Once I was out of the bush I rolled into the floor with a bang, landing tail first. It's probably a good thing they don't seem to have much bone or muscle in it, as it breaking would probably be quite painful.

I groaned as I adjusted my posture. "Ouch!" I said. "I think that dislodged the tailbrace. Must ask Pipp to check it."

I looked over and, well, speak of Tirek! There was Pipp and all her friends! They were all safe! Throwing any regal dignity to the wind I dashed over as quickly as my hooves could carry me and pulled both my daughters into an embrace. "Thank Faust you're safe, Pipp!" I said, as both of them were returning the affection themselves. "You made it across the country to here on your own!"

Pipp's voice was a tad muffled from her mouth being somewhere on the other side of my neck, but it was clear. "Well, I had a little help from my friends," she said.

I smiled at that. Clearly that lot were good eggs after all, even if they had made something of a mess.

I just soaked up the moment, relieved to have them back in my embrace. "I'm just so glad to have my little fillies back. And there's an extra surprise for you too."

Well, time to spill the beans, I suppose. As we broke from physical contact I indicated to Golden, positioning my foreleg to help prop Pipp up if need be. Suddenly finding family members can be shocking, after all. "Pipp, this is going to be quite hard to believe... but this stallion is your father."

Golden smiled. "Hello, Pipp. It's been a while. Ten years to be precise."

Pipp raced over to him and more or less launched herself into an embrace. "I've missed you so much!" she said, whilst seemingly sobbing. It appeared she, too, somehow had repressed emotions similar to what I'd experienced when I'd first encountered that photograph. Otherwise how could have an emotional reaction to a pony she'd never met?

I smiled as I glanced over to Zipp. "Such a wonderful moment. I can tell you this from experience, Zipp, but there's nothing more wonderful than having a daughter."

"I presume that's why you decided to have two," Feldsturm joked.

I'll have to admit that was actually pretty funny. Though I was careful to use the restrained laugh I use in public. The other one is most improper for public settings.

I then reminded Zipp with a quick look not to bring up the fact Golden's wife and daughters had been replaced.

Just then, Alphabittle and his troops arrived, along with a tank.

Alphabittle seemed to take particular offense to the Colonel. "His ancestors commanded the death squads that exterminated untold numbers of unicorns! For him to come here is the gravest of insults!"

"I'm pretty certain hooves are bloody on both sides of this fight," I retorted. "None of this entitles you to the crystal!"

"What would a silly old mare like you know about crystals?" Alphabittle countered. "A decrepid old fool desperately holding onto a false crown, underpinned by the recollection and veneration of an imagined past." There was something on his voice that wasn't there in the film. True, burning hatred.

Hatred of pegasi.

Hatred of me.

Before I could speak, Golden Skies did. "You can't talk to her like that!"

"And who would you be?" Alphabittle smirked. "A lacky?"

"No, her husband," Golden Skies replied.

A unicorn's jaw dropped. "That means that Queen Haven is that stallion's wife!"

There was some slow, sarcastic clapping from Zipp. "The floor is also made of floor."

Alphabittle shook his head. "You have terrible taste in mares." He smiled. "My ancestors smile on me, pegasus. Can you say the same?"

"Seeing as we duelled in the past and I survived a helicopter crash, I'd say yes," Golden answered.

"What?" I asked, confused. Those two had history?

Alphabittle's jaw dropped. "No way... you married a fighter pilot?"

"We had a bit of a dogfight over unicorn turf during the last lot 25 years ago, before we married," Golden said quickly, assuming this was just a bit of his military past I didn't know about, not that I was suddenly married to a fighter ace. This was all getting very odd very quickly.

"That explains the plane in the museum foyer!" Zipp said. "It was yours!"

"The old Tornado? They've still got it on display?" Golden laughed. "It was a nice aircraft I will admit."

The conversation was suddenly interrupted by a rumbling noise. I glanced down and noticed it was coming from my stomach. "Oh, my apologies. That was most improper."

"Getting peckish, are we?" Alphabittle said, sarcastically.

I looked at him, confused. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The old unicorn laughed, continually showing that frustratingly smug face. "Well, I knew not even a queen could suppress her species primal urges for very long," he said. His face then turned serious. "Unicorns are quite bony."

"I have absolutely no clue what you're talking about," I said, utterly confused. Hunger, unicorns being bony- it was all a series of non sequiturs. Non sequitur, by the way, is old ponish for 'it does not follow.' It is usually used to refer to an argument where the conclusion does not logically follow from the premise. For example;

1. A pony who has a gold plated phone must be Pipp Petals.
   
2. That pony has a gold plated phones.
   
3. Therefore, that pony is Pipp Petals.

Point three does not follow from points one or two, as many ponies have gold plated phones.

But I digress. A unicorn finally clarified what Alphabittle meant. "Stop denying it. We all know pegasi are cannibals."

Ah. Well, there was that one line in one of the songs where Izzy claimed pegasi 'eat their young.' How in the world would that be productive? If pegasi ate their foals they'd run out of foals very quickly and die out!

Alphabittle snorted. "Good one! Now, give me the cry-"

He stopped speaking when I shot him a glare that could melt a pot of ice cream. "Alphabittle Blossomforth," I said, emphasising every syllable as if I were telling an unruly foal off. "I see absolutely no reason to comply with any demand you have made of me. You have done nothing but insult me, my husband, and my daughters, all of whom have done absolutely nothing to you. If this is how diplomacy is conducted around here no wonder we're divided. I am only prepared to talk when you're prepared to act like an adult. So you'd better grow up quickly, or we'll be getting nowhere."

The look on his face was priceless.

"Remind me to never tick mom off," Pipp said to Zipp.

"Now then, as we were say-"

Our conversation was suddenly interrupted by Pipp's phone buzzing the alert tone, so she took a look. "Broadcast from the Government?" she said.

We all crowded around the screen and saw the familiar face of General Gulfstream on the monitor. He had gone even further down the typical wardrobe of a dictator, and his face had a sickening glee to it.

"Fellow citizens," he said. "Even as our new government works to rebuild our glory, there are those loyal to the Old Order, the False Queen, who would see us plunged into the chaos of the old world. Protests have erupted, and the state, which only wants to save and protect you, has been challenged. This. Cannot. Stand!"

It cut to footage of a city on fire. Planes were flying overhead, dropping bombs on their targets.

"This was the city of Staltenberg. It's leadership and mayor stood against us, and against order. So we turned them into an example of what happens to those who stand against us."

It cut back to him. "Make no mistake. We know where the rebels are. We will find you and we will kill you. None shall stand in the way of our glorious future."

The message faded out once more.

"He's insane," I whispered.

"Pretty much the usual," a unicorn said unhelpfully.

I shot him a death glare before looking to Alphabittle. This situation had rather forced my hoof, but I knew I had no choice. I had dealt with the pony first hoof, and knew how unstable he was. "I know our two species don't exactly have the best of relations. But we have to stop General Gulfstream before he gets his hooves on the launch codes!"

"And why should we help, given what you've done?" Alphabittle replied.

"Because the alternative is nuclear armageddon," I replied simply. "If we don't stop him, we all die. What say you?"

There was an awkward pause during the conversation, before he replied. "Fine. We'll send some military assets to assist."

That was easier than expected. I turned, switching my tone of voice. "Make ready to march! We head for Zephyr Heights!"

For the first time in a very long time, two pony tribes were working together.

Author's Note

Well, what a chapter to end this block! Queen Haven is reunited with her daughters and the rest of the mane cast, marking the first time they have all been in one place at one time.

The Tornado which Golden mentions is based on the Panavia Tornado, pictured below:

This was a fighter jet developed jointly by Britain, West Germany (Germany was divided into two countries between 1945 and 1989), and Italy. Britain was the largest user, and the design is closely associated with the RAF. The aircraft pictured above was repainted red as an homage to Manfred Van Richthoven (aka the Red Baron), whose red Fokker Triplane soon became an icon of the skies of the First World War.

Haven and Alphabittle's argument is based on the one in the film combined with her chastising her daughters at the end of The Jinxie Games-the only two incidents where Queen Haven has lost her patience on screen. Boy is she scary when she's mad...

The tone of Gulfstream's messages is based on an alternate history analogue horror setting called Rebuild, which depicts an extreme right political party taking power in Britain in the 1980s. Much like here, it results in an unlikely alliance of powers coming together to defeat them in a scenario heavily reminiscent of WW2.

Phase Five shall pick up her story in a bit, but before then we return to Hitch.