The Harmony Crusade

The last FOB that sat outside the borders of New Unicornia had fallen two days previous. In said FOB the stallions of The Fraternity sat on the ground, their heads bowed in silent reverence as the sun peeked above the horizon. The head preacher climbed atop a small, hastily constructed platform. The earth pony stallion's robes swayed as he calmly trotted to the edge of the small raised platform, slung across his back was a hoof-carved staff in a stylized likeness of five alicorns, at the base of the staff was an iron spike. Grabbing the staff with a hoof, he brought the iron spike down on the small platform in a dramatic flourish, sparks and small flecks of metal flew from the impact. The stallions reached inside the necks of their armor and withdrew hoof-carved wooden amulets of five stylized alicorns, some more intricately carved, some more simple, but all held with reverence.

The preacher began his speech. "My brothers, we the chosen sons of the goddesses, the ones who answered the call to protect the innocent, to free the enslaved, to slay the mutant and the monster, to purge the slaver and to cleanse the unclean with purifying flame. We stand on this morrow in preparation to bring the light of the goddesses into a heathen land. The leaders of this country seek to bind the souls of the ponies within with chains, not just of iron, but also of words. They seek to keep those within minds imprisoned in a cage of fear, using machines of war as the wardens. Fear not their machines, for they do not contain sacred sparks and profane our brothers' and sisters' sacrifices. They seek not unity and harmony, but only for one tribe to rule over all."

The princesses walked up to the rear of the platform. Princess Celestia took to the air with a flap of her wings and landed on the platform delicately, a move she had long perfected long before even Twilight Sparkle had been conceived, from a time when she and Luna had guided their own armies to overthrow the great tyrant, that old ram who ruled Equestria with an iron cloven hoof. Her gilded power armor with a brilliant red phoenix on the breastplate had been polished to a mirror shine before coming out. This was a measured movement, similar to what she had done with the powerful half-unicorn-half-kirin warrior, Gusty, to rally her loyal warriors that lived atop the Canterhorn to march to Cloudsdale and rally the pegasi. The stallions of The Fraternity threw themselves onto their bellies, forehooves pressed together above their heads in reverence. She flicked her eyes to Twilight, her subtle expressions speaking volumes to the High Princess. Though the lavender alicorn was no longer her protege and apprentice, there was still lessons she could impart to the High Princess. She allowed her memories to go back to one of the lessons Starswirl had taught her and Luna, 'Fire gives ponies light, heat, the ability to forge metals and cook food. Unless it is properly contained and directed, it will consume all in its path, leaving behind only ash.'. She was about to show the high princess how to contain the fire of devotion and direct it in a manner that would be most beneficial. Spreading her wings in a regal manner, she raised a foreleg, knee bent, in a princessly pose. Above Philomena circled, the phoenix loved showing off as much as she enjoyed playing pranks.

Philomena alighted on Celestia's foreleg, wings spread wide as flames danced across crimson and golden feathers. Celestia suppressed a chuckle, her pet phoenix loved showing off, nearly as much as any member of the Wonderbolts once did. "Arise my little ponies." She waited until the stallions had gotten to their hooves, then took in a breath and started her speech. "My good stallions, I will not mince words. These ponies who rule this land twist and profane the name of the once proud kingdom of Unicornia by daring to compare themselves to the monarchs of old, the very ones whom forsook their crowns to reach out to the other tribes and unite this land in unity, friendship and harmony." It wasn't entirely true, Princess Platinum had abdicated her crown to marry a simple earth pony farmer and the remaining nobles squabbled over the crown until Starswirl clove it in twain and cast the two pieces into a lake, the very same two pieces that she and Luna had recovered to use as tiaras until the leaders of the tribes had offered them hoof-crafted symbols of office, that they wore until the day they passed their combined authority to Twilight. "And they dare to call this nation ruled by viciousness and slavery New Unicornia!" She spat the last two words as she rankled her face into a mask of disgust, the measured expression had the effect of making the stallions mutter and growl in disgust and anger. Now that the flames had been stoked, it was time to contain and control them.

Celestia continued her speech. "Now my fellow ponies, we, your princesses feel your anger. But we beseech you to temper your anger with compassion and reason, many ponies of this land live as slaves, not imprisoned by iron chains or steel bars, by a doctrine of false harmony that has been beaten into them generation-by-generation, lie-by-lie. As you take the flame of harmony into their land, remember that you answered the call sent out by High Princess Twilight Sparkle!"

The stallions began to cheer and shout praises to Twilight. Celestia, her face as measured mask, let her eyes smile as she looked over to the lavender alicorn.

Twilight stepped before the stallions and gave a sidelong glance at her former teacher that spoke volumes. She held up a hoof and the stallions fell silent in preparation for a speech. She cast her hammer onto the ground, then started pulling off her armor piece-by-piece, letting each segment drop to the ground. When the final piece hit the ground, she began her speech. "I do not rule over you as some unassailable goddess on high or as a High Princess who was inherited her title through ancestral lineage, but only through work and dedication to my fellow ponies, friendship and harmony did I earn the right to ascend. I not a goddess, nor am I the High Princess. I am not the first among equals, for with equals can none of them stand higher than the others. I am no goddess, but a pony, made of flesh and blood like you! I do not rule by divine right or by some hereditary title granted by those long dead! My fellow and equal princesses and I rule not by divine right, nor by demanding the worship of those we rule No! I stand here with no weapons to fight back with and no armor to defend myself with, here on the door step of our enemy. My fellow princesses and I stand here, not as gods, but as ponies. We rule only by the consent of the creatures whom the light of harmony and the magic of friendship shines in their hearts. If you so will it, we shall cast aside our crowns, vacate our thrones and live as simple farmers, scrapping our lives out of the dirt. We are not tyrants, we are not goddesses, we only lead, guide and advise, so long as you, the mortals of this land consent." She looked over her withers at her former teacher, giving her a sly smile.

'You clever and beautiful bitch! Every time I think I've got you figured out, you go and find new a way to show how you're the greatest of us.', Celestia thought.

The stallions of The Fraternity stood in quiet shock. Twilight folded in her wings and bowed low before them. Her fellow princesses followed suit, laying their weapons on the ground and removing their armor before bowing before the stallions. It started off as a series of low murmurs that slowly became a buzz that steadily grew in noise. The stallions of The Fraternity began chanting shouts."We consent! We consent! We consent! We consent!" The din attracted the attention of mortal soldiers and workers, the word began spreading what was going on and the five princesses found themselves surrounded by a massive crowd of ponies chanting "We consent!" in shouted voices. Soon groups ponies began shouting "Only true leaders humble themselves before mortals! and "Only true goddesses worthy of worship deny their divinity!"

With an unspoken cue, the five princesses summoned their armor and weapons back to them. Rising into the air with mighty flaps, the raised their weapons over their heads and thundered,"PEACE THROUGH HARMONY!"

"HARMONY THROUGH VICTORY!", the crowd thundered back.

The princesses rose high into the atmosphere, shining bright a miniature suns. "HEAR US ALL WHO ARE ENSLAVED AND DREAM TO BREATHE FREE, WE COME TO SHATTER YOUR CHAINS! HEAR US WHO ENSLAVE AND SLAUGHTER, FLEE FOR YOUR LIVES, FOR WE COME FOR YOU!" Their voices rolled across the land like a wave of thunder.

***

As the five voices of the princesses washed across the continent, ponies who live in villages and towns that worshiped the alicorns as goddesses shouted in cheers, many marked the day and festivities broke out in those communities.

Many bandits and slavers trembled in fright. Many smashed the locks off of slave pens and cut the chains, freeing those they had kept.

In New Unicornia, Burnished Bronze felt a tremble of fear as the thunder-like voices echoed across the land side. Once regaining his wits, he quickly ordered the propaganda ponies to find a way to spin this as some sort of unknown natural or magical phenomenon.

In a cave an old griffon who sat surrounded by the moldering remains of heroes and warriors long dead allowed a smile to spread across his beak as lights flickered in the suit of decaying armor.

Cozy Glow, knowing her time here was up, drew on the power of the alicorn amulet to finish the final part of her spell she was casting on Burnished Bronze. Once the princesses finally arrived here, he will have fallen fully into madness. Turning to leave, she pause, swearing she saw the shadow of a ram, but just as quickly it was gone, must have been a trick of the light. Come morning, she would be gone without a trace, leaving the staff that normally went through her in a state of logistical paralysis.

Snow Drift, hearing the princesses voices, knew that was the signal. Gathering up what supplies she could carry, she used her ice powers to ruin what remained with frost and snuck through the crawl spaces until she was near the outer wall. She would wait until night to set out and find the one that harmony had showed her.

Far away the horde of hogz were laying siege to a small walled city as ponies on the parapets savagely fought to repel them. Then the voices washed over the battle. Equine and porcine alike stopped in stunned silence. Skull Krusha Masha Thrasha stared in the direction the voices came from, he would have smiled manically if his jaws weren't replaced with powah jawz. "Oi, what do we'z have here? Lookz loik da poneez godisiz are lookin' for a roit porppah skrap!" He thumped his hooves on the snout of the tatzlewurm and pulled on the harness, directing it in the direction of the voices. "We's gunna show deez ponee godisiz dat da hogz are da best dere iz! An' dat I am da bigist and da badist boss hog dere is! Let's go boarz! OOOOOOOIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNKKKKKK!" He set out on the back of the tatzlewurm.

"OOOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNKKKKKKKK!" The hogz trampled off after him. The ground rumbled and shook, causing pebbles, small rocks and bits of debris to bounce.

Wind-in-her-fur still leading the herd of bison, had long left the apple orchard that sat on two sides of the river on the old trampling ground and the ruins of Appleoosa, which were little more than foundations and moldering scraps of lumber behind as they searched for the pony goddesses. Then the bison heard the voices. Her heart still full of sorrow and not having the time to properly mourn her betrothed, lead the herd in the direction the voices came from.

Far to the northwest a horde of dragons looked in the direction the voices came. A single, massive dragoness with medium blue scales, dark blue spines and a light cyan underbelly, clutching a scepter in her claws, landed atop a tall volcano. Raising her head to the sky, she let out a loud roar and breathed a stream of fire high into the sky. Roars from all across the volcanic lands answered her, followed by hundreds of streams of fire into the sky. The dragons took to the air in a massive migration.

***

The Crusade spread its forces across a wide plain in a series of block formations as they marched across the border of New Unicornia. Pegasi scouts had reported a large enemy force amassing in three forts. The reported forces had dozens of wings of aerial screws of varying sizes and armaments, a brigade of tanks, an estimated three divisions of soldiers, with accompanying fleet of vehicles, some armed with machineguns or other weapons, others serving as troop transports, and a mixed division of various artillery units.

As the Crusade moved towards the inevitable battle, each ponemarch took command of a different sector. The forces spread out across a wide area dozens of leagues wide. The transequine legions took the lead as mortal pony soldiers followed close behind. The marines would be the ones to punch the holes in enemy lines, but it would be the mortals who would fill the holes and by their sweat and blood, they would work to throw the enemy back.

The minotaurs of the Fire Pipes and Long Pikes tribes filled the gaps between the columns. They would breach gaps in allied lines and dig out enemy forces hunkered down in emplacements. The Fire Pipes proudly carried their semi-automatic and heavy automatic scatterguns. The Long Pikes proudly hefted their new pikes, the blades at the end of each crackled with power fields and heavy shields that were slabs of thick armor plates.

In the rear, self-propelled carts with mortars and other artillery guns scooted back and forth, awaiting orders to bombard enemy formations, emplacements or fire support for the front lines.

Airship crews on the decks ran boarding drills while gunnery crews sighted in the massive weapons as loading teams scrambled around, shoving trolleys of heavy shells and bags of propellant. Damage control crews ran fire and repair drills. Deep in the bowels of the airships tech monks did binary static chants as they performed maintenance on the engines, rubbed oil on machinery, while others sang to the sparks to keep them happy.

The Ponyhood of Steel in their mobile barracks stepped onto platforms as mechanical arms on the rigs put the armored exoskeletons on them. They would serve as the reserve forces or as elite strike forces as the needs arise.

In the far rear the mobile forges churned out replacement parts for armor, vehicles and weapons, and cranked out ammo for all weapons. Mobile medbay trauma teams drilled themselves for the injured that would pour in. The mobile garages held the War Striders, the most terrible and terrifying weapons The Crusade had, tech monks performed maintenance and kept their gestalt sparks in a twilight state, the princepts ran their standard checks or slept in their command thrones in preparation for when they would be called to stride across the battlefield.

The very air and earth seemed to buzz in anticipation as the two hosts moved towards each other. Bandits, slavers, roving gangs, wannabe worlds and other vultures of war were attracted to the promise of slaughter, slaves and glory. The New Unicornian and Crusade forces skirmished with the minor pests as they crawled towards each other.

For three weeks the armies of New Unicornia and the New Equestrian Empire moved towards each other. Their scouts occasionally encountered one another and traded shots or shouted insults.

The Crusade settled onto a stretch of land three dozen leagues wide. They set their center on a small plateau, to their far left they were flanked by a wide river canyon and on their far right they were flanked by a series of ridges and hills that served as the last bastion of the far away Foal Mountains and the foothills of the once towering twin peaks of the Smoky Mountains. New Unicornia parked their forces in a series of ridges and hills. Between both armies sat a shallow, bowl-shaped depression, at least a dozen leagues across.

***LATE NIGHT RAID***

The moon hung lazily in the sky. It was still at least five hours before dawn.

New Uncornia sentries patrolled the edges of the camps. Soldiers who coming off duty or preparing to go on duty sat in the mess tent eating, lounged around campfires, practiced at the firing ranges, performed basic maintenance of their rifles, or interacted with the camp followers, some soldiers trading their money for cheap hooch or for an hour with the prostitutes.

Dark armored forms quickly and quietly moved through the gloom around the camps. Occasionally an enemy sentry saw them and were killed silently before they could shout out a warning. The ponies in dark power armor quickly moved into the camps, the shadows flowing around them like liquid. Several of the ponies in dark armor dug small holes in the ground in strategic places near the tents and barracks, placed small metal discs and tubes in the holes, primed them, gently raked the dirt back over them and slipped back into the shadows.

Several airships lined up shots over the camps and fired several timed volleys of airburst shells.

Several unicorn soldiers seeing the flashes, shouted the alert. Soldiers scrambled out to their duty stations. The ground under many of their hooves exploded, ripping off legs, in other places metal tubes launched into the air from the ground as high as their thighs. The tubes exploded, filling the air with dozens of of metal balls. New Unicornian soldiers laid on the ground screaming and bleeding, their legs blown off by the explosions or shredded by shrapnel Many of their fellow soldiers scrambled to pull their fellow soldiers to the medic tents, some fell prey to the buried traps.

Moments later shells exploded over the camps, filling the air with deadly showers of shrapnel. Dozens of ponies lay on the ground, many dead, many screaming as they bled. As the soldiers scrambled to pull their comrades to safety, another volley of shells burst over the camps. Fragments of metal filled the air, shredding flesh.

For an hour the airships continued their bombardments, each volley precisely timed to be five minutes apart from the other.

After the third volley, New Unicornian soldiers learned to stay where they could find cover, not bothering to drag their dead and wounded comrades to safety between the volleys, unless they were close by.

After the final volley fired, the New Unicornian soldiers stayed in their cover. They nervously anticipated the next round of explosions in the air that filled the air with deadly metal. For five minutes, then ten, then twenty they waited, but the shells didn't come. The all-clear was called and soldiers and medics scrambled to tend to their fallen comrades.

Artillery crews scrambled to they guns in preparation to rain vengeance in the form of high explosives on those who shelled their camps. As loaders hefted shells, they fell to the ground with wet smacks. Crew mates stared, momentarily dumbfounded at their comrades bleeding from gaping exit wounds. More artillery crew members fell with wet smacks, the sides of their heads, necks or barrels blown open with grisly exit woulds from precise sniper shots. The surviving crew mates scrambled for cover.

Infantry squads were sent out hunt for the snipers as tank and vehicle crews ran for their vehicles, and machinegun crews ponied their weapons.

That's when the Night Hunters launched their attack. Enemy soldiers screamed in surprise as massive unicorn marines in power armor black as a moonless night flooded out of the shadows. Mass reaction rounds filled the air and ripped New Unicornian soldiers' bodies open like tissue paper. Some of the enemy soldiers managed to return fire, only for then to gape in surprise as their rifle rounds harmlessly bounced off the power armor with a spray of sparks, even the heavier machinegun rounds only managed to divot the power armor where they hit.

The technical crews who managed to successfully get into their vehicles and get them started, stared in shock as mass reaction rounds turned their engine compartments into flaming scrap and their wheels into shredded metal and rubber just long enough to realize they were doomed before their bodies were ripped apart.

The tank crew who managed to get into their massive armored vehicles moved to engage the transequine warriors. Mass reaction rounds that struck the armor had large gashes ripped into the plates or shattered segments of them. Several mass reaction rounds struck the suspension of the tanks, immobilizing them.

The Night Hunters began focusing fire on specific areas of the immobilized tanks, mass reaction rounds tearing apart armor plates until they struck engine compartments, fuel tanks, crew compartments or ammo racks. Some tanks caught fire, others came to a halt, their crews dead, others exploded in a fireworks display of high explosive shells and bullets cooking off, launching the main turrets off the body. The tank crews that climbed out of burning tanks had their bodies ripped apart by mass reaction rounds, ripper hooves, hoof claws or just plain brute force.

One tank crew managed to successfully pivot their tank's main turret around and fired the main gun. A single transequine marine's body evaporated in a blast of high explosives, shrapnel and pink mist. A half dozen Night Hunters boarded the tank seeking vengeance for their fallen battle brethren. The first marine pried the main hatch off the turret, the second ripped the tank commander from his seat, the third and fourth fired a dozen mass reaction rounds into the crew compartment each, the fifth and sixth each tossed a grenade into the crew compartment. The six marines leapt off the tank, dragging the captured tank commander with them. The tank's body ripped apart as ammo and fuel cooked off, the main turret launched high into the air, a column of fire trailing it.

Aerial screw pilots ran for their aircraft. Many fell to mass reaction rounds and sniper bullets, many others made it to the aircraft. As the propellers spun up, many of the aerial screws were ripped apart by mass reaction rounds, fuel igniting, turning them into flaming wrecks. Others never got off their rotors spinning as sniper rounds pierced the glass of the cockpits, killing the pilots. The pilots who managed to get off the ground soon found a deadly surprise, Ponyhood of Steel airships had stealthily maneuvered above the camps during the bombardments and hung high above in silence, engines cut off. Tech monks and exoskeleton armored soldiers leveled their weapons. Blue-green flickers from high-power lasers, muzzle flashes from high caliber machineguns, sliver streaks from rail guns and red-glowing contrails from volley guns turned the aerial screws that made it off the ground into plummeting, flaming hail.

The forward camps of the New Unicornian army was turned into a full rout as the survivors ran in an undisciplined panic.

The Night Hunters executed any wounded survivors as the Ponyhood airship descended and dropped lines to hoist any materials they wanted. The tents and empty buildings were set ablaze, ammo cashes, fuel dumps and medical supplies were booby trapped. Bodies were left where they lay. The airships, loaded with the undestroyed tanks, vehicles, aerial screws and artillery guns the Ponyhood of Steel wanted set off back to The Crusade lines. The Night Hunters slipped back in the shadows. Thestral snipers who had stationed far enough away so the nopony would hear the shots or see the muzzle flashes from their high-powered sniper rifles took flight on leathery wings, heading back to their barracks.

***DAY 1***

The New Unicornian high general, Star Gleam, whom had been appointed to lead the force to throw the invaders from the homeland, ordered several battalions to retake the forwards camps as the sun peeked above the horizon. As the soldiers entered the outer perimeters of the camps, they did not encounter any sort of armed resistance or occupying forces. Instead they only encountered smoking remains of tents and several buildings, the remains of their comrades laying where they fell, bodies ripped open from terrible weapons and the burnt-out wrecks of destroyed land and air vehicles.

Unicorn soldiers quickly spread out across the camps, trying to piece together what happened the night before. What they found confused them, sure there were plenty of hoofprints everywhere, both of normal-sized ponies and massive ones, that they took to be horses were everywhere. The only bullet casings to be found were from New Unicornian rifles. The medics inspected the bodies of the dead, many of the bodies were clearly killed with a single shot from high-powered rifles, many others were ripped apart in what could be only described as explosions from the inside. The vehicles were inspected by mechanics and the damage could only be described as some sort of anti-material rifle using explosive rounds.

Graves were hastily dug as quick counts were made of the remaining materials. A dozen tanks and other ground vehicles, two dozen artillery guns and an entire wing of aerial screws were unaccounted for, but there was no sign of them being dragged or driven off, searches of the surrounding area didn't turn up any sign of them. What was more perplexing was that the fuel dumps, ammo cashes and medical stockpiles were intact, none having been looted or destroyed. The soldiers began taking stock and started moving crates and barrels to be loaded onto trucks. That's when the concealed booby traps went off, in some instances ponies and valuable materials were consumed in fiery explosions, in other instances buried discs exploded and buried tubes launched into the air, blowing off or shredding limbs. After the grievously injured and/or dead ponies were drug away, specialist teams were sent in to scan the remaining materials, finding that all were rigged with explosive devices or spell traps that none of them had encountered before and didn't know how to disarm. The bulk of the soldiers were pulled back as sappers were sent in to find and disarm what traps they could so they could salvage the valuable resources, in the instances of the spell traps, the resources had to be destroyed to prevent more New Unicornian soldiers from being wounded or killed.

Aerial screw pilots shouted warnings into their radios, dozens of airships were approaching at high speed. The unicorns were ordered to withdraw as the aerial screws and tanks covered them. The sappers hastily lit the fuses on their charges or threw grenades onto the supply cashes, then ran for all they were worth. The aerial screws unleashed a volley of rockets at the approaching airships, only for them to detonate harmlessly against the shields. Massive pegasi in midnight blue armor descended from above onto the aerial screws, shearing off tail sections with wing blades, snapping tail and top rotors with hammer hooves, ripping into pilot compartments with ripper hooves and hoof talons, or planting small blocks of explosives on fuselages and undercarriages. Within seconds the New Unicornian air support had been neutered, the surviving aircraft being forced to disengage.

The bow guns on the approaching airships fired on the New Unicornian forces. Instead of losing high explosive or fragmentation rounds, massive shells spewed forth clouds of thick black smoke. Mortal pegasi, wings tucked close to their sides, dove from above, each carrying a bomb in their hooves. They flared their wings at the last second, leveling off a dozen body lengths above the ground, dropping or tossing their bombs and zipping back into the sky. A few also tossed hoof grenades before rejoining their comrades high in the sky. The explosions ripped apart trucks and groups of unicorn soldiers. Tanks were struck by the bombs, but didn't penetrate their armor. The crews, their ears ringing, shook their heads to clear the cobwebs.

New Unicornian field commanders ordered their troops into full retreat to avoid a chaotic rout. Tanks covered their comrades' retreat. The approaching airships fired staggered volleys of high explosive shells from their bow guns. The shells fell onto the lines of tanks with thundering explosions and deafening metallic clangs. Some tanks veered wildly off-course, their crews killed by the shock waves, others stopped dead, their tracks ripped of the the artillery bombardment, others caught fire when artillery shells struck engine compartments or fuel tanks, forcing the crews to choose how they died, burning alive in the metal hulks or disembarking and being ripped apart by high explosive shells. The surviving tanks loaded high explosive shells or canister shot and fired thundering volleys, in the hopes of forcing any pursuing enemies into cover.

Once the New Unicornian forces made it back to their main camps, a count was done to assess the damage. Of the half dozen wings of aerial screws sent out, their number had been reduced by sixty percent, a total loss of nearly seventy aircraft. Of the forty-five tanks, three companies, sent out as support, twelve had been knocked out, nearly a quarter of their number lost. Of the eight battalions of infantry, eight thousand infantry soldiers, they had a combined three thousand soldiers killed or severely wounded, another five hundred soldiers were unaccounted for. The battle, if one could call as such, lasted ten minutes before the retreat was called.

General Star Gleam scowled as she poured through the reports. She stepped out of her office and called for a meeting of the high command officers directly under her command. In the meeting room, a dozen officers ranging from captains up to generals, sat around the table. "My gentleponies...", she said entering the meeting room, "...it is clear that this a full invasion of a well equipped and well trained military. It's as clear as the snout on my face that this is the same military force that wrecked up the Brass Legion."

"How can that be?", Commandant Iron Shoes asked indignantly, "The reports gathered from interrogating travelers, said they had ponies and minotaurs. According to the reports, we're dealing with horses along with ponies."

"Leave it to the tankers to completely think inside their metal box.", Sky Marshal Green Greaves snipped, "This is clearly just their vanguard. We've lost nearly five battalions in two quick clashes. They've only so far deployed pegasi and airships."

"Gentleponies, we are letting petty squabbles sidetrack us.", Star Gleam interjected, "Yes it's true that we've only had reports of pegasi and airships, if you go only by earlier today's report. Over the past few weeks reports from our advanced scouts have encountered their advanced scouts and even had a few fire fights with them. You all have read the same reports I have. According to those who survived the attacks on the forward operating bases and listening posts this is the same force that was making war in the south and now they're here. If as you say, Green Greaves, that this is their vanguard, then pray tell, where is the bulk of their forces? Have they some how managed to outmaneuver us and are now marching towards our flank? Are they ranging somewhere deep within out territory, marching to the capitol? How are they able to conceal such a large force?"

"So tell us, oh wise general.", Iron Shoes snarked.

"Check your tone, Iron or I'll have your commission pulled and bust you back down to private, scrubbing latrines and peeling vegetables.", Star Gleam chided. "To answer your question, they aren't hiding their forces. They're stationed across that depression, most likely boarding airships. And they've got powerful unicorns to make such strong shields. Then there was the attack on our forward operating bases and listening posts outside our borders was meant to do two things, make a show of force with a minimal risk, and seize materials."

"But if they sought to take materials, why did they leave the ammo, fuel and medicine? Why not take them and occupy the camps?", General Star Sapphire asked.

"They don't want those camps and they have more than enough ammo, fuel and medicine. Plus the smart money is that their army uses a different caliber. But back on topic, when they took our FOBs and listening posts, the vehicles that didn't get destroyed were sabotaged by our soldiers. When our position gets overrun, what's the first thing every soldier is under orders to destroy first?" When none of the officers answered, she slammed her hooves down on the table. "Divine-dammit! Do I have to spell it out for you?! Radios! They were going after the radios! What better way to get your hooves on a radio than to airlift undestroyed vehicles out and pull them out at your own leisure?! Airships very easily could have maneuvered high enough that their engines couldn't be heard or only turned them on during the bombardments. Then there is the intelligence that can be gotten by dismantling and examining every capsule-width of the mechanisms of our vehicles, artillery guns and aircraft. Here are your new standing orders. It's clear that they have several of our radios and if they haven't figured out what frequencies we use and are employing codebreakers, they soon will. Radios are only to be used for emergency contact or for relaying time-sensitive intel. Otherwise use runners or semaphore. And all code books are now the most secure information. If it looks like you're about to get overrun, burn them. We cannot afford them to fall into enemy hooves and pray that the soldiers from last night managed to destroy any and all code books they had before they were killed."

Star Gleam blew out an exasperated sigh. "We cannot stay in this position. We must fall back. They're airlifting troops across that depression where they can spread out and search for a way to outflank us." She got up from her seat and turned to a map of New Unicornia on the wall, studying the features

"How do you know that?", Iron Shoes asked.

Star Gleam looked over her withers. "Because that's what I would do. Iron, you really need to transfer your command to either an infantry or an artillery division. It's obvious you've been breathing in tank fumes for too long." She turned back to the map, studying the features for several more minutes."Ah, yes! That'll do just nicely!" She levitated a pen and drew a circle around a large section of land.

"The Shattered Walls?", Green Greaves asked, "Those are just a bunch of broken hills and ridges nearly ten leagues wide and two leagues deep."

"Exactly my good air marshal!"

"But why choose that place to fight?", Green Greaves asked.

"It appears that our good general has read The Art of War.", General Star Sapphire replied.

"It appears you've read that book too, general.". Star Gleam retorted. "For those of you who only read the books approved by the council of pontiffs, The Art of War is a book that dates back over two thousand years ago during the rise of the Old Equestrian Empire written by a pair of ponies whose names were Celestia and Luna to teach their generals how to wage war more effectively. Since we're facing an enemy that has numerical and technical superiority, then we must use the terrain to our advantage. In those hills and ridges are old ponymade caves that date from the fall of the Old Equestrian Empire. We can hide the artillery guns, aerial screws and troops in the caves." She drew a pair of X's on either side of the circle. "The tanks, along with support vehicles will be deployed to the lowlands here and here to serve as flankers. If the fight goes bad, we can use the broken terrain to aid in a fighting retreat. It'll take our advanced elements two days of hard ridding to reach the Shattered Walls and another five days for the bulk of our forces to reach it. Unless they're more clever than we give them credit for, it'll take them at least a week to consolidate their forces and then another week for them to bring their bulk against us. That means we have a week at best to dig and fortify."

"And at worst?", Green Greaves asked.

"Two days."

***

The Crusade airships gathered in the air over their newly captured land. The airships lowered thick steel cables and crews looped them under the mobile structures and pegasi lent aid, offering stabilization and extra lift. Once the structures were placed on the ground and the cables detached, they drove away to make space for more structures.

As the sun began to set, the airships spread out in a wide crescent, the mobile structures formed up in box formations and as one they set out.

For three days they pursued the New Unicornian army.

The New Equestrian Empire set up camp twenty leagues from the Shattered Walls as they began consolidating their forces.

***DAY 5***

As the mortal ponies of The Crusade settled down for the night, the Night Hunters slipped out into the lengthening shadows.

The night was dark and gloomy as the moon was hidden behind thick clouds. A cool wind was the first sign of an incoming rainstorm. Soon raindrops began falling down in a drumming pitter-patter over the New Unicornian positions. Sentries grumbled at their dumb luck having to walk in the rain. A sentry, miserable from having to walk his patrol route in a rainstorm saw a dark figure walking out of a small cave that served as an ammo dump. "Who goes there? Advance and be--GRK!*gurgle-gurgle*" Three blades attached to an armored hoof slashed across his throat from the nearby shadows, silencing his words.

The sentries standing guard outside a cave that served as a barracks were quickly dispatched and their bodies hidden in the shadows. A pair of massive ponies in dark armor silently slipped though the shadows, darkness clinging to them like a shroud. They quickly set up tear gas grenades about the cave and strung trip wires to them, then slipped silently back out.

All around the New Unicornian camps dark armored figures silently moved about setting booby traps in the caves that served as barracks and set up incendiary devices where ammo and fuel was stored. Once the traps were set, the dark armored unicorns vanished into the shadows.

As a group of sentries rounded a bend. The rain slowed, then stopped. The clouds rolled back, revealing the shining moon. Pegasi marines pushed the clouds into clumps and thestral snipers took up position atop them. "Finally!", a New Unicornian sentry exclaimed, "I thought it was going to rain all night." Her comrades agreed with her.

A Night Hunter dropped their spell that cloaked them in darkness and ran past the group of sentries."Hey! Stop!" Dark armored unicorns dropped their spells, revealing themselves all across the camp and opened fire, mass reaction round intentionally missing. Sentries dove for cover and returned fire. Soldiers in the barracks jumped to their hooves and scrambled for their weapons. They snagged on the tripwires, activating the grenades. Tear gas filled the barracks, causing the soldiers to gag and wheeze as they blindly stumbled in the choking fumes. Incendiary devices were set off remotely, starting fires in the ammo and fuel dumps. Moments later the fires ignited the fuel and ammo, causing explosions that collapsed the caves they were stored in.

As machinegun crews scrambled to their weapon emplacement, high-powered sniper rounds cut down individuals, causing the surviving members of the crews to dive for cover behind sandbags and berms.

General Star Gleam snapped awake from the sounds of gunfire and explosions. Jumping to her hooves, she grabbed her sidearm in her aura and rushed out of her room. Seeing a large black-armored unicorn, she leveled her pistol and fired three quick shots. The large unicorn returned fire with a single shot. She was nearly blinded by the muzzle flash and a nearly imperceptible fraction of a second later a section of the wall exploded, forcing her to scramble for cover behind a boulder. Peeking out from behind the boulder, she didn't see the unicorn. She fired the remaining rounds in her pistol where the unicorn was. She cried out in pain as a sniper round sheared off half of her left ear. Ducking back behind the boulder, she huddled close to the cover. She forced her breathing to slow down, forcibly slowing her heart and letting the adrenaline to pass. Taking quick peeks from behind cover, she counted the muzzle flashed to get an estimate of enemy forces. There was an estimated three companies' worth of enemies where she could see, but what made her spit quiet curses were the muzzle flashes in the sky. 'Divine-dammit! Pegasi snipers in the clouds with night optics. They're making sure that nopony can get into position to effectively return fire!' Star Gleam stayed close to the boulder that served as cover. She chided herself for not grabbing any spare magazines, an empty weapon was only good as a fancy club.

After the sneak attack was over and things began settling down, the all clear was called in the New Unicornian encampments. Head counts and supply checks were done. Five hundred troops were killed with another twelve hundred wounded. Three fuel dumps and seven ammo dumps had been destroyed by the incendiary devices, the rest had been extinguished when the caves collapsed, resulting only in a partial loss of supplies, still any loss of ammo and fuel weren't good. Sentries were doubled and equipped with electric lanterns and extra signal flares.

***

It was an hour before sunrise and the ponies of The Crusade were readying to fight. The Celestial hooves, along with their ponemarch Adamantem had been working on a series of interconnecting trench-works and field fortifications for nearly seven hours, moving forward at breakneck speeds. The late night raid had been the perfect distraction keeping the eyes and ears of the enemy away from the land in front of them.

As the sun peeked over the horizon, New Unicornian soldiers in their fortifications stared in shock at the massive network of trenches, berms, barricades and bunkers. What really shocked them was that some of the fortifications were made from stone and metal.

Star Gleam, her ear still bandaged, called an emergency meeting of the army's high command.

"How did they manage to set up so many fortifications in one night?!" Iron Shoes had a clearly worried expression on his face.

"They have powerful unicorns in their army.", Star Sapphire replied, "The raid last night was intended to get us looking inside our camp instead of what was in front of us and it worked spectacularly."

"Nothing that my aerial screws can't handle.", Green Greaves said smugly, "I'll order the heavy screws to arm them selves with incendiary and fuel-air bombs. That should help clean out."

"That would work if they didn't have armored pegasus horses.", Star Sapphire said.

"Okay, the interlinking fortifications are an unexpected twist, but not something that we can't deal with.", Star Gleam said, a plan working in her mind, "Here's how we'll do this. The artillery will shell the trenches. That'll draw their pegasi down to engage. We'll set up machinegun nests to protect each battery and issue at least one anti-material rifle to each artillery crew. Iron, load your tanks with extra fragmentation shells and canister shot to deal with any infantry coming out the trench. Greaves, load your screws with flechette rockets to deal with any infantry and the bow guns with anti-armor rounds for dealing with their horses. Keep your wings close to the ground behind the hills so when their pegasi engage, your ponies will have a better chance of surviving the engagement and we can salvage any screw that gets knocked down. Pop out from cover to provide close air support when their infantry break cover or their horses attack. Sapphire, arm your troops with as many grenades they can carry. I'll send out a general request for any sacred ranger units close enough to send aid."

"Genera!", a staff pony said in an anxious tone as he barged in, "We've received radio contact from a Princess Twilight Sparkle. She's requesting to talk to you."

'Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess Twilight Sparkle. Why does that name sound familiar?' "Did she say what she wanted to talk about?"

"No sir. Just that she would only talk to you."

Star Gleam sighed. "Were the radio techs able to determine where she was transmitting from?"

"Yes sir. It's coming from somewhere behind the trenches."

Shit! "Very well, I'll talk with this princess and see what she wants." Star Gleam turned to the officers under her command."You have your orders. Dismissed." She walked to the radio room and turned to the radio operators. "I want you set up a recording device and get every word of this conversation on tape. The eggheads in intel will want to do a full audio profile." She picked up the mouthpiece in her aura and pressed the button. "This is the High General of the New Unicornian fifth excursionist force. Is this Princess Twilight Sparkle?"

"Yes this is Princess of Twilight Sparkle of the New Equestrian Empire. May I have your name?"

"Why do you want my name?"

"I like to know the name of the pony I'm addressing."

"Very well. I am High General Star Gleam. Since I'm sure that this isn't a social call, what is it that you want?"

"I want to parlay."

"Where shall we meet for this parlay?"

"There is a hill to the right flank of your position, one league from both of our lines."

"And how many will be at this parlay?"

"Myself, my four fellow princesses, five bodyguards for each and a single airship to drop us off. I request that you match us with the same number of officers and a single aerial screw to drop to drop you off."

"When shall we meet?"

"In an hour's time. Is that good for you?"

"And how do I know that this isn't a funny trick to assassinate or capture me?"

"Neither my fellow princesses, nor I, nor our bodyguards will carry weapons."

"Very well, I agree to your terms." Star Gleam switched off the radio. She quickly wrote down some orders on a slip of paper and hoofed it to an aid. She was going to the parlay, but she wasn't bringing any members of high command or senior officers, in the event this was an ambush, no need to risk decapitating their entire high command structure.

Twilight released the button on the captured New Unicornian radio and switched it off. The radio she was using, like the rest that were captured were hooked up to hoof-cranked generators as the tech monks didn't want to sully the sparks by hooking them up to equipment not created by their forges. She inspected her armor, making sure it was properly maintained and polished. She double and triple checked the enchantments on her hammer, though she wasn't bringing it with her she still ensured that if she needed it, it could be summoned to her quickly. She and her fellow princesses boarded the small airship, accompanied by their Nebula Guard, who would be leaving their halberds behind.

***

The airship and aerial screw faced each other on opposing sides of the hill.

The airship and the aerial screw set down. The five princesses and their bodyguards stepped out and made their way to the base of the hill, while their New Unicornian counterparts did the same. Once the airship and the aerial screw had lifted off and departed to safe distances, both parties ascended the hill.

Star Gleam was shocked to see the five alicorn princesses in power armor, accompanied by twenty transequine bodyguards also in power armor. She kept her professional mask on, just barely and made a mental note to pull out one of her antique history books to check the names and likenesses of these princesses, just to be sure they weren't some mutants or powerful sorceresses casting illusions. The same couldn't be said for her underlings and the soldiers that served as bodyguards, who began to whisper and talk among each other, letting their emotions take control. "Calm yourselves!", she chided, "Just because they have winged unicorns means nothing. Keep your wits about you and your heads on swivels."

Both parties reached the top of the hill and lined up in front of each other.

"Okay, what were you wanting to discuss at this parlay?", Star Gleam asked.

Twilight spoke up. "I presume that you're General Star gleam?"

"You presume correctly."

Twilight levitated a rolled up parchment from a compartment within her armor and passed it to the New Unicornian general.

Star Gleam took the parchment, unrolled it and skimmed over the words. "You demand that I order my army to throw down their arms and unconditionally surrender?! Preposterous!"

"We beseech thou to change thy mind, my little pony.", Luna replied, "Enough warriors already have lost their lives and many more shall expire before this bloody affair is over. We art giving thou a chance to prevent more loss and suffering from within thine ranks."

"You have seen a small measure of what we can bear down upon your forces. I can assure you that the ponies under your command will be well treated, you have my sacred oath. Just help us shorten what will be a bloody and violent war between our two nations.", Celestia pleaded., "There is no shame in an honorable surrender."

"Did you offer an honorable surrender to the ponies in our forward operating bases and listening posts when you attacked?", Star Gleam defiantly asked, though deep inside she was trembling. She waited for a few moments before continuing. "I think now that you've seen where we've chosen to fight, you're scared that you cannot win. So the answer is no."

"Very well. If your answer is final, we shall depart.", Twilight replied, "But remember this meeting when you find your forces overrun and that we gave you a chance to surrender with you and your army's head held high. Next time we meet it will not be under such amenable circumstances and we will not be as kind in our demands." She tipped her head at the general. "Until the next time then."

Both parties went back down their respective sides of their hills.

"Stubborn foolish pride.", Twilight grumbled.

"It is not foolish pride, but the belief that they are defending their homeland.", Cadance said, "If the shoe was on the other hoof, would we accept an offer of unconditional surrender?"

Twilight blew out a sigh. "Perhaps not. But we must make them see that every day they fight, the prospect of surrender becomes more and more appealing." She opened up a channel on her coms unit. "Send a message to airship and mortar commands that they can commence preliminary bombardment in ten minutes."

Star Gleam and her entourage had barely been in the air for eight minutes when the whistling of shells overhead was followed by the sounds of distant explosions. Unbuckling from the seat, she walked over to the cockpit and stuck her head inside. "Increase speed to maximum and send a message over the radio that we're coming in fast and hot! As soon as we're over our lines, get us on the ground as fast as possible!" The pilot and copilot, without looking back gave quick salutes.

New Unicornia soldiers ran to and fro seeking cover as the officers shouted orders over the din of explosions. High explosive shells tore gashes in berms and sent stacked sandbags flying through the air, fragmentation shells filled the air with deadly hails of jagged metal fragments that shredded flesh. Artillery crews dragged and shoved their guns into place, the whole time praying that the next shell wouldn't be the one to take their lives. Loading crews shoved sleds of shells to the artillery guns or lugged boxes of ammunition for the machineguns.

Down below the Celestial Hooves dug the trenches the last few body lengths to the base of the Shattered Walls.

At the flanks of the Shattered Walls, tank and technical crews ponied their vehicles, awaiting the command to roll out and engage the enemy.

On The Crusade's far left flank, the solar flames, led by their ponemarch Apricus, began marching out of their concealed positions, armed with heat beams, plasma casters, high-powered heavy lasers and heavy flame throwers. On the far right flank the Saddle Ragers, led by their ponemarch Papilonem, flew low to the ground, hugging the contours of the land. Each legion was backed up by two battalions of ponies from the Fraternity and exoskeleton armored soldiers from the Ponyhood of Steel each.

New Unicornian gunnery crews loaded smoke shells and fired a single volley each. Forward observers sent back messages in semaphore telling commanders how far to traverse their aim. Loading fragmentation shells with impact fuses, they began to fire volleys.

Up and down both lines artillery shells sent up geysers of soil and sprayed clouds of shrapnel. New Unicornian soldiers lay on the ground screaming from where sprays of shrapnel tore into their flesh or high explosives ripped limbs off.

Transequine marines continued to dig the trenches, seemingly to take no notice of the explosions and shrapnel, even when large chucks pierced the joints in their armor. Even when individuals were struck down by direct hits from enemy artillery shells, they didn't stop, simply hastily moving their gravely injured or dead siblings to the rear and then just as quickly going back to digging.

Mortal ponies and minotaurs of The Crusade hunkered in bunkers or waited on the decks of airships, awaiting the order to move out and attack.

The last of the trenches were dug up to the base of The Shattered Walls and sappers rushed forward to plant explosives.

Aerial screws lifted into the air, just high enough to avoid the artillery bombardments, preparing to engage troops in the trenches. Airships that had been held in reserve adjusted their sights onto the incoming enemy aircraft, their crews loading airburst shells and opened fire. Aerial screws were forced to scatter as small numbers of them were sent plummeting down to the ground as bursts of shrapnel shredded tail and top rotors or killed pilots. Those that went too high fell prey to the Sky Hunters.

The Saddle Ragers and Solar Flames engaged the mechanized columns first. The former opting to outflank their targets and engage the technicals in the rear whie the mortals of the Ponyhood and the Fraternity attacked the tanks from the front and sides. The latter opted to attack the tanks head-on while the mortals provided fire support or engaged the technicals. Technical crews fired the machineguns, leaned out windows to fire their rifles or throw grenades while tank crews fired hull and cupola-mounted machineguns, traversed their main turrets to fire on the enemy ponies or crush enemy ponies under treads. Heat beams, high-powered lasers and balls of crackling plasma melted gold ball-sized holes through the armor plates. Crews were killed by the high heat weapons or were ripped apart by explosions when the weapons struck fuel tanks and ammo racks.

The stallions of the Fraternity tossed satchel charges and grenades at the tanks and light trucks, immobilizing the former and flipping the latter. They fired rifles on the crews as they were forced to disembark their vehicles, tossing hoofmade fire pots and shooting streams of liquid death from flame throwers as they got close. The stallions shoved the muzzles of their flame throwers through driver's slits or open top hatches of the tanks, depressed the triggers and incinerated the crews inside, turning the vehicles into armored urns,

The Implacable Hooves, along with their ponemarch Pomum Ligni gathered in the trenches, an assortment of heavy weapons mounted in both of their armors' shoulder sockets, as the sappers placed the last of the explosives and set the timed detonators. The airships and mortars fired dozens of smoke and starburst shells, providing obscuration for the Implacable Hooves while simultaneously blinding and dazzling New Unicornian troops. The Crusade stopped its preliminary bombardments.

New Unicornian gunnery crews, no longer able to see their forward observers, were forced to hold their fire. Soldiers tried to peer through the thick smoke to no avail, some opting to fire wildly through the thick, obscuring haze until the officers ordered them to hold fire.

Star Gleam, sitting in the cave that served as her command bunker, sat looking through an old history book, its pages long yellowed and brittle with age, as she listened to the tank and technical crews screaming over the radios for fire support, the number of broadcasts slowly cutting out one-by-one. The whole time the bombardments from both sides filled the air with loud, echoing booms. Flipping to the page she was looking for, she saw five alicorns standing before a crystal wall, the youngest being held in the pink one's forelegs as a group of normal ponies and a baby dragon posed with them. The caption read: 'Pictured: Princesses Celestia and Luna, the high diarchs of Equestria. Princess Cadance, the princess of the Crystal Empire, along with her husband Prince-consort Shining armor and their newly born daughter Flurry Heart. Savoir of the Crystal Empire, Spike the Brave and Glorious. The Element Bearers Princess Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Rarity and Pinkie Pie. The Royal Crystaler Sunburst. Starlight Glimmer, personal student of Princess Twilight Sparkle.' She began to laugh hysterically. "They're back! Ha-ha-ha-ha! They've come to claim the land once again! Ha-ha-ha-ha! And I refused their offer of honorable surrender! Ha-ha-ha-ha!" She raised her head at the quiet that signaled the bombardments ending. Closing the book, she set it aside, made sure she had her combat uniform on, the pistol in its holster at her side and her rifle slung across her back. She might not be able to beat the princesses and their army, but nothing said that she couldn't go out in a glorious blaze.

The last of the vehicles were destroyed, ensuring that the New Unicornian forces had no mechanized cavalry left. Black smoke poured from the flaming hulks that once were tanks, the flames pouring out of open hatches or where the main turrets used to be, loud pops and explosions of ammunition cooking off occasionally making the orange flames leap higher. The light trucks lay wrecked, some having flipped over on their tops, crushing the occupants, others lay on their sides on with their undercarriages on the ground where the tires and engines had been destroyed. All around on both flanks of The Shattered Walls the blackened and broken bodies of New Unicornian vehicle crews lay about the churned up ground, bodies and limbs twisted at odd angles from broken and shattered bones or from the intense heat of the flames. Columns of oily black smoke rose into the air. Only a small number of the vehicle crews had survived and were currently being clapped in steel shackles, blindfolded and led off to become prisoners of war.

Tech monks of the Ponyhood of Steel having discarded their blue robes with silver trim, revealing their mostly cybernetic bodies, approached the burning wrecks wielding a variety of cutting implements in their mechanical tendrils. They had little to fear from the flames as their organic parts had been heavily replaced with cybernetics and bionics, any remaining organic parts that were damaged by the flames could be easily replaced or augmented with cybernetics and bionics. The cyber monks set about carving up the ruined vehicles, only stopping to peel away sections of metal that had been cut and stack them in piles. Tech monks guiding self-propelling wagons pulled up to the piles of cut down scrap, loaded them onto the wagons and guided them back to the mobile forges to be melted down.

The Solar Flames and Saddle Ragers legions, only suffering minor casualties, had reloading teams refill their ammoand had refitting teams replace any damaged weapons or parts of their armor, then moved off to begin scaling the flanks of The Shattered Walls.

The armored soldiers of the Ponyhood and the stallions of The Fraternity, having suffered heavier casualties, began securing the area or digging pits to throw the New Unicornian dead in as they awaited reinforcements, fresh ammo and weapons, and further orders.

In the skies above the Sky Hunters legion descended on the New Unicornian aerial screws en masse. The pilots found themselves quickly overwhelmed by the transequine pegasi marines. Aerial screws plummeted from the sky, ripped apart by wing blades, ripper hooves, hoof claws and hammer hooves.

The detonators on the placed charges counted down to zero. Up and down the New Unicornian lines loud thumps could be heard. The ground heaved up slightly, unicorn soldiers staggered. Just as quickly the ground settled back to its original place, leaving unicorn soldiers confused. After a few minutes small visible cracks could be seen in the rocks and soil that were slowly widening. Officers shouted for the soldiers to evacuate their positions. With a loud rumbling, sections of the front of The Shattered Walls tumbled down, forming crude ramps of rubble and displaced soil. New Unicornia soldiers who were still disassembling their machineguns or assisting in lugging ammo and weapons found themselves washed away in the torrent of collapsing earth.

High above a fleet of light airships zoomed over the enemy positions, heading to the rear of The Shattered Walls, the afterburners on their jet engines glowing brightly.

The Implacable Hooves legion formed up in box formations and matched up the crude earthen ramps. Enemy soldiers, alive, but wounded or dead, partially buried or laying atop the disturbed embankments were trampled under armored hooves. The earth pony legion upon reaching the top of the embankments, spread out in wide lines three deep. Leveling their heavy weapons at fleeing enemy soldiers, they opened fire. New Unicornian troops were ripped apart in merciless hails of steel-jacketed bullets, heavy mass reaction rounds and automatic light cannon shells. When the first ranks expended their ammunition, the second rank moved up to become the first and airships holding reloading teams descended to reload the now-second rank. Body-length-by-body-length the Implacable Hooves ground forward, shredding enemy soldiers and emplacements alike under withering fields of fire.

New Unicornian artillery crews in a desperate bid to stop the enemy advance, cranked their guns into flat trajectories. The commanders hastily sighted in on the slowly advancing red armored marines. Loading fragmentation and high explosive shells, yanked the cord on the breach of the guns, loosing their deadly payload. When the smoke cleared, the artillery crews looked on in shock, though their shots had killed or severely wounded individual transequine marines, they simply side-stepped to close the gaps in their ranks and continued their grinding advance.

Mortal pegasi swooped down onto the artillery positions from above, throwing grenades and firing rifles. As the surviving artillery crew members fled into the caves that had held their guns, machinegun crews further back in the caves opened fire, covering their fleeing comrades.

The Solar Flames and Saddle Ragers legions had successfully scaled the flanks of The Shattered Walls and began digging out the New Unicornian troops dug in the caves. Solar Flames, their bright orange armor with rub red highlights, fired their heat-based weapons or cast fire magic into the caves, incinerating enemy troops. Saddle Ragers, their tan armor with green highlights, fired mass reaction rounds or charged into the caves, ripping apart the defenders.

The mortal ponies in the trenches began scaling the earthen ramps to occupy captured enemy positions and begin their push.

Airships moved above the newly captured positions. The crews dropped thick ropes off the sides. Minotaurs and mortal ponies fast-roped down.

The Implacable Hooves chose to retire from the battle for the day. They gathered up their wounded and dead, and moved to the rear to their awaiting airships.

The Crusade airships that moved to the far rear of the New Unicornian positions hovered in place. The Stone Legion, their bright pink armor, clown faces, monocles or other silly things painted on their helmet's face plates and top hats, derbys or rainbow afro wigs worn atop their helmets, as a final for their enemies, leapt from the first of the airships, lead by their ponemarch Zoccoli di Pietra. Once they were all on the ground, they began trampling forward, flowing like a pink flood across the broken hills and ridges of The Shattered Walls.

The second wave of airships landed to the New Unicornian far rear. The ponemarch Aster, leading their sons and daughters, Star Brigade legion. The transequine unicorn marines broke up into fire teams of four and five, their royal purple armor with silver trim gleaming brightly in the sunlight, and began weaving through the valleys between the hills and ridges.

The third wave of airships set down in the New Unicornian far rear. The Stellar Flare legion, led by their ponemarch Divinios stepped off the airships. Forming up in block formations, they marched across the broken hills and ridges.

***

Star Gleam paced back and forth in the cave that served as the command bunker. The walls and ceiling had been reinforced to prevent it from collapsing in the event of it being shelled. "Any word from Iron Shoes or Green Greaves?"

"No sir.", a subordinate replied, "It's chaos out there and they might be tied up fighting advancing enemies."

A runner rushed in."Sir. We have a sitrep from the front! They breached gaps in the ground and have overrun our positions. Our forward ranks have suffered massive casualties!"

Star Gleam mulled over the new information for a few seconds. "Order a fighting retreat. We'll use the very train to cover us. If we don't hear from our aerial or mechanized divisions in the next few hours, we are to assume they're dead or captured."

Six new runners entered the bunker. They reported that enemies have successfully scaled the flanks of The Shattered walls, and others have landed far to their rear and are quickly moving overland to their rear.

Star Gleam went pale for a few moments. "Alright, new orders. Anypony who can hold a weapon is to fight. Try to make a gap in their lines and break out. Anypony who manages to get past their lines, run fast and hard for the nearest fort or town and tell any authorities they find what happened here."

***

With the front lines secured and three transequine legions pushing up from their enemy's rear, the Crusade began preparing for the next push. They began consolidating their forces and preparing to bleed the New Unicornian forces for everything they were worth as it was too early in the invasion to bypass any enemies.

The princesses took to the battlefield, Cadance and Flurry Heart taking command of the line, Celestia taking command of the left flank, Luna taking command of the right, and Twilight taking command of the rear, though they wouldn't be in the thick of the fighting initially, that could very much change in the chaos of battle. It had been said that the presence of a single alicorn on the battlefield could rally any army they stood with, turning a sure defeat into a victory, or the morale of any army that stood against them, forcing a mass surrender. This battle would have five of them leading different elements of their armies from four different sides.

Mortal ponies and minotaurs prepped their weapons for the fight. The Celestial Hooves, their bright white armor with deep purple and gold accents gleaming in the sun, stood in the second line of troops in preparation to to build allied fortifications or breach enemy fortifications as needed. High above the Sky Hunters and Saddle Ragers legions circled, awaiting the two armies to clash. The Sky Hunters would plunge headlong into where the fighting was thickest, cutting down enemy soldiers and sowing general chaos in their ranks, while the Saddle Ragers would swoop down along the enemy's flanks, picking off targets of opportunity, such as machinegun nests, officers and artillery crews, or provide close air support, firing mass reaction rounds into large groups of soldiers and onto hardened positions. The Solar Flames legion would serve as terror troops. The Star Brigade legion, masters of small squad tactics, once gaps were opened up in the enemy's lines, would push in to further break up enemy formations. The Implacable Hooves who had already retired from the battle for the day, would serve as heavy reserves. The Stone Legion would be the ones to shatter the enemy's resolve, being masters of the massed wave, they would wash over enemy ranks like a power armored flood. The Stellar Flares legion would serve as a rearguard element and would be instrumental in getting any pertinent information out of captured enemy soldiers. Onboard the airships the heavily armored soldiers and cybernetic tech monks of the Ponyhood of Steel awaited, they would serve as elite strike troops, quickly deploying to plug any breaches in allied lines, capture strategic enemy locations or provide over-watch.

The Night Hunters legion had been dispatched to go out into the countryside to intercept any possible incoming enemy reinforcements and scout out the next targets of opportunity. The thestral snipers, being nocturnal, were still asleep, waiting for the sun to go down so they could harass enemy ranks.

The Crusade had pushed in a half league on the front and flanks, and nearly a full league in the rear, that left the New Unicornian forces with a lot of land under their control in The Shattered Walls. Though they were encircled, the noose wasn't closed yet and the Crusade intended to close that noose.

As noon came and went, the two opposing forces had yet to encounter each other yet, but that wouldn't last long. As The Crusade probed inwards, New Unicornia probed outwards. At two in the afternoon, intermittent firefights broke out as advanced units of both armies encountered each other. Over the next hour those intermittent firefights became pitched battles as both sides vied for fire supremacy. New Unicornian and Crusade artillery roared, sending hails of deadly explosives at one another to breach the other's lines. Soon thousands of ponies were fighting in trenches, foxholes and sandbag fortifications on the tops of hills, along ridge lines and in valleys, bullets zipping back and forth, seeking to bit into the flesh of any who was unfortunate enough to be caught peeking over the edge of their earthen fortifications or out in the open.

Both sides began digging weaving trenches towards each other.

Up and down the lines New Unicornian troops hefted hoof grenades, using their magic to hold down the striker lever, they pulled out the pin with their teeth and hurled the cylindrical explosives at the enemy trench. The resulting explosions followed by pained screams emboldened the unicorn soldiers, they surged out of their trenches and charged the Crusade trenches. Said charges were blunted when white-armored marines rose up over the edge of the trenches and fired volleys of mass reaction rounds, ripping grievous holes in the New Unicornian soldiers' bodies. The surviving enemy soldiers were sent running back to their trenches.

Up and down Crusade trenches, teams of medics scrambled to patch up those who had been wounded or pulling a single identification tag from their body for those who were dead. Pairs of ponies loaded up the bodies of the wounded and dead onto stretchers, carrying them to field hospitals and morgues.

Minotaurs and mortal ponies amassed in Crusade trenches. The fraternity lit the rags tied to the top of their improvised incendiary bombs. Soldiers placed their heavy wheeled steel shields in preparation to push across no pony's land. The Long Pikes tribe readied their heavy, thick shields and pikes whose blades at the end crackled with power fields. The Fire Pipes tribe readied themselves on their cousin's heels, hefting their scatterguns. Ponies hefted grenades in their hooves and auras. Striking the button atop the grenades against their helmets, they threw them at the New Unicornian trenches.

Before their grenades exploded, the officers shouted for a charge. Mortal ponies and minotaurs of The Crusade surged from their trenches as grenades exploded in the enemy trenches. In teams of three, soldiers shoved their wheeled shields across the battlefield, occasionally leaning out from behind their mobile cover to fire on enemy positions. The stallions of The Fraternity shouted battle hymns as they charged across the battlefield, flecks of froth flying from the corners of their mouths, their religious devotion driving them into zealous fervor.

Reaching enemy trenches, pikes easily pierced enemy bodies. Sprays of shot from scatterguns shredded enemy flesh. Bullets ripped through enemy bodies. The Fraternity threw their improvised incendiary bombs and sprayed up and down enemy trenches with their flamethrowers. The Crusade forces poured into New Unicornian trenches. Weapons fired at point-blank from both sides reaped a deadly toll. Blood flowed like wine as deadly and chaotic close quarters fighting broke out. Flamethrowers turned machinegun nests, field bunkers and choke points into death traps. Ponies who had the tanks on their flamethrowers punctured by bullets or shrapnel rushed forward in an attempt to get as close as possible to enemy troops as possible before they exploded. The battle for the New Unicornian trenches became a war of inches, blood from the dead and wounded mingled together before the soil greedily drank it. The air was filled with the screams of the wounded, the moans of the dying, the snaps of firearms, the hissing of flamethrowers and the explosions of grenades and artillery shells.

New Unicornian soldiers were forced to retreat from their earthworks. Sappers planted and detonated blasting charges, collapsing sections of connecting trenches, halting The Crusade's push. That's when the Celestial Hooves attacked. Transequine warriors surged from The Crusade's trenches, barreled across open ground and leapt over newly captured trenches. Enemy troops found themselves overwhelmed by a wall of power armored bodies and mass reaction rounds. Officers died screaming into their radios begging for reinforcements that would never come as the Sky Hunters were engaging them. What started as a bounding retreat turned into a full rout. New Unicornia's center split, rolling up on itself.

That's when the Solar Flames, along with battalions of mortal troops attacked from the left and right flanks. Enemy soldiers were quickly encircled,. That's when the New Unicornian artillery cut out, their crews falling prey to the Saddle Ragers. Some New Unicornian soldiers opted to fight to the last pony or took their own lives, most threw down their weapons and surrendered.

New Unicornian forces that probed to their rear found no sign of encroaching enemy forces and sent runners back to report their findings, or more importantly what they didn't find. The officers interpreted this to be that either the number of troops to their rear were greatly overestimated or had been diverted elsewhere, regardless they couldn't let any chance, no matter how small, for a chance of a breakout, and maybe get a chance to encircle the enemy. The officers ordered the unicorns under their command to make a break for it. Nearly a division's-worth of soldiers advanced to the rear.

The Crusade sprung their trap. With a bit of mad brainstorming from Divinios and Aster, they had ordered pits and trenches to be dug, then camouflaged. Zoccoli di Pietra had begrudgingly went along with the plan. As New Unicornian forces neared their hidden positions, the signal went out. The Stone Legion surged forth, stampeding across the ground like a pink-armored flood, the Star Brigade and Stellar Flares popped out of their hidden positions providing harassing fire.

New Unicornian soldiers at the head of the attempted breakout quailed, attempting to run back the way they came, only to get trampled by their comrades. Mass reaction rounds ripped bodies apart. Soon the attempted breakout folded back on itself. The unicorns tried to climb over one another, ran hither and dither or dropped to their knees, begging for mercy. <ass reaction rounds ripped their bodies apart and pink-armored bodies crushed them to mush. Of the nearly a division's-worth of soldiers, only one hundred limped back to their comrades.

The Stone Legion continued their stampede, making it to the enemy's trenches. They easily cut through the New Unicornian ranks and linked up with their brethren in the Celestial Hooves and Solar Flares, bisecting the enemy-held trenches. The Star Brigade reached the enemy trenches and entered them, being the masters of small squad tactics, and turned the enemy-held trenches into abattoirs.

New Unicornian high command called for a full retreat, ordering all troops to fall back and consolidate. Head counts were given, out of the five divisions sent out to fight the New Equestrian Empire's Crusade, four had been wiped out. Soldiers began digging new trenches, foxholes and field bunkers. Many had said it would make it easier for their enemies to bury them in. Officers attempted to tamp down on such talk, but nothing could be done for flailing morale.

The Crusade spent the remainder of the day wiping out any remaining enemy forces that had remained behind as they encircled the New Unicornian forces and consolidated theirs.

As the sun began setting the mortals of The Crusade boarded airships or crawled into field bunkers to bed down for the night. The transequine legions didn't need to sleep as their special organs, genetic engineering, specially augmented wellsprings and had embedded itself in their intestinal tracts meant they forgo sleep for weeks if need be.

Star Gleam looked out at the enemy forces that had encircled hers. Quick and dirty head counts of the enemy forces had estimated that they had brought at least eighty divisions, while she could only requisition five, of which she had suffered eighty percent losses. The princesses were back to reclaim their empire. Where were they over the last thousand years while Old Equestria was torn apart by wild magic, mutants, madponies, mutants and death cults? Why had they only revealed themselves in the last year throwing that damned barbarian mutated minotaur to the south? It was clear that a military force needed time to build up, so they must have suffered devastating casualties fighting the self-proclaimed Brass Lord. Right? Another thought struck her. What if they hadn't suffered massive casualties fighting that damned minotaur and something had brought their attention to her homeland? There had been a series of breakouts at the capitol resulting in several slave stock being smuggled out. A fire team had been dispatched to recapture those slaves and bring them back. They must have encountered the New Equestrian Crusade and drew their ire. But why didn't they go through the Foal Mountains instead of around them? Surely they had enough airships and pegasi to ensure a safe crossing and wind up right on New Unicornia's doorstep, right? She thought back to the direction they had come from and a realization hit her. She rushed back into her bunker to confirm a hunch.

Star Gleam laid out several maps of the areas outside New Unicornia, the maps had been compiled from ones that had been bought from trader caravans or forcibly taken from bandits and slavers. She particularly focused on the maps that laid out what was south and east of New Unicornia. Using the Foal Mountains as a series of fixed points, she traced out the most likely route they would have taken to wind up on New Unicornia's eastern border. "Sonofabitch!", she snarled,"They found that hidden village nopony else could find! They found The Quarry! There were rumors that it had been founded atop an old rock farm! That's how they're able to afford to build such powerful tech!" Rolling up the maps, she prayed that her calls for help had been heard and reinforcements were arriving. All they had to do was survive the night and then she'd climb the tallest hill still under their control just as the sun rose. If reinforcements were coming, they'd be coming from the northwest and if she saw them, she'd fire off a flare. All they had to do was survive the night.

On leathery wings thestrals emerged from their barracks equipped with high-powered sniper rifles.

A local ranger's outpost had received Star Gleam's request for aid and figured she was dealing with a large bandit raid or a rabble of mutants. They had sent out a pair of unicorns in a light truck to investigate. Upon reaching visual range, they had observed that this wasn't a mob of bandits or a gang of mutants, but a full on military invasion. They quickly turned back around to raise the alarm.

Twelve companies of rangers had been summoned, but it would take the better part of the day to gather in one place, then a full night of hard riding to reach the edge of The Shattered Walls just before dawn to provide reinforcements. They all would have like a full army backing them up, but that would take weeks before any army could be mobilized and any force well armed and organized enough to launch a full military invasion of the homeland need to be forestalled asap.

As the rangers rode through the darkness of night in their trucks, a series of bright flashes off to both sides were seen just split seconds before the lead trucks were ripped apart. Squads of rangers disembarked from the surviving troop tranport trucks as gunners on the backs of the technicals racked back the charging lever on their weapons. Spotlights on troop transports and headlights on the technicals lit up the darkness, but no sign of their ambushers could be seen.

Something dark and shadowy and ill-defined slammed into the side of a technical, folding the light truck nearly in two and flipping it over, killing the crew almost instantly. A dozen loud booms rang out accompanied with bright flashes where the truck had once stood. A dozen rangers' bodies were ripped open with bloody explosions.

Rangers hastily returned fire from where the shots had rang out, but it became clear that whatever was shooting at them was gone. The wind began to blow like a hurricane and a pair of massive, shadowy figures flew overhead. Rangers loaded illumination rounds into their underslung grenade launchers, aimed the weapons upwards and fired. Flares sailed from the weapons, illuminating a pair of dragons, one purple with green spines and underbelly, the other dark orange with lighter orange spines and underbelly.

Spike and Smolder landed, crushing a dozen trucks between their bulk.

Smolder unleashed a roar that threatened to split the sky.

The rangers had been trained on how to rapidly deal with a whole host of highly dangerous threats, bandits, slavers, mutants, madponies, death cults, monsters, peasant uprisings, hogs and invading armies. They had never been trained how to deal with dragons of any size, much less adult dragons. Some froze in place pissing their uniforms, some fainted from fright, some ran away, others still in their light trucks, tried to drive away. A few had the presence of mind to open fire on the dragons. The bullets bounced harmlessly off the dragons' thick scales.

Both dragons knew that dragon-fear wouldn't hold for long and the unicorn rangers would regain their senses enough to begin fighting back effectively or flee to safety and call for backup that could fight effectively.

Spike casually swatted away a small group of rangers that were firing on him and picked up a troop transport in his claws and tossed it at a group of fleeing technicals like a foal would toss a ball. Two of the light trucks easily swerved away from flying heavy truck. A third tried to swerve, its rear tire losing traction, causing the vehicle to fish tail wildly before flipping and rolling over several times, killing the crew. Two of the light trucks were crushed under the remains of the heavier one. He bounded off after the remaining light trucks.

Smolder took off after another group of trucks. With a might flap of her wings, she too to the air. Two of the gunners swiveled their machineguns around and fired wildly at her. Taking in a deep breath, she unleashed a gout of fire.

Dragon's fire being one of the hottest things there is, can easily melt hardened steel like it was an ice cube on a sidewalk during a hit summer's day, so the blued steel of firearms stood no chance, neither did the brass casing of ammunition, the thin sheet metal that made up the bodies of the trucks, the chromed steel that made up their wheels and the aluminum that made up their engine blocks. The propellant of the ammunition burned away before it had a chance to explode and turned the unicorns' flesh to ash almost instantly. Dragon's fire being both heat-based and magical-based in nature, could overcome the natural or unnatural regeneration of powerful creatures. A dragon with enough control of their breath could teleport objects as small as a pea or as large as a train car, erase all but the most powerful enchantments, rip apart the molecular bonds of chemical agents rendering them inert, the only creatures that ever showed any level of resistance to their breath other than other dragons are mature alicorns.

Smolder opted not for fine control, but raw heat. Ahead of her flames, the flesh of the New Unicornia rangers sizzled, the tires on their trucks melted into liquid black pools, the metal of their trucks, weapons and ammunition melted to slag, the propellant in their ammunition burned away and the ground melted into glass. As her flames passed over her targets, any unmelted metal flowed like water and the ground melted into lava.

Spike easily overtook the fleeing trucks he was chasing. With a swipe of his saber-like claws he easily shredded the bodies of the trucks and the bodies of their crews.

The few remaining rangers would easily fall prey to the Night Hunters.

After the short-lived battle was over, Smolder held gingerly in her claws several undamaged machineguns. She shrugged. "Eh, it's for my horde."

Spike snickered at his fellow dragon, his horde was something that most other dragons would consider valuable. It was a series of magically preserved photographs, an old stetson, a deep blue flight suit with yellow lightning bolts, a container of confetti, a pair of yellow feathers, a graduation certificate and the living descendants of those he called friends and family. The only part of his horde that had any monetary value was a golden torc that held a single heart-shaped ruby, which he often wore as a ring.

Spike pulled a scroll from behind his ear and with a small puff of green flame, sent it away.

Throughout the night thestral snipers rained death one well aimed shot at a time, transequine marines performed hit and run raids and the airships performed intermittent bombardments. This had the effect of keeping the unicorns from resting and keeping them on edge the whole time.

As the sky brightened in the light of false dawn, Star Gleam climbed the tallest hill still under her army's control with a pair of field glass. She raised the field glasses to her eyes and scanned to the northwest, looking for any sign that reinforcements were on their way. As the fingers of the first light of dawn stretched across the land, what she saw in the distance through magnification made her heart drop. Blackened earth, twisted and warped wrecks of vehicles, and shattered bodies. Reinforcement tried to make it to them in the night but were intercepted. They had all been wiped out or forced to retreat. No relief force was coming.

The sound of flapping drew Star Gleam's attention. A pair of dragons landed among The Crusade's forces. Her magic faltered, the field glasses fell to the ground, the lenses shattered. She fell to her plot. The princesses armies had dragons. Of course they had dragons! They had minotaurs, and horses and ponies! why not dragons? Why not gigantic machines that walked about and fired molten death? Why not a gigantic three-headed dog? Why not the pony reaper and the Lord of Tartarus as well? Looking around at the surrounding forces, she could see smoke and steam from cooking stoves in their camps. They were well rested, well fed and ready to fight, by contrast her forces were battered, bloodied, broken and utterly exhausted, definitely in condition to fight. And how long realistically would it be before reinforcements were sent her way? Weeks? Months? If they came at all. Her army would be lucky to survive until noon. She wasn't filled with a sense of finality, or even dread, just a feeling of emptiness, a gnawing hollowness. The ponies had given their best and their best just wasn't good enough. She could ask them to make a desperate last stand, taking as many of them down before they were cut down, but then who would tell their families? Who would remember them? Who would bury them? No! She wouldn't ask them to sacrifice anymore for her! They were soldiers who deserved to see their families again once this terribleness was over and done with. She was the one who failed.

Star Gleam, he heart heavy, walked back down the hill and to the command bunker. "Send for General Star Gleam. I'll be in my office.", she said to a subordinate. Closing the office door behind her, she sat behind her desk and opened a drawer. She levitated out a small metal box, a sheet of paper and a pen. Grabbing the pen in her magic, she wrote out her final orders, the army was to lay down their arms in full surrender, they were to not hang their heads in shame, but hold them high. Flipping open the small metal box, she took out a small glass capsule filled with a cloudy green liquid. There was a knock at the door. "Enter."

The door opened and Star Sapphire walked in."You wanted to see me High Ge--....what's all this?"

Star Gleam slid the paper across the desk. "My final orders. Full surrender. There's no reinforcements coming and it's pointless to continue fighting, we wouldn't last to the end of the day."

Star Sapphire looked at the paper then back to Star Gleam. "I figured we were going to surrender yesterday evening. I mean why the suicide capsule? The last thing your ponies need is to have their hearts further ripped out of their chests by having the High General killing herself."

"What's the point? I failed them. When the princesses called for parlay, they asked for a full surrender. That nopony had to die. I told them no."

"As should damn well have.", Star Sapphire replied, "Nopony knew that they had that many ponies and horses, or that they had dragons. Ask yourself this: Why didn't sic those fire-breathing lizards on us in the first place and then tread over our burned corpses?!"

Star Gleam levitated the glass capsule in her magic, rolling it over. "I have no idea."

Star Sapphire slapped the suicide capsule away, causing it to shatter against the wall. She then snatched Star Gleam up by her chest fluff. "You! Are! Al-way! Say-ing! To! Use! Our! Heads!", she shouted, slapping the high general back and forth. "You know how to find your head, don't you? It's the lump two-and-a-half legs in front of our plots! You are High General Divine-damned Star Gleam of house North Star!" She tossed Star Gleam back into her chair. "If you're going kill yourself, then use at least as many brain cells as a lobotomized ape, march your plot out there and lead your ponies in a glorious final charge! Better to die as a soldier under the blade of your enemy than as a coward by your own hoof. Kill yourself or not, I don't care. But know this, if you kill yourself, I'll not order your ponies to surrender and I won't let them go into some camp with the knowledge that their high general was too much of coward to lead them herself. I'll order every mare and stallion that can walk, crawl or roll to charge their lines. Better for them to die thinking you were a hero than live knowing you were a coward."

Star Gleam took in a deep breath and let out a slow sigh. "Thank you Sapphire. Send the order and requisition me a radio,", she said, "Oh and general? The next time you lay hooves on me, I'll bust you down to private on permanent latrine duty so fast your head will spin."

Star Sapphire snapped to attention and gave a crisp salute. "Understood High General, sir! It's been an honor and a pleasure to serve under you!"

***

The armies of the New equestrian Empire's Crusade and New Unicornia stood at attention across from each other.

Star Gleam, Star Sapphire and as many surviving officers that could be scrapped together to form a senior staff marched forward, their heads held high. As they passed, the soldiers under their command stood to attention and stepped aside, forming an unobstructed path.

Once reaching the front of her army, Star Gleam turned around to address them. "A high general couldn't ask for better soldiers under their command. I asked of your best and you gave me better than that." She paused, swallowing the lump that formed in her throat and wiped away a few tears. "This is my final standing order for you. Hang not your head in shame, instead hold them up high, for you did not fail me, you did not fail the homeland and you did not fail your families. You gave everything that was asked of you and then some." She closed her eyes as tears leaked down her cheeks and her breath quavered. Taking a breath to steel herself, she opened her eyes and prepared to shout her last order. "Color Guard! Strike...colors!"

The ragtag color guard walked up to the flagpole and with all of the reverence of handling a sacred relic, they lowered the flag of New Unicornia. Removing it from the cord, they folded it up into a small rectangle. Marching in lockstep, the color guard approached the high general and passed her the folded up flag.

Star Gleam lifted the flag in her magic, presenting it to the princesses. A Nebula Guard took the flag in their silvery aura.

Sunset Shimmer, her armored exoskeleton painted with symbols marking her as Grand Maestro of the Ponyhood of Steel and second-in-command of The Crusade stepped forward. "High General Star Gleam of New Unicornia, you are hereby relieved of command under the authority of the New Equestrian Empire, its crusade, High Princess Celestia, mare of the sun, keeper of the flame of harmony, warden if the east, Sol Invicta, mistress of summer, Grand Dam of Canterlot and wielder of Flame Tongue the sword of noon, High Princess Luna, mare of the moon, warden of the Everfree Valley, guardsmare of the south, warden of midwinter, Selene Ascendant, defender of the realm of dreams, supreme psychopomp of Tartarus, wielder of Winter's Tooth ax of winter, High Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, Empress of the Crystal Empire, slayer of the king of shadows, warden of the north, protector of the dispossessed, smiter of changelings, Champion of Eros, Champion of Philia, Champion of Storge, Champion of Agape, Champion of Ludus, Champion of Ludus, Champion of Pragma, Champion of Philuatia, wielder of Heart's Sting, rapier of the north, High Princess Mi Amore Flurry Heart, high lady of the hinterlands, uniter of the north, wielder of Mountain Crusher mace of the north and High Princess Twilight Velvet Sparkle, Smiter of the Nightmare Queen, Smiter of the Lord of Chaos, Smiter of the Centaur Lord, Smiter of Storms, the mistress of magic, high wizard, grand enchanter, supreme thaumaturgist, Freer of twin kingdoms of Seaquestria and Mount Aris, protector of the eventide and wielder of Harmony's Gavel the hammer of friendship. Surrender yourself and your army, and remand yourself into our custody."

Star Gleam turned to the ponies who now officially were no longer under her command and gave the signal for them to surrender their weapons. She turned back to the princesses. "I, Star Gleam of the House North Star, High General of New Unicornia hereby remand myself and my army into your custody."

Once the last of the unicorn soldiers had stacked their weapons on the bround before the New Equestrian Crusade, crusade soldiers came out with shackles, attached them on her and led her off.

Star Sapphire called out in a loud voice. "Three cheers for our High General! Hip-hip!"

"Neigh!", the unicorns shouted.

"Hip-hip!"

"Neigh!"

"Hip-hip!"

"Neigh!"

It would take weeks for the surrendered soldiers to be processed and sent to prisoner of war camps. The Crusade spent those weeks setting up The Shattered Walls as the first true base of operations in their prosecution of war against New Unicornia. They poured over captured maps and deliberated over how to advance onwards. It was decided that each princess would each take two legions of marines, three full forges of Ponyhood of Steel forces, five armies of soldiers, two herds of minotaurs, one church of Fraternity and six fleets of airships. To prevent unnecessary infighting, the ponemarchs, generals, airship captains, minotaurs, deacons, forgemasters and generals were allowed to decide on which princess they would follow. Spike had decided he would follow Twilight, and Smolder had decided to stay with him as he was the only drake around for fifty thousand leagues...as far as anyone knew. The princesses would divide up the land into zones of control, forcing the unicorn armies to spread themselves out in an attempt to contain all five forces.

Snow Drift traveled across New Unicornia for weeks, traveling mostly at night. Though it was dangerous traveling at night, the chance of running into a pack of feral predators or a wandering monster, it was more dangerous to travel during the day as that was when unicorn soldiers would the the thickest. Plus being this far south, it wasn't as hot traveling at night, though the nights were still uncomfortably hot.

Her supplies having run out a few days before, Snow Drift had decided to forage for food. She stopped on a broken hill to munch on some of the green plants with blade-shaped leaves that grew close to the ground. Though they weren't very tasty, they made her feel less hungry. It made her wish she was eating the grey-green fluffy lichens that grew on rocks, the green cap mushrooms that grew around volcanic hot springs or the crystal berries that grew in patches on the edges of glaciers of her homeland, but these green, blade-shaped leaves would do for now. Maybe she could find sompeony who had some of those orange root vegetables, red shiny fruits or brownish-grey tubers that were white on the inside that she could swipe, they did better at making her feel full.

The wind shifted and Snow Drift smelled something cooking. her stomach gurgled in hunger, all she had to eat were a few mouthfuls of green blade-shaped leaves, and that wouldn't hold her. She snuck through the darkness towards the smell. She lurked in the shadows just outside the light of a camp stove. Sitting around it were several ponies, some had a horn like hers, but longer, the name for this type of pony in their tongue was oo-nee-kurn. Another type of pony had wings like her, but they were broader, the name she had learned for this pony was pi-gah-sees. The third type of pony looked like the crystal ponies of her home, but they weren't sparkly and crystal-y, this type of pony was called urf poh-nee.

One of the ponies was smearing some sort of rainbow-striped goop on dark brown squares. Brid and ji-lee Snow Drift saidin her head. Another pony was eating a shiny red fruit. Ap-leh. Another couple of ponies were cutting up some orange root vegetables and brownish-grey tubers that were white on the inside. One was cutting up a squishy red fruit. She knew kah-rat and poh-tay-oh. The red squishy fruit kind of looked like ap-leh, but ap-leh wasn't squishy and it was white on the inside, but this was squishy with red juice and a bunch of little seeds.

The pony who was smearing ji-lee on its brid put it down next to where it was sitting. Snow Drift took this opportunity to sneak up and steal the square of brid smeared with ji-lee. Snatching it up in her mouth, she scampered back off into the shadows. Chewing up a corner of square, she found that it had the same bland taste that brid had, though the crunch was nice, it reminded her of the crunch snow made under her hooves, but it was in her mouth instead. The ji-lee didn't taste like any ji-lee she had before, most ji-lee was purple, sweet and tasted like crystal berry juice that had been watered down with melt water, this tasted like nothing she had tasted before, this tasted...amazing!

A dark figure flapped down from above and Snow Drift immediately summoned her ice magic. Something thumped onto the ground next to her and she took a moment to inspect it. She was surprised at what she found, partially frozen in ice was a pony that looked similar to a pi-gah-sees, except it had leathery wings instead of feathery ones, its slitted eyes seemed to glow in the dark, its ears were wider and longer, ending in little tufts of fur, and a pair of...small fangs stuck out from under its top lip?

The not pi-gah-sees let out a series of barely audible screeches and chitters, then shouted something she didn't understand, though through the expression on its face that inflection in its tone, she understood it shouted some sort of alarm. Snow Drifted summoned her ice magic, covering her body in a layer of ice armor, extending ice blades from her feathers, covering her horn and hooves in a layer of hard ice. Though in this heat, her ice armaments would melt quickly, but it should buy her enough time to hide somewhere and summon more ice magic to help her.

Snow Drift ran through the darkness, her eyes straining in the dark to spot the not pi-gah-sees. Darting through the dark, avoiding groups of ponies carrying lights, she ran into something hard. falling onto her plot, she rubbed the end of her snout and looked up. Standing before her was a massive black metal oo-nee-kurn. Summoning up ice magic, she froze its legs. She felt a sense of victory as it cocked its big black metal head. Her sense of victory evaporated when it flexed its legs and broke free of the ice. Turning to run back the way she came, she froze in her tracks, another black metal oo-nee-kurn materialized out of the darkness.

A feminine voice spoke from the darkness and what looked like a really tall snow pony with dark blue fur and a flowing ethereal mane. No wait, it wasn't a snow pony, it was one of the ponies that the sparkly ghost pony had shown her.

"[Are you a goddess that the sparkly ghost pony showed me?]"

Luna looked down at Snow Drift. "[Thou speakest an odd dialect of Itailian? We don't recall sensing another pony ascending into alicornhood. Pray tell, when didst thou ascend my little pony?]"

"[I'm not an alicornhood, I'm a snow pony.]"

"[Fascinating. Art there more like thee, my little pony?]"

"[Yes, there are whole towns of us that live under the ice to the far north.]"

"[Fascinating. Entire communities of alicorns that live under the ice.]"

"[I told you I'm not an alicornhood, I'm an ice pony.]"

"[But thou hast wings and a horn.]"

"[Again I'm not and alicornhood, I'm an ice pony. All ice ponies have horns and wings.]"

Luna scanned Snow Drift with her magic. "[Fascinating. Thou hast a wellspring like a pegasus and a unicorn, but also not.]" She spoke to one of the black metal oo-nee-kurn in a tongue she couldn't understand and it answered back in the same tongue with a deep voice. "[Come with Us so We can bring you before Our fellow princesses]"

***

The five princesses sat around a small table as Snow Drift scarfed down her third plate.

"Poor dear. She's half starved.", Celestia said, "I wonder how long it's been since she's had a decent meal?"

"Are we just going to gloss over that there's an honest-to-goodness pegacorn sitting right here in our midst?", Flurry asked.

"She looks like a pegacorn, but she's not. Yet somehow she is?", Twilight mused. "We've all scanned her wellspring. It simultaneously reads as a pegacorn and not. I know that the pegacorns were supposed to have died out during the exodus, but there could have been ponies who survived the exodus. Think about the other extinct tribes that could have made a resurgence after the cataclysm. Bicorns, sleipnirids, fairy-wing ponies! Ooooo! Think of the possibilities! I need to draw up a flow chart and a pone diagram!"

"Easy now, Twilight.", Cadance said, "I don't think she's a pegacorn. They could use both pegasi and unicorn magic. She can't do either. Instead she has her own ice-based magic. She said she comes from a village under the ice of the far north and she speaks a hybridized version of Crystal Ponese and Atrotscan. The crystal ponies originally immigrated to the north of Equestria from Atrotscany and many crystal ponies back before the cataclysm still spoke exclusively Atrotscan. What we're looking at is a new tribe, in relative terms."

"A new tribe!", the other four princesses whispered in surprise.