January 6th
C-Day plus 308
Canterlot, Military Republic of Onorus
22:12:16
‘Faith and Loss’

Cassidy quietly paced back and forth, a nervous expression on her face. Ever since the news of Altair’s escape and his subsequent decision to continue his mission she had been a nervous wreck. She hated the Equestrians more than she wanted to admit, they were the ones that had turned Altair into whatever he had become. The generals were referring to him more and more like a weapon than a person, but she knew from the drawing she had been given by one of the escapees that deep down, somewhere beneath all that twisted hate… He was still in there. That wasn’t what had her panicked though, no, that honor fell on the decision being made beyond the door marked ‘War Room’.

As a future part of the Imperatorial Family, she now got to know more about what was going on behind the closed doors of the war department. The decision would be, put simply, whether or not it was time to deploy Thermo-Arcane weapons. It had been less than a year and already casualties were nearing those seen during the Second World War. What this meant was that if Altair was anywhere near one of the cities they decided to bomb… Well, one could see why this decision made Cassidy upset. The woman stopped pacing as she saw the door open, several generals stepped out… Down the hall, she could see another general walking with a large briefcase handcuffed to his wrist… They had made their decision.

[♠]

Steven looked up as he heard the radio monitoring Onorussian airwaves stop playing its usual music selection. It was instead replaced by the announcer saying ‘We interrupt this broadcast with a special address from the Imperator.’, something that rarely happened on Onorussian radio. Steven sat up at his desk and turned towards the radio.

”My fellow Onorussians… I stand before you tonight not as your leader, not as a general, but as a father… And unlike some would want you to believe… A human being.” The imperator’s baritone voice filled the rooms of every person listening to Onorussian radio, which was quite a lot of ponies. ”I come before you all, Onorussian, and I’m sure Equestrians listening in tonight, with somber news.” Steven turned it up, unsure of what he was hearing. ”To date, between our two nations, over thirty million lives have been lost. This number is unacceptable, and necessitates a drastic change in military strategy… Or more hopefully, a cessation of hostilities.”

”I want my son to come home. I want your sons to come home. I want them home alive.” The imperator continued, almost sounding on the verge of tears. ”So I deliver this ultimatum to the Equestrians with the hope they will heed my words. Surrender your armed forces unconditionally within the next half hour or we will resort to the use of Thermo-Arcane weapons. I urge civilians to evacuate major cities and areas near military installations… That is all. Steven dropped his pen in shock as he stared at the radio, meanwhile the door to his office was busted open by several soldiers and generals.

“Sir! We need to evacuate you immediately!” One of them shouted, but Steven was still in shock from the news. This was it… This was what he had feared most the entire time, that things would escalate to the point that things would become unsalvageable. Now he had two choices, surrender everything he and the ones he loved worked so hard to build, or watch it turned to cinders. The ball was in his court, if he didn’t do something, he would surely watch everything he had built burn… Perhaps that was what the Imperator had been thinking as well, and if that was the case, maybe Steven could convince him that attacking with Thermo-Arcane weapons would have the same effect on his people as it would on Equestria… Yes, Steven could assure that the destruction was mutual, that would make the Onorussians stop.

“Right… Order our generals to bomb one of their cities if they bomb one of ours, but not Canterlot…” Steven ordered as he stood up and walked towards his generals. “I want the Imperator to see what will happen when he bombs us.” The Generals nodded as they stepped out of the room and into the hallway. “We’ve lost far too much to surrender now… God forgive me.”

[♠]

Altair began to laugh as he drove along the highway, patting the steering wheel as he rolled down the window and cheered loudly out the window. The radio had just confirmed it, they were gonna glass the bastards, turn all of Equestria into a full on chaotic wasteland of death and despair. He grinned from ear to ear beneath the mask as he watched cars start driving like crazy to get away from the nearest city. Altair simply pulled over and killed the engine, he was a safe distance away from any cities or military targets, so he could sit and watch the fireworks. The grabbed a couple of his snacks before he got out and walked around to the back of the truck, he then hopped in the bed and sat down facing Canterlot.

“So… It finally got to you.” A voice said from next to him, Altair looked over and saw Discord sitting there in his human form with a neutral expression. “The family curse and all that they did to you, you finally let your dark side win.” Altair shrugged and popped one of the potato chips into his mouth. “I suppose your father let his win when he faced the plague, but he came back from it… Not sure you can do the same.”

“Not sure I want to.” Altair replied with a shrug as several cars drove past at breakneck speed. “Maybe I’m just tired of fighting how I feel, pretending to be someone… Something that I’m not.” Discord raised an eyebrow at his last statement. “A decent human being, and you know what? I’ve accepted that I’m a terrible person, I’m glad for it… Because even if I have to suffer, I can make the enemy suffer just as much.”

“Ah, what about when there are no more enemies?” Discord asked.

“There are always enemies.” Altair said sternly. “My father denies that he thinks the same way, he has to, but I don’t.” The man ate another one of his chips. “The Crystal Empire, the Zebras, Caribou, Minotaurs, and so many more…” Discord could see something very… Very dark in the man’s eyes. “They should all be wiped out if they refuse to join our cause.”

“What about the people who love you? Your parents? Cassidy? What would they think if they heard you talking like this?” Discord asked again, Altair looked over at him with an almost dead expression, something that made the chaos god want to look away. “You released a demon here, have you ever thought maybe you’re thinking like this because of her?”

“So what if I am?” Altair asked with a shrug. “If feeling free means being the bad guy, why would I want to go back to being ‘good’?” The man could hear the howling engines of jets overhead, prompting him to look up and see a pair of Vulcan bombers on their way to Canterlot. “It’s all relative… And it doesn’t matter in the end what ‘side’ you were on. None of this matters… Not you, not me, nothing… Half the time I wonder if I even want to see another sunset. And you know what? Homicidal thoughts and suicidal thoughts are pretty damn similar…”

“So… That’s it, then? No more noble crusade to end the war and get the girl? You’re just going to sit here while millions die?” Discord asked, Altair nodded and ate another chip. “Why?”

“Because they don’t matter to me.” Altair said with a shrug. “Because it won’t aid me in anyway to help them… Because I like big flashes of light? Take your pick.” Discord had watched Altair grow up since he had been just a baby, from his first steps to his first days of school, even his first date with Cassidy. He had been a good kid, got decent grades, stood up to bullies… But… It had always felt like he was going through the motions in the later years. Now Altair realized that maybe, just maybe, this man was more like him than he was his own family. Embraced, and yet still outcast, expected to act one way while being drawn towards another… Discord looked at Altair, who had now pulled a pair of sunglasses from his jacket, he put them on and ate another chip. “Alright… First bomb should be dropping in… Three… Two… One…”

As if on cue, Discord saw a flash of red light on the horizon, brighter than a thousand suns, and giving off immense levels of Arcane Fallout. To Altair it was harmless, but to the ponies of this world it was lethal. Altair began laughing as he saw more flashes on the horizon, the light reflecting off of his glasses. Discord had seen thousands of years in his life, civilizations that had risen and fallen… He had grown numb to the destruction of ages, and it seemed he had found an ally in the young man sitting beside him.

“So… If you don’t care about your family anymore…”

“I care about them very much, but no one else really…” Altair corrected the chaos god. “I just don’t care about all they say about me…”

“Right… Well, anyway, if you’re looking for something to do you could always come work for me.” Discord said with a shrug, Altair looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “I haven’t had anyone to work with in eons, and I’m sure the me in this world felt the same way. Since this place is short a chaos god, would you mind filling in?”

“You need to ask?” Altair said, Discord smirked slightly. “But no god like powers, alright? I like to keep things interesting.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way…” Discord said with his own smirk, the two men simply sat there, watching the world begin to burn. “Here’s to a new world…”

Across both dimensions, flashes of light were spreading across continents as two planets fell into full on Thermo-Arcane War. Onorus was being hit, the Crystal Empire, Yakyakistan, every last nation was being engulfed in Thermo-Arcane flames. Even Earth saw some flashes of light in key areas, the worlds were being transformed, morphing together as one massive ball of hate and radiation floating through a single cosmos… For the first time in history, two realms had merged into one. The destruction brought about by such an event was masked by the sheer volume of Thermo-Arcane destruction spreading across the massive new world.

Missiles from Onorussian submarines struck Equestria while Equestrian missiles struck portions of Northern and southern Onorus. The Imperator and his family watched the destruction from the safety of a bunker while the entire world they had fought to build unraveled, surrounded by a cocoon of fire that would transform the world into what it should have been… A world of chaos, a world where the human species would thrive. One that the Imperator had been too afraid to create up to that point, a world where Humanity would once again be the apex predator.

Cities in ruins, communities in tatters, and millions dead… While millions more would suffer and starve, and even more would harbor hate and anger for decades to come. Deep down, this was the world that the Occisor Clan had dreamed of since the very beginning. From Rome, through the ages… As the skies darkened and Nuclear Winter was set in motion, Altair took one final look at the sun before it was blotted out. The war was still on, he would still reap his revenge, though now…. It would be under a far more darker sky.

Author's Note

So, this will complete the first act in this story, the last of the 'Operation' Act. I wanted to make this end like all the other wars, but I also wanted to do a story where practically everyone died, a chance to make an entirely new world... And you know why, my lovely dovelies? Because I've spent the last years of my life on this series, and as much as I love it, I want to share it with you... So, now that I've set the stage, I want you all to feel free to write your own spin offs. After all, this story follows the multiverse theory. Don't worry, I'll keep writing too, but I want to see what all of you can come up with as well. We've been on this journey together so long, some have come and gone, I thought it was time I shared how it feels to write, to create, with all of you.

Anyway, since this ended on a somber note, why not something to cheer us up. Huh? Here's your song of the day.