Twilight sat in her private quarters on the command airship as it flew over the desert towards the next city. She split her attention between the intelligence reports gathered the pilgrims and refugees about the four remaining sphinxes, equipment reports on how many of the new self-loading rifles had been made and Dewdrop's reading lessons, it had appalled her at the illiteracy rate of the ponies of this land, of course most of them had been born into chattel slavery or sex slavery and it made sense on some level to keep the lowest tiers of society ignorant, but it still filled her with disgust that some had ignorance forced upon them. She let out a frustrated sigh, lest her anger boil over and turned her attention to a nearby writing desk where she was writing up from memory kindergarten-level reading and mathematics books.

Brushing off what she had written with a hoof, Twilight looked the completed books over. It felt wrong on some level, Dewdrop was what, about twelve years old, she couldn't read outside of few small words and could only do the most basic counting. Twilight paused thinking back to when she was a filly, by the time she was three she could read, do mathematical equations and comprehend scientific principals that other ponies years older than her were still struggling with, she even had a competent mastery of basic telekinesis, she had even at the age of four, she was the youngest unicorn be accepted into Celestia's academy, even becoming the princess' own personal student. But it was unfair to compare her foalhood to others, she was fortunate enough to be born in Canterlot during Equestria's golden age, she was also fortunate enough to be born to be born to minor nobility, landless nobility, but it was nobility none-the-less and through her families stipend it had afforded her access to materials other ponies didn't have, such as the best reading materials, private tutors, she even had a young princess as her foalsitter.

As Twilight began working on the binding for the books for Dewdrop, she twitched an ear hearing Sunset and Dewdrop walking up the corridor talking. Straining her ear, she listened in on the conversation.

"That's right Dewdrop.", Sunset said, "I wasn't always the good pony you see today. I was a bad pony. The first time I met Princess Twilight was many, many years ago in a place called the Crystal Empire where her Sister-in-law, Princess Cadance and her older brother Prince Shining Armor ruled. I had snuck back into Equestria through the mirror portal and had stolen her crown which contained the element of magic."

"Whoa!", Dewdrop gasped, "What happened?"

Twilight chuckled as she reached out with her magic and opened the door to greet the two. "I'll tell you what happened.", she said as Dewdrop practically jumped out of her fur, "I chased Sunset through the portal that led to a world inhabited entirely by intelligent, ape descended creatures called humans. To make a long story short, I made some new friends who were the human equivalent of my pony friends. I managed to take my crown back. Sunset and I did battle where she tore the crown from my head and put it on, transforming into a demon."

Dewdrop gasped as she stared wide-eyed in astonishment. "Then what happened?"

Sunset chuckled dryly. "It wasn't the proudest time of my life. Twilight and her five new friends tapped into Equestrian magic and they blasted me with the magic, purifying the evil from my body. As I lay in the crater crying over the harm I had done, Twilight reached out to me with her hand and forgave me."

Dewdrop screwed up her face in confusion. "Hands? Like on a minotaur?"

Twilight grinned. "Yes, humans have hands, similar to minotaurs. They also don't have fur, having only hair on their heads and a couple of other places. But that will have to be a story for another time. Look what I made for you." She levitated the books over to Dewdrop. "I'm going to teach you how to read and do math."

Dew drop stared at the books, her eyes becoming dewy. "I'm going to learn to read? Like a noble?"

Yes, Dewdrop.", Twilight said, "Every pony and creature should know how to-oh!" Her words were cut off as Dewdrop ran up and hugged her with happy sobs. Reaching out with a hoof and stroked the filly's back.

A few hours later Dewdrop was sitting at a desk reading out loud as Twilight sat next to her. "Th-th-the b-bi-big d-d-do-dog r-r-ra-ran a-a-af-aft-after th-the b-b-br-bri-briguhut r-r-re-red b-b-ba-ba-ball. The big dog ran after the briguhut red ball."

"Close...", Twilight said in an encouraging tone, "...let's try that again."

Dewdrop laid her head down on the desk and groaned loudly, "Ugh! I'm never gonna to get it right. My head is too stupid for this."

Twilight lifted Dewdrop's chin with a hoof and said gently, "Don't say things like that. You're not stupid. You just made a mistake. If we didn't make mistakes, we would never learn. Now let's try again and remember told you about sounding out your words and the basic rules of reading."

Dewdrop nodded and started reading out loud again, "The big dog ran after the bri-brgu...GAH!"

"Come on, you're doing good.", Twilight encouraged.

"Bri-brigu-bright!"

Twilight beamed at Dewdrop.

"The big dog ran after the bright red ball." Dewdrop began bouncing happily in her seat. "The big dog ran after the bright red ball!" She began skipping around Twilight's quarters. "Yesyesyesyes! I did it! The big dog ran after the bright red ball! What color was the ball? It was bright red! What size was the dog? It was big! Woo-hoo!"

Twilight chuckled at the filly skipping happily around her quarters after reading her first sentence on her own. She remembered Celestia doing the same when she would skip and prance around after learning something on her own. "Before you know it you'll be reading Shakespony and Neightzsche."

Dewdrop stopped skipping and raised an eyebrow. "Who are they?"

"Some famous writers from before I was born. Now let's continue with the lesson."

Dewdrop groaned as she sat back down.

The sun was dipping below the horizon as Twilight laid the sleeping Dewdrop down in her room, the filly was still clutching the reading book. "The big dog ran after the bright red ball. Pretty pink and purple ponies prance proudly. The silly snake slithers sneakily through the spout. The colt threw the shiny ball.", Dewdrop muttered in her sleep.

Twilight grinned proudly at her newest student as she tucked her in and gently stroked her hoof across her mane. Walking up on the deck, she faced north, closed her eyes and thought, "If you could only see such a desire for learning Dewdrop has princess."

As the sun rose above the horizon, Twilight sat in her personal quarters with Dewdrop eating breakfast.

"Sho what are ve goppa lewn chooday?", Dewdrop asked with a mouthful of food.

"Don't talk with your mouth full Dewy.", Twilight scolded gently, "But to answer your question, I'm not going to be physically around to teach you until later, so I will have a teacher assigned to you."

Dewdrop looked up at Twilight with big, sad puppy dog eyes, she let her lip quiver. "But how will I learn without you there?" She pressed the look again.

Twilight was forced to turn her head to avoid those puppy dog eyes. "Just like the CMCs.", she thought to herself. "Look Dewdrop, you will do fine. Just listen to what Miss Print says and show her the same respect as you would me in regard to your lessons."

"Okay.", Dewdrop said dejectedly as she turned back to her plate.

As Twilight finished eating, there was a soft tap at the door. "Come in.", she said pleasant tone.

The door opened revealing a yellow coated pegasus mare, her sea foam green mane was pulled back in a tight bun and her cutie mark was a book and quill.

"Ah, Miss Print, come in please.", Twilight said in a bright tone. "Have you finished eating Dewdrop?" When the filly nodded, she gathered up the plates and placed them in a nearby dumb waiter. "Alright Dewdrop, I'll be back later today and remember..."

"Treat Miss Print with the same respect when it comes to my lessons.", Dewdrop interrupted.

Twilight gathered up several files and walked out into the corridor. "She acts just like she's my daughter.", Twilight said to herself before pausing, "Was I the same way with Princess Celestia? Probably. Definitely." She chuckled to herself as she made her way to the meeting room.

Twilight walked up to the table in the meeting room where Sunset, the ten ponemarchs and several generals stood waiting as they looked over data slates and maps. "Sorry I'm late."

"Actually you're right on time.", Sunset said.

Looking at the clock, Twilight wanted to argue that she was two minutes late, but decided to drop it. "What reports do you all have?"

The discussion of intelligence reports, troop readiness reports, weather predictions, reports on all known movements of the gangs and cults were openly discussed. As the hours ticked on, the discussions became debates and heated arguments.

"Enough!", Twilight snapped as she pressed a hoof to her head where she was developing a migraine, "I understand your concerns. It is concerning that the sphinxes used the gangs of slavers and mutants along with these Grogar cults to try and test our resolve. Now they know what we are willing to do not only to protect our gains, but also defend the civilians. We are three days out from Ascension's Landing and are pressing for the next stronghold of the sphinxes. Even with our engines at full it will be another three days before we reach our first destination, but we have to maintain a speed that the mobile forges, medical facilities and war strider bays can keep up, otherwise we leave them vulnerable to attack from the gangs and cults. Which means we add another three days minimum to our transit times.", she paused sighing, "Before any of you raise you voices again about keeping the soldiers and marines on the airships, we don't have any other available space to house them as we haven't had time to build any mobile barracks." She looked around the room. "Are there any more questions and statements?"

"I still think it s a mistake to give that war walker a name and rewarding it with a plaque,", General Whippoorwill spoke up, "It will only sow distrust among the other striders."

Sunset spoke up, "None of the tech monks or princepts have told me otherwise, general. The spark of the striders are more than just thaumato-tech, they are also made of the combined consciences of their previous princepts, they are fully conscious beings in their own rights and you will refer to Ascension's Salvation properly lest you anger it and its siblings. As they earn their own names, they shall be referred by it." She gave a harsh glare to General Whippoorwill, just as the ponemarchs viewed her and Twilight as their mothers, the war striders also viewed them both as their mothers.

"Alright everypony, calm down.", Papilionnem said in an annoyed tone, "General Whipoorwill, my nine siblings and I have served as military commanders longer than you've been alive. The war striders have marched forth more times against our enemies than you've had hot breakfasts. If your tone implies that you'll lose faith in the war striders because they earn a reward for their valiant service, does that you mean that you'll lose faith in my sons and daughters when they get rewarded for their valiant efforts because it might cause some of them to get jealous?" The ponemarch slammed a hoof down on the deck plating, leaving a dent.

Every pony in the room shrunk back. It was rare for Papilionem to get angry, but when the ponemarch did, you had best give the transequine warrior ample room.

Twilight cleared her throat. "I think we can adjourn for now." As the ponies in the room began to depart, Twilight spoke up one last time, "General Whippoorwill, you had best watch you tone in the future, I would hate to put such a talented general on reprimand." She turned and left the room before he could respond.

Over the next few days she split her time between teaching Dewdrop and planning the next attack. One evening she was in the kitchen for the main mess hall with her young student washing stacks of dishes with their hooves.

"Ugh!", Dewdrop groaned, "Why do we have to wash dishes?! Aren't you princess and goddess? You could make anypony do this for you?"

Twilight booped Dewdrops snout with a sudsy hoof. "I insist on doing menial chores because just like you, I'm just a pony. Yes I am an alicorn and am far more powerful than anypony, but we all must do our fair share of the work here, lest we become complacent. Remember, there might be a time when there aren't another pony around to do things for us and if we don't know how to do things for ourselves we'd be in serious trouble. Now if you keep complaining, we'll spend the whole day peeling potatoes, cooking, serving food to the other ponies and cleaning the kitchen." As she turned back to washing the dishes, a thought drifted through her mind, "If you could you hear me now Princess Celestia, would you laugh that I'm practically repeating your lessons word for word?"

Dewdrop grumbled softly as she rinsed off and stacked the clean dishes, while Twilight softly chuckled.

Twilight stood on the bow of the airship as a massive gleaming city made of polished, dark marble slowly rose above the horizon. The ten ponemarchs stood in resolute silence, looking over the city as they made strategies and counter strategies. Sunset stood quietly relaying orders through her comms unit or talking with the gathered generals. Dewdrop stood between her legs, an armored cape draped across her back.

Twilight closed her eyes and extended her wings, feeling the wind blow across them. Opening her eyes, she placed a hoof to her chest, took in a deep breath and let it out, extending the hoof.

"Why do you do that?", Dewdrop asked.

Twilight looked at the filly and smiled. "You'll find that as you spend more time with me and the other princesses, that we aren't the perfect being most ponies make us out to be. We actually have many anxieties, phobias and insecurities."

"Some more than others.", Sunset snarked with a snicker.

Twilight shot Sunset a quick glare before continuing, "I actually have a lot of anxiety issues and phobias. When I close my eyes and extend my wings to feel the wind blow over them, it helps to calm me. When I do my breathing exercise, it helps to settle my mind."

Dewdrop stared in amazement. Her mind tried to wrap around that a goddess could have problems like a mortal.

"When we commence our attack, I want you to stay in your quarters."
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On a hill overlooking the city and the advancing pony force stood a withered four-legged creature wearing a dark cloak. A hand rubbed its chin under the hood. "So Princess Twilight, you return leading a great host and the sphinxes underestimate you. I hope you are ready to meet an old friend.", the creature said to itself before turning and walking off.
********************************************************************************************************

As the airships prepared to land, spindly lines of silver lightning crackled across the horizon to the north announcing the coming of a coming sand storm. Twilight watched as the lightning dissipated and the first tan clouds of dust flew high in the air and frowned. She opened a channel to air command, "As soon as the troops are disembarked, gain as much altitude as you can to get over the oncoming storm.", she switched the channel to war strider command, "Prepare to awaken the walkers, they're going to have to provide us with close fire support." She closed the channel. "Dewdrop, get below, there is a storm coming."

"But..."

Twilight pointed a hoof, "No back sass, young mare!" After the filly stomped below decks, Twilight exclaimed, "I'm becoming my mother!"

Sunset just snickered.

Apep stood with with his forces hidden in the city as he weaved dark magic to hurry the storm along.

A griffon hurried up to him and bowed, "My god-king, may you live forever! I am here to inform you that the last of the oil casks have been set up around the city as you have commanded."

"Good.", the sphinx rumbled, "In the event that I am slain or we are overrun, the city is to be put to the torch."

"I hear and obey my god-king.", the griffon replied, too scared to defy the sphinx's commands, "May your victory be swift and brutal." The creature hurried off.

Apep slipped on his blackened armor made from the bones of hundreds of slain enemies and picked up a massive axe with a curved blade. "Come find your death alicorn.", he growled, "My armor could use a new helmet and your skull will do just well."

As the airships landed, thousands of pony soldiers, exoseketon-clad Ponyhood of Steel troops and pony marines disembarked. Twilight's command airship landed, she, the ten ponemarchs, Sunset and the generals disembarked. The soldiers slipped on enclosed helmets as the wind slowly began to pick up.

Casting a protective shield over herself, Twilight opened a general channel. "Everypony keep the general channel open on your comms devices so we can coordinate in this storm." She gave a satisfied grunt as she heard crackles come through her comms device.

The ramps on the mobile garages came down with loud thuds as the massive war walkers strode forth, making the ground tremble with each step.

A centaur wearing heavy armor walked out from the city with a company of similarly creatures behind him. He held his hands up to his mouth and shouted, "Ponies! Throw down your weapons and you will be well treated!" A mass reaction screamed through the air and slammed into his chest, penetrating deeply, a split second later it exploded, showering the ground with gore.

"Come claim them yourselves!", Pomum Ligni shouted.

The insolence!", Apep snarled. He looked to the generals near him, "Order the attack."

As clouds of dust were whipped up by the ever increasing wind, teams of creatures began shoving forward ballistaes and mangonels. Brief shadows from above was all the warning they got as pegasi marines descended on them with wing blades crackling. Dozens of creatures were cut down before they could even shout a warning. As the last of the creatures manning the siege weapons were cut down or fled into the dust clouds, the pegasi marines planted explosive charges, then flew off looking for new prey to hunt.

Pony soldiers dug trenches and foxholes with shovels as ranks of earth pony and unicorn marines or ranks of exoskeletal-clad Ponyhood of Steel troops covered them. Once the last of the earthen entrenchments were dug, the pony marines marched forward, heavily armored hooves impacting the ground being the only sounds they made.

From the tops of buildings on the edge of the city, ponies, griffons, minotaurs and centaurs wielding muskets, fired off massed volleys. Mass reaction rounds and blasts of magic shredded the tops of the buildings. From inside the buildings more massed volleys unleashed hails of lead balls, more mass reaction rounds and blasts of magic ripped chunks out of the walls. Clouds of dust and smoke obscured the edge of the city.

Out of the clouds of dust and smoke came shrieking fanatics, their drug-addled brains filled with rage and blood lust. A wall of mass reaction rounds quickly turned the mindless fanatics into bloody heaps.

Apep began weaving dark magic as he cast a spell. Up and down the lines of entrenchment, unicorn soldiers felt the incoming dark magic and cast counter spells. The counter spells held for the most part, though in a few places where the unicorns were either too slow on casting, their spells fizzled or rebounded, the dark mutating magic made its was through. Several pony soldiers shrieked in pain as their flesh warped and bubbled, forcing officers and fellow comrades-in-arms to dispatch them with sabers or quick shots. A handful of pony soldiers who were hesitant to dispatch their mutating friends soon found their now former friends transformed into mindless, warped abominations that began rampaging through their lines. The mindless mutants were much harder to dispatch as round after round from rifles and slash after slash from sabers were required.

Twilight growled in frustration as she summoned her magic and incinerated the last of the mutants. "Out of trenches!", she shouted into the comms unit, "Push forward! If any get mutated, don't hesitate to cut them down!"

Apep seeing the magenta glow of Twilight's magic through the the ever thickening dust clouds, picked up a bow and launched an arrow. Twilight seeing the arrow at the last split second, attempted to throw up a defensive shield, only to find herself shoved out of the way by a magenta-armored Nebula Guard. She snarled in anger as the arrow shattered harmlessly off the armor of the transequine warrior, loosing the hammer from her side, she shouted, "FORWARD!" Twilight bounded through the dust clouds with the Nebula Guard fast on her heels.

Wheeled shields were set up on the ground as pony soldiers gathered into teams of three and began moving forward through the increasing wind. The sky went dark as the sand storm descended upon the battle with a deafening roar.

Apep ordered the gathered Grogar cultists along with the conscripts forward through the storm. As he scryed sensing the cultists and conscripts, he ordered the bulk of his forces back to more defensible positions in the city. His eyes went wide with shock as a massive beam lanced through the storm and exploded at the edge of the city, turning the air to white fire. Lances of magic and swarms of mass reaction round filled the air, cutting down troops nearest to the sphinx. Unicorn and earth pony marines charged out of the roiling wind, Apep ordered the troops to fight street to street and building to building as he took to the air.

Several minotaurs, centaurs, griffons and ponies in Apep's army crushed dark magic-infused gems. Their bodies rapidly mutated into twisted monstrosities. Through the storm Zoccolli di Pietra saw a mutant charging, the ponemarch grinned and took aim with the massive weapon mounted in the shoulder socket. A volley of mass reaction rounds filled their air and ripped into the mutant's flesh, blasting chunks from it. The mutant charged onward unheeded and the ponemarch counter charged with a shout of "FOR HARMONY! FOR PONYKIND! FOR THE PRINCESSES! FOR EQUESTRIA!" Postequine warrior and mutant slammed into each other, armored hooves and clawed limbs struck out seeking purchase. The mutant grabbed the ponemarch up in massive clawed hands, lifting the armored warrior off the ground and bit off the pony's forelegs with a massive fang-filled maw. As rapidly clotting blood sprayed across the mutant's face, it tossed the maimed ponemarch to the ground laughing.

Apricus stepped forward through the storm, face behind helmet twisted up in rage and charged forward to avenge its maimed sibling. The mutant laughed mocking, prepared to face the unicorn ponemarch. As it went to barrel forward, pain blossomed from one of its foot and it bellowed in pain. Looking down, the mutant saw Zoccoli di Pietra, the postequine warrior having shed its helmet, biting down hard on its foot. The momentary distraction was all Apricus needed, the ponemarch leveled its head and buried the metal sheathed horn deep into the chest of the mutant, with a crackle of magic, the mutant disappeared in a flash of flame.

As the sand storm raged, silvery flashes of lightning occasionally illuminated the blackness of the storm, revealing Twilight, the Nebula Guard and the pony soldiers steadily advancing. Occasional flashed of orange sparks revealed where wind-blown debris or lead balls struck armor or steel shields. Flashes of red fire showed where muskets from Apep's army fired, white flashed from the rifles showed where the pony soldiers returned fire. Through the storm, Twilight sensed several mutants charging towards her. Lifting her hammer high, the lavender alicorn used her magic to summon ligtning from the storm and directed it towards the mutants. In a blinding silver flash, the bodies of the mutants flew to pieces.

Apep flew through the storm. He banked hard, narrowly dodging a bright lance of energy that super-heated the air and singed his fur. He paused in the air, flapping hard against the wind and watched where the lance of energy had exploded. The sphinx snarled seeing the pyramid he had called his temple-palace melt into slag. Turning back, Apep saw a war strider advancing on him. He raised his axe and shouted defiantly over the storm, "IRON BEAST! YOU THINK TO CHALLENGE ME, THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE APEP?! I HAVE LAID LOW LEGIONS AND ENSLAVED MASSES!"

The sphinx sputtered with indignation as the gargantuan war machine waved its weapons in a challenge. raising his axe, Apep charged forward with a war cry. The curved blade of the axe bounced off one of the massive guns with a shower of sparks. The sphinx rolled out of the way of one of massive guns trying to bludgeon him. A heat beam from one of the close defense weapon turned the head of the axe into slag almost immediately. Apep wove dark magic and bolts of black lightning leapt from his paws. The war machine gave a mechanical roar of pain as one of its guns exploded in a flash of white and a shower of sparks.

On the command deck of the strider, alarms blared as tech monk scrambled. The princepts, directly wired into the command chair, writhed in pain.

"The spark in enraged!", one of the tech monks shouted, "We're losing control!"

The princepts, a pegasus, face twisted up in rage as spark of electricity leapt from its eyes. The pony opened it mouth as hundreds of voices shouted as one.

Apep found himself shoved back as the enraged war machine shouted in a deep basso voice, "DIE!" The sphinx rolled and twisted in the air as the war strider swung at him wildly. Apep tumbled though the air as the remaining massive gun bludgeoned him.

"Gluck!" Was the only sound that came out of Apep's mouth as a broken weapon support impaled through his chest. The war machine lifted the dying sphinx up to the view port. Apep looked in seeing the pegasus wired into the command seat glaring at him. He laughed and spit a gob of blood onto the heavily armored glass as a last act of defiance. "The city dies with me.", he mocked before the air left him in a gurgle.

The princepts looked out at the city seeing fires beginning to sprout across the city. Hundreds of voices in the pegasus' head all screamed to save the innocents in the city and the princepts willed the war machine forward, flinging the dead body of Apep off its ruined limb.

The body of the dead sphinx landed in front of Twilight, looking up, she saw the war machine going forward full stride towards the city. With Apep dead, the dark magic that was fueling the storm began to dissipate and the sky began to slowly lighten. The lavender alicorn allowed her gaze to drift towards the city and she saw flames beginning to leap up. "Save the innocents in the city!", she shouted into the comms device.

As the strider stomped through the city creating firebreaks and using its close defense weaponry to kill any creatures wielding torches, on the command deck, the princepts groaned in pain as the pegasi pushed itself in concert with hundreds of minds and the spark to save as many innocents as possible. A trickle of blood ran out the pony's nose as blood vessels began to rupture from the physical and mental strain. Coagulants, stimulants and pain killers flooded into the princepts' body in an attempt to keep it alive.

"Too much strain!", a tech monk shouted, "We're loosing the princepts!"

As several tech monks rushed forward to disconnect the princepts, a shield surrounded its body, deflecting the metallic limbs of the tech monks. The princepts glared at the tech monks momentarily before going back to willing the machine to save as many innocents as possible.

"Princess!", a tech monk exclaimed into the comms device in its mask, "The princepts has locked us out! We're loosing her!"

"Acknowledged.", Twilight responded, "I'm coming up." With a flick of her wing, she directed the Nebula Guard to save as many innocents as possible before teleporting to the command deck of the war strider. "Cloudy Day!", she shouted to the princepts behind the shield, "You're killing yourself! Stand down! Our forces have taken the city!"

The princepts coughed up blood and said in hundreds of voices as one, "Too late princess. The damage to this body is too much. All this individual can do is save as many before it expires."

Twilight pressed a hoof against the shield. "I'm sorry." Tears began to run down her face.

The princepts smiled weakly at Twilight. "This individual is not. Peace through harmony."

"Harmony through victory.", Twilight replied as she watched the princepts slowly die.

"Princess, this individual has one last request."

Twilight nodded.

"The spark wants to be named Hope's Champion."

"You have earned your name justly.", Twilight said as tears leaked down her cheeks.

"Thank you.", the princepts whispered, closing her eyes as the machinery of Hope's Champion wound down. The shield dropped as Cloudy Day slumped forward, all the lights dimmed for a moment on the command bridge.

The tech monks unhooked Cloudy Day from the command chair. "The princepts has expired, princess." a tech monk, its green mechanical eyes flickering in what could interpreted as sorrow.

"And she lives on.", Twilight said gently stroking the command chair, "Join your predecessors. May they accept you with open hooves and open hearts." Twilight teleported out of the command deck and down to the city.

As the storm continued to dissipate and the skies continued to lighten, as bullets, blades, armored hooves and mass reaction rounds ripped the remaining loyal elements of Apep's army apart. In the midst of the bedlam, the armored lavender alicorn appeared in a flash of magenta light. Twilight effortless swung her hammer too and fro, smashing apart soldiers of the sphinxes army as she waded through the fight.

In a slave pit, several ponies, griffons, centaurs and minotaurs dumped casks of oil onto the chain up terrified creatures. The minotaur slave master, holding a lit torch in his burly hand, laugh derisively at the terrified slaves, "Now you all burn!" The minotaur hurled the torch, only to gawk stunned as it levitated in a magenta field and then extinguish. The creature turned seeing an enraged lavender alicorn glaring. A magenta field forced the minotaur to its knees as the rest of the slavers were hurled high into the air, their screaming forms careened towards the ground, impacting with wet thuds.

Twilight used her magic to break the chained up slaves from the wall, levitate shivs to each one and forced the key to the locks down the minotaur's throat, into its stomach. She shoved the slave master into the center of the slave pit and said in a loud voice, "Fellow creatures, the key to you salvation rests in your former master's innards. All you need to do is retrieve it and you'll be free." She walked away with a smirk as the freed slaves descended on the minotaur, stabbing and slashing with the shivs.

As the day passed, the final pockets of resistance were dug out. Riots broke out as the newly freed slaves attacked the remaining members of Apep's forces that had went into hiding. Twilight hovered above the city and with a loud blast of concussive magic high in the air, she brought the riots to an end. She sent out orders for all for the sphinx's forces in hiding to be rooted out in an orderly fashion, if any resisted, they were to be summarily executed. After a week, the city, which Twilight renamed personally Hope's Victory, was finally fully pacified.

As a the process for selecting a new princepts for Hope's Champion was going on, Twilight hung a bronze plaque on the war machine in a ceremony officially granting it's new name. A simple stone sarcophagus was created for Cloudy Day and place on the spot where Hope's Champion had slain Apep. The civilians and recently freed slaves who had either lost family member in the fires or had their families saved, placed small offerings of food and trinkets on the simple sarcophagus.

Twilight and Sunset stood in the surgery theater where Zoccoli di Pietra was being operated on to be fit with cybernetic forelegs. Though the fully conscious ponemarch held a stoic face, the two could see pain playing across the eyes of the transequine warrior as tech monks used sterilized grinders to shape the crystal and metal reinforced bones down. The tech monks lifted two mechanical limbs from a nearby tray, giving static-filled chants in the process. Metallic tendrils delicately attached wires to nerves and servos to muscles. With a loud crunch, the mechanical legs were fused to the bones.

Several tech monks pressed down hard on the ponemarch as two other tech monks produced hex wrenches. The tech monks chanted prayers as sacred oils were spread on the hex wrenches and mechanical limbs. The hex wrenches were inserted into small sockets in the mechanical limbs, with a sharp twist the nerves were connected. Zoccoli di Pietra gave a lurch, nearly knocking the tech monks back, as pain from the newly connected connected nerves exploded into the ponemarch's brain. Zoccoli di Pietra looked at the mechanical limbs, giving the new limbs several testing flexes before the tech monks helped the transequine pony to its hooves.

The ponemarch staggered a couple of times before getting used to the cybernetic limbs, then trotted off into the the corridor.

"The operation is a full success and the ponemarch will be back to full strength in twenty-four to thirty-six hours.", a tech monk said to Twilight and Sunset bowing.

"Very good.", Twilight replied, "Though I wouldn't be surprised if Zoccoli di Pietra isn't already bouncing around and pulling pranks."

Author's Note

Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy.

A tiny spoiler for the next chapter Ahuizotl resurrects a long dead Cabillaron and Cozy Glow using dark magic. But things go awry as Cozy Glow does not serve.

I will attempt to take all comments and criticisms as constructive.