"Spoiling my ritual to send me to claim that bell, again.", Cozy Glow muttered to herself as she trekked across the land. "Better not be Discord in disguise...again." Her destination was Mount Everhoof, but that was still months away before she arrived at the southernmost spur of the Crystal Mountains where said tallest recorded mountain in the world resided.

As the first thaw began, the New Equestrian Empire's crusade began its preparations to relaunch its war. All winter long veteran soldiers had tirelessly drilled alongside their newer recruits, the forges went into high production cranking out new batches of the Mark-III assault rifles en masse. Bullets, artillery shells, mortar shells, bombs, explosive charges and entrenching tools were created.

Three new Harmony-class airships were launched over the winter to serve as the Cadance's, Flurry Heart's and Luna's new command airships. Twilight surmised that it wasn't fair if she and Celestia were the only princesses to have the newest heavy airship as their command vessels. Five hundred new specialized airships and one thousand specialized heavy armored wagons had been created and launched for the transequine legions. The Ponyhood of Steel received massive upgrades to their exoskeletons, undersuits and weaponry. A new heavily armored wagon, called armored pony carriers, were created for the mortal infantry and had been rolled out en masse.

Along with ammunition of all sorts, new weapons were pumped out. Heavy mass reaction guns mounted on skids and meant to be operated by a three pony crew. Machineguns with folding tripods and forward bullet shields meant to be operated by a two pony team. Small diameter, infantry-carried anti-armor weapons that looked like a mortar redesigned to breach load. Large diameter ground based heavy artillery guns that could be quickly assembled or disassembled. Big blocky full-auto scatterguns, and smaller semi-auto scatterguns had been made for the minotaurs, along with new shields that were heavy slabs of thick armor plates welded together and pikes with power field generators built into their blades.

***

Star Gleam rubbed at her sore withers. Training for the crusade's infantry in battle battle armor was difficult, especially this late in her career, as she had never trained with battle armor. Her time as a New Unicornian general had seen her wearing nothing heavier than a vest designed to deflect fragments. She had also seen a lowering in rank from general to colonel. She couldn't blame the decision to not grant her the rank of general, so she'd just have to reapply herself doubly as hard to re-earn her rank. Many of the soldiers under her command had joined her in joining the crusade's army, those who had chosen not to follow her were shipped away to a place she had never heard of, The Orchard.

Star Gleam's commanding officer, a pegasus stallion named Alto Cirrus, was a slave driver, drilling she and her ponies for weeks to the point of exhaustion, often with the shout of "The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in combat. The more you suffer in training, the less you die in combat!"

At each obstacle in the course, Star Gleam would be the first to cross, then wait at the other side for the ponies under her to cross, helping those who were struggling and giving a buck to the flank of those who were slacking off, instead of moving to the next obstacle. When Alto would scold her for not moving on to the next obstacle, she would shout back at him,"We succeed as one or we fail individually!" Though he didn't show it, she could see by the gleam in his eye that he respected her for that.

At graduation she stood at full attention as her commanding officer first gave a long-winded speech, then personally attached their new iconography and rank insignia first to her collar, then the rest of the collars of the ponies under her command.

The princesses who had stood on a balcony overlooking the proceedings, had surprised her with a field command of a new armored fighting wagon that looked a little like the tanks that New Unicornia used, except they were smaller, had heavy metal wheels instead of treads, and much lighter armaments. They all had a single weapon mounted to their main turret, some had a heavy mass reaction gun, others had a small diameter main gun that could fire an explosive slug or a solid slug, others had a machinegun, others had a short, stubby large diameter gun.

Star Gleam wiped a tear from her eye as she personally looked over the new armored fighting wagons that she renamed to armored fighting vehicles. Stepping into the one she chose as her personal command vehicle, an armored fighting vehicle with a small caliber gun, she noted that despite the cramped space, there was enough room for a driver at the front, herself and three others to move around as needed, and a small alcove in the back for a single tech monk...which if she were asked, those cybernetic monks really creeped her out. The purpose for the tech monk was to keep the spark content and to repair anything that was damaged. Not every fighting vehicle crew had a tech monk deployed with them, but there were enough in the company that they could quickly disembark whatever fighting vehicle they were in to repair any damage to others or quell their angry sparks.

The time had come and the final push into New Unicornia was under way. Combat engineers and tech monks quickly deployed pontoon bridges and heavy metal folding bridges across swollen rivers for the fleet of mobile medbays, barracks, forges and fighting vehicles. Pegasi scouts ranged out far ahead with imaging devices to observe and mark enemy emplacements. The engines on the airships filled the air with loud buzzing as they lifted off, reached their cruising altitudes and spread out into their assigned formations.

***

Bright Diamonds bristled as she looked at the reports. Though not many scout rangers had successfully made it across the rivers to recon the enemy and returned, a few had made it back. She looked through the reports spoke of a massive buildup of soldiers and armaments. She studied the scant few photographs that had made it back across the rivers. She paid close attention to a lavender horse that had a horn and wings. I thought pegacorns were an ancient myth. She flipped back through the reports, right there in black-and-white were the horn-written accounts of five horses with wings and horns, one was lavender, the same one that was in the photograph, on was white, one was dark blue, and two were pink, though one of the pink ones had more purple and blue shadings on their feathers.

Bright Diamonds looked over a few other photos as she read the horn-written accounts. What was initially thought to be some sort of metal construct turned out to be horses that were wearing heavy metal armor. There were also reports of minotaurs carrying large weapons.

Finally Bright Diamonds looked over the casualty reports of the scout rangers that had been sent to recon. Of the eight hundred that had been sent in teams of two, seven hundred and thirty had been confirmed killed or captured. Nearly four full scout ranger companies had been wiped out.

Suddenly the door to her office burst open and a messenger rushed in waving a piece of paper in his magic. "General! They've crossed the McColt River!"

Bright Diamonds' head shot up. She took the paper from the messenger. It held a quickly scrawled report. Request support. Posts Green, Gold and Red have reported enemy movement. Unconfirmed sightings of horses and minotaurs supporting enemy soldiers. "Has any of the other forward posts confirmed this?"

"Sir, there has been no radio communication with the posts. We've tried radioing them, but responses to the hails."

Another messenger ran up. "Fort Hoof has just surrendered, sir!"

"What?!" Bright Diamonds felt shock and surprise fill her. "Why wasn't there any reports of enemy movements along our southern borders?!"

"That's just it, sir. The fort was observed striking our colors and raising the colors of our enemies."

An angry growl rumbled low in Bright Diamonds' throat and rose in volume until it was an enraged scream. "Rusty Nail has betrayed us! Once this is over, I'll see that he and his entire family are marched out into the public square, hanged and their bodies left to rot!" She stormed out of her office and shouted, "Somepony put all remaining regiments on high alert! Suspend all leave! The divine shall cast my soul from the heavens before I allow the enemy to march on Unicorn City!"

Bright Diamonds angrily stomped out of the building that held her office and made her way to the motor pool. "Take me to the headquarters for the first division!", she shouted while pointing at a driver.

As Bright Diamonds rode in her personal car, she idly looked out the window. Suddenly her reflection in the window moved on its own accord. What went from a reflection of a unicorn with a pristine pale blue coat and smoky grey mane morphed into a strange chimeric creature. It phased from the window and silently settled down in the seat next to her.

"So there you are, the little pony who sold her soul to the old goat. Tsk-tsk-tsk. If I had known it was that easy to win you over, I would have spoiled their ritual and appeared before you myself. This country would look so nice with some bubble gum trees, prancing wallabies in tutus and sky fish. C'est la vie!"

Before Bright Diamonds could ask who this creature was and what it wanted, it vanished with a snap of its eagle's talon.

Twilight looked at the reports laid before her and her fellow princesses. Not only had Rusty Nail had quickly turned over to their cause, but he had fully surrendered the fort he was in command of to them, offering half of a division's worth of soldiers, tanks, aerial screws and artillery batteries as a gift to the princesses. There was currently no mention of any contact with Essence Opal, which worried Twilight. That meant the general was dead, was farther away than initial reports indicated, or was purposefully avoiding making contact with anypony, regardless if they were from the New Equestrian Empire or New Unicornia. Currently this worry about Essence Opal was a luxury the princesses could not afford as they needed to focus their attention on prosecuting the war.

***

It had been two weeks since The Crusade had crossed the McColt River, swollen with melt water. A nearly palpable tension hung in the air. The Crusade had yet to come into contact with the bulk of the New Unicornian army, only a few forward observation posts. For the last three days sporadic skirmishes had broken out with The Crusade's advance scout and New Unicornia's rear guard elements.

Generals, ponemarchs, princesses, air admirals and the Grand Maestro of the Ponyhood of Steel had gathered around a large table on Celestia's command airship, The Solar Sail. Laid out on the table were detailed reports from the scouts, a composite topographical map made from a combination of captured New Unicornian maps and aerial reconnaissance from the pegasi, and folders filled with information offered by civilians who were liberated and enemy soldiers who were interrogated.

"This is most disturbing...", Cadance said as she flipped through some of the files of intelligence. "If the information gathered by the advanced pegasi scouts, thestral stalkers*, and the spies implanted by the Night Hunters is true, the New Unicornian military are press-ganging civilians, mostly earth ponies and pegasi, into service. There have been no reports of the earth ponies and pegasi being given weapons or any kind of training."

Luna deeply growled in anger. "We had seriously thought that the barbaric use of pony shields were a thing of the discordant age."

"In my defense, dearest moon-butt, I had no inkling that those ponies were going to throw themselves at your ponies' spears to try and open gaps in your lines.", Discord said as he appeared in a poof and a cloud of sparkles. "Honestly, there is no fun to be had once somepony's dead. I'm not a necrophile."

"Discord, why are you here?", Cadance asked annoyed. "Shouldn't you be back at the cottage keeping your vigil over Fluttershy's body?"

"Candy-flanks, Candy-flanks, Candy-flanks! Shouldn't you be back in your castle's basement crying and whining over your dead husband?", Discord quipped back. "Meanwhile your fellow princesses never abandoned their duties, protecting the remains of their servants from looters...", he gestured to Celestia, "...carried as many survivors as she could across the Celestial Sea to build an army so that one day she could take back her homeland...", he gestured to Twilight, "...took up residence in the old Castle of Friendship to watch over the last vestige of Ponyville, watching it grow into a vibrant community, and even subtly guided Apple Pie to that old basement that held the copy of Applejack's journal...", he gestured to Luna, "...or moved to the old castle deep in the Everfree to protect her subjects from the monsters that dwell within that forest." He gestured to Flurry Heart. Discord then leaned his serpentine form across the table, got up in Cadance's face and said in a low growl, "I chose to stay close to the ruins of Sweet Apple Acres, watching as its name slowly changed to Apple Orchard...not exactly the most creative names... I did so because had promised Fluttershy that I'd watch over the ponies of Equestria as best I could. You'd be surprised how quickly rape-gangs and slavers run away when they see what their myths call a demon. The poor unfortunate souls whom were twisted into madness and cannibalism after being infected by tainted wild magic and possessed by the windigoes were much harder to deal with, but sometimes to deal with one problem, you have to charge it into the weapons of another problem. Even not-so-little Spikey Wikey watched over the descendants of Ponyville as he waited for his big sister's returns. That, and you know how jealously dragons guard their hoards."

Discord floated across the room until his snout pressed up against Cadance's. "At least I didn't need somepony to slap me in the face to get my plot in gear. Tell me candy-flanks, do you know what happened to your precious crystal ponies? Or did you only care about your own grief and sorrow to even take notice?"

Twilight forced her way in between Discord and Cadance. "No need to egg Caddy on. Now, Discord, did you show up here to offer any help, or just to cause some trouble."

"I wish it was column B, but you seem more than capable of finding that yourself, Twiggy Wiggles. So I must bring some unfortunate news. Bright Diamonds has struck a pact and sold her soul to that old goat himself."

"But Grogar was banished to the darkness in-between. Its very nature is corrosive to all things and he should have perished long ago.", Celestia said.

"Ah, yes Kay-Kay. But what should be and what are, are not always the same things.", Discord said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Though right now he can only manifest as little more than a shadow, for a short time he can take on a physical form when enough blood has been purposefully spilled in his name. Something I suspect he's been able to do for some time."

"Down south when I was liberating what Saddle Arabia became, one of the city-states that had been liberated from the sphynxes had been attacked by a small army of Grogar worshipers that came from the deep desert.", Twilight said as she rubbed her chin. "I thought that they had turned to worshiping the old tyrant out of desperation, kind of like how ponies turned to worshiping we alicorns as deities."

"Either way, this is bad!", Luna exclaimed as she stood up from her place at the table. "The old ram found a way to slip back in this world. If he is able to manifest as a shadow, but needs sacrifices made in his name to manifest physically for a short time means he's been in this world long enough to regain some of his former power. We must all hope that he never finds his bell."

"I found a place where the old tyrant would never be able to reach.", Twilight said. "I even utilized a memory erasure spell to blot the location from the memory of anypony at the time who knew where I moved it to."

Discord tapped his goat's foot on his jaw. "And where pray-tell did you hide his bell?"

Sunset suddenly stood from her place at the table. Her eyes began to glow white as power flowed through her. "Run away O child/To a land far and away/Evil's prize lies hidden/In a cave by the calm waters of a lake/The roots of the great tree have grown deep/Six heroes sleep deeply awaiting the call of the seventh/A loyal companion once of flesh and bone, now of armor and will watches over them/The mark of the tree and of friendship sits upon their souls/Seven stones lie nearby awaiting the wielders command/Far from the reach of evil's might hides its ultimate prize." As it passed, she collapsed to the floor.

"And here I thought I had a flair for the dramatic.", Discord said as he buffed the claws of his lion's paw on his chest, then began clapping. "Brava! When Harmony decides to turn on the dramatics, it's something that must be seen."

A unicorn mare sat in the back of Essence Opal's command car. For weeks the general had strung her along, giving her non-answers and deflections when she asked if Essence Opal would send her soldiers to answer the call to join the princesses. Now Essence Opal had summoned her out to the tall hills along New Unicornia's northernmost border.

When the command car came to a halt, Essence Opal was waiting for her. The unicorn general's milky white short mane that seemed to almost glimmer that was normally neatly combed, but today it was mussed up, clearly she had recently been wearing a helmet. Essence Opal opened the door and shoved a pair of binoculars into The Crusade's emissary's hooves before she could say anything and sternly said, "Silver Nugget, come with me! I need to show you something."

The two hurried to the top of a tall, craggy hill, escorted by a dozen soldiers.

Essence Opal pointed her hoof out across the vast rolling landscape. "You've been wanting my answer as to why I haven't given you an answer yet as to whether or not I'll join your crusade. On the horizon, that's your answer."

Silver Nugget raised the binoculars to her eyes, pointed them to where Opal Essence was pointing and adjusted the focus. She saw a massive plume of dust and smoke. As she further inspected the scene through the binoculars, she could see a mass of creatures flowing across the landscape like a flood. There were two statues made in the likeness of porcine creatures, one was walking, the other was moving along on some sort of wheels or rollers. In the midst of the mass of creatures was a large writhing...thing. It looked like a...snake?...worm? "I'm not sure what I'm looking at here. Those statues moving on their own look like...pigs."

"That is a hog war wallow.", Opal Essence said, taking the binoculars back. "And the biggest damn one I've ever seen."

"Are the hogs friendly? Have they come to help us?"

"Hogs are nopony's friends. They live for only a few things, to fight, to root for truffles,and to dig out muddy pits to roll around in, in that order. I'd estimate that whoever this boss hog is, they've spent a lot of time trampling around beating up smaller war herds and war wallows, and incorporating them into their own. I suspect that when your goddesses, or whatever they call themselves, did that bellowing those months back, it got the attention of that boss hog and decided to come looking for a fight."

Silver Nugget's silver-grey fur stood on end down her spine. "How do we fight them?"

"We don't, or at least not here.", Essence Opal said."We abandon this position and fall back to the interior. It looks like that war wallow won't make it to these hills for at least a week. If we can convince your crusade and my countryponies to stop fighting, maybe we can devise a defense to convince those hogs to turn back, or kill enough of them to make the whole wallow fall apart. If your crusade's army is as powerful as you say it is, then maybe, just maybe it can be done."

"How long until we reach the interior?"

"If we load everypony into and on every available vehicle, and only stop to gas up and swap out fresh drivers...a month before we reach the central province. Then it'll be another two weeks before we reach Unicorn City. The two things that will slow us down are the rivers are swollen with melt water, and that the rear guard will have to lay explosive traps and lay obstacles in the hogs' path. Hopefully that will slow their advance enough to give us a fighting chance."

The Crusade had gained steam in its advance. Reports came in of a New Unicornian force gathering in the rolling hills that sat along the edges of a trio of small cities. It was clear that all New Unicornian forces that could were falling back to this point.

The Crusade's forces had been spoiling for a fight and it looks like they're about to get it. If they could get a breakthrough or rout the enemy here, then the capitol lay just a dozen leagues beyond. Their goal ultimately was to rip the heart out of New Unicornia, then they'd control the east, south and center of the country. Then smaller pushes could be orchestrated to weed out and crush any remaining pockets of resistance in the north and west of the nation. But first they need to crush the bulk of New Unicornia's military might here and now.

Day gave way to night which gave way to day again. The New Equestria Empire's crusade began moving into position behind low lying ridges, rocky hills and forests, keeping the bulk of their forces out of sight of their enemies. Pegasi took to the skies to begin scouting enemy positions and formations.

Initial reports began rolling in almost immediately. The New Unicornian leadership had press-ganged every mare, stallion and foal into service, giving them no real training to speak of, and shoved muskets and lever-action rifles into their hooves. Fire fights had broken out between New Equestrian and New Unicornian pegasi, but the New Unicornian pegasi, being civilians who were pressed into service and armed, broke and ran or surrendered after taking casualties. Those that were taken a prisoner were interrogated and it was found out that the New Unicornia leadership had either taken members of the families of pegasi, earth pony and unicorn civilians hostage to force them to fight or had filled their heads with so much propaganda about the Divine backing them and whipping them into a fervor that they believed they could fight anything until they came against a disciplined and well trained military force.

Reports from pegasi flyovers poured in throughout the day. New Unicornia had dug fighting positions and earthen bunkers in and among the hills. They had their tanks set up in the valleys between hills to protect them from the New Equestrian artillery and to form deadly funnels between the hills. New Unicornia had set up the bulk of its heavier artillery batteries in the trio of small cities, using the civilian buildings as shields. Out in front of the military in crude trenches New Unicornia had positioned every mare, stallion and foal, civilians press-ganged into service, who could carry a musket or lever-action rifle, in the hopes of blunting the New Equestrian thrust with their blood and bodies.

Battle plans were quickly drawn up. The New Equestrian Empire's crusade would wait a week before attacking.

Airship crews loaded the massive guns and sighted them in. The ground-based artillery guns formed up into batteries, set up their guns and began setting the ranges on their guns. A palpable unease settled in over both armies like a fog.

One the dawn of the next day, the New Equestrian Empire's guns roared to life. The first volleys of high explosive shells landed with deadly thuds onto the hills, sending shattered earth and bodies ripped asunder flying through the air. Following the initial volleys of high explosive shells came airburst shells sending deadly showers of shrapnel or burning phosphorus raining on enemy positions in the hills.

New Unicornian soldiers that panicked and ran had their bodies ripped to shreds by shock waves or shrapnel, or burned into unrecognizable black husks by the flaming phosphorus. The press-ganged civilians were mostly left unharmed, the only ones killed were when an artillery shell missed its mark or when they panicked and tried to run through the deadly hail.

***

For six days and six nights New Equestrian artillery rained down on the hills like a deadly drum roll, forcing New Unicornian soldiers to stay in their earthen bunkers lest they be ripped apart by the deadly hailstorm of high explosives, shrapnel and burning phosphorus, even the tank crews were forced to seek shelter in the earthen firtification as the shock waves from the artillery turned the tanks into armored crypts. Untold numbers of soldiers were lost when the earthen bunkers they were hiding in collapsed.

During the first day of bombardment New Unicornian aerial screws were scrambled in an attempt to disrupt the New Equestrian artillery bombardment, but were turned back when they lost two full wings, being swatted down by the Sky Hunters legion or having their cockpits sniped by tech monks wielding rail guns.

During the night the transequine marines of the Night Hunters legion and the mortals employed by said legion would creep across to the terrified and shell-shocked press-ganged civilians and lead them to safety in the New Equestrian lines.

By day the New Unicornian soldiers could not see out the front of their earthen bunkers as the air was choked with dust and smoke, at night none of them could sleep as the constant shelling kept them up. After days of shelling, dozens of soldiers minds broke, many huddled in the fetal position others casually waded out into the deadly hail, because they hallucinated friends and family beckoning them to come join them or because they actively sought death. In the bunkers order began to break down, some soldiers mutinied, causing brawls and close-quarters fire fights to break out, others stuck the muzzles of their rifles in their mouths and pulled the triggers, occasionally officers who were pushed well past their breaking points would dole out savage beatings or summary executions for even the most minor of infractions.

For six days and six nights minotaurs, mortal ponies and the transequine legionnaires of the Celestial Hooves continuously dig zig-zagging trenches towards the New Unicornian lines. New Equestrian pegasi fired their rifles from the cloud tops or swooped down and dropped bombs onto New Unicornian artillery batteries by day and thestral snipers from their positions atop clouds laid down precision fire on anypony moving towards the New Unicornian artillery batteries, ensuring their brother-and-sisters-in-arms in the trenches could advance without being bombarded by enemy artillery.

***

In the dark hours before false dawn of the seventh day the New Equestrian Empire's artillery cut out. New Unicornian soldiers in their earthen bunkers stayed within their fortifications, fearful that the deadly rain would start again. New Equestrian forces quickly finished the last stretches of trench works and laid down folding metal ramps.

As the eastern sky began to turn a pale pink, signaling the rising of the sun, the New Unicornian soldiers knew that the bombardment was over and came out to take up their former fighting positions and assess the damage. The landscape was almost unrecognizable. Craters pockmarked the land, soil that had melted into pseudo-glass crunched under hoof, thin, wispy tendrils of smoke from smoldering embers caused by the brush fires coiled into the air, many of the hills were simply no more, some having been smashed into piles of rubble and soil, others simply were no more, and through it all was the pervasive stink, a combination of rotting bodies and burned flesh. Though damaged, most of the tanks were still in some sort of operable condition. Many were useless, having been turned into burned-out hulks.

The New Unicornian soldiers quickly went to work repairing tanks to the best of their abilities and re-digging fighting positions so they could fight off the inevitable attack. Their ears perked up at the sound of dozens of whistles giving off long, high-pitched tones. Deep bellows followed the sound of whistles a fraction of a second later.

Minotaurs, bipedal bulls and quadrupedal cows alike, let out war bellows as officers blew their whistles signaling the first stage of the attack. They rushed out the trenches, hefting scatterguns, pikes and thick shields. The Long Pikes tribe formed a moving bulwark of thick, slab-like shields and power field-swathed pike points. The Fire Pipes tribe moved close behind them, lugging heavy, box-shaped automatic scatterguns and smaller semi-auto scatterguns.

New Unicornian soldiers having been caught in the midst of preparing their fighting positions and repairing their tanks, initially broke. Their officers quickly rallied them and ordered them into hastily formed firing lines. Bullets ricocheted off thick, slab-like shields. Clusters of grapeshot fired from scatterguns sailed through the air and ripped into the flesh of New Unicornian soldiers. Power field-swathed pike blades easily pierced through the bodies of New Unicornian soldiers that got too close. The New Unicornian soldiers fired as they did bounding retreats. New Unicornian field commanders shouted into any still working radios for fire support. Dozens of minotaurs fell to the ground when enemy bullets found gaps in their thick armor, many crying out in pain as they gripped limbs, necks and face as they cried out and writhed in pain, others simply lay limp as a puppet with its strings cut, staring with unblinking eyes at they sky, hills or soil.

Aerial screws scrambled, dozens of wings took to the air. A third of their number quickly moved forward to give their comrades on the ground the air support they needed, while the remainder stayed back in a holding pattern to watch for the Sky Hunters.

As the aerial screws neared where they could give close air support to the retreating New Unicornian soldiers, they took pause at what they saw approaching. A massive war strider, big as a city block, painted bright pink, with stylized bunnies, kittens, puppies and other fluffy critters painted on it. A chestnut earth pony, waving a saber over its head, and a tan earth pony huddling at the hooves of the former.

Dewdrop stood atop the war strider she considered her friend. She shouted and whooped as she waved her saber over her head. "Let's go get'em, Fluffy! Show these heretics what for!" She nudged Apple Pie who was cowering at her hooves. "Get up, Appie! this is the safest place on the battlefield other than one of the goddesses airships." The earth pony mare had grown quite considerably over the past year plus since being rescued by Twilight and bonding with an Element of Harmony. She had the slender legs indicative of her Saddle Arabian heritage, whereas Equestrian ponies and horses had thicker legs.

Apple Pie's face was pale, almost a shade of green. She clenched her eyes shut as she huddled down by Dewdrop's hooves and clutched to the handle by one of the access hatch for dear life. "I don't know how *urp* you talked me into this *urp*, Dewy! Earth ponies aren't meant to be this high! If we did, we'd have wings!"

"Let her be for now, Dewdrop.", Fluffy said through the loud speakers, hundreds of voices speaking as one. "When we get somewhere safe, I'll have a tech monk get her to one of my lifts and back on the ground."

Dewdrop looks at one of Fluffy's sensors and huffed."Fiiiiiiine! After we finish giving the goddesses' peace to these heretics, we'll drop Appie off so she can have her hooves on the ground. Now get closer so I can hit them with my sword!"

"You said that last time and never hit anypony with a sword. I had to do all the work.", Fluffy retorted.

"That's because you killed them all before I could get one.", Dewdrop said with a spot.

Ink Blob, an earth pony stallion with a black and white blotched coat, Fluffy's princept, chuckled as the gestalt spark sent an emotional impulse through the neural interlink. "You and us brothers and sisters!"

The aerial screws that were moving in to give close air support to the retreating New Unicornian soldiers broke off their attack run and fall back when the war strider fired a low power shot that caused four that were hit directly to evaporate almost immediately and melted six others into slag who had suffered a glancing hit.

Dozens more whistles blew with sharp, high-pitched tones, followed by shouts. A battalion's worth of the Fraternity stormed out of the trenches to take the fight to the already demoralized and depleted New Unicornian soldiers.

Upon seeing the rush of fresh troops, the last bit of the already New Unicornian soldiers' wavering morale broke. Officers struggled to maintain order as panic rolled through their ranks like a flood. Scores threw down their weapons and fled in a mass rout, scrabbling over one another or trampling their comrades in an attempt to get away. Others, exhausted from not being able to sleep for days and their nerves completely frayed, simply curled up into the fetal position and went catatonic. Some went berserk, simply rushing and blindly attacking any pony or 'taur with a weapon. Pockets of soldiers managed to maintain their training and discipline, forming fighting positions behind hastily thrown up barricades or falling back into the earthen bunkers for a desperate last stand.

The New Unicornian commanders still in the field ordered a general retreat back to Unicorn City. The trio of cities were captured with minimal civilian casualties and minimal damage to the infrastructure. The New Unicornian soldiers who opted to make desperate last stands in the hills outside the cities or within the buildings of the cities had to be routed out with hoof grenades, fire bombs and flame throwers. The remainder of the day was devoted to dumping rotting bodies into freshly dug pits and burning the remains into ash to prevent the spread of disease, sending out grave details to bury the freshly dead, bringing the injured, both physically and mentally, to the medbays, and setting up aid stations for the civilians.

***

A visible shudder ran over Bright Diamond's body as she watched from the main balcony of the cathedral-like fortress in the center of Unicorn city as the airships loomed over the trio of cities to the southeast. It would take less than a day for the New Equestrian Empire's crusade to make it here.

From behind her a Grogar cultist walked up. The wretch of a pony was skeletal thin, it was no longer discernable whether they were a mare or a stallion as their flesh now seemed to hang from their bones like emaciated curtains, something that its robes did little to hide. On its head it wore a headdress in the style of two curling horns and etched into the flesh of its forehead was a scarification of a stylized sheep's hoofprint. "You know what mussssst be done.", it hissed in a raspy tone, almost a whisper. "You who the massssster chossssse! A path of flesssssssshhhh to guide hissssss power! A road of blood for hissss power to ssssstride down." The barely pony creature paused, almost as if it was savoring its own hissing words. It licked its mangled tongue across its teeth, sharpened into almost predatory points. "A doorway of ssssssufering for hissssss will to act through you!"

Bright Diamonds turned away from the battle that she knew was lost. It would be hours before the bulk of the survivors would return. She didn't know how long before the enemy would gather their strength anew and bear down again. With a deep dreading in her heart of hearts, she made her choice. "Very well, summon the praetorians and gather what you need." She knew she shouldn't be doing this, but it was too late now, her soul was already damned, damned from the moment she agreed to listen to these Divine-damned cultists when they offered her her heart's desire.

A few hours later the cultist returned with the praetorians pulling a line of chained up and weeping mares, stallions and foals. The head cultist, this nearly skeletal wretch of a creature, brought along with it a cabal of cultists. The cultists brought with them a hulking, misshapen mutant...thing, its eyes had no glimmer of intellect or intelligence, just a mindless brute, dragging a bell whose clapper shown with a sickly, baleful light. A pair of cultists walking behind the mutant were carrying whips. They would occasionally lash the mutant across its hunched, warped back.

The cultists began setting up cruel looking racks, made from twisted beams of wood. The lead cultist pulled out a crude blade made from onyx and bone, and a razor made from obsidian. "Ssssstrip out of your clothesss."

Bright Diamonds stripped out of her uniform and the lead cultist strode over. It placed the edge of the obsidian razor against her left cutie mark, a sparkling diamond being buffed with a cloth. "Thissss issss the falsssse mark given to all poniessssss by the demon who callsssss itsssself harmony." With a quick and cruel flick, it cut the cutie mark off of her left flank. She yelped in pain. "Yessss! Cry out! Thissss issss not the criessss of pain, but the criessssss of a newborn!" It stepped around and repeated the process with her right flank.

Suddenly smoke and fire erupted in the room followed by clouds of pink cotton candy.

"What is--",was all the head cultist managed to cry out.

A massive lion's paw holding an equally massive ball of clear glass filled with some sort of fluid reached out from a portal swirling with tie dye colors. A massive eagle's talon grabbed the cultist and shoved it into the glass glass ball. As the cultist pounded on the side of the glass ball, the lion's paw gave it a shake. The cultist bounced around inside the ball as an artificial blizzard swirled around inside it. The eagle's talon snapped, the remaining cultists vanished, along with the mutant, the bell, the racks, the praetorians and the chains holding the ponies all vanished as the words Poof! hung in the air for a couple of seconds as smoky letters.

Blood dripping down her flanks and legs onto the floor, Bright Diamonds began backing away. The formerly chained ponies ran for their lives and all they were worth out of the door they were dragged in.

A massive chimeric creature stepped through the tie dye portal laughing and looked down at Bright Diamonds. "My my my! Such a busy little bee, aren't we?"

Bright Diamonds backed away onto the balcony. The blood dripping down her flanks and legs pooling at her hooves made the floor slick. Losing her footing, she slipped and her momentum carried her over the railing. She watched as the ground came closer and closer, then darkness.

Discord floated over to the balcony and looked down. He let out a click of his forked tongue, noticing there was no body laying on the ground."I guess it's only fair. I took a few things of yours, so you took something I had an interest in. That won't be the last time I see her." He held up the snow globe containing the head cultist, then pulled several blister packs containing the cultists, praetoriens and mutant, seemingly from nowhere. "I have the perfect place for my new collection." Reaching out, he grabbed a zipper that appeared in midair, pulled it down, tearing a hole in reality filled with colors swirling in maddening patterns and stepped through. The tear vanished in a puff of glitter.

Bright Diamonds whipped her head back and forth in the darkness."A-am I dead?"

A pair of eyes, glowing a baleful red appeared before her. "N̸̨̬̊̃̽̉̎̓̆͑̎̈͂͊̂͜o̵̹̙̟̻̭͊̉̎!̴̛̛̘̩̠̺̩̈́͐͊̏̿̈́͝͝"

It had been two days since the New Unicornian forces had been routed and fled from the trio of cities that sat as the gateway to Unicorn City, the capitol of New Unicornia. The Crusade was well into the process of burying the dead, tending to the wounded, bringing aid to the civilians, digging out unexploded ordinance and consolidating their forces. Folding metal structures holding facilities containing barracks, field hospitals, food and water storage, and ammunition had been set up. The foundations for a waystation for the high-speed monorail and a small permanent forge were being poured. Tech monks were carving up wrecked and destroyed machines of war, and loading them into trains of self-propelled carts to be carried off into the massive mobile forges. Mortal soldiers and transequine marines, when not assisting in the burial of the dead, were digging trenches and other fighting positions, piling soil up to form berms, constructing bunkers for the civilians to hide in, and placing barricades.

In a command structure, the princesses, ponemarchs, generals and air fleet masters were sitting around a large table holding a map of the region. The plans for the process of executing the push onto Unicorn City and how best to integrate the nation one the war was over when a soldier, an earth pony stallion with a teal coat and light blue mane, burst in.

"S-sorry for the intrusion your majesties, my lords, and sirs and madams! I was sent by Lieutenant Brass Tacks. Th-there's a delegation from New Unicornia. Mostly unarmed civilians and a few government officials. They've come to negotiate terms of surrender."

The princesses, ponemarchs, generals,and air fleet masters all looked at one another in a surprised silence.

"Do think this is a trap?", Pomum Ligni said in a basso voice common to every ponemarch.

"N-no, I don't think so m-my lord.", the soldier replied.

"Eh, I'm kinda hoping it is.", Vent Rapide flexing a wing.

"You would.", Pomum Ligni retorted. "All you and your feather-brained sons and daughters know how to do is dive among enemy soldiers and chop them up."

"Better than you and your mud stomping sons and daughters who stand still as statues and waste all your ammo!", Vent Rapide snapped back, rising from their seat.

Pomum Ligni quickly stood up from their seat. "Feather-brain!"

"Mud stomper!"

The two ponemarchs lunged across the table at each other.

"Enough!", Twilight bellowed as she stood up."Save the sibling rivalry for when we're not in the middle of a war!" She turned to the soldier."Thank you, Private...", she paused to read the name tag on his uniform, "...Private*ahem*...Machine Parts." The name elicited a series of snickers from around the table. "Take five minutes to get some water and something hot to eat, then report back to your commander that we'll be along shortly to receive the delegation."

***

The New Unicornian delegation gaped in awe as the massive command airship, the Luster Dawn, sailed overhead, flanked by a dozen smaller airships. Mortal soldiers and transequine marines stood on the decks of the airships, their weapon at the ready.

The Luster Dawn hovered in the air for several minutes as its escort airships moved in holding patterns. Struts extended from the bottom of the Luster Dawn's hull as it descended from the air. Once the Luster Dawn's struts had settled onto the ground, a large ramp was extended. First down the ramp was a squad of elite mortal soldiers, their uniforms freshly pressed, their battle armor freshly cleaned and their rifles freshly polished. Next down the ramp was a contingent of minotaurs, their armor and weapons polished until they glittered. Next came representatives of the ten legions, each chosen from their respective legion's first herd, down the ramp, their power armor receiving fresh coats of paint and clear coat, then buffed into a mirror shine. The group of minotaurs, mortal soldiers and transequine legionnaires that made up the honor guard formed up ranks into twin lines.

The princesses, flanked by the Nova Guard, descended the ramp. The princesses wore their ceremonial yokes, shoes and tiaras instead of their power armor. Cadance and Flurry Heart wore their manes and tails in the traditional bejeweled mane and rump dresses of the Crystal Empire, while Celestia, Luna and Twilight let their manes and tails flow freely on ethereal winds in the traditional Equestrian style. The princesses, flanked by their Nova Guard, strode between the twin ranks of honor guard.

Once pleasantries were given, a large tent was quickly erected to house both delegations and cushions were lain about in the interior. The delegations from New Unicornia and the New Equestrian Empire made their way inside the tent. Once both delegations had taken their seats on opposite sides, the Nova Guard took up guard around the interior of the tent, standing still and silent as statues, only the occasional crackle from comms devices breaking the illusion. Outside the honor guard took up formations around the tent, the mortal soldiers and minotaurs were replaced on hourly rotations, while the transequine legionaries stayed almost perfectly still, with only their heads panning side-to-side and their weapons occasionally twitching.

The terms of surrender were quickly reached as what New Unicornia had to send were not negotiators, emissaries, or even trained military officers, but simply terrified civilians. Once the last stroke of the quills had been put to paper, that's when the horrific stories began pouring out. Stories of mares and fillies forcibly taken from their families' homes, the most beautiful given over to forcibly serve as pleasure concubines for the Grand Pontiff, and the rest given over to the army to forcibly serve as brooding stock. That anypony who dared to speak up about the conditions they were forced to live in, or spoke too loudly in a way the leadership, or were caught with prohibited books were marched off to forced labor camps, or were sent to the science and medical division, none were known to return from those places.

Then the truly hellish stories began. At first they were rumors that came from villages where soldiers on patrol would find all the ponies slaughtered and strange symbols found painted everywhere. When the war began turning sour for New Unicornia, cultists that were normally hunted down by the army and shot on sight were now being openly courted by the military leadership. The New Unicornian told stories of rituals involving pony sacrifice and cannibalism. They told of the cultists using mindless mutant slaves dragging mobile altars holding large bells.

Though the princesses' faces remained as still as masks carved from stone, inside they were fuming as rage boiled.

Finally the New Unicornian delegation spoke about High Pontiff Burnished Bronze disappearing entirely from public view and how that began whisperings of rebellion.They spoke of a terrifying aura that radiated from the fortress cathedral. When High General Bright Diamonds disappeared two days ago without a trace, the majority of high ranking military and government leadership packed up and ran with whatever they could carry, leaving the lower echelons of the government and military rudderless.

"Now you know our story.", Silly String, a pink and blue mottled unicorn mare said, hanging her head dejectedly.

"When hearing the stories of how your armies defeated our soldiers at every turn, we thought The Divine had abandoned us.", Zax, a golden unicorn stallion with dark stripes on his lower legs, snout and flanks denoting ancient zebra heritage, said. "But when stories began coming back of your forces rebuilding cities, feeding the hungry and healing the sick. And when we saw your forces helping scared, hungry and hurt mares, stallions and foals instead of butchering them, this has shown all that The Divine has returned. Only now we know he isn't some all-powerful being up in the heavens whom made unicorns in his image, but are five. ALL HAIL THE DIVINES! MAY ALL WHO LOOK UPON THEIR FACES BE BLESSED!"

"Great, the Fraternity just recruited a new batch of zealots and not a single preacher had to pontificate to them.", Twilight muttered as she facehoofed.

"Save your praises and prayers and pontifications for a time after this nation has been rebuilt, my good pony.", Flurry Heart said as she raised a hoof. "New Unicornia is no more. Now it is part of Equestria as a whole. Join with us and cleave your strength to ours so we can build a new empire of prosperity, harmony and friendship together."

For a full year Wind-in-her-fur had led the bison on a great trampling migration to seek out the pony goddesses. Every evening when the tribe made camp, she would stand in a lone vigil on the edge of the camp hoping to see the dust cloud of her husband. Deep in her heart of hearts she knew he had died ensuring that she and their daughter, Stoutheart, would make it. But as long as she kept hope alive, she could make herself push onwards.

Spring made way to summer, which made way to autumn, which made way to winter and back to spring again. Desert became rocky scrubland, which became verdant rolling planes and forests. Wind-in-her-fur diligently led the herd, keeping the last message of her husband in her heart, find the pony goddesses. Stoutheart had grown, now able to keep up with the herd's trampling, with only some occasional goading from the other bison. Fast and nimble scouts were sent out ahead of the herd to search for any clues or rumors of these pony goddesses, and to ensure the herd avoided the lairs of dangerous predators and mutants, and to skirt the edges of the storms.

As Wind-in-her-fur was leading the herd in the direction that a passing caravan had provided about the pony goddesses waging a war against a pony nation, a great wind made the herd come to a halt. A dozen dragons alighted on the ground, their leader had deep blue scales and held a scepter in their claws that looked ridiculously tiny.

As the bison knelt, Wind-in-her-fur gestured for several woven baskets filled with turquoise brought forward.

Ember picked up one of the baskets in her claws, it looked practically miniscule in her talons, plucked out a shard of turquoise and tossed it in her mouth. "Mmm! You bison know how to treat a dragon!", she said as she munched on the turquoise shard, causing tiny flecks of it to come out from between her sword-like teeth. "I take it...mmm!...pardon me." She finished the last of the turquoise then continued. "I take it that you're here looking for the princesses?"

"Princesses?", Wind-in-her-fur asked. "Begging your pardon, but I've heard of no princesses. Hogs attacked my herd last year and we're looking for the pony goddesses for help."

Ember chuckled as she wiped the turquoise crumbs from her fingers. "I guess that to mortals they can look like goddesses. Well you're in luck. My scouts have spotted the 'goddesses'...", she made air quotes with her fingers, "...they're two days northeast of here as the bison tramples. They also spotted a rather large herd of hogs moving in their direction."

Wind-in-her-fur snorted in anger, steam coming from her nose. Ember took quick notice of this.

"If you want, I can have my dragons carry you there in a few hours."

"Thank you,but no, kind dragon.", Wind-in-her-fur said. "We bison are a strong folk and refuse to be carried like some newborn calf. If we cannot trample there under our own strength, then we deserve to die."

Ember hummed in appreciation as she picked a shard of turquoise from between her teeth. "Garble!"

A large dragon with carmine scales and gold underbelly scampered up."Yes, Dragon Lord?"

"There's a large mutant nest a few leagues from here. By the time these bison pass it by, I want it to be nothing by ashes and soot. And no funny business! If I hear you've done any funny business, I'll take your skull to use as my personal urinal!"

Garble struck his brown with his fingers in a hasty salute. "As you command, Dragon Lord!" With a great flap of his wings, he took off.

Dragons roared and bellowed and growled and shrieked as they swooped down on the great hog war wallow. Their claws dug rivets in the earth as they scooped up handfuls of the porcine creatures and hurled them across the landside or smashed them into paste by striking their fist into their palm. Others belched forth swaths of fire, melting the ground into patches of lava as kartz and wagonz were melted into slag and the bodies of hogs were scorched into ash.

Da hogz laughed and bellowed and grunted and oinked in glee. For them this was a fight, and any fight was fun, especially after months and months of tramplin' across the countryside with no fights, other than other hogz. Hogz fired their guns wildly in the air. The kartz and wagonz drivahs ramped their ramshackle vehicles off of burning wrecks of other kartz and wagonz and hills and other pieces of terrain that could get their means of conveyance airborne. Da hogz aboard bellowed and oinked and laughed with glee. When several of the kartz and wagonz collided with a dragon midair, the ramshackle vehicles, made of nothing more than scrap metal welded and bolted together haphazardly, broke apart on contact, sending their occupants sailing through the air. Many, many of da hogz flew through empty air and plummeted to the ground, where they spattered, leaving greasy smears behind. Enough landed on the back of the dragon, or managed to grab ahold of it. Then they behan thrashing with hooves, gnawing with powerful jaws and sharp tusks, chopping with hakka slashaz, and biting with chompaz, 'uge chompaz and powah jawz. Though most of da hogz harmlessly as the dragon's thick scales, a few managed to rip apart the webbing of its wings, sending the reptilian beast plummeting to the ground, where a wave of pork immediately washed over it.

Skull Kruncha Masha Thrasha da Worm Riddin' Boss Hog goaded the tatzlewurm that he had imprisoned as his mount forward to attack a dragon that was swooping in low to attack. The dragon thrashed as wheezed as the tatzlewurm coiled around it and began constricting. Skull Kruncha Masha Thrasha leapt off of his mount and onto the face of the dragon. He bit into the reptilian beast's eye with his powah jawz and ripped a chunk of the orb out.

If the dragon was capable of screaming in pain at that moment, it would have. Instead it feebly clawed at the tatzleworm that was squeezing the life out of it in a desperate attempt to break free of its attacker's deadly embrace. With a sickening crunch, the tatzlewurm crushed the dragon's ribs in. The reptilian beast let out a gurgling wheeze as it collapsed to the ground. Pinkish foam bubbled up from its throat as the life left its body.

The remaining dragon scouts, seeing that two of their own had been quickly brought down, opted to fall back. Their goal was to slow this massive herd of hogs down so that Dragon Lord Ember's forces could meet up with the princesses.

Twilight stood on the deck of the Luster Dawn overlooking Unicorn City. It had been a day since the New Equestrian Empire's crusade walked in, not as conquerors, but as welcomed liberators. Plumes of smoke wafted up into the sky from where buildings that had been turned into vile ritual sites by Grogar cultists had been burned down with flame throwers and fire bombs. The fortress cathedral was in the process of being scoured room-by-room to cleanse any of the remaining taint left behind by the cultists' vile rituals. All statues and other symbols of the old regime's tyranny were being torn down.

Far down below, there were pockets of civilians and mortal soldiers alike were still revelling, some had even taken a mare or stallion to their bed. After year of fighting and seeing horrifying conditions, command had seen it prudent to let a bit of discipline slip, giving the soldiers some leave, and generally let the soldiers blow off some steam, as long as they didn't harm anypony.

Twilight closed her eyes and stretched out her wings letting the breeze flow between her feathers. She was considering giving herself the luxury of letting a mare or stallion get under her tail. Sun, moon and stars above, it had been centuries since she had taken a pony to her bed. She was snapped out of her thought when a pegasus soldier landed on the deck, it hooves clattering loudly.

"Princess! There's a whole flock of dragons moving in our direction. They'll be here in a few hours."

A princess' work is never done. Twilight gathered her thoughts and turned to face the soldier. "Thank you, sergeant. Take a few moments to catch your breath and get some fresh water." She went below decks and made her way to the bridge.

"Princess on deck!", the pony-at-arms called out as Twilight entered the bridge.

"At ease.", Twilight said as she made her way to the command throne where the airship master was sitting, a harsh-looking dark grey earth pony mare whose long since greyed mane and lines about her face belied her age and experience.

As the airship master removed the command monocle and began to rise from the command throne, Ywilight held up a hoof to stop her. "I have not come to take command of the airship. I need you to send a message to my fellow princesses, the ponemarchs, Spike and Smolder, send runners if you must, but ensure they receive the message. We are going to move our main camp one league east of the city and prepare to meet with Dragon Lord Ember."

"I hear and obey, my princess.", the airship master replied. Putting the command monocle back on, she began pressing buttons on the command throne and doing rapid eye flicks to pull up the proper commands to send out.

***

Pegasi holding glowing rods in their hooves directed Dragon Lord Ember and her entourage of bodyguards to an open field. The five princesses and ten ponemarchs were awaiting them. The ground shook and rumbled as Ember alighted.

The princesses, ponemarchs and Dragon Lord all bowed to one another.

"My my my, you've grown a lot since the last time I've seen you, High Princess Twilight.", Ember said."You too, Floofy.", she said, gesturing to Flurry Heart. She then looked at the ponemarchs. "Looks like you've been busy. Or have you been biz-ay?" She flicked the tip of her claw through Vente Rapide's mane. The ponemarch snapped at her finger.

"Touch me again, reptile, and you'll taste my wing blades!"

"And such spirited ponies too!", Ember said in a lilting tone.

"You'll have to excuse my ponemarchs. They tend to be aloof, brash and a tad aggressive until you earn their respect, especially Vente.", Twilight said."Yes they are my and my fellow princesses, though none gave birth to them."

Ember raised a brow ridge. "Eh?"

"What Twilight is saying is that they have been engineered genetic material various ponies combined with alicorn magic.", Cadance said. "they've been designed to be the perfect generals and perfect warriors for this brutal time we live in. Once peace, harmony and friendship back the land, then they'll become governors."

"So that's why they look like your friends, Twilight.", Ember said as she looked back and forth between the ponemarchs. She then pointed a claw at Aster. "Why that one even looks like a less radiant version on you. So where is the no Celestia, Luna, Cadance or Flurry Heart pony clone general thingies?"

"There sort of is.", Celestia said. "Remove your helmets,please.", she said to her five Nova Guard.

Ember's eyes went wide with surprise when five of what she initially thought five statues of armored ponies levitated their helmets off. Their horns were short, just slightly longer than that of a unicorn of standard height and instead of glowing in a brilliant aura, instead had an aura almost invisible aura that only showed up as a sight distortion. Though their fur was the color of the five princesses, the irises of their eyes were a jumbled mishmash of colored flecks and streaks. Their features, like the ponemarchs, looked simultaneously mareish and stallionish, being both too round and blocky to be either.

"So what's up with their eyes? They look weird, almost...unnatural.", Ember asked as she taped a claw to her lips.

"It has to do with using pure alicorn DNA, laboratory-grown alicorn thaumic organs and alicorn magic. They wound up not as true alicorns, or even pegacorns, but as pseudo-alicorns. Though their musculature and wellsprings are much greater than a mortal pony's, they lack the wellsprings of alicorns. Their horns, wings and thaumic organs are also much smaller than that of alicorns.", Twilight said. "When creating the ponemarchs, I had to dial back quite a bit on alicorn DNA and instead grew the thaumic organs of unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies and implanted them, along with a few other other organs."

"Ember, as good as it is catching up and whatnot. Have you come here to join us in bringing harmony back to the land?", Celestia asked.

"Yes and no.", Ember replied. "Yes, we dragons will ally ourselves with Equestria as per the ancient accords, and no, we will not become a part of Equestria. The Dragon Lands, from the Red Desert, to the Blasted Wastes, to the Fire Mountains, will remain as an independent nation. As per the accords, we will not raze, loot and burn Equestrian lands, well not any more than is needed until you regain your holdings. We will recognize and respect your borders as long as you offer us the same. The migratory dragons that move between here and the Burning Sands desert of far off Zebrica will abide by the guidelines of the accords, or else I shall add a few new skulls to my horde. Any dragons that choose to live within Equestria or any of its satellite states and territories will live under the laws and regulations of Equestria as per the Treaty of Neighvogrod. The same goes for the Dragon Lands and the Crystal Empire as per the Polar Treaty."

"Equestria finds those terms acceptable.", Twilight said. She lit her horn and summoned a rolled up scroll. "This is a writ of plunder. If you accept the terms of of this writ, all dragons under your rule will be allowed to keep any and all plunder they take from the enemies of Equestria, barring live slaves and dead bodies."

Ember unrolled the scroll and read over it. "I, Dragon Lord Ember, do find the terms of this writ to be acceptable." She rolled up the scroll and swallowed it. "Oh! Before I forget, there's a herd of bison trampling this way from the southwest seeking your aid. They've got it in your head that you five are some sort of goddesses. They'll be here in two days or so."

"Bison have always had a mystical tie to the land.", Celestia said. "Their ability to commune with the land is only matched by the earth ponies ability to pull forth life from it. I don't find it odd that they interpreted the messages they received from nature as them believing that we're goddesses."

"I'm sure you've had no hoof in that department, 'Solar Sovereign'.", Ember said sarcastically.

"Great! More creatures that worship me as some sort of deity!", Twilight muttered.

"Also there's this tiny problem of a herd of hogs currently trampling its way down from the north.", Ember stated.

"Wait, hogs? As in the critters that farm ponies raised for their hides and tallow?", Cadance asked.

"No,mother. Not farm pigs.", Flurry Heart corrected. "Hogs. Some are big as horses, and they're dumb as diamond dogs. They only live for fighting, rooting for truffles, and wallowing in mud. Or at least from what I could gather from listening to travelers and caravaners."

"How big of a herd?", Twilight asked.

"Big enough that they move across the land as a living avalanche.", Ember stated.

"Sister...", Luna said warily.

"I know, Luna.", Celestia said. "It sounds like the days of Porkus Khan and the pork tide are back."

"What?!", Twilight, Cadance and Flurry Heart said simultaneously.

Celestia blew out a sigh, her mood becoming dark. "Back after Grogar was felled and banished, but before Equestria was unified, from the east, from across the sea came a hog. He was bigger than an alicorn who called himself Porkus Khan. He was a brilliant strategist, though the hogs under him were little more than simple-minded brutes. His horde flowed across the land, despoiling and razing everything in their path. It seemed that every time his horde attacked, their numbers would grow, though nopony ever saw reinforcements coming in. After much great hardships, Luna and I lured him into a trap, the hunting grounds of a greater baloth. For eight days and eight nights Porkus Khan and the greater baloth battled across the area now known as the badlands. At the end, both lay dead. Almost immediately his horde fractured and began fighting among themselves. Whatever magic he had kept all the hogs under him in line. We burned his body and cast his bones into the ocean, lest one of their kind would use his remains as a rallying standard, then turned out wrath upon his now infighting horde, slaughtering and scattering them. About a decade later another hog, a big dumb brute who called himself Rooter, lead a new horde from deep within the Too Hot Desert, calling itself the pork tide. Luna and I, with help from the Pillars, using our magics, cast an illusion over the Abysmal Abyss, making it look like a wealthy city. With a little goading, we managed to trick almost the entirety of them into charging into its black depths. Afterwards we drummed up as many local militias and hired sell swords to hunt down and kill any surviving hogs. The only reason why there was nothing about it in the history books was that at the time almost nopony could read or write, so what started off as firsthoof accounts became second and thirdhoof accounts until the stories of the hog horde and the pork tide became nothing more than half-remembered myths. Luna and I kept up our vigil, sending out agents to track down any and all accounts of a hog seen in the wilderness. Apparently some of the descendants of those original hogs remained, and during the madness of the cataclysm, their numbers have grown again. This is not an enemy that can be negotiated with. They only live to fight and kill and despoil. They must be wiped out to the very last one and a vigil be kept lest they have some secret wallow somewhere that they're breeding from."

Celestia's mood brightened. "Let us not dwell on such dark tidings yet. We have a delegation of bison to greet, and they may join our nation."

Into the heartland into what is now formerly New Unicornia, well ahead of the hog war wallow, Essence Opal led her army into the open forelegs of a great host comprised of ponies, minotaurs, bison and dragons. For three weeks they pressed hard and fast to reach friendly,or at least friendlier, lines.

Being built on the bones of the Old Equestrian Empire is a new nation. Like the old, it is being founded on the ideals of harmony, unity and friendship. Just like in the days of the ancient Unification War of Equestria, the enemies of harmony have to be burned away so that the fresh young chutes of unity can grow. And now this newly growing empire is about to face its most dangerous threat yet.

Author's Note

*Thestral stalkers are a specialized group of the testral snipers who range far out ahead of the main force of the New Equestrian Empire's crusade at night to scout enemy positions, harass enemy encampments and pick off command and control elements.

New Unicornia is no more! Long live the New Equestrian Empire! May its crusade to bring harmony and unity prosper! May its goddesses reign for 1000 years!

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

A special thanks and a shout out to New Rebellion for his help with ideas. Go show him some My Little Pony love.

If you notice any typos or misspellings, have any comments or questions, wanna throw shade or pure bane, leave them down below.

Thanks once again for reading, and enjoy!