Innocence Once Lost

by Scorched Earth

Rating: teen
Tags: Discord, Princess Celestia, Alternate Universe, Human, Twilight Sparkle, Main 6, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark
Length: 83830

Discord has a plan: seek aid from other universes to overcome The Elements of Harmony.

Discord has once again escaped. While trying to escape the mane 6, he realizes that his chaos magic won't be enough to defeat The Elements of Harmony. So he opens a gate to a new universe. Mane 6 follows him trough the portal, unaware of his plan.

Now, stuck in an universe that is so like, yet unlike their own, can Mane 6 find Discord and stop him before he unites the forces of chaos under his rule? And how do they deal with very different versions of their own?

Reading my other stories is recommended, but not necessary. However, I suggest reading at least The History Of The Human War to understand what "The War" refers to.

After The War - Luna Aeternal is recommended, but not necessary. It details the events of The Lunar Crisis.

My Little War Orphan is not necessary.

Big thanks for Biker_Dash and xoid for beta reading and general help. You're awesome.

Published 2012-09-18 22:04:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-10-02 10:58:12 UTC

Unwelcome changes

Proof reader/Editor: Biker_Dash

"Welcome to Ponyville. Hope you enjoyed the ride!" The human pilot said before bursting in to a laughter. Both Twilights, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity looked very ill. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were only ones who weren't colored green. Rainbow Dash because she was used to such rides and Pinkie Pie... well, she was Pinkie Pie. Among Royal Guard there was a saying when someone wondered how she managed do things like she did: "It's Pinkie Pie, question invalid." Although guards would never admit, it had been pretty much stolen from humans who used "It's magic, science invalid" when it came to trying to understand magic.

"How can you people use these things!? I feel like everything I have eaten during this week is coming up!" Original!Twilight shouted at the humans who where holding their stomachs. Except for one, who was currently keeping as much distance from Pinkie Pie as he could. Nobody really knew what Pinkie had done during the war, but for some reason a large number of human veterans were scared to death of her. She had been effectively banned from ever approaching the human territory and was also a reason why personnel at the embassy were only recruited from non-war veterans.

"You think this is bad? Try taking a ride when they travel to the moon! I swear, it was the worst ride EVER!" Alternative!Twilight commented. She was looking much better, but only in comparison to her doppelganger. She herself felt like her two days food was in hurry to get out. Once the transport finally touched the ground and door opened, she was first to get out. "LAND! GOOD SOLID LAND!" On the edge of her vision she could see others repeating the process. Humans were having a field day. She couldn't prove it, but she could swear humans took the most unstable route whenever she was on board. When she traveled with Princess Luna the rides were much smoother and guards took their duty much more seriously.

"Okay, now that we have offered out prayers to ground, let's head to library. Spike should be helping Rarity at this time of the day, so it's empty. Maybe I can fill you in for some more... important details, so that shock isn't so big when you see them. Besides, I need to figure out where you can sleep, unless The Princess decides to have you stay at Canterlot. Although I doubt that, Canterlot is not the most... hospitable places anymore."

"I noticed the change is decoration and design. How did that happen?" Original!Twilight asked.

"The old castle got destroyed. The new castle was build in it's place, with more emphasis on defenses." Alternative!Twilight thought for a moment. "Well, non-pony defenses to be more precise. The old castle could easily repel any attack made by ponies, but against humans and diamond dogs? It got overrun in less than an hour." They arrived at the library and Alternative!Twilight opened door. Others noticed that the tree looked like it had suffered some major damage and was still recovering. The bookshelves were also a lot more empty.

"I have been trying to refill the collection here, but a lot of books were rarities which I can't replace. There should be a book here somewhere that explains The War..." Alternative!Twilight started to go trough the books, before giving up. "Aw, damn it. I gotten too used to this spell... Search: The History Of Human War, Author: 'Lyra Heartstring'" Her horn started to glow from magic, creating a orb. The orb quickly flew across bookshelves, before stopping in front of a book. It grabbed the book and brought it to Twilight. "Here we go."

"Wow, why haven't I have thought of that spell?" Original!Twilight said. She did have a spell that could locate books she wanted, but it usually was a lot less precise than the one used here.

"I got the idea after trying out The Database that humans had created. Of course, unless you make specific inquiries like back then, you might end up with several different books. If I hadn't specified the author, I would have gotten at least three other books. The spell is still work-in-progress." Alternative!Twilight said and laid down the book in front of them. "Most of the important stuff is in there. I suggest you read it while I contact... 'our' version of you. Thank Goddesses that Luna convinced humans to build that communications network. At least I don't have to go and find them individually..." Alternative!Twilight left the room, leaving the Mane Six alone.

"Your double is quite grumpy. Let's see what's the big deal with this 'The War' she keeps referring to," Applejack said. All of them gathered around as Twilight started to read the book. She didn't further than the first chapter when she closed the book, silent and shocked. Rainbow Dash was first to speak.

"They... dropped an asteroid... on Cloudsdale?"

"And Manehattan, Los Pegasus and Canterlot," Alternative!Twilight said as she returned, carrying mugs and some tea and coffee. "And that was the first day. Then we got Disaster of Ghastly Gorge, where the Royal Guard was send running tail between their legs, like the diamond dogs say. And then... then there was Fall of Baltimare... The first we saw how humans fought war. Celestia tried to tell us to not to come there, but we didn't listen. She tried to warn us how horrible it would be and we just assume it would be no worse than beating up changelings. Oh how wrong were..." Alternative!Twilight shook her head. "But you wouldn't know, would you? You never lived trough The War. Your universe sounds like a paradise when you compare it to ours."

The group just remained silent. This Twilight was so different from one they were used to. The bitterness and sorrow that were hidden in those words were a stark contrast to normally curious and cheery Twilight. When they added what they had just learned, they finally began to understand what Alternative!Twilight had meant with The War leaving 'it's mark on everyone'.

"It must have been horrible..." Fluttershy said.

"Oh you have no idea..." Someone knocked at the door. "Get in to the kitchen. Just in case it's not one of us. I don't want to explain why you all look different and why there are two of me."

"Did she just say 'different'"? Rarity said when they hid in the kitchen and tried to listen in.

"Oh, hi Rarity. Good to see you and Spike back so soon."

"Well you did gave us a suddenly call to break off whatever we were doing and get here," Spike's voice could be heard. "Also, you own Rarity a new pair of glasses. We lost the ones she was wearing on our way here."

"Right, right, I will get you new ones. Come on it. I will explain everything." They heard that the door was closed.

"Careful, looks like somebody visited the place. Chairs have been moved," Spike said to someone.

"Don't worry Spike. I can take OW!" Rarity's voice answered.

"Like I said, chairs have been moved. Here, follow me."

"Haah, I miss being able to see sometimes..."

"I heard humans have been testing their cloning equipment to make eyes. Perhaps you could participate in those?"

"I don't know... can you choose what color your eyes are?"

"I have no idea."

"Okay you two love birds, sit down and I get the reason, or reasons why I called you here."

"LOVE BIRDS!?" Applejack shouted. Everyone else was equally shocked.

"Oh? Is Applejack here? Isn't she supposed to be seeing Big Macintosh?"

"Well, I will explain later. Alright you all, come over here." The group exited the kitchen and walked in to the main room.

"Wait what?" Spike shouted.

"Spike? Twilight? What is it?"

"Well, uhh, how do I say this... There are currently two Twilights and two Rarity's in the room. I guess the other ones are doubles of rest of our friends."

"Doubles? You mean as someone who looks like me?" Alternative!Rarity said. Original!Rarity and others simply stared at her eyes. They lacked pupil, while iris being completely white. If her eyes had been any closer to her mane in color, they could have easily thought that she was missing eyes.

"Oh my..." Fluttershy said, holding her hooves in front of her mouth.

"Fluttershy? Is that you darling?" Alternative!Rarity asked, looking slightly left of Fluttershy.

"Okay, everyone sit down. I will explain this all the best I can. Well, once everyone arrives too, I am NOT going to through the explanation five times." Alternative!Twilight said. Right on cue Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy walked in.

"Hey! Sorry we came only now, I had to tuck Scootaloo in for a night. Met Fluttershy on my way here. So what uuuuu..." Words died on Rainbow Dash's lips as she saw the group seated on the room. "Ooohkay maybe I just shut up and wait for an explanation..."

"What... what happened to you?" Original!Twilight managed to ask. It was enough that Rarity had lost her sight in this universe, but she was staring at Fluttershy who was wearing a prosthetic leg.

"Oh, it's nothing..."

"Nothing my hat! You're missing a leg!" Applejack commented.

"Humans, I screwed up." Alternative!Rainbow Dash said, with all too familiar bitterness in her voice.

"Let's... let's not talk about it. We still need to wait for Applejack to arrive. She said she is nearly back, just couple of minutes and she should be here... wait... Where is Pinkie Pie?"

"She hasn't arrive yet."

"No, not ours, your Pinkie Pie... Where is our Pinkie Pie? I thought... oh crab..." Right on cue two Pinkie Pies appeared behind her.

"What's wrong?" Pinkie Pie #1 said.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Now, normally pegasis are only ones who can fly. However, at that particular moment Twilight didn't really care what the rules of the gravity said about unicorn trying to fly. "NEVER! AGAIN! DO! THAT!" She screamed from the lamp she was clinging to.

"Oh, sorry, forgot you are kinda jumpy after The Lunar Crisis... hehe..." Pinkie Pie #2 said,

"I had enough of this! You two! Which one is native to this universe, you stay as you are! Other one, go and grab some cloth and wear it so I can tell which one is which!" Alternative!Twilight was clearly not amused by the events. She dropped down and took a deep breath.

"Twilight, darling, I told you need to go to therapy. It's not healthy to live like that." Alternative!Rarity said with a worry. She was looking slightly right of Twilight, instead "staring" at Applejack who moved slightly.

"I. Don't. Need. Therapy."

"Yes you need."

"I'm with Rarity, you are afraid of your own shadow these days." Spike said, looking worried. Twilight had been a nervous wreck after The War and with Lunar Crisis an year back, had turned her into a paranoid nervous wreck. She barely went outside if it wasn't either with her friends or being escorted by Royal Guards.

"This conversation is over," Alternative!Twilight said with finality. Rarity and Spike simply sighed. They had been trying to convince Twilight to go and get help, but she denied any need for it. Then again, they weren't much to say. Each one of them had been scarred, either mentally or physically or both during The War.

“Wow... Never thought I would see something like this.” Applejack commented.

“I think I don't like this universe...” Original!Twilight whispered to Applejack. Seeing herself acting like she did and her friends urging her to get into therapy, which she rejected quite forcefully was not something she had wanted to see when she found that spell. What's worse, her actions quite clearly showed she needed the therapy. Her mane was slightly messed up. Her eyes darted around the room in subtle ways, as if trying to hide the fact that she was expecting something to jump from nowhere.

Fortunately, a knock to the door saved them from any further awkward moments. Applejack of this universe had finally arrived. Alternative!Twilight went to open the door. After standard round of confusion and promises to explain everything, everyone was seated at the table, native ponies on one side and visitors on the other side.

“Right, so we are all here and equally confused, why don't you tell them your story while I make some sandwiches. I haven't eaten for a whole day.” Alternative!Twilight said and walked to the kitchen. Original!Twilight just looked at the expectant ponies on the other side on the table and gulped.

“Well... let's see... so... I found this spell in Royal Library, which would allow you to peek into other universes, realities, timelines et cetera. So I called my friends, as you can see and cast the spell. Everything went well, until we tried to locate ourselves, or more specifically, you. A that point, some strange magic came trough the view port and released Discord.”

“What!? Discord is free? Did he send you here, to keep himself safe?!” Alternative!Applejack shouted.

“No, quite opposite. Discord did something with the view port and made it into a portal. He escaped trough it and we followed him here. Unfortunately, the portal has now closed and you got two Discords to deal with.”

“Well, our Discord should be easy one to deal with. He is still in stone and unless he has somehow managed to get himself an army, he won't stand a chance against modern Royal Guard. Especially if he goes against Trixie's Raiders,” Alternative!Dash said. “I mean, have you seen those guys fighting? I swear they could take on Ursa Major if given heads up that such creature is coming.”

“Wait wait wait, is this the same Trixie we know? The showmare? The one who turned my hair into green?” Original!Rarity asked.

“The same one. She... had a quite traumatic experience Fillydelphia when humans razed it. Then she arrived at Ponyville just as humans attacked it. After surviving that, which in itself is a major accomplishment for a civilian, she joined Royal Guard and rose through the ranks quite fast. She is a captain now days and leads her own unit, Trixie's Raiders. Heard she might be made a general one day, if she keeps this up,” Spike said. Visitors noted that he and Rarity sat quite close to each others and Spike was helping her whenever she tried to move. He had gone and picked up a spare glasses and given them to Rarity, allowing her to hide her white eyes. Others were grateful for that, it was way too creepy to look at her. Original!Rarity was pleased to note that despite such enormous handicap, her double still managed to keep herself fashionable.

“Right... So... Forgive me if this rude or something but... you two?” Original!Twilight asked, pointing at Alternative!Rarity and Spike.

“A long story. Let's leave it at that,” Alternative!Rarity said with a wave of her hoof. The group decided to accept this. Alternative!Twilight returned and brought a big pile of sandwiches with her.

“Right, now that we got that out of the way, we need to decide how to move. First of all, where everyone sleeps. I would normally say that the library is fine but... well, you guys know how this place is. I am missing several rooms so I can't house everyone.”

“True, it's a small miracle it survived the battle.” Alternative!Dash said, whole grabbing a sandwich.

“So I was thinking... can you each house your double for now? Until we know what the Princesses decide to do. Luna should return in a day or two and humans have been warned. So don't get surprised if we hear about increased military presence near the border. It's not for a war against us.”

“Well, Big Macs room is empty so Ah can have a guest or two, Ah guess,” Alternative!Applejack said. “That reminds me, I want to talk to you Twilight about something I heard today.”

“Well, if my double here doesn't mind sleeping on a couch I don't see a problem. However, I'm just thinking... what about kids? I mean, I doubt I could fool Scootaloo for a long,” Alternative!Dash said.

“Damn it, I forgot that... Well, let's just let them know about this for but make sure they don't tell anyone. They would find out anyway and sooner they learn, less likely they are to freak out by sudden change in behavior.”

“Uuh, question? What does Scootaloo has to do with me bunking with you?” Original!Dash asked, raising her hoof.

“Huh? You don't... oh, yeah, you didn't experience The War. So you would never end up the same situation. Well, quick and simple explanation that I have adopted Scootaloo and she lives with me. Let's leave it that.”

“Adopted!? But... you... and... Wonderbolts...”

“Silly little dream I once had. I'll explain it some other time.” Alternative!Dash said with finality. Original!Dash just threw her hooves in the air in confusion.

“Me and me here already set up everything!” Alternative!Pinkie (or at least everyone thought so. She was sitting on their side, but this was Pinkie Pie after all.)

“Why I am not surprised... Anyway, that leaves Rarity and Fluttershy.”

“Oh, it will be OK. It might actually be good, to have myself to help with the dresses!” Alternative!Rarity said with a smile. Finally, someone who had exact same standards as she had and still had her eyesight. She could finally finish that dress she had been trying to make for a week now. Spike and Sweetie Bell did their best to help, but they lacked certain eye for fashion. Then she groaned when she realized the pun.

“Oh, I think it will be OK, I mean, if you don't mind the animals.” Fluttershy said.

“No, I don't mind, I like animals...”

Two groups stared at two shy pegasis before Alternative!Applejack shouted, “For the suns sake, you are the nearly same mare! What are you two being shy about!?”

“I um, I just thought if she had different personality and um...” The rest of the group just shook their heads, sighed, facehoofed or did all three at this. “I'm sorry...” This lead so second round head shakes, sighs and facehooves.

“It's OK, just... nothing. It's nothing. So everyone pairs of with their double and sets up for this night. Spike, can you go with Rarity? She's going to need help with this. You know the new layout, unlike our visitor here.”

“Alright.” One by one ponies paired off with their doubles, eventually leaving just Applejacks and Twilights in the room.

“So, Twilight, I had something I wanted to ask you about. Your... medical opinion, so to speak,” Alternative!Applejack said.

“Private or...?”

“Private, preferably.”

“Follow me. Please wait here and don't listen in. Please,” Alternative!Twilight said and lead Alternative!Applejack to other room.

“I wonder what that was all about.” Original!Applejack said.

“I wonder too... there are so many things that are different. Did you notice the scars? Then we got adopted Scootaloo and crippled Fluttershy and so forth. So many things are different here...” Original!Twilight shook her head. She was starting to regret ever finding the spell. She had expected a nice different universe, perhaps one where they would be stallions, or maybe zebras, or something like that. An universe where half them had suffered permanent physical injuries and she herself was suffering mental scarring... that had not been one she had expected or wanted.

After a while, two native mares returned to the room.

“Thanks Twilight. I wasn't sure, these are humans after...”

“They are humans, yes, but they are trying to put their past behind. They helped Princess Luna after The Lunar Crisis and have assisted doctors curing several formerly 'fatal' diseases. I can understand your worries, it's an untested method, but... It's been nine years, Applejack. You need to either let go, or try something new. You can't wait forever.”

“I know, I know. I'm just... afraid...” Alternative!Applejack gave a sight. “Alrighty then, let's head to the farm. Ah need to show ya your room and explain this mess to others. See ya tomorrow!” With that, two Applejacks left the library, leaving two Twilights to settle in.

“Well, I guess I need to make an another bed for you. I hope you don't mind if it isn't exactly up to standards.” Alternative!Twilight said and headed for a bedroom.

“Can you tell me what was that about?”

“Not really. It's Applejacks thing. She will tell when the time comes. Even if we are doubles of each others, we all have our own secrets. I would suggest that you finish the history book. You need to know exactly how wounded Equestria is.”

“No offense... but why are you so harsh? I mean, we are supposed to be the same pony yet...”

“Let me ask something funny from you. How's mom and dad doing?”

“Huh? Oh, quite well. They are fawning over their granddaughter.”

“So Shining is alive too? Still married?”

“Yeah. Not here?”

“Mom and dad were in Manehattan. They and Manehattan are no longer.”

“Oh my...”

“And Shining Armor? Dead and buried too. He was killed when the humans raided Canterlot alongside diamond dogs. So excuse me if I am not exactly happy to see someone who can go back to their happy-go-lucky life and see them. I didn't even get to see them. One day I had a family. Then suddenly, you get a letter which tells you no longer have one. So there. Have fun. Read the book. I am going to go and plan how to kill the bastard before I lose anymore friends. Night.” Alternative!Twilight walked upstairs. Original!Twilight stood with her mouth open, staring after her.

That... was not something she had expected. She suspected there were even more than just her parents and brother dying. She looked around. In one corner there were pictures of her parents and Shining Armor. Next to them were two letters. She didn't date to read them, but she could guess what letters they were. She then returned back to the book. She no longer expected to be friendly with her double, but she hoped they could at least work together. The sooner Discord would be defeated, the sooner they could try to return to their own world.

After a hour later, she had finished the book. What she had learned, shocked her. Battles where casualties were counted in tens of thousands, entire cities destroyed, millions dead... This was not an universe of harmony. It was an universe of death in her opinion. She looked other books in the library. She found a few news papers, dated years back. She quickly went trough them. All of them had ominous headlines, like “Los Pegasus has fallen!” or “Invaders break trough Ghastly Gorge” or “Zebra Union remains out of the war: refuses to aid”. Only headlines with hope were “Ceasefire signed! Is the end near?” and “The war is over! Humans sign peace treaty alongside diamond dogs!”. Even that continued stating that humans would maintain control of much of the southern Equestria.

She wanted to return home.

Nightmares

Proof reader/Editor: Biker_Dash

Ponyville was on fire. Not the “someone screwed up” kind of fire, but in “we are all going to die” type of fire. In distance she could hear steady pounding made by the invaders. DAKKA-DAKKA-DAKKA breached the air constantly. Occasional explosion only reinforced it. It didn't matter, she needed to get to the barricades. She needed to help them to hold the line. They were slowing winning. The invaders were slowly taken down, their numbers dropping. Their strange flying machines were trying to escape. If they could win here, they could stop the invasion and save Canterlot. They could fight against them.

The streets were littered with dead bodies. Most of the buildings were either destroyed and burning. Few buildings still stood in one piece. Then it started to rain. She looked up and saw pegasis engaged with the machines. One of them apparently suffered a malfunction, explosion ripping through it's outer hull. It fell from the sky, landing somewhere outside the town. That was good. It was the last one. Pegasis now had the air superiority. The invaders had nowhere to go.

She saw the barricades set in middle of the street and ran for it. Just in time too, as another squad of invaders appear and started shooting them. Twilight cast a shield, but she was exhausted. The battle had gone for several hours by now and her magic was gone. The shield popped out of the existence after the first hit.

“Sorry... I can't do it...”

“It's okay Miss Sparkle, we take it from here.” Unicorn guards raised their spears and threw them at the attackers. They didn't manage to hit anyone, but at least it made them more cautious. She saw Zecora trying to heal a soldier.

“Zecora, what are you doing here?”

“Help is that these ponies need, why should I hide when they bleed?” She answered. It was a small wonder how she kept rhyming even under these conditions.

“Look, it's not safe here! The local medical tent could use your help, however.” All too familiar THUD-THUD-THUD warned Twilight what was going on. It was one of the metal golems these invaders used. Guards tried to run away. They would need help taking that thing out. More than just spears were needed. They would need to have pegasis to take out its cannon on its back and topple it down. Only then they could start tearing it apart and take out its controller.

However, it would only happen if they survived. The golem open fired with its magic, ripping the guards in to pieces. Twilight and Zecora sought refuge in a nearby house. One good thing about buildings being largely destroyed was that holes in the wall allowed or quick getaways. The two ran as fast as they could.

“We need to join up with the main force! These invaders are stranded. Their last machine is gone!”

“Then hurry we must and in Princesses we trust!” However, she didn't get further than that. Something hit her in her throat. A guard who had ran with them shouted.

“SNIPER! Get in a cover Miss Sparkle!” The guard was hit in the stomach. Then again. Twilight screamed and the guard fell down, bile and blood oozing out of the hole in his stomach. She grabbed Zecora with her magic and dragged her inside a building. She closed the door and and pulled covers over the windows.

“Zecora! Please please please be alive! You have to live! Come on, it's just a flesh wound...”

“I fear... that my live is over... I can feel death drawing closer...” She said in strained voice. Her eyes seemed lack their former focus too.

“NononononononoNO! You will survive this! Come on, Fluttershy can help you! She is nearby! She had the medical equipment! Come on!” She once again grabbed Zecora in her magic and ran. She had to be fast. She couldn't let Zecora die here! She ran through the burning town, not caring about the invaders who tried to shoot her or guards who called for her help. Eventually, she saw Fluttershy and the medical tent.

“SHY! You need to help her! She... she...”

“Oh no... quick, take her in the bed over there. I will just take what I need and be there!” Twilight nodded and laid Zecora, who was coughing up blood, down on the bed. This was bad. Bloody coughs mean that the blood had reached her lungs, perhaps even her lungs were damaged too. “Please, you got to help her!”

“I will try, but... she is in bad shape. I know you don't want to but... you need to go outside, I need room to work with.” Fluttershy said. Twilight wanted to argue, but agreed anyway. She could not do much at the moment and Fluttershy was much better at this than she was. She could go outside and see the situation.

It was not good. Thousands upon thousands were dead. More were wounded and the invaders kept pushing forward. If they hadn't found out where they came from, they would have just steamrolled over Ponyville. Now ponies were fighting for a chance to fight back. If they lost here, these invaders would have a straight line towards Canterlot. They could not allow it.

Explosion ripped a nearby wall open. Three metal golems walked out of it. Twilight screamed in horror.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” Twilight screamed and woke up. She was laying on the ground.

“Urh... What is it... I had a wonderful dream...” Twilight looked around for the source of the voice. She was herself looking from a bed, grumpy for being awakened. Why was there a double in her bed? Why was she sleeping on the floor (with blanket and pillow and all but still, it was the floor)? Oh right, the portal...

“Nothing. Sorry. Just had a nightmare.” Twilight answered. The other one simply grunted and went back to sleep. She herself just turned to other side and started to think. Where had that nightmare come from? Was it even a nightmare? It felt more like a memory to her. Memory of an event she herself had never experienced. Had she accidentally witnessed something from other Twilight's memories? Or was it just dream?

Once again, she wished that she had never found that Faust cursed spell...

They were winning. Humans were falling back to their inner defenses. Pony and griffin forces were tearing them apart. Rainbow Dash even noted that they were running out of ammo. There was less and less concentrated fire and more and more lucky potshots taken, trying to slow down incoming tide out rather than repel it. They were finally going to win. For the first time, they would liberate a fallen city. This would be the turning point of the war. This would be where everything changes.

Then something hit the middle of the formation. Then another. And another. A total of ten times something hit the ground. A group of pegasis used their wings to remove the cloud of dust that had raised. It was their worst nightmare. Ten human mechanical walkers. Each one standing to their full height and turning towards the army. The massacre began. She looked up, to the sky where the machines had arrived.

“No... No! NO! NOT FAIR!” Human transports. They were flying across the battlefield, some of them heading to the human survivors, others... they were surrounding them. Air was onces again filled with metallic death. She ran back to command post, where others were waiting. In the sky, pegasis tried to engage the enemy reinforcements. Twilight was already shouting orders.

“Fall back! We need to fall back! We can't take this kind of pounding!”

“What?! We can't fall back now! We are so close to victory!” Rainbow Dash said. They could not fail, not now.

“Look around, Miss Dash. Our army is surrounded. Unless we retreat right now, we won't have an army tomorrow! We lost this battle, pure and simple. Damn those humans, if they hadn't send reinforcements now, we could have broken trough!” General Shining Armor said. “We need our army to fight in the future!”

“But we are so close! Just a little bit more!”

“Dash, we can't. Guards are dying there. Griffins are tired. Everyone is. Now they got fresh troops with heavy support.” Fluttershy said.

“We broke through only after we took down their walkers. Without them, humans are much more easier to deal with. Right now, they got a battalion worth of damn things. More transports are arriving every single moment. We need to pull back NOW!”Applejack shouted. Rainbow Dash wanted to argue, but she couldn't. They were losing. Their momentum was gone. If they allowed this retreat to become a rout, it would be the end of Equestria.

“Fine. I will inform the pegasis.”

“I will come too. You can't contact all of them fast enough.” Fluttershy said, even if she was shaking from fear. The little yellow pegasus way out of her element in the battlefield.

“Are sure, it's-”

KA-BOOM

Another explosion rocked the ground. Humans were advancing in numbers from the front. Signs of a rout were starting to appear. Troops abandoning their positions. Cries of 'run for your live' could be heard. It was going to turn in to a disaster.

“Fine, let's move.” Rainbow Dash said. Both took to the skies, quickly informing everyone they could. Griffin flew next to them.

“What are our orders!? We are getting slaughtered here!” The griffin shouted.

“We are to fall back! We can't beat them, not like this. Fall back in order, do not allow it to fall into chaos!”

“Yes Sir, we-” Griffins head exploded showering Dash in blood. What was with humans and their insane tendency to aim at the head!? It made no sense! Then again, it was good in sense that head provided a smaller target for them to aim, which mean more misses.

Rainbow Dash took quick look down. One the mechanical walkers was adjusting it's aim at her. She quickly took several quick turns to throw it's aim off. It's aim was still on her. Then there was the characteristic BRAKA. Time seemed to slow down, she could see the bullet approaching her. She pulled herself around and up, barely missing her. Damn right she was awesome. Nobody else could avoid those things, but she? She was just that damn awesome.

CRUNCH

She turned around. Fluttershy was barely flying. Her left hind leg dangled on a small piece of flesh, before snapping and dropping down. Blood poured out.

“It’s... nothing...” Silent voice said.

Then Fluttershy lost consciousness and fell down.

“FLUTTERSHY!”

“FLUTTERSHY!” Rainbow Dash stood up. Where was she? Her home? Why was she on her coach? Why did the place look like someone else lived there? What was going on? What was that nightmare? No wait, the portal... Right, she was in alternative universe.

“Dash? What are you shouting?” Scootaloo came from her room. Her double had adopted Scootaloo after the war and now had build a new room for her. Scootaloo was starting to look like young mare, even having gotten her cutie mark. “Oh, it's you. What are you shouting about?”

“Nothing, nothing... sorry...”

“Nightmares?”

“No...”

“Hey, I live with your double. I know she too has nightmares from time to time. I know I still have. We all have them. Nothing to be ashamed of. Anyway, good night. Try to be little bit more quiet, okay?”

“Sure, good night.” Scootaloo returned to her room as Rainbow Dash laid back down. That had not been a good dream. It didn't even feel like a dream...

She walked across the former battlefield. The battle was over. They had won. The humans had been driven back. Then why did it feel like they had lost? The answer was simple. She looked around. Dead soldiers were everywhere. In the back of the tent, just another casualty of the war. This one more personal than the others. She would need to tell to Twilight when she would find her but for now, she just wanted to find a place to hide in. Someplace where she could pretend that this war didn't exist.

She couldn't save Zecora. The damage had been too extensive. Despite that, she had tried. Even when those golems had raised Tartarus outside, she had tried. Tried and allowed others to die. From the moment she had seen her, she had known Zecora wouldn't survive. Despite that, she had tried and had ignored those who could have been saved. It hadn't mattered at the moment, but now... she knew it was going to haunt her for rest of her life.

She walked along the main street. Buildings were largely destroyed. Thankfully pegasis had caused the rain to start, . Otherwise the town would have burned down. She didn't know where the fire had came from. It didn't matter. What mattered was that the town still stood. The library was missing it's top branches. It also had a hole on it's side. Still, it was still standing. Badly damanged, but standing. That was good.

So much death. So much destruction. For what? What did these strange creatures want? In a matter of months, they had destroyed the peace that had existed for thousands of years. Southern Equestria was still under their control. Even for this victory, The Princesses had to sacrifice Fillydelphia. Who knew what had happened there? Had the invaders burned that place too? Just like they burned everything on their way to Baltimare?

She decided to head for her shed. It was a familiar, comfortable place. Place where she could go and hide. Hide and forget the war. Angel would be waiting for her. Maybe she could help the animals there. Many of them must have gotten hurt too. Nobody else would look after them in this chaos. So she would do it. She couldn't face any more soldiers out there. Not after abandoning so many of them.

She arrived at her shed. It was nothing but a smoking ruins. The animals were huddled outside, seeking warmth from each others.

She broke down crying.

Fluttershy woke up with tears in her eyes. Next to her, her double was crying too. She didn't know why. If she was experiencing equally horrifying dream... even if it didn't feel like a dream... it was no wonder. She didn't know what to do. Twilight had not prepared them for anything like this. Then again, she had not expected that curious peek to other universes would turn out like this.

Fluttershy didn't like this universe. It had too much pain in it.

“INCOMING!” Explosion shook the ground. Applejack raiser her head ever so slightly, careful for snipers. Humans were attacking once again. After Los Pegasus had fallen, the Griffin Kingdoms had joined the war. She wasn't particularly fond of griffins, but at the moment she was glad they were on their side. Humans were trying to break through the Ghastly Gorge Defense Line. They had been content with just sitting on their side, but after Los Pegasus they had decided they needed even more territory. Equestria was not going to give it to them.

“All troops, rally on me!” The new captain shouted. She had never seen this one before, a blue unicorn. She seemed kinda agitated around her. She had tried to have a good look at her before the battle started, but she had avoided her. Still, it didn't matter. Troops were loyal to a fault to her and were holding the line. The arrows and crossbows provided by griffins were making human advance slow, at least when their walkers weren't attacking. Entire squadrons were lost to those things before they were taken down. They had gotten smart. Their foot soldiers covered the air for the walkers, while the walkers took care of the ground forces.

Another explosion. The constant dull sound of human weapons. She didn't know which one was worse: the noise or the fact that she had gotten used to it. She herself was currently helping by taking arrows and other supplies around the trenches. Trenches, another new tactics that had never been considered before this war. There had never been need for them. Castle walls had been enough. Now, castle walls were like giant “SHOOT ME!” signs. The humans had no problems with just blowing the apart.

More explosions. Humans just loved their damn explosions, didn’t they? She had once thought that fights between unicorns were flashy and destructive. Now she knew that those fights were nothing compared to full scale human assault. At least she hoped that what they were expe

“Has anyone seen the captain!? I can't find her!” Someone shouted. Well, she had been a good mare and captain. Probably was currently plastered all over the battlefield by now. She saw Big Macintosh running towards her.

“We need to get the wounded away right now. Can you take care of that?” Applejack asked him.

“Yeeup.” Another explosion, this one much closer. Guards were nearly panicking.

“Damn it, I just hope we can hold it. They are determined bastards. With out griffins helping we would have been defeated already.”

“Yeeup.”

“Okay, let's get...” Applejack started. Big Mac's eyes turned into pin pricks and he kicked her away. Explosion shook the ground near where she had been. “BIG MAC!” She saw him lying nearby, blood flowing from his wounds. “Nonono... Come on, let's get you out of here!” She took him on her back and rushed to medical tents. They imminently started to work on him. She herself returned back to front line to bring more supplies. Battle was going badly. They would need all the help they could get. She would be only in way if she remained near her brother. Then, a miracle.

“It's the captain!” Indeed, it was the new captain. Rushing out of nearby forest, hitting the side of human group. Behind of her, a group of humans pursued her. Humans were taken by a surprise and soon found themselves under friendly fire and in middle of a magical storm. She had taken out human flanking squad, all by herself? Damn, they needed more captains like that.

“FOR THE CAPTAIN! FOR EQUESTRIA!”

“FOR THE HIGH KING!”

Numerous war cries were heard as ponies and griffins charged in a counter-attack. The humans, disoriented by sudden collapse of their flank, were quickly beaten. The human commander apparently decided to cut his losses and ordered a retreat. Humans fell back, fighting for every inch of land and before finally returning to their encampment. Ponies and griffins cut their chase. It was one thing to chase the enemy. Charging against their fortifications was a suicide. The battle was over. They had won.

She returned to the medical tent. Now that she didn't have anything else, she needed to know about her brother. Dealing with wounds caused by humans was relatively new field of medicine. Problem was getting the projectiles out without causing any more damage.

“Please, is my brother OK? Big Macintosh?” She asked the doctor she had left him with.

“Yes, to certain degree... however... his brains show no sign of activity. His brains suffered major damage. I can't promise he will wake up.” Doctor said in tired voice, before returning to other patients.

Applejack stood alone. Big Mac was... gone?

Applejack woke up with a jolt. So that how it had happened... she had questioned her double when she had been given Big Macs old room. She had admitted that Big Mac had fallen into a coma during the war and hadn't woken up. She had not doubts whenever or not it had been a dream. No way she could imagine something like that. It felt too real, too detailed.

She prayed for her double. Nobody deserved a life like this.

It had been quiet recently. Even since The Prisoner Gambit had began, humans had quieted down. Not that she complained, less humans were focusing on burning Equestria down, the better. She was on a trip to raise morale of troops. The unit she was currently visiting was stationed near Fillydelphia. They had managed to take back the countryside, but the city proper still remained under human control.

There were also occasional raiding parties, from both sides actually. It was important for ponies to keep humans tied up in Fillydelphia city, to make sure that griffins had straight access to Equestria. Griffins took slightly longer route through the ruins of Manehattan. Humans, on other hand, tried to find a weak spot, someplace where they could breach through and continue their advance.

“Raiders! All troops to battle stations!” An alarm. Just her luck, she had just arrived at the place and humans would attack now!

“Keep close us miss Rarity, we will keep you safe.” One of the guards said. She had no intentions of getting in their way. Only thing that came from fighting humans was death. That's why The Prisoner Gambit was going on. It was hoped that humans would prefer peace over a genocide. Once again, all to familiar dull DAKKA-DAKKA-DAKKA started. She managed to get a glimpse of the human force. All infantry, no support. This was just testing them, not a serious attack. It would be beaten back soon.

THUNK

That was not a good sound.

“GRENADE!” Someone shouted. She couldn't ignore that. How did she do the spell again? The one Twilight used occasionally to shield others from explosions? She turned around to see where to cast it, only see the grenade flying towards her. She only had few seconds be-

BOOM

Pain. That was the world was. Pain. Not colors, not shapes, not sounds. Everything hurt. Just unending pain. Pain on her face. She felt something warm drip down. It hurt. She couldn't see. It hurt. Everything hurt. She wanted to scream. It hurt. Somewhere in distance she could hear distant voices shouting. It hurt. She felt herself lose balance. It hurt. She felt herself lose consciousness. It hurt.

The world dissolved into pain.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Rarity jumped up from her bed. She quickly tried her face, everything was normal. Then she turned to a mirror. Nothing was wrong with her face. It had been a dream. Just a horrible dream...

“What was it!? Who's there!?” Came a voice next to her. She looked down and saw her double. Oh, right, she had been transported to another world. She had agreed to share a bed with her double. A world where her double... had scars... and was blind...

“Nothing, sorry, I had a bad dream...”

“Oh? I am sorry to hear that darling. I just had a wonderful dream. I dreamed that my designs had been featured in an international fashion magazine!” Her double gaze a happy smile.

“Yeah, that sounds wonderful. Let's get back to sleep?”

“Sure, right...” Her double said and returned to sleep.

In her own universe, her designs had gotten into an international fashion magazine. If she had seen glimpse of her own memories... had she just experienced the event that made her blind?

Pinkie Pie #1 stared at the other Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie #2 looked every ashamed, her mane looking nothing like it did normally. She had just seen a dream, a dream she knew that was actually a memory. A memory she had not wanted to see.

“Why?” Pinkie Pie #1 asked.

“...”

“Pinkamena Diane Pie. Please tell me. Why?” She couldn't believe she was doing this. Questioning her own double.

“It... just happened. I didn’t want to. I didn’t mean to....” Her double fidgeted, not daring to raise her head.

“I can't believe this... Do the others know?”

“I hid the evidence. I hoped they would never find out. It was a chaos. Nobody would notice. I was so ashamed. I didn't think. I was scared.”

“You understand that what you did was horrible? Right?” This discussion was not something she had expected to hold when she had come to this strange new universe.

“Yes. Everyday I live with that knowledge and try to make up for it. Maybe... maybe when I die, I have done enough to repent... Until then, I just keep trying.” Pinkie Pie #2 said quietly and started to cry. Pinkie #1 just shook her head. Not what she had expected. This version of her, even if on outside was cheery like she was... she just as broken as everyone else. She hugged the sobbing form of her double.

She didn't like this universe.

Welcome to Equestria

Proof reader/Editor: Biker_Dash

“So what do you say?” Discord said with a smile.

“Let me get this right. You want us, Tribe Broken Stone, members of The Diamond Dog Protectorate, to help you to break down the only thing keeping humans alive in this world, in exchange of turning an entire mountain into a diamond for us?” The leader of diamond dogs said.

“Yup. Sounds like a good deal, doesn't it?”

“... KILL HIM!” The leader shouted in anger.

“Wait what?” Discord just as diamond dogs opened fire. The room was filled with loud road as the guards tried to take down whoever had pissed of their tribe leader. They weren't match for him, but it was still a surprise. He had expected diamond dogs to be eager to jump in on the chance. However, that had turned out to be wrong. Thankfully he had been smart enough to soundproof the area before entering. Bodies wouldn't be found before tomorrow morning, so he would have time to act.

After a hasty escape trough abandoned tunnels, he sat down to think. Okay, it appeared that this world didn't work the same way as his did. These... humans, they were the top dogs, so to speak. They were an unknown factor for him. He needed to learn more before he could formulate a plan. He also needed to be more careful. He had taken care of everyone who had seen him, but he couldn't go around killing everyone. It would raise too much suspicion.

He flew to one of the pony settlements. He also noted that in this universe, ponies invested A LOT more in military. He saw several military camps dotting the landscape. More you went towards humans, more numerous they became. Another thing he noted was the number of smaller castles. Their design was different too. Their walls weren't high and were sloped. They wouldn't hold against determined attack like he knew, but he suspected that they weren't designed for such attack. For some reason, ponies in world felt... dangerous, for a lack of better word. As if they were just waiting for a reason to beat the living daylight out of you.

He didn't know if he should be pleased or not for this development. On the other hand, it created so much potential for chaos. On the other hand... He had already been on the receiving end of this world's militaries. First ponies, who had somehow managed to punch him several times, before he grew tired of playing with them and turned them into statues made out of chocolate. Those armors really were something different. He missed the old look. The old golden armor had style in it. A full-body armor with claws was something he had not expected when he had visited that fort.

Then there were those humans... What did they use for their weapons? Normally any weapon would just bounce off his hide, but human made weapon broke right through. At least they had not recognized him, simply shouted “DEMON!” and started shooting him. Still, the amount of projectiles in the air had been staggering. In the hindsight, trying to fly over Everfree Forest had been a bad idea. It had lead him directly over a human military outpost.

And now diamond dogs. They wore similar armors and weapons as humans. Maybe that was the link? But how? Had they stolen the armors? Didn't make sense when he compared it to what he knew of diamond dogs. Furthermore, they had referred themselves as “The Diamond Dog Protectorate”... There was no such entity in his world. How much had the appearance of these... humans... changed the world? It had same basic elements, but it looked like someone had put it through a bad military fiction.

Quick tour allowed him to locate a small bookshop. A quick break in later he was holding a book which apparently detailed the history. After reading it, he understood why his plan failed. Diamond dogs, or tribes that had joined DDP to be more precise, were allied to humans. The field he was planning to break down was only thing allowing humans to live on the surface. Trying to break it down would be an act of war.

Then there were several other interesting things. Like how humans had nearly wiped out Equestria. That explained the amount of chaos energies in the land. Such level of death, destruction and general chaos of war was not going to disperse easily, unless actively countered by Magic of Harmony, the same one that came from The Sun and was deflected by the moon. The Anti-Magic field preserved the chaos magic, allowing it to linger.

However, he could not alone crack the spell. For one thing, it would take time and concentration. If he would simply fly there and start breaking down the spell, ponies and humans would crash down on him like a hammer of Faust. Tribes that made up The Diamond Dog Protectorate wouldn't join him, that was clear. In fact, they would join in the assault against him.

However, there were tribes that had refused to join The DDP. Then there were always other creatures too. It was clear to him. Even if it went against his nature... he needed to organize forces of chaos. They rarely worked together. He needed each and everyone to defeat the forces that would be thrown at him. Oh, but the power! True, unending power! Sure, he was already called a God of Chaos... but in truth, he was closer to a powerful demigod. With the chaos energy he could soak up from those ancient battlefields... He become a true god!

If he needed to work together with some rabble for a short while, it would be worth it.

“How was your night? Had anymore nightmares?” Alternative!Twilight said as her visitor walked down from the bathroom.

“Yeah... It was the only one.”

“So what did you dream off?”

“I'm... not sure... I was in Ponyville and these creatures were attacking it. I saw Zecora, she got hurt pretty badly but I left her in care of Fluttershy, then three...”

“ACES suits smashed through the wall and started to kill everyone. Dash managed to take them down by using sonic rainboom on them.”

“So it was a memory then... did Zecora, is she okay?”

“...No. The damage was too great.” Silence fell between two ponies. Eventually the other Twilight continued. “Look... I... I wanted to say sorry... for yesterday... I know I wasn't the nicest pony around. I just... You can go back to them, whenever you want. I... I've seen so many of my friends and family members to die. Applejack has it even worse. Their southern branch was nearly completely destroyed. Eastern branch... yeah...”

“I read the book to the end. Humans... I can't understand how they could do such a horrible things, even if their own survival depended on it. Why couldn't they just come down and talk.”

“I can understand them. They can't stand magic. Not unless it's Luna's magic. Even then, even the weakest spells cause them to feel ill. Even simple teleportation spell causes them to throw out. Anything else, even natural magic... it causes them to suffer a painful death. They didn't see any alternative. They knew that direct attack wouldn't help. They would need to completely defeat us. They also knew that it would take time. They needed the food. The only alternative was to get in and raid the stockpiles and then try to process it in a form they could consume. So they tried to kill the magic.”

“Then why invade? If they got targets, why not just attack directly?”

“They did. Both times they failed. First the asteroid, then the raid. In both cases, the goal was to kill the Princesses.” She shook her head. “We should be glad they wanted to invade, not to destroy. I have seen what they can do. As long as humans are content... we are safe.”

“You really fear them, don't you? Fear that they might try again?”

“Of course I do! I would be a FOOL not to! They have the power to completely destroy the planet, should they want so! Only reason we are here is that they WANT this planet to exist. Because they NEED it to exist. We would be NOTHING but a footnote in their history!”

“Calm down, I... I... I didn't mean to insult!” Twilight panicked. She had really screwed up. Eventually the other Twilight calmed down.

“I know... it's just... you can't understand what it's like. I saw how they fought the war. You probably saw it too in that dream of yours. That battle... that was our victory. Costly victory, but much needed one. During The War, the battles we won could be counted by your hooves. What little we won, were hard fought. Then there was The Lunar Crisis...”

“Want to tell me about it?”

“... I guess I should. Guess I want to. To talk to someone. We screwed up.”

“What do you mean?”

“We didn't see them coming. We were too blinded, blinded by our fear of humans. We didn't see the threat inside. Group of radicals managed to smuggle themselves into human capital and steal a weapon of mass destruction. I was there, as an assistant to Princess Luna, who was conducting a state visit. We joined the humans in attempt to stop them. We failed... I saw it by my own eyes. An entire city's worth of people... vaporized, not even a trace left of them... We screwed up so badly... And the Princess... she almost died... if it hadn't been for human medical skills... even then...” During her talk, she grown quieter and quieter, until her voice was mere whisper.

“But she is alive, right? That's what matters.”

“... Yeah, I guess. She should return in a day or two. She is visiting humans right now, taking care of few diplomatic knots. Nothing major, thankfully, but still. We rather keep our relations with humans free of problems, rather than sweep them under rug.”

“So... what now?”

“Not much. We wait until Discord reveals himself or we find him. No doubt they put Trixie in charge of finding him. I swear, that mare... once she stops being an idiot and starts to actually work on something, she does really good job.”

“Can't believe Trixie is decorated war hero... as far as I know, she is still a cheap showmare...”

“Heh, we didn't believe it at first either. Great and Powerful Trixie, The Hero of Equestria! Then again... it's name given to her, not something she claims anymore. I suggest you don' try to piss her off. It's not her you need to fear, it's the troops loyal to her. If she would one day declare she would rebel, the troops would follow her. I don't know how she does it, but somehow she has created a strong bond between herself and troops. Might be her origins and command style.”

“Oh?”

“You see, most of the officers are originally nobles. They also tend to just sit back and watch their troops fight. Trixie, well, you know what she is. Then there is the fact that she is in front of her troops, not behind.”

“Sounds totally different mare I know.”

“Yup. That's why we didn't believe it first. However, we managed to talk to her once. She admired being scared to death, but... More than fearing death, she fears letting down those who trust her. Apparently she has only few people who she would call friends. So when she is suddenly looked upon by hundreds, she feels she needs to at least do something to earn such trust. If they are ready to follow her to hell and back, she can't just ditch them. At least, that's what she told us.”

“So, if we can't do anything yet, then what shall we do today?”

“Investigate how to get you back to your world and meet with local players. No doubt that Princess has already sent a word to the DDP.”

“The DDP?”

“The Diamond Dog Protectorate, the largest collection of diamond dog tribes. You remember those three dogs, what's their names... Rover, Fido and... Spats? No, Spots. Their people got in contact with humans and somehow those two managed to pull a deal. Apparently diamond dogs have similar, internal anti-magic field which makes them ideal partners to humans. So with help of humans, they formed The Diamond Dog Protectorate, a collection of total twenty-two tribes that answer to single central government. It was a quite surprise to us.” Then her expression darkened as the memories surfaced once again. “Quite... a surprise...”

The other Twilight, now knowing what had happened, decided she needed to take this conversation far away from the subject. She might have known this Twilight for a day only, but she had already realized that she was depression prone had some serious issues she refused to deal with. She didn't dare to suggest that her double should go and meet a therapist. Last nights rejection of such offer had been quite clear indication of her opinion of the matter.

“Why don't you show me around, actually?”

“Hmm... Why not? I heard that an independent trader is visiting the town today, they always bring something interesting. We could see what they got for today.”

“Right, we could ask... where's Spike, by the way? I haven't seen today?”

“Left already, he helps Rarity with the shop.”

“Right, so... he and Rarity... they actually?”

“Well... it's complicated. Spike has grown up and no longer has a silly crush on her. However... about three years ago, he suddenly asked her on a date. Since then they have gone on such 'dates' regularly. I am not exactly sure is it true love, or Spike just really caring about her. She had been far more... warm with him too. ” Then she froze up “Oh Celestia damn it... now I remember it...”

“Remember what?”

“Let's just say that the time I had chosen to visit Rarity once was... very bad time. Brrrrrr...” She shook her head. “I never want to see it again. By Tartarus, I didn't know Rarity was into such things!”

At this point, other Twilight finally caught up what the other one had seen and turned red.

“No. Nononononono. I DON'T want that mental image, thank you. Shut up. Right now. We will never speak of this again.”

“Deal!” Both sighed and did their best to repress the images trying to break into their mind. “So, let's visit the market. We might see others there too. We can't do much until Discord reveals himself anyway. Last time we beat him he got careless. Had he caught up with our plan earlier instead of just standing there we would have had much bigger fight in our hands.” She laid out some breakfast on the table before resuming. “By the way, if we are heading out, we need to disguise you. No doubt there would a lot of questions of why there are two Twilights out there.”

“I think I got something... Let's see...” Magic engulfed Original!Twilight, lifting her slightly off air. Few seconds later, she had turned into brown unicorn, with a cutie mark resembling an open book.

“... Can I ask you why you turned into a stallion?” She really hoped this wasn't some sort of subconscious thing.

“What?” Twilight took a quick peek between her legs. “EEEP!” A little bit of magic later and she was back to mare. “Okay, clearly my magic doesn't work well in this world...”

“You don't say...”

The two headed out to see what the traders would have to sell. Ponyville was different for the other Twilight. She noticed that there were guards at several locations, something that was rare sight in her world. Then there was the structural design. Most building were built from rock now. Some even had steel supports. At least they were still colored in bright colors.

The market place was busy, with ponies moving everywhere and doing business. The air was filled with shouts and marketing pitches. She saw several items she had never seen before as well as some strange foods. In distance they saw two Pinkie Pies, another one wearing a “clever” disguise of having simple cut out mask over head head. With her smiling face on it. The salespony was pointedly not trying to even think about it and simply hoping two would disappear.

“So what you? Ooh, please tell me you got those funny human drinks again! They taste so good! I wonder why I hadn't thought of them earlier!”

“Well... uhh... yeah. I got some sodas and such. Oh, and I got this new one, called 'Energy Drink'. It's said to be very energizing.”

“Oooh! I wanna try! I wanna try!” Pinkie Pie wearing the mask said.

“Uuh.. sure.. I guess it's OK. Here you go.”

“Thanks mister!” As soon as she was about to take a sip, she got tackled down by cyan pegasus.

“NO! BAD PINKIE! NO DRINKING ENERGY DRINKS!” Rainbow Dash shouted at her.

“What? Why not? Why did you have to tackle me?”

“Because if you are anything like your double here.... let's just say there is a reason why we don't allow you to drink it.” Twilight supplies as two arrived at the scene.

“I still have nightmares about it. So much pink...” Rainbow Dash supplied.

“Uhh, can you explain?” Disguised Twilight asked. However, a drink called “an energy drink” and Pinkie Pie gave her a pretty good guess.

“Look, you know how Pinkie is when she is hyped up coffee?” Twilight said.

“Yeeees....?”

“Now imagine that she just drank entire supply towns worth of coffee and all the sweets in the town.” Rainbow Dash answered.

“... Pinkie, never, ever, drink an energy drink. Understand?”

“Oookay, if you say so.” Pinkie Pie said as the pegasus stood off from her. She rose up and quickly adjusted her mask before bouncing after her double. Or at least everyone thought so. They weren't quite sure which one was the native Pinkie and which one was the visiting Pinkie Pie.

“So. Where's your double?” Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash.

“How do you know it's your Rainbow Dash?”

“She knows what happens if we let Pinkie Pie drink that drink.”

“Oh right.”

“My double? She went to see Applejacks.” Rainbow Dash said. “I decided to come and pick up some extra food. I also saw Rarity and Spike visiting the gem seller. They were arguing about whenever or not Spike had been checking the flank of the other Rarity.” Twilight facehooved at this.

“How could she even tell?”

“How can she keep that shop running?”

“Ditto.”

“I know you were checking her flank out.”

“I wasn't! I swear! Why would I check her out when *gulp*” Spike slapped his hands over his mouth before he dug himself deeper.

“So you've been checking me out?”

“No! I mean maybe, I mean...” Then he noticed the grin on Rarity's face. “Do you always need to tease me?”

“Oh, but your voice turns so cute! How could I resist? Anyway, we need to check those gems while my double makes final adjustments on that dress. You got the list of their requirements?”

“Yup, and I got the new tools too. They are more accurate, so I can give you better details.” One of well kept secrets was, that instead of acting based on the look of the dress, Rarity's work had turned into mathematics, precise calculations on how light reflected and such. She also ran ideas through Sweetie Belle and Spike, often relying on their opinions.

Sweetie Belle had finally started to design her own dresses which, while not the most spectacular, were still well liked among the new middle class. They lacked the style that nobles wanted, but they had enough style and low enough price tag to be popular among business ponies. Turns out she is a very good with designs, having a dress blueprint and needle as her cutie mark.

“Anyway, I need to head out. Scoots is going to bring the others for a visit today and I need to cook up food for five ponies. See ya later. Keep me informed if something happens, OK?”

“Sure.” The cyan pegasus left two unicorns alone. “She really has changed since adopting Scootaloo. For a one thing, her cooking has gotten much better.”

“Can't imagine Rainbow Dash as a parent.”

“Imagine our faces when we found out.” The two of them toured the market place for a while, with native Twilight showing new products available, mainly mechanical in nature. Radios, headsets, PDA's. In short, human electronics, that allowed earth ponies to do things that only unicorns had been able so far, had become popular. Especially communication systems. At one corner, they encountered a pony holding a passionate speech.

“Oh crud...” Twilight said.

“What is it?” Twilight in disguise asked. It didn't seem like it was a show, like Trixie's show or the show that Flim and Flam had put up.

“These guys. The Anti-Human groups love to hold their little speeches whenever they can. We can't really stop them, since they have the right for an opinion, but they tend to be annoying.”

“How can we feel safe when humans encroach upon our lands?” A black pegasus spoke in front of a crowd that had gathered to listen. “How long will it take, before we lose our right to our own homes? Humans, they are nothing but warmongers, enjoying death and destruction! They are followers of Discord! They will not be satisfied unless they have the entirety of Equestria. As such, we should join together and appeal to the Princesses to drive out these monsters! Even our dear Princess Luna, who suffered greatly thanks to the human weapons, would surely support...”

“Support what?” A voice answered at the back of the crowd. Everyone turned around to see Princess Luna walking towards the speaker. Crowd parted to give her way and tried not to stare the wounds that now dotted her once pristine body. “Support another war? Support more death? You dare to claim that I would send our sons and daughters to die? Let me ask you, were you at the front lines during the war?”

“I was a captain of Royal Guard. I was stationed at Cloudsdale most of the war.”

“So you were in somewhere safe. Did you ever see how humans fight? Did you ever understand how costly our victories were? Did you see your loves ones, see your friends charge in a futile attempt to slow down human advance? You stand here, speaking of war when you have not really seen one. You dare to stand here and call upon these ponies to send their sons and daughters into pits of Tartarus, to fuel your own ambitions!” Luna shouted in anger. After The Lunar Crisis, numerous Anti-Human groups had tried to use her as a rallying point. However, she herself was more than ever opposed to any sort of hostilities against humans.

“But... but your Highness, you have seen the strength of their weapons yourself! How great damage they could cause! They even turn upon themselves when they lack an enemy to fight. How can we trust this peace to hold?” The speaker was clearly panicking. His rhetoric lost most of it's power when Princess Luna, upon whose name he had based his speech, verbally bitch slapped him.

“You mean The Lunar Crisis? You mean the events that caused me lose my wings? Do I need to remind you, that it was ponies who sought to acquire the weapon that was used? A weapon, that mankind had deemed too dangerous to ever to be used and locked away? I stood there, right besides the humans, who sought to prevent said weapon from being used, to prevent a new war! I saw them die, just to make sure that the weapon would never be used. Do not dare to call upon my name to support this war. I will oppose it to my last breath.” With that, Luna turned away. “You do have the right to have your opinion, but do not call upon my name. The humans do not want a war. How can we, ponies, ever claim moral superiority if we are the ones who are ready to go in war?” She said and walked away. She noticed Twilight and walked to her.

“Oh, Twilight Sparkle, I'm glad I was able to find you. I need to talk to you. Something urgent has appeared and I need to warn you. Let us return to the library to discuss the matter.” She took a quick glance at the disguised Twilight. “Your 'friend' may join us, if she wishes.”

“Sure, just follow me.”

Other Twilight was barely listening, simply staring at this worlds version of Luna. She was missing one of her wings, with other one being half gone. A scar ran across her face, with one eye clearly blinded. She couldn't believe that something could cause such wounds on an alicorn. Then there was her leg... She couldn't place it but something felt wrong about it. Eventually she broke free of her stupor and followed two. After they arrived at the library, Luna turned to her.

“You can now drop the disguise, Twilight. I already know who you are and why you are here. Also, that spell needs work since it doesn't hide your magical signature.” She said with a smirk.

“Okay...” She dropped the spell, reverting her to her real form. It was a slight surprise that Princess could see through the disguise. However, on the other hoof, she was an alicorn. She was much better with magic than she was.

“Right now... we have a problem.” The Princess said with serious expression. “Discord has already made a move, even if we do not understand what he seeks achieve with this one. About half a hour ago, DDP informed that one of their leaders, Diggie, had been found dead. Nobody is sure who did it, but our money is on Discord. DDP has not made any official statement yet, but they have informed us that they don't think it was ponies or anyone else. For starters, whoever did this attack took out Diggie's personal guard.”

“So we got him how?”

“No. He escaped rather quickly and we do not know what he was planning. However, my sister thinks he was trying recruit them.”

“Recruit?”

“Yes. The humans near Everfree Forest reported that they saw 'a demon' appear from the forest before it fled. He also took out one of our outposts. He must have found something in human lands and needs muscles to shield him for something.”

“That doesn't sound good...” The other Twilight said. Discord with allies was not a nice thought.

“Indeed. That's why Tia is going to try and pull a temporal alliance between us, Griffin Kingdoms, Zebra Union, the Refuge and the DDP. This 'Alliance of five powers' should be enough to defeat anything Discord could throw at us.”

“The Refuge?”

“The Human Refuge, it's the name of their 'nation'. Apparently they plan to reform themselves into 'Terran Union', but that is still into future. Right now, they are called The Human Refuge, name they recognize as 'appropriate'.” Native Twilight answered, going trough some of her scrolls. “I think I got it somewhere here... my copy of 'The Declaration Of The State Of Emergency' they have. Basically what gives their government it's legitimacy. I do have one on my PDA, but it's currently being charged up.”

“I came here to warn you of this sudden development. Since then, we have had no new information. No sudden rains of chocolate or anything. He seems to have gone 'underground', like humans say.”

“You've been using human sayings a lot more often lately, Princess. You're sure you're not half-human?” Twilight asked with humor in her voice.

“As humans say, 'Har-de-har-har'. No, I'm quite sure. However, you know that I have spent much more time with them. Tia always has trouble when she visits them, so it's better I take care of them.” Luna said with a smile. “Now I need to go. They will need me at Canterlot.”

A flash and she was gone. Native Twilight sat down thinking, trying to figure out what Discord was planning. Other one tried to process all the information that had been thrown around. They might not mean it, but they gave her constant glimpses of how the world was. So far she had deduced one thing that put her mind at ease: ponies and humans were both dedicated to peace. That was good. Second one was that politics were a lot more common in this world. In her world, most nations were quite isolationist, with little to no dealings with each other.

“Life is quite complicated, huh?”

“Indeed. Every move needs to be done against a certain framework, to determine what other might think. Still... Discord killing the one of the leaders of DDP. That can't be good.”

“I wonder what he's up to...”

“Probably causing chaos in some far away place, gathering energy.”

“Yeah... right... Oh, what was that thing earlier? That pony crying for actions against humans and Princess verbally beating him down?”

“Some fools think that Princess Luna holds resentment towards humans, only because she lost her wings, an eye and a leg to their weapon. They never remember who used the weapon. I was there, I saw the desperation that humans had to prevent the apocalypse. It is already a small miracle that the Princess survived. I saw her quickly before I was forced to return. It was horrible...”

“Wait... you said missing a leg? But....”

“One of her legs is artificial, made by humans as a replacement. Humans have limited cloning facilities. They couldn't give a cloned leg, because standard human cloned flesh suffers from same weakness to magic as humans do, even if it is cloned from a pony. Lately, they have had limited success, but not much.” Twilight said. Other one simply put her hooves over her mouth.

“By Goddesses...”

“Still... she is probably only pony who has humanity's full respect. I can't prove anything and I don't have any evidence, but I think those two, Princess Luna and the humans, share something nobody else does. I mean, her magic is the only magic that doesn't cause humans to melt into puddle of goo.” Twilight shook her head in disgust. “It's... a horrible fate. I feel sorry for them, to be so... I don't know. We take magic for granted, something to use. To them, it's the worst thing in the world. And it's everywhere.”

“I can't believe their nature... furthermore their origins. Shifted from alternative reality, where magic is rare? Only to be exiled into the moon and only to return few years ago?”

“Sometimes reality is more fascinating than fiction.”

“Indeed.”

Dragons weren't the most chaotic race out there, but they were an enigma. They were also least concerned of other species, more interested in their own gain. Few dragons made pacts with others and they rarely formed larger groups, called “clans”. Still, despite all this, they were essentially one pony armies if you managed to convert them.

And there was the problem. He could try to hypnotize one, but the problem was trying to maintain the hypnosis. Like his experience with the Elements had taught him, trusting blindly in spells was sure way to be beaten. Hypnosis could be broken or it would wear off. Last thing he needed was a pissed off dragon wanting his head.

However... if he could convince them to join him voluntarily, he would have a powerful ally. Furthermore, with dragons backing him he would have easier time convincing others to join him. What's a more convincing argument than 'I have a clan of dragons supporting me'? If his memory served correct and this world had the same counterpart as in his, he should be seeing a nest of one clan he could convince to join him. in the mountains, he could see smoke rising from the caves, a sure sign that dragons inhabited these mountains. He flew inside one of them and was instantly greeted by a stare of five dragons. The biggest one, colored red, turned towards him.

“Well well well, what do we got here? A snack!” The dragon didn't get any further before being blasted by an energy bolt. Other dragons turned to strange red/yellow armored draconequus. Well, clearly the clan he had been looking had left the place, but he could work with this. Youngsters were much more easier to convince than the old ones.

“I am Discord, the Lord of Chaos. Now youngsters, I got a proposition for you.”

“Who are you calling youngsters? We are over one hundred years old!” A green dragon said.

“And I am over thousands of years old. Now shut up and sit down. Daddy Discord has a business proposition for you all.” Discord said, sitting down on a sofa that wasn't there five minutes ago. “You see, no doubt you have noticed distinct lack of free wealth recently. That's why you are here, because you are pooling your gold.”

“What do you want?” The big red one asked, standing up. He stared at the draconequus, who was now wearing a black suit and sunglasses.

“I want you to join me. We are going to raid the humans land and cause that pesky little field of theirs to collapse. From that point on, I can absorb all the chaos magic that has been sealed in the ground.”

“And what do we get from this? What's in it for you?”

“I get power. You get all the riches you can lay your hands on.” Discord said with an evil grin. Dragons gave a thought to this. On the one claw, humans were a threat. On the other claw, they had the greatest treasures thanks to their dealings with the diamond dogs. If what this draconequus said was true, they could get all the riches they ever wanted, possibly even a large amount of slaves to control.

“You see, I know why you decided to have a little... group session here.” Dicord said sitting on a therapist chair. “You once roamed these lands. You had nothing to be afraid of. Now, these humans, now they have the power to kill you. You're afraid of them. Afraid to go out and get treasures. Humans? They are just a begin. Soon everyone will have the weapons.” He suddenly held a briefcase. He opened it and it showed a moving picture where each dragon had huge amounts of treasures, with ponies and others brining more for protection. “What I offer you, is an alternative to that future. A future, where you rule.”

“Fine. I agree on this.” The other dragons nodded their agreement. “So what's the next step? How do you propose we break this field?” The dragon asked.

“It's simple.” Discord said, wearing a washed out clown paint mask. “We, uh, kill the humans.”

The First Citizen Korhal was not having a good day. At first, General Saral had declared DEFCON 4. After General Hunington had briefed him on reason why such one sided declaration, she had then gone and raised it to DEFCON 3! All he now needed was for general Caravel to raise it to DEFCON 2 and his day would be complete.

Not only were his generals going nuts, he also had reports from surface that weren't the most promising. Apparently some sort of spirit of chaos had escape. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but this creature was capable of single handedly beat both alicorn Princesses. There was no way of knowing how his army could deal with such creature.

The door opened and the three generals walked in.

“Generals.” He said standing up and saluting them.

“The First Citizen.” They answered with their own salute. Korhal decided to be mean and held his salute slightly longer than necessary. He knew that Saral’s arm was still sore from his unfortunate trip to a bar. He dropped his salute eventually, with three generals following the suit.

“Sit down. We have a defense plan to take care of.” All four sat down. Korhal gave each one a PDA with data on them. “As you can see, this... 'Discord' could prove to be the greatest threat to mankind since our exile here. I am heading down on the planet, to Canterlot in two days. I am to meet other leaders there and we are to discuss a possible military alliance. Your thoughts?”

“I say we stay out of such things. Humanity takes care of its own. Screw everyone else.” He had expected that one from General Caravel. Caravel was a supporter of isolationist policies, believing that the less humanity relied on others, the less problems it would have. However, he also made great deal pointing out this also meant that humans should not create problems for others.

“Then again, an alliance with other powers in the region could help to stabilize and normalize our relations with them. The less we need to fear them, the less we need to focus on wasting resources on defense.” General Saral provided.

“I agree with General Saral. The more non-human bodies we can throw at the enemies, the less we need to put our own boys in the line of fire.” Hunington said.

“That was not what I mean, General.”

“But it is true, isn't it?”

“Okay, pipe it down, both of you. Personally I am for this alliance, but I need to know how much commitment we can put into it? Go all in or just offer our men? Provide weapons and armors, or just sit back and help organize? This is what I need to know. How much we can offer and how much we should offer?” Korhal said. If others agreed to alliance, he would join it, but he wasn't going to blindly rush into one, promising more than they could offer.

The three Generals discussed between themselves for a moment, before turning to The First Citizen.

“I think we should offer simply logistic help and troops, but not equipment. Furthermore, we should stress that we look our own first. The more troops we need back home means less troops we can offer to anywhere else.” General Caravel said. Others nodded their agreement.

“So it's decided then?” One more round of nods. “Good. Get a transport and tell ambassador Fahrenheit that I need lodgings for my visit. Tell her also to make sure that everything is ready for prolonged talks. If their politics are anything like dealing with Districts, this might take few days.”

Preparing for future

(Authors Note: Please read the comment. In case you don't, I want to say I am NOT happy with this chapter, yet I can't find a way to write it better. So try to live with it, we return to planned writing in next chapter.)

Proof reader/Editor: Biker_Dash

“And that's what is going on currently. We might get called to Canterlot to explain the situation, so be prepared,” Twilight explained to gathered mares. After Princess Luna had visited them, she had called everyone together to inform them of the situation. “Also, we need to think better way of dealing with you all here. At this rate we will end up with entire town suspicious.”

“How about we create talismans for us? Something that changes our appearances when worn? That way we could move more freely,” The other Twilight suggested.

“Sounds good. Then we would just need to think up cover stories. Ideas?”

“I could be an old friend from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.”

“Well, I think I could pass mah double for a relative who lost her farm,” Applejack said. The other one gave a sharp look at her, but nodded. She didn't like how convincing such lie would be or that she would need to lie at all. “Don't look so glum, we ain't techni... te... directly lying. You're me, so ya are in certain sense mah relative. You don't have farm here, so ya have lost it! We just leave out the part where you are me.”

“Hmm, I could pretend to be someone who want to study making dresses. It would give me a good reason to help around shop,” Rarity said.

“Oh, that would be lovely! Maybe I could catch up with my backlog!” Her double answered. She had to cut down the number of orders a lot, since working on a dress took much longer than previously.

“Well, what I could pretend to be? I mean, I can't exactly pretend to be relative,” Rainbow Dash asked.

“How about a relative to Scootaloo? Visiting and staying for a while. It could also help dealing with Scoots friends,” Her double suggested.

“Okay, what if her real relatives come calling?” She asked. Other ones expression turned dark.

“Bastards never even sent a word... Not a single letter asking 'How are you?', not a single inquiry who I am. Sometimes I wonder if they even know Scoots is still alive.” Rainbow Dash winced at this. Her double took her responsibility as a parent very seriously. More seriously than she had expected.

“Ooh! I could be long lost relative who only recently found that...” Pinkie Pie started, before she was silenced by everyones (except her doubles) stare.

“No. Also, you are no longer allowed to watch The Barns of our Lives,” Applejack said. “You're just a normal relative who is visiting. End of discussion.” Last thing they needed was overly complex reasoning why there were two, way too similar Pinkie Pies running around.

“So that leaves Fluttershy. Ideas?” Twilight asked. Everyone tried to think for something.

“How about just someone who wants to study medicine and animals? Do we really need some overly complex story?” This worlds Rarity asked. Everyone gave a thought at this and nodded. “ I mean, we...”

“We agree on you, Rarity. That could be just enough reasoning.” Rainbow Dash said.

“Hmph. Next time make a sound. How I am supposed to know if you just keep silence?”

“Sorry, sorry...” Dash apologized.

“It's okay for me...” Fluttershy said.

“Well, with that taken care of, we need to make the talismans. Why don't you people write your preferences on a paper and me and my double here will take care of them once we got time? Meanwhile, you could practice your new roles, to keep the this thing waterproof. We don't need ten different and contradicting stories flying around, OK?” Twilight said.

Others voiced their agreement for this. After a few minutes, each one had a rough designs down, except for cutie marks. Since coming up with good cutie marks turned out to be harder than expected (except for Pinkie Pie, who declared her cutie mark would three cupcakes), they decided to go with rather generic designs.

Rainbow Dash had grown rather tired of all the planning two Twilights put them trough. Still, she guessed they had their reason to do such complicated plan. She herself would have been happy just going around like they had previously.

“Let's take a detour. Me, Rarity and Applejack had planned to meet together earlier, before you guys showed up. We should meet at the Apple farm,” Her double said suddenly.

“What are you guys meeting about?”

“Coming up with a plan to get Twilight into therapy. She's been... worse than ever before recently. I think that the Lunar Crisis was the last straw.” They adjust their flight paths to head towards the Apple farm.

“Therapy? I heard Rarity, the your Rarity, speak about it. Also, what the Lunar Crisis?”

“It's a crisis that happened about an year ago. Twilight and the Princess Luna were visiting the humans in their capital, on the moon. However, a group of terrorist ponies snuck in and detonated a bomb that killed a city's worth of humans. That's the simplified version, the real series of events was much more complicated.”

“Aaand?”

“Well... let's just say that the type of combat she saw there and the aftermath... she didn't take it well. We are all worried that one day she might kill herself.”

“WHAT!?”

“Yeah... So we need to get her into therapy, to make her to start dealing with her problems. With you guys appearing... I think it's more urgent than ever.”

“Why so?”

“Look, your guys didn't experience the war. Unless your world suffered some sort of cataclysm, it's pretty much the same as ours ten years ago, right?”

“Yeah?”

“So, now she is constantly reminded of what she has lost. She gets... grumpy, to put it mildly, when she starts to remember things. She also pretty much in constant depression, even if she tries to hide it.”

“Wow... I can't really imagine Twilight like that.”

“Yeah... but she refuses to listen to us. So we decided to gather up and think something up. You guys came at slightly bad time, the Remembrance Day is in few week.”

“A what day now?”

“The Remembrance Day. A day during which we celebrate the end of The War and give our respects to fallen. That's the worse day for Twilight. She pretty much spends the entire day at the graveyard...” Two kept flying in a silence, until they arrived at the Apple farm. Applejack was waiting for them.

“Ya sure it's good idea to bring her here?” Applejack asked. “Ah left mah double inside the house.”

“Yeah. I doubt she could do anything and since Scoots has her friends over my house, it's better to keep her outside for now.”

“Fine, if ya say so. Rarity is waiting for us inside.” Applejack pointed her hoof at the Rainbow Dash. “You, keep quiet, okay? Rarity doesn't know you are here and this really doesn't concern you. No offense, but you don't know all the details. Understood?”

“Sure, sure...”

Applejack nodded at this and lead the group inside the barn. Rarity was waiting for them inside. Her ears perked up when the group trotted inside.

“Hmm? Do I hear hoofsteps of three ponies?”

“And there goes the plan to keep this secret,” Applejack said. “Right, so Dash brought her double here too. She has agreed to keep quiet about this. Is that OK with you?”

“Hmm, I guess so. As long as she doesn't tell anyone.”

“Good. Now, first things first. We all agree that Twilight needs help, whenever she admits it or not?”

“Yeah.”

“Absolutely. Poor one is clearly having a hard time, even if she tries to hide it!”

“But how do we get her to agree to get help?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Well... I know you two don't like this but... Trixie could try and...” Rarity started, before being cut off.

“No. Even if she has redeemed herself, Ah am NOT going to walk up to her and beg for help,” Applejack said. Dash nodded her head.

“Besides, what help would she be?” Rainbow Dash asked, giving a skeptic look at Rarity.

“Well... if you promise that you won't tell anyone I let you in a secret.”

“Fine.”

“Pinkie Pie promise.” Everyone went through the motions, wanting to know what this secret was. “Good. Now, the reason why I think Trixie might be a good candidate is... that she herself took therapy. After Princess Luna gave direct order to get help and her squad dragged her into the therapist's office, but never the less, she went through therapy. Me and Spike once caught her leaving the office and talked to her. It's the reason why she still has her command. Had she not gone there, she would have been discharged a long time ago.”

Applejack and both Rainbow Dashes stood in silence. That was not something they had expected. Sure, Trixie's rise in the Guard had been a surprise itself, but that she too had suffered from WTSD? Maybe her claims that she had never wanted to be a hero might have been more true than what they had thought before.

“Okay, so how would we even do this? 'Hey Trixie, you went to therapy, can you convince Twilight to take some too?' Yeah, I don't see that one happening,” Rainbow Dash said. “Besides, it would need to be you who would need to talk to her, not us. If she would find out that you told us, then we would be in trouble.”

“Ah agree with Dash. This ain't some simple thing we are asking.”

“If you can't do it, I will do it. We need to help Twilight. She can't keep going like this!”

“Fine... fine... Ah just feel Ah am betraying her or something...”

“I know darling, but... we can't either just stand aside and watch her destroy herself.”

“True... Damn that war. Before it, we didn't need to think things like this,” Rainbow Dash said, shaking her head. So much had happened.

“Well, I will call her tomorrow and try to convince her.”

“Right, see ya all tomorrow.” Applejack said. “Now excuse me, I need to attend to the farm. It's good to have help for once.”

“Okay, let's head back. I think Scoots friends might have left already, if not we could visit Pinkie or Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash said to her double before walking outside.

“Hey, can ya take Rarity home first? Ah brought her here, but Ah can't take her back.”

“Alright, sure.”

“Thank you” Rarity said with a smile. She wished she had brought Spike with her, but she couldn't risk the dragon to accidentally slip details of this meeting.

“Alright troops, listen up. The Guard is mobilizing once again. This time we got Discord as our enemy. That's why your weekly training regime has been doubled.” Trixie could hear disheartened grumble from the ranks. Then again, that was to be expected. “I want each and everyone of you to be on his or her best. Am I understood?”

“Sir, Yes, Sir!” Came the reply from assembled troops

“Good. DIIIIIIS-MISSED!” Troops dispersed, each one to their own task. Some would have a day off, others would return to their post. Trixie watched this and once again questioned how in Celestia's name had she ended up in this position. It had started as a simple ego trip, to get more praises. Now, she was in charge of her own unit, Trixie's Raiders. Not only that, but her troops actually respected her. It felt good. In return, she had promised herself that she would do her duty and take care of her troops. Even if it put her in middle of the worst situations. The idea of her troops being disappointed at her scared her. The looks they would give or worse, silent guilt from those would end up dead if she would abandon them.

However, even then she was not looking forward with this thing. If things went like the Princesses planned, they would form an alliance with the four biggest players in the area. That included humans. She wasn't sure if she could keep her troops in line, or if she could even keep herself in line. Too much bad blood between two nations. “The Human Empire”, as it was called. Not The Human Refuge, like it was officially. An empire, with all the bad connotations it brought with it. Everyone spoke how humans were to be looked out for, but nobody saw the poison inside Equestria.

Hopefully, a common enemy would help to ease the tension, if even a little bit. The whole Lunar Crisis had brought both sides together, even if to mourn the lost. Then there was the Remembrance Day, when Equestria would remember the worst moments. The humans had a different day, one held two weeks later. The Day Of Reclamation, when humanity reclaimed it's place in the world. Little was know about it, since most of it took place on the moon.

She didn't notice she had arrived at her office. It was quite different from her days as a traveling showmare. She had taken up show business to follow in her mother's hoovesteps. Her father had not liked the idea, but in the end had given up. Still, they had made up after Trixie had joined the Royal Guard.

Which reminded her, she needed to read that proposition forwarded to her. Her sergeant, recently promoted, Long Spear, had given her his idea of reforms that could be made to the Royal Guard. It called to reform the Royal Guard into the Equestria Defense Force, as well as institute a nationwide conscription. It would certainly allow much better defense formation. Equestria lacked trained soldiers and equipment. Current volunteer Royal Guard and locally trained militias simply didn't work. They needed a more coherent army. By conscripting everyone and giving them basic training, they would have an entire nation as a reserve force.

However, before she could go trough the proposition again, there was a knocking on the door.

“The door is open. Please enter.” She raised her head and saw Princess Celestia walk in. She quickly saluted. “Princess Celestia! It is a honor to meet, however may I ask why are you here?”

“At ease Captain. I wish to ask you to do a personal mission for me.”

“Anything you order, Your Highness.”

“I want you to take a squad of guards and investigate events south of Los Pegasus. There has been reports of unusual dragon activity. Seems like a group of them suddenly banded together, all at once.”

“Dragons? That's weird. I will take my best troops and take care of it, Princess.” She took a quick glance at the proposition in before her and closed it. “Your Highness, if I may, I was recently given a proposition to reform our armed forces. It seems to hold quite a lot of good ideas, so if you could, please take a look at it. It might be completely different from what Equestria is used to, but we need to change to meet the needs of the people.”

Celestia took the proposition and quickly glanced trough it.

“I will certainly go through this. However, implementing these would take much longer time.”

“Yes, I do not expect that such changes would be implemented without a thought or that they would happen overnight. However, I simply ask you to take a look at it and consider it with the generals.”

“And what do you think of this proposition?”

“It has merit. It would certainly strengthen our defenses without sacrificing too much of tradition. However, I am afraid of public reception. Universal conscription might be hard to sell to the population.”

“Indeed... Indeed... Very well, I will take a look at it. Please carry out your mission and report directly to me.”

“Yes, Your Highness. Your will be done,” Trixie said with a salute as Celestia left. Now she needed to pick her team before heading out.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE FIRST CITIZEN WILL ARRIVE IN A WEEK!?” Fahrenheit shouted at her assistant. It was going to be four kettle day once again. “DO YOU REALIZE I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH PEOPLE TO HANDLE SUCH VISIT!? WHY WAS I NOT INFORMED EARLIER!?”

“Um, Ambassador, we just received the word, it appears it was decided on a spur of a moment and...”

“A MOMENT IS A GOOD WORD! WHERE THE HELL AM I GOING TO PULL OUT ENOUGH GUARDS, NOT TO MENTION LODGINGS FOR THE MOST FUCKING IMPORTANT MAN IN THE WORLD!?” A knock at the door silenced the fuming ambassador. A soldier peeked his helmeted head in.

“Ambassador, the Royal Guard wishes to ask if something is wrong? They say that the shouting can be heard all the way to the castle,” The soldier said. Fahrenheit took few deep breaths, before calming down.

“I apologize for inconvenience,” She said to the soldier. Then she turned back to her assistant and pointed a finger at him. “As for you, you start to gather every single guard you can get and find the best possible hotel in this city. As well as you get plenty of talismans. We need to set up one insane AM-field, I don't want The First Citizen to die because a malfunctioning talisman! Reich und Gott, why didn't they build this embassy thinking for a moments like this!?”

The assistant sighed. It was going to be a six kettle day. He would need to check where he put those reassignment papers his predecessor gave him. Then he would need to make ready ones for his replacement.

Chaos Insurgency(UNEDITED)

The last few days had been hectic. Someone had stirred up the hornets nest and now everyone was gearing up for a fight. Ponies were moving around, the humans had transports flying everywhere, even the zebras had moved an entire legion to the northern border That meant that the hive would in danger, again. It had been bad enough when the humans accidentally uncovered an outpost between Dodge City and Baltimare. The backlash from so many deaths had really hurt.

Still, she was Queen Chrysalis. She would take care of her hive. She had beaten all her 200 sisters for a right to rule. She would NOT allow it be destroyed. Generations of Queens watched over her, judging all the time. She would not be the failure. She would not be the weak link that would cause the dynasty to fall.

So she had decided to join this gathering. Someone calling himself “The Lord of Chaos” had convinced a group of dragons to join him. Now, he had used those dragons as emissaries, to call all changeling queens to gather. She wasn't sure what this was about, but the invitation was pretty clear. Attend to the meeting, or your hive is torched. She needed to protect her hive.

She arrived at the designated spot, a small cavern in the side of a mountain. For this trip, she had taken some of her personal guards, just to be sure. Whenever two queens met, they would fight over the dominance over the hives. Loser would be exiled, while the winner would claim the hive as her own. Her personal guards were unique in that sense, that they would not change their allegiance if she would lose. They were perfect for such meetings.

She looked around. She counted about twenty queens, each one ready to strike each other down. If it weren't for the dragons looking over them, they would do so. Fight until only an one queen would stand, who would then claim the psychic connection to rule over the other hives. It was something she would occasionally allow herself to imagine. All hives under one queen, herself. Her guards were getting anxious, but she kept them close to herself. No need to stir up trouble until she had heard what this was all about. Finally, the main actor of this farce appeared. A draconequus, that was a surprised. They were a rare sight.

“Greetings all you lovely ladies! What a wonderful night we have here! I hope you don't mind that this wasn't for you only and that I called all my other friends here.”

“Cut the chase, freak, why have you invited us here?” One of the queens asked. Chrysalis recognized her as Queen Sectoid. Damn upstart, she had barely won the Battle for Dominance of her own hive.

“Invited? My poor little queen. This wasn't an invitation, this was a summon. An invitation implies you had a choice in the matter.”

“Bah, clearly coming here was a foolish decision. I'm leaving!” Queen Sectoid turned to leave, only to be suddenly pulled back a green aura. Dragons moved slightly, making it clear that anyone leaving would get face full of dragon fire.

“Now now, let's not be haste my dear. I have a business proposition for you.”

“Hah, and what would that be?” Chrysalis asked.

“You see, right now all the nations on this world are on the high alert. Infiltration is nearly impossible for your kind and food is rare, isn't?” The queens looked troubled. Getting food was very hard now days, especially since the humans were quite trigger happy. “I thought so. However, I am offering you an endless supply of food. I am The Lord of Chaos, Discord, and I am offering the entire Equestria for you!”

“Okay, now that's a load of goob. Chrysalis over there tried to take over the place and got her flank kicked. Now they got a twice meaner Royal Guard, with actual combat experience. No way they could be taken out.” Queen Fractal said. Chrysalis didn't like she reminded her of her failure. Why couldn't it be just buried and forgotten?

“Ah, but here's the thing. All of your hives should join up. You queens should ally with me. Then, with the help of these nice dragons here and some diamond dogs mercenaries, we could overrun them. Of course, there is an another way...”

“Oh, and what would that be?” Another queen said. Chrysalis didn't recognize this one. Must be a new queen from some far away hive.

“We destroy the Anti-Magic field that is over the human lands. I can absorb all that chaos that is in the land. With that power, I can easily defeat anything this world has to offer. In exchange of your help, you get Equestria and all the ponies you want.”

“Yeah, right... I'm out of here.”

“Did I mention that any queen who doesn't agree on this is a free game for those who join me?”

“You, know I might be interested in this, all things considered. I mean, he has dragons on his side. Kinda hard to beat that argument.” Queen Fractal said.

“Hah, then have fun. I'm out.” The unknown queen said. Few other muttered their agreement on that sentiment. Some decided to join this new 'alliance'. Chrysalis decided she would not join it. It was too risky. Sooner or later, queens would turn on each others and whole thing would collapse. Besides, humans were too strong in her opinion. She turned to walk away.

“So we got our teams.” Discord said.

“Teams?” One of the queens who joined the alliance said.

“Yup. Those who join me, and those who are about to give their hives to you.”

Suddenly all exits closed without a warning. Chrysalis found herself trapped. She turned around just in time to see a strange light engulf the queens who had joined the alliance. A flash later and they stood upwards and turned towards the queens who had rejected the offer.

“Let the games... begin!” Discord said through a mask that muffled his voice.

“Oh, we are going to enjoy this!” Before she could react, Chrysalis found herself flung in to the air and against the cavern wall. Same thing was happening all around, with newly empowered queens throwing Chrysalis and her peers around like they were rag dolls. How in the name of Brood Mother had Discord managed to power them up that much? She telepathically ordered her guards to dig a way out and be fast about it. She was getting tired of having her body thrown around.

“Okay, that does it, you're DEAD!” She cast her own spell. A magical arrow sped through the cavern, aimed at the queen throwing her around... only to hit a shield and disperse harmlessly. “Hey! NOT FAIR!”

“Hehe... you should have joined us, little queen.” Her horn started to glow and Chrysalis found herself once again thrown against the wall. She felt magic grip on her throat and she was raised in to the air.

“Impossible... you're... not... capable... of this...” She said, trying to get some air. Her magic refused to work for some reason.

“Oh, yes I am now. Lord Discord has very good contract benefits. You should have joined us while you could.” In distance, Chrysalis saw as one queen lost her connection with the hive. She suddenly had very bad feeling of what was about to happen. “You realized it, didn't you? I'm taking your hive and children.”

She felt something foreign pushing between her and the hive. She fought to maintain the connection, but the lack of air and constant beating had taken her strength away. She felt as one by one, she lost her connection between the workers, the warriors, the scouts... one by one each changeling disappeared from her consciousness.

“Hehe, and now for the final act...” The usurper didn't get further has she was tackled by one of the special guards Chrysalis had brought with her.

“My queen, the escape route is ready.”

“*gasp*, yes... I need to escape...”

“Where do you think you are going?” The usurper said, while ripping the offending changeling into pieces.

“Slow her down... and then... retreat...” Chrysalis struggled with the words as she entered the hole dug by her minions. Inside, her guards engaged the usurper who had just stolen her hive.

“Is this all?” Chrysalis asked from two changelings who had returned.

“Yes, my Queen.”

This was bad. She had tried to enter her hive, only to be driven away as an intruder. Now she was down to two minions. What was she going to do? She couldn't get her hive back, not like this. She couldn't oppose these new queens. Not without the full might of hive behind her. She couldn't believe this was happening. She had heard of queens losing their hives, but she had thought those queens were weak, unfit to lead. Now she herself was in the same position.

She needed to save her hive and reclaim it. There were two ways. Sever the connection between the usurper and her hive... or kill the usurper, upon which the connection would be naturally reformed. However, she needed plan how to do it. Furthermore, she needed to act fast. No doubt the usurper would send her hive on the front lines, before her own children. She needed to act fast before her entire hive would be killed in an useless attack.

First things first, she needed to hide. A place where Discords minions wouldn't find her. Until the usurper queens would stabilize the connection, she could move without fear. Discord would most likely want to keep the dragons hidden for now. If he revealed them, he would also expose his plans way too early. Right now she needed to head north and fast. It might be pony territory, but at the moment it was better than nothing. Maybe she could hide and do quick hit-and-runs on outlying farms to get food. Even if she could feed herself through other means, they were not even nearly as nutritious as love. Not to mention the amounts she would need to digest.

“Let's move. We need to get out of here.”

“Dragons... and I swear I saw a changeling queen too.” Trixie was hating this mission already. She was thirsty, tired and she hated the heat. San Palomino Desert was not the most hospitable location in Equestria. However, Princess Celestia had personally asked her and thus, she was obliged to follow orders. Her honor as the Captain of Trixie’s Raiders demanded it.

Right now they were approaching Los Pegasus, their mission complete for now. It was official now, the dragons were up to something. Her squad had been watching the area for a few days now, trying to figure out what was going on. Someone had suggested that Discord was the one behind it all, but from what she knew, idea of Discord working with others was not likely. It didn’t made sense, since it would need order and organization, which went against his very nature. Their point pony suddenly raised his hoof.

“Changelings. Straight ahead. A Queen and two others. Looks like a new breed of warriors.” He whispered as the group laid down. Trixie crawled to the guard and peeked over the dune. Guard handed her binoculars.

“Hmm... that's weird... they look like they hadn't eaten for days... look, that queen is as weak as human without a suit.” She said. Changelings were laying down on the ground, in a shade provided by a dune. “Besides, why is a queen on surface? They are normally subterranean species, only surfacing to capture ponies. Whole thing smells suspicious.”

“Maybe it's a raid?”

“Doesn't look like. Too few changelings and they are just laying there. Furthermore, raids don’t involve queen. Alright, spread and surround them. We are going to capture them.” Troops nodded and started to move out. A live changeling queen would a valuable source of information. Changelings were a pretty unknown species, with little to no knowledge of them beyond basics. This was too easy however. Nopony had detected any sentries. Changelings in front of them didn’t even react anyway. It was like they were dead or dying.

As soon as everyone was ready, she stood up, readying her magic for an attack.

“In the name of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, you are under arrest!” She shouted and prepared to strike against the queen. However, to her surprise, the queen didn't move. However, an another changeling raised it's head.

“Ponies? Please help queen?” It said in tired voice, which in itself was a surprise. Furthermore, it speech seemed broken, as if it couldn't remember the words. She gestured for her troops to move forwards. Whole thing seemed even more suspicious now, but from another angle. This weak changelings were not normal. Something had happened to them.

“Alright, what the hell is this? This queen looks like it's half-dead.” One of the troopers said, poking the queen. The queen didn’t react anyway, apart from weakly trying to wave away whatever was poking her. The guard pulled back.

“Hey, I think I know this one. What's her name... Queen Chrysalis, I think? What's she's doing here?” Another guard said. That peaked Trixies interest. As far as she knew, Chrysalis was a wanted criminal. That mean two things: Firstly, one less threat to the Kingdom and secondly... another success under her record, most likely careering her towards the unwanted generalhood.

“Who wants the glory for this one? I have no interest in becoming a general.” She asked quickly. Guards looked each others before shaking their heads. Damn it, she would need to find a good excuse to turn down the promotion that would follow. “Fine. So... what's wrong with the queen here?” She asked the changeling who was still conscious.

“Weak. The hive stolen. Need food.” It replied in the same broken voice, now attempting to move closer to the queen to protect her from the ponies.

“Oh Tartarus no, I am NOT giving a trooper to be fed on.” Trixie said. No matter how valuable asset this queen could be, she was NOT going to sacrifice any of her guards.

“Then. Other emotions or normal Food. Eat, yes? An apple?”

“...Anyone got extra supplies? We need to keep them alive at least until we got them under lock and key, then they are somepony else problem.”

“Captain, are you sure? I mean, this is a queen changeling. Can we trust it, or it's minions?”

“Not really, but that thing just said that the hive was 'stolen'. I want to find out why is that. Tie them up and give them something to nibble on. Make sure they don't feed on you. Everyone takes turns to carry them. Me included.”

“The First Citizen Korhal, glad you could join us.” Celestia said to the human leader. Korhal simply nodded. He had chosen to wear the combat gear, for three reasons. It had two backup talismans, could be sealed in case of an emergency and it was intimidating as hell. He had, however, decided to remain without the helmet and faceplate for now, keeping them hanging from his belt.

“Pleasure is my, Princess Celestia. I hope I am not too late.”

“No, the other have just arrived. This way, please.” Celestia lead him into a conference room, where the other leaders waited for them. The High King Blackwing of Griffin Kingdoms, Councilor Zeetas of Zebra Union, Ambassador Barkin of Diamond Dog Protectorate and of course, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Korhal saluted each one, who gave their own form of greetings in return.

“On behalf of United Nations Security Council's Emergency Committee I greet you all.” After empty stares from each of the representatives, he shrugged. “Or in other words, greetings from The Human Refuge.” Everyone had the expression of dawning realization upon hearing the much more common name. Korhal wondered why he had even dug up the ancient name, nobody used it anymore. What the hell was United Nations anyway? He took a seat next to the table, sitting on on the other side of the DDP representative.

“Right, now that we are all here, I wish to draw your attention to a matter that threatens each and every of our nations security. Discord is free and he seems to be amassing an army. I have called you here to discuss a possible alliance to deal with this threat.”

“An army, you say? What makes you think so?” The High King asked. He was personally ready to work with Equestria, each successful foreign venture strengthened his position back in home. However, without a strong enough reason to summon the army the damned barons would start stirring up trouble, which in turn would aggravate the population. Last thing he needed was a peasant rebellion.

“Based on reports so far, last time Discord was seen he was heading towards south. After that, a group of dragons started to move. Reports from out scouts so far also speak of sightings of changelings.”

“Changelings?” Korhal asked. Dragons were a familiar to him, but changelings were a different thing.

“A species of insectoid ponies. They resemble ponies on a quick glance, but they are closer to insects that ponies in the end. They are pretty rare here in Equestria, but they are pretty common back in Savannah.” Zebra Union representative said. Changelings were a real menace to them. Idea of them teaming up with the dragons was... unsettling.

“Question becomes... are these connected to Discord or just happening at the same time? Most importantly... how much threat they are?” Korhal said. “Do not get me wrong, if this 'Discord' really is threat you paint him to be, we would gladly join forces and fight him. However, if he isn't, humanity has little interest in wars that are no concern to itself.”

“Indeed, to join a war or to start one without a reason is not a good idea. Furthermore, what would this 'alliance' provide to us? How can we be sure we would not be dragged into a war that is no concern to us?” The Zebra representative asked. Zebra Union wasn't interested in fighting, but if situation would call for it they would be ready to fight. The Zebra Volunteer Corps had shown the world that Zebra Unions martial arts were extremely deadly, to point where humans preferred a fight with ponies, rather than zebras due to skills involve.

“Hrmp. Dogs ain't interested in this fight, as long as it does not concern humies. Ponies haven't been good for dogs, so why should we join with you?” DDP representative asked, clearly not interested.

“Discord killed one of your leaders!” Luna pointed out.

“We take care of it on our own, dogs don't need ponies to watch over them.”

“That's pretty much humanity's stance. We do recognize this threat and are ready to cooperate, but... we simply can't abandon our own defenses to help someone else on the other side of the world.”

Celestia sighed. This was going to be a long day. The discussion devolved into a fight between the leaders, each one arguing for reason to stay away, while blaming other for cowardice.

It had been a long day. After lots of arguing and disagreement they had not gotten anywhere. Best they had gotten was to agree to meet again in two days. Korhal was simply glad that the day was over and he could finally relax. Princess Luna had agreed to walk with him, showing the city along the way.

“I wonder if this thing goes anywhere. I do think that the best course of action would be to form the alliance, but I'm afraid my reasons are quite different from what Princess Celestia thinks.” He said.

“True... She doesn't fully understand how important it is to humanity to keep itself safe. I understand that you don't want to bait the only force in the world that can fight you to standstill.” Luna said.

“Thank you for your understanding, your Highness. It's not that we don't care what happens to others, it's just... I can't just have us march all over the world, beating up perceived enemies. That is not our way.”

“You don't need to justify yourself to me, The First Citizen.”

“Just call me Korhal.”

“I know what you face, Korhal. Humanity does not have the most... stellar reputation at the moment. You don't want to ruin it anymore. Unless others join up too, it would seem like another quest of war to others.”

“Indeed, Princess.” He looked up, watching as the moon rose to the skies. “I never realized how much I could miss the stars, but now that I am here, where the lights of the city outshine them... I do miss them. At least the moon is still visible.”

“Oh? You too like my night?”

“How could I not? During day you can't even gaze upon the sky without risking of burning your eyes! But with night... At night we see everything that the galaxy has to offer. Each one of those stars is another sun. Humanity's greatest desire has always been to reach those places, to see new worlds. Night allows us to peek at that dream. How could we not prefer the night over the day?”

Lune hid her proud smile. Even if today ponies walked during her night, only few appreciated her night like humans did. A lot of them actually spend extra time watching over the sky. It was more comforting to them, having grown up in an environment where the stars were barely visible.

They arrived at the embassy, from where Korhal would continue to his hotel. He just needed to drop copy chip at the embassy and everything would done for the day. However, as they approached the embassy, he noticed that the guards, alongside with few ponies, were gathered around a small screen and shouting.

“OH FUCK THAT SHIT! It was clearly an illegal punch!”

“No it wasn't, he come from his side of the field! You're just angry because your team is losing.”

“Hah! Moon Raiders got nothing on Solar Runners! Come on! Crush that guy!”

“He got the disk! He is moving towards the goal!”

“Tackle him! I need my 50 bucks!”

“Yes yes yes don't stop!”

“Take him out! YES!”

“NO!”

“That was a foul! He was in the safe zone!”

“No he wasn't! He was in the attack zone!”

“You want me to show you an attack?”

“BRING IT ON SUCKER!”

“Ahem.” The group fell silent and slowly turned to face Korhal and Luna. “I take it that you are fans of grav-ball?”

“Yes Sir. The semi-finals are going on.”

“I see. Although I appreciate your enthusiasm, I expect you to behave in good fashion. After all, it just a sport.”

“Yes Sir, sorry Sir.” Humans looked ashamed, while ponies tried to hide themselves from Luna's gaze.

“Good. Oh, one last thing. Solar Runners rules!” He said before ducking inside the embassy.

“WHAT!? Moon Raiders for life!” Luna shouted after him, gaining a cheer from assortment of ponies and humans. Grav-ball was serious business. Sure, from outside it looked like adults beating up each others just to throw a disk into opponents goal, but it was much than that. It was a lifestyle. She had gotten familiar with the game during her time on Luna Aeternal. At first she had dismissed the game as irrelevant, but soon found herself cheering at District 21's Moon Raiders. Which had gotten her into an argument with her doctor, who was a supporter of District 9's Red Streakers. Especially after Moon Raiders won the match against them and broke Red Streakers chain of victories.

“Want to join us, Princess? The game is still on and betting is still open.” One of the humans said.

“I don't gamble, but I do enjoy a good game.” She said and sat down with others. Few minutes later she was equally complaining how referees were blind and cheering at her chosen team.

Coalition Of Nations(UNEDITED)

There was knocking at the door. Twilight stood up, before remembering this wasn't her own library. Discord had been awfully quiet past few days. She had been expecting some sort of grand galore of chaos, not sneaking around. She didn't know if that made her grateful or even more nervous.

“Spike, can you check the door?” Her double asked, not raising her gaze from the book she was studying. Even after raiding the royal library, they had not found the spell that would allow them to cross the dimensional border. During this time, she had noticed that her double had been quite... aggressive. She snapped for smallest things and generally was rude.

“Oh, hi Trixie, a surprise to see...” Spike said just before Trixie and her guards rushed inside. Guards pulled curtains over the windows and brought something covered on clothes over. "...you here." Spike stepped aside as one of the guards closed the door and stood in guard next to it.

“Okay, Trixie, I know you are still sore from that time we...” Twilight started before being silenced.

“This ain't it. I need your help with this. First of all, I need to get in instant contact with Princess. I want to borrow Spike for a moment. Second, I need you to check her over. She... uh... is in pretty bad shape and I want her to stay alive just enough to meet with the Princesses first.” Trixie said.

Both Twilights walked over to the pile of cloth laid down on the floor. The guards were keeping their distance, while at the same time being ready to act on moments notice. Twilight moved the cloth away, revealing very weak Chrysalis.

“TRIXIE! What the...” Native Twilight said, pointing at the unconscious form in front of her. Spike and the other Twilight stared at the changeling queen, Spike preparing to roast her if she tried to do anything.

“We found her in middle of a desert. She has information about Discord, but if she dies we lose that information.”

“We should just kill her and save us the trouble.”

“Yup, sounds good to me.” Spike nodded in agreement. She might not be callous as his foster mother, but also knew that the changeling queen was dangerous.

“What!? We can't do that!” Twilight shouted.

“Hmm.. You are right. First we get Discords location, then we kill her. Then we have humans drop a bomb at Discord. Let's see if that bastard can stand up to the power of atom. We can stop this before it gets anywhere!” Native Twilight said after a moment. Idea of taking out all possible threats to Equestria and her friends was very tempting.

“How can you even say so!? Don't you feel any...” She fell silent under the gaze of her double. Once again, she was reminded that this Twilight was very much not her. Spike gave a worried gaze before returning his attention back to Chrysalis.

“Look, it's Princess Celestia's and Princess Luna's decision, not ours. Just... heal her up enough to survive until the meeting. After that, I don't really care.” She finished writing her report and gave it to Spike, who looked at Twilight. Twilight nodded and Spike sent the message forward. “Right, now we...” She stopped and looked at the disguised Twilight. “And who are you? What are you doing here?”

“She my double, we made some disguises to hide them. You can drop it.” Native Twilight said. Twilight took of her talisman, reverting to her normal appearance. “Right. So. We keep this queen alive just enough for it to spill the beans?”

“That's the plan, if the Princesses want to keep her alive after that, that's their problem, not mine.”

“How do we even keep her alive? You didn't sacrifice your troops, did you?!”

“NO! She can eat normal foods, she just needs a lot more of the stuff. She had two changelings with her, both perished on our way here.” Trixie said walking up to them. Chrysalis wasn't looking good, she was barely breathing. “Just get some apples from Applejack and try to heal her up enough for her to talk. Princess Celestia will take care of the rest.” She pointed at one of the guards. “Go to the Apple farm get a bag of apples from them. Then bring it here.”

“Yes, Captain.” The guard saluted and walked off. Trixie watched him go before returning her gaze back to two Twilights.

“More importantly... it appears her hive has been 'stolen', whatever that means.”

“Stolen?” Both Twilights asked, raising an eyebrow. Trixie simply shrugged.

“That's what one of the changelings said, before it died. What little time she has been awake, she has complained about 'losing a hive and now being captured' before passing out.”

“I think we should at least try, I mean, it could help us to find Discord and defeat him. She is too weak to try anything.”

“How can we trust her? How do we even know that this Trixie is the original!?” Trixie watched as two Twilights argued, before walking to Chrysalis and giving her a punch on the face.

“Wake up. Time to answer some questions.” Crysalis moved slightly and slowly opened one of her eyes.

“Where...?”

“You want to question her?” Trixie asked both Twilights. The native one walked forward to stared at the changeling queen.

“Why are you here?”

“I... can't remember... I was fleeing... why am I here?”

“I'm the one asking the questions. What is Discord planning?”

“...tired...” Chrysalis managed to mutter before falling unconscious again. Twilight shook her head.

“Guess we need to take care of her for the moment, at least until the Princess Celestia arrives.” Twilight said as her double seemed to be furious that her questions had not been answered. “Look, we can at least take care of her wounds and try to feed her little.”

“...Fine, but for a record I don't like this.”

“I don't expect you to. I don't like this, but I got duty to do.” Trixie said, putting her hoof on native Twilights shoulder. She just shrugged it off and went through her books.

“Let's see... I am not sure, but basic healing spells should help just enough... If Zecora were here she could help...” She muttered. The other Twilight began to use her skills and soon Chrysalis breathing game much more relaxed and controlled. She still didn't wake up, though.

“Well, she should be out of danger on dying on us, but she still needs food.”

“Good. Whatever is going on, Discord has pulled something big. Very big.” Trixie said.

“Whatever it is, he will be taken down.” Twilight said going through her books.

“...Twilight, a word please?” Trixie said and lead her into another room. The other Twilight grew curious and followed, staying out outside to hear what was talked about, but not been seen. “Twilight, are you okay? Honestly. Don't try to lie to me. You are acting... stranger than usually.”

“I'm fine, can't you see. I just got an enormously powerful spirit of disharmony and chaos on loose with no knowledge what he is planning.”

“Seriously, Twilight, you are not well. I can hear it. Tell me, what is eating you? I know we aren't the best friends exactly, but I hope we can at least be neutral to each others.”

“Nothing is wrong. Just drop it, Trixie. I mean it.” Twilight said and walked out. The other one quickly returned to not to be caught eavesdropping. Trixie just sighed. Perhaps it was not her place to talk about, but on the other hand... she had herself been the same. It had been deeply embarrassing to be physically dragged to therapist by her squad and then forced to go through it, even if she needed it.

“I'm sorry it took so long, Captain. I was in middle of negations and couldn't read the message until now.” Celestia said as she walked inside the library. “Where is the changeling queen?”

“This way, Your Highness.” Trixie said and lead the way. In Twilights room, Chrysalis was tied up but awake.

“Well, how nice for you to visit me. Did you come here to mock me?”

“Chrysalis, you really aren't position to speak to me like that.”

“Perhaps... but the only thing I have left.”

“Explain.”

“My hive is gone. Taken by an usurper.”

“You spoke of Discord when we brought you here.” Trixie said. “You were quite delirious.”

“Most likely... where are my two minions?”

“Dead, perished on the way here.”

“... So I'm all that's left...” She said in sad voice. It was quite disturbing to see the once proud changeling queen like this. “... If you help me to kill that usurper and provide me an asylum, I will tell you everything you want.”

“You are not in position to make demands.” Celestia pointed out.

“Perhaps. Then again, I have the information you seek. You need me, but I don't need you. It doesn't matter any more what happens to me.” Chrysalis answered. Celestia didn't like how uninterested Chrysalis with her own survival. However, on the other hoof... this one once in a million years chance. They could get the information on Discord and possibly new information about changelings themselves. She would be a fool to waste such an opportunity.

“Very well. I accept your terms.”

“WHAT!? You can't do that, Princess! She's an enemy!” Her student shouted.

“Twilight, we need the information. This is the best shot we have.” Celestia answered. “And no, I do intent to keep my promise. No backstabbing.” She continued. Twilgiht seemed deflate.

“I will be in my room, I feel tired. It's been a hectic day.” She said and left. Celestia gave her sad look as Twilight rose up the stairs.

“I don't like this, Your Highness. Permission to place concealed guards on surveillance on her.” Trixie said.

“... Granted. I fear for her. She's been through a lot, more than anyone should be.” Celestia answered. Then she turned back to Chrysalis. “Now, the details.”

“Very well. I was summoned 3 days ago. A dragon brought a message from 'The Lord Of Chaos', who summoned queens from all over the world to him. I answered out of curiosity...” She began to tell her tale.

“Greetings. I called your for this sessions because we have a new development.” Celestia spoke to the assembled leaders.

“So? What you got?” Korhal asked. Negations had pretty much grind to halt. One of the biggest grievances was that he refused to provide any advanced tech to anyone else.

“We have an inside source, who was captured by our recon team and offered her assistance in exchange of asylum. We chose to accept the terms, in order to find out what Discord is planning.”

“So, who is this source?” Korhal asked. He wanted to make sure this intel wasn't something they pulled out of their flank. Celestia's horn flashed and the door opened. A changeling queen walked in, causing Zebra Union Representative to jump up and away from the table, while others gasped.

“What is this? A changeling!?” He representative asked in shock. Others were rather disturbed too, seeing how insectoid pony stood in middle on leaders of the world. Korhal was both both disturbed and interested, since he had never seen a creature like this. Then again, it had holes, long teeth and general 'I will eat you' feeling he got from the creature.

“This is Queen Chrysalis. She has requested an asylum. In return, she has give us much needed information of Discords goals and plans. Please, tell us.” Celestia said. Chrysalis gave her a glare, before turning to rest of the representatives.

“Three days ago, me and numerous other changeling queens were called upon a meeting by Discord. We went there, each one for her own reasons. I was interested what it could be about. He gave us an offer: join him and commit our hives to him or be destroyed. I rejected this offer, and thus my hive was stolen from. It serves him now, under a new queen.”

“What does this have to do with us?”

“Reason why he gathered us, is to form an army. An army, strong enough to beat back humans and ponies and allowing him to break down the field over the human areas. He plans to absorb the chaos magic that has been bound to the ground and become a true god.”

“WHAT!? To destroy The Zone?” Korhal stood up and shouted. That was it, they were in DEFCON 2 and they were going hunt down this bastard. He was not going to down in history as 'The First Citizen who allowed enemy to kill millions of humans'.

“Yes.”

“Hah, good luck with that. Humies put up a good fight, changelings won't be able to beat them.”

“No, but he has dragons on his side.”

“...Reich und Gott... how many?”

“I don't know. At least five, most likely more.”

“Shit, we won't able to handle a clan of dragons, fuck, Dragon Age was bad enough and that was unorganized group of dragons. Organized group of dragons is going to bloody us badly.” Others shuttered at this point. To humans openly say that they would lose was a clear indication how bad things were. If humans were defeated, it would spell a disaster to rest of them.

“Thank you, Chrysalis. You may leave now.” Celestia said, nodding to her.

“One more thing. I don't know how, but he has managed to power the queens under his rule. They are considerably much more powerful than ever before. Even one is than enough to defeat me and I used to be one of the strongest.” Chrysalis said before leaving. The leaders of the world sat in silence.

“Now you have heard what is going on. Let's face it, my friends: we can't allow humans to fall.” Celestia said. Even if they weren't in the best terms always, if humans were defeated their armies could not match anything this new coalition could throw at them. “Therefore, I proposed, once again, that we form an military alliance. We agree to help each other, no matter what would happen. We agree to fight and defend each others, from an unprovoked attack.”

“I guess this goes without saying, but The Human Refuge is ready to join this alliance. We will welcome any assistance that can be offered. I still won't offer you our technology, but we are ready to fight alongside everyone else and provide logistic help, in whatever form you need.”

“Hmm... Very vell! Ze Griffin Kingdoms vill also join this zis alliance. Ve look forward for ze defeat of Discord.” The High King said. The High King Blackwing, the king who fought and vanquished the forces of chaos? That would put the petty barons in their place.

“This is a grave matter... indeed, as you said Princess Celestia, we can't afford the humans to fall. If they were to fall, our own armies couldn't deal with the enemy. Zebra Union will join this alliance too.”

“We diamond dogs are already allies of humies. They are in, we're in. Besides, we gotta a bone to pick with him. Nobody kills our bosses without getting pounded.”

Celestia did her best to hide relieved smile. She had feared that she would need to fight even harder to get this alliance together. With Chrysalis help, she had in a single meeting formed the strongest power block ever.

“It unites ponies and zebras, when griffins kills both.” Luna muttered to Celestia. Celestia nodded, it was an old proverb from the times when griffins used to raid Equestria. Even if two species had been on each others throats, appearance of even bigger enemy pulled all two sides together.

Now the hard part: getting the agreement on the paper.

“Can I ask you of something?” Twilight asked her double as she entered the bedroom to sleep.

“What?”

“... Why are you so ready to kill someone? I mean... I know you didn't kill anyone before. Not during The War or Lunar Crisis.”

“Because they are enemies. They threaten me and my friends. I deserve to be gone.”

“But killing isn't the answer.”

“Oh? And then what is? Friendship? Become friends with them? Oh sure, I bet that is just a lovely idea. Oh, such innocence, now lost to horrors of war. Look, naïve as you are don't expect me follow your silly notions of morals. We can let them go as many times we want, but they will always return. Only sure way to remove their evil, is to remove them.”

“That is very extreme opinion and you know...”

“Look, you don't like it. I get it. Now shut the FUCK UP and let me sleep.”

Twilight remained silent. Her double had been turning into more and more grumpy, the longer this whole thing went on. This was the first time she had actually cursed at her. Sure, she used word 'bastard' when referring to certain persons, like Discord, but this was first time she heard her curse to someone else. Then there was her general attitude towards her.

“... I'm going to sleep by Rarity... I don't think I am welcome here...” She said and turned away.

“Yeah, like I care...” Came a quiet response. As the door closed itself, Twilight who was in the bed started to cry. “Damn it... *sob* damn it...” Spike remained silent in his bed, pretending to be asleep. He had already outgrown his basket and gotten his own bed. Still... he wasn't sure how long this could go on. At this rate Twilight might do something she would regret.

“Greetings, my fellow citizens. As you may have already heard, I have been participating in talks on the surface. You may have wondered, what these talks have been about. Well, the time has come to answer your questions.

Two weeks ago, a creature known as Discord escaped into this world. This creature is very powerful and a threat to all life. However, this is not what has caused us worry about him. It is his goals.

He plans to cause The Zone to collapse! He plans to cause deaths of millions of people, all for sake of his own power! Even now, he gathers forces of darkness, to strike at us. He will not stop until every last man, woman and child is dead. The very existence of this creature is a threat against us!

I promise you my fellow citizen, we will NOT allow him to succeed! Our armed forces are on the highest alert and we have already moved to secure our lands.

Furthermore, our allies, The Diamond Dog Protectorate, have declared that they will join us in this quest for justice! Even more, Kingdom of Equestria, Griffin Kingdoms and Zebra Union have declared their intent to stand by us against this tide of darkness.

Together, we have banded to form an alliance, The Coalition Of Free Nations. Together, we have pooled our resources to form a force more powerful than anything the world has ever seen. Together, we will fight this evil that threatens us!

And together, WE! WILL! PREVAIL! We WILL defeat this threat! We WILL protect what is ours. For we are HUMANS!

AND ARE STILL ALIVE!”

The crow exploded in cheers and applause. Korhal walked off the podium and to backstage. They were currently in “Humanity, fuck yeah!” mood, but soon people would start asking questions about this new alliance and about Discord. Who knew how people would react to news of what kind of threat they were facing. Until then, he wanted to enjoy the peace. It would take few days before first joint task force would be formed.

He had wished his term would be quiet one. Now, however, he was in middle of a new crisis. At least this time they got a clear enemy and little moral problems. Find the enemy, kill him with extreme prejudice and celebrate a well earned victory. Before that could happen, he would need to pick up a general to serve as an commander of ground forces. No sense of keeping all the generals up here, he needed someone on the ground side too. Then there was organizing the new shipment of troops, dealing with the council, going through the battle plans...

So much to do, so little time.

The fire rises(UNEDITED)

“... and then she told me to shut up!” Twilight was fuming. She had slept last few days at Carousel Boutique, unable to deal with her double. “I mean, what IS her problem? Why she needs to be hostile towards everyone?” Blind Rarity just kept listening with worried expression on her face. Other Rarity was working on a dress that was due to delivery tomorrow.

“I do not know. She seems kinda... stressed, for a lack of better word. I'm sure it's just dealing with Discord, it will pass. She is you, after all.” The other Rarity said, making final adjustments.

“No, she isn't. Look darlings, I know you are a quite more innocent when it comes to war and I do not wish to sound rude but... you don't have any idea what she's been through.” Blind Rarity said. “But... this is bad. Really bad. You said Trixie is visiting today?”

“Yeah, she said she is going to have some free time and that she plans to come and see how Ponyville is doing. She hasn't had much time to have a good look.” Twilight said, slightly confused. Then again, it was best to accept what this worlds versions of them said. They couldn't trust this world to operate the same way as theirs did.

“Can you help me to find her? I would normally ask Spike but... this is kinda private.”

“Wait, you are not going to ask her advice for...” The other Rarity said with eyes wide open.

“Oh, no no no, it's... something different. Something I have been meaning to talk to her for some time now.”

“Well, I guess I could come and help you to find her. Rarity here can run the shop for you in the meanwhile.”

“Just remember to keep your disguise on. We are still keeping this whole alternate universe thing under wraps. If ponies were to find out that it's not our Discord, but some alternative... they would panic worse than they are already.”

“Sure, I was sure that Sweetie Belle was going to faint when saw me first time.” The other Rarity said with a laugh. Others laughed too. It felt good be joking and having good time with friends. Rarity missed such times, her double was so lucky. “Claimed I was a changeling too.”

“Yeah, that one took some time to explain. Well, at least she has accepted it for now, I don't know what we would have done if she hadn't”.

“Alright guards, you had a stressful mission recently, and completed it successfully, even better what was expected. Thus, Princesses have seen fit to grant you a reward: each one everyone of you have a three day vacation, starting right now. You are free to spend following three days in whatever way you see fit. Understood?” Trixie told to her assembled squad. Capture of Chrysalis had seriously aided Celestia's plans to form a coalition of nations to fight of Discord. She suspected that Celestia had grown wary of Discord, no longer trusting that the Elements of Harmony alone could defeat him, not in a long run. Last one had been a close call.

“Sir, yes, Sir! Thank you, Sir!” Came the reply from her squad. She nodded them and dismissed them. She too had a vacation and she had decided to go and see Ponyville. True, she had visited the place other times too, but that was either due to some mission causing her go through the town or she was overlooking reconstruction efforts. Even six years after The War they were still fixing the damage. At least weather was less random now, at least they got a forewarning when from pegasis, even if they no longer controlled it.

Three day vacation... seemed like a dream. Ever since joining the guard, she really didn't have life outside it. On one hoof, it made her happy. She finally had a place where she belonged, a place where she was accepted. On the other hoof... she sometimes missed her shows. Planning, the applause, traveling freely, all that was now replaced with constant vigilance and huge amounts of paperwork. It was one reason why she never wanted to advance past the rank of captain. One might think you got more freedom, but no. Your paperwork only increased. She was already handling equipment, training and deployment of her unit. She had considered picking up an adjutant to assist her, but none of her ponies showed knack for paperwork. Hopefully Princesses would institute the reforms in the future that would ease her workload.

Then it finally hit her. She was free to do whatever she wanted and... she had no idea beyond seeing how Ponyville was doing. Should she go visit someone? Who would she visit? Nearly all the ponies she knew served in the Royal Guard. She suddenly realized that she had internalized her duty as a captain so well, she no longer knew what to do as a civilian. Heck, what DID civilians do again? See friends? She had ruled that one out. Do work around home? Her home was her office. It was one the perks of being a captain. What else? Go sightseeing? She had pretty much traveled all of Equestria going for a mission or another.

She sighed. This is why she missed her days as a showmare. At least she didn't end up in situations where she would question her own sanity. Since she was lacking any better ideas, she guessed she could visit the Elements of Harmony. If nothing else, maybe she could ask Twilight to teach her some spells or something. She doubted Twilight would do so, but it was better than going back to her room and just sit there following days, until she would return to her duties.

Now, she needed a ride to Ponyville. It wasn’t too long distance to walk, but she had just traveled all the way from San Palomino Desert and she was not in a mood for more walking. So she was goign to cash in one the favors many owed to her. She headed towards the human embassy. Humans were quite drinkers and thus, many of them owned a favor to her, for covering their drunken antics. She walked up to a pilot of human transport.

“Hey, Juika, remember the time I saved your ass when you were drunk? The one with the chicken and Celestia?”

“Yeah, I do. I except you are coming to cash in the favor?” The pilot said with a smirk on his face.

“Yup. Can you take me to Ponyville, in a steady flight?” She said, emphasizing the last point. She had enough experience to that Juika enjoyed seeing his passengers jump out and embrace the ground. He was a jerk like that, but he never overdid it. If someone started to seriously feel ill, he stopped his games right away.

“Sure, sure. I just inform the ambassador that I am taking the bird for a fly. You can head to pad already, I will be there soon.”

“Thanks. See ya.”

“Sure.”

“Whee, well would ya look at that, harvest done in time for once!” Applejack said to her double. “Thank for ya help. It's have been hard time getting all these apples collected in time.”

“No need that thank me, this ain't that different what ah normally do.” Her double answered, putting her hoof on Applejacks shoulder.

“Well, doesn't change the fact that we don't need to worry about deadlines for now. Our customers will be happy to hear they get their apples early this year.” Applejack said with a smile. Some had switched their suppliers because they couldn't deliver the products fast enough, but this time, they would do it.

“So... ah... how's ya brother?”

“Said they will carry out the operation tomorrow. Warned though that it might prove to be deadly...” Applejack shook her head “But we can't just wait. It's been years now with no change. We gotta try something. Humans are good with medicine, especially when it comes to brain stuff. If this works, it will help thousands of ponies across the world.”

“Yeah, and ya get to to see ya brother again.”

Smile crept to Applejacks face. “Yeah... They said he might not be up to his strength, but it's better than unconscious form laying on a bed.”

“Yeah. Reminds me to appreciate help he gives when Ah get back home.”

“Ya never know how much you value something till it's gone, right?”

“Yeeup.” Both gave a light hearted chuckle. It was good to be able laugh with honest heart. Besides, since her double understood her so well, it was easier to talk about her worries to her. It had really made the days easier to bear with.

Now she just hoped that the operation would be successful.

Ponyville sure looked better in daylight. Last time she visited, she was hinting down a human transport. Although the personnel at the embassy had grown relaxed around ponies, to the point they could be considered “friends”, there was always lingering suspicion. Ponyville had recover pretty well, all things considered. It's buildings did have slightly different design from the past, with emphasis now on structural strength rather than eye-pleasing.

Still... it was better than some of smaller hamlets near the border. Buckholm had been completely abandoned after humans raided it and had never been rebuild. Ponyville was lucky, in that sense. Even when the battle took place inside it, it still survived. Battle of Baltimare took place on the outskirts of the city, Los Pegasus fell before the battle even began and Fillydelphia was surrendered to humans. Ponyville had been one of the bloodiest battle, yet it survived. It spoke volumes of its inhabitants.

Then she realized she could try to do a surprise inspection on the guards she placed here and get their first report. Twilight's condition was something she (reluctantly) was worried. First because it endangered the Elements and secondly, she knew the pain. Nobody deserved it. After being forced to through the therapy herself, she had taken on herself to convince other WTSD sufferers to go seek help.

“Hey, Trixie, didn't know you were here already!” Trixie turned and saw disguised Twilight and the blind Rarity walking towards here.

“Yeah, hitched a ride on a human transport. How are you doing?”

“Well... uh... good, I guess?” Twilight answered. Trixie gave her a look, Twilight had never been good at lying or trying to hide things.

“Really?”

“No and I need to talk to you Trixie. It's kinda private.” Rarity answered. “Twi... Dusklight, could you please go and check those cloths for me?” Rarity said with a smile. Her tone suggested that it was not a request.

“Sure, sure...” Twilight said with resignation. She left the two mares alone. Trixie turned to Rarity.

“This bad?”

“... Yes. She has been living with me few days now. She can't deal with our Twilight anymore. I... I need to ask you a favor.” Rarity said, scraping the ground with her hoof and keeping her head down.

“You want me to convince her to go see therapist.” Trixie said with a warning on her voice. She had made Rarity and Spike to agree to never speak of it again.

“... Yes again. We can't do it. She gets... agitated when we try to talk to her. But you... you have... experience, perhaps you could do it? Please, Trixie, I don't want to, well, heh, 'see' my friend in pain, but she refuses. Please. You're the only one I can trust to do this.” Rarity pleaded.

Trixie remained silent. Rarity was afraid that she might refuse. They had not been the most... accepting of her after when they met first time during the Grand Galloping Gala. Still, she had hoped they would have buried the past.

“... You would trust... me?”

“Yes.”

“...Why?”

“Well... you're the Great and Powerful Trixie, aren't you? Besides... you have proven yourself already. Why wouldn't I?”

“... Fine. I do it. I'll go and talk to her.”

“You will? THANK YOU!” Rarity said and tried to hug Trixie. Her hug missed few inches, causing her nearly to fall into ground. Trixie managed to grab her, however.

“Heh, easy there. No need to fly off the handle. I'll go talk to her, but first, I think we should join your partner there.”

“Ah yes, of course!”

KNOCK KNOCK

“Come in.” Twilight shouted at the door. She was laying down on the couch, trying to figure out why she was having such hard time with her double. For some reason her double just made her so angry. She raised her head to see who had come to see her. “Trixie? Is that you?”

“It's been some time, hasn't it Twilight?” Trixie said with a smile.

“Few days. So, what brings you this time? Did you capture half-dead Discord?”

“No, just visiting for now. How have you been?”

“Fine, everything is fine. So, uh... you want something to drink?”

“Coffee, if you got some. Turns out that caffeine addiction is a very real thing.”

“I think I got some, although I can't understand how ponies can drink that stuff.” Twilight said and walked to the kitchen. Trixie followed her and sat now next to the table.

“How are things with your double?” Trixie asked. She needed to move carefully, test the waters like they said. She knew that if she rushed to the subject, Twilight would just lock up and refuse to discuss. Slow and steady won the day.

“Fine. Just... fine.” Twilight answered as she put the kettle on the stove and returned to the table. “It's just... she is so naïve! How can anyone think that being 'friends' with your enemies is a good idea!?”

“Well, it worked it humans.” Trixie said with a smirk. Twilight just huffed at that comment. “Hey, no need to get your hooves in a twist. Just wanted to drop by. I got free times and honestly, I have no idea what I am do when not on duty.”

“What? That makes no sense, you know.”

“Hey, I have been in the Royal Guard for last 10 years now! In that time, I have had, what, 10 breaks? I have no idea what I am supposed to do when I am not doing military paperwork or on a mission. I guess I could try to pull my show again, but I am quite rusty on that department.” Trixie said, waving her hooves to illustrate her points. Twilight just chuckled at her explanation.

“Well, how about just you just sit here and we trade some stories? How's the live on military?”

“Less than people think. Quite honestly, we are more of a glorified police force than a real military. That might change in the future. Still, most of my time goes into training, logistic issues and general paperwork. Now days I am rarely on a mission. Then there is dealing with veterans...” Trixie said. She needed to be careful here.

“What's with them?”

“Well... the WTSD, mainly. Few came unscathed from The War. I don't think anyone who served in the front lines is mentally stable.”

“Except The Great and Powerful Trixie?” Twilight said with a smirk. Trixie recognized that she was attempting to humor her, not to insult her. Which felt good, in sense. It also showed she was angry anymore from her earlier attempt to pry into her matters.

“...No.”

“Huh?” Twilight said with a surprise. She had not expected that.

“I was not mentally stable after the war. I was a nervous wreck, seeing humans everywhere, planning to kill us. I was paranoid of everything. Everything reminded me of the battles, I couldn't even watch fireworks without jumping into a cover. I tried to hide my problems, did pretty good job. However... other saw through my deception, urged me to seek help.” It was embarrassing to talk about those times, but she needed to plant the seed in Twilight minds. Hopefully she would herself decide to accept that she had a problem after this. “Celestia gave me an ultimatum: Get help or quit. I... I decided to quit. I didn't have a problem. I could not have a problem.”

“But...”

“Then my unit ambushed me and dragged me, screaming and kicking, to a therapist and refused to let me leave until doctor said so. So, each week, they would drag me to a therapist and stand guard to make sure I wouldn’t escape.”

“They shouldn't have forced you like this.” Twilight said with compassion.

“Perhaps. Then again, I needed it. It started to be easier to talk to the doctor. I would slowly start to start to go to see the doctor myself. Ultimately, my troops no longer guarded me, trusting I would do it myself.”

“Did it help? I mean, really help?” Twilight asked. Trixie stood silent for a moment, thinking for the answer.

“Yes. I don't say I am completely well yet. I still visit the doctor each month, but... it's easier to live now.” Trixie said. “But what are we being all gloom and doom, here? Why don't you tell me about how's the life here on Ponyville? Haven't visited the place since last year and I haven't really gotten a good look at it for ages!”

“Oh, life is pretty much back to normal now. Of course, some are troubled with the threat of Discord and his new army...”

“Don't worry. He will be taken care of. He is facing the combined might of five nations. He won't stand a chance!”

“Alright, vat is ze reason for zis summon?” High King of Griffin Kingdom demanded to know. Ambassador Fahrenheit had called them for “emergency meeting” at the embassy. The First Citizen had left for the Luna Aeternal and left Fahrenheit in charge. Other leaders had opted to remain in Canterlot for a few days, since they lacked the communication systems that humans used.

“ Three hours ago, outpost 5-E send us an emergency call. They said there were under an attack. Ten minutes later, Cain Protocol was initiated.”

“Cain Protocol?” Celestia asked.

“Yes. It collects all the data in the system and sends it to local military HQ. It took us this long to go through the data, and what we found... is not pretty.” She said turning to a screen on the wall and pressing few buttons on her PDA. “Fifteen minutes after Cain Protocol was initiated, all communications from the outpost was lost.”

“You lost an outpost?” Zebra Unions representative asked with confusion. It was unheard event. Humans could be beaten back when they attacked, but once they had moved somewhere, they were there to stay.

“Yes. This is one the video files that got to us.” Fahrenheit said and turned the video on. Screen came alive and everyone gathered to look at it.

ESTABLISHING LINK

LINK ESTABLISHED.

SUBJECT: PRIVATE DANIEL DUSK
TIME: [DATA EXPUNGED]

BEGIN RECORDING

White text scrolled across the screen, before turning into a video. The screen showed a viewpoint of one of the soldiers. He was was looking at another soldier, who was looking at his PDA.

“Looks good. No signs of ruptures and the system is fully calibrated. Looks like it will be another smooth patrol, Dan.” The soldier in front said, putting his PDA away.

“Yeah right, what's there to happen? We are in middle of a fucking desert.” A voice answered. Non-humans realized that this voice belonged to the owner of the helmet. “Should have never signed up for this.”

“You're a rookie? Well, then you’re lucky. You get to know the system here and nobody will know if you screw up. First deployment?”

“Not technically. First deployment on planetside. Used to serve in The Security Force.”

“Well, things ain't that much different from that, just that you got bigger tools to work with.”

“Private Dusk, get your ass in the gear!” A voice off-camera came. Camera turned around to show a human soldier with sergeants stripes on his chest “Report outsider, we got no time to waste.”

“Right sergeant. Moving on.” Following fifteen minutes were quite boring. The soldier that the video from simply walked outside, greeted few humans and took position on a wall. Interestingly, whereas pony forts had sunk into earth, humans had built high walls to make any assault by non-humans difficult. Then, there was sudden rumble. The “cameraman” took support from the wall, trying to stay upright. Several humans fell on the ground, few even dropping off from the wall.

“Whoa, what was...” The camera moved to show outside the outpost. A hole had opened short distance away and a massive army of insectoid ponies were raising from it, swarming towards the out post. “OH FUCK!”

“SOUND THE ALARM! UNKNOWN FORCE IS ATTACKING” Someone shouted. A weapon rose on the screen and started to shoot at the changelings. It didn't help much. For every changeling he hit, two other arrived and attacked. More and more soldiers arrived at the walls in attempt to stop the attack. Still, it seemed like there was infinite amount of changelings, more and more coming from the underground. Soon the battle became hand-to-hoof combat as changelings finally reached the walls.

"WE NEED MORE MEN! WE CAN'T HOLD LIKE THIS!" The cameraman shouted. A changeling tried to attack him, but he managed to shoot it before it reached him. Changelings started to gain ground on the walls, being able to pour through cracks in human defenses. It was a losing fight for humans. Human lines started to break apart and bigger gaps appeared on the walls. Changelings started to ignore the defenders, striking he compound itself. They flew over the walls and attacked those on the courtyard, preventing critical ammo supplies from reaching the walls.

“PULL BACK! PULL BACK!” An order came. Humans moved slowly backwards and towards the stairs, some jumping down and rolling on the ground. All the the time humans kept shooting at the swarm and that was flowing over the walls. Battle raged in the courtyard as humans tried to regain the walls they had lost.

“HOW MANY OF THESE THINGS ARE THERE!?” Someone shouted. On the screen, the cameraman was locked in melee combat with a changeling, trying to keep the creature away from his throat. A shot from off-screen caused the changeling to fall to the ground. The cameraman turned to face the changeling, who tried to stand up. A burst from the rifle and changeling fell to the ground once again.

Courtyard was filled with changelings at this point. Camera swinged from side to side, as seeking for other soldiers. No help. Changelings were pouring over the walls, flying over them and in come places, making holes into the walls. Humans were being cut down as their ammunition ran out, forcing them to reload. While reloading, they would be swarmed by changelings who attack their throats, cutting arteries and leaving humans to bleed to death.

“GET INSIDE! LET'S GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!” The cameraman shouted and ran inside. Several soldiers followed him. The group entered a mess hall and locked the doors behind them. Then they pushed as much as tables and chairs they could in front of the door.

“What the hell happened? What are these things?” The cameraman said.

“What ever they are, they are deadly and numerous. I've never encountered anything like this.” Someone said.

“What the hell are we suppose to now!?” Somebody else asked. They soon received their answer.

“ATTENTION ALL PERSONNEL. THIS IS THE COMMAND. ABANDON POST. I REPEAT. ABANDON POST.” Silence reigned in the room.

“Retreat? Holy...”

“Damn it, this is...”

CLANK

Camera turned around just in time to see a ventilation shaft open. Two more shafts opened and changelings swarmed into the room. Panicked screams filled the audio, soldiers blindly shooting at the approaching mass. In a single chaotic minute, camera fell to the ground and stopped moving.

UNABLE TO DETECT LIFESIGNS

RESCANNING

SUBJECT: PRIVATE DANIEL DUSK
STATUS: DECEASED (KIA)

END RECORDING

The screen went black again, with white letters on it. Nobody said a word, just stared at what they had seen. A human outpost had been taken completely by a surprise. Furthermore, the numbers changelings showed were enormous. The swarm that had attacked Canterlot years ago had been barely one tenth of the swarm that had attacked the outpost. Humans had actually ran out of ammunition during the fight. The outpost had fallen and they had just witnessed death of one the soldiers.

“There are more files like this. Soldiers desperately trying to fight back, only to be overrun. However, there is something I want you to take notice.” Fahrenheit said.

“What is that?” Luna asked.

“The changelings, they didn't die from the first hit. It took generally three hits to take them down. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a problem.”

Marching feet(UNEDITED)

Trixie woke up when someone knocked on her door. She had taken a room from a new motel in the Ponyville. it had been easier than just heading back to Canterlot. She was quite surprised to see one of her troopers behind the door.

"Sorry to wake you up, Captain, but all leaves have been canceled. You are rest of the unit are to move out ASAP."

"Wat?"

"There has been a new development. Discord as struck against humans. Humans are requesting imminent assistance in reinforcing their border."

"Wut?"

"The chariots will arrive in few minutes Captain. We will be in the first wave to reinforce humans."

"Wot?"

"... I go get some coffee for you, Captain. Please try to awaken into this day."

"Huh?"

"That's good."

"Several human outposts have been defeated and humans have fallen back to their second defense line. A battalion of griffins as well as what Zebra Volunteer Corps members we still have, alongside a Royal Guard regiment, will reinforce their regional command post." General Tattered Flag said, pointing the map. "Meanwhile, we will gather the second wave here, in New Hope City. We will then march against Discords forces."

"Very well. I will have my regiment move out as soon as possible." General Battle Banner said. "Will the Elements of Harmony be with us or will they arrive with the second wave?"

"The second wave, we need to see what we are dealing with here."

"Generals." Celestia said as she walked in. Luna was following behind her, "Have you decided our response?"

"Yes, Your Highness, we have. We will send a regiment for now and more in a second wave. The first wave will help humans to keep their positions, while the second wave will assist in counter-attack."

"Hmm... Sister, I will go with the first wave. I have bad feeling about this. Something is not right. Where are the dragons? How can these changelings get so close to human outpost without being detected?" Luna asked her sister

"Luna, I don't think it's a good idea. What if something happens to you?" Celestia said. Luna simply took quick peek at her missing wings and then at her leg.

"Well, it's not like I have much to lose." She said with a grin. Her grin however faltered when she saw the sad look on Celestia's face.

"Please, don't joke like that. Last time was too close."

"Sorry Tia.... but I need to be there. I can't explain it, I just... have to." Luna said with a shake of her head. For some reason she had strange compelling need to be where the fighting was.

"Luna. Tell me, what is going on. Lately you have been acting little bit.. weird. Ever since you came back from the moon."

"I don't know. I just... get these compulsions to do something. Like this one. I can't explain it. It's like it's natural thing to do."

"I fear humans did something to you, but... there is no trace of anything. Nobody could find anything that might affect your judgment, but you have been getting awfully well with the humans."

"Is there something wrong with that? It helps to smooth over the issues to know their culture."

"Yes and I am not angry about it... but sometimes, it feels like you are closer to them than you are to ponies. What was that one idea you had, one with setting up a space program?"

"Well.. I just got this idea, that we really haven't studied the skies that much. I mean, now that we know we can go there. It's... very different feeling to physically to be ON the moon. It's hard to describe. The feeling when you stand there, on the moon and look upon the stars, with nothing blocking your vision."

"*sigh* I guess I just have to trust you in this one, sister. Just, please, be careful. At any sign of trouble, please get out of there. Okay?"

"Yes, sister. I will."

"LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT COMPANY! HALT!" Sound of thousands of boots coming to halt filled the air. Luna watched as humans arrived to the rendezvous point they had agreed on. Main human force had already taken airlift to the base they were supposed to reinforce, with the company they were meeting being there for purely ceremonial purposes. Humans were equipped in the full gear. There apparently had been some discussion whenever or not have ACES suits participate in the march, but eventually it had been decided that they would not participate. "Princess Luna, Colonel Cortex of 11th Expedition Force. Reporting for duty. My division is ready to join you for the march to the front lines." Colonel said and saluted Princess Luna.

"Colonel Cortex, please to meet you." Luna said answering the salute. She pointed towards a grey pony besides her. "May I introduce you to General Battle Banner of 31st Royal Guard Regiment," Then she pointed towards a griffin in chain mail armor" Major Whitefeather of 3rd Schwingesteinbrech Legion" Then she pointed towards a diamond dog in similar gear as human soldiers, except tailored for them. "Colonel Bark of 8th Division of Protectorate Army" Finally she pointed towards a zebra in ornate plate armor "and Legate Xander from 5th Union Army." Each one of them did their own salute, which Colonel Cortex answered.

"I assume you are all ready to move?"

"You are not going to give your men time to rest?" Major Whitefeather asked. Her soldiers had been quite tired after the trip, so she had assumed they would take a day for humans to rest.

"We humans have an unmatched endurance. This is not a boast, but a scientific fact. We may not be the fastest or sturdiest creatures, but we can keep on marching much longer than anyone else. Besides, we were dropped not far away, this whole march to here was pretty much just for a show."

"Very well. Then we shall take out leave. I believe the marching order has been explained to you already?" Legate Xanders asked.

"Yes. We will take the front. Behind us, Ponies, follow by Zebras. Griffins will follow us on the sky. Diamond dogs are taking the underground route and will most likely arrive before us. Correct?"

"Yes." Colonel Bark answered. Even if diamond dogs could march on the surface, many of them felt more confident underground. Besides, if they could arrive and reinforce the human positions early, it would save some time.

"Alright, I just go collect my men and make sure everything is OK. We will march in 1 hour." Major Whitefeather said. Colonel Cortex nodded and left to prepare his own men. Luna walked little bit away to look at the army that had gathered. Every side had pretty much gathered what they could in a few moments and send it to this meeting. From here, it would be 40 kilometer march to San Palomino Desert Regional Command Post, or The Desert RCP as humans called it. 9 500 ponies, ,5 000 griffins, 4 000 diamond dogs and 7 000 zebras, alongside 2 500 humans were gathered at this pace currently. Rest of the human force, 7 500 soldiers and 500 ACES suits, had already went ahead.

it was largest multinational army ever on the world. Even during The War. A total of 28 000 able bodied soldiers. United pony/griffin forces had never exceeded collection of soldiers here. Celestia would be proud to see all species working together. However, to Luna, it was irrelevant what species they were. It was the results that mattered. Her sister was not really good at whole fighting department. She had thousand years of peace to grow soft. On the other hand, Luna came from a time when smaller conflict were relatively common, so she still had the correct mind set to fight. How had she told her once? Peace had defeated her sister.

Still... she wished that the mind set for war wouldn't be needed. She didn't enjoy war. At first, she had little longing for days of glory, but after The War and then The Lunar Crisis... she longer had any wish to gain glory on the battlefield. Even looking back now, the "wars" they had fought with others had been little else than kindergarten fights compared to hell that humans could unleash.

Another thing that had recently surfaced between them, was Luna's sudden curiosity of things outside Equestria. It was not that Celestia didn't value knowledge, but she also preferred Status Quo over change. Luna, on the other hand, had grown curious of things. Even magic, that so far been more or less something just was, had become interesting. She had been writing with human scientist who were trying to break down magic to it's basic components, to understand what made magic work. Celestia herself had shot down the idea of setting up dedicated research team to study magic as an eject itself. She was content with just studying how to use it, instead of trying to understand the fundamental basics of it.

Then there was Luna's sudden interest in worlds beyond the planet they inhabited. Ever since her trip to the moon, she had grown curious of seeing the other worlds. She knew there were few other planets in their little star system. All of them were devoid of live and unable to support any life, as humans had found out. Still.. she wanted to reach to them and like humans, she wanted to reach to other stars. So go to them, see the worlds that circled around them.

The march began. It was largely a one boring one. Luna found herself respecting Earth Ponies a lot more, since she too was forced to march alongside everyone else. Only thing lightening the march was a sudden song contest. It started when one pony had started singing marching songs to speed up a time. After the rest of the unit had joined and ended the song, zebras started to sing their own song. This lead to griffins showing off their own songs. Humans, not wanting to be left out, brought their own marching songs into the fray. Pretty soon, each side was trying top each others in who could sing the bloodiest or the most rowdy song.

She heard all kinds songs during the march, including "Discord only got one ball", "Charlie comes marching home", "Trip to Tartarus", “Blood for the blood god”, “I have a spear, your argument is invalid” and sadly canceled "Guess what I'm gonna do with the Princesses?". She never heard that one, since the moment humans tried to sing that Colonel Cortex gave very clear order to choose some other song. Then again, if it followed "The Loot and Pillage" song, she didn't really want to hear the song to know what it involved. Griffins had the lead for a pretty long, followed by humans. It was until the last human song that the victor was decided.

Come to the nightmare, come to me, deep down in the dark where the devil be,
in the maw with the jaws and the razor teeth, where the brimstone burns and the angel weeps.
Call to the gods if I cross your path and my silhouette hangs like a body bag;
hope is a moment now long past, the shadow of death is the one I cast.

"Alright, we give up. Who the hell comes up with that kind of songs?" Came a shout from the skies. Ponies and zebras had given up when griffins had rolled out "Scourge of the skies", since it's hard to beat a song that wishes for the most goriest killings. Somehow humans had beaten that too.

"HAH! Told you we got the best ones! Ain't that right, soldiers?" Colonel shouted back. This lead to hearty "HU-RAH!" from humans and hearty laugh from everyone else.

"Got anything less violent?" General Battle Banner asked.

"Well, let's see... Alright troops, let's give them 'Praise The Moon'". Colonel said. Luna's ears perked. She was pretty sure she had heard that one before. The song started, much more mournful and slower than the other songs sang so far.

Look to the moon's rays
Behold and offer praise
Look to the moon's rays
Comfort in the grace

Now she more than sure. The song was something she had heard earlier. Song went for a while, continuing forward towards it's end. It was rather mournful song, detailing rise and fall of unnamed civilization, though it was not very hard to figure out what civilizations the song meant. In between the verses, song offered it's praises to the moon that had saved the civilization. She found herself humming alongside the song. Few minutes later others started to hum alongside her, giving humans a "music" to follow. As the song neared the end, she surprised her herself though by singing the last verse alone.

Climb from the prison
That you've built in your soul
When the night has arisen
Then your legend will be whole

That caused the Colonel to turn to face her. She pretty much felt human stares at her back. She didn't know where those words had come from, but she hoped she had not angered anyone.

"...I didn't know you were interested in human music, Your Highness."

"Umm... I haven't really listened to it. It just... the song felt very familiar. Perhaps it is similar to some old song from Equestria?"

"I am afraid to say Your Highness, but as far as I know there really hasn't been a song like that in the past." General Battle Banner said.

"Besides, this song is barely 300 years old. It became rather popular among the soldiers. That last verse, however... it's rarely sung." Colonel continued.

"I... really can't explain it. I just knew the word. Now, why don't we General show some of our own? This march has been going so well so far, hasn't it? No need to ruin it by starting asking questions nobody can answer?" Luna said, wishing to turn attention away from the subject.

"Very well, Princess, if you say so." Singing began once again and the subject was forgotten pretty soon. There was still several kilometers to march.

Desert RCP, HQ of all human forces in the region, came in to the view of marching troops. It was a long awaited relief. Once they would reach it, they could finally have some rest. San Palomino Desert Regional Command Post was one the smaller RCPs. It normally housed mere 2 500 soldiers, who rotated between 6 outposts that had been build in the desert. However, it did have a capacity to hold much larger force. It was build on a large plain that bordered the desert. There was clear vision for about 30 kilometer radius from the CP, with radars this could be extended to 300 and with the satellite coverage that humans had started to build, it could cover the entire desert.

Luna watched it as they approached the base. It had several anti-air emplacements on it's walls, making any attempt to enter it through air suicidal. It's walls were thick, made based on (very) ancient human designs. Someone had once explained that if humans were to fight someone with the same technology as themselves, the base would be near useless. However, since most of their potential enemies were in what humans called “medieval” technology level, these old designs served them well. What however had surprised her, was that the design was apparently “prison” style, not castle style.

In the end, it didn't matter. What mattered if they could hold it. If they could hold it against whatever Discord could throw at them, they could easily reinforce and resupply all military forces in the region. That was the reason why this ad hoc allied force had been gathered: to make sure that the base would not fall. As they approached, Luna could see the small hole in the ground, no doubt a hole that the diamond dogs had used to reach surface. Humans build their bases on at least meter thick concrete slabs, which were near impossible breach. At least, by normal means available to non-humans.

Doors opened for them. Unlike in other castles, these were rather small, barely enough to have three ponies walk side by side. This, it took some time for everyone to pass through. Humans relied more on their airborne transport to move large amounts of troops rather than conventional marches through the lands.

It was rather interesting method Luna had noted and had considered starting a program to develop Equestria Air Forces into a new direction. Instead of relying on pegasis and griffin volunteers, they should develop machines that could move large amounts of troops, allowing the Guard to quickly respond to situations with large enough force. However, once again, her sisters conservatism had reared it's head.

That was another thing. At first, she had been the conservative one, one able to cope with the changes. Now, suddenly, she was the one who was pushing changes forward while her sister tried to maintain status quo. It was complete reversal of their normal roles. For reason she didn't know, she was no longer content by just sitting what they already had.

She wanted to see more, feel more, experience more. She had seen the moon, for the first time really seen it. Now she wanted to see the other worlds that she knew where there. She knew that there was so much to learn, so much to discover. Normally ponies understood “learning” as studying old tomes, to relearning what was once discovered. She no longer wanted to relearn old things: she wanted to discover new things.

She snapped out of her musings as Colonel Cortex suggested to assembled leaders that they should meet the base commander. They needed to plan their defenses. They didn't know if or when the enemy would attack, but sooner they would have their defenses up, the better.

"They wiped out an entire human outpost!?" Came a shout from the assembled ponies. Celestia had called the Elements Of Harmony to Canterlot and told them to bring their counterparts too. She had just finished explaining the situation to them.

"This is bad. Very bad. If humans can't beat them..." Native Twilight said, tapping her chin.

"We might be bigger trouble than we ever thought." Native Applejack finished the thought.

"Okay, so it was an outpost. Ain't those pretty small?" Rainbow Dash asked her double.

"Yes, but you don't understand. Human outpost is same as attacking zebra fortress. You need a lot of ponypower to do it. The fact that it happened so fast just makes it worse."

"So, what are we gonna do?" Applejack asked. She wasn't sure if they could do much, this whole world worked too different from theirs. Then again, two sets of Elements of Harmony might be just what they needed.

"My sister has already gone ahead with the first wave of reinforcements. I want you to stay here, to prepare for the second wave." Celestia continued. "For now, you all will be 'assistants', or to use the correct term, 'adjutants' to each others. I hope that having two sets of Elements of harmony will be enough to defeat this menace, once and for all. Now, you should go and prepare for the trip. It will take some time before everything is ready."

Ponies and their doubles left the room after giving their bows and farewells to the Princess. As they walked towards the chariots walking to them, Twilight spoke to her double.

"Um... I... I wanted to apologize for my actions. I... no... I don't have excuse for it." Her double answered. After Rarity had explained that she might be suffering from WTSD, she had decided to forgive her.

"Okay, I forgive you. It's better we work together. Discord is a threat to all of us."

"Yes he is. More than you cant think. This time, he is not playing around. This time he is taking us seriously."

"Yes, but we can do this, right? I mean, he got allies this time. This ain't just us versus him." Rainbow Dash asked.

"Of course we can! We got each others and the might of the whole world against him!" Her double said. She couldn't believe how much, well, less awesome her double was.

"Right, right... I guess we need to tell Scoots to take care of the house while we are away. If this is anything like Los Pegasus campaign, we will be away at least a week... I need to someone make sure she doesn't throw parties while I am away..."

"What!? Parties are good! You should not stop her!" Both Pinkies said in unison, with horrified expressions on their face. Rainbow Dash simply rolled her eyes.

"Yes I do. I want to have a house when we get back. You remember the time you gave your apartment for her to house a party? The one which she didn't tell you that she had gotten human alcohol?" She asked Pinkie Pie. Other one simply cocked her head to side, while other one suddenly shuttered.

"Okay, maaaaaybe you may possibly have tiny point somewhere in there..."

Filler

(AN: I couldn't put this in the next chapter, because it broke the flow and pacing. However, I don't want it to disappear into nothingness, so... have fun :D )

Celestia stared at the screen. She had decided to call her sister to inform her about the progress of the second wave and to hear how she had been doing. She was nervous about her. There was no telling what might happen out there. The screen kept showing same message: "Establishing connection". It had been good ten minutes since she had started the call. It normally took only few seconds for someone to answer. It made her worry even more. Had something happened? Was Luan in danger? What should she do?

Finally, the screen changed to a view of a room, with red eyed Luna staring back. Her face was wet from tears and she looked like everything had lost its meaning to her.

"Luna? Are you alright?"

"NO! *sob* I am not! It's over! Everything is over! *sob* We lost!" Luna shouted at the screen.

"Lost? Did Discord attack!? Are you OK!? Did he do anything to you!?" Celestia asked, panicking. This was bad. If Luna had been captured...

"Huh? *sob* Discord? Who cares about him! *sob*" Luna said in confusion, before returning to her sobbing.

"Uuh... Then what did you lose?" Celestia asked, even more confused than before. Alright, so Discord had not attacked. The human front line was still intact. However, her sister was still devastated.

"WE LOST THE CHAMPIONSHIP!" Luna shouted in grief. Celestia stared at the screen, dumbfounded. "Damn you Gagarin! Damn you to HELL! Why did you taker Friedson off the field!? WHY!? WHYYYYYY!!!??" Luna raged on the screen.

"You... you..."

"We are so close! *sob* *sob* We could taste it already! Championship was ours! *sob*"

"You dare to frighten me!? Over a silly human game!?" Celestia said in Royal Canterlot Voice. She was pissed off right now.

"A silly game!? Sister, you do not understand! It was Grav-Ball Championship final! *sob* Moon Raiders versus Freak Strike! *sob*"

"Luna, I warn you, never again frighten me like this! It's just a game!" Celestia said. A bottle floated to the screen, before being hugged by Luna.

"Oh little Woona, you're the only one who understands me!"

"Is that... White Pegasus!? Where did you get that!?"

"Huh? Uh... Funny... Now that I think of it... I can't remember... Let's drink for that!" Luna said, taking theatrical swing from the bottle. This lead to her losing her balance and disappearing from the screen.

"Luna?" Celestia asked.

"I'm OK! I'm OK! And I got an idea! I'm going to commandeer a transport! And go and beat up Gagarin! Then I will demand rematch! Of course! It all makes sense now!" Luna's voice said off screen.

"Uuhh.. Yeah, right... uh... Maybe you should rest first? You don't want to leave little... Woona there alone? Right?"

"Of course! How silly of me! Don't worry little one! I won't leave you alone!" Voice answered. Celestia shook her head and switched the call to commander of the base.

"Commander Hulson here."

"Princess Celestia here. I am..."

"If you are calling about your sister, that's been taken care of. We locked her room and have guards all over it. Don't worry, she ain't the only one."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Right now, I got 1/3 of my soldiers partying for a great victory, 1/3 drinking for depression after an epic defeat and 1/3 drinking for the hell of it."

"At least someone is still keeping his senses about this..."

"Well, I did lose 500 credits to a bet so... anyway, situation is under control."

"Why is everyone who supported the losing team so devastated? I've seen Luna react to her teams defeat before, but nothing like this."

"Well... Moon Raiders were leading 6-0 when the final round started...then they lost 6-8. Everyone is blaming their coach, Gagarin, for taking their star player, Friedson, off from the field. I can understand his decision however. The guy had been playing without pauses for the whole game and they were quite well in charge of the game."

"Oh Faust..."

"Oh, it will calm down soon enough. Day or two and everything is back to normal."

"Oh good."

"Until next year."

"Faust damn it!"

Those few who remain(UNEDITED)

(AN: This chapter is dedicated to Furious Four, the best XCOM team ever who lost their lives during the Great Alien Invasion 2015.)

A well dressed man entered the room, sat down on a chair and put his briefcase on the table. After few moments, he put a recorded on the table, while pushing the briefcase to side, showing a stack of memory cards and a side arm inside of it. He picked a PDA out of the briefcase and pressed a button on the recorder, before he began to speak.

"Interview number four. Interviewer: Ralph Smith. Could you please tell us your name?"

"Guang Pan, callsign Omega. Serial 26265-A3-SS." Pan answered, He had expected this, but still. Why did they have to make it so damn creepy? It was like he was being interrogated for a treason.

"Please, mister Pan. Tell us about the fall of San Palomino Desert Regional Command Post."

"It was a nightmare. Once those dragons appeared... it was all over. We simply didn't have firepower to deal with them."

"Can you tell us more? From the dragons forward, please?"

"LOPEZ! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU!?" Pan shouted into his intercom. After dragons had appeared everything had went to hell. That shield unicorns had set up had been blasted apart before they could do anything. Then the dragons destroyed their AA cannons. Humans had problems even with an one fully grown adult, three young adult dragons against an regional command post? They were so dead.

"Kinda busy here, Guang! Too many targets!" Came the response. Pan could understand. Most of the ACES pilots were too busy either trying to get a lock on at the dragons or trying to shake of the swarm of changelings that had followed. Usually target rich environment was something ACES pilots enjoyed, since it allowed to go full force, something that was rare. However, right now they really wished they had less targets to deal with.

"PAN! LOPEZ! SCHMIDT! ANYONE! I NEED HELP!" A scream came through the radio.

"Mariska, what's your status?" Pan spoke into the com. This were going to hell, his team was isolated and being ripped apart. "Where are you?"

"I'm pinned down by the enemy magic! I need help! North-East-East corner!"

"I see her, moving to relief her." Schmidt's voice came. Good, at least one of his team safe. However, that did not remove the fact that they were still losing.

"Everybody, try to regroup at the Northern Base Entrance, we are putting up a defense line there!" He started to move, keeping his Assault Rifle aimed at the enemies. Normally his rifle carried sniper mods, but he had discarded them since the extra length made it hard to fight in these short ranges.

Pan looked around. Soldiers from every species were combating the changelings. However, he noticed a distinct lack of living griffins. Apparently dragons had destroyed their units completely. Pegasis were also pulling out, some of them even abandoning the battlefield. Damn cowards. Then again, he could not blame them. You didn't win wars by dying for a lost cause, you won by making the enemy die for his.

"Griffins had been wiped out at this point?" The man asked.

"Yes. I saw few survivors until we bugged out, but... for intent and purpose, their unit was a goner." Pan answered. The man typed something into his PDA.

"I see... I see... " He muttered while doing so. "These pegasis that ran, would you be able to recognize them if they would presented to you?"

"I doubt. I didn't see their cutie marks." Another mark in the PDA. Pan started to wonder what he was typing into that thing. Then again, this guy was from Internal Security Agency. You never knew what they were doing, only the generals and The First Citizen knew.

"Right. So you fell back to inner defenses?"

"Yes."

"What about Princess Luna?"

"I don't know. I was too busy keeping myself alive at the moment."

"I see... please continue."

He ran as hard as he could. Standing out of the open was a sure way to get killed. If they could regroup, they might have a chance to fight back, especially if they could figure out to take down those dragons. If they could take down dragons, they could start actually fighting against these changelings. Without dragons destroying all their heavy weapon assets, these changelings would be easy to take down.

"Oh God oh God oh God HELP! IT'S GOING TO ROAST ME ALIVE!" Lopez voice game through the com system.

"Lopez! What's your status?"

"IT CAUGHT ME! A DRAGON CAUGHT ME AND HAS ME PINNED DOWN! OH GOD IT'S KRRRRRZZZZZZZZZ-" The com went static untl being cut off by the system.

"Lopez! Answer me! FUCK!" Lopez was one of the veterans. He and Pan had been both been at Ponyville, except Lopez had been able to evacuate, while Pan had been caught as a prisoner.

"Schmidt, Mariska! Lopez is down! I repeat! Lopez is dead! Fall back and regroup!"

"Oh God no. What happened?" Mariska's voice came through.

"A dragon got him. Now get moving!"

"Roger that."

"Moving to designated point." Came two replies. This was bad, in fact, this was worse than bad. He ran across the battlefield and saw his two squad mates and run to them.

"You two OK?"

"Shaken, but otherwise OK. No suit ruptures and talismans are working." Mariska said. "I still got two medkits with me and one suit repair kit, but I am nearly out of ammo."

"I looted one of the dead bodies, so I am on full ammo." Schmidt said. Pan wanted to argue back, but in the situation they were, he really couldn't. Every shot counted. Also, Schmidt had a shotgun as his primary weapon. Something rare, but that was why he used more on tunnel duty than outside duty. Right now, it was a great weapon to have. Spread was wonderful thing when the air was full of enemies.

"Alright, let's move people. We need to get to that barricade" Pan said pointing toward the ad hoc barricade that had been set up. The group dashed forward, constantly taking potshots around them as changelings tried to attack them. Schmidt shotgun became very valuable during that time, even if he was burning through ammo like a fat kid in a candy store.

"Hey, is that the Princess?" Mariska asked, pointing towards a group of humans and earth ponies fighting, isolated from the others. In middle of the group, there was an alicorn.

"I think it is, no other pony got both wings and horn. What should do, boss?"

"Damn it, we can't just leave them. But going into that shitstorm will get us killed too." Pan said, cursing under his breath. "Fine, let's move. We need to help. Get in, make way for them and get out, understand?"

"Yes sir" Came the two replies.

"So you decided to move and save the Princess?"

"Yes?" Pan answered. More notes done to the PDA.

"Interesting... why did you make the decision?" The man asked.

"I..." Funny, he had no idea why. He had just decided that the Princess needed to be saved. "She... is a valuable asset thanks to her magic. Without her, the enemy would have had free play on our fortress. Her help earlier with ammo helped us a lot." Hopefully that would be a good excuse.

"I see,,," Came the reply. Apparently it had not been, but the man would not press him any further. "Please continue."

Three of them tried to reach the Princess, but changelings made it near impossible. They were everywhere and seemed to lack self-preservation instinct. Even after Schmidt had killed number of their friends in the same fashion, they kept coming and dying. However, as it turned out, quantity has quality of it's own.

"Running low on ammo here." Schmidt said as he blasted another changeling into a green paste.

"I know, we all are." Pan answered. Mariska had already discarded her rifle and moved to her pistol. Few hectic fights later they had reached the Princess, whose group had grown significantly smaller.

"Princess! You need to fall back to main entryway, we got a barricade there! We are regrouping there!" Pan shouted over the chaos. Princess nodded.

"Everyone! On me, we are moving towards the main entry!" She shouted and used her magic to take out few more changelings. Humans had grown to appreciate her magic, ability to attack several changelings at the same time was something they really wished to have. More and more changelings arrived to the scene, with dragons starting to break off from their battles against ACES suits. Two dragons were dead, but that had cost humans over half of their heavy weapons. Which lead them to fight a losing fight.

"I'm out of ammo!" Mariska shouted as a changeling charged her, her pistol clicking empty.

"Coming!" Schmidt shouted... only for his shotgun to click empty too. "SHIT!" A changeling took advantage of his and tackled him, going straight for the throat. Mariska screamed as her stomach was ripped open. Pan took a quick shot at the two changelings before running to Schmidt. Blood was flowing from his throat, with only thing keeping him alive being his talisman.

"SCHMIDT! Come on, get up!" Pan shouted. His team was now down to him and Schmidt.

"This... is it for me... Go, help those... who are still alive..." Schmidt grunted before going limb. Pan cursed under his breath, but moved on. He would mourn them when the enemy would be beaten back. Then he would lock himself in his room and finally finish that vintage alcohol he had stashed away.

"That was when it happened?" The man asked, leaning forward. Pan gulped.

"... Yes. That's when Discord decided he wanted part of the action." Pan took a deep breath. “That’s when the base fell.”

"MAGNIFICENT!" A shout was heard over the battlefield. Pan took a look up and saw a creature. A creature that was a mix of all other creatures. "THIS IS JUST MAGNIFICENT! WHAT A GREAT CHAOS! WHY DIDN'T I THINK THIS EARLIER!?"

"DISCORD!" Princess shouted.

"PRINCESS LUNA! How great for you to be here to see this all! So much chaos! I thought chocolate rain and popcorn maze was fun, but this!? THIS! IS PURE CHAOS!" Discord created some strange whirling thing and send to crash into command complex. It exploded and caused entire side of the bunker collapse, exposing it’s inside. Several unlucky humans, who didn’t wear talismans, melted once exposed to the outside magic. “SO MUCH POWER! SO MUCH TO DO!” Discord said and started to laugh maniacally, all the while using the same method to blast last standing opposition.

"By the Faust..." Luna muttered. “He has never been this powerful. He must had stood back and absorbed all that chaos earlier. Each moment this battle goes forth he gains more power. At least he uses it at the same speed as he gains it...” Luna cast a shield to protect their group from one of the blasts. “We can’t fight him like this!”

Pan agreed with her. With how things were, it would be only a time when...

A siren blared, giving three short blares before one long. A sound to abandon base.

"Time to go, command has given up holding the place. We need to get out of here!" One the pony captains shouted. She was clearly starting to panic. Not that Pan could blame her, he too was starting to panic.

"Damn it! Damn it all to Tartarus!" Luna cursed. "Is there anyway out?"

"It doesn't look that way!" Pan shouted in panic. Now he was in deep shit. Enemies were everywhere, every route was blocked and they were losing men fast. Base would no doubt fry every single electronic inside it once the doors would be broken.

"Damn it... Humans, you got your suits still in one piece? No ruptures?!" Luna asked. It caused few humans to give confused shakes with their heads.

"No, we are all OK. How so?"

"We are getting out of here. Now." Luna said, with magic enveloping them and the wounded ponies.

"Hey hey hey, what is-" Pan started before he felt as if his organs were being rearranged. When it ended, his body reacted and he threw up. Unlike few others, he didn't get his faceplate off in time. He took his now foul smelling plate of and looked around. It was a castle of some sort. “Where are we?”

“You are in Canterlot Castle. I can only assume the worst, my sister?” A voice came. Pan looked and saw a white unicorn. Upon closer look, we realised that this unicorn had wings too, making it an alicorn. That mean it had to be Princess Celestia.

“I’m afraid so, Tia... Discord is more powerful than ever. We need to gather everything we have!”

“I see... Please, tell me everything that happened. Meanwhile, you humans should report to embassy to see to your needs. This is.. quite unexpected and unwanted development.”

"And that is when you reported to the embassy?"

"Yes."

"Thank you, mister Pan, you have been the most helpful. We will be keeping in touch with you. Try not to do anything... rash... in the meantime." The man said, gathered his things and left the room. Pan just sat there for a while, before walking away himself.

Later, in Luna Aeternal, emergency session with The Council Of Districts.

"Ladies and gentlemen, councilors, as you have all been briefed by now we had our first major battle with the enemy and we lost. Badly. Our current state of equipment is simply unacceptable. We can not go on like this. We need to prepare for the worst.

Right now the second defense line is preparing to hold back the tide, but we can't count on this. Therefore, I am proposing two motions.

First is Project Rediscovery. We need to dig into our databases, see how our ancestors fought war and rebuild our military as a true military, not as a glorified police force. We need every little dirty trick and weapon we can get. Currently, our soldiers are too vulnerable to dragons, who pose the greatest threat to us.

Thus we need to set up a new department for us, a research department for weapons. This, is what we need now. This, is what we need to do. It is time to cast down the foolish notion of 'peace'. Peace, as we have no learned, is simply an illusion. With peace, we simply don't see the enemy who is trying to kill us.

We have been caught with our pants down. Without drastic measures, we can't defeat this new threat. Which brings me to my second motions.

Project Final Argument.

A three armed class two Fusion Warheads, placed into three transports. These transports are then sent to orbit the planet and prepare to strike upon authorization of this Council. We shall reopen The Vault and always have three orbital Weapons of Mass Destruction ready. We shall have them ready and if needed, we shall demonstrate that we are ready to use them. We shall send message to our enemies and allies alike, that we are not to be messed with.

Even now, our people ask us: What are you doing? Are we safe? What are we to answer to them? That their homes, their families and relatives on the surface are threatened because long period of peace? That we are too weak to protect them?! That we are to abandon all that we have achieved in all these years, only to return to the ways of the Great Exile?!

The Vault contains everything we need. Targeting computers. Loading systems. Arming system. Even encrypted communications to prevent outside hacking. I have already taken care of preparation. With the permission of this Council, we shall once again be the power that rules the world and guarantees safety of it's citizen. We shall destroy our enemies, where ever we need to.

I thank the Council for it's time. We shall adjourn for half an hour before voting."

"Trixie? You here?" Twilight asked as she walked into the hospital. She had heard about the battle and defeat. She had also heard that Trixie had barely survived, being taken down when dragons appeared.

"Here." Came a voice. Twilight walked up to a bed where Trixie laid. "Can't I am not surprised. I don't get many visitors."

"Heh, yeah... I guess so... I wanted to see that you are OK. I've lost so many ponies I know to these conflicts these past years, that I can barely believe someone survives."

"Hey, at least I am here for the first time. Take a look at their, private Shell Shocked just earned his eleventh Purple Heart. I swear, that pony is stubborn as a mule and hardy as Ursa Major." Trixie tried to joke, only to see Twilights face darken.

"Don't... joke like that. I don't want to see anyone die anymore." Twilight said quietly. She might not have in the best terms with Trixie, but did consider her, perhaps not a good friend like the others, but.. friend anyway. Several years working together on several projects had them respect each others. Trixie reached her hoof for her.

“Sorry. I’m okay. It’s nothing major. I am up in no time. I just get my unit together and...” Trixie fell silent. “By Celestia... they...” They had been left behind. She had been close enough to get teleported, but her unit? Left behind to die. She had failed them. It only now sank in.

“I’m so sorry Trixie. We should have been there.” Twilight said, once again sounding depressed. So much death.

"...Look... I don't think this is the best time but... please, ask Princess to let you sit this one out. Get help. You can't fight like this. It's not the same as with humans. Humans caused a lot of death, but most of it was collateral damage. Discord, he doesn't care. He attacks anyone and everything on the field."

"Collateral damage? Were my parents that too?"

"No, no I didn't..."

"Bye Trixie. Try to get healed soon." Twilight said and walked away. Trixie sighed. She had screwed up. First time someone comes to see her and she sends them away. But she meant it, if Twilight were to enter battlefield now... she would suffer complete mental breakdown. She wasn’t sure if she could ever return to active service after this but... she could not allow Twilight to collapse. It would tear her and her friends apart. She would put up a brave front and somehow help her, whenever she wanted or not.

She had to. Otherwise she would start to think of her unit and herself would break apart.

And the world, it starts to burn... (UNEDITED)

"This is bad. Do we have anything in these files?" A scientist asked his colleagues.

"Little. Some mentions of DIrect Energy Weapons, but data is either corrupt or require technologies we have no idea how to make. These... mini-reactors, we got several mentions of them, but database has nothing." One answered.

"Well, I got something. Two weapons, one is called Rocket Propelled Grenade, basically a shoulder launched missile. Dunno what the heck made them shoot rockets from their shoulders, but at this point, I would not be surprised to find an infantry gun that shoots miniature nuclear weapons. Our ancestors were either fightings wars we can only dream of or they were all insane.”

“*cough* Yeah about that...” Came a timid response from the next terminal. The scientist moved away to reveal a schematics of ‘Fat Boy Nuclear Launch Mechanism’ with the text ‘Rejected’ under it.

“OH COME ON! Anyway, the other is scrapped 'Shoulder Mounted Heavy Weapon', SMHW. This thing is apparently a giant gun that soldier carries on his shoulder. It mentions it was designed to counter Armor Suits, but was scrapped as 'unpractical' due to weight and size."

"Well, let's make at least one prototype. It might be good enough against dragons. As for that rocket thingy, get the blueprints to engineers and have them see what they can cook up. Anything else? Any vehicles?"

"A lot, but many of them are not practical for us. Numerous Armor Suits, but we don't have resources for those. Wolf model is pretty much closest we can make, but when I look it's specs it's designated as an artillery unit, not as an assault unit. It would be useless at the current combat ranges.”

“I got few AA-vehicles, but two of them are manual control systems and one has been marked as 'failure'. One appears to be good, but it uses too small caliber for dragons. Might work against changelings, if we can improve the targeting subroutine."

"Good, good."

"Beyond that... tons and tons of weapons, as if our ancestors were gearing up for a massive stellar war. Most of it is either useless or out of our reach."

"Damn... still, what we got is better than nothing. Get them to engineers, see what they can do. Our boys back down need all we can give them."

“Yes, sir. Also, General Caravel is here for your report.”

“Right, right... I get to it.” The lead scientist said and stood up, heading for his office. Most of the members of Project Rediscovery either spend their time down on the engineering, trying to figure out how their ancestors had gotten stuff working.

It was not that they didn’t document, oh no. It was that documents referenced other documents, that referenced other documents, that kept referencing to other documents... until they hit data corrupted. So they had a blueprint for soldier sized laser cannon, which required Gillian Lens Technology and Nogometa Energy Cells... which required Friedson Cutting System, that also required Nogometa Energy Cells, that required Gillian Containment Field, and so on and so on. Endless loop that went on and on, until you hit a wall.

Problem was, that most of the data about anything related to Gillian Technologies Incorporated and their technology was either missing key components or corrupted beyond recovery. Same thing with numerous other technologies their ancestors had used in their technologies. He couldn’t help but wonder how they could have lost so much, it was not like the data had been destroyed on purpose... right?

He walked inside his office, where General Caravel was waiting for him.

“Good even director Tieson. Have you made any progress?”

“Some. We got few weapons sent down to engineering. The think they can produce Heavy Infantry Combat Systems, if they can figure out the encryption used in the data files. It’s not perfect, but fearless, tireless and most importantly, expendable combat unit could bolster our troops well. Still, main problem is the lack of complete blueprints.”

H.I.C.S. had been a motherload, really. Complete, self-contained data container that detailed small, remote controlled combat drone. It lacked a lot compared to living, breathing human, but on the other hand... losing one of them wasn’t that big defeat and they didn’t require too much resources to be build. Few deals with other nations and they could easily mass produce them without compromising Luna Aeternal. Plus, it’s targeting system was able to distinguish targets based on LOOKS, not by thermal images. Only problem was... that whoever had made them had encrypted heavily. Data files were more tightly locked than what happened in ISA.

“You are a scientist. You can figure out how to use our own technologies to supplement them, right?”

“Not really. We barely have any idea what all the parts do, since we lack their documentation. The directed energy weapon system we are mostly working on, it has so many what we call ‘black boxes’ that we aren’t even sure where to begin. Some of them even require materials we have never heard before, like one thing that has 52 syllable long name, but the staff calls it ‘nonsensicalium’. I mean, an element that allows you to control the direction of light mid-air by using electricity? That goes against all laws of physics! And don’t you dare to say it’s magic, science invalid or I will punch you, general or not.”

“Damn it. We had thought that it would be as simple as digging up ancient weapons and recreating them.”

“So did everyone. As it turns out, since those things weren’t the top priority, their data files got lower priority on back-ups and thanks to the nature of solar flares, we spend so much time just restoring our databases that they got lost sometime in the past and nobody noticed. Either we don’t know how to make the weapons or they are out of our reach or they are impractical. A capital class warship is not really something we could build.”

“At least, not in time. Reich und Gott, do we have ANYTHING that could help?”

“Well, few Anti-Air weapons that are based on flak are in our reach, so we are looking into those. Then there are few weapons our ancestors deemed impractical, but are practical to us, so we are looking at those too.”

“Good. Good. With Project Final Argument being launched tomorrow, we are finally starting to shape up. Let’s hope that the enemy will keep down until we are ready.”

“We all hope so. All those lives lost...”

“Yes. Well, General Saral is heading down now. She will take care of things soon enough. Let’s hope she can keep things under control.”

“General on site!” Came a shout from a guard. Saral really hated that tradition. It felt... wrong. She had read it had been tradition in the old battleships in the ancient times, before they got scrapped for their resources and generators. Entire room stood up and saluted her. She gave a quick salute back.

“At ease. Carry on.” Room returned to it’s normal activity, while governor Varn walked to her.

“General Saral, how good to meet you. Our armed forces have been gathering and waiting for your orders to move.”

“I want to know where our joint operations center is and what we got.”

“I... am afraid I don’t understand? Our army is what we got in New Hope City.”

“I mean opscenter! Where the allied forces are lead from. You don’t expect us to each fight individually?”

“I’m afraid we don’t have such command center ready.”

“REICH UND GOTT!”

“Sir, if I may, the leaders have been assembling in Canterlot. Perhaps you if you were to attend to their meetings and propose such idea, such command center could be established?”

“Well, what you waiting for!? Get me a ride there. We need to get a centralized command as soon as possible.” Saral said. How was she supposed to lead a war if there was almost nothing to lead!?

Meanwhile, in an alternative universe...

“Anything yet?” Celestia asked Spell Nexus, the lead unicorn in magic in Twilight Sparkles absence.

“No, Your Highness. The Universal Window spell is very simple in theory, but we do not know yet how to ‘lock’ it to certain ponies without presence of their double. Few tests we have so far run has shown us random universes, which were really interesting if I may add, but ultimately we have not located missing ponied yet. Furthermore, we have no idea how to establish a stable portal between two world.”

“Well, keep looking into it. We need to get them back.” Celestia said and turned to leave. Spell Nexus bowed and returned to his book. Celestia knew she was being too harsh, but she was worried. First Discord escapes and now her best student, as well as her friends, had disappeared. She had no idea what had happened to them, apart that they were somewhere in the multiverse. Oh why, why she hadn’t destroyed that book?

Because she had never expected anything like this. Back in the days, she had even used the spell. Peek into other worlds. She had seen Equestria in even greater glory, she had seen Equestria in ruins. She had different types of Equestria and herself. Sometimes she was benevolent, sometimes she was a tyrant. There was one world where she was locked in mortal fight between her Solar Empire and Luna’s Lunar Republic. That had been a shock. Then there had been The Equestrian Wasteland. One reason why she had stamped on the technological progress, making sure it was slow and controlled. Then there had been the world where she had been a griffin. So many possibilities.

“Sister, you worry too much.” Luna appeared on her side.

“But what if I don’t? What if they are in trouble? What if they are in some sort of world that is a nightmare?” Image of her student walking in a wasteland she had (without knowing) created made her shudder.

“I am sure they ended up somewhere nice, place where they and their doubles have already defeated Discord. They are probably having fun right now, especially Rainbow Dash.”

“It’s too strong!” Came a shout from a pegasus. Rainbow Dash and her double had been alerted about an uncontrolled hurricane that threatened to hit Hoofington.

“Work harder! We need to at least weaken it!” Rainbow Dash shouted. She took quick look at her double. At first she had been hesitant to allow her to come, but so far the disguise had been holding up and she was major help. Alternative universe or not, she was still Rainbow Dash, the best flyer in Equestria. Half of the reason why they had managed to control the hurricane to certain extend was her work. Where she personally had been unable to be, her double had picked up the problem spot.

Right now Hoofington was save, the hurricane had been directed to empty wastelands of Second Impact. It was the area where the second asteroid, originally aimed at Cloudsdale, but thanks to malfunctioning guidance reactor, it had missed it’s mark. Still, several tons of flaming falling at supersonic speeds had been enough to destroy large area and severely damage Cloudsdale.

Right now that empty area was perfect place to allow the hurricane to weaken itself. Nothing that it could damage and nothing that could strengthen it. It was a perfect place. Sometimes she regretted coming up with the plan to close the skies, but without it humans would have simply overrun them. They had been in a war, a war they didn’t even know why it was being fought. Back then all she had been thinking was victory. About half-way she had been simply wishing it to end.

“Da- Swift Wing, how is everything there?” She shouted at her double.

“Seems OK, it’s starting to weaken.” Came the response.

“Wow, she’s good at this. Almost good as you. She ain’t interested in joining?” Speedrun asked her. Speed Run was the new captain on the Wonderbolts and always eager to recruit new fliers. Guess she wasted to restore Wonderbolts into their former glory.

“I don’t think so, not right now. I can ask her later, but right now, we got a bigger problem.”

“We can take it from here, but be on a standby anyway. We can’t be sure with these things.”

“Fine, but be sure to call at the first sign of trouble.”

“No problem, I am not too proud to ask for help.” Speedrun said. It was true, she was not afraid to admit the Wonderbolts could not do everything. She would call upon locals to help them when problem grew too big. For the most part though, they were elite flyers. So when they asked for help, you were better to answer or you risked your own life too.

“Alright everyone, time to pull out. Wonderbolts got it from here, but be ready to get back in a minute. Thank you for all your work and have a nice trip back home!” Rainbow Dash shouted. Slowly pegasis flew away, everyone returning to their home. Dash and her double started to head to Ponyville.

“I think we should appear together so often....” Her double commented as the flew.

“Why so?” She asked. That was a weird thing to say.

“Well, it appears they think we two are... uh... dating...” Her double said clearly embarrassed. Rainbow Dash just facehooved at this.

“Not this again... why does everyone insist that I am a lesbian!? Because I adopted Scootaloo, but didn’t get a stallion? Because I prefer to spend time with my friends, who happen to be mares too!? Who the Tartarus started that rumor!?”

“Hey, I just arrived here! I have no idea myself. It was quite weird that it was even asked from me.” Her double said, backing off slightly. Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and sighed.

“Fine, fine. I don’t really care, but it’s getting annoying. I can’t show myself with anyone without being asked if I am dating them! So far the rumours have had me dating Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Trixie, both Princesses, Fluttershy who was oddly quiet about it, Derpy, Cheerilee, Cadance, Mrs. Cupcake, Photo Finish, even Granny Smith! I mean, GRANNY SMITH! How in the name of the sun would that even work!?”

“Okay, okay, I got it, you don’t like it getting out of the hand...” Her double said. “Maybe, you know, you could just go and date some and then drop them?” her double said, before stopping for a moment to think. “Nah, bad idea and not really fair even.”

“I was wondering what the heck you were talking about.”

“And that is how you remove a bullet from a wound.” Fluttershy said while finishing with the wounded bunny. Some humans had figured out how to remove magical traces from meat and since they were omnivores... Animals rarely, if ever, ventured near human settlements anymore. They just too high chance of getting shot. Her double had been mortified when animals had arrived with bleeding wounds. She had been even more horrified when instead of just putting bandages, she had took out her tools and dug into the wounds, removing the bullet and then cauterizing them.

Problem with the bullet wound was, that it was equally dangerous to remove the bullet, as it was to get them. Removing the bullet could cause more damage and sometimes, pressure made by bullet was only thing keeping the victim from bleeding out. Even after getting the bullet out safely, infection rate was very high.

“Horrible. This is just horrible...” Her double said.

“Yes. At least animals are keeping their distance now, at first they weren’t careful. It was even worse.” She said. “Back then, they didn’t know. They were curious. When someone figured out how to make them... edible...” She shuddered ”they become targets. Humans can survive with vegetation only, so why do they need to hunt!?” She couldn't understand it. If choice was between dying and hunting, she could understand it. However, with humans, it was a choice between hurting someone or eating plants.

“Umm... guess they need it, they have artificial meat... not that it makes any right... how often does this happen?”

“...it used to be ten, twelve times a month... now it’s just few....”

“Oh, good....”

“Because humans got better in their hunting skills.”

“Oh my....”

“Guess I was too hard to her... She didn’t mean anything.” Twilight muttered to herself as she walked to the hospital. Two days ago, she had lost her temper and walked away because the took Trixie’s words the wrong way. Guess she really needed to work on that. However, when she arrived at the section where Trixie was supposed to be, she was nowhere to be seen. She walked to a nurse who was nearby.

“Yes? How may I help you?”

“I am looking for Trixie Lulamoon, any idea where she is?”

“Oh she? Left already, despite the orders from the doctors.”

“Oh, I see... thank you.” Twilight said and turned to walk away.

“Umm, if you could, could you take these painkillers to her? She left them here.” The nurse asked, pointing towards a bottle of white pills.

“Sure, I’ll do that.” Twilight answered. She picked up the bottle and placed it in her saddlebag. She then headed towards Trixie’s office/apartment. Either she would be there, or... actually, now that she thought about it, she was always on some mission or in her office. She arrived at the door leading to the office. She knocked at the door.

“Trixie? You there?” Silence. She knocked again. Nothing. She thought about leaving, but then again, she had promised to bring the painkillers to her. She tried and found that the door was not locked. She opened the door. “Trixie?”

Trixie office was, well, mid-way to complete mess. There was still resemblance of order, but it looked like someone had come and punched and kicked half of the stuff, before deciding it was stupid and went to do something else. She took few careful steps around assortment of documents and papers on the ground. She noticed that the storm had apparently ended with “Proposition to reform Equestrian armed forces”. It had been credited to one of Trixies guards.

She looked at the desk. It had pile of envelopes and empty papers on it. Also, a list of survivors and members of Trixies unit. In middle, there was a simple written letter.

“Dear Mr.Carrot

I regret to inform you that your brother had fallen in line of duty to the Equestria. As the closest living relative, it is my heavy duty to inform you through this letter of his sacrifice and”

Letter ended abruptly. Twilight recognized the letter, she had gotten one after her brother had died. Trixie had clearly been unable to keep writing. Judging by the letter and pile of envelopes, she wrote each letter herself, instead of using mass produced versions. On the floor, there were several bottles of alcohol. It was kinda surreal experience. She had always believed that commanders just signed the letters without giving them another thought. Evidently, some took the losses more personally than others.

She followed a trail of bottles to the bathroom, where she saw Trixie hunched over a toilet. She sighed and nudged the blue unicorn.

“Time to wake up. What would your men think?” She asked, meaning to make her. What she got, however, was a low sob.

“Nothing. All dead. All cause I screwed up. Should have prepared exit route. Should have prepared for dragons. Something. Now they are all dead. Carrot Field. Sharp Spear. Jolly Roger. Danger Jaeger. Every single one. Dead. Now they demand me to write each of their families? How am I going to explain it to them? Sorry, your son died. Too bad, but hey, I am alive?” Trixie said between her sobs. She dropped down and pulled last remaining bottle closer to her. Twilight grabbed it before it reached the drunken unicorn’s lips.

“Okay, I think that is enough for you. Didn’t expect to see you like this. Ain’t you Grea tnad Po-”

“YOU AIN’T GOT NO RIGHT TO CALL ME THAT! Not even as an insult! Only my men are allowed call me that! What do you know about losing ponies? Huh? You only lost your parents and brother! In way that nobody can blame you! Me!? THEY WERE ONLY ONES TO ACCEPT ME! They trusted me! And I betrayed them! So shut up and leave me alone.”

Twilight took a step back after the outburst. Guess she and others had overestimated Trixie. She was no better than anyone else. She can take pressure, but after it reaches the boiling point... she too would crack. She reached her hoof to Trixies shoulder.

“I’m... sorry. But you need to stop now. Get some sleep. Rest.”

“Okay...fine... I’m sorry too... for what I said in hospital... I didn’t mean to...”

“It’s okay, I took it wrong. Come on now, off to bed?” She helped Trixie to slowly stagger to the bed and laid her down. She took a bowl and placed it near her, you never knew if she might need it. “Okay, sleep now. I leave some painkillers on the table, don’t take them until you are sober, okay?”

“Okay... bye Twilight... and thanks...” Trixie mumbled before falling asleep. Twilight shook her head and left the pills on the table. As she exited the apartment, she encountered a pony walking towards it.

“Oh, hello. I am Deep Psyche, do you know if Trixie is there?”

“Yeah, drunk of her ass. Took her to bed.”

“Oh dear...”

“You’re her therapist?” Twilight asked and took a little bit longer look at the stallion in front of her. He was... a rather unremarkable pegasys. Black coat and brown mane, with a green question mark as his cutie mark.

“Ah, she has told about me then? Good, that means she is healing even better... but I’m afraid how she takes this latest event. Please, how was she?”

“... I...” She couldn’t herself go and talk to others about her problems, so what right she had to talk about others? “You need to ask herself. I am not really the best one to talk.”

“Hmm... I see... Well, if you are going to visit her more often, here is my card, do contact me if there is a need.” He said and turned to walk away.

“Yeah.... be seeing you...” She said and put the card away. Like hell she was calling him.

Discord was watching as the few remaining survivors were dragged off and dragons feasted on fresh corpses. There was something that was bugging him. After the initial battle, the level of chaos had dropped considerably. How had that happened? So much chaos in one place and then... it was gone. Disappeared.

His course was set now, but he had come to a conclusion that he might have been too hasty. He would need to make sure, that after he had gained the absolute victory there would someone alive too. With no life, this world would be static, devoid of action, devoid of chaos. A perfect world for order. Exact opposite what he wished.

Still... he had taken this course. Death and destruction, great for short term chaos, were his tools for now, but in the long term... he would need to think something. He was the spirit of chaos, not evil. Not many realized the difference. He didn’t particularly enjoy death and destruction, but he enjoyed the chaos was that was born from it. Life itself was chaotic and much more reliable source of chaos.

However, he was opposed by those who called themselves “Harmony”. Not order, but Harmony. Forces of Order had been defeated long time ago or had been subjugated, made to serve them. He had been part of that, millenias ago. It had been logical back then. Order had wanted to wipe out life, to create a perfect, static and orderly world. Of course he could not allow such thing to happen. Life itself was chaos. Without living beings to experience and create chaos, what would he be?

Right now, he could feel the power in his grasp. Changeling Swarms would need time to reform and move themselves. Dragons needed time to heal their wounds. It could be a month before he could strike again. So he would need a new plan. He had already send changelings to infiltrate Equestria, but he would need more. Something, that would cause his opponents defenses to crumble without a single death.

Awaken to a new world

Proof reader/Editor: xoid

Applejack walked away from the barn. With harvest done and everything set, there was very little to do. She had gone and fixed some loose planks, but otherwise... she was just looking for something to do. Guess she could try to talk to her double. She had been pretty nervous today. They had received a word that humans had done their surgery on Big MacIntosh yesterday and they would hear about the results today. Her double had barely moved away from one them fancy communicators that had spread across Equestria. As she approached the house, her double ran out.

“Get moving! We need to get to Twilight and ask her to call in a favor! We need to get to New Baltimore!” Her double shouted at her.

“Whoa whoa whoa! Hold your apples girl, what’s this about?”

“They just called! Big Mac is waking up, or at least I think they said so. They had so many fancy words in there but we need to be there! NOW!”

“Right, right, let’s get moving.” Applejack answered, backing off slightly. Their doubles knew how to be scary when they wanted to be. And sometimes didn’t want to be.

Two of them headed to the town, moving straight to the library. After knocking on the door, Twilight’s double opened the door. She was wearing her disguise, which had her colors reversed. Instead of her normal cutie mark, she had a wand with three stars around it.

“Oh, hello you two. How can I help you?” She asked the two.

“We need to get a ride to New Baltimore. Right now.”

“Umm, my double isn’t here now, she is visiting Canterlot at the moment and...”

“Perfect! Then we just need to use the communicators to contact her and ask her to arrange a ride for us!” Applejack’s double answered and ran inside. Applejack just rolled her eyes and walked in. She herself didn’t get how those things worked, but she guessed it was kinda like Spike and his ability to send letters.

“So, how have you been doing?” Applejack asked Twilight.

“Good, we’ve been getting along better now. She is still kinda touchy about some subjects, but at least we can tolerate each others. I’ve pretty much already learned what to talk about and what not to talk about with her.” Twilight answered. “So what is this all about?”

“You remember that mah, or her brother, in this universe is in coma?”

“Yes, it was quite a shock. Then again, a lot of things were.”

“Yea, so basically humans did some surgery to him and now he is apparently waking up.”

“Really?! Wow, that is a new one. We have been studying the brain for several years and we still haven’t grasped what goes on in there.”

“Well, apparently humans do, but then again, they got several thousands of years of practise.”

“Yes, they do have that advantage.” Twilight said. Applejack’s double returned to the two, having a smile on her face.

“Right, Twilight’s gonna pull in few favors and get us a ride to New Baltimore.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask... how do you get all these ‘favors’? I mean, it’s like the entire embassy owes you or something.” Twilight asked. It had been bugging her for sometime now.

“Oh, it’s mainly Twilight or Trixie who got them. Mostly it’s just simply helping humans when they need help. Humans got this idea that for every deed done to them, they got to pay back. So ya like help them carry stuff and they are willing to help you with some minor thing you need.”

“I see... So there is no one big help you gave once, but several small things and now you cash them all in?”

“Pretty much.”

“Can I join you two? I would like to see a human hospital.”

“Well... Ah guess it’s OK. Ya might be more interested in their technobabble that Ah am. Ya could be our translators.” She said with a grin. Applejack snorted, there had been several times when someone had tried to explain her how human tech worked. Sometimes she felt that the speaker was speaking in the entire different language.

“So, what sort of favor did you owe to m... Twilight?” Twilight asked from the human pilot who had agreed to fly them to New Baltimore.

“Well, she didn’t exactly do anything to me, but the ambassador owes her a small favor for helping her with some paperwork. She is my superior, so she just pulled me to fly you. Not that I complain, I got my family in New Baltimore. Might as well as go give them a surprise visit.” The pilot answered, his voice filtered through his helmet. “Okay, get ready, we are entering The Zone in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...”

Everyone felt a strange feeling, as if they first lost their senses, then got them back but slightly dulled. It was the result of the Anti-Magic Field, or “The Zone” as it was commonly referred due to human designation to it. Humans called it “The Human Habitation Zone” officially, but everyone else just called it The Zone. Although ponies could live there, it caused all kinds of troubles to them. Unicorns found that their magic was significantly weakened, some even losing it completely. Pegasi found their flying skills severely impaired. Earth Ponies fared the best, but they too found their natural connection to the land weakened and that their strength waned.

To humans, however, it was a paradise. They could walk under a night sky, take walks in the nature and in general, feel like they were living like their ancestors did before their exile. Living in Luna Aeternal and its metal corridors were very different from living under open skies, where there was no limits where you could walk. Some people had started to suffer from agoraphobia, fear of open spaces. To them, ironically, it felt unnatural that there was so much open space.

Of course, this had lead to some interesting situations. Since farming on the surface was very different from farming back in the moon, initial crops had been quite small. However, someone had figured out to ask earth ponies for help. Thus, despite The Zone making ponies weaker, it had lead to rather sizable number of ponies who worked in The Zone. Most of them lived outside The Zone, being ferried back and forth, but some had decided to live there.

The transport set down at the airport. It was rather new, only two years old. The spaceport was reserved for orbital trips, whereas the airport was used for planetary travel. The pilot was helpful enough to get them a taxi to the hospital where Big Mac was currently.

The New Baltimore Health Institute, despite its young age, had already become the leading medical research institute in the world. However, this success was not attributed to humans only. Zebra medicine, thanks to its reliance on the natural properties of plants instead of magic, had lead to Institute to hire numerous zebras to study and categorize plants and their effects. Griffins had a very good and comprehensive knowledge of the body and its functions, even of the other species. Ponies had their own tricks and tips on medical field. Numerous medical volunteers had signed up for the Institute and had eventually lead the Institute to break away from human government, declaring itself an independent research facility.

This had raised a quite large outcry in the government, but in the end, forcing the Institute to return to fold would have been more damaging than what the government could expect to gain, not to mention the bad PR they would get. However, they had made clear that if any other political faction were to gain control of the Institute, the government could, and would, march its troops to the Institute. This had lead the Institute to become de facto non-aligned facility, first of its kind. It was run by donations both from different governments and private citizens.

The Institute was behind many world changing medical procedures, such as cures for several previously fatal diseases. It had bridged many gaps between species and its policy to publicly release its findings had allowed all nations to benefit. Its latest research was in neuroscience. Humans had pretty good understanding of their own brains, but were still largely in the dark about higher functions and how other species’ brains worked. Applejack had, eventually, allowed them to run an experiment that was hoped to allow patients in a “Persistent Vegetative State,” whatever that meant, to wake up.

The group entered the facility. On the outside, it was weird combination of intimidating human design with high walls made of metal and concrete, as well as generally welcoming coloring. Instead of being colored grey or black, it was colored white. In front of it was a sign:

New Baltimore Health Institute

Because We Care About Everyone, No Matter Who

The group walked up to the reception. A bored looking griffin was on the duty,

“Excuse me, we are here to see Big MacIntosh.” Applejack's double said to the griffin, who tapped the screen in front of him.

“Ah yes. I see. Follow the blue line, room 332. Doctor Pavelskin is currently doing a check up.” The griffin answered and pointed at the lines drawn to the walls. The group thanked her and followed the lines to the room they were looking. A human doctor and two unicorns exited the room just as the group arrived.

“Ah, you must be his relatives?”

“Ah am, these two are mah friends.” Applejack’s double said, pointing to two ponies behind her.

“I see. Well, the good news is that the surgery appears to be successful. We are detecting increasing brain activity. However, I must warn you, once again, that whoever emerges from that coma is your responsibility. We can not be sure if his personality is completely intact. Hopefully it is, the same procedure, when done to humans, results in altered personality only once in every 500 cases. However, since we are doing this for the first time...” The doctor said and shrugged.

“I understand. I just want mah brother back.”

“I can understand it. According to his papers, he was wounded before the end of hostilities and as such, we suggest taking it easy with him. It will be a new world he is awakening to.” The doctor said while checking his PDA and showing something to one of the unicorns. “Anyway, we don’t have an exact idea of when he will wake up. Could be any minute now, could be tomorrow. However, you are free to stay here until the end of visiting hours.”

“Thank you.” Applejack’s double said and lead them inside. Big Mac was laying on a bed, with several IV drips attached to him, bandages around his head. His mane had been cut off and Twilight guessed he was bald under the bandages. She could guess why. If they had probed his brain, they would need to make sure that nothing that didn’t belong there got there.

Three of them stood in silence for an hour. Twilight watched the numerous screens around, each of them showing different information about him. Heart monitor, blood flow monitor and so forth. One of the most interesting ones was a decide that monitored his brain activity. Even if Twilight didn’t fully understand it, it showed that his brain was slowly becoming more and more active. It had started with small spots of activity here and there.

Now, his brain looked like someone had set a wildfire in there. Then he started to twitch and jump around, with an unpony scream coming out.

“Whoa whoa whoa!” Applejack shouted. Nurses ran inside and attempted to restrain him, having little luck. More nurses ran inside and finally managed to tie him down. The doctor from earlier also run inside to told them to leave.

“What is going on!?” Applejack’s double asked.

“His brain, we didn’t anticipate this. It’s testing everything. Checking the system, so to say. He has not been using much of his brain these past years, so now it’s testing that everything is functioning properly. Now get out!” He shouted as a nurse guided him outside.

Applejack’s double kept walking around the waiting room. Doctors had been at the work for three hours now. Twilight had spoken to one of the unicorns who had been working on the surgery. Apparently instead of gradual testing that they had been expecting, Big Mac’s brain had apparently decided to test everything at the same time.

If she understood it correctly, they had started to slowly activate parts of his brain, until what they called “cascading brain re-activation” happened. Normally, on humans it lead to the subject slowly waking up as his brain restarted itself. However, apparently with ponies, it lead to brains getting overloaded. They were currently trying to make sure his brain didn’t short circuit itself and kill him.

Finally, the doctor came to them.

“Miss Applejack?”

“Yes?” Applejack’s double pretty much jumped in front of the doctor, who took few steps back from the surprise.

“Your brother is now stable and awake. He is waiting for you in the room. He is quite tired and confused, so try not to agitate him too much, alright?”

“Yes and... thank you.”

“We Care About Everyone, No Matter Who.” The doctor recited their motto. The group walked inside. Big Mac was once again laying on his bed, this time with several unicorns helping him. He didn’t move his head, but his eyes did focus on them.

“Sis?”

“Yeah, it’s me brother. How are you feeling?”

“Like I was hit by entire apple harvest at once... Where am I? What’s wrong with my body?” Big Mac said, barely moving his head.

“Ssh... You’re in hospital. It’s okay... it’s all okay...” Applejack’s double said, before hugging him and breaking down crying. “Oh Celestia Ah missed you...”

“What? How long was I out? What’s going on?”

“Miss Applejack, please step down, the patient needs rest.” One of the unicorns said, although at least she had the decency to look like she didn’t want to interrupt the family reunion.

“Okay... Okay...”

“Sis... I think I saw them humans around... but I’m not sure? How’s the war going?”

“The war... The war is over.” Applejack’s double said. This was going to be the hard part.

“So... we won?”

“...”

“Sis?”

“No... we didn’t win, but Ah guess we didn’t lose either...”

“What do you mean?” Big Mac said, his eyes concentrating on his sister. “...How long was I out of it all?”

“...nine years...”

“WHAT!?” Big Mac shouted, trying to rise up before being calmed down by the unicorns. “Then... what happened? I... can’t remember... I think we were headed to Ghastly Gorge...but...”

“We went there and you got wounded. Fell into coma, but now you are awake. That’s all that matters.”

“Then... what about humans? You said we didn’t win or lose?”

“There is peace. That’s all you need to know. Now rest brother, you have long recovery ahead of you.” Applejack's double said, giving a short hug to her brother.

“Yeah... I guess... I feel... kinda... tired...” Big Mac fell asleep as the anesthetics kicked in. The unicorns lead them outside after that.

“Ah am gonna stay here for now, you two can return to Ponyville. Gimme a holler if something happens, okay?”

“Ah think I’ll stay with you. There ain’t much to do back on the farm.” Applejack said.

“Alright, I’ll just head back and get things done. It will not be long before the Princesses send the second wave of troops to reinforce the humans.” Twilight said giving the two a goodbye wave before heading for a train station. She would take a train to Fillydelphia and from there to Ponyville. Slower than flying, but without any favors to pull it was best she could do.

Two Applejacks headed for a hotel. New Baltimore had few hotels and motels, with most of them dedicated to humans. Only few offered services to ponies. It was not that they banned non-human customers, but it was that their services were more tailored to humans. Human food and such. Two of them decided to use a hotel called “Dancing Pony.” It was not the best, but it was enough for few days. At least, until they would be needed.

“Glad to see ya brother is OK now.” Applejack said as they entered the room they had rented.

“Yeah... I just worry, so much has changed since he was last awake. Ah mean, as far as he knows, the humans were invading just because. Now Ah need to somehow explain him that humans have southern Equestria as their own and we are at peace with them? It ain’t gonna be easy.”

“Yeah, Ah can see that.” She had not thought about that. Waking up in a world that was the complete opposite of what he had lived in would be quite a shock.

“General Saral, nice to meet you.” Princess Celestia said as Saral walked in. She had arrived to take care of logistic and command issues that had been raised.

“Princess Celestia, the pleasure is all mine. Let’s get to business. We need a centralized command that allows us to co-ordinate our troops across the contested area. As such, I propose we either turn our embassy here into temporary command center, since it has the communications systems or we set up one in New Hope City.”

“Yes, I can see why. Currently we have been working each one independently. It would be good if you could lend us some of your technology to ease communication...” Celestia suggested. However, she knew the answer before it even came.

“No. We will attach a special unit from us to deal with communications. No offense, Princess, but official policy of the Human Refuge is to safeguard all technology we have. It’s the only thing keeping us ahead of everyone.”

“I see...” Celestia said. Although they did have a communications network in Equestria now, it was widely at the mercy of human satellites, easily cut off if they wanted. Furthermore, much of it was not understood or outdated. If she were to trust her spies and especially Luna’s information, the technology used in Equestria was at least four generations old and pretty much an open book as far as humans were concerned. On the other hoof, as far as ponies were concerned human firewalls and encryption were pretty much unbreakable.

“I believe Canterlot would be the best place. The leaders are already assembled here and it’s a relatively safe location far from the main battlegrounds.” Celestia continued.

“Yes, I can see that. Very well. I will take care of the matters on our end. The ambassador will probably curse me to the depths of the Sun for losing control of her embassy, but as her superior, she can’t do anything about it.” Saral said and gave her goodbyes. Celestia nodded and watched her to leave. However, she had noticed a minor slip in the General’s speech.

“To the depths of the Sun... they really don’t like the day, do they?”

“Mister MacIntosh, you have a visitor.” A zebra nurse said from the door. “She says she is your sister, alongside with her friend.”

“Okay. Let them in.” Big Mac said. He had been confined to his bed, not by restraints, but the fact that his body refused to obey. They had told him that he could walk again after a long recovery, but for now, he was going to remain stationary. At least he would be able to eat real food again, even if it was tasteless and slightly suspicious hospital food. Still, most of his nutrients came from an IV drop.

“Hey bro.” Applejack said as she entered the room and walked up to him. After a quick one-sided hug, Applejack and her friend sat down on a chairs next to him. “How have you been? They’re treating you well?”

“Eeyup. Although Ah have felt better. It feels like I ain’t got strength to even raise mah hoof.” Big Mac said. “So... what’s this Ah hear about humans? Nobody agrees to tell me anything and always refer to some doctor.”

“Yeah... they told me to try to take things slowly, the world has really changed past nine years. So, basic gist of it is, that the war ended in a peace treaty. Ponies and humans ain’t fighting anymore.”

“Ah see... So...”

“No, it didn’t end cause we got some major victory. It ended because Princess Luna found out what they wanted and how to give it to them without fighting. Humans, once they heard her proposition, agreed to negotiate with her.” Applejack said, before continuing. “Appleloosa, Dodge City and Baltimare were ceded to humans, in return humans pulled out of Fillydelphia and Los Pegasus.”

“Wow... That ain’t what Ah had imagined.”

“It ain’t what anyone expected, but it’s better than ta keep fighting. So now, we got humans living in southern Equestria.”

“So, what did they want? Ah thought they died if you took those suits off.”

“Later bro, that’s enough history for today.” Applejack said, shaking her head. Take it slow, they said. Don’t tell him too much, let him digest it before talking about other things. “The farm had been doing well this year. We got some problems last year, but with help from mah new friend here, we got the harvest done in record time!” Talking about the farm was much safer than talking about The War and humans.

“Good to hear you’re still doing good. So, who’s your friend? Ah haven’t seen you before?” Big Mac asked, looking at Applejack’s friend. She had red coat with green mane, with a wooden barrel with a apple on it as a cutie mark.

“Me? Ah am Apple Juice.” Big Mac could not help but cringe. If this friend was an another relative he had forgotten, Granny Smith would never forgive him. Then he realized that she had said it had been nine years...

“How’s Granny Smith?”

“Oh, her? She’s still alive and kicking, despite nature’s best attempts.” Applejack said with a grin. “Been complaining that you have been slacking off.” Big Mac gave her a glare, or at least tried. He wasn’t sure how effective it was since Apple Juice appeared to be trying to hold back a laugh after it.

“So, where are you from, Apple Juice?”

“Ah am from... uh... Hoofington. Ah worked on an apple farm, until the place got smashed by a tornado. Now Ah been helping Applejack here.” Apple Juice answered. Big Mac noticed there was a slight pause and she was avoiding eye contact. There was something else going on here, but he was not sure what.

“Good to hear mah sister got help since Ah am stuck here.” He answered. “Any idea when Ah get out of here?”

“Well, they say that it will most likely take two or three years before they will discharge you, but they say that it might be just a year before you can walk again.” Applejack answered.

“A year!? What, am Ah stuck in this bed until then?” Big Mac said. The idea of being unable to take a walk for a year was hardly thrilling.

“Hey, if you haven’t noticed, you can’t even raise a hoof. Also... you might have never woken up...” Applejack said, growing more quiet. Apple Juice put her hoof on her shoulder.

“Sorry. It’s just... Ah am bored out of mah mind here. There ain’t anything to do. Ah can’t even read a book cause Ah can’t raise it, can’t go for a walk or anything.” Big Mac complained. He didn’t want to sound ungrateful, he knew that whoever had done whatever to him had allowed him to be awake again and talk to his sister, but on the other hoof, now he was stuck in a bed, unable to do anything. At least the mare nurses had nice flanks.

“Yeah, Ah can understand that. Perhaps you could ask one of the nurses to help you?” Apple Juice asked.

“Yeah, that might help. They are bound to have a book or two, perhaps even the latest Daring Do too.” Applejack said, looking much better already.

“Ain’t that the series Rainbow Dash reads?”

“Yup. Hey, that reminds me... Did you hear she’s a mom now?”

“SHE’S A WHAT!?” Okay, that had come out of blue. What next, humans and ponies fighting side by side?

“Yuuup.” Applejack said, mimicking his own way of saying the word.“ She adopted Scootaloo after The War.” She had a goofy grin on her face.

“Okay, Ah admit. That wasn’t what Ah was expecting, but then again... Those two are... or is it were... pretty close.” He said. “So, did her parents die or something? How’s she doing these days?”

“She’s doing fine. Apparently does pretty well in school. Dunno if it trauma from the war or something else, but she ain’t as good a flier as everyone had expected. Still, she’s pretty good, at least she can outfly Fluttershy, but that doesn’t take much.”

“That’s good to hear.” Big Mac said when there was a knock on the door. A unicorn nurse came in with a tray of something, Big Mac guessed it was supposed to be porridge, and a glass of water. They didn’t give him any solid food yet.

“Excuse me ladies, but it’s feeding time. I am sure you can come visiting later again, but for now, I must ask you to leave.” She put down the tray on a table and picked up a spoon. Applejack and Apple Juice gave their goodbyes and promised to come see him again later. “Now, be a big boy and say aah.” It had been a long day, without much of a real physical work, but he still felt exhausted like after full day of taking care of the farm. It was going to be a long recovery...

Subterranean Threat

Proof reader/Editor: xoid

“Gear up and get ready. Melee dogs up front, rest of you, look out for any enemies from other tunnels.” The squad leader said. Barker just grunted and picked up his rifle. He and his squad, alongside two others, had been sent deep into tunnels to locate one of changeling hives. Plan was to locate one and, possibly, destroy it.

The Diamond Dog Protectorate had so far been a pretty low-key player on this whole conflict. On the other hand… perhaps it was better to say that the DDP was unseen. Humans were pretty open with their support of the DDP who were keeping the underground tunnel network clean of changelings. After The War, it had been realized exactly how much military value these tunnels had. Through them, one could reach any part of Equestria, in complete secrecy. That was without considering the amount of natural resources one could reach simply following the tunnels and locating unused ore veins.

Barker’s squad was pretty much a standard dog unit. Three melee specialists, armed with axes or clubs, depending upon their personal preferences, and one modified human pistol. They were slightly bigger than what humans used, but that was mainly due to difference in body structure. A dog’s hand was a lot bigger than a human’s.

There were also 3 gunners, who carried automatic weapons, a heavy gunner and a comm. officer. Anyone could be the squad leader, but quite often he was either a gunner or a melee fighter. Since the tunnels were pretty tight, melee combat was far more common than on the surface. Most human tactics failed since they could not bring enough firepower to bear in the tunnels.

To Barker, the DDP was a dream come true; for a long time, dogs had wanted to make a nation of their own, but had been unable thanks to their tribal society and diffuse nature. With humans bringing more and more tribes together for trade, more agreements could be made. Humanity had soon thereafter suggested an alliance, offering some of their tech, and the DDP had been formed. It had started a new age in diamond dog history. Finally, they could be more than a species of thugs.

Right now, the DDP was threatened and his duty was to protect it. His brother had fallen in the San Palomino Desert, roasted by a dragon if survivors were to be believed. Only a handful had managed to pull out. So this was not just a matter of protecting the DDP; it was a chance to avenge his brother.

Tunnels were largely in disarray. Someone who didn’t live underground could not tell, but to Barker it was clear as day. Until the DDP had set up new routes these tunnels had been one of the trade routes. Now, it was abandoned and left to erosion, “unmaintained”, so to speak. He could already see the fractures where the digging had been sloppy and where supports were already starting to crack. Furthermore, irregular use had left its mark. Trash had started to accumulated in “unseen” places as this passage’s few visitors dumped their unneeded equipment around.

They arrived at a crossroads. One tunnel lead to other parts of the former trade network, another one lead to depths that had never been fully explored. However, the latest scout reports indicated that changelings had a major movement there. So several more scouting parties had been sent; only one returned. They spoke of a massive amounts of changelings. This lead the DDP high command to believe that there was a hive down there. If they could confirm and locate it, it would allow them to strike back.

“Gronki, Gruff, check that tunnel. Barker and Dirk, that tunnel. Report here if you find anything. Do not engage the enemy. Understood?” They squad leader said. Everyone nodded and headed to their designated tunnels. Dirk was relatively young. He was not much younger than Barker was, but on the other hand, he had not been in real combat yet. Barker guessed that was why he had been paired with him. They needed someone with combat experience to keep the rookie in line.

The two of them moved down the tunnel. Slowly, they started to see the signs of their targets. Few spits of goop here and there. Small holes made to house young ones undergoing metamorphosis. A tunnel wall opened, to allow access to other tunnel. Other, much smaller, perhaps changeling or two sized tunnels branching off. It was a miner’s nightmare, to be honest. A single blast could cause the entire tunnel to collapse. Perhaps that was high command’s plan? To set off an explosion large enough to cause the entire tunnel network to collapse and crush the enemy?

After several more turns, the rookie in front of him raised his paw. Universal “stop” sign. Then he gestured him to move forward. Barker moved up and saw their target. The hive. There was still plenty of tunnel to traverse before reaching the main chambers, but for all intent and purpose, it was a hive. Nursing chambers were something that was not build unless changelings had decided that the place was good enough for a queen.

“Good work kid. Let’s head back.”

“We’re not fighting?”

“No. Orders were clear. Do not engage, only scout. We got what we wanted, time to pull back. Plus, you think you got enough ammo to take down an entire hive?” Barker as as he turned around. “However… it’s strange there aren’t any sentries here. It’s like the hive is too weak to guard itself.”

“Can’t argue with you. I don’t have any experience with dealing these things, they are pretty rare up north.”

Two of them headed back to the rendezvous location. The others were waiting for them, having found alternate routes into the hive. The mission had been a success.

“This data is correct?” Saral said to her diamond dog counterpart.

“Yes. We know where they are are. Just give us the explosives and we can make the whole hive disappear.”

“Hmm…”

This could give them time they needed to reinforce their positions. There were options before her. Either take one of the Final Argument weapons and use those or use something else. They could just pour tons of explosives into a single bomb and then have that one go off. She wasn’t a fan of using WMDs, not yet.

Even more, she had no intention of revealing existence of Project Final Argument. Suddenly revealing that they’ve got weapons of mass destruction pointed at the planet capable of destroying any target they wanted in less than 5 minutes would no doubt make every nation on the face of the planet distrust them.

Worse yet, it might bring so far seemingly uninterested and isolated nations from the other side of the world into the table. Humanity could not afford enemies. They had too few allies to fight a global war, not in the scale humans could afford it. They needed the planet. They could not just bombard it back to stone age, not while the magic was there. That was the main problem of human politics. Everything had to be planned so that it didn’t cause threat to humans. A relatively simple thing, losing The Zone, would be enough to cause humanity as a nation to collapse in on itself.

But her job was to fight and lead, not to think. Right now, she needed to make sure that the enemy would be stopped. The DDP’s plan to destroy a hive could be what she needed to buy some time.

“Very well. I will contact my troops and prepare the weapons. In the meanwhile, I want you and me to go through this plan. We can’t do this alone, we will need the others. Those, what were they, ‘elements of whatever’ could be use to us.”

“Queen Chrysalis?” Saral asked the changeling queen sitting in her cell. Even if she wasn’t considered a prisoner and her cell door was unlocked, she was still a security risk. So she had agreed to remain in the dungeon for the time being, guarded by several elite Royal Guard ponies.

“Not much of a queen these days. You’re a human? Funny that one of your kind would want to talk to me.” The changeling queen answered, raising her head from her meal. Magical crystals, fused with emotions, and some normal pony food.

“It is because we wish to confirm several things.”

“Like what?”

“What it takes to completely destroy a hive.”

“What!?” Chrysalis shouted and rose. She walked to the door, where Saral was leaning against the wall. “What do you mean by that?”

“Just answer my question.”

“No. Not before you tell me which hive it is!” She was worried. If this was her hive, which was closest to current battlelines, she would need to find a way to save it.

“How about we make a deal. You tell me what how to do it and I tell you which hive it is?” Saral asked. She knew that the changeling queen would not contact the enemy forces. Reports she had gotten from SOG-9 had spoken of her being very bitter towards them, not to mention their covert attempts to kill her.

“…Fine.”

“Well?”

“To completely destroy a hive… you need to kill its ruling queen and kill over two thirds of it’s population. It would cause a large enough backlash to cause remaining drones and soldiers to die from it… It will also ensure that the hive won’t be able to spawn a new queen.”

“Hmm? I thought that queens were only ones who gave birth?”

“Do I look like someone who could give birth to hundreds of thousands of changelings? No, there is different caste for that, breeders. Sometimes a drone can become a breeder, but breeders can’t control drones or get nourishment themselves. That is what we queens are for. We direct the hive and serve as a ‘link’ between all that energy and the hive. Kill the queen and breeders and cause large enough backlash, and the hive will collapse.” Chrysalis explained.

She didn’t like talking about the matter, but she had few choices. She needed to know. Besides, even if she wouldn’t talk, humans would very likely just resort to “kill them all” tactics they had used against one of her outposts. She had originally build that one to expand her hive, in preparation to raid another hive, but that plan had been abandoned after humans burned during their March to the Sea.

“I see… Thank you.” Saral said and turned to leave.

“Wait! What about your end of the bargain!”

“It’s a hive near current battlegrounds. That is all I will say.” Saral said as she walked away. There were secrets to be kept.

However, Chrysalis knew that there was only one hive in that direction. Hers. She turned to one of the guards.

“I want to speak to the Princesses. Now.”

“It’s surprising you wanted to see me. You have been rather… quiet ever since we found you.” Celestia said as she entered Chrysalis room. Chrysalis simply gave her a cold look.

“I would have preferred to keep my silence, but the situation has changed.” She said. “One of the humans visited me recently.”

“Oh?” Celestia said, raising her eyebrow. Humans didn’t think much of changelings, preferring to just burn their hives where they found them. Their hive-minded society and insectoid nature made then, for a lack of better word, “scary” to humans. It was surprising that a human would talk to one on his own.

“Yes. They are planning something. She asked me how to destroy a hive.” Chrysalis said. “And she spoke of a hive near current battlegrounds.”

That caught Celestia's attention. First, the human was female. Only human who would know about Chrysalis would be either the ambassador, who had not appeared in public for sometime, or General Saral. Since she had asked about destruction, it would most likely be Saral.

“I think they plan to destroy the hive.” Chrysalis continued.

“Most likely. Not something I would like. I need to find a way to prevent it. Genocide is never an answer.” Celestia said. But how? Unless she got a good alternative, she would not really be able to oppose humans, not without breaking the unity of the coalition.

“I have a personal interest regarding the hive.” Chrysalis said, earning a puzzled look from Celestia. “That hive, it used to be mine.”

“I see…” Celestia said. She had a guess what Chrysalis would propose.

“I have a proposition. Help me regain my hive. With your and the Elements help, I could drive the usurper away. I would pledge myself and my hive to you.”

“You sound… desperate.” Celestia tried to keep her voice even. The idea of having an entire changeling hive join the coalition was tempting. The amount of soldiers they could get. She hated herself for thinking it like that, but it was undeniable fact. They were outnumbered. Human tech would only get them so far, before they would run out of ammo. She herself had seen it happen. They had almost taken Las Pegasus by wearing humans down. Only the sudden arrival of human reinforcements had saved them.

“I may be a changeling, even a queen. I might not have spawned them myself, but they are still MY subjects. MY hive. Imagine yourself losing Canterlot. They are not your children directly. Yet you would mourn them, would you not?” Chrysalis said in anger. She was not heartless. The hive was hers, no matter what. Each one of those changelings had once looked up to her for guidance. This… usurper had turned them into mere cannon fodder.

Celestia knew well what Chrysalis meant. She had once lost Canterlot. Not the city itself, perhaps, but humans and dogs had still raided the castle itself, even destroyed it. Not to mention hundreds of thousands of ponies that had died. Their deaths weighted heavily on her. Canterlot cemetery had grown tenfold during the war.

“Very well. What do you need?” Celestia asked.

“Careful… careful…” Head engineer said as the other engineer tried to maneuver the new, experimental vehicle into the transport. The blueprints called it an “Armored Personnel Carrier,” though the teams called them “Bulldozers.” It was armed with two heavy machine guns and had enough armor plating to survive a hit from an ACES suit’s cannon.

It used six wheels and would able to carry 12 soldiers inside it. It would, no doubt, be of great use in combat. Its armor and weapons would make it perfect support for the troops. With the upgrades from other systems, its AA-System could provide much needed air cover.

Still, it had problems. First one being no-one was used to these things. Most Grav-lev vehicles used were either computer controlled or moved in completely different way. They had first thought that taking a transport pilot would be a simple solution, but that had turned out to be a false premise. There was a clear difference between moving in 3D space where momentum remained and moving in near 2D space, where hitting the brakes actually made the damn thing stop.

Several prototypes had been lost because pilots had crashed them on the courses. Still, they needed to ramp up their equipment. This APC, as it was called, would be a valuable asset. They had grown too used to close quarters combat, not to mention to limited areas of the moon. Surface warfare was completely different from that, which had contributed to their slow advances.

They had cannibalized jigs and tooling from two entire grav-lev assembly lines to make a single production line for these things and the operation still had efficiency problems. The most glaring being that the armor plating had to be custom fitted. The hull might be based upon the chassis of mass transit grav-levs, but there was no ready-made armor plating. They had tested the systems on unarmored prototypes before adding armor plating on these three. There was no guarantee that they would work correctly. People higher in the military hierarchy had ignored him on that, deciding that even a minor advantage was better than nothing. He fully expected these things to break down during the first battle.

It was not only vehicles. Shoulder Mounted Rocket Systems were also being loaded into transports, to be delivered to the troops. He was even less sure about those. They had too many unknown parts in them and too little testing. He had designed several weapon systems, one being the rifle-helmet targeting interface he worked on before the invasion. He had spent four months merely testing that one and even then, after initial battles he had gone back to drawing board to redesign several elements that simply didn’t work. These rocket launchers? Barely three weeks of testing. Even so, most of the tests were performed without a real warhead.

These weapons were untested, as far as he was concerned. They could do anything. From exploding right next to user to causing even bigger damage than anticipated. Still… they would need all the equipment they could give to their troops. Even if it was a meager three armored vehicles and untested weapons.

“Thank you for coming to this emergency meeting.” Saral said to assembled leaders. She had called them to a meeting that was being held at the embassy. “Yesterday, DDP scouts located a hive near our current defensive line. This hive poses a significant risk to our troops.” A monitor flickered on behind her, showing the map of Equestria, with human territories outlined. It then zoomed to the area Saral had referred to.

“Thanks to scouting efforts made by the DDP and some research, we have come up with a plan to deal with this threat.” Saral continued. A screen changed to show a text. “Let me present you Operation Broken Demon.” Words flashed on the screen, before moving upper left corner. The screen showed a map of tunnel network.

“There are four different entrances, three of which can be accessed through here.” A large tunnel, that branched into three smaller tunnels was highlighted in green. “We will deploy our main force through here, which will engage the enemy.”

“Sounds risky. How do you suppose we can beat them there?” The Zebra Union representative, Legate Bacus interrupted . He was sceptical about the plan, attacking a hive directly would cost them a lot. Saral gave him a short glare, she was not used to getting interrupted during briefing. Then again, these people, or creatures, or whatever, weren’t humans.

“Simple. We don’t defeat the enemy there, we will simply tie up their defenders. Once our main objective is completed, they will fall back and collapse the tunnels behind them, allowing a safe retreat.” Saral continued. On-screen, a green arrow moved through the tunnels, before being countered by a red arrow, creating an icon where they met. Behind the first arrow, a bomb icon appeared.

“Meanwhile, after enemy has concentrated their main force against out diversion unit, the secondary unit will move through here.” Another tunnel, isolated from the first one, was highlighted in blue. “This team, consisting of the Elements of Harmony and the best soldiers we can offer, will move into the deepest parts of the hive while the hive is distracted.” A blue arrow moved through the tunnel into the hive.

“And do tell us, what is this supposed to accomplish?” The High King asked.

“Just wait and listen.” The diamond dog representative said and nodded to Saral.

“Thank you. As I was saying, the second unit will move into the hive proper. They will move as deep as they can. Once they have gotten as far as they can, they will deploy a bomb. This bomb will be massive. It will be enough to cause the entire hive to collapse in on itself. Furthermore, it will fill the tunnels with flames and deadly gasses. In short, it will kill the hive.” A bomb icon appeared where the blue arrow had moved to.

“Once the bomb is set, the Elements of Harmony will use their powers to first evacuate the troops here.” The blue arrow disappeared and a blue cross appeared behind the green arrow. “Our troops will pull back, collapsing the tunnel as they go.” The green arrow moved backwards, behind a bomb icon, which promptly exploded, creating a boulder icon in its place. “Then, the Elements of Harmony will move as large a contingent as they can outside the caves.” Both the blue and green arrows disappeared. “If everything has gone correctly… at this point, the bomb will detonate.” The other bomb icon on the screen exploded and sent a shockwave around it, destroying the hive.

“A hive destroyed and enemy forces significantly weakened with minimal casualties compared to a traditional assault. Not to mention the morale boost we all could use after the San Palomino disaster.” Saral concluded as the screen switched back to the first slide, showing the name of the operation. “Any questions? Do we all agree that this is the best way?”

“No.” Celestia said and rose up. Saral raised her eyebrow, but gestured her to continue. “We have a changeling queen here, in Canterlot, who is ready to cooperate with us.” Celestia said. Saral cursed silently. She knew that talking to that damn thing would cause problems, but she needed to confirm her plan. “Thus, I propose an alternative outcome to this than genocide.” Celestia said, giving a glare at Saral. Celestia was slightly unnerved by the plans’ callous approach of killing hundreds of thousands of (almost) sentient creatures.

“Instead of using a bomb, we take Queen Chrysalis into the hive. With the help of the Elements of the Harmony, we can disturb the whatever connection the hive is sharing with it’s new queen by taking her out. This will allow Chrysalis to assume control of the hive and turning it from an enemy, into an ally.” Celestia said.

It was a sound plan, one that the princesses had come up with during their talk with Chrysalis. Celestia had not known full details of the human plan, but her guess was very close. She was glad that her guards had sought her out quickly when Chrysalis had demanded an audience. Had she remained unaware of what was brewing she would have been unable to offer this alternative. Humans planning to use the Elements of Harmony had been a slight surprise, though.

“And if that plan fails? A lot of people will die.” The diamond dog representative said. “I say we go with the original plan. Kill them all. Let the Underdog sort them out.” He said, slamming his fist into the table.

“I say we go with Celestia’s plan. I’d rather have a new ally than a hole in the ground.” The High King said. Of course, that was a lie. The real reason was that he didn’t want barons back home thinking he would be ready to kill them too. If they got such idea into their heads, his reign would be cut suddenly. He had no sons, not yet, so that would lead to all kinds of problems.

“So… it falls down to you, then.” Saral said and looked at the zebra, who had remained silent. “I trust you see the need to destroy that hive.”

“Surely you don’t consider this sort of act appropriate?” Celestia asked.

“I see both sides of this argument and I am thinking benefits of both plans. There is no doubt that this plan would allow us strike against our enemy. Celestia, your plan is risky. There are too many ways it could fail.” He said. “On the other hand, it will give us a great boost in terms of combat abilities, not to mention intel we could learn.”

“However… the human plan is much more straightforward and simple. It is also more likely to succeed. I assume we can’t carry out both?”

“No. The queen is either leading the troops in front or hiding in her chambers. Dragging the bomb there is risky and detonating it there will give us suboptimal result.” Saral said, pressing few buttons. The screen showed the map again, this time with the queen’s chambers highlighted.

“I see… let me think this for today… I will give you my answer tomorrow.” Legate Bacus said. “I will see you all tomorrow.”

“Very well. Anyone else got anything?” Saral asked, receiving few shakes. “Then this meeting is adjourned. We will meet tomorrow.”

Payback time

Proofreader/editor: xoids

The convoy was moving slowly down the road. Two new vehicles sent from the moon were evenly paced, with troops marching between them. Some of the luckier ones had managed to climb into or on top of the machines and were thus spared marching. The convoy was currently taking the main assault force to their entrance tunnel, where they would move underground, meet up with diamond dogs that had set up a perimeter, and prepare to create a diversion. Meanwhile, the second unit would prepare to strike against the hive itself.

Although the new vehicles were appreciated by the troops, they still had several problems. First being that one of them had broken before they had even started. Apparently something was wrong with its engine. Second being that engineers down on the surface had no idea what, so they had sent it back to the moon for repairs. There were other, smaller problems, such as drivers not really handling their new vehicles and the suspension being busted. Apparently, engineers back on the moon had not thought that the APCs’ suspension—optimized for lunar gravity and the lunar landscape—might fare poorly under surface conditions.

The convoy stopped as it arrived to a hole in the ground, made by diamond dogs. Dogs had their unit ready to move in. They had arrived earlier to make sure that way down to the tunnels was clear.

“Alright. Get down there. Once everyone is down in the tunnels, you’ve got a thirty-minute break. Then we’ll begin the operation.” Came a shout from the front. The zebra legate was shouting general orders. Other commanders relayed the orders down on the convoy and troops began to unload from the APCs. They would not be of any use underground, so they would return to the closest military base.

It was not a very large army, certainly smaller than the one that had headed to San Palomino desert. However, it didn’t need to be large. The confines of the tunnels mitigated much of the changelings’ numbers, choke-points would funnel them toward a combined army that would simply fill the tunnels with bullets. Griffins, ponies, and zebras would take care of any changelings that would be able to get through the killzones.

They also didn’t need to kill every changeling. Just hold long enough for the others to achieve their goal.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the tunnel network, a small group was moving through a tunnel. The Elements of Harmony, their strange new “assistants”: Spike who was helping Rarity, Queen Chrysalis, and SOG-9—a human spec ops unit—were moving through the tunnel.

There had been a rather big fight whether or not she would be allowed to come, with Spike demanding he should be allowed to come too. Twilight had refused to allow Spike to come, but had relented eventually under the cold logic of others. Mainly that Rarity was largely helpless on her own and others could not look after her that easily.

Their point man raised his hand. The group stopped. After a while, the commander of the unit moved forward and took a quick look around, before turning back to others.

“Alright, about an hour now. Sit tight, make as little noise as you can. As soon as we get confirmation that the enemy has been engaged, we move in. Understood?” Nods and “affirmatives” signaled that the orders were understood. “Good. I don’t know why the command ordered us to take you all, the more people we have more likely we are going to get caught, but they don’t pay me for thinking.” He said and turned away. The ponies were situated a little bit away from the humans, who set down to make final adjustments to their gear.

“Thanks. For agreeing to this.” Chrysalis said.

“I still think we should have just torched the place… but orders are orders. Command says we’re to cover you and the Elements en route to their queen.” One of the humans said, before walking away. Chrysalis sighed and shook her head.

“They might grumble, but they will help us. Humans are master of doing things they don’t want to.” Twilight said in response. “So… what can we expect to meet?”

“If everything goes according to the plan, most of the hive will be fighting the main attack force. We will take a route through the nursery and spawning chambers, which connects to food storage. After that, it’s one of the sleeping quarters. From there, it’s a quick dash through tunnels and we should reach the queen’s chambers.” Chrysalis said. “If all goes well, we will catch the usurper by surprise, before she can realize what’s going on. Now excuse me, I need to talk with the humans about the route.”

“Mind if Ah ask why we all are there? Shouldn’t some of us be with the diversion force?” Applejack’s double asked. Twilight took a quick look around, before turning to others.

“Girls, keep eye on humans. Make sure they don’t listen in.” Others nodded and took place slightly away from the group. Except Rarity, who stayed with Twilight. “What I am about to tell you, is to remain between us. Understand? This is a national secret. I would not otherwise tell you, but clearly the REMFs didn’t think this plan through.”

“REMFs?” Rainbow Dash’s double asked. That caused one of humans to raise his head and, despite wearing face covering mask, they could feel his confusion. Him tilting his head helped too. Still, he soon lost interest and returned to his task.

“I explain some other time. Now… the big secret.” Twilight took a look around. She made sure that humans and Chrysalis were far enough not to hear and then whispered. “The truth is… the girls and I can’t use the Elements of Harmony well anymore.”

“WHA-” Applejack’s double was about to shout when Spike clamped his hand over her mouth.

“Ssh.” Spike hissed. A human turned to look at them, at which point Spike raised his voice slightly. “You’ll reveal us to the hive.” A lie, but convincing enough for the human to return to his task, which appeared to be gun maintenance. Spike then lowered his voice to a whisper. “Nobody is allowed to know about this. Only the Princesses know about this. Ponies have… disappeared for learning this. It’s that big a thing. No-one is allowed to know.”

“But… how?” Twilight’s double asked in a whisper.

“It’s because of how we used them; when we used them against humans, we used them to hurt. It’s not enough to ‘be’ the element, you need be pure of soul or something like that. The ancient texts were not very clear about them and translating them was more or less hit and miss.” Twilight answered. “We can still tap into them, but the effects are… not very strong. What we are about to pull… is something that might not be possible. That’s why you are here. If we fail, you need to step in. We can’t allow this to fail. Too much is riding on this.”

“To… hurt?” Fluttershy’s double asked meekly. Rarity answered this time.

“You see… when you fight a war… a real war… it’s not enough to just defend what you have. To quote one of the guards I met during that time, you don’t win wars by dying for your loved ones. You win by making the enemy die for his.” She said with regret in her voice. “At first… we concentrated on simply defending, keeping our troops safe. Yet, in the end… we had to use the Elements to cast offensive spells. The Elements didn’t take to offensive spells well.”

“With Discord, they didn’t care because Discord was why they were created. However, whoever created the Elements added a failsafe, to prevent them from being used for evil.” Twilight continued. “Luckily, in our case, the Elements got… confused, for the lack of better term, and are still bound to us. However, we can’t tap into their full power.”

Kommandant Dreich took a quick look at his clock, before turning to other commanders that were leading the diversion unit.

“It’s time.”

“Right.” The human commander muttered, raising his hand to his helmet to activate the comm. system. “This is the band, the party begins in five. Confirm.”

“This is the dance troupe, solid copy. Preparing for the dance.” A human said to his comm. system. “Alright, they are starting now. Get ready to move out. Wong, Gracia, you’re on point. Freich, Jones, you take the rear. Rest of you, form up on me.”

“This is going to be bad, isn’t it?” Applejack asked.

“Hmm… We are going inside a changeling hive, that obeys Discord, is filled with changelings, and houses an insanely powerful queen. Nope, can’t see how this could go wrong.” Rainbow Dash said with a sarcastic smirk. Applejack just shook her head.

“Right, you six, try to keep yourself safe.” Twilight said to their doubles. The humans didn’t know the truth about them, at least she didn’t think so. The human government was without a doubt aware of them, but the soldiers might not be aware who they were. “I know you’ve got experience when changelings attacked Canterlot, but this won’t be anything like that.”

“Hey, we know how to take care of ourselves!” Rainbow Dash’s double said with irritation in her voice.

“Miss, Double Dash, could you please keep your voice down? Thank you very much.” Came an irritated voice of a human.

“On scale between 1 and 10, how bad?” Applejack continued.

“I guess this is going to end up there with Las Pegasus or Ponyville.” Twilight answered.

“You guys are taking this way too seriously. You sound like this is going to be some sort of horrible fight, instead of infiltration mission.” Twilight’s double said, only to have rest of the Elements of Harmony turns and give her an unamused look. “Right?” She said much more meekly.

“Darling, let me put it this way. If I could choose between getting there and having my eyesight back, or going back to Ponyville without my eyesight, I would be on my way now.” Rarity said, with Spike giving his nod.

“Pipe down over there, we are near the hive.” Hissed Chrysalis. “Now we just need to wait until the hive realizes it’s under attack.”

“The troops are ready.” A Royal Guard captain said.

“Very well.” His dog counterpart acknowledged, reaching for a radio. “You hear me boys? It’s time to horribly, horribly murder some changelings.”

“Roger that. Going to horribly, horribly murder some changelings.” Came the response. The dog commander gave the radio back to the comm. officer before grabbing his rifle and pointing it at the direction where the changelings would come from.

Soon, explosion rang from the other end of the tunnel, followed by three very fast moving dogs. Five seconds later, they could hear changelings rushing through the tunnel, ready to strike down whatever had dared to hurt the hive. It started with with only few changelings, most likely only the local sentries. They were easily gunned down. Three escaped, as was planned.

Those three warned rest of the hive that the tunnels were filled with the enemies. This lead to hive setting itself in “emergency state”, leading to every able bodied changeling moving to attack the enemy. A single thought ran through the hivemind: “Protect the hive at all costs.”

When the first group rushed into the tunnel the enemies had been seen, they were met with a hail of bullets and arrows. Realizing that rushing straight into this “Wall of Death” would be suicide, the changeling swarm sought out other tunnels… only meet similar set ups. As the hive tried to debate among itself the best way to deal with this threat, a single voice overrode everything.

“We do not care how many you lose. Go and slay them. You have the numbers.” The voice of the new queen said. Not really having any way to oppose her will, the swarm threw itself into a suicidal assault, hoping that the enemy would run out of arrows and bullets before the hive would run out of drones and soldiers.

“It’s started.” Chrysalis said, although not really needing to say so. When a changeling hive would enter emergency state, you could hear it. Sudden buzz as every drone and soldier would rush out to strike down the enemy. “We better wait for a moment for them to move out. We don’t want to walk into them when they are moving. There will be a small number of drones left behind as a rearguard, but the main force will be attacking the biggest threat.”

Others simply nodded, deciding to trust the only one with any idea how a changeling hive worked. They could hear the faint echoes of gunshots.

Spike walked up to Twilight. “You think they can handle this? I mean… once these humans start killing changelings, can we be sure your doubles can keep their cool?” He asked.

“…I’m not sure. I hope we can get this done as fast as possible and minimal violence. Less they see, the better.” She said. Spike nodded, not really having anything to add. The group waited for few more minutes before Chrysalis signaled them to move. Chrysalis lead them down the tunnel, before suddenly stopping to look at another tunnel.

“Strange… this tunnel was not here the last time I was here. Did the usurper open it? If so… why?”

“You can find out later.” snapped one human, “Right now, we’ve got a job to do. Our people are putting their lives in danger for this.” The Elements grimaced slightly. They had dealt with all kinds of humans over the years, thanks to being national heroes. Not to mention valuable military assets, as much as the Princesses hated to use the term.

Apart from Twilight they had not, however, met a real xenophobic human yet. Members of SOG-9 were clearly human supremacists, who worked with non-humans only because they were ordered, and grudgingly at that. ‘Soldiers first, humans second,’ they said. Still, hearing them resent the current course of plan was not something they liked hearing. Mainly because it made them sound like they wanted nothing more than to shoot them and go ahead with the “kill everything that moves” plan as originally devised.

The swarm kept coming through the tunnels, forcing the long range fighters to switch to more controlled shots. This mean that some changelings would inevitably reach to combat troops. That was why there were melee warriors, such as earth ponies and zebras. Griffins and dogs were able to do melee fighting too, whereas humans were simply not equipped to do so. When even the simplest rupture in their suit would kill them, if the talisman failed or was damaged, it behooves soldiers to avoid melee combat.

One thing that the attackers found curious was the the fact that the tunnels didn’t fill up. Sure, changelings died and dropped down. They couldn’t just rush them like they had done in San Palomino. Yet… the tunnels didn’t fill up. It was weird, but apparently the changelings were pulling their dead and wounded out of the tunnels. For what reason was anyone's guess.

So far they were holding pretty well. They were well stocked on ammo and any changeling that managed to slip by was consistently taken out by melee fighters. Still, everyone was thinking the same thing: What was taking the infiltration group so long?

“Alright, the next chamber should be spawning chamber… if we are lucky, nobody will attack us as long as we don’t threaten the broodmothers.” Chrysalis said as they approached the end of the tunnel.

They emerged in a large cave, or chamber as Chrysalis called. There were few drones buzzing around, hissing at them, but they seemed to be more content on remaining near the large, almost larvae like creatures. These creatures were in small alcoves in the walls. Sometimes a drone would fly up to them and emerge with a small egg. Twilight’s double tried to do a quick counting on how many of these “broodmothers” there were. However, Chrysalis beat her to it.

“Only four? Where are four others? There are supposed to be eight.” She said, a shock evident in her voice.

“What are those things?” Applejack’s double asked.

“Broodmothers.” Chrysalis answered as she lead the group. “Final stage of a queen. Once a queen grows old enough, we go through a metamorphosis and become broodmothers. Each one is a former queen, who grew too old to lead. The hive served them once and now they serve the hive.” Chrysalis continued, looking at them. She knew her time was not anytime soon, but she still didn’t want to be reminded of her future. It was one of the things she had hoped from her attack against Canterlot. To find a way to avoid such fate.

“First thing a new broodmother does, is to spawn a new queen. Queens grow fast, so they can assume leadership. We also gain some of the memories, not all, mind you, but some memories of our mothers.”

“What if a queen dies before she can?” Twilight’s double asked, earning a glare from Chrysalis.

“Then either another queen will arrive and claim rule of the hive or one of the broodmothers will, under instinctive or subconscious pressure, spawn a new queen. I have heard stories of two broodmothers spawning queens at the same time, but that’s rare.” The group continued along the chamber, moving towards the exit.

“Strange that they haven’t warned rest of the hive…” Rainbow Dash said.

“Yeah, you would think they would have called everyone here, if these creatures are so important.” Spike supplied.

“These drones are… bound to the broodmothers. They don’t answer to the queen. Broodmothers themselves, nobody is really sure if they are capable of conscious thought or not. I never felt their voice in the hivemind.”

“I know all this is all nice and fancy, but don’t we have a queen to kill?” A human said. “You can discuss bugs when we have done our job.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree; the sooner we take care of this dreadful business, sooner we can return to the surface.” Rarity said. Being underground surrounded by insectoid creatures was not something she was overjoyed about. The other Rarity was current jealous that her double didn’t have to see the giant bugs. She had to make a conscious effort to not to look at them.

The exit lead them to another small tunnel, before leading them to other chamber. This one had several small chambers, some of enclosed in green goo, whereas others had a small changelings in them and looked them curiously.

“Aww, they are so cute!” Pinkie Pie said.

“Little nymphs. They spend first half of their life here, growing up and learning basics of being a changeling.” Chrysalis said as they walked through the hall. Sometimes a drone buzzed past them, to deposit an egg into an empty alcove.

“They don’t have horns or wings, I see. Do they get them later?” Spike asked.

“Yes. They can’t use any magic beyond simple feeding and basic illusion. Only after going metamorphosis, they get their wings and horns. You can see some of them having encased themselves in their cocoons already.”

“So we don’t need to worry they suddenly decide to suicide rush us? That’s good to know.” One of the humans said while keeping his gun pointed at the changelings.

The group continued their way across the chamber. So far, they had not encountered any resistance, apart when they ventured too close to nymphs. A drone would then arrive and try to scare them away, which they happily obliged. After making sure that the intruders weren’t a threat to little ones, it would buzz off to do whatever it was doing.

“Sitrep.” A human sergeant demanded as he ran to the front of the group.

“What?” A zebra centurion asked.

“Status report.”

“So far so good. they keep coming, we keep mowing them down. We lowered the amount of long range attacks we were doing and let them get into melee range, since we want to conserve ammo. We can hold up like this, but we want to make sure that if this goes south, we can at least hold them back.”

“Good thinking. I will tell the others to do the same. Any idea what those things are up to?”

“No idea they. They have been pretty much just throwing themselves at us so far. However, I bet they are just planning something.”

“True. this has been too easy so far. I will make sure you guys got a path to retreat and have the demolition charges ready. If we need to pull out, I’d rather have them not follow us.”

“Understood.”

“Alright. Now comes the hard part.” Chrysalis said as the group reached its next destination. “Beyond this tunnel are the sleeping quarters for the drones. If we are lucky, it’s empty. If we are not…”

“We have to deal with them in their home turf, with no way to retreat.” A human said. “Any idea if those others from beyond will join them?”

“I am not sure. I always made sure my hive was well hidden. I never had anyone attack it directly and memories I inherited spoke nothing of it.”

“Well, there is only one way to find out.” Rainbow Dash said.

“True. Gear up men. It’s time to wreck this place.”

“Get ready girls, this is going to be a bumpy ride.”

In which bad things happen

Proofreader/editor: xoids

The group entered the sleeping quarter, ready for a fight... only to find the place abandoned. Only thing in the room was a pile of dead changelings, with wounds indicating that they had been killed by the diversion force.

“Whoa...” Applejack’s double said, looking at the pile. “That’s...”

“Hey, I can see to other tunnels from here!” Pinkie Pie shouted, emerging from the top of the pile.

“Wait, what?” The human leader said, taking a look where Pinkie had been before her appearance.

“Oh shit, it’s the Pink Assassin!” One of the humans said, raising his gun and backing off. “Only it could pull that kind of shit!”

“Get your shit together soldier! “ The leader said. “She is our ally here! You will act like professional or I will shoot you myself!”

“But sir!” The soldier said, still keeping his gun aimed at Pinkie. “She was behind the Camp 9 Massacre” This caused humans to suddenly turn to stare at Pinkie, who had disappeared.

“How about we don’t talk about Camp 9? Okay?” Pinkie said, suddenly hanging from the neck of the human who had mentioned the camp.

“OH GOD TAKE IT OFF ME! TAKE IT OFF ME!” The human started to panic, until the leader grabbed him and gave him a good shake. Pinkie Pie dropped off at this point, not wanting to cause more trouble.

“You are a soldier of Humanity! You will ACT like one!” He said. “And you! Can we trust you?” He added, pointing at Pinkie Pie.

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake to my eye.” Pinkie Pie said, going through the motions.

“Guess we have to accept that.” The human leader concluded, before a soft buzzing caught his attention. A drone flew inside the chamber and dropped another changeling onto the pile. Then it started to fly away, but stopped at the entrance. It took a quick look around and saw them. It stared for a moment, then flew out of the chamber. A minute later, a swarm and changelings burst into the chamber.

“GO GO GO!” Came a shout. Not that it was needed. The Elements and their doubles were already running as fast as they could.

There was, however, one advantage that the group had. One that they had not actually planned, but welcome it anyway. Even humans, normally very wary of anything that could kill them, found themselves very much preferring the presence of Spike. Infant by dragon standards, he was still a dragon. A dragon with ability to breath fire. He qa causing the swarm to try to avoid direct attacks. Having a changeling go mad from pain and then trashing on fire around a tightly packed swarm caused a lot more damage than what humans could hope to achieve with a single bullet.

Of course, there were few dissenting opinions on whenever extra lethality was good or not. Mainly from alternative universe Elements, but at the moment, they were too busy trying to get through the camber to give their objection to Spike’s actions. Both Twilights and Rarity were casting spells as fast as they could, whereas blind Rarity was content on just shielding the group on demand.

“Where do all these changelings come from!?” Applejack shouted.

“Maybe they come from the woodworks?” Pinkie Pie asked, appearing behind Applejack, hitting a changeling that had tried to sneak up to her.

“I don’t know and I don’t care! We need to get to the queens chambers! NOW!” Twilight answered back.

“This way!” Chrysalis shouted as the group fought it’s way through the changeling swarm. Two more humans fell to the onslaught before the group managed to pull through. Once they reached the connecting tunnel, both Twilights cast a shield spell at the both sides of the group.

“Damn it… damn it… This thing better be worth the lives of my subordinates, changeling.” The human leader said while trying to catch his breath. He and another human were only survivors from SOG‐9.

“I do hope so. I noticed that my hive is losing members faster than it can hope to replenish them.” Chrysalis said. “Two broodmothers are gone… Death of a broodmother without another to replace it is always a blow against a hive, but loss of two?”

“By the way… you six need to learn to strike killing blows.” Rainbow Dash said, scraping off changeling blood from her hooves. Their doubles looked suitably horrified and disgusted by the sight. They had tried to fight alongside others, but since they aimed to incapacitate or knock down the changelings, their efforts had minimal impact. “This ain’t some fancy fight, this is how wars are fought.”

“But… but… how could you kill someone one? Just like that?” Fluttershys double asked.

“I don’t know… I never could push myself to do it…” Fluttershy answered. Applejack shook her head at them.

“That’s why you’re always at the backlines, dealing with the wounded. Oh, and thanks Spike, for the help back there. That flame of your was mighty fine work.”

“I aim to please.” Spike said with a grin, before coughing. “Though I think I am going to be sick tomorrow. It ain’t easy to conjure up that much flame.” He said. Even if he looked and sounded like your normal teenager, by the dragon standards he was barely out of infancy.

“Time to move. We don’t want to give them time to realise what we are planning.” Chrysalis said. “The usurper must by now know we are here and wondering why. Besides… those changelings? There weren’t born while I was here and they certainly weren’t from THIS hive.”

“KEEP UP THE PRESSURE! MAINTAIN UNIT INTEGRITY!” Someone shouted. Most likely an officer trying to keep troops in line. No‐one was sure what had happened, most likely that the strike team had made contact with the enemy, but the changeling swarm had suddenly strengthened itself tenfold.

Which made them wonder. Where had these changelings came from? The hive did not have this many in it, certainly not after recent battles and the earlier massacre. If they always had these kinds of numbers, they should have used them earlier.

Number of changelings was starting to feel across the frontline. Even when troops abandoned conservative shooting policies and simply started to shoot everything that moved, changelings still managed to get past killzones and engage in melee. So far the line had held, but constant “near misses” were starting to freak the soldiers out. Griffins fared the words, not being used to small confined of the tunnels, whereas diamond dogs were still ready to fight.

“Any word from your men?” The zebra legate asked his human counterpart.

“Nothing since we started the operation. They were instructed to maintain radio silence, incase changelings could detect the radio waves.”

“Can you contact them?”

“Not sure. If they are too deep in the hive, all this rock will make contacting them near impossible, unless we crank up the power. That, on the other hand, can cause problems with our magic users. Nothing major, but apparently it causes problems with casting spells.We really don’t want them failing their shield and magic murder spells right now.”

“Magic arrow spells and I understand. Just try to keep everyone together. If we don’t hear about them in one hour, I’m calling code black on them.”

“Understood.”

“Welcome to Our little chamber. We apologize for the disarray, but We were not aware We were receiving guests today. I hope the you will enjoy the welcoming party.”

Welcoming party, in this case, referred to about 500 changelings staring down at the group. Behind them, barely visible, was the usurper queen. Around the chamber were the remains of two broodmothers and few nymphs.

“What. Did. You. Do. To them?” Chrysalis asked, barely containing herself.

“Oh, a little test. See if We could avoid becoming a broodmother, instead having someone take Our place as one. To become eternal... the eternal will of the hive.” The usurper answered.

“You have grand delusions, to refers yourself with royal We.” Twilight said. As far as she knew, Chrysalis rarely, if ever, used the royal We. Not unless she was trying to gloat and bait other to do something rash.

“Oh, but there is no other way to refer to Us. We are legion, you see. One voice, many minds. This is a mere vessel. You, a weak minded fool, could never understand the glory which we have achieved.”

“I know you became slaves to one insane chaos god.” Chrysalis spat back.

“Slaves? You think he controls us? You deluded fool. Stumbling in your own ignorance. Making assumptions which one can’t prove. No, we are doing this out of our own choice. We will make our species dominant species in this world. No more hiding, no more secrecy. We shall stand out in open, as a rulers. We shall herd out prey like a cattle they are.”

“You’re insane.” Twilight said. Everybody else nodded their agreement.

“Perhaps. That is certainly a possibility. We have, after all, allied ourselves with God of Chaos. Oh, and I must absolutely thank you for just standing there, while my minions surround you.”

The group took a quick look around and saw that they were surrounded.

“Well fuck. Plan B everyone! Kill everything!” The human commander said and started shooting. Other humans followed the example. Twilight and her double started to cast spells to take out the incoming horde, while Rarity and her double cast shield spells. Rainbow Dash and her double, alongside two Applejacks, took out anyone daring to get too close. Spike’s ability to breath fire became handy, once again.

Still, there was one major problem. The changeling queen could afford the losses they were inflicting. They could not, even a single casualty would mean disaster. They needed something that would ensure their victory.

“Damn it.” Wild Ride said as he stood up. A changeling had managed to get the drop on him and knocked him down, before being killed. “I don’t get it. There were a lot less previously!”

“I don’t think these are all from the same hive.” His griffin partner said. “Too many, too suddenly, not to mention subtle differences.”

“Differences?”

“Yeah, look here,” he said pointing toward two dead changelings. “The first’s wings are more pointed, and its teeth are longer. The second has sharper teeth with greater curvature. Seems like another hive is reinforcing them.”

“Well ain’t that just fantastic.”

“Go and warn the others, we need to have command know about this.”

“Right, try to keep things under control here.”

“Hey! You know the spell that defeated Chrysalis last time!?” Twilight shouted to her double.

“Yes. Shall we cover you while you cast it?” Her double answered, while blasting another changeling.

“Forget us.” She said and floated the Elements to their doubles. “You cast it, we cover you. We can’t afford to screw this up! EVERYONE! COVER THEM WHILE THEY CAST!”

“It’s going to take a while, it’s not something I am particularly good with. Cadance knew the spell better than I.”

“I know, but we don’t have a choice. We need to take down this swarm before they overrun us!”

“Right, gather up girls!”

“What the fuck is going on?!” A human asked from Chrysalis, after seeing the Elements float up.

“I don’t know, this wasn’t in the plan.” She answered, after cracking skull of a changeling that attacked her. She had no problems killing changelings that weren’t part of her hive, so in sense it was a blessing that the usurper had brought her own warriors. It made this so much easier for her.

Despite their confusion over the Elements, the humans and Chrysalis moved to cover the apparent new group of Elements. Changelings appeared to realize what was happening and focused on the Elements, that started to slowly glow.

“This feels… weird…” Applejack’s double muttered. “Doesn’t feel quite the same as with our own ones.”

“Probably the result of not being natives to this universe. Try to ignore it for now.” Twilight’s double answered and tried to concentrate on the spell. She had to make Chrysalis sized hole in the “blast all changelings” rules, since they needed her conscious and alive.

There was a loud THUNK-CRUNCH behind Twilight, who turned around, just to see Pinkie hopping away, while a changeling laid down on the ground. She had to wonder how she kept doing that, appearing in the nick of time, despite being too far away to cross the distance in time.

After few moments and numerous failed attacks by the changelings, the usurper queen had enough.

“If you want something done, do it yourself!” She shouted and send a blast of magical energy towards the group.

“RARITY! SHIELD! NOW!” Twilight shouted and cast her own shield. The blast hit the first layer, cast by Rarity. The shield cracked and disappeared, but the blast was weakened. When it hit the layer cast by Twilight, it dissipated.

The usurper snarled in frustration. While those damn unicorns protected the Elements, her changelings could not kill them. She could not send enough changelings to fight them without leaving herself vulnerable to others. Then she had an idea. If she could not crack the spell directly… then perhaps indirect method could work?

Sergeant August couldn’t decide whether this was the worst mission ever or whether that job back during The War was worse. At least these creatures dropped from a single shot, but he was running out of ammo, fast.

“I need help!” He shouted. He looked around and saw that his squad was dead or in process of dying. Apparently no help would be coming to him anytime soon. Damn it, what was taking those damn “Elements” so long?

“Maybe I can help you. To sleep.” Came a far too recognizable voice. August swirled around once more, only to get a face full of magic. The sensor readings went wild on his suit. Numerous alarms run across his HUD. Dangerous magical levels. Counter system failure. Talisman failure. Suit breached. Repair protocol failure.

He died before he hit the ground.

“What the—!?” Applejack’s double shouted as the humans armor cracked and strange goob flowed out.

“CONCENTRATE!” Twilight’s double shouted. “This is hard enough even without you slacking!”

“Sorry! But that guy just MELTED!”

“FOCUS! We can deal with it later!”

“Right, right!”

Meanwhile, the usurper queen had turned to attack others. Rainbow Dash was doing her best to protect Fluttershy, who barely managed to defend herself. Spike was protecting Rarity, who in turn cast shield spells as close as he could, whenever someone shouted. Sometimes she cast a magic bolt in general direction, based on Spike’s comments. Being blind was a real drawback in these situations.

After setting another bunch of changelings, who thought they were clever and tried to sneak up to him, on fire, Spike turned to see the usurper queen charging up another magic bolt, the same kind that had pierced Rarity’s shield earlier.

“Rarity! Shield!” He shouted. Rarity cast the spell and a sparkling shield went up across her and Spike. Spike pushed her away and was about to move himself when the bolt hit him. He felt his feet lift off the ground before he smashed against the cavern wall.

“SPIKE!” Rarity and Twilight shouted.

“*groan* Still alive… still alive…” He said before falling unconscious.

“YOU BASTARD!” Twilight shouted and tried to charge the usurper only have her path blocked by changelings. She tried to fight her way through, but there were too many changelings to be taken care of. By the time she could move forward, the usurper had already moved,making any progress she made irrelevant.

“You big meanie!” Pinkie Pie shouted, having (rather morbidly) grabbed a discarded human helmet and hitting the usurper with it.

“Where in Tartarus did you come from!?” The usurper said, as the changeling swarm changed it’s direction to attack this new threat to the queen. At the same time, the queen started to gather energy for another strike.

“Pinkie! MOVE!!” Twilight shouted and began to cast a shield over Pinkie, who suddenly realised the poor tactical position she was currently. She tried to run, but a changeling managed to grab her by her ankle. Twilight was just about to cast her spell, when a changeling tackled her, disturbing the spell. She had to use the spell energy she had to fight off the changeling.

“Let me go!” She shouted, giving the changelings a good kick in the face, freeing her.

“Die.” The usurper said and send the bolt of magic. Pinkie had barely time to register what was happening when the spell hit.

“No. No no nonononononono NO!” Twilight shouted as Pinkie Pie’s body hit the ground. She half expected her to suddenly jump us and shout “Fooled you!”. She hoped that was the case. Yet… her body didn’t move. There wasn’t even movement from breathing in her chest.

“YOU BASTARD! YOU CELESTIA‐DAMNED MURDERER!” Twilight shouted and started to cast spells without much of a thought.

“GET HER!” She heard Rainbow Dash shout and saw her fly past her, smashing changelings left and right. However, the usurper was prepared this time and cast a shield, a shield unlike any she had seen before. Rainbow Dash hit it and it seemed like some sort of electricity surged out of it.

“DASH!” She heard herself to cry.

“LEAVE HER ALONE!” She heard uncharacteristic shout from Fluttershy, who apparently no longer had any inhibitions of smashing changelings. Combined with the murderous look on her face, changelings were terrified of her.

“Got it!” Twilight’s double shouted. In a short time, a blinding light filled the cavern. When it disappeared, the changelings laid on the ground, unconscious. So did their doubles, panting from exertion. Twilight walked to the usurper queen who was barely moving.

“Hehehe…” She had maniacal look on her face and a smile that showed way more teeth that should have been possible. “Payback is a bitch, isn’t it?”

“Wait a minute.” Chrysalis said walking next to her.

“You wanna stop me? Think again.” Twilight growled at Chrysalis. Chrysalis took a step back before shaking her head.

“Stop you? Perish the thought!” She said with a forced smile. “I just ask you to wait for few minutes. I got a hive to reclaim. I need her alive for a moment. After that, feel free to cut her up.” She said, her horn flaring up.

The usurper queen winced and groaned as Chrysalis pierced her connection to the hive. She was tempted to try to assume command of the other hive too, but something was blocking her. She decided to leave that one for now. Perhaps it had something to do with the whole “We are Legion” thing the usurper had been spouting.

She felt how her subconscious was filled with her former subjects thoughts and opinions. How they were confused and how their confusion turned to cheers as they realised who had returned. She ordered the to cease the useless attack. She assured them the attackers would no longer be a threat if they stopped.

“She’s all yours now.” Chrysalis said and turned away. “I will have no knowledge what happens next.”

Last thing the usurper saw, was a purple hoof rising above her head.

“Sir, they are pulling! They are all retreating!” A soldier shouted to his officers. The officer took a quick look and ran to the command post that had been set up in the tunnel.

“Commander! Legate! The changeling swarm is pulling back on all fronts!”

“Well color me surprised, they did it!” The human commander said.

“And not a moment too soon. We were just discussing retreat and abandoning the operation. tell all men to keep their guard up, for now. We still need to wait until we hear from the Elements.”

“Yes sir!” After the officer left, both commanders gave a sigh of relief.

“Thank the Spirits they succeeded.” Legate said.

“This was starting to turn out badly for us. I might disagree on whole letting the hive live, but I can certainly say I prefer to keep my men alive.”

Silence reigned in the queen’s chamber. The Elements were gathered around the body of Pinkie Pie. Applejack had taken unconscious body of Rainbow Dash on her back, whereas her double was carrying Spike. In the corner, changelings were dragging now headless body of the usurper away, to be thrown into a waste dump.

“Why? Why did you have to do it?” Twilight muttered. She picked up the body in her magic. The body had large scorch mark where the bolt had it. Spike had similar, but smaller one where he had gotten the weakened bolt. Fluttershy put her hoof over Twilights shoulder, before gently speaking.

“Let’s go. We all need rest and she deserves to see the sun once more, before we la… let her rest.” Fluttershy said, trying to avoid directly stating that Pinkie was dead. She had seen Twilight right after the spell. Her hooves were still covered in blood and Fluttershy could swear there was brain matter there too. Twilight had turned into a bomb, one that nobody wanted to set off.

“…I guess. Come then. No time to laying around.” Twilight said and started to walk out. “We need to inform the diversion force.”

“I will take care of things here. We will need to relocate to avoid an attack from other hives. Most likely we will head north. Once we I am done here, I will return to Canterlot.” Chrysalis said. She had been ordering the hive to gather everything they could and move out. They could not stay in their hive for long, sooner or later other hives would attack the now much weaker hive. “And.. thank you. I am sorry for your loss.”

“Yeah… whatever…” Twilight muttered as she walked away. The girls gave each other a quick glance, before saying their goodbyes and following her.

Burial

Proofreader/editor: Biker_Dash

Twilight felt that the weather was mocking her. The sun dared to show itself. No rain, no cold air, no clouds... on any other day, she would have welcome such fine weather. Not today. Today she didn’t welcome it.

“We have gathered here to remember our friend and daughter, Pinkamena Diane Pie, who we are now to lay in eternal rest.” The priest started the service. Pinkies coffin was in front of everyone. Pinkie had never been much of a religious, she was too carefree to be worried of living “proper” life.

Still, her parents had insisted. Twilight could not even imagine what her parents were feeling. She remembered laying down her brother and remembered the mass funeral when the war had ended and those who died in The First Day were blessed. She had felt horrible in both situations. To lay down your own daughter, while you still lived... it must have been horrible. They had seen their home burned and occupied, now they had to watch as their youngest was laid to grave.

The others were attending to the service too, except Spike and Rainbow Dash. They were still in hospital, with staff saying that Spikes flame channels were damaged from overuse and required constant monitoring. Rainbow Dash had not awakened, but the doctors had said that it was most likely a result from sudden shock. Her brains were still fully functioning and showed signs of dreaming. She was expected to wake up later today or tomorrow.

Fluttershy was barely holding back her sobs, where as Rarity managed to remain silent, yet one could see tears running on her face. Applejack was trying to remain stoic, most likely to hide their own tears. Twilight, on the other hand... she felt numb. She had sat down in The Temple of Faust for far too often. Her parents. Shining Armor. Zecora. Now Pinkie Pie. She missed the times when they didn’t need to fear for their own lives.

And worst... they could no longer hear or talk to Pinkie. No more surprise parties. No more non-sequitur speeches. No more randomness from her. No Pinkie sense. No more of her baking. The Cakes had taken the news pretty hard, she had become sort of adoptive daughter to them during all these years. They were sitting in the front seats, behind Pinkies own family. Pound and Pumpkin were surprisingly silent. Perhaps they realized that this was not the moment for any antics.

The doubles had decided to join the funeral too, sitting in the backseat. They were clearly uncomfortable with the situation, never really having thought the possibility of dying. Now they were sitting in a funeral, funeral that was for one of their friends... who, paradoxically, was still alive for them. It was rather creepy for them, especially Pinkie. Nobody expects to be sitting in a funeral for themselves, especially when the funeral is very real.

The priest went on and on about how she would be missed, how she had given her life to service of the kingdom, how her cheerful attitude had brightened everyone's day. She was barely listening to any of it. They had asked her to give small speech, but she had refused. She didn’t trust herself to be able to do anything other than sit there in silence.

Celestia stood up and walked to the speakers podium, her turn coming up. She coughed once before starting to speak.

“Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter, was one the most interesting ponies I have ever had honor to meet. Her ability to bring laughter and joy during even the darkest times was a feat nobody could replicate.

“She knew, that no matter how hard the times would be, it was never good to fall into trap of self-loathing. That we should always look the positive side of everything. Her parties and perky attitude were able to bring laughter and smile to everyones face.

“During my long life, I have seen many friends pass away. I tell you now, that the best way to honor those who have died, is to keep on living. To keep them in your heart, to remember them. Yet, at the same time, we should not allow us to be caught in the past. To stop living our own lives.

.”Even if today we mourn our friend, we must always remember, that life goes on. She herself would not want us to eternally mourn her loss, but to remember her and move on. To find happiness and life our lives to their fullest.

“But for now... we shall mourn her and remember her. It time to lay her down for eternal rest. Unless she turns afterlife into one big party.“

No applauses, not that there were expected. You rarely if ever applaud after a funeral speech. Luna joined her sister at the altar and together, they raised Pinkie Pies coffin and started to carry it out. The ponies slowly followed them to outside.

There had been a minor fight over where Pinkie Pie would be buried. Some in the court said she deserved a royal funeral in Canterlot. Other had said she should be buried in Ponyville. Lawyers had gone through her legal documents, trying to find if she had left a will behind. They had eventually found one, but it had not specified anything about the funeral. Only that she would leave about half of her belongings to certain people and rest would go to charity. In the end, they had settled in Ponyville, with The Princesses attending.

The grave was slightly aside from rest of the graves. During and after The War, the graveyard had gained a new look. It now had “normal” graves and a different section for those members of Royal Guard that had died during the war and who had lived in Ponyville. Pinkies grave was set to be on the “war casualties” side, with slightly different gravestone.

Two Princesses lowered the coffin into the grave. The ponies walked to the grave, lowered their flowers and gave their final words. Humans had sent their ambassador to sent their farewells as well. However, it was only her and her two guards. General Saral had decided to stay at Canterlot. After that, Princesses filled the grave and used their magic to have flowers blooming on it. Roses and other pink flowers. Twilight found it rather fitting.

With that, the ceremony was over. Usually, but not always, there was usually a small meeting where ponies would remember the passed away. However, nobody had felt a need to create a “party”. It didn’t feel... right, for a lack of better word.

“Uuuh... I don’t feel so good...” Rainbow Dash muttered. She felt like someone had ran a train over her.

“Take it easy. The doctors said that there is danger of your body breaking down,” came a strained voice, like someone had bad case of lung cancer. It didn’t help that the sounds were somewhat muted.

“Spike?” Dash asked, turning her head and seeing Spike laying in the next bed. Well, she assumed it Spike. Her sight was somewhat blurry too.

“Who else?” This was followed by a series of coughs. “Damn it... Gimme a sec to take my medicine.”

“What happened?”

“You got hit by some magic shield. Knocked you out. The doctors said it played merry havoc with your nervous system, causing... how did that one doctor put it... ‘to overload from sensory input’ I think. How are you feeling?”

“I feel like someone had driven a train over me and... weird. I kinda feel the pain, yet at the same time, I can’t,” Dash said. She felt horrible, but on the other hand, she didn’t feel the bed beneath her or the bed sheet. “What about you?”

“Lung burn. *cough* Dragons at my age aren’t really supposed to breathe that much fire in that short of time.”

“But you will be OK?”

“Yeah, they operated on me already. Said they did their best and I should keep taking the medicine they give me. Two pills every time it starts to hurt to breathe for at least a year and another pill twice a day.”

“Nothing worse?”

“Well, apart from a scar on my chest, but hey, chicks dig scars,” Spike said giving a smile. Dash couldn’t help but laugh.

“Yeah, we do. Dunno about Rarity though,” She said.

“I doubt she will notice,” Spike joked back.

“Unless you two try some vertical mambo,” Dash teased back.

“...”

“Wait, you two haven’t...? No, that’s not it... you two have!?”

“No comment,” Spike said with a grin.

“Oh my Celestia GET THAT IMAGE OUT OF MY HEAD NOW!”

“What is going on there?” A pegasus nurse entered the room just as Dash was preparing to beat herself senseless. ”Oh, miss Dash, good to see you are awake. Miss Scootaloo will be please to hear about it.”

“Scoots is here?” Dash said, welcoming the distraction.

“Yes. She is currently at the cafeteria. How are you feeling at the moment?”

“Horrible, yet at the same time, numb,” Dash answered.

“Hmm, that is expected,” the nurse said, walking to her bed and picking up her file from the front of the bed. “According to this, your sensory system is damaged. Basically, it got overloaded with magic, leading it to experience all sensory feelings at the same, leading to sensory overload. In order to preserve the state of mind, it was shut down. It seems your primary visual cortex and primary auditory cortex are still functioning, to a certain extend. However, there has been no signs of activity in your somatosensory, gustatory or olfactory cortexs, which leads to-” The nurse glanced at Rainbow Dash, who had cocked her head. All she needed a big question mark floating next to her head and she would be perfect image for confusion.

“In Equestria, please?”

“Your sensory system shutdown. For some reason, it has not fully reactivated. That would explain why you feel numb.” The nurse answered, putting the file back on its place. “I will inform the doctors that you have awakened. They will be here to do a check up on you.” Then the nurse turned to Spike. “And how are you feeling? Are the medicines and painkillers helping?”

“Yeah, I feel alot better. At least it doesn’t hurt just to breath anymore,” Spike answered. “I just hope that these things don’t have side effects.”

“They should not have. They were produced by the most talented Zebra herbalists. However, if you feel something, do not hesitate to inform us.” The nurse checked the amount of medicine Spike had, before turning to the door. “I will leave for now. Try to keep things down, there are other patients who would prefer silence.”

“Okay.”

“Sure thing.”

The nurse nodded and left the two alone. Dash looked around and saw there was one more bed in the room. However, it seemed to be empty.

“Hey, is there supposed to be someone else here?”

“Hmm? Oh, that. Not at the moment. We should get someone here eventually, but the guy who used to be in that bed, he got released earlier today. Talked to him little bit. He was a human, said he had served during The War. Apparently, someone had managed to crush his lung. He had transplant, but his body started to reject it.”

“Reject it?”

“Something about immune system suddenly thinking it was foreign object and stuff. He didn’t himself know about it.”

“Oh, I see... Actually, where are we?”

“The New Baltimore Health Institute”

“Oh. That explains it.” Then she suddenly remembered why she was in the hospital. “What about Pinkie Pie!? Is she okay?” Spike became clearly uncomfortable, looking away from Rainbow Dash.

“Pinkie... Pinkie didn’t make it. They are holding the funeral right now.”

“Now!? But.. .when... how long was I out?”

“A week, Miss Dash,” came a voice from a human doctor, who was flanked by an unicorn doctor and a griffin nurse. “We were initially worried that your brain had suffered major damage, leading to vegetarian state as indicated by our initial scans. However, further brain scans showed that your brains were more resilient had only shut down parts that were not vital to your continued survival. Since then, they have in increasing amounts reactivated, indicating that pony brains are capable of an ‘emergency shutdown’, not quite unlike a human’s ‘beneficial coma’. However, this does contradict with our other studies into non-human coma patients. It will be-”

“In Equestria, doc?”

“You have resilient brains,” the doctor said, pulling a small flashlight out of his pocket. “We will need to run some tests to make sure everything is okay, however. Please no not move,” the doctor continued, holding Dash’s eye open and flashing the flashlight. “The pupils react to change in lightning, good. How is your eyesight?”

“Little bit blurry, but getting better.”

“I see... How are you feeling?”

“Numb mostly.”

“I see... I see...” The doctor said. “Please look here,” He said, raising his hand up in the air. Dash stared it for a moment. “Interesting.”

“What?”

“You do not feel anything?”

“No.”

“Please look down.” Dash looked down and saw that doctor had poked her with a small needle. “You don’t feel this?”

“No...” Dash said faintly. The doctor removed the needle.

“Look like your diagnosis was partially right, Blue Pill. However, she can see and hear.”

“Well, for once I am glad I was not totally wrong. One more test,” The unicorn said, picking two candies, one red and one blue. “Please taste these and tell me which one tastes cherries,” he said, handing the two candies to her. Dash took them and tasted both of them, trying really hard to find out which.

“I think the red one tasted like cherry.”

“Hmm...”

“What?”

“Both were melon flavored. It seems your taste has been damaged as well.”

“Oh sweet Celestia...” Dash said, slumping down on her bed. “Got more bad news?”

“Not for now and we hope there won’t be more. However, we will need to run some more test before we can say for sure.” The unicorn doctor, Blue Pill, said. “We need to get you to labs, there are several scans that we need to do now that you have awakened and they can’t wait.”

“Why?”

“Three reason, two of concerning your own health and once concerning health of everyone,” the human doctor said. “To establish the current status of your brain and to help us establish the timeline as well as further help research. Right now, we still do not know much of how pony brains work. The human brain is well documented and studied, but we have very little information what makes a pony brain tick.”

“So, I am guinea pig?” Dash said, unamused.

“No. This is mere an additional result from getting the scans now. We will compensate you well for this, of course.”

“Fine, let’s get this done. I am hungry.”

“Very well. Nurse, please take Miss Dash to lab S324. After that, please make sure her meal is ready.”

Twilight was sitting in the library, reading some ancient books about afterlife. She had once asked Celestia about it, when she had been younger. Celestia had admitted that she and her sister had no idea what happened to pony when they died. Celestia had apparently once tried to find out, but when Twilight had tried to pursue the matter, Celestia had answered:

“You don’t want to know. I tried to find out, I should have not and now I tell you, you don’t find to find out. I couldn’t find out the final truth, but what glimpses I managed to pierce together were enough for me to forget the whole idea.”

Not very encouraging. She was not sure what Celestia had seen or felt, but clearly living creatures were not meant to experience such things. So she was forced to study ancient texts. She heard knocking on the door, wondering who it could be. She had no agreed to meet anyone today. She stood up and walked to door, opening it. She was quite surprised to find out who had come to visit her.

“Trixie?”

“Me.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Well... want the honest answer or should I lie and give something you would much rather hear?” Trixie answered, looking away.

“*sigh* Give me the truth.”

“Well, based on what I had seen so far, I would expect you are taking Pinkies death pretty hard.” Trixie answered. Twilight gave her a glare. She was not mood for another ‘You need help’ talk.

“If you are here about that damn-”

“And I have been feeling damn depressed lately too, never got over death of my unit and now I got discharged over psychological reasons.. So, I am here to offer you something to numb your and my pain,” Trixie continued, levitating up a bottle of wine. “Best you can find in Equestria. I got few bottles of these, as well as several of that stuff humans drink. Tastes like piss, but guarantees that you get drunk.”

“Trixie, I am not sure if drinking is the right choice...” Twilight said. Admittedly, she herself had been considering getting drunk.

“I got the experience. Makes you forget about all the shit that goes in your life, even if for a moment.” Trixie said. “Besides, if you don’t drink with me, I will drink these myself.”

Twilight wanted to say no. She wanted to take those bottles away from Trixie. It was not a good idea to drown one's sorrows, it never lead to anything good. She seen few drunkards who had never gotten over The War. She didn’t want to become like them. Yet... Trixie offered a moment of relief. A moment without all that pain. She mentally cursed her own weakness.

“Come on in. I’ll get us couple of glasses. We can at least pretend we are not aiming to get drunk and we are just remembered Pinkie. Also, I want to hear about your discharge. I had not heard about it until now.”

“Whatever floats your boat.”

Author's Note

Oooh! Authors note! And without needing to put these into comments anymore! Very nice.

So here we go. NExt chapter will be dealing with other EoH and Canon!EoH dealing with death of someone so close to them.

After The Burial

Proof reader/Editor: Biker_Dash

Pinkie Pie knew that many considered her weird. She knew that she herself was weird in some instances. She took pride in it, being able to perceive the world in whole new level. She never revealed her tricks. She also enjoyed seeing other smiling, especially is she was the cause of their smiles.

So it was weird for her to be there, standing in middle of her room, watching as ponies she knew sadly looking through her possessions. It was weird for her to look their sad faces, to hear them tell her stories she knew already, as if she didn’t. She wore the disguise, of course, like they had agreed back then. She didn’t dare to reveal herself, not now. It would not be happy or funny thing to do. It would be cruel.

Perhaps hardest part had been Pumpkin suddenly asking her mother where Pinkie was. Seeing Mrs. Cake just hug her son with tears in her eyes had been... disturbing. She personally never knew that Cakes had cared that deeply.

It was weird, watching how others reacted or would react to her death. It was something she had never expected to see. Her parents, or more specifically, this worlds Pinkies parents, were talking with Cakes, asking about her last days. Mentioning how she had come here, started to live with her. There were few rather awkward questions directed towards her. Apparently the Cakes had somehow, though they never said so directly, implied that she was Pinkies lover.

Eventually, she could not take it anymore.

“Excuse, I think nature is calling,” She said, rising up.

“It’s okay dear. Toilet is right that way. Though I think you knew that already,” Mrs. Cake answered.

Pinkie nodded and walked towards the hallway, but instead of visiting the toilet she walked outside. She took a deep breath and sat down.

“What is wrong with this world?”

“Feeling down?” Celestia turned to see ambassador Fahrenheit behind her. She had returned to Canterlot and had been thinking in the garden. She had not even noticed the human walking up to her.

“Yes. It’s funny. You always think you have seen enough friends and families pass away that you no longer feel the pain. The moment you think you have grown immune to the pain, it sneaks up on you.”

“I guess that’s one downside of immortality,” Fahrenheit said, sitting on a bench. “You are immortal, right?”

“Funny thing is, I am not sure. I used to be a filly. I have been growing, in both body, mind and power. However, I am not sure if I merely have extremely long lifespan or I am truly immortal. It’s one of those questions you never know answer until the end comes.” A silence fell between two. They sat there for for some time until Fahrenheit decided to ask her something.

“So... you two were close?”

“Not in sense. I knew her mainly through my student, but... she was a kind of person that sticks to your mind. There is only one of her kind every hundred years.”

“I see... Sorry about lack of response from our end, but... well, they are tightening the hold over the embassy. I had to request permission first.”

“I see. Even when we are dealing with a powerful enemy, your leaders are worried about us?”

“About everyone. Something is going on there. I do not know what. I get less and less information each day. More paperwork to be filled. Saral is worried about something. I fear the command is about to do something very stupid. I wish I knew. I think they are scared. First the Lunar Crisis and now this. We still do not have sufficient stockpiles. Cultivating the new farmland has been slower than we had hoped, though better than we expected.”

“I’ll never learn to understand your kind,” Celestia said, shaking her head. Fahrenheit simply shrugged.

“We are not logical species. Well, we like to think we are, but we act a lot on our emotions.”

“I know. It’s still different kind of response from us. Out of interest... what do your kind believe about death?”

“Hm? Well, it’s complicated. There are a lot of believes. Two most commons are that after you die, your consciousness disappears. You cease to exist. The end. Oblivion.”

“That does not sound very... tempting.”

“It’s a believe of those who reject deities. Well, so called ‘unseen deities’. It’s kind of hard to argue against the existence of magic and gods when you and Luna exist. Still, they reject the old ‘Omnipotent, Omniscient Invisible God’ type. It’s very common.”

“I see. What about the other belief?”

“Well, it’s goes that if you did well in your life, you get to be released and you will be taken to the paradise. Or if you fail, but you did not do evil things, you get to try again. You are reincarnated.”

“What if you do evil things?”

“Punishment. Constant suffering. If you repent enough, you get to be reincarnated. If you don’t repent... well, let’s just say the description makes you hope for oblivion.”

“Sounds... nasty.”

“That’s one way to put it. From what I’ve heard, if she had been human, she would be in Paradise right now. Setting up massive welcoming party.”

“She would,” Celestia said with a smile. “Well, I guess that is enough grief for today. Even if I will miss her, I can’t ignore reality. There are millions of ponies and they all look upon us for guidance. I appreciate our talk.”

“No worries, Princess. We all just have to keep on living, as not to tarnish the sacrifice of the dead.”

“Darn it.” Applejack raised her head as she heard her double curse. Her double had been very quiet until now, trying to fix some old cloth. Something she didn’t see herself doing.

“Ah can’t concentrate and Ah need this thing fixed by tomorrow.” Her double said, before throwing the thread and needle to the table.

“Ya wanna talk about it?”

“There ain’t really much to talk. She died. Ain’t the first one who Ah know.”

“Yeah, but she was also a good friend.”

“Yeah. She was. Ah just can’t accept she’s dead. Ah would have thought she would outlive us all.” Applejack’s double gave a quick thought before adding. “Well, maybe apart from the Princesses and Spike,” She sighed. “I guess Ah should be used to this already. Ah have buried half of mah family tree by now. Whole Orange branch is gone and family in the south, those that remained, are barely holding up.”

“Can Ah help ya anyway?”

“Ya helping me a lot already. Ah can’t hire help often and since Big Mac only now woke up, Ah been running this farm alone with Applebloom. She should not need to work like grown up, not yet. Ah would expect her to have some weird crush on Spike right now, not callouses. I dunno why, but I just think so.”

“What’s with Spike and Rarity, by the way? Ah know he has a crush, but Ah never expected them to become an item,” Applejack asked, raising her eyebrow. It had been one of the... weirder things this universe had.

“Not much to talk, both realized life is too short to never act. Spike grew a pair to ask Rarity to date him and Rarity gave up her pride and accepted. Even if they are different species, Ah am happy for them. They both are happy and know what will happen.”

“Spike will probably outlive her, by few centuries.”

“They both know it. Spike said once he does not want to second guess what would have happened if he never asked her. She says that she learned that life is too predictable to not to try when there is a chance to be happy.”

“Ah see...”

“So... Since we went from remembering our dead friend to love life of others, ya got someone?” Applejacks double asked with a grin. Applejack fell from her chair at the question.

“What!? No. Ah don’t need some stallion doing work for me.”

“Hah! Ya should try. They ain’t that bad, at least some of them.”

“So, ya got one?”

“Had, Ah think. He was a soldier, yet polite and sensitive. Kinda cute too. Farmer back when he was civilian.” Her face suddenly had a shadow over it. Applejack guessed what had happened. “Then, Los Pegasus happened. He was part of the group sent to take it back. His group was surrounded when humans got their reinforcements. They found his body later in one of the mass graves.”

“Ah am... sorry to hear that.”

“It was to be expected. We were at war, sugar. Everypony has someone they lost during it.”

“Ah see...”

“So, ya got your eyes on anyone? Oh! Perhaps that handsome stallion in Manehattan? You still got Manehattan, right?”

“No no no...”

“Oh, don’t try to fool me, girl. Ah am you, remember?”

“Look, we don’t even know each other that well beyond the business...”

“Lemme give ya hint: Don’t wait. You’ll regret it.” Her double picked the needle and thread again and started sewing. “Thanks for talking with me. Ah feel much better now.” Applejack remained silent, going over what her double had just said. Guess she would need to rethink her life once they concluded their business here.

“See you tomorrow Twilight.” Rarity said as Twilight departed. “Don’t worry, Spike will be just fine.” Rarity leaned slightly forward, as if to gossip. “This isn’t first time he spends night here. It’s... kinda adorable in it’s own way.”

“Oh, don’t tell me you plan to do something with Spike once we get back?” Twilight said with amused glint in her eyes.

“Nope, but I guess I can be little bit more nice with him. Poor guy deserves some slack.”

“Alright, if you say so. See you tomorrow.” Twilight said and left.

They had spend the evening talking and remembering Pinkie Pie, or had until the other Pinkie Pie had appeared, saying she didn’t want to spend the night alone. They had concluded that having Pinkie Pie stay at the library would not be good for mental health of local Twilight, so Pinkie was staying in the Carousel Boutique.

It was weird seeing Pinkie deflated like that. It was not that she was depressed or losing her mind, it was more that she was lacking in energy she normally had. She was drinking tea Sweetie Belle had made for them. It had been a surprise to Rarity that Sweetie Belle had learned to cook, even if her cooking skills only extended to “warm up the water” before the kitchen would be destroyed.

“I just... I could not take it. I can’t explain it. It was... wrong. It was all wrong.”

“I know it, darling. Nobody should be in situation like that.”

“What am I supposed to do now? Stay there? Pretend something? I don’t know!”

“Calm down, Pinkie, you are kind of starting to freak us out here. This is so not like you.” Rarity heard Spike say as she returned to the living room.

“It isn’t, is it? How am I know how to deal with this? Nobody told about anything like this. I don’t know what to do. My first instinct was to play a prank on them or throw a party but that would be wrong and-”

“Breathe,” Rarity said. Rarity was noticed that Pinkies speech had gotten faster during her little breakdown. She knew Pinkie was weird in her own way and she could have issues sometimes, but she had never seen her this shaken. Then again, could she blame her? “It’s okay.” Pinkie took few deep breaths before continuing.

“Okay, so maybe I am little overreacting.”

“You don’t say?” Sweetie Belle chimed, not raising her head from the book she was reading.

“Don’t try now, Sweetie.” Blinded Rarity said, turning her head into Sweeties general direction.

“Okay, now I have to ask: How do you do that?” Pinkie Pie asked, pointing rather pointlessly at her.

“Do what?”

“Act like you still had your eyesight. You’re not pulling some big prank, are you?” Pinkie accused her. Rarity herself gave questioning look on her double, before remembering that such gesture was (supposedly) useless. Her double just gave a small giggle.

“Oh my, I have been found out!” She raised her hoof to silence Pinkie before she could say anything. “No, I am blind. However, this isn’t my first day being blind. Experience has taught me well. Besides, I have Sweetie and Spike helping me around. It was... a mess during the first days.”

“You broke down crying because you could not tell how your dress was.” Spike said, sitting next to her marefriend. Rarity couldn’t help but note that this Spike had grown quite differently from theirs. While their Spike was still quite a babyface, this Spike seemed more muscular and, for lack of better term, mature. She remembered Twilight speaking that conditions upon which dragons grew affected their body, but seeing so big difference was another thing. Her double was really missing a lot.

“Don’t remind me of that. Thankfully, we finally found some talent for Sweetie..”

“Oh?” Pinkie and Rarity said, interested.

“She can design very well. Just don’t let her anywhere near the needles.”

“Hump” Sweetie said, pouting. “It’s not my fault they are made all wrong.” Others just chuckled at her, making her pout even more.

“Anyway, it takes some time and practice. Of course, I can’t do so many orders anymore, since every dress takes two to three times more time to work on, even with the help. Oh, and everything needs to be written in braille now. Makes things slightly difficult when someone forgets to do so.” Blind Rarity said turning her head towards Sweetie Belle, though missing her mark slightly. “Anyway, we should prepare a room for you, dear. I can’t have you sleeping on a couch!”

“I think I am going to sleep now...” Scootaloo said, giving a big yawn before standing up.

“Good night Scoots.” Rainbow Dash shouted after her.

“Night.” “Night” Came two replies from two Fluttershys in the room. Scootaloo just waved her hoof to them and walked to bedroom.

“How is she taking this all?” The other Fluttershy asked, looking after Scootaloo as she disappeared out of their vision.

“Relatively good. On surface, she’s a strong kid. Then again, at night...” Dash shook her head. “Half of the time she cries for her parents. Other half she cries for my double. She never cried until now.”

“Oh my, um... have you tried comforting her?”

“How? I don’t know how to deal with stuff like this!” Dash said, throwing her hooves into the air. “I could handle when she lived her parents. I could deal with that. I could be cool big sis. Now? I got no idea. I have no idea how to be a parent. Especially when I am not the one who raised her!” A thought hit her. “What if I ever have kids!?”

Rainbow Dash felt someones hoof on her shoulder and lowered her gaze enough to see that crippled Fluttershy had walked over to her.

“Don’t worry. Our Dash had similar problems.” She said, moving back to her seat. “She kept going and didn’t give up. Sure, mistakes were made, arguments were had. In the end... she did it. She managed to raise a good little pony. You don’t suddenly know how to do it. You learn as you try.” There was a hint of a smile on her face.

“Were you helping her? During that time?” Fluttershy asked her double. Her double blinked and before nodding, gaining slight blush on her cheeks.

“Um... yes. I helped her around, I had some experience with all the animals, of course, Scootaloo is not an animal.” She said, not really looking up. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash exchanged looks, wondering what could cause such reaction. “So, um, I helped her around when he needed to work and could not be there and stuff. She never really missed a day with Scootaloo, but sometimes some emergency would call her to some other part of Kingdom.”

“Oh.” Fluttershy said. “I hope she gets better soon.”

“Oh, she should. They left a message in these new... what they called them... um... coms? They left a message she had woken up earlier today. Though... there are apparently some problems...” Other Fluttershy said, her voice barely audible as if to not to let Scootaloo know.

“Did you tell to Scootaloo yet?” Dash asked, her voice equally low.

“No. I don’t want to burden her. If she has nightmares again, adding more fears to her mind won’t do any good. She is a strong one, but it’s a mask she puts in front of others. She does fear. She lost her family once. She fears it might happen again.”

Rainbow Dash seemed to think for a moment, going over what she was just told. She took a quick look at Scootaloo’s room before adopting determine face.

“Right, then we just need to finish this thing before we lose anyone else. Right?” She said, giving two Fluttershys a look that didn’t allow any disagreement.

“Right.” Came the answer from two pegasi.

“What. In. Tartarus.” Twilight said, having opened the door to the library. Inside, she saw that the table was filled with all kinds of bottles and her double and Trixie were in process of creating a very unstable tower out of them.

“Sssh, do dishturb us!” Her double answered, “Thish tower of truth needsh deci... delik... de... good concentration!”

“Yeah! It will reveal us the truth!” Trixie said, handing a new bottle to Twilgiht who she was levitating rather erratically.

“Truth of what?” Twilight asked, trying to understand the situation.

“Whenever gravity is jusht a shtory!” Came the answer. Right after that, the tower collapsed, with bottles falling everywhere. “Oh pooh!”

“Are you... drunk?”

“I’m not!” Her double said. “I am absholutely poshitively totally blashted!” She answered in way too cheery voice. “You shee, Pinkie would not want me to be shad sho I decided to become happy!”

“By... getting drunk?”

“You should try it! It works!” Trixie said, lifting one of the few bottles that still had something inside them.

“Gimme that!” Two drunken ponies clashed and sprawled on the floor, fighting for the bottle. Twilight could not help but stare at the scene in front of her. Sure, she had thought about drinking time or twice, but she had never expected anything like this. She tried to count to ten, but her patience run out at the moment her double had grabbed one of the books and used it as an improvised weapon.

“ENOUGH!” She shouted, making two mares look up. “Enough with the alcohol. Give me that!” She said before snatching the bottle away, causing the two mares to grumble. She gathered rest of the bottles and carried them to the kitchen sink. “You two had enough for one night. Seriously, what is wrong with you?” She started to pour down the content of the bottles while her double and Trixie slowly stood up, clearly having troubles.

“What do you care?” She heard her double say, followed by a thump of a pony sitting rather ungracefully on a couch. Twilight finished emptying the bottles and returned to the main room.

“What do I care? You are supposed to be me! Yet here you act, like some sort of drunk teenager. What would our pa-” That was as far as she got before she was slammed into the wall. She wondered for a moment when her double had gotten so strong, but those thoughts were quickly silenced by sudden need for air. Air that was denied by a force crushing down on her throat.

“And what are you? You come here, acting sho high and mighty...” She heard her double say. She looked and confirmed that yes, her horn was glowing. She had a scary, yet depressed expression on her face. “Standing there, telling how happy things are, taking things for granted...” She felt the pressure around her throat to increase. “And now you dare to start criticising ME?” Her double shouted. Trixie was clearly shocked at the display her normally reserved friend was putting up.

“Did you shee your home half burned!?” Twilight felt herself lifted before being slammed against the wall.

“Did you shee your friend die in front of you!?” Again.

“Did you shee your family die!?” Again. She idly noticed that her double had tears in her eyes.

“Did you shee thoushandsh of ponies, shuffering yet unable to help them!?” Again she was slammed against the fall. Her doubles voice was starting to crack.

“Did you... did you...” Twilight dropped down to the ground as the magic that had held her disappeared. Her double fell to the ground, sobbing. Trixie was right next to her in few seconds. “I missh them... I missh them sho much...”

“Sshh... it’s okay... it’s okay... calm down...”

“I was jusht so angry... angry and jealoush...”

“I know... I know... I know what it feels like...” Trixie muttered before turning back to Twilight. “Might be better if you sleep somewhere else this night.”

“Yeah... I guess...” Twilight said weakly. She was still trying to catch her breath. She was also keeping her magic ready incase her double had another burst. “I’ll... I’ll go to Applejack. Yeah.”

“Okay. Good,” Trixie said while trying to guide sobbing Twilight back to the couch. “Hey, gather yourself slightly, I get us something else. Water is okay?” Twilight didn’t hear what her double said, but she guessed she has said yes, seeing how Trixie stood up. Twilight started to walk to the door, but Trixie catched her before she manage to leave.

“Sorry about this... I thought I might be able to cheer her up, but...” Trixie sighed “WTSD is not something we can deal easily.”

“WTSD?” Twilight asked, her voice still hoarse.

“WarTime Stress Disorder. A lot of people have it. Including me. I got help, but she... she prefers to pretend there is no problem. That she is OK. Trying to be strong and... well... you were at the receiving end today. I’ll talk to her and take care of her today. You two can talk tomorrow, if you both wish.”

“Okay... you’re sure you can take care of her?” Twilight asked. She was not keen on staying at the same place as her double, but she also remembered the way Trixie had been acting earlier.

“I’m okay. I can hold my liquor better than she, but she was having fun so I played along.” Trixie gave a smirk at her. “This isn't my first time getting drunk. I got plenty of exercise. Anyway, good night.”

“Night.”

Author's Note

So.I am back.

I got no excuses beyond weird writers block that hit me after Christmas.

A new day

Proof reader/Editor: Biker_Dash

“And this concludes my report, your Highness,” The Night Watch officer said. Celestia had been listening to his report in her throne room. Using comm units might have been easier than fly the officer to Canterlot, but until she could be sure that the humans could not tap into those conversations, she would not use them for matters like this.

Luna had borrowed idea of Internal Security Agency from the humans, forming what she was referring to as Night Watch within the Royal Guard. At first, Celestia had been doubtful of the idea, but after the group had managed to root out several underground criminal groups she had to admit that they were effective. She had assigned them to watch over the Elements when they were not on official missions, among other “silent” duties they seemed to gather.

“Thanks you. Please keep eye on her,” Celestia said, dismissing the officer. When they had told that they had important information, she had feared that Discord was on the move. As it turned out, it was not as dangerous as that, but equally worrisome. She could no longer ignore deteriorating mental health of her student.

Twilight had attacked her alternate counterpart. Not only attacked, but attacked with intention to kill. Only her timely breakdown and Lulamoon’s intervention had managed to prevent things from spiralling out of control. Still, it was not something she could ignore. So far these underlying issues had manifested in anger and snappiness, but if she was capable of violence... even if under effects of alcohol, she could not take the risk that her student would snap. She would need to officially order her to not to take any action.

Not to mention the new problem she had. Without Element of Laughter, The Elements of Harmony were little more than trinkets. The Others could use them, to an extend, but they were already having problems with them and now with a missing Element, they were near useless. She knew that it was not a problem now, since they had Bearers who could use them, but after they would be gone...

It was a problem she would have to solve later. If she could not deal with Discord now, there would be no later. Discord had succeeded without even fully realizing it. He had completely destroyed the delicate balance that had existed. Humans had become fearful, the Elements had been broken, and worst of all... politics. She hated foreign politics, especially after that disaster in Catsmere. It had happened 500 years ago and the two sides had still not forgiven Celestia for intervening. Discord had made a mess of politics. Even though all sides were allies now, she would need to deal with the new Changeling nation under Chrysalis, the Zebra Unions questions whenever or not Equestria would be worth the alliance, and the Humans becoming paranoid... it would be a mess.

That would have to wait. For now, she had a student to be to officially committed to therapy. She would need to make the papers and then have them delivered.

“Note Book.”

“Yes, Your Highness?” She heard a voice say next to her.

“I want you to prepare papers to commit Twilight Sparkle into therapy, by force if necessary. Have them ready by 1 o’clock.”

“Yes, Your Highness. I shall have them send by then.”

“No. This is something I have to do myself.”

“Are these readings correct?” Saral asked, going over the data that had been sent to her.

“Yes. Final Argument picked them up and Sat-2 confirmed it.” General Caravel said. They had established contact between Luna Aeternal and was currently conducting an emergency meeting with the other generals.

“It’s clear what it is. Our enemy is clearly not going to wait until he has fully recovered and give us time to prepare: he is going to strike at us now,” General Hunington said. “However, it seems that his dragons are not moving. We are only detecting changelings, nothing more.”

“That is a small blessing. Okay, we can’t be sure where they will eventually strike and we can’t split our forces. As such, I am going to evacuate outlying settlements and have our army meet them head on once we have confirmed their entry vector.”

“Risky. What if you fail?” Caravel asked.

“...”

“Saral.”

“You know what to do. Have Final Argument ready and prepped. If we lose... we need to take them out, right then. Not a moment sooner. A single warhead should be enough. No more.” Saral said, lowering her head.

“True, no need to use more force than needed. We might need to deploy them against the dragons too.” Hunington said.

“Except if we can confirm Discord is with the attacking force. If he is, we aren’t taking chances. We will drop everything we have and kitchen sink.” Caravel said, his face in grim determination.

“Are you insane!? It could destroy the entire biosphere!” Saral said, looking shocked at the screen.

“We have survived and will survive. I am not going to take chances that we might die because we lack guts to do what is necessary. This is our last line of defense. We got no more between him and central AM-Core. We can’t allow him to succeed breaking through. Our garrison could not defeat him,” Caravel said, slamming his hand down on the console. The image shook little before stabilizing again.

“I’m afraid general Caravel is right.” A new window showing The First Citizen Korhal opened. “General Saral, I am going to make this clear. If Discord breaks through, we will use Final Argument. No ifs, ands or buts. As such, I suggest you either defeat him or that you intercept him so that environmental and collateral damage is minimized.”

“Yes sir,” Saral said, slumping her head in defeat. Fahrenheit would scream at her if they were to reveal the existence of Final Argument like this. It would alienate nearly every possible ally humans had. They would not like idea of humankind dangling weapons of mass destruction out of their reach, yet able to strike wherever they wanted.

“I do not like this anymore than you do, General, but some hard decisions must be made,” Korhal said, having the decency to at least look reluctant. “In the end, we are responsible for entire the human species.”

“I know. I just fear we are sacrificing long term survival for short term gain,” Saral said. It might not be according to protocol to so openly question The First Citizen, but Korhal didn’t seem to mind.

“I know what you mean. This is could destroy much of our dear ambassador’s work. That’s why it’s important that it will never happen. I trust you will do what is required,” Korhal and cut the connection. Saral just stared at the screen that currently had large red letters saying CONNECTION LOST. She really had no choice in the matter.

“I will need all data from the satellites. I need to find and intercept them before it is too late,” she finally said.

“I will sure you get everything you need,“ Hunington said before cutting her connection.

“The second batch of APCs is coming down now. It should give you a total of ten APCs with AA-capabilities, along side with those rocket launchers. They should help you dealing with the dragons, once they appear,” Caravel concluded, but didn’t cut the connection.

“I just wonder how we are going to deal with Discord. I guess we could use second set of Bearers to turn him into the stone, assuming he hasn’t absorbed enough power to resist,” Saral said.

“...I think I can give you minor solution. Have Final Argument’s crew prepare an additional warhead. Have them load 0.5 grams of anti-matter and have it on stand-by. If possible, let Discord get through and then use that to weaken him. We saw during the Lunar Crisis that these creatures might be immortal, they aren’t invulnerable,” Caravel said.

“I hate you, you know that?”

“Yes, but you also need me to give you the ideas you don’t want to think,” He concluded and cut the connection.

Things were not going as he had planned. Of course, the irony of the personification of Chaos having plans wasn’t lost on him. Any other time, it might have amused him, however, right now, it didn’t help his mood. The loss of a hive was clear indicator that Chrysalis had not only survived, but she has also allied with his enemies. The Elements were also working against him.

He would need to move fast, before they could repeat their trick. Of course, it would be easy, but at this point, he could not risk it. He had already ordered the changelings to move forward, to prepare for the final assault. Right now, he was dealing with the dragons.

“We are not ready. The human’s weapons do not cause simple cuts and slashes. They penetrate deep and create wounds that take a long time to heal, even for a dragon,” The lead dragon said.

“I know, but we can’t afford any delays. How many of you can fight?” Discord asked. He could use mind control on them and force them to fight, but doing so had it’s downsides. One of the biggest being that if they managed to snap out of it, they would turn against him. He could not afford such an event to happen in middle of a battle. The lead dragon simply looked around, taking a look at his clan and some unbound dragons that had joined them.

“I can fight, as well as six others. It should be enough.”

“It has to be enough. Failure would mean that we are back at the begin, no, not even there and all this has been for nothing,” Discord said.

“Then it shall be enough. We will make it so.”

Discord nodded at the dragon before taking off. He had to rethink his position and all the possible outcomes. He wasn’t arrogant enough to think that he could not be defeated. The last time that had happened, he had been turned into a stone statue. It was not a pleasant experience. The first time he had seen it coming and prepared for it. The second time, he was caught unprepared. Unable to shut his mind down for all that time, being force be constantly aware... he was not going to experience it again.

He cursed his moment of weakness. He had been too impatient, too drunk on power. If he had done this silently, with a subtle touch, he could be nearing his objective right now. It might have taken longer, perhaps even years until he could finally achieve his absolute power, but at least he wouldn’t need to worry like this. Yet, he had chosen the easy way: to simply crush all opposition. He could not wait and now he was paying for it.

It was very possible that his enemies could defeat him. It was equally possible that he could win. It would come down to small, nearly insignificant details, that would snowball into large events to decide the future. It is known as the butterfly effect. He had enjoyed using it during his rule. Now his success relied on it making the coin land on his side to grant him the victory.

He didn’t usually take time just think about stuff or doubt himself, but this place... it made you doubt all your beliefs. The way it stripped your innocence and buried it was nothing he had seen before. Sure, he had broken ponies before, made to lose all their beliefs, but even then, it was something he dedicated his attention to. This place, on the contrast, didn’t even try.

It had become apparent during these months. He had seen humans desperately fighting to even slow him down, to make sure that they would not all die. He had seen ponies who had become empty shells who did what they were told to and no more. Even dragons, normally creatures that nothing would shake, would decline to fight because they felt fear. They said there was no point. That at even best, it would be pyrrhic victory.

The creatures in this world seemed to break not because someone tried to break them, but simply because they had lost their innocence so violently. It wasn’t slow growing up or one event that made them look inside. No, these creatures had lived four years in such conditions. Even to him, it was too much. Sure, it might have been chaotic at first, but when they would lose their will to live, and then there would be no chaos. Only the dead, and the dead were orderly: never moving. They were always the same: never changing. The very antithesis of chaos.

He shook his head. Constantly thinking it over would not help him. He would need to succeed and he would create a perfect world of chaos; one that would provide him with infinite power.

And to do so, he would need to win one more battle.

“Too... bright...” Twilight muttered. Her head hurt and her stomach was protesting. What had she done last? She remembered being in the library, reading books. Then Trixie had come and they had taken few sips of wine, or was it a couple of glasses? Wait, didn’t they try to balance bunch of bottles too? Where had those came from? However, her thoughts were interrupted as the bright light disappeared as the curtains were drawn over the window.

“Thanks Spike...” She murmured.

“Sorry, no Spike this time. You have to be content with me,” Came a definitely female voice. Twilight opened one of her eyes and saw Trixie looking down her.

“Trixie?”

“You okay?”

“If by okay you mean feeling like being run over by a carriage, sure...”

“Heh, I guess that is to be expected from a first timer. Don’t worry, I made some food for you. You can get up when you feel like it.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why are you... doing this? We never were that good friends. I... I just don’t understand,” Twilight said, turning her head away from Trixie. She heard Trixie sigh.

“Because I know what you are going through and I can’t just let you do this alone,” Trixie said. Twilight didn’t say anything, merely pulled herself into a small ball. She suddenly remembered what she had done last night.

“I fucked up, didn’t I?” Trixie didn’t answer her, she didn’t need to. The fact that Twilight had resorted to such language spoke enough. “How am I supposed to walk out there, with knowledge of that I nearly killed someone innocent?” She felt Trixie sit next to her and put her hoof over her.

“You live for others and try to make amends, by being a better pony,” Trixie said quietly. “I know it’s difficult. I still have problems, but I am getting better. I can’t promise everything will be right, but...” She fell silent for a moment. Twilight turned herself so she could see Trixie. “I can promise that if you don’t do anything, it will only become worse.”

“I guess so,” Twilight said. “I guess... I guess I need help.”

Two sat in silence for some time, until Twilights stomach reminded her that she had not eaten for some time now. The pair moved off the bad and to the table where Trixie had set up a small breakfast of sandwiches and coffee.

“Coffee?” Twilight asked, raising her eyebrow.

“Trust me, it’s better than tea,” Trixie said with a grin in her face. Still, she did go back to kitchen to grab hot water and tea. Twilight sat and down started to nibble at her food. Even though she was hungry, she didn’t have much of appetite. She kept replaying the events of last night in her head. She had really lost it and had not been typical angry reaction. No, she had seriously planned to kill her double right here. She saw Trixie returning with the kettle and tea bags.

“Hey, Trixie...”

“Hm?“

“If... if I go to get help... will you be there with me? I... I really don’t want others to see me like this,” She asked. Trixie was, weirdly enough, the only one who she trusted to understand. It was not that her friends wouldn’t help or support her, but she feared they would not truly understand how she felt.

Trixie remained silent for moment, clearly thinking over it. Then she nodded.

“Of course.” That got the first shaky smile out of Twilight during the morning.

It was afternoon when Celestia finally had time to visit her student. She hung her head, wondering how this could go. Twilight might accept her word or she could, once again, deny everything. She really couldn’t say. Funny that. Thousands of years of life experience and she still could not predict ponies. Then again, that was one result of free will. She sighed once more before knocking on the door. She heard muffled voices and someone standing up. Very soon, she found Trixie in front of her.

“Your Highness!” Trixie said in surprise and saluted. You could take pony out of the Guard, but you could not take the Guard out of the pony, Celestia noted.

“Hello, Trixie. Is Twilight here?” Celestia said, before noticing that Trixie was still holding her salute. “At ease, my little pony.”

“Yes, of course! Come on in. Twilight! Princess is here for you!” Trixie shouted as she stepped aside. Celestia walked inside and saw Twilight walk from the bedroom. She didn’t seem to have taken care of herself today, apparently favoring her bed. She didn’t know what her student had been doing, but apparently at least Trixie had been taking care of her.

“Princess Celestia. I am sorry for my appearance. How may I help you?” Twilight said, giving a short bow. Celestia was sure at this point that Twilight knew she had done something wrong. She never was this courtesy unless she was ashamed, but unsure if Celestia was here for her or not.

“Sit down, my faithful student. There is an... important matter we need to discuss,” Celestia said. Now came the hard part. Trixie looked at the two before coughing once, twice.

“I guess I should leave you two...” She said, turning to leave.

“No, please... stay, please?” Twilight said. Two seemed to communicate something silently. Celestia knew that sort of communication, it was one of those that only two could understand. She often had similar unspoken talks with her sister, especially when some noble was giving a boring report on some irrelevant matter, such as ‘Should the term foot refer to average length of common nobles foot or length of Celestia’s foot’. She guessed the two had bonded a lot better than she had ever expected.

“You are sure you want her to stay? The matter I am here to discuss about is very delicate and... private,” Celestia said. It was better to give Twilight chance to back off if she changed her mind. To her surprise, Twilight simply nodded and Trixie took a seat next to her.

“Very well. I do not like doing this Twilight, but I can no longer ignore it. I will say this simply and plainly: You need help. More than what magic of friendship can offer. You need therapy,” Celestia said, preparing for anything. What she didn’t expect for Twilight to nod.

“I guess... you found out?” She said quietly, refusing to look at Celestia.

“Yes,” Celestia said, keeping as much emotion out of her voice as she could.

“...Okay,” Came the timid response from Twilight. “I screwed up badly, didn’t I?” Twilight finally looked at her, clearly wary of the response. Celestia gave a sigh. She seemed to do it a lot today

“Yes. Yes you did. I want you to get to a therapist. You are not allowed to join any operations against Discord. I am sorry, but... I can’t take the risk. I want to trust you, but this latest event... I want to but I can’t. I have ignored your problems until now, but...”

“No more. I understand,” Twilight said, hanging her head down. Trixie put her hoof over Twilight's shoulder, a small gesture of comradeship.

“I assume you are the one who talked to her?” Celestia said, looking at Trixie.

“Yeah. I knew what she was going through.”

“I thank you. I feared I would be forced to do something we all would regret, but thankfully, it hasn’t come to that,” Celestia said, bowing her head slightly. “I may ask a lot, but please, help my student. You are only one who I know she will listen to on this matter.”

“Of course, your Highness.” Celestia smiled at this. At least she could leave Twilight in someones care while she would be away. Next, she would need to deal with the other Twilight...

“I am sorry, but other duties already call me. I already got into argument with my assistants over whenever or not I should take care of this matter personally or not.”

“I understand Princess. I am sorry for trouble I have caused,” Twilight said, finally truly looking at her.

“It’s okay, my dear. Just... get better, okay?”

“Okay.”

After dealing with Twilight, Celestia headed to the Apple farm. Twilight had went there for the night and now she needed to deal with her too. She needed to apologize and explain, not to mention figure out where she could spend rest of her time. She would need to ask Applejack for help. Perhaps it would give her excuse to forgive her taxes for the year. As much as she hated to demand that she pay her taxes on time, despite the hardship, she could not make exceptions. If she gave tax exemption to one struggling farmer, what was preventing her from giving it to others as well?

As she began her descent, she saw Applejack look and run inside. She guessed she was going to gather the others too. She landed in front of a door, only find Applejack already gesturing her to come inside.

“Princess, good to see ya. We hav’ a problem,” Applejack said.

“It’s Twilight, isn’t it? I heard about them. I just came from the library.”

“Darn it.”

“It’s okay. Twilight agreed to get help. She realized she went too far. Now, we need to deal with our double here.”

In another universe, Celestia was going mad from worry. Her scholars were still trying to find out where her student and her friends had ended up, alongside with Discord. So far, things had stayed very quiet, but she knew from experience that peace was always temporal. Something would always rise. Her worry was interrupted with Spell Nexus running into the throne room.

“Princess! We figured it out!” He said, coming to a halt and catching his breath. “We know how to find the correct alternative universe!”

“Really!? How?” Celestia said, standing up. This was first good news for a long time, or at least the first good news that she cared about.

“Yes, though we still can’t lock into them specifically, we can now, with very high confidence, lock into their worlds version of you.”

“Can you do it now?” Celestia asked, eager to confirm this.

“Yes, we just need something that belonged to one of them and it should be enough,” Spell Nexus said. It didn’t take long for Celestia to acquire one of Twilights friendship reports.

Few minutes later, Celestia and Spell Nexus were in the School, with unicorns preparing to cast the spell. The window began to open, green energy forming the frame. At first, it didn’t seem that there would be any image, but then it started to form. When it became clear, it showed Celestia in flight, heading towards Canterlot.

“It worked?” Celestia asked. Even if she was powerful, she was still largely rather mediocre in terms of understanding spells beyond her specialty.

“We think so. With luck, your counterpart will meet with the Elements,” Spell Nexus said. In the image, Celestia had landed and was heading towards Lunas room.

“Luna, you there?” The mirror Celestia asked.

“Yes, what is it sister?” Came the answer.

“I need to talk to you,” Celestia in the mirror opened the door, causing ponies and Celestia to gasp at what they saw. Luna was laying on her bed, missing one wing and half of the other. Near her leg, a strange creature was peeling off the skin, only reveal some sort of metal beneath it.

“Sorry, I didn’t remember it was time for the maintenance,” Mirror Celestia said. Celestia herself could not understand how her counterpart could take such image so easily, unless she had seen it so often, it was no longer a surprise.

“It’s okay sister. This should not take long,” Luna said, nodding towards the creature. The creature lifted it’s head. Celestia absently noted that the entire creature was hidden beneath a some sort of black suit. It’s face was concealed by a mask. A mask with two tubes moving from the sides to the creatures back. The mask had no features, apart from a red t-shaped shape.

“Detaching the leg now, Princess. It might hurt a little,” The creature said, with a strange filtered voice. The Luna in the mirror winced as the creature removed her leg, causing Celestia to take a step back.

“Alright, we are changing to a new model. It should allow you, with some luck, to be able to feel with your leg again. It won’t be as natural, but it’s better than nothing,” The creature spoke again, lifting the leg it had removed and heading towards a table, where another leg was resting.

“What did you want to talk about, sister?” Luna asked Celestia.

“It will need privacy. However, I assume you head about Twilight already?”

“Yes. I guess you went a talked to her?” Luna asked, taking a quick look at the creature before turning back to Celestia “Both of them?”

Celestia, despite still being horrified, was happy to hear this. It mean there were two Twilights. The way two referred to them, it seemed that the spell had succeeded: they had found the correct universe. Now they would just need to find a way to bridge the gap between two. The creature finished... whatever it was doing, seemingly replacing the leg.

“Alright, Princess, try to stand up.” Luna stood, the metallic leg acting like a natural extension of her. Celestia could see Spell Nexus being intrigued by this new magic he was seeing. Luna took few steps, jumped a little and otherwise tested her new leg before turning back to the creature. “If you feel that something is wrong, contact us. Augmentations were pretty much abandoned after cloning organs became more widespread. It should still be up to specs.”

“Feels weird, but then again, I have gone long without feeling in my leg. I will get used to it. Now, please excuse us, but we have private matters to discuss. I shall call you back once we are done.” The creature bowed and left the room. Celestia in the mirror cast a minor spell on the door, which Celestia recognized as silence spell. “Now, what you wanted to talk about?”

“I spoke with both of them. Twilight, our Twilight, agreed to start visiting a therapist. The other one... she is shaken, but seems to be fine. She is staying by the Apple family for now.”

“Good, good. It is not a best outcome, considering all, but with luck, this whole thing will be over soon. I hope.”

“I hope so too. Sooner we have their Discord defeated, the better. I fear that the humans are going to do something rash soon. Perhaps even use one of their weapons.”

“THEY CAN’T!” Luna shouted, clearly shocked. She gathered herself before continuing. “Detonating anything like the one that did to me within atmosphere could do enormous amounts of damage! What if they miscalculate? What if it sets off a chain reaction that sets the entire biosphere on fire?!”

“I see you have been talking with our scholars again. I hope I am wrong, but I can’t be sure.Whatever it is, I hope we can deal with him with the Elements. Actually, I think the Elements are only thing that can truly defeat him. He is, assuming his the same kind, the personification of chaos. The only way to truly kill him, would be to destroy all chaos in the universe.”

“No, he wouldn't die... but he would suffer. Even I wouldn’t wish the same fate upon him as has befallen on me. Though I suspect he could regenerate limbs.”

“There is another issue...”

“What is it?”

“After we defeat Discord... then what? We can’t keep them here forever. We need to have them return. Otherwise, who knows what could happen.”

“I do not know, sister. We cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now, we have to worry about the lives of millions of ponies and humans.”

“Yes, you are right...”

“I have seen enough. Shut it,” Celestia ordered. The spell was released and the window disappeared. “Nexus, I want a portal into their world opened and I want it now. Whatever you require, whatever you need to do, you get it and you will do it. I will not allow them to reside in that world any more than necessary.”

Calm before the storm

Proof reader/Editor: Biker_Dash

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming,” Saral began as the High King of Griffin Kingdoms entered the room, alongside Chrysalis and guards. “I will cut straight to the point. The enemy is coming and we need to be ready. I know we are still recovering, but we don’t have luxury to decide the time when we face the enemy.” She placed a small hologram projector on the table and tapped her PDA. A map of southern Equestria floated in out of the device.

“Our satellites picked up enemy movements and it is clear they are going to strike now.” An arrow appeared, moving from the former human base towards the central Anti-Magic Core. “I have already given the order to evacuate outlying settlements, but it will not be enough. We can’t allow them to march right through these lands. We need to face them in a battle soon.”

“We have suffered heavy casualties, none of us were ready for enemy such as this. What if we fail?” the Zebra Union representative asked.

“I would not rather worry about that. If our enemy wins here, we will lack any sort of force to repel them. They will win this war,” Saral said, giving each them a stare. “I trust I don’t need to explain why that is a bad thing.”

“So, what do you plan to do?” Chrysalis asked. Saral gave her a quick look of disapproval. It was no secret that the humans preferred to just blow up the hive and were not exactly thrilled with the idea of shapeshifting insect vampires, as they called them. Still, she was not going to turn away help.

“I plan to have our armies gathered and then meet them head on. They have advantage of being able to maneuver around us. So we can’t just lay down defensive line, they would simply go around it and we can’t stretch ourselves too thin. Neither can we take the fight to the Core, as it would be too risky. Which leaves us...”

“Head on assault, like the good old days,” High King said, stroking his chin. It was a battleplan that griffins were familiar with.

“We have received shipment of extra APCs, which gives us total of ten APCs with AA-cap-”

“A what with what?” Chrysalis asked, not familiar with human terminology.

“Armored Personnel Carriers with Anti-Air capabilities, along side with around 80 ACES suits,” Saral said, annoyed. There was just something wrong with Chrysalis that made her want to just shoot the creature. Unfortunately, it would be poor judgement on her part to act on the impulse.

“Doesn’t sound like it would be enough. We will need everything we can scrape together,” Celestia said, giving Chrysalis an expectant look. Chrysalis simply nodded.

“Of course. My hive, or what is left of it, will be ready to assist. What little warriors I can gather will be there.”

“How do we know which ones are on our side?” the Zebra Union representative asked. Saral nodded her approval. It would not do well to have them fight against their allies.

“I will have them pain themselves white. It should be enough, I trust?” Chrysalis said. Zebra representative nodded, as did the High King. Celestia nodded her approval too. Saral looked at the other leaders before nodding herself.

“It will have to do,” Saral relented. She couldn’t afford to turn down any assistance. “We have taken a quite a beating, we never expected to face anything like this in such a short time. I will inform our troops of your... assistance.”

“What else do we have?” Celestia asked looking at the map that was being projected.

“Not much at this point. They can choose where we fight. We can choose when, but that’s about it,” Saral said. “I worry about how much we, the humans, can help ultimately. You are aware that we are not exactly master of melee?” It was not something that humans tried to hide. It had become very clear during The War that the human specialty was long range combat. At melee range, everybody else held much greater advantage.

“Yes, I can see the problem. Without chance to create defensive line, your troops will not have much more than fox holes and whatever ad-hoc walls they can set up,” Celestia nodded. “Without those, it is very likely that the enemy can close in the melee range.” She left out the part that once the melee battle would begin, human lines would be the most likely to fall. Unless their machines could keep the tide down, their infantry would easily be overrun.

“That is a problem, but we have to do. Each soldier of United Nations Army has pledged to give his life is so demanded,” Saral said in grim determination. “If so required, we will all die before we let even one of them pass.”

“So, to sum up, Dash is out of commission. She won’t be released out of hospital for another month, not with her damaged nervous system essentially making her unable feel anything. Twilight has been given explicit order not to participate and she agrees. And lastly, we are going to face full might of Discords army in worst possible conditions.” Spike summed up, having just brought the news to others.

“That’s not a very good plan, it ain’t,” Applejack said. “Ah can’t believe ya guys came up with that.”
“It could be worse. It could be use charging against human guns. It’s still suicide mission,” Her double said.

“All or nothing. That’s pretty much what it is,” Spike said. “The humans are pretty worried. This is exactly type of fight they don’t want.”

“So... Who is going to use the Elements?” Fluttershy asked. “If three are missing, they can’t be used and...”

“You six are going to use the Elements. They work with you and that’s best we got at this point,” Rarity said. “Without Pinkie, Dash and Twilight, the Elements are useless to us, yet, we need them to defeat Discord.”

“Unfortunate, but true,” Twilight said. She had been very silent so far. “The princesses can challenge Discord, but they alone are not enough. Especially now that Discord has powered himself with ambient chaos energy.” Rarity nodded her agreement.

“Lots of things have changed from the old days, but one thing remains: the Elements are the most powerful magic in this world. They trump everything,” She said.

“Luckily they have some very powerful restrictions on them, to make sure they are only used for good,” Spike said and stood up. “Now, excuse, but I need to prepare. I need to get my armor.”

“Armor?” Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Dash and Applejack all said, all with varying degrees of confusion on their faces.

“Armor, you know, bunch of plates covering the body,” Applejacks double said. “He might not have used it during our little raid in the hive, but he has one rather nice armor suit done for him.”

“It was commissioned late in the war. I needed something to protect me, “Spike said, tapping his scales on his hand. “Back then, my scales had not yet hardened to level they are now. Heh, I guess twilight was wrong on how quickly dragons body can change...” There was a small sad smile on his face. “I miss the old days. I miss the innocence.” With that, Spike left the room.

“Yo!”

“Dash? What are you doing here?” Big Mac asked when Dash walked in his room.

“Came to see you. I am still stuck here for at least a month and I am bored,” She said, taking a seat next his bed. “So, how are you?”

“Could be better. Then again, they are doing very good job. I didn’t know Zebra medicine was this advanced. I should be able to stand on my own legs in few weeks and then we can start to work on walking.”

“Zebra? What...” Dash started before realizing what was going on. “Oh right, that new treatment, yeah, right...” She finished lamely.

“So, what are you doing here?”

“Learned that I won’t be doing much of a flying anymore.” She said, becoming depressed. “I participated in a military operation, lots of bad stuff happening right now. Was a major success, in sense... Heh, ‘sense’...”

“Something happened to you, didn’t it?”

“Got hit my rather powerful magic. Lost nearly all my sense. Taste is gone, so is ability to feel pain. Kinda weird, to be honest. They have been poking me with lots of stuff and I can’t feel them. Worst is, I can’t feel even the basic wind. Makes flying very hard.” She sighed before continuing. “They are trying to help to get back to basics, to learn to fly without feeling things... but it’s not the same. Heh, never thought I would envy Fluttershy on flying.”

“Ouch,” Big Mac winced. Sure, he was an earth pony, but he could still sympathize. He had lost ability to move and was learning the basics again, so he imagined it was same kind of position for Rainbow Dash. “So... lots of bad things? What exactly is going on?”

“Discord is stirring up trouble. They got it under control now,” Dash lied, though she was really wishing they had it under control. Last she knew was that all major military groups were being pooled together for one big final fight. “Apparently he enlisted help of changelings. The operation I told you? Big loss for them.”

“Huh, good to hear it’s not all bad... though...” He gave an expectant look at Dash.

“...Yes, it’s true. We lost Pinkie Pie. Celestia damned bastard killed her. We avenged her, of course, but it does not bring her back.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. She is... was a good mare.”

“Yeah.” Both fell into silence. Eventually Dash stood up. “I’ll come see you again. Right now, I guess I need to head back to my room. They are supposed run yet another test on me. Sometimes I feel like I am more of a guinea pig, rather than patient.”

“Progress?” Celestia asked Spell Nexus who was buried under several books.

“Some, Your Highness. We are pretty confident we can open one-way portal into their world, but getting you back is going to be a problem,” Spell Nexus said, not raising his gaze and scribbling something down. “However, I think there could be a way around that particular problem, but we need to confirm the calculations involved.”

“How long?”

“I can’t say for sure. The last time that magic like this was attempted was during the time of Star Swirl the Bearded and his notes are... less than helpful. It’s the way he wrote it and his tendency to write in codes.” Celestia silently cursed her luck as Spell Nexus explained his problem.

“How bad is it?” She asked. Spell Nexus picked up one of his notes and began to read.

“On the sixth gem of fourth son shall light of darkened moon follow the path of silent order, for it is his duty to guard upon neither of lands and skies to forever to be, to not to deny, for...”

“Okay, I get it. He has... interesting way of putting things.”

“Yes. We have been decoding what he means by it. We have pretty good idea, but there are still details that we aren’t sure of. We are not ready to take the risk that something goes horribly wrong. One theory is that uncontrolled spell could cause our world to merge with theirs, or other way around, can’t really say.”

“I see. Keep working on it. The last time we looked into their world, it seems we are running out of time.” They had done second peeking few days ago and what they had seen had not been good. Apparently, Discord had returned to his ancient, or it would be better to say, old tricks.

He had had a cult of followers who did his bidding, in hopes of him granting them beneficial boon in turn. Of course, Discord being Discord, half of the time these “benefits” backfired horribly on those who they were granted upon. However, it had never been on the scale that her counterpart had talked about. It sounded like he had gained an entire army of followers.

She returned to the throne room, where she saw her sister waiting for her.

“Any news?” Luna asked. Celestia had not told about what she had seen in the dimensional window, apart from basic details. She had not told about what her sisters counterpart looked like.

“Not much. They are nearing the solution, but there are still problems they need to fix. I agree with them, even if I wish to hurry. We can’t risk a world ending scenario. To risk millions to save six... sometimes I hate the responsibility we have.”

“I know what you mean,” Luna said. “Yet, we can’t ignore those who look upon us for guidance. I trust that Spell Nexus will find a way. As long as he can find a way to create two-way portal, there should not be problems, right?”

“Yes. I just fear that we run out of time before that happens.”

Author's Note

Yeah, short. Not much to show. We are nearing the end, it will 2-3, perhaps 4 chapters if I stretch it.

Final Battle, Part 1 (Unedited)

“Okay. I admit. I am impressed.” Rainbow Dash said as she watched last soldiers take their place in the sunset. Final entry route for Discord and his army had been finally been confirmed and all available military forces had been gathered into one place to encounter them. It was largest concentration of soldiers Dash had ever seen. However, that was not what impressed Dash.

What had impressed Rainbow Dash was the efficiency and coordination that these units had. There was clear divide who worked where. It was like watching ground based Wonderbolts to work. She had actually met this worlds Wonderbolts and she had been less impressed with them, perhaps because they weren’t the same.

“Uh-huh.” Applejack’s double said next to her. “That’s about all that’s left after fighting in the tunnels and disaster at San Palomino.” They turned back to assembled leaders.

Against Sarals advise, the leaders had insisted leading from the front. After a lengthy debate, Saral too had caved in and agreed to personally lead the battle. She had, however, made it clear that she would remain in the backlines and not be in the frontline. Her explanation was that “Her training was in leading and command, not in shooting stuff”.

She had donned what was dubbed “Fashion Victim General” suit by some of the soldiers, due to it’s impracticality compared to normal gear they wore. She wore standard combat suit underneath, but instead of helmet she had a generals cap and full head mask and trench coat over her suit.

Right now, she was cursing their bad timing.

“I don’t like this. We will be fighting during the night unless they appear within the next the hour. Can you guarantee that we will have full moon?” Saral asked Luna, who nodded.

“Yes. I have taken care of it. The tides will be out of order for few weeks, but few weeks out of order is better than permanently out of order.”

“Agreed.” Zebra representative said, looking at the ad-hoc defense line that had been formed. “Are the heavy hitters ready?”

“Magic casters are as ready as they can be.” Celestia said.

“Catapults and ballistae, those few we got, are also ready.” High King said, nodding towards where the siege machines were set up.

“ACES and APCs are ready.” Saral finished, tapping her PDA. “We got enough ammunition for two hours of concentrated fire, five if we preserve our stockpiles. I doubt we will be. ACES suits have a killing zone ready, just a word and they turn that field into a Hell on Earth.” Several confused looks met her as she looked up. “Or Tartarus on Equestria, if you wish.” She amended.

“Not much we can do about it. This is it. Last stand of free species.” Celestia said. “I hope it won’t be remembered as such.”

“Well, if nothing else it will be remembered as Götterdämmerung.” Saral said. “Twilight of the Gods.”

“Fitting. We are, after all, seeing three gods facing in a mortal battle.” Zebra representative said. “We are going to witness history.” There sound awe in his voice. However, Saral remained silent for a moment before speaking,

“Yes, but what kind of history?” She then turned towards Celestia. “Your Highness, a moment in private, please?” Celestia nodded, before walking with Saral to secluded spot.

“What is it, General?” She asked Saral.

“Listen. You are the most likely to come out of this alive.” Saral said. Despite the mask she wore, Celestia could hear concern in her voice. “I need you to promise me something. If we win, if we win and I am dead... I need you to check my boots.”

“What?” Celestia asked, with confused look on her face.

“I have a small compartment in my boots, in my left heel. If I am dead and we win, I need you to open that compartment and take a piece of paper from there. Then, find the closest radio operator with working radio and follow the instructions in it.”

“Why?”

“Just... do it, okay? With luck, you don’t need to and I can take care of it. Normally, I would not even talk about this, but this is not a normal situation. There is a very high chance that none of the command staff from us survives. However, you... you and Luna, you are demigods. You are the most likely to survive.”

“Saral, explain to me. What are you planning?”

“Look, I am already saying too much!” Saral almost shouted. Her attempt at stern look failed somewhat due to unmoving nature of the mask. “Just, do this for me, okay?” Celestia stood silent for a moment before nodding.

“Very well. I will do as you ask, as long as there is nobody else to do this for you.”

“Thank you.” Saral said, returning to the command post. Chrysalis had arrived, with her now white colored changeling warriors remaining in the air. Several soldiers were eyeing them suspiciously.

“I brought everyone I could spare.” Chrysalis said.

“With them, pegasis and my griffins, we should be able to keep the air relatively safe.” High King said, looking at the swarm above them.

“So, what happens now?” Chrysalis asked.

“Now? Now we wait.” Luna answered.

“Thinking about others?” Trixie asked Twilight, who as looking out of a window.

“Am I that obvious?” She asked back, not turning away from the window.

“In this matter? Yes. You want to be there, but you are not allowed.”

“I don’t like this. What if someone doesn’t come back? What if none of them comes back? I need to apologize my double. I got so much to talk with everyone. I just...”

“I understand.” Trixie said sitting down next to her. “It’s hard to just watch from the sidelines as others risk their lives, isn’t it?”

“Especially when it’s this dangerous...” Twilight said, finally looking at Trixie. “Thanks. For staying with me. If I were alone, I would be running towards them. I would be going insane from the worry.”

“Hey, friend in need and all that.” Trixie said with a grin. “And on less altruistic note, I needed a roof above my head since my office was taken from me”

“You’re free to stay here. It’s good to have company.”

“For now. Let’s see in few days how willing you are to throw me out. Besides, I need to get a new place to live anyway. I can’t be bumming off you forever.”

“Hmph.” Twilight turned her head away, though Trixie could see playful grin in her face. Then Twilights face turned more serious. “Did you call him?”

“Yeah. He agreed to see you in a week.” Trixie said, referring to doctor Twilight had agreed to meet. “You should not worry so much, you know? It’s turning you to a nervous wreck.” She wanted to ‘More than you are’ but decided to leave it out. However, TWilight had apparently thought her mind.

“More than I am already? I guess so. I just... Sigh, I don’t know that to do. Normally I would look into my books for guidance, but right now, they offer no advice.”

“Some things you can’t just learn from books. Some things you just need to experience.”

“Yeah, I guess so. Like friendship.” There was a dreamy look on Twilight’s face as she remembered happier times.

“Anything yet?” Rarity asked Celestia, who was looking at the horizon. “There is being fashionably late but this is getting ridiculous.” The sun had set down already and they were forced to rely on Celestia’s and Luna’s sight and human night vision devices.

“Not yet. They should... no wait...” Celestia squeezed her eyes. At the same time, a shout ran across the assembled army.

“Enemy in sight! They are here!”

What could be at best be called “organized chaos” erupted among the soldiers, with those who had been resting trying to gather their equipment and running for their positions, machines being activated and magic users preparing their spells to be cast.

“I need you and others to take cover for now, we can’t risk you getting hurt. Tell your doubles to cover you, they know what to do.” Celestia said to Rarity before moving towards the frontline. Rarity nodded, even though Celestia couldn’t see it and ran back to the others.

“They are here. Princess said to take cover and stick together.” She said and turned to their doubles. “You are supposed to know what to do?” Applejack’s double nodded.

“Yeah, follow us and stay low. It’s going to start soon and we need to make sure ya ain’t hurt.” She then turned to Rarity’s double. “Ya might wanna stay somewhere safe, Ah mean-”

“Don’t worry about me, darling. I got Spike watching my back.” Behind Rarity, Spike nodded.

It had been a small shock to see Spike in his armor. Unlike old Royal Guard armor, which had been made from enchanted gold, Spike had opted for rather plain steel armor, which this worlds Twilight had enchanted to weight a lot less, giving Spike both mobility and protection. Although it didn’t fully enclose him, it did cover his more vulnerable front, as well as his joints on hands and legs.

The most striking feature, however, were the “claws” on on his hands. Sure, Spike did have a real claws as opposed finger-styled claws their own Spike had, but this worlds Spike had opted for claws on his armor that gave him longer reach. He had explained as being better able to slash than with his own claws.

“Prepare to open fire!” Saral shouted. Doubles took a look at the line of human machines.

“Cover your ears, ponies.” Applejack’s double said, covering her ears. Others followed her example, even if they didn’t fully understand why.

“Open fire! Laatz ze bloeden!” Sarals shouted once again.

Massive noise erupted as the assembled ACES suits opened fire with their long-range cannons. Noise was more than the group had even heard before and it kept going on. Each BOOM was followed by another and another, until they blended into single continuous noise. However, it was not the end. As the shells hit their target area, booms of the cannons were followed by explosions on the field.

What was happening on the field scared Twilight and others. It looked like the ground was being torn open by some unseen force. Pillars of dust and dirt rose into the air. Sometimes you could see bits and piece so of unfortunate changeling who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.Sure, they had seen some impressive pyrotechnics through magic before, but this was something else. Worst part was that nobody seemed to fazed by the this display of power.

Bombardment continued for some time. Yet, the changeling swarm kept advancing until they cleared the target area and entered the area that defined as “no-fire zone”, due to high chance of friendly fire. At this point, human infantry opened fire, along side with magic casters. Once again, droves of changelings died in front of them. Yet, once again, they didn’t give up. It was like they were being possessed. Something was driving them forward, making them unable to change their course of action.

“Horrible...” Fluttershy whispered. It was a small miracle that Twilight could hear hear over the noise. As if universe wanted to mock them, a foreleg of some random changeling flew over the line and landed in front of them. Rarity backed from the severed limb, as it could attack her.

“What did Discord do to them?” Twilight heard this worlds Applejack say. “I mean, when we first time dealt with him, it was nothing like this. He it was like he a trickster, rather than some god of death.”

“Well, um, some ancient text do mention that Discord’s defeat did follow a rather massive battle between his followers and Elements of Harmony and their allies.” Twilight said. “Some even mention that Ghastly Gorge was a result of said battle.” She hoped it would come to that.

“So? This ain’t normal!” Applejack’s double countered back. Twilight really couldn't argue with that.

“Cease artillery fire! Cease artillery fire!” Someone shouted. “Conserve ammo for dragons! AA-units, prepare to fire! Somebody, launch flares!”

APCs that so far remained silent came alive. Their tracking systems had been passively keeping track of the oncoming swarm, but now they were communicating among themselves and dividing targets. Inside the carriers, human operators went over the checklists to make sure that the systems would work and if needed, would be switched to manual targeting.

At the same time, group of flares flew into the air, creating bright light sources over the battlefield. It showed how much carnage the human artillery had done. However, they also showed how large the swarm was and how little damage they had done compared to the size of the swarm.

As the final shells landed, the swarm grew larger than before. It occurred to Celestia that Discord might have been sending forward only a small portion of his forces, to make them waste ammo on smaller force, rather than his main group. Which was worrisome, seeing how large this swarm was already. He hadn’t sent his dragons to clear the path. It was a good thing she had ordered unicorns to not to cast spells yet. Once the main swarm would appear, they would be very useful.

Anti-air turrets mounted on the carriers opened fire, bringing their own sound into the battlefield. Their sound was very different from others, Celestia noted. Whereas human infantry used rifles that gave a short, loud bang per shot, often melding into continuous “dakka-dakka-dakka” sound and their ACES suit gave deeper “brakka-brakka-brakka” sound, these new weapons had more silent sound. It sounded like closer to a bee. A very loud bee that was buzzing right next your ear, but still.

Celestia noted that, as it had been told to her, humans loaded every tenth round as a tracer round and that the air was now filled with these tracer rounds. The speed which the guns fired their rounds was scary. She knew there was a peace now and she should not worry, but it was still a reminded how far behind Equestrian military was compared to humans. She would need to swallow her pride and accept Luna’s more radical ideas in order to update her Royal Guard.

But that would have to wait. Right now, she had a battle to wage. A battle she could not afford to lose.

“Come on, why are you holding back...” Celestia said to himself. However, she was not quiet enough to not to be heard.

“Your Highness?” A zebra soldier asked, confused.

“Where are the dragons? Not to mention, if Chrysalis information is still up to date, this is too few changelings. There should be more.” She said. “He is holding back, testing us. That or he is...” It suddenly occurred to her what it might that he was planning. “Get to the comm-center. Tell them to contact diamond dogs and have them bring down the tunnels under the field!”

The zebra saluted and rushed to carry out the order, despite it coming from Celestia and not from his commanding officer. It was clear to Celestia now: Discord was keeping their attention to tied to above ground sacrificial lamb, while trying to get around them through underground. If they would collapse the tunnels, it would slow him enough to force him to fight through, rather than try to get around.

“Princess, why the hell did you just gave an order to collapse the tunnels?!” Saral ran to her, shouting her question at the same time.

“He is trying to flank us. Trying to use the tunnels to get around us.”

“That’s why the diamond dogs are there!”

“Yes, but the amount is too large for them to handle. They will still need to deal with survivors, but it will also force them above ground, in our sight.”

“I see.” Saral said, calming down. On the field, at the several points where the tunnels collapsed the ground opened and spilled out more changelings. Even with the impressive amount of long-range weaponry thrown at them, they were closing dangerously close at the defense line. However, so far they had been held back.

A loud roar interrupted Celestia’s and Sarals observations. Both looked up and saw what they had both feared and expected: Dragons. They had flow high enough to be missed by observers, who had concentrated on the ground forces being thrown at them. Now, those same dragons fell upon the combined army, right in middle of them.

“Damn it! The bastard tricked us!” Saral shouted, as she tried to scamper away from the dragons, firing her service pistol despite its ineffectiveness.

“Yes, he tied our attention on his swarm, letting his dragons surprise us.” Celestia shouted, as she took to the air.

She headed at the dragons who were in process of wrecking human machines into pieces, as their pilots desperately tried to put some distance between themselves and the dragons. With the confusion among the ranks, the swarm hit the front of the defense line. Celestia could see as the formerly neat lines were torn and crumpled. The battle turned into one giant brawl, as the human weaponry became more a liability than an advantage.

It didn’t take long for human lines to collapse. Very soon, humans were less organized fire teams they were during The War and more individual soldiers trying to scamper somewhere they could actually help. Their weakness to magic made them easy targets for the changelings, who simply cut them once and moved to next target.

Luna hit another dragon in the face with a bolt of magic. She and several other unicorns, as well as what remained of ACES troops, had worked to take down this particular dragon. Dragon roared in pain, preparing to blast her with magic when the ACES pilots opened fire into it’s mouth. With final roar, the dragon fell to the ground, unmoving.

Luna catched breath before moving to higher ground. She was that her sister was attacking another dragon, with help from the Kaisergarde and High King. Apparently years of training truly did help against the dragons, seeing how most of the Kaisergarde warriors were still alive. Little bit away, she was yet another dragon, while still alive being blinded. She recognized the results of her sister scorching someones eyes. She had used it on the early years, when they had fought to establish Equestria.

However, while ponies, zebras and griffins were dealing with the fight relatively well, the humans were not. She saw that several humans were starting to rout, abandoning their weapons and simply trying to run away. They could not afford to lose any soldiers, not while they could help. She ran down to the closest group that was trying to run away.

“Where are you going!? The battle still rages!” She shouted at the them. Few of the ran right past her, but one stopped in front of her, with others staying there too. Apparently they were following this particular woman.

“Getting out of here! We can’t fight! It’s everyone for herself!” The panicking soldier said. Gesturing towards the melee behind her. She tried to run again, but Luna stopped her.

“And you would abandon your comrades?” She said, trying to appeal to her loyalty.

“They are all dead!”

“Is this truly it? Is this the mighty human army?” Luna asked. “Is this the army that burned half of Equestria, for the sake of their own people?!” She was shouting now. The soldiers took a step back, while the soldier that had talked to her, falling down in surprise.

“Is this how you repay the debt to your nation? If we lose now, everyone will die! Your parents, your wifes and husbands, your children!” She kept going on. She saw that few more deserters had stopped and were listening to her. She had to keep this up.

“You can run now, always remembering when you abandoned everyone to die! Or you can follow me! Into the fight! You may die, I won’t lie, but you will die heroes! You won’t die meaninglessly! Yet, it is more likely you will live if you fight now, for it is sure you will die if we lose!” She saw soldiers nodding and taking firmer grip on their guns. Some of them stopped other deserters, turning them around and telling them to stop running. “I tell you, once more, into the fight! Are you with me!?”

“YEAH!” A shout answered her. She turned to wards the battle and run into it. She noted with slight proudness in herself, and in humans, that former deserters were rallying around her, supporting her and helping others to form up. Her sudden command was leading a counterattack in where human lines had collapsed, slowly filling the gap. She also noted that less and less humans were abandoning their positions, with those who had lost their command rallying around her and forming ad-hoc fire teams, with officers without teams joining teams without officers and soldiers without a fire team joining the new fire teams.

She saw Saral isolated with her own group of soldiers. She too had joined the fight itself to keep the lines from falling, though it was clear she had whipped the deserters with different methods. She saw one human trying to run away, with Saral turning her pistol against that human and shooting her. The soldier fell down, dead, with Sarals words accompanying him.

“You will fight and die against the enemy, or you can run and die by my hand! YOUR CHOICE!” To emphasize her point, she raised her pistol in the air. “Now, FIGHT!” She shouted, pointing towards another changeling group that was approaching her location. She and her group opened fire.

Luna didn’t spare more attention to them, however, as she herself focused on keeping the line intact for now. She hoped that the Elements would be safe, wherever Saral had ordered them to go to wait for their time. Their main target, the one that kept this whole battle going on, had not yet show himself.

She knew Discord would, eventually, intervene. She just hoped they would have enough strength to fight him. The battle had gone on for some time and even she and her sister would tire out. Unless Discord could be surprised or beaten to the submission, he would counter the petrification spell. However, he would be ready for the spell this time, so surprise was not an option. They would need to do it “old fashioned way”.

“Okay, the spell should work, at least in theory. First, we need to open the view port, and then we cast the tunneling spell. It should be open for some time.” Spell Nexus explained. Celestia and Luna nodded.

“How long will the portal be open?” Luna asked.

“I am not sure, as long as we can keep it open. An hour, perhaps? Casting the tunneling spell will most likely take another hour.” Spell Nexus said, gesturing to few unicorns before continuing. “However, we can only open the portal towards your doubles, so, one of you should remain here, just in case.”

“I will stay.” Luna said, with Celestia nodding.

“Open the view port.” Celestia said and watched as the unicorns began their spell. The window formed, before showing the images from the other universe.

Images that showed the other Celestia in process of taking down a dragon, supported by griffins and, of all things, Chrysalis and bunch of white changelings. The dragon fell, succumbing to death from thousand cuts. Celestia in the window stopped for a moment, before heading into even bigger battle, where several other creatures, alongside the new creatures they had seen earlier and zebras, were fighting.

Interestingly, it seemed that these weird creatures were rallying around two points. One was another same kind of creature, wearing slightly different attire and killing any of its kind that tried to escape. Other point was around Luna. Apparently these creatures were panicking, causing Luna and the other leader to try and rally them.

Celestia noticed that the other Luna had covered her mechanical parts. It would protect her sister from the shock. Still, that was the smallest problem she had, at the moment. She could not see Twilight Sparkle or others, her double was focused on beating back the changeling swarm and the dragons.

Then Discord appeared, causing an explosion near among the warriors. It didn’t take long for the mirror versions of Celestia and Luna to take into the air and try to meet him in battle. Celestia could, however, see that both were exhausted. They would need help.

“Open the portal. NOW!” Celestia ordered. “Luna, stay here. Once things calm down, open the portal again. Home into yourself.”

“No, it’s dangerous. We do not know what is there!” Luna said.

“But if we do not help, they will lose to Discord, to our Discord. They will need help.” Celestia argued.

“What if you too loose? He seems more powerful than ever. Last time he gathered an army he didn’t have dragons!” Luna said back. Celestia sighed before saying anything.

“I know you can handle things here. However, this is a problem that we caused. We need to fix it. He might be powerful, but I doubt he can resist two sun goddesses, alongside a moon goddess, right?” Celestia said, trying to give a conspiratorial smile to her sister. Who didn’t buy it but relented anyway.

“Fine. But if it starts to look bad, I will open the portal again and I want you to return. I will not lose you.” Celestia didn’t try to argue with her sister. She simply nodded to Spell Nexus who gestured to unicorns, who began to cast the spell.

Author's Note

My apologies for lateness. I had this ready for some time, but I wanted to wait for beta-reader to read it first. However, he was unable to do so, so here we go. Unedited, pure "What the **** were you thinking!?" version.

Version 2: Uploaded slight fixes... I realized I gave Luna ability to fly suddenly :/

Unfortunate premature end... Sorry

PLEASE READ AUTHORS NOTES AT THE END. THIS IS INCOMPLETE CHAPTER

”What in Tartarus is this!?” Applejack shouted over the noise, as their doubles tried to lead them to somewhere safe. Their escorts had already fallen behind, after a group of changelings had attacked them.

“Exactly that!” Spike responded, before driving one of his claws into incoming changeling. “It’s Tartarus on Equestria! Come on, get off!” Putting his foot against the now dead changeling, Spike pushed it away.

“I can’t believe there is something like this!” Twilight shouted.

“Better believe, The War had many of this type of battles!” Applejack’s double answered. “Be thankful humans are on our side, instead of trying to kill us!”

In the distance, they saw a dragon wipe out group of human ACES suits, before being attacked by Celestia. It was clear that even with their superior technology, there were still things that could beat humans. In any other situation, local Elements of Harmony would have been relieved to learn that humans weren’t invincible. However, in the current situation, it was not a good thing.

Eventually, they found relatively safe spot in the battlefield. It had lower concentration of enemy changelings, which meant less chance of being attacked. It was by no means calm or completely safe, but there really was no choice available. Two white painted Changelings joined them, panting heavily.

“This is worse than the War of Three Hives.” One of them said, trying to catch his or her breath.

“You OK?” The other changeling asked the ponies, while keeping eye on the black changelings.

“We are in better condition that most out there.” Twilight said, feeling weird for talking to a changeling.

“Right. The Queen said you are the ones who helped her to free the hive and now our job is to protect you until you do... whatever you do.”

“I swear, sometimes it feels like these humans are intentionally shooting us.” The other one said, having finally catched his/her breath.

“This is so weird...” Applejack’s double muttered under her breath. “So, you guys are going to help us?”

“Yes. Queen’s orders. I guess we owe you our gratitude. When that... thing took over the colony, we thought it would bethe end of us.”

“What was it like? I mea- WATCH OUT!” Twilight shouted and dodged. A half melted machine, humans called them APCs, fell where she had been standing seconds minute ago. A dragon roared in triumph, before being taken down by Celestia. She then joined Chrysalis and her changelings in taking down another dragon.

“Uh, Spike? Are going to grow into something like that?” Rainbow Dash asked, switching between the fallen dragon and the burning wreckage.

“Eventually. Unless something forces the growth spurt. You know how dragons don’t grow in stable growth, like ponies?”

“Nope.”

“Oh crap.” One of the changelings muttered.

“What is it?” Applejack’s double asked, before seeing it herself. “Horseapples.”

Humans were running away from their positions. The defense line was collapsing.

“Okay, what do we do?” Spike asked.

“No idea, I mean, yeah, we saw humans retreat during The War, but this is turning into a rout.” Applejack’s double said.

The group watched as more and more humans started to run, some of them very close to their position.One of the humans was running right past of them when he fell down, obvious gunshot through his chest and back, before melting down. The group turned to see Saral pointing her gun at the now dead deserter.

“Who gave you permission to run? Get back into the fight!” She shouted, her voice distorted by the speakers trying to keep up with volume in her voice.

“But Sir! We can’t win! We need to escape!” One of the soldiers tried to reason, only to have Saral shoot him in the face.

“You will fight or you will die. You all signed up as a soldier of humanity, NOW FIGHT LIKE ONE!” Saral shouted, waging her pistol around. “Company! To me! Get back to the fight!”

Apparently, her harsh methods seemed to work as the humans seemed to weigh their options and joined her. In distance, the group saw that Luna had managed to rally another weak point in the line, though it seemed she had done so by inspiring troops, rather than scaring them into submission.

It didn’t take long for Discord to appear.

“ARE YOU READY TO RUMBLEEEEEE!?”

“Yup, that’s Discord alright.” Applejack said.

Discord began to attack the human front right away. He knew that he needed to break that part of the defense, which would leave a gaping hole for his changelings to pour through. He had thought he had succeeded earlier, until Luna and that human general had intervened. Still, despite humans trying to kill him in their panic, he had came prepared. A shield flashed as the projectiles hit futilely. Though he had to credit unicorns, clearly their grasp at magic arrows had grown much better than last time he had fought in such a battle. Still, it was not enough and soon he was laying waste to large parts of the defense line.

“Damn it. Can you take care rest of these dragons!?” Celestia asked Chrysalis.

“I think so.” She answered. “Just go and beat that draconequus.”

Celestia nodded flew towards Discord. He noticed the sun goddess flying towards him and quickly too to the air too.

“So, ready for a final showdown?” Discord asked.

“Always.” Celestia answered and launched a beam against Discord, who answered with his own beam, before dodging to the side. It took few moments for Celestia to orient herself, during which Discord managed to land a hit on her.

“You were never a good with mobile targets! What’s that sound?” Discord asked, before something exploded on his back.

“Reload this thing or get me a new one!” Saral shouted, holding one of the rocket launchers in her hands. One soldier took the launcher she had and handed her a new one. However, before she could take aim, the soldier died as something pierced him.

It took about one second before Sarals brain realized that not only had her subordinate been killed, her legs were no longer attached to her torso. Her brains did not, however, managed to draw connection between her legs being separated from her torso and being dead before they were liquified by a strong surge of magic.

“Right, that takes care of that, so what... What’s that bright light?” Discord muttered and looked over to the light source, hovering above Celestia. “Isn’t a dimensional por... aw crap.”

Another Celestia stepped out of the portal and proceeded to attack Discord. While confusing at first, many of the coalition soldier decided to accept the little luck they were given and concentrated on non-divine creatures on the battlefield. Meanwhile, Luna ran to her sister.

“You’re alright?” She asked.

“Been better, but been worse too. What the Tartarus happened?”

“Well, looks like we have reinforcements in form of your double.” Luna said, looking at the fight going above them.

“Well, I won’t question it. Let’s get there.”

In the distance, The Elements watched as the four divine beings clashed, in a rather lopsided three versus one fight.

“So, Princess managed to get to us?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Awesome.”

“They must have been trying to contact us for some time and then seen the situation, why otherwise would Princess attacked Discord so readily?” Twilight said. “Get ready girls, we need to be ready to strike at the moments notice.”

“Got it.”

“Okey dokey.”

“Alright.”

“If you say so...”

“Ready!”

Girls began to charge up their Elements, while their doubles and Spike focused on making sure that nobody would distract them. Two changelings that had been with them looked over at what was happening and shrugged. They were never really told what was so special about these particular ponies, but they didn’t really care. They got their jobs and it was really they needed. One of them took off to tell where to drive Discord.

“Your, uh, Highness? The Elements are waiting for the mark over there.” The changeling said to one of the sun goddesses, he wasn’t really sure which one this was.

“Are they alright?”

“Yes, little shaken but otherwise OK.”

“I see.” Celestia dodged another blast from Discord. he had clearly picked up few tricks in his time here. “Tell them to be ready, we try to guide him in that direction and keep his attention at us.” The changeling nodded and flew off, while Celestia charged at Discord. Arrival of her double was something that she had not expected, but she was not going to complain.

Now, someone might think that a battle between several creatures that rank at least as demigods would be rather spectacular. Especially if there are four of them. However, as it often happens the battles between gods and demigods were rather dull. Since both sides often had enough power to murder half the planet, battles were decided either by which one could trick other one first into doing a mistake or by outgunning the opposition.

It was pretty clear that thanks to residual chaos magic, Discord outgunned them. While he could not outright kill them, he had a lot more power backing him, he could keep going much longer. Celestia flew next to Luna.

“We need to get him over there and keep his attention to us. The Elements are ready to stone him.”

“Understood.” Luna nodded and took off again. Celestia had already told the plan to her double, who had not really commented, but was clearly trying to push Discord in the right direction. Of course, problem was trying have Discord move in the right direction and not have him realize he was going herded.

“You little... WHY WON’T YOU DIE!” Discord shouted, sending another blast at Celestia. Celestia dodged it, only grimace when the blast hit a group of griffins. While the army itself was now barely holding the line, it could not really take this sort of collateral damage.

“So, Tia, you came after me!” Discord shouted to dimensional traveler. “Did you miss me?”

“You wish!” Celestia’s double returned and fired a beam which Discord deflected with a shield. “I am here to put you down!”

“But my dear sun goddess, did you forget already? YOU CAN’T KILL ME!” Discord shouted.

“I can try!”

“HAH! You never studied metamagic, so I guess you would not understand.” Discord laughed. “What do you think happens when a physical manifestation of an universal constant is destroyed?”

“Shut up, I know your tricks!” Two Celestias joined in an attack and blasted Discord with a beam strong enough to force him to back up.

“You little... nothing but byproducts....” Discord muttered under his breath. “You are kinda idiots, though. Keeping attacking from a single side, where I- WAIT A MINUTE!” Discord quickly flew up and turned around, just in time to dodge a blast from the Elements. “Clever girls...” He muttered

“Damn it! Keep him in place! Do not let him escape!” Celestia shouted. Several ACES suits, pegasis and griffins moved to attack Discord. They did not have hope to actually hurt him, but they could harass him enough to keep him from escaping.

“Quick girls! We need to try again!” Twilight shouted as the Elements began to gather their power again.

“You better hurry, he looks pissed!” A changeling muttered.

“NO! I WILL NOT ACCEPT THIS!” Discord roared, as another pegasis tried to hit him, only to be cut down. With two Celestias and Luna not allowing him to escape, he was starting to worry. If the Elements were allowed to turn him into stone again, all would be lost.

He gathered another ball of magic and send it flying towards the Elements. The changeling that had stayed with the Elements, took off. It flew right at the ball, taking the brunt of its’ power and falling down, burned to crisp. Discord tried to guide the swarm to strike at the location he was, but it was too occupied with everything else. The Dragons were also too busy to come to his aid.

“Well, if I am going down, I won’t go down quietly...” Discord muttered. Dodging another blast from Celestia. Being focused on three goddesses, a griffin managed to sneak up to him and skewer him with a spear.

“HAH! Gotcha!” The griffin said in triumph, before the spear was pulled from his claws.

“You know, if it was that easy, why you think they petrified me?” Discord said, before stabbing the griffin with his own spear. “More the things change, more they stay the same...”

Another blast of magic from Discord and two ACES suits blew up, another one falling down as a flaming wreck while second one had soldiers assisting the pilot out. Discord ignored them, focusing more on fighting Celestias and Luna.

[AAAAAND end. Sorry people :( ]

Author's Note

Yeah... This is sadly the end. I have been trying to force myself to figure out how to end this, really. I suddenly realized... I had written myself into a corner. This is as far as I got.

Whole story is lost.

Sorry.

However, at least it has been an educational experience to me. I know where I went wrong: Too many characters, doing too many things in too many plotlines. Too grand scales. Lack of good focus.

So yeah. I might rewrite this whole thing, but it would entirely different. Pick a set of characters and keep the view strictly to them. Either the Mane 6 from the canon, or Mane 6 from Warverse. Or make it Princess story. Either way, don't try to write too many characters.

Once again, I am sorry for cutting this thing like this. I personally hate when authors do this and... yeah, here I am, a hypocrite.

SPOILERS

So, this isn't technically a chapter, so I am not sure if I am breaking some rule but anyways. If this breaks the rules, PM me and I will take this down.

So, what I had planned for the story? Few things.

First, would have obvious defeat of Discord. This one, I went through numerous ideas.

One idea was for Discord to actually succeed in breaking the final defense line... leading to humans dropping an anti-matter bomb on him. Which would clue everyone else that humans have WMD on the orbit and could, potentially, hit anyone anytime. Which, rather predictably, does not sit well with everyone else, least with Luna. However, as was pointed to me, this was rather stupid idea and was scrapped.

Second idea was similar, once again Discord breaking through but instead of finding source of the Zone, he would encounter prepared Elements of Harmony. However I decided that this was too risky plan and scrapped this one too.

So how would have final version gone? Discord... would have been defeated, turned back into stone, with heavy cost. Dragons and Changelings would become the new boogeymen for humans, as well as general militarization of humans. However, relationships with other nations would be much improved, since they were ready to stand alongside humans.

What of Chryssalis? Well, she has rather complicated position of trying to keep one of few hives in Equestria operational, without drawing ire from Princesses, who are only reason why humans aren't currently embarking on genocide on "bugs".

Also, a lot more stable Equstria. With Princesses showing that they can, indeed, stand up against threats such as Discord anti-Princess sentiment hinted at Luna Aeternal would be decreased. Not disappeared, but would become something you would not mention in public due to shame.

Canon!Celestia would be half appalled of the state of the world and half pitied. However, she would also be optimistic of worlds fate. Canon counterparts would return to their own world, perhaps taking extra time to take a look at the moon... only to find nothing, since humans don't exist in their universe. One twist I thought was to have ruins on the moon in canon universe, with implications that humans died out in some massive civil war. Of course, I decided not to use this, main thing is that Warverse has humans, while canon does not.

Also, one of things that would be hinted, but not yet stated, would be increasing discontent between "Planetbound" and "Moonbound" human factions. Nothing major, but hints for increasing tension that would eventually lead to true human state. Remember, current "state" is more or less still drawing is legitimacy from emergency committee set up back when United Nations used to exist. However, rather than fight pointless war, human government would more or less decide "Screw it." and just accept demands and make reforms, leading to first real democratic elections since Second Human Civil War.

And finally, here is a joke ending I did write, but for understandable reasons I didn't plan to use:

"Now I shall create A WORLD OF CHAOS!"
"How do you make sure it doesn't self-destruct in nuclear fire!?" Twilight pleads
"I shall make sure it doesn't do, while constantly generating more chaos!"
"So, you would be a guardian of balance? An avatar of harmony?"
"... Fuck this" And then Discord was harmony. THE END.

...Maybe I should have gone with that.

A new world

Proof reader/Editor: Biker_Dash

Life had been easy ever since the Changelings had been beaten back six years ago. With the defeat of Changelings, no other force of chaos or disharmony would dare to threaten the ponykind. Twilight and her friends had been living in peace and quietness, each one pursuing their own dreams. One day, Twilight found a spell in Royal Library. A spell, that would allow the caster to create a magical view port, to allow to gaze into other universes. She had called her friends to test it with her in the Royal Library.

"Oh my gosh, this is going to be AWESOME!" Rainbow Dash shouted in excitement as the view port started to form.

"Okay, let's see... let me see if I can zoom in to one of ourselves..." Twilight concentrated her magic on the view port, when suddenly, a surge of magic poured through the view port.

"Twilight! What's going on?" Applejack shouted.

"I don't know! This wasn't in the book!" There was a distant rumble and suddenly, everyone's worst fear came true. Discord broke free from his prison.

"FREE AT LAST! MUAHAHAHAAA!" Discord shouted. However, this turned out to be mistake as a spell was cast to shield Canterlot and to prevent his escape. Very soon Discord found himself being chased by Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Elements of Harmony. Not the best way to be freed from a stone prison.

"I need to get away from here, I am nowhere near the powerful enough to take them on in a direct fight... I was careless last time," Discord muttered to himself as he avoided one more spell. "But where could I go? I can't break that shield, not yet, and I don't have time to wait here." Then he reached a library and saw a portal. It was not a normal, send-matter-through portal, but that was quickly remedied.

"STOP RIGHT THERE DISCORD!" He turned around to see the cursed elements running after him.

"Catch me if you can!" He said and jumped through the portal.

"Oh no you don't!" Rainbow Dash said and flew after him.

"Wait, he did something to..." Twilight tried to shout after her, but it was too late. RD has flown in to the portal.

"It can wait, Sugarcube, now we need to get him before he gets away," Applejack said and jumped through the portal. Twilight shook her head and followed the lead, alongside the others. She had weird feeling that the portal had changed in more than one way, but AJ was right. They needed to stop Discord right now.

The trip through the portal was definitely not nice. He guessed he had not completely managed to change the location where the portal, but then again, why had that unicorn set exit the same place as enter? Discord flew outside the window before the Elements could find him and notice that the sky was missing an one distinct feature; the shield. He quickly escaped the castle and gave it one last look. There was something wrong it... Didn't it used to be more on 'fairy tale castle' and less on 'sensible military design'? And why did it look like it had been recently rebuild? And what was THAT ugly building? Why did Canterlot like the buildings plans had went through a military committee before being approved?

Oh well. It could wait. Right now he would need to hide and gather his strength.

"So this thing appeared yesterday in here?" Twilight asked Captain Lulamoon. She had been called to investigate a magical anomaly that had appeared in Canterlot library yesterday. Trixie and her unit had surrounded the area and called Twilight to check it out.

"Yes. Princess Celestia told me to contact you in case you would know something about it."

"Has anything come through it?"

Trixie just shrugged. "Beats me. I wasn't on duty when it happened. I just got informed and called you. Maybe you got better idea what it is."

"Well, so far I got nothing except it might be a portal." The universe, once again demonstrating it's knack for humorous timing, decided to drop Mane Six exactly at that point through the portal. Trixie and Twilight just stared, with their jaws hitting the floor. Behind the new group of ponies, the portal flickered and disappeared.

"Oooh... let's not do that again." Rainbow Dash said.

"Oh mah back... could someone get of mah back? Ah don't feel so good...."

"Oh, sorry Applejack." Fluttershy said and climbed off. She looked around and saw guards around them. "Oh, uh, you didn't see Discord coming through here?" Silence continued as the guards stared at the strange group in front of them. "Um, hello?"

"Hey, what's wrong with you? Shouldn't you be hunting Discord right now?" Twilight asked.

"Who ARE you?" Twilight turned around and saw... herself.

"Oh wow." Original!Twilight said. At this point, Trixie finally managed to pull herself together.

"Okay, nobody make any sudden moves until we know what is going on! Guards!" Guards seemed to also awaken and moved to surround the group.

"Hey, is that Trixie? Why are you in an armor? A captain's armor, in fact?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"You will address me as Captain Lulamoon or Captain for now. Hooves where I can see them!"

"Trixie, I don't think these ponies are a threat..."

"The same we thought back then and that lead to Lunar Crisis. I am not taking any chances."

"Umm, I know this is little bit of a bad time but... Discord?" Original!Twilight asked as the guards moved around them.

"What? Oh, Discord. No, we didn't see him. Not today or yesterday when the portal appeared. Which also seems to have disappeared..." Alternative!Twilight said, pointing towards where the portal had been. Original!Twilight looked around and confirmed to her horror that their only way to return was gone.

"Oh no! How are we now going to get back!? How do I contact The Princess!? What should I do!? Does anypony have a spare spell with them?"

"How about you take breath first?" Rainbow Dash said.

"I don't have time to breathe!"

"Twilight, calm down!" Applejack said.

"Yeah, we can figure this out." Rainbow Dash said.

"Darling, stress is not good for you..." Rarity said.

"Um, maybe you should have some tea?" Fluttershy suggested.

"Oooh! Let's have a party!" Pinkie Pie said.

"Yeah! Let's call it 'Welcome To Alternative Universe Party!'" Pinkie Pie said.

"PINKIE! Where did you come from!? And how..." Alternative!Twilight shouted.

"Wait what!? How did you get past the guards!?" Trixie asked, even if she had come to used to these type if breaches. If Pinkie Pie wanted to get somewhere, she did.

"Ooh! A doppelganger!" Pinkie Pie #1 said. At this point nobody was sure which one was the which one.

"AYA! Now we can make twice as big parties!" Pinkie Pie #2 said. They were soon engaged in rapid fire conversation that include parties, Pinkie sense, Gummy, Ponyville and 300 gallons of ice cream on a zeppelin with someone named Hunk. Nobody really wanted to find out what the last one was for and promptly ignored it.

"Okay, everyone just calm down. Why don't we go and talk to Princesses about this? Maybe they can figure out what the hay is going on." Alternative!Twilight said. She was going to have an epic headache from this.

Celestia was going to have a headache. It had been an year since The Lunar Crisis and the relations between two species were on their all-time warmest. Anti-human groups had tried to rally behind Luna, thinking she would be supporting for a war. Oh how wrong they had been. By Tartarus, even random humans gave their respect to Luna when they saw her. She was currently visiting the governor of New Baltimore. Still they occasionally had issues that needed to be dealt with.

"Ambassador, I can't just order my guards into Everfree Forest and kill every single creature in there. You were warned of it when your people started to live near it. I don't care how much lumber it provides for you. You can protect your settlement from attacks if you wish, but I won't send my guards in to the forest and I am not going to allow you to raze the forest."

"That place is a real nightmare. I mean, trees attack you, how screwed up is that? Then there are cockatrices, manticores... How can you allow such place to exist!?" A group of humans had suddenly got an excellent idea of setting up a lumber camp near Everfree Forest. Unsurprisingly, they soon found out why human military didn't go within a hundred kilometers from the place.

"Because we got an unspoken agreement. We keep out of the forest, monsters stay inside the forest, most of the time. I swear that forest itself is alive and directs the monsters to attack anything that threatens it. In this case, you and your lumberjacks. Faust knows we have tried to deal with who knows what how many times. Can't you find some other place? New Baltimore has ample supply of wood too."

"It's called free enterprise. Someone decided that wood from Everfree is good and set up a shop. Fine. We won' try to torch the forest. We will tell them that the forest is off-limits and that we won't guarantee anyone's safety near it. In exchange, you set up a few guard patrols to keep the worst of the monsters in control. Deal?"

"Sounds good to me." A door opened and Twilight and Captain Lulamoon walked in. "Oh, hello my little ponies. Did you find out what that magical anomaly was?"

"To a certain degree. Bring them in," Trixie answered before assuming her position on the side. Celestia stared in confusion as a group of ponies, or more specifically, The Bearers of Elements of Harmony were brought in.

"Princess, I don't think I am old enough to require eye surgery but am I seeing doubles?"

"Yes, yes you are. I see them too."

"Ooh! What are you!?" Pinkie Pie asked, pointing her hoof at the human. To the credit of the guards, they managed to grab her mane before she managed to jump at the ambassador. The ambassador just stared at the ponies and answered out of habit.

"Ambassador Fahrenheit of The Human Refuge, which you should be aware."

"What's a human?" Original!Twilight asked. Alternative!Twilight took over before questioning could go any further.

"A species we have some history with. Anyway, these six came trough the portal that was in the library. However, what I find more troubling is... well, let's hear it from them. Tell Princess what you told to us while we were coming here."

"Oh right. Uh, I was trying a spell that would allow me to see into alternative universes. So after I opened the view port, some strange magic poured through and let Discord free. So, we chased him and he turned the view port into a portal and escaped here."

Celestia remained silent for a moment before turning to the ambassador.

"Ambassador. I would suggest that you contact Luna Aeternal and tell them to prepare for anything. Discords magic is powerful. Anything could happen, from sudden appearance of traitor Royal Guard to rain of chocolate. I would suggest DEFCON 3, although if I am to understand how the new general operates, he will only raise it to DEFCON 4."

"A rain of what now?"

"You heard me. Discord is a creature of chaos and immensely powerful. Captain Lulamoon, I need you to double check our Discords prison. Make sure that nobody is allowed to enter it without my or my sister's permission." Trixie saluted.

"Yes, your Highness!" Trixie left the throne room to carry out her duty.

"I guess I got a military to contact. I will return later," Fahrenheit said and left the room, giving a quick bow. After both had left, Celestia turned to face the group.

"I must say, this is highly unexpected. An alternative universe you say? I wonder how does your world differ from ours?"

"Well... for one thing we have never encountered these... humans, you called them?"

"What, you never met humans? They launched an attack ten years ago! Well, can't really blame you for that, now that we know the truth behind it but still. It was bloodiest and worst four years of Equestria. There is no way anyone could have missed that Tartarus on Equestria." Alternative!Twilight said.

"WHAT!? Wait, you said ten years ago? What year is it?"

"Well, since we are using Discord here... it's been fourteen years since Discord was resealed. How long has it been in your time?"

"Well, let's see... six years? So it means humans might..."

"No, if humans were to attack you like they did us, they would have already. The War should have started two years ago, from your perspective," Celestia said. "I guess humans simply don't exist in your universe. Either they died out long time ago... or they never arrived."

"Um, can you tell us more about these humans?" Original!Twilight asked Princess and Alternative!Twilight.

"Humans, scientific name Homo Sapiens Sapiens, are a race of bipedal creatures who are vulnerable to even smallest amounts of magic. They are unable to use magic themselves, but posses unrivaled technology and engineering skills. They have been on self-imposed exile on the moon for nearly 3 000 years. Only after The War and New Zebas Peace Treaty have they started to slowly migrate back to the surface. They posses the most powerful military force in the world. They control most of the former southern Equestria, which was seceded to them according to the peace treaty," Alternative!Twilight said. She spoke in monotone voice, as if reciting from a list.

"You can find more later. Twilight, could you take them to Ponyville? I think it would be better for them to be in a familiar place. Canterlot Castle is not exactly what it used to be."

"Very well, Princess. Please, follow me." Alternative!Twilight gestured to them. As they walked through the halls, she suddenly spoke up. "Watch out Rarity, we changed some armors locations. So try to stick close the group."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What? Oh, right. Not our Rarity... nothing." Alternative!Twilight looked embarrassed.

"What did that mean?" Rarity repeated, curious now.

"Nothing. Just a honest mistake."

"Come on, you can tell us? Please? Or I will whine," Rarity said with an evil grin. Alternative!Twilight sighed.

"Fine. Our version of Rarity has lost her sight. She moves mainly by the memory or with assistance from someone else. Happy now?" She said with irritation.

"Lost her sight? How!?" Applejack said.

"It's the result from getting her face hit by a human grenade. It's a small wonder she survived it. She shouldn't have been in Canterlot back then..." Alternative! Twilight's voice seemed to fade before shaking her head. "Sorry. Bad memories. The War was not like anything we had experienced before. It... left its mark on everyone," She said quietly.

"Now wait a moment, what could be so horrible? How could these... 'humans' cause so much destruction? Didn't you have The Element Of The Harmony and Princess on your side?" Rainbow Dash asked. It didn't make much sense, considering what little they had heard about this 'war' ponies spoke of.

"...Friendship is all nice and dandy when you are dealing with Discord or Changelings or creatures like that. Against humans? No. Humans have weapons capable of destroying the entire planet. If it weren't for the fact that humans don't want to do it, we would be all dead," Alternative!Twilight said with bitterness. "We were blind. We trusted that the harmony would be eternal. Well, it wasn't." She remained silent after that. It didn't do any good to delve on those memories.

After getting out she found a human transport waiting for them.

"Miss Sparkle, we are here to take you to Ponyville. We were told that the skies were too dangerous to use carriages, so Captain Lulamoon requested our help. Will you accept the offer?"

"Hmm... You never know about Discord. very well. Everyone, jump in and strap on. We are taking a different ride than what you are used to," Alternative!Twilight said. It would be a bumpy ride, if her experiences with the human machines proved to be correct.

Discord was very confused at the moment. First of all, he sensed that something was wrong with Equesteria. As if something that was not supposed to be there was walking on it. His feelings proved correct when he visited the southern areas, the place where the feeling of 'wrong' was the most powerful.

Strange creatures walked there, using even stranger machines. He kept himself hidden; there was no knowing what these creatures would do. Furthermore, he finally realized what that 'wrongness' had been. An anti-magic field, covering near the entire southern Equesteria. It was so massive that even he couldn't hope to break it down any time soon. It was clear that these creatures were behind it, but how? How could these creatures claim so large an area?

He also noticed that the landscape still had scars from what appeared to be a massive war. He saw rusted and ruined machines. That war had created a massive amounts of chaos energy, and so much death and destruction. If it weren't for the field, he could absorb it. Absorb it and become more powerful than ever! Even powerful enough to change the entire universe with one snap of a finger! Were these new creatures? Creatures of chaos themselves? Was that why this place was so full of chaos, even if it was only traces of much greater power wielded once?

Question was... how to absorb it. He needed to get rid of the anti-magic field, somehow. He would need help. He rarely worked together with anyone, but this might be the time to change that. He could always erase them if he got bored with them. But who should he recruit? Who would carry a grudge against ponies, strong enough to have them ally with him?

Then he remembered someone...

Where there is smoke... (UNEDITED)

Twilight sat in front of the gravestone. It was something she had known to exist, but she had not expected to visit. Her double had insisted they would visit the graves before heading back to Ponyville. It was a creepy experience, sitting there, looking down a gravestone with Shining Armors name on it. She knew that back in her world, her brother was alive. She also knew that he was dead in this world. However, it had not really sunk in before now. Here was indisputable proof of his death. You could not ignore it just some throwaway line.

What made it worse that she knew there was no gravestones for her doubles parents. Their bodies had never been recovered, alongside millions of others who had died during Operation Scorched Earth. Instead, there was a single, massive monument for each four cities. Somewhere in the monument dedicated to victims of Manehattan, were engraved names of their parents. So were several Applejack's relatives.

She took a look around. Graves after graves. She had not really visited the place in her world, aside burying her grand mother. However, she remembered that the place had been a lot smaller. It lacked "Heroes of Equestria" section entirely. Here, there was entire section of the graveyard dedicated to those who died during the war. Every place had their own. It was something she hoped she would never see in her own world.

Her double was sitting next to her, eyes closed and head lowered. Giving her prayers to the dead. Twilight wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. Pray? Comfort? It was a situation she had never prepared for. Nothing in her books had ever told her what to do. Guess she could write "A handy guide on what to do when in alternative dimension". That assumed she could return to her home dimension.

She looked around. Applejack had done a quick round around her family grave. She had not know that Apple family an entire mausoleum dedicated to them. Then there were some graves here and there. She had replaced old flowers with new ones and put some water in to the pots. Her double, Applejack Twilight knew, had stayed behind. twilight wished she had too.

Eventually, her double raised her head and said they could leave. On their way out, her double spoke up.

"I am not sure if you realized this yet but... Spike is coming with us. To the front line."

"What? He is just a kid! He can't..."

"You think he is somehow still innocent? You think he hasn't killed yet? Oh, how I envy you... having a still innocent Spike around..."

"You don't mean..."

"A face full of dragon fire makes even a human back off. Not to mention, he IS a dragon. Claws kinda come with the package. He is has killed, don't let his exterior fool you. He is not proud of it and prefers to ignore those times. I don't hold him for it. He did what he had to. If he had not killed those humans, they would have reached the foals who were hiding in the basement."

"More I hear about this war, more I want to make sure nothing like it ever happens..."

"That's what we all try to do. Even humans. They don't want it again. They were desperate. Humans are funny like that. Give them safety, give them food, give them a good environment to live and they are nice, fun loving people, at least they were in their history. Take away his safe environment and that same human is ready gut you alive."

Trixie was having a good time. Her opponent was eyeing her. Between them, one set of cards floated in front of Trixie, while her opponent was holding his in his claws. Three others, one unicorns two humans, had already folded.

“Raise.” The griffin said. Aah, bluffing are you? Nobody bluffs like The Great And Powerful Trixie! Griffin moved his chips in middle of the table.

“I see.” Trixie answered and moved a matching set next to chips the griffin and pushed in the middle.

“Both, show your cards.” The dealer said. Griffin dropped his. 2 aces, ace of hearts and ace of spades. On the table, there were one ace of clubs, king of spades, queen of clubs, ten of clubs and two of hearts.

“Well?” Griffin said with a grin. He thought he had won already. Trixie dropped his cards. King of clubs and jack of clubs.

“It’s royal flush. Sorry Otto, but Trixie wins this one.” The dealer said. The griffin, named Otto, broke into string of curses, several which Trixie had not heard before. She scooped up her chips with a wide grin on her face.

“Oh, don’t be such as crybaby. I remember you won the previous round! Consider this a payback for that.” Trixie said.

“Captain Lulamoon, please report to barracks. Captain Lulamoon, please report to barracks.” Intercom voice came, breaking the game.

“Right. Alright, I cash in now. Give me my money.” The dealer reached for pay-in bin and counted Trixies chips, before giving matching amount of money back. She was still 50 bits on the losing side, but it was better than what she had been until this victory. She took her money and put them in one of the pouches of her suit before heading to the barracks. Once she reached there, she was Captain Silent Strike and General Battle Banner waiting for her. She saluted the both.

“General. Captain. Captain Trixie Lulamoon, reporting. You asked to see me?”

“Yes. What is the status of our troops?” General Battle Banner asked.

“Good, men are motivated to fight and we havenät got any major incidents between troops.”

“Major incidents?”

“Some minor have happened, someone insulted someone else or started a fight. All of them have been pretty small things, compared to what we feared.”

“Good. Good. I had been worried. Silent Strike, what about your men?”

“So far so good. Nothing to report.”

“Umm... Permission to speak freely, sir?” Trixie asked.

“Granted.”

“Why are you asking about this?”

“We caught a changeling trying to sneak in. They might be trying to stir up trouble. Infact, they already sabotaged diamond dogs equipment downstairs.I have already sent a message to Canterlot to warn them. If these creatures manage to stir up problems between us and humans, it could spell a disaster.”

“Wow... do we have any idea how many?”

“No. I suggested that they should develop a talisman or device that serves as passive detector. It should help at the begin. We can’t rely on idea that unicorns check each and everyone individually. I also told that we should warn humans.”

“Right. So what do you want us to do?”

“Keep eye on things. You two are my trusted captains. Report any-” The general said before being cut off by a earthquake. “That can’t be good.”

“Maybe I get to see your Wonderbolts this time... I think it would be awesome! Your Spitfire must be one heck of fighter too.” Rainbow Dash said as she sat on the couch while waiting for her double to make food. Scootaloo suddenly looked troubled. “What?”

“Um... How to say this...”

“She is dead. Got crushed under rubble when humans blew up the old Canterlot Castle” came the answer from the kitchen.

“WHAT!? How? I mean, she...”

“Humans caught everyone by surprise. Only two members of The Wonderbolts survived. They have been recruiting again, but I don't have any interest in joining anymore.” Native Rainbow Dash said while carrying food to the table.

“Bwah? Why not!? If you are me, then...”

“It would be my lifelong dream yeah. It used to be. Heck, until I adopted Scoots, it was my dream. However, when I look back now... I wouldn’t be what they need. They are no longer acrobatics team. That was all a sideshow. They are a combat unit now. I had Scoots to take care of. That meant I couldn’t run all over Equestria all the time.”

“Well...” Rainbow Dash started but her double raised his hoof on her face.

“Don’t. Even. Dare to suggest I should have left her.”

“I wasn’t! I swear!”

“Good.” Scootaloo looked two cyan pegasis arguing between themselves. She was glad that Rainbow Dash had adopted her, but she sometimes felt guilty of ruining her dream of being a member of Wonderbolts. However, Rainbow Dash had often also told her that she never regretted it. It had allowed her time to mature and actually think about it.

“How about we eat? I really don’t want to remember you having a fight before you leave...” Scootaloo said. She knew she had slightly irrational fear that if someone left the house, the would never return. It was a result of her parents leaving the house and then suddenly dying during The War, as well as living in the orphanage where nobody was permanent.

“Sure. Sure. Let’s sit down. I made some extra just for the case.” Native Rainbow Dash said and sat down. She knew there was a very real chance that nobody was coming back from this trip.

Luna was not having a good time. First there had been the disaster known as Grav-Ball Championship finals. Her team had lost in the most horrible way. Not only that, her sister had seen her drunken. At least she had not been the only one who had been drunk and she had been confined to her quarters. Some other guys had started a fight in their drunken grief. Then there was now infamous Freaky Frankie Incident. She had tried to get information about it, but everyone simply answered “You don't want to know.”

Right now, however, her biggest concern was the attack by changelings. They had gotten a drop on the allied force. Somehow, a changeling infiltration team had managed to get past them and into diamond dog controlled tunnels. They had taken out communication equipment, preventing dogs from warning the surface. Then they had done their "burst from underground and overwhelm the defenders" tactic. This time, however, shield cast by unicorns and herself had managed to repel initial attack. The shield had collapsed eventually, but it had given enough time to activate the base defenses and have humans ready for a fight.

Earth ponies and zebras were pretty much sitting on the reserve, only occasionally striking against a changeling who would get past the air defense. Most of the fighting was being done by pegasis and griffins, with humans and unicorns providing long range support. So far they had been able to keep the attackers away from the base itself. However, she was worried. Even if they managed to take down four changelings for every lost pegasis or griffin, they were still outnumbered twenty to one.

“We need more ammo on the turret seven! Get those ammo boxes there, right now!” Someone shouted. Luna turned around to see human carrying heavy boxes of ammo. She grabbed the boxed in her magic,

“Where do you need these?” She asked the confused humans.

“Over there. Just raise them up for them, they know how to use them!” One of them answered, pointing towards a turret that had fallen silent. She levitated the ammo boxed up and received thumbs up from one of the operators.

“Guards! Assist humans with the ammunition! Keep those guns stocked!” Luna shouted to her troops. Same order was repeated in the zebra ranks. Soon ponies and zebras were running with ammo boxes on their backs, while human helped to load and unload them. Luna returned inside the base.

“What is our status?” She asked the commander Hulson.

“Stable, but not good. If this keeps up we will run out of ammo. Right now we don’t need to worry about it, but in four of five hours, at the rate we are using them...”

“Where do they get all these changelings? As far as I knew, there was no colony around here.”

“Most likely gathered them up while we were still talking. We are paying the price from indecisiveness now.” Hulson answered before turning back to his officers. “Switch cannons to burst fire mode! Converse ammo! Automated systems, minimal movement! Take them down in clusters!”

Luna watched the action in the command post, before returning outside. She wanted to help the soldiers outside and the best way was to use her magic to keep the changelings away from human turrets. Without her wings, she couldn’t join the battle that was raging up there. Still, it didn’t mean she would be forced to wait. She could help behind the lines.

Grunty groaned as he rose up. Damn changelings, they were trying to flank the base by using diamond dogs tunnels. He was not going to let that one happen. He took quick glance at the dead changeling next to him before picking up his pistol and axe. He was a melee fighter, unlike some other guys. His job was to get up close and personal with the enemy. Something he enjoyed. He never got the point of shooting enemy at the distance.

He knew that things were even worse on the surface. At least down here, in the tunnels, changeling superior numbers were negated by narrow paths that made perfect killzones for dog bunkers. A heavy machine gun here and there and six dogs could keep the entire changeling horde back as long as they had ammo.

However, he himself and nine others were holding an another tunnel that was located in awkward angle compared to the nexus. They couldn’t set up a good bunker anywhere near it, so they had resorted placing two teams there to hold back everything. Thankfully, stalagmites slowed down the horde that was bearing down on the,

Grunty raised his axe while shooting with his pistol. Then he brought it down on an unlucky changeling. It made satisfying CRUNCH sound as the chitin was cracked and the axe broke into brain matter. Still, he didn’t have to enjoy the minor victory. There were a lot more changelings to fight. He soon found himself in the same position as earlier. Wildly swinging his axe, all the training forgotten. All while earning move and more minor cuts. Alone those cuts were nothing to worry about, but in numbers they started to weigh you down.

They had tried to train them on careful, one-hit-one.kill strikes and to conserve ammunition, but in the current situation it didn’t matter. Just point at the incoming horde and shoot, you were bound to hit something. Even with the axe, he often took down two chanagelins with a single swing.

He reached for a grenade in belt and sent it rolling under the swarm. It exploded causing the swarm to pull back for a moment, enough to allow Grunty and his squad to reform. Then it attacked once again. Grunty wondered how long they could hold up until the fatigue and wounds would bring them down.

Discord watched the tiny orb in front of him. Battle was not going as he had hoped. Oh sure, changelings had the numbers and were pretty much expendable. However, the casualties were starting to feel. Even if this was one of the newly assimilated hives, it was still an entire hive. Sacrificing it would still be a loss that would be felt.

One of the changeling queens was sitting next to him. Her eyes had a bland expression, clear sign that The Hivemind was not in her at the moment. That had been a smart idea. Instead of having several queens planning to betray each others, he had forcefully smashed their identities to form a single mind. It had dubbed itself as The Hivemind. Little bit subconscious suggestion and he got a powerful ally, who thought that it was a loyal and valuable ally.

Suddenly, the queens eyes gained focus and a slight glow.

“The Hive feels the pain of it’s drones. If new approaches are not considered, the losses can’t be repaired in an acceptable timeframe.” The queen, or an advanced drone, said. It’s voice had echo of every single assimilated queen in itself.

“I know. However, I am still trying to consider the best way.” Discord answered. He raised his pen and clicked it. The orb multiplied itself and formed a wall from it’s copies. Each copy showed a different view from a different changeling. Discord gave each one a quick look.

“You fear that your trump card is countered, yet no doubt they already know about them. The Escapee Queen, without doubt, has already sold herself to them. Other queens, who were weak from their body, but fast from their legs, are also possible allies of our enemies.”

“I don’t think so. More likely they plan to sit this one out.” Discord answered. He clicked his pen again and the orbs gathered into a single orb that floated in front of him. “However, there is no need to hold back. Sooner we reach our goals, less time they have to organize.”

“The Hivemind approves this. We will call out drones off, to allow The Great Ones to strike. The drones shall then follow them and aid them in their quest.”

“Good.” Discord said. Even if The Hivemind’s speech was quite weird and somewhat annoying, it was also smart enough to know what it needed to do without needing to be told. He could appreciate that.

Grunty watched as the swarm pulled back. He wondered why. It was not like they had suffered enough to retreat, that was certain. Neither was it thanks to them, his team was almost ready to collapse. So something was going on with the changelings. Had they found a new way? Or had some other part of the defense line collapsed? Had the surface falled?

Then he smelled it. Sulfur. Then he felt it. The heat. Then he saw it.

Then the tunnels filled with fire.

Luna noticed that the swarm was thinning down. Quick look around showed that changelings were pulling back. They were retreating underground once again. She felt relieved- They could finally catch a breath and take care of the wounded. She needed to warn her sister. The fight had been way too taxing than they had anticipated. They would need to seize the opportunity and move on the offensive, not to allow Discord time to move again.

However, for now she was glad. The nightmare was over.

“DRAGONS!” Came a shout from a guard tower.

Or it had just begun.