Battleship Express

Chapters

Chapter 2: Highway to Hell? Highway to Heaven?
Chapter 3: Sweat, Steel, and Blood
Chapter 4: Departing Vegas, Next Stop.........Ponyville?
Chapter 5: Local Talks, Lay of the Land
Chapter 6: First Blood, The Longest Over-Nighter
Chapter 7: Recovery, Future Plans
Chapter 8: Enemy Plans, Final Preparations
Chapter 9: Back into Battle, Lots of Blood, a Little Surprise (Part 1)
Chapter 9: Back into Battle, Lots of Blood, and a Little Surprise (part 3)
Chapter 9.5: WARNING, EXPLICIT!!!!!
Chapter 10: End of the Line, Battle from Hell (Part 1)
Chapter 10: End of the Line, Battle from Hell (Part 2)
Chapter 11: Death Comes to an Empire
Chapter 12: Death of an Empire (Part 1)
Chapter 12: Death of an Empire (Part 2)
Chapter 13: A New View, and Enemies Plotting
Chapter 14: The Final Blow (Part 1)
Chapter 14: The Final Blow (Part 2)
Chapter 14: The Final Blow (Part 3)
Chapter 15: Battle Aftermath, New Plans
Chapter 16: Realizations, and Death on the Move
Chapter 17: Enemy Panic, A New Ally, Final Night
Chapter 18: There's Something out There...... (Part 1)
Chapter 18: There's Something out There......(Part 2)
Chapter 18.5 (WARNING: EXPLICIT!!!!)
Chapter 19: Hard Times are a Comin'
Chapter 20: Winter Comes, and With it, Bloodshed
Chapter 21: Train Run Through a Frozen Hell
Chapter 22: Getting Back on Track, Death in the Shadows
Chapter 23: Ghost in the Night, Harbinger(s) of Death
Chapter 24: Blood in the Snow (Part 1)
Chapter 24: Blood in the snow (Part 2)
Chapter 26: Hour of Reckoning
Chapter 27: Final Drive, Final Battle
Chapter 27.5 (WARNING, EXPLICIT!!!!!)
Chapter 28: Final Surrender, Headin' Home, Joyous Celebrations
Epilouge: Closing bits.......or the Start of Something Else?
Chapter 25: Snowy Bloodbath in Donneth
Prologue/Massive Backstory
Chapter 1: Ending a Day, Beginning Another
Chapter 6.5 (WARNING: EXPLICIT!!!!)
Chapter 9: Back into Battle, Lots of Blood, and a Little Surprise (Part 2)

Chapter 2: Highway to Hell? Highway to Heaven?

For the first part of our trip, everything seemed to be going well. The sun was shining, it was getting to be hot as balls, and since we were in the desert, there was no breeze; only lots of sand, rocks, cacti, sagebrush, and of course, a crap-ton of holes, indicating shell/bomb impact craters, plenty of destroyed vehicles, and even undetonated ordnance. Yep, the deserts of Nevada were going to need to undergo a MASSIVE shakedown once the war was over!

As we were going along, Alex suddenly turned to me. "What? I see it, but I don't believe it!"

I turned to him. "Huh? Don't believe what?"

"Your face! You're not wearing your Kitsune mask anymore!"

I felt my face. Sure enough, I wasn't wearing it. "Huh. Guess I left it back on my nightstand." I thought. To Alex, I said, "Well, it was actually because of Todd."

"Huh? What did I do?"

I turned to him. "Remember? Last night, you told me that I needed to learn to live without the mask. However, if you guys don't believe that, technically, I forgot it in light of our meeting with Major Don."

Alex nodded. "Well, I'm glad that you're not wearing it. It always creeped me the f@#k out, and whenever I saw you wearing it, it always reminded me of Face."

Todd, Fred, and Andy agreed with him.

I nodded. "Yeah, I could see the comparison there. However, I'm still here, while Face is dead as f@#k!"

We all laughed at that, and we kept the engine moving forwards.

However, at 10:45am, about 10 miles outside of Lund, there was trouble.

Suddenly, Don's voice came over the intercom. "Attention, attention! Our radar crew have just picked up a cluster of aircraft bearing Point 5, and coming in from about our 8 o'clock. Be advised, there are no friendly aircraft in this area. All hands, man your battle stations now! This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill! Get all anti-air weapons online now! All hands, prepare to defend the train!"

With that, alarms all across the train began to blare, as all windows were closed, doors and bulkheads were closed and sealed, weapons were uncovered, guns were manned, and all eyes were on both the radar screens, and the skies.

"Welp, here we go again!" Fred and Andy both got ready to man the machine gun and two anti-air guns on the cab roof.

Meanwhile, Alex and I closed the cab windows most of the way (we had to leave a slot to poke our rifles out of!), and with help from Todd, we closed the heavy metal doors at the back of the cab, and locked them securely. After this, the 3 of us grabbed our trusty rifles, and made ready to fight.

"We may be engineer and firemen, but we're still soldiers, and we're not taking this lying down!"

"Got that right Leopard!"

Even Todd, as nervous and shy as he was, made ready to fight and defend.

Then, from the intercom, we heard Don's voice again. "PCC to Big Boy, come in Big Boy, do you read me?"

Todd grabbed the intercom phone. "PCC, this is Big Boy. We read you loud and clear, over."

"BB, get us to Lund as fast as possible! Do not slow down, do not stop for anything, just get us there in one piece! Do you understand?"

"Yes Sir, we understand!"

"Good! PCC out!"

The next couple of minutes were some of the most tense in recent memory. It had actually been a few weeks since we'd last had enemy action. According to DELCI, (pronounced "DELL-see”) the train's resident AI who helped run everything, the enemy aircraft seemed to be patrolling around.

"They haven't spotted us yet, but that could change very shortly." DELCI then suddenly stopped. "Oh shit! Some of the aircraft are breaking off from the main group! 10 in total, coming in at 8 o'clock high! We've been spotted!"

Don then took over. "Oh Jeezums! ALL HANDS, PREPARE TO DEFEND NOW!!!! I NEED ALL WEAPONS ONLINE NOW!!!!"

I turned to the others. "This is it Guys. May God be with us."

"Amen to that." Alex whispered.

"No kidding." Todd agreed.

Just then, over the steady chugging of the engine, we all heard it; the loud droning of both helicopters, and possibly jet engines as well. I began to think over possible attack scenarios.

Most often when this happened, they would come at us from the sides or rear, strafe us with machine guns, and then bug out before getting killed. Other times they tried to do a bomb run. A popular target was the engine's smokestacks, however, we saw this coming a mile away when the train was being built, so the tops of the smokestacks were covered by a reinforced metal grill to prevent anything from being dropped down. Once in a blue moon, somebody would try a Kamikaze, or suicide attack, but fortunately those were rare.

Moments after I thought about this, I heard it; the unmistakable sound of machine gun fire. Unfortunately, it was not coming from our train. However, not to be outdone by a couple of aircraft, once the order had been given from Don to fire at will, our machine guns, Phalanx cannons, AA guns, and even a few missile batteries all opened up on the aircraft. By DELCI's count, there were 4 helicopter gunships, and 6 jets defending them; 10 aircraft in total. In short order, our guns quickly saw one gunship put down, and two jets blown up in midair.

"Woo! Yeah! That's 3 down, only 7 more to go!"

One more gunship was blindsided by a missile, and spun out of control before slamming into the ground and exploding. However, as it fell, the gunship clipped another, and as the Futa pilot struggled to regain control, she accidentally knocked down two more jets, before completely losing it, and crashing the gunship onto the tracks. After skidding for a bit, the gunship came to a very rough stop.

"Whew!" The pilot muttered, "That was too cl...." She never got a chance to finish that thought. Just before she could, this happened,

and then everything went black.

(Also, for the future, whenever the train hits something, just imagine this video and song!)

After mowing down that gunship with ease, the Futas were down to just one gunship, and two jets. Unfortunately, this was all it took to make a run for the engine. With the two jets providing covering fire, the gunship came right for us!

"SHIT!!! F@#K!!!" Todd screamed.

As quick as a flash, both Fred and Andy were up close to the roof, firing the AA guns up there. Heck, even Alex and I got in on the act, firing our own rifles at the intruders!

"YEAH, TAKE THAT YOU SICK FREAKS!!!" I screamed.

Thanks to a lucky shot by Fred, one of the jets bit the dust, but not before it could fire two missiles at us!

"MISSILES INBOUND! DEPLOY FLARES NOW!!!!"

At that command from Don, someone towards the middle of the train deployed our countermeasure flares. Luckily, this was enough to take care of the missiles, before a shell took care of the other jet. Now the lone gunship turned to flee, but was quickly blasted out of the sky by another plane!

"Look!" Someone cried. "It's F-16s! It's the Air Force! They're here to help!"

"Battleship Express, Battleship Express, this is Bravo Leader of AF Unit 12. We're here to lend a hand!"

Don shook his head. "Bravo Leader, you're a little late to the party, don't you think? There were once 4 gunships, and 6 defending jets. By the time you showed up, there was only one gunship left!"

"What? Oh, well still. Glad to lend a hand. What's your current status, over?"

Don quickly did a roll-call, as well as ordering a systems check. Everything came back as it should. "Bravo Leader, all systems are functional, and all personnel are present and accounted for. Are the skies cleared, over?"

"Affirmative BE. You're all clear to head to Lund. Good luck!"

"And good luck to you boys as well on taking the Hoover Dam, and hanging on to Nellis AFB. You'll need it."

"Roger that BE, Bravo Leader out!"

Once the dust had settled, Todd turned to me. "Wait, I thought that we were helping with the Hoover Dam."

I sighed. "We were supposed to, however, scouting missions revealed that the tracks close to the dam were not strong enough to hold our train's weight. Plus, the dam mission is a heavy stealth one. That's why it was left up to the Night Stalkers and the Marines."

(The Night Stalkers were like Navy SEAL’s, although they also closely worked with the Marines as well at times).

Todd nodded. "And when was that attack supposed to take place?"

"On June 1st, so in about 5 days from now."

"Oh, well, I guess that that makes sense."

I nodded, and with one hand on the throttle, and the other on the windowsill, I kept the Battleship Express on course for the railyards in Lund.

About half an hour later, our radio came to life.

"Battleship Express, Battleship Express, this is the Lund Railyards. We see you on our radar scopes. Please respond, over."

Todd picked up the radio. "Lund Railyards, this is Todd Davis, 2nd Brakeman on the Battleship Express. We read you loud and clear, over."

"Ok Battleship Express, you're clear to pull in on Track 5. Just come on in when you get here. What's your ETA, over?"

"Well, our current ETA is about 10 minutes, over."

"Ok Battleship Express, we'll be waiting for you when you get here. We've got some new goodies for ya, and I'm sure that it's high time that you're train got a cleaning and shakedown, am I right?"

"Affirmative Lund. We're closing in fast, so be ready for us!"

"Roger Battleship Express. Lund out."

Sure enough, at about noon on the dot, Battleship Express pulled into the Lund Railyards. I pulled the train in slowly on Track 5, just like I'd been told to, and brought the train to a complete stop. Once everything was secure, Alex, Todd, Fred, Andy, and myself disembarked from the cab, and went back to get orders from Don.

Once we were off the train, railyard crews came over and began their preliminary evaluations. After walking back to the Primary Command Center, we were met by Jim and Don, as well as others.

"A fine piece of work boys! You've done your country a great service. Thanks to your quick actions, our train lives to fight another day. I would also like to say, you've not only made me proud, but you've made your families proud as well. Look at all of you. The youngest of you is 19, and most of you are in your early 20's. Young kids, managing the deadliest weapon in the US arsenal! Even if your families aren't here anymore, I know that they're looking down from Heaven, beaming with pride. None of this would be possible without any of you, so I say again, thank you!"

"No, thank YOU!" Someone yelled. "Without leadership from you, Jim, and others, none of this would have been possible!"

Don smiled. "Thanks. Thanks all of you. Now then, the train is in good hands, so now I ask you, who's ready for their shore leave?"

"We all are!" We cheered.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you! I said, WHO'S READY FOR THEIR SHORE LEAVE?!?!?!"

"WE ALL F@#KING ARE!!!" Some of us screamed. Others just stuck with, "WE ALL ARE!!!!!"

"Ok then, all I have to say is, enjoy yourselves, but don't really stray too far. If anything goes wrong, we may have to deploy again to provide heavy firepower."

We all grumbled a bit at this, but then we all began to go our separate ways. I began to walk down to meet Amanda Lindsey so that I could get Aurora back. As I walked, I thought back to the day I found her. It was in the woods of North Dakota, during the Battle of Lake Sacajawea in the early Fall of 2027. During the battle, out of nowhere, she came bounding up to the train, and jumped on board. Some tried to get rid of her, but she wouldn't leave. In the end, I adopted her, which did prove to be beneficial for my mental state. I kept saying that she was a wolf, even though the evidence was moderate that she was a wolf mixed with a German Shepherd.

As I walked, I was joined by Alex and Todd.

"Hey Leopard?"

"Yeah?"

"How are you going to spend your shore leave?"

"Well, first I'm going to go get Aurora from Amanda, and then I'm going to go pay Jack a visit so that I can see about getting a haircut, then I'm heading back to my cabin for a good shave!" (Jack Daniels was the train's barber. He was also a member of the medical team).

Alex laughed. "Sounds good to me! I'm going to go hit the nearest bar. It's been a while since I had me some good alcohol!"

I turned to Todd. "What about you Todd? What are you going to do?"

Todd shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I'm going to head to the forward dining car for some chow, and then maybe head over to the train's library and read a bit."

Alex and I both said to go for it, and then we went our separate ways, agreeing to meet up in our crew common room later on.

One collected wolf, haircut, and shave later, I was back in my cabin. Aurora was eating from her dish, and I was lying on my bed. While I was lying there, I looked over at the wall next to my desk. On it was a poster; not just any poster though, it was one of my waifu, Rainbow Dash herself! I'd had it commissioned a while back. It depicted her as an anthro, and she was standing up, her wings were outstretched, she had a smirk on her face, and she was also nude. Yes, that poster was definitely NSFW! I also had a similar one of Spitfire.

"Yep", I thought to myself, "Those two, are hands down, the hottest mares in all of Equestria! It's my honor to share my cabin with my two waifus!"

(Yes, I am mentally unbalanced. However, truth be told, it was actually Ponies that got us through the tough times. MLP FIM was THE show to watch. In fact, I had the full collection of seasons 1-9 on dvd, as well as the MLP Movie. Ponies were the cure for depression. I used it, and so did others. We all had our favorite ponies, and some of us had posters, plushies, T-shirts, figurines, and even waifu/body pillows! Yeah, we're all pretty messed up!)

After Aurora was done eating, I took her outside to do her business, and once we were back inside my room, she went to sleep, and I, um....well....."took care of some personal business", shall we say. (and yes, the "business" did involve my poster of Rainbow Dash!)

Meanwhile, while all of us were enjoying ourselves, the railyard crews were hard at work. With Jim supervising, from one end of the train to the other, everything was being inspected, cleaned up, parts were replaced where necessary, damage was repaired, and a few new weapons systems, radar, and fire-control radar were installed as well. Jim however insisted that most of the train stay the same, including the whistle.

"Don't repair that whistle boys! It needs to retain its Banshee-like shriek! Also, leave that pillbox on the front platform above the cowcatcher. It does need to be removed, but yet it's become a staple feature of 4009, and it’ll be the mounting block for the new mini Phalanx cannon for the front of the train once it’s ready, so leave it in place."

The crew looked at each other, and some were even wondering if Jim was starting to go senile. However, Don reaffirmed Jim's decisions, so with some shrugs and queer looks, they did as they were told.

Eventually, the crews reached the Big Boy’s tender. After buffing out as much damage as they could, a few last pictures were taken of the “Union Pacific? Nope! United Panic!” Before everything except the “Union Pacific” was scraped off, and painted black. Then the white lettering was touched up, and the tender simply said “Union Pacific” once again. Some of the crew were sad to see the extra wording go, but it had to be done so that the train met RWD regulations. They still had pictures of it, but it wasn’t the same as seeing it in person like they used to be able to. I myself didn’t mind the change too much, though I was glad that I had taken a few pictures of it before it was changed back.

The next day, which was Sunday, Father Francis Charles, our battalion's chaplain, did his usual Sunday Services for any who wanted to attend. Truth be told, most of the crew of the Battleship Express did indeed call themselves Christians. Most of this was because of the world wars. "There are no Atheists in foxholes!" as the old saying goes. Some were Agnostics, though only a few were non-religious. It was actually quite a mixed bag. Alex, Todd, Don, Jim, myself, and many others were Christians, Andy and Fred were Agnostics, and others fell on both sides of that spectrum.

However, even if we didn't see eye to eye on religion, there was one distinct fact that brought us all together. We were crewmembers of the Battle ship Express, the deadliest war train ever to ride the rails. The train that was the flagship of the RWD, who's weapons claimed the lives of over 950,000 Futa. If that's not a combining factor, then I don't know what is!

Oh, and 5 days later, on Friday, June 1st, American forces successfully took over the Hoover Dam and the surrounding area with minimum casualties. Vegas had just lost its primary power supply, the Futas there were now being almost constantly harassed by Army and Air Force forces from Nellis AFB, and our Vegas invasion was now one week away.

Meanwhile, a number of miles away, in the city once known as Las Vegas, Futa leadership was in turmoil. Empress Demetria sat in front of a digital map, surrounded by her advisers.

"Ok people, I need a solution, and I need it now! We've lost the Hoover Dam, and now our power supply has been cut off, on top of the near constant harassment from US Forces out at Nellis Air Force Base! What do we do?!"

"The American forces will be on top of us in a matter of days Empress. Should we begin Operation Fireball?" One of her military advisers asked.

Demetria shook her head. "Absolutely not! That contingency plan was for a last resort, and I mean an EXTREME last resort! I want no part in creating a legacy of bitterness like that!"

"So then, what do we do? Almost all of our best military commanders are dead, our agent, Sally Face, is dead, and the Americans are practically on top of us. I see no further options other than to evacuate the city now, and retreat West into California before all our escape routes are cut off."

Demetria pushed her long, thick brown hair out of her eyes, before looking out of a window of her palace, formerly known as the Hotel Luxor. "For so long, I tried to build an empire." She thought. "I succeeded, but at what cost? Now everything that we do seems to be a disaster, and now the Americans are out to wipe us off of the map." Eventually though, she turned back to her advisers. "Ok, now I think that I have a plan."

They all looked at her. "Ok, what is your plan, Empress Demetria?"

"My plan is to prepare for city-wide evacuation, and then, once the city's been evacuated, and all vital personnel are on their way to our strongholds in California, then we take the gloves off for an all or nothing battle for Southern Nevada."

"So, does that plan include 'Operation Fireball'?"

Demetria glared at the commander who asked that question. "For the last time, I said that 'Operation Fireball' was ONLY to be used as an EXTREME last resort, IF AT ALL!!!!! I DO NOT WANT TO BE A PART OF AN OPERATION LIKE THAT UNLESS THERE ABSOLUTELY IS NO OTHER OPTION!!!" Once she'd taken a moment to calm down, she added, "Just......begin the civilian evacuations, and get our military ready for a no holds barred battle."

Her advisers all stared at their empress in shock. None of them had really thought of the plan that she had just laid out, and they weren't sure that it was going to work. Nevertheless, they began the necessary preparations.

Across the Multiverse, in the land of Equestria, the situation was seemingly growing worse by the day. The stalemated trench warfare had begun to turn into a slow retreat for the Equestrian forces. They continued to try and hold the lines, but their forces continued to become depleted. The enemy was relentless. In fact, it once got so bad that a major breakthrough almost occurred near Appaloosa. Fortunately though, a band of warriors under Chief Thunderhooves, as well as those in the Appaloosa Sheriff's department managed to hold the enemy off until they retreated.

Once again, General Shining Armor, as well as his wife Princess Cadence, met with the other two princesses and the Elements of Harmony.

"The situation is at its most critical point I'm afraid. We're holding the enemy in place, but the lines could collapse any day now in some places. Our forces are badly depleted. If we don't get help soon, our options will either be fight to the death, or surrender. There's simply no way we can keep two empires in check by ourselves!"

Celestia put her hands over her face. "By the Sun", She muttered. "This is the worst war in Equestrian history. There HAS to be a way to win it!" She looked out over those in the room. "A few nations, such as Saddle Arabia, and the Griffon Kingdom, have tentatively pledged support, but they said that if victory cannot be secured soon, then they would withdraw."

Shining shook his head. "That's not good enough. From the way I see it, only a miracle would save us now."

The Mane 6 were deeply concerned as well. They had been helping with the war effort, and they knew how vital Euqestria's survival was.

"Yes", Twilight said softly, "It would take a miracle. But why? Why would one ever come our way?"

"Um, duh, it would come because we need it too!" Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight with annoyance.

"Yeah, I KNOW that Rainbow, I was just thinking out loud! But I think that I speak for all of us when I say that we need a miracle, and we need it now, or else all is lost!"

They all continued to ponder new war strategies, and wish for a miracle, completely unaware that you should be very careful of what you wish for, as what you want, isn't always what you get!

Author's Note

Ok everypony, here it is, Chapter 2! Now the train is being cleaned and repaired one last time before the big battle of Las Vegas. How will that go? How does the Battleship Express wind up in Equestria? What will everypony's reaction to it be? Well, the only way to find out, is to keep reading!

Meanwhile, as always, comments, feedback, and questions, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 3!

ScarFox out for now, ALL ABOARD!!!

Chapter 3: Sweat, Steel, and Blood

On our last night before we were due to leave Lund, and the last night of our shore leave, with Aurora by my side, I paid a visit to the engine crew common room, located in our crew car.

(The engine crew common room wasn't really a room at all, but rather an alcove. It had two couches, a few chairs, a coffee table, a mini fridge filled with sodas, hot dogs, pizza rolls, and other items to keep cool, a card table, and a counter with a sink, a microwave, a hot plate, and a coffee pot, while several drawers and cabinets contained chips, popcorn, boxes of mac and cheese, and tons of other junk food, as well as a few pots, pans, and other cooking utensils for cooking on the hot plate with, and there was even a small oven built into the end of the counter. It was here that most of us who crewed the engine took our breaks. All 3 engine crews had their own crew car, with its own common room).

Inside when I got there were Todd and Alex. Todd was reading a book, and Alex was lying on a couch, listening to his iPod.

"Hey guys."

"Oh, hey Leopard, hey Aurora."

Aurora barked a hello.

I looked up at the clock on the wall. The time showed 9:47pm. Tomorrow, June 2nd, at 7am, our train would pull out; first for Alamo, Nevada, then three days later, we would reach Boulder City. Then we would fight our way to Henderson, and then finally, on June 8th, our attack on Vegas would begin.

I turned back to Alex and Todd. "So, what do you guys think? How much longer will the war last?"

Alex shrugged. "I dunno. Most likely, even if we bag Vegas, they'll keep fighting to the last stronghold."

"That's what Don's afraid of too. He's tried to reach out to Demetria and her advisers, but his requests for a meeting, even by Skype, have been ignored."

Todd sat back in his chair. "Hey Leopard?"

"Yeah?"

"Are the rumors true? Did you really meet Demetria face to face?"

I froze. In all honest truth, I had a MAJOR past with Demetria, as well as her older daughter Carla. However, males who had been with the Futas before were sometimes seen as traitors, so I was forced to cook up a story. I then sighed, and repeated that story.

"Yes, the rumors are true. 4 years or so ago, way back when WW6 turned into the Second Cold War, I was captured in South Dakota, and became a janitor at a Futa government building there. One day though, I was walking through the halls moping the floors, when I accidentally bumped into someone.

'Oh, I'm so sorry Mistress! Please forgive me!' I then looked up, and I saw her. There she was, Empress Demetria herself! Dressed in very light, white robes, with her soft brown hair flowing down her back. Her brown eyes never left mine. I was absolutely petrified. No males were even allowed to look at her. I had just committed a capital crime, punishable by death!"

Todd stared at me wide-eyed. "W-what happened then? I mean, obviously you didn't die, as you’re still here, but still, what happened?"

I took a breath before continuing. "Well, for the longest time, nothing happened. However, once her escorts realized that I was looking at their Empress, their GODDESS, they made the move to seize me. However, before they could, Demetria stopped them.

'No', she said softly, 'Do not harm this one. He has done nothing wrong. All are awed by my presence.' I was still looking down at the ground, trembling in fear. Suddenly though, I felt a hand on my chin. Gently, Demetria turned my head upwards until I faced her again.

'Do not be afraid, My Dear. I will not hurt you, nor will I allow anyone else to hurt you. Tell me, what is your name?'

'Um.....S-Scar. My name is Scar.'

'Not anymore, Dear. From henceforth, since I see that you have patches of black fur that resemble spots, you shall be known as “Leopard”.’ She then kissed me gently on the forehead. 'Now go forth Leopard, go forth and enact my will!'

'Um, what is your will, Empress?' I asked her.

'My will is that the floors of this government building should be clean, cleaner than they've ever been! Do you understand?'

I nodded. 'Yes, My Empress, I will obey!' I then got back to work on the floors."

When I finished my story, Alex and Todd stared at me in absolute shock. They had always heard stories of other males who had met Demetria, such as Major Jeff Coleson, Major Don, and Jim, but never anyone like me.

Finally, Alex said, "Wow, um, out of everyone else on this train, I never would have ever guessed that someone like you would have ever met Empress Demetria."

I shrugged. "It was one of those one-in-a-million chance things. I was just in the perfect place at the exact right moment." (I HATED to lie to my good friends, but yet there was no other choice. They COULD NOT know the full truth about my past yet!)

We both talked about this for a while longer. Then, at about 11pm, we all knew that we would have to go to bed, as our train was due to leave at 7am, and we would have to be ready to go before then.

After saying goodnight to Alex and Todd though, instead of going directly back to my cabin, I went instead to the Secondary Command Center, located at the front of the car next to my room. After opening the door, I went inside, and turned on the lights.

It had been a while since this command center was last used. In the center of the room was a large digital map, with a number of computer stations for weapons direction and battle assessment close to the walls, as well as several radios and telephones used for battlefield communications. The room also contained a large table and chairs for meetings between the train's officers, complete with a projector for showing pictures and videos on a nearby wall. A grated skylight and 4 windows with bullet-proof glass provided light during the day, while regular electric lights provided light at night, and there were plenty of regular maps on the walls as well.

"Are you in here DELCI?" I asked.

I saw a computer turn on. "Yes, I'm here Sir. I'm here, I'm there, I can be anywhere and everywhere on the train at once! Except for the engine though, that's all manual control."

I nodded. Ever since WW3, DELCI had been our AI. I helped save her from being destroyed in WW4, and she was returned to a base in New York after WW5. She performed calculations for WW6, and once the Battleship Express came into existence, she became a part of the train as well. Now here she was, 17 years old, and still just as young and frisky as always.

"Are you ready to kick some more Futa ass DELCI?"

"You bet I am!", She giggled, "When was I ever not?"

I thought for a second. "I can't really think of a time off of the top of my head, so I'll just take your word for it!"

I then pulled over a chair to one of the consoles, and decided to try something one last time. "Hey DELCI?"

"Yes Sir?"

"Could you try one last time to patch me through to Vegas? I know that it failed in the past, but why not try one last time?"

DELCI wasn't so sure that that was a good idea, but she nevertheless gave it a go. On a secure channel, she basically put me on Skype, direct line to the Luxor Hotel, aka the Imperial Palace, aka the Palace Luxor. To my utter shock, somebody answered!

"Hello? Who is it? What do you want?"

I looked, and sure enough, it was her. She was wearing a sheer white nightie, and nothing underneath. Her long brown hair hung down her back, and she looked rather sleepy. Demetria, the Empress of the Futas, and the one I had once lived with for a time during the Second Cold War.

I took a deep breath. "Hey Mom, it's me."

She looked into the camera with shock. Then she smiled. "Oh, hey Sweetie. How are you doing?"

"Hmm, not too bad; just getting ready to come and see you."

"Oh? And when are you gonna do that?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. I guess whenever they tell us to, which will be very soon. You are going to be getting out of there, right Mom?"

Now it was her turn to shrug. "I dunno Sweetie. After all, Mommy has to defend her Empire, or what's left of it. However, I do plan on you 'capturing me' at the end of the battle!"

I laughed a bit. Demetria had always been rather sweet on me. Even though she was old enough to be my mother, she looked like she was in her early 30's. She'd always been like a mom to me since adopting me, even though we were supposed to be enemies. I hadn't seen her in person for several years now, but we still Skyped every now and again. The last time we met in person was in Nebraska, and it was on that night that she promised to do what she could to end the war. Demetria was so kind and benevolent; not like a Futa at all. (Maybe that's because she's a Herm, but that's besides the point!)

I sighed. "Just get to somewhere safe Mom, and I'll come find you when the battle is over. This last one should hopefully take care of most, if not all of the last high-ranking Futa Military officers, leaving only the junior officers, and the military personnel in California, Oregon, Alaska, and Hawaii."

She smiled. "I hope it will too Sweetie. Anyway, I have to go, but I'll see you again soon!"

"Ok, bye Mom."

"Bye!"

I then hung up. From my pocket, I pulled out a picture of us together. It was taken before WW6 resumed in 2026, and it showed us hugging. We were both nude in the picture, and she looked so beautiful.

"So beautiful. Thank you DELCI."

DELCI seemed to scowl. "You know that I should turn you in for treason, right? Fraternizing with the enemy is a capital offence! However, your efforts have saved lives on both sides, so I guess that I'll let it slide."

I nodded. "I know, so I thank you for not doing that. Anyway, goodnight DELCI."

"Goodnight Sir."

I then left the room, and went next door to my quarters for the night.

Sure enough, the next morning at 5:30am, my alarm went off. After I was up, dressed, and had eaten in the dining car, the time had come to get everything ready to go. We were given our final briefings, and told that we would be briefed one last time when we reached Boulder City.

"But until that time", Major Don told us, "We have work to do, so let's get to it!"

We all did so. Our train was in tip-top fighting shape (aside from still not having the mini phalanx cannon that was supposed to be mounted on the roof of the old pillbox on the front of the train. It was still being tested, and wouldn’t be ready until after the Battle of Vegas), and was currently being resupplied by our faithful supply train, Iron Glory. Iron Glory was a dark-colored, Union Pacific 4-4-0 coal-fired locomotive that dated back to the Wild West Era.

From the very beginning, she had been the supply train for the Battleship Express. She ran coal, water, foodstuffs, ammunition, and other vital supplies, was capable of running blockades, and that engine and its 12 cars had clocked up a grand total of over 4 million miles in their service careers! Iron Glory hooked up behind us for the trip to Boulder City.

Unfortunately, on Track 4 next to us, stood a train all of us wanted to forget about. The engine was Southern Pacific Daylight 4449, and it pulled a war train that consisted of machine guns, mortar launchers, grenade launchers, missile batteries, and a few artillery guns. This train was commanded by Commander Tim Curry, the older brother of Major Don Curry. It was known as the "Wabash Cannonball", and was the most infamous war train, after the Battleship Express of course.

(Why was the Wabash Cannonball so despised? Well, it's because they were dangerous, and not in a good way. Think of it like this; the US Forces are like the Rebel Alliance. We answer to our superiors, and have accountability. Tim and the Wabash crew on the other hand, are like Saw Guerra and his partisans. They answer to no one, and have no accountability. They're basically terrorists with a cool train. Tim and Don were also bitter rivals.)

At exactly 7am, we all pulled out. I was driving the Battleship Express, Lt. Daryl Meers was driving Iron Glory behind us, and behind him came the Wabash Cannonball. Our destination was first Alamo, Nevada, then Boulder City, and then Henderson. Finally, our last stop would be Vegas itself.

At first, everything went smoothly. We pulled out, and there was nothing but us, the trains behind us, and the wide-open desert. Then however, there came a problem. As we rounded a curve, Todd noticed that the Wabash Cannonball was too close to the back of Iron Glory.

He picked up the radio. "Hey! Wabash! You're too close to Iron Glory! You need to back off, now! Go a different route to Boulder City!"

Someone picked up the radio, and was maybe about to say something, but then had the radio snatched from them. An older male voice said, "We acknowledge BE. We're taking a different route. See you in Vegas!"

With that, the train began to dip behind us a bit, before they disappeared over the horizon.

"Huh." Todd muttered. "That was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be."

I shook my head. "Don't get your hopes up just yet Todd. They'll be back. The Wabash Cannonball always comes back!"

Todd looked down, and then back up at me. "Hey Leopard, I was wondering, who's going to be driving the train when we arrive in Vegas?"

I sighed. "Not us, unfortunately. Don decided that he wanted Joe, Frank, Carl, and their two guards in the cab."

"Well then, where will we be?"

"Most likely at other posts. I'm hoping to be assigned to the Secondary Command Center."

"Yeah, me too." Alex added. "That way we'll be able to see everything that happened, and if anything goes wrong, we would be able to quickly climb up to the engine and take control, especially considering that there's only two large coal cars, the massive tank car, and the tender in front of our bunk car where the SCC is located."

I nodded, and we all got back to focusing on the job at hand.

The next couple of days were nothing but a blur. After fighting against Futa Air Force units, we managed to arrive in Alamo on June 3rd, almost right on schedule. The city fell by that night, and before we could blink, we were on our way again, and we'd killed maybe another 3,000 Futas to add to our record. Unfortunately though, the tracks from Alamo to Boulder City were positively a highway of death as desperate Futas threw everything that they had at us.

"Keep all weapons online and ready at all times!" Don warned us. "You never know where or when they could strike next!"

Don's words echoed through our heads as we kept fighting. We had to deal with it all; foot-soldiers, tanks, gunships, jet fighters, railroad blockades, artillery guns, missiles, rockets, homemade bombs, mines, the full 9 yards. In fact, it got so bad that all of us were praying to God that our gun barrels didn't melt from constant use, or that the train flew to pieces because of the constant vibrations of seemingly endless gunfire! In fact, when the shifts changed, the Primary Crew came up to the cab first, and then we of Secondary Crew crawled back to the rest of the train, as there wasn't time to stop! We all then manned machine guns, and AA guns, and gave the Futas the works.

"THAT'S WHAT I LIKE TO SEE BOYS!!!! SHOW THEM THE AMERICAN FIGHTING SPIRIT!!!!"

"Yeah, Jim's right everyone! Keep going! We DO NOT retreat! We've come WAY too far to fail now!"

Finally though, everything stopped. The Futas had either run out of people and machines to throw at us, or they were saving everything else for Vegas. In total, the numbers were staggering. 255 tanks demolished, with a further 175 disabled. 59 gunships were blown up, and another 55+ damaged. 43 jets were shot down, and 60+ were damaged. 19 railroad blockades were plowed through, 7 damaged sections of tracks were avoided at the last second, 4 explosive-laden Kamikaze trains were stopped or derailed, and an estimated 37,500+ Futa were killed. For us, only 35 crewmen were wounded, 7 seriously. Our train did suffer damage, but considering the odds that were just stacked against us and Iron Glory, what we had just done was absolutely insane.

However, it left us with a haunting question. If the Futas had fought like that now, and they didn't seem to have anything left to lose, what could possibly be waiting for us when we reached Las Vegas?

On June 6th, we finally reached Boulder City. The city itself had already been secured, courtesy of the 3rd Army Division, accompanied by the 7th Marines, and the 5th Air Force; the same groups who had assisted the Night Stalkers with securing the Hoover Dam, and protecting Nellis AFB. The tracks were cleared to Henderson, which was just outside of Vegas.

On that final night, none of us were able to sleep very well. We all knew that we could be attacked at any time. Aurora jumped up on me in my bed, and I held her close.

"It's getting near to the end Aurora, can you feel it?"

She nodded a bit. "Yeah, I can feel it. It's scary."

"I agree. It really is scary, isn't it? We're so close that we can actually see the lights of the Vegas Strip way off in the distance. At any time they could sound General Quarters. Anyway though girl, we should try to get at least a little bit of sleep. After all, tomorrow you can get suited up in your war-suit again. Won't that be fun?"

Aurora yipped softly, but happily.

"Yes it will be. And you know what else?"

Aurora looked at me. "No, what else?"

"We might get to see Mom again. Won't that be nice?"

Aurora looked at me oddly. For most of her life, the only 'mom' that she had ever known was Lilly. Now that she was dead, Aurora could never quite figure out who I was calling "Mom".

"Yes, hopefully Demetria will make it out of that mess alive, and we'll come get her." I then fell asleep on that note.

On the other end of that spectrum, up in her palace, Demetria looked out of a window at the city below her. Most of the city's residents had already been evacuated to California by rail, and her military forces had moved in, and fortified everything.

"It won't work", Demetria said softly to herself. "My son and his unit will come in, and take this city for their own. I'll surrender to him, and let him take me prisoner. Then maybe, just maybe, we'll FINALLY have peace at last!"

Not too far away from Demetria though stood her younger daughter, General Stacy Rikker. Not too long ago, her big sister, General Carla Boudica, one of the fiercest officers the Futas had, was believed to have been killed in the Battle of Austin, in Texas. Now she wanted her revenge. Not for her sister though, (Stacy HATED Carla!) but for her own forces that she lost.

She'd heard what Demetria had said, and she knew that her time had come. "Ok, now that does it." She thought to herself. "My Mom has officially gone senile, and is no longer fit to rule!" She then picked up her radio. "Rey? Rey! Are you there?"

"I'm here Stacy, what is it?"

"I 'hate' to have to be the one to say this, but I'm afraid that Mom has gone senile. She's seemingly preparing to surrender."

"So, um, does this mean.....?"

"Yes! Begin preparations for Operation Fireball! This war of theirs ends tomorrow! For too long those f@#king Americans have been taking back our hard-earned gains, but no more! Their deaths will mark the end of the Male-Rebellion, and the return of the Futas to power!"

"Yes Stacy, right away!"

Stacy then left to go make her own preparations for the upcoming battle.

The next morning, all of us were up at close to 4am. At sunrise, which was close to 6am, we would commence the attack. I got up, used the bathroom, and then got dressed. I pulled on my dark blue tunic, then my darker blue pants with shoulder straps, then my gray knee, elbow, shoulder, shin, chest, back, arm and thigh armor, secured my codpiece to my groin, tied my typical black bandanna around my neck, then pulled on my black boots, fully loaded my ChesterTon M16 rifle and Glock 9mm, and lastly, put on my helmet with goggles.

Once I was done with myself, I then turned my attention to Aurora. After brushing her fur, I then helped her into her "battle suit." Designed specially for her, it basically turned her into a mini killing machine, while almost fully providing her protection. It was the same blue, darker blue, and gray colors of my uniform-armor, and it consisted of a helmet, full body armor, armored legs and boots, tail armor, goggles, and a respirator. For armament, the suit had a mini-gun, as well as an advanced sniper rifle. It also had missiles, grenades, and even a small, (well smallish!) nuclear-tipped projectile, capable of a 1 kiloton yield. Also, the suit also made use of special technology that, in addition to knowing how to handle the weapons, it enabled her to use them, with some help from DELCI of course!

"Are you ready to go now Girl?" I asked her.

"Oh yes!" She said in her usual sultry voice, "Let's go kick some ass in......um, where are we going again Master?"

"We're heading to Las Vegas, although we'll also be taking Henderson as well."

"Oh, ok. Well then, let's go kick some Futa ass in Las Vegas and Henderson!"

I laughed. "I couldn't agree with you more Aurora, let's go!"

Sure enough, just before we were all ready to pull out, Don called us together one last time.

"Ok boys, this is it. Today marks the end. The end of what, I don't know, but the end of something. Today, either the Futas get their backs broken permanently and we get their final surrender, or we liberate Vegas, kill all the Futas, and then finish the drive to the Pacific before we wait for the orders to head up to Canada, and ultimately Alaska." He looked around at all of the faces. "It's been a long road that we've taken together. From Grand Central Station in New York, to our first base in Illinois, to St. Louis, Jefferson City, Kansas City, Branson, Little Rock, Des Moines, New Orleans, St Paul, Minneapolis, Sue Falls, Bismark, Omaha, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Dallas, Houston, Austin, Corpus Christie, Denver, Cheyenne, Casper, Butte, Santa Fe, Phoenix, Boise, Salt Lake City, Lund, and everywhere else in between that I missed. We've been there and done that. All of us, together with our train, and other US Armed Forces, we made the IMPOSSIBLE happen!"

We all cheered for that.

"However! NONE of this would have been possible if God had not been with us! Without Him, we would still be slaves of the Futas! He gave us hope, He have us something to fight for! He gave us the strength to overcome our enemies! So, before we go, if you are willing and able, let us say a prayer of thanks."

Don then got down on one knee, and others who prayed to God as well, including myself, all did likewise. After saying a prayer of thanks, as well as praying for protection, and success in our endeavor, we all went to our battle stations.

As previously stated, Big Boy 4009 was to be driven by 1st Engineer Joe Dixon, accompanied by 1st Fireman Frank Otis, 1st Brakeman Carl Vinson, and their two engine guards. Todd, Alex and I were being sent to the Secondary Command Center, and our guards Fred and Andy were stationed at the guns on the roof of the dining car just behind us. (We were the 4th car from the engine, they were 5th). Everyone else got to their stations, and began their final systems checks.

All around us, the Army, Marines, and Air Force were doing likewise. We also got word that our Navy was doing battle with the Futa Navy off of the coasts of Oregon and California, both drawing more attention away from us, as well as cutting off Hawaii. Then, the clock struck 5:45am. Time to move out.

The general in charge of all US Forces, 31 year old General Charles Sumner, then addressed us all. "Ok everyone, now the time has come to move out. Go! Retake Vegas and the surrounding area from these heathens! Make them burn, and remind them that they messed with the wrong country! Now then, cue the music, AND MOVE IT ON OUT!!!!!"

Someone popped in the tape, and everyone got ready to go, and then we moved out.

We arrived on the scene in about 10 minutes, and with the first lights of dawn beginning to show, we all moved into position. It was decided that the Battleship Express would stay outside of the city and provide heavy artillery where needed, and Iron Glory would be backing us. The first ones into the city would be the Marines from the 5th Division, followed by the 7th Army. They would be protected by us, and the Air Force units, which were also conducting bombing missions over Vegas. If all went well, the city would be ours in less than two days. At the sounding of General Quarters, we all scurried to our stations. Todd, Alex and I got to the SCC, and Aurora was with us. Don oversaw everything form the Primary Command Center (PCC), and then a final systems check was performed.

"Ok, all stations report in. What's your status, over?"

One by one, all stations reported in. From the engine, to the machine guns, to the AA guns, to the missile batteries, missile launchers, 16in guns, railguns, radar stations, drone control stations, and even the missile launchers on the work caboose at the back of the train. We were all ready.

"Just awaiting your orders Don." I reported from the SCC. "Nobody else can fire unless we fire first."

Don took a deep breath, and then smirked. "LIGHT 'EM UP BOYS!!!!"

That was all it took. Everything seemed to move in slow motion for a while after that. All projectile shells and missiles seemed to take an eternity to leave their barrels and launchers, and head off towards their targets. Alex Todd and I had our eyes glued to both the digital maps and computer consoles, and to the thick, bullet-proof glass windows of the SCC, which had just been cleaned during our last refitting and shakedown in Lund.

"Holy Hell! That's some awesome firepower!"

I nodded. "That's why we're the flagship of the RWD Todd, never forget that!"

For a few more minutes, the barrage continued. Then the air and ground units began to move in, and our guns switched to strategic strikes. If a building, fortification, weapon emplacement, or trouble spot needed to be hit, we were all over it like green on beans! Very rapidly, the smoke began to rise from Vegas. There were constant explosions, air-raid sirens wailed, and as we watched, the city seemingly began to go into its death-throes.

"BE, BE, this is Sergeant Carlos of Bay Squad! We're being pinned down by heavy fire coming from the Stratosphere Casino Hotel! The Futas are also using the......um........ Skypod at the top of the Stratosphere Tower next to it as a massive observation/artillery spotting platform! Is there anything that you can do about that, over?"

I picked up the radio. "Sergeant Carlos, this is BE, we read you loud and clear. Tell your boys to keep their heads down, and enjoy the fireworks!"

"Roger that BE!"

I then got in touch with one of our main railguns. "Railgun 1, this is the SCC. It seems that we've got some pesky fire coming from the Stratosphere Casino Hotel, and the Stratosphere Tower next to it is being used as an artillery spotting platform. Can you take care of it, over?"

"SCC, this is Railgun 1, we copy. We have the coordinates, firing now!"

Sure enough, moments later, we felt the shock as a shell was fired. The shell then flew through the air for a minute or so before impacting with its target.

"WOO!!!! BE, this is Sergeant Carlos again, direct hit on the Stratosphere Tower! Whole damn thing collapsed sideways, and flattened the hotel next to it where the fire was coming from! Great job!"

"Thank you Sergeant, glad to be of service! Keep up the good work out there!"

"We will Sir! Bay Squad out!"

About an hour or so later, the battle began to come right to Demetria's doorstep, literally. US Forces were now only a few blocks away from the Imperial Palace, aka the Palace Luxor, aka, the Luxor Hotel. With the battle raging all around them, Demetria, her advisers, her servants, and all others still inside the palace made ready to make their escape. Demetria herself was waiting close to what used to be the hotel's lobby when one of her servants came running.

"My Empress! Come on, we've got to get you out of here! The city is lost!"

"Tell me something I don't know!" Demetria yelled as she ran along after her servant, with others following along behind her.

Their destination was a secret underground train station underneath the Palace where Demetria's private train would take them all farther West. As they ran, the whole building shook from nearby explosions. Windows shattered, chandeliers, railings, picture frames, dishes, ceilings, and other things began to fall down, and the building became more and more unsafe every minute.

"Come on! We have to make it to the train!"

They kept running, but they never made it. Just before they could, a combined hit from our 2nd railguns, and our 2nd 16in. guns slammed into the Luxor, causing a large section of it to collapse.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" Everyone screamed as debris fell on top of them.

By the time that the rubble was pulled off of them, 5 advisers, 9 servants, and 3 guards were dead, and a further 9 were wounded. Demetria herself was shockingly unhurt, although completely out cold. As quick as a flash, she and the others, including the wounded, were gently scooped up, and taken down to the basement where the train was waiting.

Once the train was on its way, someone went up further into the train to tell General Stacy what had happened. "So, the Old Bitch bit the dust, and is no longer in command, is she? Well then, before we've wasted any more time, KILL THE AMERICANS CLOSE TO THE PALACE, AND INITIATE OPERATION FIREBALL, NOW!!!!"

"Yes General!"

With that, the worst incident of the war was about to unfold. Trying to kill our soldiers in that area was bad enough, but what happened next was far worse than that.

Meanwhile, back on the Battleship Express, none of us had any inkling of what was about to happen. All of us were too busy celebrating our destruction of the Luxor.

"Woohoo!!! That was the Imperial Palace! Now we're showing them who's boss!" Alex cheered.

I cheered as well, hoping all the while that Demetria had made it out safely. Unfortunately, before we could celebrate any further, something horrible happened. Suddenly our alarms started blaring.

"Um, Leopard, what's going on?"

"I don't know Todd. Hopefully nothing too serious!"

Suddenly, we heard a loud screaming sound, and then Don's voice came over the intercom. "HOLY F@#K!!!! STEALTH MISSILES INCOMING!!!!! BRACE, BRACE, BRACE!!!!!!"

We all knew what that meant. Stealth missiles were the worst kind of missile imaginable, as they were capable of evading both radar and scanners. How Don spotted them at all, I'll never know. Sadly, he just didn't spot them in time.

The train was suddenly rocked by a series of extremely violent explosions. All of us in the SCC were knocked off of our feet. Todd hit a wall, Alex slammed his head against the digital map and got knocked unconscious, and I was knocked to the floor, as was Aurora. I managed to maintain consciousness, and jumped to my feet again seconds later, as did Aurora.

However, I then saw Alex and Todd. "Oh gosh! Guys! Are you ok?!"

I could see that both of them were unconscious. Todd was maybe beginning to regain it, and Alex was groaning, indicating that he was still alive. All across the train, alarms continued to blare. Using one of the consoles, I was able to see where the missiles had hit. To my extreme horror, one had collided with the 2nd railguns, but failed to explode. Another hit just in front of the engine, although it missed both it and the tracks. It was the third missile though that did the worst damage. It had hit the PCC, right where Don and Jim were!

Immediately, I radioed back there. "SCC to PCC! Is anyone alive back there, over?!"

At first, nothing. Then I began to hear radio chatter between the PCC and the medical car. I heard Don's voice say, "Code White! I need medial help up here right now! I've got multiple casualties, Jim among them! I repeat, we need help up here now!"

That did it. First Jeff Coleson, then Lilly, and now Jim. In that one moment, I snapped completely, and there was nobody to stop what I was going to do next. Even though I had no confirmation of Jim being dead, I assumed that he was, and swung into action. I knew that the missile silos located underneath the Palace Luxor was the only facility in Vegas that housed launchers for such a weapon. Demetria disapproved of them, so that eliminated her as giving the orders for launch. Stacy was to blame for this, and now she was gonna die!

"This ends, right now!"

I then used a special override, and took control of one of the 1st railguns. The entire gun was under my control, and nothing that the techs inside could do would override my override. I then inputted a special code that summoned a W50 nuclear shell, and loaded it into the gun!

"1st Railgun to SCC, what are you guys doing over there?! Why has a nuclear shell just been loaded?!"

I didn't answer. I also inputted a code that prevented even DELCI from stopping what I was about to do. The shell had a 5 megaton yield (or so I believed), which if true, was the equivalent of 500x the bomb dropped over Hiroshima in WW2. With the railgun techs still screaming at me, I did the unthinkable, and after targeting the launch silos in the basement of the Luxor, aiming not for the Luxor itself, but for the entrance to the launch facility, known as "The Trench" because of its shape, I became the first soldier to launch nuclear ordnance by himself in WW6.

"SHELL AWAY!!!!!" I screamed.

"LEOPARD!!! NOOOOO!!!!" I heard Don scream from the PCC. "YOU HAD NO ORDERS!!!! BUT NOW IT'S TOO LATE!!!! THEY KILLED OUR TROOPS, NOW THEY FRY!!!!!" I then heard Don give the order for all soldiers in Vegas to fall back immediately. They complied, however, our situation was about to get a hell of a lot worse, as wrecking the Battleship Express was just barely the tip of the iceberg for Operation Fireball.

"General Stacy! Nuclear ordinance incoming!!!"

Stacy didn't seemed phased. "As I expected of them Lieutenant. Now then, where is my Mom?"

"She's on the train with us, maybe 2 cars behind us. She's still out cold though."

"And how far away from the palace are we?"

"Eh......maybe a half-mile or so."

Stacy smirked. "Hmm, close enough. Now then, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM MOTHERF@#KERS!!!!! WE ALL GO UP IN BLAZING GLORY BITCHES!!!!"

"NO WAIT, WHAT?!?!?!"

But it was too late. With those last words, General Stacy pushed the large red button that she'd been holding, just moments before the nuclear shell hit the launch silos in the Luxor’s basement.

"YEAH!!! DIRECT HIT ON THOSE..........." I saw the large mushroom cloud rising over Vegas from our nuclear shell, but I never got a chance to finish that thought. Just before I could, there suddenly came a blinding white flash of light. "AUGH!!!" I was knocked to the floor.

"DELCI!!!" I screamed as I covered my eyes. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!?!?!"

"It appears to have been another nuclear detonation Sir!"

I jumped back to my feet, only to witness first one nuclear explosion, and then another, and then another!

I grabbed the radio. "ALL FORCES, VEGAS WAS A TRAP, I REPEAT, VEGAS WAS A TRAP!!!! FALL BACK!!!! GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!!!"

Suddenly, multiple reports began to come in.

"HELP!!! OH GOD, WE'RE LOSING THE HOOVER DAM!!! MASSIVE CASUALTIES!!!! WE NEED HELP OUT HERE NOW!!!"

"THIS IS NELLIS AFB!!!! NUKES ARE FALLING ALL AROUND US!!!! WE NEED IMMEDIATE AID!!!! WE'RE GONNA GO.........!!!!" And then silence.

"MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY!!! THIS IS AIR FORCE UNIT 5, WE NEED EVAC NOW!!! DOES ANYONE COPY, OVER?!?!?!"

"BATTLESHIP EXPRESS, THIS IS ARMY UNIT 7! WE HAVE MASSIVE CASUALTIES, AND WE NEED IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ASSISTANCE!!!! DO YOU COPY, OVER?!?!"

"WHAT DO WE DO DON?!?!" I screamed back to him.

"WHAT WE'RE SUPPOSED TO DO, OUR JOBS!!!! TELL JOE TO MAKE FAST TRACKS TO UNIT 7’S LOCATION NOW!!!"

"SIR, YES SIR!!!!"

I then radioed up to the engine. "Joe! Joe, do you read me?!"

"I hear you Leopard! What happened?! What's going on?!"

"A nuclear attack, that's what happened! VEGAS WAS A TRAP!!!!"

"WHAT?!?!?!"

"YES! Now then, Don said that we need to go help Army Unit 7, SO GET US OUT OF HERE NOW!!!!"

"YES SIR!!!"

Very rapidly, the Battleship Express began to move forwards, with Iron Glory coming after us as fast as she could. We had every intention of coming to help Army Unit 7, and we would have too, if Fate hadn't decided to intervene. Fate saw our plight, and decided to save us all...........by sending us into another war zone!

Less than a minute after we'd moved out, from amidst the massive dust-storms caused by the explosions, the screaming howl of the wind, and of course the nuclear fallout, a black mass suddenly appeared out on the tracks ahead of our train. None of us saw it coming, and one minute we were there, and the next, we had vanished. Iron Glory followed us, completely unaware of the fate that we had just met with. We were gone...........for a VERY long time.

"BATTLESHIP EXPRESS!!! WE NEED YOU OUT HERE!!!!! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?!?!"

*Static*

"BATTLESHIP EXPRESS, PLEASE RESPOND, OVER!!!!"

*Static*

The Battleship Express would never reach Army unit 7, nor would it, or its crew, ever be seen or heard from on Earth for a VERY long time.

Author's Note

Whew! That was one heck of an action-packed chapter wasn't it?! It was also really long, but wasn't it worth the read? Why was it so long, you ask? Well, because I had to get the Battle of Vegas done now, so as to end the chapter with them leaving Earth. It wouldn't fit well to have that happen in the middle of the chapter. I had to have everything transition smoothly, and I wanted to leave you with a cliffhanger! Now you'll HAVE to keep reading if you want to know more! *Evil laughter!*

But in all seriousness, I sincerely hope that you enjoyed this chapter, and are wanting more. I sank so much time and effort into it, and packed it so full of action, adventure, and danger, that I couldn't think of anything not to enjoy! But, I'll see you all in Chapter 4, where, we arrive in Equestria! How will the Ponies react to the Battleship Express? How will the Zebras and Caribou react to it? Well, stay tuned and you'll find out!

Meanwhile, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 4!

ScarFox out for now!

Chapter 4: Departing Vegas, Next Stop.........Ponyville?

By the time that all of us realized that we were in the center of the black mass, it was already too late. The train was still moving on what we thought were tracks, but something was clearly wrong. As I continued to look out into the black mass, I was trying to figure out what I was seeing. However, before I could come to any solid conclusions, something happened.

At first it sounded like a distant train was coming, but then the vibrations started. Somewhat gentle at first, but that quickly changed.

"Hey! What's shaking up there Joe?" Don yelled through the intercom.

"I don't know Don! It could be more effects from the fallout!"

Before Don could reply to that, the shaking suddenly increased tenfold. In fact, it felt like the entire train was about to fly to pieces! Then it got really scary. The best way to describe what happened next is almost like the train was trying to chug along, but it was being chased by a small child who kept periodically grabbing at the train, causing it to lurch violently. This kept up, getting stronger and stronger, and then came the breaking point. The train lurched to the left, and I heard the sound of metal grinding against metal. It didn't take a genius to tell us what that meant.

"GWAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!" Joe screamed. "DON, WE'RE COMING OFF THE RAILS!!!!!!! AAAAHHHH.....!!!!!!" Then silence. Moments after the engine fell silent, I felt the entire bunk car get flung into the air, before slamming back down again. Everything inside not tied down seemingly got flung forwards as well, including myself. I was slammed head-first into the front wall of the SCC, and I blacked out.

An unknown amount of time later, I suddenly felt something wet on my face, as well as heard what appeared to be frantic whining. When I was able to open my eyes again, I looked up and I saw Aurora licking my face, as well as barking.

"Oh, Aurora, it's you Girl! Thank God you're ok!"

"Yeah, I'm fine!" She barked.

I then made the move to get back to my feet. I did so, and after shaking everything, I came to the conclusion that aside from a minor headache, and some odd burning pain on my back just below my shoulder blades, I was ok. It was then that I noticed something else; we were still moving!

"Wait, what?! The train is still moving, but how?! I thought that we crashed and derailed!"

I then glanced around the SCC. I expected to see a twisted mass of wreckage, but instead, all I saw was a completely intact and undamaged command center, Aurora standing next to me, and Alex and Todd lying on the floor! Both were starting to regain consciousness.

"Ok, so they seem to be ok, now then, let's see what's going on with the engine." I picked up the radio. "SCC to Big Boy, SCC to Big Boy, come in please."

No answer.

"Big Boy, this is Captain Leopard in the Secondary Command Center. Please respond, over!"

Still no answer.

"Joe, it's Leopard. Are you ok?!"

Still nothing.

I radioed back to Don. "Don, this is Captain Leopard in the SCC. Please respond, over!"

No answer.

"DELCI?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes Sir?"

"Well at least somebody is still functional! Ok DELCI, I need you to access the cameras, and I also need systems checks. Find out what happened to everyone, and why nobody will answer. You got that?"

"Yes Sir!"

While DELCI was busy with that, I began to help revive Todd and Alex. Finally, they both sat up.

"Ugh, oh man....what? What happened?"

"Take it easy Alex. You slammed your head pretty hard against the digital map. Are you ok?"

"Ugh, well, aside from a headache, I think I'm ok."

"Yeah, I'm good too. Also, where are we? Did we win?"

I shook my head. "I'm afraid not Todd. We failed. Vegas was nothing more than a massive trap. The Futas waited for us to show up, and then they nuked all of our asses straight to Hell. I don't know where we are right now though. Safely out of the radius of the fallout, I hope."

It was then that DELCI finished her assessments. "Ok Sir, here's the scoop. All systems appear to be online, and are fully functioning. Also, the reason that nobody answered your messages is because I believe that they're all unconscious."

"What? Unconscious? How?"

"Well, most likely like you Sir, they all hit their heads when we got tossed about."

I nodded. "Ok, well that's good to know.......wait. If everyone's unconscious, then that means.........THERE'S NOBODY MANNING THE ENGINE!!!!!"

Alex and Todd both looked at me with fear.

"What?! You mean that it's going with no driver?!"

"Yeah! Well, not a conscious driver anyway!"

I began to race for the door to the SCC.

"Wait, Leopard, where are you going?"

I looked back at Todd. "I have to get up there and stop the train! Who knows where we are!"

Just as I made it outside of the SCC, I suddenly heard a voice over the intercom. "Hello, Hello! This is Major Don! Does anyone copy?!"

Todd grabbed the radio. "Major Don, this is 2nd Brakeman Todd Davis in the SCC! I'm here with Alex and Leopard. We're all ok."

"Whew! Well, that's a relief! The rest of the train's been hit-and-miss; some answer, and some don't. Which is really concerning me, because I can't get in contact with the engine!"

"Well, that's what Leopard's concerned about too. He's about to go up there now and stop the train!"

"Roger that, and tell him to hurry!"

I heard that message loud and clear, and after telling Todd, Alex, and Aurora to stay put, I quickly made my way up to the engine.

Once I was out of the SCC, I then made my way to the front of our bunk car, where I climbed up a ladder to the ceiling, and opened up the roof hatch. When I stuck my head up, I realized that we were moving along at a fair rate of speed. For some odd reason though, it still seemed to be nighttime; about 4-5am if my star-checking skills were accurate.

"Huh, that's really weird. Our attack started at sunrise, but if my eyes do not deceive me, the sun hasn't even risen yet!"

I decided to ignore this for now, and keep moving forwards. After fully climbing up onto the roof, I then made the jump onto the second car full of 200 tons of extra coal for the engine. After quickly running along the coal, I repeated the jump, only this time to the first coal car. As I was making my way across to the last car between me and the engine, the 100,000 gallon tanker car, I took another look at my surroundings. We seemed to be rolling along on tracks that had grass, and trees on both sides.

"Ok, now this is really starting to get weird. We were in the deserts of Nevada; why are there grass and trees here?!"

Once again, I had to put this thinking on hold, as I had to stop the train. I then jumped from the first coal car to the large water tank car that held extra water for the engine. After walking along the top, I climbed down the ladder at the front, where I then made the jump to the ladder on the back of the engine's tender.

"Ok, almost there!"

I climbed up the back of the tender, over the large water tank, through more coal, until I was finally in the cab. I then radioed Don.

"Don, this is Captain Leopard. I've reached the engine's cab."

"Roger that Leopard. What do you see up there?"

"Well, I see Joe, Frank, Carl, and their two guards. All of them are alive, but unconscious. I'm now stopping the train. Hold on."

I then took the controls, and after shutting off steam, I gently applied the brakes. After another minute or so, with a massive whooshing of steam, and a shower of sparks, the massive Battleship Express came to a stop just outside of the forested train track where she had just come from.

I then climbed out of the cab. "Ok, Don, the train's stopped. And if it wouldn't be too much of a bother, I would like both Alex and Todd to come up to the cab, and for medical personnel to come and take care of the Primary crew."

"Stand by, we're all coming up there!"

Don then put down the radio, and I suddenly became aware of the sounds of doors opening, and a few moments later, several individuals came running towards the engine. Among them were Don, Alex, Todd, and two medical staff.

When Don reached me, he looked mad enough to kill. "You! Cab! NOW!!!!"

I then climbed back up, as did Alex and Todd. Primary crew had been removed from the engine, and were being taken to the medical coach for treatment.

Once Don climbed up into the cab too, he turned to me. "Leopard. I'm so, so angry with you right now, I don't even know where to start! You launched an UNAUTHORIZED nuclear strike on Vegas! You may not have been the one who nuked all of southern Nevada, but you still broke regulations!"

"B-b-but, they killed Jim, and....."

"JIM IS FINE!!!!! He was just cut up and bruised a bit! He's going to be fine!"

All while he was listening to Don grilling me about my actions in Vegas, something suddenly caught Todd's eye.

"Huh? What's that?" He went over to the cab window on the left side, and peered out. "Uh oh!"

He then turned to Don. "Um, Major?"

"Not now!" He kept grilling me.

"Major!"

"I said not now Todd!"

"What is it Todd?" Alex went over to see what was going on. He looked out of the window too.

"........And I've just about had it with you!" Don was saying as he began to climb up on top of the tender to get back to his section of the train, "And if I EVER...."

"MAJOR!!!!!" Alex screamed.

"Ugh, WHAT?!?!" He screamed back at Alex.

"LOOK!!!!!" He pointed to something out ahead of the train.

Don looked, and I went to the window on the right side of the cab and looked too. Sure enough, what we both saw made our hearts stop. From out in the darkness ahead of us, only partially illuminated by our train's headlight, came a crowd of what looked like people. However, they then started running towards the engine, screaming all the way!

"ACK! DON, WHAT DO WE DO?!?!"

"LEOPARD, GET US THE BLAZES OUT OF HERE!!!!!"

I didn't have to be told twice. I seized the controls, and after throwing the directional lever into the reverse position, I quickly opened up the throttle, and with a loud chug, the Battleship Express began to move away from those who were chasing it, and was starting to pick up speed.

"THE FUTAS ARE STILL AFTER US!!!!" Todd yelled.

"Yeah, no shit Sherlock!" I yelled back.

Then from the intercoms, DELCI suddenly spoke up. "Hey! We need to get this train turned around! She wasn't build to run fast in reverse, and with a full train, any mistakes could prove catastrophic!"

"Well, then find us the nearest railyard or junction!" Don yelled.

"I'm trying Sir, but something's wrong! I can't access the internet anymore!"

"What?! What do you mean that you can't access the internet?!"

"Just what I said Sir, I can't! And when I tried to use the local controls for the map systems, everything's all wrong! I've never seen terrain like this before! There should be deserts and hills, but all I can see are fields and forests!"

"WHAT?!?!" We all yelled. "DELCI, That's impossible!"

"I thought so too Sir, but I checked, and double checked, and that's what our surroundings are! However, I was able to locate a junction that'll get us turned around! It's about a mile behind us, and we're closing the gap fast!"

"Well, that's something at least. Just keep us posted DELCI!"

"Roger that Sir!"

We all then continued to focus on the task at hand.

Meanwhile, from another perspective, things were a whole lot different. Just outside of the town of Ponyville, it was almost time for Celestia to raise the sun. The skies were clear, and from where they were, the Ponies of Ponyville thought that things would be ok, even with the war going on. However, at 5:25am, something very unusual happened. From what sounded like the outskirts of town, close to the Everfree Forest, there came a great chugging sound, like that of a massive steam engine.

"Huh?” Ponies wondered. "What's that noise? It's too early for any trains right now!"

High above Ponyville, Rainbow Dash was trying to sleep in her cloud-house. However, first the chugging, and then a violent screeching sound, almost like the applying of train brakes, woke her up.

"Huh? What in Celestia's name was that?!" She got up from her bed. "Damn, can't a Pony get some sleep around here?!" She then pulled on a tank-top and some sweatpants (she almost always slept nude), and went to investigate the source of the noises.

When she put her two hooves on the ground, she looked around her. Dash then spotted a crowd of ponies starting to gather at the edge of town, Pinkie Pie and Applejack among them.

Rainbow went over to them. "Hey guys, do you have any idea what's going on? I heard a heck of a lot of noise, and it woke me up!" She rubbed her face with her hands, and pushed her rainbow-colored mane out of her eyes.

"Um, if Ah had to guess, Ah'd say that the noise all came from that big feller right there!" Applejack pointed to something.

When Dash saw what it was, she gasped in shock. There, sitting on the tracks just outside of Ponyville, silhouetted against the dark sky, was the biggest, blackest steam engine that Dash had ever seen! It was a huge behemoth, all black with a gray smoke-box, and was sending up a massive column of smoke from its smokestacks. The engine was just sitting there, letting off smoke, and hissing steam. From where she was standing, Rainbow couldn't see if the train was pulling any cars or not.

"What.....In Celestia's name....IS THAT THING?!?!"

"Well, it looks like a train Sugarcube, and a Goliath one at that!"

"Well, whoever they are, they need to leave!" Dash got ready to charge forwards.

"WAIT DASHIE!!!! How do we know that they aren't the Caribou, or the Zebras?! That could be their new hugest weapon to DESTROY US ALL!!!"

Pinkie's words however did little more than incite the crowd. With a fierce battle cry, they all charged towards the train. Suddenly, with a loud screech and chugging sounds, the train began to move backwards, rapidly picking up speed.

Applejack suddenly turned to Pinkie. "Sugarcube, you need to go get Twilight right now! She needs to know about this! Tell her that the enemy may be here in Ponyville, and that they seem to have a massive locomotive with them!"

Pinkie nodded, and ran to the Golden Oak library as fast as her two legs could carry her.

Meanwhile, back on board the Battleship Express, we were still fully convinced that we were being chased by the Futas. Eventually, we reached that junction that DELCI was talking about.

"Leopard, get us turned around right now!!!"

"Yes Sir!"

I then stopped the train, somebody jumped out and flipped a manual switch. Then I pulled the train forwards onto the track, he flipped the switch back, then flipped another, I moved the train over it, he flipped another..........and so on and so forth, until we'd finally done a full 180. I then grabbed the direction lever with both hands, and threw it into the forward position, before fully opening the throttle. With a screech, and some minor wheel slipping, the Battleship Express was once again moving forwards, and picking up speed.

"We have to keep moving! We have to link back up with other units!" Don then radioed back to the rest of the crew. "All hands, General Quarters, I repeat, all hands, General Quarters! We have the enemy behind us, so get all weapons online right now!"

"Yes Sir!"

They all then got to work on that.

Meanwhile behind us, the Ponies all witnessed our little 180, and as the train turned around, they saw it all in its entirety. From what they could all see, the engine was indeed pulling cars, and the train seemed to be at least half the length of Ponyville itself! It was also fast, faster than they could have even imagined was possible.

"Don't worry everypony!" Dash told them. "There's no WAY that an engine that size, and most likely pulling that much weight, could even go very fast!"

After Dash stood corrected, and the train went faster than Ponies could run, she called for backup. "Ok, time to call in the big guns!" She grabbed her handheld radio. "RD to Wonderbolt HQ, do you copy?"

A sleepy voice replied, "Yeah Dash, this is Wonderbolt HQ. What do you need?"

"Soarin, We've got a rouge train running the loop around Ponyville. We believe that it's controlled by either the Caribou or the Zebras, and we need to stop it now!"

"Well then, just out-fly it, get on board, and stop it!"

"That's the thing though, we need backup for this one!" Dash then gave the description that she had seen of the train.

When Soarin asked for confirmation, Fleetfoot went out, and when she came back, she reported that the train was indeed there, that is was indeed huge, and that it was indeed fast.

"That thing had to have been doing 50-60mph, at least! They're really booking it!"

Soarin then got in contact with General Shining Armor, who was in Ponyville at the time to help oversee fortifications, and alerted him to the situation.

"WHAT?!?! That?! In Ponyville?! Right! I'm on my way with reinforcements now! Just catch up to that beast, and do whatever you have to do to stop it! We'll take care of the rest!"

"Roger that General!"

With that, Soarin, Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and the rest of the Wonderbolts all took flight, and raced to Dash's aide as fast as they could.

When they arrived, they found one of the Friendship Express trains following behind the "Leviathan", as Dash called it. Instead of coaches though, this engine was pulling several flatbed cars. They all then landed on the cars.

"Ok Dash, so what's the scoop?"

Dash retold her story, and explained the whole situation. "....So that's where we currently stand. We have to stop that train, and kill any on board!"

"Yeah, and I think that we should also see about capturing this beast.” Spitfire added. "It would definitely be worth handing over to the War Department for study, especially if this train is indeed a prototype!"

Dash nodded at her teammate. "Yeah, I guess that that would work. Now then, let's get up there and see what's what!"

With that, they all took off, and flew as fast as they could to catch up to the train, which was about 30 yards or so ahead of them.

In the gray light of the dawn, they were all in awe at the train's massive size.

"Gosh", Fleetfoot whistled, "Look at the SIZE of that thing! It's f@#king huge!"

"Yeah, no kidding!" Dash agreed. "Whoever designed this beast obviously did so to show off how strong they were!"

Spitfire evaluated everything. "We need to split up. We need a group to head to the engine, more groups to distract the soldiers on the train, and one more group to see about boarding that odd-looking caboose at the back!"

It was decided that Dash, Soarin, and a handful of others would head for the engine, Fleetfoot, Misty, High Winds, and others would distract the soldiers, and Spitfire would lead the last group to try and take the train from the rear.

"Ok, here we go!"

They all then made their runs for the train.

"Sir! Our radar techs are reporting bogeys on our 6 o'clock!"

"What are they?"

"Well Sir, it appears to be a small train, and, wait....what?"

Don looked worried. "What is it Corporal?"

"They seem to be Humanoid figures, but they're flying, and without the aide of technology!"

"WHAT?!?! Your instruments are screwed up Corporal!"

"That's the thing Sir, they're not! I'm looking out of the window right now, and I can see them! They look like Humans, but they're flying!"

"Well, not for much longer." He changed frequencies. "Are all AA weapons and machine guns online?"

"Affirmative Sir!" Came the reply.

"Well then, let them have it!"

"Yes Sir!"

Back in the air, Dash's team flew along the top of the train, and waited for the other teams to draw fire. As they did, Soarin spoke up.

"I don't know what it is Dash, but I don't think that this train belongs to either the Caribou or the Zebras."

"How do you figure?"

"Well, for starters, this seems to be a war-train. Our enemies have never used one before. Secondly, I keep getting static on my radio, meaning that that train must have radio as well. Remember? Our enemies don't have radio, they just use holographic messages."

Dash was maybe about to reply, but then sudden bursts of fire came from the train.

"WHOA!!!!! ALL WONDERBOLTS, TAKE EVASIVE ACTION NOW!!!"

From various points along the train came bursts of fire from what appeared to be guns. The Wonderbolts all had to keep flying in crazy patterns to keep from getting hit!

"Major, whatever those things are, they're so small and fast that they keep evading our guns!"

"What?!"

"Yes! Whatever those things are, they're not natural! Even with the motion detectors on, they're still managing to evade the guns!"

Don thought for a moment. "We need to lose them! Leopard!"

"Yes Sir?"

"Put the throttle to maximum! We have to put more distance between us and them!"

"Yes Sir!"

"Alex Barkley?"

"Yes Sir?"

"We need more coal! The auger isn't bringing it into the firebox fast enough. Shovel more on!"

"Yes Sir!"

Sure enough, the train's speed continued to pick up. From 55, it was now to 60, and still climbing.

"More speed, that's all we need; just more speed!"

"Hey! That train's picking up speed again! Soarin, Dash, get to the engine now! We have to stop it before it derails, or worse, makes it back to Ponyville!"

"You got it Spitfire!"

They and their team began to fly faster. They flew over the caboose, then some kind of boxcar, more boxcars, an observation coach, 6 huge guns arranged by three's in two turrets, more coaches and boxcars, 2 huge guns that took up the entire length of a car, more cars with guns on them, more coaches, what appeared to be bunk cars, more weapons cars, one final bunk car, then two coal cars, and a large tank car. Finally they reached the engine.

"Gosh, how many cars do they need on this thing?! That's how many, 32?!"

"No kidding!" Soarin agreed, "And almost of of them had weapons on them! Whoever controls this train, they're all armed positively to the teeth, and ain't fooling around!"

From the back of the train, Spitfire reported her team trying to board the train in several spots, only to be beaten back by,

"These strange looking creatures. They look like us, but they don't have any fur! They do however have gray, dog-like ears and tails, and are wearing military uniforms. They kept calling us 'Futas', and told us to, 'Get the f@#k off our train!'"

"But they didn't look like Caribou or Zebras?"

"No, not at all!"

"Well, just keep trying back there, we're still going to take the engine. Also, we may have a name for this train."

"What do you mean Soarin?"

"Well, on the back of the massive coal tender, the words, 'Union Pacific', are visible. Also, the engine's number is '4009'."

"Um, neither of those ring any bells. So if this train isn't ours, and it ain't the enemy's, then who's f@#king train is it?!"

"I dunno, but whoever they are, they're sure pissed off!"

"Well no shit Ponelock! Just get to the engine, and stop this beast!"

"Roger that Spitfire!"

Closer and closer Soarin and Dash crept to the engine. From the back, they could see a strange creature standing on the front of the tender, and inside the cab, two more creatures stood at the controls on the engine's backhead. A fourth figure was also visible, and he was holding a coal shovel.

"Ok Dash, here's the plan. On my signal, I rush the two at the controls, you take care of the one on the tender."

"Sure, but what about the one with the shovel?"

Soarin smirked. "We'll take him together."

Dash nodded. "Ok, awaiting your signal."

"Don, no offense, but you really need to take cover! You can't just keep standing exposed like that. You need to get to cover!"

Don nodded. "Sure. I'll get out of here fast. Just alert me once we've lost those fiends!" Then, to our utter astonishment, Don then pulled some serious acrobatic skills, and in just a few quick moves, was over the tender, tank car, and the two coal cars, before leaping back onto the main part of the train!

"HOLY......!!!!! HOW THE HELL DID HE DO THAT?!?!?!"

Todd and I could only shrug. It was then though that we were attacked. From behind the tender, one of them suddenly tried to enter the cab!

Alex smacked the creature in the face with his shovel. "GET OUTTA MY CAB YOU FUTA FILTH!!!!!"

Unfortunately, that only served as a trigger. Moments after this, our train got swarmed. They were all over the engine in seconds. At least 5 or 6 jumpsuited figures with goggles attempted to board the train. Alex, Todd, and I tried to beat them off with tools, (we forgot our guns in the SCC!) but they kept coming back.

"AUGH!!!!"

"They're breaching the cab!!!"

Unfortunately, our problems were about to get a whole lot worse. Our train was moving so fast, and we were under so much pressure that we failed to notice the boiler pressure indicators. They were in the red zone. Too much more, and the whole boiler would explode, again!

When Don pulled off his incredible acrobat stunt, all of the Wonderbolts stared at him in shock.

"Holy.....How the hell did he just do that?!" Dash was dumbfounded.

Soarin was equally unnerved, as was everypony else. "I don't know, but that just leaves 3 guys. On my signal.....NOW!!!"

Soarin then charged in, only to get bashed in the face with a shovel.

"GET OUTTA MY CAB YOU FUTA FILTH!!!!" Someone screamed.

Now Dash was angry. "Ok, NOPONY does that to my friend! All Wonderbolts, ATTACK!!!!"

With that, Dash and her team, including Soarin, (who wanted revenge for getting hit with a shovel!) stormed the engine, Spitfire and Co. stormed the back 3 cars, while the rest of the teams took the middle of the train. The result was an absolute free-for-all.

Punches were exchanged, kicks were kicked, clubs were wielded, Ponies grappled with train crew, train crew tried to push them off, it was pretty bad.

It was the worst in the cab. Everything was either extremely hot, or made out of metal. Controls got hit, all of us got burned at some point, and nopony noticed a sign up ahead. "Ponyville: 5 miles."

When I felt someone grab me, I immediately turned around, and got them in a headlock. "Oh no you don't Missy!"

As I fought with my opponent, I saw Alex in a fight with the one he hit with a shovel, and Todd was using his helmet as a club to beat off those who attacked him, in addition to kicking them. We all also found it odd that our opponents seemed to be both male and female, and that they had fur, and even tails just like we did. Eventually though, it was just down to the one with white fur and blue hair attacking Alex, a female with tanish-yellow fur and bluish-white hair tussling with Todd, and the one with blue fur that I was fighting with.

I then got a better look at my opponent. "Wait.....cyan-blue fur, and rainbow hair, and a rainbow tail?! RAINBOW DASH?!"

My opponent looked down at me. "Huh?! How do you know my.......?!?!?!"

Then, it happened. Remember how I said that the boiler was about to possibly blow up? Well, Todd was the first to notice that the gauges were pushed past the red lines, and that the safety valve was whistling.

"GUYS, THE PRESSURE!!!!!!! IT'S TOO MUCH!!!!!!"

"What do you mean?!" I yelled to him, "This fight?!"

"NO, THE BOILER!!!!!!!! THE GAUGES ARE GOING THROUGH THE ROOF!!!!!"

That was all it took. In less than the blink of an eye, I managed to get up from the cab floor, and open the emergency pressure release valves. Alex did the same on his side, and with the boiler still hissing steam at an alarming rate, we both threw open the valves to dampen down the fire, pulled back the lever to shut off the coal auger, (the whole time I was doing this, Dash was actually practically piggy-backing me! She had one incredible grip!) and then I shut off steam and slammed on the brakes!

With a scream, and a shower of sparks, the entire train began to first slow down, and then just outside of Ponyville Station, came to a complete stop. Then, due to the extreme stress, fatigue, and being surrounded by steam, all of us in the cab blacked out.

Here's where more things get interesting. After the train came to a complete stop, the sun came up over Equestria. Now everything was revealed in the light of day. From all over the train, various crew members came forwards, ready to do battle with the enemy that they hated more than anything else in the world. However, when they did, they were in for the shock of their lives.

There were no Futas to be seen anywhere. Instead, they were greeted by these strange, bipedal, equine-like creatures, of all colors of the rainbow, and only a few of them seemed to be holding any weapons! The ones who had attacked their train were wearing blue and yellow jumpsuits with goggles.

"All of y'all! Drop yer weapons, and get away from that train, now!" A mare with orange fur, a blonde mane and tail, jeans, a white shirt, and a stetson hat, also holding a shotgun demanded.

Instead of surrendering, the strange creatures drew their own weapons. "Not likely Missy! Now drop that shotgun!"

"Um, Applejack, these creatures don't look like Caribou or Zebras. In fact, they don't look like any creatures native to Equus at all!"

A mare with purple fur, with a purple mane and tail, wearing what appeared to be a school-uniform, stepped forwards.

"Um, hello? Do any of you speak Equish?"

"Um, no? We all speak English."

"Oh, ok, that's interesting. Well, we're getting somewhere at least. Next, are you loyal to either the Caribou Empire, or the Zebra Empire?"

"The who-which now? No, we're loyal to the United States of America!"

"And which one of y'all's in charge?"

"That would be me, Ma'am." From the middle of the train, another creature stepped forwards. He looked youngish, with brown hair, and a blue and gray uniform.

"And who are you?" Applejack challenged. "In fact, come to think of it, who are all of y'all? Where did y'all come from, and what is up with your train?!"

The creature smiled. "My name is Curry. Major Don Curry, at your service." He bowed a bit. "And for the rest of it, you might want to grab a seat, because this'll be a little bit of a long story.

Once his audience was ready, Don began his story. "Ok, well, like I said, my name is Major Don Curry. I'm a Major with the Armed Forces of the United States of America. Our train here is the Battleship Express, and it's the flagship train of the Railway Warfare Division. We all come from the country of America, on the planet Earth. As to why we're here, well...." Don then went on to explain about WW6, the Second Cold War, and our campaign to take back America. Even all about our disastrous battle in Las Vegas.

"....And so that's pretty much it. It's just been the 216 of us, the rest of Battalion 4009, and of course our train for the past hour or so. Now then Ma'am, I've told you about us, now would you please be so kind as to tell us about you?"

The mare nodded. "Certainly! I'm Twilight Sparkle, and currently, you're all in the town of Ponyville, which is located towards the center of the land of Equestria, the homeland of the Ponies! Also, this is Applejack", She motioned to the mare next to her holding the shotgun, "And Rainbow Dash was around here somewhere. But um, well, for now, I guess that I should probably inform the Princesses of your arrival."

Twilight then turned to her assistant. "Spike, take a letter."

Once Spike was ready, Twilight began her letter.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

About an hour ago, from out of the Everfree Forest, a massive train appeared. This train is apparently called the 'Battleship Express', by the creatures who crew it. Apparently, they are 'Humans', from the country of 'America', on the planet 'Earth'. The Battleship Express is a massive 32 car war-train pulled by the biggest, black leviathan of an engine. According to the leader of the train's crew, Major Don Curry, the engine is called a 'Union Pacific Big Boy Locomotive', numbered '4009'. The engine itself is a huge advancement in technology, unlike anything I've ever seen before. It is 136 feet long, has a 4-8-8-4 wheel configuration, weighs 1.2 million pounds empty, is capable of speeds of up to 80mph, and can pull huge loads of freight up steep mountain grades almost effortlessly! The train itself also has guns, and other weapons and technology that are further advanced than either ourselves or our enemies have, but yet are surprisingly simplistic.

I'm sure that you, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadence would be very interested in meeting these new arrivals. Their entire train is currently at Ponyville station. Please come in haste.

You're Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle"

Once Spike was done with the letter, he blew his magic fire on it, and the letter was on its way to Canterlot.

Meanwhile, in Canterlot, the three princesses were discussing the strange reports of a massive engine and train that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

"Could this be some type of new weapon by the Imperial Alliance?" Luna asked.

"I don't think so", Cadence answered. "From what Shiny was able to tell me, the train didn't match anything in our enemy's arsenal. In fact, he said that it didn't seem to be from Equestria at all!"

"WHAT?!?!"

Before they could all debate on this any further though, Twilight's letter arrived.

"My word!" Celestia exclaimed when she read the letter.

"What is it Sister?" Luna asked.

"We need to go to Ponyville, immediately!"

"What? Why?"

"Well, remember how we all said that we needed a miracle to defeat the Imperial Alliance?"

"Yes, why?"

"Well, our miracle is sitting at Ponyville Station right now! And our miracle's name, is the Battleship Express!"

Author's Note

Whew! Well, that was another long chapter, wasn't it? So, now the Battleship Express is in Equestria, and it seems like its crew have gotten to meet the locals! What happened to Leopard, Alex, Todd, Soarin, Rainbow Dash, and the others in the cab? Are they alright? Is the Battleship Express the miracle that the princesses have been praying for? Will later interactions go any smoother than the first time around? How will the princesses react when they see the train? Or General Shining Armor and his soldiers for that matter? Most importantly though, what will the Caribou and the Zebras think of the train? Well, the only way to find out, is to keep reading!

Also, I apologize if the story got a little hard to follow towards the end. I had to keep flipping back and forth between two fields of action, and when the Ponies and train crew met for the first time, the flip was every other sentence! In the end, I did get all of the kinks hammered out, (I think) so I hope that you all enjoyed it!

As always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all again in Chapter 5!

ScarFox out for now, ALL ABOARD!!!!

Chapter 5: Local Talks, Lay of the Land

While the princesses were still making their way to Ponyville, Twilight decided to talk to Don a little bit more. She walked over to the bench on the station platform where he was sitting.

"Um, Major Curry?"

"Yes? Oh, and you can just call me 'Major', or 'Don'."

"Oh, well then, Major, I have to ask you. A little bit earlier, you said that you, and your crew were fighting 'World War 6'. Would.........would you elaborate a bit more on that? I mean, what were the other world wars like?"

Don sighed. "Hell. Absolute Hell. WW1 was fought from 1914-1918. It was fought between the Allies, and the Central Powers for control of Europe. The Allies won, and punished the Central Powers. It was called 'The War to End all Wars', but alas, this was not the case. The losers in the war, Germany, decided to try and take over Europe again, while at the same time, the Japanese tried to create a Pacific Empire. Once again, the Allies opposed them. From 1939-1945, The war raged. Millions upon millions died, but in the end, the Germans and the Japanese were crushed, as were their corrupt ideologies, and they got to work on rebuilding their nations.

After this though, things take a turn for the worst. After a massive jump, in the year 2018, a mentally deranged government leader, Felicia Day, declared that the world was hers, and for 'Women only!' Long story short, her 'Matriarchal World Empire' lasted until 2020, when the Matriarchal World Empire was toppled. After this though, things got even worse. America, who was one of the good guys, was about to become front and center to much, much worse tragedies......"

Don then went on to explain the rise, decline, fall, and then total annihilation of the One Race Empire, the horrors of WW4 and WW5, and the rise of the Futas. Here, Twilight stopped him again.

"Wait, the 'Futas'? I remember your crew talking about them. In fact, when the Wonderbolts attempted to board your train, your crew called them 'Futa filth'. Who, or what, are the Futas?"

Don scowled angrily. "Abominations from the bowels of Hell! That's what they are! They look like ordinary human women, but they also have, well, male genitalia. They are the result of a mentally-scarred scientist's sick fetish. Over time, their numbers kept growing. Eventually, under the leadership of Queen Boudica, they established the Futa Empire. However, Queen Boudica, who had been ill for a number of years, quietly passed away, leaving her daughter Demetria the throne. And as strange as it may seem, Demetria was NOT the cause of WW6, but it was instead her youngest daughter, Stacy. All of Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and most of the United States fell under their domination. From her palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, Demetria ruled what some believed was the most powerful fighting force in the world."

Don then explained WW6, the Second Cold War, how and why the Battleship Express came to be, and the campaign to retake America, as well as what the Futas were all about.

".........And that's why we fought! They sought to enslave us, and we told them no. They kept pressing, and we said, 'Alright, prepare to hurt!' They laughed, we kept our promise, and little by little, we retook our nation...up until just yesterday. We reached the Futa Capital in Las Vegas, only to fall under a nuclear attack. Long story short, we retreated, got sucked through to here, got attacked by you all, realized that you guys were not our enemies, and now we reach the present moment."

When Don finished his explanation, Twilight stared at him in absolute horror. For most of his discussions of the wars, his face had little to no expression.

"It's like, they're so.....desensitized to war, that even war on a global scale is just another day at the office to them!" She thought.

To Don, she said, "I.....don't even know what to say Major. Just.....I'm sorry. So, so sorry for everything that you and your people were put through at the hands of those......those.....devilish fiends!"

She started to cry a bit, and Don got up to comfort her. "It's ok, Miss Sparkle. It wasn't your fault. We just, did what we had to do."

"H-how old are you Major? If you don't mind my asking. Oh, and you can just call me Twilight."

"I'm 25, almost 26 years old, Twilight. And for the record, the oldest person on the train is 60 year old Chief Engineer Jim Bender, the youngest is 19 year old computer tech Alex Dustin, and almost everybody else is in their early to mid 20's."

"You're all, so, so young!"

"Yeah, I know. But, somebody has to do the dirty work involved with keeping America safe, and we were the only ones left who could, so if we didn't do it, who would?"

Twilight thought about that. "Well, nobody, I guess."

Don nodded. "So true. So painfully true."

He and Twilight hugged for a little while longer.

Once they were done, Twilight decided to lighten the mood a little bit. "Um, Major?"

"Yes?"

"Could you maybe tell me a little bit more about your train? Particularly the engine?"

Don shrugged. "I could, but I think that there are people more qualified than me to talk about it. Normally, I would direct you to Jim, since he is the Chief Engineer, but he was wounded during the Battle of Vegas, and is still out of commission. With him still recovering, I'll direct you to my 3rd in command, Captain Leopard. He's the train's 2nd Engineer, or rather, the 2nd of 3 train drivers."

"Captain....Leopard? Is that his real name? And where is he?"

"Actually, I don't know what his real name is. He used to be called 'Scar', but his name was changed to 'Leopard' sometime before WW6 started, and he's stuck with it. And, he should be....." It was then that Don remembered that Alex, Todd, and I had been in the cab. "Oh gosh, I hope that they're ok! They were in the cab when this little adventure ended with us back in Ponyville!"

Don and Twilight then ran towards the engine. When they arrived close to the cab, they saw Alex and Todd, as well as Soarin, Misty, and two or three other wonderbolts. Alex was sitting on the cab's ladder, Todd was sitting on a crate on the ground, as were the Wonderbolts. All of them seemed to be talking.

"Hey Alex?"

"Yes Major?"

"Where's Leopard?"

Alex jerked a thumb towards the front of the engine. "He's up front, sitting on top of the pillbox. He still seems to be in shock, and the mare with the rainbow-colored mane was trying to talk to him."

"Rainbow Dash." Twilight said slowly.

Don nodded."Ok, thanks Alex."

"No problem Major."

Don then walked to the front of the train, followed closely by Twilight.

When they arrived there a minute or so later, Twilight was surprised to see Rainbow sitting next to an oddly dressed figure. He was sitting on top of a concrete box with slits in it at the front of the engine, on a platform just above the front cowcatcher, (or was we called it, the "Plow-Catcher") He was wearing a dark blue tunic, darker blue sort of overalls, gray armor on his shoulders, knees, elbows, shins, and chest, and was wearing a gray helmet with goggled on it. Twilight could also see that the figure also had a long grey tail, gray wolf-like ears, and dark brown hair.

"So why won't you talk to me?" Dash was asking him.

"Because, I don't really talk much."

"Hey, I said that I was sorry for attacking you. We can be friends, right?"

No answer from the figure.

"You're really mean!"

The figure then turned to face Dash, and both Don and Twilight saw that he was wearing a white and red fox mask. "I'm not mean, I'm just a Tsundere."

Before Dash could ask what that meant, Don spoke up. "Hey, Leopard?"

The figured turned to look at him. "Yes Major?"

“First of all, I thought that you got rid of that Kitsune mask. Second of all, we need to gather everyone together. In a few minutes, the princesses of this land will be coming to see us."

I was shocked. "What?! Princesses?!"

"Yes, so please get down from there, and help me gather everyone for a meeting."

I saluted. "Right away Sir!"

I then leapt down from the pillbox, and suddenly felt a severe pain in my back. It was the same pain that I'd felt since I'd woken up in the SCC after getting knocked unconscious. "Ouch, my back!"

Don looked at me. "Wait, you mean that you have back pains too? Does it feel like you have an extra pair of limbs back there?"

"Yes, why?"

Don removed his jacket, then his shirt underneath. When he did that, two large, gray, feathery wings popped out!

"Ouch! Gosh! Oh man that feels so much better!" I just stared at him in shock. He then noticed me staring at him with my jaw on the ground. "Um, Leopard, why are you staring at me like that?"

I pointed. "Don, look at your back."

"What? What's on my......GWAHHHH!!!! I HAVE WINGS?!?!?!"

On a hunch, I unstrapped my sort-of overalls, took off my tunic, and my shirt underneath. Sure enough, I had wings too! Two large, gray feathery wings, just like those of a Bald Eagle.

"GAHHH!!!! I HAVE WINGS TOO!!!!"

It was also at around this time that everyone else on the train began to discover that they had anomalous features as well. Some, like Alex, had a tan horn on the front of their head. Others, like Don and I, had wings. Still others suddenly found themselves with increased physical strength, and endurance. They screamed, I screamed, Don screamed, we all screamed!

"How is this even possible?!"

Twilight shrugged. "I don't know, but it is fascinating! Maybe it happened when you arrived in Equestria perhaps?"

Don then took his combat knife, and cut holes in his shirt, tunic, and jacket for his wings, before quickly putting them back on. Others cut holes in their shirts, tunics, jackets, and other such torso-coverings for their wings, and holes in the fronts of their helmets for horns.

I was about to do likewise, but before I could, a golden carriage suddenly pulled up to the station! Through my mask's eye-holes, I saw that the carriage was pulled by four of what I guessed were Royal Guards, given their golden helmets and armor. They also had blue manes and tails, and white fur, and I knew that they had to be Pegasai, since they had wings. From the carriage itself stepped what I guessed were the Princesses. I gasped in awe when I saw them. One had white fur and a tri-colored mane, another had blue fur with a blue mane, and the third had pink fur, and a pink, purple, and yellow mane and tail. I also noticed that they had both horns, and wings.

When Twilight saw the princesses, she went over to them, as did Don.

"Princess Celestia! Princess Luna, Princess Cadence!"

"Hello, my Faithful Student." She then looked over and saw Don. "Oh, and who might you be?"

Don Saluted. "I am Major Don Curry, of the Railway Warfare Division, of the United States, at your service. " He then bowed before her out of respect.

"A military officer, and an extremely polite one at that! You may rise, Major. I am Princess Celestia, Princess of the sun, and one of the 2 Diarchs of Equestria. This is my sister, Princess Luna, Princess of the moon, and the other Diarch, and this is my niece, Cadence, Princess of Love, and the ruler of the Crystal Empire."

"Well, it's an honor to meet you, Princesses. Behind me is my third in command, Captain Leopard. Please do not look at him, as he is not dressed appropriately, and he is also not used to having wings!"

When Don said that, I immediately realized that from the waist up, I was bare! Completely embarrassed, I then quickly wrapped my wings around myself, and made a hasty exit to the Big Boy's cab. When I reemerged a minute or so later, I was fully dressed again, and everything had the appropriate holes for my new wings. I was also still wearing my Kitsune mask.

I then rejoined Don and Twilight. "Please, forgive me Princesses. I did not know that you would be arriving so soon. If I had known, I would have made myself much more presentable!"

They all laughed at this, and I continued. "Anyway, as the Major has said, I am Captain Leopard, 2nd Engineer, or rather, the 2nd of three individuals who drive the Big Boy 4009."

Celestia then looked behind the us towards the train, and when she saw it in its entirety, she gasped in shock. "In addition to that being the biggest beast of a train that I have ever seen, I can see now that we all have a lot to talk about. Can we go somewhere to discuss?"

Don nodded. "Yes, we could go back to the Primary Command Center. That's pretty private."

Celestia nodded, and while he led the way for them, I followed behind, as did Twilight, and Rainbow Dash. Also by this time, General Shining Armor had arrived, and he and his troops coordinated with the soldiers stationed on board the Battleship Express to secure the immediate area, and stand guard.

"So let me get all of this straight. For the past 3 years, you all have been at war against two empires?!"

Celestia nodded sadly. "I'm afraid so Major. Together, the Zebra Empire, led by Overlord Zakia, and the Caribou Empire, led by King Danin, invaded Euestria from the South. The war has stalemated into trenches that stretch for hundreds of miles in Southern Equestria. Every day we seem to be loosing ground. Just a few weeks ago, a gap was torn in our ranks, and some enemy troops got through. The gap was plugged thanks to local militia in the town of Appaloosa, but those enemy troops that got through are still at large."

"But, why are you guys at war with them?" I asked. "What's the enemy's end game?"

Luna spat angrily. "Those vile pieces of filth that dare to call themselves sentient wish to capture our nation, enslave our Ponies, turn them into sex-slaves, and have males rule everything! And that's just the Caribou! The Zebras, oh, those f@#kers take it one step further! They want to wipe out the Pony-race, take our females, and f@#k Zebra-Pony hybrid bastards into them! They're sick and deranged! They hate us and everything that we stand for! I HATE THEM!!!!"

When Luna finished her rant, Don and I could only stare at each other in shock. "Just like the Futas", I said angrily.

"Yes, just like them, only this time, they reincarnated as males!"

Meanwhile, while these talks were taking place, from the Everfree Forest close to Ponyville, Scouting Unit 3, composed of Caribou Scout Force 7, and Zebra Scouting Force 2, crept as close as they could. The leaders of this group were Sergeant Dothan (Caribou), and Squad-Leader Mathia (Zebra).

"There it is, Ponyville! Home to our next catch of pretty little slaves!"

"Don't count your mares before you've f@#ked them Mathia. Gods! You Zebras are SO immature!"

"Says the deer-freak who does the same thing!"

Dothan turned to him, and probably would have done him serious harm, but someone then spotted something.

"Um, Sergeant?"

"What?"

"What kind of defenses does Ponyville have?"

"Well according to our intel, maybe a battalion of Royal Guards, some fortifications, stuff like that. Nothing we can't handle. Why?"

"Because you might want to take a look at what's sitting on the tracks in front of the train station!"

Dothan took out his binoculars. When he saw it, he gasped in shock. "Good GODS!!! What in King Danin's name IS that thing?!?!?!"

The others turned to look through their own binoculars, and what they saw shocked and horrified them. There, sitting on the tracks in front of the train station, was the largest and longest train that they had ever seen. It was composed of what appeared to be a mixture of freight and passenger cars, and all appeared to be armed with guns of some kind. What really had Dothan though, was the engine.

"Gods, that thing's a BEAST!!!"

The engine was all black with a gray smoke-box, was incredibly long, had a 4-8-8-4 wheel configuration, had a cowcatcher that appeared to have metal spikes on it, and what appeared to be guns on both the sides of the boiler pointing forwards, and guns on the cab roof. From the engine's smokestacks came a great cloud of black smoke.

"The engine's number is '4009' Sergeant. The coal tender also says 'Union Pacific'."

"Ok, I don't know what that means, but I think that we need to alert General Stuggs about this!"

He fiddled with his magic comm device. "General? General Stuggs! Are you there?"

Finally, the grayish, holographic silhouette of a Caribou officer appeared. "What is it Sergeant? Have you found something?"

"Um, yes, yes we did. We're currently lying at the top of a ditch/embankment in the Everfree Forest just outside of Ponyville. We've scouted around, and it seems to be ours for the taking."

"Excellent work Sergeant! Just keep scouting around, and see what else you can find!"

"Um, that's the thing Sir, we found something that you need to see."

"Which is what Sergeant?"

Dothan then turned his holographic projector until it faced the train that they had just found.

"Good Gods! What is that thing Sergeant?! It's a Leviathan!"

"We're not quite sure General, however, we do know that it is a train. Here's what we know about it so far. This train is the largest that we've ever seen. It's made up of, as far as we can tell, 32 cars, of both passenger and freight, and all seem to be bristling with all kinds of guns! This is obviously a war-train, and was built for combat!

Worse though, is the engine of this massive machine; a true Leviathan. By our estimates, it's well over 100 feet long, and maybe 20 or so feet high! The engine also has a 4-8-8-4 wheel configuration, and has the numbers '4009' on the sides of its cab, and the words, 'Union Pacific', on the sides of its massive coal tender. The engine also has a front plow that has metal spikes attached to it, as well as two forward-facing artillery cannons on the sides, running most of the length of its boiler, and a few guns on the cab's roof. The train's origin, as well as its crew, are also unknown at this time."

When Dothan finished his story, the general was dumbfounded. "So, perhaps the rumors are true after all." he muttered.

"What was that General?"

"Earlier this morning, I heard reports from another scouting party about a massive black train that seemingly appeared out of nowhere right in front of them! Their description of it seems very similar to the train in front of you. I called all of them liars, but maybe I shouldn't have done that."

Dothan was maybe about to reply to that, but then something caught his eye. "General, look!" He pointed to what appeared to be a train crewman. The creature didn't seem to have any fur, but it did have a wolf-like tail, gray wolf-like ears, a bluish uniform, brown hair, a grey helmet, and had a gun slung over his shoulder.

"Wow. What kind of a creature is that Sergeant?"

"Um, I don't know Sir. Whatever it is, it appears to be male, but not from any species I've ever seen before!"

For the longest time, the general sat in silence. Finally, he said, "Well, I will have to share this information with King Danin, as well as Overlord Zakia. However, this new development could play right into our hands!"

"Um, how so Sir?"

"Well Sergeant, just think, what if they could be persuaded to ally with us? Then taking Equestria might just be a breeze! Or if they initially refused, what if we could force them to ally with us?"

Dothan smirked. "That's a brilliant idea Sir! I'll send Dyl, our ambassador, along with Corlia, the Zebra's ambassador, to see about turning them over to our side, one way, or another!"

General Stuggs smirked. "I like how you think Sergeant! Go on, do it!"

Dothan saluted. "As King Danin wills it, I obey!"

He then terminated the call to the general, and turned to the others. "Ok, now where's Dyl and Corlia?"

"I'm here Sir." Dyl stepped forwards.

"And I'm here too." Corlia saluted.

"Excellent. Now then, I have a little job for you two...."

"Wait, you've all been fighting for HOW LONG MAJOR?!?!"

"Well, according to our records, it's been close to 28 years now. WW6 alone dragged on for 4 years, plus a 2 year Cold-War. How that's even possible for a period of just 11 years, I do not know. I should be 36 years old, but I'm not, I'm only 25. The working theory is that something messed with the laws of Time and Space, causing this strange event to occur, but we are not certain."

Celestia was beyond shocked. "I....I don't even know what to say. We thought that our war here was bad. Obviously, it can't even begin to hold a candle to what you all have been through! However, these 'Futas', that you described, sounded an awful lot like the Zebras and the Caribou that we are fighting."

"I know Princess. That's what I got from what Twilight told us earlier. Similar tactics, similar philosophy...."

"Just the same enemies with a different face!" I finished.

"Quite correct Captain."

It was then that the three Princesses looked at each other, and then back at Don.

Finally, after a few more moments of silence, Celestia spoke up. "Major? I think that now would be as good of a time as any to discuss the reason for our visit here. As I'm sure that you are aware, we need help fighting our war. All other nations that we've reached out to have either ignored us, decided to remain neutral, or decided to give us the most tentative support possible, threatening to withdraw immediately if things go south. Just when all hope seemed lost, you, your crew, and your train showed up. You have the skills, weapons, and manpower to make a real difference in this war. Please Major, won't you join us, and help us in our fight against the Imperial Alliance?"

Don was fully taken aback. He had maybe seen this coming, but now that the moment had actually arrived, he was completely unprepared for it.

He looked first at me, then at the Princesses, then at Twilight and Dash. Finally, he took a deep breath. "Well Princesses, I know that this is going to be hard for you to hear, and it's even harder for me to say, but......the truth is...... I cannot declare war on a foreign nation. We're not allowed to fight without the express permission of our superiors. We're just the flagship of the RWD; just the tip of the iceberg. Just as the RWD is just one of several branches of the US Armed forces. To put this as gently as I can, unless we are directly affected by this war, we are not allowed to act."

The Princesses looked devastated. They had come all of this way, hoping for a miracle, but now it seemed to be further away than ever before.

"That may be Major, but if this war continues, the war may come to Ponyville." Cadence pointed out.

Don nodded. "That's what I'm afraid of, based on your calculations. That is why I'm going to put the whole train on high alert, though we cannot act unless we're attacked first. However, if and when that does happen, then yes, we will declare war on the Imperial Alliance. However, first, I think that Captain Leopard and I need to address the rest of our crew."

I then followed Don out of the Primary Command Center, followed by everypony else. Once we were all outside, Don used the intercom to summon the crew. Once they were all gathered, he began his explanation.

"My fellow crew members, no doubt by now that you have heard that we are now in the land of Equestria, home of the Ponies. It is also my sad duty to inform you that we are once again, in the middle of a war-zone. It seems that Equestria is at war with the Imperial Alliance, composed of both the Zebra Empire, and the Caribou Empire. And if I'm not mistaken, they sound an awful lot like the Futas....." Don then explained the rest of the whole scoop to the rest of the crew.

When he finished, all were outraged.

"WHAT?!?! How DARE those monsters have the AUDACITY to take freedom away from these Ponies!"

"I agree, they need to be stopped, and NOW!!!!"

"Yes, I know, and I agree that they need to be stopped as well. However, unless we have permission from our superiors, we CANNOT declare war! That's the dilemma that we all currently face. We have to intervene, but yet, we're not allowed to."

The others in the crowd continued to argue and debate about this, all while desperately trying to come up with a solution.

All while Don was explaining the situation, Dash was still trying to get me to warm up to her. I was still stone-cold, (or tried to be, she was my waifu after all!)

"So, why do you wear that freaky-looking fox mask?"

"Ugh, Dash, I'm trying to listen! It's called a Kitsune mask. I wear it because my face was damaged in an accident a year ago, and I can't stand to look at myself in a mirror. Plus, this mask was VERY scary to the enemy. That's why I always wear it."

"Always?"

"Pretty much. Now, will you please leave me alone? Geez, you act like I like you, or something.......Idiot", I mumbled. (I was also blushing, but thanks to the mask, Dash couldn't see that.)

"Well, you may not like me, but I think that you're kinda cute! Even though we just met, you sure seem like the kind of guy who takes charge. Somepony who gives orders, and commands respect. A true alpha male!"

"If you're trying to butter me up, then I must ask you to please SHUT up!"

Dash then bit my ear a bit. "You'd better watch out Stud. If my marefriend, Spitfire, heard you talking to me like that, she'd be very unhappy. Plus, I'm a mare who believes that if you want something, then you have to work for it. Currently, I want you, so I'm just going to have to get you to warm up to me!"

I laughed a bit. "Hah! Good luck with that Sweetheart....I mean, um, i-idiot!" ("Yeah, way to go genius!" I scolded myself.)

Dash heard my little slip-up. "Soon Stud, very, very soon!"

I felt like a rat caught in a trap.

"But Major Don," Somepony asked. "How can this train help us? I mean sure, it has weapons, but what about the engine?"

Don smirked. "Hey, Leopard?"

I looked at him. "Yeah Don?"

"Could you please play that one tape that you always listen to on repeat in your cabin over the sound-system?"

"You mean the 'Ballad of the Big Boy'?"

"Yeah, that one! Could you pop it in, and turn up the volume for us please?"

I nodded. "Sure Don, be right back!"

I raced back to my cabin. Once I grabbed the tape, I ran to the nearest player, popped the tape in, turned on the speakers that connected to the intercom, and pressed play.

"Wow! That's a really catchy tune!"

"Yeah, it sure fits your 'Big Boy' to a T!"

"Yeah, and why are they called 'Big Boys' anyway?"

I looked at the crowd. "I can answer that. Way back in 1941, the Big Boys were built by the American Locomotive Company, or ALCO. They were the 4000 Series, and 25 were built in total, 4000-4024. Our engine, 4009, would technically be considered 4025, but that's another story for another time. Back to the question at hand, when the first unit was built, 4000, nobody knew what to call it. According to the records, it was going to be called the 'Wasatch Class', after the Wasatch Mountains in Utah, but according to the story, an employee at ALCO chalked the words, 'Big Boy' onto the front of 4000's boiler, and the name stuck."

I was then about to continue with my explanation with statistics about the Big Boy, but I was very rudely interrupted.

"HEY!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING OVER THERE?!?!?!"

"SOMEBODY STOP THEM!!!!"

We all turned to look at where the shouting was coming from, and sure enough from the back of the train, two figures were being dragged by both Royal Guards, and several soldiers from our battalion. One of them was clearly a Zebra, dressed in brown clothes with gold earrings in his ears, as well as a necklace with a stone in it. The other looked like a reindeer, and he was dressed in a military uniform, with metal armor, and a helmet on his head.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Don demanded.

"We caught these two trying to sneak on board the train Major! We shouted at them, but instead of answering, they just tried to board the train at the officer's quarters."

"CARIBOU AND ZEBRA!!!!" The crowd roared. Both the Royal Guards and our soldiers had to keep the crowd from practically stoning them to death!

"Unhand us right this instant you foul, hairless beasts!" The Caribou shouted.

Don turned to face them. "Now then, before I let this crowd have their way with you, who are you, and why were you trying to board my train?!"

The Caribou scoffed. "I don't talk to children Boy! Now take me to someone in charge!"

Don grabbed the Caribou by his ear, and pulled him down to his level. "Bitch, I AM in charge here! And to answer your first question, we are Humans, NOT 'hairless beasts'!"

"No you're not! You're just a kid!"

"He IS in charge, you filthy hooligan!" A gruff voice behind him growled.

I looked, and there stood Jim! He had some bandages on his head and torso, but overall, he looked fine.

"Now then, if you want to keep all of your body parts where they're supposed to be, you'll tell us who you are, and where you've come from!"

The Caribou seemed to be sweating a little bit. "Ok, well, I am Ambassador Dyl, of the Caribou Empire. This is my compatriot, Ambassador Corlia, of the Zebra Empire. We were sent to you by the orders of King Danin of the Caribou Empire, and Overlord Zakia of the Zebra Empire."

"For what purpose?" Don asked.

"Well, for the purpose of having you join the Imperial Alliance of course!"

That sent the crowd into an uproar.

"OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!!!! OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!!!!" They screamed. "TAKE THEM AWAY, KILL THEM!!!!" The soldiers now had to work double-time to keep the crowds back.

"Now then, before I leave you to this angry mob, I would like to assure you that under NO circumstances, would we EVER be joining the Imperial Alliance! You people are all toxic filth! The scum of the Earth! No better than the Futas! Now then, why were you trying to board my train?"

"Well, we were trying to speak to someone in charge." Corlia answered. "Unfortunately, before we could make it very far, we got captured."

"Well, no surprise there! You trespass on private property, you get into trouble! Didn't your parent's ever teach you that?"

"No. Well.......sort of. But your final answer is no on joining the Imperial Alliance?"

"Yes, our final answer is no. Now then, I'm going to give you both about 30 seconds to f@#k off before we let the crowd loose."

"Are you sure that you won't reconsider that though?" Corlia asked.

I stepped up to them. "Hey, are you deaf Dip-shit?! The man said f@#k off or face the consequences!"

"25 seconds."

Now both of them looked extremely angry, Dyl more than Corlia. "Fine then, Freaky Fox-Mask, have it your way! We'll go, but remember this day well, for it will be your last! This town will BURN!!!! Mark my words! For DARING to defy King Danin and Overlord Zakia, NO mercy will be shown to ANY of you! YOU WILL ALL BURN UNDER THE IMPERIAL ALLIANCE'S WRATH!!!!"

Don then spat on the ground. "Ok, that's it! You've mouthed off to me for the last time! CROWD, SIC EM'!!!"

The soldiers then moved, allowing the crowd to attack. Before they could though both ambassadors vanished into a cloud of smoke. The angry crowd then tried to find them, but the duo managed to elude capture before reporting back to Dothan.

"Well", Don muttered, "They were certainly pleasant. And that whole conversation was very enlightening really. I guess now we know what we're up against."

I looked worriedly towards the direction that the duo had fled. "Yeah, and I hope that they decide not to do anything when they return to whoever their puppet masters are, and tell them about that happened here."

Don looked at me. "That's why we have to be extremely vigilant now Leopard, we all do. We've just stirred up a hornet's nest today. God help us all if we've just f@#ked up!"

Author's Note

Well, that was Chapter 5. So now Rainbow Dash has a crush on Leopard, Twilight may or may not have a crush on Don, the crew of the Battleship Express have met the princesses, as well as ambassadors for the enemy! What'll happen when they return to Dothan with news of what happened? How will General Stuggs react to that report? How will King Danin and Overlord Zakia react when they hear the news of the Battleship Express? Also, whatever happened to Iron Glory, Battleship Express's supply train? Or the Wabash Cannonball? Both of them were also labelled "Missing", after the Battle for Vegas, but what really happened to them? Well, the only way to find out, is to keep reading! And hang on, the REAL war action, is about to begin!

As always, comments, feedback, questions, and spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 6!

ScarFox out for now, ALL ABOARD!!!!!

Chapter 6: First Blood, The Longest Over-Nighter

After running for what felt like an eternity, Dyl and Corlia finally made it back to the scouting force. They arrived, and dove headfirst into the ditch. They were exhausted, and completely out of breath.

Dothan turned to them. "Well, how did it go? We heard a lot of shouting and chaos, but no shots were fired. What happened?"

For a few more minutes, both of them were still trying to catch their breath. Finally, Dyl spoke up. "Well, at first, everything seemed to be going ok. We reached the war train undetected, close to the 4th car from the caboose. We then stepped up to the train, but were spotted by one of the creatures who guarded the train, which we learned is called a 'Human'. We still tried to board the train, but were stopped, grabbed, and hustled away by the Human, several more Humans, and some Royal Guards as well. It was then that we met the train's commanding officer. From the insignia on his uniform, I'm pretty sure that he was a major."

"Oh? And how did that go?"

"Gods-awful! That 'major' was only a young kid! He also had a scary old-guy who acted like an enforcer, as well as some other officer who wore a white fox mask over his face. We tried to negotiate, but they didn't want to listen. They then turned the crowd surrounding the train loose on us, and we had to throw up a smoke screen to escape. We did fail, but yet at the same time, I think that we only failed because the Ponies got to them first."

Dothan put a hand over his face. "Well, I was certainly expecting a different report than this! Ok, plan B! We use our Magic on them. Then they'll be either completely under our influence, or they'll turn on the mares, and rape them into submission! Or even both!"

They all laughed about this as they got ready to work their magic.

"WHAT?!?! These Humans were able to RESIST your Magic?!"

Dothan could see that his report to General Stuggs was not going very well. "Unfortunately, yes General. They resisted our Magic, as well as that of the Zebras. HOWEVER! I have never seen ANYTHING like their minds before!"

"What do you mean Sergeant?"

"I mean that they were like steel traps! Just labyrinth traps filled with darkness, pain, and suffering! They are incorruptible!"

General Stuggs was really taken aback by this. "I'm going to have to report this to King Danin, and Overlord Zakia. Hold on."

The general then terminated the call for the time being, and raced from his command HQ, to the Imperial Palace in the Caribou's capital city of Donneth. Upon being allowed an audience with Danin, Stuggs was ushered inside, where he saw his king standing in front of a series of maps, planning out new strategies.

"Ah, General! I expect that you have a report for me?"

"Yes, My King, I do, and this war just took a very interesting turn...." Stuggs then explained everything, from the first reports from the scouting force that were dismissed, to the actual train, Dyl and Corlia, as well as the Humans, and their abilities to resist mind control. When he finished, both King Danin, as well as Overlord Zakia, who was also present via hologram, were literally astounded by what they had just heard.

"What?! A foreign race, the Humans, have arrived with a massive war-train, and they were able to resist mind control?! This is OUTRAGEOUS!!!"

"I agree, King Danin, these Humans must be destroyed!"

"And they will be, my King, and Overlord Zakia. We're preparing for a strike on Ponyville now. We will destroy the Humans, their train, and Ponyville, in one swift stroke!"

Danin shook his head. "No General, you are getting a little bit hasty. Take Ponyville, and you may kill the Human officers, but by all means, capture the train as intact as possible! It must be studied, and it's technology replicated! With its techs to teach us how everything works, we will rule supreme!"

"Hey, what about me? Why do YOU get all of the technology from that train?!"

Danin turned to Zakia. "I only meant that we took it, studied it, got what we needed from it, and then handed it over to you."

Zakia nodded slowly. "Yes, but remember Danin, slip-ups like that will not be tolerated! We are in this war together!"

Dainin agreed, and then turned back to Stuggs. "General, you now have your orders. Take Ponyville, and do everything in your power to capture that train intact!"

Stuggs saluted. "I hear you, My King, and I obey!"

Stuggs then left to return his call to Dothan, while Danin and his advisers, continued to plan with Zakia and his advisers, although now neither side really trusted the other anymore.

"Ok, so here's the deal Dothan; King Danin wants Ponyville to be taken."

"And let me guess, he wants the train blown to Tartarus, and its crew all dead?"

"Eh, not quite. In reality, he wants the train captured as intact as possible, in addition to some of the crew being captured for interrogation. However, the rest of the crew, and especially the officers, need to simply be eradicated."

Dothan saluted. "It shall be done General. However, how do you want me to go about it?"

"I want you and your men to attack now, but only enough to test their strength. The REAL attack will come later on tonight. I'll be arriving this evening with Zebra Commander Freda, and all of our forces, and then Ponyville will fall. I will leave it up to you on how you want the first wave attack to go, but get the job done!"

Dothan nodded. "It shall be done, General Stuggs." Dothan then ended the call, and turned to his troops. They were a scouting force of about 36 in total, 18 Caribou, and 18 Zebras.

"What did the General say?" Someone asked.

"He said that later on tonight, he'd be arriving with more Caribou and Zebra reinforcements for the assault that will bring Ponyville under our control. However, for now, he told us to lead a small attack; to test the waters if you will."

"And what about the train? Do we try to destroy it now, or do we wait until later?"

"Actually, the General told us to leave it be for now, and that during the final assault we would try to capture it intact for study, and for its technology to serve the Imperial Alliance. However, Its crew and its weapons will be a severe danger to us. I see now that we will not be able to launch an attack with that fortress on rails still operational."

"Not to mention The Kid, Creepy Old Guy, and Fox-Mask." Dyl added. "They all could prove to be a problem as well."

Dothan took this into consideration. "Yes, you're right Dyl. We need a plan of attack here. Does anyone have any bright ideas?"

"Um, how about if we tunnel underneath the tracks, and plant explosives under the train? That would cripple it for sure!"

"Cripple it yes, HOWEVER, that would still leave us to face its vast arsenal of weapons, and we STILL don't know what kind of heat that beast is packing! That thing could be enough to take on an entire army by itself and win for all we know!"

Dothan and his men continued to think of a plan of attack, completely unaware of two things. First of all, yes, the train could, and actually DID take on an army by itself and win at several different stages during WW6. The second thing that they were unaware of was the fact that they themselves were actually being watched.

Meanwhile, back on board the train, all of us were manning our stations, getting the train ready to fight should that be deemed necessary. On an unused flagpole next to the train station, we raised 3 flags. On the bottom was our train's flag, which was our Big Boy locomotive against a white background, then above that came the flag of the RWD, which was a steam engine with guns on it, and the words, "Hell on Rails". Finally, at the top of the pole was the good old Stars and Stripes. It was a bit worn from the war, but with a little help from Rarity, it became a proud US Flag once again.

However, while we were preparing for an attack that we weren't sure was coming, one of us thought differently about it. Aurora kept looking out into the woods that were about 30 yards away from the train's 9 o'clock.

"DELCI?"

"Yes Aurora?"

"I know that the enemy is out there. I can smell them. Why don't you believe me?"

"Because Aurora, my scanners are coming back negative. There's nothing out there except for your active imagination."

Aurora armed her battle suit's weapons anyway. DELCI quickly deactivated them. "Why'd you do that DELCI?"

"Because Aurora, one of those weapons is a small missile carrying a 1 kiloton nuclear warhead! I don't need you shooting that at a shadow!"

Now Aurora was getting upset. "I'm telling you DELCI, there's something out there. I can sense it. You can't because you're an AI; you're just a machine! You can't smell, or sense things like I can!"

Now it was DELCI's turn to be somewhat upset. However, before she could give Aurora a snarky rebuttal, Aurora suddenly stopped her.

"DELCI!"

"No, I'm sick of this Aurora, I'm not turning your weapons back on!"

"Check my scanners at my 12 o'clock, which would be the train's 9 o'clock, at about 30 yards out! I have multiple contacts, as well as movement!"

DELCI grumbled, but just so she could humiliate Aurora further, she complied.

"Oh wow, you're a pretty dog, wearing armor!"

Aurora turned, and to her surprise, there stood a Pegasus mare with yellow fur, a long pink mane and tail, and a green dress with a white shirt.

"Miss! You need to get out of here! This is a dangerous place!"

The mare seemed shocked. "W-wh-what?! You can talk too?"

"Yes. My name is Aurora. I'm a wolf belonging to Captain Leopard. He's my master, and the one who had this battle armor built specially for me. Now with a mini-gun, a precision sniper-rifle, a grenade launcher, rocket launchers, and even a tiny nuclear warhead, I can help fight too! Oh, and I don't believe that I caught your name."

The mare looked shocked. "U-um, m-my name is F-Fluttershy."

"Oh. Well then Miss Fluttershy, it's nice to meet you. However, you really need to leave here. It's not....."

"AURORA!!!!!"

"Ugh, what is it DELCI? Can't you see that I'm trying to have a conversation here?"

"I've checked, double-checked, and even triple-checked. You were right! I have multiple contacts at the train's 7-10 o'clocks! I'm rearming your weapons now!"

"See, I TOLD you DELCI! But you didn't want to believe me, did you?"

"Yeah, and I'm sorry for doubting you! Anyway, we need to alert the Master and the Boss Immediately!"

"Yes! You do that DELCI, I'll see about drawing their fire!"

DELCI then tried to contact both me, and Major Don.

"Um, what's going on Aurora?" Fluttershy walked up to her.

Aurora turned to her. "You see those woods up ahead of us, maybe 30 yards away?"

"Yes, why?"

"Those woods contain enemy troops!"

Fluttershy looked worried. "How do you know this?"

"Because I checked them with my thermal scanners, and DELCI double and triple-checked for me. We both found multiple contacts, and now she's gone to alert both the Major, and our master, Captain Leopard."

"And what are you going to do?"

Aurora smirked a bit. "Well, do you like to see blood Miss Fluttershy?"

"No! No, I don't."

"Hmm, fair enough. Luckily, at this distance, you won't have to!" Aurora activated her precision sniper-rifle. "Now then, let's see if you sickos are fast enough to outsmart a bullet!" She muttered with a smirk.

"Um Sergeant?"

"Yes Private?"

"I think that we may have been spotted!"

Dothan was worried. "What makes you say that Private?"

"Um, well, there's this dog-creature wearing some kind of armor that just keeps staring at us. There's also a Pegasus mare standing next to her."

"Sounds like just a mare and her dog to me. How do you know that we've been spotted? We're 30 yards out at least, in a ditch/trench in the woods."

"Well, maybe not spotted per-say, but I'm starting to get the feeling that they know that we're here."

Dothan groaned. "You're just paranoid Private. There's nothing to be worried about."

The private agreed, but then he spotted something. "Hey Coal?" He asked the guy next to him.

"Yeah?"

"Um, what's that red dot on your neck?"

"Huh? What red dot on my....." He never got a chance to finish that thought. Before he could, a distant "POP!" was heard, just before Coal's throat exploded into a geyser of blood.

"GAAAAAHHH!!!!! OH GODS!!!!!" The Private screamed, before he saw the red dot on his chest. "GET IT OFF OF ME!!!!" Then a geyser of blood came spurting from his chest as well. That was all it took; now the trench was in pandemonium.

"Heh. Too easy." Aurora thought to herself. "Bet they never even knew what hit them!"

"Um, what did you do?" Fluttershy asked.

"I just took out two of them from a distance." Another shot was fired. "And another one down", more shots. "Another one down, and another one down, and another one just bit the dust! I'm on a roll with a 6 for 6 kill streak!"

Fluttershy was appalled, but she was too stunned about Aurora actually being able to hit a target at 30 yards in the woods to say anything.

"Master! Major Don!"

"Hmm? What is it DELCI?" I asked through my com.

"We've got trouble Sir! Aurora's scanners just detected enemy activity form the woods off of our 9 o'clock, but would be 12 o'clock for her!"

"What?! Are you sure about that DELCI?!"

"I'm positive Sir. Aurora tried to warn me about it, but I didn't listen until I checked for myself!"

"And where's Aurora now?"

"She's drawing their fire!"

"SHE'S WHAT?!?!?!"

I swung into action.

Don, who had also heard about the danger, did likewise. He sounded General Quarters. "All hands, Battle-stations now! We have enemy activity in the woods off of our 9 o'clock! All hands, battle-stations now! This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill!"

That was all it took. Air-raid sirens wailed, Ponies ran away from the station as fast as they could for safety, while the Princesses, as well as the rest of the Elements of Harmony, were evacuated to a command center for their own protection. The Wonderbolts also fell back for the time being, but General Shining, the Royal Guards, and of course the men (and a few women) of Battalion 4009 armed themselves, and made ready to do battle with the enemy.

I grabbed my ChesterTon rifle, Glock 9mm, and Remington 12 gauge with both regular shells, and deer slugs. I then raced to Aurora's side, completely unaware that I was being followed by Rainbow Dash, as well as a few other Royal Guards and Battalion 4009 soldiers, who were both racing to the danger, and trying to get Dash away from it! When I arrived at the left side of the train where Aurora was, I also saw Fluttershy there as well. Fluttershy was crouching behind a rock, but Aurora was standing next to the rock, still firing periodically.

"Aurora!"

"Oh, Master! You've come to help me! And you brought backup!"

"Wait, what backup?" I then glanced over my shoulder, where I saw Dash, 4 Royal Guards, and 5 soldiers from Battalion 4009. "Oh, that backup."

Our soldiers were also carrying portable barricades for us to take cover behind, and they set them up on both sides of the rock.

"Miss Fluttershy!" One of the guards shouted. "You need to take cover now! Get behind the barricade! You too Rainbow Dash!"

Fluttershy complied, but Dash had to be "persuaded", (i.e. physically dragged!) to take cover.

"Dash! Get your ass down behind the barricades! A soon-to-be battlefield is no place for an unarmed female!"

Dash grumbled, and said that she would get me back for having her removed from battle, but I was too busy setting up a perimeter to hear what she said though. From our barricades, it was maybe 25 yards to the woods, and 5 yards away from the train. We were the first line of defense.

"What's going on out there Leopard?"

"We've set up a defensive perimeter Major. There's 13 of us in total; myself, 5 of our soldiers, 4 Royal Guards, Aurora, and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, who were caught in the crossfire. They've both taken shelter behind the barricades, and we're preparing to do battle. We'll hold the enemy here, and if they get past us, turn them into hamburger!"

"Roger that Captain."

We all silently waited; waited for the inevitable counter-attack.

"General, General!"

"What is it Sergeant?"

"We're being attacked! We've already taken heavy losses!"

"WHAT?! What happened?! And how many are you facing?"

"At first, everything seemed fine. Then a private saw a dog that must have belonged to one of the Humans, dressed in battle armor. The dog was also accompanied by a female Pegasus. However, before we could act, first Private Coal got killed, then the private who first spotted them, and then 4 others. We're all ducked down here now. We've really stirred up a hornet's nest Sir! They've armed all of their weapons, and sirens are wailing. What do we do?!"

"How many enemy soldiers can you see?"

"Well, I can see 5 Humans, 4 Royal Guards, that dog, and Fox-Mask! They're all hiding behind some kind of barricade."

"Well, what are you waiting for?! Charge! Charge, and get as far as you can, as fast as you can, and then get out of there before you get killed! We'll rendezvous with you in the Everfree at dusk!" The general then terminated the call.

Dothan sighed. Then he turned to the others. "You heard the General! Charge! We get up there, get as close to the train as we can, as fast as we can, and then get out before we all get killed!"

"CHARGE!!!!!" They all screamed, before hurtling themselves in our direction.

"Captain, here they come!"

I turned, and sure enough, from the edge of the woods, there came a small flow of both Zebras and Caribou. They came charging at us with guns and other weapons in hand.

"Here they come Don! Permission to fire?"

"Granted Captain, fire at will!"

With that, we all targeted somebody, and brought the hurt to them. Our weapons were much more accurate than theirs, could fire at MUCH longer distances, and could fire multiple shots before having to reload. It was over less than 2 minutes after it started. They never even made it to within 10 yards of our barricade, never mind getting to the train. The few survivors fell back into the woods, and I reported to Don about the incident.

"It's all over Don, we won. Enemy strength was only at about 40 individuals, both Zebra and Caribou. We bagged at least 28 of them, if not more. Also, no casualties, and no injuries."

"Excellent work Captain!"

"Yeah, but I'm worried Don. That group was most likely only a scouting party. Who knows where the main enemy force is."

"Or how much they told their superiors about us. You need to get back here Leopard. This was only first blood. They'll be back, and they'll be many more of them when they do!"

"Roger that Don."

We all then picked up the barricades, and quickly made our way back to the train. Once both Fluttershy and Dash were safe, we then went out to collect the bodies. We found 28 in total, 16 Caribous, and 12 Zebras. Several were selected for medical testing, while the rest were chopped up, and thrown into the Big Boy's firebox. Once they were ash, we opened the valves, dumped the ash-pans, and then after shoveling the ash into wheelbarrows, we dumped it into the mixture of cement being used to create fortifications for Ponyville.

"Well", Don muttered, "At least they're finally doing something useful!"

We all then got to work on preparing for the battle that we were certain was going to come.

After the retreat, Dothan knew that his report to General Stuggs was going to be absolutely horrible. He was one of only 8 survivors, including Dyl and Corlia.

For what felt like literal hours, (and maybe it was) they all hid in the Everfree Forrest. They managed to stay hidden by covering themselves with leaves, rocks, sticks, and branches, as well as using their magic to hide from patrols sent out to find them.

Finally, at dusk, they heard a welcoming sound. It was the hooting of an owl.

"Whoo, whoo, whoo!" Dothan hooted back.

Then, from out of the shadows stepped General Stuggs, and Commander Freda.

"Where are you Sergeant?"

"Right here Sir!" Dothan got up from his hiding place, as did the 7 others.

"Wait, this ain't everyone who went out with y'all! Where's everyone else?!"

"They're all dead Commander Freda. The 8 of us are the only ones left."

General Stuggs put his hands over his face. "I told you Sergeant, get in, get out, and DON'T GET KILLED!!!! Now you've lost almost your entire scouting force!"

Dothan looked down at the ground. "The Humans had better weapons than we originally realized. They all had some kind of repeating rifles, and were able to take us out just as we left the woods. I ordered a retreat, but by then there were only a handful of us left."

"So, I take it that these 'Humans' have better tech than we do?"

"Yeah, no shit Freda!" Stuggs groaned.

"So, what do we do now?" (Dothan knew that the punishment for repeated failure was death, so he was preparing for the end).

Stuggs rolled his eyes a bit. "We wait until dark, which is in about another hour. In that timeframe, we draw up a plan of attack. Then, once it’s dark, we execute said plan. Our primary target of course will be neutralizing the train, as well as it's occupants. Then we sweep the town, killing all who dare to resist us. Next, we take the prisoners, and if they're female, f@#k them, if they're male enslave them, and if their train crew, take them in for interrogation. Lastly, we burn Ponyville to the ground, declare victory, and then get to work on preparing for our attacks on Las Pegasus and Baltimare, while at the same time putting more pressure on Canterlot."

Everyone looked at Stuggs in shock. They all knew that he was a great officer, but his skills as a strategist were previously unknown to them. They also had no idea that he was being somewhat sarcastic with his plan.

"Wow General Stuggs, you really are just as good of a strategist as you are a commanding officer."

Stuggs nodded. "Yes, thank you Freda. I was trained at the Caribou Military Academy, back in the days of us building our great empire before the expansion began. Now then, let's get to work on planning out a REAL battle strategy, shall we?"

They all then realized that Stuggs had just been screwing with them, but nevertheless, they all then began to come up with a real plan of attack.

By the time that the moon was up in the sky, the enemy was ready to attack. The final plan was to be an assault on 3 fronts in 3 waves. The first wave would take the route taken by Dothan's scout force, and attack from the woods to the train station. The primary objective was to capture the train, or to at least provide a diversion. The second wave would come from the South. Using the main roads, this force would head into Ponyville itself, and aim for the center of town. Their primary objective was to hold ground, and cause as much mayhem as possible. The final wave would attack Ponyville from the East. After swimming the river that surrounded Ponyville on that side, this force would follow the second one, mopping up resistance from that side, before linking up with wave two, and pushing out from there.

Stuggs had a force of 1,200 under his command. They were all that were able to break through the lines in the South. If they failed, reinforcements would not be soon in coming. King Danin knew this, as did Overlord Zakia, hence the reason that they threatened Stuggs with a fate worse than death if he failed.

"May the gods protect us tonight." Stuggs muttered as he watched his forces move into place. "My greatest fear is still that god-awful war train! Why did the Humans have to show up now?! Why?!" Stuggs ultimately had no answer to this. "We must not fail tonight. If we do, not only will we not be forgiven, but Equestria will know that we are not invincible!"

After the attack made by the scouting force, the Princesses ordered Ponyville evacuated. All females, children under the age of 18, the elderly, and the unwell were evacuated North to Canterlot. Princesses Celestia and Cadence also returned to Canterlot, leaving Luna, as well as General Shining Armor to oversee the defense of Ponyville.

In addition to 1,000 soldiers, the Equestrians also had us. Not only the Battleship Express and Battalion 4009, but Iron Glory as well! Earlier that day, just after the attack was repulsed, from somewhere outside of town, a green, 4-4-0 Wild-West style locomotive pulling 25 cars was spotted heading towards Ponyville. It came to a screeching halt outside of town, and just remained in place. We went to investigate, and to our shock, we found Lt. Daryl Meers, the man in charge of Iron Glory, as well as his crew, and a fully-loaded Iron Glory. After giving us the supplies that we needed, they retreated North to the Rear Command Center outside of town, and awaited further orders.

All throughout that afternoon, all of us were on high-alert. We knew that another attack was coming, but unfortunately, we didn't know where, or when. We all stayed at, or near our battle stations. I stayed close to the engine, since I had been banned from the SCC after the "Luxor Nuclear Incident", pending my military trial. I knew that I was guilty, as did Don, however, my attack may have eliminated most, if not all of the Futa leadership in Vegas, so maybe I would be let off with only a mild sentence.

My only real concern was Rainbow Dash. Although she did keep her distance, she still continued to be a bother. She stayed close to the train, as did the other members of the Elements of Harmony, however, while her friends stayed close to the center and rear of the train, close to the now heavily armored PCC, Dash stayed between the Secondary Crew's bunk car, the two coal cars, the water tank-car, and of course, the engine. Mostly the engine though!

"Dash, will you please leave?"

"Why Stud? I'm not doing anything wrong. And I'm not in a restricted area, so why do I have to leave?"

"Because, you're being an annoying, immature little shit who's just trying to catch me with my guard down!" I thought to myself. Out loud, I said, "Because the enemy attack could come at any time. You need to take cover."

Dash merely yawned a bit. "Yeah, I'll go take cover. That crew car behind the second coal car sure seems like a nice place to do that!"

Dash then raced to the bunk car. I knew off the top of my head that my room was locked up tight, as was the SCC, so what real harm could Dash do in there? I decided to brush it off, and I went back to work.

That night though, the moon was full, although there were a few clouds in the sky as well. There was a sense of foreboding in the air. We all could feel it. Something big was about to happen, however, like before, we didn't know where, or when.

"Is everything in place Commander Freda?"

"Affirmative General. My forces are ready to storm into town, and our joint force is ready to come in behind us. What about you?"

"My forces are at the edges of the woods now. We don't think that we've been spotted yet, but we could be wrong. Just be ready to launch the attack when I give the signal."

"Sure thing General, but what is the signal?"

"A bunch of orange flares will burst in the sky above the town. That's you cue to start the attack."

"Ok then General, awaiting your signal."

"Standby. Launching in 10 seconds, 9.....8....." The fuses were lit. "7.....6.....5....." The fuses were burning low. "4....3.....2...." The flares were airborne. "1!!!!" The flares then burst. "THAT'S THE SIGNAL, NOW CHARGE!!!!!"

"THERE'S THE SIGNAL BOYS, NOW LET'S GO!!!!!"

They all then charged towards our defensive positions.

I was sitting on top of the coal tender when everything hit the fan. I was staring off into space, when all of a sudden, I saw a series of orange flares burst in the sky above Ponyville. I checked my watch. The time was close to 1:30am.

"Huh? Now what's that all about? Those flares didn't come from us, and I don't think that they came from Ponyville itself, so that must mean......" I froze. "IT'S AN ENEMY SIGNAL TO ATTACK!!!!"

Luckily for me, I was able to grab my com radio in record time, and radio Don. He both sounded General Quarters, and alerted the Equestrian Forces, who sounded the air-raid alarms, and manned their battle stations. We were all in for the fight of our lives post-Vegas, and we were sure going to make it count!

Freda slammed a hand over his face. "Oh great! Now they know that we're here! Now what do we do?!"

Stuggs thought fast. "We press the attack now! Hit them before they have the chance to fully mobilize their forces!"

With these commands, both Caribou and Zebra rushed from their hiding places, and came to do battle for Ponyville.

"I need our gunship and our drones in the air now!" Don shouted. "I need eyes in the sky, as well as some extra guns!"

"Sir, yes Sir!"

The 7 men of the gunship raced to the special gunship car at the back of the train, while the drone operators got to work in their Drone Command Car (DCC).

Meanwhile, the rest of us got all of the guns and missiles online, got the engine ready to move the train in case we had to provide firepower from multiple angles. Everything was ready, and soon enough, the enemy was spotted.

"Sir, enemy troops coming in at our 9 o'clock! We're also receiving reports from the Equestrians that the enemy is also attacking from 6 o'clock, and 3 o'clock!"

"Quickly, get our searchlights on them! We need more lights in this battle!'

"Yes Sir!"

The spotlight-floodlights on the train were quickly turned on, and pointed towards the enemy troops. Sure enough, unlike the last time, we were being attacked by a main enemy force. These troops were also more heavily armed and armored than the scouting force from earlier.

"They're heading for the train! Don't let them reach it!"

"Yes Sir! All available guns, open fire now!"

That was all it took. In the blink of an eye, our many guns quickly opened fire on the enemy. Some fell, but others took cover behind rocks and other natural cover that Dothan's force failed to take advantage of earlier.

"Sir, we're receiving reports that Zebra troops have been spotted racing towards Ponyville on the main road! The troops stationed there are requesting reinforcements!"

"Do we have eyes on this force?"

"Yes Sir, we've got our Reaper's eyes on them right now! Should we send them a little 'hello'?"

Don smirked. "Sure. Let's show them how we say 'hello' to our enemies! Fire at will DO!" (Drone Operator)

"Yes Sir!"

Two missiles were quickly launched from the drone in question, and the results were amazing.

"WOO! At least 12 enemy soldiers dead, with a further maybe 30 injured. However, they're still coming!"

Don was about to reply to this, but then another report came of enemy activity from the Eastern side of Ponyville. Enemy soldiers had built their own bridges, and were quickly making use of them to cross the river there.

"Dammit! 1st 16in. guns?"

"Yes Sir?"

"It seems that we've got some uninvited guests using home-made bridges to cross the river on Ponyville's East side. Is there anything that you can do about that?"

"Major, just send us the coordinates, and we'll blow those suckers straight into the Afterlife! And by 'Afterlife’, I mean Hell!"

The coordinates were given by a drone pilot.

"Coordinates received. It'll take at least 3 volleys, but we'll get the job done!"

The 16in. guns then opened fire on the bridges, which were located over a mile away. The enemy soldiers crossing didn't even know what hit them. One minute they were crossing the bridges that they'd built, and the next there was a huge explosion, and then they were in a red river, filled with blood, body parts, and mangled corpses. They now had to swim across the river, which, given that they were wearing heavy armor and equipment, was extremely hard.

"Boo-Yah!!! Bridges down Major! The enemy are in the river! Bodies and blood everywhere. However, they are still trying to swim across."

"I'm well aware of this. This is why I'm sending in our gunship to take care of any survivors, as well as the force coming in on the main roads! Gunship, light them up!"

"Sir, yes Sir!"

And with that, the gunship unleashed Hell from above. Our gunship had the best elements of an Apache, C-130 Specter, and an A-10, all rolled together into one craft. It could deliver devastating fire from the skies, and this weapon was now being unleashed on an enemy that didn't know how to deal with attacks from the air.

General Stuggs was starting to get a little bit worried. The enemy was able to hold their own against his and Freda's combined forces, and were beginning to whittle them down. They had suffered close to 250+ casualties already, while the enemy had suffered fewer than 20; all of them Pony.

"Sir, the Humans have weapons that we've never seen before! They're tearing us to pieces! Most of our bridges are down, and the others are burning!"

"They have a metal flying craft that's absolutely bristling with guns! It just keeps shooting and shooting without end!"

"We're close to only 20 yards from the train now Sir, but we are sustaining casualties! What do we do?!"

Stuggs was at a loss. His brilliant plan was falling to pieces all around him. A sudden, *BOOM!!!!* jerked him out of his thoughts. "Hey, what was that?!"

"Sir, they've just fired one of their big guns at us! Part of my force was just flat out LEVELED!!!! We need to fall back to the woods! The train is too powerful!"

"Hang on, I'll have our artillery fire on it!"

The artillery did open fire, but to Stuggs’s utter shock, he saw the shells impact, but they either failed to explode, bounced off the train, or did seemingly very little damage.

"Oh, was that your best shot F@#ktards? Let me show you ours!"

With that, our 1st railguns opened fire on their artillery cannons after a drone had confirmed their position. The guns were knocked out, but by this time we were taking losses. The Zebras kept shooting some kind of magic-energy blasts at our drones, which seemed to short out their internal systems, causing them to crash. They also tried doing the same on our gunship. The gunship was more heavily armored than the drones were, but the pilot did have to swerve to avoid getting hit.

Eventually though, the gunship was out of ammo, and had to return to the train to reload. It was in this moment that the enemy saw their chance. With the gunship now gone, a combined force of Zebras and Caribou, under the command of Commander Freda, managed to overwhelm a firing line of Royal Guards protecting Ponyville, and get inside.

"That's it boys! Now Ponyville is ours!"

They all kept coming in faster than we could shoot them. Heck, even my team, Firing Line 2, had to pack up and fall back! I checked my watch as we fell back. 2:45am. "Damn", I muttered, "This is gonna be a LONG night!"

For the next several hours, the battle raged. The enemy was literally all around us. Surprisingly, this was a good thing.

"This is great! They're all around us, so now we can shoot them from all directions without missing!"

And shoot them we did. Once we'd reached the steps of Town Hall, we set up another firing line, and this time, backed up with another machine gun that someone brought from Iron Glory, we made our stand.

"That's it boys!" I yelled as I fired my shotgun, "We hold this entire town square! Nothing gets past us! We've lost most of our drones, and the gunship was damaged in an artillery attack, so we've got to hold our ground here!"

A little bit earlier, a group of both Caribou and Zebra broke through the train's defenses when a machine gun jammed, and in that one blind spot, 17 enemies attacked! A few were stopped, but several actually boarded the train! They got in close to the officer's quarters, only about 4 cars way from the rear 2 16in guns, and 6 cars from the rear 2 railguns!

"Ha ha ha!!! Now this war-train is OURS!!!! Fan out! Find the crew, and secure those weapons! Silence them all, and then get to the engine!"

"Yes Sir!"

"Oh, you won't be going anywhere Deer-Boys!"

The enemy turned to look, and there in the dimly-lit hallway stood Jim.

"Oh yeah, and who's gonna stop us Old Man, you?" They all started laughing.

Jim shrugged. "Well, I might not, but my Luger sure will!" He then opened fire on them. In short order, 5 Caribou and 3 Zebras were dead, and the rest were trying to flee further into the train. Jim sounded the alarm, and when the Caribou tried to reach the rear railguns, they were treated to a free case of death-inducing lead poisoning!

"Yeah! 11 down, only 6 more to go!"

These last 6 Zebras managed to get to the roof of the train. They intended to get to the engine, but they never got past the machine gun located on the roof of that very same car!

"All enemies neutralized Jim!"

"Excellent work boys! We're really showing them that they picked the wrong train to mess with! Keep this up, and they'll soon run out of soldiers to send us!"

"Sir, yes Sir!"

Back at Town Hall, we had the enemy beginning to retreat. They couldn't keep standing against us, and their numbers were really withering.

"Fall back, fall back!" Freda screamed. "We've lost the town square!"

They all then fell back, and once we'd been reinforced by the Royal Guards, as well as more soldiers from Battalion 4009, we began to push after them.

Also during this time, parts of Ponyville were on fire because of the battle. Local fire brigades were everywhere they could be, but they were outnumbered. Outnumbered that is, until members of the Battleship Express's damage control team who had firefighting experience came to lend a helping hand. Together, they all kept the fires at bay while the battle continued to rage.

Finally, by almost 5:30am, it was all over. The Battle of Ponyville was over. Thanks to the team efforts of both the Equestrian Army, and the Battleship Express and Battalion 4009, plus the contributions from Iron Glory of both troops and supplies, the good guys carried the day! Ponyville was still standing, (somewhat, as maybe 12-15% of the town did burn) and the enemy troops were defeated.

On our side, 19 Battalion 4009 soldiers were dead, and 67 were wounded. 11 train crew were also wounded. The Royal Guards lost 33 of their finest, and 89 were wounded. There were also 5 civilian casualties, and a further 11 civilians were wounded. Ponyville was also damaged, but still standing. 7 drones were downed, our gunship was damaged, as was the train itself, but these losses were minor, and repairable.

For the enemy, the battle was the fiasco to end fiascoes. General Stuggs started out with 1,200 soldiers. Now, 1,100+ were dead or missing, and almost all others were injured in some way. The rest, including Sergeant Dothan, Ambassador Dyl, Ambassador Corlia, and even Stuggs himself were taken prisoner, maybe 45 in total. (Commander Freda was killed in an attempted Kamikaze attack on the train. He tried to destroy the engine, but in a strange twist of fate, tripped on a dead body, fell on the lit explosives that he was carrying, and blew himself up!)

This battle was a severe loss to the Imperial Alliance, but it was not yet the end of the world. They still had many other assets at their disposal, but the loss was still damaging nevertheless. They had lost both Stuggs and Freda, two of their finest officers. For the Caribou, Colonel Rodin was promoted to replace him, and for the Zebras, Commander Dath took Freda's place, and his harem!

By the time the sun was fully up, all of us were absolutely, utterly exhausted. Give or take an hour or two, we of the Battleship Express had been awake for almost 50 hours, with the last time we slept being the night before The Battle for Vegas. When I finally reached my cabin again, I was practically asleep. Once I was inside, I shut the door, closed the blinds, used the bathroom, removed my uniform, helped Aurora remove her battle armor, and then I collapsed into my bed, which, completely unknown to me, was already occupied, and not by Aurora!

Author's Note

Holy crap!!! This was a MASSIVE Chapter, wasn't it?! So much happened. Our first battle against the Imperial Alliance was fought, first blood was drawn, and then the Battle for Ponyville, which ended in an Equestrian victory! What'll happen to those that were taken prisoner? How will their replacements fare in filling their shoes? How will Danin and Zakia react when they hear the news from Ponyville? Where and when will the next battle take place? And, who was already in my bed? My cabin was locked up tight the previous night before the Battle of Ponyville. Was it Rainbow Dash, and if so, how did she get in? Well, as always, the only way to find out, is to keep reading!

Also, I would have had this chapter up last night, but alas, I was more tired than I realized, and I fell asleep before i could finish it! Nevertheless, here it is now, so now I can get to work on Chapter 7!

And, as always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 7!

ScarFox out for now, ALL ABOARD!!!!!

Chapter 7: Recovery, Future Plans

Later on that day after the battle, at maybe close to 1pm, the rest of the crew in the Secondary Crew Bunk Car, Alex, Todd, Fred, and Andy, suddenly became aware of loud shouting and screaming coming from my room. Alex and Fred were sleeping, Todd was eating, and Andy was listening to music. They all came scrambling when they heard my screams, and they heard what sounded like me arguing very loudly with somebody.

"Out! OUT, OUT, OUT, GET OUT OF MY ROOM!!!!" I screamed. My door then opened, and a cyan blue mare with a rainbow colored mane and tail was suddenly thrown out into the hallway!

"AND STAY OUT!!!!" I then slammed the door, and seemingly jammed a chair under the knob.

It was then that the others realized that the mare was my admirer, Rainbow Dash, and that she was naked!

"Oh gosh!"

They all averted their eyes, and either looked away, or like Todd and Andy, just straight up left.

Dash then got up, and began to pound on my door. "HEY, WAIT A MINUTE!!!! I'M STILL NAKED!!!! GIVE ME MY CLOTHES BACK!!!!"

My door then opened, some clothes got tossed out, and then the door slammed again. Alex and Fred then heard the sounds of what sounded like me crying.

"Shit, shit, shit!!!!" Dash muttered as she pulled her clothes back on again.

Once she was done, she suddenly seemed to notice me crying.

"Hey, what's wrong Stud? Are you ok?"

"GO AWAY!!!! I.....I don't want to talk right now! Plus, you have Spitfire as a marefriend! Go.......bother her for a while!"

Dash had had enough. I kept constantly pushing her away, and Dash could tell that I liked her, so I shouldn't be pushing her away. Dash decided that it was high time that she knew why.

"Ok, first of all, I didn't really mean that when I said that. I was just trying to scare you. Secondly though, what is wrong with you Stud? Why are you so hostile to me? Why do you seem to keep shutting everypony out? What are you so afraid of?"

"LOSS!!!!!” I finally screamed at the absolute top of my lungs. "I PUSH EVERYONE AWAY, BECAUSE I CAN'T STAND TO LOSE ANYONE AGAIN!!!!!" I then kept moved away from the door, but I continued to cry very loudly. Dash kept trying to talk to me, but I never answered her.

She turned to look down the hallway, but by that point, both Alex and Fred had fled. (They knew by that point that whenever I became emotionally combustible like that, I needed to defuse by myself, and I could potentially hurt anyone who tried to intervene.)

Dash knew that she would have to ask someone else for the answers that she do desperately sought.

"If he won't tell me, then I guess I'll go find the one person on this train who hopefully can!"

Dash then made herself presentable, and went to go see Major Don.

In the Common Room, Alex and Fred were in shock.

"Gosh Fred. What.........what in the hell just HAPPENED out there?"

Fred shrugged. "I dunno Alex. However, if I had to guess, Miss Dash wanted to get "up close and personal" with Leopard, and I guess he didn't want any of it. I guess that she got naked, he woke up, saw her, flipped out, and threw her out of his room."

"Yeah, but how did she even get in there? Leopard always locks his door."

"Yeah, but I think that the lock to his room may be broken. I think that it was damaged during the Battle of Phoenix, but I'm not sure." Fred then put a hand over his face. "This is all my fault. She asked me where his room was and I told her. If I'd know that this was going to happen, I never would have told her!"

Alex stared at Fred in shock. However, he knew that Fred had meant no harm, and had most likely not even remembered about the door lock being broken until just then.

"I just hope that Leopard'll be ok. Remember, he did try to commit suicide after Lilly died, and when he thought that Jim was dead, he launched a nuclear attack! Now, I'm afraid that he'll snap completely."

Fred was maybe going to reply to that, but he didn't know what to say, so he didn't say anything.

A few minutes later, there came a knock on Major Don's office door.

"Who is it?"

"Um, my name is Rainbow Dash. May I come in please? I wanted to talk to you."

"Yeah, I guess so. Come on in."

Dash opened the door, and found herself inside a small office. There was a desk, several filing cabinets, a computer, a mini fridge, and a few cabinets. There were also maps, charts, and other office supplies and equipment. Major Don was sitting at the desk, writing on a document in front of him.

He looked up at her. "Eh, you can take a seat if you want."

She sat down on a chair, and pulled it a little bit closer to the desk.

"So, what can I do for you Miss Dash, although, if this turns into a question/answer session involving Captain Leopard, I really don't want to hear about it."

Dash looked down at the floor. Finally, she took a deep breath, and looked back up at the Major. "Well Sir, I guess that this would be considered a question/answer session, but not in the way that you would think! The truth is, I'm actually worried for Captain Leopard."

Don looked at her suspiciously. "What do you mean by 'worried'?"

"I mean, why does he shut everypony out? What is his deal? Why does it seem like he hates everypony?"

When Don heard that, his face turned rather pale, and he sat back in his chair. "Who told you about this?" He asked at last.

Dash then told him about what happened earlier, excluding of course the little details, like that she was naked in my room for example!

Don buried his face into his hands. "Miss Dash, please close the door. What I'm about to tell you, is for your ears alone."

Dash got the feeling that what the Major was about to tell her was not going to be good. Nevertheless though, she wanted answers, so she did what Don wanted.

Once the door was closed, Dash sat back down. "Why did I have to do that Major Don?"

"Because, what I’m about to tell you will change not only how you see Captain Leopard, but the rest of us as well. And I'm only going to tell you this, if you solemnly swear to keep this to yourself, and never tell another living soul. Do you understand?"

Dash nodded. "Yeah, but what happens if I do tell somepony else?"

In response, Don reached under his desk, and pulled out an M1911. He cocked it, and set it on the desk in front of him. "Do you really want to know, or do you get the picture?"

Dash's eyes got really wide. "Yep, clear as glass! I won't tell anypony!"

"Good." Don then took the gun, uncocked it, and put it back under his desk where he found it. "Now then, as I was saying, what I'm about to tell you is some pretty serious stuff. The truth is, I really don't know much about Captain Leopard at all. Heck, I don't even know what his real name is. However, from what I have pieced together over the years, I think forms a fairly complete puzzle of his life. He was born in the year 2005 in Iowa. He was adopted, and lived with his family. Then, in 2016, a violent domestic skirmish known as the "Forgotten War", happened. It engulfed America for about a year, Leopard had something to do with it, and the Americans won. After that though, came WW3...." Don then explained WW3, and how I was promoted to a sergeant, and led my soldiers to victory.

"After that though, he was promoted to lieutenant, and then WW4 happened. This is a topic I'm not comfortable talking about, at all, so I will leave details intentionally blank. During WW4, Leopard was one of many selected for 'Project Sterling ', which was supposed to turn humans into Human-Wolf Super-Soldiers. Unfortunately though, the project went horribly wrong. Instead of full super-soldiers, people like Leopard, or 'Scar', as he was known as back then, became like they are today, Humans, but with wolf-like features, including ears, tails, eyes that can see in almost total darkness, and having full wolf features from the waist down, including legs, paws with claws, and even.....um,...w-wolf genitals."

Dash was shocked. She wanted to know more, but Don didn't want to talk about it. Instead, he skipped through WW4, and WW5. After that, he explained the first part of WW6.

"Scar was now a captain, and was promoted to help lead Firestorm Battalion, which was stationed in Sue Falls, South Dakota. Long story short, the battalion was wiped out at the war's end, with Leopard, and our Second Brakeman, Todd Davis, being the only survivors. They were all held in a 'Futa Care Center' until they had recovered, and were sold to a Futa mistress. From what I heard, Leopard's first Mistress was so horrible. She abused him and her other slaves mercilessly, and kept them working on her ranch in North Dakota. Finally, the authorities intervened, and Scar was sent to a care and rehabilitation unit until he could recover, and be adopted again, only this time, there would be a much more intense vetting process."

Don went on to explain that I was actually adopted by Demetria herself, and was taken to live in Vegas. (The story that I told to Alex and Todd was at least loosely based in fact, but I made up a LOT of the details!)

"He worked as a sort of janitor, cleaning the Imperial palace. Little known to everyone else though, Demetria had adopted him as a sort of 'son/pet'. It was her who affectionately gave him the nickname 'Leopard', thanks to the dark patches of fur on his back, resembling leopard spots. For nearly a year, he lived with her, and was seemingly very happy. However, his joy was not to last. Less than a year before the Cold War ended, there was an attempted coup. Demetria's forces prevailed, but Leopard was captured, and sold to a ranch in Kansas."

Don then explained in a nutshell the events leading up to the creation of the Battleship Express, and most of the events in WW6, leading up to the battle of Vegas, including Lilly's death. "Lilly was his third wife. He adored her, and she was his whole world. She was the only real 'family' that he had left. After her death, Leopard lost his mind. After a failed suicide attempt, and an attempt by a Futa agent to blow up the Big Boy, which injured him further, Leopard started wearing that Kitsune mask, which was his wedding gift to him from Lilly. He wears it to remember her by. That's why he shuts the world out Dash. His mind is now so fragile, he cannot tolerate anymore loss. This is why he pushes everyone away. If they die, it could be the end of the last of his sanity. However, that's where I need you you step in."

"Um, how do I do that Sir?"

"Well, for starters, you've already done something that none of us ever could; you actually got through to him! I was beginning to think that Leopard couldn't feel any emotions besides anger, sadness, hate, and loneliness anymore, but when I saw you with him up on that pillbox, I could tell that you were getting through to him! He only pushed you away because if he were to lose you, it would be the end of him. I think that he actually does like you, but he doesn't show it. That's what he meant when he called himself a 'Tsundere'. He meant that he was stone cold at first, but if you could navigate the hazardous labyrinth to his heart, and he genuinely loved and trusted you, then he would love you to the absolute bitter end no matter what. Human-wolves like him have most of the mental attributes of wolves as well, including loyalty. Wolves mate for life, and he would love you to the bitter end, as that's just his nature."

"Ok, but how do I step in? I'm still slightly confused."

"Oh yeah, right. Sorry, I do tend to ramble a bit. Anyway, it's not really healthy for him to just have Aurora as a companion, he needs another female in his life. Because of his past experiences, he doesn't really trust anyone outside of his brothers in arms. He, like all of us, has PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, commonly known as 'Shell Shock'. It's pushing him to the absolute breaking point. If he doesn't experience love again soon like what he felt with Lilly, then I'm afraid that he'll completely shut down, and that'll be the end of him. Captain Leopard will be gone forever, replaced by a dead shell. Everything will still be functioning, but he'll have no personality, no emotions, no feelings, no will to live, nothing. You have to get through to him Dash, before it's too late."

It was then that Dash realized just how critical her interactions with me were. She was my last hope of ever living a normal life again. If she couldn't reach me, then nobody ever would be able to.

"I'll try my best, Major Don. I'll do whatever I can to try and reach him."

Don nodded. "I know that you will Dash. A bit later on today, I'll draw you up an enlistment form, so that you can join the Battleship Express as a crew member, so as to be closer to him."

"Wait. You mean, I'll actually be able to join the Battleship Express?!"

"Yes, that is of course, if you are allowed to. Aren't you a Wonderbolt?"

"Yes, but I think that because of the war at hand, I would be able to switch services."

Don nodded. "Ok then, I guess that I could draw you up an enlistment form."

Dash scrunched her face up. "So awesome!"

She then thanked Major Don, before leaving his office to check in with Twilight and the others.

Meanwhile outside of the train, some of the crew and soldiers who were able were operating our tractors, bulldozers, and loaders to help clear away the rubble of the battle, while others were assisting with the repair work on damaged buildings, and filling in holes in the roads, and surrounding area. Still others, all of them highly-trained technicians, were using special scanning equipment, and were scanning around, hunting for undetonated ordnance.

"Undetonated ordnance is the most dangerous thing post-battle.” One of the technicians said later. “So many people have died from land-mines, missiles, shells, grenades, torpedoes, and other dud ammunition that can explode without warning!”

So far, they had found 11 shells, 4 grenades, and 2 missiles that had failed to explode. (We didn't use landmines, and no bombs were dropped.) By the end of the day, 2 more shells, and some dropped bullets would be found, before the battlefield had the "BORS (Battlefield Ordnance Removal Squad) Stamp of Approval”.

The cleanup and repair work was going remarkably well. So well in fact, that even Princess Luna was impressed. "I commend you Humans. With your tools, and your abilities, the cleanup of Ponyville is going much faster than I believed it would."

The leader of the cleanup crew, Lt. Miles Bolton, nodded. "Thank you Princess. However, this is just routine for us now. After every battle, after everything was secure, our first job was to find all of the undetonated ordnance, and dispose of it safely. After that, we would always break out the tractors, bulldozers, loaders, and even excavators, and start cleaning up the mess, as well as restore utilities like power, water, internet, phone services, and gas. It would often take days, and we would almost always be called away for the next battle before the job was complete, however, if it hadn't been for our extreme emphasis on cleaning up the battlefields, most of the American cities that we liberated would most likely still be uninhabitable today due to the rubble, and undetonated ordnance."

Luna was very surprised. "They talk about this like it's normal!", She thought. Then she thought back to the conversations that she, her sister, and her niece had had with Don and I the previous day. "I guess that for them, this IS normal. They're trying to build a better future for others, at great cost to themselves."

Luna continued to watch as the work progressed.

Later on that day, after I'd fully recomposed myself, I took a shower, cleaned up my uniform, put it back on, re-made my bed, fed Aurora, and then put my Kitsune mask back on.

"The name's Mask. Fox-Mask!" I said, laughing a little at my pun.

Then, after putting a leash on Aurora, I went to attend a meeting with Don, Jim, and other officers. When I arrived at the Tertiary Command Center at the back of the train, (which since it had never really been used at all had been partially converted into space for a large meeting) I saw Don, Jim, 1st engineer Joe Dixon, all of the weapons officers, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadence, General Shining Armor, as well as the Elements of Harmony. We all took our seats, and Don stepped up to the podium at the front of the room. (I also stayed on the opposite side of the room from Rainbow Dash!)

"Good afternoon everyone, and 'everypony' as you would say, and I would like to welcome you all to this meeting. I know that we have a lot to cover, so I will try to keep this brief. First of all, Princess Celestia, I know that I said before that we would not be allowed to intervene unless we were directly threatened. However, the events of both last night, and the previous afternoon, have changed all of that. With confirmation given by interrogated prisoners, we now know that yes, the Battleship Express is now a factor in the enemy's war plan."

There was some murmuring in the room.

"According to one 'General Stuggs', the plan was to capture our train, kill the officers, and take everyone else prisoner. The train would then be stripped, and everything would be examined, so that the technology could be replicated, and possibly even mass-produced!"

Now there were angry shouts. Jim had to shout to restore order.

"Anyway, as I was saying, now that we have been directly threatened, by the power vested in all of us officers in charge of the Battleship Express as given to us by our superiors, I now push that we join this war on the side of Equestria, and fight to destroy the Imperial Alliance!"

Now there were cheers.

"However! It must still be put to a vote! In a case of declaring war, the vote MUST be unanimous!"

Ballots were then passed around to all of the Battleship Express officers who were present. One by one, we all went to the table up front next to the podium, wrote out our vote, and then cast it. Once everyone had voted, we all took our seats again, and the mayor of Ponyville, Mayor Mare, and Lt. Daryl Meers of Iron Glory, since they were considered a 3rd party, counted up all of the votes, not once, not twice, but 3 times, before coming to a conclusion, writing it down on another form, folding the form up, and handing it to Don before taking their seats again.

Once the room was quiet, Don spoke again. "As I'm sure that all of you know, our future lies with how we've voted today. If we voted for war, then we must be prepared to deal with the consequences, same as if we voted against the war. And now, as I'm sure you've all been waiting for, the results of the voting."

The room was so quiet that the only sounds that could be heard were the buzzing of the overhead lights, and breathing. Don then took the form, and unfolded it. He could read the entire form, except for a flap at the bottom that covered the final results.

He then took a deep breath. "Ok, here we go. By the power vested in us as officers of the RWD, in all authority given to us by our superiors, the President of the United States, and by God Himself, we have voted today, by a margin of 75-0....." Don then lifted the flap.

".....TO DECLARE WAR ON THE IMPERIAL ALLIANCE!!!!!!"

The room erupted into applause and cheering so loud that it not only rattled the windows, but also shook the entire train car!

"So what this means Princesses", Don shouted over the din, "Is that we stand with you in this war, and are willing to do whatever it takes to make the Caribou and Zebras surrender!"

"That's great Major, but don't you all need to sign a declaration of war first?!"

"Yes!" Don then motioned to Jim, and he used a siren to get the noise level down. Once everyone and everypony had quieted down again, Don took a deep breath. "However, now that we have voted to declare war, we all need to sign a declaration of war. With help from the Princesses, and from Jim and those responsible for keeping official documents and records on the train, we have done just that, and drawn up a declaration."

One of the archival officers in question then brought the declaration forwards to the table at the front. First, Don signed it, then Jim, and then the officer. Then, one by one, the rest of us came up, and signed the declaration as well.

"Once we have all signed this, we will keep the original, however, the Princesses have agreed to use their magic to create two additional copies, perfect duplicates of the original, that will be sent to both King Danin of the Caribou Empire, and Overlord Zakia of the Zebra Empire. This declaration makes our position very clear to them. They will either surrender, disarm themselves, and leave Equestrian territory forever, or they will be MADE to do so. As it also states, we are willing and able to use any and all force necessary to get the job done. We will never back down, and we will never surrender!"

When it came my turn to sign the declaration, I picked up the pen provided, and signed my name. As I was turning to go back to my seat, I saw Rainbow Dash give me a thumbs up, as well as smile and wink at me. "Gosh, she's really weird", I thought. I then took my seat again.

Once the declaration was fully signed, and the two copies had been made, Don looked to the back of the room. "Bring in the selected prisoners!"

We were all shocked. "Wait, prisoners? What prisoners?"

Then, from the back of the room, 4 figures were dragged into the meeting room. All 4 were chained, and under heavy guard, and all of their weapons and armor were gone. To my shock, I recognized all of them. The two Caribou were General Stuggs and Sergeant Dothan, and the two Zebras were Ambassador Corlia, and a Zebra corporal named Stevia!

"Bring them up here!"

The prisoners were dragged up to Don's podium.

"What are you gonna do to us Kid?" Stuggs sneered. "Kill us?"

Don gave him a look to kill. Then, in a cold voice, completely devoid of emotion, he said, "No, I'm not going to kill you, I'm going to do something much, much worse."

Now Stuggs wasn't smirking anymore. "And what's that, Major?"

"I'm going to let you live! I mean, after all, SOMEBODY'S going to have to deliver these war declarations to King Danin and Overlord Zakia! Any volunteers?"

The prisoners all knew what that meant. They had failed in their duties, and failure meant death. For the Caribou, Danin had already told them that if they failed again, they would face a fate worse than death. Couple in bringing a most likely vulgar and rude war declaration from the enemy? Spending an eternity burning in Tartarus would be like a picnic compared to what Danin would do to them! For the Zebras, they knew that their best shot was having their harems taken away, and then being slowly skinned alive, then having their muscles peeled off, and then having their vital organs removed, until at last they died. Couple a war declaration from the enemy to that? Their minds didn't even dare think about what would result from that.

"NO, PLEASE!!!! ANYTHING BUT THAT!!!!! PLEASE DON'T SEND US BACK TO OUR MASTERS!!!!"

Don however wasn't listening. "Roll up the declarations, and bind them to General Stuggs, and Ambassador Corlia! Make sure that they cannot reach them!"

"Yes Sir!"

Stuggs and Corlia were then seized, and in addition to already being chained to the point of immobility, now had the declarations attached to the backs of their necks as well. Dothan and Stevia could do nothing, as they were also chained up to the point of immobility as well.

"Now, bring me the other two!"

"Yes Sir!"

Dothan and Stevia were then brought forwards. Don held up two more rolled documents. "Oh, did you really think that you two were off the hook that easily? These right here are letters that I've written to your leaders, telling them EXACTLY what I think of them, and their ways of doing things! I've used the worst, most graphic words and phrases that I could think of to describe your DESPICABLE and BARBARIC cultures! Now you will bring these to your leaders as well!"

As they were held down and had the documents tied to them as well, I couldn't help but absolutely marvel at Don's savageness.

"He's really gone and done it now!" I thought. "You'd have to not only have balls of pure steel to do what he's doing, but you'd also have to be ABSOLUTELY certain of a victory, because if you failed, then the enemy would do things to you that would defy the imagination!"

Once everything was ready, Don looked back over the room. "Ok Princesses, and Twilight, now that these filth are all strapped to their 'special mail', are you ready to help me return them to sender?"

The princesses all smirked. "Oh yes, Major Don. My sister and I, as well as my niece and faithful student, have been waiting for this day for a long, long time!"

Don nodded. "Excellent!"

The prisoners were then carried outside, and placed on the ground. Dothan and Stuggs were placed together, as were Corlia and Stevia. It was decided that Celestia and Twilight would send the Caribou to Danin, while Luna and Cadence would send the Zebras to Zakia.

Just before they could do so though, Don had another idea. "Wait! Here's a thought, what if we switched this up a little?"

Twilight looked at him. "Huh? What do you mean Don?"

"I mean, what if we sent the Zebras to Danin, and the Caribou to Zakia? Of course, we'd have to switch the letters carried by Dothan and Stevia in order for them to get to where they need to be, but would that be doable?"

Twilight smirked darkly at him. "Oh, I like the way that you think Don! Let's do it!"

"NO, PLEASE DON'T DO THIS!!!! I WAS JUST A SOLDIER!!! WE ALL WERE!!!! WE WERE JUST FOLLOWING ORDERS!!!!"

Don looked at them. "I would believe you General Stuggs, however, when we raided your forward hq, we recovered maps and documents drawn up by you yourself, revealing your true plans. So no, I have to do this. However, look at it this way, Maybe Zakia will show you mercy, or maybe he won't, it's all up to him. Same with you two Zebras being sent to Danin. Maybe he'll be wanting Stuggs and Dothan back so that he can torture them himself, so maybe he'll be willing to trade you for his Caribou!"

The prisoners continued to plea, but their blubbering fell on deaf ears.

With the approval from the other two princesses, and as the rest of us watched from the train, the letters were switched, and once everything was all set, using their magic, and with the prisoners still screaming about how they DIDN'T want to be sent to the other's overlord, in a blinding flash of white light, the two groups were sent on their way via teleportation.

"So what do you think'll happen now Don?" Jim asked him.

Don shook his head. "Honestly, I don't know Jim. However, I do know that we did more than just stir up a hornet's nest today. That's why we have to win this war now, we just have to! If we fail, God save us all! After the declarations, as well as what I said in those letters, facing Death will be the least of our concerns!"

We all agreed to that, and while some left to return to their duty stations, the rest of us all met back inside the Tertiary Command Center, both to discuss further plans for the war, and to await a reply from our enemies.

Author's Note

Whew! I just set a new record, two chapters in one day? Wow! So, now that Battalion 4009 has joined the Equestrians in declaring war on the Imperial Alliance, how will the war go? Will they be able to make a difference, and if so, how long will the war last? Also, what about the prisoners? How will Danin and Zakia react to getting EACH OTHERS'S prisoners? And how will they react to not only the war declarations, but also the letters? Well, you know the drill, you have to keep reading to find out!

Meanwhile, as always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all again in Chapter 8!

ScarFox out for now!

Chapter 8: Enemy Plans, Final Preparations

Teleportation. The fastest way in Equestria to get from point A to point B. And for our prisoners, even though their trips were instantaneous, it was the longest moment of their entire lives. For half an instant, all 4 of them were together. Then, beginning the other half, they were suddenly split up, and sent to their destinations.

The first to arrive by a hairsbreadth were Corlia and Stevia. All of a sudden, they found themselves lying on their backs on the cold hard ground inside what appeared to be a large fortress. The flag of the Caribou Empire was also visible on the wall that they could see.

"What is the meaning of this?!" A harsh voice asked.

"They look like Zebra warriors My King!"

"But why are they tied up?"

"Bring them to me." The harsh voice said.

The two Zebras were then grabbed by their chains, and dragged over to the base of a throne. Their chains were then cut to allow them to stand, although they were still being held under guard. The two then looked up, and to their horror, they found themselves looking up at King Danin, the leader of the Caribou Empire. He was dressed in his grey battle mail, and dark pants with boots. On his chest was a metal breastplate, and on his head was a grey crown. He also did not look too happy to see the two Zebras either.

"Now then, who are you, why are you here, and more importantly, HOW did you get here?! Talk fast, and do not lie!"

"I am Ambassador Corlia of the Zebra Empire. This is one of my fellow warriors, Corporal Stevia. We fought in the Battle of Ponyville, but were ultimately captured, and interrogated."

"But how did you get here?!"

"One of the Human officers, The Kid, ordered us tied up, and then had the Diarch Whores teleport us to you. We would have been sent back to Overlord Zakia, but thanks to The Kid's cruel sense of humor, he decided to have us sent to you."

For the longest time, Danin just stared at the two intruders. They had no weapons or armor, and were chained up. As Danin was contemplating what to do, one of the Caribou guards noticed something.

"Hey, what's that tied to your necks? It looks like two documents."

Both of their hearts almost stopped beating. Before they could answer, the messages were cut loose, and were read aloud.

"This document, carried by the ambassador, is a declaration of war from the Humans!"

"WHAT?!?!" All of those in the room were shocked.

"Yes. It says here that they will drive us to extinction! They will never rest until we have been destroyed, demilitarized, and rendered unable to ever conquer again! It's signed by all of their officers, and makes their intentions quite clear. They've sided with the Equestrians against us!"

Danin's reaction was unreadable by anyone. "And, what of the other document?"

"Um, this one appears to be a letter addressed to you, written by a 'Major Don Curry'. He must be the Human's leader."

The letter was handed to Danin, who tore it open, and read it. As he read, he became angrier and angrier. Finally, he became so volatile that he actually began throwing all kinds of weapons at those in the room, even his own soldiers!

"HOW, DARE THIS HUMAN ABOMINATION DARE TO CALL ME THESE THINGS!?!?!?! CALLING ME A WARMONGER, AND ALL CARIBOU A DISEASE; THE SCUM OF THE EARTH?!?!" He then turned his wrath to the Zebras. "AND HOW DARE YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO BRING ME THESE THINGS!?!?! FILTHY, COCK-HUNGRY, SLUTTY FAGGOTS!!!!!!"

"My King!!!" One of his officers screamed over Danin's rage, "I do not believe that the Zebras brought these messages willingly!!!!! They were tied to the backs of their necks, and they were completely chained up, unable to move!!!! Plus, there is no way that they could have teleported themselves in here! They were simply being used as vessels to deliver the human's garbage!!!!"

This did at least somewhat serve to calm Danin down. He sat back down on his throne, but he continued to keep fidgeting with a dagger.

"So, these Humans have decided to side with the Equestrians have they? Well then, so be it! They shall be utterly destroyed! General Rodin?!"

"Yes Sir?"

"Begin making the preparations for an assault on Las Pegasus immediately! Those puny Appaloosa and Dodge City are too small of fish. We must capture a major city!"

Rodin saluted. "As you have willed it, My King, it shall be done!"

However, before Rodin could act, he was interrupted. Suddenly, Danin's communicator came to life, and a hologram of Overlord Zakia appeared. And he did not look too happy either.

"King Danin, Lord of the Caribou?"

"What do you want Zakia?"

"OVERLORD Zakia, if you don't mind! However, we received some very, shall we say, 'unexpected postage'!"

"Oh, and what did you receive?"

Zakia then turned his device until the holograms of two tied up Caribou officers appeared.

"General Stuggs?!" Danin was shocked. "I thought that you were captured!"

"Please forgive me, My King, for I have failed you. Yes, I was captured. I was also forced to deliver a war declaration to Overlord Zakia, given to me by The Kid. He also gave Sergeant Dothan an extremely rude and vulgar letter to deliver to Overlord Zakia, telling him exactly what he thought about his culture, and way of life."

"Yes!" Zakia interrupted. "And I was also told that two of my warriors were sent to you. Is that true?"

Danin turned his device until it showed Corlia and Stevia. "Yeah, they're right here. Do you want them back?"

"Do you want your men back?"

"Actually, I do. They have failed, but yet, they have brought back Intel on the Human's war-train. The pictures and descriptions are somewhat vague, but Intel is Intel, so yes, I would like them back."

"Just as I would like my people back as well. They have also sent me Intel of the Human's methods of warfare."

Danin agreed to this, and the prisoners were then taken to a rendezvous point, exchanged, and then sent back to their proper overlords. Once that was complete, the two leaders spoke again.

"Do we have any means of contacting the Humans?"

Danin shrugged. "I do not know, why?"

"Because, don't you think that it's high time that WE declared war on THEM?! I mean, after all of the things that they said to us, isn't it time that we returned the favor?"

Danin nodded. "Yes, you are right Overlord Zakia, it is high time that we showed those mental freak-shows what's what! General Rodin?"

"Um, yes Sir?"

"Can you patch us through to the Humans?"

Rodin looked worried. "I........um, d-don't know Sir. Magical communication is one thing, but the Humans seem to only use technology. Getting into their systems may prove to be an extreme challenge. However, I will try to send out a signal."

Rodin then walked over to a set of what looked to be old radio equipment, but there were also several crystals attached to the apparatus as well. Rodin then flicked a few switches, and turned the device on.

"Transmitting on an open frequency Sir. Awaiting a reply."

The hailing signals continued to be sent out, and the wait for a reply continued.

After the Zebras and Caribou had been sent on their way, most of the crowd dispersed to head back to their stations. The lone exceptions were myself, Don, Jim, Joe, Celestia, Luna, and General Shining. We stayed in the command center a while longer to discuss cooperation terms between our armed forces. Suddenly though, we were interrupted by DELCI.

"Master, Boss!"

"Huh? What is it DELCI? What's wrong?"

"I'm picking up a series of hailing signals, and their origin is from the Caribou Empire! Their signals are glitchy, and somewhat sporadic, but they mean that the enemy is trying to contact us!"

With that, the entire room went silent.

"What?! The enemy is trying to contact us?!"

Don looked worried. "Most likely, this is because of our war declaration, and of course my letters."

"And what do we do Don?" Jim asked.

Don sighed. "Captain Leopard?"

"Yes Sir?"

"Work your magic with DELCI. See if the two of you can patch those signals through to us on our secured channel."

I nodded. "Yes Sir. And would you want video, or just audio?"

"Video would be nice, if that's possible."

"Oh, it should be possible Boss. My Master and I should be able to hijack their signal, and force it through our secured channel. If they want to talk to us, then they're going to get to!"

While the others waited in front of the computer consoles used for live video calls, DELCI and I got to work. After tinkering around for a bit, we managed to "grab" the signals, (which was difficult due to their being magical, instead of standard waves like what we were used to) and force them into our secure channel.

"Anything yet General?"

The general shrugged. "Um, I don't know Sir. I keep thinking that something connects to our signal, but it always goes away as soon as I try and see what it is."

The General then flipped on his hologram projector, and that seemed to have an effect. "Sir, I think that I've got something!"

"What, what do you have?"

A look of concern crossed Rodin's face. "Um, it looks like....." He never got a chance to finish that thought. Before he could, everything suddenly went haywire! The whole screen and sound speakers glitched out and went to static, before the screen went black for a few moments. Then, a picture of a wolf's head appeared on the screen.

"Har, har, har, har!" It seemingly laughed in a rather mechanical voice. "Did you fools really think that it was going to be that easy? Well, fortunately for you, the higher ups are very interested in meeting you. Here they are now!"

The screen then went to a video feed, and those in that room, as well as Zakia and his advisers, all saw a desk, with several Humans sitting at it. They all stared into the camera, unblinking, and with no facial expressions.

"I recognize all of those Humans from the reports from General Stuggs! It's The Kid, Scary Old Guy, Fox-Face, and, um, um.....The Apprentice!" (Don, Jim, me, and Joe.)

Don nodded. "Quite correct. Now then, now that we can see all of you, where are King Danin, and Overlord Zakia?"

They both stepped forwards.

"I'm King Danin, ruler of the Caribou Empire!"

"And I'm Overlord Zakia, ruler of the Zebra Empire!"

"And I am Major Don Curry, commanding officer of the Battleship Express, aka, the war train that all of you fear so much. Now then, now that we have the formalities out of the way, why are you reaching out to us? Do you wish to surrender?"

"You will wish!", Danin sneered. "Zakia and I received your little 'mail shipments'. I must say, you all must REALLY be wanting to die such horrible deaths for DARING to defy us in such a manner!"

"That was our declaration of war. Also, the letters were not meant to be offensive, but rather, describe how I feel about both of your societies. You thrive on slavery and oppression! I've read all about you, and we interrogated your soldiers. You sure love to rape and conquer don't you? Well then, let me be the first to tell you, your little raid on Ponyville was your high-water mark. You will NEVER reach that far North ever again! Soon, you will all be sent scurrying back to the filthy rat-holes that you all came from!"

"That's right!" I added. "And your females will be set free, and will be taught how to create better lives for themselves. No longer will they live behind the mask of 'Male Rule'!"

Zakia looked at me. "So says the freak wearing a mask himself! Why do you even wear that thing?! Take if off sucker, you don't even need it!"

"You really want me to remove it? Because if I do, you're not gonna like what you see."

"Oh yeah? How can it be that bad? You're just so self conscious that you....." I then grabbed my mask, and slid it upwards onto my head, revealing my face in all of it's burnt, battle-damaged glory. "OH GODS!!! IT'S AWFUL!!!! PUT THAT MASK BACK ON, AND DON'T TAKE IT OFF AGAIN!!!!!"

I smirked, and complied. "As you wish!"

Once I was done putting my mask back into place, Danin spoke up again. "You Humans think that you're so clever! Humiliating us, and sending us, as you call it, 'hate mail', but I'm here today to tell you that you're in some seriously hot water now! As of this moment, the Imperial Alliance has declared war on the 'Battleship Express', as you call it, in addition to Equestria. They will burn, and you with them!"

Now it was Jim's turn to speak. "Not if we have anything to say about it! During the battle for Ponyville, did you REALLY think that we were throwing everything that we had at you? HELL NO!!!! What you saw was MAYBE 30-40% of what we're fully capable of! Our train has single-handedly taken on entire armies and won! This is a war that we didn't want, but it is a war that we are now involved with, and will see through to the end, no matter what the cost."

"The cost will be your lives!" Zakia yelled. "And once you have fallen, your train, and all of its weapons will be ours!"

"Oh really, you striped-ass newspaper lookin' motherf@#ker?" Joe added. "I would think not! If the worst happened, and our train was captured, we would initiate the self-destruct sequence, blowing us all straight into the Afterlife!"

"No, we would stop you before that happened."

"Oh really, and how would you do that, oh deranged Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer lookin-ass! You look like you couldn't make the cut for a new Narnia movie!"

"SILENCE!!!!" Danin yelled. "You shut your mouth right now Boy, before I send a force to Ponyville to shut it for you! Now then, we will be open for further communications if you wish to surrender. In the meantime though, prepare your asses and throats, for they will be so VERY sore when we're done with them!"

"Oh really? That's exactly what I said to your wife last night!" Joe yelled just as the call was terminated.

"Vicious, deplorable little punk!" Danin roared after the call ended. "They want a war so badly? Well, they're about to get one! General Stuggs?"

"Um, y-yes Sir?"

"I'm first demoting you to colonel. Then, I'm putting you in charge of capturing both Appleoosa, and Dodge City. If you prove yourself worthy with that task, then I will have you reinstated as a general. If you fail me again though........well.......let's just hope that doesn't happen, shall we?"

"Yes, My King. Thank you, My King!" Stuggs then left with Dothan to go prepare a plan of attack.

"General Rodin?"

"Yes Sir?"

"You may now begin your preparations for your attack on Las Pegasus. I want that done as soon as possible, just in case Colonel Stuggs runs into any more 'difficulties'."

"Yes Sir! I'll go draw up a plan right away!" Rodin then left to do just that.

Back on the train, while Joe was still bragging about his "amazing" roasting skills, Don, Jim, and I were talking to Celestia.

"So that's pretty much the story now Princess. They've declared war on us as well, and are most likely preparing for a strike again."

Celestia nodded gravely. "You're right Major. This is why we need to strike before we can be struck again!"

Don nodded. "Yes, however, there is another problem that we need to discuss."

"Which is what?"

"Well, thanks to your supplies, we will have plenty of coal and water for our Big Boy, but that leaves something even more critical, ammunition. We still have plenty on the train, and Iron Glory has plenty of it for us as well, but what happens when those supplies run out? Our train will be useless!"

Now Celestia was concerned. "Yes, this is a serious problem Major. What kind of ammunition do you need?"

"Well, we're going to need machine gun bullets, 9mm bullets, mortar rounds, 16in shells, powder bags for them, railgun shells....." Don's list went on for a while.

When he finally finished, Celestia just stared at him. "Um, yes, that could be something of a problem. We don't really have anything like that."

Jim looked at her. "If we were to provide you with schematics for everything though, would you be able to make them?"

"I don't know. How complicated is your ammunition to build?"

"Surprisingly, it's actually very much simplified. This was done to make mass production much easier." Jim then picked up a set of schematics for a 16in. shell, and showed them to her. "See?"

Celestia looked at the blueprints. "Yes", She said slowly, "Yes! I think that this would be doable! Everything is listed right here in the schematics, and it's all so simplified! Copies need to be made of these, and then sent to our primary munition production plants in Manehattan, and Van Hoover. They should be able to make the ammunition that you require!"

Don nodded. "Yes, I certainly hope that they will be. And thank you Princess for helping us with this."

"Don't thank me Major. If anything, WE should all be thanking YOU! If you hadn't intervened, I shudder to think of what might have happened in Ponyville."

"Well, thank you, and you still have our thanks, and I don't want to think about what could have happened in Ponyville either. I just thank God that he spared us, and sent us here so that we could help you."

"As do I Major, as do I."

The meetings lasted a little while longer, and then they finally ended for the time being.

Once I was back outside, I walked over to the station platform.

"Um, excuse me", I asked the closest pony who worked at the station, "Do you know where I could find a newspaper?"

He looked up at me. "Yeah, they would normally be some for sale in the bin to your right, but unfortunately, we're sold out today. However, I'm done reading the paper, so you can use mine if you want."

I nodded. "Sure, thank you Sir."

He handed me the paper. "You're welcome."

I saw that the paper was the Ponyville Times. I also saw that right smack-dab on the front page was a picture of Big Boy 4009.

"Massive war-train crewed by Humans from Earth shows up in Ponyville!"

I sat down on a bench on the platform, and began to read. The article was all about the train, and the role that it had played in the defense of Ponyville. As I was reading though, I suddenly saw something out of the corner of my eye.

"Huh? What's that?"

I looked up, and sure enough, I saw Rarity standing by the Big Boy. At first, I couldn't tell what she was doing, but then I saw that she was holding a tape measure.

"Huh? What's she doing?" I continued to watch her.

I saw her walk to between the two set of drive wheels, all the while trying to avoid the jets of water and steam that were periodically released from the engine.

"Vicious brute!" I heard her mutter. "Why did the Americans have to build you for such a drab, and dreary purpose of hauling freight Big Boy? Why couldn't you have been made for pulling passengers? And your colors are all wrong! All of this black and gray! OH! It simply will NEVER do! That does it, you're getting a makeover!"

"Is she.....talking to the engine? And what did she mean, 'you're getting a makeover'?" I had a bad feeling, but I continued to watch anyway.

She began to write in a notebook. "First of all, all of your, eh, 'military hardware', needs to go! No more guns, no more spiked front plow, no thick, bullet-proof glass! Next, your number. You are not '4009', you are '4025', as Captain Leopard himself said! Next, you're going to need a new shape. Cutting out one set of drive wheels, as well as one of the back wheels, and shortening your boiler should bring you down to a 4-8-2 configuration. Next, your railroad name. You're not a part of the 'Union Pacific' anymore, you are now an Equestrian Railway engine! And your color. No more black or gray! Pink is all the rage right now, so I will paint you pink!"

I was in a state of shock. If I had just heard Rarity correctly, she had every intent of taking a priceless American treasure, an American Big Boy Locomotive, 4009, puller of the Battleship Express, strip her of all of her military hardware, cut out one set of drive wheels and one back wheel, shorten the boiler, get rid of the "Union Pacific" logos on the engine and tender, and paint the train pink!

"She CANNOT be serious! That engine is the property of the RWD! A military asset! She wouldn't DARE touch it without our consent!"

Assume nothing, I repeat, assume nothing! As I continued to watch, to my absolute horror, from a cart that she had pulled with her to the station, Rarity pulled out a can of pink paint, grabbed a brush, dipped it into the paint, and was bringing the brush up to the right rear cylinder of the second set of drive wheels!

"STOP!!!!!!" I screamed, throwing aside my paper, and running over to the engine, "GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF MY ENGINE RIGHT NOW!!!!!"

Rarity was so startled by my outburst that she dropped the paint can that she'd been holding! Luckily, when it hit the ground, it simply fell over, and the paint spilled onto the ground, instead of being put onto the Big Boy.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK THAT YOU'RE DOING!?!?!"

"Well, before you ruined my paint, I was about to give your engine a makeover!"

"SHE DOESN'T NEED A MAKEOVER!!!! Big Boy 4009 is perfect just the way that she is! She wouldn't be pulling the Battleship Express if she wasn't the way that she is now!"

"Well, I just meant to..."

"And this engine is the property of the RWD! It's NOT yours! DO NOT EVER touch my engine again! She will remain the way that she is, from now, until the end of her existence!"

Rarity sighed. "Yes, you are right Captain Leopard. I shouldn't have been so bold. It's just that, your engine looked so dirty, so ugly, so....so...."

"Black, gray, and utilitarian?"

"Yes! Exactly! However, if this is the engine that helped to win WW6 just the way that she is now, who am I to touch her? She's a great American engine."

I smiled. "Well, I'm glad that we're on the same page now Miss Rarity. Feel free to look all you want, but no touching!"

"Yes, no touching! However, why would I work on an engine, when my biggest challenge ever is standing right in front of me?"

I was confused. "Huh? What does that mean?"

She smirked. "I mean you Darling! You need a makeover! Your uniform is old and worn, your hair needs to be changed color, and that mask! No, no no! That simply will not do!"

I got that message loud and clear. "WHAT?!?! NO!!! YOU STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!!" I then took off running down the length of the train, with Rarity in hot pursuit.

"HELP!!! RARITY'S TRYING TO GIVE ME A MAKEOVER!!!! HELP ME!!!"

However, instead of actually trying to help their fellow soldier, most of the train's crew were content to let Rarity give me a makeover, or were laughing at my misfortune.

"LOOK OUT BELOW STUD!!!!" A mare's voice yelled.

"Whoa, what?!?!"

A cyan blur landed on the ground in front of me. To my shock, it was Rainbow Dash!

"DASH, HELP ME!!! RARITY'S TRYING TO GIVE ME A MAKEOVER!!!!"

Dash then grabbed my arm. "Hold on tight Stud!"

"Huh? Why do I have to hold on......???? GAAAHHHH!!!!!!!" Dash then took off, and dragged me into the sky after her! She flew for a bit, before pausing over a cloud, and then letting go of me.

"AAAAHHHHH!!!!" I screamed as I fell to what I thought was going to be my death, but instead, I landed on the cloud, and came to a stop! "OOOFFFF!!!" I landed face down, and it felt like I was lying on a really squishy bed.

"Wait....what? How....How is this even possible?! How am I sitting on a cloud?!" I then fully sat up.

"You're able to do this Stud, cuz you're now at least part Pegasus, just like me. You can fly, and even walk on clouds!" I looked over, and Dash had landed on the cloud as well. She sat facing me, and I sat facing her. I saw that she was wearing a blue tank-top, and black shorts.

"Wow, um, t-thanks Dash, for saving me....I mean, it's not like I needed your help! I could have gotten away from Rarity on my own!"

Dash smirked. "Yeah, I'm sure that you could Stud, but I just wanted to help you out! And I also wanted to say, I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For what happened earlier today. I shouldn't have been in your room. I also shouldn't have been naked, or in bed with you. After thinking it over, I realized that I needed to come an apologize to you."

"Darn right about that!"

"So, do you accept my apology?"

I had to think about that. Finally, I said, "Well, that's the thing Dash. I want to, but.......I just........never mind. It's not worth diving into right now. Not that you would even listen anyway! But yeah, I do forgive you, I guess."

"*squee!* Thanks Stud! You're the best!" She then jumped forwards, and hugged me.

"Gah! No physical contact, no physical contact!" However, I only made a half-hearted effort to push Dash away from me. "No hugs! I DO NOT do physical contact!" ("Man, I'm so glad that I'm wearing this Kitsune mask. The last thing I need is Dash seeing me blushing right now!" I thought.)

Dash pouted. "Hmph! All I was trying to do was say that I was sorry! You didn't have to be so mean!"

Before I could answer though, she changed the subject. "Hey Stud?"

"What Dash?"

"Have you learned how to fly yet?"

I looked at my back. Sure enough, my gray wings were still there. Ever since we had all discovered our new abilities, most, if not all of us had endeavored to use them. Some called it Magic, but Don and Jim had a different theory. At one point, all of us had been a part of "Project Sterling" during WW4, which would have created 3 types of Human-Wolf Super-Soldiers; Flyers, or those with wings who could fly, Psychics, who could teleport, and use their mind to move objects, and SS, or Super-Strength, Super-Endurance. Oddly enough, I was a Flyer, as was Don, and others. The project had failed, but now, had it finally succeeded?

I sighed. "No, I haven't flown yet. In fact, I don't think that any of us with wings have. Some of the guys with magic have figured out how to use their abilities, and the ones with super strength don't need any training, but I don't think that any of us have flown yet."

She looked at me with her soft magenta eyes. "How badly do you want to be the first human to fly?"

That did it, I was now in total conflict with myself. Part of me said "Yes, do this! It's time that you started taking control of your life again, doing things, and actually trusting people again! Rainbow Dash is you WAIFU!!!! SHE'S REAL!!! Don't lose her now!" The other part said, "No, this is a bad idea! The status quo is working just fine. All you need is your brothers in arms. Plus, remember what Dash did in your bed earlier? That could easily happen again! Don't do this!"

Even though I was wearing my mask, Dash could tell that I had an inner conflict going on inside me. "So I really am getting to him! I may be close to bringing down his walls. He seems to be close to a tipping point!" To sweeten the deal, Dash added, "I was talking to Major Don a bit earlier today before the meeting. He gave me an enlistment form to sign, so that I could become a crew member of the Battleship Express!"

That did it. The shift happened, and I took control of my life.

I sighed. "Ok Dash, you win. Let's make history!"

"*Squee!* That's so great Stud! Just follow me!" She walked over to the edge of the cloud.

I followed her, and when I was close to the edge, I was really taken aback by the view. We were maybe 4,000 feet or so off of the ground, and I could see the Battleship Express down on the tracks below us.

"Wow. What an amazing view! You can see everything from up here, even the train! So how do we do this, how do I learn how to fly?"

"Um, well, flight isn't really something that you 'learn', it's kinda just something that just......happens. You already know how to do it, you just need that part of your brain to kick into gear."

"Oh? And how does that happen?" (The fact that I had no idea what was about to happen when it was so blatantly obvious is so painful, I really DO NOT want to think about it!)

"Well, I'll do to you, what my parents did to me. Ever heard of 'fly or die'? It's kinda like that."

"Yeah, NO, WAIT, WHAT?!?!?!"

"Bye now!" Dash then spanked me with her wings, and the impact caused me to lose my balance, and fall off of the cloud!

"AAAAHHHH!!!!" I screamed as I fell. Dash then took off herself, and flew down after me to check my progress.

I could hear the wind screaming past me as I continued to fall. I could tell that if I fell onto the train, then I would most likely flatten one of the ammunition cars! Suddenly however, something in my head came online.

"Just put your arms out in front of you, and flap your wings, in long, slow strokes." A voice in my head said, "Up, and down, up, and down. That's how flight works."

I decided that I really didn't have any other options, so I decided to do what the voice told me to do. I then put my arms out in front of me, and then flapped my wings in long, slow strokes. Suddenly, I felt myself slowing down. I got slower and slower, until finally, I actually came to what felt like a complete stop.

I then opened my eyes, and to my shock, I. Was. FLYING!!!! Yes, flying, as in "I just defied all of the known Laws of Physics" flying! The wind was blowing through my hair and furry ears, my tail was flowing behind me, and I was too stunned to say anything. Eventually, I was able to stop mid-flight, and just hover for a while.

As I was flapping in place, Dash flew up next to me. "Wow Stud, you really are a natural-born flyer, just like me! You flew, and you didn't die!"

In response, I didn't say anything, but I did pull Dash into a hug. "T-thanks". I whispered. I then would have kissed her on the cheek, but because I was still wearing the mask, Dash's "kiss" came from the mask's fox muzzle. "Thanks for, everything.......NO!" I then pulled away from Dash. "I mean, sure, you helped me to become the first Human to fly, but......i-it's not like I like you....or anything! I-idiot! Anyway, I have to go back to the train, but......" I then mumbled something.

"What was that Stud? I didn't hear hear you."

"I......said,....." I mumbled again.

"Still can't hear you. You're mumbling again."

"I said, if you.....want to, maybe.....eat dinner with me later.......then you're welcome to..... Anyway, bye!" I then took off fast, and flew downwards, towards the train.

Dash was shocked, and filled with joy. "I knew it! He really does like me! He's just still at war with himself over it! I've almost gotten inside! First he hugged me after he INSISTED that he hated physical contact, and then he tried to kiss me! It's such a shame that that kiss was thwarted by his mask. Oh well, maybe next time!"

Dash then flew back towards the train as well. "Soon Stud", she smirked to herself, "Very, very, soon."

Author's Note

Well, that was Chapter 8. So now both Danin and Zakia have declared war on the Battleship Express, and have vowed to wipe them out. Meanwhile, they've also made plans to take down Appaloosa, Dodge Junction, and even Las Pegasus! What's going to happen with that? Where will the next battle take place? What about those companies in Manehattan and Vanhoover? Will they be able to make more ammunition for us? And if they do, will it work properly? And what'll happen with my relationship with Rainbow Dash? Well, you know the drill, keep reading and I'll tell you!

Meanwhile, as always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 9, which will set up another major battle!

ScarFox out for now!

(Also, I haven't really seen any new comments for a little while now. I really enjoy reading them, answering your questions, and sending replies back. I know that so many of you read this story, so could you guys maybe send some more comments/questions my way please? I would really appreciate it.)

Chapter 9: Back into Battle, Lots of Blood, a Little Surprise (Part 1)

Once I reached the train again, I landed next to it, and walked up to the cab. I climbed inside, and I saw Alex and Todd keeping the engine in "Fireplace Mode."

"Hey guys."

"Oh, hey Captain. Well, you still look the same, so I take it that you were able to escape from Rarity?"

"Um, yeah. With a little help from Rainbow Dash, who not only showed me that I can walk on clouds, but I can also fly!"

They both stared at me in absolute shock.

"You cannot fly!"

"Yes, I can."

"No you can't!"

I took flight, and hovered a bit in the cab. "Can and did Alex!"

Alex could only stare at me in shock. "I could have figured as much." He muttered. "I can move stuff with my mind, Todd has increased strength and endurance, and I guess that you can fly. 3 types of people, and now all of us are one of those 3 types."

I nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. Say, I didn't see Rarity anywhere. What happened to her?"

Alex smirked. "Actually, after she couldn't capture you, she actually turned her attention back to the Big Boy, and tried to give her a makeover again."

"Uh oh. What happened?"

"Well, that's the funny part. You stopped Rarity the first time, but the second time, 4009 herself rebelled against having a makeover!"

"Huh? How so?"

"Well, Rarity was trying to paint the rear left cylinder, but she was standing too close to it. Just before she could start painting, the cylinder suddenly released a cloud of waste steam, which got her all wet and dirty! She ran off crying, and bitchin' about how her dress was ruined!"

I couldn't help but smirk a bit. "Heh. I guess that it kinda serves her right. She was messing with private property, and I guess that she reaped what she sowed. Waste steam though, I hope that she didn't get scalded or anything."

Todd shrugged. "I doubt it. The waste steam was already close to being fully cool. It was more water than steam."

I nodded. "Yeah, I guess." I turned to leave the cab again, but for some odd reason, I turned around again. "Hey guys?"

"Yeah?"

"Um, this is probably going to sound like a really weird question, but um......are there.....um......any mares that you guys find attractive?"

They both stared at me. "Why do you want to know?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. I guess because I keep hearing the back-and-forth debate about whether or not we could marry one of the Ponies if we so chose. I guess that I wanted to know you guys's take on it."

Alex nodded. "Yeah, I actually do like a mare. That one orange mare who always wears that cowboy hat, Applejack."

"As do I", Todd added. "Fluttershy and I sure seem to be making connections. We're both introverted, and we both like animals."

"And what about you Leopard? Do you like a mare?"

I didn't like where that conversation was going. "Um, I'd....really not talk about that right now......it's complicated."

"Got a case of the hots for Rainbow Dash?" Alex teased.

"Wh-what? N-no I don't. Idiot! She just likes me, I don't like her back!"

"You sure about that Leopard? Cuz I'm pretty sure that you're blushing behind that mask right now!"

(I of course was, but I was not about to show that!) "I'm not! We're not compatible! It'll never work!"

"Sure, sure, I totally believe you!"

"Hey, lay off of him Alex! This is a sensitive topic for him. Remember, his last love-interest, Lilly, died. Maybe he's not ready to fall back in love again."

"Thank God for Todd", I thought. Out loud, I said, "Yeah, what Todd said."

I then left the engine's cab again, heading towards the back of the train, with Alex still trying to convince me that I did indeed have a crush on Rainbow Dash, (which I did!) but I wasn't listening.

Once I reached the very back of the train, I climbed up onto the roof of the work caboose, and just sat there.

"Hey Stud, do ya want some company?"

I turned, startled a bit. When I saw that it was just Dash, I relaxed a bit. "Oh, hey Dash. And sure, I guess."

Dash nodded, and then sat down on the roof facing me.

"I don't get it Stud, if your post is always close to the engine, why are you way back here?"

I sighed. "I actually come back here a lot. I often climb up here to think, or when I want to be alone. It's my sort of 'quiet place', if you will."

"Yeah, I supposed that I could have guessed that. You seem like the kind of guy who likes to spend a lot of time alone."

"Well, you're right about that. One of my other human-wolf traits was being something of a 'lone wolf'."

"Yeah, I know what that feels like. I kinda like to spend time alone too. Not everypony understands me the best. Some just find it odd that I'm such a tomboy, even at my age."

I looked up at her. "How old are you actually, if you don't mind my asking?"

"I'm 23. How old are you?"

"I'm 24. 24 1/2 if you want to get technical."

"Huh, so that only puts us about a year apart."

I nodded. "Yeah, I guess that it does."

I then looked at my watch. "Oh, look at the time, it's almost 6:30! I'm due for a meeting with Don, Jim, the Princesses, General Armor, and a few other officers very soon!"

I began to get up to climb back down.

"Wait, another meeting? What about?"

"Tomorrow morning, I'm pretty sure that we're pulling out for Las Pegasus. Tonight's meeting is all about setting up our final plan for attack."

Dash's eyes got rather wide. "What? Already? And can I come to the meeting with you?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, as I don't know if you were invited to the meeting or not. Most likely you weren't, however, the plan will be revealed to everypony later on, but you're welcome to come along to the Tertiary Command Center where the meeting's being held if you want."

Dash nodded, and then we both left for the TCC, which was a few cars ahead of us.

When we arrived, I was ushered inside, and, to my surprise, Dash was allowed inside as well. In the center of the room, I saw Don and Jim, as well as Celestia and Luna, in addition to Shining, standing over a table, pouring over a series of maps. Don looked up when I walked in.

"Oh, hello Captain, you're just in time. We were just about to begin discussions."

I nodded. "So, what's the plan Don?"

"Well, according to our Intel from those stationed outside of the city, as well as Intel brought from a reconnaissance drone, the enemy is preparing for a massive assault on the city."

"Uh, oh, that's not good."

"It's worse than that. It's not just the Caribou and Zebras this time. According to what we found, there's also a Griffon camp, a Diamond Dog cave, and a Minotaur camp as well. All of them have sided with the Imperial Alliance."

I was shocked. "And how many enemy soldiers are we up against?"

Don shrugged. "That's the scary part Leopard, we don't know. However, from what we have been able to gather, we could be up against a force that exceeds two million."

"TWO MILLION?!?!?!" Dash cried.

Don nodded gravely. "Yes, Two million. Composed of Caribou, Zebras, Griffons, Diamond Dogs, and Minotaurs."

I had to take a few steps back. "Two million. Just like what we faced when we fought the Battle of Denver."

"Yes, just like that. However, we have another problem as well."

"Oh? And what would that be?"

Don turned to Celestia. "Can you explain it Princess?"

She nodded. "Certainly." She pointed to a section of the map. "This here is the Ghastly Gorge Bridge, and it spans the gorge for whence it was named. Unfortunately however, this bridge was recently destroyed by our forces in an attempt to keep the enemy at bay. This bridge is also the only way to Southern Equestria by rail."

"What? Are you serious?"

Celestia nodded sadly. "Yes, I'm afraid so. Work has begun on repairing the bridge, but that will take time."

"Yeah, time that Las Pegasus, Appaloosa, Dodge City, and Baltimare don't have!" Jim finished.

"Yes, I know! This was something of a severe short-sight on the part of the engineers of the Equestrian Railway, but in their defense, only one track was needed at the time, and one track was all we needed up until recently."

While Celestia was still giving her explanation, Don suddenly noticed something on the map. "Huh? Hey Princess, what's this? It sure looks like a railroad track to me." He pointed to it.

Celestia looked. "Yes, that is a rail line. The old Pegasus Mountains Branch. However, the line never opened."

"What? Why? Was it a cancelled project?"

"Surprisingly, no. All construction work was complete."

"Well, then what's wrong with the branch? Why can't we use it?"

Celestia pointed to a mountain. "It's all because of this! No-Name Grade! at 3%, it was far too steep for any of our trains to get up. In fact, the name 'No-Name Grade', is only a placeholder name. The first train over it would be able to name it. Sadly, no train has ever managed to reach even the halfway point without slipping back down. That's why the project was abandoned."

I looked at Celestia, then at Don, and then Jim. "Wait, how steep did you say that the grade was?"

"3%. One of the steepest grades in all of Equestria."

"3%, just like Sherman Hill back in Wyoming!"

Don looked at me. "Yes. You're right Leopard!" He then turned to Celestia. "Princess, we're going to take the Pegasus Mountains Branch to Las Pegasus!"

Celestia stared at him in shock. "Didn't you just hear what I said? The grade is too steep. I doubt even your locomotive, as powerful as it is, could make it over No-Name Grade."

Don smirked. "And that's where you'd be wrong Princess. The Big Boys spent all of their lives in the mountains of Wyoming and Utah back on Earth. The most famous section of their journeys was a place known as Sherman Hill, located between Laramie and Cheyenne, in Wyoming. Sherman Hill is a 3% grade, and the Big Boys made it up there with EASE! They were BUILT to do that, and pull a 3 mile-long train to boot!"

Everypony in the room gasped. A single locomotive, pulling a 3 mile-long train, up a 3% grade? It was unheard of!

"But are you sure that you can do it Major?"

"I'd be willing to bet money on it. Our war train is only 32 cars. With 4009 leading the way, 'No-Name Grade', will soon be renamed 'Sherman Hill'! Plus, what other choice do we have? We can't wait until the bridge has been repaired, as then it would be too late."

Celestia knew that he was right. "I know that you are right Major, but this is something that I would have to see to believe."

Don nodded. "I can see where you would be skeptical Princess Celestia, and I'm perfectly willing to put my money where my mouth is, and show you that I am telling the truth. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that all 216 of us would be willing to do that as well."

Celestia nodded slowly. "I want to believe you Major, but if you take that route, you're taking your train along one of the steepest rail routes in Equestria; a route that hasn't been used in almost 5 years. But yet, what other choices do we have? We need to get troops and supplies there now, as well as your train, and if we can't do that, then Las Pegasus, and the whole surrounding area falls to the Imperial Alliance. It's a big gamble, but it is one that I'm willing to let you take."

Don nodded. "Thank you, Princess. We won't let you down!"

The meeting continued for a little bit longer. We all agreed that we would be pulling out at 8am the following morning. The Battleship Express would be leading, with Iron Glory following along behind. In addition to Battalion 4009, another battalion of Royal Guards would also be traveling with us as well. General Shining would be leading the attack, with the Princesses leading everything from the rear. We all knew that we were in for a fight much bigger than Ponyville; indeed, a fight on par with a major city battle in WW6!

The next morning, we were all up with the sun. High above in her cloud house, Dash got up with the sun as well. After she got up, she got dressed, brushed her teeth, mane, and tail, ate some toast, and then began to pack her duffel bag. She packed some clothes, shoes, goggles, a few posters, as well as other vital supplies. Then, after leaving her tortoise, Tank, with Fluttershy, (who, along with Rarity, would be the only members of the Elements of Harmony remaining behind) she grabbed her bag, locked up her house, and took flight for Ponyville Station.

When she arrived there a few minutes later, she found everything abuzz with activity. Train crew were racing about, trying to get everything ready, Royal Guards and Battalion 4009 soldiers were loading up onto both Battleship Express, and Iron Glory, and a few officers, including Major Don, were busy overseeing everything. Dash also saw Twilight, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie standing close to them, each with their own bags as well.

"Hey guys."

"Oh, good morning Rainbow Dash."

"Hello Sugarcube."

"Hi Dashie!"

"Hey Rainbow Dash."

Dash looked over at the train. "So, how close are we to being ready to leave?"

Don looked at his clipboard. "Well, we're now less than 30 minutes from departure time. So far, all systems are go, and we're on target for our trip to Las Pegasus."

Twilight turned to Don. "Hey Don, where will we be on this train?"

Don looked at his clipboard again. "Well, that's the thing. You and Applejack are slated to be in the bunk car close to the Primary Command Center, while Pinkie and Rainbow Dash are slated to be in the bunk car that contains the Secondary Command Center."

"Oh. The SCC? That's where Captain Leopard's quarters are!"

Don nodded. "Quite correct Rainbow Dash. And I think that you know the reason that I put you in there. Anyway, You all should go and get yourselves settled into your rooms, as we'll be on the move before long!"

Twilight nodded. "Right away Major!"

She and Applejack went to their room, while Dash and Pinkie went to theirs.

"Wowee! This train is like, super huge! Look at all of these rooms! 'Fred Wilkins', 'Andy Shepherd', 'Alex Barkley', 'Todd Davis', 'Secondary Command Center', 'Crew Common Room', 'Bathroom', and 'Captain Leopard!' Ooh, ooh, ooh! And our room is right over here!"

Dash turned to look. Sure enough, there it was, my room. Dash knocked on the door. "Hey Stud, are you in there?"

There was no answer. Dash then noticed a note on the door. "Dash, I'm up at the engine. Alex, Todd, Fred, and Andy and I are driving today."

Dash first got settled into her room, and then, made her way up to the engine. Sure enough, I was up there, helping Alex stoke up the fire.

"Hey Stud."

I looked down. "Oh, hey Dash, glad that you could make it."

"Yeah, me too. And is there any more room up there in the cab? I want to see how everything works."

"Well, normally, there wouldn't be, however, because Fred and Andy will have to man the guns on the roof, yes, there is an empty seat behind mine. Climb on up."

Dash nodded, and after grabbing the ladder, she climbed up into the cab. "Wow, I forgot how big this cab is! So many controls, how do you know how to work all of them?!"

I smiled. "Well, that would all be thanks to Jim. He trained every single member of the train's crew, so we owe it all to him."

Dash took her seat behind me, and we all kept waiting for further orders.

Sure enough, at exactly 8am, we were ready to go. Iron Glory was hooked up behind our train, all weapons were operational, everybody and everypony were all loaded up, and Don and Jim were in the PCC.

"Ok, this is the PCC. Final systems check. Everybody sound off."

One by one, each and every station sounded off.

"Ok, that's everyone. Big Boy?"

"Yes Major?"

"Cue the music!"

"Sure thing, but which tape?"

"The same track that we played the night we left Grand Central Station all of those years ago."

I nodded. "Coming right up!"

"Ok, great. Now then, let's move it out!"

"Yes Sir! Las Pegasus, or bust!"

I then pulled the whistle cord. Instead of its one-familiar baritone chime, it sounded with an eerie, Banshee-like scream.

"Sweet Celestia! Why does the whistle sound like that?!"

I got the train moving forwards before I answered that. "The whistle's sounded like that ever since it got hit a stray bullet during a training mission in November of 2026, and we've just never got around to repairing it. We thought, 'Hey, if this whistle sounds terrifying now, let's see what the enemy thinks of it!' Sure enough, the Futas found it positively terrifying. Now let's see what the Imperial Alliance thinks of it!"

Dash smirked. "Heh. I like the way that you think Stud!"

"Hmm, thanks Dash. I'll take that as a compliment."

"Leopard and Rainbow Dash, sitting in a cab, K-I-S-S......"

I then promptly smacked Alex. "S-H-U-T U-P!!!!!!" I finished for him.

Alex then went silent for the rest of the trip!

Sure enough, once we were outside of Ponyville, it was about a 3 hour trip to where the tracks split off to the Pegasus Mountain Branch. Once we reached it, I stopped the train, while Todd ran out to throw the switch for the new track. Once he did, I drove the train onto the PMB, and then he reset the switch, and climbed back onto the train.

Beyond that point, it was about another hour until we reached No-Name Grade.

"I still say that we won't make it to the top." Shining muttered. "They even tried 3 trains at once, with extra sand, and they STILL couldn't make it to the top!"

Don turned to him. "General, I wouldn't have said what I did if I wasn't absolutely sure that Big Boy could make it. I have faith in not only 4009, but also of the crew driving her. Big Boys spent their entire lives in the mountains hauling freight. They were over-designed on purpose, so as to be better able to do what they were built to do."

Shining shook his head. "I'll still believe it when I see it. However, if we do make it to the top, then you do have the honors of renaming the grade. Any ideas for that?"

"Well, like we said before, it'll be called 'Sherman Hill', as your descriptions of it sound exactly like the Sherman Hill in Wyoming."

Shining nodded. "Yeah, I guess that that makes sense."

About an hour later, we saw it up ahead.

I radioed back to the PCC. "Hey Don, I think that we're coming up on No-Name Grade. Advise on how to proceed, over."

"Well, treat it just like Sherman Hill. Give her all of the power that she needs, but not too much! General Armor has told me that the backside of this grade is almost as steep as the front. You'll need to use the multiple brake systems."

"Roger that Don. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy your ride on the Big Boy!"

Sure enough, we reached the base of the grade. Alex built up the fires a little bit more, so as to provide more steam. I opened the throttle a bit more, and sure enough, Big Boy began to make her signature noises.

"Chug, chug-chug-chug, chug, chug-chug-chug."

Slowly, bit by bit, just like back in Wyoming and Utah, our Big Boy challenged the might of No-name Grade.

"There's no way that we can make it up this grade."

"We'll make it Dash."

"No, we won't Stud!"

"Dash, we're already halfway there!"

I pointed out the window, and sure enough, we really were almost halfway to the top!

"WHAT?!?! HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE?!?!?! She's climbing this grade with EASE!!!!"

I smiled. "Well Dash, the reason is quite simple really." I then began to sing, "Up and over Sherman Pass, and the mountains of Utah, this giant locomotive, can easily climb em’ all. Over land, though green rivers, Cheyenne to Laramie, Big Boy goin’ down the tracks, is a real sight to see!"

(0:30-1:17)

"Don't you mean, 'From Ponyville to Las Pegasus'?" Todd asked.

I shrugged. "I suppose so. Oh look, here comes the top!"

Sure enough, there it was, the top of No-Name Grade. 4009 had climbed the entire 3% grade without stopping, while pulling 32 fully-loaded cars, and the fully loaded 12 car Iron Glory!

When we reached the top, Shining and the others were beside themselves.

"HOW?!?!?! How did this engine do it?!"

"Just as I said General, she's just 4009 doing what a Big Boy was meant to do."

Shining just shook his head. "Well, like you said, no more No-Name Grade; it'll now be called Sherman Hill!"

Up in the cab, when I heard Don say over the intercom that we had just passed over 'Sherman Hill', I reached up to blow the whistle. Dash, being her usual tomboyish self, also asked to blow the whistle. I let her.

"Leopard, you know that you're gonna marry Dash one day, right?"

I turned to Alex, annoyed. "Alex, I'm going to say this now, and here, since there are witnesses, but if I EVER married Dash, I think I'd have a heart attack!"

Dash turned to me. "What?! A HEART ATTACK?! For real?! Come on Stud, life with me wouldn't be that bad! It would be amazing!"

"I still call heart attack", I muttered.

"And I still call you marrying Dash!"

"Shut up Alex, nobody was talking to you!"

"I call it too Stud!"

"Didn't ask for your input Dash!"

"I'm calling it too Master!"

"Wasn't talking to you either DELCI!"

We continued arguing about this all of the way down Sherman Hill.

Once we were on the other side, our train was switched back onto the main line, and when we rounded a bend, all of us could only gasp in shock. Let's just say, that for those of us who had seen it, it was almost impossible to tell the difference between the battleground outside of Las Pegasus, and the battlegrounds in Nevada.

"Oh gosh! This is bad. This is really, really bad!" I thought.

Off to our right, was the city of Las Pegasus. To our left, was seemingly endless miles of crisscrossed trenches. The surrounding desert landscape was torn full of holes, craters, smashed vehicles, burning puddles of something (most likely oil), and even a few traces of bodies here and there. The sky was also filled with dark smoke.

"Gosh", I knew that it was bad, but never did I think that it was 'on-par with Nevada' bad!"

All of us just stared out into the broken landscape of the edges of the Palomino Desert. Once it had most likely been at least somewhat beautiful, but now it was just scarred by battle.

When we arrived in Las Pegasus, we pulled into the railway station there, before being directed into a siding that had been specially modified to hold the train. We disembarked, and quickly began to make our preparations for the battle ahead. According to Shining, the attack on the enemy trenches was scheduled for 2pm that same day. (The time was close to 11am.) We had less than 3 hours until Armageddon.

While we were busy getting ready, our enemies were doing the same. Off somewhere in the distance, Caribou General Rodin, and Zebra Commander Tarrath were busy fortifying their positions. Their plan was to attack at 3pm, and try and storm the city.

"Our total numbers are over 3 million, My King." Rodin was telling Danin. "There's no way that we can fail now!"

"Yes, but have there been any sightings of that war train?"

"Negative Sir. According to our scouts, the main bridge to get here, Ghastly Gorge Bridge, was destroyed by the Equestrians, and has since never been rebuilt. Reports possibly indicated another railroad line, however, our research indicates that that line never opened, as the grade for it was too steep. It was abandoned 5 years ago."

"Are you certain that the train is not present?"

"As certain as I can be, My King. If they wanted the train here, then they would have had to have flown it in, which would have been impossible without us spotting it."

Danin still wasn't fully convinced, and Zakia was "too busy" with his harem to be of any help. Although there were Zebras in the battle, they were under Rodin's command, as were the Griffons, Diamond Dogs, and Minotaurs.

"Something just doesn't feel right about this General. I feel like you're walking into a trap."

Rodin shrugged. "I don't know My King. It feels ok to me. After today, Las Pegasus falls, and not long after, Appaloosa, and Dodge City."

"Yes. Next, we then focus our attention on both Baltimare, and moving our forces north again."

"As you wish, My King. I will be giving you constant updates as the battle goes along. Hopefully it should go off without a hitch."

"I would certainly hope so General, both for your sake, as well as the sake of your men."

Back in Las Pegasus, the officers were working out the plan of attack. It was decided that the Battleship Express would be placed on a track outside of the city, where she would be able to provide heavy fire power with ALL of her weapons. Battalion 4009 would serve both to defend the city, and work in the trenches with the Equestrian Army. We would also be deploying a number of our bulldozers, tractors, and loaders, which were armed with machine guns and artillery guns, and acted as sort of tanks. We'd also identified most, if not all of the enemy's positions.

Don looked over the maps. "First, we'll need to send a bunker-buster missile down into the Diamond Dogs's cave, so as to keep them down, if not outright kill them. Next, we'll need eyes on the sky. Those Griffons will be trying to attack from the air, so we'll need our radar, AA weapons, drones, as well as our gunship. We'll also have those Minotaurs to worry about. Those brutes really know how to make armor, so we'll need some missiles and artillery on their positions. For the rest of it, it's the Imperial Alliance."

We all knew how bad this was. According to the latest numbers, we could easily be up against 3 million enemy troops; our forces barely accounted for 1 million. It was 3-to-1 odds, but the good guys had the vastly superior weapons and technology. We Human-wolves were also the more experienced fighters, with a political war, 4 world wars, a Cold War, and multiple skirmishes under our belts. Plus, we had only been seen from a distance. Our melee tactics turned each of us into brutal killing machines in close-quarters combat.

Once we were all set up, we continued to wait for the word to attack. I was assigned to the armored turret on top of the SCC, as I was still banned from it directly after the battle for Vegas. Twilight, AJ, and Pinkie were in the PCC with Don and Jim, and Dash? She decided to stay with me in my turret.

No amount of convincing could get her to leave, and before anyone or anypony could get up there and drag her out, the clock struck 2pm, and the flares went up from General Shining, indicating that the battle had just begun.

Author's Note

Well, here it comes, the battle for Las Pegasus! The Equestrian Army and Battalion 4009, vs the Imperial Alliance, and their mercenaries. Who will win this fight? Will the defenders be able to protect the city, or will the Imperial Alliance carry the day? Find out in Part 2, coming later on tonight!

(Also, I appologize for this chapter, as well as the two that follow, being late. Let's just say that the days leading up to, as well as Christmas itself, were far more exhausting than I originally believed that they were going to be! At any rate though, I'm back, and ready to go!)

ALL ABOARD!!!!!

Chapter 9: Back into Battle, Lots of Blood, and a Little Surprise (part 3)

(WARNING: Implied nudity at one point towards the end of this chapter. You have been warned!!!)

A few days after the battle ended, I was sitting on the roof of the work caboose again, just trying to collect my thoughts. I knew that another battle would happen very shortly, but I just didn't know where, or when.

"Don't think too hard there Stud," A voice suddenly interrupted my thoughts. "If you do, you just might turn into an egghead like Twilight!"

I turned, and sure enough, there was Dash. "Oh, hey Dash, what's up?"

"Oh, well 2 things. First of all, I came to say thanks for saving my life in that turret. If you hadn't thought as fast as you did, we'd both probably be dead right now."

I nodded. "You're welcome Dash. And what's the other thing?"

"Oh well, um, Major Don, as well as General Shining, are splitting us all up into groups for shore leave."

I turned to her. "Wait, what? Splitting us up into groups for shore leave, what does that mean?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. Something about having somepony close to the train at all times just in case they're needed. Everyone, and everypony, was split into either Group 1, Group 2, or Group 3. From the lists, we're both a part of Group 2, which is off for tonight."

Dash then handed me a list of names of everyone who was a part of group 2. In addition to my name, I also saw Dash, Alex, Todd, Fred, Applejack, Pinkie, Twilight, and even Don.

"Huh. So I guess we're both free for tonight. Now the question is, what to do."

Dash smirked a bit. "Well, some of the guys were going to the beach. I wanted to go, so would you be willing to go with me?"

I turned to her, surprised. "What? There's a beach close by?"

"Yeah! It's a few miles from here, bordering the South Luna Ocean. I've heard that it's very beautiful, and a perfect place for couples!"

I put a hand over my mask. I could see what Dash was trying to do, and at first, I wanted to refuse, but when I heard on my coms that both Alex and Todd were going to the beach too, I relented, and agreed to go.

"*Squee!* Thanks Stud! I'll go grab my swimsuit!"

"Don't mention it." I muttered. I then left to find my own swimsuit.

"Gosh, do I even have one anymore?" I wondered as I searched my quarters.

It had been almost 5 years since I had last swum in a body of water bigger than a bathtub. I knew how to swim though, so I was at least covered there. Finally, after searching for nearly 15 minutes, I finally found my old dark blue swimsuit buried at the bottom of my closet. After taking a minute to put it on, as well as a T-shirt and old shoes, I also grabbed a towel from my bathroom, and made ready to go. I looked into the bathroom mirror just before I did. I was still wearing my Kitsune mask, and from the waist up, minus of course my wings, I looked like a human. From the waist down though, I looked like a wolf. I even had wolf legs and paws.

*Knock, knock.* "Are you ready Stud?"

I sighed. "Yeah, I'm ready."

I then went to the door, and opened it. Standing there, was Rainbow Dash, She was wearing an oversized T-shirt, and no shoes. She also had a towel draped over her shoulder.

"Well, I guess when you have hooves, you don't really need shoes." I thought.

Dash looked me over. "Seriously Stud? You're still wearing that mask? What's it going to take to get you to take it off?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. Get me in a game of Truth or Dare, and maybe, just maybe I'll pick dare."

Dash smirked. "Heh, I just might have to take you up on that offer Stud! In the meantime though, the beach awaits!"

Just before we left, I glanced at my clock. The time was 5:30pm. Once we were both out of the train, we took flight, and I followed Dash out to the beach.

When we arrived, I was very surprised. The beach was there, and it looked completely unscathed. If it wasn't for the crowd of both soldiers and Humans, I would have just assumed that it was a normal beach. The waves were rolling in from the South Luna Ocean, the sand felt soft underfoot, the sun was starting to set, it was nice and warm, and we were ready for fun.

"Wow, this is a really nice beach." I laid my towel down, and after sitting on it, I removed my shoes.

"Yeah, so let's have some fun!" I saw Dash then remove her over-sized T-shirt. Underneath, she wore a black bikini that fit her beautiful frame perfectly.

"Wow", I thought, "She's so f@#kin' hot!"

Dash did a little spin. "You like Stud?"

I nodded, but then I shook my head.

Dash smirked. "I know that you're lying Stud. I know that you think I'm f@#kin hot, am I right?"

I didn't reply, and I was still SOOOO glad that I still had my Kitsune mask to well, "mask" my blushing!

Dash then reached down, took me by my hand, and gently pulled me to my feet. Once I was standing again, she also removed my shirt. Once I was wearing just my swimsuit like her, she hugged me.

"I said, no physical contact!" I tried to push Dash away, but like before, it was only a half-hearted gesture. Over the course of the past week since I'd arrived in Equestria, I'd actually begun to grow quite fond of Dash, even though I never showed it. I did hug her back, but only for a few brief seconds.

"Aww, you really do like to hug me! You just won't stop with the whole 'tough guy' act, will you? Well, I'm kinda the same way. At times, I'm a no-nonsense tomboy, however, I am still a girl. I enjoy being a girl, hanging out with cool guys, and just doing what a girl like me likes to do!"

"Which is?"

"Have fun of course!"

I shrugged. "Well, if that's what you want, then let's have a little fun!"

The next few hours were actually a very nice experience. Dash and I played Frisbee with Alex and Todd, I helped a few of the guys build a great big sandcastle, I wound up getting buried in the sand, and I even went so far as to head to the water's edge, although I didn't swim.

"What's wrong Stud, don't you want to swim?"

I shrugged. "It's been so many years Dash; 5, if the records are to be believed. 5 years since I last swam in a body of water bigger than a bathtub."

"Well, don't you want to start swimming again? I mean, you CAN swim, right?"

"Yeah, I can swim, but....I, just....." I tried to explain it, but I couldn't. I wanted to, but something, (most likely a really bad memory of something) kept holding me back.

For some odd reason, Dash also chose not to swim for the time being as well.

By the time that the sun was setting, more and more Ponies and Humans began to leave the beach. It was starting to get late, but some stayed on a bit longer. Eventually, I found myself with Dash, Alex, Todd, Fred, Applejack, and Pinkie.

"Hey guys, who wants to play Truth or Dare?"

We all looked at Alex.

"Sure!"

"I guess so."

"Why not?"

"Awesome!"

I hesitated for a moment. I knew that there was some reason that I didn't like playing games with Alex, but I couldn't remember what it was.

"Sure, why not?"

We all then sat down on the beach in a circle. It went Alex, Applejack, Todd, Pinkie, Fred, Dash, me. Since the game was Alex's idea, he started.

"Ok, Todd, Truth or Dare."

"Um, truth."

"Ok, is it true that you have a crush on a mare?"

Todd nodded. "Yeah, Fluttershy. You know that Alex."

Alex nodded. "Ok, fair enough. Your turn Todd."

"Ok, um, Pinkie?"

"Yeah?"

"Truth or Dare?"

"Ooh, ooh! Dare!"

"Ok, um...." Todd had to think for a moment. "I dare you to um, bury Alex's leg in the sand."

"Huh?" Alex was a bit surprised. But he was a good sport, and let Pinkie bury his leg.

"Ok, now it's my turn. "Um, Dashie! Truth or Dare.?"

"Um, well, I'm feeling pretty adventurous, so dare!"

Pinkie smirked. "Ok, well I dare you to kiss Leopard!"

"What?!" I was not liking where this was going.

Dash smirked. "Sure Pinkie, where do you want me to kiss him?"

"I'd say on his Human-lips, only he has his mask in the way! He'll have to take it off first!"

"Which he definitely will NOT DO!!! My mask stays on, unless of course, somepony dares me to take it off. However, if I get dared to take it off, then Dash forfeits her turn. So basically, I either take the mask off, or Dash kisses my mask. You can't have the best of both worlds!"

Alex smirked. "Oh really? Well then, how many of you guys want Leopard to take his mask off?"

Everyone but me raised their hand.

"Hey Leopard, Dare or Dare?"

I groaned. I knew that if I didn't comply, then they would most likely try and rip my mask off, which would most likely damage it. So, against my better judgement, I agreed.

Slowly, I reached up, and after loosening the leather straps holding the mask to my face, I began to remove it. "Please remember guys, YOU asked for this! If my face is too gross for you, don't blame me!" I then finished preparing, and after taking a final deep breath, I removed my Kitsune mask.

I was fully expecting everypony to gag, or maybe eve faint, but I guess that I either underestimated my audience, or overestimated my injuries.

"So, I take it that you guys aren't so grossed out by my face?"

Using a magic spell, Alex created a sort of mirror, and I looked at myself. After pushing my hair out of my eyes, I saw my face for the first time in what felt like forever. You could still clearly see where I had been burned, and stitched back together, but overall, it wasn't as bad as I'd previously thought.

"Well, that's that I suppose, but do I really have to kiss Dash?"

Note to self: do not ask dumb questions that you are not prepared to hear the answer to!

"Yes, you have to kiss Dash, that was her dare from Pinkie!"

"Not a good time Alex!"

I was about to maybe get up to run, but before I could really do anything, Dash gently pushed me onto my back in the sand.

"Dash, come on, really?"

Dash then sat on my stomach. She licked her lips while smirking a bit at me. "Oh, I've been waiting for this, for a while now!"

She then put her hands on my shoulders, and leaned down to kiss me, but I turned my head at the last minute, and she got my neck instead.

"Ugh! Was that it?"

"Nope!"

I then felt my head get turned back facing up, and being held in place by Fred. I could also see that Alex had a camera, and was filming this.

"You know that both of you are now dead men walking, right?"

Fred nodded. "Yeah, and I don't like this any more than you do Leopard. However, a dare is a dare, and it's not really harming anyone, so do I have to hold your head, or can you just kiss Dash? I mean, she is your crush after all, isn't she?"

"Hmm, yeah, she....no! She isn't! I don't want to kiss her!" (It was also at this moment that I realized that while I was too busy looking at my reflection in Alex's mirror, Dash had actually put on blueberry flavored lipstick! I now had a dark blue kiss-mark on my neck!) "Oh Dash, that's gross! Is that lipstick?"

She giggled. "Sort of. It's kinda like a cross between lipstick, and lip-gloss. It's also blueberry flavored. Wanna taste it?"

I placed a hand over my face. "Honestly, no, no I don't. However, do I really have a choice in the matter? Tell you what, let me sit up, and I'll kiss you. This'll be our first kiss, so shouldn't it be remembered?"

Dash thought about that. "Sure, I guess so. I'll let you up, HOWEVER, if you trick me, you'll severely regret it!"

I nodded. "Yeah, I know. Karma's a bitch, I can tell you THAT from personal experience!"

Dash did let me up, and I got ready to kiss her.

"Alex, if that camera is not turned off in the next 5 seconds, so help me, I'm going to grab it from you, and throw it into the ocean! Is that clear?!"

"Yeah, fine." Alex fumbled with the camera a bit. "So you hope Leopard, so you hope!" He thought as he kept it rolling.

I then sat on the sand facing Dash with my legs out in front of me. She then sat on my lap, and after gently wrapping her legs around my hips, she wrapped her arms around me, just as I did for her. We both them leaned in, and after rubbing noses for a few seconds, Dash took the leap of faith, and actually kissed me!

For the first time in what I knew was almost forever, I felt the pressure of another girl's lips on my own, or mare's in this case. My wings also shot straight out.

"Wingboner! We've got a wingboner people!"

Dash responded by showing Alex how tall her middle finger was. I also did likewise.

For the next couple of moments, we just sat there, kissing. Eventually, Dash broke the kiss with a soft, wet smack.

"There, now that wasn't so bad, was it? I'm a good kisser, (I think!)" Dash was blushing, and biting her lower lip.

I was doing likewise.

Eventually Dash broke the silence. "Um, so you want s-some more Stud?" She whispered, "C-cuz if so, there's always more where that came from!"

I didn't say anything, but I did nod. A few moments later, we were kissing again, with both of us clearly enjoying it.

"Aww, they make such a cute couple!" Pinkie whispered.

"Ah couldn't agree more Sugarcube. It's high time that Dash found a stallion, but never did Ah ever suspect that her 'stallion' would be a Human-wolf!"

Dash kept kissing, and eventually, it began to make the others feel uncomfortable.

"Come on you guys, if you really like each other that much, get a room! Geez!"

We broke the kiss on that note, although Dash did continue to sit on my lap, with one arm, and a wing wrapped around me.

"Aww come on Alex! You're just jealous that AJ won't do that for you!"

"What?! What are you talking about?!" To prove Dash wrong, Applejack did kiss Alex, which provided just enough time for her to turn to me again.

"That was really fun Stud, and if you liked the previews, there's a lot more 'fun' that we can have later when we're alone!"

"Eh, I don't know if that's such a good idea Dash."

"Well, you may not think that it is, but if what's poking me in the butt right now is your dick, it sure does!"

"What?!" I then felt my boner poking Dash in the butt. "Shit!" I muttered.

Dash kissed my neck. "Don't be sorry Stud, I think that it's cute! It shows that you really like me. Plus, as Twilight would probably say, it's a perfectly normal reaction for a stallion to have when they see a cute mare. I take it as a compliment Stud, it shows that you really do like me!"

"Would you believe me if I said no?"

"Would you believe me if I told you that you were my brother?"

"No."

"Well then there's your answer Stud, I don't believe you!" She then giggled a bit as we got back to the game.

About an hour or so later, it was time for the last round. The sun was almost down, and if I was not mistaken, we were the last ones at the beach. Fred had just asked Alex if he'd ever had sex in public, (to which Alex admitted that he'd had!) it was now his turn to ask me.

"Ok, Leopard, last time, Truth, or Dare?"

I sighed. "Hmm, well, this is the last round, on our last bit of shore-leave, so what the heck, might as well go with Dare. I'll need something to remember this by."

Alex smirked. "Heh. Well alrighty then, have I got a good one for you! I dare you.......to take Dash skinny dipping!"

When Alex said that, I immediately remembered why I hated to play games with him; he would always try to pull a stunt like that!

"Oh, you have got to be F@#KING KIDDING ME!!!!!! There's NO WAY I'm doing that! I could get arrested! Plus, how do you even know that Dash would be willing to do that with me?"

"Um, do you really have to ask me Stud? Hell yeah I would! It sounds like this would be the first skinny-dip for both of us, and I wouldn't miss that for anything!"

I put a hand over my face. "Alex, you cheap-shooting son of a bitch."

Alex smirked. "Yeah, but you still have to do it!"

The others weren't so sure though.

"Um, are you sure that that's a good idea Alex?" Todd asked. "Aren't there laws against public indecency around here?"

"I agree with Todd." Fred put in. "I don't want anyone to get arrested."

Applejack shook her head. "Sorry to burst bubbles there guys, but we're outside of Las Pegasus. It ain't called 'City of Sin' fer nothin'! I've heard that stuff like that happens all the time. The authorities usually just look the other way."

"Yeah, but will Major Don?" Fred mumbled.

Eventually, I did agree to do it, on the condition that Alex's camera was confiscated, and everypony else stayed far away from the water, and kept watch. Once we were ready, Dash took me gently by the hand, and led me to the ocean.

"Why am I doing this?" I muttered.

"Aw, come on Stud, this'll be fun! I've never gotten to skinny-dip before!"

I shook my head. "At least Alex will be taking the full blame if this goes south."

"Yeah, so let's do it!"

"Hmm, fine."

Still holding hands, we both jumped into the ocean. (The plan was for us to get used to the water first, then remove our swimsuits, tie them around a rock I was holding, then pitch that rock up onto the beach, where AJ would come grab it to hold onto.)

"Woo! I forgot what it was like to swim in the ocean!"

"Yeah, so did I Stud!"

We paddled around a bit, and Dash was really captivated by the way that I swam. "Wow Stud, you're a really strong swimmer. You swim like an otter!"

"Wait, what? I swim.....like an otter? Is that a good thing?"

Dash giggled. "Yeah, it sure is. When you swim, you swim like an otter."

"Well, um, I guess that you.....um, swim like a swan, maybe?"

"What? Like a swan?!"

"Oops, um, b-bad analogy?"

"Nah, I like it. 'Swims like a swan', I really like that. Thanks, Otter."

"You're welcome, Swan."

after a few minutes though, the time had come. We were both so nervous, that we never took our eyes off of each other. After removing our swimsuits, I tied them around the rock, and pitched it up to AJ. I saw the others come close to the ocean as well, so as to verify our dare.

"I can't believe this Stud, our first date ever, and we're at the beach, in Las Pegasus, and we're SKINNY DIPPING!!! What more could a mare ask for on a first date?"

I shrugged. "For a tomboy like you Dashie....er, um, Dash! I guess not much!" (Way to go genius, way to go!")

Dash blushed. "Aww, you wanna call me 'Dashie'? Well, for a handsome Stud, like you, I guess that you can."

Now it was my turn to blush. "Well....um....I don't know what to say to that......T-thanks, I guess."

Dash then swam over to me, and pulled me into a hug. "Mmm, you're welcome Stud."

This time, I really tried to push Dash off. I mean, hugging on land was one thing, now we were skinny dipping, awkward, just took on a whole new meaning. Unfortunately, this time, I couldn't get Dash off! Her grip was tight, and I didn't want to accidentally hurt her. So I did what only a human-wolf with severe PTSD and anxiety issues can do, I hugged Dash back.

"Hey Dash?" I whispered.

"Yeah Stud?"

"Um, d-do you think....t-that we could maybe....do this again sometime? G-going on another date I mean."

"Sure Stud, I think that that could be arranged. I really do enjoy spending time with you."

"Just as I enjoy spending time with you." I whispered.

Dash kissed me gently on the mouth. "And that's one of the reasons why I love spending time with you. You're so sweet, even when you don't try to be."

I blushed, but I didn't say anything.

All too soon, it was time for our little adventure to end. We had both gone through with the dare, and had skinny-dipped in the ocean. AJ tossed us our swimsuits back, and once we had them on, Dash and I got out of the water, and did a quick flight to fully dry ourselves off. Then, once we were dry, we gathered our stuff, I put my shirt and shoes back on, Dash put her over-sized T-shirt back on, and then we all walked back to the train together. Alex and AJ were holding hands, Todd walked by Fred, who was also joined by Pinkie. Dash and I were at the front, and were holding hands.

"Hey Stud?"

"Yeah Dash?"

"Um, I'm going to try something. I know that you're a guy, and so you should be able to carry me."

I was a bit confused. "Huh? What now?"

Before I could really ask any further questions though, Dash was already behind me, and had climbed up onto my back!

"Whoa, whoa Dash! Careful back there!"

Dash then got settled in. After wrapping her arms around my neck, and her legs around my waist, I grabbed her legs with my arms.

I sighed. "Alright, fine, I'll carry you Dash, but only because I like you.......oh....." I didn't want to finish that sentence.

Dash however finished it for me. "Hmm, I know that you do Stud, even if you won't admit it!"

I rolled my eyes a bit, but I kept walking back to the train, while carrying Dash piggy-back, and the others followed behind, teasing me all the way about how cute Dash and I looked together. I could only suck it up, and deal with it.

"I mean, after all, this is as far as it goes, right?"

Oh, I was wrong. I was so horribly, horribly, (well, maybe not so horribly!) wrong.

Author's Note

Phew! That took WAY longer to write than I originally believed that it would! I thought that it was going to be up within the hour of the last chapter. Nope, it took a bit longer than that! But at any rate though, here it is, so I hope that you enjoy. This is the 3rd of 3 parts to Chapter 9, all covering a very interesting story arc.

If this kind of thing isn't your cup of tea, and you prefer battle scenes and the Imperial Alliance having their asses handed to them, then don't fret. Just skip over the EXPLICIT Chapter 9.5, and go straight to Chapter 10 when it gets written. That's where the action really picks up again, and the romance hits the floor for the time being. There are still a number of battles to be fought, territory to regain, and more story to tell, so stay tuned!

Meanwhile, as always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as sharing this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all again in Chapter 9.5, or Chapter 10 if you skip that!

ScarFox out for now!

Chapter 9.5: WARNING, EXPLICIT!!!!!

(WARNING!!!!! Nudity and sex ahead! If you are under 18, avert your eyes now, and skip to Chapter 10!!!)

Maybe 10 minutes or so later, we all arrived back at the train. Tertiary Crew was switching back to Primary Crew, so we of Secondary Crew were still off.

First, we saw Applejack back to her room.

"Goodnight AJ, we'll see you tomorrow!"

"Goodnight everypony!"

After her, Todd and Fred both went to their rooms, although Alex stayed to talk to Applejack a while longer. Once it was down to just me, Dash, and Pinkie, I saw them back to their room.

"Ok Dash, here it is, last stop; your room!"

She climbed off of my back. "Mmm, thanks Stud."

"You're welcome Dash."

"Goodnight Leopard!"

"Goodnight Pinkie."

Dash hugged me one more time. "Goodnight Stud."

"Goodnight Dash, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, same."

I then left Dash and Pinkie, and went two doors down to my room.

Once I got to my room, I opened the door, and went inside. After turning the lights on, I first put my Kitsune Mask on my night table, then I shut the blinds, and my next stop was the bathroom so that I could get all of the ocean water off of me. I used my favorite shampoo, Mane n' Tail, which always did the job to perfection.

Once I was done, I hung my swimsuit up to dry, put on a pair of shorts, set my alarm clock for 7:30, and then sat on my bed. At my feet, on her favorite rug, was Aurora.

"Hey girl", I said as I petted her gently.

"Mmm, hey Master."

"Having fun sleeping?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I was getting bored waiting for you to come back, so I just decided to sleep."

"Hmm, well, don't let me disturb you, I was about to go to bed myself."

Aurora nodded, and lay back down. I lay down on my own bed, and was maybe about to fall asleep, but there suddenly came a knock on the door. I looked at my clock. The time was 9:07pm.

"Huh, I wonder who that could be." I wondered. "Come in."

The door opened, and there in the doorway, stood Dash. She was still wearing her bikini, and she looked rather sleepy.

"Dash? Why are you here? Is something wrong?"

She yawned a bit. "Hey Stud, and I was wondering if I could crash in here for a while. Pinkie's snoring like a wild animal, and it's keeping me awake. I need to sleep, so can I sleep in here with you?"

I nodded, then shrugged. "S-sure, I guess so. I could sleep on the floor if you wanted the bed."

Dash came inside, and gently shut the door behind her. "Well, I guess that we could do that, but couldn't we share a bed? I mean, I don't really like sleeping by myself, and back home, I had my tortoise, Tank. However, he's with Fluttershy, and I have Pinkie, but she snores."

I looked at Dash like she was crazy. "Um, maybe you don't remember what happened the last time that we shared a bed? You know, the time where you came in here, got naked, and THEN tried to cuddle with me?"

Dash giggled a bit. "Yeah, how could I forget that?"

I shrugged. "Well, I couldn't, that's for sure!"

"Yeah, but that was then, and this is now. Plus, I'm not really naked anymore, and I just want to be here for a while, not all night."

"Dash, you're wearing a bikini. I would not call that too much of clothing really. However, if you really want to, and assuming that it'll be 'just for a little while', I guess that you could sleep in the bed, and I could lie beside you for a while."

Dash came over and hugged me. "Mmm, thanks Stud, you're the best!"

"Eh, don't mention it. That's what friends are for, right?"

"Wait, you see me as a friend?"

I nodded. "Yeah. A very close friend. I also see you as part of my 'family', since you've stuck with me, even though I've been acting like a jerk. And for a wolf, family is family to the end, but I don't really want to talk about that right now. It's pretty complicated."

Dash looked at me a bit confused, but then she smirked a bit. "So, you want me to be a part of your 'family'? What do I have to do to be a part of your 'family?"

"Eh, I think that you're really misinterpreting what I meant by that. 'Family', is just a loose term used by some of us to describe those really close to us, as many, including myself, don't have families anymore. The......wars.....saw to that..."

Dash could see that she was treading on dangerously painful territory, so she quickly changed the subject. "Hmm, well then, I'm a part of your 'family', cool!"

She then crawled into my bed, and made herself comfortable. I then climbed in after her. Once I'd gotten settled, Dash snuggled close to me, and rested her head against my shoulder. She also wrapped her arms around my chest.

"Hmm, this is so nice Stud." She whispered.

"I know, it really is, isn't it?"

Dash then began to gently kiss and nibble the back and sides of my neck a little.

"Dash, stop it! I don't want your hickies! Those will be difficult, if not impossible, to explain away!"

Dash giggled. "That's why I'm doing it Stud, I want Ponies to know that you're mine!"

I put a hand over my face. "Dash, you're so weird. In fact, you're probably the oddest creature that I've ever met!"

"Heh, maybe. Just remember though Stud, it takes one to know one!"

I didn't answer, but I did groan, and mumble a bit. I then tried to go to sleep. Just before I did though, Dash asked me one final question.

"Hey Stud?"

"Ugh, what Dash?"

"What are these tattoos on your shoulder?"

"Hmm, oh those? Well, the top one, the wolf's head, represents all of us American soldiers. The numbers below that, 00401, is my serial number. That's how I can be identified. And the one below that is the American flag. All soldiers have these same tattoos. They're used for identification."

"Wow, that's pretty cool Stud."

I shrugged. "Eh, not as cool as a Cutie-Mark, but a close second."

Dash looked at her Cutie-Marks. "Do you guys get Cutie-Marks?"

I sighed. "Sort of, but not quite." I pulled up the legs of my shorts to reveal two black paw prints on my hips. "We just have these. They're tattooed into the fur on my thighs. I'm not sure what they represent, but if I had to guess, they're somebody's idea of a sick joke."

Dash smirked. "Well, sick joke or not, I like them. They suit you."

I shrugged. "Well, that makes one of us anyway." I then rolled back over, and tried to get to sleep.

An unknown amount of time later, I suddenly woke up. A quick glace over at my clock revealed that the time was 2:07am.

"Ok, why did I wake up?" I wondered. I then felt something knock against my back gently. "Oh, it was probably just Dash, which means that she's still here."

I rolled over to check, and when I did, I really wish that I hadn't. "Oh great, not again!"

Once again, Dash was lying in my bed, naked, drooling, fingering herself in her sleep, and moaning about how badly she wanted me.

"Dang", I thought, "She's one hell of an active dreamer!"

She moved around quite a bit, moaning, cooing, and even bucking up her hips to most likely meet my thrusts in her dream! I could also see that even in her sleep, Dash was really blushing hard.

"Hmm, that's pretty cute actually. Sure wish I could see what she was dreaming about, even though I already probably know!"

As I continued to stare at Dash though, I began to feel a certain something make my pants feel very tight.

"Shit!"

I knew that my boner wasn't going to be going away any time soon, especially not with Dash doing what she was doing. It was then that I decided to do something incredibly stupid. All while carefully watching Dash for any signs of her waking up, I gently removed my shorts, and let my dick breathe. (It looked exactly like a wolf's dick, complete with a sheath, being red in color, and even had a knot! I also had a wolf's balls. In fact, I had wolf everything from the waist down.)

Slowly, trying to synchronize with Dash, I began to stroke my shaft. I didn't really make any noise while I pleasured myself, although I did breathe a bit heavier.

"Oh Dashie....." I muttered. "You feel so good...."

"You really think so Stud? Cuz it sure looks like you're enjoying the show over there!"

"Mmm, yeah.....wait. What?"

I looked over at Dash, and to my absolute horror, she was staring right back at me! She was also had a hand slightly over her mouth, and she was blushing a bit too.

"OH, FU........!!!!" Dash slammed a hand over my mouth.

"Shh!!! Quiet Stud! Others are trying to sleep!"

I moved her hand a bit. "Oh, I'm so f@#ked right now, aren't I?" I then continued to curse myself to Hell and beyond.

Dash only yawned and stretched a bit. "I dunno Stud, maybe you're not, but I can say, that maybe you're about to GET f@#ked!"

"What?"

Dash looked at me like I was crazy. "What? Are you really that dense? I wasn't really sleeping, I was just 'having a little fun', to see what you would do! Now I see that you really do want me!"

"D-Dash, I......."

Dash put her hand over my mouth again. "Shh, big boy, it's ok. You're not in trouble. I did this, it's all my fault. I just wanted to see how much you really liked me." Dash then gently climbed on top of me.

"Um, Dash? S-should we be d-doing this right now?"

Dash shushed me again, only this time by leaning down and kissing me! "Mmm, you talk too much Stud. That tongue of yous could be put to so much use elsewhere!"

"Um, do you mean by...."

Before I could finish that thought, Dash had gotten up, and turned herself around. She then moved her tail to the side, placing her dripping wet slit right in front on my face.

"Come on big boy, don'tcha wanna 'taste the rainbow'?" She giggled.

I was blushing like mad now. "Um, d-do you taste like Skittles?"

"Why don'tcha find out Stud? I'm sure you know what to do, right?"

I nodded, and after sticking out my tongue, I began to lick her.

"Ooohhh, yeah Stud, right there!"

"Mmm, Skittles!" I moaned.

All while I was pleasing Dash's pussy, she then turned her attention to my dick.

"Whoa", she thought, "It really does look like a wolf's dick! Damn, I sure hope that this thing'll fit inside me!" (What Dash had never told me, or anypony else for that matter, was that she actually was a virgin. She knew how everything worked, and how to do everything, but aside from masturbating, and playing with her 'toys', Dash had never had sex until now.)

Dash then took a few licks from my dick. "Wow, you taste kinda wolfy Stud!"

"Mmm, thanks Babe, you don't taste so bad yourself! Just be careful with that knot though, it's VERY sensitive! You can lick it, but please, for the love of God, DO NOT PUT YOUR TEETH ON IT!!!! The pain from that would be worse than anything!"

"Whoa, um, yeah. Pain during sex that isn't good pain, doesn't belong. I'll be careful Stud."

I gave her clit a few extra licks. "Good girl."

"N-n-n.....thanks!"

For a while, we both just lay there, 69'ing. To this day, I have no idea what was wrong with me. I thought that I could resist Dash's charm. I thought that I had vowed to never love a female again until I saw Lilly in Heaven. I thought that I had the whole situation under control. Strange how life works, isn't it? One minute you're in control, and the next, you're not. Life sure has a strange way of laying out the tracks for our lives, doesn't she?

Eventually, I could feel Dash getting close.

"*pant, moan*, Oh god Stud.....I'm...getting close!"

I could tell that my ejaculation was still a ways off, but I could tell that Dash was close as well. I didn't answer, but I did keep licking. I licked, slurped, fingered a bit, and even gently nibbled. When I found her G-spot though, and was fully able to concentrate on that, that pushed Dash over the edge.

"Oh, gosh, oh my gosh!!!!!.......F@#KKKKKK!!!!" She bit her arm to keep from being too loud.

I was hit by a gooey river of fluids, that really did taste like skittles.

Once she was done climaxing, Dash fell forwards.

"D-d-damn.....F@#k Stud....." She moaned, "....I've never.......had an orgasm like that before. You're so.......much better than my 'toys'!"

"Well, judging by how hard you came, I can tell that you really enjoyed it!"

Dash then turned herself back around. "Yeah, I sure did. So thank you!" She kissed me gently.

I blushed. "Aww, shucks Dash, I don't know what to say!"

"Well, then don't say anything, just explain to me how you went from cold, angry, locked up Captain Leopard, to cute, outgoing, guy-who-just-gave-me-an-orgasm, Stud!"

I shrugged. "I dunno Dash. I don't know what to say, other than, War can do strange things to people."

"Hmm, well, I can accept that answer, however......" Dash began to rub her slit against my dick, "I'm still horny as hell, and you haven't gotten your release yet either. So what'ya say Stud? Wanna make some rain in my clouds?"

I smirked a bit. "Like you even have to ask! However, be careful with my knot! Once again, very sensitive, and if you get that inside yourself, we would literally be tied together for the next 30-45 minutes! I'm not joking, we would literally be tied together until my knot finally shrank enough to exit your pussy."

Dash's eyes got rather wide. "Wow, um....yeah. I'll have to be careful, provided of course that you be careful with me."

I looked at her curiously. "Huh? What do you mean by that?"

Dash looked down at me. "What I mean is that.....well, um...." She leaned down. "It means that I'm still a virgin Stud", she whispered into my ear. "So I need you to be careful. My hymen is still partially intact."

I was shocked. "What? You still have your hymen intact? How is that possible?"

"I never poked into myself far enough to fully rupture it. Tonight, when that finally bleeds out of me, you will have just made me a mare!"

I thought long and hard about that. Finally, I whispered, "Yeah, but Dash? Are you absolutely sure, and I mean positively beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you want to do this with me? I mean, if so, we're both making an extremely huge commitment. It may not be huge for you, but to a Human-wolf? Wolves mate for life, and it's always to who we give our virginity away to. If you do want to have sex with me, then it does mean that, at some point down the road, you and I will be going down the isle together. I don't know how you feel about commitment, but we're talking lifetime commitment here; no if's and's, maybe's or but's about it! If we f@#k tonight, we've just vowed to be together for the rest of our lives, and love each other until our dying day, until death do us part. Just as I vowed to Lilly before you."

When I finally finished my explanation, Dash was well and truly shocked. Up until that point, she had never really heard too many stories of stallions who genuinely showed faithful commitment to their partners. As the Element of Loyalty, to see another show that level of loyalty and dedication, gave Dash all of the proof that she needed that she had finally found her soulmate.

"Yes Stud. After thinking about this long and hard, I see perfectly well what you mean. As the Element of Loyalty, it's really not everyday that you see that high of loyalty and dedication from another individual. When you do though, it usually indicates something very special."

"Oh, and what's that?"

Dash blushed a bit. "It means that we're soulmates Stud, and that I want to f@#k you, and that yes, when the day comes, I want my hand to be given to you in marriage. I hereby commit myself to you, now, and forevermore!"

When I looked into Dash's eyes, I saw the truth in them. Everything that she had told me was the absolute truth. She genuinely loved me, and wanted to be with me for all time.

Finally, I said, "Ok then Dash, let's do this. But my question is now, how do we do this?"

"Well, just stay put Stud, and I'll do it slowly."

Dash then gently got up, and with me still on my back, she gently began to lower herself onto my dick.

"Oooh, gosh!!!"

"I'm not hurting you, am I?" I was concerned for her.

"N-no, you're n-not hurting me at a-all. J-just brace yourself though. I-I-'m about to just let go, and f-fall, and w-when I do, my h-hymen will be rupture by y-your dick, and hopefully bleed out of me."

I was about to question this, but before I could, Dash took a deep breath, and after clenching her teeth, rammed her hips into mine!

"OhGOSH!!!!!" We both had to bite our arms.

In those few moments, I felt my dick hit something inside of her, and then burst through it. I then felt something leaking out of Dash.

"Shit! Can't get blood on the sheets!" I then reached over to my nightstand, opened the drawer, and pulled out a few packs of Kleenexes, which I then used to catch the blood as it came out of Dash. Luckily though, because Dash had bumped her hymen before, even though it was still intact, Dash had bled from it before, so by the time that she lost her virginity, there was very little blood left.

"Y-you, ok Dash?"

She looked down at me. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. Wow. My first time f@#king, and we do it in the Cowgirl position! I also think that the bleeding may have stopped as well."

I checked. "Yeah, I think that you may be right Dash."

"Yeah, so feel free to start thrusting at any time, but still be gentle!"

I nodded. "Sure. This is our first time, so let's take it slow."

And sure enough, we did. Dash would thrust down, and I would thrust back up to meet her. We also kissed, licked, and I fondled her soft breasts as well. It was actually pretty soft-core. Neither of us really dominated the other, we just kinda, well, one pushed, and the other pushed back to meet them. We were both on equal ground.

We did change positions a few times. We did doggy, and missionary, but ultimately, we stuck with cowgirl. (Also, it must be noted here, that in our little session, neither of us was wearing protection. I'd forgotten the condom, and Dash wasn't on the pill. If anything happened, we were both f@#ked!)

Eventually, we both got close to the end.

"D-D-Dash, I-I'm getting c-close!"

"Y-yeah, me, too S-Stud."

"W-wh-where.....d-do you want it?"

Dash made her decision, and in my current state, I failed to question it. "I-inside me! I w-want it all i-inside me!" (It's not the easiest to get pregnant in the cowgirl position, (Assuming that I could even get Dash pregnant at all!) but it was possible.)

Without fully thinking everything through, I complied.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, F@#K!!!!!!" Dash buried her muzzle into my mouth for a kiss, and we both moaned/screamed into each other's mouth.

At this same instant, Dash came for the second time, and inadvertently, my knot popped inside of her, and then I came as well. I'd never climaxed like that before. It was so intense, yet so, amazing. I felt jet after jet of hot thick, baby-batter splatter all over Dash's insides. My knot kept all of it inside her.

(Sure enough, inside of Dash's womb, an egg was traveling down. The egg collided with a wave my swimmers, however, to Life's dismay, She didn't find a way. There was something wrong with my sperm, preventing it from being able to fertilize Dash's eggs, and it wasn't the fact that we were from two different species either. It was something else.)

Once we were both spent, I wiped up the mess as best I could, and then, with my knot still stuck inside of her, Dash rolled off of me as best she could, she stayed close to me, and with us in a spooning position, I wrapped my arms, tail, and wings around her, and we both fell asleep.

"H-hey Dash?" I whispered.

"Yeah Stud?"

"I,......I love you."

"I know Sweetie, I love you too, so, so much."

We both fell asleep on that note, happily dreaming of what was to come, completely unaware of what terrible events were soon to transpire.

Author's Note

Well, that was it, Chapter 9.5, my second EXPLICIT!!!! chapter. I hope that I did well with it. Now Dash is a virgin no longer, and we've both pledged out undying love to one another, and have vowed to love each other to the end. What could possibly go wrong? A lot acutally. In fact, something so horrible, it most likely surpasses whatever you're thinking it is right now. What is this terrible tragedy? Well, all will be revealed in Chapter 10, so stay tuned!

(Also, why was I unable to get Dash pregnant, even though I said that us being from two different species wouldn't be a problem? Well that will also be revealed in Chapter 10.)

In the meantime, comments, feedback, questions, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 10!

ScarFox out for now!

(Also, as I said before, if you don't like these chapters, well, I gave an EXPLICIT warning in the description. If you don't like it, just skip the "0.5" chapters!)

(I would also like to apologize now if this chapter ruined the story. I'm extremely sorry if it did, Chapter 10 will remedy this wrong, I promise! If it didn't ruin the story, well, then I also hope that you're excited for Chapter 10!)

Chapter 10: End of the Line, Battle from Hell (Part 1)

The next morning, I was up when my alarm went off.

"Hmm", I muttered, "Another day on board the deadliest weapon ever to ride the rails." I then felt something in front of me shift. "Oh yeah, last night......Dash stayed here, with me, and we had 'fun'."

I looked down, and sure enough, my knot had dissipated. I could now pull out of Dash.

Dash seemed to sense my movements, and woke up. "Mmm, Hey Stud. Is it time to get up?"

I nodded. "Morning Dash, and yeah, it's time to get up, although please don't move yet!"

"Huh? Why not?"

I sighed. "Because.....the time has come. My knot is gone, so now I can pull out of you. I'm going to do that now, so please try and relax your muscles, so as not to hurt me."

She nodded. "Ok, just be careful."

I nodded. "Ok, hold on." I then gently began to pull, and with a gooey *Schlipop!* I slipped out of Dash, and my member went back into it's sheath.

"Is....is it out?"

"Yeah, it's out. you can roll onto your back now."

Dash did so, and lay staring up at the ceiling for a few moments. "Hmm, last night was so fun." She looked down. "Wow, it's even still leaking out of me! Your knot really kept it all inside.........." Dash froze.

I looked at her. "Huh? Is something wrong Dash?"

She looked at me with wide eyes. "Stud, I just realized something. You didn't wear a condom, and I didn't take the pill! Plus, I was OVULATING last night!"

I put my hands over my face. "Oh, F......wait. You can calm down Dash, you won't get pregnant."

"What?! How can you possibly know that?!"

I sighed. "Because Dash, I'm actually completely sterile. There's no risk of a pregnancy for you."

She looked at me confused. "What? Why? Did, you have 'the surgery'?"

I shook my head. "4 words; Tower 9 Nuclear Fire."

"Um, what?"

I then explained. "In the aftermath of WW4, Tower 9 was the last fully-functioning nuclear power plant on Earth at the time. Located in the Mojave Desert, this atomic research lab-turned nuclear power plant had been used heavily, and not repaired very well." I went on to explain that during a battle in WW5 close the plant, a stray shot from what we believe to be the enemy side hit the plant, and started a chain reaction that cracked one of the reactors. The plant began to go into meltdown, and the battle was postponed. The plant eventually fully exploded, and waves of radioactive chemicals in the air washed over the battlefield. Long story short, that's why we're stuck being Human-wolves forevermore, and the reason that I'm sterile. The radiation messed with my reproductive system, and caused my body to produce sterile sperm.

"So that's the scoop Dash. You can't get pregnant, and now, because of that fire, I can never be able to have any offspring."

Dash looked at me with great sadness. "Oh Stud, that's horrible. Has anything been done to try and cure it?"

"Yes, but sadly, most attempts failed. That's the sad thing about science in wartime. Processes are invented to reattach severed limbs, and even severed heads, and regrow damaged organs, but yet we can't fix being sterile. I mean yes, I was somehow able to get my 3rd wife Lilly pregnant, but that was a freak-fluke, as I was once again found to be sterile soon afterwards. Anyway though, most likely once WW6 was over, that would have been the highest priority, as the fall of the Futa Empire would trigger efforts to finally begin to help repopulate Earth."

"But the war's end never came for you guys; you died in Las Vegas......" Dash couldn't fully finished that thought. Instead, she asked, "So, um can I use your shower? I kinda need to clean up, and....um, g-get your baby-batter out of me!"

I nodded. "Sure Dash. Go right ahead."

"Thanks Stud!"

With one hand over her nethers to keep from dripping on the floor, Dash went to my bathroom, and closed the door.

While Dash was cleaning herself up, I began to look over my schedule for the day.

"Hmm, looks like Don wants to have another meeting. I wonder what about."

"I dunno Master, but can I get some food now?"

I looked down, and Aurora was looking up at me. "Oh, hey Aurora."

"Hello Master. Can I get my food now?"

"Sure." I then opened the container that held her dog food in the corner, and then brought 3 scoops of it over, and dumped them into her bowl. I also refilled her water dish.

"Oh, thank you Master!" Aurora began to happily eat, while I turned back to my schedule.

"Oh, um, hey Master?" Aurora asked between bites.

"Yeah Aurora?"

"Mmm, this is good.......who was the girl you f@#ked last night? She was cute."

I froze. "Oh, um, y-you saw that?"

"Yep, whole thing! *belch* Excuse me! You guys were maybe trying to be quiet, but you really weren't succeeding very well!"

I put a hand over my face. "Oh, um....well, her name was Dash. She's......a close friend."

"I can tell. Is she going to be my new mommy?"

I shrugged. "I d-don't know Aurora. Maybe, it all depends on how this war goes, but if it ends with the good guys winning, then yes, most likely Dash'll be your new mommy." (It still pained me to talk about Lily. Even reminders of her hurt.)

"Ohh! That'll be so fun!"

I nodded. "Yeah, but for now, we have work to do. It's time to put your battle armor back on."

Aurora barked once, and then I helped her into her suit.

Once Dash was out of the shower, she went back to her room to get dressed. I then got into the shower, and once I was out, I got dressed as well. I also quickly shaved, and brushed my teeth, and with Aurora by my side, I went to attend the meeting that Don had on the schedule.

When I arrived, I saw Don, Jim, General Shining, and a few other officers from both the train, and the Equestrian Army as well. Also present were Dash, Pinkie, Applejack, and Twilight. Once everyone, and everypony who was scheduled to attend was present, Don began.

"Good morning everyone, and everypony. I'm sure that all of you have wondered why we've gathered you all here today. And.....well, the truth is......." Don sighed. "Ok, listen, this is very hard for me to say, and it's going to be even harder for you to hear.......but the truth is, Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash, I'm afraid that Las Pegasus is the end of the line for you guys. You won't be able to continue on with us."

"WHAT?!?!?!" Why?!"

Don sighed again. "Because, according to our Intel, just beyond the Palomino Desert lies the border with the Caribou Empire. Beyond this point, no females should have to witness what goes on as they get taken down. In addition, off to the East, beyond the Macintosh Hills, lay the the Hayseed Swamps, and the Forbidden Jungle, which are home to the Zebras. Your safety CANNOT be guaranteed, as the closer we get to their home territory, the worse the battles will get. Again, I hate to say this, but this is Man's work. If anything happened to you, we would never be able to forgive ourselves."

For the longest time, there was only silence. The 4 Element Bearers looked first at Don, and then at General Shining.

"What the Major has said is correct Twily. If anything were to happen to you, it would be positively catastrophic. If you got killed, that would be bad, but if you got captured......" Shining couldn't even bring himself to finish that sentence.

Twilight sighed. "I.....understand, Major. All of us are high-value targets. As much as we want to be here with you all, our safety is of the highest concern."

Dash looked at Twilight. "What do you mean Twi? We have to keep fighting! We started this, so why can't we be here to end it?"

Twilight sighed. "Because Rainbow, what Don and my brother have said is correct. What lies ahead is a stallion's fight. As much as I hate to admit it, because we're dealing with empires like the Caribou and the Zebras, both of whom thrive on female domination, we cannot jeopardize our safety with continuing on past Equestria's borders. But yet, how will we get back home?"

Don looked at a chart. "Well, a little later on today, a train carrying wounded soldiers is heading back to Ponyville. I've gotten the word from the Princesses that the bridge over Ghastly Gorge has been repaired, and can hold the weight of a small train. The 4 of you will be on that train, and heading back to safety."

Twilight nodded slowly, and after thinking it over, the rest of them, even Dash, agreed that the best course of action, was to head back to Ponyville.

While this meeting was going on though, all was not well elsewhere. Ever since their disastrous defeat at Las Pegasus, Danin and Zakia were at constant odds with one another. Their alliance, which had always been at least somewhat strained, was now close to the breaking point.

"I cannot continue to allow this!" Zakia spat, "My soldiers are pouring out their blood, and what do we have to show for it?! NOT A DAMN. F@#KING. THING!!!! You've always been running the show, and calling all of the shots, but I say, NO MORE!!!"

Danin was equally upset. "Seriously Zakia, shut the f@#k up! You're acting like a spoiled child! This alliance needs BOTH of us to continue to function properly."

"Oh yeah? And if that was the case, why is it that YOUR officers are always in charge, and why do we need to hire mercenaries?!"

"Because MY officers are always the most qualified! That's why THEY are in charge! General Rodin is the best in the business!"

"Oh yeah? If he was so 'great', why couldn't he deliver a victory in Las Pegasus?"

"Because we had bad Intel, and the Black Leviathan showed up."

Zakia shook his head. "It's over between us Danin, we're withdrawing from the Imperial Alliance, and going our own separate way! The path to victory does not lie with the Caribou, but with the Zebras!"

Danin could see that Zakia was going off the deep end. "Zakia, please, think about this. Our campaign to Baltimare begins in just a few short days, and we need your help! Tell you what, you stick with us until AFTER Baltimare, and then you can go your own separate way. How does that sound?"

Zakia seemed to be thinking that over. Finally, he said. "Fine, but we had better have a victory this time!"

"We will. Rodin has assured me of that. Just wait for the final planning stages to be done and then wait for further instructions. "

"Sure, fine, whatever." The holographic chat between the two overlords then ended.

"That was the last straw! Who do those f@#king Caribou think that they are?! Ordering us about like that! I'll show them. Commander Tarrath?"

"Yes, Overlord Zakia?"

"I'm putting you in charge of our forces now. We no longer answer to General Rodin, or King Danin. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Overlord Zakia. And I assume that we're withdrawing from the Imperial Alliance then?"

"Quite correct Commander. And we will NOT be attacking Baltimare until Appaloosa and Dodge City are ours! For far too long those Caribou have ordered us about. Now it's time to flip the tables on them!"

Tarrath thought about that. "Yes, I know that we need to do that, but is this really the best course of action? I mean, the attack on Baltimare was supposed to be a majorly coordinated attack. Shouldn't we at least tell General Rodin that we will not be present?"

"Nah, they'll figure it out eventually. Especially when we don't show up for the Baltimare campaign, and instead start one of our own!"

"We will, when?"

"Today! Today, we take Appaloosa, and Dodge City!"

Tarrath wasn't sure about that. "Um, that doesn't sound like a good idea, Overlord Zakia. I mean, those two cities are almost finished. Baltimare however isn't. That's why General Rodin said......"

"Tarrath?"

"Um, yes....?"

"Hit yourself in the head."

"Um......what?"

Zakia then took a hammer, and clobbered Tarrath in the head with it. "There. Now, is the REAL Commander Tarrath in there? I would like to speak to him please!"

Tarrath stood back up. When he did, he didn't look like a competent officer anymore; instead, he looked dangerously insane. "Yes, Overlord Zakia, he's right here!"

Zakia nodded. "Excellent! Now then, Appaloosa and Dodge City need to be ours by nightfall. Do you think that you're up for the challenge?"

"Yes, I can do it!" He then burst into a few spurts of maniacal laughter.

Zakia smirked. "Good. Now then commander, gather your forces, and head to those towns. You have a battle to win!"

"Yes Sir!" He then left to prepare his forces.

(How did Tarrath go from competent officer to deranged psychopath? Well, the truth is, due to an accident in his youth involving Magic, he developed a split personality. One side was calm, competent, capable, and a good officer, but the other side was dangerous, insane, psychotic, psychopathic, and murderous. Blows to his head can cause his personalities to shift.)

Zakia then sat back on his throne. "Perfect. Now, without those deranged Caribou always stopping us, f@#king everything up, and holding us back, we will capture those towns, and then move back up to Ponyville! There will be nothing left to stop us!"

"General Rodin?"

"Yes, My King?"

"You need to prepare your forces."

"Yes, My King, but, why?"

Danin put a hand over his face. "Because I now get the feeling that the Zebras will no longer be our allies. They may not be at Baltimare at all."

Rodin nodded. "Yes, My King. However, our forces are spread somewhat thin. With many protecting our empire, I don't know how many we can spare for Baltimare. We will have our mercenaries sure, including the Dragons, but I do not know if it will be enough."

Danin had to think about that. Finally he said, "This puts us in a precarious position General. We don't know what the Zebras are going to do, so we cannot attack Baltimare yet. However, if they are not going to help us, then we will need to strike! If we wait, this could be a missed opportunity, but if we attack now with less forces, we could get wiped out."

"Well then, what would you recommend, My King?"

"I will leave that up to you General. However, you must inform Colonel Stuggs that there may be rouge Zebras in his area. He will need to prepare if they do decide to attack Appaloosa and Dodge City. Tell him that if the Zebras attack those towns to pull back. He's too valuable to lose in a pointless battle for two little desert towns."

"As you have willed it, My King, it shall be done!"

Rodin then left to fulfill Danin's commands.

Back in Las Pegasus, our forces were preparing for the next battle. The jammed 16in. gun turret had been repaired, as had the phalanx cannons, and the other damaged roof turrets. The derailed cars were put back on the tracks, our coal and water supplies had been replenished, and other damage was being buffed out as well.

Also, our first shipments of new ammunition from Manehattan and Van Hoover had arrived. We were all amazed.

"Wow, this is amazing quality." Jim marveled, "I can barely tell the difference between this, and our own ammunition!"

We conducted a few battlefield tests, and the new ammo performed as expected.

"A fine piece of work!" Don commended, "Those manufacturers in Manehattan and Van Hoover certainly know how to make ammunition! I give them my highest thanks."

"I'm glad that you're satisfied Major Don. And I also agree, they have done a marvelous job."

"I couldn't agree more General Shining. Now with the damage to our train being almost 85% repaired, we should be ready for the next engagement. Any idea where that will be?"

Shining shrugged. "It's anypony's guess, however, due to the patterns of enemy movement, I think that they may be preparing for an attack on Baltimare. Their plan appears to have been rough up Appaloosa and Dodge City, then leave them be while they took out Las Pegasus. Next, Baltimare would fall, and then they would come back for the two towns."

Don nodded. "Yes, that does make sense. As soon as the damage has finished being repaired, we'll most likely be given orders to pull out for Baltimare."

"That would make sense General, I'll discuss this with the Princesses when I get the chance to."

Don nodded, and then got back to work with helping with the train's repairs.

By about 2 O'clock that afternoon, the time had come for the 4 Element Bearers to depart for Ponyville. The train was a Friendship Express train with 8 coaches converted to help move wounded soldiers. The train's crew were two to man the engine, a conductor, and a brakeman. 76 wounded soldiers were on board, as were 24 medical staff. An additional 10 soldiers from the Equestrian Army and Battalion 4009, (5 from each) would also be going along to ensure safe arrival.

Everypony was sad when it was time to leave.

"I still wish that we didn't have to leave you guys."

Don sighed. "I know Twilight, but it is for your own safety. However, we'll just be a simple letter away. Plus, we'll be in almost constant contact, so we'll still be connected, even though we'll be apart."

Twilight hugged him. "I know, but I still wish that it didn't have to be this way."

Applejack said her goodbyes to Alex, Pinkie said goodbye to everypony, and then I said goodbye to Dash.

"I'm really going to miss you Dash." I whispered as I hugged her.

"I know, but not as much as I'm going to miss you Stud! You're the most awesome-est person that I know. And it won't be the same without you. But, this is for the best."

"Yeah, and with the war going the way that it is, it shouldn't last too much longer. We've already got them on the run, so the money-shots should come very soon. But......" I then leaned in close, and whispered, "You will wait for me, right Dash?"

Dash looked at me. Then she leaned in, and kissed me. "Of course Stud. Why wouldn't I? If I lost you, I'd never forgive myself! You pledged your love and loyalty to me, so how could I, as the Element of Loyalty, not do the same?"

"You couldn't!"

We all hugged for a little bit longer, but all too soon, the time had come for the train to leave. All of the soldiers were at their stations, the wounded were secured and being tended to by the medical staff, and the 4 Element Bearers boarded the train, and took their seats. Once everything was all set, the engineer blew the whistle, and then the train set out for Ponyville. The 4 Element bearers waved to us until the train was out of sight, and we waved back.

"I'm really going to miss them."

Don sighed. "Yeah, I know Leopard. My marefriend's on that train, as is yours, and Alex's. Let's just hope that they, and those wounded soldiers, all arrive safely."

"Yes, let's."

I then sighed, and after returning to my cabin, I grabbed my Kitsune mask, (A staple part of my uniform!) attached it to my belt, and then went with Alex to the engine, as we were preparing to move the train to another siding. Little did we all suspect though that our whole world was about to not only be turned upside down and inside out, but also torn to pieces as well.

As fast as the engineer allowed, the medical train continued to speed along the tracks towards Appaloosa. Once they were past that, it was over the Ghastly Gorge Bridge, past the Everfree Forest, and then their arrival in Ponyville. By the conductor's watch, they were maybe 3 hours from safe arrival in Ponyville. They were currently 5 miles away from Appaloosa.

"We'll make it", The conductor, In Time, thought to himself, "There hasn't been any enemy activity in this area since the defeat at Ponyville. And even if there was, they wouldn't attack a medical train, as there would be nothing gained by it."

Both valid points, but alas, neither was the case. From the Macintosh Hills, 2 battalions of Zebras, in addition to a company of Griffons and Minotaurs, were closing in on the town. There were all under the command of Commander-turned-General, Tarrath. Their mission? Take out both Appaloosa, and Dodge City.

From their vantage points, they could see Appaloosa, and the trenches defending it.

"What's the plan General?"

"Well, once we have everything set up, we storm down from these hills, knock out the trenches, and then take the town. Once the town is secured, we move on on to Dodge City."

"But what about those train tracks?" A Zebra pointed to them. "What if the Caribou, more Equestrian soldiers, or even the Black Leviathan show up to stop us?"

Tarrath laughed. "That's why we brought THESE Private!" He pointed behind him to a series of crates. In those crates were sticks of dynamite. "We simply place them under the tracks, and when a train comes by, we detonate them! That'll cut the Equestrians and the Humans off by rail, and if Danin is the spineless, gutless wretch that I believe he is, he won't intervene to stop us!"

Then, using Magic to cloak themselves in the mid-afternoon light, a squad of Zebras snuck down to the tracks to plant the explosives. Explosives were also planted in a few places close to the trenches as well. However, since their cloaking Magic didn't last very long, they had to get in, get the job done, and get out. Other soldiers also got into their positions for the impending attack.

An hour or so later, everything was ready.

"We're all ready General. We outnumber the Ponies 2 to 1, and we have the element of surprise. They all probably believe that an attack will happen in Baltimare, not here. Also, the only Caribou in this area, Colonel Stuggs and his battalion, if they do not decide to join us, will not be a problem."

"And where are they?"

The private pointed to a series of small trenches off to the right. "They're over there. We've reached out to them, but they haven't responded."

Tarrath thought about that. "Huh, well, I guess that we'll......"

*WWWOOOOOOO!!!!!!* A loud whistle suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

"Huh, what's that? It sounds like a train!"

A soldier looked through his binoculars. "It is a train General! Definitely not the Black Leviathan, but a train nevertheless."

"Who's train is it Private?"

"By the design, it appears to be the Equestrians's. Looks like a transport train of some kind. Do, do we attack it now?"

"No! We wait for it to get close to the explosives, and then we detonate them, and allow the train to derail! The explosion will be the signal for the troops to attack, then we take the train, and capture any survivors, while others are dealing with Appaloosa."

The private nodded. "Yes, General. I'll spread the word through our ranks."

The private did so, while the General continued to watch.

The 8 car train got closer and closer. Finally once it was less than 20 feet from the explosives, just off to the side of Appaloosa, using his Magic, Tarrath remotely detonated the explosives.

*KABOOM!!!!!!*

The explosives tore the tracks apart. The train did apply its brakes, but it was too late to stop. With a sickening *crunch!*, the train derailed, and the engine came to a skidding stop in the dirt, while the rest of the train piled up behind it.

"ATTACK!!!! Tarrath screamed. "ATTACK, AND TAKE THE TOWN!!!!"

The Zebras, Minotaurs, and Griffons, all charged forwards.

"Good afternoon everypony, this is your conductor, In Time speaking. I would just like to let you know that we are now passing Appaloosa to our right, as well as the maze of trenches protecting it. We are almost out of this gray area, and should be back to safety here in about 10 minutes or so."

"Well, that's a relief", Twilight sighed. "This area is still pretty close to the front lines. We could still get attacked here."

"Are you sure about that Twi?" Dash was skeptical.

"Yes, I'm serious Dash. The enemy could still be close by. I'll just feel a whole lot better once we're out of here."

Dash was maybe about to reply, but all of a sudden, there came a massive *KABOOM!!!!*

"SWEET CELESTIA, WHAT WAS THAT?!?!?!"

"EXPLOSIVES!!!! IT'S A TRAP!!!!" In Time screamed. "EVERYPONY, BRACE FOR DERAILMENT!!!!!"

There was then a sickening *crunch!*, and then the whole train was slammed to the right, and completely derailed. Everypony, and everything inside the train was thrown about, and a number were killed. Eventually, the train came to a skidding stop, and the dust began to settle. Smoke began to rise from the engine, and the fuel in the tender was burning as well. All 8 cars were lying off of the tracks, some in piles. It was like this that the Zebras found the train a few minutes later.

"Damn!" One of them muttered, "Could anybody have even survived this?"

"Somebody had better have! We need more slaves!"

They began to pick through the wreckage. Mostly all they could find were dead bodies, or wounded soldiers.

"Hmm, this must have been a medical transport of some kind."

Outside on the ground, 43 wounded soldiers, 17 medical staff, a brakeman, and a conductor were being held prisoner. 2 Equestrian soldiers were also found, as were 3 Humans.

"Wait, there were HUMANS on this train?!"

"Yeah, and f@#k you!" One of them spat.

One of the Zebras punched him in the face. "Shut the f@#k up! All of you are now prisoners of the Zebra Empire! And as for you Humans, if your leaders decide not to cooperate with us, well, let's just say that it will be very painful for you!"

"Like we care", Another muttered.

Another Zebra was maybe about to punch him too, but before he could, there came a shout from the train.

"Hey! You guys might want to come and take a look at this! We've got some seriously sweet bargaining chips in here!"

"What, what is it?"

"Come and see!"

The Zebra in charge of securing the train, Sargent Faul, came to look. To his utter astonishment, several Zebras pulled 4 mares out of the train wreck. One was a purple Unicorn, another was an orange Earth Pony, another was a pink Earth Pony, and the last was a cyan-blue Pegasus.

"HOLY.......!!!!!! ARE THOSE.......?!?!?!?!"

"Yes! 4 of the 6 bearers of the 'Elements of Harmony'! Now ours for the taking!"

"Are, are the other two in there?"

The soldier shook his head. "No Sir. We've searched the entire train, and it's surroundings, and these 4 were the only ones."

Faul smirked. "Heh, now we have all of the leverage we need against both the Equestrians, and the Humans! Now they will surrender everything to us, or else! Even the Caribou cannot stop us now! I'll alert General Tarrath to this immediately."

He fumbled for his communicator. "General, General! Are you there?!"

A hologram of Tarrath appeared. "Right here Sargent. What's going on?"

"Well, Sir, many things. First of all, the train is secured. It was a medical transport heading back to Ponyville. In total, 47 wounded soldiers, 17 medical staff, and two members of the train's crew survived, from a total of 110."

"Good work Sergeant! Now we have some prisoners, even if they are all wounded to a degree."

"That's not all General, there's something else!"

"What? Has something happened?"

"Yes, but something amazing! The gods have blessed us with an offering!"

Now Tarrath was interested. "What Sergeant? What have the gods given us?"

Faul turned his communicator until it showed the 3 Battalion 4009 soldiers.

"What? Humans?! They were on the train?!"

"Yes, and now they are our prisoners!"

"Excellent Sargent! Now we have bargaining chips to use against the Humans as well! This is great!"

"The humans though, are only PART of the blessing General, the rest of it is much, MUCH better!"

Tarrath was surprised. "Oh? And how so? What else have the gods given us?"

Faul turned his communicator again, revealing Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash. All 4 were tied up, and gagged to keep them from resisting.

"Sargent......are those.....?!?!?!?!"

"YES!!! 4 of the 6 bearers of the 'Elements of Harmony', including the personal student of Celestia herself! They were on the train too!"

Tarrath's face went from smiling, to a smirk, to full-blown laughter. "Sargent, do you know what this means?!"

"That you need to tell Overlord Zakia that we now have all of the bargaining power that we need to take care of both the Equestrians, AND the Humans, and even get our hands on the Black Leviathan?"

"Exactly, Lt. Faul!"

Faul was shocked. "Wait, did you say, 'Lt'. Faul?"

"Yes, I did. You are hereby promoted. And if Appaloosa and Dodge City fall by nightfall, you will be 'Commander' Faul!"

Faul was beside himself. "YES SIR!!!" He then went back to work.

Back in his palace in the Zebra capital city of Zebrica, Overlord Zakia felt like the most powerful being in the universe. He had just heard the reports from General Tarrath, and once he had recovered from his immense shock, he began to smirk.

"Excellent work General, excellent work indeed! Bring the prisoners to me! Do what you wish with the Equestrian soldiers, but bring me the Humans, any female medical staff, and of course the 4 'Element Bearers'!"

"As you wish, Overlord Zakia. Meanwhile, the battle continues, and we still have no sign of the Black Leviathan! Do you know where it is, Overlord Zakia?"

"Well, according to the latest reports, it's still in Las Pegasus. Even if they steamed it up right now, there's no way that they could reach you before the towns fell. You're winning General, don't mess this up now!"

Tarrath saluted. "I will not fail you Sir! Using a train captured from a previous engagement, the high-value prisoners will be shipped to you immediately. They train should arrive just before nightfall, and the rest of the prisoners shall be held here until the battle is over. Once it is, and we'll most likely have more prisoners, then I'll decide what to do with them, which'll most likely be death for the severely wounded, and the work-camps for the rest!"

Zakia nodded. "As you wish, General, I wish you the best of luck!"

"Thank you General. I will keep you updated as the battles go on. Tarrath out."

Once the communication had been terminated, Zakia sat back on his throne. He saw the soldiers guarding him, as well as a few of his slaves pleasuring him. "Hmm, as such is the destiny of a Zebra; to conquer, and to rule! Soon, I will be the ruler of all of Equus, and NOPONY, not the Equestrians, not the Humans, and not even the Caribou, will be able to stop us!!!!"

Author's Note

Oh NO! Twilight, Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie have been CAPTURED, and are being sent to Zakia in the Zebra Empire?! This is TERRIBLE! However, this is only Part 1. Things will get better, right? RIGHT?!?! Could this be the end? Will all of our hard work have been for nothing? How will we react to the Battle of Appaloosa? Will we be able to get there in time to help? How will the Caribou react? Will Rodin be able to come and save Colonel Stuggs and his forces? Will Zakia reach out to the Humans and Equestrians to try and get a surrender from them? And what will happen when they do? Well, stay tuned for Part 10, (Which will be out either later on tonight, or sometime tomorrow morning,) and I'll tell you!

It'll be AMAZING, so don't you DARE miss it! If you do, I just might have to send the Battleship Express to come find you!

ScarFox out for now, ALL ABOARD!!!!!

Chapter 10: End of the Line, Battle from Hell (Part 2)

Back in Las Pegasus, the Big Boy was all ready for a run. I was assisting Don in the train's archives, as some of the records that he needed required two high-ranking officers to access. (Levels 1-5. I was a 4, Don and Jim were 5's.)

"Aha! Here they are!" Don pulled out a few papers on powerful, non-nuclear conventional weapons.

While he was reading that, I was browsing around elsewhere. As I was turning away from Shelf U5, (the shelves were in alphabetical order) something caught my eye. I saw that it was a Level 5 file, locked away behind bullet-proof glass.

"Huh. 'Operation Undertail'. I wonder what that is." I turned to Don. "Hey Don?"

"Yeah?"

"What's 'Operation Undertail'?"

Don froze when I said that. "Did you say, 'Operation Undetail'?"

"Yeah? Why, what is it?"

Don sighed. "'Operation Undertail' was a project to help aide with re-population efforts after the wars ended. It was originally slated to begin after WW5, but then the Futas decided to get in on the act. The start date was pushed back to the end of WW6, but it's anyone's guess as to if or when that even happened. However, with the way that things are going around here, maybe Operation Undertail could be utilized after the war with the Imperial Alliance is over."

I nodded. "Yeah, maybe so Don, maybe so."

We then continued looking over the documents, completely unaware of what was happening elsewhere.

Outside of Appaloosa, the trenches were manned, as they always were. The battalion stationed there always had their eyes on the Caribou trenches, but what they didn't think could occur was an attack from the Macintosh Hills. This is precisely how the Battle for Appaloosa began. One minute, everything was fine. The next though, a train that was passing the town suddenly got blown off of its tracks by explosives.

"SWEET CELESTIA!!!! We have to help them!"

"Yes Sir!"

A team was quickly being dispatched to get to the crash site, but before they could leave their trenches, the unthinkable happened.

"Captain, look!"

The captain in charge of the battalion, Captain Fur, looked through his binoculars. What he saw scared him out of his mind. Down from the Macintosh Hills came a huge wave of Zebras. They also appeared to be accompanied by Griffons and Minotaurs.

"OH CELESTIA!!!! ALL HANDS, MAN YOUR BATTLE STATIONS NOW!!!"

Air raid sirens sounded, and all available hands went immediately to their battle stations. Guns were armed, cannons were aimed, machine guns were loaded, rifles were pointed over the tops of the trenches. In Appaloosa itself, all female civilians, and anypony under 18 and over 60 were evacuated to Dodge City. With a fury, the Battle for Appaloosa began. The Zebras fired on the trenches, and the trenches fired back at them.

"QUICKLY!" Fur yelled, "GET CANTERLOT ON THE LINE!!!! TELL THEM THAT WE NEED HELP NOW!!!!"

"YES SIR!!!!" The radioman quickly grabbed his radio. After dialing it in, he quickly began to transmit. "ANY AND ALL AVAILABLE HANDS, THIS IS DESERT BATTALION IN APPALOOSA! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK, I REPEAT, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!!!!"

After a few moments, a reply came. "Desert Battalion, this is Canterlot Central, what's going on?"

"CC We're taking heavy fire out here! Just a few moments ago, the Zebras came down from the Macintosh Hills! They are also accompanied by Griffons and Minotaurs! WE NEED HELP OUT HERE, I SAY AGAIN, WE NEED HELP NOW!!!!!"

"Roger that DB. We're putting you in contact with all available units. We are also informing the Princesses about this."

"GET US THAT WAR TRAIN BELONGING TO THE HUMANS!!!! PATCH US THROUGH TO THEM!!!!"

"Roger that. Contacting the Battleship Express now!"

"Well Leopard, that pretty much does it for now, let's go back outside."

I nodded. "Sure Don, let's....." My sentence was suddenly cut off by a loud, clanging alarm.

"What in the world?"

Don was equally confused. Suddenly though, DELCI piped up. "Boss, Master!!!"

"What is it DELCI? What's wrong?"

"Sir, I'm receiving urgent communications from Canterlot! Priority 1!"

"Oh god, that's got to be something bad! DELCI, patch us in, now!"

"Yes Sir!"

The radio suddenly came to life. "BATTLESHIP EXPRESS, BATTLESHIP EXPRESS, ARE YOU THERE?!?!?!"

Don grabbed the radio. "This is Major Don on board the Battleship Express. Who am I speaking to?"

"Major, This is Captain Fur of Desert Battalion! My battalion and I are stationed in Appaloosa, and WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!!!"

Don and I were shocked. "Who is attacking you?"

"THE ZEBRAS!!! THEY AND SOME OF THEIR MERCENARIES HAVE ASSAULTED OUR TRENCHES, AND ARE ATTEMPTING TO BREAK THOUGH!!!! WE NEED HELP, NOW!!!! WE CANNOT HOLD ON WITHOUT REINFORCEMENTS!!!! CAN YOU HELP US?!?!?!"

When we heard that, we knew what we had to do.

"Captain Fur, hold that line, or die trying! We are on our way to Appaloosa, I repeat, WE ARE ON OUR WAY!!!! Our Eta is maybe 2 hours. Can you hold on for that long?"

"We will try Major, but no guarantees! Please hurry! FOR THE LOVE OF CELESTIA PLEASE HURRY!!!!"

Don then threw down the radio, and sounded General Quarters. "ALL HANDS, MAN YOUR BATTLE STATIONS NOW!!!! APPALOOSA IS UNDER ATTACK, I REPEAT, APPALOOSA IS UNDER ATTACK, AND REQUIRES IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE!!!! WE'RE MOVING OUT RIGHT NOW!!!!"

That was all it took. Faster than a Human could blink, the crew were racing about securing everything, getting the weapons ready, loading everything back onto the train, securing the ammunition, attaching Iron Glory to the front of the train, (which was not an easy feat, considering the Plow-Catcher, but it was done) getting all of Battalion 4009 onto the train, getting all of General Shining's troops onto Iron Glory, me getting into the cab, and starting the train moving. In fact, this whole mission was so critical, there wasn't even time to turn the train around! On our entire trip to Appaloosa, we were running backwards! On the back of the caboose, we attached it's special ram with metal spikes just in case anything was blocking the tracks, and then we were gone.

"STEP ON IT LEOPARD, WE HAVE TO BOOK IT TO APPALOOSA!!!!"

"YES SIR!!!!"

I quickly threw the engine into reverse, and as fast as 4009 could, she was quickly rolling out to the rescue. The farther we got, the faster we went. Faster and Faster. 30, 40, 50, 60, even up and over 70! Officially, a Big Boy locomotive could go 80mph, although this had never been tested.

"Desert Battalion, Desert Battalion, this is the Battleship Express, do you read us?"

"YES, WE READ YOU LOUD AND CLEAR BE! WHERE ARE YOU?!?!?!"

"We're rapidly coming up to 'Sherman Hill', or No-Name Grade. We're less than an hour away and closing. Can you hold on?"

"We're not sure BE. We're trying, but the enemy keeps on coming, and trying to break through our lines! HURRY!!!"

"Just hang on, we're coming!"

Shining also informed the Princesses of the situation. "....And so that's where everything currently stands. Appaloosa is under attack, Desert Battalion, plus the local militia are doing everything in their power to hold on until we can get to them."

"Please hurry General! They need your help!"

"Yes, my Princesses, and that's why we're hurrying. We will make it, and we will save Appaloosa!"

"Godspeed General, but before you go, there is something else that I do need to inform you of."

"And what is that, Princess Celestia?"

"Well, that medical train hasn't arrived yet. It's now officially overdue. We fear that it may be trapped on or close to the battlefield!"

Shining became worried. "Yes, that is a serious concern Princess. Don't worry. We will locate the train, and ensure it's safe arrival in Ponyville. General Armor out."

And he set out to do just that when the train reached Appaloosa, completely unaware that the train had already been captured.

On an old track, running through what had become the Zebra Empire, an old train rumbled. The train, which had once been a Friendship Express train, was now old, dirty, and not the best maintained. In the back, in 3 boxcars, were the 4 Element Bearers, 11 female medical staff, and the 3 soldiers from Battalion 4009. All of them had been restrained, and then thrown onto that train, bound for Zebrica, the Zebra's capital city. All of them knew that a terrible fate awaited them.

As she lay on the cold, hard floor of the train, Dash was hounded by her thoughts. She thought about some of the things that led her to her current predicament. When the war began, she had been very eager to fight the Imperial Alliance up close and personal. However, once she'd seen what war was really like up close, it changed her, and not for the better.

Dash became a bit erratic. She went from being a cute tomboy, to an almost full-blown rebel. "Live now, cuz you're probably gonna die young!" She'd always said. When Dash met me though, all of that changed. Now, all she wanted to be was a cute tomboy again. She regretted being a rebel. She regretted being involved with the war as deep as she had been. Now here she was, a prisoner on a train heading to god-knows-where, or what was going to happen to her.

She also thought about me. "Please Stud", She thought, "Come and help us. We need you! Don't let them do things to us, save us!"

Dash did know that most likely, the train was reported overdue by then. If that was the case, then it would hopefully be easy enough to figure out what happened to them. However, it was still a race against the clock, and time would not be on our side.

Meanwhile, while we were still racing to the rescue, the battle was going horribly for everyone. Although the Appaloosa defenders were able to hold the line, that line was getting closer and closer to cracking. The Zebras kept launching shells that contained flammable chemicals in them. This was being done in both an effort to burn and smoke the defenders out of their trenches, and to even set fire to Appaloosa itself.

"Oh shit, FIRE!!! The town's on fire!"

The local fire brigade kept racing around, trying to put out all of the fires, but they couldn't be everywhere at once. Local citizens also stood by to help tackle the fires.

For the zebras, they got their fair share of death and destruction. Several waves were driven away from the trenches with heavy losses. Other zebras accidentally lit themselves on fire when they mishandled the flammable chemicals!

"We have to keep pushing!" General Tarrath urged them, "Their defenses cannot hold much longer! We're beginning to break through!"

Indeed, this was true. In a few areas, holes were being plugged by little more than a handful of poorly equipped militia troops.

On the other end of the spectrum, inside of their respective trenches, Colonel Stuggs and his forces watched as the battle raged all around them.

"Good gods, what's going on?!"

"It appears to be the Zebras Sir! They're attacking Appaloosa!"

"Just like what General Rodin warned us about!"

"What do we do Sir?!"

Stuggs had to think about that for a moment. Finally, he said, "If they come charging towards us, repel them! But if not, then we do nothing. However, I am alerting General Rodin!"

Stuggs then grabbed his communicator.

"WHAT?!?!?! THE ZEBRAS DID WHAT?!?! THEY ATTACKED APPALOOSA?!?!?!"

Rodin sighed. "I'm afraid so, My King. From what Colonel Stuggs has told me, about 30 minutes ago, the Zebras began their assault on the trenches outside of Appaloosa. So far, the battle is a draw, but it does appear that the Equestrians may lose the town. Their numbers are being whittled down, and parts of Appaloosa are on fire."

"And what of the Colonel and his forces?"

"From what Stuggs told me, they're all still in their trenches, just watching this battle play out."

"As they should! Good GODS!!! What does that deranged fool think that he's doing?!?! What kind of an idiot does something like that without any reinforcements?! AND FOR WHAT, A LOUSY LITTLE DESERT TOWN?!?!?! IS HE F@#KING INSANE?!?!?!?"

"Yes, My King, Zakia IS insane! However, this does beg the question, do I go and rescue Stuggs and his forces, or do we have them attempt to pull out themselves?"

"Whatever you think is best General. However, if it were me, I would have them see what they could do, and if they absolutely needed help, then I would intervene."

Rodin nodded. "As you wish, My King, it shall be done!" Rodin then turned off his communicator, and made ready to help Stuggs should assistance become necessary.

Danin sat back on his throne. "Idiots!" He yelled, "I'M SURROUNDED BY F@#KING IDIOTS WHO MASQUERADE AS ALLIES, AND DON'T WANT TO FOLLOW ANY ORDERS!!!"

However, before Danin could continue his rant, his communicator flashed. When he turned it on, to his absolute disgust, it was Zakia.

"Oh great, just the f@#king bastard I DID NOT want to EVER talk to again!"

"Yeah, it's good to see you too Danin, now then....."

"SHUT IT!!!! I don't want to hear about it! You all betrayed us! You acted without orders, and now you're caught in a terrible battle for A F@#KING TINY DESERT TOWN IN THE MIDDLE OF F@#KING NOWHERE!!!"

Zakia shrugged. "Yeah, but we managed to capture...."

"I said, I don't want to hear about it!!!! I'm done dealing with you Zebras! If you cannot follow orders, and outright rebel, then we're through!"

"But Danin, we captured...."

"SHUT UP!!!!!" Danin then switched off his communicator, and blocked the channel that Zakia used. "F@#king bastard." He muttered.

Zakia was a bit surprised that Danin blocked him. "Huh. Well, I guess that he doesn't care about the 4 Element Bearers. Oh well, more for me then!"

"What's our speed Leopard?"

"We're still going 75 Don! Our boiler's close to the red line! We can keep everything stable, but the strain is incredible!"

"Just keep it up! We have less than half an hour to go until we reach Appaloosa!"

"Roger that Don! We're all ready to go up here."

"Ok, good. Once we get to the main railway junction between Appaloosa and Dodge City, we'll get as close as we can, and drive those striped bastards back to the Hell where they came from!"

All hands continued to get all of the weapons ready, as we all knew that we were going to be coming in extremely hot!

"Sir, the line's collapsing!"

Captain Fur looked, and to his horror, the Zebras had broken through the lines in several places, and were now converging on the town! To make matters worse, Minotaur artillery was also blowing the trenches apart. Fur could see that the battle was lost.

"FALL BACK, EVERYPONY FALL BACK!!!! FALL BACK TO DODGE CITY!!!!"

His soldiers did as they were told. While some retreated, dragging the wounded, as well as any and all weapons that they could with them, others laid down covering fire, and continued to blast away until they ran out of ammunition. In fact, their firing was so intense that even after they'd run out of ammo and retreated, the Zebras were unable to chase after them until they'd rallied their forces.....almost 5 minutes later! In that time though, the trenches were evacuated, all weapons were removed, or disabled, Appaloosa was evacuated, and the soldiers fell back to the trenches outside of Dodge City, where they prepared to make their final stand.

"This is it boys!" Fur told them. "We either hold them here, or die trying! We've lost Appaloosa, our trenches, and many, many of our finest men. The way I see it, the best way to honor our fallen comrades is to take as many of those f@#king monsters with us as possible!"

"SIR, YES SIR!!!!"

A radio call was also made to the Battleship Express, informing them of the situation.

"HA HA!!! WE DID IT PEOPLE, APPALOOSA IS OURS!!!!"

"YEAH!!!!!" They all charged first into the trenches, and then past them into the town itself.

However, if they were expecting to find slaves, or anypony who surrendered, they were sadly mistaken. The entire town was on fire, and there was nopony to be seen anywhere. They hunted around, but they really couldn't find anything usable, aside from some barrels of apples.

"Well", Faul muttered. "This was a fail." His communicator then beeped. "Oh, yes General?"

"Commander Faul, report!"

"Well Sir, I have good news, and I have bad news."

"What's the good news?"

"Well Sir, the good news is that we've taken the town of Appaloosa, and have defeated Desert Battalion."

"Well, that's great Commander! But wait, what's the bad news?"

Faul winced a bit. "That's the thing Sir. Although we have succeeded, all that's left of the town are burning buildings, and no supplies aside from barrels of apples. Everypony's most likely evacuated to Dodge City. I lost maybe 4,000 troops, and have so far gained nothing."

Faul braced for impact. However, General Tarrath merely nodded. "Yes, that is a bit of an issue, however, you can still redeem yourself Commander. All you have to do now is take Dodge City. Their forces are isolated as it is, and I doubt any other forces are close by to cause any problems. Do what you must Commander Faul, but bag me Dodge City!!!!"

"Sir, yes Sir!" Faul then turned to his men. "You heard the General, CHARGE!!! GET TO DODGE CITY!!!!"

They all did so, completely unaware of the battalion, and their war train, currently moving Heaven and Earth to come and wipe them out.

"WHAT?!?! Oh shit that's bad! We're less than 15 minutes away!"

"We're out of time Major Don! If you cannot get here literally in the next 3 minutes, we'll all be fighting to the death. My forces are badly depleted, and we've already lost Appaloosa! We CANNOT hold on any longer!"

"And you won't have to Captain Fur. I'm sending up our gunship, as well as a small squadron of combat drones. They WILL keep the enemy busy until we can get there! ETA is literally less than 2 minutes!"

"Thank Celestia! We'll be watching for them Major!"

"Roger that, watch the skies, and keep your heads down. Don out!"

Don then switched frequencies. "DESERT BATTALION IS OUT OF TIME PEOPLE!!!! I NEED OUR GUNSHIP, AND ALL AVAILABLE DRONES IN THE AIR, AND HEADING TO DODGE CITY RIGHT NOW!!!! THEY NEED MASSIVE AIR SUPPORT!!!!"

"SIR, YES SIR!!!!!"

As fast as they ever had, from a train moving in reverse at almost 80 mph no less, our gunship, and 6 drones were launched into the wind. Even though the gunship almost spun out of control and crashed, the pilot managed to regain control, and as fast as they could, the gunship and its accompanying drones flew off towards Dodge City.

"Dodge City, Dodge City, this is Big Boy Gunship. We're now about 1 minute and closing on your location. Do you copy, over?"

"BB Gunship, this is Captain Fur, we read you loud and clear! We now have you on radar, and BOY HOWDY are we glad to see you!"

"Well, thanks for the warm welcome Captain! We moved Heaven and Earth to get here, and now us, and 6 drones, are the first wave. Our job is to keep the enemy busy until the Battleship Express arrives."

"Roger that BB Gunship, we'll leave you to it!"

"Roger that, moving into position now."

With the drones spotting, and getting ready to dish out a few strikes of their own, the gunship moved into position over the enemy positions.

"Um, Commander, what's that noise?"

"Um, sounds like a machine of some sort. Lt. Feathers?"

"Yes Sir?"

Get your Griffons up there, and see what's going on."

"Yes Sir!"

The Griffons then took flight.

"Do you see anything?" Feathers asked.

"Um, yes, we see a large grey machine, accompanied by several smaller black ones. All are flying, and they seem to be hovering in place. What do we do?"

"Well, most likely those craft belongs to the enemy, probably the Humans. Take them down!"

"Yes Sir!"

Before they could open fire on the craft though, they were beaten to the punch.

"Sir, Griffons, 12 O'clock! What do we do?"

The gunship commander, 18 year old Lt. Nathan Hughes, checked his scanners. "I recognize them, those are Lt. Feathers's troops! They were present at Las Pegasus with Colonel Bruno's forces. After the battle though, while Bruno and others stayed with the Caribou, Feathers and a few others went rouge!"

"So, do we shoot them down?"

"Do you really need to ask Sergeant?"

"No Sir, firing!"

They opened fire with the forward machine guns, quickly downing 5 Griffons, and causing the remaining 2 to flee.

"Yeah, 5 down, 2 fled! Drawing blood!"

Hughes reported back to Don. "5 Griffons down Sir, 2 others fled. We've found the enemy positions, requesting permission to fire."

"Granted Lt. Hughes, fire at will! I repeat, fire at will!"

"Roger that Sir!"

Hughes then ordered the pilots to move the gunship into position. He then grabbed the microphone for the external PA system.

"Hey down there! Guess what, the mail is here! You've got a lot of deliveries today, all from Humanity! Enjoy!" He then turned to the gunners. "FIRE!!!!"

The gunship then opened up to dispense some seriously harsh justice.

"5 Griffons down Sir! That thing is hostile!"

"I can see that Lieutenant! We just need to....."

"Hey down there! Guess what, the mail is here! You've got a lot of deliveries today, all from Humanity! Enjoy!"

"What the....?"

Faul never got a chance to finish that thought. Before he could, the large grey craft opened fire on his forces. The slaughter was horrendous. For the Zebra and Minotaur ground forces, as well as the Griffons, standing against a craft that was a cross between a C-130 Specter, an A-10 Warthog, and an Apache Helicopter, they never stood a chance. From one *BBBRRRRRTTTT!!!!!* to the next, and for each missile launched, more and more death was delivered. However, the Zebras were able to launch a few magic attacks on the gunship.

"Sir, incoming fire!!!!'

"Deploy countermeasures now!"

The gunship's co-pilot flicked the switch to launch the flares. Sure enough, the Zebra's sort of "magic missiles", impacted with the flares, and exploded.

"Countermeasures effective Sir!"

"Good work boys." Hughes breathed a sigh of relief. "Now then, we keep the firing up!"

"Yes Sir!"

Back and forth across the battlefield the gunship flew, keeping the enemy at bay. Soon, the enemy was retreating away from Dodge City, and back to the trenches at Appaloosa.

"Enemy in retreat Major Don! They seem to be heading back to Appaloosa!"

"Good work Lieutenant! We're about to pull into the junction now. Head back to base, and prepare to deploy again if necessary."

"Yes Sir!"

Unfortunately, they didn't make it. Just as they flew back over Appaloosa, from down below, one Zebra who had been fatally wounded managed to fire one last burst of magic at the gunship.

"Sir, incoming missile!"

"Flares, now!"

The flares were once again deployed, unfortunately though, that time, they ran out of countermeasure flares before the missile was in range. The missile slammed into the back of the gunship, causing one of the engines to sputter, and severely smoke.

"Sir, we've been hit!"

"Pilot, set us down before we crash!"

"Yes Sir!"

The gunship was hit, but not fatally. A number of control systems were damaged, and 2 gunners and a technician were hurt. Eventually, the pilot managed a rough landing at the base of a sand dune between Appaloosa and Dodge City. The gunship was partially buried in sand, and 5 of the 7 crewmen were hurt, but they were all alive, and would live to fight another day. The gunship could also be salvaged, and repaired.

"Stay put until we get to you boys", Don told them, "We should be there in a few minutes."

"Ok, roger that Sir, we'll wait right here."

"Ok Leopard, we're getting close now. You can start applying the brakes."

"Roger that Don."

"All hands, are the weapons ready to go?"

All stationed checked in that they were armed, and ready to go.

"Ok, good. That's what I like to hear. First, we need to link up with Captain Fur and Desert Battalion. Next, we provide cover for them while they retake Appaloosa. Lastly, we all team up, and drive the Zebras BACK into the Macintosh Hills, assuming of course that there even are any left!"

"Sir, yes Sir!"

Unfortunately though, just as we reached the junction, Griffon scouts had reported that we were coming, and Tarrath was not happy. "CURSES!!! That's JUST what we need right now!" He grabbed his radio. "Corporal Stone? Do you read me?"

"Yes General?"

"Is the 'Bomb Train' ready to go? We've got some 'uninvited guests' that you need to deal with now!"

"Affirmative Sir, it's all ready!"

"Well then pull out now! Head to the junction, and detonate next to the Black Leviathan! Derail it once and for all!"

"Yes Sir!"

The Corporal then pulled out in his 'bomb train', a patchwork engine and 3 cars, all filled with explosives. Also on board were several other Zebra soldiers. The corporal's job was a Kamikaze mission, while the soldiers's job was to get on board our train. Their destination was the railroad junction between Appaloosa and Dodge City, and their goal was to take out the Battleship Express before it could cause any more damage.

"Leopard, what's that, it looks like a train!"

"Huh?" I turned to look. Sure enough, it was a train, and it was coming right at us from the junction!

"What the hell are they doing?! This is a junction, only one train can pass at a time, and we're on that track!" Then it hit me. "DON, KAMIKAZE TRAIN! IT'S COMING RIGHT AT US!"

"I see it Leopard. Don't stop; clear the junction before it hits us!"

"RIGHT!!!"

I tried to do so, but we had 32 cars behind us, with only 12 having cleared the junction. I quickly opened the throttle, and then 14 cars were clear, then 17, then 23, then 27, 29, 30......The Kamikaze train kept coming.

"All 32 cars clear Don, just the engine and tender!"

"Shoot the train! Detonate the explosives before it hits!"

Fred and Andy did just that. From the roof, they fired several rounds of AA shells at the train at point-blank range, one of which managed to detonate the explosives, but it didn't stop the train.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!!!"

Closer and closer the train came. We kept shooting at it, even with our rifles. In fact, the trains's cabs were so close that I could see the Zebra engineer smirking at me! I pulled out my pistol, shot him in the face, and then hit the cab floor, as did Alex and Todd. Moments later, the trains collided.

*KABOOM!!!!*

The trains did collide, but due to the Big Boy being so much bigger and heavier than the little Kamikaze train, even though the train exploded, it collided with us between the 2 sets of 8 drive wheels, before getting thrown off of the tracks. All 4 aboard were killed on impact. The Big Boy suffered only minor damage to her side, which thankfully caused a number of dents, scratches, and other minor damage. (It would have been much worse if the explosives had detonated on impact, but because of the AA shell detonated them prematurely, the only real damage was caused by the engine itself).

"Leopard, damage report!"

"We're all ok Sir, only a number of scratches and dents. Damage to the engine itself is minor, and all superficial. The Kamikaze train was destroyed, and all aboard were killed. We're also now in position to help in the battle."

"Roger that Leopard." Don then switched frequencies. "Captain Fur, do you read me? This is Major Don of the Battleship Express. We have arrived to help. Do you copy, over?"

"Major? Yes, I read you loud and clear! Glad you had some of your boys show up for a little firefight! They really gave it to the Zebras, and gave us room to breathe. Did you also bring reinforcements?"

"Affirmative Captain. General Armor, and his division, as well as Battalion 4009 are here, and ready to help you clean up. Are you ready?"

"Like you even have to ask Major! Let's do this thing!"

Our soldiers all disembarked, and got into their positions. The Zebras, Minotaurs, and Griffons, were all in the ruins of Appaloosa. (By this time, General Stuggs had taken one look at the train, and, not wanting a repeat of Ponyville, and not wanting his troops to die, managed to slip his force out of their trenches, and fall back to General Rodin, before being transported back to the Caribou Empire.)

"Ok people, we've got them right where we want them. Now stick it to them!"

"Sir, yes Sir!"

Coming at them from the sides with a massive artillery bombardment, we quickly targeted their artillery, ammo supplies, and all other supplies, with our 16in. guns, and heavy artillery guns. All troops who rushed at us were mowed down by machine gun fire, or blown apart by artillery.

"Fall back to the trenches!" Faul yelled. Even he could see that the burning ruins of a Wild West town were not a defensible position. The trenches outside of the town however were, so he ordered his troops there.

He grabbed his communicator. "General, General, are you there?!"

"I'm here Faul, what is it? Did the city fall?"

"No sir, the Black Leviathan is still here! They're slaughtering us! We've already lost Appaloosa again, and we're falling back to the trenches!"

Now Tarrath was really getting upset. "This is not what I need right now Faul! We couldn't take out the train yet, but then again, soon, it'll be ours anyway. Hold that line until it collapses, then fall back into the hills. The time is growing close for Overlord Zakia to issue his ultimatum for surrender to the Humans and Equestrians."

"Yes sir. We'll hold on for as long as we can. Faul out."

He didn't have too long to wait. Under the leadership of yours truly, aka Fox-Face, the Zebras got their first taste of Human melee warfare. With my Kitsune mask on, and my trusty ChesterTon rifle, I led the charge through Appaloosa, and down into the trenches. It was an absolute meat-grinder. I'd almost forgotten what high-caliber bullets can do to bodies at point-blank range. Blood flew everywhere as Zebras, Griffons, and Minotaurs were slaughtered.

"YEAH, WE'VE GOT THEM ON THE RUN NOW DON!!!! THEY'RE RETREATING BACK TO THE MACINTOSH HILLS!!!"

"Excellent work Leopard! Now get your heads down, we're going to be firing on the hills!"

"Roger that Don!" We all got our heads down.

"FIRE!!!!"

With that one order, both of our 2 sets of railguns, all 16 of our 16in guns, and all of our artillery guns, in addition to machine guns, and even a few AA guns opened fire, and we unleashed a massive cacophony of death and destruction. In fact, our volley was so violent that it actually shortened the Macintosh Hills by a good 30 feet! The whole hills seemed to explode in a violent burst of rocks, dust, debris, smoke, and what appeared to be body fragments.

"OK, I think that they've had enough, CEASE FIRE!!!!"

All of our guns fell silent.

By the time that the smoke had finally cleared, the Battle of Appaloosa was over. Technically, the battle was considered a draw. There were massive casualties on both sides, and Appaloosa itself was almost completely destroyed, however, the enemy was crushed, and the remaining survivors did retreat with almost complete casualties, so we were able to claim victory. Our victory however, was a costly one. For Desert Battalion, 2,150 troops were dead, and another 1,500+ were wounded, and 213 were missing. Shining's Division, and Battalion 4009 only suffered 575 wounded between them. No one on the train was hurt, and although 2 drones were knocked down, our gunship was salvaged, and brought back to the train for repairs.

For the enemy though, things were far worse. They started out with 1 million soldiers. Now, barely 3,000 survived the battle. Most of the wounded were left behind, and the number of missing was incalculable. General Tarrath did survive, as did Lt. Faul, although he was gravely wounded. In fact, the only good thing that the Zebras had going for them was the capture of the medical transport. Other than that though, just as Danin had predicted, the battle was a complete waste.

Once we had the area secured as far as the Macintosh Hills, we then turned our attention to the wounded. It was tough work. We also made a horrible discovery.

"General Armor to Canterlot Central, come in Canterlot Central."

"Canterlot Central, Princess Celestia here. What is it General?"

"The battle is over Princess, and Appaloosa is secured. However, Desert Battalion has taken extremely damaging losses, and the town itself was almost completely destroyed."

"This, is grave news General Armor. However, I get the feeling that that isn't all of it?"

Shining sighed. "No, I'm afraid that it isn't Princess. We found the medical train, and it's not going to make it to Ponyville. We found it on its side outside of town, blown off of the tracks by explosives. According to the survivors, they were derailed just before the battle began, and held prisoner by the Zebras."

"But I trust that they are all ok, right? Are Twilight and her friends there with you?"

Shining was both scared, and deeply saddened. "No, Princess, they are not. According to the survivors, they, as well as 3 surviving Humans from Battalion 4009, and all female medical staff, were separated from the rest of the prisoners. We're not sure what's happened to them after that. We're hoping that they were able to escape in the chaos of the battle as a few survivors claimed that they did, but we are not sure."

Celestia was taken aback. "This..........this is........I.....don't even know what to say right now General. Just, FIND THEM!!!!"

"We will Princess. They couldn't have gotten too far. We should be finding traces of them soon. General Armor out."

Shining then turned to Don and I, who were also standing nearby. "This is really bad guys. We have to find them! We've already combed through most of the battlefield, and there's no trace of them, so most likely they're not dead."

"But where could they be?!" I was close to despair.

Meanwhile, roughly 500 miles away, the train containing the prisoners was continuing on towards its destination.

"Good afternoon Prisoners, this is your 'conductor' speaking! I just wanted to let you know that we will be arriving in Zebrica very shortly, so I hope that you enjoy your PERMANENT stay in the Zebra Empire!" He then started laughing.

Meanwhile, one of the 3 humans, Private Cole, managed to get his gag loose. He was also lying on the car floor, close to the 4 Element Bearers. "Psst, hey! Guys, hey!"

Twilight turned to look at him. She too had managed to at least loosen her gag. "What is it Private?"

"I just realized something. Can you please nudge the other 3 next to you? It involves them too."

Dash, Pinkie, and Applejack also turned to look at Cole.

"Ok guys, here's the scoop. When we arrive there, you guys CANNOT, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, EVER let them know that you were with the Battleship Express! They'll torture us for that, but they don't know that you were involved with it!"

They all knew that Cole was right. They could never let the Zebras know that they had Human-wolf coltfriends. It would spell death for everyone and everypony involved. As far as the Zebras knew, only the 3 Battalion 4009 soldiers had been on the Battleship Express. The 4 Element Bearers had just been assisting with wounded soldiers.

Then, an unknown amount of time later, the train came to an abrupt stop. The doors to the cars were then opened, and the prisoners were grabbed, and dragged out. The 3 Humans were forced to walk with their restraints on, but the Element Bearers were carried.

"All of you stay back!" An officer warned those who were close to the train. "These are all high-value prisoners for Overlord Zakia, NOT SEX TOYS!!!! Overlord Zakia himself has ordered that they are to be brought before him unharmed, OR ELSE!!!!"

The crowd stepped back, and the prisoners were quickly taken away from the train, and marched through the capital. All around them were Zebras of both genders and all ages 'playing' with captured slaves.

"Good God", Cole thought, "They're all in on this! This is MADNESS!!!!" He saw more, but it was difficult to process, as it was hard to walk when you're wearing full restraints, and are wearing just your uniform from the waist down, and are barefoot.

Eventually, up ahead of them, they saw what appeared to be a massive palace-fortress. The palace-fortress was surrounded by guards who were being "serviced" by slaves. They were dragged to it, and then drug inside.

"Come on, you don't want to keep Overlord Zakia waiting now, do you?" The guard leading them laughed mockingly.

They were all drug through dimly lit halls, filled with all sounds, from sounds of sex, to running water, running hooves, soldiers marching, and what sounded like everyday palace-fortress life. Eventually, they found themselves outside of a massive pair of wooden doors. The doors were opened, and there, sitting at the far end of the room, surrounded by his harem, was Overlord Zakia himself! He was naked, and seemed to be bored. He looked up in surprise when the prisoners were being brought in.

He laughed as the 3 Humans were thrown to the floor, and the mares placed next to them. "Welcome, my dear 'guests', welcome to the Zebra Empire! Soon enough, all but 3 of you will be a part of my harem, and you remaining 3 will be used to bargain with the Humans for the Black Leviathan!" Zakia then burst into a fit of hysterical laughter.

The Humans all looked at each other, and then back up at Zakia. They all knew then that they were as good as dead.

"Master, Boss, General Shining!"

What is it DELCI? What's wrong?"

"Sir, another communication incoming! Priority 1! It's being sent to us, Canterlot, and even the Caribou!"

"What? TO the Caribou, not FROM the Caribou? That's weird. But nevertheless, patch us in DELCI!"

Yes Sir!"

Don, Shining, Jim, myself, and a few other officers from both the Equestrian Army and Battalion 4009 all gathered around the screen in the Primary Command Center. Once DELCI had patched us through, we saw the 3 Princesses in Canterlot. Our video call was also being broadcasted to the rest of the Battleship Express crew.

"Princesses."

"General Shining, Major Don, and Captain Leopard."

"Do you have any idea what's going on Princesses?"

They shook their heads. "Unfortunately, no. We just got the memo a minute ago that there was a transmission coming from the Zebra Empire that was also being sent to you as well, and even the Caribou."

We could all tell that the Caribou were present, but they didn't have their camera feed turned on, and weren't responding to anything that we said to them.

Suddenly though, the center of the screen, which had been black, suddenly cut to the flag of the Zebra Empire, while a song that we guessed was their national anthem played in the background. The screen then cut to the image of a Zebra.

"Is this thing on? Oh, ok, now it is! Ok, now then, who do we have here? Let's see, up in Canterlot, I see the Diarch whores! Slutbags! Now then, who else is here? Oh, I see that Danin and Co, are probably watching this as well, but I don't see them. Oh, and joining us all the way from Appaloosa, it's the crew of the Black Leviathan, and General Shining Armor! Bitches!"

"Cut the chat, get to the point!" Don was definitely not amused.

Zakia laughed. He then leaned back a bit on his throne, and his erection became visible.

"OH GOD!!!" We all turned away, as did the Princesses.

"THAT'S SO NOT COOL, KEEP THAT THING IN YOUR PANTS!!!" Shining yelled.

"I agree, we do not need to see that!" Celestia had her hands over her eyes.

Zakia laughed again, before stuffing his member down the throat of a harem member. "There, that better?"

"Just, shut it with the gross antics you sicko! What do you want from us?" Don's patience was really growing thin.

Zakia smirked. "Oh, well, I'm glad that you asked that Kid! Well, after the battle today, I've come to ask all of you for Equestria's surrender to me!"

We all looked at each other, and then burst out laughing.

"HA HA HA HA!!! THAT'S HILARIOUS!!!" I howled. "And you'll find our surrender too!"

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, it's at the corner of F@#k You Street, and Kiss My Ass Boulevard!"

Zakia laughed with us for a bit, before suddenly slamming one of the Humans up to his camera. Immediately, all laughter ceased.

"There, now that I have all of you all's ATTENTION, let's discuss the surrender!"

"Private Cole! Are you ok?!"

"Yeah, I'm....fine Major, just a little......roughed up!"

Zakia then let Cole go, and he fell down out of view.

"So, the rumors were true, you really did capture 3 of my troops?"

"Quite correct Kid, and if you do not surrender your train, and all of your weapons to us, in addition to yourselves, then they die!" Zakia then panned the camera to show Cole and the other 2 lying on the floor while being beaten up by Zebra soldiers.

"And what makes you think that we would save the lives of 3 soldiers by giving you unlimited power? No, it's not happening!"

Zakia then took his pistol, and shot one of the Humans through the head. "How about now?"

"No, and if you do that two more times, you're out of bargaining power!" Jim was trying to hold back his anger as well.

"Quite correct, Scary Old Guy. Guards?"

"Yes?"

"Take those two to the dungeons! Do whatever you have to do to make them break! Turn them into slutty slaves!"

"With pleasure!"

Cole and the other soldier, Private Dan, were then hauled off kicking and flailing to the dungeons.

Don was now almost shaking with fury. "You would be very wise not to harm those soldiers. It would be very, shall we say, VERY UNCOMFORTABLE for you if you do!"

Zakia smirked. "Don't worry, we'll take GOOD care of them! They'll tell us all kinds of nice stuff, like how your train works, how its guns work, as well as any.......weaknesses........that it might have!"

"They'd DIE before they told you anything! Plus, they're only soldiers, NOT Battleship Express crew! They wouldn't know anything! Plus, attacking a medical transport was one thing, but now holding our people hostage? That crosses the line!" I burst out.

Zakia only laughed. "Cool off there Fox-face!" He then ignored us, and turned to the Princesses. "In addition to the Humans's surrender when the time comes, I will also need Equestria's surrender as well."

"Like Major Don said, you're not getting it! We will NEVER surrender to you!"

"Oh, but I think that you will Whores!"

Celestia narrowed her eyes. "Oh yeah? And why's that?"

"Because if you don't, I think that these 4 will make an excellent edition to my Harem!"

Zakia then turned the camera again, and to our absolute shock, horror, and outrage, there, tied up at the base of his throne, stripped naked, and with a number of Zebra cocks dangerously close to them, were Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash!

"You, you......MONSTERS!!!!! Celestia screamed, "I'LL KILL YOU FOR THAT!!!!"

"Ah, ah ah! No violence please! Remember, if you do not surrender, then they become my slaves!" Zakia then burst into another fit of maniacal laughter.

For those of us on the Battleship Express, (i.e., Don, myself, and Alex), we all suddenly froze where we were. In that one instant, we came to the realization that our marefriends were not coming home to us, Instead, they were being held prisoner by the most vile creatures ever to walk the face of Equestria, including the Caribou, (although only just!)

We were all shaking with a fury that we never even knew that we had. Fire blazed in our eyes, and on the inside, we became consumed with rage.

I then grabbed the microphone. "Zakia, don't you DARE even lay so much as ONE FINGER on ANY of them!"

"Oh yeah, and what are you gonna do about it Fox-face?"

"If you don't surrender to US, then so help me God, I will peruse you to the ends of the Earth!"

Don then grabbed the microphone. "Don't think for a moment that he's bluffing! Even at the Battle of Las Pegasus, we STILL only used maybe 75% of the train's offensive capabilities! We will look for you, we will find you, and we will SLAUGHTER YOU ALL!!!"

Zakia was really taken aback by our perceived anger. We all seemed to be dead serious about what we had just said, and he felt a slight chill run down his spine. Suddenly though, he began to laugh. "Wait! I get it, I get it now! You're all SWEET on them, is that it?!" He began to laugh again.

Suddenly, from deep down inside Don and myself, something awakened. Something that we had long killed and buried. Now, it was resurfacing.

With a fury that nobody in that room had ever heard from us before, we both screamed "YOU MOTHERF@#KER!!!! DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH THEM!!! WE WILL END YOUR ENTIRE RACE FOR WHAT YOU DID!!!!"

I then grabbed the mic. "YOU THINK THAT WE WERE BAD SO FAR, BITCH YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET!!!"

"LEOPARD'S RIGHT, WE WERE PREVIOUSLY JUST FIGHTING A WAR, NOW YOU'VE MADE THIS PERSONAL!!!!"

"We will use any and all means at our disposal to hunt you to EXTINCTION!!!!!! do you hear me?!?! EXTINCTION!!!! YOU WILL NEVER LIVE TO REGRET KIDNAPPING OUR MATES!!!!"

I then punched the screen so hard that it cracked, and the call with us was terminated.

Zakia then turned his attention to Celestia and the other two Princesses. "Well, they were certainly rather pleasant. So what do you say Whores? Wanna come and see your new Daddy?"

The princesses gave him a look that would have turned Discord to stone. "See ya drivin' round town tearin' up the place, so I say....F@#K YOU YOU F@#KING SON OF A BITCH!!!!" Celestia then punched her screen hard enough to break it, thus terminating the call.

"And what about you Caribous? Do you want any of this?"

For the longest time, there was only silence. Finally, a voice said, "We'll discuss this another time. Personally, I want to see how badly you fail first before we talk price!" They then terminated.

Zakia sat back on his throne. For some reason, he kept feeling a dark presence close by. Something dark, and very sinister.

"You wanted a war with Humanity so badly, so now you're going to get one!" It seemed to say. "The gloves are off. Whatever happens now happens. You wanted this, so now, you'll reap what you've sown!"

"Which will be full Equestrian conquest! The Humans will fall, and I, Overlord Zakia, will rule over all!"

Although he said it, and meant every word, Zakia couldn't help but feel like he had just awakened a raging tiger, a sleeping giant, and the gateway to Hell, all in one video call!

Author's Note

Ok, yeah, I know that I said that this would have been up by last night, or this morning, BUT, my day has been extremely hectic. I kept sitting down to write, but I kept getting interrupted. Nevertheless, here it is, so I hope that you enjoyed!

So now the word is out that Zakia has our mates, and two of our comrades, and we are out for blood! How will the battle for the Zebra Empire go? Do the Zebras even stand a ghost of a chance, or will they find their match in 216 humans, a small battalion, and their train of death? How do the Caribou play into all of this? Will they help Zakia, or will they wait for him to fall, and then try and take on Equestria? Will we ever see our mates again, and if we do, what condition will they be in? Well, stay tuned, and you'll find out!

As always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 11!

ScarFox out for now, ALL ABOARD!!!!!

Chapter 11: Death Comes to an Empire

For the longest time after the video call was terminated, Don, myself, General Shining, and Alex, all stayed in the PCC. We were crying, screaming, stamping around, throwing profanity, and coming up with a plan.

I looked over at them. "They want to make this war personal so f@#king badly, then we'll make it personal for them!" (The others in the PCC had run for their lives, as a Human-wolf in our state was the most dangerous thing alive!)

All across the rest of the Battleship Express, our rabid, vicious, hate-filled rage spread like wildfire. It was like a spark lighting a trail of gasoline. The more that they watched, the more angry they became. They maybe didn't have the levels of rage that Don, Shining, Alex, and I had, but it was still a close second. Now, all of us wanted blood; Zebra blood.

"How DARE they have the AUDACITY to steal mates from the Major, Captain Leopard, and Lt. Alex?! They. Will. DIE!!!!"

After taking at least a few moments to try and get a grip on myself, I did manage to replace the screen that I had destroyed in my rage. Just as I did, we suddenly got a call.

I flipped the screen on. "What? What is it?" To my surprise, it was the Princesses again. This time though, they didn't look so worried, in fact, I barely even recognized them anymore. Where there had once been 3 princesses, I now saw 3 vessels that harbored about as much hate-induced rage as we had.

Celestia then spoke up. "Are they gone?"

"Yes, they're gone. It's just us, and you."

"They......how dare they.......HOW DARE THEY ATTACK AN UNARMED MEDICAL TRAIN!!!!!!!" Cadence screamed, "THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS!!!!!"

"NOT AS OUTRAGEOUS AS THEIR TAKING TWILIGHT AND HER FRIENDS HOSTAGE!!!!" Celestia added.

"What do you want us to do Princess?" Shining asked.

"Do I even need to say it General?"

"I vote that you should. I mean, we all have an idea of what to do, and most likely, you do too. However, those two ideas may conflict, so could you please specify what your idea is?"

When Celestia looked at us, I could hear the sirens sounding, as well as the area around her getting darker. She looked like a steam engine seconds away from a boiler explosion.

"Do it!"

"Um, what?"

"DO IT!!!!" She screamed, "SHOW THEM WHO THE REAL MASTERS OF WARFARE ARE!!! I'm giving you all of the authority to wage the war as you see fit! Hold NOTHING BACK, do you hear me?!?! NOT A DAMN, F@#KING, THING!!! Do WHATEVER you have to do! I DON'T CARE HOW MANY ZEBRAS DIE, just.........END THEM!!! RIP THEM UP, TEAR THEM APART, SHOOT THEM, BURN THEM, DROWN THEM, EVEN USE YOUR MOST POWERFUL WEAPONS, JUST F@#KING KILL THEM ALL!!!!!"

I turned to the camera, and saluted. "As you have willed it Princess, it shall be done!!!"

Don saluted as well. "We will begin the campaign immediately Princess. By the time that the sun rises tomorrow morning, it will mark the last sunrise before we move beyond the Macintosh Hills!"

"We will annihilate the Zebras, and we will bring Twilight, Dash, Pinkie, and Applejack home!" Shining finished.

We all agreed to this, and then the call was terminated for the time being. All of us then went to prepare.

While some were cheering the death and destruction that they were about to cause, two men on the train were not. Chief Engineer Jim went to the office of Father Francis Charles, the chaplain of Battalion 4009.

"I'm extremely worried about this Father. This war was already going bad enough, and now we have to contend with them losing their mates. That's shoved them off the deep end!"

Father Charles nodded. "I've seen it all too many times. Their hatred has turned them into what they hate the most."

"Futas by another name."

"Exactly! By using their anger to defeat these 'Futas by another name', they've become no better."

Jim sighed. "I'll go and see if I can talk some sense into Don." He got up to leave. "But, Father?"

"Yes Jim?"

Jim sighed. "I just wish that......Jeff was still here with us. He would know what to do."

"Yes, Jeff Coleson was a great man. Now, he's gone home, leaving us behind to continue his legacy."

"Yes, a legacy that is threatened by the recklessness of a handful of individuals."

Jim then left to go see Don.

"Come in."

"Don, we need to talk."

Don looked up from the maps on his desk. "What about Jim?"

"This whole mission. Our job was to protect the Ponies, not wipe out a whole race."

Don looked up at him, with a look of pained anger on his face. "We have to do this Jim. They took Twilight from me, Dash from Leopard, and Applejack from Alex. They also took Pinkie. We have to get them back!"

"I know, but......do you really think that this is the way to do that?"

With a fury, Don grabbed Jim by the collar, and slammed him up against the wall of his office. "Don't you question me Bender! I'M the one in charge here! You....." Don's anger began to give way. "You don't know what it's like to lose those you love! You don't have any family that died in the war! YOU DON'T KNOW HOW IT FEELS TO LOSE SOMEONE CLOSE TO YOU!!!!" Don then shed a few tears.

Jim grabbed Don's hands, and pried them off of him. "Yes, I do Don. I lost both of my grandsons to WW6, and my sons and nephews to WW5. I KNOW how it feels to feel loss! And believe me, I'm just as mad as you are! They're holding 2 of our battalion soldiers hostage, and executed a 3rd! I'm HELLA pissed off! But this is not the way to go."

"Well, then how would you do it Jim? I see no way that this can end without us taking drastic action."

Jim thought about that. He tried to come up with another answer, but they all came back to the same conclusion; all out war, or giving in. Finally, he looked at Don. "I know that you're right Don, but I just wish that there was another way. However, those Zebras have indeed signed their own death warrants. I see now that we must defeat them. You are the boss around here, so it's your call, but I still say that we need to do this carefully."

"Noted Jim. And we will be taking this campaign 1 step at a time. However, we'll need to strike them hard, fast, and with a vengeful fury. We have to wipe them out before they can respond to our presence!"

Jim sighed. Deep down, he was conflicted. He knew what the right thing to do was, but yet, he knew that they had to save the hostages as well. He couldn't do both, so, for the time being, he decided to see where the campaign went.

Meanwhile, in the Zebra Empire, the 4 Element bearers were moved to their dungeon cell for the night. Here, their restraints were somewhat removed, and they were given water in bowls, and food in bowls as well. They were then locked into their cell. However, before they could really even collect their thoughts, their cell door opened, and a large lump was thrown inside, before the door slammed shut again.

To Twilight's horror, she saw that it was Private Cole! He was horribly bruised, naked, bleeding, and had clearly been raped multiple times.

"Private, Private Cole! C-can you hear me?"

"Mmm.......hmmm...." Came a weak reply.

"What.....did those monsters do to you?"

"I....r-refused to t-tell them....anything. T-they, tried to f-force me, b-but I h-held....firm..... T-they....broke me."

"Where's your friend, Private Dan?" Pinkie asked.

"D-dead." Cole muttered.

"T-they, k-killed him?" Applejack asked nervously. W-wh-what happened?"

Cole smirked a bit. "Heh. T-they tr-tried to f-force him to s-suck a cock. D-Dan told him that any-anything that went i-into his mouth, t-they were g-going to lose. T-they d-didn't listen, and one l-lost his d-dick and b-balls because of it! K-kicked his f-face in, b-but Dan j-just laughed at them until he b-breathed his last."

"So they killed 2 of the 3 Humans, and horribly abused the 3rd one." Twilight thought. "How much longer will this last?!"

Suddenly, the sounds of their cell being unlocked were heard. Then, the door slowly opened, and a Zebra soldier carrying medical supplies entered.

"Um, I came to patch up the Human."

"T-touch me, and y-you die!" Cole muttered.

"But your wounds are infected! I have to patch you up, or your value as a bargaining chip will diminish. You are the last one left, so we cannot afford to let you die."

"F-f@#ker....." Cole muttered. He did however let the Zebra patch him up.

The Zebra then looked at the 4 Element Bearers. "I don't know if you really care, but I'm Private Maul. I hate the Zebras, and everything that they stand for. Even though I am a Zebra, I do not stand with them. I came down here tonight to give you the last act of kindness before I end my own life." He then pulled out a communicator. "I thought that you would want to say goodbye to your coltfriends. This communicator has just enough power for one more call." He then handed the device to them.

Twilight began to fiddle with it. Eventually, she triggered it, and using the com settings, she somehow managed to get it to patch through to the Battleship Express.

I was sitting in the SCC close to my room when Twilight's communication came. I was talking to Don and Alex, when suddenly, our screen in the room came to life.

"What is it? Who is this?!" Then, to my shock, I saw Twilight! "T-T-TWILIGHT?!?!?!"

"WHAT?!?!?!" Don got over to the screen. "Twilight?! Is that really you?!"

She nodded. "Yes, I'm here Don. I'm ok, for the time being at least."

"Are the others there with you?"

Twilight turned the communicator. Sure enough, Dash, Pinkie, and Applejack also became visible.

"Where are you Stud?" Dash asked.

"Right here Dashie, I'm right here!" I moved a bit closer to the screen.

"I miss you so much Stud. You have to come get us!"

"Sure, just one question. What's my cat's name?"

Dash looked at me curiously. "Um, what cat? You don't have a cat. You have a wolf named Aurora."

I nodded. "I know, I just had to make sure that it was really you. One can never be too sure."

She nodded. "Yeah, I feel ya Stud. Just please hurry! Our time as bargaining chips may be coming to an end. Zakia keeps talking about taking us into his harem!"

"Which he WILL NOT be doing!" Don broke in. "We have a plan to end this. But, my quick question, how are you talking to us right now?"

"That was my doing Sir." A Zebra then stepped into view. "My name is Private Maul. I'm a Zebra who hates my race, and everything that they stand for. I decided to do one last good thing before I committed suicide tonight. I cannot stand what my people have done. I will end it now."

He then reached to his belt, grabbed a gun, and then walked out of view. Then, there came the sound of a door closing, and then we all heard a loud *Bang!*, and something hit the ground.

"He's dead! He shot himself!" Twilight reported just before she threw up.

None of us knew what to make of that. However, he was a Zebra, and he was dead, so now he was not a threat.

"Just hang in there for a little bit longer Dash", I told her. "We're all coming for ya! It'll just be a little bit longer. Princess Celestia herself has given all of us the full authority to wage the war as we see fit. We will show the Zebras what happens to those who steal our mates! I will find you, I will save you, I'll hug you, and then I'll carry you back to the train."

Dash smiled a bit with tears in her eyes. "That'll....be so nice Stud, just hurry!"

"We will. Now, all of you girls just keep surviving, and brace for impact! Soon, we'll be right there, and there will be no one left to hurt you."

They all nodded. "Just, please hurry. Like we've said before, we don't know how much longer we can last without having to resort to doing something horrible."

"Don't worry girls", Don reassured them, "You won't have to. Now that they've decided to take things to a personal level, we've decided to remove the gloves. They will fry, every last single one of them! May Death show them mercy, for we will have none!"

I then thought of something. "Oh, wait, do you girls know where Private Cole and Private Dan are?"

"I'm here Sir!" Cole then moved into camera view. He looked like he'd been roughed up pretty bad.

"Are, you alright Private? And where's Dan?"

"He's.......he's dead Sir. He warned the Zebras that anything that went into his mouth they would lose. They didn't listen, he bit one of their dicks off, then managed to get the balls too before he was beaten to death. He died laughing in their faces! It's down to just me Sir. I've also been beaten, raped, jizzed on and in, urinated on, had my tail fur cut off, lost parts of my hair, and I was branded as well. They did similar things to Dan before he was killed."

When we heard that, we were all shocked. Then our shock gave way to sadness, which became horror, which then bled into more rage.

"They.....will PAY THROUGH THEIR ASSES FOR WHAT THEY'VE DONE TO YOU, DAN, AND CORPORAL DAVIS!!!!"

"They need to be wiped out, all of them!" Cole said through clenched teeth. "They're all in on it, even the females and children!"

"WHAT?!?!?!"

"Yeah! While we were being dragged through the streets of Zebrica, I saw numerous captives being raped by children, and females were also raping, and drugging the captives. This system truly is rotten to it's very core. It needs to end!"

I was quivering with rage. "Just, hold on Cole. We will be on top of your location in a matter of days! Your capture will be avenged, and all of the Zebras will PAY!!!"

Cole nodded, and then, after he, Twilight, Dash, Pinkie, and Applejack said their goodbyes to us, the video call was terminated due to Maul's communicator running out of power, and we were all left to collect our thoughts.

All throughout that night, from the desert surrounding the ruins of Appaloosa, Desert Battalion witnessed a sight that scared them more than anything that they had ever seen. From all around the area, came sounds that they had never heard before. They were the cries from Human-wolves in deep distress. Some were cries of pain, others were cries of anger and rage. They also occasionally saw glowing eyes peering at them from the darkness. Sometimes, the glowing eyes would step into the light of nearby campfires, revealing a Human-wolf. The Human-wolf would just stand there for a few moments, before slipping back into the darkness.

When word reached the battalion of the video call from Overlord Zakia, and what resulted from that, Captain Fur sighed. "So, they lost their mates, and are ready to go the full miles to get them back. I guess that they've already taken to practicing their psychological warfare tactics, and I must say that I am most impressed. My soldiers are absolutely petrified of them; a fine piece of work on their part."

Fur also learned that Shining's Battalion, Canterlot's First, had merged with Battalion 4009, for the upcoming "expedition" into the Zebra Empire. Now calling themselves the "Big Boy Battalion", they were ready to ship out with the Battleship Express, and Iron Glory. They wanted both vengeance for those killed, as well as to avenge the capture of the 3 Battalion 4009 soldiers, and the 4 Element Bearers.

Back in my room, I prepared for the worst. I practically glued my Kitsune mask to my face, vowing never to remove it until Dash was safely back in my arms. For noise while I prepared for what was to come, I played the one song that described my life beyond perfectly.

From a long box underneath my bed, I pulled out my fiercest melee weapon. It was an old fire ax that I had taken from Firehouse 69, located in Watertown, New York, where'd I'd been employed until WW4 began. I kept the ax, and even though I didn't use it very often, when I did, as Don used to say, "When the mask goes on, and the ax comes out, shit just got real!" I began to sharpen my ax all while imagining it tearing through Zebra flesh.

On the floor next to me, Aurora was growling as she gnawed on a bone from a Zebra's leg that I had given to her. She too had grown very fond of Dash during her stay on the Battleship Express, and wanted her back just as much as I did.

"I want Mommy back!" She growled softly as she chewed.

"So do I Aurora. That's why we're all about to go and get her and her friends, as well as Private Cole from those monsters!"

"So, will I get to fight too? I REALLY wanna see how well my mini-nuke works! I mean, I've gotten to use my sniper-rifle, minigun, and missile launcher, but I've never gotten to use my mini-nuke!"

I smirked at her. "Hold still girl." I then imputed a code into her battle armor, which opened up a small panel. I then carefully removed a small missile.

"Is, is that it Master?"

I nodded. "Yep, this is it, the mini-nuke, capable of a 1 kiloton yield. Smallest atomic weapon ever mounted to a missile small enough to be launched by a single individual. And you Aurora, were the first dog to ever be given the battle-armor capable of launching it. You were the pioneer who proved the worth of the first prototype of the Dog Combat Armor. The same suit that you're still wearing right now, give or take some upgrades."

Aurora nodded, but then asked. "But, why did you remove the missile? Am I not going to be able to use it?"

I shook my head. "Oh no, you'll still be able to use it, I just wanted to do this to it first." I then took a large Sharpie, and on the side, I wrote, "God save the Zebras? No, God save them from Aurora!" After showing it to Aurora, who barked in approval, I then reloaded the missile into her suit, re-secured it, and closed up the access panel. I then let Aurora out of her battle-armor, and she went back to chewing her bone.

I wasn't able to sleep well that night. My mind was too enraged to allow sleep. Instead, I passed the time by exploring the entire train from the tip of the Plow-Catcher, to the end of the work caboose's rear coupling. I discovered a few things that very few people on the train even knew about. In a supply car were where the train's library and archives were located. Also contained in there was the train's war diary, which contained entries from the day we met in our bunker in Kansas for the first time, all the way up to the Battle of Las Vegas, and new entries for Equestria were being added as well. In another car, I passed the small prayer room that also served as Father Charles's office, as he was our battalion's chaplain.

I even walked through the magazine car that contained our nuclear shells. All of them were secured on racks that were bolted to the floor, ceiling, and walls. At one time, 40 shells, each believed to be capable of a 5 megaton yield, were housed here. However, that number was brought down to 20 when the war was coming to a close, and 1 more was launched at Vegas. There should have been only 19, but Iron Glory was carrying 3 shells when it followed us through the black mass to Equestria. We now had 22 nuclear shells, and all of them had witty, or funny phrases painted on them. "Was Fallout REALLY just a game?" "Hey, wanna reenact Hiroshima?" "Does the name 'Chernobyl' sound like a good graveyard name?" "Nuclear shells aren't THAT heavy, they only weigh 5 megatons!" Phrases like that.

My final discovery for that night though, was the one that really shocked me. In one final supply car, as I was looking through crates of spare parts for the railguns, I suddenly noticed that some of the crates were not like the others.

"What?"

I looked closer, but just before I could see what was in the crates, I heard a gun behind me click.

"Hold it right there. Hands up!"

I quickly complied.

"Now turn around, slowly. Keep your hands where I can see them!"

I turned around, and low and behold, there stood Jim!

"Wait, Leopard?! What are you doing in here?!"

"I could ask you the same question Jim. I couldn't sleep, so I decided to take a walk through the train, but what are you doing here?" I put my hands down.

"Helping to protect this train's greatest secret. A secret that only myself, and Jeff Coleson knew about. I don't even think that Don knows about this."

"Um, what secret?"

"A secret that I will share with you, but ONLY if you swear to never tell another soul! You and I are the only ones who know about this, as Jeff is dead."

I nodded slowly, and after doing what was required, Jim quietly opened one of the crates. I gasped in shock when I saw what was inside.

"Jim! Is this.....?!"

Jim nodded. "Yep. It's actual gold bullion. $100 million worth of it to be exact."

"But.....why is it here? And why is it such a secret?"

Jim sighed. "Because the truth is.....well" Jim sighed. "Jeff and I.......we um, s-stole it."

"What?! Stole it?! From where?!"

"From Fort Knox itself. During WW4, it was a race against time to get the gold supply from Fort Knox, to the Federal Reserve Bank in New York. Most of the gold made it, but the last supply train, one carrying $100 million worth of gold, never made it. The engine was hit by a bomb just as it left the fort, and the train was stranded." Jim then went on to tell me about how Jeff, who was stationed at Fort Knox, found the gold, and with Jim's help, the two of them buried the crates to keep them safe. They did return for them when it was safe enough, and the gold crates were presented to the Federal Reserve Bank in New York after WW5. The bank however, for an unknown reason, just put the crates into storage and forgot about them. "And that's where Jeff and I come back into the picture Leopard. In short, we stole the gold from the Federal Reserve storage room, and had it loaded on board the Battleship Express during her construction. It's stayed with us ever since, and we've had no idea what to do with it. After Jeff died, I kept trying to tell myself that we were a ‘mobile Fort Knox’, but I still felt incredibly guilty for what we did."

I was still confused. "Ok, I kinda get why you hid the gold, but why did you steal it again?"

"Jeff and I did that, because well, we knew that the war could go badly, and all of our gold reserves were hidden in the Federal Reserve banks in New York, and DC, as well as a few other locations as well. If we lost that gold, we were f@#ked! So, we took our $100 million in gold, and kept in on the train. Now, even if the US lost its gold to the Futas, we would still have some left to keep the value of our Dollar. It was the wrong thing to do, yes, but we did it for the right reasons."

When Jim finished his story, I was absolutely stunned. Here I was thinking that we just lived in a mobile city that we shared with lethal weapons. Now I learned that we were sitting on top of $100 million in gold as well!

"Jim, this is absolutely insane! If I hadn't seen this with my own eyes, I NEVER would have believed it!"

Jim nodded. "Yes, that's why it's the train's most carefully guarded secret." He then looked at his watch. "It's almost 5am. Don wants to have a final meeting with everyone at 7:30, and we have things to do before then. I'm going to let you go, but remember Leopard, not a word about this, to ANYONE!"

"You got it Jim, I won't tell a soul. Not that anyone would believe me anyway, but yes, I won't tell."

Jim nodded, and then we both went our separate ways. I returned to my cabin, and did manage to get a little bit of sleep.

The next morning, the first Day of Judgement had dawned on the Zebra Empire. They didn't know it yet, but they were all marked for death, every, last single one of them!

Once I was all dressed in my battle gear, I helped Aurora suit up, and once she was ready, I put a leash on her, and we all went to Don's meeting, which I was pretty sure was our final briefing before the campaign began. When we arrived, we found ourselves surrounded by both Human-wolves, and Equestrian soldiers. The rage was so heavy that it hung in the air. It oozed from all of us.

Once Don appeared, he went to the front of the crowd. "Hello all. We have some serious work ahead of us, so I'm going to keep this extremely brief. To get to the point, by a show of hands, how many of you guys fought in against the One Race Empire? Specifically in WW5?"

A handful of people raised their hands, including myself.

"And do you remember what happened? They tried to mass genocide all of Humanity when they lost, and they had to be annihilated. For those of you who weren't there, and I know that this is going to sound INCREDIBLY racist, but believe me, it is not, but do you ever remember seeing anyone who was black AFTER WW5 ended?"

We all shook our heads.

"That is because in order to stop the genocide of Humanity itself, the Black Race.....had to be completely exterminated. It was horrible, and it was erased from the history books, but by their total annihilation, the rest of Humanity was saved. Again, I know that that sounds incredibly racist, but that was war. Now the One Race Empire has returned, this time through the Zebra Empire. Thanks to Intel from a captured soldier, Private Cole, we had the shocking revelation that ALL of the Zebras are out for the extermination of the Pony Race! ALL OF THEM!!! Cole told stories of children raping captives gleefully, CHILDREN!!! He told of females drugging captives, and then raping them, while LAUGHING!!! They know it's wrong, BUT THEY DON'T CARE!!! And now, THEY'VE STOLEN MY MATE, CAPTAIN LEOPARD'S MATE, AND LT. ALEX BARKLEY'S MATE!!! THIS MADNESS MUST END NOW!!!"

By this point, we had all worked ourselves up into a frenzy again. We wanted blood, we wanted to kill, we wanted the order to be given!

"We have been given the FULL AUTHORITY from Princess Celestia to wage war AS WE SEE FIT!!!! This war against the Zebras ends with their total destruction! We will leave the Caribou to watch and see what happens to those who DARE to mess with Humanity! NOW WHO'S READY TO DO THIS?!?!??!"

We all SCREAMED at the top of our lungs.

"SO LET'S F@#KING DO THIS!!!!! GO, GO, GO, GO, GO!!!!!!"

We all scurried to our stations. I was driving, Alex was my fireman, Todd was the brakeman, and Fred and Andy manned the roof guns. Don was in the PCC. The train was all ready to go, everypony was all loaded up, Iron Glory was coupled to the back of our train, and we were ready for our date with Destiny. Even 4009 herself seemed to be ready. It was so strange. More and more, it almost felt like 4009 was alive. She almost seemed to sigh at times, and she hissed at Rarity angrily when she tried to paint her. If I had to guess, the front of the engine was her face, her boiler was her inner organs, her firebox was her heart, her front wheels and 1st set of drive wheels were her arms, and her 2nd set of drive wheels and back wheels were her legs. Her brain was the cab. The pipes and tubing were her blood vessels. The Plow-Catcher was her mask, and her tender was like her backpack. We all felt that 4009 had a soul in her somewhere, and it was now beginning to manifest itself. She seemed to be just as angry as we were about the situation at hand.

"Just get us to the Zebra Empire, old girl, and then keep us rolling through their territory! Help us kill them all!"

"YESSSSSSSS....." She seemed to sigh.

"Good, and now that we have the orders from Don, LET'S GO!!!!"

I blew the whistle, and moved the throttle forwards. With a great noise, the Battleship Express, the flagship of the RWD, the train that claimed the dog-tags of over 1 million Futas, was on the move again. This time, her mission was clear; get our marefriends back, and kill all of the Zebras!

Our plan of attack was simple. We roll up the Macintosh Hills, go down the Macintosh Hills, take control of the Badlands, then, in a wide sweep, start from the Hayseed Swamps, and work down through the Forbidden Jungle. Wipe out any and all Zebra towns, cities, and settlements. Kill all the Zebras, and show no mercy. Get to Zebrica, liberate our people, kill Overlord Zakia, and then wipe out the city, and move on to mop up whatever resistance was left. We also had to move fast, and stealthily, as who knew what Zakia would do if he knew that the war for him was lost. We had to get to our marefriends before Zakia killed them.

According to our Intel, the Zebra Empire had a population of approximately 20 million Zebras. There were also 5 major cities, including the capital, Zebrica, a number of smaller towns, and many villages and settlements. There were also a bunch of military garrisons. Rail lines ran all throughout the empire, and there were a number of checkpoints as well. We all knew about the closest railway checkpoint, which was at the bottom of the Badlands. We would have to strike it hard and fast, wiping it out before they could raise the alarm!

The previous night, a few of our scouts went ahead and scoped the checkpoint out.

"It's a large garrison built in the middle of the railroad tracks. There are doors on both ends to let trains pass. It's also staffed by maybe 90 Zebras full-time. For weapons, they have machine guns, and other small-arms fire. Nothing that we can't handle."

Don agreed that this was our best striking point, as also, at certain times of the year, due to atmospheric conditions, the garrison would be out of communication range. None of their communication devices would work, and nopony would notice the base going quiet. Right now, the base was out of range, and would be for another week. It was the perfect time to attack.

Just before we headed out, we checked the Plow-Catcher one last time. We sharpened the edges to once again be razor-sharp, and we sharpened the metal spikes as well. Most likely, we would have to ram through the garrison, then stop and wipe it out. We also readied the forward-facing 8in artillery guns located on the sides of the boiler. These guns were not used very often, except in the case of oncoming trains, or softening up a target before ramming it, but now they were about to be used again.

Closer and closer our train got to the top of the Macintosh Hills. Once we were at the top, Don told me to open the throttle, and be prepared to ram the railway checkpoint garrison after hitting it with the forward 8in artillery guns. Once we were over the top, I did as Don asked.

For those Zebras stationed at the Outland Railway Checkpoint, it was the most boring job around. They were out of communication range, and there was nothing to do. The tracks were clear, as they always were, and the last action was the Zebra forces retreating after their disastrous defeat at Appaloosa, just after a prisoner train came through with several high-value prisoners.

As many of the Zebras were still thinking about the previous day's events, they suddenly became aware of strange sounds. It sounded like loud chugging.

"Huh? What's that?"

"It sounds like another train!"

"But we aren't expecting another train!"

Suddenly, from the top of the Macintosh Hills, there came a great cloud of smoke, followed by an ungodly shrieking.

"Good GODS!!!! WHAT WAS THAT?!?!?!"

Then, to their horror, they saw a sight that they had prayed that they never would, the Black Leviathan itself! It was now in the Zebra Empire!

"Oh Shit!!!! Get the radio online, IMMEDIATELY!!!!"

A tech tried to make a call. "ANY AND ALL UNITS IN THE AREA, MAYDAY, MAYDAY!!!! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK BY THE BLACK LEVIATHAN!!!! DOES ANYONE COPY?!?!?!?!" Only static met his reply. The atmosphere was still messing with the radio signals. No help was coming for Outland Railway Checkpoint Garrison.

"ALL HANDS, MAN YOUR BATTLE STATIONS NOW!!!!! WE HAVE TO STOP THAT TRAIN HERE!!!!" The garrison's defenders raced to their stations. They shut the main doors, blocking the tracks. They figured that our train would hit the doors, and most likely derail. They still prepared for the worst case scenario. Inside the garrison though, was another train! A transport train that was now trapped inside, right in the path of our oncoming Battleship Express, with only a strong wooden door between them!

On our end, I kept the train racing for the garrison. I blew the whistle again, to signify that we were not going to stop. Once we were within range, Fred and Andy activated the 2 forward 8in artillery guns located along the sides of the boiler.

"Firing now!!!"

*KABLOOEY, KABLOOEY!!!!!!* The guns were extremely loud. Between them, Fred and Andy managed to fire 2 shots from both of the guns before they had to brace for impact.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!!!!" I screamed over the coms.

Then, after we all braced into our crash positions, we slammed into the garrison at the bottom of the Badlands, going at least 60mph! That impact would have destroyed most trains, however, our train is NOT normal! The shells were fired to soften the target for a ramming. We crashed through the first set of doors, rammed, and derailed the transport train, before crashing out the back! We then braked to a stop, and piled out of the train to do battle with the survivors.

"Sir, I can't get a reply from anyone! And that train is not slowing down!"

"That's bad, but if they're going to try and ram the gates, they're fools! FIRE AT WILL!!!"

The garrison troops began to fire at the train. However, most of their bullets either missed, or bounced off of the engine's thick armor. Then to their horror, two previously unknown guns fired two shots apiece, which shattered the garrison's structural integrity. The truth was that the whole base was actually pretty poorly designed. It had no real foundation, and was built directly over the train tracks. It was held up by a series of metal beams covered in the Zebra version of concrete, but our shells impacted with those beams, causing them to become dislodged. Now, the entire garrison would most likely collapse. Then, to make matters even worse, the train crashed right through the garrison! 13 Zebras were killed, and the transport train was destroyed. Then, to the defender's shock and horror, the train came to a stop, and the soldiers inside came pouring out!

"OH SHIT, HERE THEY COME!!!!"

The defenders tried to put up defenses, but they never stood a chance. Thanks to our hate-fueled rage, we fought them with our guns, and even melee weapons. Leading the charge, was Fox-face himself, aka, me!

"YEAH, FOR EQUESTRIA!!!" I screamed. Then, with Aurora by my side, and Don and others behind me, I let loose with my shotgun. First one Zebra, then another got a fatal case of lead poisoning. Aurora used her sniper rifle to take down several Zebras on the top walls of the garrison, before turning her minigun on several nearby alcoves.

"TAKE SOME OF THESE YOU STRIPED FREAKS!!!!" She screamed, before launching a couple of frag grenades. The grenades found their targets, and 11 Zebras were blown to pieces.

"PLEASE, HAVE MERCY!" One of them screamed.

"There is no Mercy!" Aurora responded coldly before tearing his throat out.

And indeed, all across the garrison, out of the 100 members of Battalion 4009 who fought, no mercy was shown. In less than 10 minutes, it was all over. All 90 Zebras of the garrison were slaughtered. We only suffered 13 wounded. We did however have to make a hasty exit from the garrison, as it was about to collapse. Once it did, and the rubble was fully dismantled with explosives, on a flagpole that was still standing, we tore down the Zebra's flag, and in its place, we raised up Old Glory, the beautiful Stars and Stripes.

"We've won a victory today boys!" I congratulated everyone. "A small victory yes, but a victory nevertheless! The Zebras still do not know of our presence in their territory. We have taken the Macintosh Hills, as well as this garrison in the Badlands. By our count, there are only two garrisons left here, and once those are taken, we back-track a little bit, and then, starting from the Hayseed Swamps, we sweep out way south to the Forbidden Jungle, destroying everything in our path, until we reach the Zebra capital city of Zebrica, where our prizes await!"

There came a number of loud cheers, and after piling back onto the train, we all got ready to continue our reign of terror and bloodshed on the Zebra Empire.

"General Tarrath, report."

"All seems to be quiet, Overlord Zakia. The city of Zandia up here in the Hayseed Swamps is just as good as ever, and all seems to be quiet. Whatever you said to those Equestrians really must have shut them up!"

"Yes, it definitely seems so General! Any contact from our garrisons in the Badlands?"

Tarrath shook his head. "Negative, Overlord Zakia. They have fallen silent, however, it is one of those times of the year, so it's most likely due to atmospheric interference. If there really was a problem, we would have heard about it by now."

Zakia nodded. "Excellent General. I guess that we have nothing to fear. All is well in my empire, and it shall hopefully be for a long time to come!"

Zakia then terminated the call, little suspecting the railway terror that was right at that moment loose in his empire. It had already silenced a railway garrison, and was poised to strike again. Its presence was still unnoticed. Unnoticed that is, until it was already far too late!

Author's Note

Yeah, I know that this chapter was called "Death Comes to an Empire". However, this chapter was meant to cover events leading up to our first battle. The train is Death, and the chapter ended with it arriving in the Zebra Empire after a border battle. The next chapter, "Death to an Empire", will be all about the collapse, fall, and total annihilation of the Zebra Empire. It will be amazing, it will be bloody, it will most likely have to be in several parts, but the read will be worth it! It will also involve nuclear weapons, melee warfare, and our anger and rage growing more and more. Our anger grows ever stronger, and so, does our lust for Zebra blood.

What will happen next? When will the Zebras realize that the Battleship Express is in their midst? How will Zakia react? How will Tarrath react? Well, not to spoil anything, but Tarrath will find out first, and will be unable to report it to Zakia due to a health condition called "Painful Death"! He will die, but at a great cost. What great cost? Well, keep reading, and you'll find out!

Meanwhile, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 12!

ScarFox out for now, ALL ABOARD!!!!!

Chapter 12: Death of an Empire (Part 1)

After the fall of the Outland Railway Checkpoint Garrison, our next stops were taking out Badlands Central, and Badlands Outer; two other garrisons. According to our Intel, these were of a somewhat stouter design than the checkpoint garrison, and had higher staff numbers. They were also not built directly on top of a railway line, but rather next to one. Both were staffed by close to 200 Zebras apiece, and had machine guns, and light to medium artillery. We knew that we were either going to have to take them out from a distance, or sneak up to them, slip inside, and then work our evil.

"So, what's the plan now Don?"

Don had to think about that one. Finally, he said, "Well, the way I see it, Badlands Outer might be our best target to hit first. It's more hidden in the shadows than Badlands Central, and should be easier to destroy with a surprise attack. Then, while the surprise attack is underway, the Battleship Express does battle with Badlands Central. They're still out of communications range, just like the last garrison, so they won't be able to call for any reinforcements. If we do this right, before Noon, the Badlands could all be ours!"

We all agreed to this, and we coordinated the two-pronged attack against the 2 garrisons. It was decided that Don would lead the Battleship Express and part of Big Boy Battalion against Badlands Central, while I led the rest of Big Boy Battalion against Badlands Outer.

Then, once we were all ready, we began to get into position.

Once again, the Zebras inside of these garrisons never knew what hit them. All of a sudden, the soldiers of Badlands Central suddenly heard a chugging sound close by.

"Huh? What's that?"

"I don't know, but it sounded like a train!"

"But that can't be, there aren't even any trains down here!"

"Eh, maybe it was just your imagination. Remember, we're at the bottom of the Badlands. Sometimes the rock walls surrounding us can cause sound to bounce around, thus giving the illusion of a train close by."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Plus, the noise stopped now. Maybe it was just my imagination."

Yeah, maybe it was, but then again, when was the last time someone's imagination KILLED somebody, or rather, a large group of somebodies? That was precisely what happened this time around. Suddenly, those manning the guns on top of BC were suddenly dropped with bloody holes in their heads thanks to snipers. Then, with a barrage of artillery, the Battleship Express opened up on the garrison! Unlike the first garrison, this one was somewhat stronger, but it was not built to handle a sustained barrage of modern American artillery.

"Augh, the walls, they're cracking!"

"We cannot sustain this! Somebody get on the radio, and tell them that we need help!"

A tech quickly got onto the radio. "CALLING ALL BASES IN THE AREA, MAYDAY, MAYDAY!!! THIS IS BADLANDS CENTRAL, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!!!! DOES ANYONE COPY?!?!?!"

However, just like the railroad checkpoint, they were simply out of range. A reply did come from Badlands Outer, but that reply was suddenly cut off.

"Sir, I cannot get any reply! The only response came from Badlands Outer, but then the connection dropped!"

"It's all because of the F@#KING atmospheric conditions this time of year! It's blocking our transmissions! We're on our own. Standby to defend the garrison!"

"YES SIR!!!"

They did so, but in the end, it was a complete waste. Once a hole in the wall had been blasted with artillery, the troops moved in. Led by Don, they quickly made their way to the hole in the garrison. Once they were inside, they went on a full killing spree.

"YEAH, HOW DO YOU LIKE GETTING KILLED?!?!"

The slaughter was brutal. Instead of guns, Don and his troops used axes, swords, flails, maces, war hammers, chainsaws, bats with spikes in them, spears, and other such melee weapons. Don carried a chainsaw, and was cutting down (pun intended!) Zebras right and left.

"Hey, what's black and white, and red all over?" He asked a Zebra.

"Um, A sunburned Zebra? A newspaper?"

"Nah!" Don laughed as he killed the Zebra, "A dead Zebra covered in his own blood!"

He continued his rampage.

"NO, PLEASE HAVE MERCY!!!!" A wounded Zebra screamed.

"There is no Mercy, don't you get that?" Don said coldly. "You all die. The most I can do for you is give you a quick death."

"Um, how quick?"

Don then pulled his Magnum, and shot the Zebra in the neck twice. "Is THAT quick enough for you?"

No response.

"Oh yeah, that's right, it's kinda hard for you to answer, cuz you're dead!" Don then laughed, and got back to work.

In short order, the whole entire garrison was cut down before any real alarms could be sounded. Once the garrison was cleared, explosive techs came in, flooded the garrison with flammable chemicals, and packed in explosives at strategic points. Then, Don flipped a match.

In a heart-stopping moment, Badlands Central became a ball of fire, before bursting at the seams, and then outright exploding into a mass of twisted debris.

"Yeah boys, that's the way it's done!"

They all continued to cheer as the garrison's rubble burned. Then, once the fires were out, they dismantled the rubble, and on the base's flagpole, they tore down the Zebras flag, and replaced it with the US Flag.

"There, now that's another garrison neutralized." Don looked over his handiwork. "Wow, that's a pretty great job. I wonder how Leopard and his troops are doing."

He didn't have to wait too long to find out.

My team's job was to hit Badlands Outer first, in order to keep possible reinforcements from reaching Badlands Central. We also knew that we had to knock out any radio equipment, just in case the base was in communications range. Keeping to the shadows of nearby boulders, we crept up as close as we could. Using binoculars, I did a scope of the base.

"By my count, we've got maybe 11 guys up top, some at machine guns, others with rifles. We need to take care of them first, so as not to tip off the rest of the base."

"Yeah, but how?"

I thought for a second. "Hmm, hey Aurora?"

"Yeah?"

"Wanna snipe some bad guys?"

She smirked. "Heh, like you even have to ask Master!"

Aurora then activated her precision sniper-rifle, and after taking careful aim, first one Zebra dropped, then another, then another, and then another, then 7 more. "All enemies down Master! However, I'm also out of bullets for my sniper-rifle!"

I reached into a pouch on my hips. "Here, hold still." I then accessed her sniper-rifle, popped out the empty mag clip, and put in a full one. "Is that better?"

"Yes, thank you Master!"

"You're welcome Aurora. Now then, let's see about getting inside."

After searching the perimeter, I came to the conclusion that the quickest way inside would be to blast through a set of side doors that almost looked large enough to fit a car through.

"Ok, here's what we do. I need some demolition experts to get us through those two doors there. Next, we toss in a few flash bangs and smoke grenades, then we storm the place. Do you guys have all of that?"

"Yes Sir!"

"Good. Let's do it then!"

Silently, 3 explosives experts slipped up to the doors, and planted explosives at both the locking mechanisms, and the hinges. They then fell back to the boulders where the rest of us were waiting.

"Explosives set Sir."

"Ok, standby." I got the signal from everypony that they were ready. "NOW!!!"

The explosives were detonated, and the doors were blown inwards. Then, a series of smoke grenades, and flash-bangs were lobbed inside using launchers.

"NOW, CHARGE!!!!"

"FOR EQUESTRIA!!!!" We all cried as we stormed the base. Just as we did, I saw flames begin to rise from Badlands Central. "Hmm, looks like Don and Co. are having fun. Here's to hoping that they get the job done too!" I then focused again on the task at hand.

"I'm telling ya, this is the most boring facility in all of the Empire! Nothing EVER happens here!"

"Isn't that a good thing though? I mean, would you rather be stationed at a place where the Black Leviathan could show up?"

The Zebra thought about that. "Well, now that you mention it, yeah, I guess that this is better than dealing with that. But still, don't you wish for at least a little bit of action?"

His friend sighed. "Yeah, I guess so, but when will that ever happen?"

A lot sooner than he was thinking, I can guarantee you that! Moments after this conversation ended, Aurora began her sniping spree. The Zebras up top died so fast that none of them were even able to scream, much less raise any other kind of alarm.

Down below in the main garrison, a group of Zebras were on patrol close to the side doors. Suddenly, without any warning, the doors were suddenly blasted in!

"HOLY.......!!!!!! WHAT THE F@#K IS THAT?!?!?!"

Before anyone could answer though, a series of *pops!* were heard, followed by several metal devices getting lobbed inside.

"Um, what are these?" A soldier picked one up.

Suddenly, the device that the soldier was holding exploded into a violent burst of white light, blinding him. "AUGH!!!!"

Other devices blasted the base full of smoke. Then, through the smoke, wearing gas masks, and armed to the teeth, (Yes, you can actually fit a gas mask over a Kitsune mask! Who knew?) came a flood of soldiers.

"FAN OUT!!!! We have to clear this base!!!!"

"YES SIR!!!"

Then, the killing rampage began. Just like the other times, it was kill all, take no prisoners. My first stop was the radio room. After shooting a few Zebras, I kicked the door in. Just as I did, I heard from over the radio, "CALLING ALL BASES IN THE AREA, MAYDAY, MAYDAY!!! THIS IS BADLANDS CENTRAL, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!!!! DOES ANYONE COPY?!?!?!"

"Well, I guess that Don's attack is going well." I saw the tech in front of me grab his radio. "Oh no ya don't!" I then grabbed my infamous fire-ax, and brought it down on the back of the tech's head! Blood splattered everywhere. Once I managed to get my ax free, I then turned it on the radio equipment, and smashed it until it was completely useless.

"There, now no more communications can get through to Badlands Central. That's one objective down. Now then", I picked up my ax again, "Let's go clean house on the rest of this base, shall we?" I then left to continue killing.

After only about 5 minutes, we all had to evacuate BO. Due to a series of firefights, overhead pipes began to rupture. These pipes contained natural gas, which provided fuel for this base. Before we all knew it, we were surrounded by gas fumes!

"ALL HANDS, EVACUATE NOW!!!! THIS WHOLE PLACE IS FILLED WITH GAS FUMES!!!! ONE SMALL SPARK WILL KILL US ALL!!!"

Nopony had to be told twice. In fact, most had fallen back as soon as they had begun to smell gas.

The Zebras were shocked when they saw us suddenly retreat. "Wow! We've got them on the run!"

"Yeah, look at them go!"

Suddenly though, one of them frowned. "Hey, do any of you guys hear a hissing sound? It sounds like something might be leaking."

"No, but I do smell a strange smell. It smells like fumes."

Then it clicked. "FUMES!!! THIS WHOLE BASE JUST BECAME A TINDER BOX!!!"

"Will you please shut up? I'm trying to enjoy my victory cigarette." He put one in his mouth, and grabbed a match.

"OH MY GODS!!!!!! NOOO!!!! YOU IMBECILE!!!!"

All it took was one spark from that match. In an instant, the entire base became nothing more than a massive fireball. Debris went everywhere. All of us escaped from the base with only minor injuries, but for the estimated 150 Zebras still inside, not one of them lived to see the light of day again.

We were all in shock as the base exploded. "Wow, I forgot how beautiful fireballs were."

"Yeah, I know what you mean Leopard. They really are something else!"

I then radioed Don. "Hey Don, are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here Leopard, what's going on?"

"Well, you'll be glad to hear that Badlands Outer is no more. We got inside, caused some havoc, although we did have to evacuate prematurely due to multiple gas leaks. Just after we all got out, the whole base exploded. No enemy survivors have been found. We also didn't lose anybody."

"That's really great news Leopard! We're all done over here at Badlands Central. The base is gone, no survivors, and I didn't lose anybody either. We'll come and pick you guys up."

"Roger that Don. And that's now 3 garrisons destroyed, and the Badlands secured. The enemy still has no idea that we're here, and that leaves us free to begin to conquer the rest of the Zebra Empire."

Don sighed. "Yeah, but not we'll have to be extremely careful. Once we're out of the Badlands, that puts us into communications range. Now, destroying the radios must be our number 1 priority, however, even that will be a problem, as a base that suddenly just falls silent will be seen as extremely suspicious."

"Yeah, so we'll have to take this one step at a time."

"Yeah, so just hold on, we're almost there to get you. Don out."

After we hung up the radio call, From around a bend came the Battleship Express. After we were all back on board, we went to the end of the Badlands, used a series of switches to turn around, and then we headed back the way we came. Eventually, Todd threw another switch, and once the train was out of the Badlands, we suddenly found ourselves at the edge of the Hayseed Swamps. Home to a few Zebra cities, including Zandia, and a number of small towns and villages. After coming to a slow stop, we all decided to come up with a plan of attack.

"We need to take out Zandia first. That's a huge military training base, supply center, and weapons manufacturing plant. It's also the second largest city in the Empire, after the capital, Zebrica."

I looked over the maps. "Yeah, but what's the plan of attack?"

Don pointed to spots around Zandia. "Well obviously, our first targets should be these small towns and villages. We hit them hard and fast. So fast that no time is given to raise any alarms. Then, we surround Zandia, hit it, and if we can get in, great. If not though, we pull back, and nuke the place!"

We all stared at Don in shock. "WHAT?!?!?! NUKE THE PLACE?!?!?! Are you crazy?!?!?!"

"A little bit, however, if an alarm is raised, they could kill Twilight and the other hostages. We have to wipe them out, by any means necessary!"

Jim thought about that. "Well, we do have the technology, but do we have the abilities to contain the fallout?"

"That's what I'm still trying to calculate. I think so, but even if we don't, I'd only be authorizing the launch of 1 shell, since one of those alone has a 5 megaton yield."

"Nevertheless, it's still a massive risk. I still vote that we don't use those shells unless there absolutely is no other option!"

Don nodded. "Yes, that will be taken into account Jim. I'm just as worried as you are about the fallout. However, we do what has to be done, so let's get cracking!"

We waited for night to fall. Then, leaving the train behind us, a small group slipped up to the first village we came to. By our counts, there were maybe 40 Zebras living there. It looked like a small farming community.

"Well, not for much longer." I muttered. After slipping out our knives and other sharp weapons, (we couldn't risk using guns yet, and we didn't have enough silencers to go around), we stuck to the shadows, slipped inside, and did our dirty work.

It was very bloody. Most of the village was sleeping, however, not all of them were. Some of them were making what appeared to be drugs. None of them ever really saw what hit them. Our methods were simple; sneak up, clamp a hand over the mouth, then slash a throat, stab through the neck, break a neck, or a combination of slashing and stabbing.

In short order, the village was cleared. "We're all clear here Don. Village neutralized!"

"Excellent! Now, move on to the others. Wait for further instructions after you've taken the last village."

"Roger that Don. And do we burn this village?"

"Negative Leopard, don't do that yet. Just douse everything in combustible materials, and repeat for all of the villages. When we reach the towns, my plan is to drop incendiaries on them, and then let the fires burn back to those villages. I mean, after all, drug manufacturing is a VERY dangerous business! You never know when something might, EXPLODE!!!"

I smirked, and then nodded. "Roger that Don, Leopard out."

Our killing spree continued. I even got a chance to use my ax a few times. All that was heard were bloody sounds, a faint *snap* as a neck was broken, the quiet gushing of blood, and the *thud* of a body hitting the ground. Those who did see us were unable to scream through our hands, or the blood that they were choking on.

As the night wore on, the number of Zebras in that area got smaller and smaller. Still, there was no alarms raised, and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary at all.

Eventually, we cleared out the last village. "Ok Don, we're all done here. All villages cleared, and all have been doused in the special combustible fuel. We're awaiting your orders."

"Ok, now we have to cause a little "accident" at the chemical factory in the town of Bania. An explosion there will trigger a chain reaction that will destroy not only that town, but also the villages, and even the other towns as well!"

I was stunned. "And how do you know that Don?"

"Because we did the research. All of those towns have an interconnected system of chemical filled pipes. The Bania plant is Ground Zero. An accident there would prove to be catastrophic!"

"Ok, so get to the Bania chemical plant, cause an 'accident', and then watch the fireworks. Then what?"

"Then clean up any remaining messes, and then we call it a night. We have to hide during the day, and plan out our attack on Zandia. I've already sent out a few teams into the other towns to cause chemical leaks. All you guys have to do now is get to the plant, start a fire, and then get the hell out of Dodge!"

"Roger that Don. I'll get back to you when the mission is complete. Leopard out."

"What did the Major say?"

I sighed. "He told us to hit the chemical plant in the town of Bania. An explosion there sets off a chain reaction that'll destroy the town, the other towns, as well as the villages we hit earlier. Don already sent out other teams to cause chemical leaks in the other towns, so now we just have to hit the plant, and trigger the chain reaction."

We all agreed, and once we were ready, with myself leading and all of us dressed in black, we slipped into the town. What we found when we did was rather odd. Even though the town did appear to have some form of electricity, almost all of it seemed to be going to feeding the chemical plant. Undetected, we slipped up to the plant, cut through the fence surrounding it, and after finding an air duct, while a few stayed behind to stand guard, the rest of us slipped inside.

What we found inside was shocking. All around us were vats of green, glowing chemicals. The air all around smelled foul, almost like sewage. Large machines worked tirelessly to churn the chemicals around, and move them around the plant. Here and there, we could also spot a Zebra worker moving around among the vats.

"What's the plan Leopard?"

"We have to find the factory's central core. Some kind of a furnace, or a reactor that powers everything. We hit that with explosives, the whole plant goes up, and we start the chain reaction."

We all agreed, and after we climbed out of the vent, we split into groups, and went looking for the factory's power source.

I checked my watch. The time read 3:30am. "Gosh, this really is going to be a long night." I muttered.

Here and there, we would break a pipe, or knock off a valve. What was about to happen had to look like a genuine accident, and from the looks of things, that may actually be easier than we previously thought. The entire factory looked like it should have been condemned ages ago. There were leaking pipes everywhere, support beams were rusty, walls were cracking, ceilings were falling down, and chemicals were spilling onto the floor.

"Yep, this place sure is an accident waiting to happen!" I muttered.

Suddenly, my radio came to life. "Captain, Captain, are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here, did you find something?"

"Yes, I found the central core! It's a series of large furnaces, and by the looks of them, they look to be in pretty bad shape. Taking them out should prove to be really easy."

"Excellent work! All other units, fall back to the outside of the factory. We will take care of the central core, and then follow along shortly!"

"Yes Sir!"

I and my group then went down to where the furnace room was.

When we arrived, sure enough, there they were. Against the far wall was a series 6 of massive furnaces. All of them looked like they could possibly explode at any moment.

"Ok boys, you know the drill. Set the explosives, connect them to a remote detonator, then we get out of here!"

"Yes Sir!"

Then, while I and a few others stood guard, explosives were set on the furnaces. We did have to stop a few Zebras from raising the alarm, and we hid the evidence by throwing the bodies into the furnaces!

Finally, the job was done. "Ok Sir, the explosives are all set! Now we leave, these furnaces explode, and start the chain reaction!"

"Roger that, let's get out of here!"

We all quickly then retraced our steps, got back to the main level, got back into the vent, found ourselves back outside, then we fell back out of town to a safe spot.

"Ok, do we have everybody?"

Everyone sounded off.

"Ok, good." I then grabbed my radio. "Don, Don are you there?"

"Right here leopard. What's going on?"

"Mission accomplished Don. We got to the plant, ruptured a few pipes, then we found the factory's central core, a series of 6 furnaces, which we then planted explosives on, and we're now awaiting your orders to detonate."

"Good work you guys! Now, I've just sent an emergency message to Zandia. I told them that there was a fire at the Bania chemical plant, and that the area must be evacuated immediately. As soon as the alarms begin to sound, detonate the explosives!"

"Yes Sir!"

We all then began our wait.

Eventually, we all heard it. From not only Bania, but the other towns as well, there came the unmistakable sounds of sirens wailing.

"That's the signal Leopard, DETONATE NOW!!!!"

"Roger that. FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!!" I yelled. I then pressed the button on the detonator that I had been given.

Suddenly, from the plant, there came a massive fireball.

"Whoa, cool!"

However, that, was only the beginning. From the plant, we suddenly saw a series of explosions all over town. They seemed to be tearing the buildings apart! Then, from Bania, the explosions seemed to engulf the other towns in the area in a massive fireball as well. Buildings were blown apart, huge craters were formed, jets of flames lit up the early-morning dark sky, debris were blown into the air, and then, the fires spread to the villages that we'd taken out earlier. After the flammable chemicals caught fire, they were consumed.

We were all shocked positively beyond words at what we had just witnessed. None of us even had the words to describe the feeling. Where there had once been 3 towns and 7 villages, there was now just a flaming swath of destruction nearly 5 miles wide! The area within was nothing more than an inferno. We could hear the screams of Zebras, but one by one, those screams were silenced. Eventually, the only sounds that we could hear were the crackling of the flames, and the occasional sound of a building collapsing.

Slowly, I grabbed my radio. "Um, Hey Don, are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here Leopard, and I......don't even know what to say right now. I mean, our Intel told us that this would happen, but to actually witness it in person? It's unlike anything I've ever seen before."

"Yeah, I know that feeling. So, where are you now?"

"We're back on the train on an abandoned side track." Don gave me the coordinates. "Please hurry back. I want you to be present when we give Princess Celestia our first report of the war."

"Ok, roger that Don, Leopard out."

We all then packed up, and went off to get back to the train.

"Sir, I think that we may have a problem here!"

Tarrath turned to the soldier. "Huh? What kind of a problem?"

"We just got word from our chemical plant in Bania. There's a fire there!"

"What?! A fire?!"

"Yes! Apparently, one of the factory's core furnaces got hit by chemical from a leaking pipe, and now the whole plant is burning!"

Tarrath was greatly alarmed. "Oh, gods. I knew that this was going to happen one day! That plant should have just been torn down! It's so structurally unsound!"

The soldier was really sweating. "But, Sir, what do we do about the fire?"

"What we're supposed to do, put it out before......"

Tarrath never got the chance to finish that thought. Just before he could, Zandia was suddenly rocked by a series of violent explosions. Alarms began to blare, and soldiers raced to their battle stations. For those that saw it, the entire chemical plant disappeared into a ball of fire, followed closely by first Bania itself, and then the other two towns in the area, and all of the villages as well.

"F@#K!!!! GET ME ALL OF THE EMERGENCY CREWS THAT WE CAN MUSTER RIGHT NOW!!!!! WE HAVE TO HELP THOSE OUT THERE!!!!"

"SIR, YES SIR!!!!"

Emergency crews were dispatched, but by the time that the huge swath of flames could be brought under control, it was already too late. Emergency crews picked through the smoldering ruins for hours and hours, but no survivors were found. Only charred bodies, and mutilated corpses. None of them were even recognizable. By the official estimates, there had been 17,000+ fatalities, and a further 3,000+ missing. 3 towns and 7 villages had been completely burned to the ground, and the whole area would not be habitable for a number of years to come.

"Dear gods!" Tarrath muttered, "How could this have been allowed to happen? Why did all of those towns have to be connected to the plant by those pipes? Why couldn't that plant have been safe? This entire area was sitting right on top of a fractured tinderbox, and now, 20,000 Zebras are dead or missing!"

Suddenly though, Tarrath was interrupted. "Um, S-Sir, I hate to be a bother, but um, Overlord Zakia wants to talk to you."

Tarrath became very pale. He knew that a death sentence was most likely imminent for him. Nevertheless, he took the communicator from the servant, and turned it on. The holographic image of Zakia appeared.

"General, report. What happened out there?"

"It's horrible, Overlord Zakia. A few hours ago, a fire broke out at the Bania chemical plant. Before the fire could be contained, it caused an explosion that not only took out the plant, but also the whole town of Bania, the 2 other towns close to it, and all 7 villages in this area. There was a 5 mile long swath of fire that grew to nearly 11 miles before we could get it stopped. To make matters worse, we haven't been able to find any survivors."

Zakia turned extremely pale. "A fire at the chemical plant in Bania? How did the fire start? And how did it spread so quickly? Was it the enemy?"

Tarrath shrugged. "Normally, I would say yes, however this time, it appears to have just been bad luck and poor timing, coupled with horrible maintenance of that plant, in addition to those towns having interconnected chemical pipes. The plant was in extremely poor condition, and a chemical pipe burst, and its contents leaked through a ceiling to the furnace room. The chemicals then ignited, and the resulting fire destroyed the plant, which triggered the explosion that traveled through the pipes, and destroyed the rest of the towns."

"But what about the villages though?"

"The villages were simply engulfed in flames before they knew what hit them. They never even stood a chance."

"How....how many lost their lives?"

Tarrath sighed. "By my counts, we've lost 17,000+ to death, with maybe another 3,000+ missing. There were no survivors."

"And are you absolutely certain that this was not the enemy's doing?"

"Well, if it was, why have they not claimed responsibility for it yet? Also, I got the word from a worker at the plant about the fire moments before contact was lost. This was just an unfortunate, horrible, avoidable accident that cost 20,000+ their lives."

"So, now this means that Zandia is the only inhabited city still standing in the North then?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so Sir. Zandia is the last major settlement in the Hayseed Swamps now. Let's just hope that the Humans DO NOT find out about that!"

Zakia nodded. "Yes, let's! Now then, I'll leave you to the cleanup operation General, as well as figuring out a way to prevent this from ever happening again."

"As you wish, Overlord Zakia."

Tarrath then sighed, and turned his communicator off. As he looked out over what used to be towns and villages, he couldn't help but feel a severe sense of dread. "Your days are numbered 'General'", It seemed to say, "They're coming for you, and when they do, there will be no escape!" Tarrath tried to put these thoughts out of his mind.

Meanwhile, just as the sun was beginning to rise over the Zebra Empire, we all made it back to the Battleship Express. After a quick headcount, as well as some debriefings, Don and I, accompanied by Jim, General Shining, and even Alex, went to the video console in the PCC. DELCI patched us through to Canterlot on a secured line.

"Ah, Major, Captain Leopard, General Shining, and others, how goes the war?"

"Well Princess Celestia, we certainly have a lot to report......" Don then explained everything, from our conquering of the Badlands, to the silent death that came to the villages, to the chemical dousing of the towns, and finally, the chemical plant destruction, and the mayhem that it caused. "....So in summary Princess, we've killed over 20,000 Zebras, destroyed 3 garrisons, completely leveled 3 towns and 7 villages, and we now stand poised to take Zandia. To top it all off, the enemy still seems to have no idea that we are even here. We have also not lost any personnel yet, although a number are down with injuries."

Celesita was shocked "What, Zandia?! That's the Zebra's second largest city! And all of that death and destruction over the course of just one night?! And the Zebras STILL don't know that you're there?!"

"It would appear not Princess. Our ruthless tactics have paid off thus far, and if all goes well, Zandia will soon be a fireball so big you will be able to see it from Canterlot!"

Celestia nodded. "Excellent work, my soldiers, well done! You've done Equestria proud, and with Zandia gone, that will put you maybe 3 days journey from Zebrica, the Zebra's capital city!"

"Yes, and that much closer to Dash", I whispered.

Celestia heard what I said. "Yes, that is true Captain, however, I've had my say for now. There are others who would like to talk to you though." Celestia then stepped to the side, and to our shock, on different screens off to the side of the main screen, I saw Dash's parents, Twilight's parents, Pinkie's parents, and Granny Smith, Applebloom, and Big Mac. Each of us who had a daughter/family member as a marefriend, did their best to reassure the parents/family.

I talked to Rainbow Dash's parents; her mom, Windy Whistles, and her dad, Bow Hothoof.

"So, you're Rainbow Dash's parents. I'm sorry that we have to meet like this, instead of under more favorable circumstances."

They both nodded gravely, with tears in their eyes. "Yes, it is indeed, Captain Leopard." Bow told me. "Our Rainbow Dash spoke to us very highly of you. You meant the world to her."

"Just as she meant the world to me Sir. That's why I'm out here, to bring Dash home!"

"As we would expect from our future son-in-law!" Windy added. "Bring our Dashie home safe, and you have our permission to have her hand in marriage, if that is what you two want."

I was blushing, but it was not visible with my Kitsune mask on. I nodded. "I will either bring Dash home, or die trying! You have my word!"

They both nodded, and we did talk for a little while longer.

On Don's end, both he and Shining talked to Nightlight and Velvet, as well as Spike, since they were Twilight's family.

"Please bring her home Major Don! Our daughter means everything to us, and she's your sister Shining!"

"You have my word Mrs. Sparkle, I will bring Twilight home safe, or die trying!"

"As will I mom!"

Nightlight nodded. "Good boys."

For Alex, he talked to Granny Smith, Big Mac, and Applebloom.

"Please bring Mah big sis home Mr. Alex! She means the world to me!"

"As does she to me; she's my li'l sis too!" Big Mac added.

"I will", Alex said bravely. "I will either bring Applejack home safe, or die trying!"

"You'd better Sonny!" Granny told him, "Cuz if you don't, I'll hunt'cha down and skin ya alive myself!"

"I will Ma'am. You have my word!"

We also all assured Pinkie's family that we would do everything in our power to bring their daughter home safe as well.

"You have our solemn word, Mr. and Mrs. Pie, as well as Marble, Limestone, and Maud Pie, that we will bring Pinkie home safe! She will be returned to Ponyville with her friends, and we will punish the ones who took her and the others captive!"

They both nodded gravely. "Just, please hurry!" her mom was almost crying. "Every day without her close is so painful!"

"Yes, and I want my sister back." Maud told us, "She means everything to me." Marble and Limestone agreed to this as well.

"As I said, you have our word. We will either bring your daughter home safe, or die trying!"

They all nodded, and once we were done talking to the families, Celestia gave us one final message. "Just keep it up boys. They won't be able to hold on much longer. Pretty soon, they will be no more, and you will all be remembered as heroes! Just keep fighting, and keep sending me reports as necessary."

Shining nodded. "We will, Princess Celestia." Then the call ended.

It was then that the full gravity of what we had just promised hit us squarely in the face. We had all promised the families that we would bring their daughter/sister/granddaughter home safely, or die trying. If we were ever discovered, then most likely they would die, and we would be left to face the consequences of our actions.

"Let's just hope that our mouths didn't just cash checks that our actions can't pay." I said gravely.

"Yes, Leopard," Don agreed, "Let's keep hoping. We all then got back to work on preparing for our assault on Zandia.

Author's Note

Whoa, this was an action-packed chapter, wasn't it? Now, not only are the Badlands secured, but so are all of the towns and villages in the northern part of the Zebra Empire, except for Zandia. How will our assault of that city go? Will we be discovered? What will happen to Twilight, her friends, and Private Cole? Will we be able to save them, or will they become just more casualties of war? Well, the answers will be revealed in the next few chapters, so stay tuned! Plus, this is only part 1 of Chapter 12, what could happen in Part 2? Again, stay tuned, and you'll find out!

Meanwhile, as always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Part 2!

ScarFox out for now, ALL ABOARD!!!!!

Chapter 12: Death of an Empire (Part 2)

Surprisingly, for what it was, the day actually passed very peacefully, at least, peacefully enough. We stood guard at all times, while some of our comrades ate and slept. Todd also received a video call from Ponyville from Fluttershy and Rarity.

"Please Todd, bring Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack home safely."

"Yes Darling, you simply HAVE to bring them back, AND PUNISH THE BRUTES WHO TOOK THEM!!!!"

Todd sighed. "I will. Violence is not usually in my nature, but there comes a time when certain lines get crossed. What the Zebras have done crossed those lines. Now I have no choice but to fight back! They want a war, they're gonna get one! I will help bring them home, or die trying!"

He talked to them a little while longer, and then the call ended, as he had to get back to his duty station.

Several of our train's structural engineers did have to build a system of vent pipes so as to help dissipate the smoke from the Big Boy, so that it wouldn't be as noticeable. The smoke was vented out into the still smoldering ruins of the surrounding area. We never saw any Zebras close to the train, however, we were always watching those inside of Zandia. However, at maybe 2:30pm or so, I suddenly got a report from a lookout.

"Captain Leopard! Are you there?"

"I'm here Lt. Hughes, what is it?"

"I've found something that you need to see!"

"Ok, hold on, I'm coming!"

I then quickly made my way over to the roof of the gunship car car where Hughes was stationed. "Ok, I'm here Lieutenant, what's going on? What did you see?"

He pointed to something. "Right up there, on top of that battlement on your 11 O'clock! Isn't that that one Zebra officer from Appaloosa?"

I picked up my binoculars. I looked where he was pointing, and sure enough, I saw him.

"General Tarrath!" I growled through clenched teeth. "Zakia's right-hand man! He's the general who led the assault on Appaloosa, and attempted to attack Dodge City as well! I thought that he may have been killed when we bombarded the Macintosh Hills, but evidently not!"

"What could he be doing here?" Hughes wondered.

"Most likely this is his city. His home-base, if you will. All important Zebras get to govern a city. Zakia rules from Zebrica, the Zebra's capital city, so it would make sense that Zandia would belong to his right-hand."

"And does this complicate things?"

I thought about that. "To be perfectly honest, I don't know. From what has been gathered from bios and other reports, Tarrath is a real wild card. Apparently, due to some accident in his youth, he suffers from Split-Personality Disorder. One side of him is calm, competent, and capable. The other side though is insane, psychopathic, and dangerous. Blows to his head can also cause his personalities to shift."

Hughes was shocked. "Wow, yeah, he sounds like he could be a real piece of work."

"Yeah, but there is one thing that I'm pretty sure that we can count on."

"What, that it'll be a tough fight? Or that he'll alert Zakia at the first sign of trouble?"

I shook my head. "Not quite. Actually, I think that Tarrath is actually pretty selfish. He wanted a piece of the 'action' with Twilight and her friends, and Zakia's hogging all of them. Now, if he raised an alarm, Zakia would kill them. However, if he said nothing, then they would be safe, and he might have another chance at getting his hands on at least one of them."

Hughes looked at me incredulously. "And you know all of this how?"

"During a debriefing with Princess Celestia after the Battle of Ponyville, she gave us files, bios, and basically everything that they knew about every Zebra and Caribou leader that they knew of. Some information, such as Tarrath having SPD, is surprisingly common knowledge."

"Oh, well, I guess that that makes sense."

"Yeah, however, I think that we need to go inform Don about this. He needs to know that Tarrath is in town."

Hughes and I then went to go inform Don about what we had just witnessed.

"So, we now have Tarrath in town, do we?"

"Yeah, we spotted him on the battlements of Zandia. We think that this may be his home base."

Don sat back in his chair. "Well, this could either work for us, or against us. It all depends on what personality is on top right now."

"If I had to guess, I would have to say that it's his competent, capable side. Considering how we watched the Zebras handle last night's incident, I'd say we're maybe a head-blow away from getting his insane side."

"Ok, now I'm confused, why would we want him to be insane?"

I turned to Hughes. "Because, if he's nuts, then he'll be far more likely NOT to inform Zakia of our presence, as well as preventing others from doing so as well."

"Precisely. Now, as to how we'll go about doing that, I do not know. What I do know though is that when we do strike, we're going to have to hit hard and fast. Normally, this would be a perfect job for the Marines and Night Stalkers. However, since we do not have them here to help us, this attack will have to be in two stages. Firstly, we'll have to drop some shells in there to cause some serious chaos. Then, with the Zebras in a panic, we bring in Big Boy Battalion, and storm the city."

I was a bit concerned. "Is that a good idea Don? I mean, we don't fully have a working knowledge of what they have in store for us."

"I can see where you would be concerned, however, we know that the city has a population of almost 3 million, and is home to a supply center, military training facility, multiple garrisons, and a weapons factory. About 2 million of the Zebras here are soldiers, with maybe a further 1 million or so civilians, most of whom are contractors, or run the weapons factory."

"And, when do we attack, assuming that we do?"

"We'll attack at dusk. We'll hit them so hard from multiple angles, so they'll have no idea where we're coming from. Then we clean house as fast as we can, get out of here, then drop a nuclear shell on the city. That should send a message to Zakia that we're here."

I was confused. "Um, yes, but why do we want to let them know that we're here? I thought that we wanted to remain anonymous. Also, why don’t we just nuke Zandia now, and be done with it?”

"We'll nuke them, after we've made fast tracks to far outside of the fallout zone. As for why we’ll have to wait, that’s because scientists back in Equestria are still trying to determine what a nuclear detonation on Equus would do. We won’t even be able to use any nukes at all if they deem it unsafe, but I’m sincerely hoping that they don’t.”

I agreed. “Yeah, me too Don.”

“Now then, we have a battle to prepare for. This will be a fight on the scale of Las Pegasus, only most of it will be at extremely close range. Ready the troops, and be ready to strike. Jim and Joe will be in charge of the train. You will be leading the first wave Leopard, Shining will be leading the second wave, and I'll bring in the third wave."

"And what about me Sir?"

"You Lt. Hughes, will be with the gunship. Our technicians have managed to patch it up, but they are still in the process of testing it. However, if they give the green light, then be ready to get your men together, and get the gunship in the air to provide heavy support. We'll have our drones with us as well, but still be on standby nevertheless."

Hughes saluted. "Yes Sir." He then left to go check on the gunship, and assemble his men.

I turned back to Don. "I just hope that this'll work Don. This city needs to fall, and if it does, then the Zebras will be massively short on troops, and supplies. They will hurt from this, and they may not bounce back. However, if we fail, this could be our last fight. I dare not go home if we DO NOT have Dash, Twilight, Pinkie, and Applejack with us!"

"I know Leopard, that's why this battle HAS to work!" Don then flipped a switch, so that he could address the rest of the train's crew as well. "Ok, everyone, listen up. We're going to attack Zandia, and we begin at dusk! We have the advantage of surprise, and we've already whittled their numbers down. They rely heavily on magic, and don't really have effective armor. Their weapons are mostly from the Medieval Era, although there are a number of guns, and cannons as well. We'll drop incendiary rounds, as well as high explosive shells to cause chaos. We will also target their military facilities, and knock out as many soldiers as we can before we will attack the city in 3 waves. The first wave, led by Captain Leopard, will hit their central fortress, and see about taking out Tarrath. The second wave, led by General Shining Armor, will attack any other military facilities that our guns have left behind, before linking up with Leopard's wave. The 3rd wave, led by myself, will be the clean up. We will hit any and all infrastructure, before linking up with the other two waves. Then, once the battle is over, we fall back safely, and then if the Equestrian scientists deem it safe enough, we nuke this city!"

There were some concerns about the battle ahead, but others cheered the chance to kill more Zebras. Now that we had a plan in place, we just waited for Dusk, so that we could put it into action.

Finally, at close to 7:30pm, the sun began to go down. Under the cover of the low early-evening light, our first scouts slipped out to conduct reconnaissance, as well as take out a few things. They planted explosives on all rail lines leading in and out of Zandia, severed long-range communications lines, and even planted mines underneath the roads leading in and out of town as well.

"All targets hit Sir. You're all ready to attack now!"

"Ok, good. Now get back here quickly. And don't get spotted!"

"Yes Sir!" They began to fall back to the train, all while sticking close to the shadows.

Meanwhile, all 3 waves began to get into their positions. I was nervous, as my wave was going in first. We were going to attack from the side once a hole had been blown into the walls, and head right into the belly of the beast.

"Wow, so I guess that we're going in first?"

I looked over at my faithful wolf companion. She'd been with me during a number of battles, and now Aurora was coming with us into Zandia. She was in her full battle-armor, and was ready to go. I wrapped my arms around her. "Yeah, and I'm glad that you're coming with us Aurora. We need someone to help DELCI keep an eye on everything from the ground. Our drones just can't do that the way you can."

"Yeah, and I have multiple weapons system to help you as well!"

"Yes, yes you do. Now then, it's almost time for the bombardment to begin. I'll let Don know that we're ready."

Before I could though, my radio sounded. "Ok, all waves report in. I'm ready with Wave 3."

"This is Captain Leopard of the 1st wave. We're ready Don."

"And this is General Shining with the 2nd Wave. We're also ready Major!"

"Ok, good. I'll see if Jim is ready. You there Jim?"

"Yeah, I'm here Don. All weapons systems are locked and loaded. We've locked onto our targets, and are just awaiting your orders."

Don looked at his watch. "Ok, the time is now 8:01pm. At exactly 8:02, we'll begin. On my signal.....ready, set, NOW!!! FIRE!!!!"

Then, from the woods surrounding Zandia that survived the fire, the Battleship Express roared to life once again, delivering an overdose of death.

It was truly unbelievable. For a moment, I actually forgot that we were still In Equestria. I thought that we were getting another chance at Las Vegas! Then however, I looked around me, and then I remembered that we were in the Zebra Empire, attacking its second largest city.

The city most likely never even knew what hit it. One minute everything's fine, and then the next, all of our heavy guns fire all at once, sending tons of high explosive destruction into Zandia.

From my vantage point, I watched stone-faced, but yet with a growing smirk as the city got its dose of justice. Huge columns of smoke began to rise from within, as well as occasional plumes of fire.

"Why are the walls still standing?!" Someone next to me asked. "They need to hit the walls!"

"And they will! First however, they need to cause panic and mayhem."

"Well, I think that they're definitely succeeding in that!"

It was then that we heard it. Even as far way from the city as we were, (maybe 100 yards or so), we all heard the screams. The screams of the dying, and the soon-to-be dead. Then suddenly, from overhead, a series of railgun shells came whizzing by. They slammed into the city walls, and when they exploded, they brought huge chunks of them down!

"Whoa! Now THAT'S the shit!"

I was about to agree, but then my radio came to life. "THAT'S THE SIGNAL LEOPARD, GO, GO, GO!!!!!! YOU'RE THE FIRST WAVE!!!!!"

We all knew what that meant. We all grabbed our weapons. And had a final few moments of thought before we were to charge headlong into the city.

On the flip side, Zandia seemed to be impenetrable. The city was surrounded by very high walls, in addition to being protected by nearly 2 million soldiers, multiple garrisons, a military training center, and a main munitions depot. No enemy had ever succeeded in successfully attacking the city. This made the Zebras within become somewhat complacent. Even with the war going on, and never having faced an enemy like Humanity before, they still believed that they were safe. They shouldn't have.

All of a sudden, just as Dusk was beginning to fall, there suddenly came the sound of great guns.

From his private quarters inside of Zandia Fortress, even Tarrath heard the noise. "Huh? Now what in Zakia's name could that be?"

Before he could answer his own question though, there suddenly came the sounds of great explosions. The whole fortress shook, and smoke began to fill the air.

Suddenly, another officer burst into his quarters. "GENERAL TARRATH, WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!!!! THE NAZIS ARE HERE!!!!"

"What? Do you mean the Humans?"

"YES, BUT THEY'RE NAZIS!!!!!!"

"Um, what's a 'Nazi'?"

"I don't know, but the dream I just had told me that the Humans were Nazis! My dream also told me that they're here to destroy us all!!"

Tarrath leapt to his feet. "ALL HANDS, BATTLE STATIONS NOW!!!! THE HUMANS ARE ATTACKING US, I REPEAT, THE HUMANS ARE HERE!!!!" Tarrath began to leave his quarters.

"But Sir, aren't you going to alert Overlord Zakia?! He needs to know about this!"

Tarrath glared at the officer. The officer, Lt. Cordia, could see that the general had sunk back into his psychotic state. "No you fool! If we tell Zakia about this, he'll either kill the hostages, or worse, SEND THEM TO THE CARIBOU!!!! I WANT some of that action, so NO! We ARE NOT telling Zakia about this! We hold them here, DESTROY them, and then finally TAKE OUT THAT GODS-FORSAKEN TRAIN ONCE AND FOR ALL!!!!!" Tarrath then stormed out of the room to help lead the battle.

Cordia was left alone with his thoughts. He knew that they were doomed. He had seen the Humans in action at both Las Pegasus and Appaloosa. He knew that there was no escaping us. "Gods forgive me", he muttered. He then pulled out his gun, and shot himself in the head.

Meanwhile, outside of the city, we were mere moments away from storming the city.

Just before we did, I finished loading my shotgun. "This looks like it's gonna be lots of fun", I sang. "The guns opened up the city walls, WATCH OUT ZEBRAS HERE WE COME!!!" I then led the charge towards the city.

Aurora was running alongside me, "YOU SPIN ME RIGHT ROUND BABY, RIGHT ROUND, LIKE A RECORD BABY, RIGHT ROUND, ROUND, ROUND!!!" She sang.

(0:55-1:08)

I was stunned. Up until that moment, I had had no idea that Aurora even knew the words to that song!

"Wait, you know the words to that song?!"

"Yeah, You always played that song, so I just asked DELCI for the lyrics! I always waited for the best moment for a sing-a-long, but now I guess that that time is now!"

I nodded while running. "Sure, I guess. Anyway, WE STORM THE CITY!!!"

In record time, we managed to run the full 100 yards, and after climbing up the rubble that used to be one of the city's walls, we all began to pour inside.

"We're in Don, we're in! Heading to the objective now!"

"Roger! Just tell us when you're all in, and I'll send in Shining with the second wave! I'll also have Jim on standby for any artillery strikes!"

"Roger that, Leopard out!" Moments after I put down the radio, I started shooting to cover the troops behind me.

Our entrance into the city did not go unnoticed however, and we were quickly being surrounded.

"SHIT!!! That's a lot of shit! EVERYONE OPEN FIRE!!!"

We all took cover behind fallen rubble, and let the Zebras have it. Bullets flew, grenades were tossed, and the Zebras quickly began to go down.

"Move forwards boys! We have to push forwards!"

I knew that we were maybe a good quarter mile away from the fortress. We continued to move, but every few paces, we came under fire again.

"Oh, for bloody f@#k! JIM?!"

"Yes Leopard?"

"We're taking some pretty heavy fire over here! South-Western Quadrant, building appears to be a temple of some sort. Can you knock it out please?!"

"Copy that, firing now!"

"HEADS DOWN!!!" I yelled.

Moments later, the entire building got slammed by a cruise missile, and was completely flattened.

"WOO! Thanks Jim, you really saved us there!"

"Eh, no problem Leopard."

"Ok boys, NOW we can keep moving!"

And move we did. We found ourselves in the middle of what appeared to be a block of shops and apartments.

"Guys with flamethrowers?"

"Yes Sir?"

"You know what to do!"

They smirked. "Like you even have to remind us Sir!"

They then quickly shot out huge jets of flames into all of the surrounding buildings, causing them to combust. We also knocked down some power lines, a few radio antennas, and kept knocking down Zebras.

"Damn", Someone muttered, "These bastards are everywhere!"

I hit one with my ax, then two more. "That's why we have to keep killing them!"

"MASTER, GET DOWN!!!" Aurora suddenly knocked me over sideways. Moments after she did, a hail of bullets hit right where I had been moments ago! Aurora then opened fire on them with her minigun, quickly eliminating the threat.

"Wow, um, thanks Aurora!"

She gave me a few loving licks to the face. "Mmm, it was my pleasure Master!"

I grabbed my radio. "Don, we need more guys in here! We're getting SWARMED!!!! You need to take some of the heat off of us right now!!!"

"Roger that! Shining Armor is on his way now, and so am I!"

"Copy that, but hurry! They're coming at us faster than we can kill them!"

"Just hold on Leopard, we're coming!"

Not too long after this, Shining and his wave reached their targets; a breach in the walls close to the ammunition factory.

"Um, Jim, are you there?"

"I'm here General Shining, what do you need?"

"I need some guns turned on the ammunition factory, as well as some nearby ammo dumps. We need to start starving them of their ammunition supply!"

"Copy that, coordinates?"

"Northeastern quadrant, close to the wall!"

"We see it! Sending you some 16in. rounds. Take cover!"

Shining heard the guns firing. "HEADS DOWN!!!"

They all got down, and moments after they did, several salvos of 16in shells hit not only the ammunition factory, but also several nearby ammo dumps.

"Yes, direct hit Jim! We can take it from here now!"

"You're welcome General Shining. Glad to have been of service!"

Shining and his wave then went on to keep storming the military industrial section. Most of the Zebras had already been killed in the blasts that destroyed the factory and ammo dumps, but there were still a number willing to fight.

"Just another glorious day in Big Boy Battalion!" Shining muttered before opening fire on the Zebras. The rest of his troops weren't far behind.

On the other side of the city, my wave and I were leaving a huge swath of death and destruction wherever we went. Buildings were burned, Zebras were shot, slashed, stabbed, blown to bits, or axed to death. We were also getting closer and closer to the fortress.

I suddenly saw a wounded Zebra soldier on the ground ahead of me. He was trying to crawl away from the battle in the burning streets. It looked like both of his legs were broken.

"Oh no you don't!" I walked over and stomped on his back before rolling him over. "And where do you think that you're going?" I asked coldly, raising my ax.

"PLEASE, HAVE MERCY!!! I'M ONLY A PRIVATE!!!"

"Where have you fought, anywhere?"

He shook his head. "NO! I've never fought a battle until now! PLEASE, I have a family!"

I looked down at him. "So did I. Until WW4 took them from me. Then I found another girl, but she died in WW6. Now I have a marefriend, and she was taken by the Zebras. Now I must get her back!"

The soldier looked at me. "If you're going to kill me, just make it quick!"

I nodded. "You shall receive a warrior's death. It will be painless." I then lowered my ax, then quickly drew my pistol, and shot him in the neck. He fell back dead. "And may your family soon follow you so that you will all be together again." I muttered. I then looked back at my troops. "Alright, we keep moving! This city is still full of Zebras, so let's keep going!"

We moved on, now to within a mere 2 blocks of the central fortress.

Out of all of us, Don was having the most luck. His wave met with the least resistance. They still went on a killing spree, but they didn't have to take cover like my wave did. By the time that they entered the city through the front gates, (which had been blown open) they killed the guards at the gate, and slaughtered a nearby garrison before quickly moving on to the road that led to the fortress.

"Other waves report in!"

"This is Captain Leopard! We're to within 2 blocks of the central fortress now! We've slaughtered all Zebras that we've come across, and we're closing in fast! The remaining Zebras seem to be in full retreat towards the fortress!"

"This is General Shining! The ammunition factory, multiple ammo dumps, have been destroyed, as well as the military academy being set on fire as well. We're driving them back to that fortress! We're following them as close as we can, whittling them down all of the way!"

"Excellent work boys! Now all that we have left to do is storm the fortress, and take out the last defenders! This battle is almost ours!"

"Yes Sir!"

We all kept moving, completely unaware of what lay ahead of us at the Zandia Fortress.

"SIR, THIS BATTLE IS LOST!!!! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!!!!"

Tarrath sat at his command center. Reports from the battlefield never seemed to stop coming in, and none of them were good.

"SIR, THEY'VE BLOWN UP THE AMMUNITION FACTORY!!!! THERE'S FLAMES EVERYWHERE!!!!"

"WE'VE LOST THE AMMO DUMPS!!! WE'RE RUNNING LOW ON AMMO OUT HERE!!!!"

"THEY'VE TORCHED THE MILITARY ACADEMY!!!! WE NEED A FIRE BRIGADE NOW!!!!!"

There were many more. Tarrath also heard reports of the enemy burning down civilian apartments, and killing any that they found in the streets. Most of the city was on fire, power was failing, water pipes had burst, and a huge number of the population, both soldier and civilian, was dead.

"Fall back, I repeat, FALL BACK!!! All remaining survivors of Zandia, GET TO THE FORTRESS NOW!!!"

"What do we do now Sir?"

Tarrath looked over at the acting-lieutenant. "Well, assuming of course that you don't kill yourself like Cordia did, we make our last stand here!"

"I STILL say that we need to alert Overlord Zakia right NOW!!! He NEEDS to know about this!"

"For the last time, if we alert Zakia, THE HOSTAGES DIE!!!!! I DO NOT WANT THAT!!!! Plus, the Humans have GOT to be running low on ammunition by now. They CANNOT hold on much longer!"

"But Sir, what if they do manage to hold on?"

Tarrath smirked. "Well then, I just give them a little dose of this!" He held up a gun that contained a strange, glowing, purple liquid.

"Um, what's that?"

"This, is the Geneticiser! From what I've gathered from all available sources, the Humans have a combination of both Human DNA, and a mixture of wolf DNA. These two types of DNA do not tolerate each other. If one of them should get hit with a blast from this gun, then their bodies would slowly begin to tear themselves apart on a genetic level!"

The acting-lieutenant, Burn, was very surprised. "Wow, um....that's actually a really great idea Sir!"

"And who's leading the Human Soldiers?"

"Um, from the reports, it's Fox-Face, the Kid, and some Royal Guard officer. Um, 'Shiny Armory', or something like that."

Tarrath smirked. "Heh. Fox-face and the Kid. Two of their highest-ranking officers, soon to be taken down by the Geneticiser!" Tarrath then burst out into maniacal laughter.

When I saw the fortress for the first time, I was very surprised. For starters, it was rather tall. It seemed to have at least 9 levels to it, and was shaped similarly to a Ziggurat from ancient Mesopotamia. It was dark grey in color, and seemed to be nearing the end of its life.

Parts of the building were on fire, and others were little more than just rubble. I also spotted a stream of Zebras heading inside. "Ok Boys, this is it, we storm the place, clean it out, and get General Tarrath!"

We were about to charge forwards, but we suddenly heard a loud rumble behind us. We turned to look, and we all saw a massive line of Zebras coming straight at us, and they were all heavily armed!

"OH F@#K!!!!"

However, our savior was about to do something extremely stupid. Aurora got scared, and acted out of panic. In her final moments, she meant to activate her frag-grenades, but instead, she not only armed her mini nuclear missile, but she also aimed, and fired it! A missile containing a small nuclear-tipped warhead, capable of a 1 kiloton yield, was now heading right for our attackers!

"OH......!!!!! EVERYPONY GET DOWN!!!!" I screamed. I then grabbed Aurora, and dragged her with me behind a pile of rubble inside of the fortress. The others did likewise, but would it be enough? The Zebras were maybe 40 yards or so away from us, and we were behind rubble, but still, the radiation from Aurora's little mistake could still kill us. "ALL WAVES, MINI-NUCLEAR MISSILE INCOMING, 40 YARDS BEHIND THE FORTRESS ON THE SOUTH SIDE!!!! GET TO COVER!!!!"

Suddenly, there came a blinding flash of white light, and the world around us changed forever.

"Ha ha! We've got them trapped now boys! General Tarrath will be so proud of.....Hey, what's that thing?" He never got his answer to that. Moments later, the missile hit the ground, and the payload was delivered, all 1 kilotons of it!

The Zebras were instantly incinerated. The shock-wave then reverberated all across the city. Most remaining windows shattered, some buildings still standing toppled, and fires began to rage. Many more Zebras trying to get to the fortress were killed almost instantly as well.

When the shock-wave hit my wave and I, it almost blew us away! We were blasted back a bit deeper into the fortress, but the thick walls, as well as our lead-lined armor saved us, at least for the time being. Once everything was over, the only sound that could be heard was dead silence. There were no sounds of battle, no screaming, nothing.

After cautiously getting up again, I managed to crawl over to the hole in the fortress's wall that we all piled through, and peer out. All I could see were clouds of smoke, as well as dust and debris. I grabbed my radio. "Other waves, report in! Are you guys still alive?!?!"

For a while, there was only silence. Eventually, a voice said, "L-Leopard? What....just happened?"

"Don? Is that you?!"

"Yeah, it's me! And I repeat what I just said, WHAT IN THE WORLD JUST HAPPENED!?!?!"

"Um....well......l-long story short, we reached the fortress, we were attacked by a HUGE wave of the enemy that horribly outnumbered us, and in her panic, Aurora accidentally launched her mini-nuclear missile at them!"

"WHAT?!?!?!"

"This is General Shining with Wave 2, what just happened?!"

I repeated my story.

"WHAT?!?!?! YOUR DOG JUST LAUNCHED A NUCLEAR MISSILE?!?!?!"

"It was a mini-nuke. 1 kiloton, but I think that it might have been a bit too much!"

"YEAH, NO SHIT SHERLOCK!!!! And normally I would have punished you, however, this time, we were being attacked as well. Your little 'accident' just took out 2 waves of Zebras that had us pinned down!"

"Yeah, same here. We're pretty shook up about this, 'nuclear missile' business, but hey, if it kills the Zebras, then it's alright in my books!"

"Um, yeah, I guess so Shining, assuming that the radiation doesn't kill us first!" Don said worriedly.

"I don't know. The isotopes in those mini-nukes have a pretty short half-life. Assuming that we don't stick around here for too much longer, I'd say that we should be ok. We had protection, and according to our Geiger Counter, we're only registering a 7, and that's at ground Zero. You guys are farther out, so assuming that you have protection, you should be ok." (A human can tolerate 5 Roentgens of radiation without protection and still be ok. 500 is fatal, but a lot before that can be pretty deadly as well. We were currently being exposed to 7 Roentgens of radiation, and we had protection).

Don sighed. "Yeah, well, at any rate, the battle's reached a lull, at least for the moment, so let's just get this over with, and get out of here!"

"Roger that Don!" I then looked at the rest of my troops. "Alright, you heard the Major, let's go!"

We all then picked ourselves up off of the ground, and charged deeper into the fortress.

We had a long way to go. The fortress was quite large, and we faced oftentimes stiff resistance at every turn.

"I'm still so, so sorry Master!", Aurora said as we fought to clear a hallway on the 2nd level, "I didn't mean to do that! I was just trying to fire the frag-grenades!"

I blasted a Zebra with my shotgun. "Don't worry about it Aurora. I'm not angry with you, and neither is Don. In fact, he and his troops were pinned down by a huge wave of Zebras, just like we were. Your nuclear blast eradicated the threat!"

Aurora was still unsure. "If you say so Master, but I still think...." Suddenly, from out of a side-corridor, an armored Zebra suddenly hit Aurora, and sent her flying across the hallway! She hit the wall, and was momentarily stunned.

"AURORA!!!!" I screamed. I then turned to the brute. "HEY, that was my dog you motherf@#ker!!!!"

He laughed. "She was a bitch, so I killed her! Now I kill you!" Then, with speed that must have been magically enhanced, he suddenly punched me, and knocked me to the hallway floor.

"CAPTAIN!!!" Others tried to intervene, but the brute knocked them back as well. He then tried to kill me on the floor with spiked club, but I kept dodging the blows.

"WHY WON'T YOU F@#KING DIE?!?!?! He screamed.

I brought my shotgun close to his head. "BECAUSE DEATH IS A CHOICE I F@#KING REJECTED!!!" I screamed, just before pulling the trigger.

The Zebra may have been armored, but let's just say that I pointed the shotgun to the front of his helmet, where he didn't have any armor. The blast hit him at point-blank range, and his head completely disintegrated! Blood splattered everywhere, and his body fell to the floor.

"CAPTAIN!!! Are you alright?!?!" My soldiers helped me back to my feet.

"Um, yeah, I'm....fine, just...really shaken up!"

"And I'm good too, just a little, woozy, is all!" Aurora had made it back to her feet as well.

"And what about the rest of you? Are you all ok?"

They nodded. "Yeah, we're fine Sir. We're ready to move on."

"Ok, good. Let's do that, but this time, let's keep a better eye out for brutes like that!"

We all agreed, and we pressed on to find the stairs to Level 3.

By this time, Don and Shining's forces had reached the fortress as well, and were clearing out any Zebras that we missed.

"Leopard, where are you?!"

"We're up on Level 3 Don! Any idea where Tarrath might be hiding?"

"Um, according to this map, the officer's quarters are up on Level 5. That's 2 levels above you guys, However, please wait for us!"

"Roger that. We need you guys to back us up. Just get to us, and hopefully we'll have all of Level 3 cleared out by then."

"Roger that, Don out."

It was difficult, because some areas of the fortress looked like they could collapse at any time. Other parts of the fortress were on fire, and without any water for the sprinkler systems, (yes, the Zebras had fire-suppression sprinklers) the fires were starting to spread rather rapidly.

Finally, after clearing Level 1, they moved up to 2. 2 was largely on fire, so they decided to leave most of the Zebras to be consumed by the flames, and after clearing a path to the stairwell on their end, they moved up to level 3.

"Ok Leopard, we've made it to 3, where are you now?"

"We're on the far end! We're pinned down by machine gun fire! JEEZ, these guys are REALLY getting desperate now!"

"Yeah, tell me about it! Level 2 was almost completely engulfed in flames! They must have all been trying to commit suicide, or something. Don't worry though, we still have an exit if anything does go wrong!"

"Sure, but please hurry! Several of my guys are now dead, and we're still pinned down!"

"Tell your dog to launch some frag-grenades over there! That might do the trick until we've gotten over there!"

"Yeah, you're right!" I turned to her. "Aurora?"

"Yes Master?"

"Send the enemy some frag-grenades! That might do the trick!"

"Yes Sir!" Aurora then complied, launching the grenades.

A couple of explosions later, the enemy fire ceased. "Enemies neutralized Don! We're just about done here, and ready to move on up to Level 4!"

"Roger that, we're moving in now, just hold on!"

Up on Level 5, General Tarrath was preparing for the end. Levels 1-3 had been fully cleared out, and Levels 6-9 had already collapsed. Level 4 was now almost done being cleared out, and that just left his level, Level 5. He knew that he had maybe half a battalion with him, but that was pretty much it. All others had already fallen. Zandia was lost, but yet, Tarrath STILL refused to contact Zakia! His acting-lieutenant had also committed suicide, leaving Tarrath all alone in his office. He shut, locked, and bolted the door, and told his soldiers to protect him, but he knew that it was only a matter of time before the Humans reached him.

"How....??? How did it all go so wrong???" He heard the Humans fighting their way up to Level 5. "Where did these Humans come from?! Why were they sent here?!" They were now up on Level 5, slaughtering his half-battalion.

"And why now?! We were winning!" There came a series of thuds on his door.

"HEY, OPEN UP THIS DOOR!!! WE'VE GOT YOU SURROUNDED GENERAL!!! EITHER COME OUT, OR WE'RE COMING IN!!!!"

"So, you've think that you've all won, huh?" Tarrath grabbed his Geneticizer, and after standing in front of the door, he prepared to blast the first soldier(s) that came through the door.

"Last warning Tarrath! We've already killed your soldiers. Either come on out and surrender, or we're coming in!"

"NO!! Tarrath yelled, "I'M NOT COMING OUT!!!"

"Ok, fine, have it your way! BLAST IT!!!!"

The door then got blasted in, and some soldiers made the move to bust in. "TASTE IT!!!" Tarrath screamed, before firing his Geneticizer at the closest soldier.

"Dang, how many more soldiers do these bastards have?!?!?!"

"I HAVE NO IDEA!!!!" I yelled back. "But we have to KEEP MOVING FORWARDS!!!! We have to get Tarrath at all costs!"

Finally, after spending even more time blasting through his soldiers, we finally arrived outside of Tarrath's door.

I tried to open it. "Blast! It's locked!" I began to bang on it. "HEY, OPEN UP THIS DOOR!!! WE'VE GOT YOU SURROUNDED GENERAL!!! EITHER COME OUT, OR WE'RE COMING IN!!!!"

There was no answer.

Don was losing his patience. "Ok then, he wants to play hardball, we'll play hardball!" He then ordered his troops to plant explosives to blast the door in.

"Last warning Tarrath!" He yelled. "We've already killed your soldiers. Either come on out and surrender, or we're coming in!"

"NO!! someone yelled back, "I'M NOT COMING OUT!!!"

"Ok, fine, have it your way! BLAST IT!!!!"

The door was then blown in, and in a prearranged maneuver, myself, and 4 others burst into the room. Just as I entered, I saw a figure standing in front of a desk. Even though the room was rather dark, I knew that he had to be Tarrath.

"TASTE IT!!!" He suddenly screamed. He then fired some sort of weird gun, and a purplish-blast suddenly hit me right in the chest! I began to fall backwards.

"CAPTAIN!!!!" Don screamed.

As I fell though, I managed to work my shotgun. First one blast, then another, and another hit Tarrath; all three of them fatal. I hit the floor, and he followed moments later. The last thing that I remember is hitting the floor, and then completely blacking out.

"LEOPARD!!!!" Don screamed again. He raced over to me. Others went over to Tarrath.

"This bastard's dead Sir! Leopard got him!"

Don didn't answer; he was too busy trying to find a pulse. Finally, he found one. "HE'S STILL ALIVE!!!" He then grabbed his radio. "JIM, JIM!!! ARE YOU THERE?!?!?!"

"Yeah, I'm here Don. What is it? What's wrong?"

"I NEED A MEDICAL UNIT ON THE DOUBLE!!! I'VE GOT WOUNDED SOLDIERS UP HERE, LEOPARD AMONG THEM!!!"

"WHAT?!?!?!" Jim yelled.

"YES!!! He got blasted with some kind of magical gun. He's not dead yet, but he easily could be soon!"

"Right! Just get him out of there if you can, as well as the other wounded, and meet us halfway! I'm sending out a recovery team to come and meet you! And I just heard from those scientists back in Equestria. They said that we could use nukes, and Princess Celestia’s ok’d it as well!"

"Copy that we're pulling out of Zandia now! Once we're out of here, we're going to nuke this God-forsaken hellhole into oblivion!"

Once Don was finished with his radio call, he officially took command of the evacuations, and the survivors all fell back. They exited Level 5, and after having to use those with magic abilities to help ferry those who couldn't fly, or use magic, in addition to the wounded, down to the ground. The fires on Level 2 were burning completely out of control, and were rapidly spreading to Levels 1 and 3. From Level 3, some flew out, others used their magic, and once they were all safe, they helped get the wounded to safety as well. Then they all hastily evacuated the city, and went to meet the medical team.

Once they arrived, the medical team quickly sorted out the wounded by how dangerous their wounds were. Since myself, and a few others had life-threatening injuries, we were rushed to the medical car on the train. The former Amtrak double-decker dome car had really seen some use in its day, but now functioned as a hospital on wheels. All medical treatments were done here, performed by Dr. Wilhelm Fritz, the Chief Medical Officer of the Battleship Express, and his team of doctors and nurses. They could do it all, from treating minor injuries, to severe burns, to surgery, to even delivering babies! If you can name it, then they've probably done it at least a few times! And ever since Ponyville, they had been joined by a series of Equestrian medical professionals as well.

I was quickly rushed to an exam table. Don and Aurora were right behind me.

"So, vat are ve looking at here?" Dr. Fritz asked in his rather heavy German accent.

"We're not sure Doc." Don then explained what happened. "He got hit with some kind of energy weapon. As he fell, he fatally shot the weapon's owner, General Tarrath, and then he hit the floor."

"Do you have ze veapon with you?"

"Unfortunately, no. Leopard himself destroyed it with his shotgun blasts after he was hit. The weapon exploded, and whatever was left of it we tried to bring with us, but for whatever reason, its parts disintegrated when we picked them up. I suspect that it was rigged to do that."

"Argh!" Dr. Fritz muttered. "Vell, I guess zat ve vill have to do zis ze hard vay! Computer!"

"Yes Sir?"

"Please scan ze patient, and see vat is vrong viz him."

"Right away Doctor!" (Computer was a medical database and scanning machine used by the medical team. Some considered her to be a sister to DELCI, although she's not a true AI. However, she is a close second.)

Eventually, the scanning was complete. "Scans complete!"

"And? Vat is vrong viz him?"

"It is very bad sir! His body is beginning to tear itself apart at an alarming rate!"

"VAT?!?!?!"

"Yes Sir! His genetics are tearing themselves apart! He does not have long to live!"

"Doctor, is there anything that can be done?!?!" Don was close to panicking.

Fritz sighed. "It vas zat gosh-damned 'Project Sterling'! If zat God-awful monstrosity had never been created, zen zis never vould have happened!"

"What does he mean by that?" one of the Equestrian doctors asked. "What is 'Project Sterling'?"

"Project Sterling was an attempt during WW4 to create super-soldiers", One of Fritz's nurses answered. "The project took the DNA of a wolf, and spliced it together with the DNA of a Human host. However, the technology behind it was EXPERIMENTAL at best! It should have NEVER been rolled out on a large scale! Long story short, Human bodies don't take to the wolf DNA very well. They refused to bond with the new DNA, and that led to MORE experimental trials with drugs, which led to even MORE disasters! In the end, the project was cancelled, but not before the damage was done. Now Captain Leopard, and many others, are trapped with failing human-wolf DNA!"

"Precisely! And now vhatever zat gun was, it's forcing his DNA apart! If ve cannot shore up ze damage, zen Captain Leopard vill die!"

"But how do we do that?" Don was still close to panicking.

"Well, to do zat, first ve have to extract as much of his volf DNA as we possibly can, meaning ze parts zat have already been corrupted by that veapon." Dr. Fritz then took a special extractor, and after stabbing it into my chest, he began to withdraw a black, oily substance. He then emptied the contents into a container, and after sticking me with the injector again, he pulled more out. (luckily, I was unconscious throughout this whole ordeal, so I was in no pain.)

"Zere. Now I have removed all of ze corrupted DNA. Zis vill keep him alive for at least a little vhile longer, but if he is to survive, zen ve have to find fresh genetic material!"

"Um, what does that mean?"

"What the Doctor means is that we have to find a new set of genetics that will bond perfectly with Captain Leopard's, so as to be able to fight off the rest of the corrupted DNA. We don't have any fresh wolf DNA, not that we would use it if we did! But we have to find some new material! It comes in blood, so all we have to do is find blood that matches, and see if we can create enough genetic material to save Captain Leopard!"

Don was about to ask what that meant, but his head was already spinning so much from everything that had happened, so he instead slumped into a chair, and tried not to pass out.

And thus, did a search begin to find blood that contained the proper genetics.

All across the medical lab in the medical car, both the human and pony lab techs worked tirelessly to search through the blood that they had on file to see if they could find a match. Vial after vial was found, checked underneath a microscope, and then rejected for not being a match.

"I'm beginning to think that we don't have any blood on file that matches his!" One of the techs said worriedly.

"We HAVE to keep looking! There's still plenty more vials to check!"

They kept searching. All the while, my condition continued to worsen. By Dr. Fritz's count, I had maybe 2 hours left to live.

"Ugh, I give up! There isn't any matches!" One of the pony techs threw up his arms in disgust.

"We have to keep looking. We have to.....wait a minute, I FOUND A MATCH!!!!"

"WHAT?!?!?!"

The tech checked again. Sure enough, from what his microscope was showing, he had indeed found a match!

"It IS a match!!!!"

"What vial is it?!"

"Um...." The Human tech looked. "Vial 00597." He then turned to the Pony tech. "It's one of your vials. Um, what's a 'Bat-pony'?"

The tech was extremely surprised. "Oh....um, well, a Bat-pony is a somewhat rare pony subspecies. They look like Pegasai, except that they have bat-like wings, cat-like pupils, large, furry ears, fangs, and tend to have slightly thicker manes, tails, and fur than the rest of us."

Now it was the Human tech's turn to be surprised. "Um, wow. Well, I don't know about that, but, we've found a match, and we have to save Captain Leopard's life, so let's get this sample to Dr. Fritz!"

"Hmm, Bat-pony DNA you say? Vell, zis is very interesting! It does appear zat zere is enough here to save ze captain's life. I'll perform ze reconstuction of his DNA right now!"

With the help of 2 nurses, Dr. Fritz then took the vial, opened it up, and after filling a new injector with it, he stabbed me in the chest with it! He then reloaded the injector, and repeated the process, until the vial was empty. I was hooked up to a number of health monitors, as well as a small device so that Computer could keep an eye on me as well.

At first, nothing seemed to be happening. All of a sudden though, my bode began to twitch extremely violently.

"Alert! DNA reconstruction commencing!" Computer warned.

Everybody, and everypony, took more than a few steps back. My physiology began to change once again. Almost 45% of my wolf genetics had been removed. Now those 45% had just been replaced with the DNA of a Bat-pony. I was now 50% Human, 5% wolf, and 45% Bat-pony. The changes that were happening to my body were incredible.

Oddly enough, most of my features seemed to stay the same albeit, slightly altered. My furry wolf ears became less pointed, and more furry, and turned black instead of gray. my black hair did seem to get a little thicker, and a bit messier, my human ears stayed the same, as did the rest of my Human body, however, my face did seem to grow a bit of a muzzle, and two fangs protruded from the top of my mouth as well. On my back, my dark spots of fur suddenly turned from black, to gray, to back to black, my wings turned from gray to black, although they did remain feathery. My tail remained the same gray that it was before, though it now seemed to be thicker than before.

From the waist down, almost everything remained the same. While I previously had wolf legs, and wolf everything below the waist, now my legs at least retained most of their original structure, although my lower legs straightened out a bit more. I still had wolf paws for feet, but they, and my legs, were covered in gray fur, and my two paw-print "cutie-marks", were still black. Also, between my legs, my balls got slightly bigger, and my dick changed as well. Now, instead of being a red wolf-rocket, now it was all black, was slightly bigger, thicker, somewhat veinier, and looked like a cross between a wolf's dick, and a stallion's dick, and my knot was a lot smaller than it was before, and almost completely disappeared.

Eventually, my transformation was all complete, and I went still.

"DNA reconstruction complete!" Computer reported. "Subject has survived, and appears to be doing well!"

Dr. Fritz smiled. "Ah, another successful procedure!"

I was now a Human-bat-pony hybrid, with a little bit of wolf thrown in as well. I was sleeping, but soon, I would wake up, and when I did that, all hell could possibly break loose when I realized what I had become!

Author's Note

Woah! This chapter went from "Big battle scenes", to "Captain Leopard just became a human-bat-pony hybrid"! So now, I went from being one type of freak, to being a completely different type of freak. Also, now Zandia has fallen, and is soon to be nuked, and General Tarrath is dead as well. Our conquest of the Zebra Empire continues. What will happen next? Has Zakia figured out yet that we're here? How will he react to Tarrath's death? Will he kill the 4 Element Bearers and Private Cole, or does he have something more sinister in mind for them? Will we be able to save them in time? And most importantly, how will I react when I find out that I'm a human-bat-pony? Well, you know the drill, keep reading to find out!

Meanwhile, as always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 13! That one will be really exciting, so don't you dare miss it!

ScarFox out for now, ALL ABOARD!!!!!

(Also, while I have seen the views keep going up, I haven't been getting too many comments lately. I really do enjoy reading comments and replying to them, as well as answering your questions. I would like to know how you all feel, so keep the comments coming!)

Chapter 13: A New View, and Enemies Plotting

For a while after my procedure ended, I lay on a recovery bed. Don and Aurora stayed by my side, and after Don helped her out of her armor, Aurora even jumped up onto my bed, and curled up next to me!

Don shook his head. "Gosh, he's had such a drastic change in his appearance. I wonder what he'll think when he wakes up."

One of the nurses shrugged. "I don't know. Hopefully he'll be able to take it. I mean, it's not too much different that being a Human-wolf. Now he's just a Human-Bat-Pony, with a little wolf left over. I do still feel a little bad for him though."

"Oh? And why's that?"

The nurse smirked a bit. "Because, from Computer's scans, his genitals have changed from those of a wolf, to those of a wolf's mixed with a stallion’s!"

Don was surprised. "Wow, that's a little too much information!"

"That's not all of it though", The nurse continued, ignoring Don's statement, "He still has his knot!"

"What? As in his wolf knot?"

"Yes! Though now it’s a lot smaller than it was before."

Don slumped back in his chair. "Aesh!" He muttered. "I really did not need to know that!"

"Doctor, I think the patient's waking up!"

Dr. Fritz turned to look at me. "Ah, I do believe zat you are right Computer. He is indeed vaking up!"

"W-wha......? What.....happened. Where......am I?" I muttered.

"Leopard, can you hear me?"

"D-Don? Is that you?"

"Yes, I'm right here. You're in the medical car. Do, do you remember what happened?"

I opened my eyes, and looked over at him. When I did, Don realized that although my eyes were still blue, the pupils now looked like those of a cat!

"Yeah, how could I forget? We blasted into Tarrath's office, I went in first, and got hit by some blast. As I fell, I blasted him with my shotgun, and then I hit the floor, and passed out. I don't remember anything after that." I then sat up on the bed. "What happened to me?"

"Vell, ze magical blast really messed up your genetics Captain Leopard. Ve had to remove most of your volf genetics, as zey vere tearing you apart on a genetic level! Ve zen replaced zem vith new genetics."

"Um, w-what new genetics? Am I......messed up?" I looked down at myself. I still hand hands, arms, and I was still wearing my uniform, although my tunic had been removed, as had my shirt.

"Vell, your volf genetics vere replaced vith those of a Bat-Pony. You are now 50% human, 45% Bat-pony, and 5% volf."

"Um, Don?"

"Yeah Leopard?"

"I need a mirror. I have to see what I look like now."

He held one up for me, and when I saw my reflection, all I could do was scream.

"GWAAAHHH!!!!!!!"

I felt myself all over. "Ok, so I still have ears on the tops of my head, only they're black now. My hair feels a bit thicker than before, my human ears are still here......oh great. Now my eyes look like those of a cat! And what are these?!?! Fangs?!?! I HAVE FANGS NOW?!?!?! Both on the top and bottom, but the ones on top are more noticeable!" I looked lower. I looked the same on my chest and torso. "Well, at least my wings are still here, and are feathery, even if they are black now. I also see that my 'leopard patches' are still black as well. Oh and I still have my tail, and it's gray, and feels thicker now."

I was equally startled when I was told that my legs were covered in black fur. "But I still have wolf legs, and wolf paws for feet though?"

Don nodded. "Yeah."

For extra measure, I also felt around my crotch area. "Hmm", I thought, "My balls feel bigger, and are still furry, and what do you know? I STILL have a knot to some degree! I bet that I also have a stallion's dick as well!" I made a mental note to figure that out later.

I then looked up at the others in the room. "So what do you guys think? Is it bad, or not?"

Don shrugged. "Eh, you look better than you did before. And at least you don't have all of the health issues that you used to have as a Human-wolf."

"I agree. Zis vas some of my finest work! You look much better as a Human-Bat-Pony, than you ever did as a Human-Volf!"

"Yeah, I think that you look better too Master!"

"GAH!!!!!" Up until that moment, I had no idea that Aurora was right beside me. "Oh, Aurora, you're right here. Phew, you scared me girl!"

She climbed into my lap, and leaned against me. "Mmm, sorry! Oh and you look cute with fangs!"

I turned away blushing. "S-shut up!" I said with a hand over my face.

"Oh, and if you're worried about what Dash will think of you, don't. I know that she'll love you just the same. You're still you, just packaged in a little bit different of a shell."

I smiled up at my faithful pet. I hugged her. "Hmm, thanks Aurora, you always do know just what to say to make me feel better."

She licked me a bit. "Mmm, you're welcome Master!"

I then looked over at Don. "So, is Zandia still standing, or did you nuke it without me? Better still, did the Equestrian scientists ok any nuking?"

He shook his head. "Nope, it's still there. We did get the go-ahead to use nukes, but your health, as well as the health of the other wounded, was far more important than nuking the city."

I then thought about the battle. "What's the damage from the battle?"

Don sighed. "From the numbers, we lost 153, with a further 234 wounded, including yourself. For the enemy, either complete casualties now, or will be soon!"

"And please tell me that you retrieved Tarrath's body. We're going to need it later, both for propaganda purposes, and so that I'll have something to mount onto my wall!"

Don nodded. "It's in the medical lab, currently being preserved by our taxidermists."

"Wait, we have taxidermists on this train?"

"Well, ever since we left Ponyville anyway. Who knew that these Ponies knew how to do taxidermy?"

I then made the move to stand up. Aurora jumped to the floor so as to allow me more room to move. First I put one paw onto the floor, and then the other. Then I stood up. My body knew what to do. "Well, I'm standing, so that's something. Now let's see about walking." I took a few steps. "Ok, well so far I'm really failing to see a difference in what I was able to do before."

"And you shouldn't", Dr. Fritz told me. "You should be just as healthy as you vere before, albeit, slightly altered."

I nodded, and then turned to Don. "Ok, so are all of our people safely out of harm's way?"

"I'm pretty sure that they are, why?"

"Because Samurai, we have a city to nuke! Let's go!" I began to leave the medical car.

"Hey vait a minute! You've forgotten your shirt and tunic, as vell as your helmet, and Kitsune mask!"

"Oh, whoops!" I went back and grabbed them. Although I put my mask and helmet back on, for whatever reason, I didn't put my shirt or tunic back on, at least not at the time.

By the time that all personnel had checked in, the first of our 4 railguns, Railgun 1, was locked and loaded with a nuclear shell. The plan was to get the train moving, and then fire the shell behind the train once we were safely out of the blast radius, and then let the nuclear blast work its evil.

Joe and Frank were driving the engine, and I was in the PCC with Don and Jim.

"Ok, Railgun 1, this is Major Don. Are you all ready to launch?"

"Major, this is Railgun 1. We're all ready to go, over."

"Ok, do the final checks, as well as the protocols for firing nuclear shells. We don't want anything to go wrong."

"Copy that, performing all checks now!"

A few minutes later, they were done. "Ok Major, we're all ready over here. All systems are go, the shell has been locked onto the target, which is the city's center, and we're all ready to launch!"

"Roger that Railgun 1. Now just transfer control over the PCC for this launch. I wish to be the one to launch the shell."

"Copy that Major, sending control over to you!"

A red button in front of Don began to flash. "Ok, drumroll please!"

We all rapped on the table in front of us.

"3......2......1.....FIRING!!!"

Don then pushed the button, and we all felt the shock and vibration of the gun firing.

"SHELL AWAY!!!" One of the crew from Railgun 1 reported.

We all then crowded around all available windows, as well as screens that had cameras pointing behind the train. We all wanted to see what the first nuclear device ever detonated in Equestria would look like. We didn't have long to wait. Maybe 30 seconds after launch, the shell reached its target, Zandia's city center. For a moment after the shell hit, there was nothing. Suddenly though, there came a momentary blinding flash of white light, and then we all saw the unmistakable mushroom-cloud, indicating a nuclear detonation. A presumed 5 megaton nuclear weapon had just been dropped on an enemy city.

The devastation inside the city was catastrophic. From what we were able to gather later, the entire city, (or what was left of it!) was reduced to radioactive rubble. The entire surrounding area was also blasted away into nothingness. We all knew that even if there had been any survivors inside of Zandia, there was no way that they could have just survived a nuclear blast.

Don turned to the rest of us. "Well boys, I think that that was a very successful nuclear test, wouldn't you all agree?"

"I would think so Don. However, we just did that on an empty city that had already been destroyed by battle. Imagine if we'd done that while Zandia was still standing, and fully intact!"

Don nodded. "Yes, that is an interesting thought Captain Leopard, however, we couldn’t have risked it until we had the all-clear to do so. Plus, even though we have to destroy all of the Zebras, we still have to be careful. This was most likely the first nuclear device ever detonated in Equestria. Until we can fully understand how bad the fallout will be, we can only use these on depleted targets."

I could see where Don was coming from. I mean, I loved to kill Zebras as much as the next guy, but possibly uncontrolled nuclear fallout? Count me out!

Across the Empire in Zebrica, Overlord Zakia was beginning to get rather worried. He was unable to contact General Tarrath, anyone else in Zandia, or the surrounding area since the accident with the chemical factory earlier the previous day.

"Ok, now this is really starting to creep me out. I have to know what's going on!" He summoned one of his mages. "Seer?"

"Um, Yes Sir?"

"I need you to use your magic to look across the Empire to Zandia. I need to know why the city has fallen silent!"

The seer nodded. "Yes Overlord Zakia." He then began to work his Magic.

By using himself as a conductor, he was able to create a sort of holographic screen so that Zakia could see what he was seeing. Eventually, the seer was able to look over at Zandia.

"Do you see anything yet Seer?"

"Yes Sir, and what I see is truly terrifying!"

Now Zakia was scared. He looked at the screen. "What am I looking at?" He saw a city, but the city was smoldering, and partially in ruins.

"That Sir, is what's left of Zandia! The city has fallen!"

"WHAT?!?!?! HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!?!?!?!"

"Well Sir, barring of course enemy activity, I would have to say that Tarrath just had to deal with a coup de tat, and lost!" Zakia was maybe about to say something, but suddenly the seer heard something else. "Wait! I just heard something!"

"What?"

"It.....sounded like a cannon going off. Hold on, I'll look closer." He turned his "Magic eyes" towards the city center. "Huh, well that's strange, I could have sworn that I heard a can........GWAH!!!!!! MY EYES!!!!!" The seer screamed. "I'VE BEEN BLINDED!!!!!" He lost his magical control, and lay on the floor of the throne room, screaming, and writhing in agony while holding his hands over his eyes.

Zakia was terrified. "OH GODS, MEDIC!!!!"

Sure enough, a Zebra medic came running. "Oh gods, what happened in here?!"

"I....I don't know! One minute he was using his Magic to look at Zandia, and the next he was on the floor screaming that he had been blinded!"

The medic began to perform an examination. "Oh my. He's.....he’s been flash-burned!"

"WHAT?!?!?!"

"Yes! Whatever he was looking at burned his retinas!" The medic began to administer a gel into the Seer's eyes.

Finally, he was able to calm down. "Ugh, oh....my eyes, they still hurt!"

"You need to take it easy." The medic told him. "You've been severely flash-burned. Whatever you looked at burned your retinas."

Zakia went over to the seer. "What.....did you see?"

"I.....I don't know. All I know is that I was looking towards the center of the city, and then I was suddenly hit by a blinding white flash. That's it."

(Why was the Seer blinded, while we on the Battleship Express weren't? Well, he was looking almost right at ground zero when the detonation occurred. We were safely out of the blast radius, and looking either through video screens, or protected glass).

On a hunch, Zakia got in touch with several of his scouts. "Go to Zandia, and see what you can find. I have to know what happened out there!"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'IT'S GONE'?!?! GONE WHERE?!"

"From what we've been able to gather, the entire city was destroyed in one massive explosion!"

"That's.......that’s impossible!"

"It's what we're finding Sir, and also, some of us are getting sick. They keep vomiting, some of their manes are falling out, and burns are starting to appear on the flesh beneath our fur! There's something dangerous out here Sir!" The scout leader turned his communicator, and Zakia saw how horrible the Zebra scouts looked.

"Oh gods! Fall back now! You've obviously all been exposed to something deadly! You need to fall back and get quarantined until we can figure out what we're dealing with!"

"Yes, Sir!"

Zakia then terminated the call. "So now the Humans are in our midst, and they have a terrifying new weapon; one that makes Zebras get sick, and can destroy entire cities in a single blast!" He contemplated what to do.

Eventually, he came up with a solution. After taking his communicator, he opened the channel that he used to use to communicate with King Danin. Danin had blocked Zakia after he left the Alliance, but ever since the Caribou learned that the Zebras had 4 of the Element Bearers, they reopened the line, even though it hadn't been used.

"This is Overlord Zakia calling King Danin. Please respond."

For a while, there was only silence. Eventually though, the holographic image of King Danin appeared. He didn't look to happy. "Ugh, what is it Zakia? Please tell me that you haven't come crawling back to the Alliance, have you?"

Zakia sighed. "Ok first of all, I didn't come 'crawling back to the Alliance'. And second of all, I need your help. The Humans have attacked the Empire, and they have a terrifying new weapon!"

"Oh? And what, pray tell, IS this 'new weapon'? Does it make you want to be an even bigger faggot than you already are?" Danin sneered.

Now Zakia was upset. "Ok, now that was downright rude! No, it cannot do that. However, this one weapon, with just one explosion, was able to wipe out Zandia!"

Danin was incredulous. However, after a report from General Rodin's scouts did indeed confirm that Zandia was no more, Danin knew that something was up. "Ok, my scouts have just reported that yes indeed, Zandia is gone. My question is, so what? What do you want us to do about it?"

"I want you to HELP US!!! We need help fighting the Humans! If we fall, then the Caribou WILL be next!"

Danin could see that Zandia was close to going off his nut. He then decided to take full advantage of the situation to benefit him and the Caribou. "Hmm.......well, you see Zakia, the thing is........well, let me put it to you this way. You see, I WANT to help you, but the thing is, you've HURT us! You left General Rodin hanging without reinforcements at Baltimare. He and his forces took some rather damaging losses from the city's defenders. Now if you had been there, then I'm sure that you and him would have carried the day, but OH NO!!!! You just HAD to attack Appaloosa and Dodge City, didn't you? I'm impressed. I never saw an imperial army lose THAT MANY soldiers in such an unimportant battle! PATHETIC!!!!" (The story that Danin was telling was absolute bullshit, but Zakia didn't know that).

"However, we Caribou MIGHT be willing to help you Zebras out by letting you rejoin the Alliance, as well as sending forces to help you......"

"YOU WILL?!?!?" Zakia interrupted. "Um.....I mean, yes, of course you will, and I and my people will be most grateful for the assistance."

"But see, that's the thing", Danin continued. "Before you interrupted me, I was going to say that before we would agree to help you, you have to pay a price!"

Now Zakia was a bit more worried, but he didn't show it. "Oh? And what sort of 'price' will we have to pay?"

Danin smirked a bit. "Well, I heard from a little bird that not only did you capture 2 Humans, but also 4 of the 'Bearers of the Elements of Harmony', as well. My price is simple; give me two of the 'Element Bearers', as well as 1 of the Humans, and then we can work out a deal."

Now Zakia was mad. He wanted to tell Danin what he REALLY thought of him, but yet at the same time, he needed to be allowed back into the Imperial Alliance. "Ok, fine, I'll go get your prisoners, and send them....."

"Ah, ah, ah, ah!!! No, you will bring them here to your throne room so that I may CHOOSE which ones I want!"

"Ok, now that crosses the line!"

Danin shrugged. "Alright, suit yourself. I'll just leave you for the Humans to turn into their slut! I bet that you'd look really cute with a long mane, and in a slutty outfit while you danced for them, with one cock in your mouth, and two more up your ass!"

"OK FINE!!!!!" Zakia didn't even want to think about the scenario that Danin had just described. "I'll send for the prisoners!"

While Zakia was doing that, Danin, as well as some of his advisers who were close by at the time, were howling with laughter at how much Zakia was his little bitch!

A short while later, the 4 Element Bearers, as well as Private Cole, were dragged back to the throne room. They were all still naked and tied up, and when they arrived, they got the shock of their life. There waiting for them, all tied down, and still looking horrible, was Private Dan! He wasn't dead!

Cole’s jaw dropped. "D-Dan?! I-is that you?"

"Uh......huh." Dan said softly.

"B-b-b-but I thought that you were dead!"

"I.....wasn't. T-they, beat me, and did w-what they d-did to you, but a-after I got b-beaten up, they d-dragged you away and l-left me to d-die." Dan then went on to explain that the ones who had abused him to the point of death were executed for diminishing Dan's value as a hostage, and that they'd patched him up as best they could.

Before Cole could really talk to Dan further though, all of them were lined up in front of Zakia.

"Ok Whores and Bastards, listen up! Today 2 of you, as well as one of you Humans, are going to leave this place....." Their hearts skipped a beat. Were they finally going to be let go? ".......And be sent to King Danin of the Caribou Empire as his personal slaves!" Their hearts dropped. Not only were they still going to be hostage/slaves, but now they were going to be split up as well. All of them secretly wished to stay in the Zebra Empire, so as to be ready when the Battleship Express showed up.

"Ok King Danin, here they all are. You can make your choices now."

Danin looked first at the Humans. "Ok, for my Human, that's not even a choice. The one with brown hair looks like a corpse. Why would I want him? I'll take the one with the blonde hair!" He meant Cole.

Cole was then restrained again, and dragged off to the side. "F@#KING BASTARDS!!!!" He screamed.

"Gag him!" Zakia ordered. A rag was then tied over Cole's mouth.

"Now then, for my choice of the mares." Danin looked over them all. All of them glared angrily back at him as he looked at their nude bodies.

"Oh, what Stud would do to you if he was here right now!" Dash thought to herself.

"Hmm, well, I can say right now that the purple one, although attractive, looks too weak, and on the flip-side, the orange one looks too strong. Sure, I would ENJOY breaking her, but for now I just want two slaves that are already house-trained."

"Bitch, I would piss and shit on your floors all day long!" Dash muttered.

"What was that Slave?" Danin turned to her. Dash didn't say anything. "Hold that thought. I really like the pink one. She's all cute and pudgy-looking. I've always wanted a chubby mare for my harem; good birthing hips! I'll take the pink one!"

Pinkie was then dragged over by Cole.

"Oh Sweet Celestia no!" Twilight thought. "Not Pinkie!"

Then Danin turned back to Dash. "And this blue one clearly has a bad attitude! She NEEDS to be broken! I'll take her too!"

"NOO!!!!" Applejack screamed through her gag. Twilight did likewise. Dash fought the whole way over to Cole and Pinkie, but she was unable to be very effective at fighting, as she was still tied up.

"Excellent choices King Danin, I will have them shipped to you as soon as possible! Now then, about our deal...."

"No! You will ship them to me NOW!!!! If I do not have them by the time that the sun sets today, the DEAL IS OFF!!!!!"

Zakia turned pale. "Yes, right away King Danin! They will be processed right now!" He then turned to his guards. "Guards, send out the order for my train crew. Have them get their engine fired up for a run to the Caribou Empire right now!"

"Yes Sir!"

"And you will take me with you! I wish to see for myself how the goods are to be packaged for shipment. I DO NOT want them damaged!"

Zakia nodded. "Certainly King Danin. I will show you the entire process myself." He then turned to his guards again. "Oh, and send the other 3 back to the dungeons again. I'll be dealing with them later!"

Twilight, Applejack and Dan were dragged to the dungeons again, while Pinkie, Dash, and Cole were carried away on the first leg of their trip to the Caribou Empire. Zakia followed along as well, all while still talking to Danin, so that he could show him everything like he wanted.

Cole tried to process everything that was happening as he and the others were being carried. First they were taken to a shower area where they were all scrubbed down, and Cole had his wounds tended to by an actual medic. Next they were dried off, and their original restraints were replaced with ones that only secured their wrists, ankles, and Dash's wings. They were also gagged to prevent biting, spitting and cussing.

They were then carried down to the local freight depot, where the train that had brought them all there was now waiting to take them away. This time though, there was only one boxcar and a caboose behind the engine. The boxcar was then opened, they were taken inside of the car, where they were placed in a large crate with a cushion on the bottom of it. The crate was left without a lid, but then the boxcar door was shut and locked.

"And as you can see King Danin, the whole process was extremely simple. We cleaned them up, gave them better restraints, and placed them gently into a padded crate for the trip to your realm. Does all of this suffice?"

"Get the train moving, and then I'll answer that question."

"Ok, you heard King Danin, move it out!" The train's engineer blew the whistle, and with the prisoners on board, as well as 3 guards, the train began it's 1,565 mile journey to Donneth, the Caribou's capital city.

Danin watched the train until it was out of sight. "Yes", He finally said. "This does seem to suffice, for now anyway. I will contact you again when the train arrives. For now, yes, the deal is still on. HOWEVER, if you betray me in ANY WAY, well," Danin looked at Zakia VERY darkly, "Let's just say that the Humans won't be the only ones attacking you!"

Danin then terminated the call, leaving Zakia alone with his thoughts.

"Did you get all of that General Rodin?"

"Um, I think so Sir, but are we really going to send aid to the Zebras?"

"What do you think?"

Rodin thought for a moment. "Well", He said slowly, "If I had to venture a guess, then I would have to say no, and that you only said that to get the slaves away from that bastard."

"Precisely!!!"

"And what do you want me to do again?"

"When the train arrives, alert me immediately, and I’ll come to the station to get my new slaves."

"And what about the crew, and most likely any guards?"

Danin smirked. "Kill them, all of them!"

Rodin nodded. "Sir, yes Sir."

Meanwhile, on the train, after working with his bonds for a bit, Cole managed to get his hands to his face enough to loosen his gag. He was then able to loosen Dash's and Pinkie's as well.

"Well, this is a fine mess, isn't it? The Battleship Express was going to be attacking in a matter of days, and now we're being shipped about as far away from that as possible!"

"Yeah, and here I was thinking that Stud was going to be there to save us. Now only Twilight, Applejack, and Dan will be saved. Celestia knows what'll happen to us when we reach the Caribou Empire."

Cole sighed. "Well, most likely we'll just be used as bargaining chips again. We're too valuable of assets to just waste. I'm sure that our captors will find some use for us. Probably not good uses, but uses nevertheless."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Pinkie seemed to be close to crying.

Cole managed to move as close as he could to her. "Shh, it's ok Pinkie. Even though I'm tied up, I won't let the Caribou hurt you."

"Y-you, wont?"

"Of course not! My job is to protect and serve, that's why I'm a soldier! Plus, when Captain Leopard, Major Don, and the others get done with the Zebras, the Caribou will be next! We moved Heaven and Earth to save Appaloosa, and I know that they moved Heaven and Earth again to come and get to Zebrica to save us, so what's stopping them from just doing it again?"

"Nothing, I guess." Dash answered. "Plus, since Stud has already shown his loyalty to me once, and he has pledged his love for me, I know that he will stop at NOTHING to get me back!"

"Exactly! As such is the nature of Human-wolves. Their loyalty knows no boundaries."

They continued to talk about this for a number of hours as their train moved along.

Eventually, the train came to a sudden stop.

"Uh oh", Cole muttered. "I think that we might have reached our destination!"

Sure enough, moments later, they all heard the sound of voices, and then the doors to the boxcar were opened. A group of Caribou then appeared, and pulled them out of the crate.

"Come on, let's go! King Danin is waiting!"

They were then pulled out of the car, and set on the ground beside the train. Suddenly from a crowd of nearby Caribou, one stepped forward who appeared to be the leader. He had a dark shirt with a metal breastplate, dark pants, and dark boots. He also wore a metal crown on his head.

"So, I take it that you all are the slaves that Zakia was sending me?"

"Yeah, what's it to you?" Cole decided that once again, he was going to be playing hardball.

For his efforts, he was knocked backwards on the ground. "Insolent wretch! But anyway, I am King Danin, ruler of the Caribou Empire, and your new master!"

"#NotMyMaster." Cole muttered.

This time, he was kicked in the ribs hard enough to crack something. "Ulgh!!!" Cole lay on the ground in severe pain.

Danin then turned to some of his soldiers. "Men?"

"Yes My King?"

"Take the Zebras that crewed the train, and put them next to the slaves!"

"Yes Sir!"

"No, wait, what?!" Before they knew what was happening, the 5 Zebras who were on the train were grabbed, and placed on their knees on the ground next to Cole, Pinkie, and Dash.

Danin then contacted Zakia.

"Ah, King Danin, I expect that the slaves have arrived?"

"Oh yes, they have arrived, and I thank you very much for your contributions to my Empire. However, I'm afraid that, well.....I kinda lied to you!"

"Wait, what? What do you mean, 'you kinda lied to me'?"

Danin smirked. "I mean that I only said that I wanted these slaves so that you wouldn't kill them! I NEVER had any intentions of helping you!"

"WHAT?!?!?!" Now Zakia began to realize what a fool he had been. "YOU TRAITOROUS LEECH!! Now YOU betrayed ME!!!"

"Yeah? And now we're equal! You got the short end of this stick this time, just as I got the short end last time! Oh, and thanks for your other gift as well."

"Huh? What 'other gift'?"

Danin then turned his communicator until it showed the 3 Zebra soldiers, as well as the train’s engineer and fireman.

"Hey! Those are my people! What are you doing to them?!"

"What should be done to every Zebra warrior. KILL THE SOLDIERS!!!!"

"WHAT?!?!? NOOO!!!!!"

As quick as a flash, 3 Caribou pulled out their guns, and shot the 3 Zebra soldiers dead, leaving only the Zebra engineer and fireman. However, the engineer tried to pull out a pistol, and was shot through the right eye, killing him instantly. Cole, Dash and Pinkie were all fighting the urge to throw up, however, what happened next was far worse.

"Now, bring me that fireman!"

"WHAT?!?! NO, LEAVE ME ALONE!!!"

He was grabbed, and after being stripped naked, he was placed in front of a Caribou mage.

"What are you doing to him Danin?!?!?!" Zakia yelled.

"What needs to be done to all of the Zebras who aren't soldiers! Mage, work your Magic!"

The mage smirked. "As you wish, My King!"

Then, to everyone's shock and horror, the Zebra's mane got longer, his hips got curvier, he grew a large pair of breasts, and his dick shrunk to almost nothing. He, or rather, she now, also got slightly chubbier as well. The mage then smirked, and opened up his pants to let his cock out. When the Zebra saw that, she went wild, and immediately began to loudly suck and slurp on it.

Cole turned to the left and threw up. "You.......sick monsters!" He said while still throwing up.

Zakia was equally disgusted. "OH GODS!!!! WHAT DID YOU DO?!?!?!?!"

Danin smirked. "Oh, I just showed 'her' her new place! How do you like it Slave?"

The Zebra took a break long enough to giggle a little before going right back to work on the mage.

"Dear God", Cole muttered to himself. "Is THAT what's going to happen to me?"

Zakia then spoke. "We're....THROUGH DANIN!!! I want NOTHING further to do with the Imperial Alliance! IF THIS IS WHAT YOU DO TO YOUR ALLIES, THEN I'D RATHER US BE ENEMIES AGAIN!!!!" Zakia then hung up, and vowed to never talk to Danin again.

"Hmm well, that was interesting. Guards?"

"Yes My King?"

"Take these 3 to their 'quarters', so that they can begin to adjust to their 'new lives'!"

"As you wish, My King!"

Cole, Pinkie and Dash were then picked up, and carried away into Danin's palace in Donneth, the Caribou's capital city.

Meanwhile, over 1,500 miles away, Zakia continued to plan out a counter-attack. He knew that the Battleship Express was closing in on him, but he just didn't know where it was.

All the while he was planning, the Battleship Express was indeed getting closer and closer to Zebrica. Closer and closer to dealing out doses of death once again.

Author's Note

Ok, I appologize if this chapter was a bit boring. I had to write this one, as in the fury over the Zebra, I had to take the time to remind everypony that the Caribou are just as bad, if not WORSE than the Zebras themselves! They too will be marked for Death.

Meanwhile, what'll happen to Cole, Pinkie, and Dash? Will they be treated better or worse by the Caribou? And what about Dan, Twilight, and Applejack? Will they be ok? And what about those Zebras who were exposed to radiation poisoning? Will they die? And what about the Battleship Express? How will the final battle in Zebrica go? Well, you know the drill, keep reading, and I'll tell you!

And, as always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 14!

ScarFox out for now, ALL ABOARD!!!!!

Chapter 14: The Final Blow (Part 1)

In the aftermath of our little "nuclear test", we all knew that the time had come once again to send a report to Celestia. After setting up the video call, we waited for a response.

Sure enough, we got one. "Ah, Major. So good to hear from you again. I expect that you have a new report for me?"

Don nodded. "Yes, Princess, we do. I am pleased to report that not only is Zandia no more, but Captain Leopard has also killed General Tarrath."

Celestia was surprised. "Wait. General Tarrath, THE General Tarrath?! Zakia's right-hand man?!"

"Yes, the very one! He just so happened to be in town when we showed up, so we paid him a little 'courtesy call'!"

"And what did you do with his body?"

I took up the story. "Well Princess Celestia, it's currently being preserved by taxidermists, so that we can have it around to scare Zakia and the Caribou with later. After the war is over, I plan on putting him on display in a glass case."

Celestia nodded. "Yes, I would have to say that those are.....very interesting ideas Captain. I don't know what to say to that, other than, I hope that they work. Also, maybe you don't know, but earlier today, a minor earthquake was reported by geologists in Baltimare. According to their reports, the earthquake originated from the northern section of the Zebra Empire. Did you feel any earthquake activity?"

We all had to think about that. Finally, Don said, "Well, to tell you the truth Princess, that earthquake may have been caused by us. As I’m sure that you’re aware, after we took Zandia, we decided to drop one of our nuclear weapons into the city. Our nuclear shells are the most powerful weapons that we have, and as far as we’re aware, have a yield of 5 megatons apiece. We dropped one shell onto the city both to see what would happen, as well as to record the effects, and see if whether or not we could ever use nuclear weapons again if we had to."

"And, what did you find?"

"Well, it is still a bit too early to tell, but up until you told us about that minor earthquake, the only ill effects seemed to be fallout radiation, which will linger on for some time, rendering the area uninhabitable. Other than this though, it does appear to have been a very successful test. Thank you for allowing us to conduct it, and thank you for your scientists working so hard to make sure that we could launch a nuclear shell."

Celestia sat back in thought. From us, as well as from Twilight, she, as well as Luna and Cadence, had been told of the vast might of a nuclear weapon. Now, for the first time in Equus's history, one such device had been detonated. According to the reports, it had completely flattened Zandia, as well as the surrounding area, rendering them uninhabitable for at least a number of years.

Finally, she said, "I....honestly have no words. I mean, I heard about what you said that your 'nuclear weapons' were capable of, but until now, I've never known just HOW powerful that they really were. I see now that once Twilight and her friends, as well as the other hostages are safe, then those weapons at least theoretically COULD be used again to completely eradicate the Zebras, and hopefully serve as a deterrent to the Caribou as well. Well done boys! What's next on your agenda?"

Don looked at the digital maps. "Well, from what I can see here Princess, we need to close the gap between us and Zakia extremely rapidly. There's 3 days worth of travel, as well as numerous towns, villages, as well as a few cities along the way that need to be taken out. Zakia has no clue where we are, so we plan to use that to the fullest extent."

Celestia nodded. "Ok Major, just do what you think is best. All of Equestria is behind you, and watching your every move. You're doing in less than a week what we could never have even DREAMED of doing in all of the 3 years that we've been fighting! Just bring Twilight and her friends home safely, and then we can focus on bringing down the Zebras once and for all, before then focusing on the Caribous."

Don nodded. "As you wish it, Princess, it shall be done." Don then ended the call.

When Celestia finished her call, she sighed, and then retired to her quarters. After taking a moment to collect herself, she decided to take a bath. After one was prepared for her in the royal baths, she removed her robes, and stepped into it. As she sat there, letting the steam rise around her, Celestia thought about the war as a whole.

"Hmm, the war has definitely been going well for us ever since the Humans arrived to help us. Maybe once they have defeated the Zebras and Caribou, then maybe, just maybe, we'll finally have peace."

"Hello Sister, mind if I join you?"

Celestia was startled a bit. When she looked up, she saw that it was only her sister Luna. "Oh, Luna, you startled me! But yes, you can join me."

Luna then removed her robes, and stepped into the bath as well. "So sister, have the humans reported in recently?"

Celestia nodded. "Oh yes, they have. According to Major Don, they are less than 3 days journey from Zebrica. They have also successfully wiped out Zandia, and Captain Leopard killed General Tarrath!"

Luna was shocked. "All of that in such a short span of time?! How is that even possible?"

Celestia sighed. "They do it, because Humans seem to only be bred for war. It's all they know how to do."

"Which is why we have to help them!" Luna interrupted. "We have to save them from themselves!" She gave Celestia an extremely worried look. "I've seen into their dreams sister, all they dream about is darkness, and the wars that they have lived through! I've tried to dig way back through their sub-consciousnesses, and although I was able to find traces of who they were, the wars have wrecked them almost beyond repair! They want a better future for themselves, as well as those around them, but they just don't seem to know how to achieve that."

Celestia buried her face into her hands. "So, so much death and suffering!" She muttered. "So many wars, and they've weathered them like it was nothing! But yet, there is hope for them still. They've shown that they do still feel other emotions, and some of them have even fallen in love with some of our subjects."

Luna frowned. "Yes, but in case you've forgotten, after they lost their lovers, they went psychotic, we went psychotic, and now Zebras are dying because of it."

"But the Zebras made their choices themselves Luna. They chose to treat Twilight and her friends, as well as those two human soldiers the way that they do, and now they're reaping what they've sown. Hopefully, the Caribou will take this as a warning, and surrender to us."

"Yes, but what if they refuse to do so?"

Celestia looked down at the bubbles in the bath. "Then may the Heavens have mercy on them, for the Humans will show them none. The Zebras are already getting repaid in kind for what they have done, and the Caribou may follow them if they do not change their ways."

Luna knew that what Celestia had said was the truth. She was still wary of the Humans and their extremely violent ways, but she was also glad to have them as allies.

Meanwhile, over 1,000 miles away from Canterlot, Dash, Pinkie, and Cole were dragged to a room in Danin's palace, and tossed inside. Their restraints were then removed, and then the door was shut and locked behind them.

"Well", Cole muttered, "This is a fine mess. Now how are we......" He then turned around, and saw the rest of the room that they were in. "Oh.....my....."

The entire room was about the size of a school gymnasium. The floor was made of white tile, and there were marble pillars placed at intervals as well high windows providing light, as well as a breeze. But what really had Cole was the fact that they were not alone in that room. All around the interior, were a number of females with collars, and not much else on. Most of the females were Caribou cows, but there were also a few Zebras, and even a mare or two.

"What.....is this place?" Dash wondered.

"I have no idea", Cole answered. "It looks like a harem chamber."

And indeed, it was. Between the columns, each of the females had their own bed, (which greatly resembled a dog bed), as well as food and water dishes, (on the floor, just like dog dishes), and a number of 'toys', as well.

Cole nearly gagged when he looked closer at the 'toys'. All of them were for sexual use. They were covered in juices, and some of the slaves were even sharing them! In fact, when Cole looked closer at the floor, he saw that it was stained with dried sex juices!

"Oh god! This place is DISGUSTING!!!! Don't they ever clean up in here?! This place is an STD's cesspool!"

"Yeah, like a hotbed for all kinds of germs! This place is GROSS!"

Pinkie didn't say anything, but she wholeheartedly agreed with Dash and Cole. Before they could react further though, the door behind them opened again, and several Caribou came into the room.

"All of you, on your knees, now!" One of them growled.

"Make me Bitch!"

"Yeah!"

Pinkie didn't say anything, but instead seemed to faint. Cole and Dash were grabbed, and had black collars attached to their necks. Pinkie was given a red collar.

"Why are we here?" Cole asked. "What are you going to do to us?"

One of the Caribou smirked at him. "Well, remember that Zebra from earlier?"

Cole didn't like where that was going. "Um, yeah?"

Two Caribou then grabbed him, and held him down. "Well, hold still!" He made the move to work his Magic on Cole. What happened next, no one truly knows to this day. Reports do conflict, but from what information could be gathered, when the Caribou launched his spell at Cole, it backfired!

"SHIT, LOOK OUT!!!!"

The spell hit Cole, bounced off of him, and then wildly ricocheted off of the walls before finally slamming into the floor! The force of the impact knocked everypony off of their feet.

"What.....happened?" The Caribou where truly and utterly perplexed. Never before had any creature been able to resist their Magic like that. They tried again, but the same thing happened; the Magic spell hit Cole, and then bounced off of him to become a deadly projectile.

"So.....what should we do with this Human?"

The leader of the Caribou group, a mage, just shrugged. "For once in my life, I honestly have no idea. I'd say that we just leave him alone for the time being, and see what happens."

They then began to leave the room. Just before they did though, the mage turned back one last time. "Oh, and your 'quarters' are at the far end of the room. And I'd be careful about falling asleep around here, cuz when the lights go out, some of the more dominant females like to 'have their way' with some of the weaker ones!" He then shut the door, and locked it again, before running away laughing.

Dash and Pinkie looked worried.

"Don't worry Girls. Like I said before, they want to hurt you, they've got to get through ME first!"

Cole then led the way to the far side of the room. The smell of sex was everywhere. Some of the slaves were sleeping, others were eating, 'playing' with themselves, 'playing' with others, and some were even tossing the 'toys' around for seemingly no apparent reason.

A few of them looked up at the trio as they passed. "Hey, new friends!" They then made the move to grab at them, but fortunately for the trio, most of the slaves were secured by leashes attached to the wall. The ones that weren't seemed more interested in touching themselves than trying to touch them. Cole noticed that these had purple collars.

"I wonder what these collars even mean."

From what he could tell, "Black" meant unbroken, "Red" meant willing, and “Purple" seemed to mean either sex-crazed, or batshit crazy. Most of the slaves in the room had red collars, while only a few were black or purple. The black collars just stared at them, while the reds were the ones trying to touch them.

One cow did eventually manage to grab Cole by his leg. "EEEH! Off, get off!!!!"

"Please don't go." The cow said softly. "I won't hurt you. I just wanna snuggle!"

Cole saw that she had a purple collar, meaning that she was most likely batshit crazy.

"GET OFF OF ME!!!" Cole did eventually manage to pry her hands off of his leg, but at the same time, he lost his balance, and went flying backwards. "AAAHHH!!!! OOOFFF!!!!" He landed on something furry.

"Hey, get off of me you clumsy freak!"

Cole saw that he had accidentally fallen onto another cow, only this one had a black collar. She was lying on her side, facing him. "Oh, I'm so sorry Miss, I was just trying to get away from her!" He pointed to the cow across the room, who, after losing him, went back to frantically playing with herself.

"Oh, that's Maddy. She's completely batshit crazy! I'm Missy by the way, if you even care."

"Oh, um, mice to meet you Missy, I'm Cole."

Missy then looked down, and to her absolute shock, she saw that Cole was a male. "Wait, YOU'RE A MALE?!?!?!"

"Um, yeah. I'm also being held hostage by the Caribou. I'm a private assigned to Battalion 4009, attached to the Battleship Express......"

"The deadliest weapon ever to ride the rails!" Missy finished for him. "So it IS real! I knew it!"

Cole sat down again. "Yeah, it's real alright! From the Battle of Ponyville, to Las Pegasus, to my last battle, Appaloosa, it's been putting the Zebra and Caribou to flight."

Missy sighed. "Wow, and I'm sorry for yelling at you. You seem like a nice guy, not like those other bastards at all."

Cole nodded, and then shivered a bit.

"Oh wow, you don't really have any fur do you? You must be cold. Wanna snuggle with me? I'll keep you warm if you want."

Cole looked concerned. "But....I'm naked!"

Missy moved her hand downwards, indicating her own bare body. "Yeah? Well newsflash, aside from our collars, all of us are just wearing the fur that we were born with! What was your point again?" She then indicated her soft, furry chest. "Come on, I know you wanna!"

Cole then looked back at Dash and Pinkie. "But what about them though? I made a promise to protect them."

Missy looked at them. "Sure, I don't mind the company."

Dash and Pinkie then sat against the wall, while Cole then crawled in close to Missy, who began to cuddle with him. "Mmm, how does that feel?"

"Mmm, so soft and warm."

Missy smirked a bit. "Yeah, we Caribou cows are all like this. We're all furry, curvy, and a little bit chubby. Nature made us like this; natural-born mothers." Cole snuggled close to her somewhat large, furry tits, and soft belly. "Oh, and you can suckle from me if you want." She whispered to him. "I don't mind."

Cole shook his head, but he did stay snuggled close to his new BFF, (who he later learned was almost 7 years older than he was! Cole was 19, she was 26).

Dash and Pinkie looked first at Cole and Missy, and then at each other. "Aww", Pinkie whispered, "I think that they're in love!"

Dash shook her head. "It figures", She muttered. "We're in the middle of one of the two greatest slave empires in all of Equus, and he somehow finds true love. That's NUTS!!!!"

Pinkie giggled a bit. "Yeah, it's kinda crazy! I sure wish that Dan was here though. Too bad he wasn't picked." (Dash knew that Pinkie had had her eyes on Dan ever since the train ride from Las Pegasus).

"Yeah, so let's just hope that Stud gets here soon to save us all before Cole has his heart broken, and quite possibly his neck if he fights any more Caribou!"

Also at around this time, back in the Zebra Empire, we were having the times of out lives, as the enemy didn't know where we were at any given time. They could only guess, which enabled us to use some of our favorite psychological warfare tactics on them.

We would leave the train, and stalk them by night, howling, growling, and even coming out to shed some blood, before retreating back into the forest that surrounded that part of the empire. The Zebras never knew what hit them. They would shoot at shadows, thinking them to be us, and sometimes even accidentally shoot their own comrades! Our favorite tactics though were the sabotaging hit and runs. Some of us had absolutely perfected the art of guerrilla warfare during WW4-WW5. We would slip out of the shadows, kill some Zebras, set something on fire, or blow something up, and then retreat back the way that we came.

Eventually, after maybe 2 days of this, Don called some of us together for a meeting.

"Ok guys, we've played the little leagues again for a bit, but now it's time to step back up to the majors!" He looked over at me. "Leopard, I know that you're loving your new Human-Bat-Pony form, but could you PLEASE put a shirt on?"

I looked down at myself. I knew what Don meant. For the past couple of days, ever since my medical procedure, I really hadn't worn a shirt at all. I wore my helmet, and Kitsune mask, as well as my armor, but other than that, I'd always gone shirtless. (I'd also noticed some black fur on my arms and torso, but they only existed in patches, and had seemingly stopped growing).

"Yeah, sure Don. Sorry." I then pulled my shirt and tunic back on.

"Thank you. Now then, as I was saying, for a few days now we've harassed the Zebras; now we really need to make fast tracks to Zebrica. We're maybe 2 days away from there now, and we've left 3 more towns, and 9 villages and settlements in total ruins since Zandia. We're coming up on a city called Mardia. Mardia is extremely important for our mission."

"Why's that Don?"

"Because that city only has a population of 30,000, as well as a small garrison. The city's sole purpose is to function as a power plant, water works, public works, and utility company for Zebrica, as that city was so large and full of military shit that they actually need another CITY to provide them with power, water, gas, sewage, and other utility services!"

"So, if we take out Mardia, then Zebrica might be a little short on utilities?"

"Precisely Leopard! However, to get to Mardia, we have to cross paths with Randeth, a key railway hub, and two other surrounding farm villages. Tonight, we hit the villages, as well as Randeth. Then at dawn, if we still have the strength for it, we burn Mardia to the ground! If that happens, then we will only be 30 miles away from Zebrica!"

We all agreed to that, and after coming up with a plan, we waited for nightfall.

"There it is Aurora, Randeth. Home to one of 3 still existing major Zebra rail hubs."

"Oh, and where are the other 2 rail hubs?"

"Eh, one is in Zebrica, and the other is further south. Zandia was a rail hub as well, but we destroyed that one."

Aurora nodded. Randeth had a population of almost 1 million; mostly rail workers, and freight movers. As always, there was a garrison. This is why Aurora was with me. After the last "little mistake" that Aurora made, Don wanted me to take her to a hill overlooking the city, and have her target the garrison with another of her nuclear missiles to knock it out. Then we planned on flattening the town with artillery fire before moving in to clean up any remaining survivors.

"Ok Aurora, are you ready?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm ready."

"Ok, just target, and fire when ready."

Aurora then spent a few more moments getting a targeting lock. "Ok, got it, firing now!" Aurora then fired her missile. For a brief moment, we both saw it in flight, before it slammed into the garrison, engulfing it in a 1 kiloton explosion!

"Wowzers Bzowzers! That garrison is GONE!!! You can open fire now Don!"

"Roger that Leopard, firing now!"

Radneth proved to be almost a total pushover. With the garrison gone, and no other soldiers available to protect them, Randeth was quickly taken care of. We blasted all of the rail lines leading in and out of the city, before targeting the railyard facilities. There were 4 trains in the city, (which were all quickly blown up and rendered useless), as well as multiple supply warehouses, and repair facilities. Once most of the city's defenders had been neutralized, now the REAL fun could begin!

"Ok Boys, now we need to fan out and burn this motherf@#ker down!"

"Roger that!"

From one end of Randeth to the other, groups of soldiers roamed the streets. Armed with flamethrowers, incendiary chemicals, and even just plain old Molotov cocktails, we all set the city on fire. We also dealt with any and all Zebras that we came across. By the time that all was said and done, the Zebra Empire was down to just 2 major rail hubs.

Don checked his watch. "Wow, all of that work, and it's only 2:30am! We've still got PLENTY of time to take care of Mardia! Load em up boys! We've got another city and two villages to destroy!"

"Sir, yes Sir!"

We all then piled back onto the train for the trip to Mardia.

However, once we were back on the rails again, there was trouble.

"Um, Don, our radar is showing that we've got another train up on the tracks ahead of us!"

"What?! Which direction is it going?"

The technician looked. "Uh oh, it's coming straight for us! And at a fair rate of speed too!"

Don was slightly worried. Any train coming straight at us was something to be concerned about. "Any ideas on how big the train is?"

"Well, according to the radar, as well as scans, it appears that the train has maybe 8 cars. No readout yet on what kind of cargo, but if I had to guess, then I would say that it was a train full of soldiers trying to come and rescue Randeth."

"What's their current speed?"

"Eh, they seem to be holding a steady 35-40mph."

"And how far out are they?"

"According to the radar, they're about a mile out, and closing the gap fast."

Don thought about that. "Hey Joe?"

"Yes Sir?"

"What's our current speed?"

"We're doing maybe 40mph Sir."

"Well, we may need to go a little bit faster. About a mile ahead of us is another train! It's coming at us head on, going about 35-40mph. We need to get it off of the tracks!"

Joe nodded. "Yes Sir. Increasing speed now. Estimated time until impact, approx. less than a minute."

"Ok, roger that. Just send us the alert when it gets into visual range."

"Roger that Major."

From the other side, the train that was coming straight at us was indeed carrying soldiers, however, they were unaware that Randeth was no more. They were merely being transferred to the garrison there, so as to protect the rail hub. However, from up ahead of them, they suddenly became aware of a loud chugging sound.

"Hey, what's that?"

"I don't know, it almost sounded like another train!"

"But that can't be! We're the only ones out here on the line tonight!"

Suddenly, from around a bend ahead of them, the Zebra engineer suddenly watched in horror as a glowing red light appeared! (Just prior to the battle of Zandia, we'd placed a red reflector over the Big Boy's front headlights, so as to make its appearance that much more intimidating).

"OH GODS, IT'S ANOTHER TRAIN!!!!" The engineer then blew his whistle frantically to warn the oncoming train. As a reply, instead of an ordinary whistle, the other train responded with an ungodly, Banshee scream! "OH GODS, IT'S THE BLACK LEVIATHAN!!!! IT'S COMING RIGHT AT US!"

The engineer then shut off steam, and slammed on the brakes. "BRACE FOR IMPACT!!!!" He screamed.

Unfortunately, they were not able to stop in time to back away from the Battleship Express.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!!!!" Don yelled back to the rest of us. We all did so, and moments later, this happened.

(2:38-2:50)

It had been a long time since we'd rammed another train head on. All of us were REALLY hoping that 4009 was still capable of running through another train. Fortunately, she didn't disappoint. Thanks to the razor-sharp plow-catcher with attached metal spikes, our impact with the train smashed the engine into scrap metal, and blew right through the rest of the train! Debris went flying everywhere.

"BAM!!!! Direct hit! Multiple fatalities!"

Our sharpshooters did have to pick off a few Zebras who survived, but overall, our ramming of that train proved once and for all that not only DIDN'T the Zebras understand armor at all, but also that their trains were stolen from Equestria, and were not the best maintained. Our ramming of their train was like an ax going through wood. No real damage to us, but the other train would have to be scavenged later for scrap!

"There, now that takes care of that! Now then, DELCI?"

"Yes Boss?"

Don looked at a map. "What would be the best course of action to take for heading to Mardia?"

"Calculating.......I'd say that we should get between it and Zebrica before taking it out. That way we would also be able to deal with any enemy reinforcements."

Don nodded. "Good thinking DELCI. We'll do that!"

We then got ready with our plan of attack.

For those who were assigned to staff the multiple facilities of utility-city Mardia, nighttime was a time for fear. All too common were the stories spun about the horrors of Zandia, and the surrounding area.

"Those Human freaks came out from the night, did their terrible deeds, and then retreated back into the night!"

"They are born of the shadows! Offspring of an unholy union between their species and wolves!"

"They live only to kill and slaughter! Their anger, hatred, and blood-lust knows no bounds!"

"With only a train, and 200 men, they conquered a city of 3 million, and towns of almost half that in just 2 days!"

In fact, we had them so scared, that they were jumping up at every little sound. Most of the city's population were there to run the utility works, and had no real fighting experience. Most of them were Zebra convicts who had committed some crime or another. Others were disgraced Zebra military personnel serving time for their crimes against the Zebra Empire. All of them were dangerous, but not all of them were trained military.

The city was also extremely poorly defended, and much like Bandia before it, was a liability lawsuit just waiting to happen. The entire city was composed of 4 power stations, 6 waterworks, 5 sewage treatment plants, and numerous public works departments. Outside of the city were two farming villages. The area's whole reason for existing was to service Zebrica, as the city was one vast military complex, and didn't have room for all of the facilities needed to keep it running.

"A severe oversight on their part." Don muttered. "Rule number 1 of defense, ALWAYS have facilities that are self-sufficient! If not, then that leaves you vulnerable, as your enemies can attack the facilities that give you your supplies. What will you do then?"

I shrugged. "I dunno, keel over and die for stealing my marefriend?"

Don smirked. "Exactly! And my marefriend, as well as Alex's, and Pinkie, Cole, and the other hostages as well. We knock out Mardia, as well as those two farming villages, then Zebrica may be already in a world of danger, and we haven't even laid a finger on the place yet!"

"What's the plan for the attack?" Shining asked.

Don checked his watch. The time read 3:39am. "We need to get the attack going by about 4, so that we'll have plenty of time before the sun rises."

As Don was laying out the plan, I took a brief moment to think about something. As time wore on, we seemed to be needing less and less sleep. We could pull over-nighters very easily. I figured that it had something to do with my "Bat-pony treatment" that I had been given, which once it had been fully replicated, had been given to a number of others who crewed the train, and Battalion 4009 soldiers who also had a number of health issues due to the human-wolf genetics. All of them were now healthy as could be, and more plans were laid out to continue to replicate the process after the war ended. Currently though, it was only reserved for those who had health altercations that had been causing them difficulties in doing their jobs.

In the end, it was agreed that while Don and the Battleship Express took on Mardia, Shining and I would each lead a group into the farming villages to kill, and set all crops on fire, as well as taking care of any livestock. We would then link up, and storm the city, destroying whatever was left. Then, when the city was gone, we would all get back on the train, maybe give Celestia a report, and then get ready for our biggest assault yet, on Zebrica!

"Are both of you boys ready?"

"I'm ready. Are you ready Shining?"

"Copy that Leopard, I'm ready!"

"Yeah, we're ready Don. Just waiting for your signal!"

Don nodded. "Ok, here we go. We'll give it a bit of a barrage for a few minutes, and then, in the lull, take the villages!"

"Roger that." I then looked over at Shining and his group. Over the course of the past couple of battles, Shining and I had begun a friendship of sorts. We'd hang out a bit when we got the chance, (usually in the Secondary Crew common room with Alex, Todd, Fred, and Andy), and we were able to see eye to eye on many things. We were both soldiers, both of about the same age, dealing with a war that neither of us wanted.

"You ready Shining?" I asked him.

"As ready as we'll ever be Leopard. By the way, is 'Leopard' your real name, or just a nickname?"

"No, it's just a nickname. My real name is......unknown actually. I can't remember my first, or middle name anymore; only my last name, 'Campbell'."

Shining was confused. "Huh? How can you forget your own name?"

I sighed. "Well, it's because of what happened at........."

*KABOOM!!!!*

Then the battle began.

From where we were, even though it was dark, with my almost perfect night-vision, I was able to see the battle. For the enemy, it was positively devastating. The power and water facilities were not armored at all, and when the shells, rockets, and missiles began to hit, they quickly began to fall apart. Sparks were flying everywhere, water pipes burst, and that's when Don realized something.

"Leopard, General Shining!"

"What is it Don?"

"When you're done with the villages, DO NOT proceed into the city until we've made it safe!"

I was concerned. "Why, what's wrong?"

"The city is being flooded with water from the burst pipes of the waterworks. There are also numerous downed power lines, and even live transformers fully exposed to the water! The entire city is filling with electrified water!"

"Yeah, copy that, we don't want to be barbecued! We'll wait!"

"Don't worry though, it shouldn't be too much longer now. All of the power plants are on fire, so it's only a matter of hitting them in the right spots to knock them out. But in the meantime, charge! Take out the villages!"

"Roger that!" I turned to my group, just as Shining turned to his. "You heard the man, let's go!"

"I'll take the village on the left, you guys take the one on the right!"

"Roger that Shining!"

Our groups then split up.

For the most part, our jobs were actually fairly easy. Most of the townsfolk were either asleep, or too mesmerized by the incredible light show going on in Mardia to notice us until it was too late.

Our groups then split into two sub-groups. One group was tasked with killing everyone, while the other was collateral damage. Armed with their flamethrowers, they took out houses, fields, barns, and anything else that they could find that was combustible, even the Zebras themselves in some cases!

Then, while both of the villages began to burn, the rest of us crisscrossed through, killing any and all Zebras that we could find. I let my new feral side run wild. Armed with just my fire-ax, and my Glock, I led the way to havoc.

"Eyah! Take this, and this, and SOME OF THESE!!!" I was like a machine on high-speed. Blood flew everywhere, some of it even splattering on me. "Ugh! I hate getting blood in my eyes, it burns!" I wiped my eyes, and continued the fight.

Less than 10 minutes later, we were done. "We're all done over here Shining, everyone'd dead, and the whole village is burning! How are you guys doing?"

"Well, we're just wrapping everything up over here as well."

"Ok, I'll radio Don." I grabbed my radio. "Don, are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here Leopard, What's going on over there?"

"Well, long story short, the villages are burning, all crops have been destroyed, whatever livestock that we could find was set aside for later, and all Zebras are dead. We're ready to storm the city, that is, if you have it ready for us!"

"Affirmative Leopard! It's all ready for you, however, I don't know how much you'll find in there. That electrified water seems to have fried most of the Zebras. However, the city has been rendered powerless, waterless, the sewage lines have backed up, and that means that if utilities are down here, then Zebrica should be having some serious problems as well!"

I nodded. "Ok Don, we'll get in there, and see what we can find. Be ready to hit any targets if we find anything!"

"Roger that Leopard."

We all then gathered ourselves together, and stormed the city. However, like Don said, it was largely empty. All we could find were bodies of Zebras that had been shocked to death, burned in the fires, or even drowned in some cases. Here and there, we did find a few other Zebras who had escaped Death, at least for a while. We killed all but 7, and then lined those 7 up against the nearest wall that we could find.

I then addressed them. "Ok people, listen up! You all know who I am, right?"

"You're....Commander Fox-Face!"

"Correct! Now then, how close are we to Zebrica?"

"F@#K you!!!"

"Kiss my ass!"

I smirked. "Oh how lovely, we have a couple of comedians!" I then popped two rounds into their heads. "Ok, now does anyone want to give me the correct answer?"

"I'd say MAYBE 30 miles. It's that way!" He pointed to the south.

"Ok, and how big is the city?"

"None of your damn business!"

Another round, another dead Zebra. "Anyone else wanna mouth off?" I looked around. "Anyone?"

"You f@#kin' Humans are all the same! Just slaves to those Diarch whores! You're just their little pets!"

"Yeah, I bet that you just LOVE to lick their pussies when they let you, don't ya?"

"Ok." I then killed the one who made the sex joke, and double kneecapped the one who said that we were slaves to the Princesses. I then turned to my group. "Bind these 3. And bandage the middle one so that he doesn't bleed out!"

"Wait, what are you going to do to us?!"

"I'm going to do to you what Don did to the Zebra ambassador; I'm gonna send you back to Zakia! I want him to KNOW that we're getting close to him!"

"NOOO!!!!" One of the Zebras impaled himself on an exposed metal rod, while another charged us, and got shot full of holes.

I then turned to the last Zebra, the one I'd kneecapped earlier. "Well then, looks like you're the only one left. And since you're disarmed, AND can't run, I'd say that you don't have a choice but to help us!"

After the Zebra was all bandaged up, we tied him up securely, and into his back with my Bowie knife, I carved the words, "YOU'RE NEXT ZAKIA!!!!"

"AAAWEHH!!!!" The Zebra screamed in pain.

"Don't worry, the wounds are only superficial. They should stop bleeding by themselves here before too long." I then turned to Shining. "Hey Shining?"

"Yeah Leopard?"

"Can you teleport this Zebra to Zakia in Zebrica? The time has come to begin our final trek to his city!"

Shining smirked a bit. "Like you even have to ask Leopard!"

After concentrating for a bit, Shining was able to use his magic, to teleport the Zebra, (who we learned was a power plant technician) all the way over to Zebrica.

"So now what?" Shining asked.

I sighed. "Now, we get back to the train, rendezvous with Iron Glory for supplies, and then, after making one last report to Celestia, we get to Zebrica, take back what RIGHTFULLY belongs to us, and then, we wipe out their capital, before pursuing any Zebras who remain."

Shining nodded gravely, then we all went back to the train, dreading the battle that lay ahead of us.

Author's Note

Well, that was a lot packed into one chapter, wasn't it? Now, Pinkie, Dash, and Cole have arrived in their new 'home', and Cole seems to have found a new 'friend' in Missy. He also learned that Humans may be immune to body-altering magic as well. Did Cole just get lucky, or are all humans this way? Also, now that we've taken Tardeth, and Mardia, how will the final fight for Zebrica go? Well, I can say right now that it will be one of our biggest battles ever. Bigger than even Las Pegasus! How will that go? Well, stay tuned for Part 2!

Also, I bet that you thought that I was going to reveal my real name, didn'tcha? Well, too bad, now is not yet the time for that. In time, I will reveal what it is, but that time has not yet come

Also, one final question before I head over to Part 2. After the fall of the Zebra Empire, what will the Caribou do? Will they surrender, or will they chose to fight?

Well, like I always say, Comments, feedback, questions, are always appreciated, so tell me what you think, and stay tuned for Part 2!

ScarFox out for now!

Chapter 14: The Final Blow (Part 2)

(WARNING: minor nudity, and implied sex towards the middle of the chapter!)

After we were back on the train, Joe and Frank once again took the controls to get the train moving. While we were on our way to meet Iron Glory at a crossroads known as Shadowwood Junction, Don, Shining, and I got onto the computer for a video call with Celestia.

When the call picked up, to our surprise, it was Luna who answered. "Ah, hello Boys. Do you have a new report for us?"

"Um, we were expecting to see Celestia. Where is she?"

"Oh, she's getting what sleep she can before it's time to raise the sun again."

I nodded. "Oh, well, that makes sense. Anyway, yes, we do have a new report."

"Oh? Well, I'm all ears."

I then went on to explain all about our conquests of Randeth and Mardia, as well as what that meant for the future. "So in conclusion, we've managed to trash a major rail hub, as well as the utility-city that supplies Zebrica with most, if not ALL of it's power, water, sewage removal, as well as other utilities. We're now less than 30 miles away from Zebrica itself, however, we're now expecting heavy resistance. They know that we're here, and they're most likely NOT going to be taking that lightly!"

Luna nodded gravely. "Which is why you must be EXTREMELY careful Captain. One wrong move could get ALL of the hostages killed!"

I nodded, putting one hand over my Kitsune mask. "Yeah, please don't remind me! These are some of the highest stakes that we've ever played. Zebrica is most likely going to be their last stand. Once we have the hostages secured, we'll level the rest of the Zebra cities, towns, and villages with a nuclear strike. That should take care of the rest of the problem."

"And....then what do you plan on doing?"

Here Don took up the story. "Well, then we plan on sitting tight, and waiting for the Caribou to make the next move. The ball will be in their court, so they can either surrender, or watch as what was done to the Zebras gets repeated on them."

Luna nodded. "Just.....get there, and bring all of the hostages home. Do whatever you want with the Zebras, but just bring Twilight and her friends back!"

I looked at her, and saluted. "Which is EXACTLY what we plan on doing! Also, we're going to be broadcasting the battle live on the air, so that you all can see it in real time, as well as any Ponies, (or even Caribou!) can watch it."

"And how will you do that?"

"We’ll all have several cameras with us, recording the entire battle from all angles. We have equipment on the Battleship Express that can broadcast everything not only to you Princesses in Canterlot, but also to ordinary television sets as well. The entire thing will be rated 'Mature' of course, but it will be able to be viewed by all."

"Well, I can maybe understand you sending the live battle feed to us, but why would you want to broadcast it to the rest of Equestria? Do the rest of the Ponies REALLY need to see this kind of violence up close on their television screens?"

We all had to think about that. Luna did raise a good point, plus, what if some of our "methods" of doing things were seen as horrid by Ponies? That could prove to be catastrophic in the long run.

Finally, Don said, "Yeah, I can see your point there, Princess Luna. We'll send the live feed to you in Canterlot, but I will leave it up to you and Celestia on whether or not you'll broadcast it to the rest of Equestria."

"Ok, we'll take that into consideration. In the meantime, when do you guys plan on hitting Zebrica?"

"In about a day and a half or so. Our plan is to fully resupply from our supply train, then swoop down on the city at dawn, and take care of it once and for all, before sweeping down into the final sections of the southern end of the empire, and wiping them out as well. If all goes according to plan, then the Zebra Empire has MAYBE another 4 days of existing at the most."

Luna nodded, and after making notes to give to Celestia, she wished us all the best of luck, and we said that we would contact her again just before the attack began.

Meanwhile, less than 30 miles away from us, Zakia was beginning to prepare for the upcoming battle.

"Lt. Faul?"

"Oh, um, yes Overlord Zakia?"

"I'm promoting you to general to replace Tarrath. You will be in charge of the battle from our end. I will place other officers under you, so that we maybe stand a chance of fending off the Humans."

Faul was extremely surprised. In less than a week, he went from a sargent, to a lieutenant, to a commander, back to lieutenant, and now he was a general! This was just one more reason that proved that the Zebras were extremely desperate to fend us off. If they were having to resort to promoting noncoms, and most of their other officers either died or committed suicide after fighting with us, then maybe that should have served as a red flag. Just maybe.

Faul saluted. "Your word is my command Sir! What are your orders?"

Zakia thought about that. "Well, first, we need to prepare a good defense. Any ideas for that?"

"Well, I know that we're going to need soldiers stationed on the city walls at all times, we need to ready our weapons, arm our militia forces, reservists, cadets, and even civilians. This will be a city-wide defense. I mean, this is a 12 million Zebra city; HALF the population of our entire empire!"

Before Faul could really continue with his explanation though, the lights suddenly flickered, and then most of them went out.

"Huh? Hey, what happened to the lights?!"

Suddenly, reports began to come in from all over the city. Power was failing, the water lines had no pressure, the sewers were backing up, and other utility services were seemingly cut off.

"Is, is it the enemy?"

Faul shrugged, and then tried to contact Mardia, to see what was up. To his surprise, the line was dead. "Um, Sir, I can't get through to Mardia. The line is dead!"

"WHAT?!?!?!" Then it hit Zakia. "If what I think is true just happened, they CANNOT answer your call, because they are ALL DEAD!!!!" He then grabbed his communicator. "Ok, I need all backup generators online NOW!!! We need our power! Also, crank up the power at our dam. Get those turbines running, or whatever you have to do, but get us our power back NOW!!!'

"Yes Sir!"

"We also need our water supply back, our sewers working again, and our other utilities! Get our public works departments on that!"

"Sir, yes Sir!"

Moments later, the power did come back on.

Zakia nodded. "Impressive! I'm really beginning to think that...." He never got the chance to finish that thought. Just before he could, there came a sudden bright flash of light, and when it had dissipated, on the floor of the throne room lay a Zebra! He was all tied up, and he appeared to have been burned. His armband indicated that he was a power plant technician at Mardia.

"Quickly General, untie him!"

"Yes Sir!"

Faul then quickly untied the Zebra.

"......Oh gosh, OH GODS!!!!"

"What happened to you?! What happened in Mardia?!"

The technician looked petrified. "It's gone, ALL GONE!!! The Humans wiped Mardia out! They only left me alive so that I could bring you this message!" The Zebra then turned around, revealing his cut up back with the words, "YOU'RE NEXT ZAKIA!!!" carved into it.

Faul was horrified. "Who....who has done this to you?!"

"Fox-Face! Commander Fox-Face! HE DID THIS TO ME!!!"

Zakia was about to scream for Rainbow Dash to be executed, but then he remembered one tiny detail. "Oh f@#k. I would say, 'KILL HER, SHOW HER NO MERCY!!!!!' but I cannot."

"Um, why can you not, Overlord Zakia?"

Zakia glared at Faul. "I cannot, BECAUSE I HANDED HER OVER TO THAT BASTARD DANIN!!!!!"

"So, if you do not mind my asking, Overlord Zakia, what shall we do?"

Zakia then looked at the hapless technician. "We prepare. Do you have any military experience?"

He shook his head. "No, my family came from a long line of farmers, smiths, and craftsmen. I don't know how to fight."

"What is your name?"

He looked up at Zakia. "My name, is Candeth."

Zakia looked at Candeth. "I may yet have a use for you, Candeth. Tell me, how good are you at keeping the power online?"

Later on that same night, the time had come for us to rendezvous with Iron Glory for supplies. On a disused siding outside of the rendezvous point, Iron Glory came alongside us, and we quickly began to unload her.

We moved ammunition, spare parts, oil, fuel, more weapons, foodstuffs, water, and other such vital supplies over to the Battleship Express.

"Thank you Daryl. Once again, Iron Glory has provided us with the life-blood to keep our war machine running!"

Daryl nodded. "It was my pleasure Major Don. It's ALWAYS been an honor serving with you. Good luck out there in Zebrica."

Don sighed. "Thanks, I know that we'll need it!"

Once all of the supplies were loaded, Iron Glory pulled off into the night back towards Equestria. We decided to stay put for a little while longer until we'd fully scouted the area, and came up with a plan of attack.

Once I was done with my duties for the time being, I returned to my cabin. After removing my shirt, tunic, helmet, boots, and Kitsune mask, I then lay down on my bed.

As I was trying to rest, Aurora jumped up onto me, and lay down on me.

"Mmm, hey Aurora." I began to pet her gently.

"Hey Master." She began to nuzzle me a bit.

I looked up at my faithful wolf companion of nearly 3 years. She was now 5 years old, and was still very beautiful.

She noticed me staring at her. "What are you looking at Master?"

"Hmm, oh, I was just looking up at you, my sweet Aurora."

Aurora seemed to be blushing a bit. "Aw, come on. I'm not sweet, I'm a killing machine too!"

I smirked. "Maybe on the battlefield, but in bed, you're my sweet pet!" It was at that exact moment that I realized what I had just said, and how bad it sounded. "Oh, shit! I really should have rephrased that!" I was about to apologize, but before I could Aurora put her paw over my mouth.

"Shh, you don't have to apologize Master, I know what you mean. We've been together for a good long while now. I know that you like me as more than a pet!" Aurora then began to lick, and kiss my neck gently.

"Ough, um, A-Aurora, we REALLY shouldn't be doing this right now! The mission....."

Aurora replaced her paw with her mouth. "Mmmm", She moaned after breaking the kiss. "I don't care, I need this!"

"B-but, Dash! If she knew that I came all this way only to have sex with you, what would she think?!?!"

"I dunno. Most likely though, she would understand. Few people can truly understand the love between Man and Dog. I think that I finally see the truth. We were meant to be."

I then gently rolled us over until Aurora was on her back. I then removed my pants from the equation, and my dick was all ready to go.

"Ngh....just, be gentle with me Master. I am smaller than you!"

I began to kiss her neck gently. "Don't worry Sweetheart, I'll take good care of you." I whispered, before the two of us settled in for a night of sweet, passionate love-making.

The next morning, the full gravity of last night's events hit me squarely in the face. I had just had sex with my pet wolf!

"And now I've cheated on Dash, I f@#ked a wolf, and I actually liked it! What is WRONG with me?!"

"Nothing Master, nothing is wrong with you. We all get our 'urges' and we need others to help us 'scratch our itches'. You were sexually frustrated, and so was I. We helped each other out. Plus, your goo can't make any babies inside of me, so we're good there. I'm also STD free, as are you, so aside from enjoying some forbidden sex, nobody got hurt."

I looked at Aurora. "Except for Dash. If she knew about this, she would absolutely gut me alive."

Aurora had to think about that one. "Yeah", she said at last, "That really could be a problem. However, she has a pet of her own, so maybe she would understand?"

I put a hand over my face. "Aurora, that's the stupidest idea that I've ever heard. However, in the heat of the upcoming battle, I'm pretty sure that we'll both forget that this ever happened anyway, so we'll fight the battle first, and then worry about this."

Aurora nodded, and then we all began to prepare for the battle that would occur in Zebrica in less than 24 hours.

After sending in the scouts, we all came to the realization of just how hard the battle ahead was really going to be. Zebrica was absolutely ENORMOUS!

"This place is like a non-moving Death Star! It has all of the weapons that you can imagine, plus 12 million Zebras to man them! The entire city is nothing but a massive fortress, and our marefriends are located right here, at ground zero!" I pointed to the spot on the map where the imperial palace was located. "And here's another problem, we know that they're in there, but we have absolutely no clue as to WHERE they are!"

Don knew that this was going to be a problem. "Yeah, I know Leopard, you don't need to remind me! I know the astronomical challenge that we're facing. This is going to be just like what taking Denver was going to be like. Do you remember that?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but if you remember correctly, at Denver, we had multiple Army and Marine units, plus the Air Force, and more men in reserve. This time around, we have the Battleship Express again, with her 216 man crew, but we only have two battalions. We have MAYBE 3,500. We're up against 12 MILLION!!!!!"

"Yeah, I know that the odds are against us Leopard! However, as has been demonstrated in the past, their armor, and even their fortress walls, CANNOT stand up against our weapons! Also for this battle, we will be using drones, our gunship, and we'll even be bringing back the tractor-tanks!"

I sighed. "Yeah, but Don, will it be enough? I mean, as I'm sure you know, we're only going to get one shot at this, ONE! If we fail, we lose everything! We would NEVER be getting another chance at this EVER again!"

Don sighed. "Yeah, I know that you're right Leopard. HOWEVER, if we do not act soon, our marefriends could be lost anyway. Zakia is a glorified warlord. Who knows what he's really capable of if he knows that he’s cornered. Tomorrow morning at dawn, after our final check-in with the Princesses to make sure that our video feed is working, we'll be commencing the attack."

I nodded, and went to go prepare. I knew off the top of my head that myself, Don, and Alex would all either be leading, or be a part of the teams sent inside of the city, as we had to rescue our marefriends. I was still worried though; what if the worst happened, and we really did fail? What would happen then? I didn't even want to dwell on that possibility, so I went to go prepare my weapons instead.

"General Faul?"

"Yes Overlord Zakia?"

"Please bring me the 2 'Element Bearers', as well as the Human. I would like to keep them close at hand from now on!"

Faul nodded. "As you wish, Overlord Zakia."

On his word, the 3 hostages/prisoners were dragged into the throne room, and were made to kneel in front of Zakia. All of them wore black collars, and both Twilight and Applejack were chained to Zakia's throne. Dan was lying on the ground close by, too weak to really move. He was not tied up, but a close eye was still kept on him.

"Ok, now that I have my pretty slaves, General Faul, do we know where the Black Leviathan even is?"

Faul shook his head. "Unfortunately Sir, we do not. Our estimates put it somewhere between Mardia and here, but for now, it's anybody's guess as to where they are."

Zakia scowled. "'ESTIMATES' aren't good enough General, I need EXACT LOCATIONS!!!! How hard can it be to track ONE TRAIN?!?! ESPECIALLY ONE AS LARGE AS THAT?!?!?!"

"We're always looking for it Sir, but one of the problems is that after Randeth, our empire is crisscrossed with old and abandoned rail lines. Hardly any of them are even on maps, so that makes it really difficult to watch them, as we have no idea where they go. However, it is our best guess that the Black Leviathan is out there on one of these abandoned tracks."

"Which is why WE have to find IT, before IT finds US!"

As Zakia and Faul continued to talk about this, Twilight turned to Appleajck. "Wow", she murmured softly. "If they're THIS worked up about it, The war train must be getting pretty close!"

"Yeah, no kiddin' Sugarcube! I heard them say 'Mardia'. That's a city about 30 miles away from here. That means that they're already right on top of us, and could be here practically any minute now!"

"Yeah, so that's why we have to be prepared!" Dan muttered. "We have to be ready to fight when they get here, as these Zebras may try to kill us when they do!"

Now Twilight and Applejack were scared. However, what Applejack said next really made them all go quiet. "Yeah, but what'll we say when we see Captain Leopard? 'Sorry, but Rainbow Dash ain't here, she got taken by the Caribou'?"

Twilight and Dan could only stare at AJ. They knew that what she said was the truth, however, they had no idea what to say.

All throughout that night, all 3 of them continued to watch, and wait, waiting for any signs of the Battleship Express. They slept in shifts, so that somepony, or Dan, would always be awake.

On our end, we pulled into a grove of trees less than 2 miles away from Zebrica. We then diverted the switch so that no trains could charge us from the front, but we could still deliver a full broadside of whatever weapons we chose. All weapons were being readied. All 12 of our 16in guns in each of their 4 turrets were ready, our 4 big railguns were ready, Lt. Hughes said that all systems were go with the gunship, our drones and drone pilots were ready, the "tractor-tanks" were all ready, Big Boy 4009 was ready, and all of our other weapons were ready. However, some things were just not ready, namely Battalion 4009, and Shining Armor’s troops. All of us were incredibly scared. We were about to challenge the full might of the 2nd strongest military in all of Equus, (The Caribou were 1st, Equestria held 3rd, but only just) with only 1 flagship war train, and 3,516 guys. We were up against 12 MILLION Zebras, in their CAPITAL CITY, on their HOME TURF!!! They also held our marefriends, as well as 2 of our soldiers hostage, (or so we believed).

Just before we made our call to Canterlot in the final predawn hours, Don called all of us together for a meeting.

"Hello everyone and everypony. The sun will be up soon, so I will have to keep this brief! However, today, is the LAST DAY of Zebrica, and one of the last days of the Zebra Empire! Today, Zakia, and all of his filthy race, will PAY THROUGH THEIR ASSES for kidnapping our soldiers, as well as Twilight and her friends!"

The crowd began to cheer a bit.

"HOWEVER!" Don continued. "I WILL NOT sugarcoat this. This battle WILL NOT be easy! We're up against 12 MILLION Zebras, located in the most fortified city since Denver, Colorado, while they are still holding the hostages! I'm afraid that many of us will not live to see this battle's end, however, NONE of you will be forgotten! Even if you die, you WILL be remembered as a hero! Today, we show these bastards ONCE AND FOR ALL that messing with Humanity on the warpath IS A DEATH SENTENCE!!!! They will NEVER live to RUE THE DAY THAT THEY CHOSE TO FIGHT US!!!! NOW WHO'S READY TO FIGHT?!?!?!?!"

There was some cheering, but most of us stuck with, "We're with you Don! This is our fight, and today we plan on finishing it!"

We all then went to our stations, while some of us got the cameras ready. I attached one to a mount on my helmet just above my eyes, so that it would be a POV shot. Once we were all ready, we contacted Canterlot.

Celestia picked up. "Oh, is it time now Major Don?"

"Yes Princess Celestia, the time has come! Are you ready to receive the live feed?"

"Affirmative Major! We're all hooked up on our end."

"Ok then", Don signaled to someone in the PCC to begin the transmissions. "Transmitting in 5.....4.....3....2....1....Ok, we're live. Do you see everything?"

"Affirmative Major! Luna, Cadence and I, as well as our advisers, and a few others who wanted to, including the other two Element Bearers, even though they may not begin to watch until you guys get close to Twilight and the others, are all watching, and can see everything."

"Ok then, well, DISCLAIMER: The following contains material that is not suitable for young audiences, rated M for Mature! The following contains scenes of graphic violence, strong language, some nudity, and possibly sexual content, we don't know yet. There's also most likely a lot of other horrors waiting for us in there."

Celestia nodded gravely. "We, understand Major. However, we need to see this, so we will be brave."

"Roger that Princess. And our plan is to first strategically hit the city with artillery strikes, before sending in our drones and gunship. These two factors will cause a lot of chaos, and then we will send in the ground forces. These troops, flanked by bulldozers, tractors, and loaders, all armored and armed with machine guns and light artillery, will move in, and do what has to be done. Our primary goal is to get to the Imperial Palace located in the center of the city, get inside, and rescue the hostages."

"Yes, and after that, and once you've gotten to a safe distance, LEVEL THAT F@#KER WITH A NUCLEAR WEAPON!!!!" Luna screamed.

I saluted. "We will do that, Princess Luna, and then we will turn our attention to the rest of the Zebra Empire, and wipe it out. This whole process should take maybe 2 days at the most."

"Just, do whatever you have to do, but get the job done!"

"Roger that Princesses, but in the meantime, sit back, grab your popcorn, (if you can stomach food while watching us anyway!) and witness the TRUE POWERS of Human Warfare!"

We all then got to our ready positions, and waited for the first light of dawn to appear, which was going to be in less than 10 minutes.

Don checked his watch. The time was 5:58am. Originally, we had planned on using Tarrath's preserved body to scare the Zebras in a video call, but then we feared that this could cause somebody to snap, and kill the hostages, so we decided against that. We would use it later, but not until the hostages were safe.

"Are you ready Leopard?"

I was sitting inside of one of the bulldozers. "As ready as I'll ever be Don. I'll just be so glad when Dash is safe in my arms again."

He nodded. "As will I when I see Twilight again." He then grabbed his radio. "Jim? Do you read me?"

"Yeah, I'm here Don, is it time?"

"Affirmative! Are all of the guns ready?"

"Affirmative Don! Targets?"

"Any and all remaining utility places, including power and water for the railguns, and any and all military shit for the 16in guns, and our other artillery! Then, once the power is failing, and the water is running low, turn the railguns onto the Imperial Palace, but ONLY ON THE WEAPONS EMPLACEMENTS! We still do not know where the hostages are!"

"Copy that Don. We'll take those guns out like a whip takes a fly off the horn of a bull!"

All of the weapons were then pointed to their targets. Then, just as the sun began to peek over the tops of the forest surrounding Zebrica, Don gave the word. "UNLEASH HELL UPON THESE HEATHENS!!!!" He screamed.

And with that one order, the gates of Hell were opened, and Zebrica was already a missing city.

Even though the city was on high-alert, they were still expecting a frontal assault. Never did they ever suspect that the first shots would be from heavy artillery located almost 2 miles away in the thick forest! Once again, we fired our guns, and death was the result.

Our first targets were the remaining power stations, waterworks, and sewage treatment plants. We already knew that the Zebras were hurting in those departments, so why not squeeze them even harder? The first hits from our railguns were aimed at Power Stations #2, and #3, 2 of 3 in Zebrica. Direct hits to both caused the main generators to explode, which left a number of sections of the city without power. The guns were then trained on Power Station #1, and the results were the same. The backup generators did kick in, but they were failing.

Meanwhile, the 16in guns, as well as our heavy artillery, were hurling everything that they had at the military installations around Zebrica. They targeted garrisons, smaller fortresses, 2 military academies, multiple military police precincts, weapons and ammunition factories, as well as any and all weapons emplacements that they could find.

"Yeah, keep these guns firing!" Jim yelled. "We have to cut down the odds so that our boys in the air, as well as those on the ground stand a fighting chance!"

And indeed, it was also around this time that the drones were launched as well. We had 6 of them operational for the battle, and Lt Hughes was waiting for the go ahead from Jim to take flight after most, if not all AA defenses had been neutralized.

In Canterlot, all of those watching stared in absolute shock at the destruction that we were dishing out upon Zebrica. They had read all of the reports from our previous battles, as well as heard eyewitness testimonies, but to actually see it for themselves?

"So, is this what 'WW6' against the Futas was like for them? Is this why they are so good at taking fortified cities?" Cadence wondered.

"I would have to assume so Cadence, but my word! Their artillery is NOTHING like ANYTHING in our arsenal! I was shown the schematics for their guns, and although they're this powerful, they're actually shockingly simplistic."

Luna looked at her sister. Then she picked up her radio. "Major Don? Can you hear me?"

"Affirmative Princess Luna. Are you enjoying the show?"

"It's certainly......interesting, to say the least. When are you going to send in the ground troops?"

"Eh, we won't be able to do that for a little while longer. We still have a lot of weapons to take out on the ground, in addition to still having to gain air superiority over the city. The entire city is bristling with weapons that we still have to take out before we can advance!"

"Ok, copy that Major, just keep up the good work!"

"Roger that, I'll let you know when we're about to send in the ground troops."

He then hung up for the time being. "Jim, do you read me?"

"I'm here Don. What is it?"

"How are we looking on knocked out AA weapons? Can I tell Lt. Hughes that he can get the gunship in the air yet?"

"We're trying Don. It's getting harder and harder to see with all of the smoke, and the weapons are everywhere. According to our thermal scans though, most of the weapons do seemed to be neutralized, so I think that we can send up the gunship. The red dots to indicate enemy targets are so thick that they seem to just be one solid mass!"

"Ok copy that." Don then switched frequencies. "Lt. Hughes, do you read me?"

"Affirmative Major, are we a go?"

"Yes. You are good to go! Most of the AA weapons seemed to be neutralized, but we still need you up there to start cutting down the odds. The enemy is still swarming all over the city!"

"Roger that, we'll be over the city in 2 minutes to deliver some serious firepower."

"Copy that, just go."

Don looked at his watch. The time was now 6:43am. "Why do I get the feeling that this is going to be a REALLY long day?"

In the throne room, all was quiet. Dan and Twilight were sleeping, and Applejack was on watch. Zakia was not currently present, and aside from them, the only other persons in the room were a few guards, and Candeth.

"Hey, um, excuse me?" She asked one of the guards.

"What do you want Bitch? Are ya hungry?" He smirked, pointing to the bulge in his loincloth.

Applejack narrowed her eyes. "No, I just wanna to know the time. What time is it?"

"It's time for you to suck my dick!"

"The time is exactly 5:59am." Candeth answered, glancing at the clock on his small, improvised work-table, where he was currently working to keep the palace supplied with power from his improvised switchboard.

Applejack sighed. "5:59. Well, at any rate, it's almost 6. Almost time fer the sun to rise." She sat back against the base of the throne.

Suddenly though, the palace was shaken a bit by a minor rumble.

"Whoa, what was that?!"

Suddenly, after the rumble, there came an explosion from outside the palace!

"Whoa! WHAT'S GOING ON?!?!" One of the guards asked.

Then, from over the intercom systems, alarms began to blare. "EMERGENCY, EMERGENCY!!!!! ALL HANDS MAN YOUR BATTLE STATIONS NOW!!!!! THIS IS NOT A DRILL, I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!!! ALL HANDS, PREPARE TO DEFEND ZEBRICA FROM THE BLACK LEVIATHAN!!!!"

Applejack was wide awake after that. "DAN, TWILIGHT, WAKE UP!!!!" She began to shake them awake.

"Huh? What is it Applejack? It's too early for this." Dan muttered.

"THEY'RE HERE!!! OUR COLTFRIENDS ARE HERE!!!!"

"WHAT?!?!?!" They both sat up in an instant. Sure enough, they heard the explosions, as well as the loud alarms, and felt the rumbles.

"Heh, so the Battleship Express has arrived to save us, has it? Now let's just hope to survive this battle!"

And indeed, they all knew that this was going to be hard. Applejack and Twilight were literally chained to Zakia's throne, and even though Dan wasn't chained, he was just barely strong enough to stand, never mind fight back. He had drug himself up into a sitting position, and Applejack held him steady.

Suddenly, Zakia burst into the throne room, followed by General Faul. He went over to his throne, literally kicked Dan and the Element Bearers aside, and began to shout orders. "GENERAL, I WANT ALL AVAILABLE FORCES TO DEFEND THIS CITY NOW!!! CALL UP EVERYONE!!!! RESERVISTS, MILITARY ACADEMY STUDENTS, POLICE FORCES, CIVILIANS, EVERYONE!!!"

"Yes Sir!"

"This is as far as those Humans get! They will not take Zebrica! Zebrica is MY city!!!"

"And what about England?" Dan muttered. "Is that your city too?"

Zakia turned to Dan, and gave him a death-glare. "Chain that one up too! I know that he's too weak, but I CANNOT take any further chances!"

Dan was then chained up to the throne as well. Now they were all trapped. They prayed that the ceiling didn't fall down, as they might not be able to dodge any falling debris.

"Where is the train General?"

"Well Sir, we've managed to pinpoint its location as being about 2 miles outside of town on an abandoned track in the woods. Unfortunately, it's out of range for our cannons, and we can't really send in forces to attack the train, as we cannot protect them!"

Zakia knew that this was real trouble. However, this was soon to be the least of his concerns. More reports began to come in.

"SIR, THE POWER STATIONS ARE GOING UP IN FLAMES!!!! WE'RE LOSING POWER!!!!"

"SIR, THE PIPES AT THE WATERWORKS HAVE BURST!!! WE CANNOT GET WATER TO THE FIRES THAT ARE SPREADING!!!"

"Candeth?!"

"Um, yes Sir?"

"Does my palace still have it's own separate power supply?"

"Um, yes Sir! The furnaces and generators are all underground, so it should stay that way! The power to the palace will stay on, barring of course any attempts to destroy the palace."

Zakia nodded. "Excellent! Also, if they destroy the palace, they risk killing our hostages!"

The trio of hostages knew what that meant. They just hoped that we would be able to get to them, before anything bad happened.

Meanwhile, outside of the palace, it was like a scene straight out of Dante's Inferno. Fires were raging, buildings were getting hit, power lines were falling down, and the entire city was trying to find something to shoot at. Unfortunately for them though, their problems were about to get a whole lot worse.

Right around this time, Lt. Hughes and his crew showed up with the gunship, and began to wreak havoc. They could see that machine guns weren't going to be enough this time, so they decided to supplement that with an even deadlier weapon; the unholy offspring of an GAU-8 Avenger auto-cannon, and an M242 Bushmaster chain gun! The "Avenging-Cannon" as it came to be known was originally developed for use on the train, however, it was decided that our gunship could use one, so two smaller versions were installed, capable of firing 4,500 rounds of depleted uranium a minute! These were deemed unnecessary to use until now, as the gunship's machine guns had sufficed from Ponyville, to Appaloosa, to Zandia. Now that the heat had been turned up though, it was time to show them just how deadly "Hell from Above" could really be!

"Ok boys, get ready, get the Avenging Cannons online now! We really need to take down some Zebras!"

"Yes Sir!" A few minutes later, the cannons were ready. "Sir, cannons online, and ready to go! What should we target?"

Hughes looked at his scanners. "You see those red dots down there?"

"Um, no Sir, all I see are HUGE clusters of dark red!"

"Exactly! There are too many of them for our systems to even target! Aim straight for the center of the clusters, and let's show these striped freaks some Frontier Justice!"

"Yes Sir!"

Then, they opened fire. Many have said over the years that the sounds coming from an Avenging Cannon were the most terrifying things to hear on a battlefield.

"It sounds like God Himself just farted!" As one soldier stated.

And indeed, it was a 'deadly fart', sending out depleted uranium bullets at 4,500 round per minute! The Zebras down in the city below never even stood a chance. One minute they were there, and the next, all that was left was bloody hamburger! The shots tore their bodies to pieces! The gunship circled all around the city, shooting at anything that moved, and had stripes. In addition to the Avenging Cannons, the gunship's gunners also fired the machine guns, and even rockets at the enemy.

However, just like before in Appaloosa, the enemy was able to fire some AA weapons in their direction.

"MORE AA WEAPONS!!! FLARES NOW!!!! USE THEM SPARINGLY!!!!"

"Yes Sir!" The technician then flipped the switch, held it for 5 seconds, and then flipped it off again. The AA rockets hit the flares, and then exploded. The smoke trails from the rockets gave the enemy's positions away though, so once the pilot brought the gunship back around, they sent them a friendly "F@#K OFF!!!" with the Avenging Cannons.

When the princesses saw the gunship in action, they well and truly had no words. Never before had they seen death delivered on such a massive scale in such a short period of time.

"Oh......my....." was all Fluttershy could say. Nobody else could say anything.

Suddenly though, from the radio, they heard a call between the gunship and the train.

"Jim, do you read me?"

"Loud and clear Lt. Hughes."

"Well Sir, we seem to have run out of ammunition. We fired so much that we've run out!"

"Copy that Lt. Hughes. Return to the train and reload. It's getting to be almost time to send in the ground troops. The whole military industry of the city is going the way of its infrastructure; up in smoke!"

"Copy that Jim, we'll deliver one final salvo of rockets to cover our retreat, and then return for reloading."

"Roger that."

"Did.....that pilot, seem SAD that he was out of ammunition?!" Rarity was horrified. "How can he be SAD to not be able to kill anymore?! That's.....that's ABSOLUTELY HORRIFYING!!!"

"That's how the Humans operate I'm afraid Rarity." Celestia told her gently. "They seem to exist only to fight; kill or be killed."

"Yes, but this is war. Maybe when it's all over, the Humans will change!"

Luna shook her head. "A nice thought Cadence, but I've seen into their minds. All they know how to do is fight wars like what we're seeing right now. However, there is still hope for them. They WANT to move on, but they just don't know how to do it."

Cadence put her hand over her chin in thought. "Well, maybe after the war is over, as the Princess of Love, I could help fix that!"

Luna shrugged. "Maybe so Cadence. However, they did say that they were about to send in the ground troops, so maybe now we'll get to see how their wars work from the ground."

They all looked back at the screen, absolutely dreading how that was going to go down.

Author's Note

I see now that I'm going to have to add a Part 3 to this battle, as it's going to be very long. Don't worry though, Part 3 will be the end of the Battle of Zebrica. The final fate of the Zebras will be decided in Chapter 15.

I'm writing both Part 3, and Chapter 15 as we speak, so Part 3 should be out by late tonight, and Chapter 15 by sometime tomorrow probably.

Hang onto your seats though, cuz when the ground battle begins, shit, gets about as real as it's ever going to get!

As always, Comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you in Part 3!

ScarFox out for now!

Chapter 14: The Final Blow (Part 3)

The battle continued to rage. A few attempts were made by the Griffons to attack the train from above, but they were quickly dispatched by the train's AA guns.

Also by this point, the gunship had returned to the train, and was being refueled, and rearmed.

Jim could see that the time was getting close for the ground assault to begin. "Hey Don, the gunship is back, and being refueled, and rearmed. Also the city's weapons, and really defense in general, are really starting to hit the rocks. It may be getting close to time to begin the ground assault."

"Roger that Jim. We're all ready to go when that happens, and I'm keeping a close eye on it, so I'll tell you when!"

"Copy that Don. I'll send the gunship out to make at least 2 more passes, before I blast open the walls and gates for you!"

"Yeah, you do that Jim. We'll be waiting right here when you do!"

Don then ended the call, and looked around him. All of us who would be going down were on a wooded hill maybe 80 yards from the city. Just like with Zandia, we would come in 3 waves. However, unlike Zandia, our 3 waves would all have the same goal, get to the Imperial Palace, and show Zakia what was what! Don, Shining, and I would all be leading a wave, and this time, we would also be taking our beloved "tractor-tanks" with us as well. The bulldozers had had their front blades sharpened, and were all armed with machine guns, light artillery, and had heavy armor. The tractors were also armed with front scoops that had metal spikes on them, as well as machine guns. The loaders had a combination of what the tractors and bulldozers had.

"And if we're REALLY lucky, maybe we could get at least some of the "tractor-tanks" into the Palace! Just think about what kind of a panic that that would cause!"

Don smirked. "Yeah, no kidding Leopard! CAT was the best construction company of all time, and they made their vehicles to LAST!"

"Just as John Deere made the best tractors, and ALCO made the best steam locomotives!"

"EXACTLY!"

I was with one of the bulldozers. I was sitting next to the driver so that I could leap out and fight if I had to, and Aurora was also with me as well. Don had a loader, and Shining had a tractor. Our waves had more of each kind of vehicle, and some were even armed with flamethrowers! All of us were waiting for the signal from Jim.

Moments later, the gunship went up into the skies again. We watched it fly overhead, and head back into Zebrica.

"Man, there's nothing like the sounds of an Avenging-Cannon firing! They're really cutting down the odds for us!"

Shining didn't say anything, as he was just trying to take in all of the awesomeness of our weapons.

On Hughes's end, the gunship continued to wreak havoc. It was then that he saw the Imperial Palace. "Hey Jim?"

"Yes Lt. Hughes?"

"We have the Imperial Palace in the sights of our guns. Can we make a few runs at it, over?"

"Um, you'll have to talk to Don about that. Just ask him."

"Ok." Hughes then switched frequencies. "Major Don, are you there?"

"I'm here Lt. Hughes, what is it?"

"Well Sir, we currently have the Imperial Palace right in our gun sights. Jim said to ask you for permission to make a few runs at it, over."

Don thought about that for a moment. Finally, he said, "Yes, but use the machine guns only! No rockets, or Avenging-Cannons! We can't risk hurting any of the hostages!"

"Roger that Don!" He then turned to the pilot. "Pilot, get us over the Imperial Palace! The Major said that we had his permission to make a few passes at it!"

"Roger that Lieutenant!"

The pilot then turned the gunship, and they prepared their machine guns for an attack. Just as they neared the palace though, they suddenly came under fire from the palace defenders! Rounds began to hit the gunship!

"BLAST!!! Well, they wanna play rough do they?! Well alrighty then, LET'S PLAY ROUGH!!!" He turned to the gunners on the starboard side. "If it has stripes, and is shooting at you, LET THEM HAVE IT!!!!"

The gunners opened fire. "APPALOOSA PAYBACK MOTHERF@#KERS!!!!" They screamed.

The fire was horrific. Even without the Avenging-Cannons, those machine guns still wreaked havoc. The pilot flew in circles so that they could hit the palace from all angles. Hundreds of rounds were fired, windows shattered, holes were torn into the walls, and many Zebras were slaughtered. Some ammo crates were even shot up so badly that the exploded, killing or severely wounding all of those who were nearby!

Eventually, Hughes and Co. were ordered off by Don. "Ok Hughes, thank you! You've really softened up the target for us! Now you guys can provide air support when we need it."

"Are you about to send in the ground troops Sir?"

"Just as soon as Jim gives us some holes to get in through!"

"Ok, roger that Sir, and good luck!"

"HOW CAN THEY CAUSE THAT KIND OF DEVASTATION, AND NOT EVEN FLINCH?!?!?!" Rarity was STILL beyond horrified.

"Because it's war Rarity," Fluttershy told her while facing away from the feeds. "They do what they have to do. Plus, for them, it's not war, it's just sport. They just kill for fun!" She seemed to be close to tears.

Celestia hugged her. "Shh, don't cry Fluttershy. And for the Humans, it IS war for them. They DO NOT kill for fun, but only because they HAVE TO! Their mission is still incredibly dangerous, and they have to kill so many enemy troops if they want to succeed, as the enemy outnumbers them hundreds of times to 1."

Luna looked up at the screen. "Oh, it looks like they're about to send in the ground forces! This should prove to be really interesting!"

They all then turned their attention to the screens that showed Don and I's POVs, and waited for something to happen.

"You're all clear Major! We've shot up the palace pretty good, so now you're clear to move in your troops!"

"Ok, roger that Lt. Hughes!" He then switched frequencies. "You there Jim?"

"I'm here Don, what is it?"

"The time has come, bust us some openings!"

Jim smirked a bit. "Roger that, sending you some railgun rounds!"

We all then watched the city walls. Sure enough, from over the tops of the trees came a series of 12 railgun shells. They impacted the city walls in several places, and managed to tear holes in them big enough to cause large sections of the walls to come crashing down.

"Woo! You're all clear Don, now get in there!"

"Roger that Jim!" He then turned to the rest of us. "Ok people, let's get these engines started up, and move out!"

The drivers started up all of the engines. With loud roars, the mighty diesel engines of those old construction machines roared to life.

"GO, GO, GO, GO!!!!!"

With more loud roars, and some smoke from the exhaust pipes, the large machines began to move forwards once again. Out in front was my bulldozer, followed by Shining's tractor, which also pulled a trailer with troops in it, and Don's loader came in from the rear. In between all of us were the rest of the bulldozers, loaders, and tractors, with the tractors all pulling trailers with troops in them.

The drivers pushed the vehicles to their limits, and in record time managed to reach the city walls. This time though, we had to contend with small arms fire. Many shots were fired at us, and they did hit the vehicles, but due to their incredibly durable construction, plus armor upgrades, the bullets either bounced off, or were safely absorbed. Our guns on the vehicles fired right back at the Zebras with some effectiveness, knocking many of them down off the walls. Moments later, my wave reached the walls first, and began to attempt to get into the city. Luckily, all of our vehicles had crawler tracks, except for some the tractors, which had wheels.

Slowly, and with as much precision as possible, our bulldozers crawled up the pile of wall debris, and rolled down the other side, clearing a path for the tractors. These were followed moments later by the loaders, who also helped with clearing a path. Once we were all ready, the tractors then came in, and the troops within, both Human and Pony, unloaded from the trailers.

"Ok guys, this is what we've been practicing up for! We get to the palace, destroy anything in our path, and save those hostages! That is our NUMBER 1 PRIORITY!"

"Roger that Sir!"

We then began to fan out, just as the enemy began racing towards us.

"Well", I muttered, "The time is now, 8:03am, and I can STILL see that this is going to be a VERY long day!"

From up above us, the gunship was watching our every move.

"Do you have eyes on them Lt. Hughes?"

"Affirmative Jim! They're right below me! They've successfully made it inside of the city, and are beginning to fan out! However, enemy troops are attacking them, but they seem to be able to repel the threat. I'll be ready to help them if they can't!"

"Roger that Hughes, just keep an eye on them!"

"Yes Sir!"

Back in Canterlot, everypony eagerly watched as the ground operations began. Everypony was also surprised that we were using our construction machines as weapons.

"Wow, those are the same machines that they used to help rebuild Ponyville and Las Pegasus! Now they're using them to attack the enemy!"

Celestia nodded. "Indeed, Dear Sister. However, those machines seem to be used mostly for clearing a fast path to the Imperial Palace. However, they are armed, so I'm pretty sure that they could also defend themselves if they absolutely had to."

"Well, they certainly do seem to be holding their own, but can they get to the hostages in time?"

All of them continued to watch the screens in silence, hoping, praying that we could reach the hostages in time.

Meanwhile, with the battle beginning to rage around them, Twilight, Applejack, and Dan became more and more concerned. A few times, shells, rockets, and bullets seemed to hit the palace, and whenever they did, the lights flickered, the building shook, and dust and debris began to fall down. Zakia sat on his throne next to them, and although he tried to ignore them for the time being, he did periodically tell them to shut up.

"WILL YOU SHUT UP ALREADY?!?!?! I'M TRYING TO SAVE MY CITY HERE!!!"

"Either unchain us, or give us some protection from the falling debris! We're literally sitting ducks right here!"

"Exactly! The palace falls, you die!" Nevertheless though, they were at least given helmets to wear, which did protect them from bits of falling ceiling.

They continued to watch and wait. They knew that we were closing in on their location fast, but they also knew that if we did manage to breach the palace, most likely that they would be killed before we could reach them.

Dan began to use a fallen nail to try and pick the locks on his chain. "Come on", He growled, "Come on!" The nail was in the lock, but he couldn't seem to find the right sweet spot. After another nail fell, he then tried to use both of them to try and tear out the lock's innards. Luckily, due to the panic of the battle raging just outside, Dan's actions went unnoticed. Eventually, just as he was about to give up hope, there came a sudden *click!*. He looked at his chain. Sure enough, he'd managed to unlock the lock on it!

"Well", he thought to himself, "That's something at least! Now if anything REALLY hits the fan, then I'd be able to do something about it!"

He continued to sit next to Twilight and Applejack, continuing to pray that we would hurry up.

On the Zebra end of things, Faul was doing everything he could, but he had very little experience with leading troops. After the massive gunship attacks on the city that cost thousands their lives, he was really starting to crack under the stress. He was a noncom with very little experience; he was not made to be a general. Suddenly though, things went from bad to worse.

"SIR, THE ENEMY HAS BREACHED THE WALLS!!!!"

"WHAT?!?!?!" Faul made it up to the top of one of the towers on the wall. Sure enough, the walls were indeed breached. "Oh F@#K, WE NEED TO GET THOSE SHORED UP RIGHT NOW!!!!"

Before they could though, a lookout spotted something else. "SIR, LOOK, THE ENEMY IS COMING!!!! THEY'RE COMING OUT OF THE WOODS ON THESE GIANT YELLOW AND GREEN CHARIOTS THAT ARE MOVING ON THEIR OWN!!!!"

"WHAT?!?!?!?!" Faul then looked with his binoculars. Sure enough, a row of yellow and green chariots was indeed racing for the city. Most of them had large tracks instead of wheels, and they had either a large blade in the front, or a scooping shovel. All of them said "CAT", or "John Deere" on them.

He then radioed Zakia. "Sir, the enemy is breaching the walls! They've got these large metal, yellow and green machines that say 'CAT', and John Deere' on them! These machines look to be military in origin, and they're pushing rubble out of the way with EASE!!!"

Zakia turned to the hostages. "Hey! The Humans are using big, yellow and green machines that say 'CAT' and 'John Deere' on them. What are those?"

Dan looked at him. "They're construction machines. Bulldozers, loaders, and tractors. All of them built by either Caterpillar, aka 'CAT', or 'John Deere'."

"And how do you destroy them?"

Dan didn't say anything. Zakia then pointed a gun at Twilight and Applejack. "Tell me, or they get it!"

Dan shrugged. "I dunno. Plus, they've been given military upgrades. I wasn't assigned to their operation, so I don't know how they work. Most likely though, you're not going to be able to destroy them with your weapons. Beyond this though, I really can't help you, as I don't know how they work myself."

Zakia did put the gun down, (at least for the time being) and groaned. "This is why we needed to capture more Human prisoners, so that somebody WOULD F@#KING KNOW HOW ALL OF THIS SHIT WORKS!!!!!! One little private isn't enough!!!!!"

"Um, well Sir, there were 2 other soldiers, but you gave one to Danin, and you killed the other."

Zakia then shot that guard dead. "AND NOW I REALLY WISH THAT I DIDN'T DO THAT!!!!" He then grabbed his radio again. "From what I was just told, they're large construction machines. The yellow ones were built by a company called 'CAT', and the green ones came from somebody named 'John Deere'. They were given military upgrades, and the hostage wouldn't say how to take them down, as he honestly does not know."

"Well, we'll see what we can do, but these are some pretty tough machines! They've already resisted small-arms fire, and artillery shells can only put large dents in them. We'll keep trying though."

"Just......I don't think I need to say what happens if you fail me General! JUST GET THE F@#KING JOB DONE!!!!" Zakia then terminated the call.

Meanwhile down below, our construction vehicles were really proving their worth. The bulldozers kept plowing through debris, as well as enemy barricades, the loaders were also busy removing debris, as well as knocking down power lines, and collapsing balconies, and even buildings that had enemy troops inside of them!

All around us the enemies continued to fire at us. The hail of bullets hitting our machines was deafening. I could also begin to see the dents forming on the front and sides, and even the bullet-proof glass on the bulldozer's cab.

Finally, I had to call for help. "Hughes, Hughes, do you read me?"

"Yeah, loud and clear Sir!"

"Hughes, we need help over here badly! Our machines can't take this much of a beating for too much longer! We need air support!"

"Copy that, what's your location?"

"Um, Southwestern Quadrant, near a 'Firebomb Street'. A very ironic name!"

Hughes laughed. "Yeah, and here we come, hold on!"

"All vehicles stop! The gunship is coming!" I yelled through my radio.

All of the vehicles came to a stop. Sure enough, moments later, the gunship came into view. Its Avenging-Cannons quickly made short work of those who were trying to shoot us up, and they even launched a few rockets at targets up ahead of us. Once again, the enemy didn't stand a chance.

"Thanks Hughes! We owe ya one!"

"No problem Captain Leopard! Keeping you guys safe is what I do!" He then flew ahead to clear us a bit of a path.

We all kept moving. The tractors had all unloaded their ground troops, and were now covering them, as were the bulldozers and loaders. Sporadic enemy fire still came from all around. I took a turn driving the bulldozer, while the original driver, 2nd Fireman Alex Barkley, (Yes, as in, "Alex, coltfriend to Applejack") took a turn with the bulldozer's guns.

I tried to keep the bulldozer on course, but it was difficult to see through the thick bulletproof windshield, as well as the roll-cage protecting it, not to mention all of the cracks and dents in the glass. Aurora was also sitting on my lap as well, so there was her to see past too! The bulldozer's blade was also down, so I hit a total of 35 street lights, 23 mailboxes, smashed into at least 11 buildings, (5 of which later collapsed!) pushed past 45 bushes and 33 hedges, knocked over 31 trees and 25 utility poles, drove over 13 carts, and wrecked a large number of military vehicles as well. I also ran over at least 73 Zebras, and killed an unknown number of them.

"Gosh" I muttered, taking a brief moment to look back at all of the mass destruction that I was causing, "I'VE done all of that! Just think about what the other machines could be doing!"

"I'm trying not to think about that. My mind is fully focused on getting Applejack back!"

I nodded. "Fair enough. I'm also trying to think about Rainbow Dash, but at the same time, I am driving a bulldozer, so.....HEY, EITHER MOVE THAT BARRICADE, OR I'M JUST GONNA SMASH THROUGH IT!!!" I suddenly screamed at some Zebras up ahead. They only shot at me instead. "Ok, I warned you! PREPARE TO HURT!!!!" I then pulled a lever that lowered a series of digging claws on the back of the bulldozer, and with a powerful roar, and a puff of black exhaust, I plowed through the barricade. Some Zebras who got knocked over ended up either getting crushed under the crawler tracks, or even ripped up by the lowered plows in the back.

"YEAH, That's the way to do it Master!"

"Eh, thanks Aurora."

I then kept moving the bulldozer forwards, just as Don toppled another building close by.

"Gosh, how many buildings IS that?!"

"Um, that's number 11, I think. Don's really on a roll!"

Alex laughed a bit. "Yeah, I guess that he is, isn't he?"

A short while later, just as my watch indicated that it was 9:11am, we finally reached our destination; Zakia's palace.

"Whoa, that place is HUGE!!!!" Aurora was very surprised.

And indeed it was. Similar to the fortress in Zandia, the main part of the palace seemed to resemble a ziggurat back on Earth. It was also painted white, and had red tile roofs, with a number of porticoes, beautiful gardens, and even a large fountain out front. The entire palace was surrounded by a huge black metal fence, with large metal gates.

"Wow, this place is really beautiful! Or at least, it WAS beautiful. Now it's scarred by battle."

I thought about that. "Hmm, I wonder if I could convince Don NOT to nuke this place, but instead to re-purpose it. Imagine if WE ruled Zebrica. Then we, and the Equestrians, could have this place as a military base, or even a resort town!"

Alex agreed. "Yeah, I kinda like that idea! Maybe instead of 'Zebrica', we could call it, 'Cheyenne', or something like that."

"Yeah, I'll have to talk to Don about this. It really could work, at least in the long run. We clear out the city, then begin to rebuild it. We then nuke the rest of the Zebra Empire, and leave this city in place. We defeat the Zebras, get our marefriends back, and we STILL have their capital city as a trophy! Everybody wins!"

Alex once again agreed, and we decided to press forwards to the gates.

Back in Canterlot, all eyes were glued to the screens. "So, they might not destroy Zebrica after all huh? Re-purpose it, and have it for their use and ours? That's actually a pretty interesting idea!" Celestia was intrigued by my conversation with Alex.

"Yeah, now if they can just get through the gates, and into the palace before anything bad happens. THAT'S THE KEY!!!"

Celestia turned to Luna. "Yes, that is why they do need to hurry, Dear Sister. They're almost there though, so maybe they'll make it!"

"SIR, THE ENEMY IS AT THE GATES!!!!"

Zakia grabbed his radio. "Faul, Faul! Can you hear me?"

"I'm here Overlord Zakia, what is it?"

"THE ENEMY IS AT THE PALACE GATES!!!! I NEED YOU HERE NOW!!!!"

"Copy that! I'm rounding up whatever forces I can muster, and I'll be right there! Just hold on!"

Zakia then grabbed his communicator again. He then tried to call Danin one last time. To his surprise, somebody did answer.

Zakia saw the figure of Danin, and he seemed to be laughing at him. "So here we are now Zakia. The mighty 'Overlord of the Zebra Empire’, about to fall to the Humans! How pathetic you look!" Others near Danin seemed to be laughing as well.

"Please King Danin, we had a deal! I need your soldiers here NOW!!!!"

"Just as General Rodin's soldiers needed YOUR soldiers for Baltimare!"

Now Zakia was angry. "We had a DEAL! I gave you those slaves, now YOU are supposed to help me!"

Danin turned to him. "It's over Zakia. Your kingdom falls. The Caribou Empire, as well as those allied with her in the new Caribou Alliance, will reign supreme! You had your chance, and you blew it with that petty battle in Appaloosa! I will enjoy watching you DIE!!!!" Danin then ended the call.

Zakia tried to contact him again, but this time the calls had once again been blocked. He then decided to try something else. With Candeth's help, he was about to reach out to the Battleship Express to see what the terms for surrender would be, but then he stopped.

"No, I know what they will do to me if I surrender! I will fight them to the death!" He then turned to his guards. "BOLT THE DOORS TO THE THRONE ROOM!!!! WE WILL MAKE OUR LAST STAND HERE!!!!"

Zakia's guards in the room, maybe 20 in total, did as their Overlord asked. They then began to construct barricades to hide behind. Suddenly though the power began to go out.

"Hey, what's wrong Candeth?"

"I don't know Sir! My switchboard seems to be failing!"

"What?!?! FAILING?!?!?!"

"Yes Sir. Remember, this one is makeshift to help run the palace. This is all that I can do from the throne room now that you've sealed up the doors."

Zakia slumped back onto his throne. He was angry, upset, panicked, and really starting to lose his mind, all at the same time.

At his feet, Applejack, Twilight, and Dan began to prepare for the end. They knew that their time was growing short, so they began to hug each other.

"So this is how we die", Twilight whispered. "He goes nuts, and kills us before our coltfriends can reach us!"

Dan narrowed his eyes. "Not while I'm still here!" He then motioned to something in his lap. To the shock of the other two, they saw that it was a Zebra pistol!

"What?! How did you get that?!" Twilight asked him hoarsely.

"I got it from the guard who chained me to the throne. He apparently still doesn't notice that it's missing. Now if anything happens, at least I'll be able to say that I died killing Zakia!"

The other two nodded, and they all continued to wait, as well as hold each other's hands.

Meanwhile, outside the palace, we had run into a bit of a snag. I'd rammed the gates with my bulldozer again and again, but I could only severely bend them. I couldn't seem to smash through them!

"What's the holdup up there Leopard?!"

"I can't get through the gates Don! I've managed the smash them in, but I can't get them open!"

Don groaned. "Ugh! Hold on, I'm coming!" I then saw his loader pull up alongside us. "Here, let me do it!"

He then used the loader's shovel to hit the gates from above. Just like me though, he could only bend them, not break them.

"Damn! What the hell are these things made out of?!"

I shrugged. "Most likely metal, but it's most likely enchanted by Zebra Magic!"

"Well, we don't have time for this hocus-pocus bullshit! We'll blow these f@#kers if we have to, but WE ARE GETTING IN THERE!!!"

Our teams then covered a group of explosives experts who were able to get up to the gates, and plant explosive C4 onto them.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!!" One of them yelled.

Moments later, he pulled the trigger on the detonator, and the gates were blown clean off of their hinges!

"BOOM, WE'RE IN!!!!"

I then led the way once again, now onto the palace grounds. We all rolled our huge vehicles onto the grounds, and into the circle drive that led up to the stairs leading to the palace's front doors.

"Wow", Don muttered. “Now that's a shit-load of stairs!" He then began to exit the loader. "There's no way that we're getting up.....wait a minute. Where's he going?!?!?!"

To Don's shock and horror, I used my bulldozer to plow over part of the basin of the front yard fountain, and then I was actually trying to climb the palace's front stairs with the bulldozer!

"LEOPARD!!!! WHAT IN SWEET CELESTIA'S NAME ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!"

"Getting up these stairs in style! Plus, once we reach the top, SOMEBODY'S going to have to get the front doors open, as I don't think that knocking will work!"

Don and the others, plus Celestia and Co., continued to watch my climb up the stairs. I was taking it nice and slow, and since the stairs weren't too steep, it looked like I was actually going to make it to the top! A few of the other machines decided to do what I was doing, and began to follow me up the stairs. Don even got back into his loader, and used it to climb the stairs as well. In total, 3 bulldozers, and 2 loaders climbed the stairs. One bulldozer did have to abort due to engine trouble, but the rest of the vehicles stayed on the ground to help mop up any resistance. Some soldiers stayed on the exterior of the palace, while other soldiers followed the machines up the stairs.

Once we had made it to the top, there was still the challenge of getting through the front doors. The Zebras had seemingly barricaded them, and were shooting through holes.

I grabbed my radio. "Hey Don, we're taking some fire up here. Should I try to push through the front doors?"

"YES!!! Time is of the ABSOLUTE ESSENCE RIGHT NOW!!! We CANNOT afford to waste even a SINGLE SECOND!!!!"

"Roger that, I'm pushing through!"

I then backed up the bulldozer as far as I could, before moving it forwards again, and slamming the front blade into the doors. The doors buckled a bit, but they didn't give fully. I backed up and tried again. Same thing, however this time, the wood was really starting to look distressed.

Meanwhile, inside, the Zebra defenders were waiting.

"Eh, don't worry people!" A sergeant tried to reassure his squad. "There ain't no way that they can get through those doors!"

The doors suddenly came crashing down, and my bulldozer plowed through what remained of them.

"AAAAHHH!!!!" The Zebras shouted before getting either run over, shot, or pinned to the wall and crushed.

"Ok Don, we're in!"

"Good, good! Just hold on, we're right behind you!"

"Yeah, and I'm going to need some help up here. Where's the rest of my wave?"

"We're right behind you Sir!"

I looked behind the bulldozer's cab. "Oh! Well, then. Let's go!" Then, to everyone's shock, I put the bulldozer into forward gear again, and actually began to drive it down the hall to the right!

"Ok, now I'm FULLY convinced that Leopard has lost his mind!"

The rest of the group stared in shock at my little stunt as well, but they nevertheless began to follow my bulldozer as I drove it around INSIDE of the palace!

"SIR, ONE OF THE CONSTRUCTION MACHINES HAS GOTTEN INSIDE THE PALACE!!!!!"

Now Zakia was getting really worried. "What?! It's inside of the palace grounds?!"

"NO, I MEAN THAT IT'S INSIDE OF THE PALACE, GOING DOWN A HALLWAY ON LEVEL 1!!!!!"

"WHAT?!?!?!"

Applejack turned to Dan. "Wait, they've gotten one of those construction machines in here?!"

Dan shrugged. "Apparently! Most likely that was Leopard's doing though, the Major's more of a conventional officer."

"Yeah, but they're down on Level 1. How many levels is it until they're up here?"

Dan shrugged. "Honestly, I have no idea Twilight. If I had to guess though, even though this room's windows are way high up, I can still see more palace above us, so we're up on Level 5 maybe?"

"No, you're on Level 3!" Came a voice from behind them. They all 3 turned to look, and sure enough, over them stood Zakia. He was holding the gun again, and he looked like he could snap at any moment. Dan was still holding the gun in his lap, still hidden, praying that he wasn't going to have to use it.

Zakia then pointed to the locked and bolted doors with his gun. "If that door is EVER opened, I have 4 rounds in here; 3 for each of your heads, and 1 for mine!"

Applejack and Twilight both hugged Dan. Dan didn't move. "I get the feeling that those doors WON'T be opened any time soon."

"Oh, and why's that?"

Dan sighed. "Because, if I know my superiors, they'll most likely either blow the doors with explosives, or take out the walls next to it. Those doors are going to be remaining closed. Oh, and one other thing."

"What's that?"

Dan looked up at him. "If what I was told about the very first Battle of WW6 that the Battleship Express was involved in post-Second Cold War, (which was the Battle of St. Louis) is correct, you won't be killed anytime soon."

"Oh, and why is that?"

"Because, towards the back of the train is a storage car. It's said that in that car they housed General Jasmine House, once the second most powerful Futa General in the entire Futa Empire, second only to General Stacy herself. She was captured in the battle."

"So? What's that got to do with me?"

Dan looked rather sick. "Because, while she was a prisoner in that car, she became a favorite among some of the crew.....as a sex-toy! They would all have sex with her for hours on end, or so I was told. I never heard what happened to her though. I think that eventually (possibly around the time of the Battle of Dallas maybe?), she was sent to some prison camp, where she later died. Once again, I don't know if any of this is true, it was just what I was told."

"Um, does this story have a point? I'm still pretty confused as to what this has to do with me."

"Yes, I fear that this same fate may await you. A lot of the guys on the train are probably pretty sexually frustrated right now. Your little shenanigan in Appaloosa probably made them move Heaven and Earth to get here. They've most likely not gotten any sexual stimulation since they've arrived here. Heck, they'd probably mount any living thing if they were horny enough, even if it wasn't female! And you're the source of all of that frustration, so what makes you think that you won't be renamed 'Jasmine' while spending some time in that car?"

Zakia felt like he was going to throw up. When he looked at Dan, he didn't see any signs of him laughing at all, which meant that everything he said was the truth, at least as far as he was aware.

"Is.......is that story really true Dan?" Twilight asked him.

Dan shrugged. "Well, like I keep saying Twilight, I don't know. I wasn't with Battalion 4009 for very long before Vegas. You'd have to ask somebody who was there at the Battle of St. Louis, which would be a lot of the guys on the train actually."

Nobody in the room really talked too much after that; all of them were either disgusted like Zakia, scared like Twilight and Applejack, ready to fight like Zakia's guards, too busy working like Candeth, or like Dan, just waiting for something to happen.

Meanwhile, down below, the 2 waves that had made it inside of the palace were on the loose, wreaking havoc wherever they went. In addition to my bulldozer, 2 of the loaders made it inside as well, and continued to cause mayhem. They knocked through walls, pulled down ceilings, ran over Zebras, crushed Zebras to death with their front loaders or blades, and knocked a lot of things down.

"Remember!" Don warned, "We CANNOT bring the whole palace crashing down! Stop breaking through walls! You could cause something to collapse!"

"Roger that Don!"

Now that we were inside of the palace, we had to figure out where the throne room was. Fortunately, someone noticed a map on the wall.

"Um, Major! According to this map, the throne room is up on Level 3! I'd say that that would be our best bet for locating that bastard Zakia!"

"Excellent, and the dungeons?"

"Um, Basement Level! Also down there are the furnace and boiler rooms."

"Ok, this means that we'll have to fan out! Some of us will head down to the dungeons, and some more of us will head up to Level 3, where the throne room is. The rest of you, fan out and see what you can find!"

"Yes Sir!"

Meanwhile, I decided to pay the throne room a visit. After cruising around on Level 1 for a bit, my wave and I decided to head up to Level 2. After knocking aside a few railings, I was able to once again get the bulldozer up the stairs.

As we were going up, Aurora checked the gas gauge. "Um, Master, this shows that we have maybe a half a tank of gas left!"

I nodded. "That's good Aurora. We still have plenty of gas." I also checked my watch. "9:35am. We're still ok on time, now let's clear Level 2!"

Once I'd gotten the bulldozer to the top of the stairs, I plowed through the door leading to the stairwell, and then turned right. "Huh, I guess that they don't have one continuous stairwell, but instead just one stairwell per level. No matter, we're up on Level 2, so let's get to clearing!"

"Yes Sir!"

While we were doing that, Don and his group were down in the dungeons. It was down there that they discovered the missing female medical staff from the train.

"Oh, thank Celestia that you guys are here! We were DYING in there!"

With their tools, Don's group were able to get the doors open, and free the medical staff.

"Well, you're safe now! You will have to stay with us until the battle is over, which shouldn't be too much longer now."

They then checked the rest of the dungeons, but to their dismay, the other hostages weren't there.

"BLAST!!! They must be up in the throne room!"

After damaging the boilers and furnaces to cause a power failure, they all exited the dungeons, and once they were back on the main level, the medical staff were escorted out of the palace, and down to one of the trailers of a tractor, which then took them out of the city, and to the safety of the Battleship Express.

"There," Don muttered, "That's most of the hostages safe. Now we just have to find the two privates, as well as Twilight, and the other Element Bearers!"

Don then knew, that the most likely place for them, was in the throne room. "And that's most likely where Leopard and his guys are right now."

He and his wave then began to make their way up there to back us up.

Back up on Level 2, we were coming under rather heavy fire. Alex and I continued to use the machine guns on the bulldozer's front and sides until they ran out of ammunition.

"Well, that's that I suppose. I guess that we do this the fun way now!"

With that, the two of us and Aurora then left the bulldozer's cab, and began to use our own weapons against the remaining Zebras. There was so much slaughter done by the bulldozer's machine guns that our odds of winning were greatly improved. Eventually, Don and his wave reached us, and they brought more ammunition for the machine guns on the bulldozer. We were able to make quick work out of all of the remaining Zebras on Level 2, and we then made the final trek up to Level 3. I was once again driving the bulldozer, and Don had managed to get his loader up there as well. After another series of major firefights, we all found ourselves outside of the doors to the throne room. I got my bulldozer close to the doors, but then I stopped, got out, and instead walked up to the doors. To no one's surprise, they were locked.

"Oh great, now what do we do?"

I then banged on the doors. "HEY! OPEN UP IN THERE!!!!"

"No!" Came a voice from somewhere inside of the room, "And if you come in here, the hostages die!"

Don looked to the others. "Hey, anybody got a drill? We need to verify this story!"

Somebody then got the drill that Don requested from his toolbox, attached the largest drill-bit that he had to it, and then handed it to me. Slowly and carefully, I put the drill up against the door, and began to work it. Maybe a minute or so later, I felt the drill bit break through, and after retracting the drill, we had maybe a 2in. wide hole. Then, not wanting to get stabbed, I then took out a small mirror, and used it to peer through the hole.

"See anything?"

"Yeah. I can see a number of guards hiding behind barricades. Unfortunately, I can't really see what's behind them."

Don then stepped up to the door. "Zakia, all we want are the hostages! Give them to us, and we MIGHT consider sparing your lives!"

"NO!!!" Came the reply. "And don't think that I didn't see you drilling your little peep hole! You come in here, and they die!"

Don shrugged. "Fine then, have it your way. We can wait; we've got all of the time in the world. You on the other hand, are running out of time fast. Your empire is finished, your capital city is in ruins, and now we have you right where we want you. Like I said, we can wait for you to come out, as we have all of the time in the world." Then, true to his word, Don actually went back to his loader, and sat down inside of the cab.

He then grabbed his radio. "Hey, General Shining, are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here Major, what is it?"

"Well, the good news is, we've managed to locate the hostages. They're being held in the throne room."

"Oh, and the bad news?"

Don frowned. "The bad news is that Zakia has threatened them with death if we get inside. We're currently building up for a siege, but we need to end it now. I have a plan, but are you free to help us with it?"

"Sure. We just killed some Zebra commander named Faul and his crew after they tried to retake the palace grounds. What's the plan?"

"Well, in a few more minutes, the power in the palace is going to go out due to damage caused to the boilers and furnaces in the basement. When that happens, I'm going to need you to lob some smoke grenades into the upper windows of the palaces East Side. I'm sending you the coordinates now. Once the room is filled with smoke, we're going to storm in, and rescue the hostages. Whatever happens after that, just happens. Hopefully they're behind cover, and we can get to them before they get hurt!"

Shining nodded gravely. "Yeah, you're plan does sound VERY risky, but yes, we can help you with it. I've received the coordinates that you've sent me, and we're looking up at the windows right now. We have the smoke grenades ready, so just give us the signal, and we'll launch them!"

"Copy that, I'll give you the signal as soon as the power goes out."

"Roger that."

Sure enough, a few minutes later, the lights flickered, and then went out.

"Hey, what happened to the lights?!"

Candeth shrugged. "I-I don't know Sir! My switchboard is still on, but I don't know what's wrong!"

"Shining NOW!!! Launch the smoke!!!"

"Roger!" He and a few other Unicorns then lobbed their smoke grenades through the windows. When they hit the floor, they all exploded, filling the room with extremely thick smoke.

Dan knew instantly what to do. "Come on!" He whispered urgently, grabbing Twilight and Applejack. "We have to get to cover now! They're about to bust in here!!!"

They didn't have to be told twice. As quick as cats, they all ducked behind the throne on the back side, peering out just enough to watch what was about to happen.

"Leopard, NOW!!!! RAM THE DOORS!!!! GET THEM OPEN!!!!"

"YEAH!!!!" I then quickly put my bulldozer into reverse, and after revving the engine a bit, I shot it forwards, and slammed into the doors.

They held the first time, and Don was out of patience. He ordered explosives to be planted on the doors, which were then detonated, and after running the bulldozer into them a second time, the doors collapsed inwards.

What happened next was an incredible firefight. The bulldozer rolled in, and after shooting at the barricades a bit, managed to crush them, and then I stopped it, and joined the fray with Aurora. Candeth was accidentally shot and killed while trying to escape, but with all of us firing, the rest of the guards were quickly eliminated. Then, with those who were able to use Magic doing so, the smoke in the room was cleared.

"Hey, are there any hostages in here?!" Don yelled. "We’re looking for hostages!"

"Back here Sir!"

From behind the throne at the far end of the room, I saw a lone Human figure stand up. He was in pretty bad shape, but I could still tell who he was.

"D-D-DAN?!?! And who else is back there with you?"

Then Applejack and Twilight stood up as well. At that exact moment, all Hell broke loose. Don and Alex charged forwards, as did I and Aurora. Little did I suspect just how disappointed I was going to be though.

"TWILIGHT!!!" Don screamed.

"APPLEJACK!!!" Alex screamed as well.

"DON!!!"

"ALEX!!!"

Once Alex and Don reached their marefriends, with help from Dan, they unchained them.

"Oh Celestia, I'm so glad that you guys are safe!"

"So am I Don", Twilight said as she hugged him, "So am I!"

Alex was also hugging Applejack, and all 4 of them were crying.

It was then that I noticed that someone in the room was missing. "Hey, where's Zakia?"

"I’M RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!!!" A voice behind me screamed.

I then immediately hit the floor, and rolled to the side before jumping back up again. When I did, I saw Zakia with a sword. He looked ready to fight, but I was having none of it. With 2 shots from by gun, I double kneecapped him, just like Candeth. As he lay on the ground writhing in pain, I stepped on his chest.

"Hello motherf@#ker! Bet you never thought that you'd see ME again, did ya?! Now then, give me one good reason why I shouldn't blow your gosh-damn head off right now!"

Zakia didn't say anything, as he was still crying out in pain from being kneecapped. It was then that I got a sick, twisted idea. "Hey, somebody bring me some binding restraints! Let's take this motherf@#ker back to the train, and give him the 'Jasmine Treatment'!"

Zakia knew what that meant. "NNNOOOOO!!!!! NOT THAT!!!! ANYTHING BUT THAT!!!!"

However, we were simply too strong for him. In a flash, he was all tied up, and ready to be dragged away to the back of the train so that those of us who wanted to could have 'fun' with him before he went to face trial. It was also around this time that I noticed something else.

"Hey, wait a minute. These aren't all of the hostages! Where's Pinkie and Cole? And most importantly, where's Dash?!"

Twilight, Applejack and Dan all looked at each other, and then at the ground. Finally, Twilight said, "T-th-they're not here anymore Leopard. They're gone."

I dropped my gun. "W-what?! T-they're.....dead?" I was almost at the point of breaking down crying.

Dan then took up the story. "No, they're......not dead, Captain Leopard, at least......not that we know of."

"Well then.....where are they?"

"A few days ago, most likely while you were on your way here, Zakia tried one last time to reconcile with King Danin. Danin said that he would only help him if he got to pick 3 of his slaves, 1 Human, and 2 mares. Long story short, I think that you can guess who got to stay here, and who was taken away."

That did it, I was on my knees. "NNNNOOOOO!!!!!!!!!" I screamed, before completely breaking down crying.

Author's Note

Well, and that concludes the Battle of Zebrica. So now Zakia is captured, Zebrica has fallen, and now the rest of the Zebra Empire, has mere hours left to live now. Also, now half of the hostages, are safe. Unfortunately, Pinkie, Cole, and Dash, are still in harms way. They are still being held captive by Danin and the Caribous. So, what's going to happen now? What will Zakia's ultimate fate be? Will he be executed, or will he be given the same fate that General Jasmine was when she was captured? And what will the Caribou do? Will they now chose to surrender, or will they continue to fight the war? Also, how will we explain to the remaining family that their daughters are still in harms way? And what could possibly happen next? Well, as always, keep reading, and I'll tell you!

As always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 15!

ScarFox out for now!

Chapter 15: Battle Aftermath, New Plans

(WARNING: Towards the end of this chapter, Caribou abuse Cole, Dash, Pinkie, and Missy. Sex/rape does happen. You HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!)

I was still in a completely broken state. "NO, THIS CAN'T BE!!!!! I hauled ass for 1,536 miles, all while helping to destroy an entire empire, JUST TO BE TOLD THAT MY MAREFRIEND IS ANOTHER 1,500 MILES FROM HERE?!?!?!?! WHY?!?!?!?!"

Aurora went over to comfort me, but there was very little comfort to be had.

Don then grabbed his communicator. "Are you there Princesses? Did.......did you see all of this?"

Celestia seemed to be close to tears as well. "Y-yes Major, we did. And we're just as upset as Captain Leopard is right now!"

"Yeah, I know how he feels. Now half of the hostages are safe, but the other half are still in harm's way, 1,500 miles away from here!" Don then thought of something else. "And how are we going to explain this to the families?"

Celestia sighed. "Well, I've arranged a meeting with them a little later on today. My original plan was to surprise them with their daughters/family member, but now, only half of them will receive that good news. Now I guess that when they arrive, I'll have to tell them the truth."

Don sighed, "Yeah, telling them the truth. Let's just hope that they will be able to handle it."

"Yes, let's." Celestia then sighed off for the time being, before she, and others in the room with her, buried their faces in their hands, and cried.

Meanwhile, outside in the city, the battle was over. The last few remaining Zebras were rounded up, and either killed, or in the case of a few females, imprisoned for the time being. Then our engineers, using what resources were available to them, began to repair some aspects of the infrastructure (such as the city's walls), and restore utilities like power, water, and sewage for our use. We also brought the train into the city's main railyard (or rather, what was left of it), where it would remain while we came up with a plan for what to do next.

Meanwhile, while Don and Alex were tending to their marefriends, as well as helping Dan get to the train's medical coach so that he could be properly taken care of, I was making my way up to the palace's roof, with Aurora in tow. I had one goal in mind, and that was to fully claim this city as ours.

Once I was up on the roof, I looked at the flagpole located in the center. It was still standing, and the flag of the Zebra Empire still flew at the top, even though the flag was damaged. "Well, not for much longer", I muttered. I then grabbed the ropes, and after pulling down the flag, I detached it from the pole, and after giving it to Aurora to hang onto, from one of the compartments of the pack that I was wearing, I pulled out a tightly folded up American Flag.

"Now THIS is a proper flag!" I then attached it to the flagpole instead, and hoisted it up to the top. There was a breeze, so the flag was indeed waving at the top.

"Yes, it does indeed look better than THIS flag!" Aurora said after she dropped it onto the ground.

I picked it up, and decided to add it to my growing collection of war-trophies. Then, after returning to the throne room, I got back into the bulldozer, and drove it back down to Level 1, before taking it out of the palace, and parking it on the palace grounds. I then went back to the train, where after returning to my quarters with Aurora, I lay down on my bed, and began to cry again.

Meanwhile, Don and Alex were helping Twilight and Applejack back to the train. Both of them had blankets wrapped around them, as they were still naked.

"So, aside from Dan, are either of you hurt? They didn't do anything to you, did they?"

Twilight sighed. "Well Don, aside from putting us through a train crash, they dragged us around, kept us naked all of the time, attached collars to us, and occasionally beat us around, but overall, Applejack and I did ok."

"Yeah, but Ah sure would like mah hat back! It was lost somewhere during the train crash! As were mah saddlebags!"

Alex smirked. "Do you mean THIS hat?" From his pack, he pulled out AJ's hat, and handed it to her.

"MAH HAT!!!!" She took it, and put it back on her head. "Where did ya find it Sugarcube?!"

"From the wreckage of the train, actually. It seems that the Zebras were only interested in you guys. All of the train's luggage was found mostly intact in the train's baggage car, including yours, Twilight's, Dan's, and even everypony else's."

"Does that include Cole, Pinkie, and Dash?"

Alex nodded. "Yes, sadly it does. Cole's bag was placed on his bunk, and Leopard took Dash's duffel bag for safe keeping. Everything else was moved to a storage car where it can be looked through later to determine who it belongs to, and if the owner is deceased, then it will be sent to the family."

"We're just so glad that you were able to come and rescue us in time. If you hadn't, Celestia knows what Zakia would have done to us!"

Don smiled. "You're welcome Twilight. You're my marefriend after all, isn't it my job to come and save you?"

She nodded. "Yeah, it is!"

Soon, they all made it back to the train.

"Wow, this place really hasn't changed at all, has it? It still looks the same as it did when I last saw it!"

Don nodded. "Yeah, we sure don't change things up too much! And your clothes are in your bags, which we put on your beds. So you guys can go clean up, and then get dressed if you want. I need to go and check on Dan."

"Sure Don, we'll be right here, but please don't be gone too long. I.....don't really want to be left alone, not......not now."

Don nodded. "Yes, I understand what you mean perfectly. I'll only be gone for a few minutes, and plus, you do have Applejack, but I'm sure that Alex won't mind staying here with you until I get back, right?" He looked at Alex.

He shook his head. "No, no problem at all. I've been meaning to spend more time with AJ anyway!"

Don put a hand over his face. "Please Alex, don't mean what I think you mean!"

Alex shrugged. "I dunno, what do you mean? Does it involve condoms?"

"Ok, we're done here!" Don then left to go see how Dan was being treated.

When he arrived at the medical coach a few minutes later, he found Dan lying in a recovery bed. He was at least partially dressed again, and all of his wounds had been properly treated.

"How are you feeling Private?"

Dan turned to him. "Shockingly Sir, I feel absolutely amazing! They gave me some treatment, called......um....called um....?"

"Ze Bat-Pony Treatment?" Dr. Fritz asked.

"YES! That's it!"

It was then that Don noticed that Dan looked somewhat similar to me, minus of course the wings, although he did have furry ears on the top of his head, thicker hair, cat-like eyes, and a long, thick tail.

"The same treatment that was invented to save Captain Leopard's life after the Battle of Zandia." Don then turned back to face Dan. "Well, I certainly am glad that you're feeling better private, especially after what happened."

Dan frowned. "No Sir, I am NOT ok! And I will not be ok until Pinkie, Cole, and Rainbow Dash are safe! Do you know what it's like to be auctioned off? We were all in a line, waiting to be picked. Danin didn't want me though, he said I looked like a walking corpse. He took Cole instead."

Don sighed. "Yes, I do know how it feels to be auctioned off. The Futas did it all of the time. However, later on tonight, we WILL be reaching out to the Caribou, and DEMANDING the immediate return of the 3 hostages!"

Dan sighed. "Yeah, good luck with that! Danin made his position VERY CLEAR! He will not be giving them back anytime soon!"

Don narrowed his eyes. "We'll see about THAT!" He then said goodbye to Dan, and left the medical coach.

By the time that the sun set over Zebrica, the city walls had been completely shored up again, all utilities had been restored, all fires had been put out, and the city was at least made somewhat livable again.

Eventually, I did come out of my room, but I was still extremely upset. I sat down in the commons room, and Aurora sat down on my lap again.

"Why Aurora, why did Danin take Dash?"

She seemed to shrug a bit. "I don't know Master. Obviously to have her for himself, but she seemed to have been picked at random."

I then hugged her. "Well, at least I still have you. And now that I think about it, I'm sitting here, being extremely upset, while Dash is 1,500 miles away with Pinkie and Cole, having GOD KNOWS WHAT done to them, while I'm just sitting here doing nothing!"

Aurora licked me in the face. "That's the spirit Master!" She then kissed me again, and I kissed her back.

"Hey Leopard, are you in here? I heard talking, so what......?" Todd froze. "What in the........what?????" Todd had just walked into the commons room, and saw me kissing Aurora. "OK, I'll just be going now!" He then took off running.

I got up. "NO, WAIT TODD!!!! IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!!!!!! I WAS JUST UPSET, AND SHE WAS COMFORTING ME!!!! WE WEREN'T GOING TO HAVE SEX, COME BACK!!!!"

It was another 30 minutes before I could get Todd to calm down, and fully explained the situation.

In the end, all Todd said was, "Just....in the future, if you ever want to f@#k Aurora again, please be a little quieter when you do. I'm not judging you, all of us do some weird things (although it is borderline insane to 'scratch the itch' with a dog!), but please be more quiet when you do! I DO NOT want to hear that!"

It was then that I realized just how much I was going to have to explain to Dash when I saw her again. I knew that Todd would keep quiet about it, but had anyone else heard us? I didn't know, and I REALLY didn't want to find out!

It was also later that same night that the time that we'd been dreading had arrived. Once again, the families of the Element Bearers had gathered in Canterlot to hear of the outcome of the battle. Once again, we all sat at an individual screen, and discussed with the families.

On Don's end, things went great. First, it was just Shining and him, but then they stepped aside to reveal Twilight!

"TWILIGHT!!!! YOU'RE OK!!!!"

She began to cry a bit. "Hey Mom, Hey Dad, hi Spike!"

"Hey Twilight!"

"We're so glad that you're safe Dear!" Her mother was saying. "If we lost you, it would be the end for us!"

"Well, now that won't have to happen, as Don saved me!"

"Thank you Major, you've saved our daughter!"

Don nodded. "It was my pleasure Mr. Sparkle. I just did what I had to do."

They continued to talk for a while longer.

Next, it was Alex's turn. When he showed Applejack to Granny, Applebloom, and Big Mac, their cheering was so loud it almost damaged the speakers!

"Ah'm safe and sound everypony! The fellers on the Battleship Express saved me, Twilight, and Private Dan from the Zebras! Ah'm ok!"

"Thank Celestia!" Granny cheered.

"Yeah, we were gettin' really worried sis! Ah'm just glad yer ok!"

"So am I Applebloom, so am I." She then turned to her brother. "Hey Big Mac."

"Hey Sis. Glad to see you again."

"As am I."

They all continued to talk for a little while longer, with the conversation beginning to lean towards Alex being able to marry Applejack when the war ended.

By far the worst fate though, was mine. I now had to explain to Rainbow Dash's parents what had happened.

When I saw them on the screen, her mom spoke first. "Hello Captain Leopard! Well, the battle is over, so where is she? Where's our Rainbow Dash?"

To their surprise, instead of answering right away, I instead took off my trademark Kitsune mask, although I did still have my hands covering my face. Both of them could see that I was crying.

"I'm sorry", I whispered, "I'm so, so sorry."

They had no words, and began to cry as well. "NO! No, how could this be?! Our Dashie is.....dead?!"

"YOU!!!" Her dad turned to me angrily, "YOU DID THIS!!!! YOU LET HER DIE!!!!"

"NO!!!!" I screamed back, more out of frustration than anger, "SHE'S NOT DEAD!!!!"

"WHAT?!?!?! Well then, where is she?!" Her mom asked me.

I sighed. "When we arrived in Zebrica, we believed that all hostages were still present and accounted for, but unfortunately, we were wrong. A few days prior, most likely around the time of the Battle for Randeth, Zakia reached out to Danin, and asked for his help in defeating us. Danin said that he would only help if he got half of the hostages. Long story short, Dash, Pinkie, and Private Cole, were taken away to the Caribou Empire. Their fates at this time are unknown, but it is strongly believed that they are still alive."

When I finished my explanation, both Bow and Windy stared at me.

"I'm.....sorry that I yelled at you, Captain Leopard. I was just so.....upset!"

"I know, Mr. Hothoof, and I forgive you. I was equally upset when I was told that Dash and the others had been taken even farther away as well."

"So, what will you do?" Windy asked.

I sighed, before putting my mask back on. "What has to be done. As soon as we're done here, we will be sending a message to King Danin personally, DEMANDING the return of Dash, and the other 2 hostages IMMEDIATELY! And the Caribou Empire will be invaded if they fail to comply."

They both looked at each other, before looking back at me. "Just, do whatever you have to do Captain Leopard, BUT BRING OUR DAUGHTER HOME!!!!"

"That's right!" Her dad agreed, "Show those Caribou that you mean business!"

"Don't worry, I plan to!"

It was equally upsetting for Pinkie's family to take the news.

"WHAT?!?!?! SHE WASN'T THERE?!?!?!"

I shook my head sadly. "I'm sorry, everypony, truly I am, but she, as well as Rainbow Dash, and one of our soldiers, Private Cole, were sent from the Zebra Empire, to the Caribou Empire. Their current status is unknown, but we do believe that they are still alive, as I'm sure that we would have heard otherwise if they weren't."

Now Pinkie's family, as well as Dash's were on the warpath. Out of politeness for the rest of us, Pinkie's dad did hit the "mute" button, and for nearly 10 minutes, their entire family seemed to be screaming obscenities. Eventually though, they did unmute.

"I'm truly sorry for that outburst, but when you said that our Pinkie was handed over from the Zebras to the Caribou, we, as some of you say. 'blew a fuse'. We have taken a moment to collect ourselves, and we now ask all of you for our humblest apologies."

"Well, apologies accepted. I was equally upset when I heard about Rainbow Dash, just as her parents were."

I then noticed that Don and Alex had finished their talks with the families, and had sighed off. However, I was still on the call, as were Rainbow Dash's parents, Pinkie's family, and of course, the Princesses.

"Um, Princess Celestia?"

"Yes Captain Leopard?"

"I think that the time has come to give Danin a call, and see where the Caribou stand in all of this."

She nodded. "Yes, I do believe that you are right Captain."

I turned to Don. "Hey Don?"

"Yeah Leopard?"

"Is Tarrath's body done being preserved yet?"

Don shrugged. "I don't know, why?"

"Because we're about to call Danin, and it would be nice to have."

"Oh, yeah, well, I'll go check and see."

He went to do that, while the rest of us began to set up the call.

We decided to split it between the Battleship Express crew, the families, and of course, the Princesses.

A few minutes later, Don arrived with something wrapped in a body-bag.

"Is, is that it?"

He nodded. "Yeah, this is it. The taxidermists weren't quite done with it, but they said that you could have it for a brief period."

He then set it on a table, and unzipped it. I was stunned. I kept fully expecting Tarrath to jump up and fight, but he was dead.

"Impressive! I can still even see where I pumped him full of buckshot!" I then took his body, and set it in a chair up close to the screen. I then crouched next to the chair, so that I could operate my "puppet".

"Ok, now is everypony ready?"

They all nodded.

"We're ready over here Major Don!"

"As are we, Major."

Don nodded. "Excellent! Now then, on to the call!"

Celestia imputed the code, and then we all watched, and waited to see if anything would happen. (This was set up so that the first thing that whoever picked up would see would be Tarrath's corpse. I would then do a little song-and-dance routine with it before revealing myself, and then the others would pop up on their screens as well.)

Sure enough, somebody answered.

"Hey, who is this?" I could see that it was Danin himself. "Wait, GENERAL TARRATH?!?!?! BUT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!!!"

I shook Tarrath's head. "No, no, I'm not dead!" I said in a weird, muffled voice, "But I had to call you!"

Danin narrowed his eyes. "According to MY records, you were killed in the Battle of Zandia!"

I moved the arms a bit. "No, I'm not dead, I'm just a big, corpse puppet!" I then popped up from behind Tarrath's body. "SURPRISE BITCH!!!!"

Danin recoiled a bit. "What?! Commander Fox-Face?!"

With that, the other screens turned on as well, and others behind me stepped into view as well.

"Hello, Danin", I growled. "As you may have seen, 'Tarrath' over here is indeed dead, but I had him stuffed so that I can have him put on display!" (I then had the body removed, so that it could be returned to the taxidermists.)

"What do you want Fox-Face?"

Celestia then spoke up. "What he wants, is what all of us want. We want you to release your 3 hostages that you took from Zakia, as well as surrender to us! Do this, and you may be spared the same fate that the Zebras have received!"

"Oh, and why would I ever do that? I have the strongest empire in all of Equus! Zakia was a bastard fool. His empire was weak, and on the brink of collapse. No, we will not surrender, and no, you cannot have the hostages!"

In that moment, something changed inside of me. I felt something wake up; something dark, and evil. Whatever it was consumed me. When I opened my eyes, they still looked like blue cat's eyes, but they were much, much darker. I then growled deep in my throat, a growl that no one in the PCC had ever heard before.

Then, in a voice not my own, I said, "You WILL give me the hostages, or you WILL suffer a fate worse that Death! You will beg to die, as the sounds of your citizens being cut to pieces reaches your ears, but Death will not be granted to you. Tonight, we will destroy what remains of the Zebra Empire in a storm of Hell-fire. Then, I will take your empire, and tear it apart, just like I did so many years ago. Don't you remember that Danin? Remember what I did to your ancestors? Do you know who I am, or did your forefathers force themselves to forget?"

By this point, Danin was so scared by what he was seeing, that he actually turned dead white from sheer fear. Others in the room, and even the others watching could clearly see that I had been possessed by something; something dark, evil, and from long-ago.

"Don't you remember me Danin?" I asked again.

"S-S-S.......SOMBRA!!!!!" Danin cried, "B-B-But.....IT CAN'T BE!!!!!"

I then laughed evilly, and Danin terminated the call right then and there. I then came to myself again, but whatever it was that had just possessed me, I could still feel was very much alive and well inside of me, and was now a part of me.

Don turned to me. "DAMN Leopard!!! That was an Oscar-winning performance right there! HOLY SHIT!!!! You scared the living DAYLIGHTS out of him! How the hell did you do that?!"

I shrugged. "I.......I don't know......It kinda, just.....happened."

While the others were busy congratulating me on my performance that had just wiped the smirk off of Danin's face, Celestia and Luna were also almost dead white from sheer fear.

Cadence noticed this. "Hey, what's wrong Aunties? You look like you've just seen a ghost!"

"W-w-we.....just....d-did!" Celestia finally stammered.

Cadence was confused. "Um, what?"

Luna then took up the story. "Ever since he arrived here, I've felt that there was something......different about 'Captain Leopard', as he calls himself; something.....wrong. His subconsciousness was always so different than that of his comrades. It felt so strange, yet so.....vaguely familiar....."

"He had so much raw power." Celestia added. "And his new 'Bat-pony procedure', which was done to save his life, has only made him grow stronger. He has so much raw potential, more than even he knows!"

"Ok.....but I'm still incredibly confused. Isn't his having power a good thing? I mean, he is helping us win the war."

Celestia looked her niece dead in the eyes. "I've seen that kind of raw power only once before. It didn't scare me enough then, because I knew that we could defeat it. Now, through Captain Leopard, that same raw power has returned yet again, and this time, I'm scared."

"And that raw power had a name Cadence." Luna finished. "A name that so well fit the pony who wielded it. He was once a great stallion, until his raw power became darkness, and completely corrupted him. He rose up, and began to conquer Equus. It was he who overthrew the Caribou Empire the first time, and brought it to ruin. He did the same to the first Zebra Empire. Now he has returned, and has begun to do it again."

"But who......??? Who was he?"

"His name......was Sombra, Cadence. King Sombra."

Cadence slammed her hands over her mouth. "As in......'King Sombra who tried to overthrow the Crystal Empire a few years ago’? But it can't be, HE'S DEAD!!!!"

"That's what we believed too Cadence, but now, the more that I look at Captain Leopard and what he's done, the more and more convinced I become that he IS Sombra reborn!"

Cadence stared at her aunts in absolute shock. All 3 of them knew what could happen if their hunch was indeed correct. But was it? Or was what had just happened nothing more than a strange coincidence?

Back in the Caribou Empire, Danin was still freaking out. He had long been told stories by his elders of the reign of King Sombra, as well as the violence, death, and destruction that he had caused to the original Caribou and Zebra Empires, and he had felt a bit of relief when Sombra had been defeated by the Diarchs of Equestria. Now, Danin wasn't so sure anymore.

"Are, you ok, My King?"

Danin looked over at who had spoken. It was Colonel Stuggs. "Colonel, does the name, 'King Sombra' mean anything to you?"

Stuggs froze. "Yes. He was one of the cruelest rulers in the history of Equus. More than 1,000 years ago, he rose up and destroyed the old Caribou Empire, and tried to take over the rest of Equus as well. He was defeated by the Diarchs of Equestria. Then, 1,000 years later, he returned, but this time he was defeated and killed. It was a story handed down through my family for generations. My many-times over Great Grandfather, General Raddak, was there when it happened."

Danin looked at Stuggs. "Colonel, I'm reinstating you as a general. Between you and Rodin, as well as any other good soldiers, I'm going to need all of the defense that I can possibly get for the Caribou Empire."

Now Stuggs was worried. "Why, My King? What is going on?"

Danin looked at Stuggs directly in the eyes. "I need all of you, General, because HE has returned!" Danin then explained everything that he had just seen and heard, and how much it scared him.

When he finished, Stugg's jaw hit the floor. "B-b-but, My King, I-I-IT CAN'T BE!!! SOMBRA IS DEAD!!!!"

Danin just shook his head. "No, sadly he is not dead, YET, which is why we HAVE to prepare! He will try to retake our empire again, and we CANNOT LET HIM!!!! We will fight him to the bitter end!"

"Yes Sir! We will prevail against Sombra, and the rest of the Humans! FOR THE GLORIES OF THE CARIBOU EMPIRE!!!!"

"Yes, that's the spirit General! Now then, go forth, and plan with General Rodin the defense of our empire. When you two are done, report immediately back to me!"

Stuggs saluted. "Sir, yes Sir!" He then left to do his king's bidding while Danin began to put together some plans of his own.

While all of this was happening up in the throne room, down below in the main harem chamber, Dash, Pinkie, and especially Cole, were finally beginning to adjust to their "new life". Cole and Missy had grown extremely close to one another, and had very clearly fallen for each other.

At the current moment, Missy was sitting on her bed, quietly humming to herself. Sitting just behind her, Cole was gently brushing her soft, brown hair. (Yes, unlike Ponies, Caribou have hair instead of manes.)

"Mmm, you're so good at this Cole." She cooed gently.

"Mmm, thanks Missy. You're hair is really soft, almost as soft as your fur."

Missy blushed. "Aww, you're so sweet Cole!"

Unfortunately though, their sweet moment together was about to be interrupted. The door leading to the chamber was opened, and a group of Caribou came inside.

"Oh great", Cole muttered. "Not this again!"

Every now and again, Caribou males would come in to have sex with some of the harem slaves. (Dash and Pinkie were "off limits" as was Cole, due to them being Danin's personal property, and the last Caribou who had tried to rape Pinkie was skinned alive by Danin himself!) Missy was often overlooked, as she was older than most of the others, and was more chubby than outright curvy, and was seen by most of the Caribou as an "ugly duckling".

Unfortunately though, even though they were never touched sexually, they often WERE touched physically. Dash, Pinkie and Cole were often pushed around, and sometimes forced to do terrible things; things like licking urine off of the floor, to performing sexual acts on each other, to any number of other degrading things. That day was no different.

From what Cole could see, the group who came in consisted of 4 Caribou soldiers, and all of them were young, and had bulges in their pants. They walked up and down the rows of slaves, looking to see which ones to take.

"Hmm, so which ones of you cuties will we take to f@#k?"

Most of the red collars tried their best to make themselves appear cute, so that they would be chosen. The black collars mostly just glared, and the purples were usually too busy masturbating.

Eventually, 2 of the 4 did find two willing red collars, and bent them over, but unfortunately, the other 2 wanted to have some 'fun' before f@#king.

"Hey! Here's that Human-thingy that all of the guys are always talking about!" He pointed to Cole.

"Wow, he's a lot smaller than I thought that he was going to be!"

Cole glared up at them. In all of his time as a prisoner, his fire of anger had never gone out. "Piss off!" He growled.

"Ok, I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that." He then looked at Dash and Pinkie. "Ok, I know that we can't have sex with them, but we can make them 'do stuff', right?"

His friend nodded, smirking a bit. "Yeah, and it's really hot to make them do it too!" He then turned to them. "Ok you two, I wanna see some girl on girl action!"

"F@#k you!" Dash spat.

The one she spat at, Rakk, grabbed her. "Ok, I see that you need to be taught a lesson! I said, I WANNA SEE SOME GIRL ON GIRL ACTION!!!" Then, while his friend Bann held Pinkie, Rakk pushed Dash into her.

"I'm sorry Pinkie, so, so sorry!" Dash looked like she could cry.

"I know Dashie, it's not you."

They then began to work their little routine where they pretended to be lesbians. They kissed, licked, groped, fingered, and even 69'd with each other.

"Damn, that's so hot!" Rakk muttered.

"No kidding. However, I wonder what those two would do!" He pointed to Cole and Missy.

"Bite your f@#king leg off, that's what I would do, now piss off!"

"Yeah!" Missy agreed.

Unfortunately, this only served to make the Caribou extremely upset. Rakk then began to hit Cole. "Insolent bastard! I'll teach you to disrespect your overlords!" He then grabbed Cole, and held him down.

"What are you gonna do Rakk?"

Rakk smirked. "How about we pretend that this bitch here is his girlfriend, and we make them f@#k?"

Bann laughed. "Heh, yeah, that's a really great idea!" You get the bastard, I'll get the bitch!" He then held Missy down, while Rakk did the same thing for Cole. They then forced the two of them to have sex. Cole had always wondered if his relationship with Missy would build up to them ever having sex one day, now he wondered no longer. He began to cry, as did Missy.

"I'm sorry Missy." He said softly.

"It's not your fault Cole, it's theirs. All we gotta do is just give them what they want. If they just want us to f@#k, then we'll f@#k."

Out of the corners of their eyes, Pinkie and Dash saw what they were doing to Cole and Missy, but they weren't able to do anything about it. Rakk and Bann were also masturbating to what both groups were being forced to do to each other. Eventually, they both blew their loads, with their jizz landing all over the 4 hostages. Cole also blew his load all over Missy's chest and belly.

Once the group of Caribou were finally done, they left the room laughing about what they had just done. They then shut the door again, and locked it.

Once they were finally gone, Missy got to her feet, and beckoned the others to follow her. They did so, and she led them to the corner of the room, where a small sort of shower had been built in the far corner of the room, right next to a row of toilets. After washing the jizz off of themselves, they returned to Missy's sort of alcove, where after wiping the mess up with dirty towels, they all lay down on Missy's sort of bed, where they all kind of formed a pile, and cried about what had just been done to them. Usually, they had just been pushed around, but now, the abuse had just taken a whole new turn.

Cole had tried to fight, but similarly to Dan, he was just too weak from his recent injuries, and repeated abuse. Now, he had been forced to have sex with Missy, while Dash had been forced to have lesbian sex with Pinkie. Seeking a source of comfort, Cole gently began to suckle from one of Missy's breasts. Missy just cuddled him while he did it.

"Please Stud", Dash muttered while she cried, "Please, come and take us away from here! We can't take this anymore! Please, help us!"

All of them knew that their situation was very grim. As long as the Caribou still held power, their lives, and more so, their very sanity, was in jeopardy. All of the repeated abuse was wearing all of them down, and depriving them of any hope of rescue. They were 1 Human, 2 mares, and a Caribou cow. Their captors liked to abuse them, and refusal led to more abuse. They needed to be rescued, and rescued, before they lost their minds, or worse, committed suicide.

Back in Zebrica, after the calls ended, and we had reassured the families of Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie one last time that we would get their daughters back, we began to plan out the final destruction of the Zebra Empire. Don had agreed with Alex and I, as had the Princesses, to spare Zebrica from nuclear destruction. However, the rest of the Empire wasn't going to be so lucky. There were 3 remaining cities, 4 towns, and a number of villages and settlements. All of them were targets to have a nuclear weapon dropped on them.

We all knew the risk that we were about to take, but if it meant the destruction of the Zebras once and for all, then it was worth it. The real risk though was going to be firing all of the nuclear shells required to level those areas all at once. We knew that, at least in theory, that our guns were capable of doing it, but this had never been tested. Now all 12 of our 16in guns, as well as our 4 railguns, and a few other heavy artillery guns that were capable of launching nuclear ordnance, were all locked and loaded, and each gun was aimed at a different area. An estimated 11 million Zebras lived in those areas, and all of them were marked for death; death by nuclear strike.

Don had everypony begin to run through the final checks, safety procedures, and protocols prior to launch. We all knew the extreme danger if anything went wrong, so we were all trying to make doubly sure that nothing would! Also, since the killing was going to be way out of range, Celestia also agreed to broadcast the destruction to the rest of Equestria. It was also being filmed by us for archival purposes.

"Ok Boys", Don told us, "We're live on the air right now, so watch your language! Young kids don't need to listen to any cuss words! This is also going into the history books, so we all need to watch our mouths!"

"Roger that Don!" We all continued with the preparations.

"Hmm, well, at least they won't be swearing or anything, so that's a plus!"

Celestia nodded. "Indeed Cadence, indeed, provided of course that they actually follow through with it!" They all continued to watch.

Eventually, the time had come. Everything had been checked, and double checked, with a triple-check being performed as well. Everything was all set, and the launch controls had been given over to the "Big Red Button" as we called it in the PCC. (Which is exactly as it sounds like. It really is a big red button that, if pressed, will launch whatever weapon it has been synchronized to.)

"Ok Don, all systems are go. Everything is ready for launch!"

Don nodded. "Roger that Jim!" He then turned towards the closest camera. "And for the record, for this launch, I'm going to turn control over to the one man who has more experience launching nuclear weapons that me. My 3rd in command who always wears a Kitsune mask, Captain Leopard!"

"Wait, WHAT?!?!?! I'M going to get to launch the nuclear weapons?!"

"Yeah, if you want to anyway. If not, I could do it!"

"NO!!! No, I can do it!" I then walked over to the Big Red Button. Before I pressed it though, I too turned to the camera. "Before I make history by launching this nuclear attack, I would like to say that, to anypony or Caribou watching this, take heed. Humanity is no joke. When we fight a war, we're not playing around! And how's this for the history books, 'BURN IN HELL YOU FLAMING BASTARDS!!!!'" I yelled. And then I pressed the button.

https://m.

(Do I have a soul? No, no I don't. And if you laughed at this, you don't have one either!)

"SHELLS AWAY!!!!" Don yelled.

With that, on television screens all across Eqeustria, Ponies everywhere watched the final destruction of the Zebra Empire play out right before their very eyes. A TV was even hooked up for Zakia, (Aka, "Jazzia") to witness the final annihilation of his empire in the rear boxcar where he (or rather, "she", as he looked a lot more like a femboi now!) was being held prisoner.

The devastation was truly almost unimaginable. Not one of those Zebras ever even stood a chance. One minute everything was fine, and then the next, the shells hit, and then nuclear explosions happened. Every city, town, village, and settlement was leveled completely, and the area around them was destroyed. Even if any Zebras did manage to survive, their outlook was most likely death from radiation poisoning. Readings taken from our Geiger counters were high, and still rising.

At long last, the Zebra Empire, once the 2nd most feared empire in all of Equus, was truly no more. It had fallen, never to rise again. All of it's inhabitants were either dead, dying of radiation poisoning, or even like Zakia and a select few others, were being held prisoner, at least for the time being.

Once the nuclear detonations were over, I looked out towards what would be the Caribou Empire. "Ok, it's your move now Danin", I muttered. "The ball's in your court, so what are you gonna do? Will you surrender peacefully, or will I have to do what I did to your forefathers before you?"

Author's Note

Well, I don't know if this was quite the chapter that you all were expecting, but here it is nonetheless! So now, the Zebra Empire has truly fallen, leaving only the Caribou Empire. What will happen to them? Will they take the hint from the Zebra's destruction, or will they still choose to fight? And what about Dash, Pinkie, Cole, and Missy? Will we ever be able to rescue them, or will time run out for them?

Also, what about the alleged connection between Leopard and Sombra? Am I REALLY Sombra reborn? Or is it just a coincidence? And if I really am Sombra, what does that mean for the war?

Well, once again, stay tuned, and I'll tell you!

Meanwhile, as always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you in Chapter 16!

ScarFox out for now!

(also, any comments on the Sombra twist, or any ideas about what should happen to the Caribou, are always appreciated. I really enjoy reading your comments, and responding to them.)

Chapter 16: Realizations, and Death on the Move

The original plan was for the princesses to confront me that same night about what was inside of me, but they were unable to, as they needed to collect more evidence to show me first. They planned on doing that the first thing next morning. However, that very same night, something was revealed to me in a dream.

In my dream, I was standing on a massive desert battlefield. A battle was in full-swing, but it was between black shadows, and forms that appeared to be humans, but they looked more like mannequins. Suddenly, I felt that the presence inside of me was close by.

"Show yourself!" I yelled. "Who are you?"

The presence didn't answer. Then, I suddenly found myself standing next to the Big Boy. "Look close....." A voice whispered. "The answer that you seek lies within......"

"Look at what? What am I supposed to be looking at?"

A shadowy form appeared next to me. It appeared to be a cloaked figure about my height, but it kept changing shape. Two red, glowing eyes stared back at me. Wordlessly, the figure pointed to a spot on the Big Boy's firebox, between the rear set of drive wheels, and the back 4 wheels.

"Remove the firebox plate there."

Suddenly, I found myself with a large wrench. "Um, ok, if you say so." I the took the wrench, and after grabbing the bolts and rivets that held the plate to the rest of the firebox, I pulled them out, before prying off the plate. Inside of the space, I found a small, hollow pocket, containing a strange looking object.

I looked at the shadow. "Um, ok, now what?"

"Take it out....."

I reached in, and grabbed the object. When I pulled it out though, I stared at the object in shock. "What....is this thing? It looks like a dinosaur tooth, or maybe some kind of horn."

Suddenly, the shadow didn't seem so helpful anymore. "It IS a horn. MY horn! And now, it's YOURS!!!!" The shadow then grabbed me!

"AUEEE!!!!" I tried to wrench myself free, but the shadow was stronger than me.

Then, before I could hit him with the wrench that was still in my hand, the shadow suddenly dragged me through a horrible place. I kept screaming in agony, but the shadow didn't care. I saw EVERY battle that I had ever fought, every SECOND of ALL of the World Wars that I had fought, all displayed out in vivid detail. I was reliving all of my old memories, and it was tearing me apart.

"NO MORE!!!!" I screamed. "I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!!!"

Suddenly, the shadow let go of me. I fell for a long way, before landing on a cold, hard, stone floor.

"WHO ARE YOU!??!?!" I screamed. "Why are you doing this to me?!?!?!"

Suddenly, a mirror appeared in front of me. I looked into it, and I saw what looked to be me, but it wasn't. It was dark, and twisted, its face was scratched and bloody, chunks of its hair were missing, and it was dressed in what appeared to be a Nazi military uniform; Waffen SS, if my memory served me correctly.

"Who....are you?" I challenged the reflection.

It smirked at me hideously, its mouth opening to reveal razor sharp teeth, and its eyes were blood red. "I'm you, if you were more honest with yourself! You SAY that you're human, an AMERICAN even! But look at you! You shed blood, and ENJOY doing it! You're a NAZI, and I love it! Together, you and I can have what we always wanted. I'm forever a part of you now, so take good care of me!"

That was it. This was the last straw. I then raised my wrench. "I will NEVER......be as vile as you, YOU PIECE OF FILTH!!!!" I then brought the wrench down hard, smashing the mirror into hundreds of pieces. The glass shards flew around me, as the air around me became filled with maniacal laughter.

"NNNOOOOO!!!!!!"

"GWAH!!!!!" I then woke up screaming. "*gasp*, *pant*, "Oh, thank God, it was just a dream!" I was soaked in sweat, and I was still shaking I was so scared.

"Master? Master! What is it, what's wrong?"

I suddenly found myself looking up at Aurora. "Oh, Aurora, it was awful!" I then grabbed her, and began to cry.

Aurora tried to comfort me. "Shh, it's ok Master, I'm here. It was just a bad dream. It wasn't real. I'm here for you."

It was at that moment, that I felt things in my hands. When I saw them, I almost fainted. "Um, Aurora, if what I had was just a dream, then where did these come from?"

Aurora looked. Sure enough, in my right hand, I was holding a large wrench with a boiler rivet still locked into it. I couldn't really see what was in my left hand though. I then jumped a bit, as a flash of lighting became visible through my window, followed by thunder. I also saw raindrops hitting my window as well.

"Again, it's ok Master. It's just a little rainstorm. Nothing to be scared of."

"Yeah, I know that! I was just, startled a bit. I didn't know that we had any rain in the forecast. I.....need to use the bathroom."

I dropped the wrench onto the floor, and went into my bathroom. I then set whatever it was in my left hand onto the side of the sink, and then used the toilet. After I was done, I stood up, pulled my boxers back up, and after turning on the sink, I splashed a bit of water onto my face. I then turned off the sink, and began to dry my face. When I did though, I looked into the mirror, and what I saw, made me stare for a bit.

"Something...seems a little.....different." I began to rub my hands through my hair/mane, trying to figure out what was different. Then it hit me. "Wait, my hair was dark brown.....why is it.....black now?"

I looked closer just to make sure that I wasn't missing anything. Sure enough, my hair was now black, instead of brown. My furry bat-pony ears were still up there on top of my head, but now they were gray again, instead of black. Aside from this though, my eyes were still dark blue and cat-like, my human ears were still there, my wings were still black and feathery, my tail was still thick, and gray, and I had gray paws for feet. I also still had "wolf-stallion goods", and everything else about me seemed to be normal.

"Huh, must just be a delayed side effect of the Bat-pony Treatment." It was also then that I picked up the object that had been in my left hand, and I held it up to the light to see what it was. When I did, I almost screamed.

"No, no! It can't be!" The horn; it was the horn from my dream!

Suddenly, I felt an extreme urge to go somewhere. I looked at my watch, and the time showed that it was almost 3am. However, there was somewhere that I had to be. I didn't know where, but I felt that I had to go there. I walked back into my room, and pulled on a pair of sweatpants, as well as some old shoes.

"Um, where are you going Master?"

I shrugged. "I dunno, I just feel like I have to go on a walk somewhere. Wanna join me?"

She nodded. "Sure! I love a good walk!"

I then put her leash on her, and after leaving our room, I began to walk slowly through our bunk car.

"Um, where are we going Master?"

I didn't answer right away, as I was too busy looking down at the horn in my hand. "We're going......wherever this horn is leading us. It's trying to show me something, I just have to figure out what."

Aurora looked at me like I was a mental patient. "Um, what now? Can we not play 20 questions? It's almost 3am!"

"I'm being serious Aurora, I HAVE to see where this horn leads me!"

Aurora was beginning to have her concerns for my well-being, but I didn't notice.

As we continued to walk through the train, I would stop periodically to catch my bearings. Every now and again, a flash of lightning would light up whatever car I was in for a brief moment, while rain continued to patter against the windows. I would also occasionally run into someone who was on duty. They would ask me what I was doing, and I would tell them that I couldn't sleep, so I decided to take a walk with Aurora.

By the time that we finally stopped walking, Aurora and I were very deep down the train, somewhere between halfway, and 3/4 to the caboose. The only available door was the one to my left. "Battleship Express Archives" were written on the door.

"Wait. You mean, that that horn thing dragged us all the way down to the archives?! Why?!"

I shrugged. "I dunno. Like I said, it's trying to show us something. We won't know what it is until we reach our final destination." I then began to feel deep inside of myself. "Ok, so now I'm at the archives, now what?" I asked mentally. "What do you want me to do?"

"Enter them", Came the reply. "Enter, and I will show you what to do next."

After swiping my clearance card, as well as inputting a code, I then entered the archives. "Ok, I'm in, Strange Voice. What do I do now?"

The presence was surprised by how willing, and even eager I was to obey, even though I had no clue what I was doing. "For now, you may call me 'Shadow'," The voice said, "For that is what I am, or rather, was. But back to the matter at hand, head to the 'A' section."

I did so. Aurora was starting to get extremely creeped out. She felt that we were not alone in those archives, and that whatever was in there with us, was leading me to do something. Instead of waiting around, she decided to GTFO, and head back to our room!

I arrived in the A section. "Ok, I'm here, now what?"

"Look to the far end, towards the wall. Do you see the crate?"

I looked. Sure enough, there it was. I recognized it as the crate used by archival staff as a sort of stepladder. I'd even used it myself a number of times. It was seemingly so insignificant, that I'd never even given it a second glance. The crate itself though was maybe 4 feet long, and 2 feet height, so it was rather big.

"Yeah, I see it Shadow. Do I need to use it as a stepladder?"

"No, I want you to open it."

"But, why? It's just a step-stool. There's nothing in it!"

"Really? Are you sure?"

I thought for a second. "Um, pretty sure. It did feel like it was heavy, but I was told that it was just filled with junk to help keep it stable."

"Junk? Junk?! That crate contains no junk! Go over to it, and read the labeling on it!" I hesitated. "Well go on! It won't bite!"

"I swear Shadow, you remind me more and more of a creepy, stalker-boyfriend with each new thing you say." I began to walk towards the crate.

I heard Shadow laugh. "Aww, you think of me as your boyfriend? That's so sweet!"

"What are you, a gay-freak or something? NO! I DO NOT think of you as my boyfriend! You're just some....weird voice in my head!"

"Heh, if you could see me the way I used to be, I know that you would fall for me! You would have LOVED to be my boyfriend, and I would have let you!"

"Ass-f@#ker!" I muttered.

"Hey, no need for language Sweetheart!"

I stopped. "Do you want me to read the label on that f@#king crate, or do you want to keep flirting with me? Cuz if you wanna flirt, I'm gone!"

"Heh, if you leave, you'll be in for more pain that you could possibly imagine!"

"Oh yeah? And how are you gonna do that? You're just a voice in my.......AUEEEGH!!!!" I suddenly felt a searing pain inside of me. It felt like my insides were being frozen in liquid nitrogen. I was on the ground, writhing in agony. A few moments later though, the pain suddenly stopped.

"Count yourself lucky Sweetheart. Usually, I'm not so lenient with those who disobey me! However, since you're new to this, (even though I've been with you for a while now) and because I like you, I'll let it slide. Now be a dear, and read the label on the crate for your sweet, boyfriend Shadow!"

On the inside, I continue to screech profanity, but I still complied. I went over to the crate, and after pulling out a flashlight, I began to read.

"Groom Lake Test Site 5, Groom Lake, Nevada. Contents found: Roswell, New Mexico. 5/27/28." I froze. "Wait. Groom Lake, Nevada? That's home to Area 51! Or at least, it WAS. Must have still been a test site though, but for what? Also, it says that the crate's contents was found in Roswell, New Mexico, on May 27th, 2028."

"Yes, I know! I just wanted YOU to know! The contents of this crate once belonged to me. However, it was all lost. Eventually, lay-lines brought it to your 'Earth', where it was found by you 'Humans', and taken away for study. Now, at least for the time being, what's inside belongs to you. Now, open the crate!"

Once again, I hesitated. "Come on, why do you keep hesitating?"

"Why do you care so damn much?! Plus, how do I know that what's in here won't kill me?!"

Shadow groaned. "No! It won't kill you! In fact, it won't do ANYTHING, unless you WANT it to!"

I then examined the crate. It was made of wood, and was nailed shut. "Oh great. It's nailed shut, and I don't have a hammer!"

"Use the horn!"

"What? The horn?" I looked at it. "There's no way that this thing can get that crate open!"

"Just....please try it. You have to work with me here Sweetheart. I'm still too weak to do too much for myself yet. Just trust me, I know that it will work!"

"Stop calling me 'Sweetheart', and maybe I will."

"Ok then 'Cutie-Pie', please try it!"

"I hate that too."

"It's either 'Sweetheart', or 'Cutie-Pie, take your pick!"

I groaned. "Neither!"

"Sweetheart it is then!"

In response to my growing anger, I instead jammed the horn into the lid of the crate, and began to try and wrench it open. After struggling for a minute or two, I finally got it.

"See, I told ya it would work!"

I looked down at the horn. "Hmm, must be an enchanted artifact, or something."

"Eh, well, you're not wrong. But anyway, open it up!"

When I did, I suddenly gasped in shock. "My word!"

Inside of the crate, packed in straw, were pieces of what appeared to be metal armor, as well as a red, fur-trimmed cape, and a large, metal piece that looked to be a crown crossed with a helmet. I held some of it up. It looked to be sized to fit someone larger than me, though not by much. There also seemed to be something....off about all of it. It also seemed vaguely familiar somehow.

"Shadow.....what, is this stuff? It feels like it's infused with.....magic."

"This, is my old armor. At one time, I was a great ruler, a king even! It was I who brought the Caribou Empire and Zebra Empire to ruin the first time! My forces were unstoppable!"

I was shocked. "Wait, YOU destroyed the Caribou and Zebra the first time?! And if your forces were so 'unstoppable', what happened?"

Shadow growled a bit. "There was one kingdom that my forces tried to defeat, and failed. The two rulers banished me for 1,000 years. After those 1,000 years were up though, I returned to seek revenge. Once again, I was defeated. My horn, as well as my armor, were flung through Time and Space, eventually ending up on your 'Earth'." Shadow then explained that while the armor hadn’t been found until recently, his horn had been taken by various empires, from the Matriarchal World Empire, to the One Race Empire, to even the Futas, leading up to its discovery by the Americans, who also finally found the armor. "They never appreciated my horn though. They just stuck it inside of your steam engine, and forgot about it. My spirit was always calling out to anyone who would listen, but nobody did. Nobody that is, until a young officer let me help him get revenge after the death of one of his superiors, and I helped him launch a nuclear attack!"

I froze. "Wait. ME?! And that was YOU who 'helped me' to launch that nuclear attack on Vegas?"

Shadow laughed. "Yep, guilty as charged!"

"But, why me? I'm a nobody. I'm just, Captain Leopard."

Shadow smirked to himself. He loved buttering me up like he was doing. "This is TOO EASY!!! He's so willing and eager! I think I'll keep him around for a while longer after I'm strong enough to return though, he's cute." Shadow stopped. "What? Cute? Why do I even think that he's 'cute', he's a pawn!" Shadow then pushed these thoughts down. To me, he said, "It's BECAUSE you're a nobody Leopard. You have the potential to be so much more!" ("It was also because you were the only one I was able to get to!" He added to himself.)

"I...don't know if I believe that. But another thing; if what I saw was a dream, then how did I have the wrench and horn in my hands when I woke up?"

"What you saw wasn't a dream, you just retrieved the horn while you were in a state of subconsciousness under my direction, and I guess that you just forgot about it."

"This is still too weird", I muttered, "I have a 'boyfriend entity' named Shadow, there was a mysterious horn lodged in Big Boy's firebox plating, there's a crate in the archives that contains ancient armor that came from Roswell, New Mexico, and now it belongs to me? Plus, Shadow has been with me for some time, and has been a part of me, but this is where I get really confused. You said that you wanted to come back, but need my help. How do you plan on coming back?"

"Through you. The more you keep conquering, the stronger I can get. I can almost return to the physical world again, but I'm still very weak. That's why I need you to take care of me."

I knew that there had to be a string attached somewhere. "Ok, now I KNOW that this sounds too good to be true! What's the catch to this? There's got to be a string attached somewhere!"

"Actually, there are no strings. You just, have to continue to take care of me, and keep the armor safe. See if you can pick the crate up."

I put the lid back on, and after putting the horn in my pocket, I grabbed the sides, and attempted to lift it. I was able to, but it was still somewhat heavy.

Shadow nodded. "Ok, good, now take it back to your quarters, and put it in a safe place."

I complied, but it was difficult carrying it through the halls of the train. I had to walk almost all of the way back to the engine, as well as avoid anyone who would ask what I was doing. Eventually, I made it back to my quarters, and once I was inside, I set the crate on the floor.

"Whew! Now THAT was a workout! At least it's here now, at any rate!"

Shadow seemed to nod. "Yes, now put it somewhere safe." I slid it underneath my bed. "Good. Now then, I will leave everything up to you for the time being. I will always be with you, but you'll be the one in control. If all goes according to plan, I will be alive once again before long. Just keep me safe, and take good care of me." I then felt the presence of Shadow begin to leave. "Oh, and one other thing before I go, my armor, WILL be able to fit you. It's magically enhanced so that it will fit its wearer. Feel free to try it on if you like, I'd LOVE to see how you look in it!" Shadow then laughed, and I felt him retreat deep inside of me.

I then felt myself pass out.

The next thing I heard, was my alarm clock going off.

I opened my eyes. "Huh, what?" The time read 8am. I then shut my alarm clock off.

I sat up in bed. "Aurora, I just had the absolute STRANGEST dream of my entire life last night!"

"Um, Master, last night wasn't a dream." I heard a voice say from close by.

"Huh? Why do you say that Aurora? And where are you?"

She crawled out from underneath my desk. "I'm here, and everything from you waking up screaming from a nightmare, to our walk down to the archives, was NOT a dream! I was wide awake!"

On a hunch, I looked underneath my bed. Sure enough, the crate was still there. I also felt something in my pocket. I pulled it out, and sure enough, the horn was still there. "So it wasn't a dream after all," I muttered. I set the horn on my night stand. "Well, at any rate, it's time to start the day, and it's most likely going to be a day of planning out what to do next."

I then got up, hit the shower, brushed my teeth, gave Aurora a quick bath, dried her off, and then after I was dressed, I fed and watered Aurora, before taking her with me to breakfast.

Due to it having rained a bit the previous night, there was some cleanup work that had to be done. We picked up fallen branches, as well as more fallen debris. Once we were done with that, it was time for another briefing with the princesses. This was a private meeting between myself, Don, Jim, and General Shining, as well as Celestia, Luna, and Cadence.

"Good morning Princesses."

Celestia smiled. "Good morning Major. However, before we begin this meeting, I need to discuss with Captain Leopard and General Shining privately what we just talked about, if you don't mind."

Don and Jim were surprised. "Um, ok, well if you say so, Princess Celestia." Don and Jim then left the PCC, and closed the door after themselves.

Once they were gone, I turned to the screen. "Um, what is this about Princess? Did....I do something wrong?" I was very nervous.

Celestia just stared at me. "No, you didn't do something wrong, per-say, however, there is something about you that we need to discuss right now, and since it involves the General as well, he was asked to stay too."

Shining and I then looked at each other. We were both very confused. Finally though, Celestia spoke. "The truth is Captain, is that you have a lot of potential inside of you, incredibly raw power, if you will. In fact, more power that you even know."

"Um, is that a good thing, or a bad thing?"

"That's the thing Captain, I've seen that kind of raw power only once before. It didn't scare me enough then, as Luna and I were able to defeat it. It returned again 1,000 years later, and Cadence, Shining, and the Element Bearers were able to defeat it. Now, once again, it has returned, only this time, I fear that we cannot defeat it."

Now Shining looked very concerned. "Wait, what? Are you saying that he has the same kind of raw power that King Sombra had?"

"Yes. Only this raw power, comes once again from its original source."

"What? Ok, I'm really confused. Are you trying to say that I have the same kind of raw power that corrupted a ruler in the past? Are you saying that I will.....turn evil?" I was starting to get deeply concerned.

Cadence took up the story. "That's what we are afraid of, Captain Leopard. For even though we defeated Sombra, we now have evidence that suggested that pieces of him were sent to Earth, and led to the world wars that you all had to fight. We suspect that his armor ended up somewhere in a desert, while his horn, the part of him that we believe contains his spirit, ended up in a city somewhere around the year 2017. Over time, his horn was passed from one empire to the next, each time enabling its leaders to do terrible things. Eventually, it found its way to you Americans. Have you ever seen it, or this armor?" Cadence then showed me pictures of them.

I thought fast. "Um, well, no, not the armor....but that horn....yes! I have seen it before!"

"You did, where?"

"It was at a museum in St. Louis in 2027. We took it, and it was added to our war relics collection. From what I can remember, it was placed in another museum. I don't know what happened to it after that."

Luna frowned. "Research also indicates that the armor was found, and moved to a laboratory, most likely for testing. According to what Major Don told us before you arrived Captain, that armor found in the desert near the town of 'Roswell, New Mexico' in 2028, and was taken to a testing site called ‘Area 51’, where it was later stolen by enemy agents. Its current whereabouts are unknown."

As I was trying to think of something to say, Shining beat me to it. "So, you're saying that Sombra's evil spirit caused WW3, WW4, WW5, AND WW6?!"

Cadence nodded at her husband. "Yes, I'm afraid so Shiny. The Humans were fighting an evil that was not of their world. They did win, but at a terrible cost."

Celestia interrupted. "Yes, but that is why I called this private meeting today. We believe that while Sombra's spirit was roaming the Earth, he found a host to attach himself to.'' Here, she looked straight at me. "We believe that YOU, Captain Leopard, are the reborn King Sombra!"

Before I could even react to that, Shining had grabbed me by the throat, knocked me to the floor, beat my face in 3 times, before holding a knife to my throat! "Do you want me to kill him now?" He asked, his face filling with anger.

"GAAHH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING SHINY!?!?!" Cadence screamed.

"Don't you remember what HE did to us Cadence?! He wrecked my horn, and he drained YOUR magic! NOW HE'S BACK!!!!" He pointed to my features. "Look at him! Black mane and tail, dark grey ears, fangs, likes the dark, the SHADOWS!!!! HE HAS TO DIE!!!!"

Celestia was terrified for me. "NO, GENERAL, DON'T!!!!! HE is not Sombra! You're misunderstanding us! If you kill him, Sombra will still be alive!"

"Well then, who, or what, is this thing?!"

Celestia took a deep breath. "His name, is Captain Leopard. He is a human from the Planet Earth. During the fateful battle of Las Vegas, Sombra took advantage of his weakened state, and took control of him. From that moment on, Sombra became a part of him, but Captain Leopard IS NOT him!"

"So, does this mean that I DON'T have to die?!"

"YES!!!" All of the princesses cried. "LET HIM GO SHINING!"

Shining then let go of me, and let me be.

"Also, Sombra did NOT have wings, was NOT a human, did NOT have blue eyes, and most importantly, Captain Leopard CANNOT use magic! He is a Pegasus!"

Shining just looked at me with tears in his eyes. "I-I-I'm so......so, sorry", he whispered. "I.....don't know what came over me."

I pulled him into a hug. "It's not your fault Shining. You wanted to destroy what had caused you pain. You jumped at the first chance you had, just like we did with the Futas." I then turned to Celestia. "So, what does this mean for me in the long-run? Am I really Sombra reborn?"

The princesses looked at each other, and then shrugged. "That's what we are not fully certain of Captain. We know that you and Sombra are separate entities, but we do not know how closely you two are intertwined."

I was beginning to get a strange feeling that I now knew just who "Shadow" really was.

"This will take more time to research, and study. In the meantime though," Celestia continued, "You need to stay vigilant! Sombra already took advantage of you once, and now, he is a part of you. That is one of the reasons that your mane and tail are black, and your ears are grey, you are beginning to become like him physically. However, Cadence does believe that you have one thing going for you."

I was curious. "Oh? And what would that be?"

Cadence spoke up. "Your love for Rainbow Dash, plus her love for you! Together, that weakened Sombra, and may have corrupted him. Your love for each other is keeping him at bay. Never lose sight of what you love, and you may end up keeping him so weak that he will never rise again!"

With everything I had just heard, I felt like I just had the weight of two worlds dropped on my shoulders, and while everyone else was running away, they stopped just long enough to tell me that I was messed up, and I was on my own for fighting off my worst nightmare.

"I.....don't even know what to say right now. I just feel like I've had the weight of the world dropped on me. I don't even know how to BEGIN to come to terms with this!"

Shining placed a hand gently on my shoulder. "Well, Leopard, you still have friends with you in this fight. I'm still here, and so are Don, Alex, Jim, Todd, and all of the others. You're not alone in this fight. If Sombra wants to come back so badly, he just may find himself stuck with YOU for all eternity, trapped forever inside of you!"

"Shining, that thought is positively horrifying."

We continued to talk with the princesses about this for a few more minutes before Jim and Don were allowed back in so that we could discuss battle plans.

"Ok, so here's what we know." Don flipped a few switches, until the digital maps disappeared for a few moments, before a new section of the map appeared. "This is the Caribou Empire, the strongest fighting force in all of Equus. From what Intel we have, we know that their capital is located here", He pointed to it on the map, "In the city of Donneth."

"What are we looking at in terms of population and infrastructure?" Jim asked.

"Well, we're looking at a population of almost 20 million males. Females are exempt from the censuses, so we don't know how many of them there are. With infrastructure, we may run into some issues here. Everything that the Caribou do is related to their military. They're like the old Soviet Union. All cities have weapons factories, and unlike Zebrica, are self-sustaining! They have advanced power plants, hydroelectric dams, and possibly even solar and wind power! Their entire lands are massive military complexes, full of garrisons, fortresses, military training academies, military bases, and even, naval and air bases!"

"WHAT?!" Jim and I were shocked.

Shining nodded. "Yeah, they have their own navy, as well as a fleet of airships. Top of the line, all of them. Their ships can make up to 8 knots depending on the wind, and they have armor up to 2 inches thick! Their airships can also make 35mph, and are armed with arrow launchers, and have been used to drop bombs before. We have this kind of technology, but we've never used it like they have.

Don looked at Shining, and was about to laugh at him, but then he remembered that Equestrian technology, while sometimes close to what we had, could also be extremely behind us as well. "Well, I don't know how much of a problem that'll be for us, as we don't have ships, but we sure know how to destroy them! 2in. armor? Please! Our train has armor up to 6in. thick in some places! And airships? We have drones, and a gunship! 35mph? WAY too slow to evade from missiles, and even bullets. What kind of gas do they use to fly?"

Shining shrugged. "Well, if I had to guess, I'd say most likely hydrogen."

"Which is EXTREMELY flammable, and often explosive! We have incendiary rounds that could most likely take them down long before they even got into range! We also have the blueprints to show you guys how to make this stuff as well. If you can manufacture it, and field it in large quantities, then you will be helping to make a huge difference in this war."

"I certainly hope so, Major Don. These Caribou have been around for far too long! They need to learn more than just enslaving nations, and raping them into submission!"

"Which brings me to my next point General. They also seem to rely heavily on slave labor. They have slaves, as well as POW's and even political and military prisoners run the factories, dig the mines, and maintain everything. Their ideology is actually rather bizarre. Unlike the Zebras, they do enslave females, but they also enslave males as well. They believe that males are superior, and that females are their slaves. HOWEVER, instead of wanting to exterminate the Ponies, they want to live WITH the stallions! They want to spread their corrupt ideology to other nations. However, we also have reason to believe that there are actually a number of Caribous who are dissatisfied with their government. They don't want a militaristic society, but instead want to focus on domestic issues. To put it bluntly, they're land rich, but cash poor! Their entire economy only exists to fuel their massive war machine."

Jim scratched his head. "So, how do we defeat them?"

Don sighed. "VERY carefully! Unlike with the Zebras, not all of the Caribou are evil. They also have a large population of slaves, POW's, and other political prisoners who have obviously run afoul of a higher-up. Not all of them deserve to die. We will have to pick our targets carefully, and strike them strategically, so as to minimize casualties. This phase of the war will be heavy in ground warfare, as well as air warfare. We may also have to put the "battleship", back in Battleship Express, and actually sink some ships at their 2 naval bases!"

I nodded, sighing a bit. "One thing's for sure, this campaign will definitely be much different than our run at the Zebra Empire. I think long-gone are the days of just completely leveling a town with a nuclear strike, or even an artillery strike in general. It sounds like it'll be a lot of hit-and-runs until the Caribous start relocating the slaves to somewhere safe, before taking the gloves off to deal with us, assuming of course that they haven't done that already."

Don looked over the maps. "That's actually a very good point Leopard. We'll have to a little more reconnaissance when we get close, but for now, we need to prepare to head out for the Mysterious South, where the Caribou Empire is located. Once we're close to the Macintosh Hills again, then we can pause, and figure out what a good plan of attack will be."

I then looked at the maps. "But, who will stay here and hold Zebrica?"

Shining looked up. "They're sending in troops from Canterlot. They'll get the job done. They'll be arriving by 3pm this afternoon."

"Ok, that should work."

While we waited for those troops to arrive, we all got to work on preparing the train for use once again.

"3,345,786 miles." I muttered, "All on one locomotive! It's a miracle that she's held together for this long!"

Alex was stoking up the fires next to me. "No kidding! This old girl's been our true warhorse! However, something that Joe and Frank told me a little bit earlier sounded odd, and I just can't get it out of my mind."

I looked at him curiously. "Oh? And what was that?"

"They told me that one of the plates on the firebox had seemingly been ripped off last night! They did a full inspection with an engineering team, but no explosives, or evidence of sabotage were found. Frank thought that it may have just rattled loose."

I looked away from Alex. I had a pretty good idea of how THAT had happened, but I didn't want to say anything. It's not every day that some dead king comes back, and lives inside you, and I kinda enjoyed having Shadow/Sombra around, plus I didn't want to be executed, or sound like I finally snapped, so I decided to not say anything at all.

Also just before our trip out of Zebrica, we made a few alterations to the train. From various points, the tails of dead Zebras were mounted, as were some hooves, and even hides in a few cases. A few Caribou antlers from the battles of Ponyville and Las Pegasus were also mounted to the front of the boiler. The words "Big Boy" were repainted on the boiler face in Zebra blood, and then, last but not least, we all turned our attention to the storage car in the back. The time had come to see Zakia again.

As a few of us walked, Dan finally decided to ask his question. "Um, Major Don?"

"Yes Private Dan?"

"Um....I was wondering. Are the stories about the capture of General Jasmine true? I mean, I know that she was captured in the Battle of St. Louis, but was she really treated like a sex toy in the same car where we now hold Zakia?"

Don sighed. "Yes Private, the stories are indeed true. Not the proudest moment for those who were involved, but yes, Jasmine was really turned into a sex-toy."

Dan stared. For several years, he had been told the stories, but now he had confirmation that they were indeed true.

A few moments later, we arrived at the car.

"Ok, open it up." Don ordered.

The car's door was opened, and when it did, the smell of sex from within was almost overwhelming. It was so strong, that those who entered the car had to wear gas masks. They then untied Zakia, and drug him out of the car, before placing him on the ground.

Some of us were absolutely disgusted with what we saw. Zakia was seemingly no more. Apparently, some of the guys had used some Zebra potions against him. His mane was longer, and hung down his shoulders, his body was thicker, and curvier, and he now had breasts as well. His dick had shrunk to almost nothing, and some makeup had been crudely applied to his face. He looked like a femboi, but a very crudely executed one.

It looked right back at us. "So, what now?" He asked in a cracked voice.

"Well, first of all, we have to clean you up, and then you're going right back to prison. You're staying right here so that we can watch you every second. I hope that you've enjoyed your stay with us, 'Jazzi" as I don't think that you'll be leaving anytime soon!"

To our surprise, Zakia said nothing. However, he was taken to the nearest body of water, scrubbed down, and the car itself was cleaned, and decontaminated, before Zakia was placed back inside. He was also given food and water bowls, as well as a sort of bed on the floor, as well as some 'toys'; just like we had done to Jasmine before him. Cameras were located all around so that he could be watched at all times.

Just before I left to go back to the engine though, Shining stopped me. "Hey Leopard, where's the sign up sheet for Jazzi?"

"Um, what sign up sheet?"

Shining motioned down to the bulge in his pants. I was a bit shocked. "Um, wow Shining, I...um didn't know that you swung that way! Plus, aren't you married?"

He smirked. "Yeah, but after talking it over with Cadence, she told me that I could. Plus, I still need to pay him out for what he did to Twily!"

I shrugged. "Sure, go for it. I don't care. Just tell the guards that you're going in, and they'll let you."

"Great! Do you wanna come?"

I shook my head. "Nah, I don't swing that way."

"Oh yeah, that's right. You're only into mares..........and pet wolves!"

"HEY!!! Uncalled for!"

He smirked. "Sorry Bro, had to happen!"

"Just......get in there, do your 'business', clean up, and get back. Those troops will be here in less than 1 hour, and then we leave for the Macintosh Hills!"

He nodded, and then I went back to the engine.

Sure enough, less than an hour later, the requested troops did indeed arrive. Once they were all set in their new role, (with a few of our own Battalion 4009 soldiers staying behind to both help them, and tend to our wounded, our train was once again on the move. It's destination for now just the Macintosh Hills, but ultimately, it was Donneth, the Caribou's capital city. Few Caribou knew what lay ahead for them, just as few really knew the inner conflict I was dealing with. Eventually, our paths would cross with the Caribou, and on that day, blood would be shed!

Author's Note

Well, here is is, Chapter 16! Sorry for it being a little bit late, it took longer to write than I originally believed that it would. So now we're about to take the war to the Caribou Empire. What'll happen when we do? It was stated that the battles were going to be tougher, as not only were the Caribous better equipped for combat, but there was seemingly a large number of slaves, POW's, and political prisoners to take care of as well. How will that go? Will we ever be able to reach Dash, and the others before they go completely insane?

And what about Sombra? Will he really return, or will he just be stuck inside of me? What is HIS endgame plan? Will I be able to overcome him, or, am I really just Sombra reborn? Well, you know the drill, stay tuned, and I'll tell you!

As always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 17!

ScarFox out for now!

(Also, in this chapter, I hinted at Sombra's spirit possibly being gay for me. What are you all's thoughts on this? I'd like to hear what you think of the relationship between me and him.)
(And if you hated it, don't worry, I have a plan to fix it if it goes wrong. Right now, that part could go one of two ways. It all depends on what you guys think.)

Chapter 17: Enemy Panic, A New Ally, Final Night

Ever since the video call, Danin went from extremely shocked, to extremely paranoid, although with time, his paranoia began to turn into anger.

"The Caribou Empire is MINE!!!!! Not his!!!! He will NEVER, take it away from me!"

Suddenly though, the whole palace began to shake, as if an earthquake was underway.

"Whoa! What was that?! Are we under attack?!"

Stuggs grabbed his communicator, and after talking with various Caribou for a few minutes, he shook his head. "No Sir, we are not under attack. I've just checked in with each and every town, city, village, and settlement, and no enemy activity has been reported."

"Well then, what was that?!"

"According to what I was told, many other parts of our empire felt those vibrations as well. From the data that has been gathered, it appears to have been a rather strong earthquake that just occurred in the southern end of the now ex-Zebra Empire."

"Any casualties, collateral damage?"

"On our end, no Sir. However, from our easternmost outpost, Serpentine Gate, they had something very strange to report."

"Oh, and what was that?"

Stuggs looked rather worried. "Well Sir, according to their report, and this same report came from General Rodin himself, they said that from the former Zebra Territory, they saw a series of massive, mushroom-shaped clouds of fire and smoke. A team was being sent out to investigate, but they had to turn back."

"Why? Why did they turn back?"

"Because of the intense heat, as well as symptoms that suggested early stages of The Burned Sickness!"

Now Danin was more than just worried. He knew just how deadly "The Burned Sickness" was. (The Burned Sickness was a term coined by the Caribou to describe radiation poisoning. In the past, a number of Caribou, either by failed experiments, or by venturing too close to a region that we would later discover contained vast quantities of Uranium, were infected by radiation poisoning, sometimes fatally. They had no real idea how to treat it, (although a few rudimentary methods did seem to at least help), and as such, "The Sickness" was the most feared disease in the Caribou Empire).

"How....much were they exposed?"

"Our estimates put their amount of exposure as being non-fatal, but they will most likely experience some health issues later on down the line. They will be treated for The Burned Sickness."

"And what of the Zebra Empire? What happened there? Did they commit mass suicide, or was it the enemy?"

Stuggs frowned. "It.....was the enemy, Sir. They threatened to level the rest of the Zebra Empire with a massive attack to show us what was in store for us should we continue to resist them. Now they actually went and did it!"

Danin sat back on his throne. "So, what....would you recommend, General?"

Stuggs looked up at his King. He knew that what he was about to say could get him killed, but if it meant saving lives, then it was worth it. "Well Sir, if it were me, I would IMMEDIATELY return their hostages to them, in exchange for them coming to the table for bargaining. I don't say that we outright surrender, but yet, if they just did THAT to the Zebra Empire, and threatened to do it again, and they conquered the ENTIRE Zebra Empire in less than a week and a half, and are poised to do the same to us, I'd say that we do it! We give them their hostages back, in exchange for a plea bargain; we back off our aggression, and they don't invade us. I see it as being a win-win."

Danin then looked down at Stuggs. He knew that he was a competent, and capable officer. He had faced the Humans once, and although he lost, he did not have very good advantages. If what he was saying was indeed true, and there was a way to avoid outright invasion, then he knew that he should take it. On the other hand though, he knew that the Humans could not be trusted. They would watch his empire like hawks, just waiting for any signs of aggression, so that they could take action.

"I appreciate your input General, but I have to say no deal. We will prepare for war!"

Stuggs was astounded. "But SIR!!!! We CANNOT even HOPE to stand against them!!!! You saw what they did to the Zebras in just a week and a half! They are LETHAL killers! Our best hope right now is to surrender the hostages, and get the Humans to the bargaining table! Just contact General Rodin, I know that he believes the same way!"

"I will!" Danin then grabbed his communicator. "General Rodin, come in please!"

Rodin picked up. "Rodin here Sir."

"General, the time has come to prepare for the Humans's invasion. With the Zebras no longer with us, we, and whatever allies we have left, stand alone now. Now we have all of the leeway we need to wage a proper war."

"Um, Sir, I don't think that that's a good idea. After what we've just seen out here, our best option is to either surrender to them, or to give them what they want. All the Humans want are their hostages back. If my calculations are correct, our best option is to offer them the hostages back, in EXCHANGE for their solemn word not to invade our empire. It's the only way, My King. We cannot stand against them. They have just WIPED the ENTIRE ZEBRA RACE from existence, AND ARE PREPARED TO DO IT AGAIN TO US!!!!! Please My King, I am BEGGING YOU, DO NOT CONTINUE THIS WAR!!!!! It is one we CANNOT win!"

Danin put a hand over his face. "Great, so now I have King Sombra's return, coupled with two officers who would rather surrender than fight to protect our Empire! Just GREAT!!!! I would have both of you EXECUTED, but alas, you have no available replacements. What we need to do right now is move the slaves out of harm's way. They represent a TREMENDOUS investment to our empire, and will not be easily replaced. They must be moved out of the frontier, away from the military bases, and more towards the interior. Those areas MUST be willing to use ANY AND ALL MEANS NECESSARY to repel the invasion when it does come! Do you understand that?"

Rodin nodded. "Yes, it shall be done immediately, My King!" Rodin then signed off.

"You see General Stuggs, all it takes is the right motivation. Now we can repel the Humans quickly, and with very little collateral damage to our supply of slaves."

Now Stugss was extremely worried. "But Sir, doesn't that just give the enemy......."

"A chance to face a REAL army?" Danin interrupted. "Yes General, it most certainly does!"

"No Sir, I mean that without the slaves, won't the enemy......"

"Have a harder time fighting us? Yes, they will!"

Now Stuggs was getting desperate. "Sir, PLEASE stop interrupting me! What I mean is, that without the slaves, or POW workforce in those areas, won't they just....."

"SILENCE!!!!" Danin roared. "Maybe you are forgetting your place, GENERAL! It is I who am in charge here, NOT YOU! Now, unless you want to experience TRUE PAIN, then I suggest you get to work on preparing fortifications for our Western Front. Rodin is already taking care of the Eastern Front."

Stuggs was devastated. He knew that arguing with Danin further was a death sentence, but yet if he did what he was told, then he knew that what had just been done to the Zebras would be done to them too.

"Because without our slaves to act as a buffer, what's stopping them from taking off their gloves, and just doing again to us what they did to the Zebras?"

To Danin though, all he said was, "As you have willed it, My King, it shall be done!" He then rose, and left the room.

Danin narrowed his eyes. "That FOOL of an officer! Who does he think that he is, interrupting me like that?!" Danin continued to plan, completely unaware of where his Hitler-like actions were leading his empire.

Down below in the harem chamber, a single Caribou opened the door, and walked inside. Behind him, he was dragging a wagon with food in it.

"Ok My Lovelies", He said in a gentle voice, "It's dinner time! Who's hungry?"

Most of the slaves cheered, and got as close to him as they could. Cole just stared at him. He was a young Caribou, didn't have a full rack of antlers yet, and he seemed to be a servant, instead of a soldier. Cole had never seen him before.

The Caribou then went from one side of the room to the other, filling up food bowls, refilling water bowls, and giving a few pets, hugs, and kind words to any who wanted them. Cole also noticed that not once did the Caribou make any kind of sexual advances on any of the slaves. In fact, he didn't seem to be turned on by them at all.

"Strange", Cole muttered. "Who is this guy, and why isn't he acting like a Caribou?"

Eventually, he came to him, Missy, Dash, and Pinkie. When he did, he stopped. "Oh wow. So it is really true that they captured a Human! I never thought that I'd get a chance to see you. What's your name?"

"None of your damn business!" Cole spat.

The Caribou recoiled a bit, but he made no moves to do anything. "Hey, that wasn't very nice! All I did was ask you your name!"

"Yeah? And those kind of questions usually have a dick, a slap, or any other kind of abuse at the end of them! So touch me, and I bite your leg off!"

The Caribou nodded. "Yeah, I can completely see where you're coming from. Most of the others are like that, wanting to rape, and cause pain. Not me though. I never wanted to be a warrior, I actually wanted to be a blacksmith! But no, sadly I couldn't because I wasn't strong enough physically. So they made me a servant here at King Danin's palace. Today was my day to come and feed the harem. Although why King Danin would have a Human male in his harem is quite beyond me!"

Cole looked at him strangely. "Um, I'm not a harem slave, I'm a hostage. So are Dash and Pinkie." He pointed to them.

"Oh, wow. I never would have guessed. Mostly POW's were sent to labor camps. I guess that because you're a Human, you were seen as a valuable bargaining chip. Also, my name is Winston."

"I'm Cole. Private Cole, of Battalion 4009."

"Nice to meet you Cole, and what did you guys want to eat tonight? We've got lettuce, some carrots, beets......at least I THINK that these are beets, and some cucumbers."

"Um, nothing thanks. 9 times out of 10 our food is drugged, and on the 10th time they usually jizzed all over it!"

Winston looked sick. "Like I've said before, I'm NOT like the others! I HATE what my Empire has become! I absolutely DESPISE King Danin, and everything that he stands for! This entire empire is going down the toilet, and nobody cares! All they care about is conquering new territory, and enslaving the population! BASTARDS, all of them!"

Cole was shocked. "Um, wow Winston, you know that that most likely constitutes as high treason, right?"

"Yeah, so why do you think I'm telling you guys? You're slaves too. You wouldn't rat on me, and even if you did, nobody would ever believe you! Also, I made all of this food myself, and I didn't drug it, or jizz on it, and I made sure that nobody else did either, so it's safe!"

They all decided to risk it, and upon request, Winston made them sort of salads. To their surprise, everything tasted fairly normal. Even Winston himself ate some, most likely to prove that it was safe.

After he refilled their water dishes, he said, "You know, I like you guys. You're all pretty cool. Know right now that even if this entire empire seems out to get you, you have a friend here. And I need you guys, because I need your help!"

Dash looked at him curiously. "Wait, you need OUR help? Why?"

"You mean you didn't hear the news?"

Cole shook his head. "Um, no, we don't get any news down here."

Winston looked a bit pale. "Your friends on the Black Leviathan just leveled the Zebra Empire! It is now no more, and now they're poised to invade the Caribou Empire as well! I DO NOT want to die! They said that they were going to wipe us out! You guys have to help me! YOU'RE the ones that they're after! I've gotten myself assigned to feeding you guys so that I can stay close to you. One word from you could be enough to spare my life."

Now Cole and the others were more than just shocked. Here was a Caribou actually BEGGING them to save his life from the Humans!

Cole thought about it. "Well", He said at last, "Prove your worth to us, and then yes, we will help you, by all means!"

Winston looked a bit confused. "Um, how do I do that?"

"Just do what you're currently doing; prove to us that you're different from THEM! If you do not, or if we find out that you LIED to us, may God have Mercy upon you, for my comrades will have none!"

Winston nodded. "Um, y-yes, Cole, I'll do that! I want to live, so I'll keep helping you!"

Cole nodded. "Good. Also, you're job description now includes keeping the sadistic ones away from us. We're not allowed to be touched sexually, as we are hostages, but certain brutes like Rakk and Bann have both physically abused us, and have forced us to perform sexual acts on each other."

Now Winston looked angry. "Yes, those two are traitorous leeches! They often have evil thoughts against those in power over them, such as my uncle, General Stuggs. They HATE him!"

"Wait, General Stuggs? As in, leader of the Caribou forces in the Battle of Ponyville?"

Winston nodded. "Yes, the very same one. And I don't know what I can do about those two, or any of the others though. I'm not the strongest Caribou ever, and I'm not a warrior. My uncle wanted me to be, but I just couldn't meet the benchmarks."

Cole sighed. "Well it was worth a shot, I suppose. I guess that we can survive, with your help anyway."

Winston nodded. "Yeah, hopefully. I want this war to end, as do many others. It's draining our already oftentimes strained resources. The sooner the Black Leviathan attacks, the sooner the war is to ending."

They all continued to talk about this for a little while longer, before Winston had to leave and take care of his other duties, leaving them all alone with their thoughts for a while, promising that he would see them again soon.

Meanwhile, a number of miles away, the sun was beginning to set over the Macintosh Hills when the Black Leviathan arrived just outside of Appaloosa again. Captain Fur, and the rest of Desert Battalion, as well as the rest of the townsfolk were very glad to see us again, and even more happy that the Zebras were never going to be a threat to them ever again.

"Serves them right!", Fur spat. "You mess with the wrong Ponies, you get f@#ked up!"

"That's right!" Don agreed. "So now that just leaves the Caribou. We will attack very soon, but first we need to send over a reconnaissance drone to see what we're up against."

Don then ordered the drone crew to send up two stealth drones, and see how close they could get them to the Caribou without them being spotted. (Stealth drones are typically used at night, since they are painted black. They also contain special mufflers to mask the noise of their engines. They are very difficult to see, and VERY hard to detect!)

Once the drones were sent up, they were flown off west, with their operators following their every move by camera. I decided to head back to my room to add another entry or so to my data logs. Aurora came with me.

As I was sitting there at my desk though, DELCI suddenly piped up. "Master, incoming video call addressed to you! Priority 2!"

I was surprised. "Huh? A video call? Where's it coming from DELCI?"

"It's coming from Cloudsdale, or somewhere close by. Shall I patch it through?"

I nodded. "Yes, I'll take it on my screen here!" I then flipped up my video screen, and Aurora jumped up close to me so that she could see too. "It's probably Rainbow Dash's parents asking for an update." I muttered, trying to figure out what to say to them.

However, I was in for a surprise. Just as the call connected, I saw that it was from the Wonderbolt Academy! Instead of Rainbow Dash's parents, I found myself face to face with none other than Spitfire herself!

She was wearing her standard academy officer uniform, and was tapping the screen. "Hey, is this thing on? Did it connect?"

"Yes, it connected. Hello Captain Spitfire."

"And the same to you, Captain Leopard. Oh, and you can just call me Spitfire."

I nodded. "Just as you can either call me Captain, or Leopard, take your pick."

"Oh wow, you really do wear a fox mask. No wonder the enemy calls you 'Commander Fox-Face!'"

I chuckled a bit. "Yeah, I never really go anywhere without my trusty Kitsune mask. It's a staple part of my uniform."

Spitfire then noticed Aurora. "Aww, your dog's really cute! What's his name? Or is it a she?"

I smiled. "Oh, this is Aurora. She's my pet wolf."

"Wow, A WOLF?! And is she the one we heard about who has her own battle armor, and helped defend Ponyville?"

Aurora barked. "Yep, that was me! 'Killer in Armor', that's my code-name!"

"Wait, you can TALK too?"

Aurora nodded. "Yep! Before my Master found me, I was a prototype for the next generation of military dogs. I was given the ability to talk, among other genetic enhancements. It all ended when I was the only survivor of my entire base though, but let's not talk about that!"

"Yes, let's not!" I then took over from Aurora. "Anyway, you called me for a reason I assume, so what can I do for you Spitfire?"

Spitfire suddenly seemed to get very nervous. She kept seeming like she was going to say something, but then she didn't.

Finally though, she said, "Um.....gosh, this is going to be a lot harder than I thought........oh boy, um.....well, let me ask this first. How close are you to finding Rainbow Dash?"

I sighed. "We're preparing for our invasion of the Caribou Empire right now. No readout yet on when it will happen, but it will be soon."

"Just.....please Leopard, bring her home safely! She's one of the best flyers that the Wonderbolts have had in a long time. When I heard that she was taken, I was devastated. All of us were."

I nodded. "As was I Spitfire. She's my marefriend after all. I would do anything for her."

Here Spitfire looked at me strangely though. "That's..... the thing Leopard........I'm kinda getting the feeling that Dash didn't tell you, or if she did, she didn't tell you the full story."

I cocked my head a bit in confusion. "Wait. What now? Dash didn't tell me what? What are you saying?"

Spitfire was blushing a bit, and she had both of her hands over her face.

"What is it Spitfire? I have to know! Plus, we really don't have all night out here. Anytime now the recon drones could come back, and we could have the signal to attack for all I know. Please tell me!"

Spitfire finally looked up at me. "Ok, here's the scoop Leopard. Please DO NOT freak out! I'm sure that Dash would have told you about this eventually, once she was ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that she could trust you!"

"TELL. ME. WHAT?!?!?!" My patience was running about as thin as a piece of piano wire. "Please stop beating around the bush! JUST TELL ME ALREADY!!!!"

"ALRIGHT, FINE!!!!!" She then sighed. "The truth is......Dash wasn't being completely honest with you. What you heard the first time around was correct, I am indeed Dash's marefriend."

I was devastated. "She......LIED TO ME!!!!!!" I was upset, and scared. "She CHEATED on YOU, with ME?!?!?! OH JEEZUMS!!!!!" I then became very angry. "Well then, if she wants to play both sides of the fence like that, the Caribou can KEEP her sorry ass! She really is a rainbow-freak!"

I was about to hang up, but then Spitfire interrupted. "WAIT, NO!!!! LEOPARD, IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!!!! PLEASE HEAR ME OUT!!!!"

I didn't listen, but before I could hang up, Aurora lightly bit my hand, preventing me from ending the call. Spitfire knew that she was going to have to talk fast.

"Dash and I kinda had a sort of, 'on and off' relationship. Sometimes we were close, sometimes we were apart. HOWEVER, then came the night Dash met you. I've never seen her as happy as she was with you. You two are PERFECT for each other!"

I went from being angry, back to being extremely confused. "Ok, so then why are you even telling me this?"

"Because 2 years ago, just before the war began, Dash and I were in an argument. Neither of us would back down, so we decided to race over it. I said that if Dash beat me, then I would be her personal pet. Dash, being the usual hothead she can be, decided to up the stakes. She said that if she won, then I would be the slave for her future coltfriend. I told her that she was insane, and the stakes kept rising, until finally it was decided that the winner would find a husband, and then share him with the loser, who would marry him too, and whoever won would be the head-mare in the relationship. We both even signed a contract in our own blood, so neither of us could back down from it if we lost. Long story short, we went for it, and Dash won by a hairsbreadth.

So now, this leaves us in the present. I take it from your reaction that Dash never told you about this at all. Most likely, she was saving it until the war ended, but I see the need to be fully honest with you, and tell you now. If you marry Dash, you get a combo-deal; you also get me as a wife as well. Two mares to be yours forever. And yes, we talked it over, and we both want foals of our own sometime down the line as well."

When Spitfire told me all of this, I was in such a state of shock that I literally fainted!

"Oh shit! DELCI!!!!"

"Yeah Aurora?"

"Find the Boss! Leopard may or may not have just had a heart attack!"

"Oh shit! ON IT!!!!" DELCI then immediately left to go find Don.

"Is....is he dead?! DID HE REALLY JUST HAVE A HEART ATTACK?!?!?!" Spitfire was terrified.

Aurora turned to look at her. "Eh, well, I'm not sure actually, as I’m a wolf, not a medic. Most likely though, he just fainted, but when you have a system like the one he has, it never hurts to err on the side of caution!"

A minute or so later, Don burst into the room, followed by two medics. "WHAT'S GOING ON IN HERE?!?!?!" He then saw me lying on the floor next to my chair. "WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM?!?!?!?"

"Um, well, he was having a chat with Captain Spitfire about something relating to Dash, and then she dropped a bomb, and he just fell over! I'm not sure if he's just fainted, or actually did have a heart attack, but I'm a wolf, not a medic, so I had DELCI call you!"

The medics then turned to me, while Don turned to the screen. "Um, Captain Spitfire, I presume?"

She nodded. "Yes, and I'm terribly sorry about what just happened. I thought that he could handle what I had to talk to him about. Evidently not!"

"What....did you talk to him about?"

"Um.....well......" Spitfire then repeated what she told me. "......So that's where everything currently stands. I wanted to tell that to him, and I did, but then he flipped out, and may have just had a heart attack!"

When Spitfire said that, what happened to me could have easily happened to Don. He did manage to maintain consciousness, but only just. He slumped into my desk chair, wide-eyed, and was sweating a bit. He kept opening his mouth like he was going to say something, but he never did.

Eventually, one of the medics looked up. "Um, Captain Leopard will be ok. He never had a heart attack, but instead just passed out from extreme shock. He should be coming around here before too long....." The medic then noticed Don. "Um, are you alright Sir?"

Don was muttering incoherently. "Two mares for one stallion......that's a recipe for disaster!.......Huh? What? Did you say my name?"

"Um, yes. Are you feeling alright? You looked pretty pale a few moments ago."

Don nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just....um....was a little startled by something, is all. Anyway, how is Captain Leopard?"

"He's ok, just suffering from an extreme case of shock. Whatever happened just before we arrived caused him to pass out. Any idea what it was?"

Don nodded. "Yes, but it's a personal matter between Captain Leopard and Captain Spitfire. It's not up for discussion."

The medics shrugged. "Ok, sure." They then left my room, although Don stayed behind until I regained consciousness.

A few moments after this, I finally began to stir, as Aurora began to lick my face. "Huh.......what.....happened?" I then looked up at Aurora. "Oh, hey girl."

"I'm glad that you're ok Master. You sure gave us a real scare!"

I sat up. "Yeah, tell me about it! Just like the scare Spitfire gave me! Speaking of which, is that call still going?"

"Um, yes, I'm still here Leopard."

Just as I was climbing back into my chair, I noticed Don for the first time. "Oh, hey Don. I take it that you came here too?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I came as soon as I heard from DELCI, who heard it from Aurora that you'd apparently had a heart attack, or something. And when I asked Captain Spitfire about why that happened, the answer almost made me faint as well! Anyway, I'll be going now." He turned to leave.

"Ok Don, and have DELCI give me the alert when the drones come back."

"Ok, will do."

He left, and then I turned back to the screen. "Ok, now THAT took WAY longer than I expected it to. Anyway, where did we leave off? Oh yeah, what made me black out. Do any parents know about your little wager?"

"What do you think? Hell no! My mom would flip out, and if I had to guess, I'd say that Dash's parents would freak out too! But what about you? What would your parents think?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, my parents have been dead for years. However, if they were still here, they most likely wouldn't like it. And that's what I really don't understand. Why are you two still willing to go through with that? Plus, is polyamory even LEGAL in Equestria?"

"We signed a legal contract IN OUR OWN BLOOD! Foolish yes, but 100% iron-clad. If you wanted to marry Dash, then you would have to sign that contract as well, in which case you would also be able to have my hand in marriage as well. Also, yes, polyamory is legal, but it's extremely rare. In fact, I can't really even think of any cases of it off the top of my head, but I do know that it's legal, as Dash and I did some research after our little race."

I was still stunned. "I'm.....going to need some serious time to think about this. This isn't a decision that I can just make overnight. I know that Dash's parents wanted me to marry her, but beyond that, I would REALLY have to give this some thought! I don't know if I can live with 2 wives!"

Spitfire laughed a bit. "Sure, take all of the time you need! I know that this is a huge decision for you. I also know that I really don't know you too well, but I'm hoping that that could change once the war is over. I know that you, Dash and I could be really happy together."

I sighed. "Like I said, I'm going to need some serious time to think about this. This is a life-changing decision, so I definitely need time to think about it!"

"And like I said, take all of the time that you need. Well, it is getting late, and I have things to attend to, so I'll leave you to think for the time being. It was nice talking to you Leopard."

"Yeah, and it was nice talking to you too Spitfire. We'll have to do it again sometime. I'll also do the best I can to keep you updated on our progress."

She nodded. "Ok, that would be great. Talk to you later."

"Goodbye."

"Bye." The call then ended.

Once it was over, I looked over at Aurora. "Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into this time?"

She shrugged. "I don't know Master. It seems like you were caught in the crossfire of a dick-waving contest gone bad. I mean hell, if it got so bad that they signed a contract IN THEIR OWN BLOOD vowing to share a husband, how much crazier can it get than that?"

I shrugged. "Not too much crazier, I can tell you that!"

Aurora and I continued to talk about this for a while longer, until I got the word from DELCI that the drones were coming back.

Once they were both safely back on the train, I was summoned to a meeting in the PCC.

"So what did the drones find?" Don asked.

One of the pilots pointed to a map. "From what we could tell, our drones were never spotted. We flew maybe 100 miles into the Caribou Empire, and maybe 50 miles north, and another 50 miles south before we had to turn back. What we found was very unusual. There seems to be a mass exodus of slaves going on."

"What? A mass exodus of slaves?"

The pilot nodded. "Yes Sir. The Caribou appear to be evacuating them as we speak."

Don thought about that. "Most likely they know that an attack is coming, and they're trying to minimize casualties. Also, any ideas on a good point of entry?"

The pilot pointed to a narrow gorge. "Right here. 'Hell's Gate', as it's come to be called, is somewhat sparsely defended. The train line that runs through it seems to be abandoned, although we do believe that it may be rigged with mines. From there, the nearest town is Marrow, located here in the Eastern Quadrant. Population, maybe 300,000. The town seems to be a military industrial site."

Don nodded. "Good work boys. You've done us a great service by showing us what lies ahead. Thank you."

"You're welcome Sir."

Don then turned to the rest of us, including me and Shining. "Well, now we at least have a general idea of what lies ahead, now we need to send in a scouting force. They will see what's what, as well as disable any booby-traps that the enemy may have left for us. Then we hold here for maybe a day, and then at night, we attack, and see about taking Marrow."

We all agreed to this. "Sounds like a good plan to me Don. Will I be leading a scout force?"

Don shook his head. "Unfortunately, no Leopard, you won't. Due to your recently having been 'compromised', you will need to remain with the train until you can get it under control."

I knew what that meant. With Sombra still a part of me, I was unable to do my job, at least for the time being. I was upset, but I did respect Don's wishes. I knew that I was going to see action though, it was just a matter of where, and when.

Author's Note

Ok, that was Chapter 17. Hang on, from Chapter 18 onward, comes more battle scenes. Battles that will decide the fate of Equestria, once, and for all! Will we succeed in our mission in rescuing the hostages? When will the Caribou decide to call it quits? How will the battles play out, especially when we're dealing with airships, and even regular warships? How many will die?

Also, what about this new development with Spitfire? Will I marry Dash, AND her? What will their parents think about this? Will I actually be living with 2 wives? Well, you know the drill, stay tuned, and you'll find out!

Meanwhile, as always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 18!

ScarFox out for now!

(Also, I'd like to hear what you guys think about this new development with Spitfire. This was something that flew back and forth in my head ever since I began to write this story. Sometimes I thought Yes, sometimes I thought No. What do you think? Could it work? Could Leopard, Dash, and Spitfire really create a family together, and if so, what could that look like?)

Chapter 18: There's Something out There...... (Part 1)

After the final briefings had been given, the time had come once again to move out. We all boarded the train, and with me driving once again, we all got ready to leave.

"Hey DELCI, cue the music!" Don called.

"Right Away Boss!" DELCI then put the track in.

We all worked in time to the music.

"High ho Big Boy", I muttered, before pushing the throttle forwards.

The train then began moving forwards. Our destination, Hell's Gate, was close to the northernmost border of the Caribou Empire. It was also believed to be sparsely guarded, and although we did confirm the suspicion of the train tacks concealing mines, those could be quickly taken care of. The sun was going down on the Caribou Empire, and for some areas, it would never rise again.

The next hour was incredibly tense. We all knew that we could be discovered at any time. However, we also knew that the enemy had no ideas of our whereabouts.

"For all they know, we could be anywhere, so we HAVE to use that to our advantage!" Don told us.

The plan was for us to strike Hell's Gate in the dead of night, and then take Marrow by storm. Some of us would take the city, while others would spread out through the surrounding areas, wreaking as much havoc as we could. We knew from the recon drones that all of the slaves, as well as most, if not all of the POW's, and political prisoners, had been evacuated farther inland. Why this was done remained a mystery to us, (at least at the time) as wouldn't the most logical thing to do be to keep them close at hand to PREVENT our attacking?

"Well, each to his own. Plus, it's their loss, and our gain. I have a good feeling about tonight boys. I have this strong feeling that this war, will take a whole new direction starting tonight!"

What none of us realized at the time though, was just how right Don was about this. Little did we even suspect what lay ahead for us, and how much of an impact it would have on the war as a whole.

At nearly 10pm, we reached our starting point, which was at the base of a large boulder field. We then shut off all the lights on the train, and made it as little noticeable as possible. From where we were standing, using telescopes and binoculars, we could see Hell's Gate, which was one of the Easternmost entrances to the Caribou Empire. We knew from our research that the gate itself was mounted into the high walls of the gorge that it stood at the mouth of. All around it were believed to be enemy positions.

Don then looked at the team that was to be the first wave. After much debating, Don did allow me to go along, but ONLY on the condition that I be responsible. "Don't do anything that I wouldn't do!"

He then looked at us. "Ok boys, you know your mission. Get to Hell's Gate, neutralize all enemy forces around it, WITHOUT setting off any alarms, and then open the gate for us! Your job also involves finding ALL of the mines, and any other explosive traps that the enemy has laid out for us on or near the tracks, as well as any and all enemies that are in this area. Do you think that you can handle this?"

I saluted. "We will do our best Don. You can count on us!"

Don then gave me one last look. "And Leopard?"

"Yeah?"

"Please, keep Sombra in check. I don't care how, but just do it!"

I nodded. "Yeah, I will. Thanks for the advice Don."

He nodded slowly. "Ok then, good luck boys. Just radio back when you're all done." Don then stepped back onto the train, and closed the door, and the area all around us was plunged into darkness. This would have been a problem, except that we all had almost perfect night-vision, thanks to either Human-wolf, or Human-Bat-Pony genetics.

"Ok boys, you know the drill, let's go!" I then led the way over to the edge of the boulder field.

Once we'd arrived there, we used our binoculars to check the area. From what we could tell, the gate itself almost seemed to be made up of a series of stairs, ladders, and catwalks that went from the bottom, to the top. Using our infrared scanners, we also detected a number of enemy troops present as well.

"How are we going in?" Someone signaled me.

"We go in, by first sniping all of the bad guys that we can see, and then once we're up to the gate, we climb up those ladders, and find the rest of the enemies. After they've all been neutralized, then we get onto the other side, and start clearing out the rest of the explosives that would hinder or damage our train. Do you guys have all of that?"

They all nodded. "Affirmative Sir! Just lead the way, and we'll follow you!"

"Ok then. All snipers, get your rifles, attach the silencers, then pick a target, take them out, and repeat, until we run out of targets. Are you ready?" I pulled out my own rifle, while the other 3 snipers did likewise.

"Ready Sir!"

"Ok, then, let's do this!"

We all then took aim, and fired.

From what we could tell later, all of the Caribou stationed on Hell's Gate died fairly painlessly. One minute they were standing tall, and then the next, they had a hole in somewhere vital, which ended their lives. One after another, they all began to fall down dead. Some of them even fell over the railings, and off of the gate itself! A few minutes later, it was all over.

"Targets neutralized Sir! Shall we proceed?"

I nodded. "Stick to the shadows, as they are our friends. Stay out of sight, and after we get to the gates, we figure out what to do next."

They all nodded, and we pressed forwards. We were about 50 yards away from the gate, sneaking along the shadows close to the railroad tracks. Luckily for us, the moon was hidden behind clouds that night, thus masking us from our enemies even more. All of us were dressed in either black, or extremely dark blue, but still, whatever other protection from the light was most welcomed!

We crossed those 50 yards with extreme caution, watching for any signs of enemy activity. There didn't seem to be any, and we continued to press on. Once we reached the base of the gates themselves, we made an interesting discovery. The gates worked like two gigantic doors, and would have to be opened by two massive generators that operated both doors. Leaving the generators alone for the time being, we all climbed up the gates using the ladders, stairs, and catwalk platforms, and after reaching the tops, we walked along the catwalks up there, (which were a good 200 feet or so off of the ground!) and made our way over to the tops of the gorge on either side.

After clearing all of these to the ends of the gorge, we all took a moment to admire the view. Off in the distance to our left, we all could see city lights.

"Hey, is that Marrow?" Someone asked.

I nodded. "I think so. It's the closest city to Hell's Gate, so most likely it is."

It was also then that we noticed that the enemy had two garrisons built into the sides of the gorge's rock walls. After sighing, we went inside to clean house. 30 minutes, and 167 fresh kills later, we were all ready for the final task, getting rid of the explosives that we knew existed along the railroad tracks. This was also the most dangerous job, as we knew that most likely, not all of the explosives were going to be visible. After climbing down, we reached the interior of the gorge on the other side of Hell's Gate.

"Ok boys, now this is where things will get a little bit tricky. I need the explosives experts to step forwards, and begin to do their work. The rest of us will protect you, and help you with whatever you need."

The explosives team leader nodded. "Ok, well then, let's get to work!"

The work was long, and tedious. Every now and again, their instruments would get a hit, and we all would stop and see what their instruments picked up. Most of the time it was a mine laid out underneath the train tracks, but other times though, it was what appeared to be an anti-personnel mine.

"Gosh, these are a lot of explosives. The Caribou REALLY must have been expecting trouble!"

I nodded. "And so they should be! They were the ones who invaded Equestria first, and participated in holding the hostages. They are now going to reap what they've sown." We continued to seek out any explosives, and safely disarm, and remove them.

Eventually, by close to Midnight, we were all done. All that was left now was to open the gates, and let the Battleship Express pass through. We quickly made our way back to the bases of the gates, and after splitting into two groups, each group took one of the 2 gatehouses.

"Wow", I mused as I studied the gate's controls, "Who would have ever guessed that the Caribou could have harnessed hydraulic power from a nearby water source, and used it to open and close these gates? This is incredible!"

"Um, yeah, but how do we open them?"

I kept looking. Finally, I found a set of control valves located at the back of the gatehouse. One valve was blue, and the other was black. In between the two valve wheels were a series of pipes and gauges. I checked with the guys in the other gatehouse, and they confirmed that these features were the same there as well.

"Yeah, but which valve does what? Neither of them are labelled!"

"I'm not sure, however, there are only 2 valves, so that limits our choices." I then began to check the gauges to see if any of them could give a possible indicator as to which valve did what. "Hmm, 'Outflow Pressure'. We already know that the gates open outwards, so maybe it's the blue valve." I then grabbed the wheel with both hands, and began to try and move it, however, I could barely get it to budge. "Damn, must take multiple guys, which would make sense. Help me with this guys!"

The others complied, and with their help (it took 4 of us to move the valve wheel), we turned the wheel. Then, with a hiss of pressure, as well as what sounded like water flowing, The right gate of the tall gates began to open!

I then grabbed my radio. "Guys, it's the blue valve! It'll take at least 4 of you to move it, but open the blue valve!"

"Copy that!" The group in the other gatehouse did likewise, and sure enough, the gate on their side began to open as well. Eventually, both of the gates were wide open, clearing a path for our trip into the Caribou Empire.

"Don, Don! Do you read me?"

"Yeah, I read you loud and clear Leopard, what's going on?"

"Well Sir, I can happily say, mission accomplished! We've neutralized the enemy, disabled any and all explosives, and we've opened Hell's Gate as well. We're now returning to the train, so that the next phase of our plan can begin."

Don was quiet for a few moments. "Um, wow. I was not actually expecting you guys to have gotten the job done so quickly. Good job. Now the REAL fun can begin! Just hurry on back, and get aboard; we still have an empire to ruin!"

I smirked. "Sir, yes Sir!"

We planned to cause a lot of destruction, however, what we didn't know was that somebody was already about to get the ball rolling for us. In the town of Marrow itself lived a Caribou captain named Gregor. Gregor was very dissatisfied with Danin's rule, but yet, it was for his own selfish reasons. He wanted to rule too, and was willing to do anything to make that happen. Over time, he had begun to gather some followers. Slowly but surely, they had managed to take over strategic points of the town. Now, he and his forces picked this night to strike, little knowing just how well they were about to mask our presence in the Caribou Empire.

"Ok everyone, this is it! From this night onward, NOBODY will EVER rule over us again! With me as your new king, we WILL reign supreme over the Caribou Empire!" His followers began to cheer for their new king, and then they all split up to cause mayhem, so that Marrow would be overrun.

To their credit, from what later records indicated, they actually did a lot of the work for us. They started fires, smashed stuff up, and began to kill Caribous not loyal to them. Unfortunately however, their plan for Danin's downfall did not have us butting in on the action.

We arrived outside of Marrow, and began to prepare for attack. The plan was for Jim to use the train to blast Marrow, while Don led in soldiers to take it over. Meanwhile, Shining and I, as well as a few other officers, would fan out into the surrounding area, being free to cause whatever mischief, chaos, and destruction that we could.

"Ok Boys, are you ready for this?"

"HELL YEAH!!!" We all screamed back.

Don nodded. "Excellent. Now then, as each of you know, you've all been given tracking devices, so that we can find you again in case you run into any trouble. Also, please at least TRY to watch your surroundings, as we don't want anyone wandering too far from the designated area. Other than that, get out there, have fun, try not to die, don't kill females, slaves, POW's or even political prisoners. Now let's do this!"

We all screamed like Banshees, and then we poured out of our train, formed into our units, and began to fan out in all directions.

Meanwhile, a number of miles away, General Rodin began to hear extremely disturbing reports.

"He and his forces are attacking Marrow Sir! They need reinforcements now!"

"Is.......is it Captain Gregor again?"

"Yes Sir."

Rodin put a hand over his face. "Out of all the days that he could have picked, he just HAD to perform his little coup while the enemy could be RIGHT AT OUR DOORSTEP!" He then turned to his staff. "I need reinforcements sent to Marrow right now! We MUST stop Gregor dead in his tracks right now! If he gets any farther inland, it could just open the gates for the enemy!"

"Sir, yes Sir!"

However, just as more troops were about to be sent out, more reports began to come in. "SIR, THE SITUATION IS GETTING BEYOND OUT OF CONTROL!!!! MARROW IS BURNING TO THE GROUND, AND GREGOR'S FORCES ARE SPREADING OUT!!!!!"

"HIS FORCES ARE EVERYWHERE!!!! WE'RE LOSING THE NORTHERN SECTION OF THE EMPIRE!!!!"

Now Rodin was in a state of panic. He knew that if word of what was happening reached Danin's ears, then it would mean death for everyone involved, both attacking, and defending. "We HAVE to get more troops out there! Get in touch with our naval base at Dock Town. Tell them we need more troops and supplies shipped to the battlefield, NOW!!!!"

"Including ammunition Sir?"

"YES!!!" Rodin yelled, "And get me General Stuggs!!!"

"Yes Sir!" They patched him through.

"Stuggs, Stuggs?! Do you read me?!"

"Yeah, I'm here Rodin, what's going on?! Are we being attacked by the Black Leviathan?!"

"Attacked yes, but by the Black Leviathan, no. It's Gregor and his forces again! They've torched Marrow, and seem to be heading Westward! You HAVE to box them in on your end NOW!!!! I'm sending in more troops to block them from the East, but you HAVE to box them in from the West!!! I've already sent word to our naval base in Dock Town, and they're shipping us more supplies right now!"

Stuggs was stunned. Never in his wildest dreams did he ever suspect that Gregor would finally snap like this. "Roger that Rodin! I'm getting my troops into position right now! We WILL stop this before word gets to King Danin!"

"Ok, and we'll be in touch throughout the night. May the gods favor us over Gregor!"

Stuggs agreed to this, and then they both hung up to prepare their forces.

Meanwhile, in the midst of all of this chaos, we were all trying to figure out what the heck was going on.

"What's going on Don?! Why the heck are the Caribou torching one of their own towns?! Especially when they don't even know that we're here?!"

Don was equally shocked, but the answer soon came to him. "Oh BOY HOWDY is God smiling on us right now! Don't you guys see what this is? IT'S A COUP!!!! Now we can wreak havoc all we want, and the enemy STILL won't even know that we're here! IT'S ABSOLUTELY F@#KING BRILLIANT!!!!!"

We were also equally glad about some Caribou idiot who was doing our job for us, and making things easier. We knew that there always was the threat of enemy reinforcements, but they could be dealt with, either by us, or those who were performing the coup.

On Don's end of things, Marrow never even knew what hit it. Thanks to Gregor's forces, the city's walls were already compromised, and most of the city had already fallen.

"Now we just put the final nail in this city's coffin Jim! We just have to target what remains!"

Jim thought about that. "Here's a thought Don. From what it appears, I think that we just level this city with artillery, and then move on. It's already almost completely destroyed thanks to this coup."

Don nodded. "Sure, that will mean more ground forces to deploy elsewhere. Go for it."

"Yes Sir!" Jim then gave the orders to fire, and in only a few quick volleys, the city fell down flat.

From where he was, Gregor was shocked. "Holy gods!!! This coup is going much better than I previously imagined! Now Marrow has fallen!"

"What do we do now Sir?"

Gregor smirked. "We fan out! Let's just hope that soon, we can link up with Thomas and his forces at Dock Town. Once that naval base has fallen into our hands, then we have half of the ENTIRE Caribou navy in our hands, PLUS whatever other military supplies are there!"

The soldier nodded. "But then again, there are also possible reinforcements to deal with as well. Danin's not going to just sit idly by while we take over his empire. Most likely Rodin's getting together reinforcements in this area as we speak."

"Yes, so that is why we HAVE to be vigilant! They could be on top of us at any time, and we HAVE to be ready for them when they do!"

The soldier nodded, and then he gave the orders for more troops to fan out.

On the end for our troops who were fanning out, we were also having a heyday. We set fire to settlements, killed all Caribou forces that we could find, and kept moving all over the place. Unfortunately though, we did run into enemy reinforcements.

"All available groups in this area, mayday, mayday!!! We've run into heavy reinforcements! We need backup! Does anyone copy?!"

"Roger that Leopard, we read you loud and clear. What's your current position, over?"

"Well, Shining, we're currently located maybe 4 miles south by southwest of Marrow. We're up against forces under General Rodin, can you help us?"

"Roger that! We're on our way, ETA 10 minutes!"

"OK, we'll hold them here!"

And hold them we did. The entire area was heavily wooded, and we could hide almost anywhere. We could also see in almost total darkness, either with our own eyes, our night vision goggles, or thermal scanners. Rodin's troops thought that we were Gregor's forces. They also had no idea that Gregor's forces were indeed present, and were whittling down their numbers as well.

I was having so much fun with my sniper rifle. First one head shot, and than another. "Man, I sure wish Aurora was here, she would have so much fun! But, since this is our first campaign, and we didn't really know what we were up against, she stayed with the train."

The "Battle in the Woods", raged for nearly 15 minutes. The Caribou put up a fight, but we, and the Insurgents (Gregor's forces), were too strong for them.

"Fall back, fall back!" Rodin yelled, "We have to get to a better defensible position!" They began to retreat.

I quickly grabbed my radio. "Shining, do you read me?"

"Yeah, I'm here Leopard, what is it?"

"General Rodin's forges are retreating! Unfortunately though, they're retreating to a more heavily defended position! We have a chance to knock Rodin out of the war here!"

"And how do we do that?"

I smirked. "We box them in! We'll drive them towards you, and you take them out as they come!"

Now Shining was smirking. "Heh, I like the way that you think Leopard! We'll get them! I can see your positions from here, as well as General Rodin's but where are the troops from the coup? Any ideas?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. They're around here somewhere, and we've killed some of them, but they keep moving around so much. They're here, and they're going to die, but we need them to be useful for a while longer."

"Roger that, now let's finish what we've started!"

All while Rodin's forces continued to fall back, they tried to figure out just what the hell had just happened.

"Those seemed WAY too powerful to just have been Insurgents; who were they?!"

Rodin sighed. "I DON'T KNOW!!!! But what I do know is that the Black Leviathan is still in the Zebra Empire, so it's most likely not them!"

They then fell back to a spot maybe 20 miles outside of Marrow. They thought that they were safe, until they got ambushed by Shining's forces!

"GAAAHHHH!!!! THEY'RE BACK!!!!"

"KEEP SHOOTING AT THEM!!!!" Rodin yelled. "There's better lighting here, and fewer places to hide!"

They kept firing back, and although reinforcements did arrive to help them, my forces and I also arrived to help Shining, as did a few other nearby units.

What followed this battle is now regarded to be one of the strangest incidents of the entire war. It was a back and forth battle that literally stretched for dozens of miles in all directions. We were shooting at the Caribou, the Caribou were shooting at us, and then Gregor's forces got in on the act, and we all shot at them. The battle raged over farmland, through city streets, over hills and valleys, and in so many places that we completely lost our bearings. The moon did occasionally peek out from the clouds to provide light, as did the fires that were caused as a result of the battle, but what we didn't realize was that we had completely lost our bearings.

"Stuggs, Stuggs, can you hear me?!"

"What is it Rodin?"

"WHERE ARE THOSE REINFORCEMENTS THAT I NEED?!?!?! WE'RE LOSING THIS BATTLE!!!!"

"That's the problem General, where are you?! My forces cannot find you!!!"

Rodin looked all around. Due to the intensity of the battle, he was unable to find his bearings.

"I.....don't know Stuggs! This battle's covered so much ground, that I honestly have no idea where we are!!!"

"Well, shoot up a flare, or something! I'll see if we can see it!"

"RIGHT!!!!" Rodin then grabbed a flare gun from one of his soldiers, and after pointing it up into the sky, he fired it.

"Whoa! That was close! Rodin, you're almost back to my western region! How did you get that far off course?!"

"I.....don't know! Just get over here and help us! Wait, we're almost to YOU?!?!?! WHERE ARE WE?!?!?!?!"

"You're close to Rendale!"

"RENDALE?!?!?! That's nearly 250 miles away from where we're supposed to be!!!" Rodin then saw that the time was almost 3:30am. In a span on only about 4 hours, his entire force had moved almost 250 miles, all while conducting a full-scale battle!

Eventually, the two forces found each other, (after maybe travelling for another 10 miles) and began to turn the tide of the battle.

"Oh crap, Don, DON!!!! ARE YOU THERE?!?!?!"

"Yeah, I'm here Leopard, but what's going on?"

"Lots of really big minor battles, that's what! But we need help! The enemy is all around us!!!"

"Well, where are you?!?! You've missed the check-in time!"

I began to look around. Unfortunately though, I couldn't tell. "Um, Don, please do not freak out, but I honestly have no idea where we are right now. All I know is that we're in the middle of a boulder field outside of a town that ISN'T Marrow, surrounded by the enemy, AND WE NEED HELP RIGHT NOW!!!!"

Don was really taken aback. If we knew that we were lost, then that was a serious problem. Luckily for them though, they had a solution. "Jim, get the radar online now! They're in trouble, and they're lost, but they do have their tracking devices! FIND THEM, NOW!!!!"

"SIR, YES SIR!!!" Jim then flipped on the scopes in the PCC, and began to quickly search for us. Finally, he found them. "I found them Don, but something's wrong! They're WAY further away than they should be!"

"WHAT!?!?!" Don then looked at the scopes. To his shock, surprise, and horror, we were nearly 250 miles away from Marrow, and less than 10 miles away from Dock Town!

"Leopard, are you still there?!"

"Yeah, but where are you guys?! We need help!"

"Leopard, do you have ANY ideas on where you are right now?"

"Um, no. That's why we need help!!!"

"Leopard, between you, Shining, and your forces, you have managed to move 250 miles away from where you should be!!! YOU'RE 250 MILES DEEP INTO ENEMY TERRITORY!!!!!"

"WAIT, WHAT?!?!?!?" I then looked at a map. After seeing how close we were to Dock Town, I knew what we had to do. "Don, this is going to sound insane, but move Heaven and Earth to get to Dock Town! We'll meet you there! We have a REAL chance to destroy a MAJOR enemy naval force, as well as one of 2 naval bases in the Caribou Empire! This could CRIPPLE THEM!!!!!! Just get here...... *sudden sounds of shooting* LEOPARD OUT!!!!"

When Don heard what I had just proposed, he literally had to sit down to keep from passing out. Even Jim, who had also heard the entire conversation, knew that even if they ran the train full-speed, it could take them 3+ hours to reach us, as they were maybe 10 miles away from Marrow, and 240 miles away from us, with another 10 miles to Dock Town. But, Don was a man of action, and he was NOT about to lose some of his best soldiers.

He then immediately grabbed his radio. "JOE!!! Joe, do you read me!!?!?!"

"I'm here Major Don! What is it?"

Don then explained the entire situation to him. "WE HAVE TO GO NOW!!!! THEY NEED OUR HELP, and Captain Leopard is right! An attack on one of their most important military assets could CRIPPLE THEM!!!!"

"RIGHT AWAY SIR!!!!"

Don then felt the train lurch beneath him as it began to move forwards, and pick up speed rapidly.

"WE'RE ON OUR WAY SIR!!!! TELL CAPTAIN LEOPARD THAT OUR ETA IS ABOUT 3 hours!!!!!"

"RIGHT!!!!"

"But they may not HAVE 3 hours Don! They need our help NOW!!!!"

"Yes, but we CANNOT risk letting the enemy know that we're here!" Don then flipped frequencies. "All available units not already helping Captain Leopard, please report in!"

5 units answered. "We're here Major Don, what is it?"

"We have a little bit of a situation....." Don then explained the who ordeal. "And that's where we currently stand! We're still nearly 3 hours away from them, and they need help NOW!!!! How fast can you guys get to them?!"

The Pegasai, as well as Humans with Pegasus wings answered first. "We can be there in less than 5 minutes Sir!"

"And we Unicorns can make it in maybe 3, give or take a few teleports!" Both groups also agreed to help those who couldn't fly, or use magic. All of them were coming to the rescue.

"Excellent, but please hurry! They CANNOT hold out on their own! They need your help!"

"Right! We're on our way Sir!" They all then began their trips to our location, using the coordinates provided to them by Don.

Don then looked out of one of the window of the PCC as the train kept moving.

"God help them if we can't get to them in time", He muttered. "For all of his flaws, Captain Leopard definitely has the heart of a warrior. Please God, keep them safe until we reach them!"

"What did the Major say?"

"He said that he was sending us reinforcements, and that they would be here in about 5 minutes or less!"

"But who is he sending?"

I looked at Shining. "All Pegasai are flying, all Unicorns are using Magic, and they're transporting those who can do neither. Their ETA is maybe 5 minutes."

Shining nodded. "Ok then, so let's make this count! I say that we split up, and try and draw them into different directions, with the final target being Dock Town. If we can draw them there, then MAYBE we can detonate that entire facility! Remember, our research indicates that it's nothing more than a massive tinderbox! ALL of their ship ammunition, as well as spare parts, and other vital naval supplies are stored there, and at their other facility, in Lake Town. Up to half of their entire navy!"

"Which is why this HAS to work! As much as I hate splitting up now, I see that we have to lure them in different directions. I'll lead half, you lead the other. When the reinforcements arrive, we get to Dock Town, and cause as much trouble as we can! For all we know at this point, we could have lost the element of surprise, and they know that we're here! We have to move!"

Shining agreed, and then we all began to get the REAL battle started.

Author's Note

Whoa, so now we've attacked the Caribou, only to stumble right into the middle of a coup! Now with Captain Gregor and his forces rising up against Danin, as well as Lt. Thomas in Dock town, this battle could really come to an explosive head. Thomas seems to think that he has the power of God, and so do Rodin and Stuggs! They STILL have yet to realize just how much trouble that they're really in! We're in this fight to the finish line, and believe me, when it's all over.......this will have been the last real "shoot em up" battle for a while. Why? Well, let's just say that Mother Nature stops being our friend.....

BUT ANYWAY, Stay tuned for Part 2! It will be out tonight, or early tomorrow morning, as will Chapter 18.5, which will be another "EXPLICIT!!!" Chapter. How is this possible, since Dash is still captured? Well, stay tuned, and you'll find out!

ScarFox out for now!

Chapter 18: There's Something out There......(Part 2)

For the Caribou forces, what started out as a routine mission to eradicate a rebel officer and his rebellious troops, turned into the bloodiest slug-fest that many of them had ever seen. None of them could figure out how Gregor and his forces were so strong.

"This doesn't make any sense! By our estimates, Gregor should only have maybe 300 men with him! Now they've already torched the town of Marrow, and have moved way out from there!"

Rodin was also completely baffled. Gregor's forces were picking off his troops with EASE! All reports never mentioned the Black Leviathan, so he assumed that it was not present. Plus, most of the battles were taking place far away from the railroad tracks anyway.

"We have to hold them here people! They CANNOT be allowed to get any farther!"

"Um, should we contact King Danin?"

"NO!!!!! He does NOT need to know about this! We WILL NOT be contacting ANYONE in Donneth until AFTER we can safely say that there will be no more coups! He told us to put Gregor down once and for all, so that's what we'll do!"

His troops nodded, and then they got back to work.

It was all downhill from there though. They thought that they had Gregor's forces cornered in Marrow, but then they seemed to have escaped. Then came the battle in the woods where they were totally trashed.

"Fall back, fall back!" Rodin yelled. Rodin then contacted General Stuggs, and requested reinforcements. "It's getting bad out here Stuggs. Whatever Gregor's doing, he seems to be out-foxing us at every turn!"

"That's not good Rodin. I'm sending reinforcements your way, so just hold on until they can get there!"

"Roger that!"

Unfortunately, this is where things got REALLY messy. As previously stated, what happened next was one of the oddest incidents of the entire war. From Marrow, it was a 3-way battle all the way out to Rendale, which was located 10 miles outside of Dock Town. Rodin's forces shot at Gregor's, Gregor's forces shot back, and forces under Shining and I shot at both of them. Gregor thought that we were his troops, and so did Rodin. We killed any Caribou who realized the truth before they could sound any alarms, so the battle continued.

All that was left in our wake was death and destruction. The battle raged for miles in all directions. First we went North, then West, then East, then North again, then South, then Southeast, and so on, until all of us were getting extremely dizzy. In our wake we left burning fields, destroyed villages, a few towns completely wrecked, and many Caribou killed. For hour after hour, this went on. We lost track of time, as well as our bearings. By the time that Stuggs arrived with reinforcements, it was then that we realized that we were completely lost. We radioed Don for help, and when we did, that was when we realized that we were close to Rendale, nearly 250 miles away from where we were supposed to be! Don told us that he was sending us reinforcements, and to hold on for the few minutes that it would take for them to arrive. Now, it was just us, and our plan.

I relayed it to the troops. "Ok, so here's the deal. We're going to split off, and head towards Rendale. Shining's forces will then split off, and do likewise. Then, we'll both hit Rendale from different angles, and hopefully convince those inside that we're with Gregor. Then, when Rodin and his troops chase us, they'll think that they're with Gregor too! And even if they don't, I know that it will be absolute chaos! If all goes according to plan, the entire city of Rendale burns in the confusion, and then we move on to Dock town, where the Battleship Express will meet us, and then we see what kind of trouble that we can cause there."

"Sounds like a plan to me, let's do it!"

We then split our forces, and began to move in different directions.

"Um, Sir, the enemy is splitting up!"

"What?" Rodin looked through his binoculars. Sure enough, our forces were splitting up. "Hmm, I wonder what they could be up to."

"Does it really matter Rodin?" Stuggs then pointed to Rendale. "That's where they seem to be heading! We need to cut them off before they get inside! They seem to be taking two different ways to get there!"

Rodin nodded. "Yes, it does appear that you are right General. You and your men take the forces on the left, and I and my forces will take the group on the right. We have to stop this right now!"

"Yes Sir!"

They then got into position.

On our end of things, we were really happy.

"They're taking the bait Shining! They're following us!"

"Good! Now then, let's see what kind of mayhem we can cause!"

The battle then got underway. Just like we planned, we were spotted by those who were defending Rendale, who also spotted the Caribou Army as well.

"Here they come! General Stuggs said to keep them away from the city! All defenders open fire now!"

"Yes Sir!"

The guns of the city's defenders then opened up on the forces below. We took cover behind rocks, and fallen trees, but the Caribou chasing us got gunned down by their own forces! They also only noticed my forces; Shining's group was about to hit them from the other side.

"GAAAHHH!!! SIR, THEY'RE KILLING US!!!!"

Rodin looked up, and to his horror, his own troops within Rendale were indeed killing them.

"SHIT!!!" He grabbed his communicator. "RENDALE COMMAND, THIS IS GENERAL RODIN!!!! DO YOU READ ME?!?!?!?!"

"This is Rendale Command. We read you loud and clear General! Don't worry, we're slaughtering Captain Gregor's forces!"

"NO!!!! CEASE FIRE!!!! CEASE FIRE NOW!!!!! YOU'RE KILLING MY TROOPS!!!! WE WERE CHASING THE ENEMY HERE!!!!"

"OH GODS!!!" The Caribou in charge of Rendale, Commander Drake, quickly radioed his men. "ALL DEFENDERS, CEASE FIRE!!!!! CEASE FIRE NOW!!!!! YOU'RE KILLING GENERAL RODIN'S MEN!!!! THEY ARE NOT THE ENEMY!!!! STOP SHOOTING NOW!!!!"

Suddenly, all fire ceased. The results were horrible. At least 175 of Rodin's troops were dead, on top of all of the many dozens that had already been killed.

"General.....I don't.....even know what to say right now. We honestly had no idea that it was you."

"I don't blame you, Commander Drake, I blame Gregor! He and his forces are still around here somewhere, as we were chasing them just moments ago!"

Before Drake could respond though, something else happened. In those few quick moments of silence, Shining's troops were able to plant the explosives that the first wave had stolen from Hell's Gate earlier that evening, and plant them against the base of one of the city's walls close to them. They then detonated the explosives.

"BIG DIVERSION LEOPARD!!!!!" Shining yelled to me. He and his forces then began to run into the city. "AND THE REINFORCEMENTS ARE HERE!!!!!"

I looked up, and sure enough, troops started falling from the sky. They landed in various places, and began to link up.

"Ok, all units form up! WE HAVE TO STORM REDNALE NOW!!!!! THE CITY WILL BE OVERRUN BY STORM, AND THEN, WE MOVE ON TO DOCK TOWN!!!!!" I then gave the orders for which unit needed to go where. Some were sent directly into the city to reinforce Shining, while others stayed outside, and held the ground there. It was chaos so pure that it would have made Discord cry!

Just keeping everyone straight was the hardest part. Ponies and Humans were running this way and that, trying to kill anything that moved, Rodin and Stuggs were trying to maintain order, as were Drake and his forces. Where did Gregor and his forces go? Well, that's the kicker; they bypassed Rendale, and went to meet up with Lt. Thomas and his troops in Dock Town, where they planned on stealing ammunition and supplies. The Caribou were fighting us, fully believing that we were a result of Gregor's god-like powers.

The Caribou never even stood a chance. Evidence later showed that they killed more of their own forces than we did. Friendly fire was also an issue for us. Eventually, the chaos was just too much.

"ALL FORCES, FALL BACK TO POINT 37! WE NEED TO REGROUP, AND FIGURE THIS OUT!!! THIS WHOLE AREA IS LOST, AND WE'RE ALL KILLING EACH OTHER!!!!! FALL BACK NOW!!!!"

My forces and I then quickly retreated into what was left of the woods off to the left of Rendale, where we covered the advances of the rest of our troops. It did take a bit, but by close to 4am, we were all together again. After a quick headcount, I came to the conclusion that in the biggest melee battle that I had ever seen in my ENTIRE MILITARY CAREER, (Which spanned the Forgotten War, 4 world wars, and now the Imperial War, mind you!) we'd lost maybe 300+ soldiers, with 1,100 wounded, and an uncertain number of missing.

To our credit though, hundreds of Caribou were now dead, with many more wounded, a God-only-knows number of missing, 3 cities lost, 4 towns destroyed, 5 settlements burned to the ground, and an estimated $4 billion in collateral damage was done. And to really take the cake, the REAL battle was about to begin!

All throughout the course of the battles, Don continued to receive updates. He logged them, but was still unable to believe them.

"These....just seem too FANTASTICAL to be true Jim! How can only 2,000 guys have caused this kind of mass destruction?! It's simply UNREAL!!!!"

Jim frowned. "Well, there was that coup going on, which probably accounted for some of the casualties, but what I believed happened here was probably the greatest case of death-by-friendly-fire that I've ever seen. More Caribou died by the hands of their fellow Caribou than by our soldiers. They burned down their own cities trying to find an invisible enemy. That's why fear is such a powerful weapon Don; it can turn just 2,000 troops into a seemingly endless army. I don't know who this 'Captain Gregor' fellow is, but whoever he is, he's really causing the Caribou more panic than we ever could!"

"Pride comes before a fall". A voice muttered. "We must be careful with how much pride in ourselves we have. We are not invincible, and can fall just as easily as our enemies."

Don and Jim looked up, and standing in the doorway of the PCC, was Father Charles.

Jim nodded. "You are indeed correct Father. Our own pride can destroy us just as easily as weapons can. The Caribou are now learning this the hard way, just as our other enemies did before them. Nobody is invincible. As the old saying goes, 'A tree falls the way it's leaning. Be careful which way you lean'."

"That is indeed correct Jim. I've sensed a dark presence ever since we've arrived here. This dark presence seems to be fueling the rage, and lust for blood. It seems to be especially prevalent in Captain Leopard."

Don sighed. "That's because he's ground zero Father." Don then explained everything that the princesses had told him about Sombra.

Father Charles was really taken aback by what he heard. "My word! So this 'Sombra', has been working behind the scenes for years, and now he's taken one of our own?"

"Well, in a sense. Sombra is not a demon, as he was once just an ordinary Pony, though he became corrupted by power. He was defeated twice, but not killed. His spirit roamed until he found Captain Leopard, and now is a part of him."

"But he is still a manifestation of evil. And now he's the driving force behind our barbaric actions."

Something then clicked in Don's head. "It's his revenge! He's using us as pawns to defeat his former enemies, and possibly further weaken Equestria so that he can attack!"

"Maybe Don, but my take on it? God is using Sombra, as well as the rest of us, as tools to do His bidding. Perhaps He decided that it was time for the Zebras and Caribou Empires to end, and we are simply the means for that to happen. Nevertheless though, some of us really need to get a handle on this. What's going on with Captain Leopard is NOT healthy, and God knows what Sombra is telling him to do."

Don put his hands over his face. "Yeah, but unfortunately, it's hard to deal with a problem until you can fully figure out what the problem even is. What we still do not know is the exact nature of Leopard's relationship with Sombra, or how powerful Sombra really is. From what it appears to be, Sombra is still extremely weak, and may hopefully stay that way."

"And if he doesn't? What if he manages to take full control of Leopard? What then?"

"Why are you asking me this? You're the priest here, aren't you?"

Father Charles narrowed his eyes. "'The Exorcist' was just a movie Major. Real-life problems like this are MUCH more serious! If what you have said is true, and Sombra isn't a demon, then that just complicates this even further. We'll need to finish discussing this with both Captain Leopard, and the Princesses, but for now, we need to pray. Pray for ourselves, and the others; pray that they do not become consumed by the darkness that they are trying to snuff out."

Don and Jim agreed to this, and then the 3 of them all began to pray as the Battleship Express neared the marker that indicated only 50 miles to go.

Back on our end, once we had all regrouped again, we discussed what to do. We had no idea where the enemy was, only that we had 10 miles to go until we reached Dock Town.

"What do we do now Captain Leopard?"

For the first time in a long while, I actually didn't know. I was still pretty shell-shocked from what had just happened. "I'd take any ideas at this point", I thought. "Even ones from Shadow!"

Then, even though he didn't say anything, I knew that Shadow was trying to tell me something. I looked around, trying to figure out what it was. Then I saw our answer. Sitting just outside of the city was a freight depot. It had been practically destroyed, but sitting on the tracks in front of it was a small freight train. There was an engine, and 5 cars, including a caboose. All around the train were the bodies of its crew.

"Guys, I think that I know what to do! We can now travel those last 10 miles in style, and be in Dock Town in good time!"

Shining and the others looked at me like I was crazy. "Oh, and how are we supposed to do that?"

I pointed over to the train. "With that train right there! We 'borrow' it, and then take it to Dock Town. It's so small, and it is Caribou, so maybe the enemy would overlook it."

"Yeah, but assuming that it wasn't damaged, the fire in the firebox has probably gone out. It would take a long time to build up the fires again. Meanwhile, we don't know where the enemy is. They could still be anywhere, and we don't know where the insurgents are either!"

I sighed. "Well, then if we don't take the train, then I say that we destroy it, so that nobody else will. However, I for one do not want to walk 10 miles, and it's too risky for us to fly or use magic, because if we were spotted, that would give us away as well. You all took a big risk by doing that to get here to help us. I know that we needed reinforcements, and that that was the only way to get to us, but still, that was a big risk that we probably should not take again!"

We all continued to contemplate what to do.

Meanwhile, on the Caribou end of things, the situation was even grimmer. Rodin and Stuggs had lost so much of their forces, and from what Intel they had, Gregor and his forces were still on the loose. Stuggs also felt that something was wrong.

"There's something wrong with this whole ordeal Rodin. I just feel that there's......something else out here with us. That there's more to this than just Gregor and his troops."

Rodin sighed. "Normally, I would just call you crazy Stuggs, however, this time, I can sense it too. There is something out there, but what it is I do not know. I fear for all of us Stuggs. The end for us may be close at hand."

Stuggs sighed, and then asked what they were going to do.

"Well, we need to link up with any forces in this area. I've heard that Gregor also has a confederate in Dock Town who supplies him with weapons and ammunition."

Now Stuggs looked scared. "Wait, did you say Dock Town?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Because, this is the time of the year for the naval exercises. Almost half of our entire navy is there, including our flagship, the Dauntless. Sitting in the harbor close by are numerous ships all filled with ammunition! The whole dock-front is also filled with fuel, ammunition, powder, and other highly explosive materials! If another coup starts there......" Stuggs couldn't even finish that thought.

Rodin said it for him. "Which we CANNOT allow to happen! We've tried to radio them, but either they're out of contact range, or someone's tampered with the radios. Luckily, the entire city is less than 10 miles away, so we have to move right now!"

"Right!"

Rodin and Stuggs then gathered their forces, and after finding the main roads, were able to make fast tracks to the city.

Meanwhile, we had made our decision; we were going to use the train to get to Dock Town. After sneaking our way over to it, we searched it, and after finding no signs of life, we quickly began to set about making it usable. To our surprise, there was a fire burning in the firebox, albeit a weak, going out one. The engine itself only suffered minor damage, and we found the 5 cars to be empty as well.

"Strange", Shining muttered. "Maybe they were here to pick up cargo, and never got the chance to."

"Most likely. Now this train just has to get us to Dock Town."

I began to study the engine's controls. It resembled an engine from back on Earth, but much more rudimentary. There was a throttle, a brake, a whistle, and some valves and gauges. That was about it.

"Wow, this is really simple. It's even more simplified than Iron Glory, and she dates back to the 1860's!"

"But, can you figure out how to drive it?"

I nodded. "Yeah, so once we have the fire built up again, we should be able to go on our way."

Shining nodded. "Yeah, but how much longer will that be?"

"It shouldn't be too much longer now, as the fire was hot enough, and it's being built up again."

Eventually, by about 4:30am, the engine was ready. "Next stop Dock Town, ALL ABOARD!!!"

Everyone and everypony else piled onto and into the rest of the train, and then with a *whoosh* of steam, I moved the throttle forwards, and the train, which we dubbed "Battle Glory", was soon moving at a steady pace.

"Leopard, are you still there?"

"Yeah, I'm here Don, what's going on?"

"Just checking in. How are things going? Have you made it to Dock Town yet?"

"No, but we're well on our way. We've got maybe 7 miles to go, and we did manage to steal a train, so that's a plus."

Don stopped. "Wait, what?! You....stole a train?!"

"Um, yes, yes we did. It was sitting abandoned next to a destroyed freight depot outside of Rendale. The entire crew was already dead, so we kinda 'borrowed' the train, (which we're now calling 'Battle Glory') and are using it to get to Dock Town. What's your ETA looking like?"

"Um, wow, I can't believe that you stole a train. But anyway, our ETA is maybe another 30 minutes. Do you think that you guys can handle yourselves until then?"

"Um, yeah, I think that we can. Dock Town is now bout 6 miles away, and we're closing fast. We'll radio you again once we reach it."

"Roger that Leopard, and good luck!"

We didn't know it at the time, but we were going to need more than just luck to survive our next ordeal by fire, literally!

Meanwhile, 6 miles ahead of us, Dock Town's docks were massively abuzz. Even though it was almost 5am, there was still a lot to do. The next invasion was a planned sea-to-land operation on Van Hoover, and nearly half of the Caribou Navy was either tied up to the docks, or were close by in the harbor. Even the Caribou's flagship, the CIS Dauntless, was there. At 350 feet long, made of a mixture of steel and timber, sporting 200 cannons, a number of smaller guns, some of which were located in turrets, and powered by steam engines instead of having sails, she was the most modern ship that the Caribous had.

Also located along the docks was a large row of fully-loaded oil tanks for fuel, as well as numerous warehouses filled with ammunition, fuel, and other supplies. At this exact moment, Admiral Donnen was preparing his ships for the Van Hoover operation, completely unaware of what was happening right under his nose. Also at the docks were Gregor and his forces, as well as Gregor's confederate, Lt. Thomas, and his troops. They were hard at work stealing ammunition and fuel, and loading it onto a nearby train.

"At the rate that this is going, we'll have enough ammo to blast all of Donneth into the afterlife!"

"Yeah, no kidding Gregor! But we still need to be EXTREMELY careful with this stuff! This is live ammunition, powder, and fuel. This stuff ain't for show!"

Gregor laughed. "Heh, you worry too much Thomas, lighten up a little! Nothing's gonna go wrong!"

Unfortunately for them though, two things were about to go wrong. The first one was that we were less than 3 miles and closing, and the next was that one of the dock cranes, one that was moving a large amount of ammunition, had become stuck. The crane had jammed on its axis, and wouldn't move. Worse still, the crane's load of ammunition was positioned right above a naval freighter; the fully-loaded ammunition ship ironically named "Fireball".

"Oh great, NOW what do we do?!"

Gregor thought for a moment. "Well, first we see about lowering the cargo gently onto the ship. Then we see if we can get the crane unstuck. Simple as that."

Gregor then sent technicians onto the crane, to see about getting it to work again.

Eventually, we reached the end of our 10 mile run, and we reached the outskirts of Dock Town.

I was surprised when I saw it. "Wow, this whole city looks like a massive naval yard!"

And indeed, it appeared to be. There were ships under construction, as well as under repair, large dry-dock facilities, multiple warehouses, lots of transportation vehicles, and of course, a lot of ships, cranes, and other such things that one would find on a naval base. We could see the South Luna Ocean from where we were, as well as the first hints of dawn as well.

"What's the plan now Leopard?"

I thought for a moment. "Well", I said at last, "The plan now is to get onto those docks, and see about lighting some ammunition on fire. Just think about what kind of a panic that that would cause! Then, we maybe kill some Caribou, and then fall back and watch the fireworks until Don shows up. Does that sound like a plan?"

"Yeah, so let's GOOOO!!!!" Shining then blew the train's whistle to signal our charge, unaware of the chain reaction that he had just started.

Startled by the sudden blast of a train's whistle, one of the technicians on the crane suddenly jerked his wrench back too hard. This freed up the mechanism that controlled the crane's hoist, sending the crane's chain, (and the cargo that it was attached to!) into a free-fall! The crates full of ammunition then collided with the deck of the Fireball, and broke. Sparks from the force of the impact started a fire! There was now a fire burning on an ammunition ship, which was next to a bunch of other ammunition ships, alongside a dock that also contained MORE ammo, as well as fuel, and other buildings full of combustible material!

"OH GODS!!!!" One of the Fireball's crew yelled, "FIRE!!!!!"

"Oh shit, now look what you did you imbecile!!!" One of the other techs shouted at the one who had just caused the fire.

"It wasn't my fault!"

The fire then began to burn out of control, which ignited several more crates of ammunition, which then exploded.

"SHIIIIIIIT!!!!"

That was all it took. The fires on the Fireball quickly began to rage, and light off more and more ammunition. The more that exploded, the more burning debris were tossed about. In some cases, burning ammunition would be tossed into the air by another explosion, and explode upon landing; be where it landed the water, the dockside, a building, or even another ship full of ammunition! Alarms were blaring, and fire crews tried to rush to the scene, but the explosions from the Fireball, and other nearby areas held them at bay.

"F@#K!!! WE HAVE TO GET THESE FIRES OUT!!!! WE CANNOT LOSE THESE SUPPLIES!!!"

It was soon to be far worse than that though. Thanks to all of the burning debris that was getting tossed about, soon parts of the docks were on fire as well. The bigger the fire got, the hotter it became, and the more things around it began to become consumed.

It was in the middle of this that we of Battalion 4009, and Shining's group found ourselves in moments later.

"OH SHIT!!!" We were quickly dodging flaming debris, and trying to find our bearings.

"WHAT IN THE HELL HAPPENED?!?!?!" Shining yelled.

"IF I HAD TO GUESS, I'D SAY THAT THE HOUSEWARMING PARTY GOT A LITTLE BIT TOO WARM!!!!" I yelled back.

"Oh very funny Leopard! Most likely, somebody mishandled something, and the resulting fire got out of control before they realized just how serious it was!"

"What do we do Captain?!" Someone else yelled.

I didn't know. Here we were, supposed to be fighting a battle, and now more Caribou were dying because of an accident, and we hadn't even fired a single shot!

"FALL BACK, WE HAVE TO FALL BACK NOW!!! THIS WHOLE CITY COULD GO UP IN FLAMES, AND I DON'T WANT TO BE HERE WHEN IT DOES!!!"

We all then began to get the hell out of Dodge, and once we'd found safety on a nearby hill, we continued to watch the fireworks.

It had been a long time since I'd seen anything like this. The whole city seemed to have become one big tinderbox because of what had happened on the docks. More and more buildings began to combust, and when they began to burn, whatever was inside of them began to burn as well. On the docks, all of the ammunition ships were now on fire, as was the entire dock-front. Fuel tanks were burning, and seemed to be seconds away from detonating. It was like this that Stuggs, Rodin, and their forces, found Dock Town when they arrived.

"HOLY.......WHAT IN DANIN'S NAME HAPPENED HERE?!?!?!?!"

"FIRE, FIRE!!!!!" Someone yelled, "THERE WAS A FIRE AT THE DOCKS!!!! ONE OF THE AMMUNITION SHIPS BLEW UP, AND TORCHED THE REST!!!!"

Unlike us though, while we scurried to safety as soon as we saw the extreme danger, most of the Caribou charged into the city to try and save it! They worked water hoses, and threw water onto anything that was on fire. Unfortunately though, their problems were about to get a whole lot worse. Due to the intense heat, a number of water pipes began to have the water inside of them boil into steam, and then the pipes burst! Without more water, the fires continued to burn out of control.

From the perspective of Admiral Donnen, as well as those on the other ships that were out in the harbor at the time, they watched in dumbfounded shock.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?!?!?!"

"WAS THE CITY JUST ATTACKED?!!?!?!"

Some of the ships tried to get closer to help with the fires, but they soon got hit by flaming ammunition, which sometimes caused explosions that tore them apart. The worst fate was that of the cruiser Forefront. She was too close to the fires, and ignoring calls from the Admiral himself to withdraw. Donnen ordered them to get back, but the ship's captain didn't listen.

"I HAVE to do this Admiral! They need our help! We HAVE to put out the fires!!!!"

Moments after he said this, the Fireball had all of the internal explosions that it could take, and with an explosion that was actually witnessed by those on the Battleship Express, the ship blew up, and sent huge chunks of flaming debris straight into the Forefront. The ship, which was still in motion at the time of it's getting hit, was in serious trouble.

"ADMIRAL, IT'S HIT THE MAGAZINE!!!! WE CAN'T......!!!!!!"

Then the Forefront, which was listing, and heading straight back towards the Dauntless, suddenly exploded. The entire crew was killed instantly, and the Dauntless suffered several hull fractures below the waterline. Water began to pour into the ship, and soon one of the boiler rooms was flooded. The ship then began to lose power, and after a boiler explosion, was soon dead in the water.

"DON, LOOK!!!!"

Don looked to where Jim was pointing. To his shock, he saw a series of massive explosions. "The hell....????" He then grabbed his radio. "Leopard, can you hear me, what's going on?!?!?!"

"DON?! The whole city's going up in flames!!!! The fire was too big, they can't contain it!!!"

"Ugh, DAMMIT LEOPARD!!! I CAN'T LEAVE YOU UNSUPERVISED FOR 5 MINUTES, CAN I?!?!?!"

"It wasn't us Don, it was the Caribou! Some fire started on one of their ships, and then that ship then began to explode! The following fires and explosions then spread to the rest of the docks and city! They've also lost a number of their ships as well! Stay away from the city! We've already evacuated to a safe distance, however, if you feel like sinking some ships, feel free to!"

"Roger that Leopard!" After explaining the whole situation to Jim, and the rest of the crew, he then quickly gave the orders for the missile batteries to be fired up again. "We have to sink as many ships as possible! This fire's already going to cost them dearly, so let's multiply their pain, shall we?!"

He then gave the order to fire, and once they were ready, the primary missile batteries opened up. Each of them was heading towards a ship, and each ship targeted was doomed. (They didn't use the guns, both because the ships were out of range, and it's much easier to hit a moving target with a missile). First one ship was hit, and then another. Because most of them were made of wood, or had really weak armor, the missiles easily penetrated, and when they exploded, the damage was usually enough to severely cripple the ship, if not outright sink it. In the case of a hit magazine, that was usually a death sentence for the ship's entire crew.

Finally, with the whole city in flames, and most of the ships sunk, heavily damaged, or on fire, the naval base's spirit decided to end its suffering, and in one final, mighty explosion, (one that caused an earthquake that was actually felt as far away as Ponyville!) Dock Town blew up. Shattered debris was thrown everywhere, and the entire city, as well as the docks, and most of everything else, was entirely destroyed.

By the time that the sun finally did rise, it rose on a scene from the apocalypse. Dock Town was now little more than just twisted, flaming wreckage. All of the supply ships had been lost, as had most of the warships. 7 ships did manage to escape, but 5 others, including the Dauntless, weren't so lucky. They were either heavily damaged, crippled, or unable to be scuttled. The Dauntless was still floating, but she was dead in the water. Admiral Donnen shot himself to keep from feeling Danin's wrath, and the remainder of the crew beached the ship nearby, before either fleeing for their lives, or ending their lives.

For the rest of the Caribou, all of the Insurgents, including Gregor and Thomas, perished. For Rodin and Stuggs, most of their men perished in the inferno as well. The numbers for the battles were simply overwhelming. An estimated 4 million Caribou were dead, 1.5 million were wounded, and an estimated 3 million were missing. 3 cities, 4 towns, and 5 villages and settlements were destroyed, in addition to Rendale and Dock Town. The Caribous also lost their entire naval base, as well as all 10 of their ammunition ships, all 5 tanker ships, 27 warships sunk, 13 heavily damaged, (8 of these either later sank, or were scuttled), and the Dauntless was beached.

On our side, 359 were dead, 879 were wounded, and the number of missing was still unknown. We still could not believe what had just happened, or how much death and destruction had just been caused. We moved the Battleship Express to a nearby town that had been cleared out, Pennbrook, and decided to stay there for the time being. We all then turned our attention to tending to our wounded, as well as salvaging whatever we could from the enemy's supplies.

"How...could this have HAPPENED Stuggs?!?!?! In ONE NIGHT, we go from the most powerful empire in the world, to one that's just been CRIPPLED!!!! Most of our navy is GONE!!! Our only naval base left is the one at Lake Town! So many cities, towns, and villages have been DESTROYED!!!! Sure, we got rid of the Insurgents, BUT LOOK AT THE PRICE OF VICTORY!!!!!"

Stuggs looked like he was about to cry. So many of his men had perished needlessly, and he mourned all of them. "I....d-don't know Rodin! But they're all dead! So many of our finest are LOST!!!"

Rodin was equally upset. He also felt a cold chill run down his spine. He knew that they were going to have to inform Danin about what had just transpired. They already knew that Death most likely awaited them all for their failure, but they could only hope that Danin would make it quick for them.

Author's Note

Wow, um, yeah. When I said that, "Trial by fire", was to be taken literally, I bet you didn't think that I meant anything like this, did you? Well, that was Chapter 18. So now, the coup has been destroyed, as has almost everything else in the northern regions of the empire. We still have a ways to go, but we're definitely making progress. Now the Caribou have been severely crippled, and did more damage to themselves than we caused! What will happen now? How will Danin react when he hears the news? Do the Caribou actually know that we're in their midst? And how much longer until the next battle? Well, you know the drill! Stay tuned, and I'll tell you!

Meanwhile, as always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you in Chapter 19! (Or Chapter 18.5 if you're going to read that.)

ScarFox out for now, ALL ABOARD!!!!!

Chapter 18.5 (WARNING: EXPLICIT!!!!)

(WARNING!!! This chapter contains gay-sex. All under-age eyes, please avert now! Head to Chapter 19!)

By the time I finally made it back to my cabin, I was utterly exhausted. Once again, I had been up for almost 24 hours straight, and I needed some sleep. Aurora went to go see Cpl. Amanda, (the gal who takes care of our animals for us while we're working) for a while, so that I could rest.

I then used the bathroom, cleaned myself up a bit, then I removed my uniform, shut the blinds, shut my door, jammed a chair under the knob to compensate for the broken lock, then I pulled back the covers on my bed, and finally lay down to sleep.

However, I wouldn't get the chance to do that. Just as I was drifting off, I felt another presence close by.

"So, you've decided to come back to me Shadow? Or should I say......King Sombra?"

"So", I heard a voice say, "You've found the truth, have you?"

"Oh yes, the Princesses told me everything. I wondered why you seemed vaguely familiar to me, and now I know why. You’re King Sombra, lord of the shadows! Maybe that's why you called yourself 'Shadow'. Am I right?"

"Eh, well, you're not wrong. And I guess......now that you know the truth, you can just call me 'Sombra' Sweetheart."

"I told you, I HATE that name!"

I heard him laugh. "You do? Well, if you could see me, then maybe you wouldn't! I've healed up just enough to return to the physical world again. Do you want to see me?"

I rolled my eyes. "Sure, I guess so. I mean, I've got nothing better to do, so why not?"

I then heard him laugh softly. "Sure thing, just close your eyes!"

I groaned. "Do I have to?"

"Do you really want to see me in my physical body again?"

"I guess so."

"So then just close your eyes!"

"Ugh, fine!" I then closed my eyes. I then heard a *whooshing* sound, as well as the sound of movement. "Oh gosh, what is he really going to look like?" I wondered. "And how did he manage to return to the physical world? I thought that he was just a spirit!" Finally, all noises stopped, and all I heard was the sound of silence.

"Ok, you can open your eyes now Sweetheart, here I am!"

I then opened my eyes. To my surprise, my room appeared to still be empty. Even though I was lying on my side, I still looked all around, but I didn't see anything. "Um Sombra? Where are you? I thought that you said you were here!"

"I am here Sweetheart."

"Well then, where are you?"

I then heard him chuckle softly. "I'm right here!" I then felt two arms wrap around my torso from behind!

I will not lie, when that happened, I was so scared that I almost jumped out of my skin! Somehow, I avoided the extreme urge to scream, but I was still freaking out.

"Shh, it's ok Sweetheart", He whispered while nuzzling me gently, "I'm not going to hurt you. I just wanna cuddle!"

I couldn't take it anymore. If there was one thing that my brain hated more than anything else, it was anomalies. I simply HAD to know what Sombra looked like. After taking a few quick breaths to steel up my nerves, I then rolled, over, and faced him. When I did, I got the surprise of my life. I was expecting to see a demon, or some other form of a monster, based on the stories that I'd heard about Sombra. Instead, what I got was a real stud!

As I lay there in his arms, I began to look him over. He was maybe 6'3”, and had a lot of muscles on him. His black mane hung to his shoulders, and I also noticed that he had sideburns as well. I also noticed that he seemed to be missing his horn. His eyes were red, although they appeared to be soft. I also saw that his whole body was covered in grey fur, although on his lower legs and forearms, he had black fur, similar to the fur covering the hooves of Clydesdale horses. I also saw that his chest and belly were covered in black hair. It was then that I looked a little bit lower, and I made another shocking discovery; he was naked!

His crotch was covered in black hair, and I saw his cock and balls as well. His member was out of its sheath, although it wasn't hard yet.

I pulled away from him.

"Hey, why'd you do that Sweetheart?" He asked me gently.

"Because you're NAKED!!!!"

He laughed. "Yeah? Well so are you! What was your point again?"

"My point is, I don't swing that way! I'm into mares ONLY!"

"Are you sure about that?"

"Um, p-pretty sure."

He smirked. "Huh, you're sure eyeballing me a lot for a straight guy! I mean, a few quick looks I could understand, but staring at me like you are? You've gotta like what you see, am I right?"

"Yeah, you're f@#kin' hot!" I blurted, before immediately slamming my hands over my mouth! I then buried my face into my hands.

However, if I was expecting something bad to happen, what I got was drastically different than what I was expecting. Sombra gently pried my hands away from my face, before leaning in, and kissing me!

"Mmm....." I moaned a bit as our tongues mixed. Sombra was actually a pretty good kisser.

He then broke the kiss with a soft, wet smack that left a trail of saliva behind. "There", He said softly, "That wasn't so bad, was it? I'm not REALLY like what I used to be anymore. I'm all yours if you want me. You can fondle me at will, I don't mind. Or I can take the lead if you want."

I meanwhile was having a near impossible time trying to convince myself that what was happening was not a dream. It felt like a dream, but yet, I knew that it wasn't. But yet, if it wasn't a dream, why was Sombra like this? From what the Princesses told me, plus from what I knew of MLP FIM, Sombra was a villain. He was NOT a gay boyfriend! What was going on?!

Eventually, I decided to take Sombra up on his offer. I came back in close, and began to kiss his neck gently. "Mmmm..." He moaned softly.

I then began to move lower. I then kissed down to his chest, and when I leaned my head against it, I could hear his heart beating. He was definitely back in the physical realm, even if only for a while. I also reached around behind him, and began to rub his back gently.

"Mmm, that feels really nice sweetheart. And you can touch my butt if you want, I don't mind!

For some odd reason beyond me, I reached lower, and felt his butt. It was soft, furry, and muscular. I also felt his tail. I saw that it was thick, and just as black as his mane was. He also didn't have a cutie-mark.

"Wow, you're really soft Sombra", I murmured.

He hugged me gently. "Yeah, I know Sweetheart. And I bet that you really want to know how I'm here right now, don'tcha?"

I sighed. "Hmm, not really. I'm just glad that you are." I then moved my hands back to his front, and began to rub his hairy chest and belly, causing him to purr. Then, I decided to push his offer to the limit, and reached down to touch his hairy crotch.

He stopped me before I could. "Ah, ah, ah! You have to ask me how I'm here before I let you touch that! And you have to listen too!"

"Aww, do I really have to?" ("What is WRONG with me?! Why am I upset that I can't touch his crotch?! In fact, why am I even doing ANY of this?! THIS IS INSANE!!!!" I didn't have any answers at all.)

He smirked, before letting go of me, and rolling onto his back. When he did, his dick flopped onto his belly. "Do you want to have some 'real fun', or do you want me to go back to just being a spirit again?"

I relented. "Ok, fine Sombra", I laid my head on his chest. "How are you really here? Please tell me. I really want to 'play' with you!"

He chuckled. "Aww, you look really cute when you beg like that. And for a cutie lie you, I'll tell you. The truth is, I'm here because of you!"

"What, me?" I was genuinely surprised.

"Yes, all because of you! When you took on the Zebras and the Caribou, you made them really scared. The more scared of you that they became, the stronger I got. Now, we reach the present moment. I now have enough strength to return to the physical world when I want to, for at least a period of time. I can also go back to being just a spirit inside of you when I have to. It's a funny thing to be living with you, somepony I actually care about for a change." He nuzzled my neck a bit. "Somepony I love."

I shivered a bit, but I didn't say anything. (My own dick was also out of it's sheath, and at full-mast. I was getting so turned on by this.

"Also, I think that you've earned your reward." He then gestured down to his crotch. "Enjoy!"

I then sat up, but I just stared at his crotch. I didn't touch it.

"Well go on, touch it! It won't bite! You can touch it, rub it, stroke it, bury your face in it and smell my musk, or even, if you're feeling really adventurous, you can even suck on it!"

I was still frozen where I was.

Sombra sighed. "Wow, you really are a shy one, aren't you? Here, let me help you." He then gently took my hand, and placed it over his crotch.

I felt him shudder a bit when I touched it for the first time. His dick was warm, and it moved in my hand. I also began to gently fondle his balls.

"Augh! Careful Sweetheart! I just might blow a load right here!"

I then rubbed a little bit higher, and I also felt the hair on his crotch. It was a bit courser than the rest of his fur, but it was somewhat soft. I also saw his tail a bit better as well. It was long, thick, and just as black as his mane. It was partially underneath him, and partially off to his left.

I then sighed, and began to stroke his dick gently. I felt it get bigger, and thicker as I did so.

"Ough! Oh wow! That feels, amazing Sweetheart! You would make the perfect mate for me!"

I smiled, and I kept pleasuring my master. I was the submissive one in this relationship, just trying to please my hunk of a stallion boyfriend.

"Mmm, I bet I would!" I whispered softly. I then continued to give him a hand-job.

Then, once he was at full mast, I stopped stroking. "Um, S-Sombra?"

"Yeah Sweetheart?"

I blushed a bit. "Um....c-can I suck on your dick? I want to so badly."

He looked down at me, smiling sweetly. "Hmm, I've always had a soft-spot for quiet beauties like you. You're always so shy and meek, and I find that so adorable. Sure. If you really want to, you can suck me off. And if you want to swallow something thick and creamy, that can be arranged too!"

I nodded, and while still blushing, I gently began to lick his member.

"Ogh!" He groaned.

I kept licking. I swirled my tongue around, and got his member all nice and wet. Eventually, I took the leap of faith, and I popped him into my mouth.

Sombra didn't say anything, but he did moan pretty loud. (I would later learn that I was the only one who could really see, or hear Sombra. There were some others who could, but not too many more than a handful.)

I kept going. Up and down I bobbed my head as I continued to suck my coltfriend off. When I would come up for air, I would also gently lick, and massage his balls.

"Oh, oh yeah Sweetheart! You like my balls? Well they're full of a nice, creamy treat for you! Just keep sucking, and you'll find it if you really want it!"

I really did want it. Sombra then placed his hand gently on the back of my head to guide me a bit better. I continued to suck him off, and he continued to moan. Eventually, he began to get close.

"Oh....ugh....oh man......Um, I'm.....g-getting close Sweetheart. D-do....you want to swallow?"

I nodded when I came up for air. "Yeah, I do. I wanna see what you taste like!"

He nodded. "Sure. J-just....keep going a little longer."

I happily complied. I kept sucking, and sure enough, a few moments later, I felt his member twitch, and then he exploded into my mouth.

"OUGH!!!!" He groaned as he ejaculated.

I had to work overtime to keep up with his spurts. He came like a true stallion. Spurt after spurt of his hot, thick foal-batter hit the back of my throat, and I gratefully swallowed every last drop that he had to give me. Eventually, his climax ended, and I swallowed his last spurt. I then began to clean his member with my tongue.

"Wow Sweetheart!" Sombra breathed, "That was......f@#kin' amazing! I never thought that you could suck me off like that, not to mention swallowing every last drop of my jizz! Heck, you're even cleaning me up for pony's sake!"

I giggled a bit. "Only the best for my coltfriend!"

Once I finished, I looked back up at him.

He looked back at me. "So.....do you wanna f@#k?"

I nodded, and then crawled back into bed next to him. I then stuck my rump towards him, and moved my tail to the side.

He smirked. "So, you wanna do it lying down? Alright, I guess that we can do that." He then moved until his dick was facing my butt. "And, before we do this, um....have you ever done this before?"

I shook my head. "No, never." (I lied. I used to live among the Futas!)

He nodded. "Ok, well then. We'll just take this slow, and see what happens. "I'll just lube you up, and then loosen you up a bit first."

I wondered what he meant by that. Before I could ask though, I heard him spit onto his fingers, before rubbing my hole with them.

"Nnngh!" I bit the sheets in front of me.

"Heh, what a cute little slut!" Sombra thought. "He is such a PUSHOVER! So EAGER to do WHATEVER I want him to do! So submissive. And that's what makes him so cute. Now I'm DEFINITELY going to be keeping him when I fully get my power back!" He then kept rubbing my hole with his fingers.

Eventually, he stuck a finger inside of me.

"Ough!"

"You enjoying this Sweetheart?"

"Ngh, yeah." I said softly.

"Hmm, good. Well, you're all lubed up, and loosened up. My dick is still pretty slobbery thanks to you, and you're all ready to go, so I'm going to f@#k you now. Don't worry, I'll go slow, and you tell me if it hurts, ok?"

"Sure. You can do it now. I'm ready."

He nodded, and then placed the tip of his once again throbbing member against my hole. He then gently began to push into me.

"Ough!!!" I moaned.

"You doing ok Sweetheart? I'm not hurting you, right?"

I shook my head. "No....you're not hurting me. And you can start thrusting if you want, but please be gentle!"

He nodded. "Sure thing, and I'll be gentle." He then wrapped his arms around me, and began to thrust gently.

I will admit, at first, it hurt somewhat. But after a little while, the pain began to change into pleasure. I hadn't been treated like this in a long time, but I liked it. Sombra was the perfect mate. He was loving, kind, gentle, and if my brain had been functioning properly, I would have seen that he was simply using me to get his powers back, but alas, my brain was not working. I was completely in love with Sombra, and he, in his weakened state, had fallen for me as well. It was a strange shipping, but it works, right?

In and out, Sombra kept thrusting. He would also occasionally grunt, and sometimes moan a bit. I also moaned a lot as well. For a long time, we lay in my bed f@#king. I was really enjoying my sex with Sombra, just as I knew that he was loving it as well.

Eventually, I could feel him getting close again.

"Mgh.....um, S-Sweetheart......ngh, I'm getting close again. C-can.....I cum inside?"

I nodded. "Mmm, y-yeah. Please cum inside me Sombra. I wanna feel it so bad!"

He complied "Sure thing!"

After thrusting for a few more times, he then grunted again, and blew another load, this time inside of me. Spurt after spurt of his thick foal-batter filled me up. It felt absolutely amazing. Once he was done though, Sombra had one more surprise in store for me. After pulling out of me gently, he then rolled me onto my back, before climbing on top of me. Then, after pressing his dick against mine he began to stroke me off.

I moaned as my mate pleasured me.

"Mmh, those noises you're making, are cute as hell!"

"Nyah!" I said in response.

Then, before I knew it, I was blowing my load all over myself. Once I'd finished, Sombra smirked, and then, using his own tongue, he cleaned me up, then I cleaned his member one final time, before it disappeared back inside of his sheath.

Then, after pulling the covers over both of us, Sombra wrapped his arms and tail around me, and held me close to him. I returned the favor, and wrapped my arms, tail, and even wings around him.

"That was.....amazing Sweetheart. We'll have to do that again sometime. I knew that I made the right choice when I picked you to be my new host!"

"Nyah, not as amazing as you, Sombra. You can be the 'King of my Shadows' anytime!"

He kissed me gently on the forehead. "Heh, I just might have to take you up on that offer Sweetheart! This was really fun. Maybe next time you can f@#k me, instead of me f@#king you."

"Maybe, just maybe." I was almost asleep at this point. It was so warm to be snuggled close to Sombra's warm, furry, and hairy body. Just before I fell asleep though, I asked Sombra one last thing. "Hey Sombra?"

"Yeah Sweetheart?"

"How come you don't have a horn?"

He sighed. "Because I gave it to you to keep safe until I can figure out how to reattach it to my forehead again. Once I figure out how to do that, then my powers will fully return."

I nodded. "Sure, that makes sense. And before I fall asleep, can you.....maybe....k-kiss me one more time? I...um, k-kinda want to f-feel your lips on mine."

He chuckled a bit. "For you, Sweetheart, anything." He then leaned in, and kissed me again. Our tongues also mixed again, and we slobbered into each other's mouth a bit. He then broke the kiss with a soft, wet smack.

"Mmm, You're a really good kisser Sombra."

He nodded. "Thanks Sweetheart. And most likely when you wake up, I'll have turned back into a spirit again. Don't worry, I'll still be right here with you, and we'll still be able to have fun on another night, but in order for me to stay in the physical realm, I have to become a spirit again."

I kissed him on the nose. "Sure, I understand Sombra. Goodnight."

He sighed. "Goodnight, Sweetheart. I love you."

"Hmm, not as much as I love you!"

Then, on that note, we both fell asleep. Our sex may have been over for the time being, but our new relationship, was only just beginning.

Author's Note

Ok, so now this Chapter is out of the way. So, now Sombra is strong enough to return to the phycical world, and I've had sex with him, in addition to seeing him as my coltfriend. What have I gotten myself into this time? What would Dash think if she could see that? How will my relationship with Sombra go? Will it work out, or is he really just using me to get his powers back? Well, if you keep reading, then I'll tell you.

Also, I'd really like to know how this chapter went. Does the whole "Leopard X Sombra" Shipping even work? Please tell me what you think, so that I know what to do for the future. Can my relationship with Sombra work, and if so, how? (I'd also like to know what you're favorite part was, if you want to tell me.)

(also, if you don't like it, then I do have a plan to fix the problem.)

Meanwhile, I'll see you all in Chapter 19!

ScarFox out for now!

Chapter 19: Hard Times are a Comin'

I woke up when I heard my alarm clock going off. After shutting it off, I saw that the time was 11:30am.

"Hmm, well, I guess that it's time to get up again. You still here Sombra?" I looked over, but alas, I was alone in my bed.

"Huh....well....was last night....really just a dream? I mean, it would make sense. Sombra coming back to the physical realm? Doesn't sound too likely. Most likely, it was just....."

Then I froze. I felt a weird, tingling on my hips, and when I looked down, I noticed small scratch-marks, almost as if someone, or somepony, had been gripping me while they rode my ass. My rump also felt a little bit sore as well.

"So it really wasn't a dream after all...." I muttered. "And now Dash is going to f@#king KILL ME!!! I mean, sex with Aurora was one thing, but this?! How am I ever going to explain THIS?!" I honestly had no answers at all.

I then sighed, and after getting out of bed, I went for a shower. I glanced at myself in the bathroom mirror, and to my surprise, on my chest and torso, I saw what appeared to be dark gray fur. I looked closer, and I also saw that my forearms were covered in black fur. I then looked down at my legs, but it was impossible to tell if they had any new black fur, since they were already all fully covered in black fur, thanks to the Bat-Pony treatment.

"Gosh, no wonder Shining tried to kill me. I really DO look just like Sombra! Except of course, for the eyes, the wings, and the height, weight, and most likely muscle differences, not to mention personality, but yet, I hope that this is as far as the transformations go. I'm really starting to enjoy being a Human-Bat-Pony, and I don't need any more Sombra added to the mix!"

I then took my shower, washed my black mane and tail with my favorite shampoo, Mane n' Tail, used a conditioner to help keep dander at bay, (yes, some of us have issues with dander. It's just one of the drawbacks to being a human-animal hybrid) and then I washed the rest of myself. The hardest part was always my wings. I had to use two mirrors, as well as long scrubbing brushes, as they were difficult to wash because they were out of reach on my back.

"Damn, this is always so difficult! I sure wish that I had some help with this!"

I then finished my shower, got out dried off, blow-dried my mane, and tail, as well as my wings, before I began to equally tedious task of preening them. After this was complete, I returned to my room, cleaned my uniform up, and began to put it back on. However, something stopped me. Ever since the night that I'd taken the crate with Sombra's armor in it, I'd always wondered what I would look like wearing it. Since I was alone, and wouldn't be bothered for a little bit longer, I decided to see what it looked like on me.

I pulled the crate out from under my bed, and after removing the lid, I once again saw the armor. I then began to take it out piece by piece, and lay each piece on my bed. In addition to the armor, the red cape, and the helmet-crown, I also found a device that appeared to be a cross between a scepter, a spear, and a bow-staff. It was made of metal, and looked very tough.

"I wonder what this was."

"It's my staff. With that in my hand, I ruled my kingdom, and fought my enemies."

"Hmm, well, it certainly looks like a powerful tool Sombra. Now let's see what the rest of this looks like." I then took the armor, and put each piece on slowly.

Like I previously thought, the task was tedious, and the armor was indeed heavy. First, I put on the boots, then the shin guards, then the thigh guards, the codpiece, a butt-protector, breastplate, back-plate, arm armor, gauntlets, then I wrapped his cape around myself, and tied it at my neck and shoulders. Next, I attached the neck guard to my own neck. Then, I took his horn from my night stand, attached it to the front slot on the helmet-crown, before placing it on my own head. I then picked up his staff.

"Well, what do you think Sombra?" I did a quick spin. "How do I look?"

"Heh, you look just like me Sweetheart. You look like somepony who's fit to rule! Just think, I not only wore that armor, but I fought in it as well. The powers within have now resized the armor to fit you. Wear it with pride Sweetheart, let the world know that YOU are the coltfriend to King Sombra!"

I cocked my head a bit. "Eh, no offense Sombra, but I don't really think that that's something that I should go around telling everypony. We need to keep our relationship quiet. After all, you've been dead for a good while now, and I don't want to cause a panic, or worse, get locked up for being a lunatic. Also, I think that I'm going to need a lot more practice with this armor first, before I just go into combat with it. However, I might try some pieces of it, like the breastplate, just to see how well they work."

"You just HAVE to use the cape as a robe though! I did that so many times when I was still alive. I would always return to my quarters, remove my armor to have it cleaned, then I would wrap my cape around my nude body, before laying down on my bed to sleep. It was always so warm."

"Sombra, were you always gay, or is this just a phase? I'm getting extremely confused, as this version of you doesn't match the King Sombra of the historical records."

He thought fast. "Eh, well, I've always had a thing for stallions, especially the submissive ones. It's a fact that the history books overlooked. They always focused on the ‘real’ Sombra, not the one behind the scenes. I always wanted to spend my life with a cute stallion, and now, I guess that I'm spending my life with you. I'm also still weak without my powers. Until you, or me, or both of us, figure out how to reattach my horn, I'll always be like this, without my powers."

I didn't know what to say to that. I then looked at my clock, and saw that it was almost Noon.

"Hmm, well, it's been fun Sombra, but I have to get back to work now." I began to remove the armor. "But don't worry, I'll be back later on tonight."

He smirked. "Heh, sure thing Sweetheart. I'll be waiting inside of you until then. Hopefully, I'll be charged enough to become 'real' again!"

"Hopefully so Sombra, hopefully so."

I then finished removing the rest of the armor, and after repacking it into the crate, I closed the crate up again, before sliding it back underneath my bed. I then took Sombra's horn, and placed it in my nightstand again. Then, after pulling the rest of my uniform back on, I went to go see what needed to be done for the day.

On another end of this, in Donneth, Danin was anxiously awaiting any news from the front. The last thing that he had heard was from Rodin the night before.

"We're on our way, My King. We'll deal with that traitor once and for all!"

That had been many hours ago. Now, Danin was starting to get extremely worried. Eventually though, his communicator beeped.

He picked it up, and to his surprise, it was Rodin, with Stuggs standing close by. "Well, it's about time you checked in Generals! I thought for sure that you were dead! Anyway, report! What's happening out there? Were the traitors put down?"

Rodin and Stuggs looked at each other, and then back at Danin. Finally, Rodin spoke. "This.....is going to be extremely hard for you to hear, My King. Do you want the good news first, or the bad news?"

Now Danin knew that something was wrong. "Let me guess, the Black Leviathan is here?"

"N-no.....My King. There is no sign of the Black Leviathan. I would also like to report that Captain Gregor, Lt. Thomas, and their insurgent forces, are no more. We put a stop to their rabble once and for all, or rather, they did themselves in."

Danin was both surprised, and confused. "Wait, they're all dead? I'm confused General Rodin, you said that there was good news, AND bad news. I'll take Gregor's forces being dead to be the good news. However, if that is indeed the case, what's the bad news then?"

Both of the generals knew that what they said next could easily get them killed. After all, it was not every day that one loses 4 million soldiers, have 1.2 million wounded and 3 million missing, 3 towns, 4 cities, 5 settlements and an ENTIRE naval base destroyed, and a flagship, AND 27 other ships sunk, all in one night!

As slowly, and carefully as they could, Rodin and Stuggs explained the entire situation to Danin. From the first battle at Marrow, to the huge chase that spanned 250 miles all the way to Rendale, and then the 10 mile chase to Dock Town. (Neither of them mentioned the extreme incidents involving friendly-fire though!) They then explained about how the Insurgents interrupted operations for Van Hoover, and caused the massive explosion that destroyed everything.

When they finally finished, both of them looked back up at Danin. His expression was unreadable, which they knew had to be a bad sign. He also seemed to be violently twitching.

Finally, he growled at both of them. "Stuggs, I want your ASS back here RIGHT NOW!!!!! And YOU Rodin, I want YOU to clean up this mess! This incident NEVER HAPPENED!!!!! It was a fatal accident! Do you both understand?!"

They both saluted. "Sir, yes Sir!"

Danin then terminated the call.

They both then looked at each other. They knew that most likely, this was going to be the last time that they ever saw each other on that side of eternity.

"It was a pleasure to have served with you, General Rodin. I'll never forget the battles that we fought together."

"And neither will I, General Stuggs. You were on of the best soldiers that I ever knew, and you were a great friend."

The two generals then hugged, and then Stuggs left to go board a train from the nearest undamaged train station for the trip back to Donneth.

Down below in the harem chamber, Cole was really beginning to suspect that something was going on. For hours on end, they were just left to their own devices. This had never happened to them before. There was almost always SOMEBODY in there doing something, but now, nothing.

"This is getting really weird you guys. Why's nobody coming down here? Did they suddenly forget about us?"

Cole shrugged. "I don't know Pinkie, but something has to have happened. I know that they wouldn't have left us alone like this if something hadn't happened."

"Yeah, but what?"

"I don't know Dash. But it would have had to have been something major."

"Mmn, I certainly hope that it was an attack. Hopefully by your friends!"

"It's possible Missy, but I just don't....."

Before Cole could finish that thought, the door to the chamber suddenly opened. Winston then stepped inside, pulling his wagon of food and water. All of the slaves swarmed around him happily, but he seemed to be very unhappy. He tried to smile as he filled food and water dishes, as well as gave pets, hugs, and kind words, but Cole and Co. could see that his heart just wasn't with it.

Finally, he came to them.

"Hey, what's wrong Winston? Why do you look so sad?"

He looked up at them. "Hello, Pinkie. And Cole, Dash, and, um, Missy? Is that it?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"And you mean that you guys didn't hear the news?"

Cole looked at him strangely. "Why would we have heard anything? Remember, we don't hear any news down here. However, I do find it extremely unusual that we've been left alone for this long without anyone coming down. This most likely means that something bad has happened, am I right?"

Winston nodded. "Yes, something bad did happen. Last night in the town of Marrow, which is far to the Northeast of here, an officer named Captain Gregor, and his followers decided to stage a coup....." Winston then explained everything that his Uncle Stuggs told him. "....And so that's where everything stands. We've literally been crippled, and we haven't even been touched by the enemy yet. So many of my friends who were in the Army are dead. Sure, they killed the insurgents, but at what cost?!" He then began to cry.

The group tried to comfort him.

"Shh, it's ok Winston. I know what it's like to lose someone close to you, especially friends. I've lived through war; I know what it's like."

Winston looked over at Cole. He knew that he was a soldier, and had most likely seen a lot of death in his time.

"I'm....kinda glad that you understand Cole. It's nice to know that there are others who experience this kind of stuff, and are willing to talk about it."

Cole nodded. "Yes, and not to step on your uncle or anything, but I think that the Battleship Express DID have a part to play here."

"What, really?"

"Yeah! There's NO WAY that those insurgents could have caused that kind of damage by themselves. There had to be another factor in there causing chaos. Most likely, my comrades are somewhere outside of Dock Town right now, most likely trying to salvage whatever they can, so that it can be turned over to the Equestrians for study. They'll also most likely be planning on attacking somewhere else soon."

Winston looked worried. "If they are, I certainly hope that they're ready for the weather."

"What do you mean by that?" Dash asked.

"I mean that for some reason, the weather here in the Caribou Empire doesn't work the normal way. The seasons are much shorter in some cases, and much longer in others. What that means is that Spring and Summer are short, but Fall and especially Winter, can be long, and very cold. The Fall season brings rain, and then, Winter sets in. Almost always there is lots of snow. This can last for several months before finally dissipating. We are having an unusual Fall right now. There should be rain, but there hasn't been any for a while. Soon though, Winter will set in. I certainly hope that your soldiers are well trained, and well equipped to fight in those kinds of conditions."

Cole had to think about that. "Sounds like our campaign through the Midwest, and then the Rocky Mountains. Those were some of the worst Winters in the history of the Western Hemisphere! We're talking strings of blizzards, sub-zero temperatures, and almost 100% whiteout conditions. From what I was told, our soldiers are well equipped to fight in the snow and cold. They did it then in WW6, so what's stopping them from just doing it again?"

The others looked at Cole. They were shocked by what Winston had said, but even more so by what Cole had just told them.

"Are you sure about that Cole?"

He nodded. "As sure as I can be. I was there for the tail end of the Rocky Mountains Campaign, so I saw some of it in action. I KNOW that they can do it."

Dash sighed. "Well, I guess now we just wait for Fall to end, and for Winter to set in."

Winston nodded, and agreed to keep them posted on any future developments.

Back in Dock Town, some of us ventured back there to see what we could find. Aside from mostly burnt rubble, twisted, broken steel, and shattered metal, in addition to charred corpses, sunken ships, as well as a lot of other debris that wasn't able to be identified, not a whole lot was really salvageable.

We did take Battle Glory to be studied, as well as the ships that were at least semi-salvageable. The real catch of the day though was the Dauntless. Even though the ship was beached, it was still largely intact. Using rafts made from floating junk, some of us ventured out to the ship to see what we could find. The ship was partially sunk due to hull damage, but the beaching prevented her from sinking completely.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I think that this ship, as well as those 4 others, should be handed over to the Equestrians for study, as well as Battle Glory."

We all agreed to this, and it was also around this time that Don and I, as well as Shining and Jim made another report to Celestia.

None of us even knew what to say. We were so scared when she finally did pick up.

"Ah, Major Don, General Shining, Captain Leopard, and Chief Engineer Jim, it has been a while since I last heard from you. I expect that you have a new report for us?"

Don sighed. "Um, yes, Princess Celestia, we do."

"Um, why do you look so scared Major? Is something wrong?"

Don shook his head. "Um n-no Princess, however, you should REALLY sit down before we give you this report. What happened in just the past 24 hours is so unbelievable that even we are having an extremely difficult time believing that it's all real."

Celestia was intrigued. She also sat down, and was joined by Luna and Cadence. "Well, I'm sitting down, and the other two Princesses are here as well, so please tell us, what has happened that is so unbelievable?"

Don looked at them, then back at us. Then, with each of us telling part of the story, we told the Princesses everything that had just happened. From our assault on Hell's Gate, to our trip to Marrow, to Captain Gregor and his coup, the battle in the woods, the battles that spanned 250 miles in multiple directions, to the fight at Rendale, and of course, the incident at Dock Town.

"Which is where we still are right now, Princesses. We're still here at Dock Town, trying to see what we can salvage, which unfortunately, is not much. However, we do have 4 somewhat damaged ships, as well as the CIS Dauntless, to turn over to your for study."

When Don finished the report, for the longest time, in both the PCC, and the Canterlot throne room, it was so quiet that you could have easily heard a pin drop.

Finally though, Celestia was able to stammer, "Are.....you all being serious right now? You attacked during a coup, and while the Caribou all but slaughtered themselves, you were able to cause enough chaos around them to do ALL OF THIS?!?!?!"

"We have it all on video if you don't believe us, Princess Celestia. The Caribou have been severely crippled. And in regards to the ships that we've manage to capture, would it be possible for them to be removed for study?"

"Yes, but we will have to move fast. More likely than not, the enemy may already know that you guys are there, and even if they didn't, Winter is about to begin over there. And when Winter hits, everything can come to a complete standstill."

"Wait, what? What do you mean that Winter is about to begin?"

"Well Major, for an unknown reason, the 4 seasons work very differently over there. Spring and Summer are very short, while Fall, and especially Winter, are very long. You are all currently in Fall, and soon, the rains will start. Then it will get colder and colder, until the rains turn into snow. Then Winter hits, and it'll be snow storms, blizzards, freezing temperatures, and all of the other pains of Winter."

Now Don was worried. "That is going to be a problem, Princess. We don't have enough Winter gear to go around. We have enough for those on the train, but not enough for Battalion 4009, or your soldiers. How fast can you send us Winter clothing, and other cold-weather gear?"

"In about 4 days time, Major. It will take us the rest of today to gather everything together, and then 3 days for Iron Glory to bring it to you. You will have time, but it will be cutting it extremely close. Meanwhile, I will contact Commodore Sunspot, and have him send salvage ships from Van Hoover, and see about getting those ships that you've captured. The Dauntless will make a very nice prize indeed. As always, you boys never cease to impress, or amaze me. Just prepare yourselves, and be ready for when Winter comes, it will come hard, and fast."

Don nodded. "Yes, and don't worry Princess. We've already moved the train over to neighboring Pennbrook, where we'll wait for Fall to end, and then Winter to begin."

"Ok, and good luck Major Don, we'll be in touch."

"Goodbye Princesses."

The call then ended, and we all got back to work.

The next few days were very busy for all of us. We had to be in a constant state of readiness, just in case the enemy decided to try something, but we never had any contact with them.

Right on time though, the salvage ships arrived, and after shoring up the damage as best they could, they towed the Dauntless, as well as the other 4 ships that we'd managed to salvage away to Van Hoover, so that they could be studied. After the ships, as well as Battle Glory, had been secured, and we received confirmation of their arrival in Van Hoover, we all then pulled out of Dock Town for the last time, before heading back to our base in Pennbrook.

Not long after this though, the weather began to turn nasty. First, the rains came. Even when it wasn't raining, it was always cloudy. The winds howled, and the rain began to beat against the windows of the train.

"I hate this weather", I muttered as I worked on some paperwork at my desk in my quarters. "It's raining, it's getting colder, and it's just so yucky!"

"Eh, well, I'm not too crazy about it either."

I looked over at my bed. As he often did, Sombra was lying there, relaxing in nothing more than his birthday suit.

"Sombra, do you ever wear clothes?"

He smirked. "What's the matter Sweetheart, can't concentrate?"

I groaned. "No, I can concentrate, I was just wondering."

"Heh, yeah, sure you were. You ever tried to wear my cape like a robe yet?"

I shook my head. "No, I've always been too busy. Maybe once Winter sets in."

Suddenly though, the lights went out.

"Oh crap, not again!"

"What happened?"

I groaned. "Ugh, most likely a fuse blew again. I HATE IT when that happens!" I then got up from my desk, and grabbed a flashlight. "Just wait here."

I then left my room, and went out into the hallway. "Hey guys, did a fuse blow again?"

"Yeah!" Todd answered. "Alex was trying to show Applejack how much he could plug into one outlet. Long story short, he overloaded the outlet, and almost started a fire!"

"Shut up Todd! It was an accident!"

"No it wasn't Sugarcube. You were trying to show off, and then ya blew out the lights!"

Alex still sounded pretty mad. "Just.....fix the damn fuse box somebody!"

I rolled my eyes. "I've got it!" I then went over to the electrical panel on the wall, and opened it. "Wow Alex, you blew 3 whole fuses! What the heck were you trying to prove? Were you trying to compensate for something?" I smirked.

"SHUT THE F@#K UP LEOAPRD!!!!!"

I laughed, as did Todd. "Okay, fine, I'll just fix the box so that I can get back to work!" I then pulled out the dead fuses, put in 3 new ones, and then flipped the switch before closing up the box. Sure enough, the power was back on.

"There, I fixed it! Now Alex, PLEASE don't do anything like that again! We CANNOT afford to waste any fuses like that!"

He sighed. "Yeah, fine, I'm sorry."

"Eh, apology accepted." I then returned to my room, and got back to work. Then, once I was done for the evening, I took my paperwork to Don's office, before returning to Sombra for a night of sex.

For nearly a week, the rains continued. After this though, the weather continued to deteriorate. It began to get colder, and the wind seemed to be howling more and more.

"Yikes, this weather sure is getting bad Master! How much longer until those Winter clothes for the rest of the troops arrive?"

I looked down at my faithful companion. "Yeah, it's getting pretty bad, isn't it? And I heard that the train was delayed due to weather, but they made it through to Marrow, so it should be sometime later on today."

Aurora nodded, but then she seemed to be upset about something. "Master, why don't you ever seem to have time for me anymore?"

I was surprised. "Huh? What do you mean Aurora?"

"I mean, why haven't you had me around for a while? I mean, I could maybe understand you leaving me behind during the battles, but why haven't you really let me into your room anymore?"

I thought fast. "Um, well....the truth is Aurora, I've just been really busy. We've had to work overtime to get all of everything ready for Winter. But don't worry, when it hits, which should be the day after tomorrow, I'll be sure to be spending a LOT more time with you! You still mean the world to me Aurora, and I'm really sorry that I haven't had time for you. However, to at least begin to help make up for that, you can spend the day with me if you want."

Her face lit up. "You really mean it Master?"

I nodded. "Of course I do Aurora."

She barked happily, and hugged me. "Oh thank you Master!"

I hugged her back. "Mmm, you're welcome Aurora."

Sure enough, later that same day, we rendezvoused once again with Iron Glory.

"Wow, you boys sure have made a real mess of this place! All we could see on our entire journey here was nothing but junk, and twisted debris!"

Don nodded. "Yeah, although most of that was actually the result of a failed coup. We just provided the chaos that led to destruction. But anyway, I was told that you guys had some goodies for us?"

Daryl nodded. "Yeah, we've got several cars full of crates of winter gear. We were told that they were needed here on the double!"

"Oh yeah, they're needed alright! The seasons don't work normally around here. Winter is already upon us, and we don't have enough gear for everypony."

"Well, here it all is, so if you could just help us get it unloaded, then we can be on our way again."

Don called the rest of us together, and as quickly as we could, we got Iron Glory unloaded, and all of the gear taken to either the train, or other buildings close by that were currently serving as housing.

"Thanks again Daryl. You guys of the supply team really are our lifeline out here. I don't know what we would do without you guys."

Daryl nodded. "Don't mention it Don. It's our job. We're SUPPOSED to be doing this!"

"Well, maybe so, but we can never thank you enough for doing it."

"Just win this war, and then maybe THAT will be all of the thanks that you need to give!"

Don nodded, and then, with clouds of smoke and steam, Iron Glory left once again to return to Equestria.

Once all of the winter gear had been distributed, the last remaining day was spent fully winterizing everything once again. Even in bad weather, we had to be ready to fight. All guns were lubricated with a special lubricant to prevent freezing, heaters were turned on to prevent ice from forming, and we all got ready for Winter......in what literally was July! We were also able to build a long shelter above the train to help keep the snow off. Made entirely out of recycled scrap, it covered the entire train, and even had walls at intervals to provide cover from the wind. That night, it got cold enough to freeze the ground. Then, the snow began to fall. Gently at first, but then more and more.

"Tonight, Winter is upon us", I wrote in my diary. "Even though it's only early July, the 4 seasons work much differently here in the Caribou Empire. Spring and Summer are short, while Fall is wet and rainy, and Winter is long, and is like a Winter out of Siberia. I'm sitting here at my desk, trying out something that I promised my coltfriend Shadow that I would do. Even though it's about 5 degrees on the thermometer, I'm sitting here, buck-naked, wrapped only in his red cape, which I'm now using like a robe.

Why am I doing this? I have no idea. I don't feel too cold, but this most likely is a combination of the train's heaters, as well as my fur, which acts as insulation against the cold. It's getting late, and Shadow is calling from the bed, so I need to go. I'll write again when something happens."

I started to get up, but then something stopped me. With my right hand, I wrote one final line. "Please, remember. Remember me, the way I used to be. Before Shadow. And the stallion I still should be......" I then closed up my diary, and put it back on the shelf above my desk, along with the 19 other books that had been my diary, until I filled them up completely, and placed them on the shelf before starting again with a fresh book. Currently, I was on book 20.

I then sighed, and while still wrapped in my cape-robe, I went over to Sombra on the bed.

"So, Winter is upon us, eh?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it is. Even though it's only July, it's Winter. Already the snow is here, and it's cold as balls outside."

"And how's my cape working out for you? Is it keeping you warm?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, maybe. It's hard to tell."

He nodded. "Fair enough. But come on, cuddle time!"

I lay down next to him, and I began to run my fingers through his mane. "Wow, um, hey Shadow, do you ever brush your mane?" (Sombra still let me call him "Shadow")

"Mmm, sometimes, why?"

"Um, because it's feeling a little clumped together. When was the last time that you brushed it?"

He thought about that. "Eh, not in a while."

"Well, do you want me to brush it for you? I wouldn't mind doing it, and I could get your tail, as well as anywhere else as well."

He shrugged. "Sure Sweetheart, if you really want to." He then sat up, and moved over to the edge of the bed, before placing both of his hooves on the floor. I then went to go grab a brush, (I always kept a spare one in the mirrored cabinet in my bathroom) and when I returned, I sat behind my boyfriend, and began to brush his mane gently.

"Mmm", he purred, "That feels really nice."

"Thanks. It'll feel so good when I finally get all of the knots and tangles out."

After working for a while longer, I finished with his mane, and then moved on to his tail. After that was done, I even took the time to brush the black fur on his forearms, (fetlocks?) as well as the black fur on his lower legs, that also covered his hooves.

"Wow, even the fur on your arms and legs is really soft Shadow. You do a really good job of taking care of your fur and hair."

"Heh, thanks." He then thought for a moment. "Hey Sweetheart?"

"Yeah Shadow?"

"Do you think that you could....um....m-maybe brush the hair on my chest, as well as m-my crotch?"

I cocked my head a bit. "Um, s-sure. If that's what you want." I then got to work on that.

Sombra purred and even moaned a bit as I did my gentle grooming. Once I was done with that, I sat behind him again, and began to gently massage his shoulders. "There, is that better Shadow?" I cooed gently.

"Y-yeah. You're so...so good at taking care of me Sweetheart. So much better than any other host I had ever did. With your gentle care, I've been able to recover so much. I really thank you."

I kissed him gently on the cheek. "Only the best, for my awesome, studly hunk of a boyfriend!" I also wrapped my arms around his chest.

He half-turned his head, and kissed me gently. "Mmm, you're so sweet Sweetheart. I don't even deserve you sometimes!"

"Just as I don't really deserve you, Shadow."

Just before we both went to sleep that night, Sombra asked me one last thing. "Um, Sweetheart?"

"Yeah?"

"Where....did you put my horn? I kinda want to see if it can be reattached to my forehead."

I got up, and went over to my night stand. I opened one of the drawers, and from within, I pulled out his horn. "Here it is." I then handed it to him.

He handed it back. "You're....most likely going to be better at this than me Sweetheart. Just take it, and see if you can reattach it to my forehead. I already tried, but I couldn't get it to work for me. Maybe you'll have better luck than I did."

I was maybe about to, but something made me hesitate. Somewhere deep within, a little voice kept telling me to rethink what I was doing. Then, in my head, all of the puzzle pieces fell into place. If Sombra's horn was ever reattached, then he would be able to use his magic again, and if that happened, he would be free once again. However, I knew something that Sombra didn't. I was not able to use Magic, and from my studies of Pony anatomy, I knew that horns really couldn't be reattached easily. Nevertheless though, I decided to give it a go.

I gently held Sombra's head up with one hand, while with the other, I attempted to reattach his horn. Unsurprisingly, when I put the horn on its base on his forehead, nothing happened.

"Anything Sweetheart?"

I shook my head. "Sadly, no. I'm no Magic expert, but I don't know if severed horns even CAN be reattached. Plus, I really don't want to mess with this too much. What if something malfunctioned, and your horn got stuck to MY forehead?"

Sombra chuckled a bit. "Nah, I don't think that that would happen Sweetheart. You're a Pegasus/Bat-pony, not a Unicorn. If you suddenly had my Magic abilities, then that would make you the strangest Alicorn of all time!"

We both laughed at that. "Yeah, ME as an Alicorn?! That would be a laugh! And I was just beginning to get used to my Human-Bat-pony form as well. I don't think that I could tolerate any more changes!"

"Most likely, you won't have to. At best, all you would get would be some of my magic power, you wouldn't be an Alicorn. Anyway though, it's bedtime!"

I nodded. "Yeah, but I really DON'T want any of your powers! And yeah, I am tired, so scoot over, here I come."

He scooted, and then I crawled into bed after him. After pulling the covers over the both of us, I snuggled close to him for warmth. I also wrapped my arms, tail, and wings around him as well.

"Mmm, goodnight Shadow. I'll see you in the morning."

He nodded. "Goodnight Sweetheart. Although, most likely, I'll be back to a spirit again, but yeah, I'll still be here with you."

On that note, the both of us then fell asleep, wondering what the future would hold for us.

Author's Note

And, that was Chapter 19. It was slow, and kinda dull, I know, but it had to be done, so as to set the scene, and the mood for the next couple of chapters or so, which will all take place during this Winter period. All battles will be fought in the snow and cold. Where will the next battle take place, and when? When will the Caribou ever figure out that we're here? And what will happen when they do?

Also, what about me and Sombra? Will anyone ever figure out that we're in a relationship? Will his horn ever be reattached, or will it remain separated from his forehead? Will I ever make use of his horn? And how do Dash, and even Spitfire =, play into all of this? Assuming that eventually, Sombra does return to just being a spirit inside of me, how will that go? Will they be able to handle having two husbands in the same body? And why am I asking so many questions?! Well, you know the drill! Stay tuned, and all will be revealed!

And, as always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all again in Chapter 20!

ScarFox out for now, ALL ABOARD!!!

(Also, I'm still trying to figure out where to take the whole "LeopardXSombra shipping". It started as just an idea, that quickly turned into what it is today. Can I maybe get some suggestions please? I would like to know what you guys think.)

Chapter 20: Winter Comes, and With it, Bloodshed

In the aftermath of both the coup, and Dock Town, Danin was still incredibly paranoid. Even though Winter had set in, he was still scared.

"Lake Town is our only naval facility left! We HAVE to defend it at all costs!"

"And we will Sir, when the time comes. In the meantime, Lake Town will be running at full capacity to repair our navy, as well as get the rest of the supplies ready for our first campaign in the Spring."

Danin listened to his adviser, but yet at the same time, he couldn't help but feel that something was wrong. He couldn't put his finger on exactly what it was, but he knew that it was something not good.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the empire in Pennbrook, Winter was still hitting us hard. We knew that our next campaign was going to be soon, but we just didn't know when. In the PCC, Don was in a meeting with Jim and Shining. They were pouring over the maps, trying to figure out where would be the best place to attack next.

"Any ideas here guys?" Don asked.

Shining pointed to the map. "Well, we've so far managed to destroy Dock Town, but I think that our next target should be right here." He pointed to a spot about 100 miles away down the coast.

"And what's that?"

"It's Lake Town. The sister town, as well as sister naval facility, to Dock Town. It was to there that all of the remaining ships and personnel who survived Dock Town went. According to the reports, attacking it, would be just like attacking Dock Town. There's a lot of ammunition and fuel lying about, so all we would have to do would be to attack, and then let the enemy do the rest."

Don looked at the maps. "Yeah, I think that you're right Shining, however, we will not be able to risk the train being seen. It'll have to be all on ground forces, at least until there's enough chaos to where it at least looks like an accident."

Shining nodded, but it was then that Don noticed something else about the map. "Hey guys, I just noticed something. Outside of Lake Town is the city of Rendon. From Rendon, there only seems to be one mainline track that leads to Donneth. We have to have a mainline track, as our Big Boy and the rest of the Battleship Express are too heavy for anything else."

"Yes, you're right Don. However, I've heard about this track. It runs through here." He pointed to a series of mountains. "These are the Highland Mountains. They are the highest mountains in the Caribou Empire, and some of the tallest mountains in all of Equus, outside of the Crystal Mountains. The train tracks through them are a treacherous route indeed. The tracks run close to cliffs and through tunnels before reaching this!" He pointed to a large trestle bridge. "This is the Highlands Trestle Bridge; the bridge that holds the tracks that are really the only way to Donneth. According to the reports, the bridge is rigged to blow in case of any unauthorized rail traffic. Assuming that you made it past all of that though, in this mountain valley here, is Donneth, the capital city of the Caribou."

Don now really had to think about that. He tried to find another route, but for whatever reason, the only mainline tracks to Donneth lay through the Highland Mountains. "Well, the way I see it, our best bet would be to move 100 miles to the South, and wipe out Lake Town. Then, as quickly as we could, we attack Rendon, and before any alarms can be raised, we quickly take the tracks through the Highland Mountains."

Shining was unsure what to think about that. He was maybe about to reply, but then something out the window caught his eye. He turned to look, and to his shock, standing out in the middle of the snowstorm that was going on outside of the train, Shining saw a figure!

"What in Celestia's name....???" The figure was wearing a red cape, and was standing with his back to the train maybe 50 feet away.

Don and Jim turned to look. Don then grabbed his binoculars. "SWEET CELESTIA, THAT'S LEOPARD!!!!"

"WHAT!?!?!"

Shining and Jim looked, and sure enough, it was me! It was snowing, as well as being 0 degrees on the thermometer.

"WHAT ON EARTH IS HE DOING OUT THERE?!?!?!"

Don raced for the door. "I don't know, but we have to get him before he freezes to death!"

Shining and Jim quickly followed him. Then, after pulling on all of their cold weather gear, they decided to brave the storm, and they stepped out of the train.

"LEOPARD!!!!" Don yelled over the storm, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE?!?!?!"

I didn't answer. When the trio reached me, Don saw that I was just blankly staring off into space. Don also noticed that aside from my red cape, I was completely naked!

Before Don could scream though, I suddenly put a hand up to my face. "W...what???" Then, the full extent of the cold hit me. "OH GOSH!!! SWEET CELESTIA, IT'S COLD AS BALLS!!! WHERE AM I?!?!?!"

"Grab him, and let's get back to the train!"

I was then grabbed by the trio, and dragged back to the train. Once I was back inside, they placed me in front of one of the train's heaters.

Don was very upset. "Now then, before I throw you back into the cold, WHAT IN THE HELL WERE YOU DOING OUT THERE?!?!?"

I shrugged. "Honestly Don, I can't remember. I....don't know how I even got out there. One minute, I was getting dressed in my room, and the next, you were shouting at me, and I was outside in the snow."

"Wait, so you mean that you DON'T remember how you got out there?"

I shook my head. "No! But, I don't think....." Then I froze. "He did it again." I muttered.

Now Don was confused, "Wait, who did what? Who did this to you?"

I looked up at him. "Who else could have done this? Who else but me lives inside of my body? Who else would have the ability to do this?"

None of the other 3 needed to be told who I was referring to.

"Well, this is pretty bad. If Sombra was able to do this to you, then he's getting out of control! He just made you walk out into a snowstorm! Just think of what he could do next time!"

I sighed. "There won't be a 'next time'! I don't plan on EVER letting this happen again!" I then began to walk back to my room.

"Yeah, but it could! Sombra needs to be KILLED!!!!"

"Sombra will NEVER be able to control me again. Not without his Magic, which he cannot use because he lost his horn. As long as he doesn't have that, then he's safe enough. Luckily, horns really can't be reattached, so I think that we're ok, at least for now. Now then, I need to go put on something more appropriately warm, before my dick falls off!" I then walked back down the hallway.

The trio looked after me as I walked away. They were all starting to get concerned that I was beginning to get a little bit TOO comfortable with having Sombra around. They weren't sure what to do, but what they did know was that they were going to have to do something soon, before Sombra could act again.

After I was dressed in something MUCH warmer, I went to the meeting with Don and the others. Once I took a seat at the digital map in the PCC, Don laid out everything that they had been talking about before they had to save me from myself.

"So, the plan is to first attack Lake Town, then move on to Rendon, before finally heading through the Highland Mountains to Donneth?"

Don nodded. "Eh, something like that. Because the enemy STILL doesn't know that we're here, we need to take full advantage of that. Plus, from what our research indicates, Lake Town is another Dock Town just waiting to happen. There are ships full of ammunition, as well as lots of fuel, and more warehouses full of both. If we can get in, and cause an 'accident' then most likely what'll happen will be forces from Rendon coming to investigate, and then we can kill two birds with one stone. Most of them blow up in Lake Town, and then we move on to take Rendon."

"But what about the Highland Mountains tracks, and especially the Highlands Trestle Bridge?"

Don sighed. "Well, we'll send scouts that way before we take the train through there, just in case."

"And when will the operations begin?"

"At around Midnight tonight. We'll get as close to Lake Town as we possibly can, before sending in soldiers. My plan is for you guys to wreak havoc, and then, in the midst of the chaos, we'll fire our weapons to destroy their ships. If we can sink enough ships close to the entrance of the harbor, then we block their only escape route!"

"And are you sure that that'll work there Don?"

Don was confused. That voice sounded like mine, but it sounded weird. Don then saw me sitting in a corner of the PCC, in an area that was covered in shadow. Suddenly, Don saw a creature with gray fur, as well as red eyes, staring back at him!

"Huh? Are you ok Don?" I was still sitting in front of the digital map next to him.

"What?" Don then saw me, and he then looked back at the corner, but nothing was there. "Hmm, must just be stress", He muttered. "Anyway, as I was going to say, yes, I feel very confident that the mission will succeed."

We all then talked over the plan for a while longer, before the meeting was adjourned for the time being. As I walked away from the PCC, I thought briefly about something. Ever since we'd been given the Bat-Pony treatment, the most common questions that we'd been asked were about just how much Bat-Pony we really had in us.

In truth, we had quite a lot. Aside from the obvious physical appearances, we also loved fruit, some of us slept hanging upside down, while others slept with their wings wrapped around themselves. (I slept with my wings wrapped around myself.) Some of us also bit a little bit, and yes, we all could *scree* as well. In fact, we all could sort-of speak the language of the Bat-Ponies, which was all squeaks, squeals, and screes. We didn't speak in it very often, but when we did, many said that it sounded very unusual!

Meanwhile, In Lake Town, everyone was hard at work. There were supplies to load and unload, as well as ammunition to store, fuel to load, and various other supplies that needed to be moved places. And yes, just like Dock Town, Lake Town was also an extreme liability lawsuit just waiting to happen. The entire place was nothing more than a massive tinderbox.

There were tanks full of fuel for welding torches, as well as other tools lying about, ammunition was stacked on the dock-fronts fully exposed to the elements, while other ammunition was stored in warehouses protected by nothing more than the wooden crates that it came in! Heck, there were even Caribou SMOKING while transporting fuel, ammunition, and other flammable supplies! Some Caribou saw the extreme danger, and tried to warn Vice Admiral Conan, as he was the Caribou in charge of Lake Town.

"Sir, this entire place is just a disaster waiting to happen! I have NEVER seen such blatant disregard for safety in my entire life! The coup may be over, but the danger is not! There is fuel and ammunition lying about, as well as multiple improper handling techniques. And don't even get me started on the harbor! It's all clogged up with WAY too may ships! There's only one way in or out, and if that gets clogged up, then it's OVER!!!"

Conan sighed. "Commander Burns, you are just way too paranoid. Nothing bad is going to happen. We're all as safe as can be here. Plus, we've got more soldiers stationed here, plus more Caribou are trained with firefighting techniques. What more can you want?" Burns was about to answer, but Conan cut him off. "Nothing, that's what!"

Burns could see that arguing his point further was useless, as Conan wasn't going to listen. He sighed, and then began to leave. Just before he could though, Conan stopped him.

"Oh, and before you leave, I have one more job for you Burns."

"And what is that?"

"Tonight, at around Midnight, ammunition, fuel, and other vital supplies need to be loaded onto the naval supply ship Krakatoa. The ship needs to transport supplies that will be needed for our first campaign come Spring."

Burns winced. He hated supply duty more than anything else. Even though he was the officer in charge of safety, nobody ever listened to him. And ammunition ships were the worst. They were completely unsafe, and were just as bad, if not worse, that those who loaded ammunition onto them.

He sighed. "Sure, whatever you say Vice Admiral. I'll do it." Burns then left to get other things done before nightfall.

Back in Pennbrook, the time had come once again to move out. There was a break in the winter weather that we needed to take full advantage of. There were clear skies, and the temperature was 45 degrees on the thermometer. A lot of snow was melting, and it was the perfect day for an invasion. After packing up the shelter that had been protecting our train from the elements so that we could use it again if we had to, we all loaded up onto the train at nightfall for the trip to Lake Town.

On and on we went, getting closer and closer to Lake Town. It was one of the scariest trips that we'd ever made. The enemy didn't know that we were there, but that didn't mean that they couldn't find out that we were there. Occasionally, off in the distance, we would see lights. we assumed that these were city lights, but we never found out what they were.

Eventually, we reached our destination. Outside of Lake Town, we hid the train from detection behind a hill known as Teapot Hill, as the hill resembled a teapot with a short spout. Once we were hidden, we all began to get ready for the mission ahead. It was decided that both Shining and I would lead a group, and that Aurora would come along as well. Just before we left though, Don briefed us one last time.

"Well boys, this is it. After tonight, the Caribou will no longer have a navy. Just remember, your job is to get down there, and cause an 'accident'. Once you've done that, then get back here, and then we'll take care of the rest of the Caribou Navy. Do you think that you can handle it?"

"Sir, yes Sir!" We all quietly cheered.

"Excellent! Good luck boys!" Don then stepped back onto the train, and closed up the doors.

Once we were all ready, we climbed to the top of Teapot Hill.

"I'm so glad that I could come with you on this trip Master."

"So am I Aurora. It's about time that you fought with us in battle again." I then began to study the surrounding area with my binoculars.

"So, what are we going to attack?"

I pointed to the docks. "Do you see those docks down there Aurora?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, it looks like the Caribou are taking advantage of the warm weather, and loading up a ship. All around that ship are ammunition, explosives, fuel, and other such devices. Just perfect for causing an 'accident'!"

Aurora smirked. "Heh, this is going to be fun!"

I nodded, and then, at the signal from me and Shining, we all moved forwards, and snuck down the front side of the hill. Once we were at the bottom, we kept to the shadows, and aimed for the grove of bushes to the left of the city. Unlike what we were expecting, Lake Town, just like Dock Town, was actually pretty poorly defended. Instead of high walls, the city was protected by metal gates, and lots of fencing. We got as close as we could to the fence by the hedges, and thanks to some of the unicorns using their Magic, we were able to cut through the fence, and slip inside of Lake Town. Then, after sneaking past a few patrols, we all split up into smaller groups, and took cover in various places.

"Ok, so what's the plan now?" Shining asked.

"Well", I answered slowly, "We need to get to the docks. That's where the fire needs to start. Plus, their loading of supplies seems to be extremely unsafe, so it should actually be very easy."

We all agreed to this, and then we all slowly began to creep towards the docks.

It was a bit of slow going. The city was bustling a bit with activity, and we did have to kill a few Caribou who spotted us. The worst bit though, was when a few of us were trying to sneak across a street.

"Ok, here we go. We need to cross this street here."

"Sir, I'm not feeling so good."

I turned to the soldier. "You'll be fine. Just hold on a little bit longer." I then crossed the street.

The others began to follow, but when the one soldier began to cross, he suddenly stopped, and to the shock and horror of the rest of us, he projectile vomited all over the street!

"SHIT!!!"

We all then got to the other side of the street, where the soldier, Sgt. Len, an Equestrian, vomited again, only this time right through an open window!

"GOSH-DAMMIT!!!!"

"Sorry," Len muttered.

"Sorry, my ass!" I whispered harshly, "You're gonna get us all killed!!!"

He shook his head. "Again, sorry, and let's get out of here before anypony sees us!"

"Yeah, I couldn't agree more!"

We all then fled the scene before anyone spotted us.

Eventually, we all reached our target destination. Also along the way to the docks, we also sabotaged a number of fire hoses, and other extinguishers. Some hoses were just outright tore holes into, while others we attached to fuel tanks. Now whoever used them would make a huge flamethrower!

From our positions of cover behind a series of crates, I laid out the plans to the others.

"Ok, here's the deal, we need to fan out, and see what kind of trouble we can cause. These docks are littered with things that'll go boom, so let's make this count!"

We all then fanned out. I decided to try my luck with a nearby crane. It was a tall dock crane, located on another dock attached to the main dock-front. Stealthily, I climbed up the ladder to the top.

Once I was up there, I found that the crane was unoccupied. I then sat down in the operator's chair, and looked out of the crane's front windshield. Down below, I could see the Caribou loading up a large ship. The ship was surrounded by smaller barges, and it seemed to be an ammunition ship.

I grabbed my radio. "Hey Shining, I've got eyes on an ammunition ship. It's surrounded by a ton of smaller barges."

"Yeah, I can see it too. Where are you right now?"

"You see that black crane towards the left of the ship? I'm up in the cab."

"Wait, why are you up there?"

"I needed a good vantage point. This seemed like it would make a good sniper nest, so I climbed on up. Finding the crane to be unoccupied, I sat down in the operator's chair, and as soon as I saw the ammunition ship, I decided to radio you."

"Well, at any rate, even though you're really not supposed to be up there, it is nice to have eyes in the sky. Down here, we've managed to set up what will be a few fires here before long. Let's just hope that nothing goes wrong with the ammunition loading. I'd HATE to be the one who set off this tinderbox!"

I nodded. "Yeah, that would be really bad, wouldn't it? Anyway, just get all set up down there, and I'll keep you posted from up here. Leopard out."

I then continued to watch, completely unaware of what was about to happen.

Meanwhile, down below, all was not well. With Commander Burns supervising, munitions, explosives, oil, and fuel, were being loaded on board the Krakatoa. There were a series of barges located all along the ship's starboard side, from which the supplies were being picked up by cranes, and then brought up to the deck of the ship before being loaded into the hold. Even I myself was helping out a bit. Using the crane's controls, I helped bring the explosives from the barges to the Krakatoa. Nobody paid any attention to me though, and Burns was too busy shouting orders.

"Careful with those crates!" Burns warned. "They're unsafe! One wrong move, and you'll blow us all into the Afterlife!"

Unfortunately though, his warnings were not being heeded. Although unheeded warnings were about to be the least of Burn's problems. As he was standing on the deck of an empty barge where he was given orders from, a steam tug pulling a barge full of fuel tanks came barging in close by.

"Hey you lot, get out of my way! I need to get this fuel unloaded!"

"Get away from here!" Burns shouted. "These barges are unsafe! We're trying to unload ammunition onto the Krakatoa!"

The tug's captain however wasn't listening. "No, the schedule says that I'M to be unloaded right now! You all drop those crates of ammo, and get my barge unloaded!"

None of the dock workers paid him any mind.

"I SAID, get this fuel unloaded!"

Still no response.

"Not until we're fully done here with the Krakatoa! Wait your turn!" Somebody finally said.

Now the tug's captain lost his temper. "Ok, now that's done it. Get out of my way, I'm coming through!" He then throttled up the tug's engine, and began to push towards the barges that were still full of explosive material.

"NO, STAY BACK!!!!" Burns yelled, "THOSE BARGES ARE UNSTABLE!!!!"

"Don't tell me what to do you furry twat!"

Unfortunately, the tug got too close to the barges, and just as my crane was picking up a crate of ammo from one, the tug hit the barge, and the crate broke loose! It fell back onto the barge, and started a fire!

"Gah, now look what you've done, you clumsy fool!" He shouted up at the crane operator, who he didn't see was me.

"OH GODS, NOOO!!!!!" Burns yelled. "YOU F@#KING IDIOT!!!!!"

"All of you, help me put out this fire!"

"No way!" One of the dockworkers yelled, "I know what's on that barge, and I'm not going to be here when Dock Town 2 happens! GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!!! THIS WHOLE PLACE IS GONNA BLOW!!!!" Most of the workers then began to run away.

Burns then jumped off of his barge, and began to swim away. "GET BACK, GET BACK, SAVE YOURSELVES!!!!" He screamed.

For some reason, I then picked up the controls for the crane's loudspeaker. "EMERGENCY, EMERGENCY!!!!! CLEAR THE AREA IMMEDIATELY!!!" Alarms also began to blare all over Lake Town.

Moments after I yelled this, the first explosion happened. It blew flaming debris high up into the air, and unfortunately, those debris landed first onto the other barges, and then onto the Krakatoa herself! Soon, the fires on the ship's deck were threatening to spread to the hold.

As soon as the Caribou's heard my warning, as well as all of the alarms, they all looked up, and to their horror, they saw what was going on at the docks, and they knew that they had to help! As quickly as they could, many of them grabbed fire hoses and extinguishers, and ran to the docks. Unknown to them though, the devices had been sabotaged.

"GET THESE FIRES PUT OUT NOW!!!!" Someone yelled.

"We're trying Sir, but the hoses aren't working!"

"WHAT?!?!?!"

And indeed, they weren't. Well, at least some weren't. Others were the hoses that we'd attached to those fuel tanks. Now thanks to that, those fires were REALLY spreading! From the Krakatoa, the fires spread first to the dockside, and then to the buildings close by, almost all of which contained either ammunition, or fuel.

From where the other teams were, they watched what had happened, and were still in shock.

"So, we didn't even have to cause an accident", Shining muttered, "The enemy's already taken care of that for us!"

"General Shining, I think that we need to fall back! These fires are really starting to spread, and I don't want to be here when it gets REALLY bad!"

Shining nodded. "Yeah, you're right! Let's go!"

They all began to scatter, but then Aurora stopped. "Wait a minute, where's my Master?"

The group froze. Then they remembered that I'd climbed up into that crane, so that I would have a better vantage point for sniping.

"He's probably still up in that crane!" Shining then grabbed his radio. "Leopard, Leopard?! Can you hear me?!"

"Yeah, I can here you! Look at these explosions!"

"Where are you right now?!"

"I'm still up in the crane. However, I'm starting to get the feeling that I should probably evacuate due to fire!"

"Yes, you should! And hurry! The fires from the Krakatoa are getting REALLY close to your crane!"

I looked down. Sure enough, the flames were getting dangerously close to the dock that my crane was sitting on. "Yeah, no kidding! Hold on, I'm coming! In the meantime though," I then flipped over to the crane's loudspeakers again. "KEEP GOING EVERYONE, KEEP GOING!!!!!! THIS WHOLE DOCK IS ON FIRE, AND IT COULD BLOW AT ANY SECOND!!!!!"

I then got up from the operator's chair, and once I was on the outside of the crane, I grabbed the ladder, and quickly started down. Unfortunately though, I only got halfway before there was trouble. While the alarms continued to blare, the barge closest to the crane's dock suddenly blew, and the dock beneath the crane caught fire!

Explosions continued to blast close by. "Man", I muttered, "Can't I ever catch any breaks?!"

Down below, Aurora was terrified. "Did he get out of there yet?!"

"Um....." Shining quickly looked through his binoculars. He watched as explosions began to shoot up the crane's tower.

"OH CELESTIA!!!!! THE CRANE'S DOCK IS GOING UP!!!!" Then, to his horror, he spotted me about halfway down. "AND HE'S TRAPPED RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF IT!!!!"

"WHAT!?!?!?!"

Then, to their further horror, they saw the crane's ladder below me suddenly snap loose and fall down into the water! Then, they suddenly saw me climb back up into the crane's cab.

"Wait, what in Celestia's name is he doing?!" Shining grabbed his radio again. "LEOPARD, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?! YOU HAVE TO GET OUT OF THERE NOW!!!!!"

"Yeah, I know! But this whole crane's going to collapse! And when it does, it's gonna fall right on top of the Krakatoa! If that happens, then this whole dock is gonna be GONE!!!!! I HAVE TO STOP THAT FROM HAPPENING!!!!!!" Just then, another explosion happened, and the crane suddenly lurched forwards a bit. I accidentally dropped my radio, and it skidded on the floor close to the crane's door.

"WE'RE LEAVING WITHOUT YOU LEOPARD!!! WE CAN'T STAY HERE ANY LONGER!!!!!" My radio then fell out of the crane.

"DAMMIT!!!" I then grabbed the crane's megaphone controls. "NO, STAY WHERE YOU ARE!!!!" I yelled to them, "I'LL TIP THE CRANE CLEAR!!!!" I then began to move the crane's levers, and turn the crane away from the Krakatoa.

"Let's just hope that Master gets this right, otherwise we all die!"

Suddenly, the crane's dock collapsed, and the crane began to fall over.

"AAAHHHH!!!!" I yelled.

"LEOPARD!!!!!!!!!" the soldiers screamed.

"MASTER!!!!!" Aurora screamed.

The crane then fell forwards, and landed on the dock next to the ship.

"Oh he's bloody done it!" Shining muttered, "The bastard's knocked the crane over sideways!"

The crane then stayed still for about 6 seconds, before toppling the rest of the way into the harbor. In those 6 seconds, I quickly got out of the cab, and flew to safety. I then landed on the dock-front, and just about had a heart attack. I could not believe that I had just saved us all from a massive explosion. Even though I was an idiot, I was still technically a hero.

It was like this that I was found less than a minute later. "GRAB HIM, AND LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!!!!" Shining yelled.

"NO NEED!!!" I yelled, jumping to my feet, "I'M GOOD!!!" I then scooped up Aurora, and then with the fires raging all around us, as well as a lot of explosions, we all ran for our freaking lives!

"Don, Don! Can you hear me?!"

"I'm here Leopard, and I must say, you guys have done a fine job as always! How hard was it this time?"

I then explained what had happened.

"Wow, so some Caribou got impatient, and decided to play chicken with an ammo barge? Well, it serves them right, you play with fire, you get burned! I'm glad that all of you made it out of there safely!"

"Well, some of us did get a little bit cooked, but overall, we're ok. Anyway, the place is all yours, so blast those ships! Remember, if you manage to sink at least a few close to the mouth of the harbor, then their escape will be completely blocked!"

"Roger that!" Don then turned to Jim. "The time has come Jim, We need to hit those ships with our weapons!"

"Right away Don!" He then flipped frequencies. "All missiles and rockets online now! Target a ship, and show them what we're made of!"

"Yes Sir!"

They all then targeted, and fired.

Just like back at Dock Town, once those missiles were fired, they all ended up finding their targets. This time though, there were many more targets to chose from. The first ships to be hit were merchant vessels. They were quickly blown in half, and sunk.

Next came a few naval ships. When they sank though, debris from them blocked the mouth of the harbor! A few smaller ships, including several tug boats, 2 merchant ships, 4 corvettes, and one frigate were able to slip by, but for the rest of the ships, as well as most of their crews, that harbor would be their tomb.

From then on, it was a slaughter-fest. Ships were blown up one after the other. They all quickly sank into the harbor, usually taking most of their crews with them. A few salvage crews, risking life and limb, were able to use explosives to clear the log-jam of debris, and even though they were killed in the process, 3 cruisers, a few more merchant ships, 4 supply ships, and even 1 capital ship, the Redeemer, managed to escape. Just after the Redeemer escaped though, a missile strike sunk a battleship in the mouth of the harbor, and this time, there wasn't anyone to remove it.

The rest of the ships were completely destroyed. Lake Town was also little more than a flaming ruin. Unlike Dock Town, it didn't completely explode, although it did all but burn to the ground. Everything inside was lost. Vice Admiral Conan shot himself to avoid punishment, and since he made it out on a naval tugboat, Commander Burns was the highest ranking officer to survive Lake Town. He was also pretty much the ONLY officer to survive!

Because of how quickly the fires spread, no warnings were able to be sent to other areas, or even calls for help. The closest city, Rendon, was still unaware that anything was wrong. Although a series of explosions were seen way off in the distance, they believed that it was either just fireworks, or gunnery tests. The all-clear signal was still on, and there were no transmissions for help, so they just assumed that nothing was wrong. They shouldn't have.

By the time that someone did investigate, it was already far too late. Lake Town was gone, and with it, 95% of the remaining Caribou Navy, as well as all of the supplies, and facilities needed to keep it going. The few ships that did survive now didn't have a base to call their own. They arrived at the harbor in Bindleton, which was the southernmost port in the Caribou Empire, where they awaited their fate. Nobody really dared to tell Danin what had happened. They knew that they would have to eventually, but for the time being, they would leave THAT to General Rodin, and focus on cleaning up.

The overall cost of the battle was extreme. The entire city and naval yard were completely destroyed. An estimated 3.5 million+ Caribou were dead, with a further 3 million injured. 2 million were also missing. 35 ships were sunk, or blown to pieces.

For us, we lost 33 men, 137 wounded, and 43 missing. Most of the victims died of burns or smoke inhalation as we ran for our lives.

Once we were all back on the train, Don looked at us. "Well done boys, well done! That's Lake Town neutralized, now we move on to Rendon!"

"And then on to the Highland Mountains," I said quietly.

"Yes", Don agreed, "Then on to the Highland Mountains, and into whatever lays beyond."

From our temporary base behind Teapot Hill, we all made the final preparations before moving out again. This time though, the battle was NOT going to be pretty for us! What lay ahead, would change the war forevermore!

Author's Note

Ok, here it is, Chapter 20. Sorry for this one being late, but I wrote maybe 2/3rds of it, but then my computer crashed, BEFORE I could save anything! I had to start over FROM SCRATCH!!!! So if some of this seems to be a little bit wonky, that's the reason. Nevertheless though, here it is, and I hope that you all enjoyed it!

So now that Lake Town is gone as well, does the enemy know that we're here yet? How will the Caribou explain this loss to Danin? How will the battle for Rendon go? And what about the inevitable trip through the Highland Mountains on our way to Donneth? Will we make it? Well, you know the drill, stay tuned, and I'll tell you!

Meanwhile, as always, Comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 21!

ScarFox out for now!

Chapter 21: Train Run Through a Frozen Hell

At Dawn the next morning, the shattered remains of the Caribou Navy arrived at Bindleton. Located at the southernmost end of the Caribou Empire, it was a small fishing city, as well as a base for the Caribou merchant fleet. The city was relatively untouched by the war, and the more reports that came from up North about what was happening, the more worried, upset, and disillusioned by the war that the citizens became.

The city's governor, Price, was also extremely critical of Danin, and his actions. "That old fool is going senile!", He kept saying. "The longer this war goes on, the closer that we ALL come to certain destruction!"

He was planning on surrendering the city to Equestria, but while he was still contemplating that, Commander Burns, and the remains of the Caribou Navy arrived. After explaining what had happened at Lake Town, Price's mind was made up.

"This.....GODS AWFUL war has gone on long enough! How does that stubborn fool still think that he can win?! I say, NO MORE!!!!!" He then began to address the citizens of Bindleton. "Citizens of Bindleton, this is your governor speaking. I would like to inform you that, as of this moment, the war is over for us. We will NOT be fighting anymore!"

The citizens were shocked. They had heard the horror stories of the war and what we Humans were capable of, so how were they going to be safe?

"We must first destroy all of our military supplies. Whatever cannot be burned safely will be taken out to sea, and dumped overboard. All soldiers will lay down their arms, and be ready to surrender when the time comes. Also, all garrisons will be stripped of all military hardware, which will also be disposed of. We then keep watch at all times, awaiting the Human's arrival. I would say that we try to reach out to them, but I do not believe that we are in range of their radios. I do not want for all of you to die. If we surrender willingly, then there is the chance that we might live."

All of the citizens, and even the soldiers knew that standing against us was pointless. If we had laid waste to most of their cities already, then what chance did they stand? After quietly breaking all ties with King Danin, Governor Price, with Commander Burns as his right-hand, took full control of Bindleton for the remaining duration of the war. And true to their words, the citizens did what they were told. All weapons were taken, and in trips by the merchant ships, were dumped into the ocean. This did take a good while, but after full disarmament, all ships were impounded in Bindleton Harbor, and the citizens went about their lives as best they could, waiting for any news from the outside.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, something very interesting was happening. While the Battleship Express was dealing with most of the Caribou, behind us came a number of other battalions. Their jobs were to take possession of the former lands of the Caribou Empire, and oversee them. The also captured prisoners and sent them to interment camps, as well as dealt with areas that we had left behind.

From Hell's gate, they moved on to Marrow, Rendale, Dock Town, as well as the large numbers of villages, settlements, and small towns that were bowled over during our drive to Rendale, and later Dock Town. They were awaiting the word from us as to when they could move in to take Lake Town as well. As of then, they had captured 2,034 Caribou males, and were helping nearly 5,000 slaves, political prisoners, and POW's. Refugee camps were set up for them so that they could be taken care of. Any political prisoners found would be taken to interment camps so that the soldiers could figure out who they were, and what their crime was.

The interment camps were mostly just prison/labor camps. The goal was for the prisoners inside to build back the cities, towns, villages, and settlements that had been destroyed. So far, it all was going according to plan. Every now and again though, they would stumble across a real troublemaker, or somebody guilty of more than a political crime against the Caribou Regime. Slave traders, slave hunters, bounty hunters, corrupt military officials, rouge officers, and gang members all fell into this category.

Their punishment? Whatever the females that they had wronged felt like doing to them. Some were killed, while others were beaten senseless, mutilated, raped, and had a number of other horrors done to them. 3 of the worst were sent our way. Ol' Jazzia, (Aka Zakia), was given a few friends to play with. "Daisy", (formerly 28 year old Commander Blyth, guilty of mistreatment of POW's), "Puzzle" (formerly 23 year old slave hunter Danford), and "Kylie", (formerly 27 year old Captain Wydan, guilty of torturing prisoners.) All of them were given treatments to allow them to grow breasts, as well as longer hair, be a bit chubbier and curvier, as well as having their antlers removed. Some were even given bows for their hair, as well as makeup. They were now proper Caribou cows. All 4 of them were treated much the same way as Zakia, and were sort of babied along, even though they were now our sex-slaves.

Kylie was always my favorite. Even though I never really had sex with her, I still would hug, and cuddle with her a lot. Her fur was so soft and warm. "It's so hard to believe that you were once a Caribou soldier who tortured prisoners", I whispered to her, "Now you're the perfect cuddle-toy! I mean, aside from you still having a dick and balls, you look like a pure-blooded Caribou cow!" Kylie giggled a bit in response, before blushing, and hugging me again.

"Yeah, I know Master! I LOVE being your cute pet!"

I then saw her starting to get hard. "Aww, does my little Cow have a stiffy?"

She nodded. "Yes. Please help me take care of it!"

I then sighed, and after reaching down, I helped her "take care of business", before letting her ejaculate on herself. Once I helped her clean up, and then cuddled her to sleep, before leaving to return to my station. I also told her that I would return to see her again soon.

"Ok, add 'helping a sex-slave masturbate' to the list of things that I need to talk to Dash about soon, and hope that she doesn't kill me over!"

I then went to help prepare for the next phase of our plan to get to Donneth, the assault on Rendon.

Ever since our campaign into the Caribou Empire began, all of us had been collecting war trophies. Some Caribou heads adorned walls, while others collected hooves, tails, antlers, and even hides. Caribou fur was a very valuable prize. Not only could it be used to line coats, boots, and hats, but you could also makes rugs, and even blankets out of it. In my room alone, I had 4 sets of antlers, 6 tails, a Caribou fur rug, some hooves, and 2 Caribou fur blankets, in addition to my other war relics.

Some of us collected enemy weaponry. Guns, bullets, and even swords, maces, axes, and spears were proving to be very hot items. Some of us tagged our caches, and placed them in various storage cars. Another thing about the Caribou, we could eat them! We tried to eat the Zebras, but their meat almost killed us. Caribou meat on the other hand has been eaten by Humans for centuries. We jerked it, fried it, salted it, ground it, turned it into sausages, and a bunch of other foodstuffs as well. We had enough Caribou meat to last us for a good long time.

The Ponies, especially Applejack and Twilight, began to express their grave concerns about what we were doing.

"Caribou were meant to be killed, not to be used as trophies, be chopped up for souvenirs, and ESPECIALLY NOT EATEN!!!"

Don looked at her. "I can see where you would be weirded out Twi, but back on Earth, Humans have been eating Caribou meat for centuries. It's a staple part of the diet in some far northern and far southern regions, such as Siberia. Also, we're soldiers. It's kind of a thing to take war trophies. While I don't exactly condone doing it, I don't really see a problem with it either."

"The problem is that Ah can't go anywhere on this gosh-darn train without running into some creepy Caribou body parts! They're everywhere! Heads, tails, hooves, even their hides! It's insanity, I tell ya!"

Alex laughed a bit. "Yeah, I know that it's a little bit weird Applejack, but don't worry. Once the war ends, then we'll all take our war trophies out of here."

Applejack just glared at him. "And if y'all thinkin' Ah'd allow ya to bring ANY of that stuff to the farm Alex, yer dead wrong! Once his gosh-darn war's over, THAT'S IT!!!! No more Zebras, and no more Caribou! AND NO WAR TROPHIES EITHER!!!!"

Alex looked sad. "Aww, do you really mean that?"

"YES!!!"

"And the same goes for you Don, no trophies at the Library!"

Don shrugged. "Aside from a few guns, I don't even have any trophies Twilight."

Twilight shrugged. "Well, I guess that a few weapons could be displayed, PROVIDED that they never be removed from the cases that they are displayed in!"

"Eh, well, whatever you say Twilight. You're the boss."

I laughed a bit. "Heh, you guys......I don't even know what to say. I know that Dash'll let me display a few trophies!"

Twilight turned to me in disgust. "Rainbow Dash is about as messed up in her head as you are, you sick......whatever you are! That's WHY you two are so perfect together; you're both screwed up!"

I winced. "Ouch, that kinda hurt Twilight. I hope that you don't really mean that."

She shrugged. "I don't know. You're such an anomaly Leopard. I can usually read others like a book, but not you. Dash can be a gray area too. I just....can't really get a full handle on how you operate. I've never seen another Human like you, even if you are only half-Human."

"50% human, 45% Bat-Pony, and 5% wolf, to be exact. Sometimes I wish that I could be exactly 50/50, but yet, without my wolf percentage, I wouldn't quite be as good of a soldier as I currently am."

Twilight shook her head. "After this war is over, I'm going to PERSONALLY see that that 5% wolf is removed, and replaced with 5% Bat-Pony!"

I shrugged. "Eh, whatever Twilight. However, that reminds me of something I was going to ask you. If I were to ever bite Dash, would she turn into a Bat-Pony as well, or does it not work that way?"

Twilight looked at me like she was trying to determine if I was joking or not. Finally, she said, "Actually, I'm not sure. Some reports on Bat-Ponies say yes, while others say no. They are a rare Pony sub-species, so they have not been fully studied. However, since you are a hybrid, then I would most likely have to say most likely not. Assuming that you DID bite Dash, then most likely all she would have would be two bite marks, and you of course would probably have a few slap marks as well."

"Eh, well, yeah, I guess that that would happen. Anyway, the sun's almost fully up, and we have places to be, so let's get our campaign underway again."

About an hour or so later, we were all ready to move on. Unfortunately however, the weather began to change, and not for the better. It began to get cold, cloudy, and it started to snow again.

"Wow", Don muttered, "Do we even want to risk this? That train line through the Highland Mountains would most likely be treacherous at the best of times, but now? In weather like this, it could be an absolute death trap!"

"I know what you mean Boss. I'm kinda worried too. What if the tracks can't hold our weight? Or what if the Caribou decide to do away with the Highland Trestle Bridge?"

Don shook his head. "Yeah, it's a really scary thought DELCI. The next couple of hours will be the most important of this entire campaign to date. if we screw up now, the consequences could be fatal. And if we don't so this now, the consequences could be fatal as well."

"So, what are we going to do?"

Don looked at the maps. "Well", He said at last. "Even though it does look like bad weather, I'd say that now would be the perfect time for us to attack Rendon. They wouldn't be expecting us to attack during a snowstorm."

"Just like the Battle of St. Louis!"

"Exactly DELCI! Just like St. Louis, and the surrounding areas. The Futas never expected us to attack during that blizzard, and I don't think that the Caribou would expect it either."

"So, when do we move out?"

Don looked at his watch. The time was 7am. "Right now. We should do this right now."

He then called us together to lay out the plan.

"OK guys, so here's the deal. We HAVE to get past Rendon, and we have to do it now! The weather's only going to be getting worse, so we have to go now! My plan is for us to head to Rendon, then blast through the city center, and hopefully destroy the city before any alarms can be raised. Then, once we're out of there, then we take the tracks through the Highland Mountains until we reach Donneth."

All of us who heard that were very surprised. Up until that point, it didn't seem very likely that we would be taking the tracks through the Highland Mountains.

"So basically what you're saying is that we blast Rendon before they knew what hit them, and then move on?"

Don nodded. "Pretty much Leopard. We'll leave them for the other battalions, as we have much bigger fish to fry."

Shining looked concerned. "But what about the tracks through the Highland Mountains? Are those even safe for us to use?"

"That's what I'm concerned about too. While we're fighting though Rendon, my plan is to send a drone out to scout around. If the tracks are clear, then we go for it."

"Yeah, but what if they aren't?"

Don had to think about that. "Well, then we just do what we can, and see if we can't find another way to Donneth. Now then, does everyone understand the mission?"

We all nodded slowly.

"Ok then, to your stations everyone, let's do this!"

We all cheered a bit, and then we got to our stations.

I was picked to drive, so I had Alex, Todd, Fred, and Andy with me in the train's cab.

"Let's just hope that this'll work." Alex muttered.

I looked outside. "Yeah, I know what you mean Alex. The snow's really starting to fall around us, and even though it's 7am, it's still so dark. I don't know how light it'll get, but this may be the best that we have."

"That's what I'm afraid of. My biggest fear is that they'll knock that trestle bridge right out from under us."

"That's what Don's afraid of too. That's why we'll HAVE to remain vigilant! If we're not, then we all could be clocking out for good!"

Alex nodded slowly, and once we had the signal from Don, we all got the train moving. For a while after we did, nothing happened. We trundled along, with the Plow-Catcher pushing snow out of the way as we went along. The wind blew, and the snow flew. From our research, there weren't really any villages or settlements in this area.

"This reminds me so much of the Rocky Mountains", I thought. "In fact, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that these WERE the Rocky Mountains!"

However, about an hour or so later, we saw lights off in the distance.

"Ok people, look sharp!" Don warned. "We're coming up on Rendon now. We still have the element of surprise on our side, as well as the weather. Plus, the enemy STILL doesn't know that we're here! We HAVE to make full use of that!" He then switched frequencies. "You guys up in the cab?"

"Yes Don?"

"Be ready with the forward 8in artillery guns. The train tracks run right through Rendon's front gates. We'll blast through those, and then blast everything inside of the city. Once we're out the back, then it's on to the Highland Mountains!"

"Roger that Don, I'm increasing the speed now." While I did that, Fred and Andy began to load up the front 8in artillery guns.

Closer and closer we came, each second ticking closer and closer. When we were in range, I blasted the whistle, just as Fred and Andy fired the forward 8in artillery guns.

*BOOM!!!! BOOM!!!! BOOM!!!! BOOM!!!* They managed to put 2 rounds apiece into the front gates just before we impacted.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!!!!!" I yelled back to the rest of the train.

Moments after I yelled this, our train plowed through the front gates. Once we were inside of Rendon, the rest of our guns took out everything that they could. Caribou were shot right and left, buildings were blown to pieces, and fires were started wherever they could be.

"YEAH, THAT'S HOW YOU DO IT BOYS!!!!" Don yelled. We were also yelling and screaming as well.

Once we blasted out the other side, we continued on our journey, letting the city burn behind us. What we failed to realize though, was that not only had we been spotted before we attacked, but a message had been sent ahead as well!

For the Caribou, it was just another day of watching; watching for the enemy that they felt was close. The Caribou in charge of Rendon, Colonel Ryke, had a suspicion that we had to be in the Caribou Empire somewhere, and that Gregor's forces hadn't won all of those victories on their own. Danin, and even Rodin had called him paranoid and crazy, but he didn't listen. Suddenly, from somewhere out in the snowstorm, there suddenly came the sound of a train.

"Hey, are we expecting any trains today?"

Ryke shook his head. "No. At least, not to my knowledge."

Then, from out of the snow storm, there came the ghostly silhouette of the one train that all of them had prayed that they would never see.

"IT'S THE BLACK LEVIATHAN!!!!"

Ryke turned to the nearest solider. "Get me General Rodin, IMMEDIATELY!!!!"

"WHAT?!?!?!" When Rodin heard the news from Ryke, he had to sit down he was so shocked.

"Yes General, the Humans are here! They're currently tearing this entire city apart! They're getting too close......" Ryke turned to look at something off to the side. "They're......OH GODS!!!!" The transmission then abruptly ended. All further attempts to contact Rendon after that point were hit or miss. A few Caribou answered, and they did indeed confirm that Colonel Ryke had been killed.

Rodin knew that he was going to have to report this to Danin. And, as he predicted, that conversation did NOT got well.

"WHAT?!?!?! HOW COULD THEY HAVE GOTTEN THIS CLOSE TO US WITHOUT US KNOWING ABOUT IT?!?!?!?!"

Rodin sighed. "That's the thing, My King. If the working theory is correct, then on the same night as Gregor's coup, they invaded. This would definitely explain how Gregor and his forces were able to do some of the things that they were able to do; they had help from the Humans, most likely unknowingly. After that, the humans just made their way from one city to the next, and are also probably responsible for the disasters at both Dock Town, and Lake Town."

"And why have we been unable to access those areas General?"

Rodin sighed. "Because Sir, once they've secured an area and moved on, then Equestrian soldiers come in, and take over. We've now lost nearly 45% of our empire in this way. I fear that we will not be able to hold on much longer."

"And where is the Black Leviathan now?"

Rodin sighed. "According to the latest reports Sir, it was last seen leaving the ruins of Rendon, and was heading for the Highland Mountains."

Danin knew how serious that was. The Highland Mountains were the only way to Donneth. "And how would you recommend that we stop them General?"

Rodin pointed to a map. "Right here is the Highlands Trestle Bridge. As quickly as we can, we need to burn that bridge, so that it collapses, and hopefully takes the Black Leviathan with it!"

Danin smirked darkly. "Yes, that is a VERY good idea General! Get your forces out there, wait for the Black Leviathan to try and cross the bridge, AND THEN BURN IT OUT FROM UNDER THEM!!!!"

Rodin nodded. "Yes Sir! I'll send troops to get on that right away!"

Before Rodin could though, another transmission came through. "GENERAL RODIN, ARE YOU THERE?!?!?!"

"Yes, I'm here. Who is this?"

"THIS IS LT. FRINK OF UNIT 3!!! MY TRAIN WAS CARRYING WOUNDED TROOPS FROM THE BATTLE OF LAKE TOWN, AND NOW WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!!!!"

"Who's attacking you, Lt. Frink?"

"THE BLACK LEVIATHAN!!!! IT'S CHASING US!!!!"

Rodin looked up at Danin. "Ok, now this could complicate your plan, My King." He then turned back to Frink. "And how close are they to you Lieutenant?"

Frink then turned his communicator, revealing that the Black Leviathan was literally only a few feet behind his train.

"Ok, um yeah, that's REALLY close! Ok, well then, you have to get clear of them! We're about to burn the Highland Trestle Bridge, and hopefully send the Black leviathan crashing down once and for all!"

Frink said something, but whatever it was was lost as the transmission cut out due to poor connections, and the weather.

"So, what do I do, My King?"

"Proceed with the original plan, General. Burn the bridge, and take out the Black Leviathan! If a few more of our soldiers are lost in the process, then so be it. Their sacrifice will not be in vain."

Rodin nodded, but yet, he felt a twinge of guilt knowing that those soldiers were having their lives put in jeopardy because of his actions. "As you have willed it, My King, it shall be done."

Rodin then left to go oversee the operation.

On our end of things, we were beginning to think that something was wrong. We did pick up long range static, most likely meaning that a message got through!

"Oh gosh, this is bad!" Don was worried. "WE HAVE TO HURRY!!!"

Nobody had to tell us what that meant. If we'd been spotted, AND a message was sent ahead, then not only did that mean that the enemy knew where we were, but also it most likely meant that they were going to do whatever they could to stop us! However, before we could really think about this too much, we all suddenly heard a loud, and all too familiar sound.

"Huh, what's that?"

"I don't know, it almost sounded like a steam engine!"

I suddenly looked out of the front window. "Hey, it IS another engine! In fact, it looks like an entire train!"

The others in the cab looked, and sure enough, there it was; out on the tracks ahead of us, there really was another train!

I radioed back to Don. "Hey Don, there's another train up ahead of us! Caribou by the looks of it. What should we do?"

"Whatever you can to maybe NOT destroy it! Just keep them fleeing!"

I was confused. "Huh? Why don't we want to destroy it?"

"Because, if we don't, then there's a greater likelihood of us NOT getting attacked by the Caribou! That train might act as insurance for us. The enemy already knows that we're here, but as long as that other train remains in front of us, then we might be safe!"

I nodded. "Ok, roger that Don. We'll keep following, although we might occasionally try to ram the other train."

"Ok, but be careful! Mountain tracks are nothing to fool around with! We may need to slow down here before long!"

"Ok, Roger that."

We then resumed our chase.

Before long though, we did indeed come to the Highland Mountains. Also by this time, the weather was getting worse. It was still dark, the wind was howling, and the snow was still falling pretty heavily. All around us were dark peaks, and large mountains. Treacherous at the best of times, in this kind of weather, the Highland Mountains could easily be our tomb.

Don tried to warn me about this. "Leopard, you need to slow down a bit. This route is really getting dangerous."

Unfortunately though, because of the weather, I wasn't able to hear Don very well. "What? Oh, yeah. This can be dangerous. Don't worry though, you have the best people manning the engine!"

On and on we went. The train continued to get bumped, and things shifted as we continued to move along. The route was steep, curvy, and worst of all, there were no guard rails anywhere! One wrong move, one brake failure, one corner taken too fast, could derail our train, and send us all crashing into the mountain ravines below!

"Leopard, seriously, SLOW DOWN!!!"

"What?! I'm having a really hard time hearing you Don, you're breaking up! Please repeat!"

"I SAID SLOW DOWN!!! YOU'RE GOING WAY TOO FAST!!!"

"WHAT?!?!?!"

Then, the connection died. I tried to contact Don, just as he tried to contact me, but it was no use. Even though it was just a train-board intercom, the connection was too poor. As the train continued to lurch from right to left, Don decided that it was a good idea to contact the Princesses again, even if only to say goodbye!

"Princesses, Princesses?! Are you there?!"

After a few moments, Celestia appeared. "I'm here Major, although you're signal's getting a little glitchy. Anyway, what's going on?"

Don sighed, and then he explained the whole situation. "And that's where we are right now! We're currently racing through the Highland Mountains, and this train is going way too fast! We're most likely going to crash here soon!"

"But...why didn't you just radio the engine, and tell them to slow down?!"

"I tried to, but the intercom went dead! And I can't send anybody up there due to the weather!"

"It what?! Your intercom is dead, AND you can't get anyone up to the engine?!"

"Yes! That's why I contacted you, so that I wouldn't have to die alone!"

Celestia didn't know what to say to that. However, Luna spoke up. "Major, according to what I'm seeing here, you're rapidly coming up on the Highland Trestle Bridge. Most likely, since the enemy does know that you are there, then they will most likely try and destroy that bridge! You HAVE to get there before they can do that!"

Don nodded. "Yeah, I KNOW!!!"

Meanwhile, out ahead of us, General Rodin's forces were trying to set fire to the bridge. However, due to the weather, they were not succeeding very well.

"Come on! What's taking so long?! Why is that bridge not on fire yet?!"

"We're trying to General Rodin, but it's not so easy to light a bridge on fire during a snowstorm!"

"Ugh, just use a flamethrower if you have to, BUT BURN THAT F@#KER TO THE GROUND!!!!"

"We're trying Sir!"

After fumbling around for the longest time, one of the soldiers finally got the bridge to light up.

"Sir, we've got it! Now we just have to keep it burning until the Black Leviathan shows up!"

"Excellent! You're doing a great job, keep it up!"

Back on the train, a combination of bad weather, twists and turns, as well as our speed, coupled with our chasing of the train ahead of us, all caused us to go a little bit crazy, especially those of us in the engine. For some reason, we all seemed completely oblivious to the danger ahead. Eventually though, after leaving a tunnel, we saw it, the Highland's Trestle Bridge. By that point, we had managed to fix the intercom, even if only for a little while longer.

"Don, we're coming up on the bridge!"

"And what does it look like Leopard?"

I looked, and almost fainted. "Oh lordy, it's burning! They've torched it!"

"How bad is it?!"

"I.....I can't tell!"

"LEOPARD, STOP THE TRAIN RIGHT NOW!!! IF YOU DON'T THEN WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!"

For some reason though, I refused to stop. Instead, I only opened the throttle up even more! The train continued to sway and lurch. The worst part about the bridge, (aside from it being on fire!) was that it curved to the right; it wasn't in a straight line.

Also by this point, there were no more atheists, or agnostics on the train. Indeed, all of them were praying to God!

"Oh Lord, please do not let us die for Captain Leopard's sins! It's his fault, not ours!"

"Our Father, who art in Heaven, forgive your servant Leopard, for he knows not what he does!"

Ironically, it was little better for the train in front of us. Lt. Frink and his crew were beyond terrified. As if being chased by the Black Leviathan wasn't bad enough, now the bridge that they were about to cross was on fire as well!

"OH GODS, WHAT DO WE DO FRINK?!?!?!"

"I....don't know!!!!! BUT WE HAVE TO MAKE IT ACROSS THE BRIDGE!!!!"

The train only had 6 cars, and none of them were full. By the time that they reached the bridge, it was still structurally sound. They managed to make it across, even though the bridge creaked, groaned, and a few parts of it fell off.

"WHEW!!!! THAT WAS CLOSE!!!!"

"We're not out of the woods yet!", Frink muttered. "We still have the rest of this route to contend with!"

They then turned back to see how we fared, hoping with every fiber in their being that the bridge would collapse, sending us all plunging into the ravine below!

It was at this time that we reached the bridge. Now, I knew off the bat that our chances of actually making it over the bridge before it collapsed were extremely slim. Most likely, the bridge had never even been rated for an engine as large as the Big Boy, and that wasn't even counting the rest of the Battleship Express!

When we reached the bridge, I guess that I expected it to collapse instantly, but it didn't. It did however begin to sway, as well as have multiple pieces break off of it. The creaking and groaning of the bridge was hideous. Back and forth the bridge continued to rock and sway. Each time it did, more and more pieces of the bridge continued to break off. Because of the fires, the bridge was getting weaker by the second.

Eventually, the Big Boy made it to the other side, then the cars carrying it's coal and water, then the bunk car with the SCC, then cars 5, 6, 7, 9, 11....the bridge seemed to be at the collapse point. 16, 17, 21, the back end of the bridge collapsed, just a few feet behind the caboose! The bridge's inner structure was about to break loose. 25, 27, 29.....*CRASH!!!!!* half of the bridge collapsed! The rest was not far behind! 30, 31, 32. Then, just as the last wheels on the caboose touched the rails on the other side, the bridge leaned over, and then finally completely collapsed. All of the burning debris fell down into the mountain ravine below, although the Battleship Express was safe!

Unfortunately though, even though we'd made it over the bridge before it collapsed, we were not out of the woods yet. What we didn't know about, were the last sections of the line before the tracks left the Highland Mountains. These sections of the rails were not only all downhill, but they were twisty, and they were almost straight down!

To make a long story short, the smaller train in front of us was able to make it all of the way down. They braked to a stop in an area at the bottom surrounded by trees, snow, and a few other smaller mountains.

"Hmm", Frink muttered, "Well, that was close. At least we were able to escape from....."

He never got a chance to finish that thought. Before he could, from higher above in the mountains, the chugging of our train got louder, and louder, until we were charging down the mountains, heading straight for them!

"OH F@#KKKK!!!!" Due to heavy snow, they were unable to go forwards. Not too long after, our train reached them, and the last thing I can remember before my head hit the Big Boy's backhead in front of me was the sound of metal grinding against metal, as well as snow flying about, but then, nothingness. I only saw blackness as I succumbed to unconsciousness.

Author's Note

And, that was Chapter 21. Sorry for it being delayed, but I got back from school yesterday, and I fell asleep without writing anything. Today, I had to work, so I wasn't able to write very much until early this morning. Anyway though, here it is, so I hope that you enjoy!

So now that the Caribou know that we're here, how is that going to play into the next battle? Do they know that we made it through the mountains, or do they still think that we died in the bridge collapse? And what about our collision with the other train? Was the other train destroyed, or did we destroy our own train? How close are we to Donneth now? And what about Bindleton, the city that was preparing to surrender? What will happen to them? Well, you all know the drill, stay tuned, and I'll tell you!

As always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 22, which will involve more major battle scenes, so don't you dare miss it!

ScarFox out for now!

Chapter 22: Getting Back on Track, Death in the Shadows

When I finally did come around again, I was lying on my side on the cab floor next to the firebox doors.

"Augh......wha.....what, happened?"

I made the move to sit up. Aside from a headache, and maybe a dent or two in my helmet, as well as a few scrapes from hitting the floor, I was ok. I then looked around, and saw the others were waking up as well.

"Ogh, where are we?"

I shrugged. "I don't know Alex. However, since we're all still on the cab's floor, I'd say that it's safe enough to assume that we're still right side up." I then looked towards the window, and to my surprise, all I could see was white! "Huh, what the.....?"

We opened the cab's doors, but when we did, all we could see was a solid mass of white!

"Is, is that snow?!"

"I think so Todd. We might have gotten buried a bit in the crash!"

"Should we try to dig outside?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I think so. We need to see what the situation is out there, and maybe see if we can figure out where we are."

We all agreed to this, and while Todd worked with the radio to see if he could reach the rest of the train, and Alex kept the fire in the firebox going, Fred, Andy, and I all grabbed coal shovels, and began to dig out through the doorways. It was hard work, but eventually, we were able to break through.

"Hey, I've found a hole! I can see daylight!"

Fred looked up. "How high is that? Can you climb up it?"

I looked at it. "I'd say that that's maybe 3 feet up. And yeah, I'll try and climb."

I then exited the cab, and began to crawl up through the hole. Once I poked my head out, as well as my hands, shoulders, and arms, I took a look around.

"What do you see up there Leopard?"

"Lot's of snow! I also see trees, and maybe a few rocks. Unfortunately, I think that when we smashed into the train in front of us, I think that that might have triggered a local avalanche, as the entire train appears to be buried in snow!"

"WHAT?!?!?!"

"Yeah. I can see parts of the train, but we're pretty well covered. This snow could provide us good cover."

Meanwhile, Todd was working the radio. "Attention all hands, this is 2nd Brakeman Todd Davis in the Big Boy. Does anyone copy, over?"

After a minute or so, a reply came. "Todd? Yes, this is Major Don, I read you loud and clear. Are you boys ok up there?"

"Yes Sir. We're bruised a bit, but overall we're ok."

"And we seem to be buried in snow. Any ideas on how deep down we are?"

"Eh, well, according to Leopard, who managed to get outside of the cab, parts of the top of the train are visible, so maybe 16-20 feet or so. Alex is building up the fires up here so as to thaw out the engine, and if you want my advice, I'd say get all of the heaters running back there was well, as well as the defrosters, so that we can get outside, and hopefully dig ourselves out."

"Affirmative Todd. And we also seem to be out of communications range. Most likely, this is due to either the weather, or our signals being blocked by the mountains. However, yes, we need to get to work on digging ourselves out right away."

"Roger that Major, Todd out."

The next couple of hour were some of the most strenuous in recent memory. Thanks to Alex getting the boiler hot, we were able to melt that off pretty quickly, but digging out the rest of the train was going to be a severe hassle. There was just so much snow covering us, and every now and again, our radars would pick up a Griffon patrol, (most likely looking for us) and we'd all have to scramble for cover. (We left snow on top of the train, so as to better disguise it from the air). Eventually, in a few places, we managed to reach the ground. To our surprise, the entire train was seemingly still on the rails.

"Huh" Don mused, "So we might have fared better than I originally thought with that crash. I thought that we surely would have had to have come off the tracks at least somewhere."

Eventually though, we did come to the wreckage of the train that we had plowed through. Most of it was unrecognizable. From our point of impact on the caboose, our engine turned everything from there, to just 3 cars behind the engine into twisted, shattered, scrap. Everything that hadn't been turned into scrap was lying on it's side in the snow. All of the crew were dead, either from the impact, or from seemingly having froze to death in the snow. It was pretty awful, all of that blood though. The front Plow-Catcher had several mutilated bodies impaled by the spikes mounted to it.

"Oh God!" Those of us who found that were fighting off the urge to throw up. As carefully as we could, we removed the bodies, and buried them in the snow. They were too damaged to really be of any use to us.

"This is so gross! I always hated having to clean the spikes after we've rammed something. Removing mutilated corpses was always the worst part!"

I nodded. "Yeah, I totally agree Fred. It's a hard job, but SOMEBODY'S got to do it!"

"Yeah, and at least we're almost done."

"Exactly! So let's just get this done, so that we can move on to something else!"

He nodded, and then we tried to wrap up the rest of our cleaning work before the next round of Griffons were spotted.

Back in Donneth, Danin was beginning to get extremely worried. He had lost contact with Lt. Frink, and that made him paranoid.

"The Black leviathan is out there General Rodin! We HAVE to find it! We also have to find out what happened to Lt. Frink, and his train!"

"And we will Sir. I've already dispatched Colonel Bruno, as well as his Griffon soldiers to scout the area, and see what they can find."

"And, do you think that they'll find anything?"

Rodin shrugged. "It's too early to tell, My King. However, if I had to venture a guess, then I would have to say that they'll find the train stuck in the snow, as well as the crash site of the Black Leviathan somewhere."

Danin nodded. "Hopefully so General, hopefully so."

The hours began to tick by though, and still no new reports came.

"We've scouted around this entire area General Rodin", Bruno reported, "And we STILL cannot find any signs of either of them! We've found where the bridge has collapsed, but beyond that, there must have been a recent avalanche or something, as we cannot even see the tracks on the other side of the mountain anymore due to extremely heavy snow."

Rodin sighed. "Just....keep looking Colonel. You know how King Danin can become when he's paranoid. If you find anything, just report back."

Bruno groaned. "As you wish, General." They all kept looking.

After 13 hours though, they decided to give up. "We can't take this anymore General! It's getting colder, and it looks like another snow storm is on its way. We've been out here for this long, and we STILL cannot find any trace of anything! As of now, I'd say that the Black Leviathan crashed somewhere, and got buried in the avalanche. Most likely, this same avalanche hit Lt. Frink's train, and buried it as well. Most likely they're all dead, and if they're not, I'd say that we let the Devil take them!"

Rodin sighed. "Ok then Colonel, you all can return to base now. I'll inform King Danin of your reports."

"Roger that General, Bruno out."

"So, they were unable to find anything, is that what I'm hearing?"

Rodin nodded. "Yes Sir. At this point, I'd say that one or both of them crashed, and were later buried in the avalanche. At this point, I'd say that it's safe to assume that they're all dead. Most likely, we won't find anything until the first thaw of Spring when all of the snow melts."

Danin looked at the floor. "Just so long as they're DEAD, General, then it doesn't really matter! Frink is replaceable, although I certainly hope that we do recover his train eventually."

Rodin could see that Danin was becoming more concerned with the collateral damage, instead of the lost lives. He sighed, and was getting ready to leave to go back to his post, but then Danin stopped him.

"General?"

"Um, yes My King?"

"Bring me all 3 of the prisoners. I want them to know for THEMSELVES that their 'saviors', are dead!"

Rodin sighed. "As you wish, My King. I'll have them sent on up."

Down below in the harem chamber, all 3 of the prisoners, as well as Missy, were sleeping. Pinkie and Dash were together, as were Cole and Missy. Suddenly however, they were all very rudely awakened.

"Hey! Wake up in there!" They were all suddenly dragged to their feet, and had leashes attached to their collars.

"Gaeesh!!! What's going on?" Cole was slightly annoyed.

"King Danin wants to see you, that's what!"

Cole rolled his eyes, and was promptly punched in the stomach.

"How many of the prisoners did King Danin want again?"

"Um, General Rodin said that he wanted all of them."

"And how many was that?"

The lead Caribou shrugged. "I dunno. I guess we grab all 4 of these, as they're always clustered together."

The prisoners were then picked up, and carried out of the harem chamber. After going up a few flights of stairs, they were dragged down a series of hallways, until finally they were brought to a large set of double doors. Once those doors were opened, they were dragged down a red carpet, with Caribou Guards all along the sides of it. At the end of the carpet, they were dropped in front of a series of stone steps.

"My King, here are the prisoners, as you requested."

They all looked up. At the top of the stairs, was a gray throne. Sitting on the throne was a Caribou bull, wearing a grey shirt, black pants, black boots, a metal breastplate, as well as a metal crown on his head. He looked to be in his early 40's, and he seemed to be tired.

"So", He said in a cold voice, "I asked for the 3 hostages taken from the Zebra Empire, why was I given 4?"

"Huh?" The lead Caribou looked at the prisoners. "Which one is the odd one out, this one?" He asked holding Missy by the collar.

"Yes! Why was she brought?!"

"Um, well, because....My King, she was sleeping with the other 3 prisoners, and we (mistakenly) thought that she was one of them. What do we do with her?"

Danin narrowed his eyes. "Well, what do YOU think that we should do with her?"

Missy began to quiver with fright, as well as cry slightly. This had happened to her all too many times before. "Please....." She whimpered softly. "Just..leave me alone."

"Heh, you hear that boys? This plump bitch wants us to 'leave her alone'!" Some of the other guards began to laugh.

"I would vote that you all stop laughing, and do what she says." A cold voice broke in. "Or you will face dire consequences!"

They all stopped laughing, and to their surprise, the speaker was Cole! He was now staring straight at Danin, and there was not a trace of fear to be seen on his face anywhere.

"You will leave her alone, or like I said before, the consequences will be dire!"

Now Danin's expression went from shock, to anger. "Fine then!" He grabbed Missy from the lead Caribou, "You want her so bad, WHY DON'T YOU TAKE HER!?!?!?!" Danin then threw Missy at him as hard as he possibly could.

The force of the impact not only knocked both of them out, but also sent them flying a good 5 feet back! Cole also hit his head on the red carpet, and came to a sliding stop on his back, with Missy lying face down on top of him.

"COLE!!!!" Dash screamed. She tried to make her way over to him, but was prevented from doing so by Danin's guards, and was dragged back beside Pinkie, who was also quivering with fright.

"Now then, I wanted him to hear this as well, but then he decided that he wanted to play hardball! Anyway though, last night, the unthinkable happened."

"What, that you're now 2 steps closer to having your asses kicked?" Dash fully expected to get what Cole got.

Instead, Danin just smirked. "Heh, you WISH! But no. Last light, at maybe 3:35am, your friends on the Black Leviathan went missing! We believe that they crashed, and got buried in an avalanche! They FROZE to death! They're NEVER coming to save you!" Danin then began to laugh cruelly.

Pinkie began to cry, but Dash just looked at Danin unfazed. "Um, yeah....about that. Where's the proof? It's so easy to talk about something like this, but show me the PROOF!!!"

Danin knew that that was going to be a problem. Colonel Bruno had repeatedly reported that he and his soldiers had found no traces of the train at all. Suddenly, his great speech meant to break the slaves suddenly came crashing down around him.

One of the guards spoke for him. "Actually, Slaves, their deaths are, as of now at least, unconfirmed. HOWEVER, last night, they chased one of our trains through the Highland Mountains. We tried to burn the Highland Trestle Bridge beneath them, but they made it over it. Eventually, they made it down the other side of the mountains, where they are believed to have crashed into the other train. The force of the vibrations is believed to have triggered a local avalanche. For 13 hours straight we searched for any signs of them, or the other train, but found nothing. As far as we can tell, they seem to have been buried in the snow, although we probably won't find any wreckage until the Spring thaw. So while we cannot confirm their deaths right now, what I can tell you is that most likely, they've frozen to death out there somewhere."

When Dash heard that, she broke down crying. "Oh Stud....!!!" She sobbed. "No. No...no...NO!!!!!!!" She kept crying.

"Guards, please remove them from here, and take them back to the chamber. Give them some time to think about it."

"Yes, My King."

Pinkie and Dash were then carried out of the room, while Missy and Cole were dragged. Eventually, they were returned to where they'd been found, and after being dumped on the floor, the other Caribou left.

A few minutes later, just as Cole and Missy regained consciousness again, Winston entered the room, and began to make his rounds. When he came to his favorite group of friends, he found them all crying.

"Hey, what's wrong you guys? Were....you...abused, again?"

Cole looked up at him. "No, Winston, much worse than that....." He then explained to him everything that Dash had told him that Danin had said.

When he finished, Winston could only sigh sadly. "Wow.....um, I.....don't even know what to say. Only that......I hope that they are indeed still out there somewhere. I don't think that they're dead though."

"Y-you, don't?"

Winston shook his head. "No, at least, I don't believe it. Maybe they are, but if you ask me, they're still out there, just waiting for the Caribou to declare them dead, before striking again."

Dash sighed. "I......want to believe you, Winston, b-but I....just don't know what to think right now."

He nodded. "I, understand, Rainbow Dash. I'll keep my ears open, and I'll tell you if I hear any news about the Black Leviathan, or its crew."

They all nodded, and after Winston gave them their food and water, he left the room again, leaving the group alone with their thoughts.

Back in Canterlot, the Princesses were starting to become very concerned that not only had they not heard from the Battleship Express since the previous night, but they were unable to contact them as well.

"Any word from them yet, Sister?"

Luna shook her head. "I'm afraid not. I still can't get any messages through, and I haven't heard anything from them either."

Celestia sighed. "This could be due to not only the weather, but also the Highland Mountains as well. Remember, they are some of the highest mountains in all of Equus. They could be blocking some of the transmissions."

Luna looked at her sister. "I really want to believe that Sister, but I'm not sure if I can. They made it over the Highlands Trestle Bridge, but what happened to them after that still remains a serious mystery. It's also possible that they could have been buried in snow, as Major Don did say that they were about to impact with that other train. Maybe they hit that train, and then the snow buried them."

Now it was Celestia's turn to shrug. "It's possible, I suppose Sister. But, I just wish that they would answer us. However, if the worst has happened, and they have indeed lost their lives, when......do you think that we should inform the public?"

Luna sighed. "I think that we should wait until the enemy confirms their deaths. That way we would know for sure. For now, I vote that we just keep waiting, and hoping that we hear from them."

Meanwhile, completely unaware that we had been declared dead by the Caribou, and missing by the Equestrians, we of the Battleship Express had finally managed to get our train free of the snow. There was still a large amount left on the roof of the train to act as a disguise, and to our dismay, it was starting to snow again too.

"Oh great, this is JUST GREAT!!!! First we get buried in snow, NOW we have to deal with MORE snow!"

I groaned. "Yeah, I know what you mean Don. Hopefully this time, we won't get buried again."

Don nodded, and got back to work on the radio. For hours we had been trying to reach Canterlot, but hadn't been having any luck. What we had been able to do however, was listen to some of the local frequencies. According to Donneth authorities, we had all been declared dead.

"And, in other news, as our glorious King Danin has reported to us, last night, at around 3:30am, the Black Leviathan, the central flagship war train of the Humans who have been destroying our great empire, met a grizzly end. At the hands of the snows of the Highland Mountains, this vast rail giant was smited by a mighty avalanche, and all of its crew perished with it!

There are now no more Humans on Equus. They all died with their war machine. Their spark has forever gone out, and now with them, and their weapon gone, Equestria is once again vulnerable to attack. Hopefully, with the thaws of Spring, the wreckage of the train can be found, so that its weapons can be mass produced by us. May the glory of the gods be upon us, and our beloved King Danin, and may our rule never end!" The broadcast ended with what appeared to be the Caribou's national anthem.

When the broadcast was over, Don and I looked at each other. "Wow, that was like a Soviet broadcast, mixed with one from North Korea! More propaganda than actual facts."

Don nodded. "Yes, but now that they believe that we are dead, we may be able to use that to our advantage."

"Yeah, but how?"

"Eh, I have an idea, but I think that we should talk to the Princesses about it first."

We kept tinkering with the radio, trying to get a signal out.

Eventually, with the two of us, DELCI, Jim, and Shining, we were able to boost the signal enough for another attempt.

Don sighed "Ok, well, here goes nothing." After switching over to a secured frequency so that he would not be overheard, Don began his transmission. "Hello? This is Major Don of the Battleship Express, calling Canterlot Castle. Is anypony there, over?" Don could see that his signal was beginning to go through again, so there was a chance of the princesses getting the message.

"This is Major Don of the Battleship Express, does anyone copy, over?"

Suddenly, the radio came to life.

"MAJOR?!?!?! This is Princess Celestia! IS THAT REALLY YOU?!?!?!"

Don smirked. "Heh, yep, I'm right here! We're all still fine, we just got a little buried in snow, is all." He then went on to explain what had happened.

"So, you made it over the bridge, and then went over the other side of the mountains, and then crashed into the train that you were chasing?"

"Yes. And then we believe that a localized avalanche occurred, which buried our train. Don't worry though, we've dug ourselves out, and aside from some snow that we left on the roof to act as camouflage, we're ready to go again."

"Well, I'm just so relived to hear your voice again Major. When your transmission just suddenly cut off, and never reestablished, we all feared the worst for you."

"Actually, the Caribou did too. While we were trying to contact you, our radio did pick up a number of local frequencies. Multiple broadcasts reported our train lost with all hands. They said that salvage teams would be sent out in the Spring to locate the wreckage, and that not only were we all dead, but also that Equestria would be theirs to rule over again."

"Which WILL NOT be happening! However, since they believe all of you to be dead, you should probably take full advantage of that."

Don nodded. "Yeah, and I have a plan for that. Here's the deal. Remember how some of us have the Bat-Pony genetics in them?"

"Yes."

"And remember how many Ponies, and other species think that Bat-Ponies are unnatural, and may be devil-spawns?"

"I think I may see where you are going with this, but please, continue."

"Yes, well, my plan is for some of them to go out, and basically play some of the greatest mind games that we have ever attempted. The enemy thinks that we're dead, so why not play into that? Have them run about, screeching like Banshees in tattered, worn-out, black uniforms, some with added features like hoods, so as to make them appear to be the spirits of the Battleship Express crew back for revenge? The Caribou may not quite be as superstitious as the Zebras were, but I know that they still fear the dead. What do you think Princess?"

Celestia was taken aback a bit by what Don was suggesting. However, she knew that if the Caribous could be made so scared that it would render them unable to fight, she urged them to go for it. "If you think that you guys can do it, heck, I'm not gonna stop you! The more fear that you can put into those heathens, the better!"

Don nodded. "Roger that Princess. and I'll have Leopard and a few other guys take their cameras with them so that they can record what happens."

"Ok, roger that Don, Celestia out."

Don then sighed, and began to draw up the rest of his plan.

3 nights later, he decided to put the plan into action. He selected 9 of us, myself included, who all had a mixture of human, Bat-Pony, and wolf in them, were close to, if not over 6ft. and looked threatening. We were then given all black and grey clothes that had been torn up a bit. Our faces were painted black, and our eyes, which did contain tapetum lucidum, glowed in the dark. (Tapetum lucidum is the layer in animal eyes that makes them glow in the dark.) We were also given hoods, so as to mask our identities. We were also given guns, as well as knives, and axes.

Just before we got ready to go and do some dirty work, Don and Shining looked at us. "God, you guys are REALLY creepy looking, and I'm not just saying that! You guys are scary as hell!"

"Yeah, what the Major said! Each one of you looks like a Battleship Express crew member back for revenge!"

We all *screed* in response to that, and a few of us hissed as well.

"Yeah, just like that! Now then, as I'm sure that you boys have heard by now, close by, is the town of Hilden, as well as a few villages. I want you boys to bag those for me. Do you think that you can do that?"

I saluted. "We'll do what we can Don. Although I can say that, even if we don't fully pull it off, if we can cause enough panic to induce a heart attack, then I think that we could call that a job well done!"

Don nodded. "Very good boys. Now then, get out there, have some fun, and show them WHY they shouldn't be afraid of the shadows, but should instead be scared of what's IN the shadows!"

We all smirked, and once Don let us outside, we all took flight, and disappeared over the tops of the trees.

"Well, here we go again!" Don muttered as he went over to the screen in the PCC so that he could track our progress via our tracking devices.

What happened next was said by many Caribou later to have been the most terrifying night of their lives. Many of them had been told stories about vengeful spirits coming back from the grave to seek revenge. Now, while many cheered the destruction of the Battleship Express, there were others who warned of impending doom.

"We will all fry for this!" They warned. "Now that the Humans are dead, they WILL return to get us!"

These reports were disbelieved, until that night in Hilden. From seemingly all around, there suddenly came an ungodly shrieking sound. A few of the Caribou who were still awake at the time looked up, and to their extreme horror, there, flying in the sky, illuminated by the light of the moon, were 9 of the most terrifying figures that they had ever seen. All of them were dressed in black, tattered uniforms, and had glowing eyes! They also all shrieked in the most terrifying way imaginable.

Accounts vary on what actually happened, but according to our camera feed, we had a real blast that night. Once we all landed, we went on our own killing sprees. Almost all of it was done with axes and knives. Caribou were slaughtered right and left by the "Human Harbingers". They all seemed to be able to dodge projectiles launched at them with EASE. One of them, (me) was even hit point blank in the chest by a shotgun blast! The blast knocked the Harbinger off of his feet, and after a whopping 4 seconds on the ground, he got back up, charged the shooter, before grabbing his shotgun, and beating him to death with it! (How did I do this? Well, as Sombra was kind enough to show me, his armor was enchanted, and was able to repel even things as powerful as shotgun blasts! I wore the chest-piece under my uniform for protection. However, I was still somewhat heavily bruised from the force of the impact.)

For a long time this went on. Don referred to this as "Operation Nazgul", since there were 9 of us. Since I was the leader, and the most powerful, I was "The Witch-King of Angmar". The other 8 also had the names of the other Nazgul. It was an extremely successful operation. In fact, it was so successful that, for a brief time, myself and 2 others found ourselves in Donneth! Yes, Donneth, the Caribou Capital!

The original plan was to actually try and rescue the hostages right then. We did manage to get close to the Imperial Palace, and although we were able to smash a few windows, grab a couple of soldiers and drop them to their deaths, as well as cause some mass panic, we were unable to get inside. The defenders were too strong, and we were forced to retreat.

Just as we did so though, I turned back one last time, and after shrieking again, from a special launcher concealed under my uniform, I sent a couple of balls of fire down into the city. We then retreated, and headed back to Hilden, and the surrounding villages.

By the next morning, the damage had been done. In just 1 night, 13,000 more Caribou lay dead. We'd smashed up a lot things, although we didn't set the city on fire as we knew that when we ultimately did attack Donneth, towns like that would have to be used as refugee camps for slaves, and POW's. When we returned to the Battleship Express, we returned to a hero's welcome.

"Bravo Nazgul, bravo! You REALLY put the FEAR OF GOD into our enemies! Striking from the shadows, killing the enemies, clearing out a whole town, and 2 settlements. 9 guys, taking down 13,000! Now how does that feel?"

I looked at Don, and sighed. "It feels, interesting. God's hand was REALLY protecting us tonight! We were tools in His hands, doing His work. We're now less than 40 miles away from Donneth itself!"

"Yes, and how close did you get to it?"

I sighed. "Well, we did manage to get to the Imperial Palace, but alas, due to simply overwhelming enemy weaponry, we were forced to retreat. We did smash a few things up, but we were unable to get inside."

Don nodded. "Still, good work boys! You've done all of us 'dead folks' a great service! The Princesses were watching your performance tonight, and I must say, that they thoroughly enjoyed themselves. They really seemed to enjoy watching the Caribou get their asses handed to them! Anyway, that will be all for now. You boys can go get cleaned up, before getting some rest. You've all earned it!"

We nodded, and went our own ways to our rooms.

When I arrived back in my room, and once I was all cleaned up, I crawled into bed.

"Oh, hey Sweetheart", A voice cooed, "I see that you made it back to me safely."

I sighed, before rolling over, and hugging my coltfriend. "Hey Shadow, and yeah, I'm back. And thanks for letting me take some of your armor into battle. It saved my life from a shotgun blast!"

Sombra nuzzled me gently. "Mmm, it was my pleasure Sweetheart! Anything to keep you safe."

I then nodded, and with Sombra holding me gently, I fell asleep, dreaming of the day where once again, I would have Dash in my arms again.

"Just hold on a little bit longer Dash", I thought. "We're less than 40 miles away from you now, and we could strike against the Caribou at any time!"

I then fell asleep on that thought.

Author's Note

And, that was chapter 22. Sorry if it was a little bit boring at times, I had to set the mood for the upcoming Chapter 23, and it's multiple parts. I had to set a few things up, and get the ball rolling, and now that it has, I know that Chapter 23 will be amazing!

So now, we're less than 40 miles away from Donneth, and the Caribou think that we're all dead. Will they ever figure out that they're wrong? When will we attack Donneth? And when we do, how will the attack go? Will we be able to save Dash and the others in time? And how will I ever be able to explain my many "issues" to Dash? Well, you know the drill, stay tuned, and I'll tell you! We're starting to get down to the end here, with only a handful of chapters left. It's been a long journey, but it's not over yet!

Meanwhile, as always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 23!

ScarFox out for now, ALL ABOARD!!!!!

Chapter 23: Ghost in the Night, Harbinger(s) of Death

By the next morning, word of what had happened in Hilden was all over the Caribou Empire. There was mass panic in the streets of the towns, cities, and villages that the Caribou still controlled. Caribou of all ages were waiting for any news from their king in Donneth.

When the reports came to Danin, he met with Rodin and Stuggs.

"What, in the BLOODY F@#K happened out there last night?!"

Both of the generals looked first at each other, and then back at Danin.

"I.....don't know, My King. I did not witness this event myself. However, I do know that 13,000 Caribou did not just die by themselves, and we have CONFIRMED eyewitness testimony of what happened, but my question is, WHO, or WHAT, WERE THOSE THINGS?!?!?!"

"I know what they were. They....were the dead returning, My King", Stuggs reported. "We killed them in the snow, and now they have returned, as Harbingers of our doom! I saw them here in Donneth. They were our doom!"

Rodin looked at him. "Oh yeah, well if they were so ‘undead’, then why did they just retreat like that?" Rodin was trying to put on his brave/skeptical face to mask the extreme fear that he felt inside.

"Because they were testing us Rodin. That was just playful teasing. They were just toying with us to see how we would react. Now that they know that they can destroy us, gods help us all."

"So, how do we prevent this from happening again?! I need ACTUAL ANSWERS here people!"

The generals looked at their king. "Well", Rodin answered, "If it were me, I would have to say that we keep a watchful eye on this, and be ready to hit back if any of those Harbingers should choose to strike again."

They continued to talk about this for a long time, with everyone having their own opinions and ideas. At Danin's absolute insistence, Colonel Bruno dispatched more Griffons to see about finding the train's wreckage. Still, they had nothing to report.

"There's still nothing out here, King Danin. Like we've said before, they're DEAD!!! We'll find their bodies, and the train when the snow melts, but the Black Leviathan is no more!"

Danin sighed, before returning to his meeting with Stuggs and Rodin.

Back on the Battleship Express, the success of last night's mission was still being felt. However, that was about to give way to an even bigger plan, which Don, Jim, Shining, and I revealed to the Princesses.

"Ok, so here's our latest plan. They still think that we're dead, and from what we've been picking up from them, the Caribou are close to absolute PANIC over last night's mission. From what I can see, we need to push this to the max. We need to make them so scared of us 'Undead Harbingers', as they call us, that they not only piss and crap themselves, but also perhaps literally scare them to death."

Celestia and Luna looked at each other. "Oh? And how were you planning on accomplishing this Major?"

Jim took the mic. "That's where myself, and my specialists come in Princess, as well as General Shining, and the other Unicorns who are skilled with illusion Magic. With the train still not having been found, I think that the time has come for us to make its presence felt again, only this time, it will scare them even further."

Luna spoke up. "Ok, I have a guess as to what you guys might have in mind, but please, do tell, what is your plan?"

"Well, the plan is for us to first cover all lights on the train with greenish-blue reflectors. This will serve to provide an eerie light source. Next, thanks to some tinkering with chemicals taken from the Zebras, we've created a series of bricks that can be burned in the Big Boy's firebox, and when they are, they will produce an eerie, bluish-green smoke. Also, similar chemicals will be dumped into the Big Boy's water tanks, so that all steam and exhaust water will come out the same color as well."

Next, Shining took up the explanation. "Next comes the REALLY fun part! For those of us who have become especially gifted with illusion Magic, the plan is for us to make the Battleship Express literally look like she's just come back from the dead. We'll make everything appear old, and worn out. Parts of the train will be rusty, and very dirty, and other parts will be broken, or even missing. We'll also make it look like the boiler exploded during the crash, so that there's no possible way that the engine could be running! We'll make it look like not only did it come from the crash, but it will have also spent the entire Winter buried in the snow. But that's not even the best part. For a while, for the most dramatic effects, we will even be able to make the entire train 'vanish' by cloaking it in shadow spells!"

Celestia and Luna both looked at each other. They were both well and truly shocked by what they had just heard. Never before had psychological warfare on that scale ever even been attempted. But yet, at the same time, we all had a well-laid out plan, and had the means to execute it, in addition to having the abilities to actually pull it off.

Finally, Celestia said, "I've said it before, but I'll say it again. You Humans never CEASE to amaze me! Your plans are so daring, so...unorthodox, but yet, they've always delivered smashing results! I guess that I'll just have to see it for myself to believe it!"

Don looked back at the camera. "So....does this mean that we can go through with the plan?"

The Princesses nodded. "Yes, by all means! This will make for some AMAZING viewing!"

"Ok then Princesses, we'll get to work on this right away. It'll take another day or so until we're all ready, but when we are, you'll be the first to know!"

"Ok, roger that Major!" We then terminated the call, and got to work.

The next day or so involved all of us working together under Jim and Shining's supervision to get everything ready. The Big Boy's water supply was fully tainted with the chemicals for the water, and the bricks were made ready to be thrown into the firebox. Across the rest of the train, the bluish-green reflectors were being placed over all visible lights, both internal, and external, and other minor modifications were made to the train as well. That night, July 23rd, 2029, in the dead of the same Winter that took its 'life', the Battleship Express was going to make its 'ghostly' return!

I was sitting with Don, working out the final details of the plan. "So, how are we going to do this Don?"

Don pointed to a map. "Well, from what we've found, Donneth is surrounded by 2 other fortress cities, Carlon, and Danton. However, close to these cities are a series of train tracks that have been abandoned for a while. They're all rusty and old, and they run from close to us, to all the way past Donneth, to a bend that our scouts reported has become impassible!"

I was confused. "Huh? What do you mean, 'impassible'?"

"I mean that the tracks are broken. They've seemingly split clompletely apart due to age, and there's no way that a train could pass over them!"

I smirked. "Except for a 'ghost train'!" I then saw something else. "But wait a minute though, if those tracks end, how are we going to be able to disappear?"

Don pointed to a small junction. "Right here. This junction lies right inside of the city's blind spots. My plan is for the train to roll to that junction, 'vanish', then head down this track into the woods, where the Unicorns mask it. Others also work to mask the junction from view. If my assumptions are correct, then a scouting team will be sent to investigate, and all that they will find will be a destroyed section of track, and no wreckage!"

I nodded in approval. "Just like always Don, your plans are absolute genius! And I think that this will be the best one yet, so let's make it count!"

We all then began to finish all of our preparations for the real thing, which was slated to begin in less than 12 hours.

Once night fell, we all waited a while longer for the operation to begin. All of us who could possibly be visible were dressed up like we'd been in a serious railroad accident, and then froze to death in the snow. Our uniforms were torn and tattered, and blood was streaked on us. Some of us were missing limbs, eyes, chunks of flesh, or even a combination of the before-mentioned 3, while others had metal shrapnel impaled into us! For Todd and Alex, they were painted up to look like they'd just went through a boiler explosion. They now had hideous burns, and Alex was even missing a good chunk of his head! I was once again dressed up like I had been the previous night.

Once we were all ready, Don began to give the orders. "Ok people, this is it. This is what we've rehearsed for, and now that the Princesses are watching us, we've got to make this look good!" He then switched frequencies. "Leopard?"

"Yes Don?"

"Throw in the special logs, and then open the valves to let the tainted water flow. For the rest of you, turn the lights on, and for Shining and Co. start working your Magic, literally!"

"Yes Sir!" We all replied.

Alex then popped in the logs, while I worked with the valves to get the water laced with the chemicals to flow through the boiler. Next, all across the train, the lights began to glow; an eerie, bluish-green, very ghostly glow. Next, the train suddenly seemingly went through a massive transformation. Now, a good chunk of the boiler was missing, the train was faded, dirty, rusty, worn out, bent, dented in, parts were broken, and it all looked like it had been buried in the snow all Winter. Blood could be seen dripping from a few corners, chunks of other things were missing as well, and the entire train looked to be in no condition to ride the rails.

"Nice work Shining and Co!" Don and the others complemented when they saw how amazing the train looked. "Illusion magic is so amazing! All of this looks real, but it isn't!"

Then, the greenish-blue smoke appeared, followed by the greenish-blue steam.

"This is so amazing that it would make the folks over at the MacKamey Manor Haunted House so damn jealous! They would KILL to see something like this!" He then picked up his radio. "Leopard, are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here Don."

"Ok, well, the time is 12:35am, and it's time for the Battleship Express to rise from her grave, and stalk her victims from the rails!"

I smirked. "Heh, roger that Don! Oh, and can I blow the whistle?"

"Eh, wait until we get away from this side line, and then you can. Not too far ahead of us is a tunnel. When we come out of that tunnel, we become the TRUE Harbingers of Death!"

"Roger that Don!" Just before I opened the throttle though, I had a final request. "Hey DELCI?"

"Yes Sir?"

"Do, you actually have any 'ghost train' music?"

DELCI looked through her records. "Eh, I found this!"

I facepalmed. "Not THAT one DELCI! Try and find something else!"

She sighed. "Ok, fine! I'll keep looking!" She found something else. "This is all I could find Sir. I found other songs, but they didn't fit the mood."

I sighed. "Fine, just stick with the first one then. It's better than nothing, but PLEASE keep the volume low, and internal only! We DO NOT want to give ourselves away!"

"Ok, roger that!" DELCI then played the 1st song.

"Ok then people, here we go!" I then opened up the throttle, and slowly, rustily, and creakily, with sounds coming from parts that had not moved in a very long time, the Battleship Express moved out once again; this time, to seek revenge from those who had slain her.

After a number of minutes of travel, we reached that tunnel that Don had been talking about. Sure enough, we went in one side, and when we emerged from the other side, we were fully in character. We were now the Undead Harbingers, driving the ghost of the Battleship Express, and our mission was to seek vengeance on those who had killed us!

We rolled along, letting our train do its thing. For the longest time though, our presence seemingly went unnoticed. Nobody seemed to see the large ghost train that was passing so close to them. Nobody that was, until we reached Garrison 13, one of the garrisons outside of the Donneth area.

Suddenly, something triggered an alarm. "Huh? What's that?"

"I don't know, it almost sounded like an engine!"

"But that can't be! There aren't any more trains running tonight!"

Suddenly though, from out of the fog close to their garrison, they suddenly heard a sound that none of them had ever heard before. It sounded like a train's whistle, but it was distorted, and sounded like a Banshee's shriek!

"Good GODS!!! WHAT WAS THAT?!?!?!"

Then, before any of those close by could answer, from out of the fog, a large shape appeared, followed by ghostly, glowing lights. It looked like a train, but it looked like it had wrecked!

Suddenly, the soldier who spotted the train went dead white. He knew what it was. "BLACK LEVIATHAN!!!!" He screamed. "IT'S BACK!!!" He then died of cardiac arrest. The others in the garrison watched in absolute shock as the ghostly form of the Black Leviathan went by them. They were so scared, but if they needed any further convincing, from somewhere inside the train, 9 figures suddenly leaped. They were the Undead Harbingers, and were back to make their presence felt. They hit the garrison, and those that they didn't kill, or died of fright, killed themselves! Just before the last of them died though, he sent a message through to General Rodin.

"GENERAL?! GENERAL, ARE YOU THERE!?!?!! IT'S BACK, THE BLACK LEVIATHAN IS BACK FROM THE GRAVE!!!!! IT'S HERE TO......" Then, the soldier with the radio was suddenly grabbed, and had his neck broken by a Harbinger, and the transmission was cut off.

In Donneth itself, out on a balcony in the Imperial Palace, Danin was still talking to General Stuggs, and General Rodin, when all of a sudden, Rodin got a call from Garrison 13. All 3 of them listened in horror to the soldier's report, before it suddenly ended.

"Um, General, what was that all about?"

Rodin looked worried. "I don't know Sir. I hope that it was nothing too serious."

"Um, that sounded pretty serious to me General. Plus, in the aftermath of last night, I think that claims like that should really be taken seriously. That certainly didn't sound like a prank."

Rodin nodded. "Yes, My King." He then picked up his communicator. "Hello Garrison 13? This is General Rodin. Please repeat your message, over."

No reply came.

"Hello?! If this was supposed to be a prank, it is NOT FUNNY, and whoever is responsible for this, will be SEVERELY PUNISHED!!!"

Still, there was no answer.

Suddenly though, from a ways in the distance, Stuggs thought that he heard something. "Huh? What was that?" He walked over to the edge of the balcony to get a better look. From where he was standing, he could see the old rail lines that ran outside of the city, maybe a quarter mile away. "That's.....strange." He thought to himself, "I could have sworn that I heard a train. Must have been hearing things." He was about to turn back to Danin and Rodin, but then, the sound came again, only this time, it was plain as day. "Ok, now that was definitely a train. However, those old train tracks are abandoned, and even if they weren't, there shouldn't be any trains running this late at night!"

Unfortunately for him though, there WAS a train running along those old rails that night, and that train was about to cause more panic than Donald Trump did when he won the 2016 Presidential Election! Just as Stuggs was turning his head away again, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. When he turned to look, what he saw, made his blood run cold.

"MY KING, GENERAL RODIN, LOOK!!!!!!" He frantically pointed to something outside of the city.

When the two of them looked, what they saw scared them worse than anything that they had ever seen before.

"I-I-IT CAN'T BE!!!!!!!"

But sure enough, it was. There, out on the old tracks, running along at a fair rate of speed, was the Battleship Express, and it was glowing! From out of its smokestacks, as well as from its pistons and other parts came clouds of greenish-blue smoke and steam. Also, from the rest of the train came greenish-blue glowing lights! The train also looked like it had been through a traumatic crash, and had been left to rot in the snow for several months.

All 3 of the Caribou Leaders, as well as other citizens and soldiers in and around Donneth, Carlon, and Danton saw it, and when they did, they absolutely panicked! Caribou poured out into the streets, and began to run in all directions, screaming about how doom was soon to be upon them.

Suddenly though, before their very eyes, the train suddenly vanished! Just *poof!* Gone into seemingly thin air! Danin immediately ordered scouts who were willing to follow the tracks, and see where they led. (Meanwhile, we had gotten the train out of sight onto that track in the woods, and after masking the train, as well as the junction, we waited to see what would happen next.)

When Danin received the report from the scouts, he was horrified. "WHAT?!?!?!? WHAT DO THEY MEAN THAT THE TRACKS JUST END?!?!?!"

Rodin sighed. "From what they found, the old tracks do continue, but at a bend in the woods, the tracks were all broken apart. There's no way that the train could have backed up and gotten away without us seeing it, they couldn't have gone on with the broken tracks, and they couldn't have crashed because there's no wreckage!" Rodin was starting to freak out as well.

"It makes no sense! If that was a real train, then where did it go?!"

"I don't know, My King."

"IT WASN'T A REAL TRAIN!!!! THAT WAS THE GHOST OF THE BLACK LEVIATHAN!!!!! THEY'VE COME BACK TO GET US FOR WHAT WE DID TO THEM!!!!"

Rodin tried to come up with a logical explanation, but given the evidence, he was unable to. It made absolutely no sense. He didn't believe in ghosts, (at least, not yet!) but yet, if that train wasn't a ghost, then how did it disappear into thin air?!

He had no ideas at all, but after Danin suffered a fainting spell, he and Stuggs had to help him back inside of the palace.

Once he'd recovered, Danin shook his head. "I.....can't take this anymore! Staying here to deal with the Humans while they were alive was bad enough, but UNDEAD HARBINGERS AND GHOST TRAINS?!?!?! I have to leave!"

Stuggs looked like he was going to say something, but Rodin cut him off. "My King, do you have a contingency plan in place for your evacuation?"

Danin sighed. "To an extent, yes. The plan was for me, my staff, and my most important advisers and servants to head for our southernmost stronghold, Bryerton. I now see that you and Stuggs will have to remain behind to protect the home front, but that leaves us with another problem; I need someone else to stay here, and hold down Donneth!"

Now Stuggs could see that Danin was about to leave him behind to face Death while he saved his own sorry ass. In his mind, he began to make plans to surrender when the time came, even if that meant surrendering to the Undead Harbingers.

"Um, My King, who did you have in mind to be your replacement?"

Danin frowned. "Well, he'll have to be someone expendable, someone I hate, someone who would be able to fight if given the chance, and someone who would be willing to die for the cause."

"Yes, My King, but who could that be?" Both Rodin and Stuggs were praying to the Heavens that Danin didn't choose them.

Danin frowned in deep thought. "Well", He said at last. "Whatever happened to my bastard brother?"

"Um, do you mean Dactyl, My King?"

"YES!!! DACTYL!!!! Where is he?!"

Now it was Rodin's turn to frown. He knew all too well how much of a pain up the ass Dactyl had been. He hated the bastard just as much, if not more than Danin did.

"Well, My King, according to my records, he is still locked up in prison."

Danin thought back to his brother, Dactyl. Dactyl had been a general, as well as a prince, until their father had died. Then he tried to seize the throne for himself. Danin wouldn't have that, so after having him arrested by his guards, he had him locked up in prison, where he could never seize power again. All mentions of him were erased from the records, so it was as if he never existed. (Everyone knew that he was in prison, but they really didn't care). Nearly 9 years separated the 2 of them, but for Danin, even though he was older, Dactyl still did look a lot like him. "And he would be the perfect choice of a candidate for my replacement. I don't have the guts to kill him myself, but maybe now I won't have to!"

However, Rodin didn't like this plan. "Um, My King, just in case you have forgotten, Dactyl is not mentally well. He is schizophrenic, and has other mental ailments. He is not fit to rule. He tried to seize power from you once, and could easily do it again!"

Danin turned to Rodin. "But at the same time though, he looks almost exactly like me, and he's definitely expendable! He'll be nothing more than a puppet in my hands while I rule from Bryerton, at least until this all blows over."

Rodin sighed. "So, do you want me to go and fetch him?"

Danin nodded slowly with a cruel smirk. "Yes, go and bring him! It's high time that I see my 'dear little brother' again!"

Rodin sighed, and then headed off to Brimstone Prison, the toughest, and most secure prison that the Caribou had.

After the "package", had been collected, he was taken to the Imperial Palace.

"Come on Rod, why are you doing this?"

"Shut up Dac! Your brother just wants to talk to you!"

Dactyl scoffed. "Psh! NOW he suddenly wants to see me again? Why? Is the war going so badly for him that he needs ME to cover his ass? I thought that the Humans were all dead!"

Rodin nodded. "Eh, pretty much, yeah. And we thought that they were, but now they seem to have returned as Undead Harbingers."

Dactyl laughed, and before long was brought in front of Danin. When he saw him, Danin could see that even prison had still not really changed his brother at all. He was still 6'3, 210lbs, with dark brown fur, dark hair, a full rack of antlers, and a lot of muscles.

"So, we meet again, 'brother', or should I even call you that anymore?"

Danin smirked a bit. "Yeah, it's nice to see you again too Dactyl. It's nice to see that prison hasn't really changed you too much."

"Heh, depends on what you mean by 'changed', Brother!"

Danin shut that conversation down right then and there. "Ok, if you mean that you're gay now, I DO NOT want to hear about it! And how much did Rodin tell you before he brought you here?"

Dactyl smirked. "He told me that you guys were getting your asses handed to you by Humans, ghosts, and harbingers! He also said something about me being reinstated as a prince, as well as a general."

"Yes, and you will be; if you prove yourself worthy, that is. You see Dac, I need your help. With the war going the way that it is, I'm needed in the south, but yet, I still need someone to hold down the fort up here. Bryerton needs my help the most, so I will be leaving for there tonight, and you will be in charge of Donneth, Carlon, and Danton. Someone needs to stop these harbingers and their ghost train. Do you think that you are up for the challenge?"

Truth be told, in addition to having some mental health issues, Dactyl was also rather naive. He didn't really question why Danin suddenly wanted to leave him in charge, or even why his brother was leaving at all. He was just glad to be out of prison, and back in power.

"Heh, don't worry Brother, you can count on me!"

Danin smirked to himself. "Good. Very good! I will also leave General Rodin in charge of Carlon, while General Stuggs will be in charge of Danton. And while you will be in charge of Donneth, it will be the job of ALL 3 of you to protect this place! Do you understand?"

"Yeah!"

"Yes Sir."

"Yes, My King."

"Good."

Danin then began to pack up so that he could leave. Originally, he planned on taking Cole, Dash, and Pinkie with him, but then he thought that it would be too much of a hassle. Instead, he decided to just leave them where they were.

"Hey, does this mean that I have access to your harem Brother?"

Danin glared at him. "Yes, and no. Yes, you are in charge of them, and you must take care of them, but no, you cannot f@#k them! They still represent an incredibly powerful investment to me, and if I EVER find out that you mistreated them in ANY WAY, I will find out, and it will be right back to jail for you!"

Dactyl shrugged. "Yeah, fine, whatever. I'll take care of them. Just do whatever you have to do on your end, and I'll handle things from here."

Danin nodded, and after leaving his brother with a set of instructions, as well as a rather large list of do's and don't's, he, as well as his advisers, and servants, as well as a few soldiers assigned to protect him, led by Sergeant Dothan from the Battle of Ponyville, Danin made his retreat to Bryerton by train, leaving his brother Dactyl behind, most likely to die.

For the Battleship Express, we had no idea that Danin peeled out on us. However, what we did have, was a heck of a lot of fun playing Undead Harbingers. Night after night we went out, caused a panic, and then disappeared seemingly into thin air.

Dactyl was getting worried. "Ok, now this is some spooky shit right here! Danin never told me nothing about no ghost train like this!"

"Your orders, Prince Dactyl?" Rodin asked.

"We have to stop that thing from striking again!"

"But, Sir, how do we stop something not of this world?"

Before Dactyl could answer though, something else decided to rear its ugly head. From up in the night sky, the 9 Undead Harbingers decided to make their presence in Donneth felt once again. With their ungodly shrieking, glowing yellow or red eyes, and tattered uniforms, as well as their seeming invincibility, they wreaked absolute havoc on the city.

Once again, my plan was to try and reach Dash and the other hostages. Time and time again we tried to get inside of the palace, only to be thwarted by armed guards, falling debris, and even janitors with brooms!

"GET OUT OF HERE YOU FILTHY HARBINGER!!!!"

I promptly sank my teeth, including my fangs, deep into his arm, tearing away at his flesh!

"GWAAAAHHHH!!!!!" He screamed. I then smirked, and after wiping his blood off with the back of my hand, I went for his neck! After finding his windpipe, I was able to bite just hard enough to rupture it, before leaving him to choke on his own blood. I then rushed past him, and made it inside of the palace.

"Dash? Dash!" I yelled. "Where are you?!" I didn't receive a response.

For nearly 15 minutes, I went up and down the long corridors of the palace, looking for some sign of any of the hostages, but alas, I could find none. Little did I suspect though that at one point in my journey, I was standing literally 1 floor above where the harem chamber was.

Eventually, a series of guards armed with flamethrowers drove me back outside.

"FOOLS!!!! I shrieked at them, "DO YOU THINK THAT YOUR PUNY FLAMES WILL STOP ME?!?!?!” I then launched a series of deadly projectile grenades from a launcher on my wrist into a nearby building. The explosion that occurred inside of that building sent debris flying in all directions, and at least wounded the guards with the flamethrowers. Then, with an evil laugh, and a vow to return, we all flew off into the night, and disappeared from sight.

When Dactyl ordered a search for bodies, 978 were found dead by us, while a further 153 were discovered to have killed themselves. After that, Dactyl was finally beginning to realize that the only reason that Danin let him out of prison was to have him deal with a problem that was killing Caribou at an alarming rate so that he could run and save his own sorry ass.

"Well, I might as well make the most of this." He turned to one of the guards. "Guard?"

"Um, yes Sir?"

"Please bring me the two female captives of Danin's hostages."

"Um, ok, but what do you want me to do with the male?"

"Eh, leave him be. And once you're out of the harem chamber, close it up again, and don't let anyone in again until these 'Undead Harbingers' have been dealt with. Food and water will still be delivered, but nobody will be allowed in, or out!"

The guard nodded, and went to fulfill his boss's wishes.

Meanwhile, down in the harem chamber, Winston was in there, making his usual rounds.

"Hey Winston? There was a lot of commotion upstairs last night, as well as for the past couple of nights. What's going on?"

Winston looked at Cole with a bit of a worried look. "Well, actually, I was hoping that you would be able to tell me." He then explained in full detail about everything, from the sightings of the train, to the Undead Harbingers, to the various attacks on towns and cities, including Donneth. "They were even in the palace last night! They were driven back by guards, but they vowed to return!"

Cole thought about that. Then, he smiled. "Heh, then that means that they're still on target for taking Donneth! They're all still alive, and are using 'being dead' to their advantage!"

"So, psychological warfare?"

"Yes. The more scared that they can make the Caribou, the better! These attacks are causing internal riots, panic, and confusion. If my predictions are correct, then one day very soon, they will attack."

Winston was maybe about to reply to this, but before he could, the doors were suddenly unlocked, and several guards entered.

They went straight for Cole, Dash, Pinkie, and Missy. After pushing Winston out of the way, they grabbed Dash and Pinkie.

"By the order of Prince Dactyl, you are to be taken to him so that he may look at you!"

"Hey, let them go!" Cole tried to help them, as did Winston, but they were both shoved back.

"NO!!! DON'T TAKE US AWAY FROM COLE AND MISSY!!!!!" Pinkie screamed. She was then gagged, as was Dash, as Dash kept trying to bite her captors.

Once they were out of the room, they locked the doors.

"Hey! What the....?!?!?!" Winston went over to the doors. "HEY, OPEN THESE DOORS!!!! I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO BE LOCKED IN HERE!!!"

"By the order of Prince Dactyl, brother of King Danin, these doors are to be locked, and not opened until the threats from the Undead Harbingers has been dealt with! Do not worry though, food and water will still be provided." The guards then left, dragging Dash and Pinkie with them.

"F@#KING, F@#K!!!!" Winston yelled. He banged on the doors for a while longer, but eventually he ran out of steam. He then went back to Cole and Missy.

"Well, I guess that my only hope now is you Cole. I'm locked in here, and only you can save me if the Humans come."

"Which I will do. You've proven yourself worthy Winston. I will do my best to save your life."

"Just as I will too." Missy added.

Winston hugged them both. "Thank you. You don't know how much this means to me."

Cole nodded, but then he sighed. "Yeah, but now let's just hope that this 'Prince Dactyl' guy doesn't hurt Pinkie or Dash, and that my comrades hurry up and save us all!"

Meanwhile, upstairs, Dash and Pinkie were taken back to the throne room. When they arrived, they expected to see King Danin, but to their shock, sitting on the throne was a younger, scruffier-looking version of him dressed in grey armor and brown pants.

He smirked a bit when he saw them. "So, you must be the slaves that my brother stole from Zakia! Wow, you're really cute!"

Pinkie and Dash both looked at each other, confused.

"Oh, I see that you were never told. Well, my name is Dactyl. My brother, King Danin, left me in charge of Donneth while he went to help secure our southern border near Bryerton. He left me in charge of YOU as well, and even though I'm not really allowed to touch you, I'd still like to keep you close at hand."

At his command, leashes were attached to Dash and Pinkie's collars and were then attached to the throne.

"There, now I can keep a close eye on you, and get a good look whenever I want!"

Dash and Pinkie both looked at each other. They knew that their sanity was running out. How much longer could they hold out until they finally snapped? How much worse of a "master" would Dactyl be than Danin? Would liberation ever come for them?

Unknown to them though, maybe 10 miles away from Donneth, inside of an abandoned mountain tunnel, a ghostly beast of a train lurked in the darkness. Its crew's eyes were set towards Donneth, which they would attack in less than a day. They knew that the final showdown was near, and that its consequences were going to decide the fate of not only the hostages, but also those of the Caribou themselves.

Author's Note

And, here was Chapter 23! So now that the "Ghost Train", has made its presence known, and the "Undead Harbingers" have returned as well. Also, Danin has a brother named Dactyl, and now he's in charge of Donneth. Will be be any better of a leader than Danin was? And with the Battle of Donneth imminent, how will that go? Will we finally rescue the hostages, and give the Caribou their just deserts, or will Dash just be moved away again? Also, with Sombra seemingly getting stronger all the time, how much longer will it be before he tries to break free of me? Well, you all know the drill, stay tuned, and I'll tell you!

Meanwhile, as always, comemnts, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 24, which will begin the final climactic battles of the Imperial War!

ScarFox out for now!

Chapter 24: Blood in the Snow (Part 1)

The next morning, we all received a message from Canterlot.

"Ah, Princess Celestia. Nice to see you again."

Celestia sort of smiled, but then she frowned. "Ok, well, I have a few things to tell you. First of all, I've received word from the other battalions sent into the Caribou Empire. As of early this morning, Lake Town and Rendale have been added to Equestrian Territory, as did one other town, although this one was a special case."

Don was interested. "Oh? And why was that town so special?"

“The town was Bindleton, which was a large merchant and shipping hub, and it was also the place where the shattered remnants of the Caribou Navy fled to. They broke away from Danin, destroyed all of their weapons, and reached out to us for surrender terms. When our soldiers arrived, they threw open the gates, and outright surrendered."

We were all surprised.

"Really? Not only did they destroy all of their weapons, but they also surrendered?"

"Yes. They said that they weren't going to wait around to be slaughtered by the Humans, so according to the city's governor, Price, he ordered all weapons destroyed, all naval ships disarmed, and all other vessels to be impounded in the harbor, and then turned over to the Equestrian Military. They were done fighting, and although the males were sent to an internment camp, they didn't resist, and seemed more than grateful to us for sparing their lives."

"Yes, as I would imagine that they would be. Also, the Caribou no longer have a navy. That's something, but please hold at Rendale for the time being. We're not too far beyond the Highland Mountains yet, and the Highland Trestle Bridge was destroyed in the fighting. Plus, the battle for Donneth, as well as the rest of the Caribou Empire, could get extremely ugly. I do not want more of your forces in harm's way than necessary!"

Celestia sighed. "Yes, we will do that Major, however, I may see about sending in scout teams to evaluate the bridge, so that it could be repaired for your journey home."

It was then that we realized that the Highland Trestle Bridge was our only way home. Without that bridge, we were stranded, and no new supplies could be brought to us.

"Yes, I just realized the truth to that Princess Celestia. If you think that some of your engineers could MAYBE begin to fix the bridge, I'd say go for it, but if not, then I'd say leave it, at least until we've taken Donneth, Carlon, and Danton. Without their capital city, as well as the other secured cities defending it, then that would put their final stronghold in the town of Bryerton, which is maybe 450 miles away from here. Between us, and Bryerton, are just miles and miles of fields, and small farming and mining communities."

I then spoke up. "Oh, and speaking of mining communities, we found something during our time hear that you may find interesting Princess."

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"Well, yesterday, we found this old strip mine that was close to the train tracks. All around it were signs warning of an extreme danger. Whatever it was made our instruments go crazy! Upon further inspection though, we discovered that the mine contained quantities of almost pure uranium!"

She looked at me a bit confused. "Um, what's so important about uranium? It's dangerous, and we have yet to find a use for it."

"But we DO have a use for it! The best armor-piercing bullets are made from depleted uranium. Also, uranium is the key ingredient for our nuclear shells! We've already begun to mine it in small quantities for the purpose of making depleted uranium bullets, but for the long run, we hope to be able to use this supply to create more nuclear shells.

Though if you were looking for a less violent use for it, uranium can also be used in a nuclear reactor to produce electricity. The technology for it still exists back on Earth, and following the end of WW5 in America, a lot of the nuclear power plants that had been shut down or damaged during World Wars 3-5 were turned back on or rebuilt to help deal with the severe energy shortages. However, this still wasn't enough for our power needs in WW6 after the Futas started taking US territory, as well as our coal, oil, and natural gas supplies, so for the first time in many years, more nuclear power plants were built. Truly an amazing feat, especially during wartime!"

Celestia was very surprised, as was Luna. Using uranium to produce electricity? The concept to them seemed almost fantastical. However, Humans were the "Impossible Species", according to Equestrian historians, and I did speak of nuclear power having existed on Earth, even though the wars had seen it become practically extinct for a time before making a massive comeback, so maybe it was possible.

"Well, maybe it is possible Captain Leopard, but uranium is still VERY dangerous! The radiation that it emits can be fatal!"

"Huh, so they know about the dangers of radiation." I thought. It always fascinated me to think that even though the Ponies had guns, cannons, telephones, TV's, indoor lighting and plumbing, and even hydroelectric dams, they still couldn't fully grasp the concepts behind war trains, engines powered by fuels such as oil or gasoline, or even mobile generators. At the same time though, they had slightly better medical techniques than we did, and were extremely well versed in astronomy, history, mathematics, and science. I always saw it like two halves of of 2 different cookies. You didn’t need both halves to function, but when you put them together, you had something amazing. We could all learn so much from each other if we could just get past these god-awful wars!

Out loud to Celestia, I said, "Yes, so that's why we're being EXTREMELY careful, and are only mining it in small quantities. We also have all of the necessary protective gear, and we do all of the refining of the uranium safely away from the train!"

Celestia nodded. "Yes, and I'm glad that you are being safe with that. However, this brings me to my next point. Some of our southern radio stations were able to modify their transmitters in order to pick up Caribou broadcasts, and I must say, what we've been hearing has us very disturbed. We keep hearing about a 'ghost train', and the 'Undead Harbingers', and how there will soon be 'death to all Caribou'! From what we can tell, your plans have been working positively flawlessly! The Caribou are so terrified of you that some 300+ Caribou have committed suicide!"

I smirked a bit. "Yeah, we know. We can pick up those frequencies too. Our handiwork has really been working well to psychologically scar the Caribou. I don't know how much longer they will be able to hold on before they snap!"

"Yes, but that could also cause them to start murdering slaves, POW's, and even the hostages! This whole ordeal is getting to be stretched about as thin as a piece of piano wire. We MUST proceed with caution, or valuable lives WILL be lost!"

I sighed. "I know, you don't need to remind me." I was about to continue, but just as I did, I felt a dark shift inside of me. I passed it off as a cough, and then continued. "However, we will come up with a plan of attack, and implement it very soon. Most likely though, we'll attack Carlon, and Danton, the two fortress-cities that flank Donneth, and provide it extra security. Then, if we can take those, we move on to Donneth."

I let Don take over explaining, while I took a trip through my subconscious to see if I could figure out what that shift was.

Meanwhile, inside of my head, Sombra knew that his time of just being a spirit was coming to an end. "Soon", He thought while smirking, "Very soon! All I need to reattach my horn, in addition to the fear of the Caribou that gives me strength, and the blood of the Zebras that gave me power, I also need to blood and fear of two extremely powerful leaders, almost as powerful as me! That fool Zakia was the first of the 2, and now that he's been drained of his power, I have his power, as well as all of the blood that I need from both of the Zebras and Caribou, as well as the fear! Now I only need one more thing, Danin being dead!" He then began to laugh a bit, and that laugh caused the shift that I felt. "All I need is Danin to be killed by my Sweetheart, and then, I can finally return to the physical world FOREVER, and WITH MY FULL POWERS RESTORED!!!!" He began to laugh again.

It was like this that I found him moments later. "SOMBRA!!!!"

"GAAHH!!!!" He then looked at me. "Hey! Don't sneak up on me like that! You just about scared the magic out of me!"

"Yeah, and maybe I should do that! I felt some serious shifting, and I know that that could NOT mean something good! What are you plotting?"

Desperate for an answer that he knew that I would believe, Sombra actually told the truth. "I want what you want Sweetheart, I want Danin dead!"

I was starting to see through his masquerade. "Yeah? But I don't think that we want him dead for the same reasons. I want him dead because he's a war criminal, and created an evil empire that thrived on slavery and oppression. He also STOLE my marefriend after she got stolen by Zakia! But seriously Shadow, why do you want him dead? And don't you DARE lie to me!"

Sombra was really taken aback by my perceived anger. He felt that there was too much of himself in me. "I loved him too much", He muttered. "Now he's WAY too much like me! I mean, looking a lot like me was one thing, but now actually having some of my powers?! No, this is getting out of hand!" Sombra tried to strike me like he did on the night in the archives, but he couldn't do it. Something was stopping him. "Great, now my love for him has made me SOFT!!!! F@#K!!!"

After thinking fast, he came up with an answer. "I want him dead, because I was the one who destroyed the Caribou Empire the first time. His family rebuilt it centuries ago, and I WILL NOT allow it!"

I had a sneaking suspicion that Sombra wanted far more than that. To him though, I merely said. "Fine, we'll talk about this later. I have to go, but Sombra, if you really think that you can get away from me so easily, you're dead wrong! There may be a lot of you inside of me, but there's a lot of ME inside of YOU as well! Plus, even if you got away from me, you would only be left as a spirit, you would have no power. Is that what you really want, or do you want the status quo of getting to return to the psychical world, with my love being enough to keep you there, with you being able to stay longer each time? Just something to think about until we talk again."

I then left Sombra, and returned to myself again.

For the rest of that day, we all continued to plan out our attack on the surrounding area.

Don looked at the maps. "We'll have to do this in one swift stroke, but yet at the same time, the hazards may be more than we can handle."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

He pointed to the map. "Donneth, Carlon, and Danton are the 3 most populated cities in all of the Caribou Empire. Combined, they have a population of over 16 MILLION Caribou males, almost all of whom are in the military! There are also multiple army bases, garrisons, 2 military training academies, Carlon has an airship base, Danton has multiple ammunition and weapons factories, in addition to all battlements being manned 24/7, and the cities being connected by a series of tunnels. There are also believed to be bunkers, fallout shelters, and more enemies than we know what to do with."

He then looked at me, Jim, and Shining. "I'm not going to sugarcoat this, this will be the TOUGHEST battle that we have ever fought. We are more than hopelessly outnumbered, and even though we have them outgunned, they may be able to get to us faster than we can kill them! We've never fought another battle like this by ourselves. The closest WW6 battle that I can think of would be the Battle for Oklahoma City, and even then, we had reinforcements. This time, it's just us, Battalion 4009, and your Battalion General Shining. We're all on our own."

I thought about that. "Yeah, I can see your point Don, but aren't we also presumed dead? And we've just pulled off our 'ghost train' act, not to mention the 'Undead Harbingers', so won't that at least amount to something? I mean, to them, it may seem like we've just been teasing them. What if we suddenly turned aggressive? I think that that would push them over the edge. I mean, with just 9 guys, we not only killed 13,000 Caribou, but we also captured the city of Hilden!"

"Yeah, and I can see your point Leopard, but Hilden only had a population of 10,000. They were also a farming hub, not a military facility. Imagine Zebrica, Mardeth, and Zandia, all rolled into one, to all be fought at the same time. THAT'S what we're up against here! HOWEVER, yes, I can certainly see your point, and as long as we can keep up the masquerade, I could see that at least giving us an initial advantage." He took a breath before continuing.

"The way I see it, what Leopard said is indeed correct. The enemy still believes us to be dead, and from what they have been saying in their broadcasts, they do indeed think that the 'Ghost Train', as well as the 'Undead Harbingers', have indeed just been toying with them. By that logic, what do you think that they would do if we turned aggressive? Or for that matter, if we became just plain old hell-bent hostile?"

Shining nodded. "Yes, I like the way that you guys think! However, what do we do if they see through our masquerade? Also, what if we can't take the cities all in one night?"

Don sighed. "Well, in order to answer your first question, if they see through it, I doubt they'll be believed too much as a whole. Remember, the majority believes us to be dead, and that we're now ghosts and harbingers. However, if they see through that, then I guess that we just keep fighting them. It really doesn't make much of a difference if they know that we're still alive or not, as they all still die in the end!

And building on that, as well as to answer your second question, yes, eventually, we will have to drop the masquerade, as I don't think that we'll be able to take all 3 cities in just one night. In fact, I don't even plan on doing that."

Shining was curious. "Oh? And what is your plan?"

Don pointed to the maps again. "Well, by plan is to launch the attack on the two other cities beginning at 2am on whatever night we pick, and then after going at it hard, we take the cities, and then, after the sun rises, or as it's beginning to rise, we make the move to storm Donneth. This whole operation will require ALL of us giving it everything that we have! That's the only way that we're even going to stand a CHANCE at defeating the Caribou!"

We all nodded gravely, and then we came up with the final plans of attack.

Eventually, we decided that our attack would begin at 2am on July 27th, 2029, where, in the dead of Winter, with most likely temperatures in the high teens, and with a good foot and a half of snow on the ground, we were going to take on the largest, and most heavily fortified cities in the Caribou Empire defended by nearly 16 MILLION Caribou soldiers, with only about 3,000 guys! (Yes, it's still extremely weird that their Winter is in July. However, what we did not know was that Winter was coming to an end, and Spring was about to begin soon. And even if we had known, we couldn't afford to wait any longer. The attack would happen in the snow.) Yes, our plan was absolutely insane, but it had to be done. Even though the odds were severely against us, we HAD to overcome!

We also informed the princesses about our plan.

"Just....do whatever you guys have to do. Save the hostages, and take out the Caribou!"

"And, what do we do about the Caribou Military leaders, and King Danin?"

Celestia and Luna narrowed their eyes."For the Caribou military leaders, if they surrender, capture them so that they can stand trial. If they resist, disarm them if you can, but if not, then kill them!"

"And as for Danin......." Here the Princesses seemed to talk among themselves for a moment. Finally, they said, "If at all possible, see if he can be captured. But if not, then I really do not care what you do with him. Stuff him like Tarrath, or make him a sex-slave like Zakia! We honestly do not care, BUT BRING DASH, PINKIE, AND YOUR SOLDIER HOME!!!!"

We all looked at each other. Then, after talking about it, we all turned back to the Princesses. "As you have willed it, Princesses, it shall be done! This war shall draw to a close before the thaw of Spring, and then we will be beyond it! No more wars! We will bring the hostages home, or die trying!"

"Excellent! Well, I can say that we will be VERY interested in seeing how this goes!"

They then signed off, and we all began to go get ready, as that day, was already July 25th. That night, at 2am, the Battle would begin, and by 1am, we would be on the move again.

Back in my quarters, I began to get ready. As I was trying to decide what to do, I thought back to the day I wore Sombra's armor.

"Heh, if I wore THAT into the battle, I would be more than just an 'Undead Harbinger', I would be the second scariest thing to Death itself!"

"Yes, yes you would!"

"GAH!!!" I jumped a little. There, lying on my bed like he usually was, and naked like he always was, was Sombra. "Seriously, don't just pop out of nowhere like that! Give me some serious warning first!"

He laughed. "Just like I told you earlier, but now we're even, right?"

I sighed. "Yeah, I guess so."

"And I suppose that you were also going to ask me about wearing my armor into combat, am I right?"

I nodded. "Yeah. So can I?"

He seemed to think about that. Finally, he smirked. "For you Sweetheart, yes. Looking like me would terrify those f@#kers more than anything else in the world, HOWEVER, there is a condition that you have to meet first!"

I looked at him. "Um, and what would that be?"

He smirked. "You would have to take me with you!"

I cocked my head a bit. "Um, yeah, but don't I ALWAYS take you with me? I mean, you are a part of me, right?"

He thought about that. "Oh yeah, silly me, you're right! I always AM with you! So yeah, you can!"

I smiled a bit, and went over and hugged him. "Thanks Shadow, you're the best!"

He hugged me back, and kissed me gently on the nose. "And you're the sweetest coltfriend ever!"

Our sweet moment however, was interrupted by DELCI. "Um Sir, I hate to interrupt, but you have an incoming video call from Cloudsdale, Priority 2!"

I nodded. "Ok DELCI." I then got up. "Excuse me for a moment." I then went over to my desk, and after turning my video screen on, I looked to see where the call was from. "Oh, it's from Spitfire again." I then accepted the video call. "Um, Hello, Spitfire?"

I then saw her screen turn on. Once again, she was wearing her blue uniform. "Oh, hello Leopard, nice to see you again! And I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

I glanced over at Sombra. He just rolled his eyes and mouthed the words, "Hang up on her!" I shook my head "Um, no, you're not interrupting anything. Anyway, what's up?" Sombra then glared at me, and gave me the finger. I gave him a look to kill.

She sighed. "I....need an update Leopard. How close are you guys to rescuing Dash?"

I sighed. "We're close Spitfire, we're getting really, really close. In fact, we're so close that by tomorrow morning, I think that we may have the job done."

She looked at me with tears in her eyes. "Do....do you really mean that Stud....er, I mean um, Leopard!"

I was really taken aback when she said that. "Wait, did you just call me.....'Stud'? I thought that only Dash knew about me being called that!"

She was blushing severely. "Yeah, um, about that.......*sigh* ok fine! Yeah, Dash told me about her nickname for you. I liked it, and I decided that once we were married, that I would call you it as well. It was just a minor slip, I didn't mean any harm by it!"

I shrugged. "Eh, no harm done. I don't really mind."

"So I can call you 'Stud' now as well?"

I sighed. "Yes, but ONLY when we're alone! I DO NOT want word of that nickname getting around the rest of the train!"

She nodded, but then stopped. "Ok, so if 'Leopard' is only your nickname, what's your real name?"

I sighed, and was about to say something, but then I stopped. "My real name is not important right now. What is important though is that the next time that you hear from me, most likely I'll have Dash right beside me!"

"I certainly hope so Stud, I really do. I want you to get Dash to safety, and then, I want you to MAKE THOSE BASTARDS PAY FOR WHAT THEY DID!!!!!"

I nodded, and then saluted. "You got it Spitsy....er, um, Spitfire!" Now it was my turn to blush severely!

Sptifire only giggled a bit though. "Hmm, 'Spitsy'? Heh, I kinda like that nickname! Well, since you let me call you Stud, and we are on the road to being married someday, sure, you can call me Spitsy if you want."

I nodded, still blushing a bit. "Sure, and thanks Spitsy. It was nice talking to you for a bit, but I have to go. We're about to pull out for Donneth here before too long, and I still have to finish getting ready!"

She nodded. "Sure, and it was nice talking to you too Stud! And promise me that you'll call me again as soon as you have Dash safe!"

"You got it! After I tell the Princesses, and Dash's parents, you'll be the first to know!"

"Thanks Stud, you're the greatest! Bye now!" She blew me a kiss.

I blushed. "Er....um, b-bye Spitsy!"

Spitfire then giggled as she signed off.

I then sat back in my chair, smiling to myself.

"Ugh! Twitter-patted!" a voice to my right groaned.

"Aww, can it Sombra, you're just jealous!"

He just growled a bit. "Ugh! Just get dressed in my armor so that we can get this show on the road!"

I nodded. "Sure thing Shadow!"

I then began to do just that.

By the time 12am rolled around again, we were all ready to go. We still had another hour until we had to pull out for Donneth, and another hour until showtime, but we were all itching to go.

I was once again all dressed up like an Undead Harbinger, although this time, under my robe, I was wearing Sombra's armor, as well as his helmet crown, which also contained his horn, and his staff-weapon.

"With you and I working together Sweetheart, you will be able to use my powers through my horn! Just think, you will be able to do some of the things that I was able to do while I was still alive!"

I nodded. "Yes, assuming of course that I will suffer no ill effects from doing that!"

"Heh, nothing worse than me getting stronger, and eventually breaking free of you!" To me though, Sombra merely said, "No, no ill effects at all!"

I wasn't so sure that I believed him, but before I could really discuss it further, it was time for our final briefing. We all gathered together, and Don addressed us.

"Good evening everyone, and everypony. Once again, I know that I have to keep this brief, but I have a lot to say. As I'm sure that all of you know, we have to take Donneth, as well as Carlon, and Danton. I also believe that by now, you've also heard about just how difficult that this is going to be.

I WILL NOT be sugarcoating this, the battle that lies ahead for us, may be one that we CANNOT win. We're facing 3 cities that have a population that falls 4 million short of the population of the ENTIRE Zebra Empire, and are the most heavily fortified cities that we have ever seen!"

There was a lot of whispering, as well as talking in low tones.

"HOWEVER, we do have a few things going for us. Remember, we're STILL dead to them! Also, we have the element of surprise, and the weather working for us as well. It's still the dead of Winter, and it's even lightly snowing, so no attack seems imminent to them. When we strike though, we will have to hit HARD, FAST, and be EXTREMELY PRECISE! Remember, not only are the hostages here, but there are also a lot of slaves, and POW's. They have all suffered enough as it is, and they DO NOT need to suffer any more!"

"And how are we going in Major?"

"Good question!" Don then pulled out a map, and showed it to all of us. "This here is Donneth. It will be our ultimate target. However, before we take out Donneth, we first have to get through these brutes right here." He pointed to two other cities that flanked Donneth. "These, are Carlon, and Danton. Both of these cities will have to be taken out before we can proceed.

Our attack tonight starts at 2am, and if my calculations are correct, by the time that the sun begins to rise, it will be time to attack Donneth. All of this will be heavily a ground troops operation, with maybe some help from our gunship and drones, as well as PRECISE artillery strikes from the train.

Our primary goal right now is to keep up the whole 'Ghost Train', and 'Undead Harbinger' act. Only now, instead of just teasing them, we will actually be doing some serious damage! Thanks to our efforts, now 55, almost 60% of the Caribou Empire has been taken over by the Equestrians. With the fall of these cities, and the surrounding area, that number will rise to almost 75%. The final steps after this, will be the taking of Bryerton, as well as the last towns, villages, and settlements around it. Then that's it; the war's over. The war could even end today if the Caribou surrender after Donneth! Won't that be amazing?!"

Truth be told, none of us had ever really thought about that. War was all that we had really ever known. Now a lasting peace could actually be achieved? It was almost unfathomable.

Don then fully finished laying out the plan. "Ok, so who's with me in this?!"

We all cheered.

"Ok then, SO LET'S F@#KIN' DO THIS AND END THIS F@#KING GOSH-DAMN WAR ONCE AND FOR ALL!!!!!"

All of us were shocked. Never had we ever heard Don use language like that. A few salty words here and there, but never 3 in one sentence!

"YEAH!!!" We all cheered, and then we all scurried to our stations.

At exactly 1am, we pulled out for Donneth. Our ETA was about 50 minutes, which left us with another 10 to prepare. Joe and Frank were driving the engine, and those of us who were going to fight were clustered in various places. I was in the SCC, along with Aurora, who would also be coming along, and a few others, including Shining.

"I'm so glad that I can some with you Master!" Aurora was saying, "I want to be there when you save Mommy!"

I leaned down, and scratched her behind the ears gently. "Yeah, so am I Aurora. It wouldn't be the same without you."

As we continued to rumble along, I went over the plan in my head. My group and I were tasked with taking Carlon, while Shining and his people were heading to Danton. The train would back both of us up, as would our drones, and the gunship. Then, once those cities were secured, with more reinforcements, plus Don, we would all begin to storm Donneth, with our destination being the Imperial Palace. We were all armed to the teeth with all of the guns and weapons that we could carry, and we waited for the train to reach its destination.

"Just hang in there a little bit longer Dash", I thought. "I'm almost there. I WILL save you this time, and SEVERELY PUNISH those who took you!"

All too soon, the train reached its destination; the same track in the woods maybe a quarter mile away from Donneth and the other two cities where we'd hidden the train on the nights where we pretended to be ghosts and harbingers. We all got out, and began to get into our groups. Then, we began to sneak close to our targets. Unlike the previous battles, there would be no huge barrage before the troops went in. Instead, there would be the troops getting into place, before the railguns blasted holes in the walls for us to enter through. Then, we Undead Harbingers would wreak death and destruction. The guns would fire periodically after that to neutralize the heaviest targets, but overall, it would be up to us ground forces.

We had all of our cameras on, and once we were confirmed to be broadcasting, we all got ready. My group was in a ditch maybe 20 yards away from Carlon. We were waiting for Don's signal. Once we had it, we would quickly pick off any visible enemy troops with our sniper rifles, before giving Don the signal to blast the walls.

"Ok guys, all groups report in."

"This is General Shining, we're all ready to go Major!"

"This is Captain Leopard, and we're all good here. Just give us the word, and we'll put a few bullets into some heads!"

"And you've got it you guys. Make the snow run RED with their blood! We need blood in the snow!"

I smirked. "And so you shall have it Don!" I then picked up my own rifle, the others, including Aurora, readied theirs and then, once we'd all found a target, we all started putting bullets into Caribou.

Most likely, the enemy never even saw what hit them. By our counts, nearly 40 Caribou bit the dust on the walls surrounding Carlon, while Shining reported 35 Caribou down from Danton. We kept blasting over and over, knocking down more and more Caribou.

"Oh shoot! Master?"

"Yeah Aurora?"

"I'm empty! Can you help me reload please?"

I nodded. "Sure thing Aurora!" I then opened up her armor, found the clip for her sniper rifle, popped out the empty one, and put in a fresh one before closing her armor back up again.

"Thank's Master!"

"Anytime Aurora!"

Eventually though, by about 2:20, the time that we'd all been waiting for had arrived. It was time to attempt to storm the cities.

"Don, do you read me?"

"Yep, loud and clear Leopard! What's going on?"

"Well, we've done what we've had to do, and neutralized as many enemies as we could. Now then, if you would please be so kind as to blast us some holes, then we can be the Harbingers of Death!"

"Roger that Leopard! Just keep your heads down, firing now!"

We all got our heads down, and sure enough, moments later, a series of shells came screaming over our heads, before slamming into the city walls close to us, and to Shining's group. A massive series of holes were torn into the walls, giving us not only access points, but also killing more Caribou as well.

Then, with an ungodly shriek that only an Undead Harbinger, (or a Bat-Pony!) could make, I took flight, and led the way towards not only Carlon, but also Dash, and ultimately, King Danin, or so we all believed!

Author's Note

And, that was part 1! So now, blood has been spilled into the snow during the opening minutes of the battle, and now, the city walls have been breached, and the signal to charge has been given. How will the rest of this battle go? Will we be able to save Dash and the other hostages? How much better of a military leader will Dactyl be than Danin was? And what about Stuggs and Rodin, what will happen to them? And what about Danin in Bryerton? Will we attack there as well, or will we just flatten the area with a nuclear strike? Well, you know the drill, stay tuned, and I'll tell you!

As always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you in Chapter 24, Part 2! It's going to be one heck of a chapter, so DON'T YOU DARE MISS IT!

ScarFox out for now!

Chapter 24: Blood in the snow (Part 2)

I will not lie. The opening moments of the battle were some of the most intense in recent memory. Our drives towards Carlon were absolutely relentless. With our heavy machine guns that we carried with us firing, we made it to the holes in the wall. I then landed on the rubble, and looked back over my shoulder.

I then shouted over the din of gunfire. "REMEMBER PEOPLE, WE'RE ONLY AFTER THE CARIBOU MALES, AS WELL AS ANY OTHER WARRIORS!!! SLAVES, POW'S, AND FEMALES ARE NOT TO BE HARMED!!!!"

"SIR, YES SIR!!!!"

We all began to pour into the city. What we failed to anticipate though, was the amount of resistance that we were going to be facing. While we already knew that the Caribous were running scared, we didn't know that they were "WW2 Japanese Kamikaze suicidal fanatic" scared. They threw everything that they had at us, even themselves!

"SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!!!!!" We had to work OVERTIME to keep them back!

We managed to hold them, all while providing cover for the guys with the flamethrowers, who quickly got to work on any nearby buildings. After clearing them, the buildings would be set on fire. Also, all slaves and POW's that we came across were herded into areas away from the battle. To our surprise, we weren't finding as many of them as we originally believed that we would.

"Huh, maybe the majority are up in Donneth."

Even if they were, that still left us hundreds of thousands of Caribou soldiers, as well as Griffon and Minotaur mercenaries to deal with.

I shook my head. "Just another glorious day in Battalion 4009, Equestria’s Foreign Legion!" I muttered.

On the other end of things, When the first shots of the battle were fired, a report was immediately sent to Prince Dactyl.

"MY PRINCE, CARLON AND DANTON ARE UNDER ATTACK!!!!"

"WHAT?!?!?!" Dactyl was shocked. "By who?!?!?!"

"THE UNDEAD HARBINGERS!!!! THEY'VE COME BACK, AND THEY'VE BROUGHT THEIR GHOST TRAIN WITH THEM!!!!"

Dactyl was in shock, but because of his military background of once having been a general, and a strategist, he was able to think on his hooves.

"Ok people, here's the deal. Who's in charge of those cities?"

"Um, well, whoever their governors are, I would presume."

"Not anymore! Get me General Stuggs, and General Rodin IMMEDIATELY!!!! Tell them to forget what Danin told them before, and I need Stuggs sent to Carlon, while Rodin heads to Danton! They're the best in the business! Time is of the essence, so GO NOW!!!!"

"SIR, YES SIR!!!" The soldier then left to inform the two generals.

Meanwhile, next to the throne, Dash and Pinkie had been sound asleep. Suddenly though, they awoke to loud shouting, as well as what sounded like a battle in the distance.

"Huh? Is that.....a battle?"

Dash looked around. "I don't know Pinkie."

Once they heard the conversation between Dactyl and the soldier though, they knew the truth.

"So, these 'Undead Harbingers' that we're always hearing about beat the Battleship Express to us, did they? Let's just hope that Stud and the others get here soon, as I DO NOT want to meet these Harbingers!"

Pinkie nodded. "Yeah, they sound super-scary! And they sound super-evil, and super-mean!"

What both of them failed to realize though, was that we WERE the Undead Harbingers, but being hostage-slaves had really taken a toll on their minds.

Dactyl then turned back to his throne. As he sat down, he heard what the two were talking about. "If you 2 are scared of the Harbingers, don't be. They won't be getting ANYWHERE near here!"

"Um....why?"

"Because I WILL NOT be letting them! I've sent my best forces to deal with them, so this battle should be under control before long. We already outnumber the Harbingers, so we should be getting the upper hand here before long."

Dash and Pinkie looked at each other. Dactyl was sure of a different metal than Danin. He was definitely a career soldier, and knew how to handle a crisis. Nevertheless though, Dash felt a familiar presence close by. She couldn't help but feel that I was a lot closer than she originally thought.

"Come on Stud, we need you! Don't let the Caribou, or the Harbingers touch us! HURRY!!!!"

While the two generals were on their way to their respective cities with reinforcements, the battles for the cities were still in full swing. Under more orders, all slaves and POW's were being evacuated through the tunnels to Donneth for safe keeping. According to Caribou Logic, this was done so that they could face us in a no-holds-barred battle without the risk of collateral damage to valuable slaves. Unfortunately though, what this also did was provide us with opportunities to also take off the gloves without the risk of killing any bystanders. Carlon was indeed a no-holds-barred battle, and it was a blood-fest.

We were all taking cover behind whatever debris that we could find, and the Caribou were coming at us so thick that it was impossible NOT to hit them! They were also seemingly surrounding us.

"Sir, we're being surrounded!"

I looked around. "Yes, I can see that Dan. The enemy is in front of us, trying to get behind us, beside us, and sometimes even above and below us! They can't get away this time! We can shoot them from all directions and still hit them!"

Private Dan looked at me to see if I was joking. He saw that I was perfectly serious, and even though I was trying to be a bit humorous, what I said was indeed correct. Unfortunately though, we had another problem.

From close by, another squad reported in. "Sir, we've just spotted the airships! They're coming right for us, and they've started dropping bombs on us!"

"Shit!" I knew that that was going to be a serious problem. I immediately grabbed my radio. "Don, Don are you there?!"

"Yeah, I'm here Leopard, what's going on?"

"We've got enemy airships dropping bombs on us! We need their base flattened, and then the drones armed with incendiary bullets to take down those airships!"

"Egad! That's really bad Leopard. Yeah, we'll get right on that! standby!" He then flipped frequencies. "Drone pilots, arm those drones with incendiary bullets, and get them in the air now! We need to take down the enemy's airships before they flatten our troops!"

"Sir, yes Sir!" They then quickly got to work on that.

"ETA 2 minutes Leopard, and it's 2:30am. How are they even using those airships?"

"They have searchlights all over them. It's all too easy for them to try and find us, and they're high enough so that our bullets can't hit them, and even the shots that do hit aren't enough to take them down!"

"Yikes! Yeah, well, just keep dodging for another 2 minutes, the drones are on their way! Also, if you give us the coordinates for the airship base, we could take care of that as well!"

I gave him the coordinates, which were relayed to me by another squad. "And a little gunship support wouldn't hurt anyone! We're starting to take losses, and they're coming at us just as fast as we can hit them!"

"Ok, we'll fire on the airbase now! And yes, we've received the same report from General Shining. We're launching the gunship as well. ETA 3 minutes!"

"Roger that! We'll hold them here until then!" A series of bullets then slammed into the rubble just to the left of my head. Aurora quickly took care of the shooter with her sniper rifle. "Assuming of course that we're even still here in 3 minutes!" I muttered. I then got an idea. I knew that it was a stupid one, and one that would possibly get me killed, but we couldn’t wait another 2 minutes for those drones.

From up in the sky, the Caribou airships were really trying to make a difference in the battle. Caribou sharpshooters were picking off our soldiers, and other crew members were dropping bombs on us as well.

"Yeah, that's the spirit boys! We're showing those Harbingers a thing or two!"

They all kept cheering. Suddenly though, on the airship that was really causing pain for the troops where I was stationed, a sudden *Thud* was heard on the deck.

"Whoa....what the....?!?!?! WHERE DID YOU COME FROM!?!?!?!"

A tall figure stood up on the deck. He was dressed in a dark robe, but there was something all too familiar about him. When he looked up at them, they all saw that his face was covered by a white fox mask.

"FOX-FACE!!!!" Someone screamed. "BUT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!!!!"

"HE IS DEAD, NOW HE'S ONE OF THE UNDEAD HARBINGERS!!!"

As the steam from my breath in the cold air came out of the nose of my mask's muzzle, I smirked. "Damn right about that! And now, I'm here to f@#k you up!"

I then let them have it. From under my robes, I pulled my trusty fire-ax, and went to work. Oddly enough, my primary targets actually weren't the Caribou themselves; instead, I was mostly aiming for the airship's engines, as well as the cables that held the ship to the balloons above. The Caribou themselves were just a bonus!

I used a wrist launcher to send shrapnel into the engines on the starboard side, which snapped off the propeller blades, and seized up the engines.

"KRIFF!!!! ABANDON SHIP, ABANDON SHIP!!!!"

"Not so fast!" I then took my ax to their parachutes on nearby racks, before setting them on fire with a lighter. I also knocked out two cables, which caused the airship to lurch to the left.

I then saw a drone incoming. "Heh, well, this was fun guys, but I gotta go. Goodbye!" I then jumped overboard, and flew away.

As I flew to safety, I watched the drones go to work. The airships never stood a chance, as although they were equipped to handle attacks from Pegasai, Griffons, and even had a chance at MAYBE repelling a Dragon, they were not equipped to handle a modern(ish) Reaper Drone.

It was all too easy. Since the drones were painted midnight black, and it was still nighttime, they blended in perfectly against the dark sky. They would dive in from above, and strafe the tops of the airships with incendiary bullets. Once the gas bags were exposed to the open air, the bullets would explode, which would completely take down the airship.

"AAAHHHH!!!!" The caribou crews screamed as they fell to their deaths. In their over-zealousness to come and get us, most of them had forgotten to bring their parachutes! A few did survive, but in short order, the airships were all neutralized, or so we thought.

"Targets neutralized Major Don."

Don nodded. "Good! Now then, are the guns ready Jim?"

"Affirmative. The airship base has been targeted. Permission to fire?"

"Granted!"

"FIRE!!!"

With a mighty roar, the 16in guns fired at the airship base. In short order, the base was leveled.

"Leopard, can you hear me?"

"Yeah, I'm here. Are the airships down yet? And was that big explosion the airship base?"

"Yes, to both questions. The skies are all clear, and Lt. Hughes should be right on top of your position in moments. The gunship will be flying back and forth between the two cities providing fire support."

I nodded. "Roger that Don. We're still moving forwards, although we've had to stop and take cover."

“Just hold on. Lt. Hughes will be there momentarily."

"Roger that."

Back in Donneth, several grave reports came to Dactyl's attention.

"Sir, our airships have been shot down!"

"WHAT?!?!?! HOW?!?!?!"

"The enemy was using their Flying Night-Stalkers! They also had some kind of explosive bullets. They just shot at the airships from above, and they went down in flames! Most of the crews are dead!"

Dactyl was worried. "Get me the commander of the airship base!"

"Yes Sir!" The soldier patched him through.

"Commander Fryl?"

"Yes, My Prince?"

"I need a second wave of airships in the air now! We HAVE to neutralize those Flying Night-Stalkers!"

"Sir, yes Sir. We'll get right on...." The transmission was suddenly cut off. Moments later, a massive explosion shook the palace.

"Good gods, WHAT WAS THAT?!?!?!"

The soldier looked out the window closest to him. "OH GODS, THAT WAS OUR AIRSHIP BASE!!!!! THEY'VE JUST WIPED IT OUT!!!!"

"WHAT?!?!?!"

"3 Airships did make it into the air before the base was destroyed, but they are now the last ones." The soldier then stopped. "Um, Sir, I'm also getting reports that the Hell-flyer has just been spotted!" (He meant our gunship.)

Dactyl turned extremely pale. Danin had given him several reports that were given to him by Zakia while the battle of Zebrica was underway, detailing just how destructive our gunship was.

"This....is extremely bad. However, I know that we HAVE to stop the Hell-Flyer now!"

"Yes, but how?!"

Dactyl sighed. He knew that there was a way, but yet, he didn't want to have to give the order. Unlike his brother, he took military losses VERY seriously.

"Get me.....the commanders of those 3 airships. I need to speak to them."

"Yes Sir."

The three commanders were then on the radio. "What is your bidding, My Prince?"

Dactyl sighed. "The Hell-flyer is currently on the loose, and it MUST be stopped. Unfortunately though, I can see only one way that it CAN be stopped, and it involves all 3 of you."

"How so Sir?"

"2 of you will have to distract the Hell-flyer, while a 3rd......does a suicide mission on it. I know that I'm asking the world of you guys right now, and that some of you most likely will die. And I'm not even asking you to consider this. This was just the only way that I could think of to stop the Hell-Flyer."

The 3 leaders talked among themselves. Finally, one of them, Lt. Spear, turned back to Dactyl. "I'll do it sir! I'll take the Hell-Flyer down! See you all in Valhalla!" He then terminated the call.

"No, wait you idiot!!! This has to be a TEAM effort! You have no cover!!! COME BACK!!!!"

Spear however was not listening. He wanted his moment of glory, and was too brainwashed by Danin's propaganda to listen. While not even telling the rest of his crew to grab their parachutes and jump, Spear kept his airship on course with our gunship. The commanders of the other two airships were right behind him, after the majority of their crews bailed out of course!

Dactyl watched the skies. He saw Spear's airship head straight towards the gunship before suddenly getting blown into a ball of fire. It didn't take a genius to tell him that Spear, and most likely his entire crew, were dead. He also saw one of the other airships get knocked down in flames, before the 3rd and final ship threw up a smokescreen, and fled.

"Prince Dactyl! This is Lt. Bolt of Airship 2. Do you copy?!"

"I'm here Lieutenant. What happened?"

"Spear didn't even tell his crew to abandon ship! They never even stood a chance! Before he could even get into range to fire his guns, they got obliterated. Lt. Veers and I tried to retreat, but.....he, and his skeleton crew.....got blown up as well. Some of them hit the chutes, but literally only a few. We're the last ones now standing Sir. What do we do?"

"GRAB THOSE WHO BAILED OUT, AND THEN GET OUT OF THERE!!!!!!" Dactyl screamed. "You are the last airship in this area! All others were either shot down, or destroyed with the airship base! You must evacuate! How much fuel do you have left?"

"Um, maybe 3/4 of a tank Sir, why?"

"You need to head south. Once you have the others, take your airship, and head to Bryerton! I CANNOT afford to lose you!"

Lt. Bolt nodded gravely. "Yes, My Prince, we will fall back."

He then ordered his crew to make more smoke, before dropping down to pick up any survivors who bailed out. In total, all of the crew of Lt. Bolt's airship, as well as all those who bailed out of Lt. Veer's airship before it got blown up, as well as 7 from afterwards, including Veers himself, were saved. Once they were all onboard Lt. Bolt's airship, Bolt ordered his airship turned to the South, and then they all flew off towards Bryerton.

Back in the Imperial Palace, Dactyl was starting to snap. He had had to deal with suicidal fanatics before, but what Lt. Spear had done, and without even warning his crew, was completely inexcusable. The losses were really starting to wear him down.

He then contacted General Stuggs, and General Rodin. "Stuggs, Rodin, come in please."

Stuggs picked up first. "I'm here Sir."

"As am I."

"Please, tell me that the ground battle is going better than the one in the air."

Stuggs nodded. "For the moment, yes. We've managed to hold the enemy back, at least for the time being. We've also lost our airship base, as well as all of our airships!"

"As have I and my forces, but the Harbingers certainly are persistent! They've already managed to knock out some of our ammunition factories! They may not be the fiercest enemies, (at least, not yet!) but they sure are Harbingers!"

Dactyl nodded. "Just....keep doing whatever you're doing. They CANNOT be allowed to reach Donneth! I'm still not entirely convinced that they really are back from the dead, but even if they aren't, that still doesn't make them any less dangerous!"

"Yes Sir!"

"Yes, My Prince."

They then got back to work, while Dactyl went back to the digital maps, to continue planning strategies.

Over next to the throne, Dash and Pinkie continued to listen as the battle played out.

"Wow", Dash muttered, "This may be getting pretty bad for them. If the Harbingers have already destroyed their airship fleet, as well as the airship base, things could really start turning ugly!"

Pinkie nodded. "Yeah, so let's just hope that the Harbingers wanna show us mercy!"

Dash nodded as well, and they continued to listen as the battle progresses further.

Up in the skies, Lt. Hughes and the rest of the gunship crew were really getting kind of rattled. "Ugh, Damn! What was that, a suicide mission?!"

"It appears to have been one Sir, but if so, it was not the best coordinated one! Obviously, somebody either missed a memo, or got a bit overzealous, and went for it without backup."

"Well, nevertheless, all of the airships are gone, and the rest of the guys on the ground need air support, so let's get to it!" Hughes then got on his radio. "Captain Leopard, are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here Lt. Hughes. Where are you guys?"

"We're right on top of your location. Just give us the word, and we'll fire!"

"Roger that!" I then turned to the guys around me. "HEADS DOWN, INCOMING FIRE!!!" They all got their heads down. "Fire at will Lt. Hughes!"

"Roger that!"

Once again, there is nothing like a pair of Avenging Cannons reaping death at 4,500 rounds of depleted Uranium a minute. The Caribou were mowed down faster than they could come at us. It was also around this time that Don informed us, (thanks it intercepted radio communications) that Stuggs was in charge of defending Carlon, while Rodin was defending Danton.

"So, I have Stuggs, and Shining has Rodin? Eh, all the better, two birds with one stone! Soon Danin will lose BOTH of his best generals! What then?"

Hughes shrugged. "Eh, I don't know, but if I had to guess, I'd say that they'd REALLY be hurting!"

"Not as badly as they've been reeling from your gunship attacks! We really needed that, so thanks Hughes!"

"You're welcome Captain Leopard! We've got to keep flying, but we'll be back if you need us!"

"Roger that!" Hughes then flew off to go assist Shining with another airstrike.

I then turned back to my troops. "Ok guys, this is it. Lt. Hughes has bought us a lot more breathing room, but it's up to us again. Our target is getting to General Stugg's fortress on the far side of this city. If we can knock that out, then we will be able to hopefully take him hostage!"

They all cheered, but then someone asked. "So, what's the plan Captain Leopard?"

"My plan is for us to keep them busy, while other groups advance. Then, we switch."

"So, basically we take turns advancing, and providing covering fire?"

"Yes! Also, please at least TRY to avoid too much collateral damage, as this city will most likely be used as a camp for the refugees, slaves, and POW's once we can secure it."

They all nodded. "Ok, so who goes first?"

I was about to answer, but then another wave of Caribou came down the street. "Hold that thought! LIGHT EM' UP!!!"

"Right!"

We were all about to fire, but Aurora beat us to the punch. Using her minigun, she flattened most of the wave. We quickly picked off the rest.

I hugged her. "You're the best Aurora!"

She licked me in the face. "You're welcome Master! It's my job to keep you safe, so that's what I'm going to do!"

"And you do such a great job of it too!" I then turned to the rest of the guys. "Ok, NOW we can advance!"

They nodded, and while the rest of us provided covering fire, First Platoon advanced to a cluster of buildings about 12 yards or so ahead of us. In waves, the rest of us followed them, completely unaware of what we were close to.

Eventually, by almost 4:33am, large portions of the cities were in American and Equestrian hands. Meanwhile, my group was proceeding to the central military training academy. This base was home to 30,000 troops, as well as, (unknown to us) a large amount of War-Beasts.

Inside the base, the Caribou Commander, Marks, received a report from a guard. "Sir, the enemy is right at the gates of the academy! What do we do?!"

Commander Marks looked up at him. "Release the War-Beasts! Let THEM have their way with the intruders!"

The soldier saluted. "Sir, yes Sir!" He then went to fulfill his commander's request.

True to his word, several soldiers went over to the pens and barns where the War-Beasts were being held, and turned them loose.

"YEAH, GET OUT OF HERE, GO ON!!!!!" They shouted. "GO AND KILL THOSE HUMAN-HARBINGERS!!!!"

With furious battle cries, the War-Beasts did as their masters ordered them. They began to charge towards our positions. A few other Caribou, including Commander Marks himself, mounted up on other War-Beasts, and also came to attack us.

I suddenly stopped. We had managed to blow apart the gates of the academy after killing the guards, so we'd gotten inside, but I gave the signal to stop.

"What's wrong Sir?"

"I just heard something. It sounded like a large herd of something, and it sounds like it's coming our way!"

My comrades heard it too. We didn't need to be told that that meant trouble. As quick as a flash, we all took cover, and assumed firing positions. All of a sudden though, from somewhere across the academy grounds, illuminated by fires, the moonlight, and the academy's lights, we all saw a large herd of beasts charging towards us! They looked like no beasts that we had ever seen before.

"If I had to guess, I'd say that they came from a buffalo, a bear, and a bull!" I said when speaking later of the first time that I ever laid eyes on a Caribou War-Beast.

"HOLY......!!!! WHAT THE F@#K ARE THOSE THINGS!?!?!?!"

I was getting scared. "I don't know, but open fire on them!"

"YES SIR!!!"

We all did so, but to our extreme horror, our bullets either seemed to bounce off of them, or be absorbed!"

"WHAT THE.....!!!!!! THEY'RE ABSORBING OUR BULLETS!!!!!!" The beasts kept coming.

At that exact moment, I felt Sombra take control of me again. "Listen very carefully to what I'm about to tell you Sweetheart, as it will save not only your life, but those of your men as well. These are Caribou War-Beasts. They are the primary mode of transport for Caribou Warriors, and they're tough; EXTREMELY tough!"

"Yeah, tell me something that I don't know Sherlock!"

"However, they can be killed, or taken control of. I'll show you how to do both....." Sombra then gave me whispered advice.

I then stood up from where I was kneeling behind a pile of rocks, and began to walk out towards the charging War-Beasts.

"SIR, WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!?!"

I half turned. "Saving us all. Trust me, Private Dan, I know what I'm doing. First of all, the only thing that we have that can kill these beasts are depleted uranium bullets. Do we have any of those?"

"QUICK, DO WE HAVE ANY DEPLETED URANIUM BULLETS?!?!?!" Dan yelled to the rest of the soldiers.

"YES!!!! THEY'RE HERE IN MY PORTABLE MACHINE GUN!!!!"

"SHOOT THE BEASTS OUT FRONT, I'M GOING TO TAKE CARE OF THE REST!!!!"

"Wait....WHAT?!?!?!?!"

My troops then watched dumbfounded as I ran across the snowy ground towards the War-Beasts with my fire-ax in my hands. I dodged the first number of them, as my target was the beast being ridden by the Caribou Commander.

"His beast is the Alpha Male of this herd. All of the others obey him. Kill the commander, and then I'll help you take control of the beast."

"As you wish, Sombra."

My men were still in shock. "WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING?!?!?!?!"

"I don't know, but the rest of those beasts are too close! MACHINE GUNNER, FIRE AT WILL!!!"

The machine gunner did as he was told. As quickly as he could, he pumped depleted Uranium into the oncoming War Beasts. Sure enough, this time the bullets were penetrating, and killing the beasts.

"Yeah, that's the way to do it!!!!" He continued to knock them down while the rest of the soldiers sort of fanned out, and provided distractions.

Meanwhile, I was approaching my target.

"COMMANDER, WATCH OUT, HE'S COMING RIGHT FOR YOU!!!"

Commander Marks looked, but alas, he was too late. Quick as a cat, I pulled out a small hatchet, and hurled it at him. The hatchet embedded itself into the commander's face, and before the 3 other Caribou warriors who were with him could really even scream, I was in the air on my wings, and flying around them. Just as the commander's body hit the ground, the bodies of the 3 others, all with their throats slashed, hit the ground as well. My gauntlet-covered hands were now stained with blood, but I did not care. I went over to the dead commander, and after grabbing the hatchet's handle, I yanked it out of his face.

"So do the officers fall like all of the rest," I muttered, "In a flurry of sweat, steel, and blood!"

I then turned my attention to the commander's War-Beast. Sure enough, just like Sombra had said, not only was this beast bigger than the others, but he was also obviously their leader. A few others made the move to charge me, but he stopped them with a glare.

"Leave this scum to me!" He seemingly roared at them, "He is MINE!!!"

I narrowed my eyes. "I don't think so!" I then felt something surge through me. It was a power that I had never felt before. It seemed to start from my head, and flow down through the rest of me. It was Sombra's horn. The magic within had embedded itself into its new host.

I then stared at the War Beast, my eyes blazing, and with dark magic seemingly oozing from them, and with a voice not my own, I growled, "Bow to me! Submit!!!!"

The War-Beast came to a stop. He suddenly seemed to be terrified of me. I began walking towards him, my hand outstretched, and power seemingly oozing from it as well. (I was also still wearing my Kitsune mask, which made my blazing eyes, and dark magic oozing from them, that much more terrifying.)

Eventually, I reached the beast. He growled at me, and tried to bite me. I didn't even flinch. Instead, I placed my hand, which was still surging with power, onto the War-Beast's forehead. "I said, SUBMIT TO ME!!!!" I roared.

That did it. This War-Beast, seemingly the king of them all, rolled over in submission. The other War Beasts, seeing their champion defeated, also submitted.

I then looked at the War-Beast. The name "Argus" was engraved onto his saddle. "Argus" I said gently, putting a hand on his neck, "That's a nice name. Now then, are you going to be good for your new master?"

I heard him growl softly, but it was not a growl of anger. Instead, it seemed to be a growl of submission.

"Yes, I know that you are." Then, once I was in control of myself again, I took hold of his saddle, and climbed up onto his back. Then, after giving him the commands to move forwards, he did so.

"You all, follow along!" I said to the other War-Beasts. They obeyed.

A few moments later, I arrived back with the rest of the guys. When I saw their faces, I saw shock, horror, fear, terror, and just outright being dumbfounded.

"What? I told you guys 'I got this!'. I take it that you didn't believe me?"

All while I had been hard at work, once the War-Beasts had stopped charging, and instead turned to look at what was going on behind them, the machine gunner ceased fire.

"What......what are they doing? What's going on over there?"

The others turned to look, just in time to see me pick up my hatchet from the dead Caribou Commander. They then saw me stare down the lead War-Beast.

"He.....is a DEAD MAN!!!!"

"CAPTAIN!!!!" Dan yelled. "DON'T DO THIS, YOU MEAN TOO MUCH TO US!!!!"

I heard them, but I chose not to reply. They all continued to stare at me.

Looking through binoculars, Dan was able to see the situation more clearly. What he saw scared him. He saw the raw power surging through me, and what I was doing with it.

"Good God!" He muttered, hands trembling, "He really IS King Sombra reborn!" When the War-Beast seemingly submitted to me, it was too much. Dan sank back, and almost passed out.

When I arrived back to their location a few moments later, they were all shocked, scared, terrified, and just plain dumbfounded. They had seen everything that I had just done, and, thanks to the camera mounted to my helmet, so had Don, and the Princesses, even though I wouldn't know about this until much later.

I looked over them all again. "Well, are you guys coming, or what? We don't have all night here! We have to keep moving!"

"What, do you expect us to RIDE those monsters?!"

I looked over at the soldier in question. "These beasts are not monsters; they are Caribou War-Beasts. They're most commonly used by the army as cavalry animals. And don't be afraid of them. I've tamed the leader, Argus here," I reached forwards, and rubbed Argus's neck a little, "So the others have to obey him. They're all ready for you to ride them, assuming of course that we can find some tack for you all. I think that there may be some in those barns over there." I pointed to them.

With great hesitation, some of the soldiers went over to the barns, and sure enough, found saddles, saddle pads, and bridles. Then, following the directions on a board on the wall, (which was used by new recruits who were learning how to ride War-Beasts), saddled them up.

They then climbed up, and got ready. Sadly, there wan't room for Aurora, so she had to remain on the ground.

"That's ok guys, I'm used to running anyway!" She tried to sound happy, but in reality, Aurora was terrified. She had seen what I had done as well, and even though I had sometimes done terrible things to other Caribou, Zebras, and Futas, this was different. "It's like he was possessed by something!" She thought to herself. She continue to follow along, although she did try to keep her distance from me, at least for the time being.

Eventually, by close to 5am, we had Carlon in the bag. Almost all of the Caribou inside were either dead, or had fled through the tunnels to Donneth itself. Thanks to Argus and the other War-Beasts, we continued to clear the city in record time. We also accidentally discovered that War-Beasts could shoot fire out of their mouths!

"HOLY....!!!!!" Dan screamed when he accidentally pulled the reigns back to hard on his War-Beast when a group of Caribou tried to ambush us. The War-Beast shot a stream of fire out of its mouth, almost like the stream of a flamethrower, and the Caribou were instantly incinerated. "THESE BEASTS CAN SHOOT FIRE OUT OF THEIR MOUTHS?!?!?!?!"

I was genuinely surprised as well. "Apparently they have a little Dragon in them too! Well, I guess that we can give the guys with flamethrowers a break, at least for the time being!"

Although a few others did laugh at my jokes, most of the others were really starting to wonder how and why I was suddenly so comfortable with what I was doing. Most of them didn't know it yet, but by the time that the sun was up for that day, they would have witnessed from me a display of violence so far beyond anything that they had ever believed was even Humanly possible.

Soon, the last of the city's defenders either fell back to Donneth, or were killed. I tried to get my mitts on Stuggs, but alas, he had already fled into the tunnels, and made it to Donneth. After conducting a final sweep of the city, looking for any more hidden surprises, as 5:45am, I radioed Don.

"Don, this is Leopard, do you copy?"

"Yeah, I'm here Leopard, what's going on over there? Are you guys done yet?"

I nodded. "Affirmative. We're finishing up our final sweep for any more surprises, but it appears that most of the defenders have fallen back to Donneth, or have been killed. We've located a few more slaves and POW's, which we're sending your way. How's Shining coming with Danton?"

"He radioed in just moments before you did. The city's all clear. Now all that's left is Donneth itself."

"And Dash!" I added.

"Yes, and Dash, but Leopard, there's something that I need to talk to you about, and no, it cannot wait."

I could sense the nervousness in Don's voice, so what he had to say had to have been important. "What's wrong Don?"

"What you did back there with those War Beasts......" Don paused. "I don't......even know what to say. Celestia was right about this. She's seen that kind of raw power only once before Leopard, and it didn't scare her enough then. I didn't understand it, until I saw what you did. It scares me too. Those powers are not natural Leopard, you need to ditch them right now!"

I sighed. "I know Don, I KNOW!!!! I can't stop it! It just feels so....right, even though I know that it's not! I'm sick Don, very very sick! I need help!"

Don groaned. "Yes, I know that you need help, and if I didn't need you in the field so badly right now, I would have you withdrawn, and taken in for psychiatric evaluation! Unfortunately though, we need all hands on deck for this one, and I cannot afford to take you off the field. HOWEVER, I will now be taking control of this battle, as will General Shining! You will be under me, is that clear?"

I nodded. "Yeah, clear as glass Don! This is your show now." I then sighed. "So, how much longer until our campaign into Donneth itself?"

"We need a few more minutes to rally our forces again, as well as bring in the reserves, but we CANNOT wait too long, as the enemy's defense will only get stronger! We’ll start by 6am, NO LATER!!!!"

I nodded. "Sure, just give the signal, and we'll be right there! Leopard out!"

In those final few minutes before the battle for Donneth would begin, I stood at a balcony railing of what used to be Stugg's fortress. Down below me, I could see all of Carlon, most of Danton, and of course, Donneth itself.

"Soon", I muttered, "Very, VERY soon! This war is drawing to a close, and most of it will end TODAY!!!" I then looked out at the pinkish-gray of the dawn. I also saw all of the blood-stained snow as well.

"No matter how this ends, it ends at Donneth, or at the very latest, Bryerton! Then, NO MORE!!!"

I then sighed, and began to prepare myself, as most likely, in just a few short hours, I would be seeing Dash again face to face, and saving her from that awful prison, before carrying her in my arms to safety.

"Just hang on a little bit longer Dash. I'm literally looking at the Imperial Palace right now, so I'm almost there! I can practically SEE you from here! Just hang on a little bit longer!"

I then left the balcony, to go prepare for the bloodbath ahead.

Author's Note

Ok People, this is getting down to the end of the wire. So now, the Battles of Carlon and Danton are over, and all that's left, are Donneth, and Bryerton, plus whatever few towns and villages are between them. The war, is ALMOST OVER!!!!! Yeah, I know, it's been a long journey, but hey, it's not over yet! We still have to put the Caribou dead to rights, and there's still the hostages to save!

Also, YES, I brought on the War Beasts, cuz, after all, what's a story with "Fall of Equestria", without War Beasts? (Also, if they do not shoot fire out of their mouths, please do not hurt me! I looked at the cover of "Sun's Setting", by Twipet, and they sure seemed to be. I didn't have the stomach to read the story, and it is incomplete, so I don't know if they do or not. Well, they do in MY story at least!) And yes, they WILL be playing a part in the Battle of Donneth, and you will also have the return of the famous bulldozers, loaders, and tractors from the Battle of Zebrica! Won't that be cool?

Hang on to your seats, cuz this story aint over yet! The next chapter(s) will be so jammed full of action, it'll BLOW your minds! Will we be able to rescue the hostages in time? Will I ever be able to get a handle on Sombra? How much longer will the war last? What will happen when we realize that Dactyl is in Donneth, instead of Danin? Well, you know the drill, stay tuned, and I'll tell you!

As always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 25!

ScarFox out for now!

Chapter 26: Hour of Reckoning

Of course, while everyone, and everypony else was all wrapped up in being shocked about this new development, I was still racing to the rescue with my soldiers, Shining, and his soldiers were still right behind me, even though they were still a ways back.

"We have to make it there Argus", I muttered as I continued to ride, "We just HAVE TO!!!"

"And we WILL!!!" He seemed to say. We continued on our way to the Imperial Palace.

When I arrived close to it a minute or so later, I stopped Argus, and took a good hard minute to examine it. Unlike the Imperial Palace in Zebrica, which resembled a palace from Ancient Babylon or Persia, this one looked more like a fortress from Medieval Europe. It was big, it was fortified, and it had visible Gothic-style architecture as well. It looked like a combination of a castle, a Medieval fortress, a Gothic-styled church, an Ancient Roman palace, and the Reichstag Parliament Building in Berlin, Germany!

"Wow", I muttered, "Now THAT'S a palace to be proud of!"

I also saw that the Palace itself was surrounded by high walls, and metal gates, in addition to a number of guard houses as well.

"Huh, so it has some security measures in place. Great. Nothing I can't handle!"

I then decided to work my magic once more. With Sombra's direction, I cooked up a massive fireball with my gauntlet covered hands.

I smirked. "FUS RO DAH!!!" I yelled, before releasing the fireball. Let's just say that I may have SLIGHTLY miscalculated just how big that fireball needed to be! I meant for it to just knock a hole in the front gates. Instead, I took out the front gates, the walls up to 10 feet away from the gates, a number of soldiers stationed on the palace grounds, the front lawn fountain, (I have a tendency to be a real dick to fountains during battles. #FountainLivesMatter!) parts of the columns close to the front doors, and finally, the front doors themselves!

When I saw the destruction that I had just wrought, I was shocked beyond belief! "HOLY.....!!!! THIS IS INSANE!!!"

"Yeah, I know! This is what I was able to do while I was still alive Sweetheart! Enjoy it while you still can!" Sombra then clamped a spirit hand over his mouth, and prayed that I didn't catch on to what he'd just said. Fortunately for him, I either didn't, or I chose to ignore him for the time being. At any rate, I was through the front gates, as well as most of its defenses, and I had a marefriend to save!

For the time being, I dismounted from Argus, although he did follow along behind me. I then picked up my trusty fire-ax, and calmly began to walk inside of the palace grounds.

"HEY, SOMEBODY STOP HIM!!!" A soldier yelled.

I just smirked. "Heh, this is going to be so much FUN!!!"

The Caribou that tried to stop me never even knew what hit them. Thanks to Sombra's Magic, as well as my ability to fly, I was too fast for them. Almost as fast as they could blink, I was flying circles around them, and then, one by one, they all fell down with their throats slashed. Several others were chopped up with my ax, and one even got my hatchet to his face! Just like the Caribou Commander Marks, the blow killed him. Pretty soon, I ran out of enemies to kill on the palace grounds, and although a few did linger behind, the rest fled inside of the Palace.

"Ok, so I'll leave those for Shining when he gets here, but in the meantime," I whistled for Argus. "I have a job to do!" I then proceeded across the rest of the grounds, before climbing up the palace front stairs, and I entered through what was left of the front doors.

I looked inside. The interior was lined with intervals by columns, and the walls were painted a mixture of blue and gray. Great tapestries, paintings, and other works of art adorned the walls, and there were also torches at intervals as well. The floor was made of white and black tile, and was covered in the center by a long red carpet. Between the columns were rows of what appeared to be suits of armor.

I watched all of them warily. "One can never be too sure in a place like this", I muttered. I poked each and every suit, just to make sure that it was empty. For the most part, they were.

"Empty, empty, empty, just contains the metal frame supporting it....." Suddenly though, one of the suits grabbed my wrist! "And....THAT'S what I was afraid of!" Several other suits began to move as well. I counted 5 in total. After blasting the one who grabbed me in the face with my trusty Glock, I left him in a pool of blood.

I then turned to the others. "Alright tin cans, let's dance!"

They tried to fight me, but just like before, I felt Sombra's Magic surge through me once again. I began to learn how to control it better. This time, I used his Magic to first disarm the armored Caribou, before basically tossing them around the corridor like rag dolls. Eventually, when I was bored, I let them fall, and then one by one, I picked them up with my magic, and flung them towards me before swinging my ax at them, usually taking their heads off!

"Here's the wind-up, and the pitch!" *Slash* "It's another home run!"

I could also feel the Magic flowing through my ax as well. I was also carrying Sombra's staff with me, although I hadn't used it yet. I was planning on using it for my fight with Danin.

"Now then, which way is it to the throne room?" Looking over to one of the walls to my left, I noticed a map. I found where I was standing close to the main entrance, and then I saw the throne room up on Level 3. "Ok, so there's 6 levels here in total, and the Throne Room is up on Level 3. I'm on Level 1, so that just leaves 2 levels to go!"

I then began to marched off to find some stairs, with Argus following right behind me. What I didn't know were 2 things; first, my presence there didn't go unnoticed, and indeed, a large group of soldiers were heading my way. And secondly, the harem chamber, where Cole, Winston, Missy, and the others were, was actually there on Level 1 as well. If I had gone to my right, walked to the end of the hallway, turned left, then right, and walked a little bit further, I would have found them.

However, I had already picked up Dash's scent by that point, and I was going to follow it. The harem chamber would be liberated by others.

While all of this was happening, somewhere out in the streets of Donneth, General Stuggs was suddenly coming around again. His ears were ringing, and his vision was blurry, and then he realized that he was lying face down on the ground.

"Huh.....what......?" He mumbled as he struggled to roll over and sit up. When he did, he looked down at himself. He was bloodied, bruised, his uniform was in tatters, and he felt like he'd just gotten run over by a train. All around him lay the corpses of his troops.

Then he remembered what had happened. "The......missile blast......" His forces had been attacking Don's forces, until Don called for a missile strike. Now, as far as Stuggs could see, he was the only survivor of that.

"S-S-Stugs......" A voice muttered. "H-h-help....me...."

Stuggs looked around, but he didn't see anyone. "Um, h-hello? Who's there?"

"O-over.....here. Under the.....beams...."

Stuggs looked, and to his shock and horror, there lay Rodin! He was lying on his back, and was partially buried in fallen debris. He had been blasted out of the second floor of a nearby building, and landed in the street. Falling debris from the same building then fell on him.

"RODIN!!!" He then crawled over to his friend and comrade. "Are....you ok?"

Rodin looked pretty bad. He was burned, bleeding, and his uniform was all in tatters as well. From his waist down, his lower body was hidden by fallen debris.

"N-no....I c-c-can't.....FEEL MY LEGS!!!!"

"J-just, hold still Rodin. You may have damaged your spine." Stuggs then shakily made it back to his hooves, and after reaching Rodin, managed to partially dig him out.

"OUGH, OUCH!!!!" He yelled, "I CAN FEEL THAT!!!"

"Um....ok, then that means that maybe you just broke your back." He finished getting Rodin out, and once he was clear, he pulled him free of the wreckage.

Rodin continued to groan in pain, and Stuggs did what he could for his old friend. They were the only survivors of their entire units.

Stuggs then sighed. "Rodin, I think that you know what we have to do now." He began to get up.

"N-no, what....???"

Stuggs then picked his comrade up gently, and began to walk with him towards the enemy lines!

"NO!!!! STUGSS, WHAT THE F@#K ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!"

"Two things Rodin. Firstly, I'm saving your life. You need medical help, and there really aren't any facilities left in Donneth that can help you. Secondly, I'm saving BOTH of our lives! I'm surrendering us both to the Humans. Danin left us both to die, which clearly shows that he doesn't care about us. Let's defy the odds, and survive."

"This is treason! High treason! You've just defected!"

Stuggs sighed. Rodin had always been much more hard-core than he was. "Rodin, please listen to me very carefully. I know that you're upset with me right now, but trust me. One day, you will look back on this moment, and thank me for saving your life!" Rodin continued to struggle a bit. Stuggs sighed. "Rodin, you have the right to remain silent. If you give that up, anything that you say may be used against you in a military court......." Stuggs then continued to give Rodin his rights before finally reaching Don's lines, and surrendering the both of them to them.

Rodin was picked up on a stretcher, while Stuggs was tied up. "Well", He thought as he was being led away, "Even though we're both screwed Rodin, at least we live to die another day."

Meanwhile, at around this time, Shining and the others reached the palace grounds.

"Oh gosh! If I had to guess, I'd say that Leopard was already here!"

"Yeah, no kidding!" Dan agreed. He and the others looked all around at the twisted wreckage, and the dead bodies. They cautiously entered the palace grounds. They did spot a few Caribou soldiers, but they were quickly able to put them down.

"Any idea where Leopard could have gone?"

Dan shrugged. "Well, to go find Dash would be my guess. However, it's anyone's guess as to where he is right now!"

Shining sighed. "Yeah, I know, so how do we find him?!"

Dan was about to shrug as well, but the, he had an idea. "Hey, wait a minute! Where's his wolf? Where's Aurora?"

"Right here Dan!" She trotted up to him.

Dan looked down at her. "Ok, great. Now then Aurora, I need you to find Leopard! Find your master! Most likely, he's going to run into trouble at some point, and we have to find him!"

Aurora nodded. "Sure thing Dan!" She then put her nose to the ground. "Ok, I've got his scent, follow me!" She then bounded off towards the palace. Just before the others could follow her though, there suddenly came loud shouting from the palace, before a number of bodies suddenly got thrown through the windows up on the second level!

"WHOA, LOOK OUT!!!!" Shining yelled. The groups scattered.

Once the avalanche of bodies stopped, they cautiously crept forwards to see what had just happened. On the palace grounds in front of them, were a number of bodies of Caribou. All of them were soldiers, and they appeared to have been either hit with an ax, or shot.

"Is this.....Leopard's doing?" Dan asked nervously.

"It HAS to be!" Shining said worriedly, "Which is why we have to get to him now!" They all then charged into the palace.

Meanwhile, in the actual harem chamber itself, everyone was still waiting. Suddenly however, the sounds of battle became VERY loud.

"Hey, did you guys hear that?" Cole put his ear close to the door.

"Do you hear something?" Missy asked.

Cole's eyes got very wide. "Yeah, I can hear my comrades! THEY'RE HERE!!!"

That was all it took. As soon as Cole had said that, all of the Black Collar slaves, as well as him, Missy, and Winston, all began to pound on the door, as well as the metal frame next to it.

"HEY!!! WE'RE IN HERE!!!! CAN ANYONE OUT THERE HEAR US?!?!?!?!"

They kept banging and shouting, hoping that someone would hear them.

Back in the main entrance hallway, the rest of the guys were really shocked by my path of destruction.

"Wow, Leopard sure did a number in here!"

"Yeah, no kidding!"

They all then looked at Aurora, who suddenly stopped.

Dan walked over to her. "Huh? What is it Aurora? Why did you stop?"

She pointed to the right with a paw. "Even though Master's scent goes to the left, I'm hearing a lot of shouting and banging coming from the right down there. I think that there's a lot of somebodies down there who need help!"

Dan listened, and sure enough, she was right. "Hey! I think that somebody else knows that we're here, and they're trying to signal us!"

Shining and the others raced over to him. "Are you sure Dan?" Then they heard the banging and shouting too.

"Yeah, you're right! Ok, we split up. Half of us continue to follow Leopard with Aurora, while the rest of us go and see what all the noise is!"

In the end, Shining took a group to go and investigate the banging ans shouting, while the rest went with Dan to continue to follow me.

"What could all of that noise even be?" Someone asked.

Shining shrugged. "I don't know. Most likely, it's some slaves who need to be rescued, or maybe it's some POW's."

"Could.....it be the hostages?"

"Eh, possible, but not likely. I think that if it was the hostages, then Leopard most likely would have already found them by now."

They continued to press onward. Every now and again, they did meet some Caribou resistance, but for the most part, their path towards the noises was clear. Eventually, they reached their target, which was a large metal door.

Shining then began to bang on his end of it. "HEY IN THERE!!!! IS ANYPONY HOME?!?!"

For a moment, there was silence. Then, a voice answered. "Hey! Who's out there?! Have you come to rescue us?!"

To the surprise of Shining and the others, the voice was male. "Yes, we're here to help you! I'm General Shining Armor from the Equestrian Army! Who are you?"

"GENERAL SHINING?!?! This is Private Cole of Battalion 4009!"

"PRIVATE COLE?!?!?! And is anypony else in there with you?! What's behind this door?!"

"Yes, I'm here! And I'm here with my Caribou girlfriend Missy, a Caribou servant named Winston, as well as a ton of other slaves! This whole room is a harem chamber!"

"WHAT?!?!?! A HAREM CHAMBER?!?!"

"Yes, so please get us out! The only way out is on your end! There's no hardware on this side!"

"OK, just stay calm, we'll get this door open as fast as we can!"

Cole shrugged. "No hurries, take your time! We're in no immediate danger, so take your time and do the job right!"

"And are Dash and Pinkie in there with you?"

Cole shook his head. "They were, but unfortunately a day or so ago, they were taken up to the throne room. I was left behind, and Winston, who's the servant who cares for all of us, and is a good friend of mine, was locked in here as well! That door was not going to be opened again until the battle was over!"

"Ok Cole, and get away from the door! We can't figure out how this locking system works, so we're just going to have to blast it!"

"Right!" Cole then turned to the others. "EVERYPONY GET BACK, THEY'RE GONNA BLOW THE LOCK!!!"

There was a sound of hooves scurrying to get away from the door. Winston also lay face down on the floor with his hands over his head, just in case somepony got the wrong idea, and shot him!

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!" Shining yelled.

Then, moments later, the door's lock got blasted in, and after using other tools, they finally managed to get the door open. Once they were inside though, what they found almost made them want to throw up. Somewhat close to the door on their right, they saw a weary looking Human who was holding a Caribou cow, both of whom were naked. Next to them on the floor was another Caribou who had his hands over his head. Beyond them though, was an entire room full of slaves. Like Cole had said, the whole room was indeed a harem chamber.

"My god! Is this what it was like liberating a concentration camp in Futa-held territory?" Someone asked.

Shining then looked down at the Human. "Um, Private Cole, I presume?"

He nodded. "In the flesh. And this is my girlfriend, Missy, that's Winston", He pointed to the Caribou male on the floor, "And please don't hurt him! He's not like the others! He took care of all of us, and told us news of the war! He's a traitor to Danin's regime!"

"Is this true, Winston?" Shining asked.

Winston raised his head up just enough to look Shining in the eyes. "Yes Sir! I fed the slaves, gave them water, comforted them, and even helped to shield them from those who would do them harm. I even have the keys right here to unlock the rest of the slaves from their restraints." He held up a set of keys, which Shining took.

Shining then looked over the rest of the room. "Secure this room, and start moving these slaves out of here! Get them to the Safe Zone, and the rest of you start taking pictures for evidence!"

"Yes Sir!"

"Um, do any of you guys have a spare uniform? The Caribou kinda stole mine. And if you would also have something for Missy, that would be great too."

Someone gave Cole a fresh uniform and underwear, which he put on, and they found a pair of sweatpants, and an over-sized T-shirt for Missy, even though they didn't fit her very well.

Shining then grabbed his radio. "Major Don, come in please!"

"I'm here General, what is it? Did you find something?"

"Yes Major, I did. We've manage to find and secure Private Cole, as well as a Caribou cow that he says is his girlfriend. Both of them are safe, in addition to a whole harem full of slaves, and their caretaker, who according to Cole and the few black-collar slaves, was a Caribou traitor."

Don was beside himself with joy. "YOU'VE FOUND PRIVATE COLE?!?!?! THAT'S GREAT GENERAL!!!!"

Shining nodded. He then explained the rest of the situation.

"Yes, collect all of the evidence that you all can find. Then get Cole, his girlfriend, and that caretaker to the train, and move the rest of the slaves to the Safe Zone! We have to get them to safety now!" (The Safe Zone was a refugee camp located well away from the battle in the town of Hilden where all of the the slaves that we'd liberated were currently being cared for by medical staff. They'd even found a way to reverse the Purple Collars's craziness!)

Shining nodded. "Ok, roger that Major, Shining out for now!"

"Oh, wait, General, before you go, we've made a good catch of our own out here!"

Shining was curious. "Oh, and what would that be Major?"

"Well, we've managed to capture both General Stuggs, as well as General Rodin!"

"WHAT?!?!?! REALLY?!?!?!"

Don nodded. "Yeah! We thought that they were killed, and Rodin's back does appear to be broken, but Stuggs brought him to us, and surrendered himself and Rodin."

"And where are they now?"

"Well, Stuggs is being held under guard, while Rodin's having his injuries tended to. His back may have to be operated on, but nevertheless, both of them WILL be standing trial for war-crimes when this all ends!"

Shining nodded. "Ok, roger that Major, we'll get back to work here!" Shining then terminated the call.

He then saw Cole, Missy, Winston, and the rest of the slaves on their way to safety as far as the palace grounds before other soldiers came to escort them the rest of the way.

"They're safe now", Shining thought to himself. "Now then, all that's left to be done is to get to Captain Leopard before he gets killed!"

Shining and his remaining soldiers then got back to following Dan and his troops once they had confirmation from Jim that the slaves, Cole, Missy, and Winston had all arrived safely.

Meanwhile, above them and slightly before Cole and the others had been liberated, Argus and I were fighting our way up to Level 2. I was eventually able to locate the stairs, which we then managed to get up as quickly as we could. Once we were up on Level 2 though, that was where the REAL challenge really began. Now I started meeting some of those soldiers that Dactyl sent my way. This time though, I decided to start taking cover. Using my Glock, I picked off some of the soldiers, before I quickly got bored of that, and decided to have a little more fun. After popping a fresh clip into my Glock, I then grabbed my ax again, and went to town. This time though, once I'd killed somebody, I tossed their bodies out of a nearby window! (This was what Shining and the others witnessed down below on the palace grounds.)

I turned that entire 2nd level into a killing field. Right and left Caribou soldiers were killed, and their bodies were either tossed out of a window, down a stairwell, or into a wall. The floors really began to run red with blood.

Inside of me, Sombra fully believed that his time was coming. "Enjoy my powers while you still have them Sweetheart!" he thought. "Because once you've killed Danin, then I'll be able to come back fully!" He then laughed to himself, seemingly completely unaware that not only had Danin left, leaving his brother Dactyl behind, but that his powers no longer answered to him. Instead, they answered to their new host, Yours Truly!

I paused on the 2nd level to take a quick breather. Killing Caribou really took a lot of energy. After taking a drink of water from my trusty canteen with the number “13” on it, I re-secured it to my waist, and prepared to press on.

"I should be a lot older than 24", I thought. "I should be in my early 50's, but yet I still have the body, mind, drive and physique of a 24 year old. I feel a lot more worn down than I should though, however, 3 world wars, and a cold war can really do that!"

Then, for whatever reason, my mind slipped back to a happier time. While I still lived with Demetria, I had her as a "mom", but I also had an "older sister". Her name was Carla, Carla Boudica. (Her younger sister, Stacy Rikker, was the one who initiated "Operation Fireball" back during the Battle of Vegas). She was 26 years old, 6'3”, 200lbs of muscle, ginger hair that she always kept hanging down her back, and really soft green eyes. She loved me dearly, and we would have been married, but alas, on the day of the wedding, that's when the coup against Demetria happened, and I was sold to the ranch in Kansas.

Carla also twice attempted to have offspring with me, but both tries sadly ended in miscarriages. She bitterly blamed me for what happened, and after one more round of angry-sex, she seemingly cut me off. We met in battle a few more times before she was believed to have been killed in the battle for Austin, TX, although her body was never found. "Mamma Demetria" never mentioned her again, so up until then, I still had no idea what had happened to her.

"If only I could know what happened to her." I muttered. "If only I could know!"

I then sighed, and knew that time was of the essence, so I pushed thoughts of Carla out of my mind, and moved on.

Inside the throne room, Dactyl knew that something was very wrong. For a good long while, he'd been trying to contact both General Stuggs and General Rodin, but he hadn't gotten any replies. The last thing that he'd heard from them was that they were attacking the Humans, although they were taking losses.

"Most likely by now, they've either been killed, were captured, or have committed suicide." He was very sad. He had always admired both of them for their skills as military commanders, even though his brother Danin hadn't really noticed it. "I was always the guy who saw everything, and forgot nothing", He muttered. "If only I had been able to hold against Danin's forces, then I would have been in charge!"

He then thought a bit more. "Yeah, but if I was in charge, then I would STILL be having to deal with this current situation! I just wish that there was a way out. But nevertheless, I'll go down swinging for the Caribou Empire, by doing what Danin never had the guts to do!"

He then continued to prepare for the inevitable attack on the throne room.

Next to him, Pinkie and Dash continued to wait as well. Periodically, from somewhere within the palace, the sounds of battle could be heard. It was difficult to tell, due to the palace's internal structure, but it sounded like it was getting closer.

"I don't know Pinkie", Dash whispered, "I wonder who'll get to us first. From what we've been hearing, there's 4 groups in total, but only 2 here in the palace."

"Um, what 2 groups again?"

Dash thought for a second. "Um, well, outside, there's Major Don, his forces, and Jim and the Battleship Express. In here though, there's General Shining and his forces, and most likely, Stud's in here, leading forces as well. King Sombra is in here too, so let's just hope that Stud gets to us before HE does!"

Pinkie nodded, but she didn't say anything. Suddenly though, the sounds of battle were VERY close to them! In fact, they sounded so close that they were seemingly right outside of the throne room doors!

Eventually, I was able to locate the stairs to get up to Level 3. Unfortunately, seemingly every last Caribou warrior that could be mustered was waiting for me when I reached those stairs.

"Great. MORE company!" I muttered. I then remounted Argus, and rode him up the stairs. "Do your thing Argus!" I told him. He seemed to be laughing a bit. Suddenly, from out of his mouth came streams of fire! The Caribou may have had the high-ground advantage, but they had inadequate shields and armor, and they were facing an alpha War-Beast, with the reborn King Sombra riding him!

"AUGH, FALL BACK, FALL BACK!!!!" They screamed, but most of them were too late. All of the ones on the stairs had already been incinerated, and I shot any who survived being burned. Argus trampled any that I'd missed. Eventually, I made it up to Level 3.

"Ok, now then, where's the throne room?" I remembered seeing it on the maps down below, but for some reason, I couldn't find any maps up here. "Great. Well, at any rate, at least there's only a handful of places that it could be up here, so I guess that I just keep looking until I find the right place!"

Unfortunately though, this would prove to be easier said than done. All over this level were some of the toughest Caribou warriors that I had ever faced. These must have been the best of the best, because they were REALLY not proving to be the easiest to kill! I had to shoot them multiple times, and some were shot, burned, trampled, and STILL had some fight left in them!

"OK then shitheads, time for some REAL fun!" I then dismounted Argus to use my magic, but one of the Caribou mages beat me to it.

"Alright Sombra, let's see if you're as fast as the wind!" He then conjured up a ball of green energy, and hurled it at me!

Without even missing a beat, I half turned, raised my wings, surged some of my Magic through them, and actually deflected the shots! They shot into the walls on either side of me.

"Wha....!?!?!?! HOW DID YOU!?!?!?!?"

I smirked. "Was that your best shot? Now let me show you MINE!!!" I then conjured up another fireball, (albeit, a smaller one than the first one!) and shot it in the direction of the mage, and all of the Caribou behind him. Even though some of them were able to dodge it, not all of them were. They were all packed so close together that it was proving to be VERY easy to hit them!

When the fireball finally slammed into the wall at the far end of the hallway, I had lost count of just how many Caribou it had killed. At this point though, I knew exactly where I was supposed to go, and I started walking down the hallway again. Every now and again, a Caribou, or a group of Caribous would try to stop me, however, they either got a bullet to the head, a hatchet to the face, their neck broken with Magic, or even, in at least one case, their chest punched through, their heart ripped out, and shown to them before having it shoved down their throat! I was like a killing-machine on high speed, but yet I felt no emotions at all. My only goal was to save Dash, and the more steps I took, the stronger her scent became.

Down below me, the rest of the guys, led by Dan and Aurora, had managed to make it up to Level 2. When they did, they were absolutely appalled by the sheer amount of death and destruction that I had been causing. There were burned and bloodied bodies everywhere.

"Dear God!" Dan muttered, "How was he even able to DO all of this?!"

Aurora shrugged. "I don't know Dan. Most likely though, he smelled Dash's scent, and there were Caribou between him, and her. What we're witnessing is the result of that!"

Shining looked around. "I heard from Major Don that Hell hath no fury like a Human-Wolf on the war-path, but I never believed it until now!"

"Any ideas on how much farther that he could have gone Aurora?" Dan asked nervously.

Aurora sniffed the ground a bit more. "It's hard to say. He seems to have gone on farther, and he could have even rescued the hostages by now. However, judging by the sounds of battle from both ahead of us, and above us, I'd say that he's not there yet!"

Moments after Aurora said this though, they almost made it to the stairwell leading up to Level 3. Unfortunately though, before they could make it any farther, from around the corner to their right, more Caribou soldiers appeared.

"Take cover!!!" Shining yelled.

The rest did so, and then they all drew their weapons, and did battle with the Caribou once again.

"WHEN WILL THIS GOD-FORSAKEN BATTLE EVER END?!?!?!" Dan cried out in frustration.

One level above this battle, I had finally managed to get close to my destination. I found myself outside of a large pair of wooden double doors. They were easily 12 feet tall, maybe 10 feet wide, and were covered with wrought iron decorations. I was still dealing with Caribou warriors, but now I knew where Dash was.

I could have just blasted through those doors and have been done with it, but I still wanted to have a little more fun.

"Heh", I said softly, "Time to make a REAL entrance!"

Unfortunately though, more Caribou decided to throw some wrenches in my gears, and attack Argus and I. "Why I outta....!!!!" I kept hacking, slicing, shooting, stabbing, while Argus was biting, chomping, stomping, breathing fire on, all while I came up with a plan. I knew that my plan involved some serious risk, and it would have to be timed absolutely PERFECTLY, but if it succeeded, then my entrance, would be one of the most bad-ass in World War history!

All while I was fighting the Caribou, I was also planting explosives close to the doors. I was just going to blast them, and send debris, as well as bodies, flying into the throne room. Finally, it was time for me to execute my plan.

"Time to 'Hail to the King' bitches!" I then blew the explosives.

Inside the throne room, everyone panicked as what sounded like a battle raged right outside. There was a constant sound of gunfire, slashing, stabbing, grunting, War-Beast sounds, and a lot of other commotion.

Behind their barricades, Dactyl's 30 Royal Guards, as well as their commanding officer stood by, and made ready to do battle with whoever, or whatever came through those doors. Sitting on his throne, Dactyl prepared for the end. Behind his throne, Dash and Pinkie were hugging each other, and preparing for their end as well. However, their curiosity got the better of them, and they peered out to see what they could see.

All of a sudden though, there was only the sound of silence.

"Huh?" One of the guards asked. "Is that it? Is it over? Did we win?"

Just as maybe one of the other guards was about to answer him, the sounds of battle increased tenfold!

"STAND YOUR GROUND!!!" The guard officer shouted. "PROTECT THE PRINCE AT ALL COSTS!!!"

Suddenly though, the doors to the throne room got blasted inwards!

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Dust, smoke, dead bodies, and debris filled the air, and the lights in the throne room went out. The only lights now came from the nearby windows, which were pretty bright.

When the dust cleared, the doors to the throne room were in pieces, and a number of bodies lay in the room. 11 Royal Guards had been killed in the blast, and a further 9 were injured. 10 royal guards remained, including their officer. Most of the 9 were able to return to their hooves, and take up their positions to face their foe(s).

At first, they could see nothing but the dark hallway outside. Suddenly though, from out of the darkness, 2 figures stepped. One of them was an alpha War-Beast. He looked mighty pissed off, and ready for a fight. It was the other figure though that made them all break out into a cold sweat. He seemed to be crouching when they first saw him, but then he rose to his full height.

"Hey! Who are you?!" One of the guards demanded. "Step into the light!"

"As you wish!" A voice replied. When the figure did so, their jaws hit the floor. There, standing in front of them, appeared to be King Sombra himself! He was dressed in his battle armor with his red cape, his horn was glowing with magic, and his eyes were glowing bright. This time however, they also noticed that not only did he have wings, but was also wearing a white fox mask as well. To make matters worse, aside from Sombra, and the War-Beast standing behind him, the hallway was completely empty!

"Wait, you mean that you stormed this entire facility, BY YOURSELF?!?!?!"

The figure laughed. "I'm King Sombra, aren't I? I did it before, so why couldn't I do it again?"

"You know that this is the end of the line, right? We CANNOT let you get any closer to our king!"

The figure paused for a moment. He looked behind the guards, and up at the throne. He saw what he thought was King Danin sitting up on the throne, and he seemed to be scowling. He then turned back to the guards.

"Step aside!" He growled, "I must deal with your 'king'! His voice now didn't sound so amused; now he sounded angry and hostile.

They all pointed their weapons at him. "I'm afraid that we cannot let you do that Sombra." The officer told him. "And now, we must deal with you."

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, all of a sudden, the guards were all thrown backwards by a violent force!

"FOOLS!!!" Sombra screamed with rage, "Do you DARE pit your pitiful strength against me?!?! You will all DIE!!!"

Then, before the guards could fully recover, Sombra and his War-Beast were on them in an instant. The guards did their best, but even though they were the best of the best, they were no match for the terrifying duo. Sombra used a large ax to do his killing. He slashed, chopped, hacked, and even stomped on his enemies, while his War-Beast often trampled them.

Finally, it was down to just the wounded officer. "PLEASE!!!" He screamed as he tried to crawl away on a broken leg, "HAVE MERCY!!!"

"There is, no MERCY!!!" Sombra roared, before grabbing the officer with his Magic, and snapping his neck.

Sombra then turned to face the figure on the throne. "Now then, King Danin, it's YOUR turn!"

Dactyl was really beginning to sweat now. If the figure in front of him had just managed to flatten 31 of his best royal guards with EASE, then what chance did he stand? Before he could say anything though, the figure spoke.

"I've come here, to take back, what RIGHTFULLY belongs to me!"

"What? What in here belongs to you?!"

The figure pointed a gauntlet-covered hand right at Dash and Pinkie. "Those two hostages, right there! They RIGHTFULLY belong to me! Give them to me NOW!!!"

Instead of complying though, Dactyl decided to push his luck as far as it would go. His mind had become completely unhinged.

"NOTHING in this room belongs to you Sombra!" He spat. "Those hostages, are MINE!!!! I stole them from Zakia fair and square!"

From behind his cape, Sombra pulled out his staff, and attached his ax to it. His horn also began to glow dangerously.

"You will give the hostages to me now, or you will DIE!!!" Sombra then held his ax-staff in a fighting stance.

"If you want them so bad Sombra, THEN YOU'LL HAVE TO TAKE THEM FROM ME!!!" He then charged towards the figure, and engaged him in single combat.

I will admit, I had fought some pretty interesting duels in my time, but my fight against Dactyl was actually a little disappointing. Maybe some of this was because of his being unhinged, or maybe some of it was me thinking that he was Danin when he really wasn't. Or maybe it was because with my skills, coupled with Sombra's powers, I was just too OP for him. Whatever the case was though, it didn't take me much to get him right where I wanted him. Eventually, I disarmed him, and knocked him to the floor.

"This ends right here Danin!" I growled down at him, "Today, you DIE!!!"

My prey then began to laugh. "Come on then, kill me! I know that you wanna!"

"Go on, do it!" Sombra urged me.

I hesitated. “I really shouldn’t.”

"Come ON!!! We DO NOT have all day here Sweetheart! The others are just minutes away! KILL HIM NOW!!!"

My mind was in incredible turmoil. I wanted to kill Danin, but yet at the same time, I knew that he had to stand trial for his crimes. Unfortunately though, in a moment of anger at my remembering what he had done to Dash, I raised my ax, and with a fierce battle-cry, I brought it down on him.

However, Dactyl did see the danger, and in a final act of sanity, moved ever so slightly, and instead of my ax blow killing him, it only ended up cutting him deeply across his torso. The wounds could still be fatal, but for the time being at least, Dactyl still drew breath.

When Sombra saw what he thought was Danin's body go limp, he thought that his time had finally come.

"HA HA HA HA!!!" He cried. "FREEDOM AT LAST!!!!" I tried to stop him, but the exhaustion of over 24 hours of battle left me unable to resist him, but luckily for me, I didn't have to. With a mighty heave, and a painful jerk, Sombra tore himself free of me.

"YES!!!! NOW I'M FREE FROM YOU LEOPARD, AND I HAVE......." He suddenly stopped, and began to scream in agony! It was at that moment that he realized that he'd just jumped the gun! The body on the floor wasn't Danin's; it was Dactyl's, and he was still alive! He was still just a spirit, and now that he had torn himself free from his human host, Sombra had now lost all control of his powers as well. He had lost the way back to the physical world, and now in his moment of greed, he had just doomed himself to a life of misery. He was now forced to wander forever as a spirit.

"NNNOOOOO!!!!" He screamed as he flew away out of the window. "IT DOESN'T END LIKE THIS!!!! I WILL BE BACK LEOPARD!!!!! I WILL FIND YOU AGAIN SOME DAY!!!!" He then flew away before dropping out of sight.

I sighed. "Yeah, and I'll be right here waiting for you when you do come back Sombra. You cannot live without me, and the sooner that you realize that, the sooner you'll come back to me again."

I then realized that not only was I still wearing all of Sombra's armor, as well as his cape, but I also still had his staff, and all of his powers as well!

"Wow, so I really am Sombra reborn. Out of all the Humans that it could have been, I was chosen. Who would have ever guessed?"

I then shrugged it off for the time being, as there was a certain somepony that I was dying to see. I then looked over to Dash, and began to walk towards her. Once I was within maybe 2 feet or so of her, I stopped, before holding out my hand.

"Hey Dashie", I said in my usual gentle voice, "Did ya miss me?"

All while the fight in the throne room had been going on, Dash and Pinkie had been cowering in fear. Now that they believed Dactyl to be dead, there was nopony left to save them. Dash was looking at the floor, when all of a sudden, a dark shadow covered her. She looked up, and low and behold, her worst nightmare was standing right in front of her, looking right back at her. Both she and Pinkie were so scared that they literally peed themselves! (I'm not kidding, both of them peed. And since they were still naked, that pee went onto their tails, fur, and of course the floor.)

Suddenly though, the figure spoke. "Hey Dashie", He said in a soft, gentle voice, "Did ya miss me?"

Dash froze. That voice, it was so familiar. She looked up at me. "S-S-STUD?!?!?!"

I then removed my Kitsune mask, as well as my helmet, and my gauntlets, and parts of Sombra's armor, revealing that yes, the figure underneath the Sombra guise, was indeed her faithful Stud. "Yep, in the flesh Dashie!"

Dash then leapt over and hugged me, and when I hugged her back, I broke down crying, as did she.

"Oh Stud!" She sobbed slightly. "I thought that I was never going to see you again!"

"I'm here Dash", I said softly, "I'm right here! You're safe now. Donneth is now in Human and Equestrian hands, and now that Danin is dead, as well as all of the others, there's nobody left who can hurt you. You're all mine again."

For the longest time, we just had the most tender heart-to-heart moments. Even though we had only been apart for 2 1/2 weeks, it had felt like an eternity. Pinkie also joined us as well. Also, using my Magic, I was able to free them from their chains and collars as well.

I then stood up. "Come on Girls, let's go!"

"Um, go where Stud?"

"Far away from here! Back to the train for starters, as I know that you and I have a lot to talk about."

Dash nodded, still holding onto me. "I know Stud, it's just......I still can't believe that you're here! They told us that you were never coming!"

I hugged her again, and kissed the top of her head gently. "Shh, it's ok Dash. I'm here now, and you're safe, so that's all that matters. But anyway, let's go." I then led the way back to Argus.

"Whoa, is that a REAL War-Beast?!"

I nodded. "Yep, this is Argus. He's an alpha War-Beast. I got him during the battle for Carlon last night. He's been a part of the battle ever since, and now, we're going to ride him back to the train." I then climbed back onto his back. I then reached out a hand for Dash and Pinkie. "Come on up girls! This'll be fun!"

Dash and Pinkie did look at each other, but in the end, Dash climbed up behind me, and then Pinkie climbed up behind her. Dash wrapped her arms around my torso, just as Pinkie wrapped her arms around Dash.

Just before we left though, I remembered something. "Oh wait, almost forgot!" I then pulled out my radio. "Don, Major Don! This is Captain Leopard! Do you read me?"

For a minute or so, there was only static. Suddenly though, I got an answer. "Wait, LEOPARD?!?!?! IS THAT YOU?!?!?!"

I nodded. "Yeah, it's me Don!"

"I THOUGHT THAT YOU WERE DEAD!!!!! I kept trying to contact you, but all I could get was static!"

"Um, yeah, sorry about that, I kinda got a little busy! But anyway, I have some good news to report."

"Oh? And what would that be Leopard?"

I sighed. "Mission accomplished Don, the hostages are safe! I say again, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, THE HOSTAGES ARE SAFE!!!!"

When I said that, for the longest time, the only thing that I heard from Don was silence. Then the call cut out. I tried to reach Don several more times after this, but he never picked up.

I shrugged. "Huh, well, that was a little weird. Well, anyway, you guys are safe, so that's what matters, so away we go!" I then nudged Argus with my heel, and he began to move forwards again.

Just as we reached the entrance to the throne room though, I suddenly heard loud barking, as well as a lot of running boots. I prepared myself for a fight, but instead of Caribou, from around the corner came Aurora! Behind her were Dan, Shining, and the others.

When they saw me, they were already shocked beyond belief. When they saw who I was with though, they were at the point of passing our from shock!

"W-w-wha.....??? What....do you have to say for yourself Leopard?" Shining finally managed to ask me.

After thinking it over for a second, I finally managed to come up with an answer that would later be forever memorialized in the history books.

"Hail to the King, Baby; Hail to the King!"

Author's Note

And thus, does Chapter 26 finally come to a close. One of, if not THE longest chapter that I've ever written! So now, the battle for Donneth is over, Sombra is in serious trouble now, Stuggs and Rodin were captured, all of the hostages were freed, and most importantly, I FINALLY GOT DASH BACK!!!!! However, don't let go of your seats just yet, as although most of the action is over now, the story isn't over quite yet! There's still maybe 2-3 more chapters, plus an epilogue to go!

These chapters will decide the fates of Bryerton, King Danin, Stuggs, Rodin, and the rest of the Caribou Empire as a whole. they will also reveal our reactions when we all realize that the "King Danin" that I killed was a fake, and that not only is the real King Danin still alive, but so is the fake one, (Dactyl). It's going to be interesting, so stay tuned.

Meanwhile, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this whole arc to get Dash back. How will our relationship play out from here? What'll happen when we have a long sit-down talk where I tell her about everything that I've done, and everything that's happened to me since I lost her, from Sombra, to my having sex with Aurora, to my "Playing" with Kylie? And what'll happen when I confront Dash about her not being fully honest to me about her little wager with Spitfire? Well, I'd like to hear from you. Tell me your thoughts on Dash and I, as well as what you thought about this chapter, and I'll see what I can do for the rest of this story.

As Always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 27!

ScarFox out for now!

Chapter 27: Final Drive, Final Battle

Shining and the others were still in absolute shock. If the evidence was to be believed, I had just single-handedly wiped out most of the palace's defenders, and had rescued Dash and Pinkie!

I looked back at them again. "Well guys, I think that we can call this a job well done! The hostages are safe, Danin is dead...."

"Um, Stud?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah Dash?"

She pointed to the body in the throne room. "Um, that's not Danin."

"Wait, what?!" I looked back at the body. "WELL THEN WHO WAS THAT?!?!?!? AND WHERE'S THE REAL DANIN?!?!?!"

"Um, that's Danin's brother, Dactyl. And according to him, the real Danin is currently in some city called Bryerton."

"WHAT?!?!?!"

While I was struggling to even compute this, Shining and the others went into the throne room to get the bodies.

"Um, yeah Leopard, two things. First of all, whoever this guy is, he ain't Danin. He's too young! Secondly, he's not dead."

"WHAT?!?!?! I hit him with my ax in the chest, he HAS to be dead!"

Shining shrugged. "Well, your aim must have been a little off, because although his wounds are incredibly serious, he's not dead, at least, not yet."

I then gave the orders for others to check the archives for personnel records, so that we could figure out who he really was, just in case he wasn't who Dash claimed that he was. Other medics were trying to stabilize his condition, so that his life could be saved. All while this was going on, Dan was reunited with Pinkie Pie, and shared a few tender moments with her.

After we had some solid results, I grabbed my radio again.

"Don, come in now! Please pick up!"

This time though, he did answer. "Yeah, Leopard, I'm here. Sorry about last time. I was just in severe shock, and then my radio batteries went dead, and I was busy directing things, all while trying to get new batteries, but I digress. Anyway, so you've rescued Dash and Pinkie Pie, Shining and co. rescued Private Cole, as well as a number of slaves, and we're all done out here, so I take it that you're heading back outside now?"

I shook my head. "As much as I want to Don, there's still work to be done. The guy up here in the throne room wasn't Danin."

"Wait.....what? He wasn't......Danin? Well then who the f@#k was he?!?!?!"

I sighed. "Well, according to the records, he is related to Danin. In fact, it's his own brother, a Caribou named Dactyl."

"Wait, Dactyl? Never heard of him. And how could he be Danin's brother? The records never mentioned him having any brothers!"

"That's what we thought too. However, a search through the archives revealed that Danin's brother Dactyl was actually a pretty interesting guy. He was not only a prince, but also a general! However, when his father, King Bacheon died, they both made a grab for the throne. Danin won that power struggle, and had Dactyl thrown into prison. After that, all records of Dactyl were withdrawn from the public. Later on, according to what Dash told me that Dactyl himself said, Danin fled to Bryerton, and since he didn't have the guts to kill his brother himself, he left him in charge, basically to die."

Don was shocked. '"Wow, um, that's a really cowardly move! However, I take it that Dactyl is dead?"

I shook my head. "Surprisingly, no. He's alive, at least for the time being, although he is in critical condition. The medics are moving him out of here, and to where he can be given better medical care. Also, how are Stuggs and Rodin doing?"

"Well, Stuggs is still being interrogated, although he is cooperating. He signed a term of surrender, although we'll need Rodin to sign it as well for it to be official. As for Rodin himself, his back injuries did require surgery, although Dr. Fritz believes that he'll make a full recovery, however, it still remains to be seen on whether or not he'll be able to walk again. He can feel his legs, but he cannot stand on them as of yet. He's not being the most cooperative ever, but Stuggs is doing what he can to convince him to cooperate."

I nodded. "Ok, good. So Stuggs, Rodin, and hopefully Dactyl too, will be able to stand trial. However, this leaves us with another dilemma; what to do about Bryerton, the 450 miles of fields, mines, small towns and villages left in the Caribou Empire, and of course, Danin himself."

"Yes, and this is something that we need to discuss with the Princesses immediately. I have a plan for what to do, but we will need to discuss it with them first. Also, the families of Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie are on standby as well, so we will need to talk to them too."

I nodded. "Yeah, copy that Don, and we're on our way out of here now. Our forces are securing the rest of the city as we speak, so we'll just lower the flag on top of the palace, replace it with the US flag and the Equestrian flag, and then we'll be right on down."

"Ok, copy that, Don out."

I then looked back at Dash. "Shall we go now Dash?"

She nodded. "Sure Stud. I've been DYING for a shower, and some proper food, not to mention getting dressed again!"

I nodded. "Sure, and that DEFINITELY can be arranged! Your duffel bag was recovered from the train's wreck, and I've been keeping it safe for you ever since."

She hugged me. "*squee* Thanks Stud, you're the greatest!"

I blushed. "Aww shucks Dash, I don't know what to say!"

"Well then don't say anything; just get me out of here, and back to the Battleship Express!"

"Right away Dashie!"

I then gave Argus the command to move, and away we went.

After we'd made it out of the Imperial Palace again, up on the roof, the Caribou flag had been removed, and replaced with the American flag, and the Equestrian Flag.

The time was getting close to Noon, and after we'd ridden through the rest of the city, we eventually made it back to the Battleship Express. There was a small crowd waiting for us when we did. Twilight, Applejack, Jim, and others were eagerly awaiting our arrival with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.

"RAINBOW!!!" Twilight cried when she saw her.

"TWI, AJ!!!!" She dismounted from Argus, and went over to hug her friends.

"PINKIE!!!" Pinkie cheered. They all hugged. All 4 of them were now safe from the two greatest slave empires to have ever existed. Their coltfriends had truly stopped at nothing to get them back, and had wiped out both the Zebra Empire, and the Caribou Empire. Now, only a tiny portion of the Caribou Empire remained, even if only for a little while longer.

Eventually though, the calls were made to Canterlot. The Princesses had been watching the live-feed from the battle, but when they heard the news, they were besides themselves with joy, and immediately summoned not only Fluttershy and Rarity, but also the families of Dash and Pinkie. She didn't tell them what happened, although she did say that we had an update for them.

I sat down in front of a screen. Sure enough, Dash's parents were put on.

"Oh, Captain Leopard. It's nice to see you again." Windy said when she saw me.

I nodded. "Likewise, Mrs. Windy."

"So, Princess Celestia told us that you had an update for us?"

I nodded slowly. "Yes, we do."

Now Bow spoke up. "Did.....you find our Dashie? Is.....she safe?"

I sighed, and after taking my Kitsune mask off, I rubbed my face with my hands. "I'm sorry", I said softly, "I'm so, so sorry....."

Both Bow and Windy looked like they were going to cry. However, I then smirked a bit. ".....So sorry for pulling a stunt like this!"

I then ducked a bit, and Dash popped up from behind me. "MOM, DAD!!!! I'M HERE, I'M OK!!!!"

"WHAT?!?!?!" Her parents screamed so loud that it very nearly broke the speakers. "DASHIE!!!!! YOU'RE ALIVE!!!!!"

She nodded. "Yep! All thanks to my stud Leopard! He busted in, and saved me, and Pinkie Pie. He's the real hero here!"

"Thank you!" Windy said with tears in her eyes. "You've saved my daughter's life! You're our hero, as well as hers!"

I blushed a bit. "Aww shucks Mrs. Windy, I didn't really do anything, aside from my job, and living up to the promise that I made to both you, and Mr. Hothoof to bring your daughter home safe, or die trying."

"And thank you again for doing that, Captain Leopard." Bow then sighed a bit. "And, I think that we should live up to OUR end of the promise, and now that you've brought Dash home safe, you now have our permission to marry her!"

"WHAT, REALLY!?!?!" Dash was shocked.

"Yep!" Windy told her. "We told Captain Leopard that if he brought you home safe, then he had our permission to marry you."

"*SQUEE!!!!!*" Dash then grabbed me, and pulled me into a kiss, right there in the PCC, right in front of everyone, and everypony.

"Awww!!!!!" Everyone and everypony cooed.

Eventually, Dash ended our kiss.

"So, when will you all come home?" Bow asked.

I shrugged. "That's the thing, Mr. Hothoof, I don't know. The truth is, the Caribou still have one final stronghold in the city of Bryerton, which is 450 miles away from here. We will be giving them one final call to surrender, before we will wipe them out. Then, once Bryerton is no more and the Equestrian forces have finished securing the empire, which will most likely be by the end of the week, it'll be another 2 days journey home. Today is Friday, July 27th, 2029, so by Wednesday at the latest, we'll be back in Ponyville, although our target date is Tuesday, July 31st."

Her parents nodded. "Well, you guys just do what you have to do, BUT BRING DASH HOME SAFE!!!! We are COUNTING on you!"

I saluted. "I will, you all can count on me!"

After saying our goodbyes, we signed off for the time being.

Meanwhile, Dan was busy assuring Pinkie's family that she was safe.

"Hi Mom, hi Dad! I'm safe! The Humans saved me!"

"Thank you", Her dad said to Dan.

"Eh, the one that you should really thank would be my superior, Captain Leopard. He was the one who got them out. I was a part of his team, but he was the one who got them to safety."

"So, you protected him while he did his good work?" Her mom asked.

Dan nodded. "Yes. He led the way, and we followed behind securing the area. I was the second human into the throne room where Pinkie was being held, and I was the one who got her out of Donneth."

"And for that, we thank you. You've done our family a great service!"

Dan saluted. "I was only doing my job, Mr. and Mrs. Pie. It's what I was supposed to do. Plus, I made a promise to all of you that I would not rest until I had brought your daughter home safely. I was simply honoring that promise."

They both nodded, and then the rest of Pinkie's sister's thanked Dan for his service.

In the same room once these conversations were over, Dash and Pinkie also assured Fluttershy and Rarity that they were ok as well.

"Oh, I'm so glad you two are ok! I was crushed when I heard the news from Todd that you weren't at Zebrica!"

Dash nodded. "Yeah, I can understand that Fluttershy! And it's so great that we're safe now as well!"

"AND the Humans dealt with the monstrous brutes who abused you as well! Even though as a lady I do not condone their methods of violence, the Caribou had it coming to them! And so did the Zebras!"

Pinkie nodded. "Yeah, but now they're gone, so we're safe!"

"Um, any ideas on when you'll be back here in Ponyville Dash?"

Dash then asked me when we would be back in Ponyville. "Eh, Stud said that we should be back by Tuesday, July 31st, or by Wednesday at the very latest. The Caribou still have one final stronghold in Bryerton, and that HAS to be destroyed before the war can end!"

"Yeah! The war's almost over, so just hang on a little longer guys! We'll be home soon!"

Fluttershy and Rarity nodded, and then they ended the call for the time being.

Once the calls to the families were done, the last order of business was to discuss the final 20% or so of the Caribou Empire that was still standing.

"So how are the other battalions coming Princess Celestia?" Don asked.

"Well, they've managed to repair the Highlands Trestle Bridge, and are ready to come to Donneth, Carlon, and Danton once you've all moved on. This war is really coming to a close Major Don. You boys have REALLY done us a great service!"

Don nodded. "Thank you, Princess. However, even though we've captured General Stuggs, General Rodin, and Prince Dactyl, only Stuggs has signed the terms of the surrender. We don't know Dactyl's situation, as he's still undergoing surgery, although Rodin may be coming around to sign the terms as well."

Celestia frowned. "Unfortunately though, that still leaves Danin on the loose, as well as Bryerton to deal with as well."

"Which constitutes nearly 20% of the remaining Caribou Empire." Shining added. "However, Bryerton is their only remaining city. There are maybe 2 or 3 small towns, and a number of villages and settlements, but for the most parts, it's just 450 miles of wide open fields, farmland, and areas set aside for mining resources."

"And what will be your plan for going about this General Shining?"

Shining sighed. "We have a plan, but for that, I'll turn it over to Major Don. He's the better explainer, since it was his plan. Take it away Major Don."

Don nodded. "Thank you General." He then turned to the princesses. "Ok, here's the deal. The Caribou now really have no infrastructure, no military, and no real way to resist us anymore. They've really lost all of their bargaining power, and have one stronghold city left. The way I see it, the rest of the war can go 1 of 2 ways.

The first way is that we give them a call for surrender, they all lay down their arms, and surrender to us. We capture Bryerton and the rest of the Caribou Empire, bag Danin, and then after securing terms of surrender, we bring all war criminals back to Eqestria to stand trial. Your military forces possess the rest of the Caribou Empire, and under new leadership, we begin to help the Caribou rebuild, only this time, under heavy supervision!"

Luna frowned a bit. "Yes, but I take it that that's only the best case scenario. What's the other plan?"

Don frowned. "That would be the more likely scenario, unfortunately. The way I see it, now that Donneth is gone, the writing is on the wall for the Caribou. They've lost the war, and I do know that a number of them are going to surrender to us now. We will accept their surrender, and spare their lives, as well as any collateral attached to them. If they don't surrender, then we just flatten them, remove their slaves, and then see if we can't spare at least some collateral with this."

Don then looked at the maps again. "Then comes Bryerton. We've sent out the drones, and the city seems to be largely abandoned. The only ones left in there are most likely the hard-core, Danin-worshiping, crazed nut-jobs, and fanatics. There may be slaves, in which case, we slip in, liberate them, then get out. Then, due to the extreme danger, we'll just wipe out the city with a nuclear strike. We're not going to risk ground forces just to deal with a bunch of fanatics."

"But you will try and rescue all of the slaves, and any POW's?"

Don nodded. "Of course! We will ALWAYS try to save those that we can. My plan is for us to get as close to Bryerton as we can, before sending in our troops that can fly, so that they can scour the city for slaves, POW's, and any other prisoners. Then, we'll take care of the city."

Celestia nodded. "Just, do whatever you have to do, Major. The war is practically over now, so just finish this final drive, and deal with the Caribou."

"As you wish, Princesses. I'll get the first part of the plan going now. I think the time has come to send out transmissions to Bryerton, as well as the surrounding areas, and telling them to surrender."

Celestia nodded, and with all of us still on the video call, Don began sending out signals to Bryerton, and the surrounding areas.

In Bryerton, the situation was indeed looking very grim. Danin had lost contact with Dactyl, Stuggs, Rodin, and the rest of Donneth.

"Well, that's that I suppose. The city fell. We're the last one's standing."

Most of the city's residents had been evacuated to the surrounding area, including slaves, and even POW's.

"Release all of the prisoners." Danin told his guards. "Send them out to the surrounding areas so that the Humans will find them."

"What? Why?!"

"Because, the war is practically lost. No sense in losing an investment. Those slaves and prisoners are of no further use to us, and if we just up and kill them, the Humans will just wipe us all out."

Danin's orders were carried out, and all slaves, and prisoners were released, and sent outside of the city.

Suddenly though, Danin began to receive a transmission.

"Sir, receiving a transmission from the Humans, Priority 1!"

Danin sighed. "Thank you Commander Dothan. Patch them through."

Dothan nodded. "As you wish, King Danin." He then turned on the screen on his end.

Sure enough, on the screen was a table with Major Don, myself, and Jim, as well as General Shining. On screens behind us, Danin could also see the Princesses.

"What do you all want?" Danin asked.

"What we want, is for you to surrender Danin. Donneth has fallen, and Stuggs, Rodin, and your brother, Dactyl, with it. If you continue to resist us, there will be only pain. There will be no escape for you this time Danin. We will come, and we will kill all of those who do not surrender!"

Danin merely glared at the screen. "Which is why I've already sent away those who wish to surrender. I've disowned them from my empire. Most of the area around us wants to surrender as well. And yes, this does include all slaves, POW's, and other prisoners. However, all of those still inside Bryerton WILL NOT be surrendering! We WILL fight you to the bitter end!"

Don sighed. "Which is what we were expecting of you. However, we will be confirming this ourselves. We're heading your way very shortly Danin. Tonight, the sun will set on the Caribou Empire for the last time."

"And we will all be dining in Tartarus", Danin muttered. "Do whatever you wish Kid, we will not be surrendering. You may not be ghosts, but you ARE Harbingers! And we WILL be fighting to the end!" Danin then terminated the call.

Don sighed. "Well, that was something, I suppose."

I looked at the maps. "Well, he's certainly gone unhinged, that's for sure! However, if what he said is indeed correct, and he did release all of those who wished to surrender, then maybe our job will be made that much easier."

"Assuming of course that Danin was indeed telling the truth. Most likely though, even if he wasn't, there most likely will be many who want to surrender to us now."

I nodded. "Yeah, so when do we move out?"

"Um, Princesses, how soon can the next wave of the occupation force get here?"

Celestia turned to Luna. "Well", She said at last, "The force is on standby, so should I tell them that they can move in now?"

Don nodded. "Yes, as we need to be on our way as soon as possible. The whole area is secured, so they can move in at any time."

"Ok, I'll tell them that they can move into the area. They should arrive within the hour."

"Ok, copy that." Then the call ended.

Sure enough, an hour or so later, the force did indeed arrive. In another hour or so, they were ready to go, and with all of us on the train, at 2pm, we departed for Bryerton. Stuggs was sitting in a prison cell, while Rodin and Dactyl were under guard in a makeshift military hospital. Other prisoners were being held in prison as well. Donneth would be where they would remain until we returned that way.

Driving the engine was Tertiary Crew, as Primary needed a break, and Alex, and I, the engineer and fireman of Secondary Crew, were spending time with our marefriends.

Back in my room, I was sitting with Dash and Aurora. I'd taken off Sombra's armor at that point, and had returned it to the crate underneath my bed. I'd also removed Sombra's horn from my head, and placed it in the safe next to my desk.

"There, free from my powers, at least for now." I thought. I was glad, the headaches and internal pain resulting from my using magic were really affecting my physical health.

"Gosh, you really haven't changed this place too much since I was last here!"

I nodded, smiling a bit. "Yeah, well, it's only been about 2 1/2 weeks since Appaloosa Dash. It's felt like so much longer, even though it wasn't."

Dash sat on my lap. She was maybe about to kiss me, but then she stopped. "Ok, I noticed it before, but now I'm certain; something's VERY different about you! You don't look too much like a Human anymore, you look like a Bat-Pony!"

I laughed a bit. "That's because I AM different Dash! Thanks to an attempted murder attempt in Zandia by General Tarrath, I was blasted with a special gun that began to tear my genetics apart. In order for my life to be saved, 45% of my wolf genetics were removed, and replaced with those of a Bat-Pony. The changes that you see before you are the result of that. I'm now 50% Human, 45% Bat-Pony, and still 5% wolf."

Dash looked me over. "Well, your hair's black now, as is your tail, you have Bat-Pony eyes, and fangs! You also have gray, furry pony ears, dark gray fur on your legs, which don't really look like wolf legs anymore, but instead those of a Pony, and you still have wolf paws. I also see that you still have your Pegasus wings, even though they're black now instead of gray."

"And, what do you think? Am I still likable?"

Dash kissed me gently on the nose. "You look a little bit like a predatory beast, and I like it! You're still my handsome Stud, even if you've changed a little bit."

We kissed for a few more moments, and then Dash looked back at me. "Hey Stud, can I use your shower while we're moving? I REALLY need to freshen up! The shower in the harem chamber was absolute SHIT!!!!"

I nodded. "Sure thing, although be careful, as the water can splash around."

She hugged me again. "*Squee* Thanks Stud, you're the best!"

"Don't mention it Dash."

She then went over to my bathroom.

I then frowned. "Oh, um, Dash?"

"Yeah Stud?"

"Can.....you, maybe leave the door open while you're in there? There's....um....a c-couple of things that I need to talk to you about."

"What do you mean Stud?" I heard the shower turn on, but the door stayed open.

"I mean that.....while you were in captivity....I, um....." I glanced over at Aurora. "I......kinda did a few things that I REALLY regret now! I have to come clean about this, and I DO NOT want to put this off any longer! I HAVE to get this off my chest!"

I then heard the water shut off, and Dash walked back into the room. She took a seat next to me on the bed. "Hey, what's wrong Stud? What do you have to tell me?"

I again hesitated.

She leaned against me a bit. (She was also still naked during this time.) "Shh, it's ok Stud. I haven't really been the most honest with you either. I.....held something back, and I kinda regret not telling you about it."

"Can, I go first though? Because if what you're going to tell me was about something that you had to do in captivity, I really DO NOT want to hear about it! Captivity is horrible, and they can make you do terrible things, trust me, I'd know!"

She shook her head. "No, it was something else, but you can go first if you want."

I then broke down, and confessed everything. I told her about the night that I'd had sex with Aurora, to all about Sombra, and my relationship with him. Truth be told, I actually felt a whole lot better now that I had it out in the open.

".....And so that's the scoop Dash. Sombra left me when I found you earlier today in the throne room, although I still have all of his powers. And now, you're most likely going to gut me alive, just like I told Aurora that you were going to. I f@#ked up big time!" I then buried my face into my hands, and cried.

I felt Dash wrap her arms and wings around me. "Shh, it's ok Stud. I don't hate you. I'm upset that you showed some poor judgement", Here she also looked over at Aurora, who was still lying on her rug, "But yet, Aurora's been with you longer. Plus, it was just a one-time thing, right?"

"Yeah, and it was kinda my fault." Aurora put in. "I was feeling kinda 'frisky' and Master tried to remind me about you, but I didn't listen. It was just one night though, the night after the Battle of Zebrica. After that, it was one campaign after another."

Dash sighed. "Yeah, and I still think that it's gross. But this whole thing with you and Sombra? That's actually kinda cool! To have actually had him as a part of you, and able to wear his armor, and use his powers! I guess it really is true what the other guys were saying, you really ARE the reborn King Sombra!"

"And, you're not mad about that?"

"Eh, well, kinda. I'm mad that you had sex with him, but yet, I'm not mad that you got his drop-dead gorgeous looks! Captain 'Stud' Leopard, King Sombra reborn!"

"Campbell." I whispered softly.

"What was that Stud?"

I looked up at her. "A good while back, you asked me what my real name was. The truth is, even I myself have long-forgotten my first name, but my last name is 'Campbell'."

Dash looked at me in surprise. "Wow, um, you, really don't look like a 'Campbell' to me. Although, I think that I'll just stick with 'Stud', if you don't mind. Also, I like 'Leopard' much better anyway, so I'll just keep calling you that as well."

"Captain X 'Leopard' Campbell. That was my full name. But yeah, you can call me whatever you want Dash. I'm personally going to stick with Leopard."

Dash nodded, but it was then, that I remembered my conversation with Spitfire. "And Dash?"

"Yeah Stud?"

"And while we're on the subject of being honest with each other, why did you never tell me about your little 'wager' with Spitfire?"

I felt Dash tense a little bit. "Oh......yeah, um, about that........" She paused for a few moments. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I didn't want to tell you, because I didn't want you to freak out. Plus, how do you even know about this? Who told you?"

"Spitfire did. She called me one day on a video call just before the invasion of the Caribou Empire began. She was asking about you, and there seemed to be something that she wanted to tell me, but she was hesitating. Eventually, she told me all about your little 'wager'. When I heard what the two of you did, I was so shocked that I literally passed out!"

"You did not! Really?"

"He did!" Aurora piped up. "I was right there when it happened! He really did pass out! And so did Major Don when he heard what was said as well! Don't worry though, he didn't tell anyone."

"And what did you tell her?" Dash asked me.

I sighed. "I told her that I was going to need some SERIOUS time to think about all of this!" I then frowned. "Hmm, speaking of Spitfire though, I told her just a few nights ago that I would call her just as soon as you were safe, so I'd better do that now!"

I then got up from the bed, and went over to my desk. "Hey DELCI?"

"Yes Sir?"

"Patch me through to the Wonderbolt Academy, Priority 2. Just do whatever you did to connect Spitfire to me, but this time do it backwards."

"Yes Sir!"

I then flipped on the screen, and waited for a reply.

Sure enough, Spitfire answered. "Um, hello? Who is this?"

"Hey Spits, it's me, Leopard."

She smiled. "Oh, hey Stud! How are you doing?"

"Pretty good, all things considered. I've got more news from the front."

Spitfire looked slightly nervous. "Um, w-what news?"

Dash then popped up beside me. "He means that he found ME!!!!"

"DASH!!!!! You're ok!!!!!"

she smirked. "Hey Spits, and yeah, I'm ok! Stud here was able to rescue me in time, BEFORE anything bad happened!"

Spitfire then turned to me. "Thanks Stud, you've saved our best flyer!"

I shrugged. "It's nothing Spits, I was just doing my job. Plus, I promised everypony that I would bring Dash home safely, so I did! And while I have the two of you in the same room, (technically speaking) can I PLEASE know WHY you thought that your little wager was a good idea?!"

They both looked at each other. Spitfire spoke first. "Well, um....actually, I can't really even remember why we were arguing anymore, and I guess that, in the heat of the moment, we just kinda.....did that, without really thinking through any of the consequences."

"Yeah", Dash agreed. "It was a spur of the moment thing, and now we've actually signed the contract in our own blood, so it is official."

"Who....even NOTARIZED something like that?!"

"Um, well....we kinda got it notarized BEFORE we signed it. Dash got it from an official at Ponyville town Hall, and we then sighed it, in the presence of multiple witnesses, IN OUR OWN BLOOD, and it was notarized by an official in Cloudsdale. Of course, we didn't tell the full story of what he was notarizing, but he didn't really ask any questions. All he said was 'Signed in blood, and needing notarization eh? Hmm, well, I've seen weirder things than this!' Nevertheless, he notarized it, then we raced, Dash won, the contract was now valid, and now we arrive at the present moment."

I put my hands over my face. "And where exactly, pray tell IS this document?"

"It's at the city hall in Cloudsdale. I asked for it to be put into official writing, so most likely, it went into the archives."

"And with all of this supposedly 'legal red tape' that you both went through for this little dick-waving contest of yours, that had LIFE-CHANGING CONSEQUENCES, how....in the heck....did your PARENTS never find out about this?!"

They both looked at each other, and then back at me. Dash finally spoke up. "Um, well, we are both adult mares Stud, and we do have our own lives. We just did it without our parents finding out."

"And how, pray tell, were you ever going to explain this to them, when the time came?"

Spitfire sighed. "Hmm, that's the hard part. Neither of us had any ideas for that. Like we've both said, we never fully thought this through when we raced. Just now, with you asking these questions, is the full reality of what we've done really beginning to catch up to us! I mean, we thought it through after the fact, but with the Imperial War going on, it took a back seat. Now, thanks to you, the war may be coming to a close, and it'll be time to pay the piper."

I sighed. "For now, I say that we keep this under wraps, and discuss it in private once Dash and I get back to Ponyville."

Spitfire brightened up a bit. "Oh yeah, and when are you guys going to get back?"

"Eh, according to the plan, we strike the final Caribou stronghold tonight, eliminate the last holdouts, then the surrender is signed by General Stuggs, General Rodin, and hopefully Prince Dactyl, and then, once everything has been secured, we turn around for our 2 day trip home. If all goes according to the plan, we'll be home by Tuesday, July 31st, or Wednesday, August 1st at the latest."

She smirked. "Heh, that's good. I've been DYING to meet you in person! I almost got the chance to when you first arrived, but I never could catch you at just the right moment. Then, the Battle of Ponyville happened, and then you were on your way to war. Plus, you know that half of Equestria's going to be SWARMING to Ponyville to see you guys all come home, right?"

I sighed. "Yeah, I know! I wanted to meet you then too, but likewise, I just never got the chance. Ever since our arrival here, we and our exploits have been the ONLY things that Ponies can talk about! Crowd control will be a nightmare. Just make sure to get a good cloud above the station to sit on, and I'll see if I can spot you."

She laughed. "I won't be able to get a cloud Stud! All of the Wonderbolts will be there, as will the Princesses. We'll all be VIP's. We'll get our own area to be in close to the station platform. Plus, we'll be performing at the Victory Ball in Canterlot, whenever that happens."

"Wait, what? What, 'Victory Ball'?"

Spitfire looked at her notes. "The ball that will be thrown once the war is over. It'll be to celebrate our victory. Now that you've made that possible, you all might be honored guests!"

I shrugged. "I don't know about that, as I don't really do balls, (and the last ball that I went to ended with the Futas deciding to do a sneak attack on where we were in Topeka, KS!) but I'll see. It might be fun."

We talked about this for a little while longer, until I noticed the time. "Uh, oh, it's almost 1pm! Our operation could begin at any time, and I HAVE to go get ready! I'll talk to you again later Sitsy. Hopefully, the war will be over by then!"

She nodded. "Sure, now get back out there, and save the world Champ! And take good care of Dash!"

I nodded. "I will Spitsy, goodbye!"

"Bye Stud! And bye for now Dash!"

"Bye Spits!"

The call was then ended, and Dash finally went to take her shower, while I went to get dressed for battle again.

All while we passed through the remainder of Caribou territory, we were followed by the Equestrian battalions that were taking charge of the areas. Caribou, slaves, and others all lined the tracks, preparing to surrender to us when we passed through.

All over the place were white flags, and absolutely no resistance to speak of. Maybe a few angry protests here and there, but no real threats. First, the Caribou had 20% of their empire remaining, then 18%, then, 15%, 11%, and then, by the time that we reached maybe 2 miles away from Bryerton, the Caribou's only held the city, which constituted maybe 2%. 98% of the Caribou Empire was completely gone.

We tried to get close, but maybe 2 miles out, we discovered that the Bryerton defenders had dismantled the tracks! We brought our train to a stop at where the tracks had begun to be torn up, and knew that we would have to go on foot, paw, and hoof.

As quickly as we could, we surrounded the city, and made ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that there would be no escaping this time!

"This is it Danin!" Don told him on a video call. "Come on out, and surrender to us now! Your empire is FINISHED!!!! All you have left is the city of Bryerton, NOTHING ELSE!!!!

"No! Like I told you before Kid, I'm going down swinging!"

"And, how many are in there with you?"

"By my headcount, maybe 5,000 of my last remaining soldiers. The rest have already fled, and have surrendered. We also released all of our females, and other prisoners to you as well. We 5,000 are the last Caribou standing."

"You know that we're gonna have to come in there, and verify that, right Danin?"

"You come in here, and you DIE!!!!"

Don sighed. "Unfortunately, I CANNOT just take your word for it Danin! We have to make sure that all of your slaves, POW's, and other prisoners, are FREE!!!"

This call however, was just Don was just stalling for time. Thanks to a few Diamond Dog defectors who agreed to help us, we tunneled underneath the city in record time, and once we popped up inside, we went on a stealth-ops mission. From one end of the city to the other, we scoured around high and low for anyone who didn't belong there. In the end, we did uncover 5 slaves, 11 POW's, and maybe a few other political prisoners as well. That was it. We also hid explosives for the city's final destruction.

"These must have been slaves of the highest value, in addition to the worst POW's, and political prisoners!" I muttered. "Well, at any rate though, they're safe now, and we can get out of here!"

We all then got back down the tunnels, and the Diamond Dogs collapsed them behind us. It was as if those tunnels were never there.

"Ok, Don, we're clear! We've got all of the remaining prisoners, maybe 19 Caribou, and Ponies in total, we've set all of the blasting charges, and now we're back outside!"

"Roger that Leopard! And was Danin still there?"

"Yep, I saw him with my own eyes! Sergeant Dothan was there too."

"Um, who's Sergeant Dothan again?"

"Oh, he was the Caribou sergeant who led the first raid on the train in Ponyville, and he was there at the Battle of Ponyville. I'm surprised that you forgot him so easily, ESPECIALLY after you had him take that rude, and vulgar letter to Overlord Zakia!"

"Oh yeah! NOW I remember! Yeah, a real nasty fellow! But anyway, how many enemy soldiers were in there?"

"Well, by our numbers, MAYBE 1,000-2,000 if we were feeling generous. Danin is literally at the end of his rope! He's now got nowhere else to run, and we're preparing to destroy him for the last time!"

"Roger that Leopard, just get back to the train! The Princesses just told me that this last bit is going to be live on the air, so once again, watch your mouth!"

"Are we live right now?"

"Yes!"

"Ok, roger that Don, we're heading back now!"

Once the prisoners were secured, I went outside until I was standing next to the train. Don then turned the cameras towards Bryerton. I was carrying a police baton in my hand.

"Hey Stud, I thought that we were going to nuke the city!"

I half-turned to her. "We were, but then Don came up with a better idea. For the destruction of all of Bryerton, we will need the entire orchestra for this one!"

Dash looked all around. "Wait, what orchestra? I don't see any instruments!"

"And you won't." I then turned towards the camera closest to me. "And now, I dedicate this concerto to all of those who have lost their lives in this god-awful war. Both Human and Pony alike who gave the ultimate sacrifice, this one's for you!"

I then tapped my baton on a drain pipe close to me. "First, the strings...." I muttered. Dash looked at me like I was losing my mind. "And then the brass....."

Dash then stiffened. From the speakers on the train, she began to hear music.

https://m.

"Wait, I hear it!" The unmistakable sounds of the "1812 Overture" began to play. "How did you guys even do all of this?"

I smirked. "You think that's cool Dash, wait for it! Here comes the crescendo!"

*BOOM!!!!*

With that, in perfect time to the music, the entire city began to blow itself apart! We'd planted all of the explosives in just the right spots, for this PERFECT form of destruction. However, we did slightly miscalculate how far some of the debris was going to be thrown. Some of our soldiers had to run for cover, and some pieces even bounced off of the train itself!

"IT'S BEAUTIFUL, AIN'T IT DAHSHIE!?!?!" I laughed. Dash just put her hands over her mouth.

All across the rest of Equestria, this was all being played out live on television. Even Stuggs and Rodin saw it, and it scared both of them. I was also hit with a chunk of flying debris, which thankfully, (since I was wearing my helmet) only served to knock me unconscious. I was then picked up, and dragged away to the train's medical coach.

A number of hours later, I woke up in my bed. Dash was by my side, as was Aurora.

"Ouch, oh, my head.....what happened?"

"Oh stud!" Dash hugged me. "You scared me back there. You got hit in the helmet with a chunk of debris, and got knocked out. DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN!!!"

I rubbed my sore head. "Well, I didn't do that on purpose, if that's what you're implying!" I then looked outside. I saw that the sun was setting. I also felt that the train was moving. "Oh, so I take it that we're on our way back to Donneth now?"

She nodded. "Yeah, we're on our way back. Major Don said that we would spend the night in Donneth, and then head back on our way again tomorrow. Bryerton is now eliminated, and everypony inside with it!"

I lay back on my bed. "So that means that aside from the formalities, and of course, the final signing of the surrender forms, the war is finally over!"

Dash looked down at me with tears in her eyes. "Yes Stud, it's all over! Once we're back in Donneth, we'll spend the night, and then tomorrow morning, all of the meetings for the surrender will take place. And then, once everything's done, we're on our way home again!"

I sighed. "So then, let the victory celebrations begin!"

Dash smirked a bit at me. "And do you know what that means Stud?"

I knew what the look on her face meant. "Um, I'm gonna guess victory sex?"

She jumped into my arms. "And you'd be right!" she whispered as she nipped my neck gently.

"Ok, I'll just give you two some alone time!" Aurora then left the room, and kicked the door shut behind herself. "I'll be back when you two are asleep!" She then left to go and talk to Amanda again for a while. She was also kind enough, (thanks to her battle-suit) to hang the "Do Not Disturb!" sign on my door!

"Thanks Aurora!"

"You're welcome Master!"

Dash and I then settled in to enjoy ourselves for the night.

Yes, it's official now. Just in case I haven't implied it enough already,

💞💓Leopard X Rainbow Dash💓💞

Author's Note

And, that was chapter 27. I know that I promise a "nuclear holocaust", but yet, after thinking it over, I decided to go with a more, eh, "Classy" option for the final destruction of the Caribou!

Also, yes, I FINALLY revealed what Captain Leopard's real name is! Campbell, the true name, for our favorite Captain!

So now it's just down to Stuggs, Rodin, and Dactyl. Will Stuggs be able to convince the other 2 to sign the terms of surrender? And when they do, what will happen to all of them? In fact, what'll happen to ALL of the war prisoners that we've manage to capture? Well, most likely, they'll stand trial, but what'll happen to them after that?

Also, how will the victory celebrations go? Will they be big? What will the crowds be like when we return to Ponyville? And, how will this story end? Well, you know the drill! Stay tuned, and I'll tell you!

And, as always comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 28! (Or Chapter 27.5 if you read the "EXPLICIT!!!" ones!) There's only 3 more chapters after this one, 1 "EXPLICIT!!!" chapter, 1 regular chapter, and the epilogue, so the end is in sight!

ScarFox out for now!

Also, more questions that I'd like you to answer. Is Danin really dead, or do we just THINK that he is? What about Sombra? Will he ever return? And what ever happened to Empress Demetria, and her people escaping from Las Vegas way back in Chapter 4? Are any of them still alive, and if so, will they return? And finally, how will "Battleship Express" end? I'd like to hear from YOU GUYS!!!

Chapter 27.5 (WARNING, EXPLICIT!!!!!)

For a while, all Dash and I did was just lay there and cuddle. We had been apart for so long that it just felt so good to be together again.

"Hmm, I missed you so much Stud!" Dash whispered.

"Not as much as I missed you Dashie. I was the guy who had to help tear apart not one, but TWO whole empires to get to you!"

Dash giggled a bit. "Yeah, but not only did you save me, but also you, and the rest of the Humans, and the Equestrian soldiers that went with you did something that previously just seemed to be a fleeting dream. You actually not only defeated, but you CRUSHED the Imperial Alliance! Now, the Zebra and the Caribou Empires are no more! It was all thanks to you Humans. We needed you, and in our hour of greatest need, you came!"

I sighed. "Yeah, but we really didn't have too much of a choice in the matter! We were retreating from a nuclear hell, and suddenly, out in front of us, there appeared a black mass. We went through it, and it ejected us close to the Everfree Forest. By coming here, WE were saved from Death!"

"So, we needed you, you needed us, and a pair of crossed lay-lines later, here we are!"

"Yeah, here we are. On the train again, together, a Pony mare, and a Human-Bat-Pony hybrid."

Dash nodded, but then she moved to get up from my bed. "Yeah, so if you don't mind, I'm gonna go slip into something a bit more 'comfortable' before we begin!" Dash then got up, and went over to my bathroom. She then shut the door.

In the meantime, I removed my shirt, pants, boots, and socks. I was sitting on my bed in just my boxers, although I also had my wings wrapped around myself as well.

"I wonder what's she's doing in there." I thought.

I didn't have too long to wait. When Dash reemerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, the only thing that she was wearing was a towel. She had it wrapped around herself, and was leaning against the door frame of the bathroom.

"You like?" She purred.

I nodded. "Yeah, I like!"

She then sauntered up to me, before playfully rubbing her tail in my face. "I was kinda wonderin' Stud, would ya MAYBE give me a little massage? I've been DYING for one for a while! I didn't get a chance to ask you last time that we were together, so could ya?"

I gulped a bit. "Um,......I really don't know HOW to Dash! I'm not a masseuse!"

Dash just lay down on my bed anyway. "Well, I brought some lotion, so couldn't you at least try? I mean, you can figure it out, right?"

I shrugged. "I guess that I could give it a try." I began to move towards her, but Dash pushed me away with her back hooves.

"Ah, ah ah! Remember Stud, rule number 1 of massages between couples, both parties are ALWAYS naked!"

I sighed, but I loved Dash dearly, (and I was horny too!) so I complied. After pulling off my boxers, I tossed them over my desk chair, before turning my attention back to Dash.

"Um, before I start, where's the lotion that you were talking about?"

"It's in my duffel bag Stud. Right outside pocket."

"Ok." I went over, and retrieved the lotion. After bringing it back over to the bed, I looked at Dash. "So, um, where do you want me to start?"

"Oh, just start with my shoulders Stud, and work your way down." Dash then sighed as she rolled over onto her stomach.

"Um, ok. Well, I am going to have to remove your towel, so, um, d-do you mind?"

I heard her snicker. "What? Are you REALLY asking me that?!"

"Hey, I'm just asking for consent here! One can never be too sure anymore!"

Dash laughed. "Stud, you could grab me by the pussy right now, and I honestly wouldn't even give a shit! I belong to you now Stud, you're MY Alpha Male. Whatever you say goes."

At the back of my mind, I felt a twinge of something. For a number of years prior to WW3, I kept hearing stories about women who were forever enraptured by superior "Alpha males". It never made too much sense, heck I thought that it was just someone's fetish, but now? Let's just say that it was now bringing back some rather odd memories!

I shrugged. "Sure. Just hold on, I'm going to give you pleasure like nothing you've ever felt!" ("And I'm officially losing my mind as well!" I thought "Now I'M buying into this 'Alpha Male' stuff too!")

Dash just purred in response. After going over to the bed, I gently took hold of the towel that Dash was wearing, and unwrapped her.

"Ngh!" Dash moaned. "I fell like I'm in heat Stud, even though I'm not!"

I looked down, and indeed, her nethers were pretty gooey. "I'll get to your marehood in a minute Sweetheart", I said softly. "Firstly though, I have some other things in mind!" I then put some of the lotion onto my hands, and began to massage Dash with it.

I started on her shoulders, and began to work my way down. All while I did, Dash purred, moaned, cooed, and even squirmed a bit. "Nyah. Th-that feels so good Stud!" She cooed gently.

I didn't say anything, but I did growl softly in response. It was not a growl of anger, but rather, a growl of pleasure.

When I got to Dash's wings, I gently unfurled them, and began to preen them for her. Her feathers were actually pretty soft. I'd felt feathers before back on Earth, but I can tell you that NONE of them can even come close to comparing to a Pegasus's feathers.

"Wow Dash, your wings are really soft."

"Ngh, t-thanks Stud. You're making me feel SO good!"

I leaned down and kissed the back of her neck gently. "Well, I'm glad that you're enjoying yourself Dashie."

"Yeah, and it's too bad that I just finished my period Stud. If I hadn't, then maybe we could have made those foals that we've always wanted!"

I sighed. "Truth be told Dash, I want a family more than anything in the world. However, I still think that I'm sterile, thanks to the Tower 9 Nuclear Incident. However, if the Bat-Pony treatment that made my like this fixed that, then sure, we'll try for a foal. Once we're married at least."

Dash nodded. "Sure, and I guess that we'll never truly know if you aren't sterile until we try for a foal. I can wait Stud. Although, if you still wanna f@#k me like a bitch in heat in the meantime, feel free to!"

"I'll get to that when I'm good and ready. In the meantime though, I still want to make you feel good as well."

"Mmm, take your time Stud."

"I plan to.", I whisper softly. I then get back to work.

Eventually, I finish up Dash's wings, and I work my way down the rest of her back. Still to this day, I have yet to find a comparison to anything for how soft Pony fur is. There's just nothing that can compare to it.

"Mmm, you're fur is so soft Dash." I cooed softly.

"Yeah, I know Stud, I'm a real softie, in more ways than one!"

"Yeah? But you're MY softie now!"

"Yep, I sure am Stud! Bought and paid for with your own sweat and blood!" Dash then realized what she said, and how badly a mind with PTSD could misinterpret it. "Oh gosh! I'm sorry Stud, I REALLY need to rephrase that! What I meant to say was...." Dash's mind was working at a million miles per hour, "That you've earned me. You love me, and I love you back. We were meant to be Stud."

I sighed. "Yeah, I know what you mean Dash. But I digress, before my PTSD kicks in again, let's just keep going, shall we?"

I then reached her butt. Just like the rest of her, it was soft, although it was also toned, and slightly muscular as well. I knew that Dash was athletic, and that because she was a Wonderbolt, she had to work out on a regular basis.

"Wow Dash, you're really toned back here. You're butt feels amazing!" ("And the train bound for "I just f@#ked up again", has officially left the station!")

Instead of being angry though, or laughing at me, Dash just sighed. "Yeah, I know Stud. I'm a Wonderbolt, so we do work out a lot. Plus, I've always been pretty athletic my whole life, so I've always been like this. It got a little bit more difficult when my chest filled out, but I still make it work!"

It was then that I realized that Dash was just as awkward and uncoordinated as I was! I always used to say, "It would take someone as messed up as me to love me", but then Ell came along, and then Carla, and then Lilly, and now Dash. All of them were just as messed up as I was, so that made us so good together.

"Dash, you're perfect just the way that you are. And that's why I love you. You don't need makeup, ever, as your natural beauty is enough. I could have never asked for a more perfect girl, or I guess 'mare' in this case!"

Dash blushed. "Aww, thanks Stud! And you're the sweetest, most awesome, handsomest, all around greatest guy that I've ever known! Well, I did date Soarin for a little while, and although I thought that he was pretty cool, he's not like you. I don't know if he'd be willing to tear apart an empire to save me. In fact, he was mostly all talk, and no real action."

"Ha, it's official, I'm now WAY COOLER than Soarin!" I thought. Out loud, I said, "Well, I don't know about that, but I can say that I'm still really glad that you're safe now, and that I DON'T have to tear apart another empire to save you!"

Dash nodded. "Yeah, but can we get to the good stuff now? I'm about to start caterwauling for you to just straight up f@#k me! Please Stud, I NEED this!!! Help your marefriend out, will you?!"

I sighed. "I would, but if I did it all at once, it would probably make you pass out! Seriously Dash, I'm literally not joking right now. Lilly wasn't quite ready one time, and she literally passed out while we rutted. I honestly thought that she'd just had a heart attack or something!"

Dash just moaned really loud. "I kinda WANT to pass out Stud!"

"Um, are you sure that...."

Dash then made a noise that I had never heard her make before. It was high-pitched, and clearly vocal, and it sounded like a cross between a cat's meow that was strained, and a growl.

"Jeezums!! What in the hell was that?!"

DELCI then piped up. "Um, Sir, you need to give Dash what she wants, RIGHT NOW!!! She is at the point of going psychotic, and even though she's not in heat right now, her body thinks that she is! This may be due to something that happened to her during her time in the Caribou Empire, but I'm not certain. But there's no risk of a pregnancy, since she just finished her cycle, so please Master, just f@#k her!"

I knew that what DELCI had said was the truth. However, I didn't want to go all of the way just yet. What I did do though, was I gently spread Dash's legs, before putting my sort-of muzzle/mouth onto her dripping wet snatch.

Dash moaned in response. "Oh yeah, taste the rainbow Stud!" she moaned.

I kept licking, while Dash began to buck her hips back to meet me. Before long, we'd worked ourselves into a rhythm. I'd lick and push forwards, she'd moan and push back. Soon, Dash was at the point of orgasm.

"Oh, S-stud.....I'm g-gonna......"

"Are you gonna have an orgasm? Come on, cum for me Baby!" I then pushed my tongue as far into Dash as I could go.

The result was almost like I had chomped an entire pack of Fruit Gushers all at once. It was like a pipe had burst inside of Dash, and I was hit by a huge wave of her juices.

"OUGH!!!!" Dash cried. (We made very few attempts to be quiet that night. We really just let ourselves go.)

She then slumped forwards onto my bed. "Oh....Celestia Stud.....that was, f@#kin' amazing! You're so, SO good at this!"

"Mmm, thanks Dash. Now then, what position do you want to be in?"

Dash then rose up onto her hands and knees, before swishing her rainbow-colored tail to the side. "L-like this Stud, I wanna do it Doggy!"

I looked at her. "Um, are you sure?"

She looked back at me with more than a little lust-craze in her magenta eyes. "YES!!! Do I have to beg for it?! Just F@#K me already! F@#k me like the dirty little bitch-mare that I am! Make me yours Stud, BREED ME!!!"

I looked down at myself. I was fully out of my sheath, and rock hard. My knot was visible as well. "Ok, but quick word of warning Dash. I'm bigger down below than when we last had sex, so I am going to be a little bit careful. I also still have my knot, so that's going to be a factor as well. HOWEVER!!!" I didn't want Dash to hurt herself, or me! "I'm going to just get this done, and done right!"

I then quickly lined up with Dash, and after poking her entrance a bit, I pushed into her.

For the longest time, all that was heard was the sound of Dash moaning, cooing, and crying out in pleasure, as well as me grunting, and of course, the wet sounds of us having sex.

We'd worked ourselves into a rhythm where I'd push in, and Dash would push back. We were literally going at it like a pair of wild animals. And maybe we WERE wild animals!

Also, while we were rutting, I also reached around, and gently massaged her breasts and belly. Dash was in absolute bliss, and even had her tongue hanging out of her mouth as well.

"Ah, ah.....just wait......until Spits gets a load of this! She'll......fall in love with you in a....heartbeat!"

For the longest time, we were just able to keep rutting. My stamina was even greater as a Human-Bat-Pony hybrid, than it had been when I was a Human-wolf. I didn't understand it, but it was AMAZING! I felt like I could go on forever.

Eventually though, I did feel myself getting close. "Eh, D-Dash, I'm g-getting close!"

"Y-yeah, I k-know Stud, I can......feel it!"

"Do you, want it inside?"

"Knot and all baby!"

I shrugged, and with some of the last of my energy, I slipped my knot inside, before pumping her full of a torrent of my foal-batter. I came even more than I could before.

(Once again, a swarm of my swimmers were looking for an egg, but alas, they couldn't find one. Life was really starting to get pissed off at me. "Ok Leopard, you've won this round as well, but NEXT TIME, you won't be so lucky! I'll get you both next time, JUST YOU WAIT!!!! It won't be just one foal either Rainbow Dash, it'll be a MULTIPLE BIRTH!!!! I can wait, I've got all of the time in the world, but come your next cycle, YOUCH!!!! You're both gonna help breed the next level of Pony evolution into existence! Soon, you two, very soon!")

Once I was done, unlike before, I was able to get my knot out of Dash, as it deflated rather quickly. Before long, my entire member was back into its sheath. Dash and I then collapsed into a sweaty heap on my bed. After cleaning ourselves up as best we could, I then pulled the covers over us, and we both drifted off to sleep in each other's warm embrace. We both knew that we were going to have to take some SERIOUS showers in the morning!

"Goodnight Dash", I whispered to her after kissing her.

"Mmm, goodnight Stud. Tonight was, absolute heaven for me. It's been FAR too long. Now I'm NEVER going to leave your side again! Whenever you do decide to pop the question, I'm going to say yes without the slightest hesitation!"

I hugged her again. "Mmm, I know Dash. And I won't ever ask you to leave my side at all either! I foresee us having a long life together. We'll be very happy."

Dash sighed. "Yeah, I know Stud", She yawned sleepily, "But anyway, I need some sleep, as I know that you do too. So goodnight, and I love you Stud."

I sighed happily. "Yeah, I know Dash, and not as much as I love you!"

We both then fell asleep on that note, dreaming happily of what was to come for us in the near future.

Yes, it's official now. Just in case I haven't implied it enough already,

💞💓Leopard X Rainbow Dash💓💞

https://m.

Author's Note

And there it was, Chapter 27.5. This was it, the last "EXPLICIT!!!" Chapter in "Battleship Express". The next one of these won't be until the sequel. There's literally only 1 more chapter, as well as the epilogue left in this story. It's been a long month-and 3/4 since I started writing, but I know that I've written a story that all of you enjoy.

As always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all again in Chapter 28!

ScarFox out for now!

Chapter 28: Final Surrender, Headin' Home, Joyous Celebrations

It was horrible, it was terrifying, and it wouldn't end.

"N-no, GET BACK!!! GET AWAY FROM HER!!!! DASH, NOOOOO!!!!"

Then, I woke up screaming. "GWAAAAAHHH!!!!!!" I was sweating profusely, and I was almost white from sheer fear. My hands were also shaking beyond belief.

"Oh, thank God, it was just a dream!!!"

Next to me, Dash suddenly sat bolt-upright in bed. "Stud, what is it, what's wrong?" Then she reached over, and turned on the lamp next to my bed. When she did, she could only stare in absolute shock.

Where next to her had been her handsome Stud, now was a frightened, terrified, sweaty, shaken, trembling, close to tears, Human-Bat-Pony hybrid.

"Oh Dash, thank God you're still here!!!" I then held her tightly, and broke down crying.

It was then that the full realization of what had just happened hit Dash squarely in the face. She then wrapped her arms and wings around me, and hugged back.

"Shh, it's ok Stud, it was just a nightmare. It wasn't real. I'm right here, hugging you. I'm safe Stud, nothing's going to happen. I have you to protect me."

"Dash, it was AWFUL!!!!"

"Do you, want to talk about it Stud?" Glancing over at the clock, Dash saw that it was almost 3am.

I didn't answer right away. I just kept hugging my marefriend; the same marefriend that I had risked everything to save from 2 evil dictators.

"Or, you can just keep hugging me Stud, and I can comfort you. I really don't mind either way, as you very clearly need support right now, and I'm here to provide it."

I sighed a bit. "T-th-thanks Dash", I said softly, "I knew that I made the right choice when I chose you. You're as loyal as any."

"Well, I kinda AM the Element of Loyalty, so wouldn't it make sense?"

"Yeah, I guess that it kinda would." By this point, I let go of Dash, although I did sit facing her on the bed, holding her hands in my own. (And yes, we're both still naked from earlier. Nothing sexual though, just some casual nudity.)

"Do you, want to talk about it Stud?"

I shook my head. "No! It's enough to say that this time around, I didn't make it to you in time....." I trailed off. "I need to use the bathroom." I then got up shakily, and went over to my bathroom.

While I was gone, Dash sat on m bed, trying to figure out how to help me calm down, as I was still close to the breaking point. She'd heard from others about the nightmares that oftentimes resulted from PTSD, but up until that moment, she'd never realized just how bad they could be.

"Poor Stud", She said softly. "Poor, poor Stud." Suddenly though, she got an idea of how to help me relax.

When I returned from the bathroom a few moments later, Dash was sitting on the edge of my bed with something behind her back.

"What's that Dash?"

She pulled out my hairbrush. "I know that this may be a bit, eh sudden, but um....c-can I brush your mane for you?"

I nodded slowly. "Sure, if you want to." I then went over to the bed, and sat down on the edge of it. Dash sat directly behind me, and began to brush my mane slowly.

"This.....is actually pretty sweet of you Dash", I said softly, "I really needed this."

Dash kissed my neck gently. "I know Stud. And it's my job, as your marefriend-soon-to-be-wife, to help you out."

"Which I don't even deserve. No seriously Dash, I do NOT deserve you! 2 of my other wives I was only married to for less than a year, and then there was Carla....." I suddenly broke off.

"Wait, two of your other wives?! I thought that you only married Lilly!"

I sighed. "I really DO NOT like talking about this, but before Lilly, I was married to a girl named Ell. We were married for almost a year, and we had 2 kids. None of them survived WW4. Then, along came Carla. We were married for less than a day, before......"I stopped. "I....REALLY, do not like to talk about her, at all! It's just......too painful. Then came my 3rd wife, Lilly. We were.....married the night before the Battleship Express left for war, and less than a year later, she was gone."

Dash had heard the story about Lilly's death, and how tragic it was for me. She could see that I was about to break down crying from being reminded that I was a widower 3-times over, so she quickly changed the subject.

"I'm.....really sorry to hear about that Stud. However, to change the subject, did you know that you're eyes glow in the dark?"

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah. When you woke up screaming, at first, all I could see were 2 glowing blue eyes in the dim lighting in here. Is...that a Bat-Pony thing?"

I nodded. "It'd have to be."

"Also, can you scree like a Bat-pony? And if you bit me, would I turn into a Bat-Pony too?"

I nodded. "Yes, I can scree, although, it IS 3am, so I don't think that I should do that right now. Also, I don't think so. However, I did kinda nip you a bunch on your neck while we had sex, so I certainly hope not!"

Dash then felt her neck. Sure enough, there were a number of nips. "Wow, so you like to bite during sex. Must be a Bat-Pony thing. Also, your wings are still shaped like the wings of a Pegasus instead Bat-Pony, and why are they still feathered?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I was wondering the same thing myself. Maybe it's because of the 45% Bat-Pony genetics, instead of 50%, but I don't know. And neither does anyone else for that matter."

Dash then kissed the back of my neck gently. "Well, even though you are now almost half Bat-pony, I still love you just the same. Hopefully, our kids will inherit some of your looks as well."

I nodded. "Well, according to Twilight, that's actually a pretty high possibility. According to her, when the day comes when Humans and Mares start having kids together, it could easily begin the next stages in our evolution. She said more, but I honestly had no clue what the heck she was talking about!"

Dash laughed. "Yeah, well, that's typical Twilight for you! She's always been an egghead. She loves her books, and is ready at a moment's notice to offer information about literally ANYTHING! Except for you Humans though, she still can't wrap her egghead head around you guys, but then again, none of us really can. You're the 'Impossible Species', nobody can really understand you guys. At least, not yet."

By this point, Dash had finished brushing my hair/mane, as well as my tail, and then, she went to work on my wings. I even felt her begin to gently suck on them!

"H-hey! What are you, d-doing?"

She giggled a bit. "I'm just helping you preen your wings Stud. It's always easier when you let a partner do it."

I nodded. "Sure Dash, just be gentle; my wings are VERY sensitive!"

She smirked. "Yeah, I know Stud. All Peagsai are wing-sensitive. It's just one of our sweet-spots."

Dash then poked my wings in a certain spot. "N-nyah!" I yelped a bit. My wings also shot out to their fullest extent.

Dash had to cover her mouth to keep from having a giggle-fit. "Bwah, ha, ha, ha! I KNEW IT!!!! You ARE sensitive there, which means that you are at least part Pegasus! And your reaction? PRICELESS!!!!"

I hit her playfully in the shoulder. "H-hey stop it you dork, it's not funny!" I pouted a bit.

Dash just wrapped her arms around me, and continued to nuzzle me gently. "Aww, you don't mean that, you Big Goof!"

I just growled a bit in response. I knew that Dash was just messing with me, but I didn't want her to think that I was going soft. "Yeah, I kinda DO mean that Dash, it's just.....well, it'c-complicated."

She nodded. "Yeah, I know Stud. Although, now that I'm done preening your wings, do you.....um, w-want a back massage?"

I nodded slowly. "Sure, if it would make you feel any better." I then lay down on the bed, with my head on my pillow. Dash then sat on by lower back, and began to rub me gently.

"Wow, you really do have leopard spots! The skin on your back is fleshy, and they stand out as black splotches of fur. Is that why you were called 'Leopard'?"

I nodded. "Yep, the very same reason. Back during Project Sterling, the amount of fur that I was supposed to have was jacked up, and I ended up with splotches of black fur on my back. Back then, I was still called 'Scar', due to the large scar near my left eye. However, during the Second Cold War, my adoptive Mom, Demetria, renamed me 'Leopard', as the fur pattern resemble the spots of an Amur Leopard, and I've stuck with that name ever since."

Dash nodded. "Yeah, I guess that that makes sense." She kept rubbing my back and arms. "Wow, you have some nice muscles Stud, must be from all of those world wars. Heh, with you by my side, Zephyr will NEVER bother me again!"

"Hmm? Who's Zephyr? You mean Fluttershy's brother?"

"Um, yeah, pretty much. He just would not leave me alone! Soarin finally chased him away from Wonderbolt Academy, but he's still a bit of a pain."

I shrugged. "Well, if I ever catch him bothering you, he wouldn't be walking away from my confronting him; he'd be leaving on a stretcher!"

Dash shrugged. "Meh, I don't really care, just as long as he leaves me alone! You're my husband-to-be, so he'll just have to find another mare!" Dash then continued her massage.

Eventually, she did press her breasts into my back, causing me to purr. "Mmm, wow, for a tough, no-nonsense soldier like you Stud, you sure are a softie!"

"Nyah, it's all because of you, you Dork!" I muttered.

Dash giggled a bit. "Yeah, I know. And I'm glad that we're together Stud. We're just so perfect. Our chemistry really matches up well, and I see a long life for us together. Just think, by the end of the summer, I'll be Mrs. Rainbow Dash, wife of Captain Leopard!"

"Nyah!" I said in response.

"What does that noise even mean Stud?"

I sighed. "It's a noise of pleasure. 'Nyah' is just our way of showing happy, relaxed contentment."

"So, you're really happy, relaxed, and content around me?"

I purred in response. "Nyah!"

Dash giggled. "Well then, 'Nyah' to you too Stud!"

I just sighed in response. Eventually, Dash reached over, and turned off the lights. Then, after pulling the covers back over us, She wrapped her arms around me again, and just continued to lie there on my back.

"Goodnight Stud", She whispered gently, "I love you, and I'll never let you go. You proved your love to me, so now I'll be your loyal wife until death do us part."

"Goodnight Dash. And I love you too, more than you can possibly imagine. You were there for me in my hour of greatest need, and I tore 2 empires apart to save you, and I'll do the same again if I have to. You're my whole world now."

Dash kissed my neck gently. "I know Stud. Now then, just sleep, and if any more nightmares happen, I'll just be right here to help you through them."

I purred gently in response, and with the soft sounds of Dash sleeping on top of me, I then fell asleep again as well.

All throughout that night, Stuggs was still working to convince Rodin to sign the surrender terms. Stuggs was sitting next to Rodin's bed in the makeshift hospital, looking down at his old friend. Rodin's arms were tied to the bed with restraints, and even Stuggs himself was in a straight jacket.

"Why won't you do it Rodin?"

"Because, what's keeping them from just killing us when they're done with us? Even if we sign, we'll still be spending the rest of our lives behind bars! What's the point in that? If I continue holding out, maybe they'll just flat out kill me."

Stuggs sighed. "They won't do that Rodin. They could have killed us already, and I don't think that it's as bad as you think. If you ask me, we'll be spending time behind bars to do penance for our crimes of not going AGAINST what Danin told us, and ending this war sooner. Plus, if they even let Dactyl live, I know that they'll let us live as well. Just sign it Rodin, and be done with it. I can't live with this anymore, I want to make things right again!"

Rodin sighed. He then looked down at his legs. Thanks to surgery, he was able to move them again, albeit very weakly. He still wasn't able to walk, but most likely, he owed his life to the Humans. Plus, what Stuggs had said earlier really got to him. Danin really HAD left them both to die while he ran to save his own sorry ass. Now he was dead, and that left him, Dactyl, and Stuggs, as the highest ranking Caribou left.

"I know that you're right Stuggs. I just.....wish that we could talk to Dactyl about this, to see what he would say."

"You.....can" A weak voice next to Rodin said.

Rodin turned his head, and to his shock, Dactyl was lying in the bed next to him! Even though the light was dim, Rodin could see that Dactyl was in pretty bad shape. His entire torso was covered in bandages and stitches, and his arms were restrained as well.

"My Prince! So you do indeed still live."

"Yeah....for now at least. I'm not out of the woods yet, but I'm well on my way. And, as the current leader of the Caribou, I order you, General Rodin, to sign the terms of surrender. Stuggs is going to do it, as am I. We've suffered enough because of this war, and I for one do NOT want to suffer anymore!"

Rodin sighed. He knew what was right, and he knew that Danin hated him. He also wanted to hurt Danin even more for what he had done. Finally, he said, "Yeah, I can see you guy's points. Even though we'll still be in serious trouble, I'll sign the surrender terms."

"You will?" Stuggs asked.

Rodin nodded. "Yes. When the sun rises today, we will sign the terms of surrender to Equestria."

They all talked about this for a while longer, until the sun began to rise.

Sure enough, the next morning, Saturday, July 28th, 2029, myself, Don, Jim, and all of the other officers who had signed the war declaration were summoned to the room where Stuggs, Rodin, and Dactyl were, while Dash, Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie, Cole, Dan, Missy, and others waited close by. The Princesses were also present via video call, and the whole affair was also being filmed for live broadcast.

"So, you wish to surrender?" Celestia asked them.

Dactyl nodded. "Yes, Princess Celestia, we do. My people have suffered enough because of this war. I do not want them to have to suffer anymore. I will sign the surrender document, as will General Stuggs, and General Rodin."

Celestia nodded slowly. "Yes, and thank you, Prince Dactyl. You have done your people a great service."

"Well, for what it's worth Princesses, you're welcome."

Celestia, Luna, and Cadence all then signed the surrender document. Celestia then teleported it to us. The first to sign it were the Human officers.

"Today, this war finally ends," I said softly as I signed the document.

Then, after we were done, Don took the document over to the 3 Caribou. "Just sign it in the 3 places on the bottom, and then we can be done with this."

Dactyl read the document. "For the complete, and total surrender of the Caribou Empire to the Land of Equestria, as also witnessed by the Humans from Earth." He then looked over at the princesses. "And if I may ask, what will happen to us after we've surrendered, Princess Celestia?"

"You will be held in Donneth under 24 hour guard until your injuries have healed. Then, you and others who have been captured and are of high-value will be taken to Equestria, where you will stand trial. The courts will decide your fates, however, since you have been cooperating with us, maybe the courts will be slightly more lenient on you."

Dactyl sighed. "Even if it means my own death, my people shouldn't have to suffer because of our own idiocy." Dactyl them signed the document. He then handed it to Stuggs, who signed it, and in turn, handed it to Rodin.

Rodin sighed. "May the courts have mercy upon us, for Death will have none." He muttered as he signed.

Once the document was signed, it was taken so that copies of it could be made.

Celestia then turned to the camera. "So there you have it. Let it be known that this day, Saturday, July 28th, 2029, after fighting for 3 years, the Imperial War is finally over! We have prevailed, thanks to the Humans, and their amazing war train! It was their fighting spirit, that helped us carry the day, as we could not have done it without them! They are heroes! Now, we can finally rebuild what we've lost, and move past this war, and into a time of peace!"

All across Equestria, celebrations were breaking out in the streets. Fireworks went off, there was loud cheering, whistling, and shouts of victory. The horrid Imperial War was finally over, and the Caribou Empire, as well as the Zebra Empire, were no more. Equestria had been saved, and they owed it all to 216 Humans, a Human battalion, their war train, and their supply train. They had given them the ability to fight back, and to put the enemy to flight. They had shown them that their enemies were NOT invincible, and could be killed. They had given them hope, and that hope helped them win the war.

Back in Donneth, the time had come for us to finally begin our trek home. After we left the hospital, and began to walk back to the train, DELCI decided to play another tape to show the mood that we were all feeling.

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Don chuckled a bit. "Yeah, thanks for that DELCI, I think that you just captured the mood that we're all feeling right now!"

"You're welcome Boss!"

As I was walking, Aurora was trotting by my side, and Dash was holding my hand. I then thought of something.

"Hey Dash?"

"Yeah Stud?"

"I just thought of something. One day, Aurora and Tank will be living under the same roof. How do you think that that will go down?"

Aurora paused. "Huh? Who's Tank?"

Dash looked at her. "Oh, Tank is my pet tortoise. And to answer your question Stud, I think that it might work, assuming of course that Aurora didn't try to EAT him!" She glared at Aurora.

Aurora looked deeply offended. "What, EAT my Master's wife's pet? NEVER!!! Plus, tortoises taste NASTY!!! I tried to eat one once, and it almost killed me!"

"She's telling the truth Dash; that was a scary day. I honestly thought that Aurora was going to die. Turns out, the tortoise was poisoned with radiation. Aurora did live, but the scars are still there."

Aurora then rolled over, revealing the traces of where the stitches used to be.

Dash looked sad. "Wow, so it seems that your pets went through just as much trauma as you guys, if not more in some cases."

I nodded slowly. "Yeah. A lot of pets were rescued from the battlefield. Others were brought here by their respective soldiers, and still others, like Aurora, came to us, and were adopted. It's a real zoo on that train!"

Dash giggled a bit. "Yeah, I could bet Stud!"

We all then returned to the train.

It was decided that Joe would drive until we reached the Zebra Empire again, then I would take over until Appaloosa. Then, we would flip a coin for who got to drive the train to Ponyville. The plan was to reach Appaloosa on Monday night, and then head back to Ponyville on Tuesday.

All of us were extremely shocked at how weird it felt to not have to be on guard at all times. How we could move the train in broad daylight, and not have to worry about enemy patrols.

"It just feels so weird Dash, I've never seen this before. It's just been war, after war, after war for us, and now? Peace, victory, and most of all, long-term silence. It's well and truly bizarre."

"Yeah, I know how that feels Stud. For the past 3 years, with the Imperial War always raging, we always had to be on guard. Now though, the war is over, and we all have to adjust to life without it."

I already knew that it was going to be hard, but what nothing could prepare me for, was how hard it was actually going to be.

That night, we all reached Zebrica. We were met with cheers, as well as congratulations on our victory.

The next morning, which was Sunday, Father Charles performed his usual Sunday service for any who wanted to attend. I always attended when I could, so I attended that service as well. To my surprise though, Father Charles's sermon was all about pride, its dangers, and the values of humility.

"We must all take care Brothers and Sisters. As we have been shown in the past, we are NOT invincible! We can be destroyed just as easily as we destroyed our enemies. None of this victory was because of us. God granted us victory, and used us as tools to remove the Caribou and Zebras from power. We must all take the time to thank him for sparing our lives, as well as prayers for those who are no longer with us."

There was also a small memorial service for those who had fallen. In total, 489 Humans, and 1,679 Ponies were dead, and 91 Humans and 117 Ponies were still missing. They were all brave souls, every single one of them. They had given the ultimate sacrifice for the cause of Freedom, and for us, the names of the Human dead were added to the Memorial Wall, located in the same car as the PCC. Here were the names of all of the Battleship Express crew, and Battalion 4009 soldiers who had lost their lives in WW6, and now we added the 489 names from the Imperial War. It was a truly sad state of affairs.

Once the service was over, the trip to Appaloosa began. All of us from Secondary Crew were in the cab, and we were joined by Dash, as well as Applejack. Dash sat behind me, and Applejack sat behind Alex.

"Golly, there's so many controls here! How do y'all know what to do?"

I laughed. "We owe it all to Jim. He trained every single member of the train's crew. We owe it all to him."

"What's our current speed Stud?"

I looked over at my speedometer. "We're holding a steady 45mph Dash."

"And how fast can this train go?"

I shrugged. "Eh, according to the design blueprints, Big Boys can go 80mph, however, this was never tested. Fastest we've ever gone was maybe 70, and even then, it was only for a brief time."

Dash thought about that. "80mph. According to Shining Armor, the Crystal Express can go 96mph, and that's the fastest train in all of Equestria!"

"Well, if you're implying that we should race, I don't think that that's a good idea. Big Boys were made for hauling, not speed. What's the heaviest train ever pulled by an engine here in Equestria?"

Dash thought about that. "Um.....if I remember correctly from what Twilight told me, it was MAYBE a half-mile long."

"Heh, Big Boys can pull a 3 mile long train, up a 2% mountain grade, with EASE! According to the designers, on flat ground, a single Big Boy could pull a 5 mile long train fully-loaded with freight!"

Applejack shook her head. "Ah still cannot believe that one single engine can do that Sugarcube. It just don't make any sense!"

I shrugged. "I could see where you would be confused Applejack, but yet, at the same time, that was another thing that was never tested about the Big Boy. Like her speed, that was just theoretical, and never tested."

"Oh."

It was then though, that Dash asked a question. "Hey Stud?"

"Yeah Dash?"

"Um, would it be possible for me to um......actually drive the Big Boy?"

I paused. "Wait, did you say, 'drive the Big Boy'?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I'd like to say that I was at the controls of the largest steam locomotive of all time!"

I sat back in my seat. "Um, I don't know if we're allowed to do that Dash. I mean, I'd let you, but I don't know how Don would feel about that." I then turned to Alex and Todd. "What do you guys think?"

Todd shrugged. "Eh, I won't tell if you won't."

"And neither will I."

I turned to Dash. "So, you REALLY want to do this?"

"Are you kidding me Stud, OF COURSE I'm sure!"

I nodded. "Ok, just checking. Come over here, and I'll show you what to do. It's actually fairly simple."

She came over, and I showed her the controls. "All of the controls needed by the engineer are here on the right side. All controls on the left are for the fireman. This lever here is the throttle. This one here is the directional control, these are the brakes, that's the speedometer, those are pressure gauges, the cord above your head is the bell, and the lever here, is the whistle. Do you think that you've got all of that?"

Todd was also filming all of this, so that we'd always remember this moment.

Dash nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure Stud!" I got up, and she sat down on the engineer's seat. "Oh, and you'll need these, just so that you don't burn your hands; these controls can get hot sometimes!" I handed her my gloves.

"Thanks Stud!"

"And you'll need this too." I took off my engineer's cap, and put it on Dash's head.

She then put left hand on the throttle, and leaned her right arm on the windowsill. "*Squee* So awesome!"

"Hey Alex?"

"Yeah Leopard?"

"Let go of the controls on your side for a second."

"Um, ok...." He did so.

"Now let it be known that today, Sunday, July 29th, 2029, Rainbow Dash becomes the first mare ever to drive the largest steam locomotive of all time! It's all you right now Dash, you're driving this beast all by yourself!"

Dash then blew the whistle to signify her making history.

"Hey, can Ah be the first mare fireman on this Big Boy?"

Alex turned to her. "Sure thing AJ!" He then got up, and Applejack sat down, and he showed her the controls. He also gave her his cap and gloves.

"So, am Ah doin' this right Alex?"

He nodded. "Yep, you sure are AJ! It's easier to be the fireman than it is to be the engineer."

All of us were having a blast. At least, we were, until the radio suddenly came to life.

"Major Don to Big Boy, come in Big Boy!"

Todd picked up the radio. "Big Boy here Major, what's going on?"

"What's going on? Tell Leopard and Alex to get their marefriends away from the controls, NOW!!!! They do NOT have the authorization to do that!"

"What....?! How did you...."

"Never mind how I know, just get them away, NOW!!!!"

"Oh shoot!" Dash then got up from the engineer's seat, and I took over from her, just as Alex took over from Applejack.

"Well, it was nice while it lasted." Dash then hugged me from behind. "Thanks Stud, you're the greatest!"

"You're welcome Dash, and congratulations on making history!"

"Mmm, thanks Stud!"

"The whistle!"

"What Todd?"

Todd looked up at me. "When Dash blew the whistle, THAT'S how the Major knew! The whistle wasn't supposed to be blown until we got close to a populated area! Either that, or DELCI snitched on us! She does have cameras up here you know!"

I knew that Todd was right. Dash did too. We talked about this, as well as driving the Big Boy, for a while longer.

That night, we stopped close to the ruins of Zandia. The Zebra Empire was larger in size than the Caribou Empire, and took longer to get around.

By the next morning, we set out for Appaloosa. It was to be the second to last leg of our trip. Once again, I was driving, although this time, Dash and Applejack weren't with us. They were back with Twilight and Pinkie, most likely catching up on things.

That night, we arrived in Appaloosa. This was by far the biggest 'Welcome Home!' that we'd ever gotten.

"Well, looky who we have here! It's the winners of the Imperial War!"

"How have y'all been doin?"

"We've missed you guys!"

"Yeah, just as all of us have missed YOU GUYS as well!"

We all partied in Appaloosa that night. Their apple pie and cider were incredible. I also had the interesting pleasure to be introduced to Braeburn. (Or as we called him, "The Gayest Pony who ever Gayed"!) He seemed to be VERY pleased to meet all of us, although our marefriends had to work overtime to keep him at bay!

"Y'all get away from them Braeburn!" Applejack ordered, "These guys are OURS!"

"Yeah!" Dash added. "Leave them be!"

"Aww, shucks. Well, are there any cute guys left on this train?"

"Um, maybe", Somebody finally said, "But we're not gay!"

"Aww...."

Eventually, Braeburn did disappear, which made some of us think that he found somebody on the train who was willing to have sex with him. We never found out who it was, although Braeburn said later that he had a new boyfriend. Don said that he would get to the bottom of the whole affair, but, due to a shortage of time, he just let it go.

Also that night, we had one final chat with the princesses.

"So, what time do you all think that you'll arrive back in Ponyville?"

Don shrugged. "It all depends on how fast we can get out of here. I'm hoping to be there before noon, but it's anyone's guess right now."

"Well, just know that we'll be there at the station waiting for you by about 9am, so just radio us when you get close."

"Roger that Princess Celestia."

"And the crowds have already started to gather in Ponyville. Crowd control will be my number 1 concern, as your safety is of the utmost importance. Don't worry Major, my soldiers WILL keep the crowds in check!"

"Thank you Princess, and we'll contact you again when we make it to within 30 miles of Ponyville."

"Ok, and goodnight Don, Leopard, and Jim, and everyone and everypony else."

"Goodnight Princess!"

I also had one final conversation with Spitfire.

"So, when will you guys be pulling into Ponyville?"

I shrugged. "Hopefully before Noon Spits, but I'm not sure yet. Where will you guys be?"

"We'll be on a cloud platform overlooking the station. I'll be looking for you Stud!"

"As will I Spitsy, however, you might want to wait until the crowds have thinned out, as it'll be a mad-house at the train station for a long time!"

She laughed. "Yeah, most likely! Anyway, goodnight Stud, and I guess that I'll see you tomorrow sometime. Oh, and tell Dash that I said hi!"

"Ok, Goodnight Spitsy, and yeah, I'll see you tomorrow. And ok, I will!"

I then terminated the call, and with Dash by my side, I went to sleep.

The next morning, we all slept a little bit later than usual. By 8 o'clock, we were all ready to go. Unfortunately though, there was a problem. About 2 miles outside of Appaloosa was a stalled train. The train was the Morning Express, which ran from Las Pegasus, through Appaloosa, Ponyville, Canterlot, The Crystal Empire, Manehattan, Phillydelphia, before finally terminating in Baltimare. The engine stalled out, and the whole train was literally stranded. The train was also blocking the tracks, and there was no way around it.

"And how heavy is the load?" Don asked the stationmaster in Appaloosa.

"Well, 8 coaches, maybe 3/4 full. No rail traffic can pass until that train is out of the way."

"And, how far does it have to go?"

"It's final destination is Baltimare, but if they could even make it to Ponyville, then maybe the engine could be repaired, or a new train could be found. It's not doing anypony any good just sitting there."

Don thought about that. "Well", He said at last, "I bet that we could push the train to Ponyville."

"Wait, YOU?! But doesn't your train's front have those metal spikes on it? Wouldn't that just derail the train?"

Don shook his head. "Yeah, it would be a problem, however, in the middle of the front cow-catcher, there is a front knuckle coupling. Even if the train's couplings aren't compatible, it'll still be better than nothing."

The stationmaster agreed to that, and using a radio, radioed the train to tell them that we were coming. Joe won the coin toss, so he was the one who got to drive the train back to Ponyville. Dash and I were in the SCC, just looking out of the windows.

Eventually, after saying our goodbyes to the good Ponies of Appaloosa, we set out for Ponyville.

Sure enough, about 2 miles outside of Appaloosa, we found the train. Gently, Joe pulled the engine up close to the caboose, and using tools, Jim and a few other technicians pulled out the front coupling. Unfortunately, the train's couplings were incompatible, but nevertheless, after Jerry-rigging the coupling's together, we were able to push them.

"Ready whenever you are Big Boy!" The train's engineer radioed to Joe.

"Roger that, moving out!"

Then, with a whistle, and a small heave, the Battleship Express began to move forwards again. Don radioed ahead to Ponyville to inform them of the stalled Express, and that we were pushing it. They told him that they would have a slot in the train yards open for it when it arrived.

Faster, and faster the Big Boy went. Joe had permission to highball it, and he was taking full advantage of the opportunity. From 20, he went up to 40, then 50, 60, and all the way up to 65mph!

The engineer of the other train was shocked. "Wowzers! I never even knew that a train could go this fast!"

Joe laughed. "Well, you've never seen a Big Boy in action, have you?"

The passengers were equally impressed. "We're making amazing time! We've already made up for the time that we've lost, and we should be in Ponyville by 11am at the latest, almost right on time!"

Meanwhile, back in Ponyville, everypony who was anypony was crowding around the train station, just waiting to catch a glimpse of the Battleship Express when it pulled in. The crowds were enormous. The station platform itself was declared "off limits", to everypony, except for the Princesses, family members, Fluttershy and Rarity, and any other VIP's. The Wonderbolts were also present, and waiting on a cloud platform just above the station.

News cameras were rolling, Ponies were taking pictures, and there were microphones for radio broadcasts as well. Everypony wanted to know how much longer it would be until we showed up.

Celestia addressed the crowd. "According to Major Don, their train should be arriving at close to 11am. They had to make a quick stop to help push the Morning Express towards us. They'll be here just as fast as they can."

High above the station, Spitfire was anxiously awaiting any news as well. "Do you see them yet Soarin?"

"Nope, not yet. And why are you so anxious anyway? Is it because of Rainbow Dash?"

Spitfire nodded slowly. "Yeah, I'm still worried for her. I'm just glad that she's ok."

"Oh, and is that the ONLY reason?" Blaze smirked, "Or is it because you have the hots for Captain Leopard?"

Spitfire turned to her. "S-shut up! That's not the reason!" Spitfire was blushing, indicating that she was lying.

"Come on Captain, I know that you're lying! Come on, he's a stud! Don't be scared to admit it!"

Spitfire said nothing. The other Wonderbolts were about to tease Spitfire further, but before they had the chance though, way off in the distance, a whistle was heard.

"Wait, was that it?"

Soarin looked. "Um yep, I think so! I see a massive black cloud of smoke, and it seems to be coming right this way, so yeah, I think that they're coming!"

The rest of the crowd began to go wild, and jostled around for the best positions to see what was going to happen next.

Soon, from off in the distance, a loud chugging sound was heard. Then, in addition to the cloud of smoke, the front of the express that our train was pushing was spotted.

"They're coming! The Battleship Express is coming!"

Once we were close, we blew our whistle. Its eerie, Banshee-like scream sounded in the midday air. Then, with a mighty rumble, and a cloud of smoke and steam, the Battleship Express pulled back into Ponyville station, the exact same station from where it had left from nearly a month prior. Now, the train was carrying those returning from the battlefield, those who had fought and won the Imperial War.

For the longest time though, once the train had pulled in, nobody got off. Another engine did come to take the Morning Express away, but still no sign of movement from the Battleship Express.

"Hey, what's going on? Where is everypony?!"

Eventually though, once the engine released a massive cloud of steam, the doors at various points opened, and the train's crew began to disembark.

Once they did though, the roar of the crowd was deafening. There was cheering, whistling, shouting, and even screaming in some cases. The Royal Guards assigned to protecting the platform had to work double-time to keep the metal barricades used to keep the crowds back in place.

Eventually, Don, Shining, Jim, and myself, stepped off the train. Don, Shining, and I went over to the Princesses.

We bowed slightly when we saw them. "Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, I can now say with confidence that Equestria is now perfectly safe, and will not be bothered by a foreign threat, for a long, LONG time!"

Celestia smiled. "Thank you Major, Captain, and General. You've done Equestria a great service with your skills at warfare."

I looked at her. "Thank you Princess, it was my honor to have served this great nation." (By this point, it was just Don and I, as Shining was too busy sharing a few sweet moments with Cadence.)

"And we are very grateful that you have, Captain Leopard."

Also by this point, the families were all crowding around, trying to find their loved one.

First to find each other were Twilight and her parents.

"TWILIGHT!!!!"

"MOM, DAD, SPIKE!!!!!" She raced over to hug them. Don was standing close by as well.

"We're so glad that you're safe Dear!"

"As am I mom. And you have the Humans to thank for that! If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be here right now!"

Nightlight and Velvet looked at Don. "Thank you, Major Curry. You've saved out daughter!"

Dan saluted. "You can just call me Don, Ma'am. And it was my honor to have helped save your daughter." They all hugged him as well.

Next up was Pinkie and her family.

"Mom! Dad! Maud! Marble! Limestone!"

"PINKIE!!!!" They all hugged their daughter and sister.

Her dad then turned to Dan. "So, you are Private Daniel Lewis who has saved our daughter?"

Dan saluted. "Yes, but you can just call me Dan, Sir."

"Yes, Dan, and let me say again, thank you, for risking your life to save our daughter. We owe you our greatest thanks."

Dan saluted. "It was nothing Sir, just another day of me doing my job. I did what I had to do, nothing more, nothing less."

"And we still thank you for it." Her mom added.

Pinkie then pulled all of them into a group hug. "THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!!!" She cheered.

Next of course, came Applejack, Alex, and the rest of the Apple Family.

"SIS!!!" Applebloom cried. She ran over and hugged her big sister.

"APPLEBLOOM!!!" She hugged back.

Granny Smith and Big Mac were close behind her.

"Applejack!"

"Hi Granny!"

"Hey Sis!"

"Big Mac!" She hugged her family.

Applebloom then turned to Alex. "So yer the Human who saved mah big sis? Wow, thank you Lt. Barkley!"

Alex shook his head. "Actually, you can just call me Alex, Applebloom. And you're welcome."

"Yes, thank you Mr. Alex, for saving my granddaughter. You've done us a mighty fine service!"

Alex saluted. "I was just doing my Job Ma'am. Plus, I made a promise to you all that I would bring Applejack home, or die trying. I meant every word of that."

"And we thank you for it Alex." Big Mac added. "Applejack means the world to us."

"I could have guessed as much Big Mac. Nothing better than a tightly-knit family!"

They all cheered to that, and hugged each other.

Last, but certainly not least, it was my turn. With Dash by my side, I was about to meet my future in-laws.

"DASHIE!!!!" A mare's voice cried. Suddenly, a mare that looked like an older version of Rainbow Dash wrapped her into a tight hug. She was followed by a stallion with a rainbow mane, and a stubbly beard.

"Mom, Dad!"

"Oh, we're so glad that you're safe Sweetie! We would never forgive ourselves if we lost you!"

Dash was so glad to be with her parents again. "Yeah, but the real hero here, was Leopard over there. He risked everything to save me, and stopped at nothing until he got me back."

That did it, her parents were on my in an instant. I suddenly felt like the life was getting squeezed out of me. My rib cage was cracking, and I was rapidly running out of air! I tried to push them off of me, but it was impossible. Their grip was simply too much.

As I slowly succumbed to death, I saw the headlines flash before my eyes. "Famous Human Captain dies at Ponyville Station!" "Human Survives Imperial War, Only to Die from a Hug!"

"Please God, don't let me die now! It DOES NOT end like this! Please, HELP ME!!!" I was now at Death's door. I was seconds away from dying of suffocation.

Suddenly, just before I went into the light, I heard a voice yell, "MOM, DAD, LET GO OF HIM RIGHT NOW!!!! HIS FACE IS TURNING PURPLE, HE CAN'T BREATHE!!!"

In an instant, I fell away from the light, and I felt the grip on me suddenly die away. I then collapsed onto the platform, gasping for air! I ripped off my Kitsune mask so that I could breathe a lot better, and for the longest time, I just lay there, trying desperately to maintain consciousness.

"Oh gosh, STUD!!! ARE YOU OK!?!?!?!"

"Oxygen......thin!!!" I muttered. The color was starting to return to my face, but I was still extremely shaken up.

Dash then gently pulled me back to my feet. "Oh gosh Stud, I'm so, so sorry about that!" She began to hug me. I hugged her back.

"Aww, you two make such a cute couple!" Her mom took a picture of us hugging.

Her dad then looked at me. "And we're terribly sorry for nearly killing you Captain. We just got a little, excited, is all."

I looked over at them. "Well, apologies accepted. And please just call me Leopard."

"Oh, and is that you're real name?"

"No, but it's the name that I've grown so used to, so please just call me Leopard."

They nodded. "Sure thing Leopard. I mean, we are soon to be family after all."

I glanced at Dash, and she gave me a "Just roll with it Stud, I know that it's embarrassing!" look.

I shrugged, and we talked with her parents for a little bit longer.

After a bit, Celestia made an announcement. "Attention Everypony! Can I have your attention please?"

Everypony then quieted down, and they all turned to see what their Princess had to say.

"Ok, now that I have everypony's attention, I would like to say that, I really appreciate all of you coming down here to show your support for our soldiers, both Pony, and Human. Also, since the war has been won, and the terms of surrender have been signed, then it is my pleasure to announce that this Saturday, August 4th, will be the Victory Ball in Canterlot to celebrate the winning of the war! Tickets are on sale now, and you are all invited!"

While the crowd cheered, Celestia then turned to Don. "And I would hope Major, that you, and your crew, would be able to come to the ball. If you did, then you would be honored guests. I would also hope that you would bring your train with you as well."

Don looked over at her. "Well Princess, I would have to say that, it would be our genuine pleasure to attend this ball, and I can tell the rest of you that if you enjoyed this celebration, as well as getting good looks at our train, then I can say that, you will be seeing it again in Canterlot on Saturday!"

The crowd then cheered again, and while some of the crew began to mingle with the crowd, standing for photos, signing autographs, and the like, as well as allowing a select few ponies to get close to the train, the rest of us stood around, talking to our marefriends, as well as their parents.

For a brief time, I was able to get away from Rainbow Dash's parents, and near the side of the station, I leaned a hand against the wall, and took a quick breather.

"Hey Stud, did you forget to say Hi to me?" A voice behind me asked.

That voice. I knew that voice. Slowly, I turned around, and there, leaning against the station wall behind me, was her! Her flame-colored mane was slicked back, and she was wearing her Wonderbolt Jumpsuit. Although she had her goggles on her forehead, the hood and face part of her jumpsuit was hanging down her back.

"So, we meet at last, Captain Leopard."

"Captain Spitfire!"

She sauntered up to me, and pulled me into a hug. "Yeah it's nice to finally meet you too Stud. And you're a lot cuter in person that you were on the video calls!"

I didn't know what to say to that. Here I was, face to face with my other waifu, and I was almost frozen in place!

"I......don't even know what to say right now! I can't believe that I finally got to meet my other waifu!" ("Yeah BRILLIANT move genius! Now she'll think that you're a stalker, BRAVO!!!")

Spitfire merely giggled though. "Huh, your other waifu huh? Well, I think that I can live with that!"

It was like this that Dash found us a few moments later. "Oh, there you are Stud! Oh, and Hey Spits. I see that you've met Leopard."

She nodded. "Yeah, and it's SO good to see you again Dash!" She hugged her. "And yeah, he's really hot for a guy!"

I blushed, but didn't say anything.

Dash smirked. "Oh, you think that he's hot now, just wait til you see what he's like in bed!"

Spitfire licked her lips. "Oh, I can't WAIT to see what that'll be like!"

Once again, I was still completely speechless. I didn't know what to say, as my brain had crashed. Luckily though, I didn't have to say anything at all.

Dash just wrapped her arm around mine. "So, shall we go back to the others now Stud?" She asked.

"Uh, huh." I finally managed to say. "That sounds good."

Spitfire then held my other hand, and the 3 of us walked back to the others. All seemed right with the world for a change. The Imperial War was over, and the Caribou and Zebra Empires were no more. We had all made it back to Ponyville safely, our marefriends were safe, and there was still talk of marriage in the air. Equestria was all out of enemies, or at least, we THOUGHT that it was. While everything seems like it's right with the world though, things can suddenly take an unexpected twist........

Author's Note

And, there is was, Chapter 28. Don't go just yet though, as even though this was the last chapter, there's still the Epilogue to go! Our adventure may be over, but with Humans, wherever we go, trouble always seems to follow. All may indeed be right with the world, but how long will this peace last? What if another Hydra rears its ugly heads? What do we do then? Also, what does the future hold for all of us? Well, as always, stay tuned, and I'll tell you!

The epilogue will kick-start a whole new adventure for us Battleship Express crew, and spawn a sequel, so stay tuned for that!

And, as always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all one last time in the Epilogue!

ScarFox out for now!

Epilouge: Closing bits.......or the Start of Something Else?

While most of us were celebrating the end of the war, there were at least several who were not.

Out in a shapeless, shadowy void, a dark spirit was lurking. He had to stick close to the shadows that had made him now, since he had broken away from his host, all of his powers, and most of his strength went with it. It was one of the only things keeping his weak form alive.

"I can't take this!" He was muttering, "It's UNBEARABLE!!!! The pain, the suffering! The loss of my powers is HORRENDOUS!!!!"

Sombra knew that he had two options. He could either return to me, his current host, and continue to live without his powers, which, although would be humiliating, would keep him alive indefinitely, and even allow him to return to the physical world from time to time. The other option was to find a new host, and manipulate him to kill me, so that he could get all of his powers back.

"But where will I find another willing host? I got lucky with Leopard. Lighting doesn't strike in the same place twice!" He continued to think. "If I can't find another host soon, or return to Leopard, I will die, and that, is NOT an option! I am the Shadows, I am the Darkness, I am, (or was!) King Sombra, ruler of the Crystal Empire!"

Sombra didn't know what to do, so for the time being, he decided to sleep in the shadowy place that he had found, so as to be able to better conserve his already extremely depleted supply of energy.

On another end though, way out in the Undiscovered West, a number of figures were being led by their king. They were now the last of their kind, and the last, tiny splinter of what used to be a great empire.

"We had it all Dothan!" Their leader muttered. "How could it have been allowed to end like this?!"

Dothan shrugged. "I do not know, My King. However, 99% of it was the Humans. If they hadn't showed up with their war train, then I KNOW that we might have won the war!"

Danin looked over at the sergeant-turned-commander. He had such great ideas. In fact, it was his genius that allowed him, Danin, and a select few others the chance to escape from Bryerton unseen. Using their old communicators, they'd created holograms of themselves to make it appear that they were still there. They all then fled one night unseen to the Undiscovered West via Lt. Bolt's airship. Bryerton was then leveled by the Humans, while they were safely several hundred miles Northwest.

"It was a genius plan Dothan" Danin thought to himself, "But the question is, now what? I have maybe 200 of my finest, but that's it. Now, the Undiscovered West will be our new home, and upon which we will build our new empire."

The weather in the area though, was not cooperating the best. It was slightly cold, and there was a fog in the air. It was also drizzling a bit as well.

"Great", Dothan muttered, "Now we've escaped Death, only to wind up in the wilderness, in the middle of nowhere, all by ourselves, with little more than what we were able to carry with us! How in the heck are we going to be able to build a new empire now?"

As they kept walking deeper and deeper into the wooded valley that they'd found themselves in, some of the Caribou began to become rather wary. Periodically, some would spot what they believed to be a figure lurking in the fog close by, but then it would disappear just as fast.

"Gods, this place gives me the creeps!" Dothan muttered. He then turned to Danin. "Rumor has it that there's a lot of old ruins of forgotten settlements around here. Places lost to time when their occupants abandoned them."

"Great, so at least we'll have a start when we begin to put our new Caribou Empire together."

Dothan was maybe about to reply, but then, from out of the corner of his eye, he saw distinct movement. He turned to look, and this time, the figure he saw seemed to linger a bit longer before fading back into the fog.

"Who's there?" He asked, raising his gun.

"What did you see Commander?"

Dothan pointed to a spot near some boulders. "Right over there! I saw a figure step out, linger for a bit, before fading back into the fog."

Danin was worried. "Are you sure Dothan?"

"I'm POSITIVE, My King!"

Before Dothan could say anything further though, the area around them suddenly seemed to get much darker, and a whole lot foggier. Then, from all around them, with seemingly cat-like speed, a number of figures were racing about. They were almost faster than the eye could detect! They appeared to be bipedal, but yet, they could leap from tree, to boulder, to ground, to back into a tree, in a span of only a few seconds!

"ALL HANDS, PROTECT THE KING, NOW!!!" Dothan ordered. Then, with Danin in the middle, all of the other warriors all formed a circle around him, with their weapons pointing out towards the fog.

"Show yourselves, you COWARDS!!!" Dothan yelled to them. "Only cowards hide in the fog! Come out and face us like true warriors, or are you just cowardly?!"

Suddenly, all movement ceased, and all shapes disappeared back into the fog.

"Cowards?" A voice echoed all around them. "My people and I, COWARDS?! How DARE you refer to us as such! We've been a warrior race since long before ANY of you were even born!"

"Then show yourselves!" Dothan shouted back. "If you're such 'warriors', then why do you hide in the fog?"

Suddenly, from the fog all around them, glowing eyes appeared! They were of various colors, to yellow, to green, blue, red, and even purple. The eyes were also followed by a series of angry hisses.

Then, from out of the fog in front of them, a series of figures stepped. From what The Caribou could tell, the figures were varying in height, with the tallest being maybe 6'5". They also appeared to be covered in dark robes or possibly raincoats.

"Who are you?" Dothan asked.

"I could ask you the same question Deer-Boi! Now then, which one of you is the leader here?"

"That would be me." Danin then stepped a little bit closer to the edge of his circle of warriors. "And who might you be?"

The figures didn't answer, but instead, stepped out into the light. What the Caribou saw well and truly horrified them.

The creatures looked similar to Humans, but it was clear that they were not. They were covered in dark hooded raincoats, but from under the hoods, Danin could see glowing, cat-like eyes! They also had cat-like tails, and even cat-like paws!

"I ask again, who are you?"

The leader sighed. "Tell us who you are, and where you've come from, and then I'll tell you about us."

"Ok, well, I am King Danin, King of the Caribou. My band and I are the only survivors of our entire empire, which was wiped out by a filthy, mongrel race called the Humans, from the Planet Earth. They were also joined by Undead Harbingers, and they had a horrible war train to boot as well!"

When Danin finished, the leader could only stare in shock. "Humans? From Earth? Undead Harbingers? And a horrible war-train? It must have been the Wabash Cannonball!" The leader then turned to Danin. "Well then King Danin, you've told me about yourselves, so now, I'll tell you about us. We also come from the Planet Earth. We were a different race than the Humans, but we were still extremely similar. I once ruled and empire that nearly encompassed all of Earth. Unfortunately though, it was not to be, as the Humans destroyed my empire. They invaded my capital city, and then somebody dropped atomic weapons all over the state of Nevada! Sometime during this, ourselves, and our train, were brought to this Goddess forsaken place!"

Danin was very surprised. Here, of all places, he seemed to have found allies. These were creatures that seemed to share similar goals to his people, and they also had their empire wiped out by the Humans.

"Wow, we all sound so similar, but I must ask, what is your name?"

The leader seemed to sigh a bit. Then, it reached up its hands, and pulled back its hood. To the Caribou's shock, the creature appeared to be female! Her long, dark brown hair fell down her back, and she shook her head a bit. On the top of her head were two tan, cat-like ears. When she opened her eyes, she revealed two soft brown, cat-like eyes. Her face also had a few scars on it, and she had cat-like teeth as well.

Finally, she spoke. "I, am the leader of this imperial remnant. I was empress over our race, the Futas. And my name......" She smiled a bit, "Is Demetria!"

This saga is not over yet.......!!!!!!!

Author's Note

Whoa! So now, Danin and his remnant have escaped into the Undiscovered West, and what do they find, the remnants of the Futa Empire, including Empress Demetria herself, thought to have been lost during the Battle for Vegas! How did they survive?! How did they come to Equestria?! Why do they all have cat-like features?! Are these two sides going to join together to form a new empire?! And what about Sombra? How does he play into all of this?

Well, normally I would say, "To find out, just keep reading!" Now, I'm going to have to say, "Stay tuned for this story's sequel, "Beyond the Express", coming soon to a bookshelf near you!"

The saga of the Battleship Express is not over by a long shot, so I hope that this was enough to make you want to see what happens next!

Also, I really hope that you've enjoyed this journey so far. Thanks to your support, "Battleship Express has become far and away, my most successful story so far. It was an amazing blend of war, love, suspense, and a really cool story line.

"Battleship Express" may be over now, but the story continues! Stay tuned for "Beyond the Express", which should be up and running before the weekend is over! It'll be a story to remember, so don't you dare miss it!

And finally, one last time, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in "Beyond the Express!"

ScarFox out for now!

Chapter 25: Snowy Bloodbath in Donneth

Dactyl looked out over what lay beyond his city. Both Carlon and Danton had fallen. From Stuggs's fortress in Carlon, the flag of the Americans flew high and proud in the pre-dawn light. From Rodin's fortress in Danton, the flag of Equestria flew high and proud as well.

Dactyl then took his communicator, and flipped it to a pre-set channel. "Danin, come in. I need to have a little 'chat' with you!"

Eventually, Danin did pick up. "What's going on? Did something happen?"

Dactyl turned his communicator until it faced out of the window at the area around Donneth. "Is THAT enough 'did something happen' for you?!"

"So, I take it that you were unable to stop the Undead Harbingers? However, you are still communicating with me, and it does appear that Donneth is still standing, so I take it that you DID stop them?"

"No, we haven't stopped them yet. They took Carlon and Danton, and just stopped on their own. Most likely, they're just waiting for another moment to strike. This is just a lull in the battle. They WILL hit Donneth!"

"Which is why you HAVE to hold that city! It CANNOT be allowed to fall!"

Dactyl sighed. He was getting tired of his brother's rigmarole. "Danin, I'm about to ask you a question, and I want you to answer it truthfully. Was the only reason that you released me from prison was so that you could have someone else to throw under the bus while you ran to save your own sorry ass?!"

Danin was taken aback. He had never suspected that his brother would catch on to his plan so quickly. Danin didn't say anything.

"It was a simple question Danin. Is my only purpose to take the fall for YOUR crimes?"

"Um.....well......you see Dactyl....."

"YOU TRAITOR!!!!!" Dactyl screamed. "YOU LEFT ME BEHIND TO BE CANNON FODDER, WHILE YOU RAN TO SAVE YOUR OWN SORRY ASS!!!! YOU COWARD!!!!"

Danin glared back at his brother. "You would be very wise to stop screaming at me Brother. You wouldn't want another bout of 'mental disorder', would you?"

Dactyl narrowed his eyes. "I'm done with this Danin!!! You WILL NOT be telling me what to do anymore. I'M DONE!!!!"

"Oh, but I don't think that you are."

Dactyl then dropped his communicator, and screamed in agony. When he finally stopped screaming a few minutes later, he grabbed his communicator again.

"There, now that you're done screaming at me, will you defend my city for me?"

Dactyl looked like he was going to throw up. He didn't answer, but he did glare at Danin. Finally, he said, "Fine. I'll defend your city from the Humans."

"Good! I will be awaiting any news from the attack. Good luck Brother!" Danin then terminated the call.

Dactyl then sat back on the throne. His mind was in turmoil. Deep down, he knew that Danin was lying to him, and wanted him to die, but yet, he still complied with his orders.

Next to the throne, Pinkie and Dash overheard every word of the conversation.

"So, the Harbingers get closer and closer all of the time. They've already wiped out those cities, and now it seems like only a matter of time before they come for Donneth."

"Um, Dashie, I just thought of something. What of those scary Harbingers are actually our coltfriends? I mean, their bodies, and the wreckage of the train STILL were never found, so is it possible that they're the ones out there, instead of some creepy-scary Harbingers?"

Dash thought about that. She'd seen us fight at Ponyville and Las Pegasus, as well as heard reports of our fighting in the Zebra Empire, and the Caribou Empire. She smirked. "Heh, if it really is them, then they may not be 'Undead', but they sure are Harbingers! Harbingers of destruction!"

"Exactly!"

They both jumped. Dactyl was looking down at them again. "Humanity is the greatest plague to have EVER existed! They're FOUL, they're MONSTERS, they're TWISTED, they're DANGEROUS, they're INSANE!!!! They even destroyed their own planet just to prove that the cause that they were fighting for was right!" Dactyl paused. "And now, they're right at my doorstep, ready to destroy us all. But my question is though, WHY?!?!?! WHY ARE THEY THE WAY THAT THEY ARE!?!?!?! WHY ARE HUMANS SO IMPOSSIBLE TO UNDERSTAND?!?!?!?!"

"They do what they do, because they love us to no end, and they want what's best for us." Dash answered slowly. "We were held captive by the Zebras, and then myself, Pinkie, and Private Cole, were taken here by King Danin. Now they're here, because they want us back! If you just surrender right now, and give us back to them, then they may let you live. You won't have an empire anymore, but you'll still be alive! That's something, right?"

Dactyl didn't answer. Instead, he seemed to be slipping deeper and deeper into the depths of insanity. "No." He muttered, "No, NO!!!! The Humans will NEVER take my empire away from me!!!! And Come to think of it, NEITHER WILL DANIN!!!!! He can stay at Bryerton, but he ain't comin' back down here! I will fight to keep WHAT SHOULD HAVE RIGHTFULLY BELONGED TO ME!!!!"

Dash could see that Dactyl was beginning to become dangerously unhinged. He seemed like he could be ready to snap at any moment. She looked up towards the windows of the throne room. "Please Stud", She whispered. "Hurry! Before this maniac KILLS US!!!"

Meanwhile, elsewhere, while we were trying to plan out our final attack, we kept getting interrupted. Streams of slaves, POW's, and the Caribou defectors who helped them escape, as well as surrendering Caribou, kept popping up out of nowhere.

"Ugh, this is getting NUTS!!! Where are all of these guys even coming from?!?!?!"

Jim shrugged. "Well, from Donneth obviously! I guess that they don't want to die, so they surrendered to us. Others seem to have wanted to do the right thing, so they decided to help some slaves and POW's escape to our lines."

Don sighed. "Yeah, maybe so Jim, but with this constant stream of Caribou, slaves, and POW's, we CANNOT get our attack underway! The sun will be up any minute, and we HAVE WORK TO DO!!!!!"

Next to where he was standing, a large War Beast grunted in response. "Yeah, I agree with you Don, and so does Argus!"

Don glared in my direction. "You, my good Sir, will be standing trial after this little adventure is over! I've had it with you pulling stunts like this! And you ARE NOT keeping that beast!"

Argus growled angrily, and looked in Don's direction.

I shrugged. "Says who? I'm a fully-grown adult, and I'm fully capable of making my own decisions. Plus, once the war's over, I'm most likely going to retire from the military, and maybe build a house, before settling down with Dash and Sp......er, *cough* Dash, and raising a family. I won't be under your jurisdiction anymore, and most likely, I'll still keep Argus here!"

Don just put his hands over his face. "One year, and one rank separates us Leopard, or whatever your real name is! How did I come out ok, while you didn't?"

I was maybe about to answer, but then Don remembered how my service in the previous world wars went, as well as being tortured by the Futas for a time, and how much death and destruction I witnessed.

"Actually, on second thought, don't answer that! I've hard the stories about your past, and yeah, I didn't have to experience it the way that you did. So, I'm sorry."

I shifted a bit on Argus's saddle, before climbing down to the ground. "Apology accepted."

"Also, please tell me that the armor you're wearing under that tattered robe ISN'T Sombra's!"

"Um, would you be mad if I said yes?"

"Would you be mad if I said that I AM going to court-martial you?"

I knew where that conversation was going. I sighed. "Yeah, and I think that I see where you're going with this."

Before I could finish my explanation though, a lookout spotted something. "Um, Sir? The flow of refugees and POW's has stopped! I think that all of those who wanted to get out have, so I think that we can begin the attack now!"

Don looked through his binoculars. Sure enough, the flow had indeed stopped. "Most likely though, there are those in there who are unable to escape! Be they chained up, or in prison, or in labor camps. Which is why this battle will be the MOST CRITICAL BATTLE that we've ever fought!"

He then sighed, and turned to face the rest of the troops. He also got on the radio so that those on the Battleship Express could hear him as well.

"Ok people, listen up! This battle, will be the MOST CRITICAL battle that we have EVER fought! According to our Intel from the stream of refugees, the only ones left inside Donneth now are the fanatics, crazies, and slaves and POW's who were unable to escape. It is IMPERATIVE that we save them, all while destroying the remaining Caribou! This battle will be like the Battle of Vegas in WW6, crossed with the Battle of Berlin in WW2. This city is their second to last stronghold, and once it falls, MAYBE it will convince the rest of the holdouts to surrender!" Don then sighed. "It's been a long and hard road that we've taken together. From the run around Ponyville, to the Battle of Ponyville, to the Battle of Las Pegasus, to the defense of Dodge City, the Battle of Appaloosa, the conquest of the Zebra Empire, and now, our campaign in the Caribou Empire. This war is drawing to a close, and we will HOPEFULLY emerge victorious! The Caribou are almost out of places to run, but that brings me to how this battle will go down."

Don then sighed again, and after wiping the sweat off of his face, he continued. "The truth is people, we honestly don't know how many enemy soldiers we're facing here. According to our estimates, it could be as high as 8 million! We also have no idea of their mental states. They could be like the Japanese in the closing days of WW2, completely suicidal fanatics! They could have been brainwashed by Danin's propaganda to do terrible things when cornered!"

"But what's the plan of attack Don?" Jim asked.

"Well, first of all, we HAVE to surround the city on all sides! NOBODY will be escaping justice! We've also used our scanners to identify a handful of underground tunnels leading out of the city. While Captain Leopard, General Shining and their men were busy fighting in Carlon and Danton, my troops were busy diverting the tunnels to heavily guarded exit points. There will be NO ESCAPING THIS TIME!!!!"

We all cheered.

"Next, We knock down the walls. We suspect that it'll take more than just the railguns to knock them down, so our 16in. guns will be getting in on the act as well. Next, we hit them from the air. Lt. Hughes will be working with the gunship, and we will have our drones in the air as well.

Lastly, as always, we'll be sending in the ground forces. We will hit them from all sides, so that they will have no way to escape. Our primary objective is to get to the Imperial Palace, and rescue the hostages. After that, clear out any and all resistance, and then we tend to the refugees."

Don then turned to his communicator. "Does that sound like a good plan Princesses?"

Celestia nodded. "Affirmative Major! It sounds like a good plan!"

"I agree!" Luna added. "Just get the job done Major, and save the hostages! We'll be watching on this end, just like we were last time, so make it count!"

Don nodded. "Affirmative Princesses, we'll do our best!" Don then looked at his watch. "Ok, the time is now 5:55am. The sun will be up within minutes, and we all have to get into position. The attack will begin at 6am, and will play out from there."

"Good luck Major. We'll all be watching, and praying for you."

"Thank your for your support Princesses. And we won't let you down!"

"Roger that Major, and good luck!" The call then ended for the time being, although the video and audio feed continued.

Don then turned to the rest of us. "Ok people, we have 5 minutes, so get into your positions!"

We all complied. We all began to scurry around. I remounted Argus, and moved him over a few yards to the right, so as to be in range of attacking the front gates from the South. My men were with me, as was Aurora. Taking the city from the West were Jim and the Battleship Express. To the East were Shining and his troops. Lastly, coming down from the North were Don and his forces. All of us were well entrenched, and we were waiting for the final signal to attack. Our first target was going to be the outside of the city, where a number of Caribou were entrenched.

At 5:59, Don radioed Jim. "Are you there Jim?"

"Yeah, I'm here Don, is it time yet?"

Don nodded. "Affirmative Jim. Target the walls on all 4 sides, and then knock them down. Do whatever it takes to get them down."

"Roger that Don. We're all loaded up, and we're firing now!"

Jim then put down the radio, and gave the orders to fire.

Once again, from the train that all of our enemies feared more than anything, came more bursts of death. All of the walls were hit, and like it was previously predicted, it took rounds from both the railguns, and the 16in guns, as well as even a few missiles to cause them to collapse.

When they did though, Don gave the orders to charge. "EVERYBODY, CHARGE!!!! GET INSIDE THE CITY, AND GET TO THE HOSTAGES!!!!"

"SIR, YES SIR!!!!!"

From all directions, we all swarmed the city.

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When the holes were opened up, we all charged forwards. Leading the way on Argus, with others of my team on War Beasts and on foot and hoof following behind us, we all headed to our targets. My group's targets were the trenches that protected the city gates, which we had to clear out before the rest of our forces could come and help.

"GET TO THE TRENCHES!!!! CLEAR THEM OUT!!!!!"

"SIR, YES SIR!!!!"

It was a slaughter-fest. Our enemies never even stood a chance. Those in the trenches tried to put up a defense, but there were not enough of them, and they didn't have the weapons needed to repel us. We shot down at them, dropped grenades down there, and we even used our War Beasts to hose them down with flames! Pretty soon, all of the trenches were clear.

"Trenches clear Don! Bring on the CAT's and Deere's!!!"

"Roger that!"

From behind our forces, they once more rumbled towards their targets. The large bulldozers, loaders, and tractors carrying trailers full of more soldiers came as fast as they could across the snowy ground. Their objective? Get to the holes in the city walls and gates, and clear out the rubble for us. They would also provide cover, and some fire support with their weapons.

We all knew the difficult task that was ahead of us. We had to take out all of the Caribou, while at the same time shielding slaves, POW's, and anyone else who is not a threat. This was going to be the fight of a lifetime.

Meanwhile, inside of the city, Dactyl saw the first signs of the battle getting underway. The sun was just beginning to peek out over the tops of the mountain valley that Donneth was located in. Dactyl knew that this was most likely going to be the last sunrise before he died, so he decided to make the most of it.

Soon though, the reports began to come in.

"SIR, THE ENEMY'S BREACHED THE WALLS!!! WE NEED TO SHORE THEM UP RIGHT NOW!!!!"

"SIR, WE'VE LOST THE TRENCHES SURROUNDING THE CITY!!! ALL DEFENDERS ARE DEAD!!!!"

Dactyl turned to one of his subordinates. "What kind of assets do we still have at our disposal?"

"By my count Sir, We still have 7 million troops, weapons emplacements along the undamaged city walls, as well as our remaining mercenary forces, but they cannot be fully relied upon, as some of them have surrendered, and they are not at their full strength. We also have our military garrisons, and of course, the Imperial Palace itself is a fortress, so we're covered there."

Dactyl nodded. "Send in our ground forces. Most likely by now, they know about the tunnels, and have either closed them off, or diverted them to points that are all heavily watched. We HAVE to defend this city! Remember, we STILL have the advantages of numbers, as well as home field advantage, plus, we do have bargaining chips!" He gestured towards Dash and Pinkie. "We can still win this fight!"

The officer nodded. "As you wish, My Prince!" He then left to go fulfill his prince's wishes.

When Dash heard that, she looked over at Dactyl. "Um, y-you weren't being serious about using us as bargaining chips.....were you?"

"Yes, I was being perfectly serious. The only thing that they will be getting back today, will be 2 body bags. However, that is only if they managed to get in here. Your deaths will only be a last resort, and I mean LAST RESORT!!! Even I will fight to keep them out of here if it comes to that. However, if I fail", He picked up a pistol, "Then we all die!"

Dash buried her face into her hands. Pinkie leaned against her to comfort her. They knew that time was of the essence for them now, and that that day, could very well be their last day alive.

Down below them in the harem chamber, Cole and Winston were STILL hard at work trying to come up with a plan. They could feel the vibrations of the battle, so they knew that it had begun.

"We have to hurry Cole! They could be on top of us at any moment!"

"I know, I KNOW!!!! However, I still think that we have a little bit of time, not that it really matters. We're stuck in here until they find us. However, I still think that we should be waiting closer to the door." He looked back down the room. "Hey Missy?"

"Yeah Cole?"

"Could you bring your bed up here? You're gonna want to be close at hand when they get here."

She nodded. "Sure!" She then went up with Cole and Winston to wait.

During their time over the past day or so, they had managed to free all of the slaves who had black collars, as they also wanted to be ready to escape as well. The Purples were left where they were, as were the Reds, as they weren't going to be of any help.

"So, what do we do now?"

Cole sighed. "There's not much that we can do. That door can only be unlocked from the outside, and we don't have anything that we can use to work with it to get it open from our end. We're stuck in here until we're rescued, which hopefully won't be too much longer."

Winston shook his head. "Well, at least this area is built like a bunker. It's heavily protected in the event of an attack, so I guess that we just wait it out. I would say that we bang on the walls, but that could just trigger someone coming down here to kill us all."

Cole thought about that. "Um, yeah, you're right. So I'd say that we only bang on the walls if we have confirmation that my comrades are inside."

Then, with Missy sitting in his lap, and Winston and the other black Collars sitting close by, they all continued to listen to the sounds of the battle playing out above them.

Meanwhile, back outside in the city itself, we were facing some of the stiffest resistance of the entire war. This time, the Caribou were ready for us, and had barricaded themselves behind piles of rubble, and inside buildings, some of which we later learned contained slaves. We literally had to clear out each individual building one at a time.

"Great!" I muttered. "Somehow, I KNEW that this was going to happen! They're using slaves as living shields, and now we have to keep using head shots!"

I had dismounted from Argus at this point, and was using my rifle while taking cover behind a barricade. Aurora was right next to me. Suddenly, I saw a large wave of Caribou heading straight towards us!

"Aurora, we've got incoming on our 12 O'clock! Can you get us some frag grenades over there please?"

She nodded. "Sure thing Master!" She then launched some over that way, and once they'd exploded, we picked off the survivors.

"Thanks Aurora!"

She smiled. "Anytime Master!"

We all continued to hold our ground.

For the other groups, they were only having slightly better luck. For Jim and the Battleship Express crew, they just had to shoot at anyone who came their way. For Don and Shining though, they were running into most of the same problems that my team and I were facing. The Caribou were using slaves as shields, and they were hiding themselves in buildings that were full of slaves. It was not a pretty situation.

"Are you guys seeing this?! This is INSANITY!!!!"

"Yeah, no kidding Don!" I agreed. "The sun's just barely up, we're just barely inside, and ALREADY they're acting like this!"

"And just imagine what could happen when we reach the Imperial Palace!" Shining warned.

"I....don't even want to think about that!" I feared for Dash's safety.

"Which is why we HAVE to keep pushing forwards!" Don interjected. "We're beginning to whittle their numbers down, and eventually, they could literally run out of soldiers to send us! Remember, Donneth is the only city here for 450 miles! All around us are mountains and farmland. They have no reinforcements!"

"Yeah, BUT NEITHER DO WE!!!"

"I know General Shining! However, that situation may change. I did get the word from Princess Celestia that her engineers have gotten to work on repairing the Highland Trestle Bridge, and that work was maybe 35% complete. There are also more reinforcements coming our way, and they should be here before long."

"Let's just hope so!" I yelled over the roar of the battle. "If this keeps up, we could be in SERIOUS trouble!"

"And how far are you away from the Imperial Palace?"

I laughed. "Was that a joke Don? Because if not, we're MAYBE 150 yards away from the front gates where we started from! THAT'S just how much resistance we're up against!"

Don sighed. "Just keep pushing Leopard! We're boxing them in from all sides. I know that this could turn into a dangerous situation, but the truth is, only two groups are going to storm the Palace, while the rest stay behind to mop up resistance. Normally, I would put you as FAR AWAY from the action as possible, given your current background, HOWEVER, since Dash is YOUR responsibility, and since Pinkie's is Dan's, you'll be the one leading the assault on the fortress. Shining and his forces will be the ones to back you up. Do you think that you can handle that?"

I nodded. "Sure thing Don! Provided of course that we could ever get even CLOSE to the objective! These Caribou REALLY have it out for us right now!"

"Just keep doing your best. The reinforcements are arriving now, and will hopefully be able to make a difference in this battle."

"Ok, roger that Don!" I then turned to the rest of my troops. "Ok guys, we push forwards to the Palace! Don said that we and General Shining's forces are going to be the ones to storm it!"

They all cheered, and then we all got back to fighting.

Meanwhile, back in the PCC, Twilight and Applejack were watching the battle unfold with Jim, as well as the Princesses.

"So how do you think that this will go Jim?" Twilight asked.

Jim shrugged. "According to the most recent reports, it's anyone's battle at this point. The lines are fighting back and forth, and nobody's really getting anywhere."

"And, what do y'all think are the chances of them rescuin' Dash n' Pinkie Pie?"

Jim sighed. "Alive and well, or in body bags?"

They both looked at each other with tears in their eyes. Then they looked at Jim, but they couldn't say anything. They just cried.

"It would take a miracle". Jim muttered. "We've been able to work them in the past, but I'd say that this time, it would take more than just a miracle. It would take......"

"Magic?" Twilight asked.

Jim shrugged. "Something like that. I wouldn't know anything about Magic, as I'm a Human-Earth Pony, but it would take something incredibly strong to pull off the magical miracle that we would need."

They all sighed, and continued to think about that, completely unaware of what was about to happen in Donneth.

Back in the streets, Shining and I had managed to link up, and with the new reinforcements, we continued our drive forwards.

"KEEP MOVING FORWARDS!!!!" I yelled. "THEY HAVE TO BE RUNNING LOW ON REINFORCEMENTS!!!!!"

We all kept shooting at them. Every now and again though, some of our guys would make "rescue runs", and save slaves, and other prisoners from buildings, before getting them to safety. The best in the business was 1st Sergeant Phil Collins and his squad.

"Keep it coming guys!" He yelled. "These slaves need saving, and we’re the best that there is!"

"Keep up the good work Phil! You guys are real slave-saving machines!"

"Just keep protecting us like you’re doing Captain Leopard, and we'll be fine!"

"Roger that!"

Our plan was for us to keep shooting to protect them, but unfortunately, that plan was about to go severely awry. Phil and his team had just completed clearing out a building on the street that we were on, saving 6 slaves in the process; 3 Black Collars, and 3 Red Collars. They thought that they had killed all of the Caribou, but unfortunately, they were wrong. One of the ones inside that building, Frandt, was only fatally wounded.

"If.....one dies......" He muttered as he lined up a missile shot at Phil and his group, "THEY.....ALL DIE!!!" He fired the missile.

All of us heard the missile discharge. A few of us spotted it incoming.

"PHIL, LOOK OUT!!!!" I screamed.

From what I could tell, Phil and his troops did see the missile, but they were unable to do anything about it, aside from tossing the slaves in our general direction.

Moments after they did, the rocket hit the ground next to them, and very close to the rest of us, and the last thing that I saw for a moment, was pure white.

I was blasted against a pile of rubble. Aurora was knocked next to me, as were a number of others. Shining landed across the street on a cart, and the rest of our troops were lying willy-nilly all over the place. A number had been hurt, some of them seriously.

When I finally managed to pick myself up from the rubble, I found a slave lying on top of me. At first, I thought that she was just unconscious, but then I saw a huge chunk of shrapnel sticking out of her back. She was dead. She had lost her life to save mine. I gently moved her off of myself, and laid her on the ground. "Rest now, my Dear." I whispered to her. "You're free now. Nobody can ever hurt you again." I then removed my helmet, and gave her a moment of silence. Then I turned to the others.

"Hey, Headcount. How many of you guys are still ok?!"

I saw a few of the guys get back up, followed by others. I then remembered who the missile had been aimed at. "Oh Celestia, PHIL!!!! PHIL, WHERE ARE YOU!!!"

I turned around, and all I could see was a pile of rubble, with a lot of bloodstains on it. "PHIL!!!" I ran over to it. Aurora was right behind me. What I found when I got there though, was worse than I could have possibly imagined. All I could see were pieces of bodies. I then spotted Phil's remains, as well as the remains of his men. I could only recognize them because of their helmets, as their bodies were burned and blasted beyond recognition.

"SIR, WE'VE GOT INCOMING!!!!" Someone yelled.

"THEY'RE RIGHT MASTER!!!" Aurora screamed. "THERE'S MORE COMING!!!!"

Sure enough, the Caribou had been lying in wait for just the right moment to strike. Now that they had an opening, with all of us disorganized, they took advantage of the opportunity, and charged straight towards us. They didn't know it yet, but what they were about to do would be the last mistake that any of them would ever make.

I was devastated. They had not only killed one of our best sergeants in cold blood, but also his men, and even 3 of the 6 unarmed slaves! (The other 3 would survive, although they were injured.) That was it. I. Was. DONE!

I turned to my troops. "Stand down. I've got this. Phil and his troops were MY responsibility, so now I WILL avenge them!!!" The most chilling thing was that I had just said that in a voice so cold that it seemingly had no emotions in it at all.

"Sir, what do you mean?!" Dan asked.

I didn't answer. Instead, I went over to Argus, and whispered something to him that sounded like I was summoning a demon. Argus seemed enraged, but he stayed where he was. I then stepped out into the middle of the road, facing towards the charging Caribou.

"You, killed some of my best soldiers, as well as UNARMED, DEFENSELESS SLAVES!!!!!" I roared. "THIS....IS THE LAST......GOSH-DAMN....STRAW!!!!"

Then, as those around me began to watch in shock and horror, I seemingly began to change. As Dan himself later described it, "The area around him seemingly got very dark. It was just like he was when he tamed the War Beast, but only this time, it was something much more intense. This was something not natural. When I looked at Leopard, I didn't see Leopard, instead, I saw something much, much worse!"

I then threw off my tattered cloak, revealing Sombra's armor that I was wearing underneath. In that moment, Sombra himself was so shocked by what had just happened that even he lost control of me. I was now my own man, with his powers!

"Oh shit!!! LEOPARD'S GOING SUPER-SAYAN!!!!!" Someone yelled.

"GET DOWN!!!" Shining screamed.

I then went completely ballistic.

(1:56-2:32)

Still to this day, I can barely remember anything at all from my rampage with Sombra's powers. It's all just a blur, like a distant dream. However, nobody else could forget what happened. From what they told me later, I was able to form a pretty clear picture.

I was using powers that even I didn't even know that I had! I blasted the Caribou with my Sombra's Magic, beat them with objects that should have been far too heavy for me to lift, took flight, grabbed several at once in a whirlwind tornado, bashed them all together, and then threw them in multiple directions.

None of the troops had ever seen ANYTHING like what they were witnessing right then. Up until that point, none of them, not even Shining, who had actually seen what Sombra was capable of, could believe that the magic that he had could even do anything even REMOTELY close to what I was pulling off right then!

However, even though what I was doing was absolutely insane, I was clearing a path for the rest of the troops. In the entire area that we were in, no Caribou were left alive.

Then, I stopped for a moment, and seemingly came to myself again. I turned back, and gave a shrill whistle. Argus was in front of me in an instant. "Good boy!" I said, climbing back up into his saddle.

I then turned back to the rest of the soldiers. "Well what are you guys waiting for, an INVITATION?!?!?!?! When life gives you lemons, you don't look a gift horse in the mouth, YOU MAKE LEMONADE!!!" I then turned Argus towards the direction of the Imperial Palace, and rode off towards it, Sombra's red cape flowing behind me.

Shining looked towards the others. "What he said! Now come on! He's just given us an opening! LET'S GO!!!!" He led the charge after me.

"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT GENERAL SHINING?!?!?!?" Dan asked. "WHAT HE DID WAS LITERALLY BORDERLINE DEMONIC!!!!"

Shining shrugged. "Maybe so, but yet, he did the right thing. If those Caribou were willing to literally kill unarmed slaves to keep us from killing them, then at least Leopard was able to stop them before they could do that ever again! He just saved us all for sure. Plus, if he WAS Sombra, he would have most likely killed ALL OF US as well! I think I'm finally beginning to see it now; Leopard isn't Sombra, he's Sombra reborn! Just a Human-Bat-Pony hybrid, with Sombra's powers!"

"YEAH, IT'S F@#KING INSANE, AND NOT IN A GOOD WAY!!!!"

Shining shrugged. "Maybe not, but it works!" They all kept coming.

Up ahead of them, I paused for a brief moment to collect my bearings. It was then though that my sensitive ears picked up a loud scream. I knew that scream.

"DASHIE!!!!!" I screamed back. "HANG ON, I'M COMING FOR YOU!!!!!"

I then continued my charge towards the Imperial Palace.

For Dactyl, the reports were at times grim, but at other times, they were at least somewhat promising.

"Sir, we have taken rather heavy losses, but we are holding the enemy back, at least for the time being!"

"Sir, we're beginning to run low on troops! The enemy is holding their positions, and they manage to slaughter most of the soldiers that we send their way! What do we do?!"

Dactyl sighed. "What we're supposed to do, we keep fighting, although now, we need to focus on breaking this stalemate. The enemy is holding their positions, but yet at the same time, they're also whittling our forces down as well. We need to figure out a way to drive them out of here for GOOD!!!"

However, when Dactyl began to hear the reports of warriors using slaves as shields, he was absolutely outraged. "How DARE they have the AUDACITY!!!! Those COWARDS!!!" He roared. He then threatened to kill those who used slaves as shields, or used them to protect themselves himself for their cowardly actions.

Suddenly though, Dactyl heard what sounded like a massive explosion outside in the city streets. "What in the world....???" He went over to see what it was. When he did, he got the shock of his life. There, flying in the sky above the city, dealing out death to the Caribou below, was the harbinger to end all harbingers. Dactyl recognized him all too well.

"S-S-SOMBRA!!!" He cried. "B-b-but it c-can't be!!!!" He'd heard all too many times the stories handed down to him from his father and grandfather about Sombra, and how much death and destruction that he had wrought on the first Caribou Empire so many years ago. He had also heard from his brother Danin that Sombra had returned through one of the Human Officers, but he had never believed it. Now, he was not so sure.

From where they were, when they heard the name 'Sombra', both Dash and Pinkie became extremely afraid.

"But, it can't be! Sombra died when Cadence and Shining Armor retook the Crystal Empire! He's DEAD!!!"

"Or is he?" Pinkie said with wide eyes. "Remember, we never CONFIRMED him to be dead! We just ASSUMED that he was! His horn and armor were shot off, but they were never found! What if somepony found them, and now THEY'RE Sombra?!"

Dash was scared. She had thought about this being a possibility, but up until that moment, she had never believed it. "Yeah, but who? Who did Sombra attach himself to? Who's Sombra reborn?!"

Dactyl turned towards her, and was maybe about to answer, but then, due to some vibrations, a section of ceiling suddenly broke loose, and fell right towards Dash and Pinkie!

"LOOK OUT!!!" Dactyl screamed.

"AAAHHHH!!!!" Dash screamed. (The same scream that I heard from where I was.)

Both she and Pinkie were able to dodge the ceiling chunk, and it smashed to the floor harmlessly.

"Are you guys alright?!" Dactyl ran over to them.

"Yeah....we're.....fine." Dash said softly.

Suddenly, one of the guards came into the throne room. "MY PRINCE!!! KING SOMBRA, THE LEADER OF THE UNDEAD HARBINGERS, JUST MADE IT ONTO THE PALACE GROUNDS!!!! HE'S COMING FOR US ALL!!!"

Dash and Pinkie then screamed, and cowered in fear. Dactyl took charge. "Ok, and he DOES NOT get in here!!! SHUT, LOCK, BOLT, AND SECURE ALL DOORS AND WINDOWS, INCLUDING THESE THRONE ROOM DOORS!!!!"

"SIR, YES SIR!!!"

"AND STOP THAT MONSTER BY WHATEVER MEANS ARE NECESSARY!!! HE CANNOT GET IN HERE!!!"

"SIR, YES SIR!!!"

The guard then took his place by the throne room doors, which were then shut, locked, bolted, and secured. Then he and the guards in the room, totaling 31 of the best warriors that the Caribou Empire had to offer, all prepared themselves to lay down their lives for their prince.

Even Dactyl himself prepared. He gave Dash and Pinkie helmets, as well as shields to protect themselves. He then grabbed his own helmet, sword, and shield, and made ready to defend himself as well.

All of them silently waited in that throne room, waiting, to meet their destiny.

Meanwhile, outside of the city, Don and his forces were wholly perplexed when they suddenly saw what appeared to be a mass of shadow inside of the city.

"What the.....what?" Don then grabbed his radio. "Leopard, Leopard! Do you copy?! What's going on in there?!"

No answer.

"General Shining, are you there?!"

After a moment, a reply came. "Yeah, I'm here Major!"

"What's going on in there General, and where's Leopard?!"

"Um....yeah, about that.......do you want the long or the short version?"

"Um, why do I get the feeling that something really bad's just happened?"

"Um....well....." Shining then explained everything that just happened, from the death of Phil, his squad, and the slaves, to my going ballistic over that, and the amount of damage that caused. "....So that's where we all currently sit Major. We're all chasing after Leopard as fast as we can go, and we're RAPIDLY closing in on the Imperial Palace! We're almost to the end!"

Don looked down at his watch. The time was 11am. All of us had now been awake for nearly 24 hours. Some of us even longer than that! At the same time, he was also trying to keep from fainting. Time and time again I had pulled stunts like this, but yet, each time, the results were always positive for us.

"I.......Don't even know what to say right now General.....just, get the job done! Save the hostages!!!"

Shining saluted. "Sir, yes Sir!"

He then got back to following in my wake. All of the soldiers knew that the battle was drawing to a close, and whatever happened in the next few hours, would decide the fate of everything!

Author's Note

Whoa! I promised an action-packed chapter, and I SURE delivered, didn't I? So now the Battle of Donneth is nearing the end of the line, but it's not over yet! There's still MORE to go! I thought about just creating a part 2 for this, but then I realized, that that really didn't fit the mood, so instead, I created a new chapter, Chapter 26: Hour of Reckoning! It's going to maybe be a little bit shorter than a usual chapter, but don't worry, it will still be action-packed let me tell you!

So now, with the Battle for Donneth drawing to a close, what's going to happen? Will we be able to rescue the hostages, or will Dactyl just kill them? Will I ever be able to get a full handle on Sombra's powers, or am I really doomed to just follow down the same path that he took? And will Sombra ever get his full powers back, and what'll happen to him if and when he does? Well, you know the drill! Stay tuned for Chapter 26, (Which should HOPEFULLY be out later on tonight, or tomorrow morning sometime!) and I'll tell you!

As always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 26! This is the chapter that decides the fate of everything, so DON'T YOU DARE MISS IT!!!!

ScarFox out for now!

Prologue/Massive Backstory

"Officer report. Friday, May 25th, 2029. Diary entry 6,235 in total, 3,300 since the start of WW6......maybe. I don't know. I can't even keep the numbers straight anymore! But anyway, I do know that this is my 1,973rd entry since the end of the Second Cold War. 2 1/2 years ago, back on December 28th, 2026, the Second Cold War ended, and the US declared war on the Futa Empire once again. 3 years before that, WW6 began.

*Sigh* With everything's that happened to me since I was 14, I need to take the time to reflect. Let's see. First there was the ‘Forgotten War’, then WW3, WW4, WW5, then WW6 began, and then about a year later stalemated into the Second Cold War. Then, on December 28th, 2026, we invaded, and took back St. Louis from those god-awful freaks. Those gosh-damned Futas. Chicks with dicks. NO! Abominations straight from the depths of hell, that's what they are! Lab Rats of the 3rd World Order!

*Slight pause* Hmm, It feels like so long ago. First the crazy Matriarchal World Empire came to power, then the One Race Empire; both of whom were dealt with, but it took three world wars, and almost 4.5 billion lives to do it. Then, just as we were beginning to rebuild our shattered nation of America for the 3rd time, SHE came. General Stacy Rikker. The younger daughter of Empress Demetria, the Ruler of the Futa Empire. She declared that the world was her's and the Futas's, and that we had to submit to her rule. We refused, and WW6 began. In short, the war stalemated, and that led to the Second Cold War. Just prior to WW6, a large group of pussies.....er, um, 'pacifists', came to power, and they wanted the US to make peace with the Futas. It was shown time and time again just how HORRIBLE of an idea this was, but they didn't listen, even when those who sounded the alarms were proven RIGHT by the Futas's HORRENDOUS actions!

Luckily for all of us though, the pacifists were removed from power, and replaced by a REAL government that served the best interests of the US as a whole. Under the leadership of John Dillinger, the 63rd President, our nation made it very clear that ANY further Futa aggression would not be tolerated. For those of us trapped behind the lines though, we knew that we would have to do our part to get back to the US, and prepare for war. I mean sure, we DID lose everything from Las Angeles to the Mississippi River, not to mention Alaska and Hawaii, with everything East of the Mississippi still being the US, but if those 'pacifists' had had their way, it would have been SO MUCH worse! I mean yes, it WAS bad, but then there came a HUGE silver lining!

Heh. Those were the fun days. Under the direction of Jeff Coleson, and his right hand, Don Curry, 6 of us built guns in our hidden bunker under the ranch we all worked on under our Futa mistress, Samantha Applegate, in Kansas. Guns. 16in. Guns, AA guns, machine guns, anti-tank guns, phalanx cannons, guns of all kinds. Even 4 big railguns! Eventually, we were found by Jim Bender, the unofficial leader of the brand new RWD (Railway Warfare Division) in Futa-occupied territory, based in the old Union Pacific Roundhouse in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and his team of railroad crew. They helped us put all of our weapons onto train cars, and in just 2 nights, we smuggled everything first to Canada, and then to New York. To make an extremely long story short, we took the weapons, train cars, the Big Boy engine that the RWD gave us, and 216 crew members, and turned them all into the deadliest weapon imaginable; The Battleship Express!

The Battleship Express, now the deadliest weapon in the US Arsenal! From St. Louis, to Jefferson City, Kansas City, Des Moines, Dallas, Houston, Oklahoma City, Omaha, The Black Hills, Bismark, Denver, Phoenix, Santa Fe, Boise, Salt Lake City, all the way to where we currently sit in northern Nevada, heading towards Las Vegas. You name it, we were most likely there, and kicking some SERIOUS Futa ass! As of currently, Battalion 4009 (us), has claimed an estimated 950,000 Futa dog-tags! That's a US military record. After us comes the Marine Unit Sand Dust, with an estimated 400,000 dog tags.

We're the best in the business. We have the best weapons, the best train, the most competent leadership.....except poor Coleson. God bless Jeff Coleson. May he rest in peace. Anyway, command was passed to now-Major Don Curry, and Chief Engineer Jim Bender. I've seen almost everything by now. Hopefully we'll be partying in Vegas by the end of next month. When their capital falls, those bastards will have very few places left to run. We'll drive them to the Pacific, and then into it! We’ll never surrender until their filth has been wiped from the face of the Earth! May God continue to be with us in this fight as we continue to retake our homeland. This is Captain Leopard, 2nd Engineer, out."

Once I'd finished my audio diary entry, I put the recorder into the pocket of my faded blue jacket. The jacket was burnt, and had a few holes in it, but the faded white logo still read "Pizza Ranch", the old restaurant where I'd been employed what felt like decades ago. Maybe it was. Time was hard to keep track of.

"2016. That's when all of this started. That's when the ‘Forgotten War’ began. 2 years after that, WW3. Then WW4, WW5, the first half of WW6, the Second Cold War, and then another 2 1/2 years of WW6 so far. According to the war logs, that's a grand total of 27 years! But yet I'm only 24, and I've been fighting since I was 14 years old back in 2018. It's not possible, but with everything that's happened, nothing really seems to be beyond possibility; not even breaking the Laws of Physics, Time, and Space."

I sighed a bit, and pulled my knees a bit tighter underneath myself, before resting my head on them, and sighing again. I continued to watch the Nevada sunset for a little while longer, before I got up from where I was sitting, which was the roof of our venerable work caboose, walked over to the ladder, and climbed down to the ground. Once I was there, I checked my watch as I stood next to the train. 7:30pm. I was due back at the engine very soon. I sighed, and then began to make my way up there, walking beside the train. I had a long way to walk.

"32 cars. That's what it took to make up the bulk of this beast."

After passing the work caboose, which had been modified to have missile launchers, I then passed a generator car, an observation car used as a command post, and Tertiary Command Center (TCC), a car that was used to house our helicopter gunship, a car for spare parts, a drone command center car, a car for ammunition for both the gunship and the drones, several coaches used as quarters for the officers, the officer's mess car, a fully equipped medical coach, more weapons cars, the car that housed the second of our two sets of railguns, more cars for ammunition, more crew cars and dining cars, flatbeds for two of our 16in. gun turrets, another ammunition car, the car for the storage of our 20 modernized W50 nuclear shells, (which could be fired by either the railguns, or the 16in. guns, were probably some of the last nuclear weapons on Earth, and were NOT to be used under ANY circumstances!) another generator car, (we had several of these) more ammunition cars, the car that contained the Primary Command Center (PCC), the car with the first of the two sets of railguns, a flatbed for our other 2 16in. gun turrets, the cars for some of the engine's crew, a dining car for the engine crew, a supply car which had generators, a special crew car for the engine crew, which included the Secondary Command Center (SCC), (and it was taken over by the crew living next to it, including myself!) two hopper cars that carried 200 tons of extra coal each for the engine, an extra-large 100,000 gallon tanker car full of extra water for the engine, and a number of other supply cars thrown in along the way as well, including several that held tractors, loaders, excavators and bulldozers from 2 long-defunct companies called "CAT", and "John Deere" before I finally completed my trip, passing all 32 cars of our beloved train.

"Such a long trip", I muttered. "You could start as a fat man at the back of the train, and by the time you got to the engine, you'd be the fittest person alive!"

I then moved my tail a bit in thought. (Yes, I have a tail. A long, gray wolf tail. I also have wolf legs, and paws for feet, two wolf ears on the top of my head, wolf-like teeth, much larger, deep blue eyes that can see in almost total darkness, and even some patches of black fur! Only patches though, hence my nickname, "Leopard". In fact, most of the others in the world now have similar animal-like features. Let's just say that multiple world wars, plus massive amounts of chemicals and radiation can do weird things to Human genetics. So can unethical medical experiments, but let's not talk about that!)

By this point, I finally reached the engine. I had to take a moment to admire its beauty.

"Union Pacific Big Boy 4009. There never was an engine like Big Boy. Even today, our beloved 4009 is something to be admired. I mean heck, 4-8-8-4 wheel configuration, 136 feet end to end, 1,200,000lbs. empty, 60in. wheels, a top speed of 80mph, capable of pulling a 5 mile-long train on flat ground, and a tender that holds 25 tons of coal, and 25,000 gallons of water, what's not to love? I mean, now that we've given it some modifications, and it pulls the Battleship Express, the Futas have started calling it 'Death's Train', or the 'Express from Hell', but it's still lovable, right?"

I walked past the massive tender. It had been enlarged to hold more coal and water, and the sides used to read "Union Pacific", but now they read,

"Union Pacific?
Nope!
United Panic!"

Humorous, and effective, though this little joke would be removed during the train’s next shakedown.

The engine's front cowcatcher had been removed, and replaced with one of solid titanium. It's edges were now sharpened enough to slice through steel like it was flesh, and multiple metal spikes were welded to it as well. Got something blocking the tracks? No problem! Just plow through it, or over it! Also on the front of the engine, on the platform just above the cowcatcher, just behind the headlight and the number plate, and in front of the front of the boiler, sat a modified pillbox. With 4 machine guns, and a crew of 2-3, it protected the front of the train, but was a severe health risk. It was supposed to have been removed ages ago and replaced with a phalanx cannon, but we never got around to it. The glass in the window frames of the cab were removed, and replaced with bullet-proof glass, and on the cab roof was an AA gun, and two machine guns. Also located along the sides of the boiler were two forward-facing 8in artillery guns. The metal of the boiler had also been better modified to serve as armor.

"When we said 'armed to the teeth, and ready to go at all times', we weren't fooling around!"

I then grabbed the base of the ladder, and climbed up into the cab.

"Hey Leopard."

"Evening, Captain."

"Hello Cap."

I looked at them. Second Fireman Alex Barkley, Second Brakemen Todd Davis, and Engine Guardsman Fred Wilkins. (An Engine Guardsmen's job is to protect the locomotive, and the crew inside).

"Hey guys. Anything new?"

Alex shrugged. "Not really. We were just cooking a few things in the Fireplace. Want anything?"

I chuckled a bit. Whenever the train was sitting, but the fire in the firebox was burning, we jokingly said that the engine was in "Fireplace Mode." It was also during this time that we could cook food in the cab if we so desired.

"What are you cooking?"

"I'm making a hot dog, Todd wanted a burger, and Fred wanted a hot dog too."

"Hmm, well, I'll take a burger if you have any extras."

Alex nodded. "Sure." He then pulled his cooking shovel out of the firebox, and put another burger on it before sticking it back inside.

"Thanks Alex."

"No problem Leopard."

I looked around the cab, but I noticed that someone was missing. "Hey, where's Andy?"

Fred looked at me. "Oh, he went to the bathroom. He'll be right back." (Andy Shepherd was the other Engine Guardsman for the Secondary Crew).

I nodded. I thought back to Christmas Day, 2026, where from Platform 1 of Grand Central Station in New York, our train pulled out for the first time, heading towards our first battle. "We were so unprepared back then", I thought. "If only we knew what lay ahead."

Eventually, the food was done, and we all ate our firebox-cooked dinner with some chips and soda.

"Hmm, so nice. And just think, we're already in Nevada. By the end of next month, we could have the Futas in only California, Oregon, Alaska, and Hawaii!" (Washington State had already been liberated).

Todd looked worried. "Yeah, that's the plan, but what if something goes wrong?"

Alex looked at him. "I think that you worry too much Todd.”

“There always is the possibility of something going wrong Alex”, I warned. “Not a very high one, but a chance nevertheless."

We all continued to eat our dinner as we discussed this matter further.

Meanwhile, in a certain location in the vastness of the Multiverse, all was not well. Equestria was at war, and had been for the past 3 years. From the Southeast, the Zebra Empire, led by Overlord Zakia, marched forwards. From the Southwest, the Caribou Empire, under King Danin also brought their guns to bear on Equestria. For some time, the two leaders had been fighting each other, but eventually they realized that they shared the same goals. Eventually, an alliance was brokered between the two nations, the Imperial Alliance, and they both declared war on Equestria.

Equestria was not ready for war, but was able to mobilize quickly. Troops were sent to the south, and major cities underwent heavy fortifications. The fighting was horrific. In the entire history of these 3 nations, there had never been fighting like this. The war had stalemated into trench-style warfare, with trenches stretching from Las Pegasus, to Appaloosa, and all the way to Baltimare. Other minor attacks had been conducted on even far away places like Canterlot, Ponyville, Manehattan, and even the Crystal Empire. The Equestrian soldiers held on, but were slowly losing ground. Their enemies had new weapons to fight with, the worst of which was a gas. From time to time from the enemy trenches, a cloud of what appeared to be blue smoke would appear. Affects to the gas were reportedly violent behavior towards females, wanting to dominate, wanting to be dominated, and even wanting to commit suicide. Effective gas masks were developed, but the situation looked very grim.

In Canterlot, Princess Celestia had summoned Twilight Sparkle, and the rest of the Elements of Harmony for an emergency meeting. When they arrived, they found Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, and Prince (now General) Shining Armor.

"How goes the war General?" Celestia asked.

Shining Armor shook his head. "God-awful. All day and night the enemy just keeps trying to break through our lines. They keep launching that.........gas, at us! We're losing more and more soldiers all of the time. We need help Princess!"

Celestia sighed. "I've tried to reach out to the Griffons, Minotaurs , Saddle Arabians, and even the Dragons, but nopony wants to help. Worse still, we've received reports that soldiers from these nations have deserted, and joined forces with the enemy!"

The Mane 6 gasped.

"What? Sided with King Danin and Overlord Zakia?!" Twilight was shocked. "Why would they do this?"

"We do not know", Princess Luna answered. "However, we do believe that it is because these soldiers saw a better future with the Imperial Alliance."

"What can we do to help Princess?"

Celestia looked at her faithful student. "You and all of your friends must keep helping the home-front. We have to keep the troops supplied and armed. They need clothing, food, blankets, gunpowder, ammunition, and other vital supplies."

Twilight turned to her friends. "So, who wants to be in charge of what?"

"Well, I can help with the clothing, Darling."

"Ah can help with the food production Sugarcube."

"Um, I can help with maybe training some of my animals to act as army scouts."

"Ooh, ooh, ooh!!!! I can help create some super happy posters to keep up morale!"

"I'm helping the Wonderbolts with the aerial war, so I'm helping out there."

"And I guess that I'll be the main coordinator of everything."

Celestia nodded. "That will all work out nicely. Now go out there and help us make a difference in this war!"

After the Mane 6 had left, Celestia turned to her sister, niece, and son-in-law. "We, have got to find allies! We CANNOT win this war without allies!"

Shining Armor put a hand over his face. "Yes, but how Princess?! We've tried all of the other nations. They either want to remain neutral, or are part of the problem!"

"I know General, but still, there has to be some way! There must be a way that we can win this war!"

Luna sighed. "We know, Dear Sister, and maybe there is, but for now, we HAVE to keep fighting! We fight, and we show those bastards, (excuse my language!) that we're not afraid of them!"

The four of them continued to discuss and debate the issue at hand, completely unaware of what events were soon to transpire.

Author's Note

Ok people, hold on to your seats! Grab your tickets, because the Battleship Express has left the station, and it's guns will soon be blazing! All aboard, a Weapon of Mass Destruction that haunts and stalks its enemies by the rails! ALL ABOARD!!!!!

(Also, this first chapter was long, because I had to describe everything, and to put certain things into perspective. More will be elaborated on later, but this is enough (or too much!) detail for now.)

(You may also be asking yourself, why did I use Fall of Equestria, and Zebra Domination? For one simple reason; I'm sick and tired of seeing the Caribou and Zebras getting away with their crimes! I've read a few good stories of Caribou falling, but not one good ending to a Zebra Dom story! Well, this story will change all of that. Better check you 6's Caribou and Zebra, cuz the Hammer of Justice is coming!)

(Also, to set the perspective of Equestria. In this Alternate Universe, the Ponies and other sentient creatures are all Anthros. Technology has advanced to long-range radios, gas masks, telephones, advanced breech-loading guns, and artillery cannons. There is also electric lighting, hydroelectric power, early steamships, vacuum cleaners, and other such aspects from the mid 1940's, or so. More will be explained as the story goes along, but these are the basics for now.)

As always, comments, feedback, and questions are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in the next chapter!

ScarFox out for now!

Chapter 1: Ending a Day, Beginning Another

Once I had finished eating, I said goodbye to the other engine crew. "Goodbye guys. I have to go check in with Jim and Don. I'll be right back."

"Ok. Goodbye Leopard."

"Bye."

I then exited the cab, and made my way back to the Primary Command Center. As I walked, I thought about manifests. "3 engineers, 3 firemen, 3 brakemen, and 6 Engine Guards. Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary, 15 in total. Alex, Todd, Fred, Andy and I make up the Secondary Crew, 1st Engineer Joe Dixon, 1st Fireman Frank Otis, 1st Brakemen Carl Vinson, and their two guards make up the Primary Crew, and then there's the Tertiary Crew; 3rd Engineer Mitchell Gibson, 3rd Fireman Daniel Hudson, 3rd Brakeman Timothy Watson, their 2 guards, 201 other crew, 1,000+ soldiers from Battalion 4009, several dozen others, including wives, girlfriends, fiances, and a few family members, plus a butt-load of pets, with all of that being packed into a 32 car war train! No wonder they call it a 'Fortress-City on Rails'!"

A few minutes later, when I reached the Primary Command Center, I knocked on the door.

"Come in."

I entered. Two men were seated at a console table with digital maps spread out on it. The younger of the two was 25 year old Major Don Curry, and the other was 60 year old Chief Engineer Jim Bender. These two men were in charge of the train; Jim kept everything sound and running, and Don gave all of the orders.

"Oh, Captain Leopard. It's nice to see you." Don shook my hand.

"Hello Don, Jim."

"Hello Captain. What brings you down here?"

I sighed. "I just came down to check in, and see if there was any news from Stateside."

Don looked at the map. "Well, tomorrow, we're due to meet up with Iron Glory for a resupply. After that though, it's time for another cleaning and shakedown. There's also a meeting for the train's entire compliment tomorrow morning as well."

I nodded. "Yeah, and then it's on to Vegas."

"Yes, on to Vegas. Just like what Jeff wanted."

We all were very sad when Don said that. Major Jeff Coleson had been our leader since day one. He was killed during the Battle of Omaha, Nebraska during an air raid on the train, though he gave the ultimate sacrifice, manning a machine gun, downing 7 enemy gunships, and possibly crippling 3 others before he succumbed to his injuries. His sacrifice saved the lives of 5 men trapped inside of one of the 16in. gun turrets, who couldn't escape due to the doors of the turret jamming, as well as the rest of the train, as those gunships were also carrying bombs. Jeff's sacrifice saved us all. After that, Don was promoted to take his place, and since I was a captain, I was promoted to be the train's 3rd in command, even though I still remained 2nd Engineer.

"Yes, for Jeff, and all of the others who gave their lives for the cause of Freedom."

Just before I left, I asked one more question. "Hey Don?"

"Yes Leopard?"

"Just so I know, as I am 3rd in command, has a target date for our Vegas assault been set yet?"

"Yes, it has. Friday, June 8th. The day that the assault begins."

"That's a little more than 2 weeks away. Looks like we have some more ground to cover before then."

"Correct again Captain. Our first stop is reinforcing the team about to retake the Hoover Dam, and then backing up US Army and Marine units moving down from the recently-liberated Reno and Carson City, and Air Force personnel from Nellis Air Force Base as they all dig in behind Vegas to cut off any retreat. Then the assault can begin. This operation will begin on June 1st, as cleaning and shakedown will take about 5 days to fully complete."

I nodded. "Sure, whatever you say Don. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Captain."

I then left the command car, and headed back to the engine.

Once my job was done for the day, and the Tertiary Crew came to take over the engine, we Secondary guys retired to our quarters.

For a little while longer, we sat around in the makeshift common room, and talked about what was to come. Then, one by one, we all went to our cabins. Finally, I called it a night, and after walking to a door just before the door to the Secondary Command Center, I entered my cabin. Because I was an officer, it was slightly larger than normal, but only just. There was a full-sized bed, a night-table with a lamp, a desk, a dresser, a filing cabinet, a gun safe, a small table, a mini-fridge, a pellet stove for heat (used primarily in the Winter. It was currently turned off, as we were in the Mojave Desert, and I was currently out of pellets for it. I could also cook on it thanks to a double-burner, improvised hot plate on top as a makeshift stove-top, but as burn spots on the floor below testified, it was a bit of a fire-hazard), a small clothes closet, a plush rug by the bed, and a few shelves. The room also had its own tiny bathroom, with a toilet, mirrored sink, and shower. On the floor by the door were two dog dishes with the word "Aurora" on them, and hanging on the wall above them was a large leash. A window at the back of the room provided natural light, but there was also electrical lighting as well, courtesy of the lamps in the room, and a rickety old ceiling fan, which also provided airflow.

I went over to my bed, and sat down on it. I then looked over at my nightstand, and picked up a picture on it of a young woman with brown hair, brown eyes, and wearing a Battalion 4009 field uniform, with a satchel slung over her shoulder. "This room's so lonely without her. Why did she have to die?! WHY?!" I set the picture on my lap, and then buried my face in my hands.

Ever since she died, I could never stop thinking about her. Lilly was my whole world. She had been there since WW6 restarted, and was the only female to really understand me. On Christmas Eve, 2026, on the platform of Grand Central Station, just before the Battleship Express pulled out for St. Louis, I took Lilly's hand in marriage until death did us part.

"Then, little more than a year later, she was gone."

Lily's death was so tragic. During the Battle of Omaha, the same battle that claimed Major Jeff, our radar picked up several enemy aircraft closing in on the train. Our guns did manage to destroy them, but one aircraft flipped out of control, and slammed into one of the weapons cars. Lily was inside helping a technician, and she and 4 others were killed instantly. I was so shaken by her death that I almost committed suicide. It was only because of my care of Aurora that I thought twice about that. I carried on, but I was never the same again.

"Aurora. Speaking of which, where is she anyway?" I got up from my bed, and poked my head out into the hallway. "Aurora? Here girl, it's time for bed!"

For a few moments, there was only silence. Eventually though, I heard a series of barks, and from somewhere off down the train, the sound of paws on the floor could be heard as well. Moments later, a large, grey wolf appeared. When she saw me, she came bounding up to me, and jumped into my arms.

"Hey Aurora, there you are! Did you miss me girl?"

Aurora licked my face, and barked happily. "Yes, I sure did Master!" (Yes, Aurora can talk thanks to medical modifications!)

"Yeah, I missed you too Girl!"

After letting go of me, Aurora walked over to my bed, and jumped on it. I was about to go over to her, but then I saw something move outside my door. I turned to look, and sure enough, there was Todd.

"Oh, uh, hey Todd. Did you need something?"

Todd shifted a bit on his feet. "Well, I, um.....w-wanted to ask you something."

"Oh? Well, ask away. I'm all ears."

"Well....um, w-why do you always wear that Kitsune mask?"

I was taken aback a bit by his question. I reached up to my face, and sure enough, there it was, my white and red Kitsune mask. The same mask I'd been wearing for almost a year.

"I....um....it's complicated. That accident really did me in, and it almost did Aurora, Alex, and I in for good."

I thought back to the "accident". In April of 2028, we were almost to Denver, Colorado, and the Futas were REALLY sweating to stop us. Their ultimate goal was to knock the Battleship Express out of the war for good, and they damn near succeeded. Unbeknownst to us, they had an agent in our midst. Corporal Sally Face was the bastard's name, and he was the most hated soldier in the RWD, whole US Armed Forces for that matter. He was weird, always wore his blue hair in pigtails, and always wore a really creepy white prosthetic face mask.

One day, while the Big Boy was being steamed up for our run to Boulder, Colorado, the Primary Crew were sleeping or eating, the Secondary Crew, including myself, were being briefed by our superiors, and unfortunately, due to a miscommunication, the Tertiary Crew left the engine early, thinking that we Secondaries were coming to relive them. The engine was completely unmanned for 10 minutes, and in those 10 minutes, Face did his terrible deed.

He damaged the main steam pressure gauges, causing them to show a much lower reading than they were supposed to. Face then left the cab, and Alex and I came to the cab a minute or so later, not knowing that the Big Boy had become a ticking time bomb. We began to build up the fires, thinking that the pressure was low. Alex then left for a brief moment to take a wiz, and it was then that I began to hear a loud hissing sound. I turned around, and realized that the boiler had become white hot! It was going to explode!

There wasn't even time to scream a warning before the boiler blew. The blast knocked me clear out of the cab, and onto the ground below. The train was knocked out of commission for 4 months while emergency repairs were undertaken. Fortunately, this was made easy by the vast number of new parts being made in Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Cleveland. There were no fatalities in the explosion, but Alex and I, as well as Aurora, and a number of others who had been nearby were cut up, and burned. For 3 weeks I was in the hospital car. When I woke up, I saw the burns on my face, as well as the scars, and I quickly covered my face. (In all actuality, the burns were 2nd degree at worst, and were almost healed by now.) It was then that I took to wearing my Kitsune mask most of the time.

In the aftermath, Face was hunted down, and was believed to have been killed in the battle of Boise, Idaho, however, his body was never found. The building that he was in however was demolished by a cruise missile, so not finding a body was understandable!

Once I finished my flashback, I turned back to Todd. "Sure, I'll take it off, but only because you keep asking me, and only for tonight." I removed my mask, and set it on my night-table.

"See? Your face isn't so bad. You should learn to let go of the mask."

I rubbed my face. "I'm trying to Todd, really I am. But old habits just die really hard."

Todd nodded. "It's understandable Leopard, but I think that you should keep trying. Anyway, I have to go to bed now. We have a busy day tomorrow."

I nodded. "Yeah, we really do, don't we? Well anyway, Goodnight Todd."

"Goodnight."

After he left, I took off my uniform, crawled into bed after Aurora, and after wrapping my arms around her, and she wrapped her paws around me, we both fell asleep.

The next morning, I was up at about 7. I got up, showered, brushed my teeth, and then I pulled on my field uniform. It was dark blue, with gray thrown in as well. It consisted of a blue tunic, dark blue pants with sort of overall straps, some gray armor, black boots, and a gray German-style helmet with goggles. I also had gloves, but I only used those when I drove 4009. Once I was done getting ready, I took Aurora to use the bathroom. Once she was done, I grabbed my trusty ChesterTon M16 rifle (I called it this because it had replacement parts from both Winchester and Remington in it) and Glock 9mm, and after putting a leash on Aurora, we exited our cabin, and after leaving our crew car, we went to attend the crew meeting.

When we arrived, most of the others were all gathered around as well. Once we were all assembled, Don and Jim appeared, accompanied by several soldiers. Don looked at all of us.

"Good morning everyone."

"Good morning Major."

"Good morning Sir."

"Good morning Don."

"Ok, now that you're all here, I'm sure that by now, you're all wondering why you're here. Well, I'll tell you. At about 5am this morning, I received a video call from none other than President Dillinger himself!"

"What did he have to say?" Someone asked.

"He told us that he was proud of the great service that we were doing for our country, asked me how the war was going, and how much longer until America was once again fully free from Sea to Shining Sea. You know, all of the usual stuff."

"And what did you tell him?"

Don sighed. "Exactly what he wanted to hear, that's what! He also told us what great heroes we were, and how we would be rewarded when the war was over."

Some of us laughed at that. While President John Dillinger meant well, he was getting up there in his years, and at times could be best described as suffering from bouts of dementia. He tended to forget certain things, and could be incompetent at times. Nevertheless, he was once a soldier like us, and he was democratically elected by a majority, so he was our Commander in Chief, even if only until the next election when his second/final term ended.

"All joking aside though, he also told us that we should probably be careful. According to our code-breakers and radio monitors, the Futas have gotten strangely quiet lately. He thinks that this could mean trouble."

There was a murmur among the crowd.

"The last thing that we need is another gosh-damn f@#king traitor like Face!"

We all agreed to that.

"Ok, ok! Settle down!" Don tried to keep talking, but he was drowned out by the noise.

"HEY, THE MAJOR TOLD ALL OF Y'ALL TO SHUT UP, SO YOU'D BETTER F@#KING DO IT RIGHT NOW!!!!!"

Jim was normally pretty quiet, but when he shouted, he could rattle windows! Needless to say, the crowd calmed down pretty quickly after that!

Once it was dead silent, Don continued. "Thank you Jim. Now then, where was I? Oh yes, our immediate future. As I'm sure that all of you are aware, we are currently in northern Nevada. Our target is the Futa Capital, Sin City, also called Las Vegas. As the flagship of the Railway Warfare Division, the most powerful train leading the most powerful land-based division in the US aside from the US Army, President Dillinger has chosen us to lead the assault on Vegas."

Now there came cheering from the crowd.

"However! There are things that need to be done first! As I'm sure that you all are aware, it's been almost 14 months since our last cleaning and shakedown, as well as 14 months since our last shore leave. And, as I've been informed, we're FINALLY due for both of them!"

Once again, there was loud cheering, only this time, it was accompanied by shouts of "USA! USA! USA!" barking, meowing, and a whole host of other noises.

"HOWEVER! Before our shore leave can begin, we must first get this train to the railyards in Lund, Nevada. THEN, and ONLY THEN, can we take a break! Now then, are we ready to do this?"

"Yes!!!!"

"What was that? I can't hear you! I said, ARE WE READY TO F@#KING DO THIS?!?!?!"

"HELL TO THE F@#KING YEAH!!!!"

"Alright then, cue the music, and let's do this!"

Someone popped in just the tape for the occasion.

"No! Wrong tape you dummy! The other one!"

"Whoops! Sorry! Hold on!" He took the tape out, and flipped it over.

"Much better. Now then, let's go!"

As quickly as I could, I handed Aurora off to Corporal Amanda Lindsey, the gal who cared for most of our animals while we were working. She quickly made her way to her post at the "Animal Day-Care" located behind the first pair of 16in. guns. I then raced up to the cab, joined by Alex, Todd, Fred, and Andy. As fast as humanly possible, and while singing the lyrics, and working in time to the music, we quickly got up steam in the boiler, made the fire roar, and were soon ready to leave.

"ALL ABOARD!!!!" Todd shouted.

Everybody who wasn't already on board the train quickly got on, and once everyone had checked in, we did one final check just to make sure that nobody, no pets, or anything at all really was left behind. Once that was done, with a loud blast of our whistle, (which, thanks to a stray bullet now no longer sounded with it's deep, familiar baritone chime, but now instead sounded like a Banshee's shriek, which was actually even MORE terrifying to the Futas!) we pulled out for Lund.

Author's Note

Ok, so, that was Chapter 1. I hope that you all enjoyed it. Now the Battleship Express is getting ready for the assault on Vegas in less than 2 weeks's time. How will that go? Well, stay tuned, and I'll tell you!

Also, if you're wondering, no, I'm not a Nazi! I hate them, and everything that they stand for, (except for their really cool uniforms, minus of course the Swastikas!) I just think that the song was catchy, and sorta fit the mood. If you didn't like it, don't fret. Much better music will be coming in the near future.

Meanwhile. comments, feedback, and questions, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 2!

ScarFox out for now, ALL ABOARD!!!

Chapter 6.5 (WARNING: EXPLICIT!!!!)

(Warning, minor nudity and some sex ahead. All under 18 avert your eyes now and skip to Chapter 7!)

Sometime later, I woke up. I was facing the wall closest to my bed, but I couldn't figure out why I'd just woken up. I then realized that I was still wearing my Kitsune mask.

"Oh great, not again!"

I was about to take it off, but then I felt something move next to me.

"Oh, it was you Aurora", I muttered.

I almost went back to sleep, but it was then that I realized something. If what was lying behind me was Aurora, then she wouldn't be under the covers! I kept feeling whoever, or whatever it was rub up against me.

"What in the world......?!"

I rolled over, and then froze in shock. Lying next to me, was Rainbow Dash! I avoided the urge to scream, but I did have to slam a hand over my mouth! I then gently scooted up into a sort-of sitting position, and fully assessed the situation. I was wearing just my boxers, in addition to my wings, and my tail, which were both natural, irremovable features. I was also lying close to the wall closest to my bed, and Dash was literally snuggled up right next to me, and this is a twin-bed mind you! Aurora was lying on the floor next to the bed on her favorite rug, and she was also asleep.

"Good god, what?! How.....how did she even get in here?! I had the door and window completely locked, and I only opened the door for just long enough for Aurora and I to come in here!" I was wholly perplexed. What happened next though was what really did me in.

Just as I was trying to figure out what to do, I removed my Kitsune mask, and moved the covers a bit to get out of bed. Dash then moved a bit in her sleep, moving them a bit more. I then chomped on my arm to keep from screaming.

"S-s-she......she's NAKED!!!!!!"

And sure enough, she was. Dash was wearing only the cyan fur that she was born with. She also had one of her wings partially wrapped around her, but it really didn't cover anything. Something in the corner of the room caught my eye, and I saw Dash's clothes draped over my desk chair, meaning that she got naked BEFORE she got into my bed!

Still fighting the urge to scream (and trying to get rid of my boner!) , my "other instincts" took over, and I began to look Dash over. She was lying on her side, with one hand under my pillow, and other one close to her stomach. I also noticed that Dash was snoring a bit, and slightly drooling as well. She was also actually pretty cute for a mare. I was about 5'10, and If I had to guess, Dash was maybe 5'5. Her body was also very toned and athletic, and covered in cyan fur. Even her hands appeared to have fur on them, although she did have finger nails. Her rainbow colored mane was flowing down to just past her shoulders, and her tail was hanging over the side of the bed. I also saw that her legs ended in hooves instead of feet.

"Wow", I muttered once I stop biting my arm, "She's f@#kin' hot!"

It was also then that I glanced at her "other assets". Her breasts were slightly larger than I originally thought that they were, maybe something between a C and a D cup. They were also covered in the same cyan fur as the rest of her, and her nipples and aureoles were dark blue. She also had a tuft of fur on her chest as well. I then looked lower, and I saw her slit. To my shock, it was wet!

"What....Why is it wet?!"

Dash then jerked a bit, and I thought that she was waking up, so I instinctively looked away, and pushed my back up against the wall. However, Dash didn't wake up. Just as I thought that I was in the clear, Dash did something much, much worse.

To my horror, the hand that she had close to her stomach, suddenly moved down to her slit, and she began to rub it! I was now bleeding I was biting my arm so hard.

"Oh yeah Stud...." She moaned/mumbled as she pleasured herself, "Give it to me! F@#k me hard, and make me yours! Come on Leopard, you're my Stud aren't you? F@#k me, and knock me up!"

That did it. Dash was in MY bed, naked, and now she was pleasuring herself IN HER SLEEP, while moaning my name, and dreaming about me f@#king her, and even getting her pregnant! I was too freaked out. I then let go of my arm, and screamed!

When I screamed, several things happened at once. My mind kicked into "Fight or Flight Mode", and with my back up against the wall, I inadvertently kicked my legs out. When I did, my paws, (I'm mostly human from the waist up, and anthro-wolf from the waist down, see "Prologue") collided with Dash, and I kicked her out of the bed! Dash then fell onto the floor, where she partially fell on Aurora! Aurora barked, and then jumped to her feet, before moving over to the door, and turning back around to look at Dash.

Dash woke up when she hit the floor. "Gahh!!!! What's.....what's going on?!?!" She then looked up at me. "Hey, why'd you kick me?! I was trying to sleep!"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM YOU SICK PERVERT?!?!?!"

Dash yawned, and stretched a bit, but she didn't make any moves to cover herself at all. "Hmm? Oh, well I needed a place to crash after the battle, so I decided to crash in here, and wait for you to come back. Eventually you did, but I think that you were almost asleep. You ditched your uniform, and crawled into bed. I just snuggled close to you after you did!"

"HOW DID YOU EVEN GET IN HERE?!?! THE DOOR AND WINDOW WERE LOCKED!!!!"

Dash shrugged. "I dunno, it wasn't locked when I saw it. I just tried the doorknob, and it was unlocked."

I face-palmed. I then remembered how in the battle of Phoenix, AZ, the crew car took a jarring hit. The lock to my door had broken during the impact, and I kept forgetting to fix it. It looked like it was locked, but it really wasn't.

"Why did you come in here?!"

Dash smirked. "Well, I wanted to see your haunts obviously! After I reached this car after I left you alone in the engine's cab, I just asked a guy named Fred where your room was, and he directed me here. I then opened the door, and after looking around, I decided that you have a nice room. I also really like that poster of me on the wall next to you! What? You wanted to whack off to me, but you were too scared to ask me? Well now, why beat off to a poster, when you have the real thing?" She giggled.

My first thoughts when she said that were, "When I find him, Fred Wilkins is a dead man!" I then made the connection in my head, and when I realized that I still had that poster, I just pulled my knees up under my chin, and buried my face into my hands.

"How could this happen to me....I made my mistakes, got nowhere to run, the night goes on, as I'm fadin' away...."

"DELCI, SHUT UP!!! You're not helping anything!"

She giggled, "Sorry Sir, had to happen!"

I then glared daggers at Dash. "Out!"

"What?"

"Out!" I pointed to the door.

"Aww, why?"

I got up from the bed. "OUT, OUT, OUT.....GET OUT OF MY ROOM!!!!!!" I then grabbed Dash around her waist, dragged her over to the door, and threw her out into the hallway! "AND STAY OUT!!!!!" I screamed as I slammed the door, and jammed my desk chair under the knob.

"HEY WAIT A MINUTE!!!!! I'M STILL NAKED!!!! GIVE ME MY CLOTHES BACK!!!!!!"

Out of instinct, I pulled away the chair, picked up all of Dash's clothes, opened the door, tossed them out to her, and then I slammed the door, jammed the chair up against the door again, before slumping down into it, and beginning to cry softly.

Author's Note

Well, here it was, my first ".5 Chapter that I warned about in the description. I know that this probably isn't what you were expecting, but please bear in mind, this was the first time that I wrote a chapter like this. Don't worry though, this chapter will flow perfectly smoothly into Chapter 7, which I'm writing now.

I hope that you enjoy it, and comments, feedback, and questions are always appreciated.

(Also, if this chapter offended you, I gave an explicit warning in the description about "0.5" chapters. This is the first of several. If you don't like them, then just stick with the regular chapters.)

Chapter 9: Back into Battle, Lots of Blood, and a Little Surprise (Part 2)

Once he had gotten the signal, Don began to coordinate the weapons on the Battleship Express for the battle. Don also told Joe, (Who was driving the engine) to blow the whistle. Joe complied, and all around the battlefield came the eerie sound of a Banshee-like scream.

"Wow, now THAT'S how you make an entrance! Now then guys, you know the drill! Missile Battery 1?"

"Yes Major?"

"I need a bunker-buster sent down the caves on our 9 O'clock, at a distance of about 1,200 yards. Do you see it?"

"Affirmative sir. Coordinates locked, firing now!"

The whole train shuddered as the BB missile left the train, and rocketed off towards its target. Moments later, we all saw a huge ball of fire through the smoke of the battlefield.

"BAM!!! Direct hit Sir! Target neutralized!"

"Excellent! Construction Brigade?"

"Yes Sir?"

"Advance! Push outwards, and get the lay of the land. Draw out the enemy, and lead them to us."

"Roger that Sir!"

Our tractor/bulldozer/loader "tanks" began to roll out on their wheels, and caterpillar tracks. They barely made it 10 yards from the train.

"Sir, we've got incoming!!!!"

Don checked the scanners. To his horror, he saw the red dots that indicated enemy soldiers, and they were so thick that all the scanners could pick up was one solid mass of red!

"HOLY SHIT!!!!! GUYS, GET OUT OF THERE NOW!!!!!! THE ENEMY IS COMING STRAIGHT FOR YOU!!!! FALL BACK NOW!!!!!"

The construction machine crews saw the shapes of the enemy through the smoke, and they didn't need to be told twice!

"Roger that Sir!"

The "tanks" then were shifted into reverse, and they immediately began to fall back to the train, which at the time was located outside of the city, with its weapons facing the Palomino Desert.

"ALL WEAPONS, OPEN FIRE NOW!!!! WE NEED TO CUT THE ENEMY DOWN, AND KEEP THEM AWAY FROM THE CITY!!!! FIRE AT WILL!!!!"

That was all it took. We didn't need to be told twice. From out of the smoke, we saw them; a mixture of Caribou, Zebras and Minotaurs. They were now less than 20 yards, and closing fast.

"WITHERING FIRE MOTHERF@#KERS!!!!!" Somebody screamed, and then we all opened fire. Machine guns, artillery guns, 16in. guns, railguns, rocket launchers, grenade launchers, mortar launchers, anti-personnel missiles, and even rifles in most cases, all dealt out harsh justice.

From the trenches, the Equestrian soldiers and Battalion 4009 soldiers opened fire with everything that they had, from machine guns, to artillery guns, to mortars, rocket launchers, rifle fire, and even pistols. We had to hold the enemy back. They could not reach the trenches, not to mention the train, or even Las Pegasus.

"This is just like the Battle of Vegas", I muttered as I opened fire, "Just a different location, different allies, different enemy, different city, and the same train, and same battalion. Let's just pray that the Imperial Alliance does NOT have any nuclear ordinance at their disposal!"

On the Alliance side, things seemed to be looking up.

"Any reports for me?" General Rodin asked.

"Yes Sir. All of our forces are in place, and we're awaiting the order for attack."

"And what of the enemy?"

"From what we can tell Sir, The Equestrians have formed a series of defensive lines around the city. Their trenches are also running the length of the battlefield, and seemed to be fully manned. Our estimates put the number of enemy troops at approximately 1 million."

"That's it, just 1 million? We have 3 million!"

"Yes, we do don't we? This sure seems like a done deal to me, even more so than Ponyville!"

"And so it shall be, Sargent Dothan. As King Danin has willed it, the city of Las Pegasus shall be ours, in the name of the glorious Caribou Empire!"

Dothan was maybe about to reply to this, but before he could, from somewhere across the desert close to Las Pegasus, came a sound that none of them had ever heard before; it sounded like the scream from a Banshee!

"Good GODS!!! What was that?!?!"

"I don't know Sargent. It....almost sounded like a Banshee!"

Rodin thought on his hooves. "Dothan, ready the troops! That could have been the signal for an attack!"

"Yes Sir!"

The troops were quickly rallied, and prepared to charge from the trenches on their side to the Equestrian trenches. Then, before any of the officers could give the order for a charge, a huge streak of light flew overhead, and then slammed into the caves to their 6 o'clocks!

"Oh gods!!! THE DIAMOND DOGS WERE IN THERE!!!!"

Rodin knew that the time had come. After taking a deep breath, he quickly gave the orders. "Medical and Recovery teams, get over to those caves now! See if you can find any survivors!"

"Yes Sir!"

"Griffons, I need you in the air now! We need eyes in the sky, AND a way to attack from the sky!"

"Yes General Rodin!" They all took off.

"And what about the rest of us Sir?"

Rodin quickly glanced at the Caribou and Zebra officers. "The rest of you, form up and charge forwards until you reach the forward firing line. Then, once your positions are defensible, we attack and drive out the Equestrians!"

"Yes Sir! CHARGE!!!!"

They all then charge forwards. Up ahead, the first wave reported some kind of carts made of metal. The carts retreated as soon as they were spotted.

"Huh, I wonder what those were."

"It doesn't matter! They retreated, and that's what matters!"

Unfortunately for them though, those "tractor-tanks", as they came to be known, were only the beginning. The enemy had walked right into our trap, only there were so many of them that it could still fail to be sprung!

"KEEP FIRING!!!!" Shining and Don ordered. "They've moved into defensive positions, but they're still vulnerable to our weapons!"

The first few waves never even saw what hit them. One minute they were running towards us, and the next they were dropping like flies. From our previous observations, their armor oftentimes wasn't strong enough to withstand even a 9mm bullet, to say nothing of bullets from a higher caliber!

Unfortunately though, enough of the enemy got through our firing line that the forward trenches had to be evacuated. While the train and rear trenches provided covering fire, the Coalition Soldiers, (Equestrian and Human) all fell back. Some Caribou and Zebras were able to even get close to the train, but unfortunately for them, unlike their Battle of Ponyville counterparts, these were unable to get on board.

"Enemy soldiers closing in on the train! They're too close!"

"Hmm", Don smirked. "They seem to be a little chilly. Why don't we warm them up a bit?"

With that order, some gunners in those areas activated the anti-personnel flame-throwers, and huge clouds of fire covered the enemy troops! Some were killed instantly, while others caught fire, and burned to death. A few others were able to retreat. (Why weren't these used in Ponyville? Well, because those who breached the train did so in an area where there weren't any flame-throwers).

"Fall back, fall back!" A sargent yelled, "The enemy is too powerful!"

The Caribou soldiers fell back. However, the Zebras and some of the Minotaurs decided to keep fighting.

"We can make it! We will capture that train for the glories of the Zebra Empire!"

"YEAH!!!!"

"Nope." I muttered. "Hey Dash, watch this."

I picked up my rifle. After taking the covers off of the scope, I slipped it through a slot in the turret that we were in, and quickly targeted the closest Zebra. After splatting his brains onto the ground, I quickly targeted the next, then the next, and the next, and the next......and so on and so forth, until I had bagged 13 Zebras, and 7 Minotaurs.

The enemy had no idea what was killing them. They kept looking around, but they couldn't see anything. "FALL BACK!!! THEY HAVE GHOST SOLDIERS!!!"

The few remaining soldiers of that Zebra and Minotaur squad then fell back.

"Wow, that was awesome Stud!"

I smiled. "Yep. That's why you always gotta watch out for snipers! They could be the bane of your existence!"

"How many did you get?"

"Eh, by my count, 13 Zebras and 7 Minotaurs before the rest retreated."

Dash leaned against me a bit. "Even though we're in a turret, this is still pretty cool. You're really kicking their asses!"

I nodded, but I was still concerned. "It's still too early to tell Dash. It's still anypony's battle at this point. We're winning for now, but we still have a long way to go."

I then continued to scout the battlefield with my scope, hunting for any more enemies.

"Sir, the enemy is slaughtering our forces!"

"What?!?!"

Rodin used his binoculars to scan the battlefield. It was difficult for him to see in some areas, due to the smoke of battle, but he could tell that the Alliance troops were getting hit hard.

"What is hitting them so hard Dothan?"

"From the reports Sir, the Equestrians have a war-train! Said train is eating our forces alive, and is also believed to be responsible for sending the rocket-thing that killed the Diamond Dogs!"

"What does this train look like Dothan?"

Dothan's face was rather pale. "From our reports Sir, their war-train is the same train that we faced in Ponyville!"

"What?! The Black Leviathan?! But that should be impossible!"

"Yes, it should be, but from the reports, the description seems to match. What do we do?"

Rodin's eyes narrowed. "What Stuggs should have done when he had the chance, knock that train out of the fight for good!" Rodin then radioed the forward trenches.

"Commander Dak?"

"Yes Sir?"

"I need a diversion. I'm about to order our Griffons to attack the train directly. I need you to divert the train's attention away from them!"

"Yes Sir, we'll do what we can!"

Rodin then radioed the Griffons. "Colonel Bruno?"

"Yes Sir?"

"I'm going to need you to knock out the enemy's war-train, as well as maybe trying to cause some trouble in Las Pegasus itself. Commander Dak's forces will be creating a distraction. Head in from the air, and drop whatever ordinance that you can."

"I acknowledge. Do we try to capture the train, or destroy it?"

"Destroy the engine, and see if the weapons systems can be disabled, as King Danin and Overlord Zakia are very interested in the Human's technology. Plus, the sooner that that train is out of the war, the sooner we'll win!"

"Yes Sir, it shall be done!" Bruno and his forces then quickly took flight, and headed towards the train.

"Sir, the enemy is coming from their trenches again, and this time they have cannons!"

Sure enough, the enemy was charging our positions again, only this time they had cannons! They didn't quite have the range to hit our train, but some of the shots were landing on the trenches, forcing the Coalition to retreat.

"Damn, those cannons will tear those trenches to pieces! Forward 16in guns?!"

"Yes Major?"

"Take out those guns! They're tearing holes in our lines!"

"Roger that Sir, firing now!"

The 16in guns fired, and were able to knock out the cannons, as well as any enemy soldiers standing close to them. Nearby machine guns picked off survivors.

"Targets neutralized Sir."

Unfortunately, no, they were not. From the enemy positions, there suddenly came a gray cloud that appeared to be smoke.

"GAS!!!!" Shining yelled. "THEY'RE USING THE GAS AGAIN!!!!"

"ALL PERSONNEL, GAS MASKS NOW!!!" Don yelled.

Everyone and everypony pulled on their gas masks. The gas did reach the train, but because of our gas masks, we all felt no ill effects. However, that gas attack was soon to be the least of our problems.

"Major, radar reports enemy activity from the air!"

"What?!"

Don checked the scopes. Sure enough, a number of red dots appeared in the sky, heading straight for their position.

"Well, so that must be the Griffons. All AA weapons, online now!"

"Yes Sir!"

All guns pointed to the sky, and waited for the enemy to show up.

"When they get into range, fire at will!"

"Yes Sir!"

"Any signs of the train yet?"

"Not yet. It should be around here somewhere. Remember, when we do find it, we need to relay the coordinates back to General Rodin so that they can hit it with their heavy artillery guns."

"Roger that Colonel."

The griffons flew on, all of them carrying portable ordnance, which resembled rudimentary bombs. Eventually, one of them spotted it.

"Colonel, there is is! 12 o'clock low!"

Bruno looked, and sure enough, there is was. "Whoa. When they tried to tell me that the train was massive, I thought for sure that they were lying to me!"

All of the Griffons marveled at the train's size.

"General Rodin, this is Colonel Bruno. We've found the train, I repeat, we found the train!"

"Excellent work Colonel! Where is it?"

"It's currently located on the rail line outside of Las Pegasus, maybe 1,500 yards from your current position. How do we proceed from here?"

"All of you conduct your runs on the train. Get in, and get out as fast as you can. As soon as you're clear, we're going to open fire with our big cannons."

"Roger that General, Bruno out." He then turned to his warriors. "Ok boys, you heard the General, we get in, drop our bombs, and then get the hell out of Dodge before their big cannons open fire!"

"Yes Sir!"

After flying a bit higher, with a fierce battle-cry, all of the Griffons made their runs. Some went for the engine, others went for the weapons, and still others targeted anything else that wasn't targeted.

"HERE THEY COME, FIRE!!!!"

Our AA guns, machine guns, and 2 of our Phalanx cannons opened fire. 3 Griffons went down immediately, and several more were injured. Our guns kept firing, but similar to our first encounter with the Equestrians, there were only a handful of Griffons, and they were able to evade our guns.

"They're making a run for the engine! Primary Crew, take action!"

"Roger that Major!"

Several more Griffons were picked off by the guns on the engine, but two made it through, and dropped their bombs. Both of them aimed for the engine's smokestacks, but because of the metal grate protecting it, both bombs hit the grating, but bounced off before exploding. Other Griffons dropped bombs aiming for the rest of the train, but aside from a few minor hits on bunk and dining cars, and one hit on the second coal car, (which did manage to start a fire, although it was extinguished) not much damage was done. (Most of this was due to bombs missing their targets, due to poor aim).

More and more Griffons continued to get hit. By the time that Bruno ordered a retreat, only about half of his original force of 30 Griffons were still alive.

"General Rodin, we're clear, you may open fire."

"What's the damage Colonel?"

"15 Griffons killed, 5 others wounded. We damaged the train, but seemingly not too much. Hopefully you'll have better luck than we did."

"Yeah, hopefully we will. Rodin out." Rodin then turned to the long-range cannon gunners, and gave them the coordinates for the train. "Now, open fire!"

"Yes Sir!"

With a series of loud *BOOMS!!!!!*, the long range cannons opened fire, and their projectiles were now heading our way.

"Well, we've driven off the Griffons, so now what?"

Don turned to Jim. "Well, now we......"

Don was suddenly interrupted by flashing red lights and blaring alarms.

"What's going on?" Twilight asked nervously.

"I don't know." Don quickly checked his scopes. When he saw what was heading their way, he very nearly shit himself.

"OH, F@#K!!!!" He flipped the intercom on. "ALL HANDS, WE'VE GOT A MASSIVE ARTILLERY BARRAGE HEADING RIGHT FOR US!!! SHOOT UP THE FLARES, AND BRACE FOR IMPACT!!!!!"

Word of the incoming barrage spread like wildfire across not only the train, but in the nearby trenches as well. Due to the size of the barrage in question, the train was in potentially critical danger of facing serious damage. From the hills of the Palomino Desert, we all saw the contrails of the shells coming right for us.

As ordered, the flares were shot off, and guns were trained on the shells. Some were stopped, but not all of them.

"INCOMING, INCOMING!!!!"

"DON, ONE OF THOSE SHELLS IS HEADING RIGHT FOR THE TURRET ON TOP OF THE SCC!!!! DASH AND LEOPARD ARE IN THERE!!!!"

"LEOPARD GET OUT OF THERE!!!!"

"OH SHIT!!!!"

Dash and I didn't have to be told twice. Quick as a flash, I threw open the lower hatch to the turret, grabbed Dash, and pulled her down into the car below us. We hit the floor just as a shell impacted with the turret above us!

The hits were devastating. The train's armor did ensure that none of the shells fully penetrated, but still, the damage was done. Roofs were partially blown off, turrets were disabled, armor buckled inwards, a number of cars derailed due to the jarring impacts, multiple windows were broken, one shell collided with one of the 16in guns, and exploded, temporarily jamming the turret. There were no fatalities, (thank God!) but 37 people were wounded, some of them seriously. One of the forward two 16in turrets was out of action due to being jammed, as were 2 of our phalanx cannons, and a number of other guns. The train was damaged, and was now frozen in place due to some of the cars coming off the rails. Even though the cars were all still upright, the train would be unable to escape if the battle went south.

In the PCC,Twilight was panicking. "IS EVERYPONY ALRIGHT?!"

Jim picked himself up off of the floor. "They ain't gonna destroy this train, no way! If that's the best they got, it'll hurt us, and maybe knock us down, but it won't knock us out of the fight!"

"That's right!" Don agreed once he was up again as well. "We've taken a lot worse than this!"

"B-b-but Dash and Leopard!!!!"

"Right!" Don then grabbed his radio. "Leopard, LEOPARD!!! ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!?!?!"

For a few moments, there was only silence, making Don fear the worst. Finally though, a reply came. "Don? Yeah, we're ok. We got a little bit cooked, as well as some bruises from falling into the Secondary Crew Bunk Car, but overall we're ok."

"Thank God!"

"What just happened Don?"

"That was an artillery attack Captain. It appears to have come from at least 1,200 yards away."

"And, how bad is the damage?"

Don sighed. "Well, we're no longer mobile, and nobody died, but we have 37 wounded, and a number of guns either jammed, or knocked out. We've been roughed up some, and we're no longer able to move, but it'll take a lot more to knock us out of the fight!"

"So....what do we do now?"

Don sighed, then his tone changed. "Well, we do what we should have been doing all along! We wipe these sons of bitches out! They want to mess with our train and cause trouble? Well shucks fro them, cuz the gloves are coming off!"

"So, nuclear weapons?"

"HELL NO!!!! We need to save those for actual Caribou and Zebra territory, if at all!"

"So then how do we 'take the gloves off' without going nuclear, and still wipe out the enemy?"

Don went silent for a moment. "Well", He said slowly, "We'll need to do it in stages. First of all, we need to knock out their guns so that they cannot fire anymore. Next, we hit their other targets, and cause some casualties. Finally, we get our forces back into the trenches, push to the enemy trenches, and either kill them all, or drive them to retreat."

I nodded. "Sounds like a plan to me Don. Let's do it!"

Thinking on his feet, Don quickly told the railgun crews to get ready. The contrails from the shells had given the enemy's positions away, so we knew where the guns were located.

"Railguns, we're going to need some heavy firepower over there. I'm tasking you with taking out their artillery guns! Load up the hybrid shells!" (Combination armor piercing, and high explosive shells.)

"Yes Sir!" A minute or so later, the guns were ready.

"Ready Sir!"

"Ok, FIRE AT WILL!!!!"

All 4 railguns opened fire, and fired a total of 16 shells. All of the shells reached their targets, and when they exploded, they took not only the guns, but also most, if not all of their ammunition with them!

"WOO!!! Direct hit!"

"Excellent! Missile batteries?"

"Yes Sir?"

"I need some shrapnel scattered into the enemy trenches! Can you give me some?"

"Roger that Sir, firing now!"

The missiles went airborne. Unlike most missiles, which are designed for either air or ground targets, these missiles were typically used for clearing out a large space. They would explode, and scatter huge amounts of shrapnel. This is precisely what happened with the enemy trenches.

"Direct hit Sir! Huge geysers of blood! Those freaks are really feeling the hurt now!"

"Good job! Now we're showing the Imperial Alliance who's the real masters of warfare! Lastly, 16in guns?"

"Yes Sir?"

"How many of your guns are still operational?"

"12 out of 16, located in 3 out of 4 turrets Sir."

"Ok, good. I need some shells laid down onto the Griffon's camp, as well as the Caribou and Zebra's hq's. Can you handle that?"

"Affirmative Sir! We'll make them pay in blood for their heinous actions!"

After loading and aiming, the 16in. guns all fired a number of salvos. The results were total devastation.

"Whoa! Now THAT is how you deal with enemies!"

"I wouldn't get your hopes too high Dothan. Most likely, our artillery barrage only crippled the train, as well as knocking out most, if not all of its weapons. We'll leave it be for now, and capture it later."

Before Rodin could continue to plan a further attack, he suddenly became aware of a loud screaming sound.

"Huh? What's that?"

Before either he or Dothan could react though, the unthinkable happened. A series of what appeared to be projectiles suddenly came into view, before slamming into their guns!

"OH GODS!!!!!"

*KABOOOOOMMMM!!!!!* The guns then exploded, as did the ammunition next to them.

"AAAAAHHHH!!!!" Screamed the dying gunners, as well as those who were caught in the blast.

Just as Rodin was about to order a medical team to come on the double, the missiles slammed into the trenches. From there, came the unmistakable sounds of hideous death. Geysers of blood and body-parts came flying up out of the trenches. In one swift stroke, Rodin had lost easily 1/3 of his remaining forces.

Then, before he could react to that incident, his keen ears picked up more sounds of distant gunfire, and sure enough, more shells came flying their way.

"LOOK OUT!!!!"

Rodin then grabbed Dothan, as well as two other officers, and dragged them into a foxhole next to him. Moments after he did so, a series of shells landed in his hq, completely destroying it. Other shells slammed into the Zebra hq, as well as the Griffon, and Minotaur camps. All hits induced massive amounts of casualties.

Rodin then grabbed his communicator. "My King, My King! Are you there?!"

After a few moments, the holographic image of King Danin appeared. "What is it General? What's wrong?"

"We've lost this battle Sir! The Coalition is too powerful! They've slaughtered so many of our forces! Over 90% of the Diamond Dogs are dead, we've lost our long-range artillery, our hq's are gone, and the battlefield is in chaos! What do we do?!"

"Was it.....the Black Leviathan?"

"It was, My King."

"And how bad is the damage in total?"

"By our counts Sir, we've lost over 2/3rds of our entire forces, our long-range guns, most of our trenches, our command hq's, and in return, we've MAYBE killed 300 enemy soldiers, and damaged the Black Leviathan. By all accounts, we've failed. Las Pegasus is still in Equestrian hands, and that Gods-awful train is still somewhat operational!"

When Danin heard those reports, he was so shocked that he had to sit down. Unlike General Stuggs's attack on Ponyville, Rodin hadn't outright failed. He did attack the enemy, and had made them hurt, but once again, they had severely underestimated what the Battleship Express and Battalion 4009 were capable of. This time though, it had cost them far more dearly.

"What do we do, Sir?" Danin could sense the fear in Rodin's voice.

"Gather up whatever forces you have left, and retreat General. We've lost enough for today. Get out of there while you still can."

"But Sir, I have failed you!"

"No General, you did not. Yes, you failed your objective, but no, you did not fail me. Our Intel did not account for the Black Leviathan. With the Humans on their side, the Equestrians have won their victory for today. You need to fall back now. We've lost enough forces for today. We cannot afford to lose any more!"

"As you wish, My King, but what does this mean for me?"

"Well, if you're referring to Colonel Stuggs, his failure at Ponyville was inexcusable. He should have been able to pull that off, but he surrendered after losing almost his entire force. You've lost most of your force, (which I know Zakia will NOT be happy about!) but yet, you were dealing with bad Intel, as well as mercenaries. Those Griffons and Minotaurs should have been able to take down the train, or at the very least, knock out its weapons. They failed, not you. And it's a real shame about those Diamond Dogs. Were they even able to get anywhere close to digging underneath Las Pegasus?"

"We're not sure Sir. They at least got halfway, but then they all got wiped out. A few managed to escape, but literally only a few. We've also lost most of our Griffons and Minotaurs."

"And what of our Dragons?"

"Um, I chose not to employ them this time around."

"What, why?"

Rodin then explained his reason.

Danin then thought about that. "Yes. You see General? THAT is why I keep you around. I like how you think, and get things done! The Equestrians may have won today, but come tomorrow, we will carry the day!"

Rodin smirked. "I know Sir. And Stuggs and I will do our very BEST to ensure that that happens. It'll be a long and hard road, but with the help from those Dragons, that train will finally be put down, once, and for all!"

I hope so General, now, fall back to our lines in the Macintosh Hills. The fight is over, for now!"

"As you wish, My King, it shall be done."

Rodin then ordered a retreat, and whatever was left of his forces, totaling less than 11,000, retreated towards the Macintosh Hills.

"Sir, the enemy is retreating!"

"What?" Don looked through his binoculars. "Whoa! They really are retreating!" Don then radioed Shining. "General Shining, whatever's left of the enemy seems to be in full retreat. Should we follow them?"

"Yes, by all means! We should sent in a small force after them, whittle them down for as long as possible, and then have them retreat before the enemy could either turn on them, or spring a trap, if that's what they have planned."

Don thought about that. "Yes", he said at last, "And I know just who to lead that attack too." He then picked up his radio. "Leopard, Leopard, are you still there?"

"Yeah, I'm here Don. What is it?"

"Well, where are you right now?"

"Currently, Dash and I are in the trench closest to the train. Why?"

Don then quickly explained the whole situation. "I need you to lead that attack Leopard. I'm putting 15 of our guys, and 15 Royal Guards under your command. Follow the enemy for as long as you can, and whittle down their numbers as much as you can as well. HOWEVER, if it appears to be a trap, or the enemy turns on you, DO NOT hesitate to retreat! I cannot afford to lose you, as you are one of my best officers!"

"I'm on it Don!"

To make a long story short, I gathered together the force that I had been given, and with Twilight restraining Dash for her own safety, we all loaded up onto the "tractor-tanks", and went off in pursuit of the enemy. For almost 50 miles, we dogged them. Striking when they least expected it, whittling their numbers down. For our efforts, we didn't lose a single man, or stallion. For the enemy though, nearly 1,500+ out of maybe 11,000 were sent to the Afterlife. Once we saw the Macintosh Hills way off in the distance, we knew that the time had come to fall back.

"Good work out here today guys. You've all done Equestria a great service."

"Why do we have to fall back though?" Someone asked.

"Because, according to our Intel, as well as drone footage, the Macintosh Hills are another of the enemy's strongholds. In fact, those hills are actually the dividing line between the Zebras and the Caribou. We only have 30 guys; they have God-knows how many, so we fall back, and finish cleaning up."

"Yes Sir."

We all then fell back to Las Pegasus.

The next several days, were some of the longest in recent memory. Our number 1 priority was clearing out any remaining enemy strongholds. Next it was gathering up the wounded and treating them, and after that came repairing the damage done to the train, before finally hunting down all of the unexploded ordnance. The Palomino Desert was an absolute mess. It looked like a cross between the Somme in France during WW1, North Africa in WW2, and Nevada in WW6.

By the time we had the final body count, the figures were truly staggering. For us, 2,721 Equestrian soldiers were dead, 3,000+ were wounded, and 153 were missing. For Battalion 4009, 197 were dead, 1,097 were wounded, and 76 were missing, in addition to 39 train crew also being wounded.

For the enemy, there was an estimated 2,950,000+ dead, 40,000+ wounded, an unknown number of missing, (which also included the ill-fated Diamond Dogs), and surprisingly, 2,000 or so prisoners, of Caribou, Zebra, and a few Griffons and Minotaurs. All were quickly moved to a POW camp in the Whitetail Woods, where they were to be interrogated.

"So, so many lost", Don muttered to himself.

"I know what you mean", Shining was also very upset.

"The difference is though, you can at least somewhat replace your losses, we cannot. We're the only Humans in all of Equestria. Once you're dead, it's over. Battalion 4009, and the crews of the Battleship Express and Iron Glory, maybe 2,000 of us in total, are all that are left."

Shining looked at him, but he didn't say anything. He knew the burden that Don was facing, and he knew that it was unbearable.

When the news of the victory at Las Pegasus reached the rest of Equestria, it gave the Ponies hope. The enemy wasn't invincible, and could be defeated. They also knew that the war was far from over, and that the next battle, would be very, very soon.

Author's Note

Ok, so that was Part 2. Unfortunately, I had so many ideas for this chapter, I was forced to write a part 3! Don't fret though, I already have most of it written, so it should be up within the hour!

I hope that you've enjoyed this little arc so far, and can't wait for part 3. I also hope that you really enjoyed the Battle of Las Pegasus!

ALL ABOARD!!!!!