It seemed to have worked.

Since myself and Misty had spoken to the unicorn authorities in Vanhoover, it appeared that things had brightened up considerably. The Council had indeed convened, and now they were actively working to prepare us for the future of ponykind. That process had begun with them extending the olive branch and offering to form an alliance with the other tribes.

Thankfully, that had gone well. The other tribes had been also attacked, and given the revelations of how we had all worked together as a team it suddenly appeared that unity was a goal we could achieve after all. So, after some meeting the various heads of state got together, and eventually not only did we formally end the Cold War between us, we also signed a formal alliance. It was time to go and take Chris on directly.

Sunny had mentioned a historical event called the Battle of the Bell a few times before; indeed, it occurred in one of the last episodes of Friendship is Magic, which is a prequel to our world. Boy is that weird to say!

Anyway, the engagement saw all the races of the world come together to fight back against those who wanted to destroy them, and so they used their combined strength to fight together until Twilight could do a speech and blast them with rainbow lasers. I must say Tirek and his fellows were awfully polite to let her finish speaking before she blasted them. Seriously, why does nopony think to blast the heroes when they're talking?

Anyway, the alliance was now well and truly forged. Our armies were now ready to fight, and scenes not seen in nearly a thousand years were now commonplace. Unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi, all fighting together to save the world, as their ancestors likely did a long, long time ago.

The war was now truly underway, and Chris' armies were now being engaged directly. It was incredible to hear of the early victories we had against him. It proved something as well.

I had listened to a speech Zipp had given, and she mentioned that we were fighting for the very right to exist. And we sure were maintaining that fight well. After all, Chris had decided we didn't have the right to exist, and we were proving him wrong.

One of his favourite characters in all of fiction once observed that freedom is the right of all sentient beings. And we were putting that principal into action right then, and right there. A shame Chris considers Optimus Prime to be a personal favourite character and yet he doesn't pay attention to a word the character says.

Oh well, his problem, not mine.

Still, the news was quite encouraging, and the ponies I knew all seemed to be in high spirits. After all, people tend to be more supportive of war when they are the ones winning. Or should I say ponies? It gets a tad confusing when humans also exist in the world too!

So, where was I? One evening, everything came to a head. Although a little while has passed since then, I still remember what happened that day as though it were yesterday. Probably because it was a little over two weeks ago.

I had decamped to Bridlewood in order to collect up some supplies for my journey back. I somehow suspected that the crystals we had found were going to be key to defeating Chris, and those had gone with Sunny back to Maretime Bay. I was planning on joining her in Maretime Bay for when we needed to activate the crystals and bring Chris down.

Precisely how we planned to do that I wasn't quite sure. Would we use some sort of energy beam to stop him? Or, failing that, would Sunny adopt alicorn mode to bring him down? Or some combination of the two? It was all up in the air right now, as were Chris' flying saucers. At least he wasn't targeting this part of the world directly. He probably got bored and started playing on his Switch.

As we stood about (myself and the ghost of Aunt Buttons, you understand), I collected up some stuff and deposited it directly into my storage space. It was handy having such a big inventory I could use on my journeys, as it meant I didn't have to drop stuff at random. Having said that, it was entirely possible I could end up overencumbered and have to drop some things.

Suddenly, the radio in my home buzzed, and I adjusted it to see what was going on. Although there were plans to roll out TV to many Bridlewood homes once this crisis was over, we didn't get have the infrastructure to support any of that- and as Pipp had pointed out there were no C-Net towers in the area.

But it was the news. And it wasn't great.

"Breaking news!" said the newscaster, whose name I don't remember. "There have been reports of a military offensive against Chris' forces that has gone horribly wrong. Footage revealed from a drone shows an assault faltering then being cut down. Chris' armies continue to advance across Equestria at a pace never seen before, so the authorities have issued a Civil Danger Alarm. All citizens must be ready to fight, according to a statement issued yesterday."

That wasn't good. If our combined military strength wasn't enough to slow Chris down, then what would stop him? I just hoped my friends were OK, so I went back to grabbing my things and shoving them into storage with no particular care. These were dark and potentially scary times, and I had to be ready to act if required to. Nopony can afford to be without preparation, after all, and I was determined to be ready to face whatever challenges came my way.

That just left some food to grab, so I shoved some ready meals in alongside the microwave. That way we could eat very quickly if required.

Suddenly, I then felt something was off. As I've previously mentioned, I have a sixth sense of sort, or as I call it 'sparkle.' This allows me to pick up things happening in the world, and how other ponies are feeling. The sparkle of ponies you are close to can be sensed much more strongly than those of ponies to whom you are not close (keep off my back Churchill!), and this can be an easy way of detecting is somepony is in trouble or potentially hurt or worse.

And as I sensed carefully, I realised where the sensation was.

The reading was coming from a long way away, quite a bit of travel away to be honest. Our journey had taken us a long way across the world, so I was determined to figure out exactly where. I could sense other things too. A sense of chaos, a sense of confusion, and fear.

Lots of fear.

I could pick up what was going on quite well, and so I worked on narrowing down the location. Somewhere at the sea, in a tower, in a small town-

It was then I clicked whose it was. It was Sunny's, coming all the way from Maretime Bay! She seemed to be scared stiff, based on how strong it was, and the fact I could pick it up from all the way over here suggested something very, very serious was happening in Maretime Bay!

Sunny was in trouble. A friend was in trouble, and needed help! So I wasted no time whatsoever. There was no more time for collecting supplies, or checking the radio, or even doing some of the other things one might do when on the move. I had to get moving, and as fast as I could.

I crashed through the door and locked it behind me, racing out of Bridlewood's core as fast as my hooves could carry me.

Alphabittle saw me, and called after me. "Izzy? Where are you going?"

"TO MARETIME BAY!" I replied, my voice increasingly in the distance. "SUNNY'S IN DANGER, AND WE NEED TO HELP HER!"

I didn't hear what Alphabittle said next, as I was long since out of earshot, but I kept going regardless of what was being said. There was no time to waste at all.

I dashed past the grounds where equipment and vehicles were busily being stockpiled to allow us to respond rapidly. I raced under the tree cover as the tree canopy grew thicker and began to slowly blot out the light. I simply kept on running for the exit to the maze of trees, knowing every second was vital.

My heart pounded in my chest and my breathing was intense, but I had to keep it under control. I needed all the strength to get to Maretime Bay.

I was nearly there, and sure enough the exit was in sight. As I raced past the signs and into open countryside, I set a course on the road I first followed.

Sunny needed my help, and I'd be damned if I wasn't going to get there in time.

Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait in tonight's next to chapter for of this block. ^^'