In the Crystal Empire, all was peaceful. The Crystal ponies walked through the square, and all around the streets.

A Crystal pony, Autumn Gem, trotted along the edge of the empire, admiring her reflection in the shininess of the energy shield, projected by the Crystal Heart in the square.

"Lookin' beautiful!", she said, before a little rumbling caught her attention. She slowly backed away from the shield, andhid behind a house.

She saw something step through the shield, and she gasped.

In the Crystal Castle, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and her loyal and lovely husband Shining Armor sat on their thrones in a giant throne room, with Flurry Heart's baby crib right in between them.

The baby alicorn cooed as Cadence held a little baby toy over her head. Taking care of a magic crazy foal had gotten easier, and the royal couple were managing.

Then the door burst open, and several Crystal guards galloped in. "Your Majesties! Intruders!", one said.

Cadence abruptly stood up. "What? What's the status of the Crystal Heart?", she asked.

Shining Armor looked outside, to see it all clear outside.

"The shield is holding, but...it's not stopping them.", the other guard said.

Shining Armor ran out of the throne room, to hear screams and gallops outside. He ran down the stairs and reached the door, to see something horrifying.

German soldiers were holding ponies hostage, and several Flammpanzer III tanks were all over the empire.

One soldier wore a brown singed trench coat, and a black German helmet with a pack of cigarettes strapped on it. The man wore two fuel tanks on his back and held a customized Flammenwerfer.

He looked to see Shining Armor, and he smiled. "Greetings, I'm Jack. What's your name?", the man asked.

Shining Armor charged up an ice burst with his horn, and fired a beam of frozen magic at the trooper.

Jack's eyes widened, before he quickly held up his weapon, and firing.

The burst of ignited tar and petrol burned right through Shining Armor's magic, and melted the stream of ice.

Shining Armor stared in horror and fright at the terrifying patch of fire on the Crystal ground. The ponies were all scared for their lives, as the German troops held them all at gunpoint.

Cadence and the two guards hurried outside, only receive a burst of flame in front of them.

"No more hostility, ja?", Jack asked. "It would be groß if we'd sit down for some coffee."

Jack snapped his fingers, and a German soldier holding a black kettle and a tray of cups walked over.

"S-sure...just don't hurt anypony else, OK?", Cadence said, cautiously.

Jack smiled kindly. "Of course, we will definitely lower our torches against the ones who attacked my men and nearly burnt one alive.", he said in a noticeable sarcastic tone.

One German soldier sat on a Flammpanzer, glaring at the Crystal Empire rulers. He had a bandage wrapped around his face, like a mask, and his arm on a sling. His uniform was singed badly.

"Come. German coffee is good, you'll agree.", Jack said.

Shining Armor and Cadence exchanged nervous looks. "Not like we're falling asleep anytime soon.", Shining Armor muttered.

In the Changeling Kingdom, Ahti and Thorax sat at a table, chatting about each other's worlds.

"You have a lot of technology.", Thorax said. "I'm impressed."

"Humans have been evolving for millions of years...unfortunately, war has evolved as well.", Ahti said.

"How so?", Thorax asked, folding his front hooves.

"Germany has gone on a tyrannical reign, kidnapping and murdering millions of innocents.", Ahti said. Changelings all around them gasped in surprise and horror. "We are some of the only ones who will stand against them, even though Germany is one of our allies."

"What happened with Finland? You mentioned your country was near Germany somewhat?", Thorax asked.

A Changeling, taller than the others, yet shorter than Thorax, flew in. He had a black coat, and shiny purple eyes.

"Oh, hey Pharynx.", Thorax said.

"Uhh, what's going on?", Pharynx asked.

The Changeling ruler smiled. "These are humans. They were transported here by accident, and...well...he was telling us about the war on his world.", he said.

"War? What's it like?", Pharynx asked, suddenly interested.

Thorax sighed at his older brother. "Pharynx, it's more of a massacre than a war.", Thorax said.

That shut the Changeling patrol guard down immediately. "Oh...that's not good.", he said.

Ahti got up. "Well, it's been fun and all, but we really need to get back to getting home. We have to defend from the natsit.", he said.

Thorax jumped up. "Wait, we haven't shown you guys what we can do!", he said.

"Oh, what can you do?", Ahti asked, turning to face Thorax, to see he wasn't there.

"Over here."

Ahti turned to see a flamingo. "Not bad, huh?", he asked.

"So...you can change?", Ahti asked.

"Yup.", Thorax said, turning back to his former form. "Helps in intimidating anything dangerous that comes close to the hive."

Ahti looked to his Vickers tanks, and smiled. "So you can change into anything, yes?", he asked.

"Yeah.", Thorax said. "Why?"

Somewhere else

Lena trotted through the empty field, the bloody goggles on her head, and the crossbow slung over her back. The Luger from the dead pilot was tied to her hoof.

She spread her wings and took flight, shooting up through the clouds faster than any normal Pegasus. She maneuvered past clouds and past winds, before reaching above cloud level.

She landed on a cloud, before lying on the fluffy substance. She smiled as the cool wind at the high altitude blew on her mane.

Then a loud roar filled her ears. Her eyes shot open, and she looked around. The roar was getting louder, and the clouds began to slowly move.

Lena quickly took off, before the cloud below her exploded, as a gray blur shot right up through it.

The Messerschmitt 262 shot through the sky, jets roaring loudly. Lena stared in shock at the ridiculously fast craft. Then more 262 craft shot upwards, dispersing clouds and causing Lena to maneuver through the storm of jet fighters.

She armed her crossbow, put on the goggles, and started flying towards one of the jets. The German jets were at cruising speed, so she could easily catch up.

The leader of the flying pack had a black jet, with white stripes, outlining the Iron Cross and the Swastika emblems on the hull of the craft.

"Die formation anziehen.", the squadron leader said. The jets closed up, and Lena flew under the pack.

She mentally counted to ten, and examined the planes. There were no propellers on their noses, but she saw two strange machines under their wings.

"That's probably their power...", Lena muttered, before smirking. "I may not be getting paid for this, but I'll definitely be getting a rush from this."

The mercenary adrenaline junkie flew in close to a 262's engine. She could feel the force pulling her towards the jet.

She pulled out a crossbow arrow from her quiver, and shook it slightly. The arrow lit on fire, and she hurled it at the engine.

The jet engine sucked the burning arrow right through it, and a rattle was heard through the engine. Then a burst of fire shot out the back of the engine, staggering the aircraft a bit.

"Donner vier, du hast Rauch aus deinem zweiten motor.", a pilot said.

"Donner zwei, das ist Donner vier, bestätigt.", the pilot said, as he looked at his engine.

He pressed a button on his controls, and the engine slowed down. The shattered pieces of the arrow trailed out, startling the pilot.

"Etwas ist in meinem Motor steckengeblieben. Es ist jetzt klar.", the pilot said. Sure enough, smoke was no longer trailing from the engine.

He looked up, only for an arrow to shatter the cockpit and pierce his chest. The glass exploded, and the pilot was sucked out of the craft.

"Unterbrechung! Unterbrechung!", the squadron leader barked. The seven jet fighters broke formation, as the eighth fighter slowly sank under the clouds.

Lena turned to see where the busted 262 was heading. "Oh dear...", she said.

The fighter jet spiraled to the ground, before exploding on impact in the Everfree Forest. The explosion lit a nearby tree on fire, before the blaze spread outward, with a burning 262 chassis sticking out of the forest.

In Ponyville, everyone and everypony heard the explosion. They turned to see a massive cloud of smoke billowing up from the forest.

Animals of all sorts were running, galloping, crawling, and flying out, as the fire spread. A hydra ran out in panic, and Jones hid behind his tank.

Ember got up, groaning from all the commotion.

"Dragonlord!", a dragon said, helping her up to her feet. Ember could feel the panic around her, with animals and humans running around. The ponies had evacuated, taking the trains to Canterlot as Celestia had ordered.

"What's...what's happening?", Ember groaned.

"There's a fire. We need to get outta here!", a dragon said.

"Right...we need to help with-wait.", Ember said. "Where's Spike?"

Somewhere else

Edward drove the jeep towards the burning forest. The fires had not reached the edge of the trees yet. "You sure about this, kid?", he asked.

"Yes! Zecora's still in there!", Spike said. "We need to get her out!"

"Alright, I'm trusting you on this.", Edward said. He parked the jeep and the human and the drake jumped out and ran into the forest.

Back in Ponyville

Celestia aimed her horn at the sky, and several rain clouds moved over the Everfree, before raining down on the fires, slowly dampening it.

Fluttershy was attempting to calm down all the animals, as the other ponies were bringing buckets of water to douse any flames the animals unintentionally brought with them.

Edward carried an unconscious Zecora on his back, and set her back on the jeep, as Spike ran up and jumped in the car.

"Come on! Let's go!", Spike said, as Edward jumped in the military scout vehicle. He turned the ignition and drove off, just as the fire reached the edge of the forest.

The two reached Ponyville, to see Twilight panting with an empty bucket levitating in her magic.

Twilight turned to see Spike and Edward carrying Zecora out of the jeep.

"Spike! Where were you?!", Twilight cried.

"We needed to get Zecora out!", Spike said. "Help me get her to the doctor guys over there!"

"No, we're gonna talk first!", Twilight said. She sounded mad.

She glared up at Edward. "You! Why'd you bring a baby dragon to the burning forest?!", she demanded. Edward shrugged.

"He asked. Plus we saved a life.", Edward said.

"You don't risk my assistant's life! You don't ever do that!", Twilight yelled.

"IS THAT ALL I AM TO YOU?! AN ASSISTANT?!", Spike cried.

Twilight froze. "I-I didn't mean-", she said. Before she could finish, Spike turned to Edward, startling the lieutenant a little.

"Edward, can I go with you guys?", Spike asked.

"Wait, what?"

"Spike, no!", Twilight cried.

"I wanna get out of here, please!", Spike said.

"You're a kid.", Edward said.

"I know my way around Equestria. I can put you on good terms with the other kingdoms, and guide you around.", Spike said, frantically.

"You wanna leave?", Twilight asked, before Spike whirled around on her.

"You treat me like nothing more than a helper! In the Crystal Empire, you promised you'd never send me away! But...I guess I was never really with you, was I?", Spike muttered.

"That's not true, I always valued you, more than I could ever admit!", Twilight cried in desperation. "Don't leave, I'm begging you!"

Spike turned to Edward. The choice was his now.

"I...I'll ask Jones.", Edward said.

"You're the boss, right?", Spike asked, a pleading tone in his voice.

"Y-yeah, but-", Edward stuttered.

"Please?", Spike asked.

"Edward, don't!", Twilight said.

Edward thought about this. He could choose to bring Spike along, probably gain a good ally for when they needed to get back home, as well as a sort of guide for their soldiers. But then if he said yes, Twilight and those other ponies would probably never let them leave. If they did back off, it'd affect everyone around.

He could bring Spike and keep their men alive, but lose the trust of Equestria. Or he could leave Spike here, but risk the lives of all his men when they leave.

He decided to choose...

Author's Note

It's your choice, commenters and viewers!

But I have a feeling which choice you guys are gonna make...