As the civil war raged in New Unicornia, a young unicorn mare, named Peach Nectar, whom had over the years grown disenfranchised with the teachings of the pontiffs and their holy book had decided to use the chaos of the civil war to act. A few years ago her disenfranchisement had been cemented when she followed the sounds of weeping into a room holding dozens of earth pony and pegasus mares strapped down on rutting blocks. One of the mares whose mind hadn't completely recoiled on itself and gone fully catatonic had told her that the pontiff's soldiers had forcibly taken them from their family and would repeatedly rape them. Peach Nectar's stomach turned on learning that. She had come face-to-face with an older earth pony mare who had the same golden coat as her, still strapped to the rutting block. The hollow gaze in the mare's eyes made her freeze in horror. Peach Nectar realized she was staring into the face of her biological mother. When she tried to free the mare from her chains, the older mare simply raised her tail as silent tears rolled down her cheeks. Peach Nectar had remembered fleeing that horrid room, she had silently swore that she would not rest until all those in chains were freed.

That had been three years ago and Peach Nectar had kept her silent oath, running an underground railroad smuggling out enslaved ponies that were being worked to death in the mines, kept chained down on the rutting blocks or had the fruits of their labors stolen by the pontiffs. She had more than a few close calls when making contact with passing caravans, nearly getting taken several times by bands of slavers, and even having to fake her own death when the soldiers of the Grand Pontiff had nearly gotten her. But now she worked with new urgency as bullets flew through the air as the civil war raged as a unicorn stallion, accompanied by this strange mare who always whispered in his ear, made his claim for the throne of High Pontiff with violence and blood after its recent occupant had died. Several other members of the clergy had formed their own factions, some supporting the stallion whom had the strange mare whispering in his ear, in the hopes of currying favor. Others in opposition, though each opposing faction had their own idea on whom should be the inheritor to the throne. Needless to say that the land of New Unicornia and the hallways of the cathedral-palace was soaked in the blood of both soldier and innocent alike.

Peach Nectar snapped the locks off of the chains that held a young earth pony mare to a rutting block who was several months pregnant. The earth pony mare had identified herself as Corn Silk.

"No time for pleasantries!", Peach Nectar said sharply, "Just help me get the others who can stand free." She levitated a small vial of poison pills from under her mane and passed them to the earth pony mare's hoof. "Slip one of these down the throats of those who are unable to walk. It's better for them to die with what little dignity than to live like this."

After the ones who could walk were freed and those who couldn't were given a more dignified death, Peach Nectar lead the group of mares, many of them pregnant, through the labyrinthine halls of the cathedral-palace. They kept low, trying to keep as low of a profile as possible, as the sounds of fighting and the snaps of gun fire filled the halls. She guided her band of a dozen mares, turning corners and going down alternate paths to avoid the worst of the fighting. Her ultimate goal was to get to an small, nearly forgotten maintenance shaft hidden behind a panel in a dusty, disused storage closet.

Peach Nectar's hooves slid on the cold hard floor as she cane to a stop as the group came face-to-face with a group of heavily armed soldiers. The mares behind her began to weep, muttering that they'd be killed, or worse. As the soldiers leveled their weapons, Peach closed her eyes and remembered the old book she found, it had a six-pointed star on its dirt-stained and weather-worn cover, inside the various accounts had depicted the six champions in their various exploits, it was her most prized possession, the one thing the coveted out of everything and she had hidden it in her spare saddlebags in the maintenance shaft.

Peach Nectar uttered the prayer softly that she had heard the slaves down in the mines say when the guards weren't around. "Oh goddesses, if it be thy will, save thy loyal servant. We ponies are lost and adrift with out thine guidance."

Instead of the snaps of gun shots followed by oblivion, Peach Nectar heard the soldiers cry out in shock and then sounds of things breaking. Opening her eyes wearily, she saw that the soldiers were encased in ice and a pegasus mare with a small horn shattering some of the soldiers with its hind hooves. The mare looked at her and said something in an odd language. She didn't understand what the odd pony was saying, but the 'follow me' gesture with its forehoof was unmistakable.

Peach Nectar and her band of freed mares followed the odd mare to a grate in the floor that opened to a crawl space. "Come with us.", she said as she helped the freed mares. It was clear that the odd mare didn't understand what she was saying, so she gestured for her to follow, to which the odd mare shook her head and gestured with its hooves that she still had a personal war to wage. Peach Nectar lowered herself into the crawl space and said softly, "I'll never forget you and if it be the will of the goddesses, we'll meet again, in this life or the next."

Peach Nectar hadn't been more glad to be out of those crawl spaces. They had crawled through the maze of narrow passages, many of which wound around and down the cathedral-palace, some of them were clearly forgotten and in states of disrepair. One of the crawl spaces opened into a vast cavern deep in the bowels of cathedral-palace, a veritable forest of luminescent mushrooms illuminated the place in an errie silvery-green light. An ancient dry riverbed snaked through the gloom under the massive building. She had found an ancient, crumbling statue of two ponies sitting lop-sided on the long dried up bank, the statue was worn to the point where the likenesses of the ponies was difficult to distinguish, the bronze plaque was still intact. It read "In loving memory of Ma Hooffield and Big Daddy McColt. Raised in loving memory by their grandfoals on this the seventeenth day of the sixth month of the fiftieth year of Princess Twilight Sparkle's reign." The epithet on the statue's plaque had been burned into her memory, but she didn't have the luxury of time to contemplate it as she helped the other freed mares clean the cobwebs and dust from their mane, coats and tails.

Peach Nectar quickly checked on the well being of the freed mares as she heard the rumble of the wheels of the approaching caravan. She quickly directed the mares to hide in the bushes and behind rocks before the caravan crested the hill, just in case they were slavers. She took in a deep breath and shouted out the call sign in a loud voice, "The stars weep at midday!"

"But the eagle weeps not as he flies on high!", a voice called back the counter sign as the first of the wagons crested over the small rise, being hauled by big lizard-creatures. Peach Nectar sighed in relief and she gestured for the freed mares to come out of hiding.

"Where are you coming from and where are you going?", Peach asked the caravan leader.

"Comin' from down by Apple Orchard's ways and headin' to Flash Bee Marsh's ways.", he replied as he looked over the dozen mares, "Looks like you got a buncha pregnant 'uns and a couple o' 'em look ready ta pop. I can take 'em as far as th' woods outside o' The Quarry."

Peach Nectar looked back in the direction of New Unicornia. She knew it would only be a matter of time before whoever the new High Pontiff was would send their soldiers to track her down. If she was fortunate, she'd be long gone and out of their reach, because if they caught up with her, they'd outright kill her and anypony she was with, what else they could very likely do made her fur bristle. "Can you take me as far as the woods outside The Quarry too?"

"Sure, jus' as long as ya pull your weight too.", the caravan leader replied, "Oh! 'Fore I forget, we picked up down by Apple Orchard an odd pony. Some kinda preacher or whatnot. He's been professin' on an' on 'bout seeing th' goddesses an' whatnot, been harmless otherwise. But he's been a useful hoof, holdin' his keep, an' e'en helped run off some bandits jus' by wavin' that big stick o' his an' professin' that th' goddesses would punish 'em, e'en brained a few that got too bold. He's mostly harmless, jus' a bit annoyin' with his jabberin' on an' on, but he's got a strong back an' won't shy away from a bit o' hard workin' or a scrap."

After giving the caravan leader a quick nod, she turned to the freed mares and began directing them to the various covered wagons hauled by the big lizard creatures. After she helped the last mare into the wagons, she climbed into the back of one, its interior smelled of spices and pickled root vegetables. Looking around at the various ponies who were checking the ropes holding crates and barrels down or sitting around the various dim lanterns. She decided to sit next to a pegasus stallion wearing simple burlap robes, a long stave with a head carved in the likeness of five winged unicorns at the top clutched between his forelegs.

"Greetings sister-pony. My name is Stormfront. I am but a simple pony who is on a quest to spread the good word about the goddesses."

"There goes Stormy on about his goddesses again.", one of the caravaners snickered to their fellow worker.

Stormfront paid them no mind as he continued his tale, "And lo! I was there when the five goddesses revealed themselves to the world, shining as the sun at dawn, clad in gleaming armor. They were accompanied by a great host of warriors, most were normal ponies like you or me, armed in preparation to bring justice to the heathens. Others were demigods among mortals, clad in great and terrible armor. There were also giant metal beasts that made the ground tremble, at their beck and call."

Peach Nectar listened to Stormfront's story. She had heard stories about the goddesses from other ponies before, but never from one who claimed to see one, much less five.

Well after the caravan had rolled out of sight and had gone past the borders of New Unicornia, five New Unicornia rangers, clad in heavy cloaks, their automatic rifles slung across their backs had followed the trail of Peach Nectar and the band of freed mares to the road, where they quickly deduced that the escapees had boarded a caravan. The lead ranger raised a hoof to his chest and activated a small field radio, "The escapees have boarded a caravan. Requesting further orders."

Burnished Bronze's voice crackled over the radio in reply, "Hold position. I have requisitioned a technical to be dropped off at your location. Once you have you received it, pursue and recover my broodmares."

"And for the one who freed them?", the ranger leader asked over the radio.

"I care not what happens to her. The divine guides your hoof in this."

***

Twilight had a bit of a grump about her as the moon had slipped above the horizon. What had originally been intended for a layover of six weeks of rearming and refitting, had stretched to nearly twelve weeks. Unexploded shells were still being dug out of the ground. Three full brigades worth of soldiers had put in requests to be discharged, many having grown sick of fighting and military life, others because pregnant mares had shown up from farms and homesteads that they had liberated that many soldiers had taken to their beds and now wanted to do the honorable thing and raise their foals.

Then there was having to deal with the roving bands of bandits, slavers, mutants and predators that had swooped in to prey on the innocent bystanders.

There had also been a massive influx of new recruits volunteering to join the army, airship corps, the soldiers or tech monks of the Ponyhood of Steel, the Fraternity, or taken by the legions to bolster their ranks. All would need time to be trained properly, or in the instances of the pony marines and tech monks, have their bodies altered properly altered.

The repairs to the stronghold had been completed ahead of estimates, a new elevator system meant to more quickly move ammunition and supplies about the airships had been installed, and two new heavily armed and armored airships were nearing completion. Those were a few silver linings on the dark clouds that hung over the head of the lavender alicorn.

With winter coming, they also had to make sure the farms and homesteads were able to not only feed themselves, but also feed the surrounding countryside, that meant that supply lines and caravan routes had to secured. Twilight would never allow any subjects under her rule to go hungry if she could help it, but this did nothing to reduce the veritable mountain chain of paperwork that came with it all. Even though her fellow princesses had helped by taking a fifth of the paperwork each, it did nothing to help her mood. Not for the first time, and certainly not the last, she longed for a simpler time, a time when she could be in a simpler time when she was a unicorn, with her friends, and occasionally saved the world.

Choosing to forego armor and instead opting to slip on a simple scarlet tunic and strap a simple dagger to her fetlock, she decided to patrol the perimeter of the keep. With a flick of her wing, she ordered her Nova Guard to stay at base, though she knew it was ultimately a pointless gesture, as centuries ago they had sworn an oath to not only defend all the alicorn princesses, but also serve as their most elite strike force. At least they'd stay back and give her some room, even if they stayed close enough to respond in seconds if something attacked.

Twilight slunk among the shadows, pausing to listen to the stories of caravaners, the bawdy, raucous, drunken laughter of off-duty soldiers, the soft moans of lovers in private moments, the deep, throaty songs of the minotaurs, the long-winded sermons of the preachers of the Fraternity, and the various contests of strength, endurance and combat prowess the various legions did among each other and themselves.

The soft thuds of armored hooves made her look over her withers and Flurry Heart walked up from the gloom of night. flanked by her Nova Guard.

"Auntie Twily? Is everything okay? You've been in a bad mood for the couple of days."

A small smile spread across her face. Her niece had as much insight into her as Shining had. The memory of her brother made her small grin shrink some. "Yes Flurry Bug, I'm fine. I've just been in a bad mood. Things just haven't *sigh* haven't been moving along as fast as I would like them. I know Celestia and Luna have told me this a regular thing for all militaries. That 'Hurry up and wait' and 'Delays and inconsistencies are the only consistencies', but that doesn't mean I like sitting around, feeling like I have my hooves jammed up my plot."

Flurry was about to say something else when both alicorns' ears perked up as they sensed the intruder spell. By the time the four other alicorns had arrived where Luna had sent up the alert, the Fraternity had completely surrounded a small band of whitetail deer. The deer had quickly surrendered and were in the process of being shackled, blindfolded and gagged before any of the princesses could give the order.

After the excitement had died down and the deer had been split up and taken to separate holding cells, the five alicorn princesses stood on the balcony of the stronghold that had once overlooked the vast maze of trenches. They were soon joined by Spike, who landed on the ground in front of the stronghold, holding Sunset Shimmer, Dew Drop and Apple Pie in on hand, all four looked equally grumpy, being woken up suddenly.

All nine turned their heads as pink and violet lights streaked silently through the night sky.

"I'll go!", Cadance said, "Besides, it beats sitting around here and feeling as useless as teats on a minotaur." As she lit her horn, summoning her armor and rapier, five Nova Guard came forward. "I can go by myself."

"Nay, where you, we go.", the lead guard said softly, in a deep voice through their helmet.

Twilight interrupted before Cadance could say anything, "You'd have a better chance arguing with a brick wall.", she nudged one of the lavender-armored ponies, "Probably be less stubborn too." She quickly nuzzled her sister-in-law's cheek. "Keep yourselves disguised and safe until you find who the new bearers are."

Cadance gave a quick nod, summoned up cloaks for herself and her guards. In a flash of soft blue light, the princess and her transequine guards vanished.

***

For a few weeks Peach Nectar had rode with the trade caravan. She had opted to take up extra work so the pregnant mares, which four of them had had foals within days of each other, wouldn't have to put any more undue strain on their bodies. Though the caravan was about five days out from where they were going to drop her and the mares off, the wagons were currently circled-up in a camp, the scouts had reported a large magical storm was rolling in a few leagues up and the caraveners would rather risk losing a bit on trade shares than losing everything to a storm, besides, if things got really bad, the heavy metal wagons could be hitched end-to-end in a circle to be turned into a fortification. If things got really bad, the lizard-creatures could be used as attack animals, rather than beasts of burden, as their thick scaly hides and natural magical resistance made them nasty combatants, plus they could be fitted with special saddles and/or special sledges to carry the surviving caravaners and undestroyed goods to safety.

As the sun set, an exhausted Peach Nectar walked to the one of the campfires carrying a tin bowl filled with a crude stew made from dried carrots and hardtack, and a tin cup of water. Sitting down, she blew out a tired sigh. Her nose wrinkled as she took a sniff of herself, she reeked of sweat and grease. She knew that it would be hard work traveling with a caravan, that the work would be harder as she volunteered to take up the slack of the pregnant mares and the mares who had recently had their foals, but she didn't realize that she'd spend a good chunk of the time trying to mend damaged axles and wheels suspended from the bottom of wagons by a network of ropes. She had spent most of the day helping pull an axle that had broken and had been hastily patched, then replacing it with one of the precious few undamaged axles. Lifting the spoon in her magic, she took a bit of the stew, it didn't taste very good, but she was too hungry and exhausted to care.

Stormfront landed in the camp. Strapped to the outside of his robes was a burlap sack. Opening the sack, he pulled out a hooffull of wild apples and passed them out among the caravan. He walked over to Peach Nectar and tossed her an apple. "Eat up, little sister. Though the stew the cooks offer is hardy, it lacks in a certain...ascetic quality."

Peach Nectar looked at the apple, though she felt uneasy when the weird pegasus had gotten into the habit of calling her 'little sister', she decided not to think do deeply about it...this time as she took a bite of the apple. Though it was a bit on the hard side, it tasted like ambrosia in comparison to the crude gruels and stews the caravan's cooks made. She wiped the juice off that had dripped down her chin, turned her head to Stormfront and asked, "Where did you find these, Stormy?"

"Before I laid eyes on the goddesses, I worked since I was a colt as part of a scrap caravan and learned how to forage for food."

Peach scowled for a moment before taking another bite of the apple. Great, another caravaner that has gone mad from being out in the sun for too long. Suddenly her ears turned at the sound of several pegasus scouts that had been flying patrols, then she heard it...the whine of an engine. She immediately knew what she was hearing. Standing, her bowl of food spilled over and she shouted to the ponies nearby, "We need to get the caravan moving now! Those are raiders from New Unicornia!"

The caravaners ignored Peach's warnings as they hitched the heavy wagons together and grabbed whatever weapons they had for defending the caravan, mostly crudely cobbled together knives, spears, pole hooks, machetes, crossbows, bows, spike launchers and spiked ball launchers, though there were an occasional ancient musket or blunderbuss here and there.

The New Unicornian rangers, in their technical, barreled down on the circled up caravan. They had been at best two days behind them while they were still moving, but when the caravan had stopped and circled-up to weather the storm, it gave them the edge they needed. In the bed of the small truck were a machine gun stood on a rotating monopod, four rangers sat, they pulled their cloaks around their body armor as they loaded and cocked their assault rifles. In the cab sat two rangers, the commander, who sat behind the steering wheel gripping the shifter in hit fetlock. The commander spoke into his field radio, "We're commin' up on the caravan that is harboring the escapees. Get on the machine gun, but mind your aim, we need the escaped mares alive."

"What about the rest of the caravan?", a question crackled over the radio.

"Give 'em lead poisonin'!"

One of the unicorn soldiers looped stood up, looped his forehooves through one of the grips on the machine gun and pulled back the charging handle with a *shu-shunk*. From above in the clouds, arrows, crossbow bolts, spears, spikes and spiked balls rained down, most missed in the hopes that it would cause the attackers to veer away, others glanced off of the thin metal body of the light truck, others penetrated the thin metal and stuck there. The incoming projectiles made the unicorn soldiers momentarily duck before aiming their rifles up and returning fire in the hopes of running off or killing off their harassers.

"Keep your rifles on semi-auto to conserve ammo until we breach into the camp!", the commander shouted into his radio.

As the technical circled around the wagons, the unicorn soldiers took potshots with their rifles, while the soldier on the machine gun rattled shots into the bodies of the wagons.

The caravan was a den of chaos as ponies ran about. Bullets whizzed through the air. Some of the caravaners who stood on the tops of the wagons to fire at the attackers fell backwards as bullets ripped into their bodies, some thrashed on the ground as they screamed in pain, others simply lay limply on the ground. Pools of blood formed around the ponies who were shot, which the ground drank greedily.

"Saddle up the draco-lizards!", the caravan leader shouted, "We need to get everypony out who can't fight! I'll be goddess-damned if a bunch of bandits in a magical wagon will take this caravan and everypony in it!"

Stormfront, who had been helping saddle up one of the lizard-creatures and helping the escapee mares onto its back, gestured to Peach Nectar. "Come on, little sister! The goddess forsaken heretics will be on us and we need to get out of here!"

Peach Nectar snatched up a a crossbow that had been dropped by a fallen caravaner, shook her head and shouted back, "Those are New Unicornia soldiers in a truck with a machine gun and assault rifles! If we don't take that truck out, nopony will get out of here!" Stormfront didn't know what a truck, machine gun or assault rifles were, he assumed they were something akin to the ancient muskets and blunderbusses that ponies occasionally found and repaired into working order, but he understood the need to cripple an enemy's mean of conveyance. He gave the unicorn mare a quick nod and leapt onto the back of the draco-lizard with a flap of his wings, gently stroking its head to keep the beast calm.

When the initial attack had stopped, several of the wagons were burning, their cargo set alight from the tracers from the machine gun and assault rifles ripping into them. The caravaners cheered as the technical sped away, thinking they had successfully drove them off. Their cheers quickly died out as the technical, after speeding away a few dozen meters away, fish-tailed around. As the commander popped the light truck back into gear, he nodded to the ranger sitting in the passenger seat. The ranger opened the breach on the underslung launcher, inserted a a large explosive round, closed it back and leaned out the window. As the truck sped back towards the circled-up caravan, the ranger took aim with the underslung launcher and squeezed the trigger. The grenade sailed out of the launcher with a deep *thoop*. Rangers and caravaners alike watched as the bright burning tracer on the launched grenade sailed through air. *ka-boom* The launched grenade the wagon nearly dead center. The explosion split it in two, upending both halves away from each other as shrapnel and broken bodies sailed through the air.

Peach Nectar took aim with the crossbow as the smoke and debris hung in the air. "Come on! Come on!", she whispered, waiting for the shot. The technical came through the smoke, engine and machine gun roaring. Quickly depressing the tickler, the unicorn mare loosed the bolt, it sailed through the air and pierced the driver-side front tire. *pop* *flap-flap-flap* The commander screamed unintelligible curses as the light truck swerved left, then right, then left again before flipping over, sending the rangers in the bed flying out and tumbling a few times on the ground.

"Go!", Peach Nectar shouted as she ran forward at one of the New Unicornia rangers who was laying on the ground and snatched up his assault rifle. She shot the soldier twice in the neck before springing towards the draco-lizard and sprung up in the air, catching one of the straps on the massive saddle in her fetlock, she pulled herself up.

Stormfront quickly snapped the reins to make the draco-lizard move faster. The lizard-creature lumbered towards the crippled technical as the last two rangers were crawling out of the cab, they screamed in shock and scrambled away from the vehicle. The reptilian lowered its head as it neared the truck and plowed through it, snapping the vehicle in two like it was a foal's toys. Fuel leaked from the tank and pooled on the ground before igniting a moment later, as the lizard-creature lumbered out of the camp, followed by its fellow reptilians. New Unicornia rangers scrambled for cover as the ammunition held in the belt for the machine gun cooked off with a series of staccato pops, creating a deadly fireworks show.

The commander of the now five New Unicornia squad quickly gathered his troops up, gave a quick assessment of gear and injuries. After the last of their injuries were bound up, the rangers quickly picked through the caravan for intel. The commander pulled one of the ID tags from the dead ranger, then looked over the map they found that not only laid out the caravan's route through the countryside, but also each major stop, every campground and safe haven. "It looks like they were going to a safe have in these woods about five days travel from here if I'm reading this right.", the commander said looking over the map, tracing the route with a hoof, "After we get Champing Bit buried, we'll hunt them down. The Sacred Order of Heaven's Rangers have never lost their quarry before and I don't intend to be the first. That whorse will die slowly, begging and screaming, she just made this personal. I want everything here burned so that when the first scavengers come, all they have to gnaw on is ashes and scorched bones." He gave one last look at the map, noting a safe have in a small forest and a question mark inside of a circle that had The Quarry written below it. "Run little pony. Run for everything you're worth. It just means you'll die tired beneath my hooves.", the commander whispered as he folded up the map and slipped it into a pocket.

The draco-lizards had been gathered into a circle and their reins staked to the ground as the ponies from the now destroyed caravan gathered around to discuss. "So those ponies are from New Unicornia?", the caravan leader asked.

"Yeah...they were looking for me and these mares I helped break out.", Peach Nectar replied, "They had them chained down and were forcibly rutting them. If it weren't for the war being fought for the seat of High Pontiff, I wouldn't have been able to get anypony out."

"And then they sicced some of their troops unprovoked on a guild-bonded caravan.", the caravan leader growled, "When we get to the nearest safe haven, the guildsponies will hear of this, and it doesn't matter who is in charge in New Unicornia, no legit caravan between Apple Orchard and the Weeping City will do business with 'em." He pointed a hoof towards the distant Foal Mountains. "There's a safe haven over that-a-ways. It's 'bout ten days outa th' way, but if we're lucky an' th' goddesses are with us, we'll only catch the edge o' that storm."

"That will make it easier for them to track you all.", Peach Nectar said. She pointed a hoof at the oncoming storm. "That storm is gonna be on us in a day at the most. I say we go straight through, it's going to be just as dangerous either way, and if we're lucky, the storm will erase out tracks."

"Yeah, but it might erase us as well. If the storm doesn't get us, then the mutants and madponies who are attracted to it will.", the caravan leader replied.

After several minutes of deliberation, the gathered ponies decided on who they'll go with and which direction they'll go. The majority of the decided to go in the direction of the mountains, including eight of the freed mares. Small groups decided to go in different directions, choosing brave the wilderness, in the hopes of making it to one of the trading towns, Peach Nectar, Stormfront and four of the freed mares, Corn Silk, Day Dream, Wildflower and Willow Leaf, decided to go straight through the storm.

If any of the gathered ponies had bothered to look up, they would have seen two lights sailing across the sky, one purple, one pink, as well as a dragon flying high in the sky.

***

A dragon with orange scales, light yellow underbelly and horns, light purple crest of spiky fins ran down from the top her head and ended at the tip of her tail, watched as she flapped through the air. Her gaze was split between the two lights that were zig-zagging through the sky and the gathered ponies down below. She had been sent to the remains of Equestria by Dragon Lord Ember, whom had been visited by a phoenix, and needed to make sure it was true, that the one who had brokered lasting peace between their kinds had truly returned. So Ember had sent the first of her subjects to learn of friendship from a pony-run school, Smolder, to confirm and deliver a message.

Smolder scratched at neck as she absentmindedly kept one eye on the zig-zagging lights in the sky and the other on the ponies on the ground. I wonder if Princess Twilight will recognize me after all this time...if she's really real and not just another wannabe warlord. But then if it's not real, why would Philomena have come to Ember? She watched as one group of ponies riding on the back of a big lizard creature, began plodding towards the storm. She also saw the purple light break away from the pink one and began tracking the ponies heading towards the storm. "Geez you sparkly tree, you don't believe in giving anycreature an easy time do ya?"

Smolder hovered in the air, using a dragon breath spell that Spike had taught her long ago, belched up a scroll, two pieces of parchment, an inkpot and a quill. Writing down a quick message on one piece of parchment, wrapped it around the scroll, chuckled on how comically small they looked in her claws, closed her eyes and pictured Spike in her mind, took in a breath and with a puff of green flame, sent the scroll wrapped in another piece of parchment off in a puff of sparkling green smoke.

Smolder watched as the big lizard with six ponies on its back made its way to the edge of the storm as the purple light tracked it from above. "Alright you pernicious pine tree, I'll help you out, just don't give me any more visions of me wearing a frou-frou dress and tea parties...at least where nocreature can see. A dragon has her reputation to think about after all."

***

As Spike was laying von his back eating clawfuls of gems, Dew Drop was sitting on on his belly, staring intently at the golden torc that held a heart-shaped ruby on his finger.

"Why do you wear that?"

Spike paused and looked at the ruby that was twice as big as his fist when he was still a baby dragon. "This was something that once belonged to a very dear friend."

"They must have been a very special pony."

Spike wiped a tear from his eye with a claw. "Yes, yes she was." *brrraaaaap* A belch of green flame came from his mouth.

Dew Drop waved a hoof in front of her nose to clear away the smell of sulphur and smoke. "Eeeeeww! I think I'm gonna be *kaff* *gluh* sick. Next time let me know when you're gonna do that, so I get upwind from you, or turn your head away, or eat some breath mints. *gluh*"

Spike paid no mind to the pony on his belly as he caught the parchment and scroll that had materialized in his claws. Opening both, he read them and his eyes went wide. His eyes went wide as he read the message. Quickly and gently he picked the overdramaticlly gagging Dew Drop off his belly and placed her gently on the ground. He then started running towards the keep on his hind legs. "Twiiiiiiilight!"

***

The fur of the ponies riding on the back of the draco-lizard stood on end from the static in the air as much as the eerie feeling as they passed under the edge of the storm. Pebbles, small stones, twigs, and the occasional small critter who was unfortunate enough to be caught outside their burrows levitated off the ground a few meters. Small arcs of electricity and wild magic snapped between them. The draco-lizard snorted and grunted in displeasure, but was otherwise unafraid as its natural resistance made immune to all but the worst storms and dark magics.

Then the winds started. Some were freezing, others were stifling hot. One second they blew as a gentle breeze, the next they blew with hurricane force, sometimes they were swirling updrafts, other times they were blustering downdrafts. Each time the wind blew, it carried the sounds of voices screaming, crying, some that were long dead, others more recent.

Lightning crackled and flashed. Arcing from cloud to cloud, illuminating the area in strange colors. Bolts of wild magic-infused static electricity would strike the ground. Balls of crackling electricity, glowing with strange colors, would roll on the ground, or float through the air in strange patterns.

Then everything turned dark to the point where the ponies could barely see their own snouts in front of their faces. Strange silent glowing shapes in the likenesses of ponies manifested, some ran from an unseen threat, others were on their knees, hooves in front of them, begging for their lives. One of the forms manifested into the shape of an alicorn.

"Look little sister!", Stormfront shouted, "A sign the goddesses are watching over us!""

The six ponies watched as the ghostly image of the alicorn looked over its withers, said something silently, flared its wings and charged forwards.

"Are these ghosts or the images of the past?", Peach Nectar whispered.

Another image of an armored alicorn manifested in the road before them, hoisting a hammer over its head, shouted a cry, pointed the hammer forward and marched onwards.

Flames illuminated the darkness from above, revealing a large group of cannibalistic madponies rushing towards them. The fire from above ran along the ground, turning the madponies into ash in an instant.

As quickly as the darkness began, it ended, revealing the dead forms of winged mutant, some were bleeding where they had been torn to pieces, others were smoldering. The six ponies looked up, seeing the outline of a dragon disappearing into the clouds. Peach Nectar waved out the symbols of the sun, moon and six-pointed star over her chest.

Smolder flapped through the buffeting storm as bolts of wild magic-infused lightning traced along her body. She had little to fear from the storm other than the occasional singed scales. Looking down, she snapped a few ancient draconic curses as she saw an army-sized group of mutants and madponies rushing towards the six ponies and draco-lizard from the core of the storm. "This is gonna suck." Folding her wings, she angled downwards in a steep dive. Flaring her wings just before hitting the ground, she spread her claws on all four limbs wide.

The six ponies stared dumbfounded as a massive orange dragon slammed into the ground, making the earth heave and tremble.

Smolder unleashed a war roar at the charging mutants and madponies in a challenge that would make her ancient ancestors proud. The massive group flowing across the ground turned and focused on her. "I am death! I am terror! My teeth are spears! My claws are swords! My scales are unbreakable armor!", she shouted before taking in a deep breath. Swinging her head side-to-side, she unleashed a wide swath of flames hot enough to turn bodies to ash and melt the ground to glass.

The mindless mutants and crazed madponies who were instantly turned to ash or burned up by the glasses earth swarmed towards Smolder, who in turn bounded forward, making the ground tremble. Draconic claws the size of scimitars and teeth the size of spear points easily cleaved flesh, soaking the ground in blood. The mutants and madponies harmlessly flailed and gnashed against the hard scales of the dragoness as they died in droves.

The draco-lizard, with all six ponies in tow, hastened its pace. The one of the few things it feared was dragons. The reptilian only slowed its pace to snag the errant mutant or madpony in its snapping jaws, swallowing them whole, or crushing them underfoot, shredding them with its hard, spear-like claws.

The New Unicornia rangers that had been shadowing their targets along the edge of the storm hid in the hollow of a tree when they saw the shadow of the dragon. A mutant, that was a confusing mass of limbs, tentacles and eyes, attracted by the storm and battling dragon, stumbled across the hiding rangers. Coiling tentacles and weird limbs covered in claws and spikes, reached for the rangers, snagging two of them. The remaining rangers poured out of their hiding place, opening fire in the hopes of saving their squad mates. The mutant, in its near-mindless animalistic state, rampaged, scooped up a third with a clawed limb, stuffing it into its mouth and crushed a fourth before lumbering off with its two victims to do whatever at its own leisure. The command spat curses at the leaving mutant, then recovered the ID tag from the one soldier's remains and the magazines from the dropped rifles.

***

A day and a half the draco-lizard plodded through the storm before coming out the other side. Peach Nectar checked the remaining rounds in the magazine, twelve rounds left after fending off the mutants and madponies that the weren't attracted to the dragon. Speaking of said dragon, all the stories said that they were death beasts that are ponies and carried away foals, but this one seemed to protect them. They stopped at a small spring to refill their canteens, quench their own thirst and splash water on themselves to wash away the grit and grime, then allowed the lizard to slake its thirst. Above the purple light tracked its target.

They loaded up and set off on a slow plodding pace.

Two rangers shadowed their targets as six disguised ponies tracked the lights in the sky.

***

In the hidden walled village called The Quarry, ponies mined gems, tended to the fields that grew copper and iron like wheat, and sorted various shiny rocks and geodes, all for trade with passing caravans that they met at specific prearranged points. Other ponies tended to small fields of barley.

In the center of the village stood a large egg-shaped Boulder stop a cracked fault.

Among the ponies of The Quarry lived a solitary griffon named Pauline. She usually went around the village with her adoptive mother, helping her bind the villager's wounds or using medicinal herbs to heal their illnesses. But today she she stood by a casket that was being lowered into the earth. Tears dripped down her cheeks as ponies tossed shovelfuls of soil over the coffin. Her mother had died fighting the illness that had stuck The Quarry over the summer.

Once the last shovelful had covered the coffin and a simple plank had been placed to mark the grave, Pauline picked up a small stone bowl and flapped over to the boulder. Placing the bowl at the base of the boulder, she filled it with pungent herbs, then lit them with a flint and steel. "I will carry on your legacy and heal those in need.", she whispered, extending a taloned limb to the boulder, but not touching it, nobody touched the boulder, "May the goddesses guide you to peace."

Once Pauline finished her prayer, she walked to what is now her hut, put on what had been her mother's healer's cloak and belt, attached pouches to the belt and set flight for the forest beyond the walls to gather herbs.

***

Twilight read the scroll and note that Spike had brought her. A smile crossed her face as she penned her response to Ember's scroll. She levitated the scroll out the window to the waiting Spike, then flapped over. "Send this to Ember, I eagerly await her response. Then summon Smolder. I'd love to meet one of my old students."

After closing his eyes and picturing Ember, Spike sent the scroll away in a puff of flame. Spreading his wings, he took to the air with a few powerful flaps. Flying over the crusade forces, most barely offered the dragon a glance as his presence had become a familiar sight, though many of the new recruits stared gobsmacked, until their fellow soldiers or officers nudged them to get back to their tasks at hoof.

Landing on a peak, all four clawed limbs gripping the stone and ice of the mountaintop, Spike took in a deep breath, raised his head to the sky and unleashed a roar in the ancient draconic tongue that was one part greeting, one part summoning challenge.

***

Smolder was taking great joy flying in the storm, she had little to fear as her natural draconic immunities protected her from the worst it could dish out, an adult dragon could fly through a hurricane polluted with the foulest magics and come out the other side with only a few scorched scales. Only another adult dragon, or another powerful creature, such as an alicorn, Ursa Major or similar creature of similar raw strength and magic could give her pause. The ponies who were riding on the back of the big lizard creature that she had been tracking had nearly exited the storm, so she decided to have some fun embracing her more aggressive instincts by culling the mindless mutants and crazed madponies. If they were too stupid to challenge a fully grown dragon to mortal combat, she was more than happy to give them the death they so craved.

Blood and gore dripped from Smolder's claws as long as scimitars, drool and liquid fire dripped from her smile maw. Before her stood a massive, multi-limbed mutant, whatever it had been before becoming so heavily mutated was unclear, now it was an unholy abomination of multiple limbs, tentacles, tendrils, claws, mouths filled with mismatched teeth, it looked like some mad scientist had stitched it together from all sorts of creatures into an amalgamated abomination against nature as big as a house. This mutant was different, it was smarter than the rest she had encountered, at least as smart as an intelligent predator, whether because of a "natural" ability or because of the effect of the storm, the seared flesh and long gashes were slowly knitting, the huge mutant also seemed to have some sort of influence on the other mutants, directing them to attack her while its wounds were healing.

The big mutant had made its intent and message clear to Smolder when it had attacked, this is its territory and it would attack anything it perceived as a threat to said territory. Using a clawed finger to flick away a madpony that was ineffectually pounding and gnawing at the edge of her scale on a forelimb, she bound forward through the horde of abominations against nature, claws slashing, jaws snapping, tail smashing. She intended to kill the big mutant for its hubris of attacking an adult dragon, but only after she grew bored of toying with it.

Smolder and the big mutant clashed in a struggle of strength. She lifted it up over her head and slammed it onto the ground, then kicked it away like a ball. She was in the joy of combat when she paused, hearing over the din the ancient draconic greeting and summoning challenge. She squished the mutants that had climbed into her like they were mosquitoes, then locked eyes on the recovering big mutant. "It's been fun and all, but now you die. I have much more pressing matters to tend to." She took in a deep breath and unleashed a superheated cone of flame that turned the air into a deadly shimmering wall, melted the ground into lava and burned the huge mutant into ash in seconds.

Smolder flapped her wings powerfully as she took to the air. Clearing above the clouds, she took a quick look at her scales that were caked in blood and ichor. Flying through the air, she located a a deep meltwater lake. Tucking in her wings, she angled herself into a steep dive. A geyser and tsunami of frigid water made the ponies and other creatures at the edge of the lake fled in fear. After she finished swimming to clean her scales, she breached through the surface of the water and took off to face the dragon.

Author's Note

I decided to split this chapter into two parts as it was running longer than I had intended.

Also it's going to be a bit harder for me to write chapters as my cat fried my laptop by puking on the keyboard and I'm having to use my phone until I can afford to get a new one.

Unless otherwise stated, this current batch of side chapters and will feature characters that will eventually converge on the crusade forces, it's just that the crusade isn't featured as central focus to them.

Thank you all for reading and I hope you all enjoy.

If you spot any typos, misspellings or sentence issues, please leave them down below so I can fix them. Have any comments, questions, wanna throw shade or pure bane? Leave them below.

Special thanks to New_Rebellion for his input and allowing me to bounce ideas off him. Much my little pony love to him.