NIGHTMARE BEFORE HEARTH'S WARMING

by CROSSOVER KING

Rating: mature
Tags: Romance, Flitter and Cloudchaser, Horror, Profanity, Rumble, Violence, Crossover, Death, Thunderlane, Sweetie Belle, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Button Mash, Dark, Alternate Universe
Length: 5310

In the darkest reaches of Everfree, no pony can hear you scream.

For the last few decades, the citizens of Equestria has been divided into two warring factions: the Solar Empire led by Empress Daybreaker and the Lunar Republic led by Supreme Chancellor Nightmare Moon. During that time, the factions have engaged in dozens of bloody battles with each other for the complete control of their once-majestic land, leaving thousands of ponies dead and countless relationships completely shattered.

However, when these factions each send a team to investigate a distress call coming from the middle of the Everfree Forest, they encounter something much worse than both the civil war they are fighting and any of the known creatures inhabiting the area. A being so powerful, mysterious, and ruthless that it forces the teams to put their history aside and work together to survive the journey back to civilization.

A collab with my good friend, Redwolf777sg

Published 2020-12-24 21:20:00 UTC
Last updated 2020-12-24 21:20:00 UTC

Chapter 1: Next of Kin

IMPERIAL SHOCK TROOPS DESERT COMMAND, BADLANDS, 1100 HOURS

Inside a heavily fortified bunker containing a dozen battle tanks and several dozen racks full of rifles, crossbows, gunstaffs, and other kinds of weapons; a platoon that consisted of fifty pony soldiers wearing yellow knight armor on top of white WW2-style uniforms were standing near the main entrance, in front of two tanks (one of them covered in a green camouflage net). When a pegasus stallion with a black coat, white mane, and wore more armor than the others entered the bunker; they all saluted and waited for him to reach them. From the alicorn and solar shield emblem rank engraved on his armor, it was clear that he held the rank of Colonel and the name that was engraved just under the emblem read, "Thunderlane".

He eventually reached right in front of the platoon before turning his attention towards the soldiers, saluting them back, and announcing with a commanding tone, "At ease."

Right after the platoon did as he ordered, he began to explain, "For twenty five years, we shock troopers have been the Solar Empire's sword and shield. We've pushed back Queen Chrysalis and stopped the advance of the Lunar Republic. Yet, none of our victories came without cost. Recently, Major General Rarity was honorably discharged. Her wounds, both physical and psychological, left her no longer fit to serve."

This caused a younger white unicorn mare, who had a grayish mulberry mane with pale light grayish rose streaks to look down in sorrow as the colonel continued, "We honor Sweetie Belle's sister, and we honor her sacrifice, by doing what she would do. Tirelessly defend the empire. First Lieutenant Rumble, step forward."

In response, a younger pegasus stallion with a grey coat and a black mane took a few steps forward and the general promptly declared, "Your leadership and warfighting ability have earned you the promotion to Captain. With that said, there are absolutely no family favors here. By Solar Empire tradition, you still have to pass one last test."

A smirk appeared on Rumble's face as he said, "I have to kick the C.O.'s flank, sir. Your flank, sir."

Thunderlane then smirked back before saying, "Alright, then, lieutenant. Let's see if you can take me."

Taking fighting stances and the two pegasi started circling each other, after several seconds of anticipation, both stallions flew straight upwards, throwing several fierce punches and kicks at one other with their hooves. Rumble, due to his youth and lighter armor, was mostly dodging his brother's attacks and delivering much faster hits; while Thunderlane, because of his age and heavier armor, was doing the opposite; blocking his brother's attacks and delivering slower hits.

However, Rumble soon realized that neither one of them was going to make much progress with this attack pattern and so, he decided to change tactics. He quickly flew on top of Colonel Thunderlane and delivered a swift kick to his right wing (which was exposed), nearly breaking it and causing his elder brother to stagger in the air for a bit. Sensing the right opportunity, he punched the black pegasus in the face before delivering another swift kick to his other wing. Causing the older pegasus to completely lose his balance and plummeted face first to the solid ground. Even though he attempted to fly back up, Rumble speedily dive-bombed towards him, strongly punching his brother in the face once again, prompting him to fall to the ground a second time and lie there for several seconds while groaning in pain.

Rumble then landed right in front of him, gave him a salute, and happily exclaimed, "Captain Rumble, reporting for duty!"

A big smile appeared on Thunderlane's face and after getting back on his hooves with Rumble's assistance, he saluted his brother back and said, "Congratulations, Captain. You've made us all proud."

Immediately afterwards, the entire platoon started cheering loudly. Rumble turned back towards them and passionately lifted his right hoof up in the air, which caused his fellow soldiers to cheer even louder than before. When half a minute went by, all sounds of excitement and admirations for the young grey pegasus finally died down. Rumble cleared his throat and declared, "Well... Ummm... I'm usually terrible at giving speeches. Sooo... Thank you for everything you've done this year, safe travels on your way to your homes and families, and Happy Hearth's Warming. Dismissed."

The soldiers saluted him and after he saluted them back, all of them headed towards a set of meal double doors at the other end of the bunker, which was leading back to their barracks. All of them, except for Sweetie Belle and two older mares. One of them was a green coated unicorn who had a pale cyan mane with white highlights, while the other was a pale persian blue coated pegasus with a pale cerulean mane with white highlights.

Once everypony else was out of the room, Rumble and Sweetie Belle rushed towards each other, and once they were close enough, they hugged each other tightly and Rumble even spun Sweetie Belle in the air a few times while both of them were laughing with pure joy.

Then, after Rumble stopped spinning and let go of Sweetie Belle, she happily exclaimed, "I knew you could do it!"

"Really, now?", Rumble teasingly asked. "Then, who was that annoying mare who forced me to spend twelve hours in the training area each day for an entire week, while also constantly throwing insults at me?"

"Oh, don't be such a baby!", replied Sweetie. "We both know that I did all this so that you could get this promotion. You've been talking about getting it for so long, that I had to make sure you got it and finally shut up."

Rumble could not help but chuckle at that statement and then declared, "You're right. Thanks so much for your help, Sweets. I don't know what I would've done without you."

"Well, let's see...", Sweetie began. "You would've won the promotion in five minutes instead of just one if I hadn't given you extra training, you would've been six feet under if I hadn't pulled you away from gunfire and grenades in nearly a dozen battles, and you would've flunked out of high-school if I hadn't helped you out with your-"

Rumble quickly covered her mouth with his left hoof right before she could finish that sentence, unfortunately for the young stallion it still got giggles out of the two mares standing beside him. Then, the pegasus mare commented, "Wow, Rumble! It seems you and Sweetie Belle go way back. Kinda weird you two haven't become an item yet."

"Yeah, I've been wondering that myself for a while now", the unicorn added. "I mean, my girlfriend and I met during our freshman year in high-school and we started dating the very next year. In fact, I'm actually planning on proposing to her during our Hearth's Warming party tonight."

The pale persian blue pegasus next to her gasped upon hearing that and exclaimed, "REALLY?! Oh, my Celestia! Congratulations, Lyra! You and Bon Bon are definitely gonna be the greatest couple ever. Have you thought about the date of the wedding yet?"

"Well, not exactly, Cloudchaser, but one thing's for sure, I do want it to happen right after the end of the war... whenever that may be", replied Lyra. "Which is why I'm gonna train extra hard just like Rumble did this week. I mean, you can never blow up too many republic scum, right? See you guys after the weekend."

She proceeded to stroke Rumble's mane a bit before heading to the door. Then, Cloudchaser announced, "Yeah, I gotta practice harder after the holidays too. My sniping skills could always use some sharpening. Happy Hearth's Warming, everypony. See y'all later."

Right after she began walking towards the door, as well, Thunderlane promptly galloped after her and upon catching up to her, asked, "Hey, Cloudchaser, wait up. Would like coming over to my place for dinner tonight. Don't worry, it won't be too crowded. There's only gonna be me, Rumble, our parents, and hopefully, you."

As he and Cloudchaser walked further away during their discussion, Rumble looked back at Sweetie Belle and noticed she was looking at the floor with a rather sad expression on her face. In fact, there was a small amount of tear around her eyes and she had even started sniffing.

This prompted Rumble to hold her chin up with his right hoof and ask, "You alright? Whatever's the matter? Still thinking about him?"

When he let go of her chin, she wiped away her tears with her own hooves and replied, "You know I'm never gonna stop thinking about him. It's been eating me on the inside ever since we enlisted and when Sergeant Lyra brought up her upcoming proposal- "

"I know", Rumble interjected. "It's okay. I'm sure she didn't mean any disrespect. Look, we may not have seen him for years, but if we do, I promise that I won't hesitate to shoot him for what he did to you."

Sweetie's eyes widened with shock upon hearing that before she said, "What?! No, Rumble, why would you say something like that?! He was your best friend."

"Yeah, but the keyword here is 'was'. We may have been buddies during high-school, but he basically threw away our friendship and trust the moment he joined the Lunar Republic. He broke both your heart and mine. For that, he deserves no forgiveness from either of us. Wouldn't you agree?", Rumble said with a resentful tone.

Hearing this caused Sweetie Belle to turn away from the gray stallion and look back at the ground with uneasiness and confusion, the young mare started to think hard on what Rumble had just said. After several seconds of pondering. She took a deep breath, before looking back at Rumble, "I agree that we can't forgive him, but that doesn't mean he deserves to die. I say, if we ever come across him in a future battle, we'll capture him and then put him in a prison cell for the rest of his life, so that he may feel as much pain as we did. Sounds good?", said the young unicorn.

Rumble took a few moments to think about this plan and he eventually nodded before stating, "Yeah... Yeah, that actually sounds much better."

Sweetie, then sniffed one more time and wiped away a few more drops of tear from her eyes before hugging Rumble, who promptly returned the hug and even stroked her mane a bit. Right after that, however, they were jolted by the sound of the metal doors to the barracks being opened with immense force and Colonel Thunderlane flying towards them with a shotgun-type gunstaff in his fore hooves.

"RUMBLE! SWEETIE BELLE!", he started shouting. "GEAR UP! WE'RE MOVING OUT IN TEN!"

"What? What's wrong?", Rumble asked.

Thunderlane, landed right beside them and replied, "Our scout radios have just picked up a transmission coming from Everfree Forest. It sounds like an acoustical beacon. It repeats at intervals of twelve seconds."

"A distress signal? From somewhere in the Everfree Forest?", Sweetie asked. "With all due respect, Colonel, but can't you see the obvious red flags this situation is raising? The republic soldiers are laying a trap for us and they're using the signal to lure us in."

"Which is why we're gearing up", Thunderlane promptly replied. "As I'm sure we're all aware, failure to respond to any distress signal results in immediate court-martial and since this is clearly a trap, we're bringing heavy weapons with us to ambush the ambush. Now, let's quit talking and start moving."

"Is there no way we can relay the message to the troops stationed at Ponyville and let THEM handle this?", asked Rumble. "It would take us at least a few hours to reach Everfree and by then, it'll probably be nightfall before we get out of that Celestia-forsaken place."

"I've already contacted the Ponyville regiment and there was no answer", Thunderlane revealed. "We can't wait for them to respond. We gotta go there as quickly as possible, wipe out the republic presence in that territory of ours, and then figure out what happened to the regiment in Ponyville. So, both of you should gear up and meet me back here in five minutes. I won't give the same order a third time."

In response, Rumble and Sweetie saluted Thunderlane and upon him saluting them back, they both galloped towards the door leading to the barracks. Just before they opened it though, Rumble grabbed Sweetie by her left shoulder and whispered to her ear, "Remember what we talked about. If we see him there, we'll beat him up and take him as a prisoner of war. Or maybe, we'll shoot him by one of his legs before the capture."

Sweetie silently considered this plan for a few seconds and eventually, gave him a nod in approval. Right after Rumble nodded back, they opened the doors at the same time and quickly went through it.

LOS PEGASUS OUTSKIRTS, 1200 HOURS

A Lunar Republican all-terrain vehicle known as a Black Puma was riding along a large field covered in tall grass. The mana powered four wheeled topless vehicle's occupants included a driver wearing a standard issue combat helmet with the metal face mask down, a brown coated Earth Pony with a two-tone orange mane, and another Earth Pony who had a pinto coat, white with grayish brown spots, his mane was dark tangelo with lighter streaks. All three of them were wearing black knight armor on top of blue WW2-style uniforms and none of them had spoken a word for the entire journey. From the appearance of the big gray clouds hanging above them, it seemed clear that it was going to rain soon.

While his companion was busy staring at the grassland and the surrounding mountains, the Earth Pony with the completely brown coat was staring at a golden earring on his right hoof. While doing so, he had a rather sad expression on his face. It was as though the earring belonged to somepony very close to him and he was remembering a moment he had shared with that somepony. With that said, the moment he was remembering at that very moment was definitely not a happy one.

Then, a short while later, the Black Puma abruptly stopped in front of a GT-88/b Bugbear, a multipurpose tilt rotor gunship/transport, and right beside it was a small campsite. Right after that, the Earth Pony returned to the present, put the golden earring in one of the pockets of his uniform, and got out of the vehicle along with his companion and their driver.

At the campsite was a group of three armored mares who were sitting around a campfire in front of their individual tents with different kinds of weapons in their hooves. One of them was a grayish blue pegasus, who looked very similar to Cloudchaser, a pegasus mare he once knew back at his former hometown of Ponyville with only one major difference being a black eyepatch covering her right eye, she was sharpening the edge of a particularly large combat knife with a gray sharpening stone. She was also wearing a pair of razor sharp wing blades along with a bandolier of various throwing knives. The other mare was a white unicorn with a cobalt blue mane with cyan stripes, who was wearing a pair of thick lens sniper goggles along with a pair of short-range radio headsets. She was busy reloading a LA50AT .50 caliber bolt-action anti-tank rifle. The last mare, who was sitting right between the others, was an Earth Pony who had a gray coat and a black mane. She was tinkering with a Flim & Flam Mark I/Type B laser bowgun that she took off from a dead imperial soldier.

Right after the occupants of the Black Puma stepped out of the vehicle, the mares stood up and walked towards their visitors while placing their weapons to their backs. Once both parties were only about a couple feet away from each other, the gray-coated Earth Pony announced to the driver, "You're late. You were supposed to bring these new recruits here over half an hour ago."

"My apologies, captain", the driver said with a distorted voice. "We ran into some trouble along the road. A few rebel cells ambushed us near the Ghastly Gorge, but we did force them to retreat. I'm happy to say that these new recruits can certainly hold their own in a fight."

This prompted the captain to take a good look at the soldiers before her before she declared, "Did they, now? Well, that's good to hear. We do need able fighters to help us do our job in the place we're gonna be heading soon. You're dismissed, sergeant. We'll take it from here."

The sergeant gave her a salute before going back inside of his vehicle and riding towards the way he had come from. Upon his departure, the captain turned her attention back to the remaining soldiers and asked, "Your names?"

Both ponies saluted her and the one with the completely brown coat announced, "First Lieutenant Button Mash reporting for duty, ma'am!"

Then, the other one exclaimed, "Second Lieutenant Pipsqueak reporting for duty, ma'am!"

"At ease!", the captain ordered. Once they followed that order, she began, "I am Captain Octavia Melody, leader of the Crescent Squad. This is our communication officer, Vinyl Scratch, and our pilot, Flitter. I'm sure you've heard the rumors about us, but let me give you some real information first. We're an elite team of war veterans, who take care of missions that other squads are either ill-equipped or too fearful to accomplish. We sneak into enemy territory, steal information vital to the defense of that territory, and thus, help the other soldiers take that territory without much trouble. We also sometimes search and extract a captured ally, who carries information too important to fall into enemy hooves. This particular mission you'll be accompanying us to is a similar one. The forward operating base has intercepted a transmission that sounds similar to a distress signal and it's coming from the Everfree Forest. Since it's obviously a trap, our orders are to go in heavily armed and eliminate any Solar Empire forces we may encounter. Then, we figure out a way to infiltrate the town of Ponyville. Any questions?"

The soldiers looked at each other in confusion for a few seconds before turning back toward their captain and shaking their heads. In response, she continued, "Very well. Let me give you a final bit of advice before we move out, then. You've been chosen to join this team, because you possess the necessary skills and a tendency to carry out every command without question. I have every confidence that you won't disappoint me during this mission and many more missions to come. However, should you fail to live up to my expectations more than once, you shall be severely punished before being immediately sent back to your original regiments. Do I make myself clear?!"

"YES, MA'AM!", the soldiers shouted in unison.

Octavia responded by giving them a determined smile and saying, "Very good. Let's go, then. We've wasted enough time already. Help us pack up, will you?"

They proceeded to do as they were ordered, assisting Vinyl with folding the tents while Octavia extinguished the campfire by pouring a cup of water. While Flitter got inside the pilot cabin of the Bugbear gunship. As she started the two engines, the rest of her team entered the vehicle and shortly afterwards, they took off and headed towards the location of their upcoming mission.

Chapter 2: Old Wounds

HEART OF THE EVERFREE FOREST, 1500 HOURS

Walking beside towering trees and lush vegetation were a team consisting of heavily armed Solar Empire soldiers led by Colonel Thunderlane. He, along with the rest of his squad, were on the look-out for any sign of a trap set by the Lunar Republic as they made their way through the infamous Everfree Forest where everything (including, the trees) looked ominous. Thus, he and every single one of his fellow team members were both wearing armor and carrying weapons on their backs.

Rumble had a revolver shotgun-type gunstaff equipped with an axe head, it was the same length as the standard pony infantry poleaxe or spear yet allowed the welder to shoot five rounds of 12 gauge shotshells of various types at mid to close ranges.

Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle was armed with a CA20B assault rifle and Cloudchaser had a CA18SR bolt-action sniper rifle. Like most firearms used by both militaries of the Solar Empire and Lunar Republic, they were either Griffon or Minotaur designs, which were heavily modified to use by ponies or other hoofed species.

Lyra had a CA40A1 40mm pump-action grenade launcher and Thunderlane himself had a Flim & Flam Mark I Laser Bowgun after giving the shotgun-type gunstaff he had before to his little brother prior to leaving the bunker.

"Everypony, keep your eyes peeled", he said as they approached a clearing. "The distress signal came from somewhere in this area. This means a republic ambush could come from any direction now. Sweetie, are you detecting anything?"

Upon hearing that question, Sweetie Belle pulled out a small device from her left pocket with her telekinesis and looked at the small green screen for a few seconds before replying, "No heat signatures yet, sir. In fact, the only thing generating any heat at all is us."

"Alright, then. Keep me posted", Thunderlane announced.

After they continued to walk for another half hour or so, he heard Rumble sigh deeply near him and even noticed a few drops of sweat on his face. This prompted him to ask, "You doing okay, bro?"

Rumble responded by quickly wiping away the sweat from his brow and declaring, "Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine. It's just... This isn't exactly how I imagined my very first mission as a captain would be."

Thunderlane softly chuckled when he heard that and said, "Don't worry about it too much. My first mission at your rank was very much like this. Just stick close to me and you'll be fine."

Rumble then took a deep breath and smiled at his brother before replying, "Thanks, bro. Really appreciate the help. Although, there is one more thing that I can't seem to stop worrying about. How are mom and dad gonna react if we miss the Hearth's Warming Eve party because of this mission?"

"Oh, I'm sure they'll understand", Thunderlane assured him. "I mean, it's not like we're young enough to be punished, right? That said, I really hope that we won't have to spend several hours re-organizing dad's massive library again. Remember the time we had to do that after accidentally breaking down the carriage wheel?"

Both of them shuddered at the same time before Sweetie Belle ran up to them and announced, "SIR! I'm detecting five heat signatures coming from the west! They're half a mile away from our position."

Thunderlane immediately grabbed the device she was holding and upon taking a quick look at it, he exclaimed, "Son of a gun... ALRIGHT, MOVE IT, PONIES! Standard defense positions! On the double!"

As ordered everypony spread out to take their positions. Rumble and Thunderlane hid inside a bush, Sweetie Belle hid inside another bush, Cloudchaser flew towards a large tree branch, and Lyra teleported herself to another large branch on top of a seperate tree.

They silently waited for almost a full minute for the sources of the heat signatures to arrive. Then, they noticed a total of three mares wearing Lunar Republic armor in the distance and pointed their weapons at them as quietly as possible. Thunderlane took out a pair of binoculars to take a good look at their visitors, but once he did, the expression on his face changed from determined to confused.

"Something's wrong", he whispered to Rumble. "I've seen these soldiers before. They're part of an advanced recon team. They can't be the ones the republic had sent to set up the trap."

"Who cares which team they belong to, bro?", Rumble whispered back. "They're here and they're wearing the enemy's colors. Let's take them out before they notice us, and then go home."

"Not yet", declared Thunderlane. "We have to first find out the exact reason they're here and only engage if they start shooting at us. Understood?"

Even though Rumble let out a frustrated sigh, he nevertheless nodded in approval. After seeing his brother nod back, he took the binoculars from his hooves in order to see the soldiers with his own eyes and became as shocked as Thunderlane was when he first saw them.

He recognized all of them as Octavia Melody, Vinyl Scratch, and Flitter from his days as a foal living in Ponyville and this revelation prompted him to nudge Thunderlane on the left shoulder, point towards the mares, and ask, "Wait, is that- "

"YOU!!!"

Both of them were startled by the sudden shout coming from Cloudchaser, who was positioned directly above them and aiming her sniper directly at the intruders. They then looked at each other in utter confusion as they had never seen her this furious before.

She then yelled once again, "You take one more fucking step and I will bathe this entire forest with your guts!"

In response, Flitter took out a throwing knife and prepared to throw it straight at her before yelling back, "Come give it a try! I'll hit every single one of your explosive rounds and set the forest on fire with the resulting explosions instead!"

This prompted Lyra to take aim at her and exclaim, "Don't even think about it, republic scum!"

Then, Octavia grabbed her laser bowgun and took aim at her and subsequently, Sweetie Belle using telekinesis to aim her assault rifle at the gray mare, turning the whole situation into a Mexicolt stand-off. At that point, Thunderlane and Rumble came out of the bush, and Thunderlane ordered, "Everypony, please calm down! We are not here to start a fight!"

"No, of course, you're not", Octavia commented. "After all, you sent that distress signal to lure our soldiers here, so that you could ambush and kill them before a fight could even begin."

Upon hearing this, every single one of the Solar Empire soldiers looked at each other in complete puzzlement and Thunderlane asked, "Wait a minute. You mean to tell us that you received the same signal too? We thought you were the ones who had sent it in order to lure us here for a trap."

Then, the Lunar Republic soldiers looked at each other in puzzlement as well and Octavia revealed, "We did no such thing. If you did not send that signal either, then whoever did is not just working for a third party, but also an enemy to both sides."

As all the ponies started lowering their weapons (except for Cloudchaser and Flitter, who kept aiming and glaring at each other), two more soldiers wearing Lunar Republic armor came running them and stopped near Octavia to salute her.

"Ma'am, we've finished conducting our search in the sector you've assigned us", the one with the fully brown coat announced. "There are no signs of any traps set up by the Solar Empire."

A few seconds later, however, they noticed the tense situation around them and gave each other confused expressions.

"Button?!", Rumble exclaimed with a combination of shock and anger, causing the fully brown-coated Earth pony to turn to him and incredulously ask, "Rumble?! Is that you? I-If you're here, does that mean- "

"Yeah, I'm here too!", Sweetie Belle suddenly exclaimed with utter rage in her voice.

Button Mash became even more shocked upon seeing her and managed to utter, "S-Sweetie? I... I can't believe this..."

While watching this scene unfolding before him, Pipsqueak facehoof and quietly said to himself, "Shit!"

Immediately afterwards, Rumbled quickly raised his shotgun, aimed it directly at Button Mash, and yelled, "You're under arrest, dirtbag! Get down on the ground! NOW!"

Then, Octavia took aim at him and declared, "Not a chance in Tartarus, kid. He's just joined my squad and he'll leave only when I tell him to do so!"

This, in turn, caused Sweetie Belle to take aim at Octavia and announce, "From one girl to another, you would not want this worthless piece of trash in any squad whatsoever. Trust me."

Thunderlane then came between them and shouted, "Whoa! Whoa! WHOA! What is going on here?! Rumble, what do you and Sweetie Belle think you're doing?"

"We're bringing a war criminal to justice!", Rumble replied. "He is a traitor to the Solar Empire and a fugitive from her majesty's law! More importantly, he is a liar who betrayed the trust of not only his best friend, but also the love of his life! Isn't that true, Button?! HUH?! Tell everypony here exactly what you did!"

Button Mash was extremely perplexed by everything that was going on and unable to find the right words to say at the moment. He looked back and forth towards the faces of his former friends, and felt a great deal of shame for the things he had done to receive their hate.

Therefore, he slowly took a few steps towards them and revealed, "I know what I did was very wrong… and not a day goes by that I don't regret everything about it. I don't expect nor deserve any ounce of forgiveness from either of you, but I do want you to at least hear that I'm deeply sorry for betraying the trust you two had in me and causing you all that pain. If I could go back in time and change what I've done... Believe me, I would."

Rumble and Sweetie Belle said nothing for a while, and continued to aim their weapons at Button Mash and Octavia, respectively. Then, Sweetie Belle finally took a deep breath, before telling the earth pony stallion, "It doesn't matter whether or not you're sorry about what you did, Button. What IS important is that you did it and thus, you committed war crimes against the Solar Empire. For that, you must go before the imperial court and serve your time in prison. I do not want to see or hear from you ever again!" She said as tears started running down her cheek, Button hung his head in shame and Pipsqueak placed a hoof on his shoulder in an effort to show emotional support.

Meanwhile, Vinyl Scratch, who hadn't said a single word during this whole event, sighed in frustration and started looking at the nearby trees, instead. However, she soon became puzzled by the rather strange appearance of one particular large tree right beside her team. It looked wooden and tall like all the others, but at the same, it looked as if it had branches for arms and trunks for legs. On top of that, its overall appearance seemed like it had bones inside and if that wasn't strange enough, at the very top of it were a pair of sirens. They resembled the same kind used on air raid early warning systems she often saw in major towns and cities, which didn't make any sense at all. Why would anypony install a pair of air raid sirens in the middle of the Everfree Forest of all places?

Then, after thinking a little bit harder about it, she finally realized the answer and her eyes widened with sheer terror.

"Oh... no...", she managed to utter under her breath before a loud and terrifying sound was heard by everypony.