing the remaining crystal. Wisps of magic then separated into smaller clouds and pressed themselves against the different sides. Her eyes opened into a calculating squint as quiet grinding noises began to emanate from the stone.

"So, you say you're only an apprentice at this?" Rarity asked after a few minutes of silently watching.

"Yes. Learned from the Fairies, the Master Gemcutter herself, even."

"Fairies?" Spike asked. "They do all your crystal stuff, right? What got you into it?"

"I've always wanted to learn, ever since I was a little girl. Just seeing how an already beautiful substance could be perfected and made sublime, it captivated me. I had hoped I wouldn't inherit the crown so I could devote myself to the art, but... well, with the war going on, my studies came first and foremost. What little free time I had, I would visit the Fairy gemcutters and practice with them, hence only being an apprentice. Then my brother fell and the crown passed on to me, anyway... I fear I'll have no time to practice at all in the future."

"That's too bad," the dragon sighed. The Celestial Sunstone in Rael'ia's magic field rotated, briefly ceasing the grinding noise.

"It seems you've learned much despite the circumstances," said Rarity.

"Master Gemcutter Ezri taught me this spell so I could practice whenever I had a spare moment. It's much more demanding than if I had an Arcane Faceter, but since- sorry, this is the worst part," Rael'ia winced as a cloud of magic began to pass over the largest facet on the crown of the jewel, creating a loud, long squeak. Rarity and Spike's faces shrank and scrunched at the noise as well. Thankfully, it was over nearly as soon as it started, afterwards Rael'ia levitated the jewel closer to her eyes, which also began to glow with purple light as she examined the jewel closely. "Since I'm out on the field with my people, I hardly ever get to use mine. I've become quite good at this spell as a result... here, what do you think, Rarity?"

Rarity enveloped the jewel in her own magic field and brought it close, also levitating out her jeweler's loupe. The Celestial Sunstone, now in a simple but dazzling octagon cut, seemed to glow with a golden light all its own. Each and every facet reflected the crystal's power, nearly blinding her through the loupe's magnification.

"Well, if you ever decide to retire here after your war, you can certainly come work for me! I've never seen a more radiant crystal!" she praised. "The color! The clarity! The inner fire! And," she paused as she closed her eyes to study the magical properties of the jewel, "...you're right. The amplifying properties of this crystal have nearly tripled! Even Celestia herself would be amazed by this stone's power!"

"And... it looks amazingly delicious," Spike drooled, entirely transfixed by the jewel.

"Aww, thank you," Rael'ia blushed. "It feels good to know I've still got the touch, even after being turned into a pony."

"Can you make another one?" Rarity asked very quickly. "Ooh, how many of them can you make? Oh, just think of the marketing possibilities!"

"Sure," smiled Rael'ia, already levitating another piece of crystal in a field of Arcane magic. "In fact, by using a different cut, I can even enchant the stone to amplify the magic of Pegasi and Earth ponies..."

War games

She didn't want to admit it, but one morning Rael'ia found that she missed the action of war. It had been days, weeks even, since she used her magic for blowing something up or protecting herself. Life in Equestria was calm and peaceful, a welcome change in atmosphere, to be sure. But the thrill of battle, the challenge of besting multiple opponents simultaneously was a game she felt she had no reason to play here.

Twilight had been monitoring the Crystal Tree cutting nearly every waking moment she could spare, and estimated by its current growth pattern that it would be ready for transplanting in two weeks. Two entire weeks to sit around and wait. Or, two entire weeks to get back into fighting shape. She had wondered about the fighting capabilities of the other ponies for a while now. Perhaps it was enough to count for a practice spar.

She wouldn't have to wait long to find out. She heard knocking on the castle's front door below her, followed by Rarity greeting Twilight and Spike, asking whether Rael'ia was available, and that she had a surprise waiting for them all at her boutique. Rael'ia smiled hearing the faint conversation; the suits of armor were finished and ready to be tested. Taking a final sip of her coffee, her magic pulsed purple as she teleported to the ground level beneath her.

"Yes, I'm here," she grinned. The other four ponies had already been assembled and were standing behind Rarity.

"Ah, lovely! Well, come along, then," Rarity beamed as she started towards the road to her boutique. Rael'ia, Spike and Twilight quickly followed after them, the latter wondering aloud what the surprise could be while the former two exchanged a wink.

~

"My dear friends... feast your eyes on THESE!" Rarity crowed as she dramatically tore a large sheet away from a pile of something. The other ponies and Spike immediately burst into a cacophony of pure amazement as they gazed upon their new armor. Even Rael'ia was taken aback by the set Rarity had designed for her. Rather than dye the dragon scales to match her peach-colored fur, the scales shone with a golden gradient that rivaled the sun itself. One of the Celestial Sunstones she had faceted for Rarity crowned the forehead just below the space for her horn, matching the other stones set in the others' armor. Spike's armor had turned out a brilliant silver color, much like a valiant Human knight from the old legends.

"Oh. My. Gosh." Rainbow Dash sputtered. "How awesome is this?!"

"You've really outdone yerself this time, Rarity!" Applejack praised. "Why, you've even made me an armored hat to match!"

"I'm speechless," gasped Rael'ia. "The quality rivals that of even the greatest Fairy armor crafters! I... thank you!"

"Oh, it was no trouble at all, darling!" Rarity's wide smile suddenly turned to a frown of realization. "Although, now that I think about it... you may not be able to use it for very long, should you return to your true form back in your world."

"Ah. Yes... but nonetheless, it is a gift I shall treasure always," she smiled warmly, returning the grin to Rarity's face. The white unicorn then hastily ordered the others to try their armor on, which they did with pleasure. The armor had been crafted in such a way that it allowed their manes and tails to flow freely through gaps in the scales, yet still offered a good amount of protection. When it had all been donned, Rael'ia noted that the ponies looked much like they weren't wearing any armor at all, but had added tufts of winglike fur at their shoulders and hooves, and were rather scaly, shiny and chrome.

"Heh. Witness me," Rainbow Dash smirked, flexing her wings beneath their armored leather shielding. With a single beat of her wings she shot up into the air at great speed and began testing how the armor - the Celestial Sunstone in particular - worked with and improved her flying skills. Inspired, Applejack began galloping as fast as she could beneath Rainbow, finding herself running faster than she ever could. She got caught up in her newfound strength and tripped over a branch, gasping in shock when she realized that the large rock she crashed into crumbed into rubble from the sheer force beneath her. Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie giggled with excitement as she seemed to effortlessly appear from behind multiple rocks and trees within a mere split-second of peeking out behind another. Twilight cast a simple shield spell around herself, but suddenly was able to effortlessly encompass a space that could contain her entire castle. Rarity’s horn glowed with magic, and a small pouch at her waist glowed in response; what seemed like hundreds of small, white crystals flowed out of the pouch and surrounded her like a diamond aura. Lastly, Spike decided to breathe fire, jumping in surprise when he found a massive stream of greenish-yellow dragon’s fire erupt from his mouth, screaming for the duration of it.

“Whoa! I can’t even breathe that much fire, even after a whole bottle of Super Death Reaper Hot Sauce!” the little dragon coughed. “How did I...?”

“Well, you have the magic of Rael’ia’s gem faceting to thank for that,” Rarity smiled as her magic manipulated the crystals surrounding her into various weapon shapes. “She was able to cut each stone so that it enhances each of our natural abilities exponentially!”

“Oh, it was nothing,” Rael’ia giggled quietly. Rainbow Dash forcefully landed about ten feet away from the group, shaking the ground and forming a small crater where she stood.

“Nothing?! This is so bucking cool!” she yelled. “I feel like I could do double, even triple Rainbooms all day long! ...Hey, Fluttershy, what does yours do?” Everyone turned to the yellow pegasus, who had spent the last few minutes only staring at the separate parts of her armor worriedly.

“Oh, um... I-I’m not sure,” Fluttershy stammered, but was interrupted as she and the others heard a quiet rumble and rustling in the distance, growing rapidly closer. After a few moments, a rainbow flood of numerous different birds, bugs and small animals peaked over a hill and came to a halt behind her, waiting patiently and staring intently.

“Ooh! Super-obedient animal army!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “Neat!”

“Ah! Uh, no, no, please return to your homes, little ones!” Fluttershy begged. “I couldn’t bear to see any of you get hurt!” Many of the animals nodded respectfully before stampeding back to wherever they came from.

“Darling, I know you don’t like it, but it may be necessary to fight in the future,” sighed Rarity.

“Indeed. In fact, actually...” Rael’ia trailed off before smirking mischievously. Her horn suddenly pulsed with red light and a fireball came shooting out, striking the back of Twilight’s shield spell before fizzling out harmlessly. Twilight, more confused than anything, turned her head around to glance quizzically at the peach alicorn.

“Eh? What was that for?”

“A simple test... heads up!” A whirlpool of fire appeared before Rael’ia as she quickly cast a large volley of swirling fireballs in Twilight’s direction. The purple alicorn winced as the first of the fireballs made contact with her shield, but opened an eye as she quickly realized that despite their power, her shield effortlessly blocked every one without even a fluctuation of magical energy.

“I see... a practice battle,” she snorted as a bold smirk spread across her face. “Is that what you’re getting at?”

“If I may be so bold,” Rael’ia bowed with respect. “Let us test just how strong the Bearers of Harmony really are.”

“Bring it on!” yelled Rainbow Dash. The six ponies and little dragon braced themselves on the ground as Rael’ia’s body glowed a subtle light purple, then floated gently into the sky. Her wings flared outwards as she levitated; though she had learned to fly with their use, she greatly preferred flying the way she had known all her life, with magic. She was still somewhat clumsy if she relied on her relatively new wings, using muscles that had previously never existed before.

“Touch me if you can,” she called out. “Don’t worry, I restrain my power for sparring matches. You won’t be harmed, but you’ll still feel it-”

“Got ya!” Rainbow Dash bolted into the sky with a single wing-beat, almost faster than the eye could see, and tapped Rael’ia on the shoulder.

“Very funny.” She stared glumly as Rainbow broke into a huge smile. A quick pulse of blue light from her horn morphed into a torrent of water that blasted the blue pegasus right out of the sky. “Begin!”

She immediately enveloped herself in a bubble of Arcane magic to avoid Rainbow Dash trying the same move on her, smirking as she bounced off the shield and was hurled violently into the sky. Meanwhile, multiple pink-glowing runes began to form around Twilight, who closed her eyes in deep concentration. Applejack bent her knees, preparing to move, while Pinkie Pie put a hoof to her chin in thought, but quickly came to a realization and began pulling out pies from nowhere in particular behind her. Rarity's horn glowed, and the hundreds of crystals surrounding her melded into six rapiers floating clockwise around her body. With a flick of her head the rapiers suddenly flew upwards towards Rael'ia, who began flying away from them at a rapid speed, leaving a trail of purple wisps behind her. She turned around, a swirling vortex of blue now in front of her horn, and fired hundreds of shards of ice and multiple torrents of water simultaneously. The shards flew into Rarity's swords, shattering them back into individual crystals, while the blasts of water shot down to where the other ponies were standing, forcing them to leap out of the way. Beneath her, Applejack galloped faster and faster, dodging the shots, then leapt high into the air, turning 180 degrees so she faced away from Rael'ia, and bucked with all her might at the shield. To the peach alicorn's surprise, the shield bubble around her popped like a balloon, which allowed Pinkie Pie to finally begin hurling the various pies she'd conjured right at her. Her aim proved uncanny, yet Rael'ia swiftly dodged every pie thrown at her and retaliated with more ice shards to knock the pies out of the air. Twilight, her casting complete, joined her in the sky. Pink magical runes rotated behind her; with a flick of her horn, the runes fired beams of magical energy at their opponent. Again Rael'ia dodged, the icy swirl before her horn changing color to green. Instead of ice, rocks the size of apples now shot out from the swirl, hurling into the blasts of magic and diffusing them while Twilight simply put up a shield bubble of her own to ride out the attack. Meanwhile, Rarity's crystals sank themselves into the ground, reappearing moments later with hundreds of other gemstones tearing the ground apart as they shot upwards. Rael'ia only barely dodged these, her magic cycling again to blue. But now red also swirled within, and a spray of ice shards and fireballs streaked through the sky in a spiral pattern, the fire spinning one way and the ice the other.

"I've never seen such complex attack spells!" Twilight gasped as she frantically darted in midair between fire and ice. "I can hardly keep up with the patterns!" Rarity's crystals flowed into a fancy shield shape to deflect whatever projectiles came her way, while Applejack deftly leapt from side to side to avoid contact.

"They're so pretty!" Pinkie Pie squealed. The pink mare had decided to simply rest on her belly, propping her chin up on her two front hooves. She was too enamored with the light show up above to consider a counterattack, but easily rolled over to one side or another to dodge the errant shots.

"This is the Elven combat discipline of Danmaku," Rael'ia paused, resting her mind. "The best defense is an impenetrable and terrifying offense! True, it's sheer complexity is taxing on the mind, but then again I've had over 100 years to master it."

"H-How can you guys hope to overcome that?" Fluttershy had taken refuge behind a particularly large boulder and was peeking cautiously over the top of it.

"Actually, your friends have done very well for themselves, you've come very close to striking me multiple times! And Applejack's sheer power broke my shielding! Perhaps I've underestimated you all." Out of the corner of her eye, Rael'ia spied Rainbow Dash up above, hiding behind a cloud, studying her every move. "I think I'll have to break out the stronger spells."

The ponies braced themselves once more as Rael'ia began focusing her power between her hooves, glowing with increasingly bright red light. A vortex of fire appeared before her horn, spinning faster and faster until fireballs began rapidly shooting out of it. At the same time, a wild column of contorting fire erupted from the center of the vortex, raining down embers from above. Some of the embers were larger than the others, and broke up into smaller bits of unpredictable flame.

"Behold! Fire Sign: Volcanic Incantation!"

Twilight flew as fast as she could, her magical runes firing in all directions to destroy the fire before it touched her. Rarity's crystals formed into a rapier and buckler shield, simultaneously slashing and blocking the fireballs thrown her way. Some of them reached Rainbow Dash up above, and she left the cover of her cloud to dodge as well, though she seemed to dodge them with ease. Beneath her, Rael'ia caught a glimpse of Applejack running towards her and leaping up into the sky, her hooves punching away the fire and bringing her within a foreleg's distance of the peach alicorn. Surprised by her speed, she leaned back too late; Applejack's hoof connected with her chest, knocking her a great distance back through the sky. She managed to stop herself with a pulse of power, smirking proudly.

"Oof... well done, Applejack! You got me!"

"Yee-haw!" She celebrated as momentum and gravity took her back down to the ground. "Earth pony gets the first hit on a powerful Alicorn mage!"

"Can anyone else land a hit? Come and try!" Rael'ia's horn flared green, resuming her attack. "Nature Sign: Spider's Lair!"

Her hooves curled at her side, out of habit of using her hands to help channel her power. She then extended them outwards in front of her. Hundreds of glowing orbs suddenly appeared in the sky, taking the shape of a massive starburst-shaped spider's web. As quickly as it had formed, the web tore itself in half and pulled itself apart to opposite sides until the spokes of the web now formed a cage-like shape. Another spider's web formed from nothingness as the cage dissipated, beginning the cycle anew. While the other ponies dodged the orbs the best they could, Twilight simply let the orbs crash into her shield. Though she remained untouched, the orbs didn't disappear. Instead, they shattered into smaller orbs and flew outwards a short distance before homing in back towards Twilight, now in the form of tiny, glowing spiders. The purple alicorn shrieked as she flew away from the magical spider missiles as fast as she could.

"You're not the only one who can cast complex spells!" Rarity smirked as her horn glowed brightly. The hundreds of crystals surrounding her began spiraling around each other in the shape of a tornado before flying up into the sky at rapid speed. Crystals easily pierced the spider missiles following Twilight and destroyed them, then continued on towards Rael'ia. She refocused her attack to concentrate on the crystals, the orbs suddenly collapsing and falling downwards to meet them head on. However, the crystals scrambled in midair and pierced the orbs, pierced the spider missiles that formed afterwards, then flew around and surrounded Rael'ia, each polished point like a miniature dagger. Rael'ia glanced around, looking for a way out, but Rarity's spell proved airtight. She closed her eyes and chuckled to herself.

"Indeed, I'm not. Well done," she smiled proudly. "I think I'll call that a hit." The crystals fell back to the ground, surrounding their owner a final time before flowing back into their pouch. She then realized that she hadn't targeted one pony in particular recently, and turned to see Rainbow Dash floating above her to her left. "Rainbow, you haven't given up already, have you?" she taunted playfully.

"Nah, it's not that," Rainbow replied. "I've just been watching your attacks, and... well..."

"Well?"

"They're... not that hard to fly through. It's kinda... oh, what's the word? Boring." Rael'ia's face fell into confusion instantly.

"Boring?!" Twilight spat incredulously. "I can't even get an offensive spell off on her, and you find this boring?!"

"Psh... I'm a Wonderbolt, Twilight. This is just a warm-up!"

"Boring, huh?" Rael'ia stared almost emotionlessly at Rainbow, only a hint of a scowl on her face. "Alright, then... let's see you dodge this." The peach alicorn closed her eyes to concentrate, her horn glowing such an intense purple it may as well have been white. She held out her forelegs, then raised one foreleg up, pointing to the sun above, while the other foreleg lowered to point down at the ground. She then spun her forelegs around her to form a circle, stopping when they were pointing opposite of where they had once been. At the same time, a thin yet blindingly bright beam of magical energy appeared in front of her, tracing out a circle along with her forelegs. Her hooves came back together in front of her, then her eyes opened as her forelegs suddenly shot out to her sides. The magical circle suddenly expanded to a size that could encompass an entire house, forming four massive, rotating rings of runes within, each ring rotating the opposite direction of its neighbors.

"If you dodge this, I'll be very surprised," she spoke quietly, grinning devilishly. "Solar Fantasy: Kaleidoscope!"

The outermost ring of runes began to glow a hellish red, the next ring within glowed yellow with crackling lightning, the next glowed a vivid green, the last glowed a deep blue, and the center of the circle glowed a prismatic purple. Suddenly, thousands upon thousands of projectiles quickly shot out from the circle: blazing fireballs burning brighter than the sun swirling clockwise, pulsing ball lightning the size of a pony sluggishly floating forth, orbs of pure Nature energy surrounding jagged rocks shooting outwards in star-shaped bursts, icicle needles streaking by faster than the other projectiles in a counterclockwise direction, and a wild fountain of star-shaped Arcane blasts exploding from the center in all directions. At the very sight of this terrifying display of power, Twilight, face frozen with an expression of shock and wonder, ceased to flap her wings and collapsed to the ground, desperate for cover.

"Heh. Now that's more like it."

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings once; she flew in a backwards loop out of the way of the magical onslaught, then - with the tiniest movements of the feathers on her wings, dodged her way directly into the center of the attack, flying boldly foward.

"Rainbow, are you crazy?!" Twilight shouted. Rainbow didn't reply, only smirking as she flew through the barrage, deftly avoiding fireball after icicle after starburst of rocks. Rael'ia's eyes widened and her mouth hung open as she saw her attack have essentially no effect on Rainbow. She leaned forward and pushed her mind to the limit, intensifying the attack, but still Rainbow pushed forward. Suddenly, there was a loud crack that pierced the sky as the blue pegasus shot towards Rael'ia, emitting a circular rainbow behind her. Rael'ia braced herself as Rainbow crashed through the remaining projectiles separating her from her target and collided with her, creating another blast of noise and rainbows. The force was so great that it cast the peach alicorn from the sky and sent her hurling down into the ground, leaving a trail of cracked, raised earth and overturned trees. Horrified, the other ponies quickly ran over to Rael'ia, wondering if even she could have survived such a hit.

"Good heavens, Rainbow! You could have killed her!" Rarity scolded as the pegasus floated down to admire her handiwork.

"Hey, she said 'let's test how strong we are', so I showed her!" Rainbow shrugged. Before another word could be spoken, giggling could be heard from the mound of dirt at the center of the impact crater. It turned into laughter as Rael'ia shook the soil away, seemingly completely unharmed without even a scratch.

"Incredible! I haven't felt a hit like that in decades!" Rael'ia stretched out her forelegs and cracked her neck from side to side. "Who taught you how to fly like that?"

"Eh, well, when you told us to prepare, I asked Spitfire if she'd ramp up my training routine as high as she could go," Rainbow preened, her head held high. "Naturally, I learned pretty fast."

"I see," Rael'ia smiled, putting a hoof on the pegasus's shoulder. "My curiosity is sated, I can see now that the seven of you will have nothing to worry about in my homeland!"

"Wait... seven?" Pinkie questioned. The group of ponies then turned their heads towards Spike. He was standing as still as a statue, his face frozen in a shocked expression, his silvery armor completely blackened with soot and magical residue, to the point only his eyes were visible. A light breeze blew him right over onto his face.

"...I-I'm okay," he croaked.

The birth of goddesses

It was almost time.

The more Rael'ia thought about it, the more she was puzzled by how quickly the time seemed to have passed. It was hard to believe it had been nearly five months since she first awoke in this strange, peaceful land. She had no war to fight here, she was free to live peacefully and do whatever she wished, and yet it felt like only a few days had gone by. She wondered if she was ready to return. Was she still the stoic warrior she used to be, or had the tranquility of Equestria softened her? It had been so long since she had seen a bloody, mangled corpse, would she still be able to stomach the sight? Was she insane for leaving a realm of peace and safety, to return to a world of suffering and death?

A bump of turbulence interrupted her inner thoughts. The Sapling of Harmony was finally strong enough to be transplanted, and the Royal Sisters had sent word that they had finally prepared everything needed to return Rael'ia to her own world. Given the importance of the mission, Celestia had sent a private flying carriage accompanied by her own Royal Guard to transport the seven ponies (and one dragon!) to Canterlot. They were to spend the night in the castle for final preparations. She gazed slowly around the carriage's interior at her companions; each of them had saddlebags strapped to their bellies or lying on the floor in front of them, packed with supplies. Despite the air of anxiety for the coming days, they conversed freely and jovially amongst themselves, as if traveling to an entirely different universe was completely normal to them. Their armor, secured to a shelf above the carriage's door, clattered and rattled lightly with every movement, almost like tiny bells. Rarity really had thought of everything when she made them.

The sky was darkening as the carriage finally landed in the middle of the palace gardens. Rael'ia and the others exited, a Royal Guard asked them to accompany him to Celestia's banquet hall; the other guards would tend to their belongings. Twilight began to protest and motioned towards the sapling, to which the guard allowed her to carry herself in a field of magic. They walked in silence until reaching a pair of tall doors, which opened just as they arrived. Inside was a large room that held a table big enough to seat twenty ponies very comfortably, with chairs enough for every guest. The table was laden with all kinds of delightful foods: exquisite and colorful arrangements of fruits and vegetables, salads, soups, pastas and breads, and even a perfectly-grilled cut of meat for the elf-turned-Alicorn. Celestia was sitting at the center of the table, facing the approaching group.

"Welcome, my dear friends!" the royal mare smiled warmly. "I hope the carriage ride wasn't too bumpy. The turbulence can be quite discomforting at times."

"Oh, thank you Celestia," Twilight nodded. "It was-"

"Is all this for us?" Rainbow Dash cut in, visibly drooling at the sight of the table. Before Twilight could chastise her, Celestia giggled.

"Yes, I thought it would be nice to give you all a proper send-off before your journey."

"Oh, you shouldn't have!" Rarity flapped a hoof modestly.

"How very kind of you," Rael'ia bowed. "Thank you very much."

Celestia nodded in response. "Now, before we begin... Twilight, I have something for you and your friends."

"Oh?" The other ponies stepped in closer. Celestia's horn glowed with radiant golden light; a small blue box held by another guard glowed and opened, revealing a heap of crystal brooches, each about the size of a coin. Light enveloped seven of them, and they floated gracefully out of the box and towards the ponies. Upon closer inspection, the design of the brooches was of a sun formed from a Celestial Sunstone cabochon, with a crescent moon made from a dark blue crystal set within the sun's bottom region. Together, the crystals shimmered with the colors of silver and rainbows.

"I give to each of you a Hearth Brooch. These are given to ponies in the military when in foreign lands," Celestia explained as the brooches hovered around her. "Should you become... gravely injured or find yourselves in a terrible situation, simply touch the stone and recite it's spell, and it's enchantment will teleport you right back here... give or take fifty feet," she shrugged.

"Oh! Very useful," Rael'ia mused. "My own military forces have something similar! And," she paused uncomfortably, "should this plan fail spectacularly, at least you won't die stranded in a strange world." Fluttershy gulped.

"Remember this spell: 'There's no place like home, I can no longer roam'." At the same time, the crystal brooches flowed towards the seven, stopping for a moment upon reaching their chests, then slowly closed the distance. As they made contact with their bodies, silver runes flashed on the stones' surface for a brief moment before disappearing. The ponies looked down at their new jewels, Pinkie Pie picking at hers and finding it impossible to remove.

"Ooh, neat! It's like it became part of me!"

"Of course. They wouldn't do you much good if they just fell off, would they?" Celestia chuckled. "Only myself and Luna are able to remove them, which we will when you return. Now, then... that's been settled, I think it's time to begin the evening. Please, dig in, my friends!" She swayed her hoof over the table, inviting them to sit down. The others happily obliged, and soon the banquet room was abuzz with pleasant conversation and the tinkling of plates, goblets and silverware. Celestia's attendants took care of every need, whether it was refilling a goblet or serving a dish. Rael'ia was sure to politely try a bite of every dish offered, but smiled and groaned in ecstasy as soon as she tried the meat specially prepared by a Griffon chef in the princess's employ.

"Truly, I have missed this flavor," she chewed with her head thrown back.

"What's it taste like?" Rainbow Dash pointed to the meat. "Can I try some?"

"Ugh, Rainbow," chided Rarity. "A proper mare would never dream of eating another animal!"

"Since when did I ever say I was 'proper'?" Rainbow rolled her eyes while making quotation marks in the air with her hooves. "C'mon, give me a piece!"

"If you say so," said Rael'ia as she cut off a bite of meat with her magic, then floated it over to Rainbow Dash's plate. The ambitious blue pegasus immediately stabbed into it with her fork and popped it into her mouth. Her eyes closed as she chewed, concentrating on the new flavors she sensed. The other ponies and Spike leaned in over the table with bated breath as she swallowed after what seemed like an eternity.

"Hmm... not bad." Her eyes finally opened. "It's salty, yet sweet... maybe a hint of sour? Good, but... eh, I still couldn't see myself eating too much more."

"It... it does taste good once in a while," Fluttershy agreed. The others looked at her with a hint of confusion, but it soon passed. She did care for carnivorous animals too, after all. She'd have the most reason to try their food on occasion.

"Have you ever tried it with chocolate? Super good." Pinkie Pie nodded nonchalantly. This drew many more looks of confusion, and some of worry.

~

After the dinner and dessert course, Celestia invited the group to relax in preparation for their mission. She had ensured that her personal masseuses were available if the ponies perhaps wished for a massage, and had had her maids make sure her Royal Spa Room was fully stocked if they wished for a calming soak in a pool of hot, perfumed water. And if it was simply sleep they required, the Royal Guestrooms were freshly cleaned and stocked with extra pillows and blankets for a good night's rest. While the others wandered off to various parts of the palace, Rael'ia followed Celestia to a pair of cushioned chairs by a window at the end of a hallway. As they sat, an attendant set down a tray with his magic, laden with a small assortment of teas, a teapot, two cups, and cream and sugar. Rael'ia waited politely for Celestia to pour herself some water first, then took up the teapot in her magic as she spoke.

"Thank you so much for your hospitality, Celestia... again," she smiled. Just outside the window, Princess Luna could be seen on a nearby balcony, raising the moon into the sky with her magic.

"Oh, of course! It's the very least I could do." Both regal ponies selected a chamomile teabag for their cups. Celestia gazed softly into the yellowing water of her own cup. "Especially... because it's entirely possible one or more of them may not come back-"

"Oh goodness, no," Rael'ia quickly interjected. "I will do all in my power to ensure they all survive this! And between the armor Rarity fashioned for them, the jewels I crafted and their proven combat skills, I'm sure there's no need to worry for their safety!"

"I see... good," Celestia sipped her tea. "That does help to alleviate my fears. They are all so dear to me."

"You have my word," Rael'ia nodded before taking a sip herself. The sweet floral aroma of the tea hung in the air, calming the two Alicorns with every breath. A few moments of silence passed before a thought came to the peach Alicorn's mind. "So, I've been wondering ever since our first visit... do you remember much of your life before you came to rule Equestria?"

"Oh! Yes, I've been thinking much about those days since your arrival. What would you like to know?"

"As much as you can tell me!" Rael'ia's horn glowed purple; a pen and a book with empty pages materialized beside her, poised to begin writing. "The fate of the Fae Pony-kin and the new history of the Equestrian Pony-kin, these tales will answer many questions our own scholars cannot."

"Very well," Celestia giggled. "Now, I have told you about Luna and I's first moments: Starswirl the Bearded celebrating our births, the realization that we all had been transported to an entirely foreign land. We only just escaped Starswirl's laboratory with our lives, stuffed inside a pair of saddlebags while Starswirl fled the furious mobs behind him. It wasn't until he found himself in a vast wasteland that he dared look back, finding that the ponies had ceased to follow him long ago."

~

"Finally... I've lost them," Starswirl sighed heavily. His hooves, legs, lungs, even his horn burned with pain, and he collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath. Blue magic sparked weakly from his horn, dragging out a canteen of water from his saddlebags. He struggled to open it and drank deeply, only stopping when he had emptied it entirely. Thankfully, he had enchanted it long ago; the canteen was already refilling itself with more water. It was then that one of the saddlebags stirred.

"Oh, of course." Magic encased the two newborn foals within and gently pulled them out of their hiding spot. They did not awaken from their slumber as he set them on the ground, then took another long swig from his canteen. "I still can hardly believe it... my dream, the Alicorn... they're perfect."

The two foals slept peacefully, huddled next to each other. One had a coat of pure white, like freshly fallen snow, and a mane and tail of soft, rosy pink. Her sister, slightly smaller, had an azure coat like the night sky, with a sky-blue mane and tail. Starswirl gazed at them for what seemed like hours, transfixed in their perfection.

Names. They needed names. He thought back to the old traditional religion of all Magikin, and their myths of creation. Two names in particular came to him, seemingly perfect for these two perfect ponies.

"I shall name you... Celestia, for the sun god Celestos Soleus," he spoke softly to the white foal, then turned to her sister. "And you, I name Luna, for the moon god Lunos." The two foals smiled in their sleep, as if showing their approval. Starswirl smiled warmly, then gently floated them back into the safety of their saddlebag before setting off into the unknown wastelands, his new home.

~

"Starswirl cared for us like we were his own daughters... well, we kind of were, after all," Celestia chuckled. "We survived in that wasteland for many years, thanks to his survival spells and enchantments. He taught Luna and I how to use our Unicorn magic, and did his best to teach us how to fly with our wings. And of course, he taught us everything he knew about magic, science, logic, morality... Two hundred and fifty years passed before we dared return to the outskirts of pony society. He was greatly relieved that with time, his crimes had been largely forgotten, and the ponies now focused on surviving in this new land."

"Two hundred and fifty years?" Rael'ia's eyes widened. "I've never heard of a Pony-kin living that long. Even reaching a century of age is a rarity among them."

"Yes, he theorized that in being so close to the magic blast that gave us life, his own life was extended considerably. Still, we kept our distance, unsure of how they would react to ponies like ourselves. It was during this time that we learned that since the loss of the Elements of Harmony, the three pony tribes had grown apart, regarding each other with jealousy, racism and hatred. Yet they all depended on each other to survive: The Unicorn tribe were the only ones capable of raising and lowering the sun and moon in this world, creating a more stable day and night for the others. The Pegasus tribe were the only ones capable of controlling the otherwise chaotic and frigid weather, and the cooperation of these two tribes ensured that the Earth Pony tribe remained able to grow enough food for the three, being the only ones able to do so."

"Interesting. We've known for centuries that the sun and moon in my world do not require magical manipulation for life to thrive and flourish. This one does?"

"Yes, it did... at least, back then. These days it's mostly a formality, as my sister and I have guided the sun and moon into a near-perfect cycle."

"What changed?"

"It's coming up," the aurora-haired mare giggled, as if gently scolding an interrupting student. "Anyway, more decades passed as we continued our life on the edge of pony civilization. Luna and I took the occasional odd job, while Starswirl - old enough to have grown his signature beard - gained the confidence to once again share his vast knowledge with any pony who asked. Over the years, however, the weather slowly started to shift for the worse. Summers grew colder and shorter, and winters more harsh and unforgiving. The Three Tribes argued endlessly over whose fault it was, only ceasing when a mysterious blizzard covered the land in snow for an entire year. It was only then that the leaders of the Three Tribes finally came to an agreement: to journey to a new land."

Rael'ia sighed. "...Politicians, am I right?"

"Some things never change," Celestia nodded. "In the end, one patch of land proved the most suitable for all ponies to thrive. But again, the leaders fought over who had discovered it first, who had the right to live there... and like a curse, the cold weather threatened to return in force. It ended up that the assistants to those leaders discovered the cause of the storms and snow: terrible creatures called Windigos that fed off of negative emotions. They had been feasting on the hatred the Three Tribes had for each other. These assistants harbored no such hatred, and through them they created the Fire of Friendship: a powerful spell that banished the Windigos from the lands and brought order back to the seasons. Having relearned the values of Friendship and Harmony, the leaders found peace, and thus, Equestria was born."

"Fascinating... but you and Luna seem to have only been mere citizens like the others. How did the two of you become Princesses of Equestria?"

"Ah, there's more to staking your own kingdom in the world than agreeing on a place to live. Equestria was fraught with villains who would seek our land and enslave us all. First was the devious King Sombra, who took control of the frozen wastes we left behind and enslaved those who remained. He was obsessed with crystals, going so far as to transform those poor souls into living crystal, and then commanding them to mine as many as he saw fit. His reach soon bordered Equestrian lands, and a war was fought. To our surprise, my sister and I joined in the fight, and we almost single-hoofedly defeated his entire personal guard, and defeated Sombra himself in combat. Before the final blow could be struck, unfortunately, he placed a curse on his lands and sealed his entire kingdom and himself away for a thousand years. But despite this, in the eyes of the Equestrians, we were heroes."

"Your power must be great, indeed!" Rael'ia gasped.

"And it was only to increase. A few years after that, we were suddenly greeted by the god of this realm - Discord."

Rael'ia thought back to Fluttershy's cottage. She had been introduced to the peculiar creature a few times during her stay; while charming and friendly enough, he was capable of feats that defied all logic and laughed in the face of physics. "Wait, really? Him, a god?"

"Yes. Back in those days, he was no friend of ours, oh no. He was furious that we had established order in his domain, so he plunged the land into endless chaos. No pony was capable of reversing his magic - rain fell upwards towards the sky, crops suddenly grew boxing gloves and confetti, and gravity was constantly reversed and mirrored... the sun was plaid and polka-dotted pink, for heaven's sake. And despite even our best efforts, sister and I were no match for the creature. It was then that Starswirl theorized the holy artifacts that had brought us life might be the solution once again."

"The Elements of Harmony," Rael'ia breathed, enraptured.

"We traveled for weeks searching for them. Finally we rediscovered them in the very cave we were born inside, surrounded by a massive forest. Every living thing there was energized with wild, chaotic magic, and had grown unchecked in our absence. Within that cave, a crystal tree had grown, and the Elements of Harmony were its fruit. We gently plucked the Elements from their branches and divided them amongst ourselves. My sister wielded the Elements of Honesty, Laughter and Loyalty, while I took up the Elements of Kindness, Generosity and Magic. Armed with this source of limitless power, we finally faced Discord once again, and this time, we won the battle. He was encased in stone for a thousand years... he did break out once, but Twilight and her friends put him back in his place. Then, after much research, it was decided that instead of forcing Harmony upon him in the form of a stone prison, we would show him how wonderful Friendship could truly be. So far, it's worked out pretty well, I'd say."

The magical pen beside Rael'ia ceased to write; the empty book now filled. Rael'ia teleported it away with a flash of magic and conjured up another one. She listened intently, each sentence its own new legend.

"The ponies of Equestria celebrated our victory once more. But thanks to Discord's reign, the sun and moon had been thrown into chaotic orbits that the Unicorns struggled to keep in order. In fact, it came to be that a Unicorn could only raise the sun and moon an average of five times before the task became so taxing, it robbed them of their magical abilities permanently. Equestria quickly ran out of Unicorn volunteers for the task, and it seemed as if we were all doomed once more. But Starswirl, ever so clever, theorized that with our power, we would be able to move sun and moon effortlessly, by ourselves, for eternity."

Rael'ia exhaled slowly. "Oh, I see..."

"He used his magic to raise the sun and moon himself to test his theory, and soon became as powerless as the Unicorns before him. But he was now certain. The sun and moon were left together in the sky, waiting for us to find our destinies. My sister stood beside me as I concentrated on the sun, raising it high above the world, and she focused on lowering the moon. And once again, we triumphed. The ponies cheered, our bodies glowed and tingled all over, and there was a great flash of light. When it was over, my once-pink hair had gained all the colors you see now, and my sister's mane became a galaxy unto itself. Magic had been restored to all the Unicorns who had previously performed the task. And we got our Cutie Marks!"

"And that's how you became the Princesses," the peach Alicorn swooned. "Amazing."

"The ponies heeded our every word from that day on. We ruled with benevolence and compassion, as best we could. Since that day, I have raised the sun each morning..." Celestia paused, and Rael'ia took notice.

"And... Princess Luna raised the moon every evening since then?" Celestia sighed.

"No... years later, my sister grew bitter that none enjoyed the night she brought forth, preferring to sleep through it. She lashed out in her anger and became Nightmare Moon in her angst. In the end, I had to banish her within the very moon she rose, for a thousand years. It is only thanks to Twilight and her friends that my dearest sister returned to me, as our separation severed our tie to the Elements of Harmony. And alas, Starswirl bore witness to it all and fell into a depression, blaming himself. If only he had learned to breed away the capacity for evil..."

"...But... you can't do that, can you?"

"No... a grieving parent can't help but to rationalize the irrational. I do wish he lived long enough to see her return... he finally passed roughly six centuries ago, buried in the center of the Canterlot Memorial Park."

Rael'ia glanced out the window. The moon had risen quite high in the night sky, it was late indeed. Celestia gazed at the moon in return, giving a sigh after a few moments.

"There is much more to our history I would love to tell you... but it's getting late, and you need your rest. When your war is over, do come visit us again?"

"Of course, Princess," Rael'ia bowed her head. "I would love to return and listen to your tales once more."

"Wonderful. Well, goodnight, Golden Dawn. Have a restful night's sleep." The two Alicorns got up from their chairs and parted ways; Celestia's attendants clearing the dishes just as soon as they left.

~

"My little ponies, it is time," Celestia spoke stoically. Twilight, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rael'ia stood before a large mirror, intricate runes carved into it's wooden borders. Their armor glittered in the light of the morning sun, and each wore faces of bravery... well, one with more apprehension than the rest. Celestia and Luna stood on either side of the mirror, their horns glowing with magic. "With this spell, we are able to send you back, not only to your own world, but also to the exact moment you left. Are you prepared, Golden Dawn?"

Rael'ia nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be." The Royal Sisters pointed their horns at the peach Alicorn, setting their magic loose upon her. Bands of gold and azure swirled around her in gusts and cyclones, eventually arcing around and shooting into the mirror. The magic swirled within the glass like a whirlpool, eventually clearing to reveal what appeared to be a gray stone wall, with a massive, barricaded wooden door that thumped and shook rhythmically, mysteriously. The mirror pulsed with finality. The portal was created.

"Applejack, Rainbow. A large, metal monstrosity is about to break down that door. I need you two to go in first, we'll be right behind you. Rush that door as hard as you can."

"You got it!" Rainbow slapped down a protective visor on her helmet and stretched backwards in anticipation.

"Say the word, and we'll go," Applejack prepared to run, lowering her body and her head menacingly. Behind them, Twilight gripped the Sapling of Harmony tightly in her field of magic. Rarity's horn glowed like ice as her swarm of crystals surrounded her, poised to attack. Pinkie Pie and Spike stood at the ready, and Fluttershy cowered behind the peach Alicorn, ready to run as quickly as possible to stay directly behind her.

"Don't worry, Princess, I'll make sure they all come back safe and sound."

"Don't worry too much about us," reassured Twilight. Celestia did her best to stifle how anxious she felt. Goodbyes had already been said, but she still didn't feel ready for this. After a moment, she regained her composure and nodded once.

"...Good luck, my little ponies. Good luck, Golden Dawn."

Rael'ia nodded in response and looked towards the door in the portal. With a shout of affirmation, they leapt inside.

Skirmish

"My Princess, what are we going to do?"

"There's too many of them! We're completely surrounded!"

"Hold the door, we're casting a Distress Spell right now!"

Rael'ia looked at the sorry sight all around her. Her legion had been ambushed in the dead of night, caught completely unaware. Most of the remaining soldiers hadn't even had the time to grab their armor before they had regrouped inside the tower fortress in the center of their camp. The few soldiers that did were busy setting the long wooden beam in place to barricade the only entrance. The Battlemages were joining their efforts to cast a spell that would let the next closest legion know they needed assistance, while the medics among them were scrambling from wounded soldier to wounded soldier. She should have known their victory earlier in the day had come too easily. If she survived this, she was going to have quite the talk with her Void-seers.

A male Elf clad in pale green sleeping robes, enhanced by a makeshift set of transparent Arcane armor stood beside her. "My Lady, many of our remaining forces are defenseless, almost half of them without weapons. This is bad..."

"I know. Hopefully our Nature magic can perhaps keep the tower together until help arrives-"

Suddenly there was a massive, heavy thud against the thick, wooden door, soon accompanied by a muffled hiss. Far too heavy for a Human, or even one of their siege engines. It seemed to reverberate throughout the entire tower.

"No... no!"

"Is that an Angel?!"

"Gods, no, not like this..."

"I don't want to die!"

Rael'ia's blood ran cold. Only that accursed... thing... could make that kind of noise. Only that thing could cause so much panic among her legion, only that thing could slice through her men as quickly as they had fallen. Green light glowed from her fists as they tightened.

The Elf beside her sighed. "We're not making it out of this one, I'm afraid."

"No," she replied with cold finality. "...We are not. Prepare yourselves, men, this may be our final stand. Know that it has been an honor to serve beside you all."

Her forces shakily rose to their feet, backing away from the pounding door. As the pounding grew louder, the wooden beam keeping them safe began to splinter and separate down the middle. The Elven Princess readied her magic, gracefully levitating her arms in a circle to begin her final attack. Her strongest spell might buy them a few moments, but the Angel they were to face initially would end those moments as quickly as they came. Everything slowed to a crawl in her eyes, the rhythmic pounding on the door matching the pounding of her heart. She didn't even hear the sound of magic behind her.

"Forgive me, my Princess."

The Elf beside her suddenly pulled Rael'ia backwards, shoving her into a swirling tear between space. She screamed as she felt unknown forces grasping at every bit of her body and soul, the final image of the door rapidly shrinking farther and farther away. Colors that didn't exist flashed before her eyes, slowly fading to black. Sensations that had no description flooded her body, eventually dulling into nothingness. A thousand voices hissed into her ears, soon growing silent.

She could no longer hear herself scream. She could no longer move. She could no longer breathe. A single tear fell from her cheek as she became one with nothing.

~

"Forgive me, my Princess."

CRUNCH

The portal behind the Elf closed, but to his surprise, a new one opened beside him. Heralded by a rippling in space itself, two blurs, orange and blue, shot out from the portal to meet the looming, metal creature before them as the door holding it back shattered into splinters.

"Yee-haw!"

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings mightily as Applejack swiveled her hind legs forward mid-leap, and the two ponies crashed into the Angel with the force of a sonic boom. There was a noise like an explosion as the heap of metal flew backwards into the Human army, crushing those unfortunate enough to be behind it with it's sheer weight. The two ponies had only been pushed back a few feet on their end of the impact, and Rael'ia and the others quickly appeared behind them, the rippling of space disappearing.

"Great job, you two!" the Elven Princess cheered. "That worked even better than I had hoped!" Meanwhile, the Elf to her side stared in utter disbelief.

"...P-Princess?" Before he could speak another word, Rael'ia shot her hand in front of his face.

"Hold that thought, Archmage," she spoke coldly before making her presence known to the other combatants once again. "The tide of battle has turned, my friends! Go! Reclaim your gear while we hold them off! Applejack, Rainbow, do not let that Angel get back up! The rest of you, attack!"

Nature magic surged throughout her body as Rael'ia focused on the tower's stone bricks. Her hands pulsed with energy as every brick glowed in response and began separating themselves from their foundation; slowly at first, then flinging themselves outwards in all directions into the army that surrounded them. A storm of grunts and moans erupted all around them as bricks connected with armored bodies. Her spell hadn't even finished before she grasped at more rubble with her magic and shot them at her enemies, denting armor, spattering blood. She let her mind relax for a brief moment, suddenly realizing she felt a foreign-yet-familiar sensation at the ends of her arms.

Hands. Hands. She was an Elf-kin again! Quickly she looked down at herself. Rarity's armor had magically warped through the fabrics of time and space to fit her body perfectly. She would have to ponder how it happened later, she had her people to save. As she began charging up more magic spells, she was sure to keep an eye on Fluttershy, who had predictably sunk to the ground and was trying to make herself as tiny as possible. Meanwhile, Twilight and Spike behind her guarded the Sapling of Harmony closely. The lavender Alicorn noticed a few humans rushing towards the two of them menacingly. Though hesitant at first, her eyes narrowed and her horn sparked with intense pink light. Rearing her head back, she then flicked her horn forwards, unleashing a beam of pure, raw magic at her attackers. At first they did not falter but soon found themselves slowing, then being pushed back as their Nullium armor began to crack in weakened places. A few white crystals suddenly shot past Twilight and pierced the weak spots, felling the men as the crystals returned to their owner, stained red.

"Ohoho! How invigorating!" Rarity laughed haughtily. She then turned towards another group of attackers, her eyes darting back and forth, quickly surveying the situation. With a smug smirk, her horn glowed an icy blue, heralding the swarm of crystals surrounding her as they suddenly fired towards them. One of the humans raised his shield to block; the crystals broke from their perfectly straight trajectory and scattered wildly. Rarity raised a confident eyebrow and barely flicked her head; her crystals responded and found their targets, striking the humans in the joints of their nigh-impenetrable armor. They seemed to disappear for a few seconds longer than necessary before darting out of the same holes they had produced, the humans falling dead moments later.

"Wow, Rarity... I didn't know you had it in you," Spike quivered in mostly awe, with a touch of fear.

"Oh, but that was nothing," she replied as her crystals spent a rotation around their master burrowing into the dirt to remove the blood. "I've told you, I've taken some self-defense classes before... I paid good money to learn this spell."

"Whee! This is much more fun than I thought it would be!" Baffled, Spike and the two ponies glanced over to Pinkie Pie. She was surrounded by humans, dodging every sword swing by quite literally bending and twisting her body like a ribbon, giggling as if dancing. As they were distracted, they were caught off guard by the ground directly beneath them suddenly extending about ten feet into the air.

"Clearly, you lot were holding back on me the other day!" Rael'ia yelled over the chorus of battle, her hands quickly but steadily channeling Nature magic into nearby rocks, bricks and various parts of the ground. Her body faintly glowed purple as she rose into the air for a better view. "Again, I am deeply impressed by your affinity for combat!" Below her, Applejack and Rainbow Dash had made a game out of smacking the Angel around the battlefield. It's armor was deeply dented in the chest and back areas, and some of it's armored hoses had been torn open, emitting steam and a dark liquid.

"Ha! I thought you said these things were supposed to be tough!" Rainbow sneered as she flapped her wings and rammed her shoulder into the great metal beast. It stumbled over towards Applejack, who simply planted her hooves square in the ground and let it tumble over her back. Before it could get up, she set her weight upon her front limbs and bucked with all her might. The Angel was sent rolling along the ground, crushing a few humans as it finally crashed and came to rest in a heap against a pile of rubble. It weakly raised an arm, desperately grasping for aid until finally, the arm fell and the metal ceased to move. Awestruck, Rael'ia floated gracefully towards the heap of muddy-green metal, a pool of dark liquid beginning to form beneath it. Cautiously she poked at the metal corpse with her foot, finding it completely lifeless.

"I... I don't believe it... you actually defeated an Angel!" Other Elven soldiers took notice after Rael'ia's outburst and gasped in awe, while the humans they had been fighting allowed themselves to become distracted. Some could only stare in disbelief, while the voices of others began to quiver, and a few began to run away.

"They... they killed it?"

"Are those... Pony-kin? I thought they were all dead!"

"The Angels... they can be killed! They killed it!"

"Amazing! Not only are you able to penetrate Nullium armor, but you've accomplished what we thought impossible! With you on our side, we'll bring peace to my home-"

She cut her thought short as she sensed an incoming attack. Her left arm shot out to her side and her hand pulsed purple; in an instant there was a distant staccato, and the ponies' eyes widened as a swarm of small metal balls suddenly appeared, caught in the field of magic. Rael'ia turned her head in the direction they had come from, and her face softened into one of concern. Human reinforcements had arrived, and slowly making it's way through them was a second Angel. It stood as tall as a man with a child on his shoulders, and was coated head to toe in thick plates of muddy-green Nullium. It's armored joints concealed the ends of armored tubes that connected themselves to the outer portions of it's limbs. With every step it took, steam hissed out of vents on it's back. It held a massive sword on it's shoulder, also crafted from Nullium and as tall as the metal beast that wielded it. It reached the forefront of the human reinforcements, lifted it's sword and sank it into the ground in front of it. Eerily, it stood perfectly still, as if becoming a statue.

"Another one, eh?" Rainbow snorted and rubbed her nose, then lowered her body to pounce. "C'mon AJ, we'll wreck this one, too!"

"Rainbow, wait!" Rael'ia called out soon enough for Applejack to have only galloped a few feet but the blue pegasus was already flying like a bullet towards the Angel. It seemed to not notice at first, remaining still as she flew towards it. Just as she was about to make contact, it shifted to the right faster than anyone could see. Rainbow grunted in confusion as she arced around and rushed it again, only for it to shift again at the last second. She grunted again, now annoyed, and pushed herself to fly even faster. She spun around and streaked towards her enemy, preparing to create a Sonic Rainboom. But suddenly, the Angel gripped it's sword and unsheathed it from the ground.

"Foolish Pony-kin," a voice cried out behind Rael'ia. The Archmage, body alight with Arcane and hands glowing with Nature, flew through the air towards Rael'ia and the other ponies, swinging his right fist in an uppercut. In an instant, a wall of stone suddenly appeared between the Angel and Rainbow Dash, who came to a frantic halt as she realized the great sword of the Angel was pointed less than a foot from her face. Only the stone wall encasing the sword separated her from death. The humans immediately went back on the offensive, and laid siege to the wall with their gunfire, slowly but surely chipping it away. The Angel broke it's sword free and stood for a moment before it seemed to vanish.

"Oh no, you don't," Rael'ia concentrated her magic into the ground, opening up a large pit. The Angel reappeared within, crashing into the wall closest to the Princess. She quickly brought her open hands together, entombing the Angel below. But only moments later did the tip of it's sword sprout from the earth. It would not be held for long. Rael'ia quickly considered her options; Applejack and Rainbow's assault on the first Angel had only worked because they took it by surprise. They would need many more forces to take one head on. Besides, they had finally managed to defeat an Angel! This was a monumental feat, a good blow to the enemy morale. If they could somehow bring it back to be taken apart and studied, perhaps flaws could be found, and with them, ways to defeat them more easily.

Her mind was made up. "All units, fall back! Fall back and prepare to port back to home base! Everyone, follow me!" The handful of Elves still standing began to fight their way back to the floor where the tower fortress once stood. Rael'ia motioned to the other ponies, Spike and the Archmage. With haste they joined the group of soldiers, forming a perimeter around them as Rael'ia quickly scooped Fluttershy off the ground and placed her in the center. She counted how many Battlemages were left... not enough. She would need to assist them in the Emergency Teleportation spell, as well as figure out how to drag a one-ton hunk of broken Nullium with them. In the distance, the sword arm of the buried Angel angrily rose from beneath the ground.

"Archmage, assist the Battlemages! Twilight, help me focus on the fallen Angel, we're going to try to take it with us!"

"A-Are you sure that's a good idea?! What if it's not dead?!" the Alicorn shouted. Wordlessly, Spike gripped the Sapling of Harmony so Twilight wouldn't have to.

"We must try! This is our chance to finally find out what they really are!" Twilight shakily agreed, and her magic joined Rael'ia's as she concentrated on grasping the dead Angel. It was... heavy. Very heavy. Dead weight. It wouldn't budge. She strained to funnel more magic into her hands, her mind burning with pain. The buried Angel's other arm now appeared.

"Princess, the spell is nearly complete!" the Archmage yelled over his shoulder. "We must leave now!"

"Almost... almost..." She could feel their combined magic snaking its way around the lifeless husk. Very heavy. So very heavy.

"Princess!"

The husk shifted. The Angel crawled out of the earth, dust and dark liquid dripping down it's metallic body.

"Go! Now!"

"Evaporate," the Archmage grunted. In that moment, every Elf-kin, Pony-kin and Dragon-kin in that area morphed to become a flash of purest white light, which shimmered away into the wind as the Angel darted forth and slashed at the final sparkling bits. The bodies of their fallen comrades soon afterwards disappeared in the same fashion. Though the fort was lost, the battle had - only just - been won.

Reunion

CLUNK

Twilight was the first of the newcomers to this world to open her eyes. The sounds of soldiers re-materializing loudly echoed in the space they had ended up, which was a large, dark blue room. Only one door, no windows, yet somehow illuminated. No sooner than they arrived that the doors flew open, a swarm of more Elven soldiers and a number of others came rushing through. Some wore the white uniforms of medics while others wore labcoats, all adorned with no less than three softly glowing, white crystals. Some were definitely Elven in appearance, while others seemed very small, no more than a foot in height and hovering in the air on dragonfly wings made of pure Arcane magic. All of them gasped in fright and wonder at the sight of her and behind her, the hulking metal corpse thought unkillable and the six Pony-kin that had defeated it.

"We made it... thank the gods," Rael'ia sighed, groaning shortly after. Twilight turned towards her; the other ponies, Rael'ia and the still-living soldiers were in various states of dishevelment, picking themselves off the ground. She tried not to focus too much on the corpses scattered around the room as they blinked in from thin air, landing on the floor with a metallic, slightly moist plop. Many had been torn clean in half, presumably from the Angel - a few especially unlucky ones were in pieces. She looked over to Spike, who was struggling to get up from a sitting position, but the Sapling of Harmony he held had survived unscathed. She sighed a breath of relief... all those magic wards and protection spells she'd cast on it had proven perfectly effective. She looked to Rael'ia to ask if she needed help with anything... and her blood ran cold.

The Elven Princess, now in her true form, was a familiar yet foreign sight to the lavender Alicorn. Bipedal, very much like the humans she'd seen in Canterlot High... five-foot-two, one hundred pounds, she estimated. Her skin was that same shade of peach her fur had once been. The dark leather collar around her neck remained, a turquoise cabochon its only adornment. Pointed ears like giant blades of grass decorated with golden bands stuck out from behind waist-length, sky-blue hair. Parted on the elf's left side, the bangs on her right were a bright golden yellow, while on the opposite side they were marigold orange. The yellow bangs were long enough to cover the entire right side of her face... for good reason. A large, red scar had been cut into her cheek and forehead, having cleaved through her eyebrow, and with the hole where her other turquoise eye should've been in the very center.

"Twilight? What's wrong?" Rael'ia seemed to not even notice half her vision was missing. The other ponies soon looked as well, gasping and shouting in horror.

"Sweet Celestia!" Rainbow Dash spoke out first. "What happened to your eye?!"

"Hm?" She waved a hand in front of her face, then scrunched her face in mild annoyance. "Oh! Oh, yes... my eye. Shoot."

"How... how are you so calm about this?!" Rarity shriveled.

"Lost it in battle many years ago. A foolish mistake, on my part... please, look around for a piece of Magicite shaped like an eye, if you could?" After a few moments the ponies' nerves settled enough for them to start looking. In the meantime Rael'ia stood up, addressing her people as they rushed to and fro. "Medics, please tend to the wounded among us, and prepare the mortuary for the fallen. Head Engineer Denzen, the Archmage will assist in bringing this fallen Angel to your diagnostics lab, I want you and your men to start taking this thing apart immediately. We must learn all we can from this rare opportunity! ...Archmage, if you would?"

The Archmage and scientist nodded, the former ordering some spare soldiers to help levitate the broken heap of metal while the latter began fluttering away calling out orders. Pinkie Pie shouted that she had found the Magicite jewel in question on the ground. She grasped it somehow with the curls of her mane and hopped merrily over to Rael'ia, who gently took it up in a field of blue magic surrounding her hand. The crystal tumbled in midair, water suddenly appearing from nowhere in particular, swirling around it to clean off any debris. The liquid vanished as quickly and mysteriously as it had came, and Rael'ia held open her empty eye socket as she pushed the crystal inside. It appeared to glow brightly before the beveled edges gave way to appear as one smooth object. She blinked multiple times, the crystal dimmed and changed its color to resemble an almost perfect copy of her remaining eye.

"Ah, that's better. I'm sorry to have frightened you, my friends, that one has the awful habit of popping out at inopportune times," she smiled weakly. "Thank you for finding it."

"You've replaced it with magic?" Twilight asked, having gotten over her squeamishness and was quite curious now.

"Of course. Magicite, medical science and magic can fix quite the number of injuries these days. Though thanks to the weapon that dealt this blow being made of Nullium, the scar will never heal. It's quite..." she sighed, blushing slightly, "...unsightly."

"What? Oh, no, never even noticed it until you said anything!" Spike nervously stammered. "Then again, I guess it was hidden underneath all that fur before."

"Where are we?" Applejack piped up. "You said somethin' about a 'home base' before y'all teleported us."

"My home, of course," Rael'ia smiled. "This room is simply where my own version of your Hearth Brooches take my forces and I. The ceiling, walls and floor all around you are all formed from Magicite slabs and crystals," she waved as the dark blue of the room suddenly shimmered with white light in a cascade from the door to the back of the space. "They're enchanted to detect certain anomalies... containment fields in case of enemies hitching a ride, stasis fields if a soldier is gravely injured, that way a medic will be able to reach him without his condition worsening."

"Interesting... I think Celestia has something similar," Twilight mused.

"Come, I'll show you around!"

~

The ponies and Spike followed the Elven Princess as she led them through hallways carved into dark blue-grey stone. Rael'ia's family had long ago made their home within one of the foothills of the Impassable Mountains, marked by a massive tree growing from its side. The polished stone floors were covered in richly-colored rugs, while dark blue tapestries and torches crafted from Magicite lined the walls, flickering exactly as if they were flames. Next to her room she showed her friends the guest quarters, inviting them to remove their armor and freshen up if they pleased. Rarity very quickly accepted, her friends giggling as they decided to do the same. They all regrouped when they were finished, Rael'ia now dressed in robes that had the fashionable unicorn swooning.

"Oh, darling! What gorgeous robes, simply divine! They're quite reminiscent of the traditional dress of the ponies in the Neighpon region of Equestria!" The robes were richly colored with orange dye, while thick sunbeams made from a saffron yellow and embroidered with golden thread shone outwards from two cutout "suns": a smaller one on Rael'ia's left shoulder and a larger, seductively-placed one on her right hip. It had no right sleeve, the Elven Princess preferring to have her dominant casting arm bare, and the lower portion had been tailored into a sharp diagonal shape so that much of her left leg was bare, yet the right leg was completely covered. Fastening the robe together was a thick, corset-like belt of dark brown leather outlined with gold, pointed drastically upwards and downwards in the center of her abdomen, kept locked in place with a loop of leather and a large, oval-shaped button of gold. The hems of her one oversized sleeve and the collar of the robe were golden embroidery, decorated with tiny, white Magicite beads. Dark brown leather sandals completed the ensemble, the straps crisscrossed up to the bottom of her knees.

"Oh, thank you," she blushed, giggling meekly. "Though I and other young elves of the generation find it fashionable, Mother always thought it was too revealing. 'You look like a Harpy prostitute!', she'd say." Her voice went up an octave as she pointed and wagged her finger at nobody in particular, drawing a few chuckles from her friends. "Now, let's finish our tour, shall we?"

After showing the newcomers to the land the rest of the rooms they might be interested in, such as the dining hall, royal hot spring baths and study area, Rael'ia finally brought them to her throne room. Though meant for a more regal purpose, the room was mostly converted into a foyer and briefing area, with wooden, cushioned benches lining the walls and populated with a few small groups of Elves and Fairies alike, sharing pleasant conversation. High above their heads were great arches of stone that supported the ceiling, with wide open spaces carved into the walls for windows, allowing sunlight and a fresh breeze inside. In the center of the room was a thick, heavy wooden table with a map of Fae carved into its surface, surrounded by five chairs matching the thickness of the table. In the very back of the room was Rael'ia's throne, crafted from a single, glowing white boulder of Magicite, adorned with a pile of fluffy, purple cushions at its base and her House sigil - a proud, radiant sun - carved into the flat space above where her head would rest. Immediately to the right of the throne was a Fairy whose eyes lit up at the sight of her Princess, her wings buzzing with movement and magic as she quickly darted across the room to greet her. Twilight narrowed her eyes in an attempt to get a better look at the tiny features of her face; the Fairy had her burnt sienna-brown hair in a ponytail and wore what appeared to be a hollowed-out pink tulip for a dress, leaves and all. Her eyes were entirely black and very shiny, and her voice, while quiet, conveyed the same inner energy that Pinkie Pie had.

"Princess Rael'ia, you're back! I'm so glad you are unharmed!" the little Fairy could barely contain her excitement as she flew circles around Twilight, Spike and the other ponies. "Oh my goodness, Pony-kin! I thought they were all gone... and a little Dragon-kin! My, you've been busy, haven't you, Princess?"

"Like you wouldn't believe," Rael'ia sighed with a smile that hinted at a long story. "Friends, this is my handmaiden, Zina. Zina, these ponies are Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Princess Twilight Sparkle. The dragon is Spike."

"Charmed," Applejack tipped her hat, the others simply smiling and nodding.

"So nice to meet you all! Hm, Princess Twilight Sparkle," Zina trailed off as she noticed the lavender Alicorn's features, and soon gasped. "Oh! Oh, my! Wings and a horn on this Pony-kin... you're an Alicorn! ...I guess that's that for that bit of history about the Pony-kin, it was possible all along!"

"I will tell you all about it later, but first, I need your help sending out some summons," Rael'ia gently interrupted.

"Ooh! Of course, Rae!" Zina's tiny body glowed purple. A notepad almost as tall as the Fairy herself materialized from thin air. Magic flipped the cover over as she pointed one of her featherlike hands at the paper. "Who would you like summoned?"

"I need you to contact the other leaders. Twilight and her friends here are capable of ending the war with the Humans, but not without their help. I must speak with all of them as soon as possible, together, preferably."

"Wonderful news, indeed! I'll get these sent right away," Zina chirped as the glow of her hand intensified. Shimmering words appeared on the paper, quickly transforming from Arcane magic into black ink. With simple ease the paper tore itself off of the notepad, instantly duplicating itself five times and hovering in the air beside her before pulsing with light and vanishing. "Is there anything else you need?"

"Hm, just three things, I suppose," Rael'ia thought for a moment. "First, please alert the guards and other residents of the palace that Twilight and her friends are my personal guests of honor and shall be given free rein as such. Also, the sapling they carry with them is of utmost importance to not only them, but myself as well, so please instruct the guards to... you know, guard it," she shrugged matter-of-factly.

"Of course, Princess!" Zina nodded. "What's the third thing?" Rael'ia's expression soured.

"Get Aternus in here. Now."

~

The Archmage entered the room soon after Zina had left to call for him. Twilight and the others sat on a bench or stood near them in an intimate group, while Rael'ia loomed over the central table. Her eyes stayed glued to the map carved within as he approached. Having finally had the opportunity to change out of the sleeping robes he'd been caught unaware in, he struck a rather imposing figure. He stood a head above Rael'ia, with short auburn hair tossed about into messy spikes and eyes that glowed like peridots. Over beige and orange-flecked robes, he wore a cuirass crafted of bright, brassy mythril and enchanted leather straps, adorned with numerous Magicite jewels that formed the sigil of his own House: a thin crescent moon, its points turned to the lower right, and attached to a spear so the whole design resembled a scythe. His face was an incomprehensible mix of emotions as he stood at the opposite end of the table as Rael'ia, who tried her best to hide her displeasure as her eyes lifted towards his. She turned her eyes towards the guards by the entrances to the room and nodded once; the guards then left the area quickly but quietly, leaving them alone.

"...Aternus," she spoke curtly, focusing back on the Archmage.

"...Rael'ia?" Applejack let out a quiet snort at his poor attempt to play it cool.

"We are quite fortunate to have won that battle, no? And to defeat an Angel to boot... very fortunate, indeed."

"Yes, very! You and your Pony-kin friends were a sight to be feared on the battlefiel- AAAAGH!!!" Whatever thought he was going to finish was interrupted by Rael'ia suddenly unleashing a small torrent of water at his face from her blue- glowing hand.

"Aternus. Moonscythe. You. Butthole." The ponies and Spike flinched; her voice could render Princess Luna's Royal Canterlot Voice as quiet as hushed whispers. Fluttershy hid behind Twilight in response to the shock.

"Rae, wh-" Aternus blubbered, wiping his face off with his sleeve.

"You knew damn well I'd be angry with you for doing that! My place is beside my people, even if it means marching headlong into death! How dare you banish me to another universe in the middle of a battle?! A theoretical universe, at that! You easily could've just ended up sending me to my death anyway, lost to float in the Void for all eternity!"

"But... but I researched all accounts of the residual magical energy in the White Wastes... for years! I knew I wasn't teleporting you to float in the Void forever! ...I mean, I was pretty sure it led to a survivable land!"

"You're lucky you're the last of your House, otherwise I'd kill you where you stand for treason!" Rael'ia grew silent for a few moments, her face gradually becoming lighter shades of red than previously. "...And you're lucky you just so happened to teleport me to the universe the Pony-kin wound up in... and you're lucky my friends here just so happen to bear the Elements of Harmony..." she growled, now looking to the floor. Aternus stood straight up from his previous cowering posture.

"Right... about that. How did you even manage to come back? That spell was meant to wipe your memories so you could have a chance at a peaceful life!"

"You didn't wipe all of them," she spat.

"She woke up outside our home town. Despite not remembering anything about herself, she knew she didn't feel right being a pony," Twilight spoke. Aternus hesitated for a moment, then snapped his fingers in realization and put them to his chin.

"Hmm... the door breaking down must've made me flinch just a little... that spell was supposed to be foolproof!"

"Well, it wasn't. Do you know how long I spent being a pony? Thank the gods Celestia and Luna were able to reverse it and bring me back here..."

"Wait... the Elements of Harmony?" asked Aternus.

"Don't you change the subject!" Rael'ia snarled.

"They vanished from your world when the ponies disappeared," Twilight tried her best to mediate. "But they live on inside my friends and I! Rael'ia said that if we all work together, we can end your war! Peacefully!"

"Oh? Oh, my," Aternus breathed, staring at the floor contemplatively. "They weren't destroyed... I assumed... if they were returned to the Crystal Mountain, the Humans..." His eyes lit up and he held his fist in front of his chest triumphantly. "I. Am such. A genius!"

Rael'ia crossed her arms and snorted. "And now you're stealing my idea."

"Look, I'm sorry, Rae. It was the heat of the moment, we were all about to die... I couldn't just let you..." His soft gaze thawed her rage and she sighed.

"I know, Aternus. I know."

"I care so deeply for you. Ever since we were children you were my best friend... I-I can't imagine..."

"I know, Aternus..." Rael'ia's face began to cringe.

"I knew how you felt, Rae, but I couldn't... I wanted you to live and be happy and finally know peace, even if it meant giving you up forever."

"I know..." She cringed harder. Pinkie Pie pulled out a bucket of popcorn from somewhere behind her and began eating. Rarity and Spike took a handful as well, the former beginning to tear up at the soap opera-esque drama unfolding before them.

"It's a blessing that you returned, and with help that could potentially end the war. I'm truly sorry for sending you away, I feared the worst, but now that you're back... Rael'ia-"

Having reached her maximum discomfort level, Rael'ia let loose another blast of water at Aternus's face, sighing and closing her eyes. She waited for him to wipe his face off again before she spoke.

"Aternus, sweetie." Her tone conveyed much more sarcasm than it did affection. "I know you like me. I like you too. Always have. But now is not the best time to begin courting. We have a war to end, and many challenges to overcome before we can. Also, you're being reeeeeally sappy right now."

"Hey, men aren't good at emotions, you know," he shrugged, tongue-in-cheek. Rael'ia slowly walked around the table towards him.

"You meant well. I can't fault you for that. Tell you what, after this war is over, we'll court, okay?"

Aternus smiled. "Deal." Rael'ia smiled as well, and the two elves embraced. Rarity began bawling tears of happiness, Rainbow Dash gagged.

"...But you must admit, if it weren't for me banishing you to another universe, the possibility of ending the war peacefully like you want would've never happened," Aternus smirked. "I'm such a brilliant Archmage."

"You always have to ruin the moment, don't you?" Rael'ia groaned. Aternus only grinned in response. Their hug ended just before a purple holographic image of Head Engineer Denzen materialized beside them. The male Fairy was dressed in a labcoat with a Magicite jewel on each cuff, simple brown pants and boots, his short black hair and nearly black, blue eyes barely discernible through the Arcane magic.

"Princess Rael'ia, Archmage. We have finished dissecting the Angel you brought us. I have good news, and I have bad news."

"Heh, ain't that always the way it turns out," Applejack chuckled.

"Good, what's the good news, Denzen?" asked Rael'ia.

"Good news is, we finally know how the Angel works and what's underneath its armor."

"And... the bad news?" added Aternus. Denzen glanced over to the right.

"Well... it's best if you see this for yourselves."

"Understood, we'll be right there," said Rael'ia. Denzen nodded, the Arcane hologram quickly dissipating soon after. The ponies and Spike stood up from their seats as the two Elves motioned for them to follow, and they all set off for the research facility.

Sins

The research labs had long ago been bored into the rock beneath the Palace of House Golden Dawn. It was here that the Elven and Fairy scientists, forgers and gemcutters crafted their newest creations and experimented with the latest alloys and Magicite cuts. Twilight noticed a soft hum in the air as she and her companions descended into the depths on an enchanted platform, growing slightly louder as they reached the bottom. Daylight was quickly replaced by white light-emitting crystals that lined the walls and ceiling of the tunnels she saw, the sharpness of which seemed almost artificial. Rael'ia and Aternus took the lead, guiding the ponies through numerous hallways that seemed identical. Rainbow Dash whined about not teleporting right to wherever they were going, only to be told that due to the secrecy of what the labs contained, wards had been set up to prohibit teleportation. Finally they stopped at a metal door, its only adornment was a Magicite crystal the size of a pea halfway between the top of the door and its midpoint. As Rael'ia stood before it, a wide arc of light shone from the crystal, flooding her in its glow. Before the curious Alicorn could ask what was happening, the light disappeared.

"Access granted," a feminine voice echoed around them, coming from no particular direction. The door glowed and slid open to the left, revealing a large room. Fairies and Elves in Magicite-enhanced lab uniforms worked tirelessly on machines that greatly interested the Alicorn: buttons glittering on the metallic faces, screens of flickering light in front of their faces. Words in a foreign language danced across the screens along with images of zigzags, graphs and charts. Everyone seemed on edge, occasionally glancing at the thick cloth curtain that surrounded a very large something in the center of the room. A few moments later, a Fairy hovered out from the folds, his labcoat stained with dark liquid.

"Denzen," Rael'ia nodded in acknowledgement. The Fairy pulled out a handkerchief from his breast pocket and wiped some of the dark liquid off his glasses.

"Princess, Archmage," he began before noticing the ponies and dragon behind them. "Er... Pony-kin? And a young Dragon-kin, what on Terras-"

"They are with her, Head Engineer," Aternus interrupted. "Now, what is this 'bad news' you have for us?"

"Oh, yes, of course," the Fairy paused to clear his throat nervously. "You remember that I said that we now know how the Angel functions, yes?" The two Elves nodded impatiently, while Twilight and her friends exchanged confused glances. "Well... I'm afraid you're not going to like the answer."

Denzen motioned for the group to follow him behind the curtain. As she did, Rael'ia gasped in horror. Laid out on a metal table, the great Nullium husk of the Angel had been crudely broken open in a frontal bisection, leaving jagged points of metal to frame the withered, naked corpse inside. What had formerly been a male Elf was now leathery, yet fragile gray-green skin stretched over bones, filling the air with a nauseatingly sour, thick and pungent aura. Dark liquid slowly oozed from the tubes connecting the rotting limbs and pooled beneath the entity, shining red in the light. The eyes had dissolved away long ago, and its mouth hung slightly open in an eternal sigh. A female Elf and Fairy were hunched over the corpse's chest, carefully cutting into where its sternum should've been; it had previously been expertly stitched together. The Fairy channeled purple magic inside the cavity, soon tenderly pulling out a chunk of Magicite the size of an apple. To her side, Aternus groaned in disgust.

"I... I can't believe it. To stoop this low..."

"What is it?" Twilight asked. Rael'ia quickly entertained the thought of showing Spike and the ponies but decided against it. It was a good thing they were small; their eye level was equal to just below the surface of the table, making them unable to see the horror inside. Rainbow Dash was hovering in the air as usual however, and recoiled just as soon as she laid eyes on the contents.

"Euuuuugh... you don't wanna know, Egghead," was her response.

"...Oh! ...Oh. ...Ohhhh. ...Ohhhhhhhhh." Pinkie Pie bounced up and down to get a glimpse, her voice lowering and her face changing from her beaming smile to a disgusted grimace more and more as her bouncing gradually stopped.

"It's... better if you do not see," Rael'ia finally spoke. "What it is, however... is monstrous. Necromancy." Twilight gulped nervously. Her extensive magical studies under the tutelage of Celestia had, of course, once brought her to this very topic. She learned the basics of how to recognize such magic, what it could accomplish... and also knew it was almost universally forbidden by all sentient races back in Equestria.

"Highly dangerous. Near impossible to control. And it spits in the faces of our ancestors," Aternus spoke coldly. "They've turned one of our fallen into a soulless killing machine."

"Quite literally," Denzen added, pointing to the dark liquid. "Somehow, the Humans were able to combine their vast mechanical knowledge with the darkest of magic. This liquid is as much oil as it is blood. And the Magicite within its pericardium... look, it was enchanted with Lightning magic to shock the muscles into action. Commanding the entity to pick up a weapon, to attack... to kill."

"But... Humans can't use magic, ah thought," spoke Applejack. "So how did they-"

"Defectors. Traitors to the Magikin Alliance," answered Aternus. "Every war has them. Some among us believe that we are all doomed no matter what we do, so they choose to cast their lot with the Humans, bargaining their magic for their lives."

"Denzen, learn what you can from this... abomination," instructed Rael'ia. "When you've finished, send word to the Void-Seers. Only they are able to lay this poor soul to rest." Denzen nodded before a field of Arcane magic flashed before his face. He picked up a scalpel with another tendril of magic and hovered precariously as he poked into the corpse's chest cavity, recoiling slightly as dark liquid spurted out. Some splashed onto the invisible barrier in front of his face, slowly oozing and dripping off. Fluttershy let out a whimper as she and the others turned to leave. Rael'ia began walking towards the door, stopping just before it.

"Also... please try not to let anyone know about this if they don't have to. This discovery should not be divulged freely," she added after a long pause. "...It won't do any good for morale."

~

"Only the Void-Seers can help... whatever was in there?" Spike asked as they walked back down the endless, identical hallways. Aternus nodded.

"They are, to put it simply, mages that are specially sanctioned to perform Soul magic, the closest our races dare come to that vile school," he spoke solemnly.

"It's closely related to our traditional religion of old," Rael'ia added in a brighter tone. "Some still believe that the souls of all Magikin - those that once were and those that will be - reside in the Void beyond our world. The Void-Seers tend to those souls: receiving visions of what will be, but also guiding wayward souls to their rest in the Void. To all Magikin, the art of Necromancy exists only to twist and torture and enslave those souls, keeping them from their rightful rest."

"It was outlawed milennia ago, at the Summit of the Schools," said Aternus. "All the races of the world gathered together to discuss the different schools of magic, and to ban the practice of Necromancy. Even the non-magical Humans were invited, and even they agreed to the ban. On occasion, a Necromancer's cult will be discovered here and there, but... this. This cannot stand. Whoever has done this... once we discover them, the consequences will be most severe."

Twilight led the other ponies behind her, magic flaring from her horn as it controlled a quill and an empty journal at her side. She glanced back at her friends and saw the unease on their faces; she felt it, too. Though she was learning much about this new world, she decided that she had learned enough for today. In an effort to ease her mind, she clapped her journal shut and dismissed the two objects from the world. They all walked in silence until reaching the enchanted platform, continuing their silence as it ascended from under the ground and came to a stop back inside the palace. The sun had set while they were away, the stone corridors now awash with artificial torchlight glowing from their Magicite sconces.

"Ah, that took longer than I thought it would," Rael'ia sighed. A flash of bright purple light enveloped the group, rematerializing them within the palace's dining hall. Though set for at least twenty people to dine together, the long, wooden table in the center of the room was barren of food. A familiar little Fairy sat on one of the cushioned chairs, fluttering upwards at the sight of her Princess.

"Oh, there you are, Rae!" Zina smiled. "Shall I tell the cooks to get dinner started? Any special requests from your friends?" Rael'ia nodded and looked to her companions, inviting them to answer. Twilight and the others shook their heads out of politeness, though Spike glanced around the room.

"Well... some gems would be nice if you have them," the little dragon answered sheepishly after a few moments. "Rubies, sapphires... and emeralds. Especially emeralds."

"Of course!" Zina beamed as she took notes on a sheet of Arcane paper as big as herself. "Dragon-kin do love their gems, after all. Anything else? Please, don't be shy!"

"Oh, nah, we ain't picky," Applejack waved her hoof. "Whatever y'all are having is just fine."

"If you insist. I'll get that started right away!" Zina sent the paper away with a small burst of magic before teleporting herself away as well. The group wandered or sat around the room as they waited, though Twilight found herself drawn to the open balcony beyond the head of the table. As she gazed upward at the night sky, she gasped at the sight. The cloudless night gave her a clear view of a large, white moon, a thin, ethereal, silver halo around it. The stars above glittered like jewels amongst an ocean of dark azure, very much like the night Princess Luna ruled over back home. But as she gazed longer, she saw the stars slowly moving, some faster than others, as if pushed by a gentle wind. They swirled in a counterclockwise direction, and in the center of the astral whirlpool was a perfect circle of pitch black, the size of a ladybug. Rael'ia walked up behind her, smiling slightly at the curious Alicorn.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" she spoke softly.

"You're... awfully close to a black hole," Twilight said with concern. "Um, how do I explain this simply... it's a region of spacetime exhibiting such unbelievably strong gravitational effects that-"

"Not even light can escape it, I know," Rael'ia chuckled. "We've all known what it is for centuries now. But the black hole, you see how dark it is compared to the rest of the sky? Our old religion told that that hole is the entrance to the Void, and the stars are the souls of our ancestors past and future. And our moon, it was said to be the Lunar god, Lunos. And the sun, of course, the Solar god Celestos Soleus." She looked over to Twilight, who still gazed at the sky with trepidation. "...Ah, yes. We've also studied the more scientific aspects of our night sky thoroughly. Though the stars may be drawn slowly towards it, the black hole seems to not affect this world. Something about the ley lines deep within the world keeping it anchored within the emptiness around the Void... you'd have to ask Aternus, he knows more about that sort of thing than I do. Yet the Void-Seers somehow commune with those very stars, receiving prophecies and premonitions. And so far, they've been right every time... perhaps not as straightforward as interpreted, but still correct."

"Interesting," Twilight breathed. "This truly is a completely different universe, isn't it?" Rael'ia nodded silently, and they quietly gazed at the sky until at last, in a flash of light, a fabulous array of food and drink blinked into existence upon the table, a bowl of shining gemstones being the centerpiece.

~

Just a few hours after dinner, Rael'ia prepared to settle into her own bed for the first time in months. Clothed in a short-sleeved tunic of translucent blue silk, she slipped underneath the embroidered covers and laid her body still.

There's nothing quite like your own bed, she silently thought and let out a content sigh. The mattress and pillows were enchanted to always remain perfectly cool, and the tiny Magicite beads sewn onto the gauzy canopy above and around her bed twinkled like stars, emitting just a touch of light into the darkness. It wasn't long before she drifted off to sleep.

Her dreams took her to a dark place, one she had been able to blissfully will away back in Equestria. It was the first battle after her brother had fallen to the first Angel... well, more like a massacre. Filled with unfathomable grief and rage, she had ordered an attack on the closest Human settlement, regardless of strategical importance or threat level. She and her men attacked at the crack of dawn, easily cutting down those who tried their best to defend their homes and families while she herself unleashed a terrifying barrage of magic at the stone walls.

"The Humans will pay dearly for what they have done!" she screamed as her eyes glowed like suns and the walls exploded into rubble. A swath of destruction tore a straight line through the small town, obliterating everything her magic came into contact with, leaving naught but smoldering earth behind. As the last defender fell, her men rushed through the gaping hole she had created. "Kill everyone you find inside! Spare no one! Your Princess will have her vengeance!" she snarled as she began razing everything she could see to the ground. Her people willingly obeyed, razing, pillaging, murdering.

"Die, you rabbit-spawn! You are nothing to us!"

"Short-lived filth! Like dust in the wind!"

"You will pay for the death of our Prince!"

The sun was high in the sky now, and the town was utterly destroyed. What buildings hadn't been lit on fire were already smoldering ruins. Corpses of men, women and children littered the streets, and the streets ran red with streams of blood. Shops were ransacked, valuables were looted, livestock were slaughtered where they stood for the feast to come later in the day. Rael'ia walked defiantly down one of the blood-soaked alleyways, pleased with the destruction she had wrought. The sight of such carnage brought an evil grin to her face. Her parents, her brother would have been pleased.

Suddenly, a quiet whimper brought her attention to the burned out remains of a house to her right. As she charged up her hand with fierce magic, she peeked over a ruined wall to find the source of the noise. What she saw made her pause: a Human boy, no older than four or five, clothed in bloodied rags was tugging futilely at the dress of a badly singed female body, his mother. She laid beneath the charred body of a man; both of them had perished in fear, their faces wide-eyed and their mouths agape in mid-scream. The stuffed brown bear the child held in his other hand dragged along the floor, slowly soaking in blood.

"Mommy... mommy... please get up..."

In an instant, Rael'ia's icy heart shattered. This child had just suffered the same fate she had suffered. All he knew and loved had been unfairly ripped away from him, for no fault of his own. She staggered back in horror; overwhelming guilt made her body heavy, and she sank to her knees. Tears welled in her eyes as she realized the unnecessary pain and sorrow she had inflicted. This child once had a family, just as she did. And she had cruelly taken that away from him, never to be returned. She, at least, had the faint hope that her own mother yet lived. Who was she to punish the innocent?

"Ah, one got away, it seems." One of her infantry approached from behind her, having heard the crying. "Don't you fret, Princess, I'll fix that-"

Rael'ia grabbed his leg as the soldier walked past, and he stopped immediately.

"...Leave him," she finally spoke, trying her hardest to sound stoic and firm while hiding her own sobs. "In fact... tell the others to return to camp. We are finished here."

"Eh? You sure about that? It's just a child... his death won't make any difference-"

"I said leave him," she growled. "Do you dare defy your Princess?"

"No, of course not, your Highness," the soldier nervously stammered as he backed away with haste. He ran out of view shouting the order to leave as Rael'ia stared at the ground, watching tears drip down and moisten the earth. She sat there until there was nothing but silence, the sobbing eventually ceasing entirely. She was the last one to leave.

~

Without awakening fully, Rael'ia broke herself out of her dream. She felt a cold sweat all over her tense body, and her stomach was a bottomless pit. That was the day she had sworn to find a better way to end the war, the day she had pledged to find a peaceful solution, so those like that innocent Human child would never feel the way she had felt. Never again.

She allowed herself to relax and drift back into slumber. She now had the means to end the war without much more unnecessary blood spilled. Though she would feel this pain for the rest of her life, the burden felt just a little lighter.

This war would end with harmony. With peace.

Meetings

A few days passed before Rael'ia was finally able to assemble the leaders of the other Magikin in her alliance. While a couple had been close by, others had come from clear across the land. Today, they had agreed to come together and discuss their strategies at the great war table in the center of the Elven Princess's throne room. Twilight, Spike and the other ponies sat nearby on some cushions, the Alicorn showing the greatest interest in the new, strange faces she met that day. Her conjured quill scribbled furiously in her journal as she took in all she saw.

First, to Rael'ia's left sat Fairy King Zweile. Twilight had long wondered if the Fairies served a rather subservient role in the Elven Kingdom, but the Princess had assured her that wasn't the case. The Fairies once had a kingdom of their own, but due to their average height of one foot and their reliance on Arcane magic, they were largely ineffective in the fight against the Nullium-armored Humans. Fairy warriors were a rarity among them, let alone a skilled one. Yet instead of standing idly by, the Fairies volunteered to assist the other Magikin in any way they could. Their royal family had then relocated to the tree that grew out of the mountain just outside the palace, and lived in charming little treehouses built throughout its branches.

Zweile exuded a sense of poise and royalty despite his size. Sitting on a pile of gold-embroidered cushions, he wore a robe of deep purple silk and tiny white tufts of fur, with the tiniest of Magicite cabochons adorning the silver crown that sat upon his short black hair. His buglike eyes were an almost black shade of blue, light reflecting off of them with the tiniest of twinkles. Hanging from the sash around his waist was a scepter the size of a cherry, forged from silver and glowing brightly with more Magicite.

Skymaster Skrye sat beside him, having turned her chair around so she leaned forward, resting her arms on the top of its back. She was the military leader of the Harpies, an avian race that made their home in the Silent Forest surrounding Rael'ia's home. Though all Harpies had plumage rivaling the loveliest of birds, Skrye seemed to sparkle with beauty and radiance. Sky blue feathers covered the majority of her body; her face, her chest down to her inner thighs and her inner arms left tan-skinned and bare. Long white feathers grew from the top of her head like a cockatiel, falling to the left side of her head, while the rest of her scalp was blue. Her eyes, a golden amber and vertical black slits for pupils, pierced into her very soul as they had met. Due to the massive wings that grew from her arms, as well as her long, beautiful tail of white, Skrye's clothing was rather scant, consisting of little more than a beige bikini top and a similarly-colored loincloth. Magicite gemstones enchanted with Lightning magic lined the edges of her clothing, and her long, slender halberd that leaned against a distant wall sparked with blue static that harmlessly fizzled out when it came into contact with the stone.

Rainbow Dash had found Skrye particularly "cool", and chatted with her before the meeting began. From them, Twilight had gained insight into Harpy culture. Nearly entirely female, they reproduced by wandering the land until finding a suitable mate. Though compatible with most of the other races present they greatly preferred Humans, who generally fell head-over-heels in love or lust at the sight of their beauty. (These days however, due to the war, if a Harpy wanted a Human mate, they ended up abducting and raping them nine times out of ten.) After successfully copulating the Harpy would lay a speckled egg rather than a plain one, and they would return home to their elaborate nests, although they would remain with their mate if they had truly fallen in love with each other. The egg would be incubated by the mother while the entire village banded together to provide her with whatever she needed until it hatched. An especially large celebration would be thrown if the Harpy chick turned out to be a male; the birth of a male Harpy was seen as a great omen, and other Harpies would practically throw themselves at him when he became of breeding age. Twilight couldn't help but note the race as savage, given their mating practices and cannibalism involving their own unfertilized eggs, but as a sort of dignitary she kept an open mind.

Warmaster Dovah sat beside her, his size and weight nearly snapping the chair's legs right off. The warchief of the Orcs struck an imposing figure, standing nearly nine feet tall and covered in muscle. He had skin the color of moss, black hair cut short in a militaristic style, his bottom canine teeth were as large as dragon claws and stuck out from his mouth, and one of his brown eyes was covered by a leather eye patch. He was clothed in gigantic plates of armor hewn from metal, Nature-enchanted Magicite, various animal hides, bones and teeth, his pauldrons being comically gigantic even for his shoulders and decorated with the tusks of a very large creature. A stone club the size of two ponies standing on top of each other rested against his chair, and lying beside a fire pit on the other side of the room was a truly gigantic moose.

When he had first arrived, Dovah had done something Twilight never expected: at the very sight of Fluttershy, the Orc had let out a shrill squeal, scooped her up in his arms and squeezed. "By the gods, you are Pony-kin! A yellow Pony-kin! Oh, you are just. Adorable!" he cried as he nuzzled and cuddled her terrified friend. His moose companion, Breyva, ran into the room and tackled both of them to the ground, licking their faces. After the initial shock, Fluttershy grew used to the gentle cuddling this monstrous green creature provided and allowed herself to relax.

Ocean Mistress Morganna sat in the last seat. Being a Siren, she kept a large bubble of water around her head to stay comfortable. Her skin was the color of seaweed, her hair resembling thick, flowing kelp. One small lock of hair hung in front of her forehead, just above her azure eyes and thick eyelashes. Her "nose" was really two gill slits, and her mouth held a full smile of shark teeth. Her ears took the form of graceful, gauze-like fins the size of conch shells. Fins also stuck out from her forearms and calves, and her hands and feet were webbed. Like Skrye she was also scantily clad, in the tattered remains of an aquamarine gown. The top held on by a single shoulder strap, it was ripped in the middle to show her abdomen, and the bottom had been tied around her waist by thin strips and barely came down to her knees in places. The only adornment on her body was a faceted red jewel that grew from the bottom of her throat - the source of a Siren's singing powers - though a golden trident encrusted with Water-enchanted Magicite gems hung from her back, clanging occasionally on the edge of the chair.

Twilight hadn't been able to learn much about Morganna or her people, as she was very reserved and quiet. She had told her, however, that the Sirens ruled the oceans surrounding Fae and had only joined the Magikin Alliance after the Humans began dumping the slag and waste from their forges and factories into their domain. Nullifite slag in particular had proven deadly to them, so they fought by preventing as many ships full of reinforcements from ever reaching Fae's shores. Their natural born Water magic gave them the ability to create storms and tidal waves, sinking many Humans into their demise. Despite their clear advantage, though, even they couldn't sink every ship, and they were powerless against airborne transports.

Pyrocitus was the only one not seated at the table, but he stuck his head in from the carved windows above, as his size wouldn't allow him to fit through. He was one of the last Dragons to remain in Fae; most had flown over the Impassable Mountains long ago. From what Twilight could see, he was covered in blood red scales, with burnt sienna scales covering his neck and chest. The horns on his head and the spikes lining his back were a dark gold, and his mouth was full of fangs that dripped with smoke. His dark green eyes had been surprised to see Spike, and he had commented on his small stature. When Twilight asked what he meant, Pyrocitus explained that dragon eggs, in this land, were the size of marbles and had an iridescence like green pearls. A clutch of eggs were buried along with a small pile of gold and gems, which caused Humans to seek them out and drive them to near-extinction. Those that remained undiscovered hatched beneath the earth and survived for a time on the buried treasure until they finally emerged, being no bigger than a gecko. They scavenged and did their best to survive until their flame sacs developed and their wings grew out at the approximate age of ten, when they should have grown to the size of a cat. He then guessed at Spike's age, incredulous when told he was wrong. But he conceded that perhaps Dragon-kin from Equestria had evolved to grow differently over the years, and the little dragon had a very long time to grow big and strong and wise. Dragons could live for centuries, after all; their Dragon Lord was over a thousand and three-hundred years old.

After greetings and other pleasantries had finished, Rael'ia gently rapped on the table to gather their attention. "Thank you all for coming on such short notice. As you may have heard, my Archmage banished me to another universe just a few days ago, when it was feared I would be killed. Inadvertently, it just so happened that the universe I traveled to was the very destination of the Pony-kin spirited away when Ponyopolis and its surrounding kingdom was lost. It was there I met the very Alicorns Starswirl sought to create, and it was there I met Twilight and her friends, who hold the lost Elements of Harmony within them." The other leaders murmured amongst themselves, the realization of old legends becoming truth.

"The holy relics of the Pony-kin? They still exist?" Dovah grunted in surprise. "They were said to dispel all negative emotions felt throughout all of Fae!"

"Yes," Rael'ia gestured to each pony in turn. "The Elements of Magic, Kindness, Loyalty, Honesty, Generosity and Laughter all live on within their very beings. With their help, I believe I have found a way to finally end this long war. Together, with all of your help, we can recreate those holy relics, reconsecrate the summit of the Crystal Mountain and restore Harmony to our land!"

"And... how will this end the war?" Skrye asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow.

"Ever since their disappearance, the Humans grew colder and crueler with every passing year. With Harmony restored, so too will their negative emotions be wiped away! They will no longer have any reason to fight! There will be no more unnecessary blood spilled!"

For many moments, the room was silent. Finally, Morganna sighed.

"That... is quite possibly the worst plan I've ever heard." Rael'ia's face fell.

"...What do you mean?"

"The Humans are nothing but murderous filth! They care nothing for any of us," the Siren spat.

"Agreed. They pollute our waters, ravage our lands, shoot us out of the skies with smiles on their faces!" shouted Skrye. "There's no Harmony or anything good left in them."

"They all deserve a merciless death. Nothing less," Morganna nodded, her eyes closed and her arms crossed.

"But she has a good point!" said Dovah. "The Humans were always peaceful with all of us up until then! And it took decades before their emotions fully got the better of them and they began attacking us!"

"We had peace for centuries! Millenia!" Zweile added. Skrye let out a disgusted snort.

"Oh, spare me. The Humans always hated us! They were always jealous of our magical abilities. The disappearance of the Pony-kin just gave them an excuse to start killing us all! They were the only ones that could convince them that our magic wasn't worth killing us over, but once their precious, cutesy little toys vanished, all bets were off."

"Hey, you aren't blaming us, are you?!" Rainbow Dash shouted angrily. "Not our fault we all exploded off the face of the earth!"

"Quiet, you," Applejack hissed as she jerked Rainbow back down into her seat.

"The disappearance of the Elements of Harmony was simply an excuse to allow insanity to take them over. Bringing them back to this world won't change anything," Morganna glared at the blue pegasus. "They've always been dishonorable, unkind, untrustworthy, unsavory, and unnecessary to our world. Now they're too far gone to be saved."

"Bah. You say that only because you've had the least exposure to the Humans in the past," Dovah waved his hand dismissively. "Safe under a shield of fathoms, thinking you're so much better than the rest of us landwalkers."

"Hm... can't help it if we are," Morganna sneered.

"The Humans were once just as honorable as any of us!" Zweile argued. His voice buzzed slightly, reminding Twilight of a Breezy. "They kept their word, never cheated us at our trades, always acted with rationality. Many times in the past, they were even our mediators, and both sides always got a fair deal! The decline of their behavior has been clearly linked to the loss of the Elements!"

"Says who?" Skrye pouted.

"Says those of us who actually practice the magical sciences. Unlike you savage lot..." Zweile muttered under his breath, although not low enough for Skrye's sharp ears to pick up.

"Hey! We aren't savages! We practice magical science, too!" the Harpy screeched.

"Perhaps if you call picking apart the muscles of a Human body to eat 'science'," Dovah chuckled smugly. "And the little one's right, the Humans were often our voice of reason and compromise long ago. They had their place in our world just as much as the rest of us. If Harmony is restored to them, then Harmony will be restored to all of us."

Skrye flippantly rolled her eyes. "Pfft, stinky nature-loving bark sniffer," she grumbled as she shook her head.

"What was that, birdbrain?" the Orc insulted right back.

"Look at you two, arguing like children," said Morganna, shaking her head slowly with a smirk. "This is why our people didn't join your little alliance at first."

"Because you're all a bunch of stuck-up, spoiled snakeskins?" Zweile retorted. Yellow, green, blue and purple magic began glowing in each leader's hands as they glared angrily at each other. Rael'ia sighed and let her forehead knock quietly on the table.

"Are my people the only sensible ones left...?" she groaned in exasperation. In her heart, Twilight was disgusted by this show of disharmony, and as she decided to put her hoof down, her horn pulsed with light and her wings flared outwards.

"ENOUGH!!!" Attempting her best Royal Canterlot Voice, her command reverberated throughout the room. The four arguing leaders immediately fell silent and stared at the Alicorn in surprise. "You four are supposed to be the leaders of your races, supposed to be an alliance against the Humans, and this is the way you treat each other?! How did you even last this long?" she scolded.

"Unprofessional," Rarity tutted, shaking her head in sassy disapproval.

"All those people you rule look up to you for guidance and reassurance, ah'm sure," added Applejack. "How'll y'all hope to succeed if y'all keep fightin' like this?" Chastised, the four leaders sat back down in their seats, scowling at the table. After a few moments of silence, Dovah shifted in his chair, producing a creak.

"The Pony-kin are right. We gain nothing if we fight amongst ourselves. The Humans have advanced as far as they have because we cannot cooperate. We must all work together to end this war, and I, for one, wish to end it with Harmony."

Rael'ia, having raised her head back up, smiled. "You will stand with me then, Warmaster?"

"I do," he nodded once. "The Orc-kin stand with you, Princess Rael'ia of the Elf-kin."

"The Fairy-kin stand with you as well," Zweile crossed his arms and grinned devilishly at the other two leaders. "And that makes the decision stand three-to-two." Skrye and Morganna glanced at each other, both seemingly unmoved by this declaration.

Rael'ia sighed deeply after waiting for a response. "Fine, if this doesn't work, we'll eradicate the Humans from our lands with zero mercy or quarter, without considering any more alternatives. Happy?" The Harpy and Siren silently conferred with each other, finally sighing themselves.

"All right... the Harpy-kin stand with you," Skrye bowed her head in acceptance.

"As do the Siren-kin," Morganna added with a shrug of resignation. "What about you, oh wise Pyrocitus?" Everyone looked towards the silent Dragon above, his eyes closed deep in thought. His first response was a slow, noncommittal hum, which irritated the two more impetuous leaders.

"...The wisdom and mercy of your decision is noble, indeed. Yes. The Dragon-kin shall stand with you as well, young Elf," he finally replied.

"Alright, now that that's over," Rael'ia relaxed in her seat. "I have already outlined a plan to see this to fruition. First, with the help of the Fairy-kin, new receptacles must be crafted to hold the essence of the Elements of Harmony. To accomplish this, I will lead a party of Mages and Gemcutters to the epicenter of the White Wastes, to glean as much information about the original relics as possible. Then, after the receptacles have been crafted, we must retake the Crystal Mountain-"

"Are you crazy?" Skrye cried. "The Humans have one of their most heavily reinforced settlements there! It'd take months to break through!"

"Then we must lay siege to the Humans long enough for the ritual of restoration to be completed at the mountain's summit," said Rael'ia. "It will take all our concentration, we must not be disturbed until the Tree of Harmony has finished growing and entwines the Elements within its branches once again. When Harmony has been restored to Fae, the war will finally end."

"Oh, something will end, alright," Morganna grumbled under her breath. Rael'ia scowled in her direction but decided not to say what she was thinking at the moment.

"Well, that's all. I will remain in close contact with you all to update you on our plans. If anyone else does not wish to say something, then this meeting is adjourned." The other leaders shook their heads or had nothing to say, and so Rael'ia nodded and stood from her seat, watching as the others got up or flew away, collected their belongings and companion animal and left. A pit of unease dwelled within Twilight's stomach.

"Hm... you think this'll really work, Rael'ia? They didn't really seem all that into peace."

The Elven Princess sighed. "I sure hope it does. The lack of Harmony is starting to affect them as well, it seems."

"'Starting to'?" Rarity coughed. "I daresay they're the least harmonious bunch I've met in years."

"Are... are you sure they'll go along with your plan?" asked Fluttershy.

"They're bound to their word now. Though perhaps I should've made them all do a Pinkie Promise, eh?" Rael'ia smiled weakly at Pinkie Pie, who began pantomiming the act of shoving a cupcake into her right eye with a wide grin.

Culture studies

A new day had dawned, sunlight slowly crawling across Rael'ia's face as she slept at her bedroom desk. The light burned her eyes open, she stretched and yawned uncomfortably. She looked down at the paperwork used as a pillow, frowning as her hand glowed blue; the old drool on one of the sheets gently rising into the air before evaporating away. An image of Zina flashed and steadied to her left, greeting her and asking if there was anything she could do. Rael'ia quickly looked over the paperwork; though all personnel she wished to accompany her on the trip to the White Wastes were accounted for, some reagents needed for the journey were in low supply. She asked Zina to procure the missing materials, to which she nodded and sent out her Arcane notes. Zina then informed her that breakfast was ready, and the Void-Seers had finished their ritual on the poor soul that had powered the fallen Angel, and funerary rites could now begin. As her image dissipated, Rael'ia stood up and made her way to the royal bath. Today would be a great day to introduce Twilight and her friends to Elven culture and society.

Two hours later, Rael'ia lead the ponies and dragon to a nearby building. Crafted of dark marble and glittering with carefully-applied Magicite dust, they stood before the Temple of the Void. All outside light seemed to vanish into nonexistence as they crossed the threshold, the only light coming from small Magicite torches and ethereal, silvery wisps softly floating in the air. Within the large, domed chamber of the temple, a collection of black-robed Elves, Fairies and the odd Harpy or two sat on stone benches surrounding another Elf that stood before a raised pool. The Elf wore hooded robes of deepest black, mirroring the substance in the pool: an incredible, unknowable blackness that seemed like it was liquid, solid and gaseous all at once. He slipped the hood off his head, revealing short black hair and sunken eyes that seeped with the same silvery wisps throughout the chamber.

"Ah, Princess," he smiled warmly, though his pallor cut through the warmth like a bucket of ice water. "It is good to see you again. Our last prophecy seems to have served you well."

"I suppose it has," Rael'ia nodded rather emotionlessly. "Though if I'm going to end up banished to another universe for near half a year, I'd like to know about it first." The Elf laughed.

"Such is the way of the Void, dear Princess... our ancestors often speak of ideas beyond our wildest dreams."

"'A battle made long, yet short, to pave the way to the future' seemed pretty straightforward to me. Anyway, I am here to return the body to his family. If you would, Void-Master?"

"Of course," the Elf nodded, leading the way with a pointed arm. As Rael'ia accompanied him to a nearby room, Twilight and her friends leaned their heads toward the pool of blackness in curiosity.

"Is this... the Void?" the Alicorn asked tentatively.

"It is but merely a thread in the great fabric of the Void," one of the robed figures answered. Not satisfied with that answer, Rainbow Dash stuck out a hoof and neared the pool.

"NO!" another figure shouted, startling the pegasus and causing her to retract her hoof. "To touch the Void is to know all that was, all that will ever be, and all that which should not be! Such knowledge would drive any mere mortal to madness!"

"So... you just stare at it, then?" Spike cocked his head to one side.

"Yes. Stare into the Void, and should it choose, the Void stares back... deep into your very being," a third figure nodded slowly.

"No, stare into the Void, and it says 'hi'!" Pinkie Pie giggled, muffled slightly. All heads turned to the pink pony, and all eyes widened in shock as they found her head completely submerged in the blackness. After a few seconds she threw her head back, darkness splashing and dripping from her mane like water and evaporating into nothing. "He's actually really nice, and it smells like mint frosting in there!"

Silence permeated the air until the first robed figure cried out. "She... she has seen the Void! The Void allowed her to see its true form!"

"Wait a minute," the second figure spoke apprehensively. "...Its a 'he'?"

"Yep! At least for the rest of this era, he feels like switching things up in the next few centuries or so," Pinkie Pie replied matter-of-factly. It was only then she realized that her friends and the Void-Seers were staring at her as if she had just unleashed her party cannon inside the sacred chamber. "...What?"

"No one has ever found favor with the Void so quickly!" the Void-Master stared incredulously. "Young Pony-kin, if you would, you must remain with us and teach us your ways! We could learn much from you!"

"I... uh... I guess I could hang out with you guys for a while," Pinkie replied nervously, tapping her hooves together. She looked to Rael'ia, who shrugged and sighed with a smile.

"If you wish, Pinkie. You all don't have to remain with me all the time, go ahead and explore. There are many aspects of my world I would love to share with you all, but you'd be limited if you hung around me and my Princess duties all day long."

"Well, alrighty then!" Pinkie exclaimed as Spike and the other ponies left to accompany Rael'ia and the Void-Master. "So, um... how do you all feel about mint frosting?"

~

The desiccated corpse lying on the Magicite slab seemed as if he had found peace at last. Twisted and tortured before, he now lay as if sleeping, a white sheet gently draped over his body and leaving his head exposed. Records and DNA tests had revealed his identity: Runas, from the minor House of Leafwhisper, who had been missing for over eight years. Two female and two male Elves, dressed in black and dark blue and one of each younger than the other, stood a few feet away sobbing quietly; his close family that had finally found closure. The Void-Master gave a short eulogy, then Rael'ia posthumously honored the fallen Elf and swore that he and those like him that surely remained would be avenged. After the final goodbye, the Magicite slab gradually glowed to a brilliant red, and the corpse was suddenly awash with flames, totally consumed. Once the corpse was reduced to ash, the flames died down, and the younger of the female Elves carefully swept the ashes into a small, elaborately-carved wooden box.

"Thank you again, Princess, for finding my dear husband," her voice shivered as she bowed deeply. Rael'ia bowed in return, lowering her head.

"Of course. I only wish we could have found him alive."

"I'd always feared the worst. But now he's home, thanks to you. The House of Leafwhisper will always be grateful to you, Your Highness." After another deep bow the family slowly walked, almost floating like ghosts as they left the temple. The Void-Master left immediately after.

Rael'ia sighed. "Good, that's over with now."

"So, what happens now?" Rainbow Dash asked with as much delicacy as she could muster.

"They will take the ashes to the family copse in the Silent Forest, and bury them there beneath a sapling, as is our custom," the Elven Princess replied, her eyes remaining closed. "In that forest, the trees are our gravestones, and the spirits of our ancestors live on within them. Thankfully, Humans have great difficulty navigating that forest and finding their way here, but all Magikin can pass through with ease... the spirits whisper to them, guiding their way."

"...I mean, what else are you doing today?" the pegasus spoke after an uncomfortable silence.

"Oh," Rael'ia's eyes opened. "Well... other royal duties, I suppose. Signing papers, making appearances, try to improve the lives of those in my kingdom... pretty standard stuff, really. The only thing I really look forward to today is speaking with Master Gemcutter Ezri."

"Ooh, perhaps I could accompany you?" Rarity's face lit up. "After hearing you positively gush about her all this time, I'd quite like to meet her myself!"

"Sure, if you'd like. But the rest of you need not accompany me if you don't want to. Please, explore and do whatever you wish... in fact, Rainbow, Skrye and the other military leaders haven't left for their lands just yet if you'd like to talk more," she smirked, knowing that the ambitious blue pegasus had taken a liking to her.

"Oh, cool! I've been wondering just how fast she is," Rainbow's voice trailed off as she flew out of the room. Applejack chuckled.

"Ya know, ah have been wantin' to talk to those Orcs... ah'd like to know how they can 'parently grow plants underground," she said as she began to trot towards the exit.

"Um... mind if I come with you, Applejack?" asked Fluttershy, a slight blush on her cheeks.

"Of course, sugarcube," she replied as the two ponies left the room together. Twilight, Spike and Rarity remained with Rael'ia as they left together, making their way across the temple's main chamber as Pinkie Pie explained to an enraptured audience the merits of all minty sweets.

"Golden dawn brings the dusk of an empire," the Void-Master whispered, barely loud enough for the Elven Princess to hear.

"Hm? What's that supposed to mean?" Rael'ia's eyes narrowed apprehensively.

"Just bringing you a message from the Void," the Void-Master answered. No trace of an emotion could be found on his face as he curtly nodded and walked away, leaving the Elven Princess to deeply ponder whatever meaning he could have had.

~

Her three companions always close behind, Rael'ia found her royal duties took mercifully less time than normal. Twilight had a truly incredible talent for quickly understanding bills and petitions and summarizing them in a few sentences, tiny fine print included. And the few noblemen and officials she met with seemed to not wish to bore her guests, although she sensed the lavender Alicorn wouldn't have minded at all. Finally a break between meetings presented itself, and she motioned for her friends to come close.

She teleported the group to another part of her mountain home, deeper into the earth. They reappeared within a massive cavern, the terraced floors and walls a damp brown and lit with countless glowing crystals that sprouted from the walls. Down below on lower levels, they could see Fairies and their flashes of Arcane magic as they harvested Magicite from veins in the walls. Crates full of crystals were then levitated up towards a row of other Fairies sitting at strange machines. Twilight watched as a Fairy gently lifted a crystal from one of the crates and set it into the center of the machine: it resembled a small round table at first, but as the Fairy pressed a button, four brass-colored rings dotted with white rose from within the borders of the table and surrounded the now-floating crystal. The Fairy deftly turned a few knobs and the rings surrounded the crystal as if it were a planet. Purple beams of light shot out from the white parts of the rings and shaped the crystal as they spun wildly around it. A few moments later and the final product - a perfectly faceted Magicite jewel - sparkled in the light. A female Fairy took hold of it; this one was very much not like the others who worked here. This Fairy wore a sleek red turtleneck dress that came down to her mid-thighs, decorated with a single Magicite diamond near the bottom right of the hem. She wore enchanted leather gloves like her subordinates, clashing with her black leggings and boots. Her blue-gray hair was combed into thick, blunt bangs and pinned into a tight bun on the left side of her head, decorated with a chopstick with red jewels dangling from it. Her eyes, a deep, blackish green, widened slightly at the sight of her royal company.

"Ah, Princess! Good to see you," she spoke warmly. "And these must be some of the Pony-kin I've been hearing about... and the young Dragon-kin, too."

"Yes, hello!" Rael'ia nodded. "Friends, this is Master Gemcutter Ezri. Ezri, this is Princess Twilight Sparkle, Rarity and Spike."

"Charmed," Ezri smiled and bowed slightly.

"Rael'ia has told us all about you!" Rarity praised, pressing a hoof to her chest. "I've been dying to meet you ever since, she says your skill in gem faceting is unmatched!"

"Oh my, stop," Ezri giggled as her hand fanned downward. "Though I wouldn't be the Master if it weren't true, of course."

"Have you received my friends' armor and my instructions?" asked Rael'ia.

"Yes, and I must say, your faceting work is coming along nicely," Ezri flitted towards a long table with each of her friends' sets of armor lying on its surface, picking up Rainbow Dash's helmet. "You said you only had my Field Faceting spell to work with, but I daresay you've mastered the technique! Perhaps it is time to start thinking about your Craftsman rank test?"

Rael'ia's eyes lit up at the thought of advancement, but quickly regained composure. "I would love to! But I'm afraid there are more pressing matters to attend to first."

"Ah, yes, the excursion into the White Wastes... well, after that, then. I'm prepared to go whenever you're ready, Princess. As for the upgrades for your friends' armor, my other Guild members are already well on their way through the order. For your friend Fluttershy, I shall cut those myself from the finest Magicite in stock."

"Wonderful," Rael'ia clapped her hands together. "I have nothing but the utmost confidence in your abilities, Master."

"Of course, of course," Ezri nodded, then turned to the white Unicorn. "So, Rarity, correct? I really must commend you on these sets of Dragonscale armor. I'm not aware of many other Fairies that could match your quality."

"Oh, it was nothing," Rarity preened. "After all, what kind of high-end clothing designer would I be if they weren't of the finest quality?"

"Ah, you're a designer! I think I see why you're so interested in my work," Ezri smirked.

"Yes, well... I'm always looking to collaborate with equally-talented individuals such as yourself... perhaps I could give you a hoof with socketing these new jewels, and perhaps learn a thing or two from you?"

"I don't see why not," the Fairy agreed, holding back a chuckle from Rarity's wide grin. The white Unicorn giddily pranced over to the table with Ezri, eager to begin. "Well, if that is all, I suppose I have a new student to train," she called back to Rael'ia.

"Yes, that's all for now. I shall return later tonight, after being away from an Arcane Faceter for so long, I'll need the practice," the Princess bowed. The teacher and the student waved goodbye for a moment before Rael'ia teleported herself, Twilight and Spike away to continue their day.

The White Wastes

Twilight couldn't help but stare at the flurry of commotion around her. Elves and Fairies darted to and fro, gathering last-minute supplies and reagents for the journey ahead. Though there were a few Elven soldiers present, most of the others appeared to be scientists and students, wishing to take this opportunity to learn more about the great white void they would soon visit. As her friends watched the activity around them, Rael'ia, flanked on either side by Aternus and Ezri, finally entered the room.

"Ah, wonderful, everyone is here," the Elven Princess smiled. "Is everyone ready for the excursion?"

"All set!" Rainbow Dash nodded. Aternus snapped his fingers, producing a vial of white liquid out of a puff of purple sparks. More vials suddenly appeared in the same fashion a split-second later, floating delicately in front of everyone present. The ponies and little dragon watched as the Elves and Fairies each grabbed their vials and drank the contents.

"This is simply a dose of Anti-Magic Sickness Prevention potion," said Rael'ia before finishing the rest of her vial with a gulp and a grimace. "It'll prevent nausea and the total loss of magical abilities while we're there. Because of what happened there... well, you'll see." This was enough to encourage her friends to tentatively drink their vials. Twilight studied the taste in her mouth: like a combination of marshmallow roots and wet flour with a mild burning sensation towards the end, like pepper seeds.

"Everyone take their potions?" Aternus asked, satisfied by the nods of everyone present. "Then let's get this expedition underway. Please stand in the center of the room, make sure nothing you don't want to lose is sticking over the lines."

Now Twilight's attention turned to her surroundings once more. The floor had white lines painted on it in a large triangle shape, with a standing sconce at each point. Each sconce held an egg-shaped chunk of Magicite that had foreign runes carved into each facet. Everybody began to pack themselves into the center of the triangle, peeking down frequently to make sure nothing went over the lines.

"Alright, everyone, we are porting in 3... 2... 1..."

~

Twilight felt herself nearly overwhelmed by nausea the instant she reappeared. She gasped for air as her eyes were blinded by the sheer whiteness of what she saw. They had reappeared in the middle of a vast, shimmering expanse, empty of everything save for the occasional dead tree and ruined building, stark white as well. Applejack nervously walked towards a fallen tree branch as the others took in their surroundings, recoiling as she touched and watched it crumble into dust in the wind.

"Oh, dear, I feel ill," Rarity groaned as she dropped to her knees. Twilight wanted to go to her, but her own rumbling stomach forced her eyes shut. Her mouth grew wet, she began breathing deeply and quickly in an effort to not lose her breakfast. Behind her, Rael'ia held her forehead, also breathing heavily.

"Oogh... Archmage, the extra-strength potion, please," she whimpered. His own eyes nearly squinted shut, Aternus weakly snapped his fingers again, producing another four hovering vials of white liquid. The four afflicted quickly drank the contents; Twilight noted that the wet flour flavor was much more pronounced this time. As soon as the liquid reached her stomach, it settled in an instant and her nausea was gone. She first looked to Rarity, finding her shaking her head and standing back up, seemingly cured. Rael'ia and Aternus both sighed in relief, allowing her to finally feel free to take in her surroundings. The vast whiteness stretched beneath endless blue skies as far as the eye could see. Everyone present stood within a similar triangular area as they had back in the palace, with lines carved into the ivory soil, leading to three similar sconces. However, one of the Magicite chunks had shattered, its pieces lying on the ground and no longer glowing from within, but now a solid, lifeless white. About thirty feet away were a couple yellowed tents and a wooden watchtower, populated by a dozen or so Elven and Fairy soldiers. They seemed to only briefly take notice of the group before turning their attentions elsewhere.

"Darling, what was that?!" Rarity coughed, holding her forehead tentatively.

"Anti-Magic Sickness," Aternus cleared his throat. "When the Alicorns were created, the resulting magical energy from the Elements, as well as all the ambient magic was absorbed into them, draining every last drop of magic from the very land itself. Ever since then, the White Wastes have been devoid of this energy... all magical races begin feeling nauseous upon setting foot here, with worse effects for those with stronger magical abilities. Also," he paused as he pointed to a nearby dirt road with a simple rope fence on the nearer side, "Unless you're within about ten feet of where the land's leylines are deep below, you'll find your own magical abilities... sorely lacking."

"How big is this place?" breathed Rainbow Dash. She found herself needing to flap her wings harder than usual to stay afloat.

"The Pony-kin kingdom was a respectable size," said Rael'ia. "From its center, the White Wastes reach for about two hundred miles in radius. Nothing lives here anymore... nothing can."

"So much dead land..." Applejack remarked sadly. Fluttershy uttered a sorrowful noise as she spied a decaying vulture in the distance.

"Archmage," an Elven soldier interrupted. "One of the teleportation beacons has been expended, we'll replace it immediately." Aternus nodded in response as the soldier and a pair of scientists began digging through a random sack.

"Because of the nature of the area, we can only teleport in and out of here at specific bases, like this one," he explained. "This is the furthest we can go before the lack of magic is just too great to attempt teleportation."

"What happens if you try?" asked Spike.

"Ask him." Rael'ia pointed to a nearby Elven scientist who had a mechanical left arm and right leg, studded with the familiar white crystals. Spike nodded uncomfortably.

"Anyway, it's a long walk to the epicenter," Ezri spoke, pulling on a pair of leather gloves tipped with Magicite. "We'd best get going if you need some new Harmony receptacles."

"Yes, let us begin," Rael'ia stepped forward. "Everyone, let's go!"

~

Twilight and all the others walked, and they walked, and they walked. The soldiers flanked the procession as Rael'ia, Aternus and Ezri led the way. The whiteness of their surroundings hurt her eyes; Twilight's horn flashed pink as she summoned some sunglasses for herself and her friends, her heart leaping into her throat as she realized such a simple spell required as much effort as she would have needed to expend all the way back in Magic Kindergarten. She barely registered the thanks of her companions, it should've only taken half a thought! She was a nigh-immortal demigod now, for Celestia's sake! She realized how little her power seemed to matter here, how she was suddenly reminded of how much power she really had... was supposed to have. And it chilled her to her core. She glanced at Rainbow Dash, who was sweating profusely as she flapped her wings to stay aloft. She turned to Pinkie Pie, who was struggling to maintain her usual gait of hopping and skipping, only managing a slightly-sprightly step. Applejack and Fluttershy trailed slightly behind, silently but stoically, and Spike simply exhaled, offering a weak but welcome breeze against her mane as he fanned himself while riding on her back. A weak pulse of blue light drew her attention to Rarity, trying her hardest to summon a sunhat, squeezing her eyes shut in concentration. Her own magic pulsed and intertwined with hers; a rose-pink hat decorated with feathers and a brim wide enough to shield the white unicorn's entire body with shade finally materialized on her head. Rarity turned and nodded her thanks to Twilight, and they continued to walk.

The morning sun had climbed into the center of the sky by the time the occasional remains of civilization finally disappeared in favor of ground that seemed scorched and turned to glass. The simple dirt road with its rope fence narrowed, the fence ending into simple metal posts driven into the earth every hundred feet or so. The crisp shards of burnt sand and ash crackled under their feet as they walked ever further. Finally, an hour later the level ground became a gentle downwards slope, and the path began its shallow descent. Twilight and her friends' eyes widened at the sight: irregular lines of slightly darker white traveled down the sides of the crater; the lavender Alicorn surmised that these were errant streams of water drawn by gravity. They mixed and pooled into the bottom of the crater, and in the very center lay a tiny black dot, though judging by the distance it was a sooty black starburst as wide as a barrel. She ran the numbers in her head, concluding they had walked an approximate total of fifteen miles. The majority of the Elven soldiers accompanying them now broke off and began marching around the rim of the crater in groups of two, leaving only a couple to walk with them.

At long last, they reached the center. While Rael'ia, Aternus and Ezri assisted the scientists and students in setting up various forms of research and Magicite tools, Twilight dragged herself to a nearby pool of water. A tiny cascade of liquid bubbled down from a pile of rocks, the resulting babble a welcome invitation to the parched. The pool itself shimmered and gleamed like the most beautiful of aquamarines, yet she wondered if water in such an area was safe to drink.

"The water is perfectly fine to drink," Aternus suddenly spoke, as if he'd sensed the question coming. "Doesn't taste very good, though." Exhausted, Rainbow Dash allowed her wings to rest and plopped down into the water, splashing Twilight as her horn glowed. She let out an audible grunt as she willed a scroll of paper and a quill into existence, wanting to do research of her own. Her tongue absentmindedly licked some water off her muzzle and she recoiled at the taste, trying to think of what it reminded her of.

"Bleh!" Rainbow spat as she surfaced violently. Twilight silently agreed with her, the water tasted like denatonium benzoate... extremely bitter, as Rainbow would have asked her to translate her nerdiness. "No wonder nothing can live here!"

"Even the water is tainted here," Ezri sighed. "Don't worry, we brought plenty of normal water with us." Rainbow quickly flew out of the pool and shook herself dry as many of the others began pulling out canteens from their supplies for a well-deserved break. The water tasted as sweet as cider after such a long journey. In moments the canteens were dry, yet the Water-enchanted Magicite within glowed and slowly began regenerating their life-giving contents. Sated, Twilight accompanied Rael'ia and Ezri as they approached the burnt spot in the crater's center. Upon closer inspection she saw that the spot was really two separate bursts of soot close together, staining the otherwise immaculate whiteness. Her eyes widened slightly as the realization hit her: this was the very spot where her beloved princesses Celestia and Luna had been created... born.

"I had always wondered why were there two scorched areas," Rael'ia spoke as Aternus moved to join them. "Now we know for sure what happened here." Twilight laid a hoof in the center of one of the burnt patches. Though the land around them was silent, she could sense the faintest whispers of magic here... chaotic, untamed, and fleeting. She felt a simple memory rushing back to her from her early fillyhood, one of how soft and warm Celestia felt when they touched. Ezri landed in the center of the patches, placing a hand on each one and closing her eyes. The Magicite tips of her gloves glowed intensely.

"Hmm... yes..." she hummed as she closed her eyes in focus. "It's barely there, but I can indeed sense them. Six powerful energies that became two."

"You can recreate the receptacles, yes?" asked Aternus. Ezri nodded as she lifted her eyes.

"It'll take time, but yes. Rael'ia, dear, hand me the materials, would you?" The Elven Princess nodded as her hands glowed with purple light. Six large chunks of perfectly clear Magicite shimmered into existence, floating gently around her before flying towards the Master Gemcutter. They glowed with a sublime light that seemed somehow whiter than their surroundings. Ezri took them up in her own field of magic, selecting one to hover in front of her as the others floated to the side. Her eyes closed as she set one hand down between the burnt patches, the other held up in front of the floating crystal. Tendrils of bright Arcane magic slowly sprouted forth from the ground and wrapped themselves around her hand, writhing around her arm, her back, and to her other arm and hand. As they wrapped around her fingers, the Magicite tips glowed brightly and suddenly shot thin lasers of magic towards the crystal. The lasers soon turned to ropes, writhing with controlled spasms as their tips began to grind and sand and etch the surface. The ponies watched in quiet awe as the crystal slowly transformed into a sphere the size of a grapefruit with thousands of tiny facets. The facets became thousands of prisms that filtered all but one light, forming a core of color that had not been there before. Finally, after about twenty minutes Ezri opened her eyes, levitating the newborn jewel to Rael'ia. Instead of an angelic white, it now glowed a shade of radiant orange to rival the most perfect of sunrises.

"Hey, that's mah Element's color!" Applejack grinned.

"The Element of Honesty, soon to be reborn," Rael'ia nodded. "Ezri, it's absolutely perfect! Great job!"

"Thanks, Your Highness," Ezri replied as she levitated another Magicite crystal towards her. "Just five more to go."

~

Soon after Honesty came Kindness, Laughter, Loyalty and Generosity. Ezri now focused on the final and most difficult of the crystals, the one that would come to bear the Element of Magic itself. Twilight let out a tired sigh; the whiteness of the surrounding land seemed to magnify the sun's effects. The radiating heat was sweltering, the air stale and hot. With a bit of effort she had conjured up some beach umbrellas to shelter her companions and friends, while Rael'ia focused on transforming a nearby pool into a large, upright ice crystal. Each gust of wind that hit the ice offered a brief respite of coolness for the rest. The lavender Alicorn glanced at her friends: Applejack had been trying in vain for the past half hour to make a dandelion seed sprout in the ruined earth. She sat beside her, fanning her brow with her hat as Twilight took notes. Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Spike were quietly conversing amongst themselves under an umbrella near the ice crystal, while Fluttershy was tending to a Fairy scientist that had been showing early signs of heat exhaustion. Rainbow Dash was busy soaring up above, claiming the lack of magical energy in the skies made for a great workout. Suddenly, however, the pegasus paused in midair, then swooped downwards as a horn blared in the distance.

"Uh, guys? Something's coming," she yelled. Rael'ia's ears perked up with concern.

"Oh, no... why now? Archmage, come look," she groaned. Her body glowed a light shade of purple as she levitated into the sky while Aternus, who had been sunbathing on a slope floated up after her. No sooner did they reach an altitude of about ten feet when the glow around their bodies began to flicker, and though they continued to rise, it was obvious it took much more effort than usual. As they reached the top of the crater they gazed into the distance; Aternus' usual robes immediately reappeared on his body in a flash of light, accompanied by the appearance of transparent purple armor.

"How'd they know..." he stammered at first, but he quickly regained his composure. His throat glowed purple as he shouted, his voice amplified enough for everyone to hear. "Everyone, pack up and prepare! We're under attack!" Twilight's ears pricked up as she picked up on a faint buzzing noise, almost imperceptible but quickly advancing closer. The Elven and Fairy scientists and students around them began hurriedly throwing their research notes and tools into their bags, and heaving out chunks of Magicite onto the ground. Some quickly arranged them into an unbroken circle while others began scratching runes into the glassed sand within. Meanwhile the soldiers above began retreating with haste down the slopes, preparing their own defenses. The buzzing noise grew louder, more choppy.

"Is it the Humans?" Spike asked as he and the ponies gathered near Twilight. She and Rainbow Dash flew upwards to join the Archmage and the Princess, Twilight cursing to herself just how difficult it was to flap her wings and fly in such a magic-less place. Her eyes turned to the horizon and she gasped. A fleet of at least ten strange flying ships were quickly approaching in a V-configuration, their Nullium-plated hulls coloring them a dull, ugly green. Large, circular engines stuck out from the sides, keeping the ships aloft as their yellowed dragonhide sails propelled them forward. On their decks and within small windows in the airships' walls, she saw Humans armed and pointing their firearms straight at her. Rainbow and Rael'ia flew downwards, Rainbow to rejoin her friends and Rael'ia hovering beside Ezri, who hadn't moved an inch despite the panic.

"Ezri, how much longer until you're done?" Rael'ia shouted worryingly.

"I need about five more minutes," Ezri replied without as much as a flinch, yet her eyes betrayed her nervousness. "I can't stop now; this last receptacle needs my total concentration. If the facets aren't perfect, the whole thing will be useless."

"The others are already forming an emergency Teleportation Base, Your Highness," a soldier called out, saluting. "We will also need about five minutes to complete it and get the hell out of here!"

"How convenient," Rainbow coughed dryly, ascending once more.

"Have your workers finished the new gemstones for my friends' armor?" Rael'ia spoke as she began rising upwards again.

"Only half of them, I'm afraid. The modifications to Twilight, Rarity and Rainbow's have been completed." Upon hearing this Rael'ia's hands glowed purple and she grunted loudly. A few seconds later, Twilight's and Rainbow Dash's armor materialized scale by scale around their bodies, while Rarity's fell from the sky and landed right next to her. She quickly put it on with a huff.

"We're going to need all the help we can get to keep them occupied for five minutes." Rael'ia's tone was dark and low. "I'm not even sure we'll be able to teleport out even with the emergency base, we've never attempted it at the epicenter before."

"You just leave it to me!" Rainbow thrust a hoof into her chest; she seemed revitalized by the multiple Magicite gems now fused into the scales and leatherwork of her armor. They glowed a subtle yellow as her entire body began slightly crackling with lightning. With a single flap of her wings she rocketed off in the opposite direction of the approaching fleet, they only barely heard her yell at them to cover her. She was out of sight within a few seconds.

"What's she thinking?!" Aternus yelled, confused.

"I think I have a pretty good idea-" Twilight cut her speech short as she heard multiple explosions coming from the fleet, instantly followed by missiles trailing thick smoke behind them. While she summoned her newfound, Magicite-enhanced strength to create a shield bubble around the entire crater, Rael'ia held her hands out in front of her. Her hands glowed a violent violet as thousands of star-shaped projectiles erupted from them, speeding out to meet the missiles. The missiles were struck and exploded, but yielded a great number of smaller, dull green missiles from their remains.

"You and your "bullet hell" style," Aternus sighed. His hand glowed with molten fury as he merely pointed in the general direction of the mini-missile cluster. The air around them suddenly grew extremely hot, steam evaporated in swirls around his body. A point of red light flickered in front of his finger, very quickly followed by a massive torrent of brilliant fire Twilight would have expected from a fully-grown dragon. It swept through the missile cluster, melting and causing them all to explode harmlessly seconds later.

"Hey, I destroy things just as well as you," Rael'ia replied with playful annoyance. "Besides, mine's cooler, anyway."

"Bah! All you need is one good shot." Aternus pointed towards another incoming barrage of missiles and let loose another blast of fire.

"One shot's lame, though. Unimpressive. Now, thousands of equally-strong shots, now that's a display of power!" With that, Rael'ia's magic switched from Arcane to Lightning. A large, crackling ball of yellow energy grew from her hands, quickly arcing out lightning bolts towards the remainder of missiles.

"Compensating for something, are we?" he grinned.

"No, but you sure are!"

"Wha? Whatever do you mean by that?"

"You know what they say, huge beam of magic, small-"

"Are you two seriously fighting right now?!" Twilight groaned. A couple of missed missiles made contact with her shield, exploding harmlessly and causing barely a ripple.

"What? No, we're always like this," Rael'ia's surprised face reddened slightly.

"She's always gotta outdo me during battle," Aternus replied smugly. "But you can't be better than the best Archmage ever!"

"Boy, you're only the Archmage because members of the royal family aren't allowed to have that title!" she snapped, her face growing redder.

"Suuure... that's why," he smirked. "Not because Her Highness could absolutely rewrite the rules about that, no, that's not it..."

"Oh, you want power? I'll show you power!" Just before she could finish charging up her next attack, however, everyone flinched at the sound of distant thunder. In the far distance, a faint rainbow halo in the sky could be seen expanding outwards. Barely a second later a flash of rainbow whizzed past, Rainbow's voice screaming a barely audible, enthusiastic warcry. She plowed into the right half of the fleet's V-formation, ripping huge holes in their hulls effortlessly, the crashing and tearing of metal deafening. At the end she banked upwards sharply and returned to them as those five ships immediately plummeted down to the land below. Numerous Humans could be seen abandoning ship and floating safely down on parachutes before the airships exploded upon contact with the ground. While Twilight seemed only mildly surprised by Rainbow's newfound power, Rael'ia and Aternus were left speechless.

"...Alright, she wins," Aternus finally uttered.

"Oh. My. Gosh. That was so. Awesome." Rainbow could barely contain her excitement, so she threw her head back and shouted triumphantly, flailing her limbs. "I AM THE STRONGEST PONY ALIVE!!!"

Down below, the Humans had landed and were now advancing towards the crater. Though Twilight's shield kept them all safe from their missiles and other weapon fire, their Nullium armor would pierce the shield like it wasn't even there. As they marched closer, Rarity finally made her way over the crater's ridge and walked calmly towards them until she was just behind the safety of the shield. Despite the purple hue the protected surroundings took on, her armor gleamed almost as brightly as the sun itself. Besides having numerous Magicite gems added to her armor, shards of Magicite floated gracefully around her body, making her horn appear three times its normal length and making her body appear to have wings and longer, tapered ears. She stood before the Human army, unimpressed.

"Come," she spoke simply, venomously. The front lines broke out into a run, holding their dull green bayonetted firearms like spears while some drew sharpened Nullium swords. Rarity watched stone-faced as they advanced, and when she decided they'd advanced enough, her eyebrow raised slightly as her horn glowed ice blue. Her aura of diamonds seemed to duplicate exponentially until there must have been a thousand of them, and in an instant they shot towards the Human army. The razor sharp tips easily slid through the gaps in their armor and into their flesh, leaving trails of blood in their wake as they pierced the entire wave. They collapsed into heaps as the shards flew upwards and back to their owner, who merely blinked. "Is that all?" was her icy reply.

However, the remaining airships had grown closer despite Aternus and Rael'ia's magic assault. Rarity gazed upwards and prepared her shards as ropes emerged from trapdoors in the bottom of their hulls, Humans quickly dripping down them and onto the ground. One of the trapdoors on one of the airships was much bigger than the rest; a horrifically familiar, giant suit of dull green armor dropped down and dented the earth with its landing. The Angel rose slowly, staring the white Unicorn down. Her demeanor changed drastically.

"Er... while I feel quite powerful with these new gemstones, I'm not sure I feel quite that powerful," she laughed nervously. As if on cue, the Angel knelt with a hiss of steam and charged forward. Rarity's eyes widened in fear, her crystal shards forming into a shield twice her size just before the impact sent her forcefully sliding backwards. She grunted loudly as she tried with all her magical might to stop the mechanical creature and herself, but found it made no real difference. Her hooves reached the edge of the crater, gravity and momentum causing her balance to fail, and she tumbled down the slope as the Angel watched. Spike reached and called out to her, running to her aid as she finally came to rest at the crater's bottom. She picked herself up with some difficulty and glared angrily upwards at the advancing army, the Angel leading them down the slope. Her magic formed her crystal shards into a massive, elegant broadsword the size of a small tree, and she swung it menacingly before pointing it at the massive harbinger of death that approached. Just before she could charge, however, all were stopped in their tracks by a sudden, bright pink light.

"It is finished!" Ezri cried, the tendrils of magic finally releasing her as the finished Receptacle of Magic hovered in midair, glowing like a star. She quickly took up all six crystal orbs in her magic and darted towards the emergency Teleportation Base. "Get us out of here!" Her shield penetrated, Twilight let it dissolve as she, Aternus and Rael'ia flew towards the others already gathered within the circle. Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Fluttershy were doing their best to calm the noncombatants while the Elven soldiers surrounded them protectively. Rarity began slowly backing up as she continued to stare down the Angel, Spike by her side.

"Spike, darling, please go to the others," she pleaded quietly. "This is hardly safe."

"Not without you, Rarity," the little dragon replied, putting on a brave face but quivering with every step.

"This is not the time to put on airs! I will keep us safe, now go!" she ordered. Spike began to turn his body to run to the circle, and the Angel let out a loud hiss. Just as Rarity brought her sword back to strike a blow, a sound of thunder echoed throughout the air just as the Angel charged forward. A streak of rainbow appeared, followed by a loud crash and explosion of color and white dust as Rainbow Dash slammed into the Angel with all her might. She skidded to a halt as the mechanical creature was sent flying back, rolling like a boulder into the advancing Human army and all the way up and out of the crater.

"C'mon, let's go!" Rainbow shouted as she sped away to the circle. Rarity grabbed Spike with her magic and set him on her back as she fled towards the others. Now that everyone was within the circle, Rael'ia and Aternus began focusing their magic on the Magicite circle around them. The stones glowed a faint purple at first, gradually growing brighter in color but began flickering unsettlingly. Meanwhile, the Human army were nearly halfway down the slopes, charging forward with vigor as the Angel reappeared at the edge, emitting a hiss and a cloud of steam.

"It's not gonna work!" Aternus yelled. "There's just not enough magic!"

"Twilight, please, help us!" shouted Rael'ia.

"What do I do?!"

"Think of that room in the palace we ported to before and focus your magic on the circle!" With that, Twilight tried her hardest to picture that room, its walls of pure Magicite slabs, the dim, dark blue color. Once she felt confident in her memory, she pointed her glowing horn towards the circle and channeled as much magic as she could muster into it. The crystals stopped flickering and became a brilliant shade of purple. The Angel charged.

"Perfect! Porting now!" Aternus shouted. After a few uneasy moments, everyone within the circle disappeared in a flash of purple sparkles just as the Angel reached the circle, scattering the crystals everywhere.

But in the wake of that circle of crystals and runes, unnoticed by everyone, a dandelion seed sprouted.

~

When Twilight noticed the air felt cool, she tentatively opened her eyes. They had made it. They were all safely inside the dark Magicite room. She and her friends breathed a sigh of relief, sinking to the cold stone floor. The Elven and Fairy scientists, students and soldiers sighed as well, celebrating their escape quietly with relaxed glances and a couple of hugs. Ezri flittered to the side, holding all six radiant Element receptacles in her field of magic as they slowly orbited her. Aternus sat down with a thud as Rael'ia sank to her hands and knees, their eyes closed.

"That was too close..." she finally spoke. "How did they know we were there? They have no reason to go there..."

"Someone must've told them," Aternus breathed. "There must be some double agents in the chain of command. Traitorous little-" he grumbled but cut his sentence short to start another one. "Oh, your eye fell out, Rae."

"Wha?" She waved her hand in front of her face, sighing heavily before drooping her head. "...Damn it."

"Well, we've got receptacles for the Elements of Harmony," he smiled at Twilight and the other ponies. "Now for the hard part..."

Twilight smiled back weakly.

Culture studies 2

"Radiant, aren't they?" Rael'ia gazed at the six orbs that lazily orbited her throne. Twilight and her friends had gathered together in the throne/conference room the very next day after their excursion, eager to learn what came next. The Harmony Receptacles, as she called them, bathed the room in the colors of dawn and dusk, an aurora of pinks, purples, oranges, blues and reds.

"Radiant, indeed," Rarity nodded. Pinkie Pie leapt nimbly onto the blue orb, grabbing it in a full-body bear hug despite gravity making her tip upside down as the orb continued to float.

"So, how's it work?" she asked as she enjoyed her impromptu ride. "How do I put Laughter in this thing?"

"Now we've come to the... difficult portion of my plan," Rael'ia lightly bit her lower lip. "As you've heard, the Crystal Mountain was taken by the Humans long ago. These days it's one of their strongest fortresses. To restore Harmony to my land, we'll need to break inside, reach the summit, then perform a ritual to ensure the Sapling of Harmony and these receptacle orbs survive the transplantation process. A ritual which doesn't and has never existed before..." she trailed off as she glanced to the left at nothing in particular. "I've got Aternus and his mages working on that right now. In the meantime, we prepare for a siege the best we can."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, no, you may all relax for the time being... although," Rael'ia cocked her head as she put her hand to her chin, "I don't see the harm if a couple of you would like to check on some things for me."

"Whadda ya'll have in mind?" spoke Applejack. Rael'ia's eyes seemed to spark a little at her response.

"Ah, this may actually even be something you'd be interested in!" she began. "Would you mind checking up on Warmaster Dovah and the state of his alchemy farms? I'm sure he'd love teaching you all about Orcish farming techniques... I know from experience."

"Sounds good to me!" Applejack nodded, turning to Fluttershy. "Hey Flutters, wanna come with? That Dovah seems mighty fond of you anyhow."

"Oh... um," Fluttershy shrank back at first, but stood up straight again after a moment. "I suppose I could... I do, um, enjoy the attention." She lowered her voice for the second half of her sentence, shyly tapping her front hooves together with a small smile.

"Wonderful, I'll arrange for some guards to teleport and accompany you there and back," Rael'ia clapped her hands together. "Just tell him I sent you, he'll go over our ingredient stores and growth reports... you can just ask for a list." With that, she stood up from her throne. "The rest of you, and you two after that, feel free to do whatever you wish until I call for you. I have a siege to successfully plan..." she sighed, dreading the monumental task before her. While Twilight immediately offered to help and research successful siege tactics with her (grabbing poor Spike in her field of magic as she walked forward), the other ponies took their chance to leave.

Rainbow Dash stretched her body, relishing the cold breeze as she flew through the Elven city surrounding Rael'ia's home. She wasn't sure what she expected to see, but found herself impressed by the architecture of the city's tall buildings. Capped with graceful domes or rooftop gardens, each skyscraper seemed painted with pale pastel colors and dotted with elegant, silvery windows. Sheets of sheer silks billowed from windowsills and rooftops, forming canopies and shade for those on the white-paved streets below. Though rigid and rectangular, they somehow still reminded her of clouds. A great swath of waterfalls roared over the mountains in the distance, casting up great blankets of mist into the air. They nourished the gardens above, yet seemed to evaporate into nothing elsewhere.

She gazed down at the streets beneath her. In a peaceful time, there would have been a great deal of room for everyone to walk. But this was not a peaceful time. The streets were filled with tents and makeshift huts, populated by a great many. Elves and Fairies made up most of the refugees. Though they still had homelands to return to, there were also a number of Orcs and Harpies among them. On rare occasion, she even spotted some... things that didn't look like any of the other races she had seen. Survivors of exterminated races, or those that hadn't been able to flee as far as they wanted, she surmised. Yet they all shared one thing in common: they all appeared broken, downtrodden, fearful. Sure, they got on with their lives the best they could - numerous grills and stoves made from refuse filled the streets with a thin fog scented by assorted foods, children ran or flew up and down the sidewalks in play - but she knew they needed better than this. They deserved better. She smiled halfheartedly to herself, knowing that she and her friends brought them all hope that they would get that better life soon enough.

"Oh hey! Rainbow Dash, wasn't it?" a familiar voice called out from above. Rainbow craned her neck upwards to see Skymaster Skrye relaxing on the rooftop of a skyscraper.

"Hey, Skrye," Rainbow answered back, flying up to her level and landing beside her. Skrye shifted her body so she sat upright rather than reclining against a chimney, her legs dangling over the building's edge. Her halberd clanked quietly on the rooftop as her tail gently brushed over it in passing. "What'cha doing here?"

"Just checking up on some things and restocking some supplies. Since you're still alive, I assume our Elven Princess had a successful trip to the White Wastes, eh?"

"Oh, yea," Rainbow began punching at the air excitedly. "But we got ambushed by Human airships! It was up to me to take them out- well, Rae and Aternus and Twilight and Rarity helped too, I guess. You should've seen me go, I took out half their ships with one Sonic Rainboom! It was so awesome!"

"Is that so?" Skrye smirked, raising an eyebrow.

"Heck yea! And once this siege on that Crystal Mountain is all planned out, I bet I can plow a straight path to the summit through those Humans like nothing!"

"Hm... you'd do best to not underestimate those Humans," Skrye warned. "They're a crafty bunch. A resourceful bunch... a dishonorable, dirty-fighting bunch. I bet our Princess was surprised they attacked her while under the guise of 'research at the epicenter', no?"

This statement made Rainbow's bold demeanor melt into confusion. "Actually... yea, she was. What's that got to do with anything?"

"And now she's planning a siege on one of the strongest Human fortresses in the land," Skrye looked away with a hint of disgust. "I'll be honest, but it'll take a grand act of divine intervention for this little plot of hers to succeed."

"Bah, Twilight's helping her with that," Rainbow waved a hoof dismissively. "If Egghead of all ponies can't figure it out, nopony can!"

"I see... poor Princess Twilight will probably lose her mind arguing with her and sabotage the siege out of spite."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rainbow now bowed in slight offense, a small scowl breaking out.

"Look down below you," Skrye pointed. "Many years ago, the streets were not so filled with refugees. Under the leadership of the late Prince Jorath, we were slowly but surely on our way to winning this war. Unlike our Princess, Jorath was trained for war since the day he could hold a spear. He mastered multiple disciplines of combat, both martial and magical. He was a gifted strategist, studying ancient wars and their movements until he could fight his way out of being flanked on all sides, above and below included. He had a way of keeping the Humans away from our many villages and settlements while decimating theirs.

"Now, our Princess... she never learned any of that. While her brother fought for his people, she kept away from the conflict as best she could. She always shirked her royal duties and skipped her lessons on war, acting as disciplined as a common soldier rather than a proper leader. Her little Archmage boyfriend would usually be the one to plan their attacks while she fraternized with her legions... 'for morale', she'd always say. And when her brother fell in glorious battle, she had no idea what to do. Her first move after his death was to obliterate a Human village with zero strategic value, only serving to anger them further, and then after seeing what she'd done, she lost her edge entirely!" Skrye spat for punctuation. "Now for the past couple decades she's gone on and on about ending the war peacefully when it's bloody obvious that'll never happen! And since she seems to have no idea what 'strategy' is, the Humans have all but wiped out those settlements and villages and forced their inhabitants to flee here. They're all over the place now!"

Rainbow Dash had a hoof to her chin in silent contemplation, but soon shrugged. "Eh, nopony's perfect."

"But this is ridiculous! Now she's convinced that six crystal balls and a bunch of rainbows will end the war in an instant! Doesn't that sound ridiculous to you?! Since when did rainbows ever end a war?! I fear she's gone insane from grief... as far as she's willing to go for this 'peaceful' resolution, all she's going to accomplish is getting every last Magikin in Fae killed!"

"Well... after my friends and I won most of our big, important fights, rainbows did have a habit of appearing some way or another," Rainbow coughed. "But this is different! Our Elements of Harmony just blow away all kinds of negativity with no effort at all, generic-brand evil to all-out pony genocide! Maybe Rae's not a great strategerist-"

"Strategist." Skrye grumbled.

"Whatever. Point is, I believe her plan will work, and so do my friends. Because we made it work before, many times." Skrye could only stare glumly at the blue Pegasus before sighing deeply.

"Welp, I agreed to help her until this plan failed, then my people and I can finish what Jorath started. I just hope after this ahem siege of hers, there's still enough Magikin to fight and kill them all off." Rainbow opened her mouth to argue when she spied a dim glow around Skrye's right ear. Skrye put her hand up to it as a faint voice began to speak from the small Magicite gemstone affixed just inside.

"Skymaster, we need your assistance! The Humans are attacking Border Copse!"

"On my way," Skrye's eyes flashed. In one elegant motion she swung her halberd onto her back and dove off the skyscraper, flying upwards and to the east. "Rainbow, why don't you come along? If your battle prowess is truly something to be feared, this little incursion will be over in a matter of seconds with you around," she cawed over her shoulder. "It's not far, just a hundred miles or so."

"Well..." Rainbow quickly thought it over, then puffed out her chest. "...I guess if it won't take long. Then I get to show you guys just how awesome I can be!" Skrye nodded.

"Keep up... if you can." With a flap of her winged arms, Skrye suddenly flew off to the east as fast as a lightning bolt, leaving only a trail of crackling static behind. Rainbow's eyes widened, but she soon chuckled to herself as she took off after her just as quickly, blowing away the static with a rainbow trail.

A short time into their flight, the Skymaster arced her body down towards a particularly tall tree in the Silent Forest, and Rainbow Dash followed. Her head tilted in curiosity as she flew near, finding that the tree was also a structure of sorts. Huts crafted from wooden boards and sticks and camouflaged with leaves and vines lay nestled within the largest forks and branches, further hidden from view from below by the forest's thick canopy. They landed together in the doorway of the topmost hut, finding it empty save for a number of spears and strange pieces of armor lined against the walls.

"I was thinking, it'd be rather reckless of me to send you in without any armor or weapons," Skrye spoke as she walked over to the racks of armor. "Let's see if I can't find you some wingblades."

"That's what those are?" Rainbow asked. She eyed the pauldrons Skrye picked up with great interest. They resembled tubes meant to fit over the blunt edges of wings, crafted from a silvery metal. The edges were outfitted with long, thin blades, with a joint in the middle to allow for the wings to bend normally in flight. Leather straps and buckles dangled from the tubular parts as a means to secure them to a body. "Neat."

"Yea, these should fit." Skrye brought the wingblades over to Rainbow and carefully slid them onto her wings, then wrapped the straps around her back and opposite shoulders to keep them in place. The pegasus flapped her wings a couple times, finding her new weapons extremely lightweight. "All you have to do is fly past a Human with those on, and- schlitt! ...Dead." She explained quickly while attaching a pair of blades to her own wings, making a throatcutting motion with a finger. Rainbow admired her wingblades in silence as Skrye finished strapping her own on, then with a nod they flew off again towards the forest's border.

Even from high above and a few miles away, Rainbow could see the gravity of the situation before her. A cluster of trees with a circular clearing was swarming with multicolored, feathered bodies, quickly falling out of the sky one by one. A few hundred feet away sat strange, mud-green metal capsules large enough to be a carriage, with wheels on their undersides and what appeared to be a giant drillbit at their helms. Humans could be seen entering and exiting them, but most that entered carried bulging, mud-green sacks with them. She gulped uncertainly when she realized that some of those sacks were moving as if something were trapped inside.

"Gods, not another kidnapping," Skrye cursed. As they drew closer, Rainbow could make out the weapons the Humans were using, and that their ammunition was weighted nets. They were shooting Harpies out of the sky by trapping them in Nullium nets and taking them away.

"Kidnapping? What do they want with Harpies?" the pegasus asked timidly.

"Don't know. Don't really want to know," Skrye answered curtly. "All I do know is IT STOPS NOW!"

With a warcry like a hawk's call, Skrye banked sharply down into the fracas, her halberd clutched tightly in her talons. Her body glowed as if she were a lightning bolt and seemed to explode with power as she sailed a few feet above the ground at a dizzying speed. Her wings cut through eight Humans as if they were mere leaves against a blade, and a thin trail of red streaked behind her as she lifted back into the air. Other Humans began shooting their nets at her, but with agile ease she outsped them, slicing the few that did cross her path with her bladed wings before swooping down again.

Meanwhile, Rainbow glided above it all, finding it hard to take in the chaos. Though most of the other Harpies were engaging the Humans in combat, some were trying their hardest to flee. Humans, in teams of two, hunted these down. One kept guard while the other tracked the fleeing creature through the skies, aimed with his net cannon and fired. Sometimes the Harpy was able to dodge, but most of the time the net entangled their limbs and sent them plummeting to the ground. The impact of the fall was generally enough to immobilize their prey; those that continued to fight and flail were simply clubbed into submission with the spent net cannons. Many more Humans still fought against the other Harpies, slashing with swords, shrugging off the occasional Lightning blast against their Nullium armor, avoiding electrified claws and talons and cutting them off. A singular net whizzed past her, snapping her back to reality.

"Alright... time to be awesome!" she mumbled to herself. With a backwards loop she swooped down from the sky, spreading her wings to their full length. As she darted towards a convenient cluster of Humans, she expected some resistance against her wings as she made contact, but quickly found herself flying past without any trouble at all. She glanced behind her to check if she really had flown close enough, finding the bloodied torsos of five Humans were falling to the ground, their lower halves crumpling soon after. At once she felt both a sense of accomplishment, and the sense of regret that always came with ending another being's life. Though her Wonderbolts training had done its best to prepare her for the horrors of combat, it still felt undoubtedly unsettling.

Nevertheless, her training had also taught her it was best to fight first, reflect later. Banking sharply upwards and to the left, she spun herself around and went for another fly by. This time she angled her body and wings as she zipped past many more Humans, striking many more than the previous attack, cleaving them at varying angles. The more fortunate among them only lost their legs from the knee down. Others lost entire limbs, halves of their bodies, their heads. She felt confident enough in her enemy-clearing abilities to land for a moment, skidding to a halt as she glanced over to Skrye. The Skymaster, grounded, wielded her halberd with deadly precision. Her movements were like lightning - swinging, slicing, piercing through flesh and armor alike as she struck down those who opposed her. Reassured she needed no help, Rainbow took to the skies once again, having spotted another group close together. Her hoof had just connected with a Human's mouth when she heard a loud, foreign buzz throughout the air.

"We have reached our quota! All units, fall back!" A female voice echoed through the trees from the direction of the strange vehicles. The Human soldiers still remaining immediately began their retreat, being sure to cover their rear with net cannons. Many Harpies tried to follow them, only to find themselves entangled and wriggling on the ground. Rainbow began flying towards the fleeing Humans as well, self-assured in her ability to dodge the nets, but suddenly felt a fist clasp around her tail and was jerked to a stop.

"It's no use. The fight is over," Skrye spoke in a sympathetic tone. "Going inside a Human's Tunnel Tank is a death sentence for us." Rainbow tried to struggle free, but quickly gave up as she watched the last of the Humans enter their tanks. Large doors swung shut over the vehicles' rears, emitting a hiss as they locked into place, and the drills on their fronts began spinning with a buzz like a million bees. The rear wheels of the Tunnel Tanks then extended themselves, lifting the rears of the tanks in the air and allowing them to begin drilling into the earth, and they sank away in an instant. Skrye released her grasp on Rainbow's tail and joined her people as they flew to their snared kin to release them, leaving the blue pegasus to her thoughts.

She turned around to examine this Harpy village, Border Copse. The trees surrounding the flat, barren clearing contained many more of the same huts she had seen shortly before, seemingly stretching for hundreds of feet beyond. A ring of fire pits, at least twenty of them, encircled another ring of ten, encircling one large pit in the center of the village. What really creeped Rainbow out, however, were the numerous bones of all sizes littering the entire area, repurposed for multiple uses. Femurs and humeri were carved into tools and spear tips. Vertebrae hung from sinews to form wind chimes. Skulls lined the fire pits; skullcaps were used as plates, bowls and cups. Even more bones littered the ground around the trees, forming messy piles of filth and rot for the worms. Strangely, the air smelled pleasant despite the scattered remains; a plume of smoke from a nearby sconce alerted her to the scent of cleansing herbs. She raised her eyes and immediately regretted it - the outermost trees at the edge of the forest were decorated with Human corpses. Men, women, even a few children, were all hanging by their necks from the thickest branches. Some were quite fresh, others were bloated, blotchy flesh balloons that could pop at any strong breeze, others still were gray, moldy and nearly disintegrated from age and exposure. Many were missing arms and legs, presumably eaten by their executioners. Rainbow quickly averted her eyes, gagging at her mind's enduring image of the glassy eyes, swollen tongues and rotten, dripping blood.

A Harpy's voice phased into her ears from her disgusted silence. "-dead, and two hundred-and-fifty missing. Third attack this month. At this rate, Border Copse will be completely unsustainable within another."

"I see. This is quite troubling," Skrye nodded to a red and brown Harpy beside her. "I will send reinforcements to protect and assist you in evacuation to Tender Copse as soon as possible, Head-Huntress Qeew. I don't believe the Humans will leave us alone here until we've been completely wiped out."

"As much as I hate to admit it... I also believe it's time to go," Qeew sighed. "I'll alert the others once the wounded have been tended to." Skrye sighed as well as Qeew fluttered away towards a group of wounded Harpies nearby. She then turned to notice Rainbow Dash's dry heaving, which she had finally begun to get under control.

"You okay, Rainbow?" she asked. Rainbow swallowed and gasped before answering.

"Those... things," she weakly pointed to the hanged bodies. "Maybe that's why they keep attacking...?"

"Nah... if anything, they're meant to keep Humans away from here," Skrye shrugged. "It's always kind of entertaining when they notice... the looks on their faces, heheh! ...The only good Human's a dead Human."

Rainbow failed to reply. Perhaps Twilight was right about the Harpies being a savage race. To say she felt conflicted was putting things very lightly.

"Anyway... looks like our job's done. Shall we return you to Rael'ia's court?" Skrye smirked. "Race ya there."

"Yea... sure," Rainbow forced herself to speak. As Skrye ascended into the sky as quickly as lightning, Rainbow began to turn back towards the trees. She stopped herself from looking again, shook her head and flapped her wings as fast as they could go.

"This... this is nothing like Equestria."

Meanwhile

One bright flash later, and Applejack and Fluttershy's jaws dropped open. They had arrived by teleportation on the top level of the Orc capital city of Terras'tra. They had been told it was the remains of a giant tree, but even that explanation had failed to convey just how big the place was.

Nestled within the Impassable Mountains, Terras'tra stood proudly within a valley beside a seemingly endless, mirror-like lake and vast, fertile farmlands. The petrified tree itself was as wide as the entire city of Canterlot and half as tall as any of the mountains surrounding it, despite having been snapped in half many millennia ago. Glittering veins of iridescent boulder opal stretched throughout the soft brown petrified wood as commonly and similarly as spiderwebs, while great slabs of clearest golden amber were used for windows. Homes, businesses and various stables were perfectly carved- nay, shaped into the walls of the tree's outer bark, populated by just as many animals of all sorts as there were Orcs. To their left was an elaborate fountain at the back of a large plaza; an amber statue of a female Orc pouring an ewer that spilled into pools arranged like hot springs, the smaller ones on top cascading into gradually larger pools below until ending in a warm, shallow puddle that an elephant could wade in. To their right and behind them was a wide path that led downwards into the tree's interior levels, and a familiar face soon rose from below.

"Applejack! And Fluttershy! Welcome to Terras'tra!" Warmaster Dovah's voiced boomed against the casual uproar of the citizens, further aided by the fact he rode atop his beloved moose Breyva. The great beast let out an excited grumble and galloped towards Fluttershy, stopping just short of accidentally trampling the yellow pegasus underfoot and bowed her antlered head. Despite this, Fluttershy merely giggled as she gently stroked Breyva's forehead.

"Hello, Warmaster. And hello to you too, Breyva dear," she cooed.

"Good to see y'all again," added Applejack. "Ah must say, this sure is some fancy tree y'all live in!"

"Terras'tra," Dovah dismounted Breyva with a ground-shaking thump. "Legends say it was the first home of the Primal Earth Goddess, Terras. It was said that the highest branches touched the very heavens back in those days. Now, a fine home for my people. Come, I shall show you around!"

The two ponies followed the Warmaster and his moose as he descended through the many layers of the great tree. The levels that did not see the sky were instead lit by thousands of Magicite-powered amber sconces and streetlights, casting a warm glow throughout. As they progressed, they took note of the symbiotic relationship between Orc and animal that presented itself wherever they looked. Granaries and storehouses seemed to take up every third or fourth building to feed the numerous creatures that lived and worked alongside their masters. Many were common animals, such as dogs, cats, birds of prey, small predators and livestock, while some Orcs had more exotic pets: Fluttershy excitedly pointed out wolves, tigers, panthers, rhinos, bears and even giant lizards when she saw them. Those that weren't currently working were usually being pampered by other Orcs not currently busy, rare was it that an animal was not being tended to, and that event did not occur for long until rectified.

Finally, they reached the bottom of the tree. A tropical, sweltering heat seemed to radiate from the amber sconces here, serving as the perfect incubator for rare plants. The floor was damp with lush moss and glowing mushrooms, further illuminated by sparse clouds of twinkling fireflies and other small, bioluminescent creatures.

"Ah've never seen anything like this," Applejack gasped. "This is where y'all grow the different reagents for yer potions?"

"This is only a small part of our alchemical gardens," Dovah smiled. "The rest are located outside in the Terras'tra Valley. Shall we go there?"

"Oh, yes," Fluttershy raised her head as she arose from the nest Breyva's left antler formed. "Rael'ia asked us to come here to see how your stores of alchemy supplies were doing."

"Ah, I see," the Orc nodded. "Then let us go at once!" His hands glowed with a green light as he clapped them together once, and the two ponies let out a shout as a stone hand suddenly grasped and enveloped them from below. They felt rapid movement within their dark confinement for a few moments before the hand opened to blinding daylight and sank into the ground as quickly as it had appeared.

They now found themselves near a small wooden pergola sitting between the shores of the lake and endless fields of plants and flowers. The turquoise waters lapped gently at the pebble beach as large wooden mills further down turned and creaked, feeding water into stone aqueducts that stretched above the roads between each acre of fields. The rest of the lake was lined by dark green trees, tan mountains and the skies above. At the bottom of the lake, a faint blue glow could be only barely discerned.

"Lake To'reen," Dovah gestured with a hand. "The ancient cradle of the Primal Water Goddess of the same name. The water here is pure and incorruptible, perfect for growth and healing. Do you see that glow beneath the waters? It is the source from which all Water-enchanted Magicite used in canteens and other potable containers draws from. A great boon for our alliance, especially in this time of war."

"Interestin'," Applejack tilted her head. "And this single lake is enough fer all these fields?"

"The snows on the mountains all drain into Lake To'reen and replenish what is used. It has never come close to being fully emptied," he reassured. They now walked towards the nearest plot of farmland, a field of fiery red flowers that smelled subtly of honey and wine. "And the waters feed our crops with only the finest minerals, ensuring their high quality and richness. Though we are able to grow perfectly fine food beneath the earth, most of our alchemical herbs require true sunlight to reach their peak."

"They're so beautiful!" Fluttershy deeply breathed in the scent of a flower. "What are these?"

"Wine Lily. They are the main ingredient in many healing potions and poultices, though as the name suggests, they are also used to flavor wine. The leaves can also be eaten, and the pistils and stamen dried for use as spices."

"Sounds mighty useful," Applejack put a hoof to her chin. "I do appreciate plants you can use every part of."

"Ah! Then let me share with you my knowledge of all these plants," Dovah grinned as he scooped both ponies into his arms and gently placed one of them in each of Breyva's antlers before mounting her once more. "Perhaps if you're lucky, there may already be a surplus of seeds I may give you! Breyva! Let us give them the grand tour!"

The moose let out a snort before trotting down the paths at a mild pace, allowing Dovah to speak in length about every field of plants they passed. And there were hundreds of them. Needless to say, Applejack and Fluttershy spent the rest of their day in the Orc's company.

~

During a welcome break from researching siege tactics, Twilight found herself flying above the Elven city towards the tallest tower in the city center. Rael'ia had suggested that if she wished to learn more about the different magics that her land held, then finding the Archmage in his Arcanaeum would be her greatest resource. Soon she found the white spire capped with a white-gold sphere, the entirety of the tower covered in purple runes blinking in and out of existence like the interior lights of a skyscraper. Fascinated, she landed in front of the main entrance and made her way inside.

Eventually she found herself within the sphere. Surrounding a levitating globe of flawless white Magicite the size of a large house, numerous Elves and Fairies moved to and fro with purpose on five exposed upper levels, each clothed in immaculate white robes that could almost be mistaken for lab coats. Each robe had one of five different colored borders and trim, presumably denoting what level or kind of magic that person specialized in. There was a maze of bookshelves on the bottom level of this sphere, while more bookshelves and strange devices lined the walls of the upper levels, with almost every station in use.

"I figured it'd only be a matter of time before I found you in here," a familiar voice startled Twilight out of her wide-eyed amazement. Archmage Aternus stood behind her with his arms crossed and a friendly smirk on his face, clothed in a similar lab coat robe decorated with thin gold chains hanging from gold lapels and trim that magically blended the five colors of magic together like a constantly morphing inkblot test. Four especially long chains, two in back and two in front, crossed over his chest and upper back and ended underneath his arms.

"I... I'm speechless!" Twilight exclaimed. "So many new books to read and compare! So many magical devices to learn to use! And that giant crystal floating overhead! Surely it must power the entire city, what else could it be used for?"

"Speechless, eh?" Aternus chuckled.

"Well... you know what I mean."

"Oh, I do. So, where would you like to start?" Twilight's eyes darted back and forth rapidly, wondering which facet of Terras' magic or magical technology she should start with.

"Everything!" she blurted out. "Er, um... the basics would be best to start with, I imagine."

"Always a fine place," he nodded as he raised a purple-glowing hand in a shrugging motion. Five small symbols of colored light bloomed from his fingers and hovered in a pentagonal fashion: a red flame, a yellow lightning bolt, a green leaf, a blue teardrop and a purple moon. As this happened, Twilight took the opportunity to will a scroll, inkwell and quill beside her, floating and writing on their own accord.

"Well, as any Magikin child is taught at a young age, there are five main schools of magic, given to us by the five Primal Goddesses: Fire, from Igneia; Lightning, from Statri; Nature, from Terras; Water, from To'reen; and the Arcane, from Arkhaan. Now, some races find themselves natural talents in one of these schools, while others can learn to master two, or three, or even all five. I, as the Archmage, spent many years under the previous Archmage mastering all five... it's kind of in the job description, after all."

"Did Rael'ia learn from the previous Archmage, too?" Twilight's eyes were sparkling with the excitement of learning new methods of magic already.

"Oh yes, it is also the Archmage's duty to teach all members of the High Houses. Rae is definitely one of the most talented of his pupils - most High House members cannot master all five schools, let alone weave them into the massively complex spells she creates. If it weren't for the law that the Archmage cannot be a member of the Royal House, ol' Bertandus most likely would've chosen her as his successor instead of me."

"Is he still teaching?"

"Sadly, no... the Ceramis River Skirmish claimed him some... fifty-odd years ago, it's been now. Just before he left he named me as his successor, almost as if he knew... and really, he probably did."

"Oh? How did he know? Was it a sort of last stand?"

"At the time, we believed so. And common knowledge says the Humans had been surprised by a sudden flash flood and earthquake happening all at once - a divine intervention, if you will. But in truth, Bertandus had been told by the Void itself what would happen, and what must be done to secure an important victory."

"The Void? But I thought-"

"Only the Void-Seers can commune with the Void, yes? And that is where common knowledge ends and true magical knowledge begins." Of the five symbols that had been left unattended since the beginning of the lecture, the purple moon suddenly swelled in size and engulfed the other four, further expanding into a miniature universe of a few dozen tiny purple stars. Twilight leaned in further, her lust for this secret knowledge making her drool slightly.

"Now, Arcane magic... most Magikin know of it as the catch-all term for any magic that doesn't fit within the properties of the others. But in fact, within the school of the Arcane are actually many different, smaller schools, each a gift from its own god or goddess. Teleportation, telekinetic force, interdimensional travel, neuroarcanic medicine, astral projection, Void magic, Necromancy - if it doesn't involve Fire, Lightning, Nature or Water, it's all lumped into the Arcane for the layperson. Masters of teleportation can summon armies from one garrison to another in an instant, masters of Void magic can discern form from the formless and make predictions about the future."

"Ooh! What about time? Can you time travel?" Twilight interjected. "It's difficult, but I've managed to pull it off a couple times. I didn't even create any... overly-harmful paradoxes!"

"Time magic... is probably our final frontier," Aternus paused for a moment. "It is without a doubt the most fickle, unpredictable and dangerous of all schools, way more so than Necromancy. Necromancy is like learning the alphabet compared to time magic. Only one spell has been more-or-less proven stable, and it is still in its experimental stage."

Twilight leaned in even further. Aternus gave a grimace that conveyed that this was restricted knowledge even for him, but after a brief sigh he gave in.

"It's a simple barrier within which time passes slightly more slowly than normal. But even that spell is extremely difficult to cast; fail to account for any one variable and you could walk in then walk out a thousand years older, or worse... a thousand years younger."

"Even if you're- ...oh," she recoiled at the sudden thought of becoming primordial ooze.

"Indeed."

"So why are all these schools not common knowledge?"

"In the past, it was for simplicity's sake in school curriculum. These days it's more for keeping well-intentioned but, ah... non-scholarly Magikin from creating, say... an army of corpse abominations, or accidentally teleporting half the planet into the Void. At least this way, if they wish to learn these schools for their own purposes, then they're already on a list or twelve."

"Just like me! ...Um, that came out wrong."

"Now, you also asked about the globe of Magicite above us, right?" Aternus now gazed upwards. "This is perhaps Arcane magic's greatest accomplishment to date." He waited for Twilight to exhale a suitably impressed coo. "This is a collection of the entirety of knowledge on all of Terras - the Interley."

"What does it do?"

"I'm glad you asked!" he jokingly swung a pointed finger like an old-fashioned street vendor advertising his wares. "Within this daughter crystal of Magicite, everything you could ever know, need to know, never want to know and wish you knew has been stored inside, forever encased in all the little molecular nooks and crannies of the crystal. Then with the help of the eternal network of leylines below the earth, that information is instantly teleported to other daughter crystals just like this one - all over Fae, and someday all around Terras. It only takes one very simple spell-" he paused to lightly tap Twilight's horn with a purple-glowing fingertip. "-And anyone at all can access it at will!" Twilight concentrated for a moment to cast the spell he had just imparted onto her, gasping as a floating purple square suddenly appeared before her eyes. Text flashed at the top of the square, asking for a query.

"I see... I think I saw something like this back in that parallel universe I visited before," she mused. "Although the Humans there needed a device to access it, of course."

"Just like it is here, huh?" Aternus took note of Twilight's confused expression. "Yes, there's a war going on and all, but this, the Interley, was created for the benefit of all. In fact, the island where the mother crystal is located, even Humans helped to create the spell and collaborated with our best and brightest to develop special machines for the nonmagical to access it. Because of the war, it's location has been kept top secret and protected by the most impenetrable of magical wards and... scavenged Human weaponry, so the probability of anything terrible happening to at least the mother crystal is extremely low."

"Amazing! How long has this been around for?"

"It's still a relatively new invention, only unveiled to the public about a decade ago. But it has already grown exponentially in size, and already many Magikin have used its power to create their own astrally projected interactive spells, or APIs for short. Forums for discussion, detailed astral projection shows about every topic under the sun, even complex multiplayer virtual games!" Aternus pointed to an Elf sitting at one of the strange devices Twilight had seen before, where she saw what appeared to be a video game on the device's screen, as well as multiple purple glowing bits of information floating in front of the Elf's face and above his hands.

"You've so flawlessly incorporated magic into science... Princess Celestia would love to see all of this! I would love to see all of this! Your magical technology could advance Pony technology by centuries! Oh, I can already think of no less than six hundred and eighty-three experiments I want to try!" Twilight was just about dancing around in circles with her front hooves glued to her cheeks in sheer excitement. Meanwhile, Aternus sighed and closed his eyes in contemplation.

"Heh... and to think, your people once indeed shared this knowledge, and even surpassed it." He bowed his head, leading Twilight to cease prancing.

"What? Oh, right..."

"But, now that we have our way of ending this war, perhaps then we can spend some newfound time to rediscover it. Perhaps there are even survivors to find!" He was quick to turn the conversation pleasant and hopeful. There was a brief silence while Twilight collected her thoughts.

"Actually, that reminds me of something... Rael'ia said that the Humans are completely incapable of magic, right?"

"Yep. Completely, totally, utterly unable to use it."

"Your plan involves using the Elements of Harmony to bring Harmony back to the Humans... will it work? I mean, it's another form of magic, and even if it could, the Nullium armor..." Aternus let out a deep sigh and turned his back to Twilight. Now it was his turn to collect his thoughts.

"...It is definitely a possibility that this won't work at all," he finally admitted. "It could very well be nothing more than a fancy, giant flashbang grenade. And..." He now moved closer to the lavender Alicorn and knelt down to meet her face to face. "To say this plan of Rael'ia's has come under intense scrutiny would be an understatement. Ask any Magikin among us; I'd say eight out of ten of them would agree that the best way to end the war... would simply be to kill them all. They don't believe they can be swayed into peace, or ever change."

"But you do?" Twilight asked worryingly.

"I'm... honestly not sure myself," he looked away. Twilight could only stare in response.

"...I believe it can," she answered, coaxing Aternus to make a puzzled noise. "When I first went to that parallel universe, the Humans there also had no magic. But with the help of the friends I made there, the Elements of Harmony found Bearers in that world, and the magic of Friendship grew outwards from within them. Why wouldn't the same happen here?"

There was silence for many a moment as his eyes darted back and forth in thought. After about a minute, Aternus finally stood up. "Yes... perhaps you're right. This Harmony of yours, the important part, anyway... seems to be more of an emotion than a school of magic, and if the Humans do anything well, it's listening to their emotions. Yes... thanks for that, Twilight."

"You're welcome! ...I think," she giggled nervously.

"And regardless... Princess Rael'ia is my dearest friend. She wishes to end the war with as little loss as possible, I will help her accomplish that to the best of my ability. And If she believes in you and your friends and the Elements, then so shall I," he smiled with resolve and finality.

"We won't let you down," Twilight said boldly.

"Of course," Aternus chuckled. "Now, let's set that subject aside... would I be correct in assuming Rael'ia told you about the Arcanaeum's collection of rare spellbooks and grimoires?"

"Ooh!" All was forgotten as the Elf and the Pony walked together towards the nearby labyrinth of bookshelves, lost in other kinds of magical conversation.

Surprise guests

The rumors about Rael'ia's lack of military training were sadly true. Twilight and Spike, and even Rainbow Dash spent many an hour instructing the Elven Princess that even with their numbers, simply breaking down the front door of the Human stronghold on the Crystal Mountain would be far more difficult than she perceived. Talk of siege weaponry was countered with Tunnel Tanks and surprise attacks from below, flanking would be rendered ineffective by the Humans having the high ground all the way up. Rivers could be dammed to prevent Siren incursion. Anti-air towers had been placed in numerous locations all over the mountain, making air strikes costly and dangerous. When pressed to talk about what little experience she did have in military strategies, Rael'ia sheepishly explained that her generals usually came up with the plans and she simply carried them out; the vast majority of "battles" she had planned were the result of Interley simulations where the enemy was set to "easy" and her forces outnumbered theirs twenty to one. But this mission, this climactic battle was of utmost importance to her, so she felt it was only right that she was the one to draft the master plan.

With the help of the dragon and two ponies with the most tactical experience amongst the group, Rael'ia finished a suitable final draft of her attack plan. All that was left was to send it to her generals for amendments, final approval and delegation of forces. She let out a sigh of deep relief as Zina gathered the folder in her field of magic and disappeared with it in a flash. Rael'ia and the ponies had just sat down around her great round table for a pleasant evening conversation when Zina's head popped back into existence, as if from behind an unseen curtain.

"Oh, Princess Rael'ia, I nearly forgot. Shadowmaster Rubelle is waiting to see you. She says it is urgent."

"Already?" Rael'ia put a hand to her chin. "Have her sent in at once." Zina's head nodded before disappearing with an audible pop.

"Ooh, you have spies?" Rainbow Dash leaned over the table on her front hooves.

"Of course. The Petals in the Wind are our kingdom's finest, with Rubelle being the best of them all. In her position, though, something must have gone wrong if she's made the trip here."

They did not have to wait long. A few moments later the doors to the throne room swung open, revealing a lone tall figure cloaked within a hooded robe of scarlet lined with white fur. She entered the room with a graceful stride, slipping off her hood as she approached the table and knelt before the Elven Princess, who nodded in acknowledgement. She stood, raising her head and allowing Twilight to see her brown eyes and shoulder-length black hair, her burnt sienna skin, a headband of gold adorned with a white cabochon gem on her forehead and her surprisingly-Human ears. Under her robe she wore a deep purple garment that covered her neck, adorned with a single ruby red gem in the shape of a diamond below her throat.

"Mirande Bergamot, Head Advisor to the Thamaturge King Bastillion, the Creator of Angels, the True Sovereign of Fae... and so on and so forth." The gem on the woman's forehead glowed briefly, her features changing as the glow dimmed. Now she more clearly resembled an Elf; having long, brilliant red hair obscured by her cloak, vibrant eyes the color of periwinkles, pale skin and elegant, pointed ears. Even her voice changed from slightly deep and accented to higher and sharper. "Gods, do I wish he had a shorter title," she sighed.

"Ah, but you proclaim it so well!" Rael'ia giggled softly as she stood up, teleported in an instant past the table and giddily hugged Rubelle. She returned the hug just as warmly, then regained her composure as Rael'ia teleported back to her seat. "It is good to see you again, my Ruby Rogue."

Rubelle nodded. Her gaze then met Twilight's, yet no emotion betrayed her serious demeanor. "So it's true... you are in the company of Pony-kin. Six Pony-kin of unfathomable power, so the rumors say."

"Oh, the Humans know about us?" Fluttershy asked worriedly.

"But of course, the six of you have already become quite infamous. Five Pony-kin led by another with the powers of the three, laying waste to all who oppose... 'The Child Princess'," Rubelle spoke bitterly. "There's already some fairly high bounties on your heads, especially the purple one."

"Oh. How nice," Twilight coughed.

"I am not a child!" Rael'ia whined indignantly, scowling. "I'm almost a hundred and fifty! Another hundred and I'll have reached middle-age!"

"Anyway, that is not why I'm here. I'm here to deliver some rather bad news."

"Yes, I figured as much," Rael'ia was quick to calm herself after her outburst. "It must be bad if you left your post unattended to tell me yourself." Rubelle grimaced, quietly fiddling with a figurine of an Elven soldier left on the table. She reached into her cloak with her other hand, pulling out a handful of small, muddy-green metal balls the size of peas and setting them down gently.

"You know how the Humans have struggled to create reliable Nullium bullets because of the metal's fragility? I'm afraid they've found a way to overcome that, at least for the standard issue firearms of the infantrymen. The bigger stuff is still too brittle to hold together when fired." Rael'ia groaned loudly and slumped onto the table.

"Damn... please don't tell me I'll have to come up with an entirely different plan now." Rubelle made a faint noise which made the Elven Princess lift her head. "I've just sent the final draft for our siege of the Crystal Mountain to the generals."

"Ah yes, that... so far you will be unexpected if you attack there, but the Humans also assume that any attack on their base there will be utterly suicidal. They assume you know better than to try it."

"Hmm... not sure ah like the sound of that," said Applejack.

"But... with the six of you present, and if the stories about you are true... you just might be able to break through," Rubelle mused. "I've done my best to dissuade any connection between your sudden appearance and the significance of the Crystal Mountain to all Pony-kin... so far, the King seems to have listened to me. After all... how can only six Pony-kin change the course of the war? Nevertheless, he has also put in a commission for another regiment of Angels."

"Lovely," Rael'ia sighed. "Well, could you please inform the generals of your intrigue? Maybe with your knowledge and advice my plan won't be a complete waste."

"Of course, Your Highness. I'll be off then," Rubelle bowed. In an instant her body briefly flashed and quickly dissipated into a cloud of sparkling red dust that blew away like wisps of steam. Once she had gone, Rael'ia buried her face in her hands with exasperation, grumbling to no one in particular about her bad luck.

"Don't worry, Rael'ia, I made sure to include contingency plans for the ammunition in your strategy," Twilight put a hoof on the Elf's left hand. "I thought they might've had something like that already."

Rael'ia gasped. "You did?!"

"Yup. In fact, I even spent the other night thinking of all kinds of 'what ifs'; what if they had Nullium artillery, snipers, cannons-"

"You're amazing!" Twilight's thoughts were interrupted by having them squeezed out of her in a hug. "Is there anything you can't do?"

"Hey, you should be saying those kinds of things about me!" Everyone looked towards the door as Aternus walked through and closed it behind him.

"And what brings you here, Archmage?" Rael'ia grinned smugly, releasing Twilight.

"I thought I'd come by to tell you that Ezri and I have finished the last of the alterations to your friends' armor." He waved a hand, creating a glowing clipboard out of Arcane magic and then blew it towards her with another wave. "She also wishes to inform you that said alterations have fully depleted our stores of Triple A-grade Magicite, and gone through 80% of Double and 35% of Single. Of course, excavations are already underway to replenish those stores."

Rael'ia winced as her eyes traveled down the clipboard, disappearing with a puff as she finished. That was a lot of resources. "Well, our success does depend on these six making it to the top in one piece. For that, I'm willing to go into overkill mode on their armor sets."

"Yea... overkill is... a way to put it," the Archmage looked away, rubbing the back of his neck. "Frankly, the amount of power they'll have access to is completely ludicrous. You've practically turned them into demigods!"

"...I like the sound of that a lot," Rainbow Dash smirked, rubbing her hooves together.

"And probably a good thing too, if more Angels are being created," Rarity added.

"Another task finished," Rael'ia nodded. "Now all that is left to do is wait for approval... hopefully your contingency additions help convince my generals that this will work, Twilight."

"It will, I'm sure of it!" the lavender Alicorn smiled. Such unbridled optimism helped put the Elven Princess at ease.

"Well, if there is nothing else pressing to discuss, I shall be off," Aternus bowed. As he turned and left, evening refreshments materialized on the table and the seven were left to their conversation.

The next hour or so passed pleasantly. Each pony was excited to share with the others what they had learned during their stay in Fae so far. Applejack and Fluttershy regaled the others with their tales of the breathtaking Orc capital Terras'tra, the vast alchemical fields surrounding Lake To'reen and the synergistic relationship Orc and animals shared. Rainbow Dash amazed her friends with her involvement in the Border Copse incident, drawing Twilight in and grossing Fluttershy out with her insights into Harpy wartime culture. Rarity revealed that she had had a hoof in helping Master Gemcutter Ezri add sockets to her carefully-crafted suits of armor, and that perhaps in the future the Fairy could refer her to the top names of Fae high fashion. Think of the collaborations to come! Pinkie Pie had since visited the Temple of the Void a couple of times to visit her new best friend. During her last visit, somehow - to the complete and utter bafflement of the Void-Seers - she had willingly leapt right into the pool where the Void resided, only to emerge mere moments later covered in confetti and thanking the Void for a rousing game of polo.

Twilight was the last to share her experiences. She began with the same vigor as the others, speaking praises about the Interley and various schools of magic that, if she managed to master them all, would prove invaluable in advancing their own magical sciences and technology. The eyes of every pony in the room soon glazed over; she just kept talking in one long, incredibly unbroken sentence, moving from topic to topic so that no one had a chance to interrupt (it was really quite hypnotic). It was only the faintest of strange noises that finally broke Twilight's train of thought.

"...And with the Fairies' pioneering work in neuroarcanic medicine, we'll someday be able to look inside our own brains, figuring out just what makes us tick from the insid- eh?"

"Hm? Oh, yes, quite interesting, dear," Rarity suddenly shook herself awake after noticing Twilight's monologue had stopped.

"Did you guys hear that?" Rainbow seemed to have been the only other one to notice. The others shook their heads and voiced their confusion when another noise alerted them. It sounded like a sack of apples being dropped, although from a considerable distance.

"That thump... yes," Rael'ia sat up. A siren blared far away for just a second before abruptly shutting off. The next noise followed moments later; now the sound of magic crackling like static echoed in the night air.

"Is... is it getting closer?" Fluttershy gulped.

The thumping and crackling suddenly intensified in frequency. To everyone's surprise, Aternus' voice could be heard ordering someone or something to halt, quickly cut off by more noises. Rael'ia and the six ponies immediately stood up from their chairs as the strange sounds grew slightly closer and louder. While Twilight remained beside the Elven Princess, the others slowly moved behind them. Suddenly, Aternus appeared on the lavender Alicorn's other side, appearing shocked and breathless.

"Princess!" he wheezed. "You... have visitors."

"What is that?" Rael'ia took a step behind her chair towards her throne. The sounds of magic and battery grew closer still until finally the doors to the room flew open with reverberating force. Everyone's eyes widened at the sight of their unscheduled company: a group of nine Pony-kin, six surrounding three in a ring formation. The six were clothed in identical leather and silver-gold scale armor and armed with spears lying on their backs, pointed behind them, shortswords at their flanks, bayonetted horns and wingblades closely resembling those of the Harpies. They were spaced protectively around the three, whose sullen glares of varying intensity were fixed directly on Twilight.

The first she noticed was the Pegasus. She wore a full suit of silver-gold plate armor, yet moved as if the gear was as light as a silk dress. Only her grey-furred head and cyan mane and tail were visible, along with her bright azure eyes. Her spear was much more ornate than those of the two Pony-kin beside her, featuring a blade set with aquamarines and sapphires as well as pearly Magicite cabochons.

Second was the Unicorn. The colors of her mane and fur dazzled her eyes and made her squint in pain just to look upon her. This one wore elaborate, gauzy robes of a blue so dark it was almost black, held together by a moon-shaped Magicite brooch on her chest. A golden chain wrapped around her horn, with a star-shaped Magicite hanging from the very tip down to her forehead's level. Her blackberry fur served to make her almost Day-Glo yellow mane and tail even brighter and more blinding; her mauve eyes expressed a sense of calm reservation, even boredom. An aura of searing yellow flashed from her horn as the group approached the round table and chairs, enveloping the furniture in its glow and floating them effortlessly to the sides of the room.

Last was the Earth Pony-kin, who walked in front of the other two. He stood tall and proud in his silver-gold plate armor, decorated with medals and other unknown regalia. A thick, broad shield rested on his back like a turtle shell, made of a silvery-green metal with brassy trim. His fur was a patchy, mottled cream and brick red, with a messy, short mane and tail of avocado green, and dark golden eyes that seemed to bore into Twilight's very soul, full of arrogance and anger.

The lavender Alicorn then studied the appearance of these ponies as a whole. Though their Cutie Marks were hidden by armor and cloth, their fur appeared more rugged and bristly, and their tails were mostly barren of colored hair except for the final four inches or so, taking the shape of a teardrop or broad leaf. The divergence of appearances that five hundred years and separate universes had created interested her greatly, but she quickly put it out of her mind.

"Presenting, the Pony-kin Ruling Triumvirate," one of the six called out as they came to a halt in the center of the room. "Lady Silverwing, Lady Midnight Sun, and Lord Autumn Jasper." A moment of stunned silence followed, the others fumbling for words in their minds.

"Ah! Welcome, Pony-kin!" Rael'ia was the first to recover. "I must say, this is quite an honor!"

"...Aren't you all supposed to be dead?" Rainbow Dash spoke next, earning her more than a few glares for her lack of tact.

The Triumvirate

Rael'ia, Aternus, Twilight and the other ponies couldn't help but stare in amazement. Not only were Pony-kin just now confirmed to still exist in Fae, but the leaders, the Ruling Triumvirate themselves, had forced their way into the Elven Princess' own stronghold. And they looked quite angry.

"Yes, idiot, we're still around," one of the six guardsponies, a grass-green mare spat at Rainbow Dash. Lady Silverwing shot a look at the indignant guard, silencing any further insults.

"Well, certainly you could've entered with more grace and less violence," Rarity remarked, a hoof raised from unnerved caution.

"Indeed, whatever happened to knocking first?" added Aternus. "We would've been more than happy to accept an audience from the Pony-kin Ruling Triumvirate."

"We had to move quickly," Lady Midnight Sun spoke softly, her half-lidded eyes denoting an arrogant smugness. "We had to know if the rumors were true."

"And true they were," Lord Autumn Jasper walked forward a few paces, his glowering eyes fixed directly on Twilight, whose wings extended behind her as she recoiled in confusion.

"That Starswirl actually did it!" Lady Silverwing gasped. Her voice betrayed the fact that she was actually quite young, perhaps even a little younger than Twilight and her fellow ponies. "A real, live Alicorn!"

"A real, live automaton of Unicorn, Pegasus and Earth pony," spoke Midnight Sun.

"A real, live abomination," Autumn Jasper growled. Twilight blinked.

"Now wait just a minute, there-" Applejack started to protest when Midnight Sun's horn suddenly flared with blinding magic. It made the orange Earth pony stagger backwards a step... except she found that her hoof stayed put. In fact, she quickly realized she couldn't move at all. "Wh... What did you do to me?!"

Her shouts of dismay caused Rael'ia, Aternus, Twilight and the others to flinch, only to find their bodies had been frozen in place as well. It was as if they had been locked inside a perfectly form-fitting prison of iron, only able to breathe, blink and speak. Rael'ia concentrated for a moment to try and summon any magic she could to escape, but found herself completely unable. Aternus, given the struggling evident on his face, was having the same trouble.

"Aww, you at least could've warned me so I could've picked a better pose!" Pinkie Pie whined.

"What is the meaning of this?! Guards... guards!" Rael'ia called out in a slight panic.

"Scream all you want. You'll find that no help will come," Midnight Sun replied coldly. Autumn Jasper broke formation and walked slowly around the paralyzed group, smirking sadistically.

"This went much better than I thought. Not only have we captured the abomination and her followers, but the addition of the Crown Princess of the Magikin and her Archmage... we'll have even more bargaining chips to play with," he spoke, a thin, sneering grin flashing from his muzzle.

"Wh... what are you going to do with us?" Rainbow Dash strained against her invisible prison. Autumn Jasper laughed.

"Bargaining chips, little filly, did you not hear me? The Humans have put handsome bounties on your heads, but bringing in the lot of you at once will definitely buy our fellow Pony-kin safety and freedom from The Factory."

"The Factory... it really exists?!" Aternus coughed in alarm.

"Oh, yes," Autumn Jasper replied. "King Bastillion's personal dungeon and thaumaturgical experimentation facility. No prisoner who enters the place ever leaves. Many of my remaining Pony-kin are being held as prisoners of war, and gods help me, I'll do whatever it takes to keep them from being condemned to that cursed place!"

"Do you know how many of my own people have been taken prisoner? The other Magikin races, too?!" Rael'ia shouted. "My friends and I here are working towards ending this horrible war, which absolutely includes freeing them all! Why do you betray your fellow Magikin like this?!"

"This... thing," Autumn Jasper pointed a hoof at Twilight, "...is not my fellow Magikin."

"I am just as much of a pony as the rest of my friends!" Twilight glared, becoming offended. "Just as much as you and yours."

"She even used to be just a Unicorn, she earned those wings!" added Pinkie Pie. This revelation made Autumn Jasper blink in surprise and step backwards towards his guards.

"You... you were made into this?!" He stammered before clearing his throat and regaining his composure. A wicked grin suddenly flashed across his face. "Well then, if you are not a true Alicorn... then I don't see you being all that useful to me when we meet with the King."

"He may have you killed on the spot and dissected rather than live experimentation," Midnight Sun added emotionlessly.

"In fact... why don't we spare him the effort?" Autumn Jasper turned towards Midnight Sun. Her horn began to glow with the brightest yellow Twilight had ever seen.

"Wait..." Silverwing spoke, her voice quivering. "You said we wouldn't kill them. Any of them. Not even her."

"Mind your tongue, Silverwing," Midnight Sun chided.

"Make yourself a useful member of the Triumvirate," Autumn Jasper motioned over towards their captives. "The bounty states that only the blue Pegasus, white Unicorn and orange Earth Pony-kin are required alive. The other three can, and should be delivered dead." Behind her, Twilight could hear Pinkie Pie audibly gulp and Fluttershy whimper. Silverwing remained still, staring with mild horror on her face at the stallion.

"You must not harm these ponies! They are the Bearers of Harmony!" Rael'ia wailed. "The Elements of Harmony live on within them!"

Autumn Jasper snorted. "The Elements of Harmony were destroyed long ago. Starswirl the Blasphemer saw to that. He destroyed Ponyopolis and our race in his mad experiments!"

"That's not true!" Twilight shouted, struggling harder against her paralysis. Her words had little effect.

"And now the abomination itself shows up in your company... how else are we supposed to react?!"

Fluttershy's soft crying was quickly turning into a panic attack, not helped at all by the paralysis. Her shaky voice grew louder and warbling, her breathing grew faster and faster. Tears streamed down her face in rivers. Autumn Jasper glanced in her direction and scrunched his face in displeasure.

"Ugh, Midnight Sun, I tire of this one's pathetic mewling. Kill her already." The Unicorn gave a slight nod and closed her eyes to focus. Her horn pulsed with magical energy, a thin beam of it shooting out and flying towards the yellow Pegasus' throat. Fluttershy's hyperventilating reached its climax.

"NO!" Twilight screamed, her eyes glowing a furious white. A sound of shattering glass reverberated throughout the room as her own pink magic surged from her horn and formed a shield around herself and her friends. The beam of energy deflected off the shield and into the great round table set aside, boring a perfect, smoking hole through one of its legs and through the tabletop at an angle. The Triumvirate and their guards flinched and gasped in surprise, though Midnight Sun's expression remained unchanged.

The danger to her friends averted for now, Twilight allowed her magic to dissipate. Her head and chest lowering after a sigh of relief gave her notice that whatever paralysis spell Midnight Sun had cast no longer affected her. She freely stepped forward, wings flared outwards, her eyes fixed upon these ponies, now proven enemies. This action made the others gasp again.

"Im-Impossible," Silverwing stuttered. "Midnight's magic is unbreakable!"

"Indeed," Midnight Sun blinked. "It would take quite a powerful mage to break my paralysis spell."

Behind her, Fluttershy's breathing crashed back down to normal as her face went blank. A quick burst of magic surrounding her own and the yellow Pegasus' head told Twilight that she had only fainted from fright. But even that was enough to enrage her.

"That's enough," Twilight growled. She adopted as tough and regal a stance as she could, channeling her thoughts of when Celestia had been angered and was ready to defend her ponies. "You will not hurt my friends, and we will not become your bargaining chips."

"Oh, how quaint," Autumn Jasper sneered. "It thinks itself as royalty."

"I am Twilight Sparkle, Equestrian Princess of Friendship," she declared in her best Royal Canterlot Voice, secretly pleased with herself as the stallion staggered back in alarm from the power. She then lowered her voice back to normal. "You will release my friends from your spell, and you will leave us in peace."

"I think not!" Autumn Jasper retorted. "We are not swayed by your delusions of royal title."

"Equestrian Princess?" Silverwing put a hoof to her chin, much to Autumn Jasper's annoyance that she was even entertaining this thought. "Never heard of such a place."

"Midnight! It appears this abomination will have to be subdued... with prejudice. Are you ready?"

"I haven't had a proper test of my abilities in some time," a slight smile broke out on the mare's face. "Silverwing?"

"I... um..." Silverwing shrank back. "Shouldn't we try diplomacy now? So far she seems just as strong as the rumors said..."

"Honestly, what did Lord Skyline see in you to hoof-pick you as his successor?" Autumn Jasper disdainfully shook his head while removing his shield from his back and pulling its straps taut against his front right leg. "Guards, see to it that nopony enters the area! Midnight and I have a false princess to depose."

"Uh... Lady Silverwing's right, we can still resolve this peacefully, can't we?" Twilight relaxed her pose nervously. "I'd much rather talk things through than fi-"

A blast of searing yellow interrupted her words, morphing into a yelp as Twilight leapt out of the way of the blast of magic. She was forced to leap again before focusing her magic into a shield around her, fearing it would pop and dissolve from the numerous concussive blasts Midnight Sun fired. From behind charged Autumn Jasper, throwing his body weight behind his shield in an attempt to break hers. Twilight saw this and teleported away, reappearing behind Midnight while Autumn readjusted his course. Seeing an opportunity to strike, Twilight readied a blast of her own magic and fired at Midnight.

"Too slow!" Midnight snarled as she whipped around, a tendril of yellow magic swatting the pink blast away and into the ceiling with thunderous effect. The tendril recoiled back and reached out towards Twilight, attaching itself to her shield bubble and sparking violently. Temporarily blinded, Twilight saw from the corner of her eye Autumn charging towards her. He hurled himself at her shield, shattering it with sheer force and sending the lavender Alicorn flying into a wall. She took a moment to shake clarity back into her head until Autumn slammed against her again, squishing her against his shield and the unyielding mountain at her back.

"Pathetic," he chuckled as he pushed harder. "I'm not sure what I expected from you, abomination, but it was definitely more than this." Twilight resisted, channeling as much magic as she could between herself and the shield, allowing it to fill what little space there was between them before focusing it into an explosion. Now Autumn was the one flying, but he landed easily on his hooves, spinning around and ready to strike again.

"You want to see an abomination?" Twilight uttered angrily as she picked herself out of her hole in the wall, shaking the dust off her body before charging her horn with magic. "Then let me send you to Tartarus so you can see what one really looks like." Before Autumn could respond she let loose a beam of pure energy, forcing him to raise his shield in defense but soon was sent tumbling across the floor from the power. Even Midnight, behind a shield of her own, strained against the magical blast. While Midnight's eyes closed in concentration, Twilight bent her legs and readied her wings, then rocketed forward with all her might towards the Unicorn, her outstretched hoof breaking her shield and connecting with her chest. She then quickly followed with a kick to her stomach with a hind leg. Midnight let out a wet cough as her body met the opposite wall, then fell to the floor wheezing for air. Twilight then turned her attention to Autumn Jasper, just having stood up, and dashed forward to attack. He quickly rose his shield to block her attack; Twilight's horn lit up with magic, which flowed around her head, down to her shoulder and enveloped her outstretched hoof. As it connected, the energy and vibrations from the force of the blow fractured the hardened metal. His eyes widened as his shield fell to the floor in useless pieces, revealing a glowing lavender hoof mere inches from his face. The stallion was juggled upon the floor, a small trail of smeared crimson in his wake, his armor clanging noisily and gouging holes in the ground until he came to an eventual halt. To Twilight's horror, he stood back up somewhat quickly, laughing.

"A powerful creature, indeed! Go ahead, kill me. Kill us all! Be seen by all as the abomination you claim not to be!" Twilight recoiled as Autumn's laughter transitioned into maniacal cackling. It suddenly became clear to her what this manic, raving and Alicorn-phobic pony was plotting.

He... he wants me to fight him. Me fighting him would only prove to the other Pony-kin that Starswirl created a monster.

Midnight Sun shakily rose to her hooves, the last remnants of coughing leaving her throat. Her eyes creased into a furious glare and her horn gleamed with a yellow that could rival the sun. Before she could cast, Autumn Jasper held out a hoof in her direction.

"Wait, Midnight... it seems to have lost the will to act," he grinned, pupils as tiny as ants from his hysteric hatred. He quickly spun around to face Silverwing, who still hadn't moved. "Then let's see if it can be prodded into action! Silverwing, make yourself useful, take that spear of yours and kill that yellow Pony-kin!" Twilight and her friends gasped in horror.

"What?! But... that's so... she looks dead already!" Silverwing stuttered.

"Oh, for the love of... just kill one of them so this abomination will want to fight again!"

"You act with great dishonor, Autumn Jasper," Rael'ia spoke in a low, angry voice. "You no longer know what it is to be a good leader, do you?"

A good leader... Twilight absentmindedly put a hoof to her Hearth Brooch. Feeling the faceted stones gave her an idea.

"It is you who has forgotten how to lead!" Autumn roared. "I do what I must to protect my people!"

Is it a good idea? Will it even work?

"Silverwing! Unless you want to be found guilty of high treason, you will kill one of these captives now!" Silverwing's legs wavered as she readied her spear, a thin stream of tears making her regret evident.

Can the spell take more than one pony with it?

"Please... forgive me!" Silverwing cried as she galloped, then rose into the air on her wings. Twilight knew if she was going to act, she'd better act now. Her horn charged with magic, she quickly extended three beams of it towards the Ruling Triumvirate. The beams morphed into claws, firmly grasping Autumn within them, who momentarily ceased his mad laughter. Midnight Sun quickly cast her magic into a barrier, but Twilight had anticipated this. She funneled as much magic as she could into her spell, breaking through and engulfing Midnight as well. Silverwing, being in the middle of flinging herself towards Pinkie Pie, would be more difficult to catch up to. However, the Pegasus seemed to slow just enough to be caught, very much like she didn't want to succeed in her attack anyway. Upon contact with their bodies, Twilight quickly studied their magical energies and the properties of the Hearth Brooch attached to herself.

...Oh, thank Celestia, it'll work!

"There's no place like home, I can no longer roam!" Touching the Brooch with her right hoof, Twilight shouted the spell quickly but clearly as she retracted her magic at full speed, sending the Triumvirate flying towards herself. Just before collision, their bodies swirled as if caught within a singularity and disintegrated into soft, golden sparkles before imploding into nothingness. In that moment, Midnight's spell was broken and released the others, who fell to the floor in relief.

"The Ruling Triumvirate! What did she do to them?!" one of the six guardsponies yelled as they raced towards Rael'ia and the others. Now freed from paralysis, Aternus was all too quick to cast a spell of his own. His open hand barely flickered with blue light as thick walls of ice materialized around the guardsponies in an instant, a fifth slab clapping down on top of the walls and forming a cube. His fist closed, bringing the walls and ceiling in close until the Pony-kin were almost crushed together.

"Your kind... has so much to answer for right now," he seethed. "Guards! Get in here!" Meanwhile, Rael'ia and the other ponies stood up and made their way to Fluttershy, still unconscious and glassy-eyed. Rael'ia knelt down over her as the others fretted about their friend's current health.

"Unconscious. Zina, can you hear me?" she spoke as her hands glowed purple, placing them gently on the yellow Pegasus. "Ensure this one is sent to the medics this second!" A few moments later, Zina materialized from thin air just above Fluttershy. She took one look at her, then enveloped her in her own field of magic.

"Right away, Your Highness!" was her only reply before she and Fluttershy dematerialized from the room. Members of the Royal Guard began streaming in from the doors and side passages a moment later, much to Rael'ia's relief. They surrounded the six Pony-kin in ice, who could only blink and nervously shift their eyes.

"We would've arrived sooner, Your Highness, but one of these Pony-kin was powerful enough to immobilize us all! Neither magic nor movement was possible!" one of the guards saluted, his head bowed.

"No, I see that now," Rael'ia held up a hand to calm the guard. "Princess Twilight has broken the spell that caused the paralysis. Now, where did she-" Her sentence was interrupted by a ripple in the space about ten feet in front of herself. Twilight suddenly walked through the ripple, followed by the Pony-kin Ruling Triumvirate. At first she was alarmed, but quickly noticed that the three Pony-kin were calm and somber in demeanor. This didn't stop half of the guards present from shifting their attention from the guardsponies and immediately pointing their various weaponry at the three.

The night before

It was finally happening.

Rael'ia's proposal to her generals and strategists in the War Council had been met with severe opposition and outright rejection, as she had predicted. "How could you even consider such an impolitic, insipid, and frankly half-baked plan?" they asked. But with the inclusion of the Pony-kin into the alliance, they no longer had any choice but to accept. Failure to enact the plan now would result in diplomatic suicide, and seeing how Pony-kin magic was able to paralyze their enemies en masse without any known counterspells, an honest effort now had to be made to keep her side of the agreement. The danger of another betrayal was too great to ignore; the impossible would have to be done to prevent it from ever happening again. Though she received threats of mass protest and resignation alongside the official approval, Rael'ia had almost begun skipping when she finally heard the news. Sometimes, it was wonderful to be the Crown Princess.

The next month was a blur with preparation. With Twilight and the Pony-kin Ruling Triumvirate's help, Archmage Aternus designated a plaza a short distance away from the city center as the new interdimensional portal to Equestria. An empty, thin arch crafted from white marble, gilded mythril and studded with plenty of Magicite crystals stretched to create a doorway that would be thirty feet in length and twenty in height. On the day of its opening, he addressed the assembled crowds - mostly Pony-kin, but others from all Magikin races had come to spectate - and proclaimed that this was a day history and magical science would remember forever. He wrote down coordinates, descriptions and a decent drawing of his schematics and gave them to Spike, who consumed them with his flame. A few moments later the arch flickered and flashed to life, and an image of an empty, white plaza in the middle of a verdant field faded into view, with Canterlot and its mountain rising in the distance. Princess Celestia took it upon herself to test the portal's integrity, striding through gracefully and to the surprise and enchantment of all others present. She warmly greeted Twilight, Spike and the Triumvirate, introduced herself to the crowds and welcomed the Pony-kin refugees to her kingdom. She informed them of the generous accommodations she had prepared: food, many acres set aside for a town of their own, medical care, education, supplies, and most important of all - safety from Human persecution. When asked by other non-Pony-kin present if they were allowed to immigrate, however, Celestia simply answered that Elves, Fairies and the like were not native to Equestria and could cause multiple ecological problems, not to mention what lands were vacant and able to support so many more refugees. She quickly added that she would bring it up with the other kingdoms at their next summit, and that for now, use of the portal by other races for trading purposes was allowed. This answer seemed satisfactory; no arguments were made nor riots were had as the Pony-kin refugees began walking towards the portal and passing through. Celestia chatted casually with Twilight, Spike and Aternus as they watched the surprisingly calm exodus; as the last of the Pony-kin entered the portal, she bade them farewell and returned to her universe as well.

~

A short time later, Rael'ia and Master Gemcutter Ezri gathered Twilight and her friends into her own armory, and revealed to them their fully-finished, newly-improved sets of armor. Each had been repaired, polished and set with dozens of Magicite jewels. Some served to simply enhance their senses, instincts and latent abilities, while others were enchanted with counterspells against enemy attacks. Ezri insisted they each try them on so she could check a final time for defects, and so they did.

Twilight's armor now had a spine of Arcane-enchanted Magicite gems, where wisps of power radiated to her sides and gave her the appearance of having a second set of faint lavender wings. More gems outlined her eyes, encircled her head and lined the front of her horn's bayonet. They would serve to focus and enhance her own magical spells to levels she could only comprehend when she had once briefly contained the power of four Alicorns simultaneously. In addition, if she wished, one of the gems on her horn would allow her to remotely access the Interley in case she needed new information at the tips of her hooves.

Rarity's armor was bedazzled with numerous stones of purest white Magicite. Pear-shaped gems on her shoulders exuded ghostly light that resembled wings as large as herself, with even more, smaller gems levitating and glimmering within the light. The light from gems placed around her forehead like a tiara swirled around her horn and ears, making them appear three times the length they normally were, with more of the smaller gems caught within the light as well. These small gems, along with her own satchel of diamonds from Equestria, would be used for attacks and defense. Every single one had been cut to form impossibly sharp points, with slightly serrated sides that allowed them to lock together more sturdily than before. Some of her suit's gems were enchanted to enhance her own gem-finding spell, allowing her to find Magicite deposits below the earth and uproot them with magic. If and when some were inevitably destroyed in battle, her smaller gems would then pierce and slash the found Magicite into more shards to replenish her supply.

Rainbow Dash's armor glowed a faint yellow from the Lightning-enchanted Magicite dotting it in its entirety, occasionally letting loose a small arc of thin blue electricity. She found herself to have even greater muscle control than ever before, able to move her limbs and body so fast Twilight swore she could teleport. Harpy wingblades had been added to her wing armor, gleaming with yellow-blue radiance and sharpened to the point she could slice a feather in midair with a simple movement. Magicite gems studded her neck like a collar, emitting magic along her nervous system that would allow her to endure far higher gravitational forces than she could before, granting her the ability to fly ever faster. Gems around her hooves and forelimbs were enchanted with magic that would allow her to come to a full stop on the ground without incident, as well.

Fluttershy's armor shimmered in the light like the sun over an ocean. Upon donning it, her entire body appeared to melt and simmer like a mirage, indicating that the Chameleon gems Ezri had spent hours cutting herself were working perfectly. These rare and difficult-to-cut stones, only able to be crafted from the highest grade Magicite, allowed Fluttershy to disappear completely from the view of anyone she wanted. Visual, infrared, sound waves, telepathy - all means of sensing her were rendered useless. Despite her aversion to fighting, she was also given a means of defense: Nature-enchanted gems lining her forehead enhanced her ability to communicate with animals, while gems along her wings granted her the ability to fly just as well as Rainbow Dash (after flapping her wings once to test this, Fluttershy was sent screaming into the sky, both figuratively and literally. Rainbow had to catch and restrain her to calm her back down and get her to land).

Pinkie Pie's armor had polka dots of Magicite added to it, mostly to enhance her natural abilities and to provide counterspell effects. Even Aternus and Ezri hadn't been able to agree on what specific special magics the pink pony had access to, as sometimes it seemed like she wasn't even bound by the same laws of magic and physics as everyone else. However, one night the Void-Master had paid them a visit, presenting them with a small gem filled with the incomprehensible blackness of the Void itself. It had bubbled to the surface of the pool in the Temple of the Void that day; upon touching it, he felt that it was only right that Pinkie should have it, yet even he was unsure of what it could do. Nevertheless, it was set into the forehead of her helmet, a stark contrast to the rest of her armor.

Applejack's armor had Nature-enchanted Magicite gems lining the backsides of each of her legs and surrounding her hooves. She stomped the ground lightly with one hoof to test it, triggering a brief earthquake of low intensity in the surrounding area. After picking up what had fallen to the floor in the room, Ezri explained that the gems now allowed Applejack even greater Earth Pony mastery of the earth. She would be able to run fast enough that she could easily keep up with Rainbow Dash above, and her kicks were capable of even shattering small mountains, let alone whatever shields and armaments she might come across. She could plow fields and dig long tunnels in mere seconds, and plants would grow to monstrous sizes at her touch if she so wished. Applejack could only remark that her suit of armor would be extremely helpful for farm work back home, to Rarity and Ezri's annoyance.

Spike's armor, last of all, had Fire-enchanted Magicite lining his throat and belly, giving him the ability to breathe fire just as well as any larger, older dragon. More cut stones along his arms and legs granted him enhanced strength and a very unique method of flight; as he had not yet grown old enough to develop wings, the gems, when activated, cloaked his body in flames, quickly accelerated his momentum and hurled him like a meteor through the air until crashing down in a shower of embers wherever he wished to land. All he had to do was leap in a direction, and the gems would do the rest. Hardened mythril claw tips on his gauntlets and boots had also been added, glowing reddish-orange with fiery energy.

Each set had a gem set within their helmets so that it made physical contact with the space between and slightly above their eyes, as well as one that touched the base of their skulls on the backs of their heads. The first, when touched, caused a transparent heads-up display created from Arcane magic to appear before their eyes. They could see arrows pointing to their friends' locations, and a heart for each with their heart rates within them to the right of their vision. Ezri instructed that thinking of engaging the enemy caused the hearts to fade into the background, and red arrows and warnings would appear to denote enemy forces and attacks. The gem at the base of their skulls was specially cut to emit a neuroarcanic enchantment that essentially read their brainwaves and would then prevent the worst of the psychological effects of battle - it would dampen rage, panic and fear, heighten resolve and tolerance for pain and gore, and sights and sounds that could trigger PTSD or other mental disorders were blocked by an amnestic pulse. The brain would simply not remember it happening. Both helmet gems were standard issue for any soldier in her military, but she had elected to use the finest Magicite for theirs for maximum efficiency. Rael'ia had given Celestia her word that she would do all in her power to keep her ponies unharmed, after all.

Rarity then asked what had become of the suit of armor she had crafted for the princess - then Alicorn - while in Equestria. Rael'ia was all too pleased to tear off a crisp, white sheet covering a mannequin, revealing her own modified armor. As dragon scales were a rare material in Fae, it was determined that Rarity's armor was of much higher quality than her own original set, so she had the Magicite gems from the old armor resocketed into the new. Lightweight, breathable, thin yet durable, it fit her slender form perfectly and completely, not an inch of flesh was left uncovered. The cuirass was decorated with Magicite gems lining her sternum and the lowest three pairs of ribs, glowing like stars against the golden gradient of the lacquered scales. More lined the sides of her greaves, the tops of her more thickly-armored gauntlets and boots, and the edges of her wing-shaped pauldrons she had commissioned to match. A wide belt covered with scales sealed the gap between torso and waist, with added armor, gems and padding draping down to her hips. Her helmet covered the top half of her head, a transparent shield spell covering the holes for the eyes and the rest of her face. The space for her ears were crafted into large, detailed wings that looked like they could come to life and flap at any second. All of it was gilded with many shades of gold like the rays of the sun, shifting and shimmering and scintillating on its own. Rael'ia fancied herself the true embodiment of a golden sunrise when she had tried it on, christening it with her own House name. She was almost too eager to test it once more in battle.

~

Finally, after all of her preparation, all of her planning, the night before the fated siege had arrived. The day had been spent making final arrangements: teleporting the last of the rationed supplies to the camps where the forces of four nations lay in wait, and Twilight double, triple, quadruple-checking and beyond that she would be able to summon the Sapling of Harmony to her side. Then, when all that could be done was finished, Rael'ia gathered Twilight and her friends within her armory, donned their armor and teleported away in a flash of sparkles.

"Now you'll see what kinds of magic my people are truly capable of," the Elven Princess spoke as the white light of teleportation faded from Twilight's eyes. At first glance she found themselves at the edge of a dense, hilly forest bordering an empty valley. Looking above for the setting sun, she saw her namesake sky thick and distorted with Arcane magic, as if they were encased within a massive purple-tinged snowglobe. Tendrils of magic dangled from some parts of the bubble, tethered to Magicite crystals stuck to poles in the ground. Some Elves were just finishing driving the last of the poles into the ground; they were dressed in gleaming, mirrored silver armor over thick leather padding. The cuirass and greaves were crafted from impossibly tiny rings interlocked into the most perfect representation of chain mail Twilight had ever seen, lacquered with rich colors in places to form various family crests. The pauldrons were simple, oblong, bowl-shaped pieces of silver metal lined with more leather padding and trimmed with shaped wood. The unmistakable white light of Magicite shone from underneath, cluing her in as to where their various enchantments were hidden. The gauntlets and boots were thickly plated, with short, curved blades along the backs of the forearms for catching blades and small spikes on the soles for traction. Further up the arms the plating wasn't quite as thick, but still seemed to boast great strength and impermeability. A simple leather belt held a pouch or two on their hips, along with sheaths for swords or other holsters for various other weaponry. The helmets, finally, sat atop a hood of chain mail. The eyes, nose and mouth were covered by a perfectly transparent shield spell, only made apparent when a stray fly happened to bounce off and produce a small ripple of Arcane energy. The back of the helmet draped down and flared out slightly over the upper back to prohibit attacks on the neck from behind, and the ears were shaped into great bird's wings.

All around them were various tents and huts crafted from thick cloth or leather, the inner and outer poles of which were dotted with small Magicite gems to provide power, light, heat and other basic creature comforts. Slightly more permanent structures made of wood, stone and metal sat interspersed, where supplies and more important things like medic stations and communications rooms were located. Twilight turned her head just in time to watch as some Battlemages brought together the last few wooden walls of a large, rectangular building with their magic. Their armor, similar to the rest of the Elven forces, had much more Magicite socketed into their pauldrons, helmets and gauntlets to enhance their own abilities. Once the building had been enchanted together, long benches and tables blinked into existence from within, with one such bench and table appearing on a platform overlooking the rest. Metal sconces soon followed from nothingness, big ones at the head and foot of each table and in front of the platform, and small ones placed evenly atop the tables. Next appeared numerous dining sets - plates, bowls, forks, knives, cups all blinking into place with meticulous precision - all made of ordinary grey plastic, to Twilight's surprise. Finally, chunks of Magicite appeared within the sconces, roaring to life with cozy flames tinged a light purple.

Her friends all around her breathed in awe. "Very interesting," Twilight mused.

"Quaint, yet refined," Rarity added.

"No matter how advanced magic and technology might become, there are some things that just don't need much improvement," Rael'ia nodded. "Magic really takes care of a lot, you know?"

"Where are we?" Fluttershy asked nervously, trying her best to step out of the way of the many soldiers rushing past them.

"This is Pilgrim's Valley, at the base of the Viridian Mountain Range," Rael'ia pointed her hand towards the calm fields, tall grasses billowing like waves in the wind. Far into the distance, some creatures resembling antelope could be seen grazing beneath a lonely tree. A wide but empty dirt road snaked lazily through the valley, accompanied by the dried husk of a stream running parallel to it. "About twenty miles into the forest and up the foothills, the Crystal Mountain stands before an artificial clearing." She now pointed towards the mountains, green and lush with ancient growth, faintly illuminated by wispy, ethereal swarms of yellow fireflies. Most of the heights were dwarfed by a single pinnacle in the center of the range, its natural light grey color glowing fiercely with the colors of dusk in the fading light. Its peak was capped with snow, reflecting light like a volcano mid-eruption. Marring the otherwise pristine beauty of the Crystal Mountain were lines and rectangles of muddy green: Nullium-fortified buildings where the Humans had taken residence.

"Is... is the entire mountain made of crystal?" Spike asked, drooling a little.

"Indeed it is. It's not called the Crystal Mountain for nothing, of course." Archmage Aternus had approached unnoticed as Twilight and her friends took in the sights around them. He stood beside Rael'ia, hands stuffed inside his robe's sleeves for warmth. Over his robes sat a chestplate and pauldrons much like the other infantry, but enameled with his House's sigil and encrusted with Magicite gems in every conceivable space the metal allowed. "A most befitting resting place for the Elements of Harmony."

"Is everything ready, Archmage?" Rael'ia asked.

"The others have made their camps and are prepared to move at dawn," he nodded. "Just in time for the Officer's Banquet, too, it will be starting soon."

"Oh, yes!" she clapped her hands together excitedly. "It has been a while since I've had Hunter's Stew."

~

Within a few minutes the higher-ups of the four armies began to arrive at the recently-erected banquet hall, blinking in through teleportation or appearing from stone fists that rose and sank beneath the ground without leaving a trace of movement behind.

Skymaster Skrye was among the first to arrive, her blue plumage now covered in her finest armor. Over garments of pale blue silk she wore plate armor made from thinly-hammered silver metal strapped tightly to her body. Her mohawk of head feathers stuck out from a silver helmet shaped and streamlined like the head of an eagle with Magicite gems for eyes, leaving her nose and mouth visible. Elaborate wingblades sparking with lightning sat delicately on the edges of her arms, the blades covered with leather straps to prevent accidental maiming. The most heavily armored part of her were her talons, covered in metal plates and the tips sharpened into deadly points. She carried her halberd on her back, but now also had a small silver buckler shield slung over her left hip, decorated with a sigil of a bird's talon as it swooped down on its prey.

Warmaster Dovah arrived next, atop his now armored moose Breyva despite traveling via stone fist below ground. He seemed even more gigantic and imposing than before, which seemed impossible in the past. He was still his usual heavily armored self, covered in a mass of thick, red-lacquered metal plates, copiously decorated with Nature-enchanted Magicite, spikes, tusks, claws and horns. All of this lay on top of undergarments of thick leather and fur; Twilight wondered to herself how he wasn't sweating from his own body heat underneath all that bulk. She also wondered how Breyva could manage to carry him with the added weight of her own armor: thick and red-lacquered to match, with specially-crafted spiked hoofplates attached to her limbs and hammered plates of gilded metal with serrated edges set atop her antlers. He dismounted, causing the earth to shake under his weight a little as he walked inside.

Just before Rael'ia and Aternus headed in to sit down, Ocean Mistress Morganna arrived, fashionably late. The Siren was clad in armor that seemed to have been forged from numerous, colossal-sized freeform pearls, held together with white leather cords and set with Water-enchanted Magicite that glittered like the ocean in moonlight. The pearls that made up the cuirass joined together in irregular formations, covering her chest and left shoulder. More freeform pearls curved inwards like boats closed like clamshells around her arms and legs, allowing her gauzy fins to move unrestricted. The gloves and boots were made from white leather embroidered with more smaller pearls and Magicite, and the pauldrons were crafted from the two halves of a giant white scallop shell, Magicite set into the empty shells where barnacles once made their homes. Two more similar shells covered the sides of her hips atop her greaves, with an asymmetrical skirt of thin, white silk extruding from beneath. Her helmet was crafted from a single round pearl the size of a watermelon, elaborately carved with foreign runes and set with gems, with white silk hanging down and caressing the back of her neck. The scarlet jewel at the base of her throat glowed like an ember in the light, intense and harsh compared to the rest of her adornment. Besides the trident on her back, on her right hip she wore what appeared to be a sword with a blade as long and thin as a ribbon, coiled into loops and tied tight and secure.

As each arrived, their subordinates arrived as well, the lowest sitting at the foot of their respective tables and the second-in-command sitting at the head. Rael'ia took her seat in the middle of the table facing the other officers, with Aternus and Dovah at her right and Skrye and Morganna at her left. Twilight, Spike, Rarity and Pinkie Pie elected to sit at the rightmost end of the table, while Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Applejack sat at the left. Finally, everyone was present and seated. A bell materialized above Rael'ia's head and shook, filling the air with an unmistakable, graceful chime.

"Thank you all for coming," the Elven Princess began, the bell disappearing back to wherever it came. "Let it be known that I am truly grateful for your assistance in the coming days. The siege and seizure of the Crystal Mountain from the Humans will not come easily, I am aware. But seeing your faces this night, the faces of the champions of our great nations, fills me with hope and determination. The Humans will yield the sacred peak to us, or we will take it from them by force!"

The banquet hall burst with humble cheers and applause from the Harpy and Orc tables, drowning out the more muted grumbles and half-hearted hurrahs from the Elven and Siren tables.

"I hear your complaints and concerns," Skrye raised her glass. "A great omen blesses our battle, for just a few days ago, a male was born unto the Harpy-kin within Autumn Thicket. The gods have spoken: we shall be victorious!" Morganna rolled her eyes in derision, but remained silent. The tables cheered again, with more joining in this time.

"The Humans will rue the day they stole away such sacred ground," Dovah shouted, rattling everyone's dishes and cutlery with force of voice alone. "We will tear down their ugly walls and buildings and decorate ours with the heads of those who would support such an immoral cause!" The Orcs, Harpies and Sirens cheered louder than ever, even the Elves were cheering raucously. The military leaders then looked to Morganna for her part of her speech. A glimmer of pure and utter malice flashed in her eyes.

"We will crush the milk-skinned landwalkers and send them to the depths of the rivers and the lakes. The blight upon this land will be culled to the last. The waters will run red with their blood and we shall bathe in it!" The Sirens' table thundered with applause, while the others clapped with a hint of uncomfortable hesitation and apprehension. Nobody had taken such an eager stance on Human annihilation like the Sirens had.

"But enough of that," Aternus chuckled nervously, waving his hand in dismissal. "Let the Officer's Banquet begin!"

As soon as he spoke, platters, pitchers and pots of food and drink appeared on all of the tables, covering them almost to the point of overflowing. On each table appeared an entire roasted deer garnished with sweet and earthy root vegetables and mint sauce; a large suckling pig surrounded by aromatic, wine-braised fruit; five large game birds, roasted and smoked and stuffed with fat-soaked bread, onions, garlic and mushrooms; four platters of seared fish, skin perfectly salted and crispy and the fins fried into crackers; four huge bowls of lightly dressed salad greens and sweet, flavorful herbs topped with nuts and dried berries; four deep tureens filled with a thick, steaming, golden broth laden with chunks of meat (the cut up and seasoned hearts of the served animals, as Twilight recognized when she took a peek inside) and vegetables; multiple bowls of bread rolls and boiled or mashed grains; and clear pitchers filled with water or different beers, ciders and mulled wines. All of the dishes began to slowly float in midair, lazily drifting up and down the table and avoiding collisions with other plates and pitchers by floating slightly higher or lower. Enchanted utensils scooped and ladled and poured and sliced and served portions to every member at the table; nobody ever had to get up to serve themselves, and they were sent away with a mere wave of the hand if a serving was not wanted. Twilight watched in amazement, almost forgetting to send away the plates trying to serve her cooked meat before they finished slicing. She and the other ponies elected mostly for vegetarian foods, although a few of them did make it a point to at least try a bite of one of the various meats available. Spike, in contrast, took a serving of every kind of meat and let the other foods drift onwards, pulling out a secret shaker of powdered ruby to further season his meal. The military leaders accepted portions of everything, Rael'ia materializing herself a bigger bowl for the stew. As everyone began eating, a group of four Siren Warsingers entered through a door to the right, clothed in dark blue silks appropriate for a formal ball. They began to hum a calm and tranquil tune, the gems on their throats glowing softly. Thoughts of the coming battle were quickly dissipated, and the conversations turned pleasant and cheerful.

"Ah, thank you for taking care of the entertainment this time, Ocean Mistress," Aternus smiled.

"But of course," said Morganna, haughtily sipping from her cup of mulled wine. "Our song-magic is unrivaled in its elegance and sophistication."

"Bah... it's all wrong for the occasion," Dovah grumbled after politely stifling a burp. "We need war songs! A specialty of Orc-kin song-magic!"

"Oh gods, no," Skrye cringed. "I left the last Officer's Banquet with a headache I couldn't get rid of for a week."

"Indeed," Aternus nodded. "I myself had horrible tinnitus that only went away with a potion containing enough Swallow's Ear fungus to knock out Breyva herself!"

"No offense, Warmaster," Rael'ia added after setting down her half-finished bowl of stew. "I think I felt my own heartbeat stop a couple times during the loudest parts... not metaphorically, either, but literally."

"Well... true, it wasn't meant for enclosed spaces," the Orc conceded. "But it will deafen the ears of our enemies tomorrow!"

"Just don't drown out my Warsingers with your discordant noise," Morganna hissed before returning to her meal. Twilight heard movement behind her seat and glanced back, seeing an Elf wrapped in a camouflaged, hooded cloak briskly walking past. He took off his hood as he leaned over beside Rael'ia's and Aternus's ears, revealing long azure hair tied back and periwinkle eyes much like the Spymaster's. A few words were whispered, Rael'ia blinking and pursing her lips together, Aternus remaining stoic. After a moment of thought she nodded and whispered a few words of her own to the Elf, who nodded in return before making his way back to the door from which he came.

"What was that about?" Skrye asked as her sharp eyes tracked the Elf until he disappeared from sight.

"Sentinel Indico has just informed us that the Prince has been spotted within the Human stronghold," Rael'ia gazed into the distance in thought, her fingers interlaced and touching her upper lip.

"Ah, good!" Dovah slammed his cup of beer on the table. "We won't have to wait for their declaration of surrender for very long!" The other leaders laughed and bantered at the news, while Rael'ia quietly asked Aternus whether that meant there would be more Human troops to fight through or less. A chill traveled through Twilight's spine as she listened in, though she quickly took a drink of cider to send it away. With all these different races combined and fighting together, all the magic available to them, and with the help of her dearest friends, surely there was nothing to worry about.

The banquet continued into the night. After an hour of feasting, a hot, bitter herbal tea was served as an apéritif. Twilight thought back to the night she had first introduced Rael'ia to coffee and smiled as she sipped the drink; the two tasted almost exactly the same, with a few more earthy notes in the light green liquid. Shortly afterwards, a dessert course materialized on the tables, with fresh plates, cups and utensils provided. There were small chocolate and vanilla cakes with silky frostings; fresh fruit tarts and pies; and trays of fruit preserves alongside more fresh fruit, cheeses and nuts. The pitchers now contained either water or milk, both cold and hot alongside bags of tea or cocoa, and at least a dozen bottles of different fortified wines, liquors and other digestifs lazily floated overhead. Twilight watched her friends with quiet amusement as they ate and drank: Pinkie Pie had grabbed no less than three of each kind of dessert option for herself and was nearly swallowing them whole while Dovah watched slack-jawed and incredulous. Rainbow Dash was trying her hardest to chug a port wine, nearly making herself sick while Applejack chastised her and Skrye cackled with laughter. Rarity and Fluttershy both daintily sipped at their drinks, having more and more poured for themselves and taking larger and longer sips until both's cheeks were flushed and they were swooning dramatically to the melody of the Warsingers. Spike reached for a bottle to sample whatever liquor was inside; Twilight slapped his claws away with her hoof like a mother swatting her child's hand away from her wine glass. Rael'ia and Aternus conversed amongst themselves, their speech becoming less formal and more questionable and grammatically incorrect as the night progressed. Morganna sighed and willed a small vial of antacid potion into existence, downing it in one gulp.

The moon was high when the festivities finally ended, rippling like a reflection in water on the shield spells above. Stumbling a little, Rael'ia led the Twilight and her friends to their tent. It was spacious and roomy, dimly lit and cozily warm from the gems embedded in the poles. Sleeping bags atop inflatable cushions were their final stop for the night. Despite the terrible inevitability of tomorrow, sleep came easily to the little ponies. The banquet had helped them forget.

The Crystal Mountain: Twilight's and Rarity's account

Twilight was awoken by the blaring of a horn outside. Her eyes snapped open - it was still rather early in the morning, evident by the lack of light peering through the leather flap that covered the tent's opening. The Magicite gems in the tent poles shone to life as her friends were roused, banishing the darkness and chilly air with light and heat. She wondered if there would be a breakfast of some sort before they all went off to the front lines, although she still felt perfectly sated from the night before.

After they had all donned their armor, the group of friends shivered as they left the warmth of their tent. Elven soldiers were leaving their tents and gathering in groups led by their superiors, who then instructed a Battlemage to teleport them away, most likely to the other edge of the forest just before the Crystal Mountain. After a few minutes of searching they found Princess Rael'ia and Archmage Aternus, both in full armor, making a few last minute orders to various commanders.

"Good morning, friends," Rael'ia spoke as the last commander left for his squadron. "Did you sleep well?"

"Ah was out like a light after that supper," Applejack yawned and stretched. Twilight and the others agreed.

"Good, good," Aternus nodded. "The Officer's Banquet is as much preparation for the coming battle as it is for morale. Now, any last things you all need to do before we leave?"

"No, I don't believe so," said Rarity.

"I'm good, let's get going!" Rainbow Dash grinned as she cracked the joints in her neck and wings in anticipation.

"Very well," Rael'ia spoke as the shield spell on the exposed parts of her helmet activated. "All of you just stay with me, and we'll get through this together." She took a final glance around the camp before teleporting the nine of them away.

They reappeared, as Twilight predicted, at the other edge of the forest. They knelt to the ground as quickly as they could to keep out of sight. Not fifty feet away was the artificial clearing Rael'ia had spoken of: only grass grew on the flattened grounds before the first Human fortress, which was still a good thousand feet away from their position. The Magicite on her armor glowed faintly brighter as her horn glowed, followed shortly by her eyes. Now she could see their defenses, the tens of cannons peeking out from pillboxes along the top of the seemingly-infinite walls, most of them unmanned at the moment. Reddish blobs of light denoted where Humans currently slept or stood watch. The vast majority of them were still asleep.

She ended her spell and looked behind her, quickly wondering how in the world the Humans were still sleeping. Among the Elven infantry, Orcs were preparing for battle with no consideration for volume level. Many warriors were talking to their companion animals, hyping them up and sending them into howling, hissing, braying, cawing, trumpeting frenzies. Orc commanders were shouting various warcries and chants in their native language to raise morale, followed by drummers slowly beating the large, loud drums strapped to their bodies - deep brown with tanned hides stretched taut across their openings, decorated with warpaint and hollowed, rattling bones. Something like a high-pitched brass instrument made itself known just paces away; Twilight's eyes widened to see what appeared to be an armored grey mammoth half as tall as the fifty-foot trees surrounding it, covered in various splotches and squiggles of brown and green paint, tusks covered in multiple bladed, metal spikes. Strapped to its back were wood and leather platforms that allowed perhaps ten Orcs to stand atop the great beast. Three of the Orcs appeared armed with ranged weaponry, while one sitting on a chair strapped to the back of the beast's head seemed to steer it with ropes attached to the bases of its tusks. The rest were carrying various musical instruments, mostly drums and horns with a few stringed instruments thrown in, and were in the process of testing them... or more accurately, their ability to make as much noise as possible.

"Lovely... Orc-kin song magic is just what I wanted to start the battle with," Aternus groaned.

"I see the Warsingers over there," Rael'ia pointed to a small clearing to the left a couple hundred feet away. "Let's hope the Orcs let them cast their spells first."

"How are we not waking everything up in a ten-mile radius of here?" Rarity cringed as an Orc in the distance made what sounded like fart noises from an Ursa Major with his horn.

"Sound dampening spells from our best Battlemages. Otherwise, yea, this wouldn't be much of a surprise attack," said Aternus.

"The sun will rise soon," Rael'ia spoke softly as she took note of the faintest amount of light peeking out from below the horizon. She touched the right side of her helmet where her ear was covered, activating the Magicite communicator underneath. "Is everyone ready to proceed?" Only a moment passed before she heard voices in reply.

"The Orc-kin are ready to move!" Warmaster Dovah's voice boomed.

"The Harpy-kin are in the skies, ready for your signal," Skymaster Skrye's voice answered.

"The Siren-kin await your signal," Ocean Mistress Morganna's voice hissed.

"Alright. On the Archmage and I's signal. Stand ready." Rael'ia and Aternus stood up, taking a few slow breaths. After a few seconds had passed they began preparing their strongest magical attacks. The great sun of five runic rings appeared behind the Elven Princess, unaffected by the surrounding trees as they phased through the wood, while the Archmage's hands glowed so brightly with combined magics that daylight may as well have already come.

"Twilight, could you lend a hand? Er, hoof?" Aternus asked the lavender Alicorn. "Help us blast some holes in that wall." Twilight nodded and assumed a casting stance, her horn and all the Magicite on her body glowing with pink light. The power she felt within her horn was nearly untameable; it felt as if it had a mind of its own and was throwing itself against the walls of her skull in an effort to escape. But she knew she had full control over it. Rael'ia and Aternus then faced their palms towards the Human fortress, and Twilight lowered her head.

"All units... GO!"

The dampening spells were broken instantly to the sounds of triumphant shouting as the forces around them charged. Twilight let the energy loose within her horn as Rael'ia and Aternus fired, almost losing her footing from the sheer recoil of her attack. The beams of light and magic shot over the field with dizzying speed, meeting resistance against the Nullium walls of the fortress for only a moment before pushing through. They allowed themselves to rest after a few more seconds of sustained fire, Twilight gasping at the destruction they had wrought. She and Aternus had drilled two massive, gaping holes through the walls, while Rael'ia's scattered shots had formed hundreds of smaller holes that could still fit a few bodies at a time through them. That had certainly woken the Humans up.

"Alright, friends, it's time. Let's go!" Rael'ia cried out above the noise. She and Aternus glowed with Arcane magic and flew off towards the fortress. Twilight made a mental note of whether she could summon the Sapling of Harmony to her side where she was; after a quick confirmation in her head she flapped her wings and took off, the others following closely. Rainbow Dash easily kept up beside her in the air, as did Applejack on the ground underneath. Pinkie Pie happily skipped her way across the field slightly behind them, while Spike had jumped onto Rarity's back as she galloped beside Pinkie. Fluttershy gulped as her body began to simmer, the Chameleon effect activating as she flew a short distance behind them all. All around her, Elves and Orcs stampeded towards the fortress - many ran, many Elves flew, their bodies alight with Arcane magic, others teleported rapidly in succession, leaving behind copies of themselves that lasted only a fraction of a second. A klaxon began blaring from the center of the fortress, ensuring that all the Humans were now awake and rushing to their positions.

She looked behind her to where a group of maybe twenty Sirens were leaving the cover of the forest. Four of them on their outer perimeter had their hands aglow with blue light, waving them around gracefully and purposely. Water materialized from thin air around and above the Warsingers, forming the shape of a phonograph's horn pointed in the general direction of the battle. Their conductor shuffled out in front of the group and raised her baton, the jewels on the Warsinger's throats began to glow like hot embers, and their mouths opened. One swish, and one of the Sirens began to perform beatboxing, if Twilight remembered the term correctly from her admittedly-lacking knowledge of musical genres. As the beat was established, a perfect harmony of A Capella music followed soon after, the sound amplified exponentially by the watery projection above and sweeping over the battlefield in vermilion waves, drowning the klaxon out entirely. The tune was haunting, yet as it crashed into and through her she found herself feeling energized and invigorated, angry without feeling anger, almost goading her into feeling like she wanted to punch something in the face. The beatboxer among them intensified his craft, the percussion rattling like machine gun fire, and the melody became choppy, harsh, even discordant, yet still seemed to make sense. She took a moment to watch as the infantry charged ahead. They ran faster, shouted louder and fiercer as the sound waves pushed them along. The front line collided with the first of the Human forces pouring out of the holes in the fortress walls and attacked with great ferocity, slashing and smashing with great speed and agility. The armored animal companions of the Orcs joined in the hunt, tearing at the enemy's limbs, clawing at eyes and trampling underfoot. The music drove them all into further bloodlust as it reached the chorus, a futuristic array of vocalized reverb, synthesizer laser sounds and staccato she would have expected from a DJ-Pon3 concert. The Siren song-magic she had encountered in the past had been deeply alluring, even intoxicating, but the display of magic here was truly... well, interesting.

Rainbow let out a whoop of excitement. "C'mon, AJ, let's go buck some Humans!"

"Yee-haw!" Applejack took off running, covering the ground with blazing speed. Rainbow followed after her in the sky.

"Hey! I said 'stick by me', guys!" Rael'ia shouted after them to no use. They were both already dots in the distance. "Well... as long as they make it to the top of the mountain, I guess," she sighed. Glowing banners reading "Caution!" appeared in the HUD of Twilight's helmet, along with multiple arrows pointing behind her. She whipped her head around to see what looked like hundreds of boulders and cannonballs cloaked in purple fire soaring through the air, high over her head and crashing into the fortress walls and the ground within it. While the magic of the cannonballs had no effect on the Nullium-plated walls, the force of the impact itself was enough to leave deep craters and pockmarks in their wake, as did the plain boulders. The cannonballs that landed on the ground inside the fortress exploded into miniature mushroom clouds, tearing the earth apart and propelling shrapnel into the enemy forces. In the midst of it all, the Warsingers had reached a quiet interlude in their song, and the Humans finally began lining the tops of the walls and filling the pillbox rooms, rifles loaded with belt magazines and wildly firing at the approaching army. They popped shield enchantments with ease, shattering into multiple fragments that pierced Elven and Orc-kin armor alike. Rael'ia stopped her flight abruptly, gazing in shock at their effectiveness, gasping when she heard the screams and saw so many of her people cut down at once.

"Oh gods, no... no!" she cried. "They're falling so quickly!" A stray shot met Aternus's magical wards; though he was able to ultimately deflect it, Twilight watched as the muddy-green bullet slowed to a stop uncomfortably close to his chest.

"Oof... that packs a punch!" he groaned as the bullet fell harmlessly to the ground below. "Our highest priority should be getting rid of those rounds!"

"Um, guys?" Pinkie pointed to the cannons peeking out of the fortress walls. All were manned now, and all were moving to aim at various targets: some at larger clusters of their infantry, a couple at the Warsingers, many further back into the trees where their own siege weapons were located, and a few directly at them. Twilight felt her heart sink as she realized the horrible danger she and her friends were suddenly in... with her heightened magic and senses, she could feel the same within her friends as well.

Fluttershy's mouth opened, but no sound came out. Time seemed to stand still as deafening thunder rang out among them... mostly because Twilight willed it so. Her gem-covered body glowed like a star as she prepared many spells at once: enhancing her sight to see every individual missile fired, including the fifteen headed their way; slowing all incoming artillery fire; raising a shield that would protect herself and her friends; emitting a pulse of magic that would hopefully neutralize them all. With her newfound power, it only took a moment. She raised her luminous horn high, arching her back, and as she cast her spells, the Warsingers coincidentally entered into a new crescendo as the power exploded out of her.

For a moment, the land was illuminated with blinding pink light that outshone the now-rising sun. The artillery fire, slowed to a crawl, now drastically picked up speed - only to detonate against a massive pink shockwave that expanded outward from a sphere of magic encircling Twilight and her friends. Though the artillery on the extreme ends of their line of fire had not been affected, the vast majority of them had been destroyed before reaching their targets. Seeing her opportunity, Rael'ia's outstretched hands glowed with swirling purple and green. Ten horizontal rifts in the fabric of space opened like eyes beside her, spitting out boulders the size of carriages at high speed towards the cannon pillboxes. The boulders smashed and demolished them, crushing the small fortifications and whatever lay inside.

The Elven Princess exhaled. "Well, that's taken care of for now." She would have continued if not for the ground suddenly shaking. The song of the Warsingers reached its climax as the fields erupted with Tunnel Tanks; one Siren shrieked a extended high note as the tanks opened and Human forces poured out of them. Fluttershy screamed again as Tunnel Tanks tore apart the earth she, Pinkie, Rarity and Spike were standing on, the former two disappearing from Twilight's sight amidst the chaos. While Twilight cried out to her friends, Rarity's body glowed like rime as her crystals shot and pierced the enemies closest to her, while Spike hissed as he lashed out with his fiery claws and dragon breath. Rael'ia struck from above, raining down numerous bolts of sudden lightning and swift icicles as she glowed with the colors of morning.

"I'm going to go find their armories and destroy them," Aternus yelled as a beam of his Arcane magic tore a Tunnel Tank in half. "I will need cover."

"Go! We will assist you!" Rael'ia shouted, getting Twilight's attention. "Your friends will be fine, but not for long if we don't get rid of the Humans' Nullium ammunition quickly!"

"We are right behind you!" Rarity called out, glancing away for only a moment before sending her crystals through another Human body. Twilight frantically searched the fields with her eyes, hoping- no, begging to catch a glimpse of yellow or pink, but could see only greens, browns and bipedal bodies. Her heart ached as she feared the worst, but she quickly shook the thought out of her head as Humans mounted on dark-colored, Nullium-armored griffons began to overflow from the fortress like a fountain.

"Let's go!" Her wings flapped and she continued her flight towards the fortress, Rael'ia and Aternus behind her for only a moment. The three of them rained down destruction as they approached; Twilight focusing her magic into powerful beams and blasts much like Aternus, Rael'ia assaulting those in her path with astonishing arrays of fire, lightning, rocks, ice and Arcane magic. She felt a pit form deep within her belly as their attacks swatted the Humans and their mounts out of the sky - these griffons weren't like the ones back home, were they? Were they sentient like those from the Griffon Kingdom? Had they willingly allied themselves with the Humans? Her fears were assuaged somewhat as she heard only animalistic squawks and screeches from their beaks as they swooped and plummeted. Rael'ia and Aternus had no problem with shooting them down. High above them, she heard the bird-of-prey warcries of the Harpies as they swooped from the clouds and descended upon the griffon riders, slashing and stabbing with their halberds and wingblades, grasping Humans in their talons, ripping them off their mounts and releasing them to their deadly fates below. The skies began to rain red with blood from clouds of bodies and feathers, the cries of the combatants and the screams of the defeated their thunder. As they finally breached the walls of the fortress, Twilight heard the final notes of the Warsingers' call - for some reason, the words "all stats increased by 30%" slid through her mind like a ticker sign.

Once she laid eyes on the fortress interior, her hope for quickly locating the main armory was dampened. The walls extended all the way around the mountain as far as she could see. No less than twenty large, muddy-green buildings were arranged in even rows immediately before her, with hundreds more in clusters within the walls, each with at least one anti-air cannon on its roof. More cannons lining the walls on the far side of the fortress quickly swiveled around to aim inward, and each building was surrounded by Nullium-armored Humans with bayonetted firearms, swords and grenade belts. Their armor was formed into a suit resembling a marriage between the plate mail and modern military gear the Humans from her parallel universe wore throughout the ages, the forest camouflage-painted metal dulled to a matte finish as to not reflect light. While the armor was "extremely resistant, if not entirely unaffected" by the various types of magic all Magikin could cast, Twilight and her friends had learned from Rael'ia that Nullium armor was susceptible to blunt force trauma; bladed as well if you knew where to look. Not only that, but Nullium armor was also not watertight.

As she surveyed the compound, a low din of horrendous noise grew from whence she came, growing gradually louder. If she had to guess, it sounded like someone had taken all of Equestria's brass, percussion and woodwind instruments, gathered them into one place, and then they were all caught up in a 1000 Wing Power-rated tornado. And then hundreds of wolves joined in the cacophony with their howling, and a hundred cats with their yowling, and hundreds upon hundreds of other beasts added their voices to the pandemonium. Looking behind her, she saw the might of the Orc-kin army and their companions charging the shattered walls alongside Rael'ia's forces, with all manner of screaming, yelling and pounding of drums, blowing of horns and baying of animals. The war mammoth she had seen before crashed through a weak spot of the wall and broke it open, unleashing a mighty trumpet while sweeping the ground with its tusks and trampling a pair of unlucky Humans underfoot. A few seconds later, Rarity and Spike appeared through the rubble, both wincing and covering their ears, desperately trying to drown out the racket.

"Oh my Celestia, that's Orc-kin music?!" Rarity screeched indignantly. Rael'ia and Aternus gazed at the two in sympathy. The ground suddenly quaking forced them to use their hooves and claws to steady themselves rather than protect their hearing.

"Oh, no," Rael'ia breathed. A loud siren echoed in the mountain air. Twilight turned her attention to a nearby rectangular field of concrete between the gaps in the building clusters, at least a hundred feet long and fifty wide. A perfectly horizontal crack opened in the middle, slowly growing wider until the concrete disappeared, revealing those horrible automatons. Twelve muddy-green Angels rose from underground on a large metal platform, hissing and emitting steam as they activated. Six had new additions to their armored bodies: great wings of metal tubes, plates and feathers as big as the bodies themselves, glowing with jet engine fire and screaming a shrill noise. These were armed with glaives the size of trees, the blades as large as the broadswords the land units held in front of them. The platform came to a clunking halt, and the Angels remained motionless for a few seconds before moving all at once. Three of the six winged Angels took off higher up the mountain, and three of the land unit Angels followed them from below. One of each flew and stomped off to the northern face of the mountain, and the remaining four came forward. Twilight watched, equal parts anxious and intrigued as one of the winged Angels shot up to meet her, the other flying directly towards Rael'ia. The two land Angels below slowly made their way towards Spike, Rarity and the approaching Orc hordes.

However, once the Angels had passed over what appeared to be a sewer manhole, it erupted with a powerful spout of water, causing the ground to crack and spray out more water, and the two Angels to turn around. A company of Sirens swam and leapt from the deluge, and while some summoned up their Water magic to encapsulate and drown their enemies, most drew their spears, tridents, nets and ribbonlike swords and went to work against the surprised Human forces. Ocean Mistress Morganna appeared from the spray moments later, her ribbon sword coiled loosely around her feet.

"Ugh, how undignified," she growled under her breath as she removed a scrap of rubbish from her helmet. She then whipped her outstretched sword hand to her side, taking a couple steps forward so the metal ribbon did not slash her feet. As Humans moved to surround her, her mouth flashed with grinning shark teeth.

"Urumi, let us tear them to shreds!" Morganna snarled, her ribbon sword glowing a bright turquoise. She spun her arm and body around gracefully, sending Urumi's fifteen feet of razor sharp mythril slicing and soaring through the air like an eel darting between rocks in the depths of the ocean. It looped and zigzagged and fluttered like a expert gymnast's routine, blocking and parrying the swords and machetes of the Humans with the first half and slitting, slashing and lacerating flesh with the second as it passed by not a moment later. Cries of valorous fury quickly turned to shrieks and gurgles of agony and terror as limbs were severed or ripped open to the bone, and throats were cut with nightmarish speed and accuracy. The blood dripping to the ground around her was quickly washed away by the weakening torrent of the sewer, coming to rest in stagnant pools of reddish-brown ooze that stank of garbage, bodily waste and iron.

Twilight's eyes were frozen with transfixed disgust. She only noticed the approaching winged Angel when it fully blocked her vision of the bloodbath below, glaive poised to strike. Her mind snapped back to reality, and her horn briefly flashed as she teleported a short distance away just as the weapon swung at her neck. But the massive, necromancy-powered armor turned on a dime and lashed out again and again, quickly closing the distance every time Twilight teleported. She wondered what poor soul lay locked inside.

On the ground, Rarity and Spike trembled as the two land unit Angels approached. One made a sudden turn to the right to engage the Orc forces, but the other kept marching towards them. At the sight, some of the Orcs began to glow with Nature magic; stones and boulders rose from the ground, alight with that same magic, and levitated for only a moment before forcefully slamming themselves into the bodies of those Orcs as they stood firm. More and more rubble coated their bodies until they were covered in thick stone armor. As soon as the stone solidified into a perfect defense, the Orcs charged, shouting with feral rage. The ground shook and cracked with every weighted step. Rarity watched out of the corner of her eye as the two forces clashed, her heart quickened as she saw stone bodies flying despite their preparation.

Spike shouted out a warning and leapt towards Rarity to push her out of the way of the approaching Angel, his small body seemingly transforming into a flaming boulder. A sound of protest left her mouth upon impact, quickly quieted by contact with the ground. The little dragon landed just under her belly and scrambled to help her up. "Sorry... guess I don't know my own strength," he chuckled nervously. Though she was ultimately unhurt, Rarity opened her mouth again to chastise Spike but decided against it as the Angel turned and trodded closer. Her body glowed a blinding, icy blue as magic funneled into her horn, and her eyes closed as she focused a portion of that power into each and every crystal shard that floated within her aura. It was as if she were controlling hundreds of threaded needles into sewing together fifty dresses at once: an impossible feat before, but now a rather simple thought to play with. And play she would.

"You brute!" she exclaimed as her horn and body pulsed, sending a storm of crystal shards at the Angel's face and body. While some of them managed to pierce and slash through some of the armored hoses that helped to power it, many of the shards sunk a few inches into its armor and remained stuck. Rather than waste energy trying to pull them out, Rarity then refocused her magic into her gem-finding spell, searching deep within the earth for Magicite. Her remaining shards drilled into the ground in a whirlpool motion, tearing apart and softening a patch of soil about a meter wide. The ground shook slightly as the patch soon produced a boulder of gleaming white Magicite, the shards following it out of the ground and quickly shattering it into more pieces. Within seconds, all of her crystals were replenished. The Angel hesitated while this was happening, seemingly taking into account its damaged, steaming hoses and recalculating something. Rarity focused her magic and linked about three-fourths of her crystals into the shape of a rapier, her legs bent in preparation. After what seemed like forever the Angel charged, but at Spike instead.

But the little dragon wasn't caught off guard. Spike hissed and leapt at his enemy, body aflame and magically grown heavy. He clunked against the Angel's head, knocking it slightly off kilter, giving him the opportunity to latch on with his sharpened claws that melted and pierced the Nullium armor just enough to gain a good grip. He inhaled deeply, bent over the Angel's forehead, and with all his might breathed bright green and yellow dragon fire directly onto its face. Both dragon and pony could hear the bubbling and cracking, smell the scent of chemicals and molten metal as the Angel's head glowed like a hot coal. It stumbled for a few moments before grabbing Spike and hurling him away hundreds of feet into a swarm of warring Humans and Orcs. Rarity cried out for him as she lost sight of the little dragon, worried for his safety. She then turned back to the Angel, eyes fixed into a furious glare, burning cold with rage.

"How dare you! I'll tear you into pieces!" she roared and lunged towards her enemy. The Angel hefted its sword and swung, only to be parried by Rarity's own crystal rapier. She attempted to stab it in its rapidly-cooling face, but found herself having to block far more often than she would've liked. The Magicite gems in her armor glowed brighter and brighter as she poured more and more energy into the fight; swinging, stabbing, blocking, parrying, evading, ducking, flourishing. Sweat began to run down her forehead as she focused her magic to swing faster. Her rapier chipped and split with every hit, and she worried that it might soon shatter entirely. But finally, as a group of Humans approached her flank she saw an opening in the Angel's defenses. Her mind burned with exertion as she fired some of her loose crystal shards at them while leaping forwards to run through her main enemy's weak point, smiling to herself as she hit her mark and heard grunts of pain and thuds on the ground to her right. A twist of her rapier, and as it shattered from the force the Angel's left arm was separated from its owner. Thick reddish-black liquid poured out of the wound along with a rush of steam, splattering it all over the pristine white Unicorn, who recoiled and gagged desperately to get a few drops of it out of her mouth.

Above, Twilight flew a loop and a twist, placing herself behind the winged Angel in pursuit. Her neck arched backwards as she charged her magic, and she fired a volley of bright pink bolts as the flying armor performed a banked turn around. It avoided most of her shots, but a few managed to hit and blast a few chunks of metal off its wings. As it turned she discovered the source of its flight: the base of the wings were sticking out of a pair of jet engines on the Angel's back, the wings rotating around the engines to direct where it flew. Twilight blinked as she heard small explosions from the Angel's back as it blasted forward to attack. Her eyes narrowed as she ascended abruptly, almost leaping in midair over the enemy, which turned around quickly to guard its back as if it knew what she had seen. In her mind she flipped through the pages of hundreds of spellbooks she had read and memorized throughout her life, searching for the perfect strike to end this.

Again the Angel charged, and an idea formed in Twilight's mind. This time she teleported past it, flying away and upwards into the sky. The Angel followed, just as she had hoped. Once she and her quarry reached the clouds above, she banked sharply down, back towards the earth below. The Angel followed once again, and a smirk grew on her face. She focused on flying as swiftly as she could downwards, her body aglow, empowering her wings to fly ever faster. Her horn streaked through the air like a shooting star as she prepared to cast her spells. Just as she saw the combatants below her begin to scurry out of the way, seeing her and her adversary rapidly approaching the ground, she closed her eyes, focused her mind and exhaled deeply. Her eyes shot open a moment later, and she inhaled sharply as she teleported behind the Angel, reappearing behind it and still traveling at a breakneck speed. She then fired bolts of magic at the Angel's back before it could correct itself, striking it right where she intended - the Angel's jet propulsion system. It exploded into a satisfying cloud of fire, smoke and shrapnel; unable to stop its descent, the Angel slammed into the earth, shattering, shaking and compressing the ground into a crater around it. Large cracks ripped their way through its armor, emitting steam, splattering reddish-black liquid onto itself like blood from severed arteries. Twilight slowed herself into a stationary hover, then rose again into the sky as she prepared a massive ball of pink energy as radiant as the sun on the tip of her horn. She felt the raw magic within her flood into the orb, felt the magic slosh and froth and churn within her finishing blow. Just as the Angel rose to its hands and knees, her spell finished charging, and she allowed the orb to simply drop onto its destroyed, wingless back. A bubble of shield magic formed around her as she watched the orb dig itself into the cracked armor, pulse violently and detonate. The resulting eruption of magic and metal parts tore through the very air, knocking over those who hadn't run away in a 100-foot radius. Fire and smoke and liquid and sharp, jagged objects flew every which way onto the battlefield, pelting the fallen with debris. A small mushroom cloud rose from the Angel's broken, blown-out form as it finally lay still.

Below, Spike emerged from the fracas within a plume of green and yellow fire, running on all fours as he moved to assist Rarity. Channeling all his enhanced strength he threw himself at the land unit Angel as hard as he could, his meteoric form slamming into its right shoulder. The Angel spun around as it fell from the force of impact, landing supine. Spike rolled along the ground and quickly picked himself up, scrambling to the open wound where its left arm used to be. Claws glowing with fire, he began to burrow into the Angel's artificial flesh, shredding and tearing at the inner workings of the beast. Tubes, circuits and other important-looking bits were pulled out, punctured and ripped and melted beyond repair, and a flood of reddish-black liquid came slopping out beneath him. The Angel, moving slightly erratically now, reached over with its right hand and grabbed the little dragon's tail, prompting him to breathe fire within its chest cavity before being forcibly removed. Spike hung from the Angel's grasp flailing wildly, spraying more fire at the offending fist in an attempt to free himself.

"Unhand my little Spikey-wikey... right now!" Rarity ordered. Having gathered more Magicite shards, she willed all of them into a gigantic sword as tall as the Angel itself and as thick as a club. It was ornately formed, with elegantly-formed notches and sweeping holes within the blade to allow it to swing faster, bladed on both edges and sparkling like the brightest and rarest of gemstones. White wisps of smoke and light deliquesced from its form as she swung it backwards. The Angel shakily stood up and took a few limping steps towards her, still holding firmly onto Spike's tail. With righteous fury growing within her heart, Rarity's horn and body glowed a brilliant ice blue. Her mind focused harder than ever to prepare and channel a hundred spells simultaneously. She felt quiet rumbling from deep within the earth, and her muzzle formed an evil grin from a snarling frown.

"Fine then. Have it your way," she uttered. Her mouth slid back into a snarl as her body burned with magic and the rumbling within the earth intensified exponentially. Suddenly, large, lance-like spires of white Magicite erupted from the ground, trapping the Angel's remaining limbs in crystal pincers and immobilizing it. It struggled within its bonds, quickly causing cracks to appear in the crystal, only to be met with even more shooting up from below. The spires grew thinner as Rarity focused on the Angel's weak spots, and now they pierced and ran the armor through. As hoses popped open and steam rose and liquid dripped from the armor's cracks, the Angel lost motor function and soon dropped Spike, who quickly scurried away. Her favorite dragon now safe, Rarity dashed towards her enemy and leapt gracefully into the air, her sword darting towards it in a pose to swing from below.

A most unladylike roar left Rarity's mouth as she twirled, her sword of a thousand diamonds cleaving upwards between the Angel's legs. As the Angel was torn in half, the Magicite piercing its body scraped against the sword, shattering with explosive force and tearing the Angel into pieces. Liquid-stained crystal and metal shrapnel rained down, which bounced harmlessly off of Rarity's own shield magic. Spike disintegrated the bits coming towards him with his flame breath and made his way to the white Unicorn.

"That was amazing, Rarity! You're the best!" he beamed before shrinking back. "...Don't tell Twilight I said that."

"Oh, that was nothing," she chuckled, flapping a hoof dismissively. "Thank you for the assist, my dear." Rarity then put her hoof around Spike's shoulders and pulled him in for a friendly hug and a cheek nuzzle. A dumb grin spread across Spike's face, growing hot as if his flame breath had backfired on him. So it took him by complete surprise when he suddenly burped up a neatly-sealed scroll from Princess Celestia. He coughed a little as Rarity broke the wax seal with her magic and read the contents.

Dear Spike,

You must be in the middle of a battle, considering how many charred remains of what I assume to be Humans have suddenly been piling up in my throne room. Do you think you could possibly refrain from sending them here? Three of my staff have already fainted from the sight of such gore, and one of my maids has quit on the spot. I truly cannot say I blame her, have you seen what your flame does to these creatures?

Anyway, I am sure you, Twilight and your friends are "kicking flank", as they say. Please stay safe, I await your next message and your eventual safe return. Good luck!

Princess Celestia

"Spike! Rarity!" Twilight called out as she landed beside them. "Are you two okay?"

"Just fine, darling," replied Rarity. Spike gurgled out an affirmative as he coughed out the last of his surprise from the scroll. Behind them and up above, something exploded. They turned around to see the remains of another winged Angel falling from the sky, accompanied by the remainder of a barrage of Arcane, Lightning and Nature magic raining down, firing up and swirling all around it. About thirty feet away from the mess, Rael'ia hovered in midair, breathing heavily, her armor appearing a bit scuffed up.

"Hoo, that's one down," she sighed before shouting to the three below. "How are you guys doing? Great job on those Angels! I knew you could do it!" Before anyone could reply a thunderous roar from above echoed throughout the mountain range, louder than anything Twilight had heard before. She gazed upward and her eyes widened; five monstrous Dragons soared across the sky in a V-shaped formation, the largest of them in the front. They broke apart and flew in different directions: a red one and a green one flying alongside the Harpies and turning the clouds into fire, their flame engulfing the Humans and their mounts entirely and leaving nothing but ash in the wind. Two more, a blue one and a silver one swooped down into the distance, their landings accompanied by a distant rumbling of the earth. The final and the largest flew swiftly to the ground beside the two ponies and little dragon, landing gently with care and grace, yet still causing the ground to shake so violently the three stumbled and fell anyway. Twilight gasped as her eyes struggled to comprehend the sheer size of the native Fae Dragon before her: it stood as tall as Princess Celestia's own castle, with thick, banquet platter-sized scales of shimmering, shining gold. A pair of horns the size of the tallest, thickest trees in the Everfree Forest sat on its head above its eyebrows pointed backwards; black as night in color and polished to a mirrorlike finish, as were its claws large enough to crush a house with a single digit. Black spines lined the creature's back and stuck out from the joints in its wings, which were leathery, cream-colored with a slight shimmer and as thick as a hundred tapestries. Its untamed eyebrows, mustache and beard were long, flowing streams and rivers of silver hair, each strand as thick as a pebble. It's belly was covered in a white-gold sheen, and it's eyes glowed a fierce, bright gold.

"Dragon Lord Vulcan, it is good to see you on this field of battle!" Rael'ia shouted as loudly as she could. The massive beast let out a low growl, smoke billowing forth from his nostrils and clenched teeth.

"If you are to take this mountain, little Elf-kin," Vulcan spoke without moving a single muscle in his jaws, as if telepathically, "then you will need all the help you can get." He then opened his mouth, exposing row upon row of teeth as long as an Orc was tall. "This Human scourge has gone unchecked long enough! Dragon-kin, let us show these swine how easily they burn!" He let out a roar so powerful Twilight felt her very bones threatening to shatter; she glanced back at her surroundings to see the vast majority of Humans in the area flee in terror, the few foolish enough to stay behind were still engaged with other combatants or wounded on the ground, wishing they were already dead.

Vulcan trodded forward, his steps forming craters in the ground as he went. He sent his tail hurling into the walls that still stood, crumbling them like they had been made of graham crackers. The Elves, Orcs and Sirens in his path quickly teleported away or sank themselves into the ground as he approached, leaving him free to trample and crush the few Humans caught in the open. Twilight cringed at the popping and squelching of flesh and blood beneath his claws, the screams of agony quickly cut off, the streaks of gunky, crimson-stained giblets left behind as his claws scraped the ground. He approached a cluster of buildings and came to a stop, inhaled deeply and slowly, then opened his mouth wide to breathe a blue-hot flame. Even from a few hundred feet away, Twilight could feel the inferno singe her fur, the air roasting her lungs, steaming her eyeballs and boiling her blood until she summoned a shield spell around herself, Rarity and Spike. Magma drooled from his jowls as the Nullium plating of the buildings melted away like butter just before everything caught fire. The last nearby Angel came racing back from the battlefield, sword raised, and slashed Vulcan along his right flank in the blink of an eye, barely letting any time pass before chopping and cutting deeper into the wound. Vulcan roared angrily as his head turned to his assailant; before Rael'ia, Twilight or anyone else could move to help, the Dragon Lord unleashed a torrent of flame along his right side. A few seconds later, the scales the fire had touched were covered in soot, his wound was pink and cauterized shut, and the Angel was a cherry red, molten shadow of its former self. It shuddered and struggled to move as Vulcan stomped it flat. As they stared in fear and awe of the Dragon Lord's power, a distant building exploded, followed by a chain of more explosions further down the fortress' lengths. A moment later Aternus reappeared within Rael'ia's shield bubble.

"The Main Armory has been taken care of!" he yelled over the destruction Vulcan wrought. "Just a bit longer and most of them will have to resort back to their older ammunition. Still have to find the rest of their stashes to get rid of it all!"

"Good, good job," Rael'ia shouted. Twilight, Rarity and Spike did the same.

"Go, little ones, to the summit!" Vulcan growled. "I will take care of things here."

"You've been hurt!" Rael'ia protested. "You need to retreat to our camps, the Battle Menders must tend to your flank!"

"Bah. I may be thirteen centuries old, but I did not earn the title of Dragon Lord because of my age!" Vulcan spat a blob of magma onto another building, the liquid rock quickly sinking into the metal and wood and setting the whole thing on fire. "I will be fine." Rael'ia looked ready to argue with the massive beast, but sighed and shook her head.

"Stubborn as always," she muttered. "Well, Twilight, Rarity, Spike? Shall we continue upwards?" They nodded in reply, not ones to argue with a dragon of that magnitude. Vulcan made his way to the fortress wall on the opposite side of the fortress, knocking a huge segment of it down with his tail as he swung his body around.

"Come, Humans! Face your doom!" Twilight cast a spell on her ears to counteract the tinnitus echoing in her brain as she and Rael'ia flew past Vulcan and the inner wall of the mountain fortress. Rarity and Spike followed close behind on the ground, soon helped by Aternus grabbing them in his field of magic as he flew after the two princesses. A burst of searing heat and light erupted from behind Twilight, gradually cooling off as she ascended the mountain. More fights were sure to come as they came closer to the summit, but only one thing was on her mind.

She hoped her friends would meet her there.

The Crystal Mountain: Fluttershy's and Pinkie Pie's account

Tired.

So tired.

Fluttershy's lungs burned. Her chest burned. Her belly burned. Her hooves burned. Her legs burned. Her eyes were burning from the salt in her tears. Her mouth was so dry her tongue could strike a match and start a fire.

But she kept on running. She was too scared to even think about using her wings. The whizzing noises screaming past her body and the sudden puffs of dirt and rocks at her hooves forced her to continue.

Tired.

So very tired.

Must rest.

No!

Must flee!

Wait, wasn't this one Magicite gem in her helmet supposed to prevent this feeling? Her vision focused for a moment on her helmet's HUD, a notification streaming across the bottom of her line of sight that read that the Neuroarcanic Emotion Control Gem was functioning at full capacity.

Curse her anxieties, perhaps she should've asked that doctor for help when she had the chance.

Too late now.

So tired.

Her heart felt like it would explode at any second.

It almost did when she suddenly tripped over a severed limb.

She let out a scream so loud it hurt her own ears. She struggled to get back up, to keep running. But her legs simply wouldn't move anymore. Her chest heaved, gasping for air. She didn't even care that it tasted like copper.

A distant explosion boomed. She found the strength to huddle beside a large piece of rubble, but nothing else. A dead Human lay close by, his eyes open, glassy and vacant. Blood lazily oozed from his mouth and formed a pool around his chest, the sources of which came from a gash in his neck and a hole in his belly. Fluttershy turned away from the sight and curled herself into the tiniest ball she could.

The gentle shimmering of her own body allowed her to remember the breathing exercises Twilight had taught her to calm herself down. Nobody could see her tremble, nobody could hear her cry. The mere thought brought some peace at first, but then she worried that nobody would ever find her body. She would never see her home again. She would never see her friends again...

No! She half-coughed, half-cried out. She had to survive. Her friends were counting on her! And they were so close to their goal, she couldn't run away now! Just like she had a few minutes ago... exactly like she did a few minutes ago. Her breathing nearly ceased as she was bewitched by the empty, dull pain deep within her soul.

A stray rat squeaked mere inches from her, breaking the spell. Fluttershy poked her head out to see the tiny creature; it was shivering, muddy, terrified. The shimmer effect of her body distorted for a single moment. Its beady black eyes stared upwards into her own, and she felt a connection, a kindred spirit.

"Oh, you poor thing." She did her best to keep her voice steady and calm as she held out a hoof. The rat hesitated for a few seconds, then quickly climbed up her offered foreleg and curled up against her chest. A feeling of gratitude washed over her mind, drowning out the fears more effectively than any other way she knew of.

Her breathing slowed.

Her eyelids grew heavy.

She could finally rest.

~

"Guys? Guys, where are you?" Pinkie Pie wailed, bouncing across the battlefield. She had lost sight of them when the Tunnel Tanks had torn apart the ground she was standing on, and by the time she had managed to hop on top of the machines like stones in a stream they were already gone. Now she skipped through the battlefield, bouncing as high as she could in an effort to find them again.

But all she found was chaos, and not even the good kind like Discord was known for. She saw Elves, Orcs and Humans clashing against each other with all manner of weaponry - spears and war picks piercing armor, axes and swords lopping off limbs, maces and hammers caving in chests and skulls, the occasional magic blast sending fire, lightning, Arcane energy and rocks flying into enemies, and the distant firearms and artillery blasts rendering all armor useless. The various beasts of the Orcs pounced and charged, thrashing and tearing until they too were bludgeoned and cut down. Griffons and Humans and Harpies fell screaming from the sky, landing with the most sickening noises she had never imagined were possible. Screams of agony and cries of anguish intertwined with shouts of bravery and roars of vengeance, with animalistic screeches and howls, with metal striking metal, with thudding of flesh. The green grass of the field was quickly becoming a sticky, sopping, squelching quagmire of blood-drenched mud.

Pinkie Pie's bouncing slowly came to a stop. So much was happening all around her, her eyes strained to take it all in despite her wishes for them not to. She opened her mouth but only inane babbles left her throat. The world around her was awash with violence and gore. A complete absence of harmony. A sprawling, absolute eternity of death.

A noise caught her attention. She looked to her left and saw an Elf kneeling before a dead Human. Though still alive for the moment, she had been disemboweled before striking the final blow. Her intestines were falling out of her belly like glittery red party streamers, an arm trying to hold them in place. Her mouth spat blood like confetti as she cackled madly.

Pinkie watched, unable to look away. The Elf's laughter grew more strained and tattered until ceasing entirely, and the arm dropped and unfurled the innards as the body crashed to the ground. Like a meat-filled piñata, she thought. Yet the laughter continued, it echoed within her ears and haunted her mind.

She wasn't sure how long she stood there. She hardly noticed her curly mane flattening until it was pin-straight.

Other Humans had finally noticed her, and now drew their weapons as they approached with caution. She could see them coming closer in her peripheral vision, but felt powerless, even unwilling to act. Her eyes remained glued to the bloody sight before her, freezing her in place.

Suddenly, the black gem on her forehead pulsed. The approaching Humans halted, taking a step back as a formless energy rushed past them. Tentacles darker than any black in existence emerged from the gem, thin and small at first but rapidly growing in length and girth as they first covered Pinkie's eyes, then slithered into her ears, her nose, her mouth. More tentacles appeared and flailed wildly as even more wrapped around her head, legs and body; multiplying, thickening and writhing like a jet-black gelatin dessert. The wriggling mass grew larger and larger until it quickly dwarfed the Humans, only seeming to stop when it was over a hundred feet tall and almost as wide.

"I am going to be a storm - a flame," it gurgled out with a thousand thunderous voices, with Pinkie's being the dominant voice. "I need to fight whole armies alone. I have ten hearts, I have a hundred arms. I feel too strong to war with mortals. Bring... me... GIANTS!"

The Void entity rippled with impossible power, its darkness draining the very light from its surroundings. Broken from their stupor, the nearby Humans rallied and charged, their weapons poised to strike. But as they grew close, more black tentacles shot forth from the faceless, formless mass, suddenly hardening and sharpening. The tentacles pierced through each Human effortlessly, killing those lucky enough to have been impaled through the chest, while those stuck through the belly screamed and gurgled in unfathomable pain. The Void entity then moved its appendages; the dead bodies were flicked off and away into the distance, and the mortally wounded ones trembled violently until blackness spilled from their orifices, the last of their death wails leaving their body as they finally exploded into clouds of blood and flesh.

Other Humans who had witnessed this gruesome spectacle understandably began running for their lives. Even the Elves and Orcs who had seen the birth of this blackness took steps backwards. The Void entity roared an unholy noise as it slithered after them on its infinite tentacles. Though it quickly overtook those who fled, it didn't bother to dispatch them as before, but rather kept on traveling in a straight, unimpeded line. One by one, tens by tens, hundreds by hundreds, Elves, Orcs and Humans were engulfed within the unknowable darkness. And as the Void entity continued onward - while the Elves and Orcs emerged with thousand-yard stares but otherwise unscathed - what remained of those Humans was left behind in its wake. Many were now just piles of bloody flesh, bones and organs. Some reappeared with various bodily horrors inflicted upon them: impaled with a dozen black spears at varying angles; cut into a thousand slices and haphazardly reassembled before sliding and splatting onto the ground; ears growing rapidly all over every inch of their bodies, inside and outside until asphyxiating from their ear-filled mouths and throats; skin being replaced by hundreds of unblinking eyes that shattered into thousands more upon collapsing; bodies literally turned inside out; or bisected lengthwise, one half of their body flipped 180⁰ and fused back together - all obviously incompatible with life. Others emerged physically intact, but their eyes were replaced with the darkness of the Void, and it spewed out of their mouths in torrents as they clawed at their own bodies and screamed, sobbed and laughed uncontrollably, irrevocably lost to insanity.

As the Void entity slithered its way towards the Humans' fortress, Elves and Orcs crowded behind it and marched in its path. Suddenly, they cried out in fear as a winged, muddy-green Angel appeared in the sky. Without hesitation it swooped down from above and stabbed deeply with its glaive in what might've been called the entity's head. An ear-piercing scream and a number of black tentacles erupted from the wound in response, tearing it wider for all of them to escape. They reached out for the winged Angel, entangling it within seconds and pulling it back towards the wriggling mass. The Angel fought back, slicing the tentacles with its glaive, but for every tentacle it severed three more took its place. Soon the deadly machine was completely immobilized, and it wiggled helplessly as it was pulled inside the Void entity's wound. Only then did the scream cease, and the wound melted and wrapped itself shut. The Elves and Orcs stared in stunned silence as the entity then began its journey anew, slithering onward towards the fortress. As it traveled, bits and pieces of Nullium wreckage were left behind, yet there was no sign of whatever corpse had powered it.

The Void entity drew close. Humans manning the cannons within the fortress' pillboxes shouted with conviction as they fired upon the darkness. Ten exploding artillery rounds hit, opening new screaming wounds within the mass of tentacles. A thousand voices cursed the Humans for their insolence as the entity continued to move, and the Humans fired another volley. One massive, black tentacle reached out from the entity and swung around in a perfect circle, seemingly disconnected from the rest of the mass. It caught the artillery rounds within its solid, fleeting darkness, and the tentacle swung around and flung them back at the fortress' wall. The Humans barely had time to scream as their pillboxes exploded into flames and rubble, and the Void entity finally crashed through the wall, unimpeded in the slightest.

"INSECTS! You will all die screaming! The Void claims your blackened souls this day!"

As Elves and Orcs poured into the fortress behind it, the Void entity continued its march, and the horrors spawned in its wake were only expanded upon. The tidy sidewalks it slithered over came out the other end transformed into trenches of blood and mucus, and patches of concrete became raw, pulsing flesh and exposed muscle with oozing cracks. Humans that had been spared a grisly death in favor of insanity dove into the trenches when they could, shoveling the filth into their mouths and splashing around like a child in a pool, or they rolled and writhed and buried themselves in the defiled ground. Even the Nullium-fortified buildings were not spared; they were reforged into quivering masses of organs and offal with hundreds of watchful eyes, belching acid and bile, decorated with Humans screaming a symphony of fear and agony, impaled by multiple black, barbed spears extruding from the piles. Indeed, any Human creation touched by the Void entity became an abhorrent, fleshy abomination, both living but not quite alive, left to die, to rot and decay. While artillery rounds from the opposite wall of the fortress punched screaming wounds into the entity, smaller bullets simply passed all the way through, emerging as slow, bloated flies out the other side. Any cut inflicted by an especially brave or foolish enemy seemed to reach out hungrily, grabbing and swallowing the weapon and its wielder whole. None of these ultimately did any damage, the wounds spewing tentacles and knitting closed soon after. Soon it made its way towards the opposite wall, effortlessly smashing through it as well. An Elf and an Orc paused briefly to watch as it continued forward, straight up the mountainside, its course unwavering.

"Is... is it not going to stick around and help us?" the Elf asked with hesitation. "I mean... as utterly foul as it is, it has been quite helpful..."

"No force controls the Void," the Orc answered with fearful reverence. "It does what it will. And it seems to have business at the mountain's summit."

"I see... I hope it has no quarrel with the Princess or her allies," the Elf shuddered, deeply disturbed by the mere thought.

~

The smell hit her first.

Fluttershy awoke with a gasp, her rat companion gone. She fully expected a hellish landscape of violence, death and destruction to appear before her eyes, but was nonetheless unprepared for what greeted her instead.

The battlefield was still. A light breeze covered the ruined land in a haze of smoke and ash, sunlight peering down from above in beams illuminating the horrors of war. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of bodies lay on the muddy ground; many intact, many in pieces. There were Humans and their mounts, Elves, Orcs, their animal companions and Harpies - riddled with bullet holes, missing arms and legs, stabbed and crushed and slashed and run through, throats slit and bones broken and trampled upon. Blood dripped and oozed from every wound, staining the ground a crimson-brown, forming lakes, pools and puddles that reflected the mournful Pegasus. The scent of death and decay filled her reluctant lungs.

The sound came into focus next. Soon her sensitive ears were overwhelmed by screams and wails of pure pain, sorrow and terror. For every five dead, it sounded as though ten were gravely wounded. A Harpy screamed in half-agony, half-anger at the loss of her left arm and wing. An Orc wept over the lifeless body of his wolf companion, a sword lodged in its side. A Human whimpered and inhaled sharply through her teeth, gazing wistfully at a tattered, bloody picture of her husband and infant son as she slowly bled out. An Elf cried out for his mother to please put his intestines back in his body. But the grunts, whines and groans from the wounded animals tore at Fluttershy's soul the most.

She heard someone approaching from behind and froze in place. Moments later a Siren passed by, dressed in a thick, bright red trench coat covered in pockets with a large, white plus sign stamped across the back. He also wore matching pants, thick brown boots caked in bloody mud and carried a large, brown leather bag at his side. Fluttershy quickly glanced down at herself to ensure her Chameleon armor was working properly, then cautiously glanced around the field. She saw maybe twenty others dressed like him scattered about, Sirens, Orcs, Humans and Elves alike, with more in the distance. They all tended to the wounded when they found one, but all spent most of their time examining the bodies for life signs, then uttering a few words before the dead suddenly disappeared in a shimmer of teleportation magic, or were encased within an earthen fist from below and gently dragged underground, or in the Humans' case, hefted onto a strange contraption that resembled a self-propelled, red-painted wagon.

Her heart ached and she wanted to help, but she didn't dare move. How could she? She had gotten separated from her friends and hidden herself away from the battle like a coward. Some of these beings - animals, Humans and Magikin alike, might still be alive and uninjured if she had only acted. But even if she had, what could she have possibly done?

Shame forced the last of her tears to her eyes, and they shut tight to drive them away. Her breathing quickened as she fought the urge to cry in vain. It was a few minutes until the agonized screams of an Orc receiving a healing poultice to his side forced them open again.

It offered her a moment of clarity. She knew how she could fix this. She knew how she could help to ensure something like this never happened again. And it involved getting to the top of this mountain.

She checked again to make sure no one could see her. Satisfied, she began a trembling trot towards the now-ruined fortress. She still didn't dare use her wings.

Minutes turned to hours as she walked. First she crawled over the crumbled, muddy-green buildings within the now-silent walls. She saw how the ribbon blades of the Sirens had torn and shredded their victims, how their Water magic had encapsulated the now-bloated bodies and drowned them on dry land. She also saw how Human weapons had pierced and punched through their enchanted shell armor; she discovered that Sirens bled a dark liquid resembling squid ink. Ruined machines lay smoldering among the bodies, their deadly functions now obscured and unknown to her. A few times she thought she had heard muffled cries for help underneath the rubble, but couldn't bring herself to touch the wreckage to check. Her breathing grew quick and shallow and her heart throbbed at the thought of what might lay beneath. Ashamed of her cowardice, she hurried on.

Past the inner wall of the fortress lay a thick patch of forest. Although she was still accompanied by lifeless bodies all around her, some even impaled and hanging in twisted positions atop tree branches, Fluttershy felt more at ease now that she was in cover. The eerie silence from the absence of animals or life in general, however, allowed her to reflect on her recent terrible decisions. Decisions that got her separated from her friends, decisions that caused her to see so many horrible things she would never un-see.

Decisions that threatened the lives of countless beings.

Decisions that threatened the lives of her friends.

Decisions that caused her to screw up her friends' carefully-laid plans.

Decisions that they might never forgive her for, and were well-deserved.

Decisions that didn't get her the help she was ashamed, reluctant, somehow still too proud to admit she needed, that she might not have made so many poor decisions today.

Oh Celestia, why am I so afraid?

A pained groan whispered through the trees. Fluttershy found herself at the forest's edge, a meadow dotted with large rocks leading her upwards. At first she froze in place, her ears perked up, trying their hardest to pinpoint the sound.

She found it a few moments later. A Human lay between some boulders to her right, face up in a pool of his own blood. She glanced around quickly; none of the Battle Menders had made it to this area yet.

Her heart beat loudly. This was her chance. She swallowed nervously.

Okay... I can do this... I think.

Her Chameleon armor shimmered intensely for a moment before barely glimmering at all, a clear sign that she was now visible. Timidly, she approached the wounded Human, who barely glanced in her direction. Coming closer, she saw that he was in very bad shape. Blood oozed out of a large gash in his side, and it trickled out of his mouth and nose.

"Um, sir?" Fluttershy spoke apprehensively. "Are you... okay?" She cringed immediately afterward.

What a stupid question.

His lips moved. Fluttershy leaned her ear closer to his mouth.

"Water," he strained, almost too quiet to discern. "Please... so... thir... sty..."

"Oh! Um..." Her eyes frantically darted around her surroundings, thankfully landing on a canteen by a dead Orc about fifty feet away. Being enchanted, water poured endlessly out of its opening as it laid on its side. "Ah! Hang on, I'll be right back!" She dashed towards the canteen, sweeping it into the crook of her hoof and turning back around in one panic-stricken motion. It sloshed invitingly as she ran as fast as she could back to the Human.

"Here, I've got you some water! Just-"

His eyes were blank as they stared off into the sky. His body moved no longer. Fluttershy sat down and stared at first, struck by the sudden realization of his death.

Of course. Thirst after losing a lot of blood... usually means they aren't going to make it.

She was no stranger to death. She tended the animals of Ponyville, after all. Whether it was old age, injury or illness, accidental or predator besting prey, she had been there for many a creature's final moments. Death was just as natural a part of life as birth. Yet this knowledge still didn't stop her from forcefully cradling the Human's head and pouring water into his mouth, becoming more distraught as it refused to go down his throat.

"You'll be okay... you're going to be okay..." Her sobs became more unhinged as the water mixed with the blood and deepened the puddle beneath him. Soon she was shouting at the corpse while trying her best to shove the entire canteen into his mouth.

"You're going to be okay!"

He's gone.

"You're going to be okay!"

It's all my fault.

"You're going to be okay!"

All of this is my fault.

"Fluttershy? Is that you?"

A sudden familiar voice broke the yellow Pegasus out of her trance. Before she could react a familiar presence scooped her up in moss-colored, heavily armored arms. In an instant she blinked away her tears.

"What are you doing here, little one?" Warmaster Dovah asked, cradling her like an infant. His face softened gazing upon hers, and he looked down to the deceased Human.

"He... he..." was all Fluttershy could force out. Dovah sighed.

"Ah... such a kind soul you are. Princess Rael'ia was right about you being the bearer of Kindness." He gently hugged the little pony and turned away from the sight. "Come, let us go. There is nothing more you can do for him."

He began walking towards his mount Breyva, who approached and met him halfway. Fluttershy was motionless as Dovah carefully set her atop Breyva's antlers, then mounted and rode slowly up the mountain. The Orc reached into a pouch on his belt and offered her a few dried brown leaves and white flowers.

"Here, eat this. You'll feel better," he spoke compassionately. Fluttershy wordlessly took the dried plants in her hoof and gingerly put them in her mouth. They tasted faintly sweet as she chewed, and soon after swallowing she felt her depression lifting.

"Thank you," she spoke quietly. Dovah nodded in response.

Time passed slowly, like fog rising into the sky. Fluttershy laid down within Breyva's left antler as they traveled. Dovah had taken to explaining the various funerary customs of the combatants: unless activated by a Battle Mender first, a piece of Magicite in an Elf's armor would teleport the body back to the nearest Temple of the Void after an hour of no life signs, where it would then be claimed, cremated and taken to the family copse for burial. The Silent Forest surrounding Crown Princess Rael'ia's home had centuries, even millennia worth of burials within it. Harpies were given sky burials back near their home villages, where scavengers would pick their bones clean before being collected, returned to their families and recycled into tools, weapons and armor. These bones would become heirlooms, radiating great power if they had belonged to a particularly fearsome warrior. Sirens had mostly the same customs underwater, although the bones were then left to collect in massive boneyards where coral was free to grow and fish were free to make their homes. Humans had shied away from natural burials long ago, and now often elected to be buried whole underground; flushed full of toxic chemicals, surrounded by material possessions and encased within coffins of artificial material that would never decay, although some of the more ecologically-conscious (or flat-out poor) ones would accept cremation and a simple urn in a catacomb. Finally, Orcs would simply summon an earthen hand to take hold of the deceased and sink it deep into the ground, where it would become one with the goddess Terras once more. A bioluminescent purple flower with black leaves and stems would grow to mark that place shortly after. Fluttershy saw this practice firsthand a number of times; whenever they came upon an Orc corpse, Dovah would dismount and check for life signs. Upon finding none, he would first collect a set of amber dog tags from their body. Then he would kneel, bow his head, place a hand on the body and recite a short prayer.

"Flesh and bone to earth and stone. May Terras guide you into rebirth."

A large hand made of dirt and stones would then rise from beneath the body, gently wrapping its fingers around it before sinking back below ground. The flowers would appear roughly ten seconds later, rapidly growing from a seedling to a bloom. Seeing this display of giving back to the nature that had borne them, Fluttershy felt a small smile creep across her muzzle. It wasn't unlike the quiet burials she would give animals back home.

Home.

It had been so long, she wasn't sure she could remember what it looked like. She closed her eyes in silent reflection. She hoped her animal friends, especially her dear little Angel bunny, were holding up fine without her.

Artificial thunder suddenly broke her from her thoughts, and almost instinctively her Chameleon armor shimmered into action. Her eyes widened in fear as she realized they were approaching the second of the massive Human fortresses that surrounded the upper reaches of the Crystal Mountain. She now saw and heard the sounds of battle high in the sky above it, full of warring Harpies and Humans on their flying mounts. But now there were airships of various sizes along with them, as well as two enormous Dragons that drew the bulk of their fire.

Her heart dropped into her stomach. They had to go forward.

"Ho!" Dovah whooped as Breyva let out a loud grumble and reared back on her hind legs, nearly throwing Fluttershy off. "Another battle rages on! Oh, this will be fun!"

"Do... do we really have to go this way?" She knew the answer already but hoped for a deus ex machina. Dovah's excitement quickly melted away at her timid voice.

"I am afraid so, little one. Not only is the earth swarming with Human Tunnel Tanks, but there are underground mines that prevent further incursion. Although," he paused, "you could simply fly above it all and get to the summit that way."

Hundreds of reasons why flying was a terrible idea flooded Fluttershy's mind. "I... I can't do that!" she cried. "So much gunfire, I can barely c-control my own wings with this armor, I... I'd be b-blasted out of the sky f-for s-s-sure!" Tears began to well in her eyes as the precognitive visions in her mind grew stronger.

Dovah said nothing, but only frowned. Fluttershy forced herself to take a few deep breaths.

"I... I'm sorry... you must think I'm such a scaredy-pony..." Her bowed head felt a gentle touch on her chin that lifted it up.

"Everyone handles these kinds of situations differently," Dovah spoke warmly. "You may cower, but I also believe you are far more capable than you think. You are a Bearer of Harmony for a reason, after all. Either way, it would be my honor to accompany you to the summit."

For the first time that day, Fluttershy felt as though reaching the summit would be possible. But a sudden reverberant echo in the clouds above was followed by a deafening roar of agony. The two looked upwards at the noise and were horrified to see a massive red Dragon hurtling towards them.

"Breyva! Go!" Dovah yelled. The moose quickly broke into a gallop to the right, nearly knocked off her hooves as the Dragon smashed into the ground behind them. She circled around and brought them near the creature, and Fluttershy gasped in horror. The Dragon, as large as the entirety of Ponyville's town square, groaned weakly as it lay on its side in a lake of its own blood. The poor beast's honey-tinted horns and claws were cracked and splintered; countless gashes and holes had been torn into its cinnabar scales and sunrise-colored wings, among which a perfect line of massive anti-air artillery had punched their way into its belly. So cavernous were the wounds that Fluttershy could hear the final, wet beatings of the creature's heart. As quickly as it had all happened, the Dragon breathed its last and perished.

"Pyrellia... sister of Pyrocitus," Dovah sighed solemnly. "By the goddesses, what a tragedy. A travesty!" he roared with renewed vigor. "We must end this slaughter! We must reach the summit!"

Breyva reared up with a grumble and began running towards the nearby battle. Fluttershy clung to her antler as she watched the Dragon's corpse slip further into the distance. Her mind was swimming, drowning with emotions. The weight of them all kept her silent until Dovah scooped her from Breyva's antlers and deposited her in the crook of his saddle right behind him. Grimacing, she held on as best she could.

In no time at all, the three had entered the fray. Dovah boldly bellowed as he swung his stone mace with all his might, sending crushed Humans flying with his blows. Breyva snorted and grumbled as she lowered her head, tearing and impaling their enemies with her armored antlers and trampling over what remained. Rocks and dirt kicked up in her wake were enveloped in the green glow of Dovah's Nature magic and hurled at more distant targets. Though he was the target of many an attack, the Orc laughed mockingly as bullets failed to pierce his thick armor, and shrugged off melee blows as if they'd never happened.

All the while Fluttershy clung to the Warmaster's belt, face buried in his armor and fearing she'd be thrown off with every movement. On occasion blood would splash onto her, to be barely rinsed away with anxious tears. Shouts, screams, booms, blasts, clangs and crunches from all directions rang deafeningly in her ears. Her nose filled unwillingly with the scents of blood, ash and gunpowder. She smashed her eyes shut as tightly as she could, desperately begging her mind to find somewhere, anywhere even just a little more peaceful, but found no such solace. It was everything she feared this conflict would be, and so much more.

She had almost expected to be hit at some point. But it still was a complete, shocking surprise when the ground suddenly shot up into the air and crumbled beneath them. Dovah shouted, Breyva yelped and Fluttershy shrieked as they were sent flying, then they all grunted in pain as they tumbled along the ground. The yellow Pegasus laid in a heap, at first accepting whole-heartedly that she was killed, only opening her eyes when she realized the horrors she still sensed wouldn't cease. The HUD in her helmet informed her that she had avoided injury, which she couldn't believe.

With a groan she struggled to her feet. She glanced back at Dovah and Breyva to see if they were okay, and she felt her stomach implode. While Dovah was kneeling, using his mace for support as he stood up, Breyva was frantically stumbling in circles, bleeding profusely from the shattered stumps that used to be her right foreleg and left front hoof, howling in agony. Half of her right antler was gone as well, spattering blood all over her face. As soon as Dovah laid eyes upon her, his own face paled until it was nearly white.

"No... NO!" he shouted as he nearly tripped over himself running to her side. His hands glowed as vines suddenly sprouted from the ground, wrapping around Breyva and forcing her still. She laid on her left side, kicking against the vines as Dovah then crammed his hands into a pouch on his belt, pulling out a cloth and a bottle of green liquid. Horrified as she was, Fluttershy scrambled to the moose's side and cradled her head, stroking her bloodied fur.

"It's okay... everything is going to be okay," she whimpered to Breyva, trying to calm and convince the animal as much as herself. The Magicite embedded in her armor glowed faintly; the moose soon quieted as if tranquilized. Dovah quickly poured the green liquid onto her wounds, which smoked and sizzled a little as the veins were cauterized.

Relieved, he allowed himself to look upwards; the relief was replaced with worry. Fluttershy looked behind her, pupils constricting in fear. A group of no less than fifty Humans were cautiously approaching them. She wouldn't have been as worried about them, but the fact that they were led by an Angel terrified her to her core. Its sword was slung over its shoulder like an executioner haughtily approaching the condemned.

"Fluttershy, you must go!" Dovah cried over the din of battle. "You are no match for that metal beast!"

She tried to move but her legs were paralyzed with terror. "But Breyva-"

"Don't worry about us! Just run! Run!" he snapped. "You need to get to the mountain's summit!"

She looked back to her advancing demise, then back to Dovah and Breyva, then back again. If she left, they would both surely be killed. But if she stayed, tried to protect them, all three of them would die there. Though her brain commanded her to run, her heart flooded her mind with loyalty and compassion, the need to help her friends. The sounds of war faded into soft murmurs.

Her fear turned to rage.

No.

NO.

Nopony else was going to die.

Nopony else was going to die because of her.

The shimmer of her Chameleon armor faded entirely, allowing all to see her. Her eyes narrowed until they were nearly shut. Her glare focused on the Angel that now closed the distance between them, its sword raised high, ready to cut her in half.

"No... you will NOT hurt them!" she screamed. "YOU WILL NOT HURT MY FRIENDS ANY MORE!"

The Angel's blade fell and stopped within an inch of Fluttershy's forehead. The Humans froze in place, seemingly at the sudden reluctance of their Nullium creation to kill this Magikin, this lone, mere pony. Fluttershy's anger was unwavering, and she continued to stare as if directly into the center of the metallic beast. Her body glowed an intense, blinding light green, and her eyes shone a pure white.

Suddenly, the tip of the Angel's sword discolored from muddy-green to gray, and spread rapidly. The Angel recoiled as the gray traveled down the blade's length, to the hilt, to the handle, to its hands, now unable to drop the weapon. Then its arms and its shoulders transformed and ceased to move. Its torso transformed and froze. Its head, legs and feet transformed and froze. Dovah waited for it to move, to show that whatever magic Fluttershy had summoned was ineffective, but it never did.

The Angel had turned to stone.

The Humans were next. Any that had looked upon her soon had a gray patch appear on their bodies, which quickly grew in size until their entire body had been discolored and petrified. They cried in horror as they realized what was happening to them, unable to flee, unable to move until their throats transformed, and they screamed no more. Fluttershy's body continued to glow for a few moments more until her eyes softened their gaze. Dovah stared in fear and awe as she finally let out a cocksure snort.

The next few minutes were spent stabilizing Breyva. More Orcs had come to their aid in that time, allowing Fluttershy to feel comfortable with leaving their company. Almost immediately they stared in amazement at the petrified Angel and Humans, disbelieving Dovah's account at first but soon accepting it, congratulating and offering words of encouragement to the little pony. One of the Orcs assisted Dovah in picking the moose up in his arms, intent on carrying her back down the mountain.

"Are you sure you'll be alright? She looks rather heavy," she asked timidly.

"I will be fine," Dovah reassured, his voice stern yet warm. "Though I have lost many comrades this day, none are as precious to me as my companion. I must bring her to the Battle Menders before the potion wears off."

He then turned to face the little yellow Pegasus. "Your courage not only saved me, but Breyva, too. And also our hope in winning this war," he slightly smiled. "I knew you were capable of great things, little one."

Fluttershy blushed. "Oh, it was n-nothing..."

"Now, I believe there is a mountain summit you must reach, where your friends are waiting for you. Though I can no longer go with you, I am certain you will make it on your own," he nodded, then stood at attention beating his right fist against his left pectoral muscle. "Goddess be with you, Kind Fluttershy of Equestria."

Fluttershy sheepishly nodded, waving as Dovah, Breyva and his accompanying Orcs began their retreat. After a few moments, she turned and gazed at the Crystal Mountain's summit. Before her, the second Human fortress guarding the top was well on its way to being razed, allowing her to see the rather drastic change from flat grassland and tundra to twinkling snow beyond it. Clouds still hung over the very top of the peak, obscuring it from view; it would have worried her before, but it didn't seem quite so worrisome now.

Was this... courage?

She sighed, then carefully extended her wings. Glancing at each of them, she flapped a few times and quickly rose into the sky. Making a few calculations in her head to ensure she had control over her own power, she then set off for the summit.

Awakening

Sunlight burned her closed eyes as consciousness returned to her mind. The scent of grass and earth filled her nose, a cicada and a songbird chirped in the distance, complementing the soft rippling of water. She slowly, groggily opened her eyes and found herself at the bank of a pond, bordered by a vast meadow dotted with flowers. A simple dirt road lay to her left a short distance away, with a forest further beyond. It led to a bridge that crossed the stream that fed the pond... fresh water. She felt thirsty. She clawed at the ground with her hooves to pull herself up-

...Wait a second. Hooves?

She looked down at her arms to find they weren't arms at all. They were peach-colored appendages with hooves at the end. Hooves.

Something wasn't right. Something wasn't right at all.

With this newfound confusion, she dragged herself to the pond to see her reflection. Confusion turned to terror and bewilderment as she registered what she was seeing. Her body had been disfigured and contorted into an equine form. Her fur was peach in color with a long mane as blue as the sky, striped with two streaks of yellow and one of orange, with a tail to match. Wings jutted out from her sides, and a horn protruded from her forehead. Horrified, she touched a hoof to her face, her eyes widening further as she realized her reflection matched her actions.

With a loud scream, she fainted.

The sun had climbed higher into the sky when she awoke again. Everything felt so dreamlike until she remembered. She stared into the pond once again, this time more prepared for the shock.

It wasn't quite so bad this time. As she stared into the pond, she found familiarity in her new form. She still had her turquoise-blue eyes, although the right eye seemed to be a different shade if she looked at it too long. The top ridges of her ears still had their golden cuffs in place, and her simple turquoise-colored pendant still hung around her neck. Her face, though now with a muzzle, still resembled her own. But... where were her clothes? ...What were her clothes, anyway? All she could think of were clothes that could fit an equine form, not whatever she used to be. It was then that she realized she couldn't remember a damn thing about herself, only that she wasn't supposed to be... this. She gazed into the water again, as if it had an answer.

"Good morning over there! Lovely day, isn't it?"

The shock of hearing another voice startled her out of her trance. She looked up towards the voice to see a stallion trotting up the road. His coat was a light shade of blue, his mane and tail a darker shade of the same, but what really struck her as strange was the image of a wooden wagon on his flank. He was pulling a large wagon carrying several smaller versions of itself, which clattered as he crossed the bridge. And further down the road past the bridge was a town. Maybe someone there could help her figure out what was going on.

"But..." she thought again. "This seems like the norm so far, being some kind of horse. Perhaps they'd be as confused as I am about my situation."

Her thoughts were interrupted by her stomach, which gurgled uncomfortably. She briefly considered whether she should just eat some meadow grass before shaking her head and resolving to go to the town instead. Climbing to her feet, she glanced at her new hooves before setting out down the road.

Despite thinking she would have difficulty walking on four legs, the peach pony quickly found herself at the entrance of the town. A sign above read "Welcome to Ponyville!", and from the looks of it, the town was stuffed full of ponies. A calming din of many conversations helped her feel more at ease as she began walking down the streets, exploring her new surroundings. She quickly noticed that all of the ponies had coats of candy-colored fur, with equally colorful manes and tails. Some had wings, some had horns, some had neither at all. In fact, the only thing all of the ponies had in common were the unusual markings on their flanks. One had a lyre, another had sweets, yet another had musical notes. Though some shared the same elements such as stars, fruits or plants, each and every marking was unique. This made her glance at her own two flanks, and wonder if the lack of a mark was considered strange.

"HI THERE!!!" a voice suddenly screamed right in her ear. The peach pony let out a yelp and tripped over her own hooves. Looking up from the ground, she found herself suddenly staring at a pink pony with a curly fuchsia mane and tail. The marking on her flank was a trio of balloons, two blue and one yellow. "Ooh, ooh! You must be new around here, because I haven't seen you before! And you have both wings and a horn? Yep, I'm pretty sure I'd remember you if I'd met you before, which I haven't! Oh my goodness, are you a princess just like Twilight?!"

Picking herself up, she did her best to rub her ear with a front hoof. "Oh, um... hi there. Yea... I guess you could say I'm new in town-"

"What's your name?!" The pink pony bounced up and down. Her smile was wide enough to fit an entire melon inside of it. The peach pony opened her mouth to answer, but closed it upon realizing she had no idea what her name was, not even what letter it started with. Her face scrunched up as she thought.

"Er... not sure, actually..."

The pink pony stopped her bouncing, raising an eyebrow. "Not Sure? That's a weird name. You're definitely not from around here, huh?"

"Wha? No, I mean-"

"Well, Not Sure, as the official unofficial welcoming party of Ponyville, allow me to welcome you to Ponyville! Welcome!" Suddenly, a large fanfare of music blared and confetti rained down from the sky. The pink pony somehow pulled out a cannon from behind her and yanked its cord, which produced a bang and a blast of colored streamers. The peach pony could only stare in utter disbelief at what just happened, despite no other pony nearby even turning their head to watch.

"...Th-thanks?"

"You're welcome! Now come on," the pink pony exclaimed as she grabbed the peach pony's front hoof. "Don't want to be late for your own 'Welcome to Ponyville' party!"

"But... but I just got here!" the peach pony protested.

"Nonsense! I always throw every new pony to Ponyville a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party! Everypony loves a party! Especially a party thrown by Ponyville's number one party planner, Pinkie Pie! ...That's me, by the way," she winked and lowered her voice to a whisper. Seeing how she couldn't get away from Pinkie's vice grip on her leg, the peach pony sighed and resigned herself to her fate.

The peach pony's new friend led her a short distance towards a quaint little cottage turned bakery called Sugarcube Corner. "Hey everypony, the guest of honor is here!" Pinkie shouted as they entered. "Meet Not Sure, from out of town!"

The peach pony could only stare, mouth agape and completely baffled that Pinkie Pie seemed convinced that her name really was Not Sure. Despite not knowing her real name, she was pretty certain it wasn't that. The other ponies present - a rather large crowd, surprisingly - turned to look at her. Gasps were gasped, followed by quiet murmurs and intriguing glances amongst themselves. Listening in as well as she could, though, it seemed the crowd's feelings weren't negative, but rather in awe of her. She turned to Pinkie Pie, only to see her rapidly stuffing her face full of chocolate cupcakes. Her mouth closed into a slight frown from the scene of sheer gluttony.

"Hey, Pinkie. Who's the party for today?" a voice came from behind. The peach pony turned to see a group of five ponies and a small purple creature coming towards her.

"Oh, hi guys!" Pinkie Pie garbled through half a cupcake before bouncing towards her friends. "Everypony, this is Not Sure! Not Sure, these are my bestest of friends, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Spike and Twilight Sparkle!"

She could easily tell why the sky-blue pony with a rainbow mane and tail was called Rainbow Dash. She hovered in the air with her wings next to another winged, yellow pony standing on the floor, her long pink mane covering one of her eyes. To her left was a white pony with an elegantly curled, dark purple mane and tail, a gleaming horn pointing out from her forehead. Beside her was an orange pony with a blonde mane and tail gathered into very loose ponytails, wearing a hat. In front of her was the purple creature, a bipedal, lizard-like thing with large green scales lining his spine, the topmost one resembling hair. He grinned with fangs sticking out of his mouth as he lightly jabbed the final pony in her front leg with his elbow. Her coat was a shade of vibrant lavender, with an indigo mane and tail streaked with purple and pink. Just like herself, she had both wings and a horn.

"Ah... Pinkie, I don't think her name actually is 'Not Sure'," Rainbow Dash spoke as she raised an eyebrow.

"'Ya think?" the peach pony sighed.

"Check it out, Twilight! She's an Alicorn, just like you!" nudged Spike.

"But, there aren't any other Alicorn princesses, are there?" asked Rarity, putting a hoof to her chin in thought. "Surely I would have known of another."

"What is your name?" Twilight slightly tilted her head to one side.

"Well..." the peach pony started before letting out another sigh. "I... don't know. I can't remember anything, actually."

"Amnesia?" Spike shrugged. "Happens to more ponies than you'd think."

"Ah, maybe? But... there's just this nagging feeling," she looked at the ground as the other ponies leaned closer. "I... just don't feel... right. Like... this isn't what I'm supposed to be. Even though I feel fine and normal otherwise."

"Like yer not supposed to be a pony?" suggested Applejack.

"...Yes, actually," the peach pony nodded after a moment of thought. "I don't think I'm really a pony. I woke up just outside of town this morning and came here hoping someone might be able to help."

"Well, you came to the right place!" Pinkie Pie bounced especially high into the air. "Twilight is the best at magic and books and stuff, I'm sure she can help you!"

"I'd be happy to try," Twilight smiled warmly. "Come on, we'll walk to my castle together."

"Castle?" Twilight nodded in response. "Do... all Alicorns have a castle?"

"Well, seeing how every other Alicorn we know is a princess, I suppose the answer is yes," said Rarity.

"Alicorns are princesses? Does that mean I'm one, too? I have so many questions."

"Well, ask us anything!" Twilight giggled as the group began to head for the door. The peach pony was about to follow them until they were interrupted by a loud gurgle from her stomach.

"Um..." she lowered her head sheepishly. "I could use a bite to eat first, if you don't mind. Pinkie Pie did throw this welcoming party for me, after all. I never did say 'thank you', even." She looked at Pinkie Pie apologetically.

"Don't worry about it! You're welcome, new bestest friend!" Pinkie Pie beamed as she suddenly squeezed the peach pony around her neck. She and the other ponies smiled, and the group gathered around a table together for some refreshments.

Ponies and Pony-kin

"Wait!" Twilight pleaded, holding up her hooves. "Don't attack! Everything's fine, now!" The guards looked up to Rael'ia, who pondered the request for a moment before deciding to trust Twilight. She nodded, and the guards lowered their weapons.

"What happened? Where'd you go?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"You used your Hearth Brooch to return to Equestria," Rael'ia mused. "Did you mean to take the Ruling Triumvirate with you?"

"Yes, I did," Twilight replied. "At the time, given what Autumn had said to me, I realized that no amount of fighting would end their hostility. So, I made a few quick calculations, and I took them all with me to visit Princess Celestia."

"Oh yea! These things can do that," Rainbow tapped her brooch. "Forgot all about it since it's stuck to us all the time."

"Those three were fixin' to fight ya 'till the bitter end, though! Just 'cause you're an Alicorn!" said Applejack. "Ah can't imagine they were thrilled to meet the Princess."

"No, not at first..." Twilight replied, a hoof raised to her chin as she gazed off into the distance.

~

The feeling of being yanked through time and space was disorientating, to say the least. Twilight felt herself land on a cold, hard floor, but the colors she saw and faintly familiar scents gave her no cause for concern. Autumn Jasper, Midnight Sun and Silverwing landed in a perfect triangle around her, struggling to stand back up. Upon realizing they were now someplace that didn't resemble Rael'ia's throne room in the slightest, they backed into each other defensively, or they would have if Twilight wasn't in the center. Squished momentarily by three enemy backsides, she quickly pulled herself free and flittered above them.

"Where are we?!" Silverwing yelled in terror.

"What magic was that?!" Midnight Sun demanded angrily.

"Who are you three?" Twilight spun around to see Princess Celestia sitting on her throne, dropping a scroll on the ground in surprise. The two Royal Guards at her sides looked equally stunned but quickly recovered, one using his glowing horn to summon more guards. "Twilight! So good to see you again! Oh, are you alright? You look like you've just been in a terrible fight!"

"Celestia!" Twilight floated over to her former mentor's side. She embraced her head and neck with a great sense of relief - besides the matters at hand, she had missed her terribly. While Celestia put a reassuring hoof around Twilight's back, she eyed the three strange ponies she had brought with her. The Pegasus and Unicorn were both awestruck at the sight of her, but the Earth pony trembled, although not out of fear.

"Alicorn... two Alicorns..." Autumn Jasper frothed with rage. "So, is this the one who created you, abomination?"

"...Excuse me?" Celestia's curious expression darkened somewhat. As if he expected a positive answer, Autumn Jasper quickly tore Silverwing's spear from her grasp and charged.

"Autumn, stop!" Midnight Sun quickly cast a tendril of magic in an attempt to restrain him, but to no avail. He leapt to the side to avoid it, somehow dashing even faster down the scarlet carpet leading to the throne, hellbent on reaching his targets.

"I will end you both, filthy creatures!" Twilight shivered, this Pony-kin had gone seemingly insane. Not only was he already trying to kill her, but now he was going to try to kill Princess Celestia herself! The two Royal Guards moved to defend their sovereigns, but the gentle noise of Celestia clearing her throat caused them to remain still. Autumn Jasper leapt with all his might, the spear pointed directly between the white Alicorn's eyes. But just before the spear could pierce her skin, Celestia blinked. Twilight noticed a barely discernible flash of warm, golden magic radiate from her former mentor that blasted the raging Pony-kin back across the floor. Alarmed, Silverwing and Midnight Sun stepped back to avoid being knocked over as Autumn Jasper came to a crumpled halt a few feet past them. He groggily stood back up just as more of Celestia's guard came galloping through the doorways around her throne room, surrounding the three with spears and magic.

"I see why you have returned," Celestia deadpanned.

"These three are the Pony-kin Ruling Triumvirate of Fae, Ladies Silverwing and Midnight Sun and Lord Autumn Jasper" explained Twilight. "Long story short, they and the ponies there think the Elements of Harmony were destroyed centuries ago by Starswirl, and also Alicorns are horrible creatures and want us dead."

"Ah."

"During our fight, I realized that if I won," Twilight followed by grumbling that she totally would've won, "...the Pony-kin would never see me as anything other than a monster. So... I thought if I brought them here and showed them Equestria and they actually met you, maybe they would change their minds and we could come to an agreement. Plus that portal to Fae should still be open, I figured it shouldn't be too hard to recalibrate it to reappear in Rael'ia's throne room when it's time to go back."

"I see," Celestia nodded, showing a small smile. "A wise plan, my former student." Following this, she arose from her throne and calmly approached the Triumvirate, her wings gracefully extended and her mane billowing like an aurora. She gently motioned to her guards to clear a path so she could address the three personally. "It is a great honor to meet the Pony-kin Ruling Triumvirate! After all I have heard about Fae from Princess Twilight and Princess Rael'ia, it brings me great joy to know our interdimensional ancestors still live. I am Princess Celestia, and I would like to personally welcome you to Equestria." While Autumn Jasper growled and seethed, keeping his head lowered, Midnight Sun offered a curt bow, while Silverwing bowed deeply and gracefully.

"An honor to meet you as well, Princess!" Silverwing cheerfully greeted.

"Well met," was all Midnight Sun had to say. "Greet her, you buffoon, we are clearly outmatched here," she muttered under her breath at Autumn, who begrudgingly nodded his head.

"You needn't worry for your safety, I am a kind and benevolent ruler," Celestia continued while staring down Midnight and Autumn. "You may want to refrain from such manners around my sister, however."

"There's... three of them..." Autumn snarled, almost inaudible through his teeth.

"Five, actually. Myself, my sister, Princess Twilight, Princess Cadance and Princess Flurry Heart," Celestia replied matter-of-factly. Autumn was now nearly beside himself with twitching fury. He suddenly pounced towards Celestia while screaming, but within a blink of his eyes he found himself floating inside a bubble of golden magic. He attacked its walls with the ferocity of a rabid animal, but the magic was truly impenetrable. After about five minutes straight of his tantrum, to the amusement and embarrassment of those around him, he finally conceded, electing to cross his forelegs over his chest in a pout.

"Finished?" Celestia asked to no response. "Well then, allow me to lead you on a grand tour of Equestria and its wonders, dear guests. Of course, we shall begin with your living quarters during your stay here."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I think Autumn Jasper might be certifiably psychotic," Twilight cautioned in a hushed voice as she walked beside Celestia.

"Sister and I can handle them. They're all just in need of a little Harmony," Celestia smiled warmly.

Over the next two and a half months, Twilight, Celestia and the Triumvirate traveled to every major city in Equestria, where they saw how the ponies had grown and evolved to adapt to their new universe. They met with representatives from the Griffon kingdom, Yakyakistan, the Dragon Lands, Seaquestria, Saddle Arabia and many other kingdoms and realms, all attesting to the peaceful and benevolent nature of the Sun Princess and her ponies. They met with Princess Cadance, Prince-Consort Shining Armor and their young daughter Princess Flurry Heart in the Crystal Kingdom, and for a time Princess Luna accompanied and spoke with them (although she kept her time as Nightmare Moon a justifiable secret). They even traveled to the cave where the Tree of Harmony safeguarded its Elements, whereupon the Triumvirate rejoiced that their precious holy relics still, and had always existed.

As time passed, old hatreds and misconceptions faded away. Silverwing explained that she had never harbored any ill will towards Twilight or her friends. Her appointment as Ruler of Pegasi had come as a complete surprise to her; though the late Lord Skyline praised her levelheadedness and tact in diffusing hostile situations, those were the only reasons she could think of for being chosen. She had been kept largely in the dark about the exact details of the meeting with Princess Rael'ia, assuming they would ask for assistance rather than ponynapping Twilight and her friends, only putting two and two together when they were fighting their way past the guards. Autumn Jasper, on the other hand, had been raised since birth to believe that Starswirl's final experiment had been to sacrifice the entirety of Ponyopolis, along with the Elements of Harmony, to finally create the first Alicorn... an experiment that seemed to fail catastrophically. A lifetime of indoctrination was ultimately the cause of his fervent vexation and eventual short-lived crusade. Despite, or because of this revelation that his childhood stories were untrue, it took him the longest of the three to come to terms with the fact that Twilight, Celestia and the other Alicorns were not the soulless monsters he had believed, and that their existence and rule had benefited all of Ponykind given their circumstances. Lastly, Midnight Sun admitted feelings of suspicion and unease upon first hearing Autumn's plot to save their citizens from captivity, but ultimately agreed due to having relatives among those held prisoner. She agreed that such a horrible deed was a poor trade for the lives of her Pony-kin and asked for forgiveness, which Twilight happily gave.

Towards the end of their stay, Twilight made known Rael'ia's plot to return the Elements of Harmony to Fae, which pleased the Triumvirate greatly. With the condition that their citizens unable to fight were offered safe refuge in Equestria, they pledged their aid to the Greater Magikin Alliance. Princess Celestia agreed to offer shelter, and set her brightest mages and wizards upon the great task of creating an interdimensional portal capable of mass transport. Midnight Sun offered her and her mages' help on their side, expressing interest in future emigration and trade opportunities.

~

"...And so, now that we're all back, the Ruling Triumvirate wishes to propose an alliance with your people, Rael'ia," Twilight finished.

"Yes... I am ashamed to say we may have gotten a bit carried away," Midnight Sun glanced at Autumn Jasper briefly, who looked at the floor in embarrassment.

"Understatement of the year," Rainbow mumbled under her breath. Applejack nudged her quiet.

"But after hearing about your plans," Silverwing piped up, "we have found that your goals would greatly benefit the Pony-kin if successful. It's only right that we do our best to help you achieve them."

"Yes... well..." Rael'ia paused, considering the paths laid before her. She looked to Twilight, who broke into a wide, hopeful grin, then back to the Triumvirate. "If Twilight has faith in you, then so shall I."

"Just don't forget about what happened earlier," Aternus sternly added. "We sure won't. Betray us, and you will find yourselves in much worse shape than merely kicked out of our alliance."

Rael'ia glanced over to Aternus. "Was that supposed to be threatening? That was lame."

"You know what I mean," he pouted.

"The Pony-kin always stand by their word," Autumn Jasper took a few steps forward before bowing before Rael'ia. "And the Pony-kin will stand with you, Princess." Midnight Sun and Silverwing bowed in turn. "The Pony-kin Ruling Triumvirate hereby pledge their allegiance to House Golden Dawn and the Greater Magikin Alliance."

"Hear, hear!" the guardsponies chanted in agreement. Nodding their heads was the best they could do within their ice block prison. Reminded of this fact, Aternus waved his hand, the ice melting into a splashing torrent of water in an instant.

"An honor to welcome you," Rael'ia bowed in return. "Now, Twilight, you mentioned that the Pony-kin unable to fight were to be evacuated to Equestria if they wished?"

The lavender Alicorn nodded. "Princess Celestia is awaiting your approval and a suitable site to focus a mass-transport portal on."

"Ah, yes, it will have to be big. Archmage, would you have a site in mind?"

"I can think of a few places," Aternus replied. "I'll let you know by the end of tomorrow. It's quite late, after all."

"All this excitement, I've forgotten it was after midnight!" Rarity yawned dramatically. "Suddenly I'm feeling so tired, indeed."

"Guards, please show the Triumvirate and their party to the guest quarters in the Forest wing," Rael'ia motioned. "We will continue this business in the morning, if you please." Nobody argued with that suggestion.

Twilight and her friends were slow to rouse the next morning. It wasn't until near midday they gathered around the table in the dining hall for brunch. Rael'ia entered shortly after they had begun eating, mentioning another meeting with the Ruling Triumvirate to finalize their inclusion into the Greater Magikin Alliance, and making sure the Archmage wasn't still asleep when he should be designating an appropriate site for a large interdimensional portal. Rarity asked about Fluttershy's condition and when and where they would be able to visit her, to which Rael'ia replied that they could all go after they were finished eating. A few hasty bites later, the ponies gathered near the Elven Princess and she teleported the group away.

They reappeared in the lobby of what appeared to be an ordinary hospital. Stark white walls, floors and ceilings reflected the pure white light from the panels above, the only other colors present being the glowing purple of floating Arcane magic screens and Fairy wings, curtains, chair cushions and bedding in cool pastel hues, and the similarly-colored modern scrubs the doctors and nurses wore. Each worker wore a name tag crafted from a piece of rectangular Magicite, which made a quiet beeping noise like a doorbell and changed colors when the worker was called to duty somewhere, along with projecting and transmitting the voices of those calling and being called. An Elf with his long hair combed into a neat high ponytail sat at the reception desk, typing away at one of the strange devices - an Interley terminal, as Aternus had informed Twilight during her visit to the Arcanaeum - though he looked up very shortly after their arrival.

"Hello- oh, Your Highness! Are you in need of aid?" the Elf asked nervously.

"No, I'm fine," Rael'ia shook her head. "I am here about the yellow Pegasus Pony-kin transported here a short while ago."

"Ah, yes, one moment please," the Elf quickly typed away at his terminal. The glowing images and text flashed in and out of existence almost faster than Twilight could comprehend. "Fluttershy, yes? She is in Room #312." Rael'ia thanked him and they quickly set off for the third floor.

As they approached Room #312, a male Fairy doctor approached as well. "Your Highness," he addressed as he straightened his posture.

"Hello, Doctor... Zoleus," Rael'ia said as she squinted to read the Fairy's name tag. "Is Fluttershy doing alright?"

"I was just about to do a final check up on her before discharge," Dr. Zoleus replied as he tapped at a glowing screen beside the room's door. He then pulled at the text as if removing a tissue from a box, the text copying itself in midair and floating until coming to rest about a foot away from his left shoulder. It followed him as he knocked, then entered the room.

The hospital room was rather nice, Twilight noted to herself. Though big enough to hold two patients comfortably, only one bed sat in the middle of the room, colored a very pale light green. A large window allowed sunlight in, flanked by curtains of a slightly deeper green, and offered a view of a decent-sized, finely manicured garden courtyard below. Below the window was a small bookshelf that also served as a counter, with a white pitcher of water and two cups beside it. There was enough room for a couch beside the bookshelf, and a door beside the couch that led to a small but accommodating bathroom. Facing the hospital bed was an Interley terminal with a large screen, along with a plain white chair to sit in. Instructions on how to use the terminal for various Magikin races were attached to the wall beside it. Finally, Fluttershy laid in the bed on her right side, her cheek lying upon her outstretched right foreleg, the rest of her body tucked gently under light pink blankets. A single oval cabochon of Magicite was attached to her extended inner leg just above her hoof, pulsing faintly in time with her heartbeat. Multiple electrodes were attached to her head, which were then attached by wires to a machine resembling an electroencephalogram. A variety of monitors were embedded in the wall behind her, one listing various life signs such as blood pressure, pulse and oxygenated blood level, another displaying the EEG readings of her brain, the rest blank and powered off. Upon hearing the door open and multiple sets of footsteps approach, Fluttershy stirred from slumber.

"Good afternoon, Fluttershy," Dr. Zoleus greeted quietly. "Are you feeling well?"

"Oh, yes. Oh, hello everypony," Fluttershy smiled sleepily. Dr. Zoleus turned partially towards Rael'ia as the ponies crowded around Fluttershy's bed.

"When we were able to rouse her, she was in a near-catatonic state," he spoke as he pointed out various runes and figures on his Arcane magic tablet of sorts. "We proceeded with a neuroarcanic brain scan and found recent evidence of magical paralysis and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. A low-level amnestic potion was administered intravenously, and we have been monitoring her brain activity in case of complications. It has been a long time since anyone has treated a Pony-kin, after all."

"Will she be okay?" Twilight asked.

"The past twelve hours after administration should be completely wiped from her memory... Fluttershy, what is the last thing you remember?" Dr. Zoleus turned back towards her. The yellow Pegasus was silent for a moment as she thought.

"Hm... I think... we had all just finished dinner and were going to meet in the throne room afterwards," she finally answered. "After that... I woke up here."

"The amnestic worked perfectly, then," Rael'ia sighed in relief.

"What happened to me?" Fluttershy asked worriedly. "Should I remember?"

"Darling, it's best if you don't-" Rarity began to answer.

"You almost died," Rainbow Dash replied bluntly, cutting her off. "We all almost bit it, actually." Rarity and the others in the room glared at her in response.

"...Oh." Fluttershy's eyes widened as she pulled the blankets over her mouth and curled her hind legs to her chest. One of the monitors beeped as her displayed heart rate increased a little.

"It's all been resolved now, don't worry," Rael'ia soothed as Rarity stroked Fluttershy's tangled mane. She recoiled slightly as she realized her mane was sticky with electrode paste.

"Yes, the recent telemetry we've received from your body shows you should be perfectly fine now," Dr. Zoleus added. "I see no reason to hold you here any longer. But do come back if you feel anything unusual."

"Okay. Um, thank you," Fluttershy yawned and stretched as Dr. Zoleus pointed a hand at the Magicite attached to her leg. Arcane magic veiled over his hand and the cabochon, which dimmed as it left her body and floated gently into one of the Fairy's pockets. The electrodes on her head floated up and away, tying themselves in a neat bundle and resting the conductive bits in a small container of sanitizer near the EEG machine. The two monitors above the bed powered off automatically as well. As she swung her hind legs over the side of the bed, a flash of sudden recollection washed over the doctor's face.

"Also, I feel I should mention..." Dr. Zoleus whispered to Fluttershy, showing only her the Arcane tablet. "Besides the catatonia and recent PTSD we treated, your neuroarcanic scan detected signs of multiple mental ailments, the most prevalent being other instances of PTSD, four different anxiety disorders, moderate equinophobia and mild agoraphobia. If you'd like, I can set up an appointment with one of our specialists to help alleviate them."

Fluttershy paused to consider his words before sliding off the bed and onto her hooves. "Uh... maybe later. I'm afraid I don't have the time to spare at the moment."

"Very well," he nodded after blinking in surprise. "If you change your mind at any time, please don't hesitate to contact me." Out of another pocket, he produced a business card a little bigger than a postage stamp and handed it to her. He then waved away his magical tablet and bowed to Rael'ia. "Well, Your Highness, I must take my leave now. Have a good afternoon."

"Thank you, doctor. You too," Rael'ia bowed her head as Dr. Zoleus flittered out the door, disappearing in a puff of purple sparkles a moment later. "I'm so glad all is well, Fluttershy. Shall we return to my palace, then?"

"This calls for a celebration!" Pinkie Pie bounced in place. "It's the perfect time for a 'Fluttershy No Longer Remembers Everypony Being Nearly Horribly Murdered' party!"

"Um... yea. Sure," the Elven Princess winced in reply, along with her friends. Wordlessly she cast a teleportation spell and the seven of them disappeared from the room in a light breeze of sparks.