Invasion

“Project Czar? Like the king?”

“Exactly.”

Fluttershy flew through the window and walked up to Armanii and Emerald Impaler.

“Oh Emerald! You’re back!”

“Hello Fluttershy.” He said with a smile. “I heard you were scaring off some soldiers tonight”

“How did you…?”

“I know many things, remember? This comm allows me to hack radio signals, no matter how well garbled and encrypted they may be.”

“Oh.”

“Great job at the battle of Cloudsdale. You really showed the Talomanzans what these ponies are capable of.”

“True...but we lost Rainbow Dash…”

“She’ll show up soon. She’s not dead, right?”

“We don’t think so…”

“Well, as long as you hope, she should be fine. From what I gathered from my ‘snooping’, if you will, was that she was hypnotized. So the Talomanzans obviously want to use her for something other than food.”

“Good point…”

“Do not worry, Armanii, she’ll be fine”

“Thanks…”

“Anyway, back to project Czar.”

“What’s project Czar?” asked Fluttershy, Angel quickly peeking out from under her wing.

“Go to bed Fluttershy, we need to talk alone.”

“Well, okay guys, but let us know in the morning.”

“Will do. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Fluttershy left the throne room. Armanii turned to Emerald Impaler.

“So this, project Czar...is it like a plan to establish a new monarchy here in Equestria?”

“You are close, Armanii, it’s actually a bit more complicated.”

“Please explain.”

“You see, one of the reasons that Gritz wants one of the princesses is so he can make an alicorn himself, but he’d never get to these princesses, so…”

“Wait, wait, wait...he want’s to MAKE a NEW alicorn?”

“Yes, to lead an army of ponies against Canterlot, it is also to get the ponies on his side, so that they will not support us. With a new alicorn, they would follow it, and we would lose our support in this war.”

“I see...but since we hold our base of operations here in Canterlot, they would never get in without a massive fight, that they might lose…”

“Precisely. They were developing, as part of project Czar, pony armor and guns, designed to Talomanzan standards, so the ponies fighting would be unkillable. However, it is still in production, and they have a long way to go before that pony armor is accessible.”

“So...can we steal it possibly?”

“Probably not, the plans are heavily guarded and in Gritz’s office the whole time.”

“Damn…”

“But I have done my research Armanii, project Czar is not a failure just yet.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know how you think Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are the ONLY alicorns in the land?”

“Let me guess...Gritz found another.”

“Yes, up north in the Crystal Empire, headed by one Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.”

“Crystal Empire?”

“Indeed. Made entirely of crystal.”

“Entirely of crystal?”

“Yes.”

“Gritz wants to siege the Crystal Empire, capture the princess that rules it, recreate his own alicorn so that he may lead a pony army with their own guns and armor and lay waste to Canterlot and the rest of the pony cities?”

“That’s the basics.”

Armanii paced back and forth.

“You gotta be kidding me…”

“What?”

“This is horrible…”

“Well, when you think about it. It’s almost like a Deus Ex Machina.”

“How so?”

“Well, we need to arm the ponies, and now we have a way. We just need to steal those plans.”

“Which we can’t do.”

“Nothing’s impossible.”

“This is.”

“Isn’t that what all Talomanzans follow? Nothing is impossible?”

“Well, that statement will have to be rescinded. It is impossible to steal plans from Gritz. We’d never get in, and we don’t even know if that Pony armor will work. I’m sorry, Emerald, but we can’t do that. We need to abandon that idea.”

“Then what do you suppose we do?”

“Well...we need to stop project Czar from becoming a reality.”

“So we head for the Crystal Empire?”

“Yes, we go first thing in the morning.”

“I see. Will I be joining you?”

“Of course, I can’t do this without a pair of skilled blades.”

Emerald Impaler looked to the ceiling.

“Looks like I have no choice in the matter. Huh?”

“Looks like it. Come on now, get some sleep, we’ll talk more in the morning.”

“Silver Assassins never sleep on the job, I’ll stay here thank you very much.”

“You’re sure? I can…”

“I’m sure. Go.”

“Okay, goodnight then…”

“Goodnight.”

Armanii walked up the stairs to him room. He took off his clothes and laid in bed, thinking about project Czar. He couldn’t let Gritz get the upper hand in this, he just couldn’t.

So as he slept, he dreamt of how the Crystal Empire looked like, how its buildings glimmered in the sunlight and the castle made of crystal. He couldn’t wait to see it, but he had no time to waste. He didn’t even know what general was leading the force on it...he hoped it wasn’t Arog…

He had a good nights rest, a full 10 hours, but he awoke to a not so happy Emerald Impaler.

“Get up you lummox! We need to head off for the Crystal Empire!”

Armanii quickly sat up and got his clothes on.

“Have the others been briefed?”

“Entirely.”

“Then we haven’t got a moment to lose.” He said as he pulled his jacket on. “Get downstairs and get them moving, we have to go.”

Armanii and Emerald jumped down the stairs and were greeted by the other ponies. With all of them briefed, they had to move fast.

“Get to the trains, we’re heading out NOW.”

“Gotcha!” They all said in unison.

They walked out of the castle and towards the train station. Twilight approached Armanii as they walked.

“You know, my brother is the prince of the Crystal Empire, we can get an immediate audience with him and Cadence.”

“That’s excellent, we’ll need that.”

“So...who is planning on attacking the Empire? Is it Arog again? Or is it Gritz himself?”

“I don’t know, that’s why I have the radio here, just in case they say it.”

“Okay.”

They hopped aboard the train cart and yelled for the train driver to move out for the Crystal Empire. During this time, Fluttershy walked up to Emerald Impaler.

“I sure hope we can get there in time…”

“I hope so too.”

“Are you afraid of what might happen?”

“Me? No. In fact I embrace it.”

“Why?”

“Because one cannot expect victory without embracing defeat.”

“Oh...So you’re saying we’ll...lose?”

“I didn’t say that. I said we cannot expect victory without embracing defeat.”

He sat up straight and sighed.

“And we’ve been defeated long enough.”