Ozymandias had spent weeks traveling along the paths and trails in the desert that few remembered and even fewer traveled. He only rested when he found a cave, ruin or rocky outcrop that could conceal his massive bulk. Each night that he rested, his ears would flick at the sound of shuffling limbs or the howls of mutants and monsters in the distance. Many ties he was forced to dig a hole for refuge when storms fueled by wild magic raced across the land.

One one hot day as the sun made the air dance and shimmer, Ozymandias landed with a flap of his massive wingspan on a high cliff overlooking a jagged and broken ravine. Looking forward his sharp vision caught along the horizon like a gray-green line that indicated the southernmost reaches of the ancient kingdom of Equestria. Looking behind him he saw the smoke and dust rising into the air like strange storm clouds. Among the clouds of dust and smoke flew airships in a wide wedge formation.

"Yes alicorn! Follow me! Pursue me! Know that I am a true god-king! I am Ozymandias! I will fall upon your ancestral land like fire from the sky. You may think you know grief when discovering the ruins of my city, but I shall magnify that grief a thousand fold when I soak your kingdom in blood! Come! Pursue me! You will truly know grief and suffering before I plunge this blackstone shard into your heart!" After he finished pontificating to no creature in general, Ozymandias took to the air with a flap of his massive wingspan.

Soaring across the desert, Ozymandias caught an updraft. Circling, he climbed high into the atmosphere until he could nearly see the curvature of Equus itself. With his sharp vision, he scanned the northern horizon, a lone massive mountain stood in the center of a vast rolling plain, an ancient city precariously perched on the side. On the plain to the south of the mountain, nestled in a wide valley stood a single crystalline spire and a village surrounded by a wall, nestled up against a dark forest. "There! That is where I shall wound you!" Tipping his massive wings, he banked towards the north.

Ozymandias landed and immediately scrambled for cover under a nearby twisted tree, an immense purple dragon with green spiked frills flew overhead. He watched as the dragon flew in a wide arc over the dark forest in the distance. Crouching low to the ground, he prepared to slink towards some nearby ruins when a blast of pink magic slammed in the bough of the tree, sending flaming splinters showering to the ground. The sphinx narrowly rolled out of the way as the top half of the twisted tree fell to the ground.

Cadance leapt from the patch of clouds she had perched in and alighted on the ground. Hefting the guisarme in her magic, she took a step forward to challenge the sphinx. "In the name of Equestria and the Crystal Empire, surrender and you will be banished!."

Ozymandias glared down at the alicorn before him and laughed. "You think to face me?! I could be a great ally to you. There comes an alicorn leading a great host bent on conquest and murder. Only together can we save what i left of your kingdom from this tyrant." A yellow, dark blue and golden flash caught him off guard as three more alicorns materialized.

Celestia stride forward, her ancient gilded plate mail gleaming in the rays of the sun. "You dare to call my former student and friend a tyrant, Ozymandias?!" When the sphinx gasped in shock, she continued with a flourish of her armored wings, "Yes, we all know who you are and the atrocities you and your brothers have committed."

Luna stepped forward, her ancient plate mail the color of the sky at midnight. "Yield and We shalt ensure thou art banished to the moon with the chance to be released after ten centuries upon the condition of favorable behavior."

"And if I refuse?", Ozymandias challenged.

Luna slapped the face guard on her helmet down before continuing, "We certainly hope thou dost not yield. It has been too long sine Winter's Bite hast tasted combat." She hoisted an ancient battleaxe in her magic, hoarfrost made a crinkling sound along the edge of the blade.

Ozymandias took a few steps backwards, flexing his massive wings in preparation to take flight. A massive wind like unto that of the greatest storms blew and the ground gave a great heave that nearly knocked his off his paws. Looking behind him, he saw the most massive dragon he'd ever seen, its purple scales shimmered and its green spiked frills glimmered, its claws that gripped the soil were like scimitars, its teeth were like unto the spears of a great host. "Are you here for conquest or are you a slave to these alicorns?"

"I am Spike the brave and glorious, champion of the Crystal Empire, Friendship Ambassador, younger brother and number one assistant to Princess Twilight Sparkle and defender of the last remnant of Ponyville."

Ozymandias reached under his wing and pulled out the shard of blackstone, gripping it in his right paw. Gripping a clump of soil in his left paw, he imbued it with dark magic and hurled it at Spike. The clump of dirt turned into several gleaming black shards, Spike easily shattered the shards with a swipe of his clawed hand. Ozymandias spun and using his dark magic, hurled several black lightning bolts at the four alicorns. Celestia easily countered the dark magic and Luna took to the air, flapping her wings she called forth a thunderstorm. A massive silver lightning bolt crackled in the air as it sped towards Ozymandias, in turn he held up the blackstone shard, which made the lightning bolt dissipate.

"How didst thou come into possession of a shard of Chrysalis' throne?"

Ozymandias smiled wickedly. "That's my secret."

Spike bounded forward, the ground shaking beneath his clawed feet like an earthquake and swiped at the sphinx, who took to the air to avoid the attack. Cadane took to the air in pursuit, she spun the guisarme in her magic and swung it at the head of the sphinx. Ozymandias dove, narrowly avoiding the attack as it clipped the tufts of fur at the tips of his ears and climb, tackling her out of the air with his greater bulk. The two wrestled on the ground for a few seconds, hooves hard as stone and claws sharp as steel struggling to make purchase. Ozymandias, using his great bulk and strength, pinned Cadance on her back, raising the shard above his head, he prepared to plunge it downward.

"Do your worst!", Cadance shouted in defiance, spitting a gob of saliva into the face of the sphinx.

As the sphinx began to plunge the blackstone shard downwards, a blast of yellow magic connected with his right forelimb, causing him to drop it and a light pink blur slammed into his side, sending him tumbling away. Flurry Heart used the combat skills her father taught her as she thrust the spear over and over at the sphinx, keeping him off-balance while she herded him towards her two great aunts.
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Twilight stood on the bow of the command airship, scanning the horizon with a pair of magically-enhanced field glasses. While alicorn vision wasn't quite as sharp as some predatory species, it allowed her to see much farther than most mortal creatures and the field glasses simply assisted in making out much finer details. As soon as all the airships, forges, war strider garages and mobile medbays were gathered, they set forth at full speed. One of the major advantages her army had over the sphinx was that the machines didn't have to rest or hide from marauding bands of mutants, cultists or slavers.

Taking the field glasses from her eyes and looked around. The airships flew in a wide wedge formation so the spotters on the decks and observation ports had the best opportunities to spot any on incoming threats. Massive columns of black smoke belched from the massive tracked vehicles that carried the huge structures that contained the war striders, forges or medical personnel. Pegasi soldiers and marines flew in wide patrols around the formations of airships and ground vehicles.

On the decks of many of the airships, the stallions of the Fraternity that were on duty, their short-cropped manes and tails bleached stark white, hung battle standards of the pony army, the transequine marine legions and Nebula Guard from the sides, rigging and balloons, while others hung banners of Equestria bows and sterns. Commanders of the Fraternity, clad only in drab robes of burlap and sack cloth, lead their battle herds, as they called their regiments, in the singing of hymns as they tirelessly worked. It was the hymns that made Twilight frown, they sang of the divinity of the princesses of Equestria, especially of her own divinity, which she vehemently denied.

As Twilight put the field glasses back up to her eyes, she thought back to a recent argument with one of the herd leaders. "Do not pray to me. I am not a goddess nor any other kind of deity." "But only goddess truly worthy of our praise and worship would deny their divinity." " Here, pinch my forelimb between your teeth. See? I am flesh and blood like you. If you strike me, do I not bruise? If you prick me, do I not bleed? When I am sad, I cry. When I'm tired, I sleep. When I'm hungry, I eat." "But do you not bleed the golden ichor of immortals?" " Well...yes, but that's normal alicorn adaption to having a much higher magical reserve in our thaumic organ." "Are you not also the rightful ruler of all ponykind?" "Only because I was crowned a princess of Equestria by princesses Celestia and Luna." "Only a goddess can rightfully raise another goddess to rule not only the heavens, but also serve a wardens of our souls and guide us to the rightful land of our ancestors." "B-but I don't rule the..." "I thank you goddess for deeming me worthy to test my faith! Though the path laid out before me may be covered in broken glass and overgrown with thorns, I shall gladly walk it! Peace through harmony! My life for harmony! *internal screaming*
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Ozymandias slashed the claws of his forepaw across the breastplate of Luna's armor and up the neck plates, two snagged just inside her face guard. The sphinx ripped the helmet off her head, revealing her flowing mane that looked like a starry sky on a clear midnight. Pain blossomed across Ozymandias' back, as he fell to the ground, one of his wings fell away, the point where it was sliced off cauterized and smoking. Celestia stood over him, her blazing sword pointed down at the sphinx's face. Ozymandias knew he was outnumbered and outmatched, a desperation maneuver ran though his mind that if it worked, would give him a chance to escape. As Celestia raised her sword to strike, Ozymandias sprang forward and clamped down on her neck with his massive maw. Golden blood poured from Celestia's mouth and nose as a long, sharp canine pierced into her neck through a gap in the armor. Ozymandias shook his head violently around until he felt the white alicorn go rag doll in his mouth. Summoning up his dark magic, the sphinx cast a blinding flash of light, followed by a cloud of pitch black smoke.

Ozymandias fled, running as fast as his loping strides could carry him, carrying the unconscious alicorn in his mouth. His desperate plan had gone off better than anticipated. He ran past a village of small huts built among an orchard with bright red fruits being gathered in in simple woven baskets, a wooden wall made from logs, standing nearly as tall of him surrounded the village and orchard of trees. Ponies standing watch at the top of the wall spat curses at him as arrows and javelins whistled past his ears. How dare they try to harm the one true God-king of this world. He should devour this alicorn in front of them, then turn that village to ash and hang their foals from the trees.

A dark blue blast of magic exploded next to Ozymandias. As he tumbled away from the impact, the unconscious form of Celestia fell from his mouth. Luna, her eyes blazing with fury, dove down at the sphinx from above at full speed, her hoarfrost-covered axe hoisted over her head. Ozymandias used the last of his momentum to roll out of the way of the attack, the battleaxe bit into the ground, freezing a chunk of soil solid where it impacted. He leapt into the midnight blue alicorn wearing the ancient battle plate colored the shade of the sky at midnight and the two of them began brawling.
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Twilight scanned the horizon along the gray-green line that denoted the southernmost reaches of Equestria with the field glasses. Seeing several shapes moving moving, she adjusted the focus on he magically-enhanced lenses, making out four familiar alicorns dressed in full battle armor, a familiar massive purple dragon, fighting a running battle against a sphinx, she panned the field glasses over to what she remembered as the Everfree forest. She observed several swirling multicolored lights in its depths. Before she could ask what she had seen, a red aura surrounded the airship and it took off at great speed, leaving a rainbow trail in the air behind it.

Twilight hurried below deck and saw Dewdrop standing in the corridor with a bewildered look on her face, the golden necklace with red lightning bolt gem around her neck was glowing with a bright red light. "Don't be afraid. The tree of harmony summons us. Go put on your armored cape and saber."

Dewdrop stared bewildered, not registering any words. Twilight nudged the nearly grown filly, "Dewdrop, get your battle gear!" The earth pony filly looked at the lavender alicorn and nodded before running off to her cabin.

Twilight strode to her quarters and started putting on her magenta armor. Once the last piece was snapped into place, she mag locked the massive hammer to her side. She hurried out into the corridor, the heavy deck plates groaning under the impacts of her heavily armored hooves. Above decks Dewdrop was closing the last clasp on her armored cape as the Nebula Guard gathered around them both. Twilight watched as an orange orb of light shot high into the air, she took note of ever-so-slight shift of transequine bodyguards posture, they had seen it too and it confused them. "The next element awakens!"
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Luna and Ozymandias brawled, claws sharp as steel and hooves hard as adamant found purchase against flesh. The two near-mythical creatures parted panting, Ozymandias spat a gob of bright red blood and a few broken teeth onto the ground, golden blood dripped from the gaps in Luna's armor, flowers and green grass sprang up where the gold drops fell to the ground. Celestia stirred and slowly rose from the ground, a massive patch of wild flowers, brilliant green grass and creeping vines spread from where her blood had soaked into the soil. Ozymandias braced himself for a final stand as the four alicorns surrounded him and the massive purple dragon circled overhead.

A foul stench filled the air and deep howls rang out, a pack of timberwolves bounded out of the Cursed forest, attracted by the sounds of battle and the smell of blood. A deafening roar echoed off the trees and hills, trees with the forest trembled, cracked and fell with great crashes as an Ursa Major barreled out hungry for the flesh of pony, sphinx, timberwolf or anything else it could consume. The four alicorns broke off the fight with Ozymandias to fend off the timberwolves as Spike landed to fend off the Ursa.

As Ozymandias started to use the distraction of the terrifying creature to sneak off, a bright red flash appeared overhead. All ponies and creatures paused their fight for a few seconds to take in the airship that now hung in the air above the wall of the village. The sphinx took advantage of the short lull to summon up his dark magic and hurled a green fireball at the airship, a magenta shield manifested around it, harmlessly dispersing the fireball.

Twilight gave a quick flick of her wings and all thirty of the Nebula Guard leapt off the side of the airship, their armored forms impacting the ground with loud thumps as their armored hooves sinking slightly into the soil, silver halberds at the ready. Grabbing Dewdrop in her magic, Twilight levitated the nearly grown filly onto her back and leapt off the airship, spreading her wings.

Twilight banked towards the sphinx who was trying to flee and before she could react, Dewdrop drew her saber and leapt into the air. "For harmony!", the filly shrieked out a battle cry. The last thing Ozymandias saw before pain exploded across his face was a chestnut-colored earth pony filly on the cusp of marehood descending towards him. As Dewdrop slammed into Ozymandias' head, she plunged her saber into his right eye. The sphinx howled in pain and as he tried to shake the filly off, she chomped down on his ear.

As Spike grappled with the Ursa Major, another roar announced the arrival of a heavily mutated manticore. As twisted bat wings flapped, the mutated creature flew through the air, its twin scorpion tails lashed about in anticipation and oversized paws with crystalline claws reached out seeking to make purchase with flesh. Spike lashed out with his claws, the size of scimitars split the manticore like an overripe melon. The Ursa Major took advantage of the split second diversion and shoved its weight into the midsection of the purple dragon and he fell over, crashing into the wall surrounding the village of Apple Orchard, the logs shattered into splinters

Luna took the precious few seconds the Nebula Guard bought her to assess the situation as eight of them formed a semicircle around her. The pack of timberwoves bound towards the transequine warriors and they hacked them apart with their silver halberds like they were made of rotten matchsticks. As the wooden creatures started pulling themselves back together, she shouted, "Smashing them avails us not! Use fire!" The eight Nebula Guard aimed the spikes at the top of their halberds at the freshly reformed wooden monsters and beams of energy fired forth. As the bodies of the timberwolves burst into flames and they began to leap to the bodies of the other monsters, they wooden predators fled away from their burning pack mates instinctively.

As the ponies of Apple Orchard fled in a panic to hide from the Ursa Major now bounding forward through the shattered hole in their wall, Lore keeper Apple Pie ran forward holding the wooden medallion depicting five stylized alicorns high in her hoof. "Back demon of the Cursed Forest! As the goddesses fight to protect us, I shall too stand to protect my friends and family!" As the Ursa Major moved forward to make a light snack of the young earth pony mare shouting at it, Spike reached out with a massive clawed hand and grabbed the immense starry bear by one of its hind legs, causing the nightmarish magical apex predator to fall flat onto its belly. The Ursa Major quickly recovered and got back to its feet, raising a paw as big as a house, it swung downwards with claws a massive as the the greatswords at the earth pony mare.

A bright orange flash came from Apple Pie and the Ursa Major's claws rebounded off an orange shield. Ghostly images of two other earth ponies made from orange magical light manifested next to her, one wielding a shovel and the other wearing a stetson. As the massive bear prepared to strike at the earth pony mare again, Twilight descended from above and slammed her hammer into its skull with a shout. As the apex predator staggered backwards, Spike rose to his full height and unleashed a roar that shook the very foundations of Equus. The purple dragon drug the the huge starry bear backwards and with a might shove, he sent it tumbling backwards into the forest. Sucking in a deep breath, he breathed a massive cone of flame that turned a swath of the Cursed forest into ash. The Ursa Major rose to its paws, smoke curling off its hide and decided that flight was preferential to fighting.

Ozymandias plucked Dewdrop from his face with a paw and held her in front of his face. As blood trickled from his now ruined eye socket, he snarled saying, "Little pony! You think to strike the true Go-AAAAAAAUUUUUGGGGGGHH!" Dewdrop plunged the point of her saber into the pastern of the sphinx, the blade slipping between the bones. Celestia summoned her sword and charged forward. In a fit of rage, Ozymandias slammed Dewdrop down to the ground, pinning her under his paw. A bright flash of red light from the filly and the sphinx recoiled with a roar of pain as the flesh of his paw burned away to the bone. Celestia slipped the blazing blade of her sword between the ribs of the sphinx.

Ozymandias gasped in pain and shock as he collapsed to the ground, freeing the earth pony filly. Dewdrop drug herself across the ground towards her saber that had come loose from the sphinx's pastern. A pink magical aura surrounded the filly as Cadance drug her to safety. She quickly checked the chestnut-colored pony over and gave a small sigh of relief when she found the filly on the cusp of marehood only had a broken hind leg.

Celestia withdrew the blazing sword from Ozymandias' ribs and stood over him. "You should have surrendered when you had the chance."

Ozymandians spat a gob of blood and saliva into the face of the white alicorn. "May you die the thousand deaths." Those were his last words before the flaming sword swung across his neck, sending the sphinx's head rolling away.

The last of the timberwolf pack turned and fled into the Cursed forest, most of their pack turned into ash by the coruscating flames turning most of their numbers into ash. Surveying the now silent battlefield, Twilight opened a channel on her comms unit to the Nebula Guard, "Form a perimeter around the breach in the wall until we've got a chance to properly repair and reinforce it."

The Nebula Guard placed an armored hoof against their chest in salute. Several of them leapt over the wall and took up position, forming a silent magenta-armored barricade with their bodies. Four of the transequine warriors formed up in front of Twilight, halberds at the ready as Spike flapped over the wall and landed. She dismissed them with a flick of her wings, then stepped towards her now not so little brother, friendship ambassador and long time number one assistant. "It's been too long Spike. I almost didn't recognize you."

Spike lowered himself so that he could be face-to-face with Twilight, who in turn in turn pressed her muzzle against his massive snout and reached out with an armored forelimb to embrace him. "You've changed a lot too Twily.", he said in a deep rumbling voice, "Your height is the same, but it's the look in your eyes that are different."

"I spent a thousand years preparing to my army to reclaim our home. I would have been back a few centuries sooner, but the out of control magical storms blighted the land."

Putting away her sword, Celestia walked over and hugged Twilight. "It's good to see you again my friend and former student." Parting from the embrace, she runs her hoof across Twilight's armor, noting the occasional crackle of energy across its surface. "I've never seen battle plate like that. Is it heavy?"

Twilight smiled as she looked in Celestia's eyes. "This isn't battle plate, it's powered armor. It not only protects me from physical harm, it also protects me from out of control magics." She gestures her hoof to two glowing cylinders behind her hind legs. "As long as the power cells hold a charge, it enhances my strength and speed as well as dispersing any errant thaumatic energy in the event of a spell rebound, at the cost of maneuverability. Once my forges arrive, I'll start making suits for you, Luna, Cadance and Flurry Heart."

"Auntie Twily!", Flurry Heart shouted as she ran up to the lavender alicorn and nuzzled her.

Luna frowned as she looked south. "There are strange clouds moving north and what looks like several airships using a storm as cover. We are being invaded!"

Twilight looked up in the direction Luna was looking. "That's not an invasion force, it's my army. From the looks of it, Sunset's ordered both the airships and ground vehicles to push past the red line. The engine sparks will have to be put into hibernation for at least a month, if they're not already planning to revolt and the tech monks will probably scream at me for a month, if not longer as they realign the machinery. That's a problem for future Twilight." She reached back with a hoof and tapped a spot near her flank. A compartment on her armor opened and she levitated out a small box. "For now let's tend to the wounded."

Trotting over, Twilight knelt down next to Dewdrop and placed the box on the ground. "How bad are her injuries?"

"The worst is a broken hind leg, other than that her injuries are minor. She's lucky they aren't worse.", Cadance said looking Twilight in the eyes.

"Thanks for tending to her Cady.", Twilight replied. She opened the small box and took out several medical instruments. Placing small white object between the filly's teeth, she said, "Dewdrop, I need to set the bone. Bite down on this and try to stay still for me, okay?" After Dewdrop nodded, she looked to Cadance, "Help hold her still." The filly took in a deep breath as Twilight gripped the broken leg in her magic in her magic field.

With a pop, the broken bone was set back in place, Dewdrop bit down hard on the object between her teeth and gave a loud grunt in pain. Cadance held the chestnut-colored filly in place gently with a hoof and Twilight jammed a syrette as into the broken leg, injecting the pain killing drugs with a squeeze. She placed a collapsible splint on the broken leg, wrapped it in gauze, then opened a package of gel and squirted it around the site of the break, within seconds it hardened into a makeshift cast.

The gate to the village opened with a loud creak, drawing the attention of all five alicorns. The villagers, a collection of mostly earth ponies, but also a collection unicorns and pegasi, mostly dressed in simple, well-worn cloaks to protect them from the elements and provide themselves with crude camouflage, gathered in a crowd carrying woven baskets of apples and vegetables.

Twilight levitated Dewdrop onto her back as the villagers laid the baskets on the ground before all five alicorns as offerings. Apple Pie walked forward wearing a fresh robe, the wooden amulet prominently displayed, the gleam of the orange apple-shaped element of harmony still clasped around her neck. "Please bless this humble village goddesses. Though we are poor, our offerings meager and our souls unworthy, we have persevered, making this blighted land prosperous."

The ground began to rumble and the villagers huddled on the ground in fear. An army of pony-sized bunny rabbits, wearing pastel yellow armor, a trio of pink butterflies on their helmets hopped forward in formation, with Discord at the head blowing a tune on a bugle. He stepped forward as the bunny hot stopped. "Sorry to be late.", he said looking at an upside-down map, "I think I took a wrong turn at Albrayquerky."

The villagers shivered and they huddled on the ground. "Save us from the wrath of the Broken God!", Apple Pie cried out.

"Discord, you're scaring the villagers.", Flurry Heart said, stepping forward.

"Quite right. Sorry my little ponies." Discord snapped his lion paw, the armored pony-sized bunnies turned back to their regular unarmored size and scampered away. A bowler appeared on his head and a bouquet of daisies appeared in his eagle talon, walking over to the trembling form of Apple Pie, he presented the flowers to her. "I beg your forgiveness. It wasn't my intent to scare you." Looking up he fixed his eyes on a few members of the Nebula Guard. "What do we have here?"

Appearing in front of one of the magenta-armored transequine warriors in a flash, Discord extended a paw. "The name's Discord, lord of chaos. What's yours good sir?" The Nebula Guard didn't utter a word or shift its stance. "I apologize. How do you do madame?" Again the armored pony didn't respond and he waved his eagle talon in front of the face plate "Helooo?! Anypony home?" When the armored pony didn't respond again, he tapped his knuckles on its helmet and the pony raised an armored hoof, knocking the draconequus away.

Discord picked his fang up off the ground, dusted it off and screwed it back in. "I don't think those ponies are very friendly.", he said appearing next to Twilight with a snap.

The Nebula Guard's training only allow an alicorn to touch them, unless they are ordered otherwise.", Twilight replied.
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In the ruins that was once the kingdom of Griffonstone, a young griffon slunk through the sparse scrub and ruins of the once-noble aeries, avoiding the patrols of centaur horde as they drug adult and chick griffons by thick, heavy chains. His heart boiled with rage and the purple-tipped feathers on his crown bristled in anger as a nearby female griffon begged and pleaded for a group of centaurs to not smash her eggs. Steeling himself, as he knew there was no way to save them with getting himself killed and continued to to slink away to a cave at the bottom of the cliff.

Deep inside the cave sat an old male griffon, surrounded by the bones and rusted armor of innumerable generations past of great warriors and champions, most of the feathers on his crown had fallen out. "Ah, come in young Gabriel."

Gabriel nervously walked in and pulled out a small bundle of food, unwrapping it he laid it before the old griffon. "Grandpa Golden Beak, why do you stay here surrounded by these old bones and rusting armor?"

Golden smiled before picking up a small bit of food and eating it. "Who would keep warden over our fallen brethren, keep them company and sing to them when their spirits are angry?" Picking up a stick, he began scratching in the dirt. "Long ago the five goddesses of the pony lands took into their possession the ancient war spear of Queen Gabby the great, with the promise of returning to the rightful leader of all griffonkind."

Gabriel looked down at the six images the old griffon had scratched in the dirt of the cavern floor, a stylized sun, moon, two hearts and a starburst, all surrounding a stylized shield. "But those are just old myths and legends. The pony lands are blighted and dead. Only monster, raider, mutants and slavers roam that land now."

"Are they now?", Golden Beak said with a smile, "My eyes and my ears might not be as sharp as they used to be, but even distant rumors reach them. There is talk of one of the goddesses in the deserts to the south leading a great host in war against the tyrants that live there."

"Probably just another warlord trying to lay claim to what little treasures lay there.", Gabriel snapped.

"Perhaps.", Golden said with an enigmatic smile, "If that were the case, then the centaurs wouldn't be wouldn't be so nervous. Many rumors reach the old ears after all."

Gabriel walked to the mouth of the cave before turning back. "I really hope you're right Grandpa. I'm going down into the valley below to hunt for some food for Gilda, the centaurs have smashed her clutch and she'll need the help she can get." With that he left and crept away.

"Fair the well Gabriel! May the fortune of Grover be upon you!", Golden Beak called out. Some of the suits of armor rattled and dim lights shown about the bones. "Just rest a little longer brothers. If he is the one to bring freedom to us once again, he must first discover his destiny."

After reaching the bottom of the valley, Gabriel stalked among the stunted scrub, tracking a rabbit. As he went to pounce, the rabbit spooked and fled. The griffon spat a curse and hurled a small stone at the ground, above some loose stones shifted and triggered a landslide. Gabriel ran for his life as massive boulders started crashing down into the narrow valley. Taking to the air to avoid the rockfall, he circled catching updrafts. As he scanned the cliffs for a place to perch before continuing his hunting, a metallic glint caught his eye near where the landslide started and he swooped towards it. Landing, his breath caught in his throat seeing an old strongbox.

Gabriel picked up the strongbox and placed it on the edge of the cliff. Wiping the dust and dirt away from the box, he ready the name etched into it, "Gabby". Grabbing a stone in his talon, he smashed the old padlock away and opened the box, inside were an old pair of leather saddlebags, long decayed from time, but the pair of shields, three stripes of magenta, light pink and violet with a stylized cup, still gleamed as if they were new.

Golden Beak cackled as Gabriel rushed back into the cave and tossed the two small shields onto the ground. "Grandpa! Tell me what you know of this!"

Grandpa Golden Beak caught his breath before replying, "Have I ever told you about Queen Gabby the great when she joined a crusade?"
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Twilight walked where Ponyville once stood, the buildings long collapsed and rotted away, the only sign that a settlement even stood there was the occasional cobble sticking up through the soil and the spires of her old castle in the distance. But she didn't see the empty expanse that was once the town she called home, only the ghosts of her memories. She could still smell the baked good from Sugarcube Corner, see the ponies at their stalls selling their goods, she could hear the hooves of the CMCs as they inflicted another overzealous plan to find their cutie marks on the citizens.

As the ghosts of the past faded, Twilight found herself standing before the long crumbled ruins of the old fountain. Tears glistened in her eyes as she remembered her long dead friends, as much family to her as her parents, her brother, Cadance or Flurry Heart. Turning back towards what was once called Sweet Apple Acres, now called the village of Apple Orchard, she began slowly walking. Coming to the old, now dry creek that flowed through town, she turned heading towards where a familiar cottage once stood.

Twilight paused as she saw the shimmer of a magical field. Pushing through, her breath caught seeing Fluttershy's cottage completely untouched by time. The grass still verdant and green as the first day she met the shy pegasus, small animals scampered around as butterflies fluttered in the air. Walking up he path, she pushed open the door and a small gasp escaped her lips. A beam of light shown through the darkness of the cottage that was made from a single mighty oak trees, where the light ended laid a single slab of crystal, inside preserved against the decay and corruption of time laid the body of Fluttershy in a pose of gentle repose. The mare looked the same as when Twilight had seen her last, the same butter-yellow coat, the trio of pink butterflies for a cutie mark, the mane and tail, once a soft pink were white and wispy, lines on her face denoted her age. It looked as though the pegasus, one of her oldest friends, would sit up and offer her tea or talk about how Angel Bunny was behaving.

"It was too late when I found her.", Discord said sadly from the shadows as he gently brushed his lion's paw against the crystal, "Crazed mutants had already killed her just outside Manehattan. But she gave her life so that a wagon of scared ponies could get away."

"Why bring her body here?", Twilight asked, "Why not keep her preserved in your realm?"

"Fluttershy deserved to be buried somewhere she was familiar with, somewhere close to her animals." Discord sniffled softly. "If only I had been faster, she wouldn't have died at their hands."

"The magical feedback and storms made all forms of magical transportation nearly impossible.", Twilight replied. Walking over, she gently laid a hoof on Discord. "Out of all of us, some would argue that she not only learned the most, but also taught the most, after all she was the first to reach through to you."

Discord nodded quietly. Before he could respond, the ground trembled, drawing both their attention. "What the devil is that?!"

"The war striders are awake!", Twilight exclaimed as she dashed for the door, "They're looking for me, if we're lucky!"

"And if we're not lucky?!", Discord called out behind her.

Bolting out the door, Twilight leapt, spreading her wings and flew towards where the war striders were stomping, only three of them had arrived, their main weapons were powering up. Spike had risen to his full height, roaring a challenge at them as Celestia, Luna, Cadance and Flurry Heart had taken to the air. "STOP!, she shouted in the Royal Canterlot voice.

"Twilight! Stay back! Well deal with these steel monsters!", Cadance shouted out.

Twilight teleported on top of of the lead strider and banged her hoof on the sealed hatch."Stand down! They are friends!" Fluttering down in front of the armored canopy, she shouted to the princepts, "Send the message to your brothers to stand down!" When the princepts gave her a panicked look, she teleported into command deck, ripped the armored cover from the spark chamber and shouted, "Stand down! Those are my friends and family!" When the spark flickered at her, she shouted back, "Don't talk back to me!" She sighed. "Fluffy, that village over there is full of scared ponies who've never seen you or your brothers before and if you fire a lot of innocent ponies will be hurt. Dewdrop is in that village, when we took down the last sphinx, she got hurt." The spark flickered a few times again. "Yes I'll tell her you came looking for her. I know you all are tired and cranky, I would appreciate it if you told your brothers to stand down." As she went to return the spark chamber cover, it flickered again. "No, I'm not mad. Just concerned for everypony's safety." The spark flickered once more. "Thank you." She returned the chamber cover and teleported back out of the command deck.

Spike and the four princesses stared dumbfounded as Twilight had shouted at the steel beast, then teleported inside one of them. When she reappeared, he and the four princesses rushed forward. Twilight held up a hoof to stop them shouting, "Back up! Give them space! The sparks are tired and agitated, they've been running at full stride for days on end."

Celestia quickly looked her student over for signs of injury. "You know what those creatures are?!"

"They are three of my war strider legion. I raised them all from when their sparks were just a single consciousness.", Twilight replied, "The only ones who know them better than me are Sunset and the princepts that are assigned to them."

"Twilight Sparkle? Art thou sure it is safe to have thine gargantuan war weapons to just stand around?", Luna asked.

"Of course, the only things that could challenge a war strider is an adult dragon or an Ursa Major.", Twilight replied, "Once their garages get her and they're properly housed, I can introduce you to their sparks." She looked up at her airship. "Sunset's probably been screaming for days into the comms unit, I need to see if she's tried to make contact. I'll send on a repeating loop the coordinates for her to direct their forces to. Oh and you'll all want to make sure your armor is polished and repaired."

"Why?", Cadance asked.

"Inspection of military forces. It fares for naught for the commanders to present themselves in a disgraceful image.", Luna replied.
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The roar of propellers on the airships and the rumble of the tracks on the massive ground vehicles filled the air. It had taken a little over a week since Twilight made contact on her airship's comms unit. Many of the ponies from her airship served as ground crew for the approaching force, they lit flares and scattered them across the ground to mark off safe landing zones, others placed strobes on long poles to mark off safe zones of approach for the ground vehicles. The five princesses stood in a line, their armors polished and gleaming, weapons presented, face masks of perfect stoicism. Dewdrop stood, her broken leg still bothering her, leaning against a Nebula Guard. Apple Pie, as the representative of Apple Orchard stood uneasy, he face and eyes full of apprehension. Spike had even polished his scales, standing looking at the approaching army, eyes glittering in wonder.

One by one, the airships landed. The forces disembarked and stood to attention. Each legion stood, their armor polished to the bright gleaming of unadorned metallic adamant, at stiff-legged attention, their respective ponemarch at their head carrying the battle standards draped with commendations and trophies. The soldiers of the Ponyhood of Steel, their ,dark armor polished to a high mirror shine, marched in lock step, Sunset Shimmer at the lead and stood to attention. Four of the princesses bristled slightly at the clearly cybernetic tech monks, their brilliant blue robes recently cleaned and their limbs polished. The ground forces of the pony army marched out in three pony shield teams, their officers counting cadence as the golden tassels on the epaulets swaying. The pegasi of the air regiments flew in tight squadrons and landed in staggered formations, their officers shouting orders to attention. Lastly the Fraternity marched into position, they showed the least discipline as their officers quickly lined them up into proper formations and adjusted their stances for proper attention.

Twilight strode forward and innumerable hooves rang out against armored chest plates in salutes. "Peace through harmony!", she shouted.

"Harmony through victory!", voices thundered back.

"Stand and prepare for full inspection!", Twilight shouted in command.

"Yes your highness!"

Twilight gestured to the massive army standing at attention. "The forces of Equestria stand ready for inspection and approval!"

For the next three days the four princesses went over the gathered pony forces with a fine tooth comb. At different times the four princess glowered at a soldier who had pushed the muzzle of a rifle away their face until they were told that it was dangerous to point the weapon at themselves. Celestia and Luna harshly scolded the officers of the Fraternity for their lack of total discipline, telling them that the lack of discipline of those under their command reflects badly upon them, to wit the officers threw themselves onto the ground, begging for forgiveness.

Once the inspections were through and the forces had met with approval, Twilight stepped forward and dismissed the forces. Temporary structures were set up and the five princesses gathered inside the building marked as forward command. As the five sat around a table, Twilight showed how to use data slates.

Celestia flipped through the various videos of the forces training and stopped on several videos of the Fraternity. "It seems you have gathered a group of fanatics."

Twilight rubbed the back of her head and laughed sheepishly. "About that, until recently they were ponies who had only known slavery and subjugation under the sphinxes. When they first showed up, they were little more than peasants armed with little more than farming and mining tools, calling themselves he husbands of the goddesses, being led by preachers."

"We fully understand Twilight Sparkle.", Luna replied, "When Celestia and We were crowned, there were many priests and firebrands who had stirred up the fervor of legions who ran willingly into the teeth of monsters screaming their devotion and gladly died, it took time for us to properly temper their zeal into proper steel. But worry not, thou hast something we never had."

"What is that?"

"Us.", Celestia replied, "Luna and I have the experience on how to turn their raw, unrefined iron of the Fraternity and turn it into the razor sharp steel of professional warriors. As much as any of us might not like it, we must first separate the wheat from the chaff on the threshing room floor of combat."

Author's Note

Next chapter, refitting, restructuring and the beginning of the pacification of Equestria and the lands beyond.

Also somewhere in the shadows old enemies and unlikely allies hide.

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

Fell free to leave comments, criticisms, throw shade or pure bane.