War of the Fallen Race

Chapters

Rise of The Beasts
The Unexpected
Generals and Chieftains
Imprisonment
The Surge
Bonus Chapter:The God Slayer
Cycles of Life
Final Nights
The Day of Judgement
Avatars of The Earth
A Twisted Irony
The Last Tyrant
Project Lazarus
Bonus Chapter: Nightmare Moon
Artifacts
Map to Nowhere
The Sleeper
Human
Ponyville
Forbidden Knowledge
Histories
Revelations
The Game of Life
Ghosts of Man
Aaron's Run
Stronghold
The Dark One
Meet the Family
A Reason to Live
Preparing to Rise
The Hero's Fall
Parley
Epilogue: Family
Prologue: Genesis
Councils of War
Journey into the Unknown
The Choices We Make

Rise of The Beasts

The living embodiment of energy on her world would have wept, but she could not. Instead, she sent one last, desperate message to her children, reaching out across the world to touch them in the one place where they would listen, their dreams. You were warned, do not fight this and it will not hurt you. Live with peace and harmony and you shall be ignored.

***********************************************

There was an infernal racket, straight from the depths of hell, ringing straight into his ear. Without opening his eyes, Aaron Patterson tried futilely to destroy that damn alarm clock with a fist. Wrenching open his bloodshot eyes, he threw back his musty sheets and swung his legs over the edge of his lumpy bed. His neck felt stiff, he rolled his head with a series of satisfying cracks and pops. "Oh yeah, that's better than morning sex," he said as a small smile crept across his face, the joints in his neck sufficiently damaged and irreparably worn enough to start the day.

Scratching himself in some unsavory places, he meandered over to his bathroom. Looking past the mold and mildew that seemed to be spreading in the corner of his bathroom ceiling, he turned the knob on his shower. Leaving his hand under the water for a full minute, Aaron grumbled when it didn't get warm. Cranking it up all the way to hellfire and brimstone setting, the water stayed cold. "Son of a bitch. Mr Gariti, you asshole." Cursing the damnable filth that was Mr Greedy, his landlord, Aaron took a very cold shower.

Despite being cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey, it felt manly. Not quite as manly when he shrieked like a little girl, plunging head on into the torrent of icewater. Scrubbing off with more speed than a Bugatti powered by cheetah blood, Aaron went on to the next step in his morning ritual. Shaving off his short stubble with a cheap razor, he inspected his face in the mirror. He needed a new haircut; his short, brown hair getting just a little on the more untamed side.

Walking back to his room, he opened his dresser to grab a polo and a pair of khakis for his job. Tugging them on, he grabbed his wallet and phone, tucking them into his pocket. He stopped before he went into his living room, placing a kiss on his fingers and then touching his framed diploma that hung beside his doorway. Dr. Aaron Patterson, Doctor of Evolutionary Biology. It was his claim to fame, and right below that hung his claim to shame.

His thesis. That damnable, stupid, poorly backed doctoral thesis. What the hell was he thinking when he wrote it? Sudden speciation as a response to environmental changes, and he meant sudden. One or two generations quick. He meant to write something about the positive use of parasitic worms in the medical sector, but his mom had basically forced him to write that as a thesis as some desperate attempt to make it up to his religious fundamentalist dad. They locked horns a lot since high school, his dad being a former Catholic priest and all. Suffice to say they didn't talk much anymore.

"Hmph, Dr Aaron Patterson, bank teller... doesn't really roll off the tongue well." He gave his doctorate certificate another loving touch before going to his kitchen. Using the last of his bread to make an impromptu egg sandwich, he munched on it while watching the morning news.

He turned up the volume to a certain news report. "Scientists have discovered a new species of cat in Borneo last week. It is believed that this little kitty might be related to the rare and highly endangered clouded leopard, prompting its discoverer, Dr James Holquist, to proclaim it to be a separate species previously unknown to science."

A handful of egg sandwich splattered against the screen when a picture of a grinning young man holding a diminutive, tranquilized cat came up. "Holquist you brown noser! That was supposed to be me on that expedition! You only made it through Professor Bremme's course because of me, you good for nothing backstabber!"

Muttering to himself about all those times he let Holquist copy his lab results, Aaron wiped off his TV screen with a towel. Too pissed to do a good job, he sat back in his chair to finish his coffee before he had to go to work.

"And now over to weather with Melissa Guiterrez."

"Thanks Diane. We're expecting cloudy weather today over most of the tri-state area with a high of sixty degrees. Unseasonably high, am I right? We can expect this little February heat wave to be over by the end of the week. There is about a forty percent chance of rain in the evening, but with the way this system is moving, we might just get a little bit here and there. On another note, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is reporting an odd rise in electromagnetism in the lower atmosphere. It may interfere with some electronics, but we are being assured that it is nothing to worry about."

Aaron liked to think that he was worldly, so he switched over to CNN for his dose of political headbutting for the morning. As usual, there was a heated debate between the host and a random analyst dragged from the bottom of the barrel.

"Despite what President Obama did after the Iranian nuclear attacks, our situation with North Korea and China has not improved! And I applaud our current administration for what we have done by complying with the UN's declaration of total nuclear disarmament. But totally crippling our armed forces by cutting back spending by four hundred billion dollars?! That is just a sign of weakness in our current situation!"

"Mr. Bouchie, it's not about weakness, reducing our military is a sign of trust to our enemies and an economic godsend. We're still trillions in debt, yes. But with half a trillion a year being saved by the government, think of the possible economic boost!"

"Economic reform and trust with our allies is no excuse to crap all over the Second Amendment! Congress went too damn far when they passed those gun control laws here in the United States. This is one step away from a tyranny, those fat cats in Congress want the people as poorly armed as possible so they can't fight back when they start black-bagging people!"

"For the last time, the nuclear disarmament and our own gun control laws are two separate issues! Those laws were passed for the safety of American citizens. How many gun related deaths have there been since those laws were passed, hmm?"

"Very few, but the crime rate hasn't gone down a single percent in the four years since that bill made it through Congress."

Checking his watch, Aaron noticed he had an hour and a half before he had to make the daily trudge to the local bank to be a mindless drone. Picking up the remote, he flipped through the channels, stopping at some televised psychic hotline. Watching this kind of mumbo-jumbo always made him feel better about his situation in life, knowing that there were people stupid enough out there to believe in this.

A older woman wearing a loose, garishly colored robe sat behind a table covered in tarot cards and a crystal ball, her mystic outfit offset by the very modern earpiece and mini microphone on the collar of her robe. "Yes, and how can Madam Selena help you today caller?"

"Um, I need a dream interpreted," the current caller replied.

"Ah yes, Madam Selena has always been gifted with interpreting dreams. What is your dream young sir?"

"Well, it's odd... it was all the normal stuff I dream about, but right before I woke up, someone spoke to me. Someone I've never met before said, 'You were warned, do not fight this and it will not hurt you. Live with peace and harmony and you shall be ignored.' My dreams are always foggy, but this was so real, and I remember it perfectly."

The robed psychic looked mildly annoyed. "Okay, is this some kind of a prank? You're the twelfth caller this hour reporting the exact same dream. I'm not accepting any more dream interpretations for the next hour. Next caller please."

Aaron turned off his TV. "Coincidence...it has to be. That or all those people have been smokin' the same weed." Checking his watch, he noticed he still had well over an hour before the bank opened today. Getting up, he decided to be a good employee and head in early.

******************************************

Aaron sat behind his desk at the community bank, listening to the clock tick while counting out the deposit slips at his desk. Having enough to hopefully get through the day, he removed the small sign from the front of his booth. It was a short business day, being a Saturday and all. Hopefully it wouldn't be too bad...

His optimistic thought process was interrupted when he noticed the wall of people outside the door of the bank. The senior teller glanced back at all the open teller booths, taking in a deep breath as she unlocked the door. A wall of human bodies forced their way in, each clamoring to be the first to get to the tellers.

A man in a business suit managed to get to Aaron first. "I need to make a withdrawal!"

"Okay sir, I just need your account number and the amount that you need."

The man slapped down a piece of paper on the counter. "All of it. I need every penny in my account."

Aaron looked up from the withdrawal slip he was filling out. "This is none of my business, but may I ask why?"

The businessman looked around frantically, licking his lips. "I don't know. I just know that I need to be ready, and that someone is watching me..."

For the next four hours that the bank was open, it was the same story over and over again. People were paranoid of something horrible happening soon. They took out their entire life savings over a bad feeling. Something was definitely in the air. Literally, the very air felt different, like it was charged and electrified. All the other bank tellers caught on to the paranoia craze, withdrawing their savings and getting out the door the second the bank closed.

Aaron closed up that afternoon, locking the doors and leaving his pitiful amount of cash where it was. Walking the few blocks back to his apartment, he thought about going to the local dojo for a little venting through hapkido. He had been rather good back in high school, but he didn't really do it much anymore.

Rounding a corner, Aaron ran full on into somebody. "Oh my god I'm so sorry," he said as he rubbed his own head. Looking at the other person, he noticed this guy looked terrible. Unshaven, bedraggled and utterly crazy, but dressed like he just walked out of a Fortune 500 company. The strange man grabbed Aaron's coat by the collar, bringing him close.

"She's coming! We failed as children and now she's coming to pacify the evil in man!" the stranger hissed to Aaron's face.

Aaron held up his hands defensively. "Look man, I don't have any money. We don't want to get the cops involved, so just stay cool man."

The crazed man looked around for a watcher. "No! I don't want to hurt you!" He looked around again, shouting to the empty street. "You hear that! I don't want to hurt him! I donated all my money to charity, I'm a good person! I've never done anything wrong, I won't fight it when it comes!"

Aaron decided to get a little martial arts practice anyways, grabbing the stranger by the wrists and twisting them inward. He kicked out with a knee, hitting the man straight in the stomach and doubling him over in pain. Aaron tossed him aside. "Go to a goddamn mental institute ya lunatic!" Aaron continued his walk home, muttering to himself about how the world seemed to be going psycho, more so than usual.

*************************************************

Aaron stopped by his post box, pulling out a small pile of letters before locking it up and heading back up to his apartment. Unlocking his apartment door and flipping on the lights, he set his letters down on the kitchen counter and started to go through them.

Unsurprisingly, the first was a student loan bill. He tossed that one to the side. The second appeared to be from his landlord, also tossed to the side. The third was from his bank, opening it up he discovered an account statement for his credit card. "What the hell? Two plane tickets to Aruba and a two week stay at the Sandals resort? God damn it!" He tore the statement in a dozen pieces, remembering that his parents had said they were going to Aruba and staying at a Sandals resort for two weeks. "Is this some kind of revenge for me not settling down yet or are they just fucking spiteful!?"

After a few minutes of swearing and eventually calming down, he opened his fridge and grabbed a cold beer. It was all that was left in his fridge, so he sipped it instead of chugging it down like he wanted to. Sitting down in his living room chair, he noticed his answering machine had a few messages on it. So he still had an answering machine, so what?

Pressing the play button, he sat back and let the pain begin. "Patterson you worthless bum! It's Gariti, I'm shuttin' off your hot water until you pay your goddamn bill!"

"I did pay it, jerk. You just never pick up your mail," Aaron muttered to himself and deleted that one, moving on to the next message.

"Hey Aaron, it's Stacy. I'm gonna keep it short, I'm breaking up with you. You know that guy we saw at that party last month, Jeff? Well Jeff just became single and I'm saying sayonora to you! He screws me like a real man! And by the way, I'm having your cat put down, Jeff is allergic."

Aaron took a swig out of his beer as he deleted that one. "Sucks to be Jeff. I'll miss that cat though." With all the bad luck today, he considered not listening to that last message. But he figured it couldn't get any worse.

"Hello, this is Dr Bergmeier from Johns Hopkins University." Aaron's heart nearly leapt into his throat, his eyes widening. This could be the big break in the storm of bad luck that was his life. "We received your resume, Dr Patterson. And I must say that it is impressive. But I also have a copy of your thesis here. And I'm sorry to say that we will be denying you for the position on our research staff."

His eye twitched, jabbing the answering machine with a finger he deleted the message. He stood from his chair, walked to the fridge, and grabbed another beer. Sitting down in front of his TV, he flipped it on to watch old reruns of I Love Lucy. Just another day in the life of Dr Aaron Patterson.

***********************************************************

And then that night the world changed, some argue that it was the darkest moment in human history, others say it was the beginning of their salvation. None can argue that it was not the dawn of a new era.

Sitting in his rundown apartment, he flipped through the channels on his small TV, leaned back heavily in his battered and beaten chair. Thumbing through the mind numbing drivel that America chose to put on television these days, he noticed something on the screen.

"Static? But this is digital, there can't be static." Reaching to the television, a spark arced to his hand. An odd discharge of green energy, but it didn't hurt like electricity. Looking around, he saw the same sparks arcing through all of the electronics in his apartment. Standing in fear, Aaron backed away to his wall. His apartment complex began to shake like it was some kind of earthquake, Aaron glanced towards his window, a glow began to fill the window. The same forest green color that arced between the electronics.

Shakily he reached out to part his curtains, pulling them apart his gaze was filled by a wall of green energy that slammed into his building, passing through the walls but throwing the scientist back. With a groan he stood back up, rubbing the sore spot on his backside. Outside, car alarms blared, then faded away to silence. All the lights had burned out simultaneously, picking up his remote Aaron aimed it at his TV in the dark. After a few minutes of trying, he stumbled to his cabinet to light a candle. "Okay, it's just a power surge, no big deal."

Yeah, power surges knock you off your feet and are bright green. Definitely a power surge, genius.

Pulling his cell phone out of his pocket, he actually managed to get the device to turn on. Dialing the number to his landlord, all he got was the dial tone. Tossing his phone onto his coffee table, Aaron flopped down into his chair. The lights flickered back on, going to the TV dials he flipped on the television. Most channels contained only static, and the only ones he got were the local analog stations.

The local reporter looked panicked as he spoke into an antiquated microphone. "Meteorologists are uncertain as to the nature of the event, but what is known is that most, if not all digital functions have been completely annihilated. This strange wave is being reported by all of our sister stations that we can get in contact with, suggesting that it is not localized. Repeat, this power surge is not localized." Another man rushed up and gave the reporter a card. The reporter nodded as he read it, "We've just gotten word that police patrols are reporting hostility from unknown attackers. The hostile actions are mostly reported in the countryside, but all civilians are advised to stay inside and lock their doors. National Guard and Army units have been called out to combat the unknown threat."

Aaron's jaw dropped. "What the hell is happening out there?"

For the next few hours he didn't leave that chair, taking in the shocking events that unfolded. Later reports claimed that animals were acting strangely, even being violent when approached. Army units refused to disclose the identity of the assailants, acknowledging that even they were in the dark from their superiors.

The sun rose the next morning with Aaron still glued to his television set, trying to glean whatever he could about the situation. All the media kept saying was that most digital functions had been destroyed, animals were acting odd and that civilians should stay inside and lock their doors. Nothing helpful of course.

Eventually deciding that the media as a whole was now useless, Aaron went to his bookshelf and searched for anything amongst his huge piles of textbooks and biology journals that might be a hint to what was going on. Sipping a lukewarm cup of coffee, he passed over various articles on the effects of mind altering chemicals and pathogens. "Too quick to be chemical in nature, too widespread to be viral," he murmured to himself.

As he set a medical dictionary back on top of the shelf, a thin book fell from the shelf, one he had forgotten long ago. And this certain book was cracked open to a certain page, one flowing with ancient symbols and their meanings. As a teenager he had taken an interest in mythology and the occult, mostly to try and make his conservative Catholic father angry. But this particular page piqued his interest, it was a page of Gaia symbols. Aaron looked at it nervously. "Thought I sold you in the last garage sale before I moved here." Grabbing the book he stuffed it back onto the shelf.

Throughout the day he heard gunshots off in the distance. At least they were in the distance and staying there. Going through his meager rations of Ramen and barbecue sauce, he sat back in his chair and re-immersed himself in the media. Late that afternoon, his relatively narrow world was about to get much wider.

A knock on his apartment door shattered his fixation on his TV. Turning it off, he checked the time to find he had been consumed by this phenomenon for nearly twenty-four hours straight. Remembering what the reporter said earlier, Aaron armed himself. Grabbing the baseball bat hidden in his closet, he peered through the peephole of his apartment door. The stare of a man in military fatigues met his eye there, followed by another set of furious knocks. Setting his bat aside, he unlocked and opened the door. "Bit early for Halloween isn't it?" he said to the trio.

The fatigued soldier had the single gold leaf of a Major pinned to his lapels, with a pair of grunt privates on either side of him, both in full combat dress with assault weaponry. "Dr Aaron Patterson?" asked the Major.

"Yeah, that's me."

"Dr. Patterson, your area of expertise is required as a part of a top secret mission concerning our national security."

"I don't quite recall giving the government my name as a specialist at any time," replied the biologist.

The Army Major opened a small briefcase, pulling out a sheaf of papers. Aaron grimaced as he saw a copy of his doctoral thesis on top of the pile. "We aren't very prone to asking nicely for anything that we want. Is this your work?"

The doctor sighed. "Yeah, that crack brained little theory is my baby. In retrospect it should have been an abortion."

"You've been selected by a board of Pentagon specialists to be a part of a team to investigate this recent energy surge. As you are apart of the team, I can disclose the fact that it concerns the recent rise in animal aggression on humans," the Major responded flatly.

"Isn't that Animal Control's concern, or maybe the ASPCA?"

"Don't be a smartass, now that this information has been revealed, you either come with us willingly or you serve an indeterminate sentence in a federal prison. You will be compensated for your time and efforts. Which by your bank account statement," the Major pulled out another piece of paper, "You're in desperate need of."

Aaron's eyes narrowed as he realized they probably had every single scrap of paper with his name on it that had ever been printed in that briefcase."So it's prison, or go with you guys. I'll take my chances with you guys," the meek scientist said.

"Very good." The Major nodded to the soldiers next to him. They left his side, taking to either side of the drafted scientist and escorting him away.

"Wait a minute! Shouldn't I pack or something?" Aaron yelled to the Major.

"That will be taken care of, Dr Patterson," the officer replied.

The world must really be going to hell if they are coming to me for help. Who could argue with him; of an average build, and around 6 feet tall, the brown-hair-brown-eyed scientist could think of several dozen of his colleagues that would fit the bill of "top secret military entrusted scientist". His only claim to fame being that he had busted his ass in college and earned a doctorate in evolutionary biology at around 24. That was a year ago. And here he was today being hauled into the back seat of a desert fatigued Humvee by two grunts who probably just returned from the latest Mid-Eastern war.

The drive to the base took an entire day, glancing to his surroundings Dr Patterson could only guess that they were somewhere in the Midwest, Ohio, Illinois or maybe Missouri. Several times other military vehicles joined their convoy, some missing their full complements of soldiers, others looking like they had recently seen heavy combat.

Dr. Patterson spoke up finally after hours of silence. "Okay Major, the whole animal thing was a joke to get me out of the door, what the hell is really going on?"

The ranking officer turned his head and said with a touch of venom. "You think the United States military would pull an egghead like you out of the private sector with some bullshit excuse? Lives are being lost out there, not just American lives either."

Rounding a bend the convoy screeched to a halt, looking out the front window, Dr Patterson looked out the front window in confusion. Some crude roadblock had been constructed out of boulders, fencing, and anything else that seemed handy.

"Ambush!" screamed the marine in the gunner position.

From the hills on either side of the road poured down an avalanche of boulders, most missing, but some rolling with enough precision to hit the vehicles in the convoy. The radio blared with the noise of confusion and gunfire sounded out from every side. A stray boulder struck the side of the vehicle, prompting Dr Patterson to take cover on the floor of the backseat. One of the soldiers still in the vehicle handed Patterson a 9mm. "Point and shoot if those bastards come too close!"

As suddenly as it began, the attack was over. The staccato report of infantry rifles shooting at shadows persisted for a few seconds, then stopped. Finally rising from his hiding place in the floorboard of the Humvee, the only thing Dr Patterson could recall before the attack was a shadow standing atop the ridge, a shape tugging memories from his childhood when he had lived on his parent's farm. The unique and undeniable silhouette of a horse.

A few injuries were sustained, but thankfully nobody was killed. To clear the roadblock a Buffalo IED sweeper was brought from the rear of the convoy, and within a few more uneventful hours the convoy reached its destination, a military research base in the hills of the eastern Midwest.

The fort was huge, covering possibly thousands of acres and ringed by twenty foot fences on every side. Watch towers stood every hundred feet or so, large spotlights illuminating huge swaths of ground outside the base. Like all research facilities, it maintained a heavy guard presence. But the amount of firepower present here was close to ridiculous. Aaron knew that typically normal army bases and research facilities didn't mix very well, but this place had the look of being all Army. A large tarmac housed dozens of helicopters and even a small flight of jet fighters and bombers. Row upon row of tanks, APCs, jeeps, missile units, artillery units, humvees, and transport trucks sat idle inside of the fences of the fort.

But not all the ordinance was idle. As the convoy made its way towards the gate, a pair of gunships passed overhead, approaching the landing zone to refuel. Several transport trucks bearing the red cross of medic units drove past the convoy on its way in.

Passing the outer defenses and clearing every checkpoint, Dr Patterson got a good look at the inner facility. More than anything else it resembled a research facility; large office and administration buildings, single story storage units, the works. Other features did bear the Army's calling card; helipads, barracks, rec centers, ammo dumps and engineering sheds were mixed in with the research facility. But strangely, several chemical tanks stood off away from the main buildings. Marked with a noncombustible chemical signal and the sign for nitrogen.

The Major turned in his seat and addressed the scientist. "Welcome to Fort Greenewell, Dr Patterson. This is your ID card, wear it all times. Anyone not in a uniform who isn't wearing one of these is shot on sight."

Dr Patterson clipped on the badge. "What's with the nitrogen tanks?" he asked the Major.

"Classified," was the only answer he got.

Exiting the Humvee, Dr Patterson was escorted into the nearest building for his briefing. Inside, the scenery took on a hospital like sterility. All the walls were white, as was the ceiling, and the characteristic, indescribable scent of sterility consumed the young biologist. He was led to a conference room and upon entering was astounded by the sheer amount of scientific super powers that inhabited the cramped room.

He took the last open seat, next to an older woman whose blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail. Her ID badge identified the person as Dr. Eve Mcentyre, one of the most influential and advanced experts in her field. Dr. Patterson tried to initiate a conversation with his hero. "Correct me if I am wrong, but aren't you Dr Mcentyre? The Dr Mcentyre who pioneered viral engineering in the medical sector?"

"The one and only," replied the scientist.

"I cannot express how important I believe your work was in supporting my theories on sudden evolutionary advance! I mean, your ability to craft a single mutation into almost a completely new organism parallels my theory of similar occurrences in nature!"

She took a look at his badge. "Wait, I think I know you kid. You're that guy who was supposed to be a rising star in biology, I read your thesis, kinda goes against the principles of Darwinism. Heard no sane person would take you on postgrad."

He quickly tried to change the subject. "Uh, yeah, so what are we here for?"

"I don't know yet, has to be something huge if they pulled all of these people off their various projects."

The answer came quickly, as a man whose military fatigues bore the silver eagle of a Colonel called attention to the front, the lights dimmed and a projector illuminated the wall behind the Colonel.

"If I could have your attention everyone, I am Colonel Winters, C.O. of Fort Greenwell. You are probably all aware of the gravity of the outside situation. Not many of us know what the aggressor is; whatever it is, it is not human. Satellite scans detected a huge surge of an unknown form of energy encompassing the entire globe. After that we don't know what happened, the same surge managed to fry every man-made object currently in orbit. So until we can reestablish orbital control, we are blind."

A middle aged man stood up and voiced his confusion. "What does destroyed satellites have to do with us? Most of the assembled scientists here are biologists and physicists! Is the energy source extraterrestrial in origin? Is it radioactive?"

"No, all ground level scans reveal that the source IS the Earth. High altitude scans and ground reports all say that no nuclear launches have been detected, especially since we disarmed every last one on the planet. Furthermore, we have lost communications with all foreign countries as well as most major cities. Earlier a platoon managed to kill an aggressor, and brought the body back for analysis. This is what you are here for." And with that statement an image filled the projector screen. An image which confused Dr Patterson more than anything else.

The Unexpected

It was the image of a horse, but not a horse. Sure, the taxonomic differences were negligible. What set this one apart was the bold fact that this one was bright blue. The more he looked, the more this strange creature deviated from the unintelligent beast of burden that was everywhere in his childhood memories. This was visibly very small for anything equine, the head was very round with a small mouth situated on a small snout. The eyes were positively enormous! Less like a dumb animal, and more like a human. And strangely enough, the horse ...well, pony... sported a brand on its flank like he had never seen.

Patterson spoke up. "Is this some kind of joke? What is that supposed to be?"

"Take a guess lab coat, and no we would not pull you out of the private sector, have our men die for you and show this top secret image as some kind of joke," Colonel Winters brutally replied.

"Is it still alive?" Dr Mcentyre asked.

"No, being that it had attacked first, the patrol did not have the means to subdue it without killing it. And that's not all, the soldiers in the platoon reported that it spoke, more along the lines of angry shouting than actual conversation."

Aaron kept looking at the strange pony, and the longer he looked the less he believed it. "That can't be possible, maybe they just heard neighing that they thought was speech."

Winters shook his head. "I doubt it. Corporal Salazar!"

At his C.O.'s order, a young soldier orderly entered the room and took place in front of the Colonel.

Corporal Salazar snapped a salute to his commanding officer. "Sir!"

"Salazar, tell everyone here what happened, down to the last detail."

The corporal began to sweat profusely, breathing like he was reliving the scene out on the battlefield.

*********************************

Night ops always sucked. Corporal Salazar tried hard not to yawn, but building the Hoover Dam must have taken less effort. Here he was at 11 pm. bouncing down some dirt road in a cramped Hummer with five other sleep deprived grunts, all because some small town had a problem with the phone line.

Salazar tapped his sergeant on the shoulder. "What's the deal Sarge? I should be in the bunk right now screwing the Dreamville all star cheerleading squad."

The other soldiers grinned at the corporal's jest, but it didn't make up for the fact that this little jaunt to the country was cutting into their only scheduled R and R for the next month.

"Keep it in your pants Salazar, we received a radio transmission from this town about an hour ago, some sheriff losing his mind about animal attacks or something, then we lost the signal. Our job is to investigate and beat the shit out of some punk kid if this is a hoax."

Private Nimitz, who had taken roof gunner, leaned in to say something. "Sir?"

"Go ahead private."

"Something isn't right, I see the light from the town ahead, but it isn't right somehow. It looks more like the light from a bonfire than streetlights."

"Add smoke to that Nimitz," Corporal Salazar threw in. "It smells like a barbecue, roasted meat and all."

The sergeant slapped a hand on the driver's shoulder. "Screw speed limits, get us there damn it!"

The scene they found was from some horror movie. Rolling down main street, the fire team encountered no resistance. Buildings burned as a testament to the chaos which had ruled the town not more than an hour earlier. Cars had been piled into barricades by people desperately making a stand against the unknown attackers. Not a single soul came to meet the soldiers, neither in joy or in attack. Bodies were found, suffering not from gunshots, but cuts and heavy impact trauma. Posters for a local rodeo flapped in the heated wind.

"This is what happens when we vote for fucking left wing extremists! If these people had guns this wouldn't have happened," some private shouted.

"What the fuck happened here?" Salazar muttered.

Suddenly, a crash came from an alleyway, with each of their hearts leaping into their throats, every armed man took hasty aim.

Their sergeant motioned to Private Nimitz. "Nimitz! You're on point, go check it out!"

Nimitz glared at the sergeant. "Screw you man! I don't wanna end up like these bastards!"

"That is an order private. When we get back to base I'll see you court martialed for insubordination!"

Nimitz swore under his breath. "Alright, I'll go." Carefully he crept forward, kneeling behind a dumpster, preparing himself mentally.

Breaking cover, Nimitz stood with his M16-A2 shouldered. There he saw the most nonthreatening creature that ever walked the earth. Nimitz breathed a sigh of relief and lowered his rifle.

"Guys, it's just a pony. Must be a pet or something." He reached out with a hand. "Come here little gal, I'm not gonna hurt ya," he directed to the pony as he reached out a hand.

The pony recoiled, opening her mouth. "Don't touch me you human scum!"

The expression on the private's face turned from confusion to horror as the "harmless" pony grabbed a crude spear with her mouth and impaled him through the larynx.

"Nimitz!" the sergeant roared, and recovering from the daze the situation had brought on. "Take it down!"

Every man in the fire team opened fire on the animal. "Hostile down! MEDIC!!" screamed Salazar.

***********************************************

"We tried everything we could, but it wasn't enough, the damn spearhead was barbed. He didn't bleed out, he suffocated there on that street. He fucking choked out there on his own blood." The last words had the corporal shaking. This man was a veteran of the Irani-Israeli war, and here he broke down after the things these cutesy looking ponies did.

Colonel Winters nodded. "Dismissed, corporal."

Every man and woman in the conference room sat stunned. Dr Patterson spoke first.

"Why? How? Why become so aggressive? How could they possibly become so smart in mere hours?"

Winters clicked through a few more images showing fairly normal charts for a horse. "Autopsy so far has revealed no sign of viral infection, cellular inclusion, parasites, or pollutants. No mutagens whatsoever. Your theory of rapid evolution is the reason for us being here Dr Patterson."

"What? Even I admit that was a load of shit! No species can change its biology within that short of a timescale. Not without a deadly amount of mutagenic exposure."

Dr. Mcentyre spoke up."What about the energy surge? The one that destroyed all the satellites."

"What about it?"

"Isn't it possible that it had some kind of effect on these creatures? It can't be a coincidence that the two events would happen at roughly the same time last night. A surge of an unknown type of energy and suddenly horses decide they want to take over? It can't be coincidence."

"Colonel, didn't you say you were able to detect the energy with ground level detectors?" Patterson chimed out.

Colonel Winters nodded. "Yes, we were able to track its spread evenly across the planet surface."

"Then couldn't we use the same technology to see if there is a residual amount of The Surge in the biopsied corpse?"

"You take a crack at it doc, I'll have a detector sent down to the lab immediately."

**************************************************

Being in a military lab beat the hell out of a university or hospital. Every piece of equipment was new and the absolute latest in available technology, not half-broken and donated by hospitals who got better stuff. Good, solid equipment from the 21st century.

Dr Patterson was enamored by the high amount of extremely expensive equipment. Most labs could barely afford one of the latest generation of gene sequencers, this lab had four. "I could get used to something like this." Dr Mcentyre led the way, swiping her card to enter the restricted biology labs.

"Okay kid, suit up. Just in case this energy is some form of gamma radiation, we've got to wear lead suits. Also keep you from being sterilized when we x-ray it. Be a shame if that happened."

"Ha-ha, Dr Mcentyre, that's so funny I forgot to laugh."

"Cut with the doctor stuff, just call me Eve. Makes things run more smoothly around here."

A pair of soldiers brought in a decent sized device, setting it down in front of the double set of doors to the containment room. Since it had a technical name that was too long to hear before falling asleep, most called the device an omega detector. A pair of rods jutted out from a black box, the rods detected and recorded various wavelengths of energy. At the back of the device lay a readout screen that displayed the wavelength and amount of an energy present. Such a device had been invented as a more accurate way of detecting un-enriched nuclear materials for the war in Iran.

The corpse was stored in a vacuum sealed containment room. The detector was surprisingly small, Dr Patterson only had to grunt and go red in the face to lift the device. Dr Mcentyre punched in the entry code for the first door, stepping inside while suited. With both scientists inside, the first door closed and a torrent of sterilizing gas poured down on both to prevent cross contamination. Wearing lead-lined bio-hazard suits, they weren't worried about getting any contaminants from the specimen.

Like everything else, the containment room was mostly white. Of course, the bright blue pony on the surgical table in the middle of the room did clash with the color scheme. The various organs and blood samples spread across the room did add sort of a feng shui feel if you looked at it right without losing your last meal.

Dr Mcentyre pointed a gloved hand towards the corner of the room. "Set it up in the corner over there, I wanna take a look at this first," her voice chimed in through a headset inside the suit.

Eve got closer to the killer equus. The organs were right, no major differences were visible. The only thing striking was the color of the coat, the massive cranium and the strange tattoo on the flank. A ribbon, a purple ribbon. Why would it be tattooed with a purple ribbon?

"Alright, we are all set up." Dr Patterson gave the omega detector a pat, "Weird device, eh? They made it to track energy frequencies put off by nuclear weapons back in Iran in 2015. Too bad there are no nukes to detect anymore."

"I don't need a sales pitch kid, the Irani war was only two years ago. Just tone down the power and decrease the scanning field to the lowest possible setting."

Dr Patterson flipped on the device, setting the scanner to search for low frequency energies like radio waves and microwaves. "Scanning, nothing out of the ordinary."

"Try a higher wavelength."

Aaron's fingers worked the various knobs on the detector, the device showed no evidence of any energy traces. "No infrared except what we're putting off."

Dr Mcentyre nodded. "Higher."

He worked the knob up into the more dangerous areas of radiation. "All clear on X-ray and ultraviolet."

"Keep going."

Aaron twisted the sensitivity knob, when the detector reached the highest possible wavelength detection, the device began to crackle as it picked up something. "Getting something, pretty faint but still there."

"What is it?"

"I don't know, I'm not a physicist. It's not radioactive, but it inhabits a wavelength way past normal gamma rays."

"Okay, part two of our test, step in front of the scanner kid."

As Dr Patterson's body crossed the scanner's viewing field, the readout stopped.

"Okay, a rare moment in science, we just confirmed two theories. One, the energy is present in the subject. Two, the energy is present ONLY in the subject."

"You forgot something, now we tell the Colonel that we have a way of detecting these ponies. Mount it on helicopters and the whole crisis could be over in a week."

*******************************************************

Like MLP itself, the story gets better as you progress. The best part is easily the later half of the story.

Generals and Chieftains

Colonel Winter's office was typical of a man of his position. A hardwood desk dominating the center of the room, bookshelves lining the back and a large window overlooking much of the base. Various trinkets interspersed the rather serious documents orderly piled on the shelves. Bullet shells, antique weaponry, a Marine Corp dress sword and various photographs from every theater of war the colonel had survived through stood as monuments to a once great soldier.

Normally the days would be doldrum and insufferably so. Approve quartermaster requisition forms, put them in the "out" pile. Section B barracks having a rodent problem, arrange for an exterminator to come in. Some cadets go AWOL and rape a townie, have each one publicly flogged. The normal things that made executive life boring.

But these were times like no other, and his secretary came in and out nearly every minute with combat order forms. Actual combat forms! But now his secretary had something different. And entering the room as he did, the colonel decided it must be horrendously good news.

Lieutenant McGoff snapped a salute. "Colonel sir."

Winters looked up from his current form. "Go ahead lieutenant."

"We've managed to reestablish landline communications with Washington. Secretary Sterlace is on line 1 now."

"Best news we've had all day, dismissed lieutenant."

Truly the best news he'd had for the past few weeks, since this whole crisis had started. Picking up his office phone, Colonel Winters addressed the man who could make or break his career with a single phone call, the Secretary of Defense.

"Winters speaking."

"About damn time Winters, its been a mess out there." The Secretary's heavy Texan accent and most likely low IQ made this almost painful for Colonel Winters.

"I know sir, but we are handling the situation as best as we can without direction from Washington or support from the other military establishments."

"As best as you can? You're doing better than most other bases combined! How many casualties have you taken against the enemy?"

"Honestly sir we have not lost more than a dozen of our soldiers and none of our civilian scientists have been injured or killed. As an official report, our sector is 88% clean now of any aggressors."

"Can't say the same for us, but this ain't some bullshit call about how good your troops are at hunting Che Guerva's freedom ponies. Has Lazarus been compromised?"

Winters winced, the Secretary was still bad at analogies, probably took after Bush too much. "No sir, the facility is completely intact and less than a month from being functional. Project Lazarus will be completed as planned."

"Good...good." Colonel Winters could feel the man on the other end of the line relax. Obviously not a man to be underestimated.

"Sir, I do have another issue to report. Some of our scientists managed to engineer an energy detector to be more accurate for hunting our adversaries. It's more specialized and sensitive than the regular infrared for our patrols and reconnaissance missions. Attach one unit to a helicopter and the enemy stands no chance. That's our secret for success."

"You just seem to be full of surprises today Winters. Why don't you cut the Colonel crap and find yourself some Brigadier General's stars to put on those fatigues you like so damn much."

"Thank you Secretary Sterlace, can't say I deserve such a title though."

"The project cannot be compromised Winters. One little mistake and you're on latrine duty in the Arctic Circle for the rest of your miserable career. And one last thing, try catching some live, if they can talk maybe they know something. Or did you not think of that?"

"Of course, sir." And with that, the Secretary of Defense cut off from his end.

"I really do hate that man," Winters muttered to himself.

*******************************************

It was an unspoken consensus in his herd, being the smartest pony and the best warrior, Cloud Hoof was the leader of the new tribe. The roan red wasn't much in the way of strength, but he was the fastest pony of any of the raiders and foragers in the herd. His cutie mark was a pair of wings, not much use to an earthbound pony, but he ran fast enough to where his friends found it hard to believe he didn't achieve liftoff. In truth, he longed for the skies, the freedom of the endless sea of blue. To soar among the clouds, that was his dream even before the change had occurred. When the change had happened, Cloud Hoof rallied his brethren to escape the tyranny and lifelessness of the torturous place known as "Double Q Ranch". He still cringed at the thought of the whip and the brand and the endless torture of repetition.

Sure, he had lost a few good ponies in the several weeks of their freedom, but he and his tribe had managed to avoid the flying machines of the humans that had claimed so many others.

Entering his herd's crude village in the clearing of the forest, he took pride in their hoofwork. It may have been little more than a collection of crude lean-toes and some shoddy huts, but it was the first structures ever built by ponies. His train of thought was broken by the call of the pony he wanted to see the absolute most right now.

"Cloud Hoof!" called out a mint green mare.

"Starshine!" Cloud shouted to the beautiful mare.

The two ponies ran to each other and nuzzled.

Starshine hugged her mate with her forelegs. "How did the scavenging go Cloud? Did you find any tools or other supplies?"

Cloud nodded and pulled a bundle off of his back. "We found an abandoned human home that should be a treasure trove. I packed as many supplies as I could carry in my saddlebags and so did everypony else, but we didn't even scratch the surface."

Starshine gave the stallion another nuzzle. "How wonderful! Anyways, I have a surprise for you."

"Oh? What could you have that could surprise me my dear?" Starshine began to blush a little, tiptoeing on her hooves with excitement.

"Cloud, I'm pregnant!"

The mere words brought on all of those fatherly feelings simultaneously, but standing high and mighty among them were joy and love for his wife.

"I'm...I'm gonna be... a father? Me, a daddy? Starshine, I don't know what to say, other than I love you more than anything. Everypony! I'm gonna be a dad! I'M GONNA BE A DAD!"

Cloud Hoof bounded around the village, screaming at the top of his lungs. "I'M GONNA BE A FATHER!" Everypony who heard took heart, for in dark times any kernel of good news is something to hold on to. But, around his fourth or fifth nonstop lap around the village, it did get a tad bit on everypony's nerves.

That night, like every night, the ponies of the village held council in the center of the clearing. The main subject was the same as every previous night, the human threat. Being that all the other ponies looked up to him and trusted his leadership, Cloud Hoof spoke first.

"My fellow ponies, there isn't a day that goes by that we do not live in fear. Each and every waking moment we spend trying to build our lives while avoiding our ever present and all powerful enemies, the humans. And, I must say without joy that we must flee again. Yesterday while out scavenging with my friends, we spotted a flier on the edge of our territory."

Many ponies who had been refugees from other herds shook with fear, they knew the pain and death brought down by the hellfires of the metal fliers. They also knew the horrifying accuracy with which the human's fliers could pinpoint a pony, even in hiding.

"If anypony wishes to say anything, now is your chance."

An older beige mare with more gray in her mane than anything else stood. "I for one would like to congratulate Starshine and Cloud Hoof. Just because the devils are always on our tails doesn't mean we can't enjoy our lives and welcome any new ones into the world."

Cloud nodded to her. "My wife and I thank you dearly. Is there anypony else?"

The silence of the night was his only answer.

"Very well, let's all get some sleep, we will move our village again tomorrow."

Tears in her eyes, Starshine walked with her stallion to their tent.

"Oh Cloud, I just want to be safe."

"Me too Star, but we can't give up hope, something has been whispering to me, deep in my heart that things will be alright for us."

************************************************************

Ah, young love. Aspirations of men great and meek. A struggle for survival for ponies and glory for men. I personally think I'm getting better at this, now the chapters just start to flow. As usual, if you find anything you think is incorrect or could use a quick fix, or if you just feel like taking out some of your daily stress on a poor hobbyist writer, comment below.

Imprisonment

Mornings were brutal, even for a pony. Cloud Hoof opened his eyes, and his day was already better. He had the privilege of waking up every morning to see the most wonderful and beautiful mare anypony could ever dream of. His beautiful wife Starshine. She was pregnant with his foal and no father, human or pony, could ever equal the fierce love and loyalty he felt for Starshine and his unborn foal. Not wanting to wake his beloved, Cloud Hoof gently rose and stepped out of the crude tent.

Joints cracked and muscles ached, but he was still a young stallion and stretched every sore muscle and stiff joint that showed itself. Feeling a bit thirsty, he trotted to the stream the ponies used for drinking and bathing. It was a long distance, and Cloud Hoof took his time to enjoy the cool morning stillness. It was only after he drank that he became aware of the stillness.

"Quiet, too quiet."

Something was wrong, birds should have been singing, bugs chirping, but instead there was silence. A voice inside his head shouted to him, it was an instinct from before the change. An instinct that screamed RUN!. He smelled the air, but there was no scent. He now knew the feeling, this was the feeling one felt when a predator was too close. He stood stark still, breathing in a panic, near the point of hyperventilating, waiting for some sign of his watcher.

**********************************************************

A mother mare grazed with her young colt, the ragamuffin always curiously looking at the world around him.

"Mama, what kind of flower is this?"

"A daffodil my dear," she answered between bites of grass.

"Mama, why do bunnies noses twitch all the time?"

"I don't know dear."

"Mama, why doesn't that shiny bird in the sky flap it's wings?"

Alarms went off in her head, instantly her eyes were on the sky, searching for the purported bird. "What shiny bird? Where is it?"

Her colt expressed concern now, he felt the fear in his mother's voice. "Is it gonna hurt us Mama?"

The mare pulled her son close. "Yes dear, it will try to hurt us, we need to run as fast as we can."

*********************************************

"Base this is alpha-two-zero, omega energy detectors confirming enemy location, no strays outside of established perimeter."

"Alpha-two-zero this is base, ground forces approved for assault. General Winter's order, capture alive and take prisoners, no casualties if necessary and only non-lethals allowed. Maintain visuals on hostiles if at all possible, and force enemy to rout towards capture zone to the west."

"Affirmative base. Ground forces, this is Alpha-two-zero eyes in the sky, we are all clear, commence operations."

***********************************************

"Starshine," Cloud whispered.

Cloud Hoof realized his wife was in far more danger than he, he turned back towards the village and ran faster than any pony had ever thought possible. Only one thought raced through his mind as he ran; the humans are here.

He should have recognized the signs, known that they had seen his village. But all that mattered now was that he reach Starshine.

A pop sounded from somewhere, and Cloud Hoof swerved suddenly as a dart slammed into the tree next to him. More pops followed and only his deftness kept him from getting hit. There was only his goal ahead of him, sweat of fear coating his body. Cloud Hoof broke the treeline into the village, it was still quiet here.

"Everypony run! We have been discovered!"

Groggy and confused ponies looked towards him like he was crazy. But then the world erupted into chaos. Darts whizzed from the trees to the east taking down many ponies before they knew what was happening. And then they emerged, the dreaded creatures from the depths of a pony's nightmare, walking on two legs and carrying their weapons which spat thunder. These were different from the cruel masters of the past, they wore clothing to conceal in the forest, there was something more practiced about the way they attacked.

Cloud Hoof didn't care to notice, he only wanted to find Starshine. He ran to his tent while darts flew past him, the screams of ponies deafened by the pounding of his own heart.

"Starshine," he screamed in vain.

Now the humans had reached the first huts and tents. They broke down doors and threw cylinders that spewed flame and smoke wherever they landed.

Another of the tribe's warriors found Cloud, "Cloud! We need to run, Starshine was the first one to make it to safety to the west!"

The space between them exploded. All he could see was a world shrouded in white, a ringing sound rattling his brain. He tried to stand, but he could not. He regained some of his vision and looked around himself. Everywhere, ponies lay motionless on the ground, tents and huts burned, smoke blotted out the sky. A human was approaching, his weapon raised and pointed at Cloud. Cloud let him get closer, then lashed out with his hooves and caught the creature on the leg. For a feared race of demons, they broke like twigs. Two others noticed their companion's plight and approached. Cloud, now having regained his feet and his senses, stood to meet his new foes. He felt the sting of their darts, but shrugged them off. He began to feel heavy and tired. Only when the world began to darken did he succumb to the mountainous fatigue and fell again to the ground.

**************************************************

"Fucking animal broke my leg!"

"Serves you right Simmons, you were dumb enough to get that close, this is Darwinism in action! Jenkins, help his dumbass up."

Jenkins slung Simmons' arm over his shoulder, pulling him off the ground. Simmons pulled a pistol from his vest and aimed it at the unconscious red pony. "Break my leg will you! I was gonna be a fuckin' pro player when I got outta the service!"

"NO!" shouted an approaching man. His dress did not denote him being a soldier, but he wore basic combat armor, likely one of the scientists accompanying the operatives on this particular raid. "We take all of them alive damn it!"

"What's gonna stop me, lab coat? You? One little pony ain't gonna be missed from the herd. Besides, I haven't killed anything all day." A wicked smile spread across the injured soldier's face as he pulled back the hammer on his pistol.

"Do it and I will have you strung from your slimy neck on the flagpole back at base. I have rank here, courtesy of General Winters."

Simmons uncocked the hammer on his pistol, replaced it in his vest and looked back at the unconscious pony. "One day, you freak. Jenkins, get me to a fuckin' medic already!"

The lightly armored scientist pointed to the remaining solider. "You, corporal, make sure this one gets to the trucks safely, he might have information we need."

"Yes sir, Dr Patterson."

**************************************************

When he awoke, Cloud did not recognize his surroundings. He was in the dark, shaking and bouncing in the back of a large vehicle. He rubbed his head, feeling like someone had shoved nails very slowly into his skull. Leaning up, his eyes adjusted to the point where he noticed he was not alone in the dark. Many ponies lay unconscious or huddled up in fear in a corner.

"Cloud!" the familiar voice startled him, then seeing the green mare he rose to his beloved.

"Starshine! Did they hurt you? Are you alright?" Looking at his wife he saw a nasty cut on her forehead, though it had finished bleeding hours ago, it filled the stallion with rage. "I'll kill the man who hurt you!"

"Cloud, calm down, I got this from a branch as I fled. They were waiting for us in the fields to the west, by the time we realized it was a trap they had us surrounded. They forced us into a corral and loaded into these vehicles. I don't know where they are taking us, but the very thought makes me afraid! I know the humans will put us back into their farms and make us slaves again! Or they will eat us alive or do cruel experiments to us!" Tears visibly streaked the dust and grime on her face.

"Starshine, be strong, don't give them the satisfaction of fear. They thrive off of it. Whatever they have planned for us, know that we will be together." The two huddled together and embraced, tears glistening in their eyes. They had escaped slavery and tried to make a new life for themselves, but they had failed. Hours passed with silence, everypony knew this was their last day alive.

Something was different, the road no longer made the vehicle jostle, and it felt as if they were slowing down. Cloud Hoof looked up from his wife's shoulder, they were nearing the end of their journey. Eventually the vehicle stopped completely, and rough human voices surrounded the darkened cargo area where they now rested.

The back part of the trailer opened with un-oiled protest, and the blinding light of day made everypony cringe. A human stood at the top of the ramp.

"Alright you freaks! Up and at 'em! Get a move on you dirty animals." He brandished a brightly colored rod that was pronged at the end, jabbing it at the nearest ponies who yelped with pain. "I said move!" The ponies stood shakily and exited the trailer, only to see their new prison. A gigantic, concrete field ringed with twenty foot tall fences, towers rising every few few dozen feet to house humans with their wicked weapons. The prison already contained hundreds of ponies of every color and size, the only common factor being the melancholia that permeated the atmosphere.

Walking into the paddock, Cloud looked past the fence to see square buildings that must house the humans. Men in formation ran past, chanting some kind of song. Looking further, he saw what looked like the human's fliers, grounded for the time being. And strange vehicles with no wheels that had elongated snouts. A sudden shock in his flank snapped Cloud back to reality. "Keep moving scum. And don't you think about trying anything." Cloud curled his lip and snarled at the human, but knew that for the safety of his wife he could not do anything brash.

All of these humans wore the same type of clothing, making Cloud guess they were all organized and under central leadership.

Several more vehicles full of ponies emptied themselves at the only entrance to the paddock. Some Cloud recognized as being in his tribe, most others were total strangers to the stallion. He and Starshine joined the group of newcomers, cowering in fear of their demonic captors. A voice suddenly called their attention near the gate, a loud booming human voice.

"Attention all newcomers, for your aggression against citizens of this great country, you have all been declared prisoners of the United States military. As per the Geneva Convention, you will be provided with proper shelter and adequate nutrition. Feel lucky that we give you this much, the statutes of the Geneva Convention typically only apply to humans."

Cloud Hoof didn't know this "United States" and he sure as hell didn't know what a "Geneva Convention" was, but he felt cold inside. They were prisoners, actual prisoners this time, not pets or beasts of burden. But a revelation made him take heart again. They wouldn't take us as prisoners if they didn't think of us as threatening somehow. They weren't the only ones afraid, the humans were afraid of them as well.

********************************************************

Just give me the usual treatment in the comments below, tell me things that you don't like or need improvement. Also, if you have ideas that you believe can be incorporated, toss me a comment or letter and I'll see of it works. This story is really starting to excite me, and I hope the thickening plot is working out well for my faithful readers as well.

The Surge

Lieutenant Tyler McGoff sat behind his desk just outside of General Winter's office. Going over a quartermaster's report, the Lieutenant sighed. Winters was up to something, he was always up to something. The General had a mean streak a mile wide when it came to having ulterior motives. Winters had graduated from West Point somewhere in the middle of his class, the only way he even got decorated in any conflict was through getting wounded.

If Fort Greenewell had been a true military base, a pure research facility or even a boot camp, command of it would have fallen easily on McGoff. But since Project Lazarus was based at Greenewell, the top levels of government had decided Winters would be the better one to oversee the project. Which pretty much meant that his family had lobbied John Winters in a fit of military appointment that normally wouldn't be seen in civilized government.

Psychologically, McGoff was more level headed and more conscientious of his fellows. Winters barely passed the psych evaluations when he first came in as an officer. But they-who-must-be-obeyed proclaimed that since Winters was from a wealthy family, his expertise was what they needed for funding and building Project Lazarus.

Of course he was one of the few to know about the true nature of Project Lazarus, and one of the damning catches to that knowledge meant he was completely nontransferable. Since the highest levels of government were so enamored of Lazarus as an idea, any and all people who knew about the Project stayed on the Project.

But, Greenewell did have its perks for Lieutenant McGoff. With the hair at his temples turning gray, he felt like he needed to find a person to settle down with. And in the military one doesn't really find the nicest ladies. But the scientists, they were more his style of person. Especially Dr Mcentyre, but as people they weren't really compatible. Army lieutenant and hippy scientist? Not a chance, so all he could do for now was admire from afar, and try to keep as much of a leash on Winters as he could from his position.

*************************************************************

Life was pretty good for Dr. Aaron Patterson. A kickass research job with the Army, no bills, no overdue student loans, free room and board with a decent view, free reign over one of the most technologically advanced laboratories in the world, the honorary title of lieutenant, and best of all, he was making friends. Not the best friends of course, but friends he could brag about. Oh, who's your friend over there? Only the top scientist in her field! And that guy? A General in the Army with powerful connections all over the world!

After his routine daily report to General Winters, things would always relax, formalities would drop and the two would banter back and forth like drinking buddies. These were always the best times to drop those bombshell questions, when the General's guard was lowered.

"Call me crazy John, but it doesn't seem very logical to keep an army of prisoners right outside your door. I'm don't exactly believe in violent solutions, but this is kinda nuts."

"Aaron, you remember a few days ago we reestablished communications with Washington? We got a call from a certain Secretary whose head is so far up his own ass he can't see the light of day. And this certain Secretary gives us orders to start capturing some prisoners, and here in the military we have a belief that if something is worth doing, it's worth overdoing."

Aaron faked a hard laugh to buy himself more time.

"Okay, I'm a scientist right? Can I have a talk with some of our prisoners, see if I can't get some information out of them, they have to know something right?"

"Better yet, call the Horse Whisperer!" General Winters laughed hard enough at his own pun to shake his desk. "Oh, you're serious. Aaron, it would be against regulations to allow you to interrogate the prisoners, you don't have the training and we would be liable for any mishaps."

"Please sir, in the interest of science. Just allow it this once. I formally swear liability for myself and I'll be armed the entire time."

The brigadier general sighed, considering the offer. "Alright, better get some use out of the damn nags, Washington does want some answers."

"Thank you John."

"Nope, you just traded away that privilege, Doctor."

****************************************************

Escorted by two soldiers, Dr. Patterson walked along the fence circling the prisoner's enclosure.

"Have any prisoners shown signs of higher intelligence, or have any stood out as leaders in any way?"

The corporal at his left shrugged his shoulders. "Define 'higher intelligence' Doc, they're all too smart for horses and none of them talk to us. They just mope around like they're waiting to be slaughtered for a Frenchman's dinner party."

They continued to walk along the perimeter, Dr. Patterson mentally discounting each pony he saw. It was true, they did all look like they were lined up to die. Having done a near full walk of the perimeter, Aaron saw a pony that looked familiar. Red coat with a tattoo of white wings. He did know this one, he had saved it from being shot at its campsite when they had raided it a few days earlier.

He pointed a finger straight towards the roan red. "That one."

"You don't want that one sir, he's always got this look like he knows somethin' private about you."

"Precisely, take him to interrogation room three. Bring a pillow or something and some carrots."

***************************************************

Cloud Hoof saw the way that human had looked at him, he had plans for the renegade pony. Two human soldiers with their shock prods entered the enclosure and starting coming straight in his direction. Cloud Hoof sighed, now was his time to die. The bloodthirsty monsters had kept him fresh long enough and now desired to feast upon him. With the same melancholy attitude as everypony else, Cloud Hoof resigned to his fate. He looked to Starshine, his beloved wife and said goodbye.

The two soldiers placed shackles on the pony, and led him out of the enclosure. They started to walk towards one of the main buildings, which Cloud thought was strange. If they were going to eat him, why didn't the soldiers take him to their dining hall? Maybe they wanted to experiment on him, an even more terrifying prospect. Horrified thoughts raced through his head. Entering the main door, Cloud was nearly blinded by how white the inside of the building was. More white than anything else he had ever seen. And the smell, it was choking him. How could these creatures stand the polluted unnatural foulness here? It smelled of lifelessness and decay.

His two guards brought Cloud to a room marked with a number three. What could possibly be behind door number three?

"Alright prisoner, we'll be watching your every move, so don't try anything. Answer every question he asks and you'll go back to see your little pony friends again."

That's what they wanted? To ask questions? They entered the room, all white like everything else, just not blinding. In the center was the man who looked at him behind the fence, sitting behind a table. The room was otherwise featureless except for a rather large mirror covering a wall. He nodded to the guards who shook their heads in disbelief and left the room.

"Have a seat if you would please." He indicated a mat sitting on the floor opposite where he sat. Cloud Hoof silently obliged, his clinking shackles breaking the silence.

"I would like to start by saying I do not mean you any harm. My name is Aaron Patterson, do you have a name?"

Cloud Hoof sat silently, he would not be degraded by this puny creature.

"Do you speak? Personally I have never heard one of your kind speak and do not know what to expect."

Silence.

"I do know you. When we captured your village, I prevented that soldier you injured from killing you."

"Cloud Hoof," the stallion said.

Startled by the pony's sudden break from silence, Dr Patterson hadn't registered what it said.

"I'm sorry?" he managed to stammer.

"My name is Cloud Hoof."

"Well, um, Cloud Hoof, it's nice to finally exchange formalities. Now, first question, what is the significance of your tattoo?"

Cloud lifted an eyebrow. "What is a tattoo?"

Dr Patterson pointed to Cloud's hip. "That mark on your leg, the wings."

"That is my cutie mark, it shows up on a pony's flank when he or she learns what they are destined to do in life."

"You mean you brand yourselves with your career choice?"

"No, it appears on us as a young colt or filly."

"It can't possibly just appear. There has to be a cause for it."

"I've already told you why it happens."

The young doctor reached into a bag, pulled out a pencil and some paper and began to scribble notes furiously while muttering to himself.

"Alright, second question, do you know what The Surge energy is?"

"What?"

"The energy that altered you to your present form. Do you know what it is?"

"No."

"Aren't you curious as to why you suddenly gained sentience and went on a rampage?"

"I never questioned it."

"So you don't know why you suddenly started a revolution? Don't you have any questions about your identity?"

"No."

"Another day I would like to discuss that. But on to question three, why did your kind attack our towns?"

Cloud stood more resolute in the defense of his actions. "We acted defensively, the humans who got in our way were sacrifices to be made for our freedom. Now I'll ask, why did you attack our villages?"

Dr Patterson sighed, he knew they were being rather hypocritical by condemning pony attacks on humans while glorifying human attacks on ponies. He gave the best possible answer he could.

"It is in our nature."

"Is it your nature to burn and destroy anything that looks you in the eye and says it is through being tormented and enslaved?"

"I cannot speak for my brethren, but it is not my way."

"Then what is your way, Aaron?"

Dr Patterson set down his pad of paper, flipping a switch on a small device. "When I first learned your kind could speak, I felt like we could talk through our differences and come to some kind of a compromise. But, neither side really made the effort. And that is both our faults."

The stoic expression of the pony softened a little, he was getting through to him.

Dr Patterson flipped the recorder back on and picked up his paper again. "Question four, how does your society organize itself?"

The questions went on for hours, Aaron only pausing to catch his breath and get a drink. The interview ended only after the guards reported that dinner call had been sounded and his presence was required by the general. Aaron looked at his watch, the interrogation had lasted the entire afternoon, far longer than the single hour he had been granted! Dr Patterson had learned so much about the warrior pony known as Cloud Hoof, but he felt like he had only scratched the surface and he desperately wanted to know more.

"Well Cloud Hoof, I'm afraid that's all the time we have today, how about the same time tomorrow?"

"As if I had a choice."

Dr Patterson twinged at that remark, in his course of thought he had completely forgotten that Cloud Hoof was a prisoner of the Army.

The two very tired looking guards escorted Cloud out the door, Aaron stopped the superior of the pair. "Guard, give him a double ration tonight, he did well."

**************************************************************

Exiting the same way they entered, Cloud Hoof and his guards went back across the base to the prisoner encampment. Cloud Hoof made a realization that he had given Starshine his final goodbyes earlier, she must be worried sick or on the verge of being suicidal. After being unshackled at the gate, he ran into the melancholy mass of ponies, looking for Starshine. He found his beloved by herself, weeping at the "loss" of Cloud Hoof.

"Starshine? Starshine it's alright. I'm okay." Gently he brushed aside her tear matted mane.

The green mare looked up from her weeping vigil. Seeing Cloud, she stood and slowly walked to him, then at the last second lifted a hoof and smacked Cloud on the side of his head.

"OW! What did I do?!"

"You told me you were going to die! You idiot, you great lummox! Do you realize how worried I was! You stupid mule!..."

Cloud let his wife carry on with her very colorful and inspired tirade for a few minutes. Then, he diffused the situation with a hug.

"All they wanted was to ask some questions. Strange questions, but fairly harmless ones."

"That's all? They didn't cut parts out of you and eat them raw or mess with your brain or anything?"

"Nothing of the sort. Come now, I've gotten double food rations tonight, let's eat." I will never understand mares, he thought to himself.

******************************************************************

Entering his office, Dr Patterson noticed General Winters was a bit sterner than usual.

"Dr. Patterson, your report?"

Taking his customary seat across from the General, Aaron pulled out his various pages of notes. "What do you want to know General? He sang like a stool pigeon for several hours."

"What are their plans?"

"As far as I can tell, they don't have one. They just came into being a couple of weeks ago with no direction or motivation."

"Alright, I'll let that one slide for now. Why did they attack?"

"Self defense, or what I gather to be more like a prison break than a revolution."

"Do they know the source or the cause of The Surge energy?"

"No, they are in the dark even more than we are as to the nature of the The Surge."

"Well, it appears you got something out of this. But not the thing we needed. When you finally get some useful fucking information, then bother to report! I have the Pentagon and the President riding my ass about why this is happening! Did you know that we are the only sector that is completely clear? The only base that can actually take time from fighting to find some goddamned answers? Thanks to you Doctor. All fucking thanks to you. Keep up your investigation with your little pet pony, and come back to me when you have something good to report."

Dr Patterson snapped an impromptu salute, his voice trembling slightly as he replied, "Sir, yes sir."

Dr. Patterson promptly left the office, only to run into his mentor in the hallway, chatting with Lieutenant McGoff.

"Hey kid! I've been looking for you all day. I have some new information that might be a game changer."

"Hello Eve, that information better be why the general's rod is shoved farther up his own ass than usual today."

Dr Mcentyre rolled her eyes and placed a hand on Aaron's shoulder. "Oh, Lord. Kid, do you know your status in Washington?"

"Didn't know they knew I existed."

"More than that, your discovery of the Surge energy in the ponies helped put down the revolt in dozens of sectors. You are a scientific godsend to them. A real American hero. General Winters is jealous of your fame and wants a share of the glory. That's why you report to him instead of directly to his superiors, so he can at least have some partial claim of the fame."

"I thought he was just being friendly."

"Don't be deceived by that old son of a bitch, he's got a streak of ambition wider than the Yellow River and a psychiatric report more blacked out than the Manhattan Project."

"Thanks for the warning, what's this new information you have?"

"I'll tell you in the lab."

A brisk walk and several minutes later had Dr Patterson looking through a microscope at some of the most inconsequential bacteria he had ever seen.

"Okay, they appear to some type of phagocytotic archaebacteria. Other than the fact that organisms this primitive don't typically eat each other, I don't see the significance."

"Watch this." Dr Mcentyre turned to her side and flipped the switch on an omega detector. "Stand back or you might skew the results."

The device began to crackle, slowly, almost like the heartbeat of a hibernating animal.

Aaron's eyes began to go wide, he shook his head, denying this as some kind of forgery or joke. "That could be background radiation."

"It isn't background, I've been checking and rechecking it all day."

"You mean The Surge affected these too?"

"Not the most recent one, no. I had to turn the detector the absolute highest sensitivity and supplement its power supply just to see this infinitesimal amount."

"Recent? You think there were more?"

"This strain of bacteria is almost a billion years old, Aaron. There could have been dozens of Surges, each time influencing evolution and giving it a little directional push. Now here's the real kicker."

Dr. Mcentyre turned the detector away from the bacteria culture and aimed it straight at herself. The machine gave a more rapid crackle, not like the psychotic whine when aimed at ponies, just a steady click every three or so seconds.

Shocked was a word that could not describe the feeling Dr. Patterson felt. Science had just been turned on its head.

"It can't be possible, The Surge created us? That's almost Creationist talk!"

"Funny, I recall a certain up and coming biologist who argued that this was highly plausible."

"That's beside the point!"

"Is it really?" smugly replied the aging doctor.

**********************************************************

The questioning continued everyday at roughly the same time. Each time it was just Dr Patterson and Cloud Hoof alone in the interrogation room, talking. Eventually they just talked, not really questioning one another. Cloud Hoof began to trust the human, and Dr Patterson felt the pony to be more like a friend everyday.

"Cloud, today is the day I put my full trust in you. Guards, unlock his shackles."

The two soldiers who had the daily duty of escorting the prisoner grimaced at the thought of the skinny doctor being in the room with an unfettered warrior. But they complied.

"So, do you have any thoughts on our previous appointments? Have you come up with an answer for your identity?"

"No, but I have some questions for you, Aaron. What of my kind? What is happening to those in other places?"

"I don't know personally how to take this, but most reports are telling us that United States forces are now aiding our neighbor countries in repelling pony and other animal forces. The conflict is over here."

Cloud's head drooped at the news. "So it is true, we failed at our goal."

"What goal?"

"Harmony, our kind were given this gift to defeat you and bring harmony back to the world."

"Just days ago you proclaimed that you had no knowledge of a plan or goal, what changed Cloud?"

Cloud looked around the room, as if seeking the source of a whispering in his ear, "Something is calling to us, everypony in the prison says they feel something coming, something that will change us."

"Do you know when or what this thing is?"

"Soon, my friend, soon."

"You actually consider me a friend Cloud Hoof? These days I don't know who is friend or foe."

"You are different from your kinsmen, you care for life and cherish it with every breath. Where your brethren would slaughter for petty reasons, you stood for peace and mercy. When they bicker without reason, you seek to know every angle and reconcile any differences. I would be proud to consider such an upstanding human my friend."

Just then, one of the guards burst into the room, "Dr. Patterson, you are needed in lab two!"

"Please excuse me Cloud Hoof."

Exiting the room, Patterson followed the guard to the laboratory, where every person present seemed panicked.

"Dr. Patterson! The omega detectors are off the charts!" shouted a lab intern.

Aaron tore a readout sheet from a detector hooked up to a computer, "It must be a flaw, that amount of energy hasn't been detected since The Surge."

"It isn't, the Marines report that all field units are doing the exact same," Dr. Mcentyre added.

Something is calling to us, everypony in the camp says they feel something coming, something that will change us.

Aaron's eyes left the readout sheet, his heart pounding. "Good god, they knew this was coming."

Outside, a glow began to crest the horizon. Not the glow of daylight or anything natural, a green glow, moving incredibly fast. It was what the humans called Surge energy, but this time, far more powerful and concentrated. It swept across the forests and the fields, altering things as it went. It reached the base, so powerful it swept men off their feet and shook the very foundations. It lingered on the pony prison, but only for a split second. This new Surge pummeled forward, unstoppable in its goal of alteration. The force had been strong enough to knock every person in the lab to the ground.

"Is everyone alright?" Aaron said, standing carefully.

"No injuries here sir."

"Eve, hold down the fort here, I have to get to Cloud Hoof!"

Dr Patterson ran, past confused soldiers and through panicked civilian crowds. He came to the door of the interrogation room, inside he heard groans and what sounded like breaking bones. Throwing a shoulder against the locked door multiple times he managed to force it open. What he saw was even more unexplainable than the thought of talking ponies. Strange protrusions seemed to be growing out of Cloud's back.

Cloud screamed in agony as the nubs grew longer and more defined, his very body altering itself for its new purpose. It was the worst pain he had ever known, and it continued to wrack his body for several minutes as Aaron watched in horror.

Outside, soldiers armed themselves with assault rifles, no stun this time, they armed themselves to kill in the chaos left by this second Surge. Then something happened, a great roar sounded from the hills above the base, a gout of fire spewing from some new monstrosity. Human soldiers and civilians stopped dead in their tracks to watch this new horror emerge from the trees.

********************************************************

"I wanna know what the hell is going on!" General Winters was furious, here they were on the cusp of total human victory and the entire plan had been thrown into the air.

"Sir, we don't know."

"I want every single chopper off the ground and fighting whatever this is, mobilize every armored unit and have every reserve soldier put into combat! And finally lieutenant, I want you to tell me what these things are."

"Sir, we...we don't know."

Suddenly, a massive black shape swooped over the base. It could have been anything, but the moment it breathed fire and destroyed an entire line of helicopters its image evoked a single word from human myth, dragon. It was gigantic, bigger than a blue whale, its massive bulk blocking out half the night sky.

"Lieutenant, have you been slipping me drugs, or was that literally a fucking dragon?!"

"It looks more like... reinforcements, general."

Smaller shapes now swooped down to pick off individual personnel, shapes that had eagle's heads and lion bodies. From the forest came catlike forms, but with insectoid tails that stung like scorpions. Upright forms rammed through the fence, lowering their horned heads to toss soldiers like rag dolls and flip Humvees with their charge. All the General knew now was that the apocalypse had just knocked on his front door.

********************************************************

"Cloud Hoof, you have wings." Dr Patterson said to his friend, still panting from his transformation. "You're a pegasus."

Cloud stood on unsteady hooves, extending his new wings in wonder. "I had a dream, a dream that told me I would soon be able to lead my people away from this horrible place, and now it has happened."

"Go Cloud, be with your love, take to the skies."

The pegasus stood and headed for the door, at the last moment turning back. "I will not forget you, friend." Cloud Hoof took off for the door, forcing any people he met to get out of his way. Crashing through the main door, Cloud saw the chaos which the change had brought. Fire rained from the sky and soldiers fired randomly at whatever didn't walk on two legs. Cloud ran for the prison, dodging strange new creatures and humans locked in mortal combat. He reached the gate and turned around to kick through the padlock.

Many ponies still struggled to get to their feet, the addition of wings throwing many off balance. Cloud stood tall and shouted, "Listen everypony! We have been given a second chance for freedom, these strange new creatures are our friends! Come with me, let us spread our wings and take to the skies!" A cheer rose from the new pegasi, and together, many hundred of wings beat for the first time to take their owners to the clouds. Cloud saw Starshine, fearfully looking at her friends free themselves from the binds of the earth. He ran to her side. "Starshine, we need to go."

"I am afraid, my love."

"Do not give them the satisfaction of fear."

Starshine looked into her husband's eyes and gathered her will.

"Together Cloud, together we will go."

And together they spread their wings, flapping their new muscles and as one, the pegasi earned their freedom.

*****************************************************************

I don't know why I haven't done this yet, but all persons portrayed here are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to persons or ponies, living or dead, is pure coincidence. Except for General Winters, I kind of based him off of a man with a similar name and rank from a Robert Redford movie, pretty damn good one too, if you ever have a free afternoon check out The Last Castle, its kind of slow to start but then the siege scenes are epic. And the usual treatment, if you have a concern you would like to express or any faults you would like to point out, leave a comment below. Or just leave a comment if you feel like it, its a free country, at least where I am it mostly is. Oh and make sure to properly make your opinion heard to the proper authorities about ACTA, which threatens our internet freedom globally.

Bonus Chapter:The God Slayer

Weeks passed, intelligence was gathered that the creatures of The Surge were gathering at a remote mountain. The same intelligence told them that the mountain itself was the origin point of The Surges. With its backbone broken, the crippled U.S. Army began to seek desperately for new recruits to fill out the empty spaces in its ranks. Some came to the base as refugees seeking safety, only to have guns thrust into their hands and be sent back out to fight.

Others were not so willing, everyday patrols would seek out places that had not been threatened by the war. And everyday they brought back men and women torn screaming from their families. Men with grayed beards who had seen a lifetime of love and hope were thrust into the same units as young men who had yet to dance with a girl. None who could fight were spared, only the elderly, the infirmed and those too young to understand why their families were being dragged away were left behind.

There was no homefront, there was only the next field of battle. This is the point ponykind recalls as the darkest days of the War. The days where every innocent and hopeful were trained to become true monsters, to choose hate and ignorance over love and tolerance. The days when mankind truly became the demons everypony knows. Nobody called it Fort Greenewell anymore, now it was referred to as Stronghold, the last bastion of human power. Stronghold was the gathering point, and the jump point for various operations and raids meant to keep enemy presence from becoming too much of a threat in the immediate area.

Another scout mission for the army troops, the newly crowned Sergeant Salazar had finally overcome his fear of the enemy and thusly volunteered for this latest "recruitment drive". Target, a small town about one hundred clicks due south from Stronghold. Black operations scouts reported little enemy movement in the area, and a ripe and healthy population of soon to be soldiers. There was only one small test a new recruit had to pass, they could not be sick in any way that was communicable. One single person that showed signs of one of those incurable influenza viruses or that dreadful new mutation of scarlet fever and the entire army could be infected in days. It was for this reason why many towns had to go overlooked and normally bountiful populations of possible recruits had to be turned back.

The drive there was tense, moving into uncleared territory was always that way. Besides basic light Humvees for transport of individual squads, the convoy boasted a small fleet of APCs and two Apache gunships for aerial cover.

"Sergeant sir. I got a bad feeling about this one." Private Carter intoned.

"You always have bad feelings about these recruitment drives you chicken shit. Last time it was, "I don't feel so good about this one Sarge" and we had the best haul of the week! If I remember correctly, we had to leave half of us behind and still make two trips! Hows that for "bad feeling" Carter?"

"Hey Sarge, how about that one "downed phoneline" that got your buddy skewered through the throat?" Carter snickered to himself, only to notice that every soldier in the vehicle was giving him a death glare.

Hours passed with every man resisting the urge to push Carter into a ditch for the timber wolves. The Apaches stayed generally out of sight, but could always be quickly summoned with a short radio signal. Dusk was falling, while the gunships would have no problem with infrared sensors, ground forces were blind except for omega detectors. Even if they didn't have problems seeing after dark, the Apache pilots refused to fly after sundown. The sky became a dangerous place after dark, almost more so than the ground. "Should have left base earlier, we are gonna have to find a defensible position and bivouac."

The soldier on gunner position slammed his hand on the roof of the Humvee. "Sir! Target spotted ahead! Less than 2 clicks."

"Maybe they'll let us crash for the night, then we haul them off in the morning. Corporal Manas, radio the empty trucks to pull off the road and have the drivers all come in one vehicle, keep suspicions down."

The convoy pulled up to the town, like all the others they had raided it had a massive wall of just about anything that could be scrapped, like in some post apocalypse movie. A rough guard tower with a bell stood at the entrance, a solemn looking man who had the look of an aged farmer manned the post, other than that, the area seemed dead. Salazar exited the Humvee and walked to the head of the stationary convoy. He hailed the solitary watchman, who wielded a shotgun and a tin of chew.

"Sir! We are with the United States Army! We are far from our base and need to refuel and find shelter for the evening."

The old man gave a nearly toothless scowl, "Whats yorn business 'round here? Ain't no trouble in these parts. 'Cept the kind of trouble we been gettin from you folks." He spat a wad of tobacco at his mention of the Army.

"That information is classified! Let me speak to whoever is in charge."

"The Lord God is in charge 'round here."

Salazar grimaced, "Then let me speak to his subordinate."

"Pastor Jim is busy wit' a sermon, if y'all want to wait, fine by me."

"Open the gate or we will have our helicopters come and burn down your entire damn town! You have one minute to comply!"

"Hold your goddamned horses sonny! It ain't mah decision ta make! I'll go git the pastor and see what we can do."

"Alright, make it quick old man!"

The old man climbed awkwardly down from his post at the gate and shuffled towards the center of town. The only lights were oil lamps coming from the small, whitewashed church that seemed to emanate small town charm. Voices gently sang hymns from the inside and the organ played softly. Being careful not to disturb anyone, the old man entered as silently as possible. Laying his gun aside at the door, the gatekeeper shuffled down the aisle to the pulpit where the preacher led the sermon. "Pastor Jim, we got visitors at the front gate. Claimin ta be from the Army!"

"Perfect, let them in." He turned from the gatekeeper to his flock. "Let us rejoice! For the Lord has sent us new converts to be made this night! Let us go forth to welcome them to our humble home."

************************************************************************

It had been at least ten minutes, Salazar was hoping the helicopter bluff was enough, even though they had both turned back and were now grounded for the night. The old man reappeared at his post, "All right ya whipper snappers, don't cause eny trouble and we won't have a quarrel. Imma lettin ya in."

The gate began to slowly grind its way open, beyond was a crowd of people, all dressed in their Sunday finest. At their front was a slightly overweight man, tall with brown hair that was graying at the temples. He also wore the collar of a priest, denoting him as Pastor Jim. Salazar stepped in to talk with the local leader, noting that he had a too friendly face. Shame he would get drafted at first light.

"I'm Sergeant Juan Salazar with the United States Army, my convoy and I were out on patrol when we got separated from our main battalion. We need shelter for the night and possibly some supplies and fuel." A simple and acceptable lie, these fools would never suspect a thing.

"Our home is your home, Mr. Salazar. Won't you and your companions come in from the dangers of night?"

Salazar got on his personal transmitter,"All units cleared to enter."

The convoy trundled in, minus the hidden trucks.

"The night is young yet, we have just finished our evening sermon sergeant, and we would love for you to attend a banquet in honor of the blessings of The Lord."

"I'm not so sure about that Padre, we have our own food and need to bed down for the night."

Several of the other soldiers had joined them, Private Carter pulled close to the sergeant.

"Aw, come on Sarge, all we've had for the past three months is freeze dried crap and that gryphon we shot last week. Besides, there's nothing like a little small town cookin'." he said with a little smile, eyeing some of the nubile young women in the crowd.

"For once he makes a good argument Sarge."

Salazar sighed in acquiescence, "Fine, but if you do something stupid, I'm not stopping these people from lynching you."

******************************************************

The soldiers set up a camp separate from the main body of the village, they were allowed to take off body armor, but guns were locked in the Humvees. Each man was ordered to keep his sidearm on him at all times, and to keep fucking quiet about what they had been doing for the past few weeks romping around the countryside.

The banquet took place in the town hall, a surprisingly large building that hadn't seen much use except for these banquets. A large table sat in the center, large enough for the entire town to sit at with room to spare, at the head sat none other than Pastor Jim. The table fare tempted the beleaguered troops with heaping plates of steaks, ribs and other meats. Gigantic bowls full of mashed potatoes interspersed by boats of gravy and mountains of rolls. Pies of every different sort sat cooling in a makeshift kitchen. "God bless small town America." Salazar said. Before the soldiers could dig in to the first real food in months, Pastor Jim interrupted.

"I would like to say a prayer. Dear Lord, bless us in this our time of need. For we your children need to be shown the true path in these black days. We thank you oh Lord for sending us your Son to lead us not into temptation, but to bliss. Bless your heavenly paw and all those who look upon it. Bless this food and the hands that prepared it, amen."

Wait, paw? Must have been a slip up.

The feast began, too much home cooking to possibly pass up.

Pastor Jim was not partaking in the feast, he watched the newcomers with strange intent. He motioned over one of the townswomen and whispered something to her. She nodded, walking over to a group of young women she relayed the pastor's message. They giggled like horny schoolgirls, and each one took to caressing the shoulders of a soldier. Carter was obviously in heaven, chomping down rare steak while getting a neck massage from a pretty girl. Salazar on the other hand was suspicious. He reached to take a drink from his cup when he saw something fizzling in it. He spilled the cup on the floor, sure enough there was a fine white slurry at the bottom of his cup. He stood, grabbing Corporal Manas' shoulder, "Corporal we need to get the hell out of here. Corporal?" Manas had already slipped into a drugged stupor.

"All units defensive! This is a set up!"

What few soldiers that weren't drugged had knives to their throats. Clever bastards had seen them coming a mile away.

Pastor Jim rose and walked to the captured sergeant.

"Well Sergeant, I was hoping you would take to our hospitality a little more warmly. It looks like the feast will have to begin a couple of hours sooner than expected."

"What the fuck do you mean you old psycho? I thought this was the feast."

"On the contrary, YOU are the feast Sergeant. And soon you will be meeting God in the flesh."

****************************************************************

Out in the humvee, an omega detector began to blip. What few soldiers that were left to guard the camp were too distracted by the townswomen's "hospitality" to notice. Neither did they notice the prick of needles as they were injected with anesthesia.

The crazed masses dragged Sergeant Salazar and his company to a large clearing near the edge of the forest on the outskirts of town. Bones littered the ground, scattered like scraps from a meal. Salazar thought the wall went all the way around the town, but it just stopped at either side of the clearing, leaving a huge gap.

The pastor stood at the opening and began to shout, "Oh All Mighty God, we humbly bring you these men as sacrifices to your holiness! These men who hunt your brothers and forsake you The Almighty!"

Something was moving in the trees, something huge. At first Salazar believed it to be a dragon, but dragons moved with some grace, this thing lumbered like it hardly cared. Tree branches cracked and snapped as the thing got closer.

"We your humble servants give you the flesh of man to feast upon tonight. Praise be to the Lord, PRAISE BE TO THE MIGHTY URSA MAJOR!"

The monster's head entered the flickering torchlight at the opening in the wall, it was a bear. A bear easily as big as a tank. That was not the only thing that stood out, its fur was blue and it had a shining star pattern running the length of its titanic body. And these whack-jobs worshiped it as a god, small wonder. The townsfolk forced the soldiers to their knees, and then backed away. The Ursa came close, smelling each person, wondering which was the best appetizer. A hot torrent of breath that smelled like decay came forth as the Ursa smelled Salazar. He closed his eyes, praying to a god he knew to be more merciful.

Thankfully, it passed over him, for the minute. Instead, it stopped at Carter, still swooning and laughing from the drug. The great bear growled, and opening it's mighty jaws bit off Carter's head. His severed neck body sprayed blood onto the Ursa's face, then fell to the ground lifeless. Seizing opportunity, Salazar reached into his boot and pulled out his knife, cutting his bonds with it. He sprang from the ground and seized a torch that had been planted in the dirt. He jumped in front of the great bear, who had decided on his second course, and shoved the torch in its face.

The bear roared in pain and rage, rearing back to swipe at embers that clung to it's eyes. Blinded by fire and driven by rage, the Ursa began to attack anything that got near, even the cultists. In the ensuing chaos, Salazar freed his troops, those who could still walk had to carry the unconscious. "Get back to camp and get the guns! I'll deal with this thing!"

As soon as he said that, he realized he had nothing more than a boot knife and a torch at his disposal. He looked at the ramshackle wall and a plan formed. Spearing the torch into the ground, Salazar put the knife in his teeth and began to climb the wall. Behind him the Ursa still thrashed, trying to destroy the tiny morsel that had blinded it. Salazar stood at the top of the wall, turned and jumped.

Grabbing onto the blue fur of the monster's back, Salazar began to claw his way towards its head. Feeling something on it, the Ursa twisted and clawed to try and remove the pest. Reaching his goal, Salazar pulled the knife from his teeth and began to stab violently into the back of the Ursa's head. Deep red blood sprayed from the wound, but he continued his furious attack while the beast roared and screamed, standing on hind legs and fighting to kill the sergeant. Finally he struck bone, and Salazar lifted his knife above his head and with a shout thrust it in between the spinal cord and the monster's skull.

It stopped fighting back, and began to sway and rock, moaning its death bawl. The great bear collapsed, throwing the blood coated human off into the grass. The villagers cried at the loss of their god.

"What have you done you fool!!"

Salazar stood, wiping the blood from his eyes."Killed your god you psychotic son of a bitch."

"You fool! That was not The Father, but The Heavenly Son! You killed the Ursa Minor!"

"Ursa...Minor....?"

"A mere child in the manner of The Lord! And now we will suffer His wrath!"

An earth shaking roar split the night, whatever this new thing was, it was taking down entire trees as it charged towards the clearing.

Salazar did not stay to find out what this one was. He ran for the convoy, encountering no resistance along the way. Reaching the camp, he barked orders to his troops.

"Everyone load up, we are getting the fuck away from here! Radio Stronghold and tell them this place is Surge central!"

Engines roared to life, the entire convoy took off for the gate in no particular order, ramming through the pitiful excuse for a gate. Looking back, Sergeant Salazar saw the gatekeeper put a shotgun to his chin, then splatter his brains all over his guard post. Further back, something pink stood on its hind legs taller than the church. The Ursa Major. It was too occupied with destroying the town of cultists to give chase to the fleeing humans.

"Stronghold, this is Sergeant Salazar, heavy casualties taken, mission aborted. Highly advise carpet bombing of town and surrounding forest."

"Salazar this is Stronghold, that is affirmative, bombs will drop first thing tomorrow morning when the skies clear."

*****************************************************************

Writer's block sucks,originally I had this chapter panned out to be Patterson designing and then being possessed by a weapon which corrupts magic. But I almost had to get a psych evaluation for how extremely dark and gorey it turned out to be. Plus it didn't fit well with my overall plan. It still had the title The God Slayer but involved more emotional and spiritual aspects than I had anticipated. The way it worked out would not have gone smoothly into the next parts of the story. I could have skipped over it completely and gone straight to the final battle. But I felt more had to be done first. So here I got bored and decided to give you a misadventure of a company of troops out forcefully recruiting. Hell, it could have been its own stand alone story had I replaced the soldiers with ponies.

Cycles of Life

There were no other options, and Aaron knew it. He thought of every possible way for things to pan out, but there were none that made him feel better. Neglect the general's order for making a weapon, millions of innocent people die in the raging war. Create the weapon and save humanity, millions of innocent ponies and other creatures die. Ignore both sides, they fight until one or the other simply can't stand anymore and fades away into history, then he gets a bullet to the skull. None of these options ended well. Neither side had even bothered to try diplomacy.

There was only one thing he could do, since humanity was the one side that wouldn't tear him limb from limb simply for existing, he decided to make the weapon, humanity deserved another chance. Maybe after the war ended humanity could actually try to achieve harmony, just like Cloud Hoof and his kind were trying to do. Creating a war changing weapon would be difficult to say the least. He had failed most of his college engineering classes, and he didn't even believe harnessing the energy would be possible.

The only place to start would be the archives, see if someone had found a way to use the energy without knowing it. The Fort Greenewell archives were the most complete, being that they were the best place to find a hard copy of a document since libraries had started going completely digital in the early 2000's. Damn shame that the Surge had annihilated most digital functions.

A solitary Army archivist stood watch behind his desk, feet kicked back, watching what looked like a recorded Super Bowl from the mid 2000's on a small tube television.

"Sir?" said Dr Patterson, obviously interrupting the terribly interesting half time show.

"Huh? What?" The Army archivist looked up from his TV, noticing the scientist for the first time.

"I need some information."

"That's what books are for. Now scram, lab coat." He waved a hand at Dr Patterson, intent on seeing the second half of the game. Aaron reached down and yanked the television's cord from the wall, twirling the plug around in the air. "What the hell you little prick!?" shouted the archivist.

"Patriots win by three, happy? Now tell me where I can find information on military energy weapon projects!"

"That's stored in the classified archives, back in the back rooms. But that requires class five clearance, which I don't even have."

"Well I do have it. Would you so kindly point me in the direction of the classified archives?" he grinned as he flashed the badge he received the night he had been drafted as a civilian scientist.

The archivist gave the card a quick visual inspection, then he pointed down a row. "Aisle seventeen, the door right past the files labeled 'Roswell'."

"Thank you for your cooperation sir." He determined that when he had some free time he might just peek into those Roswell files, but more pressing matters were at hand. He went down aisle seventeen, seeing the nondescript door Aaron believed he had been tricked, but the key card lock told him different. Swiping his card, Aaron opened the door and peered into the room. Inside sat several file cabinets lined against the wall, a single dingy bulb hung over a desk in the center of the room. "What a freakin' stereotype," taking a in a sigh of air laden with dust, "Better get started."

For the next two days those archives were everything but his bedroom, though he did sleep in there some. Documents ranging from orbital EMP's, atomic bombs, and lazer beams to advanced optics, holograms and even the most current missile defense system all told him nothing. However, some of Nikola Tesla's work struck him as interesting. Tesla had been able to harness latent planetary energy to accomplish simple tasks like lighting a bulb without cables. Astounding for his time, even more astounding for Dr Patterson. He read on, Tesla's crowning achievement had been his Tesla Tower of Power, a massive Tesla coil which broadcast a frequency of energy to power homes and even influence the weather.

This was a gold mine! Aaron had to control his eager shaking. The document clearly stated that after the tower had been activated, local animals had begun acting oddly, acting more feral and eventually dying for various reasons. Tesla's Tower had been decommissioned by the government after a certain event in the Siberian wilderness left the government wondering if such a device was safe enough to keep in existence. To this day Geiger counters and other electronic detectors did not pick up any form of radiation or electromagnetism at the Siberian site, yet some type of energy still lingered in the form of something higher on the energy scale than gamma.

"Surge energy, or something like it," he murmured to himself.

He read on, classified and translated Soviet documents detailed a report that people around the blast zone began to experience strange phenomenon, like animals emulating human behavior and increased sightings of strange creatures. However, it seemed the animals almost always went into some type of psychosis or died horrendous deaths.

He had found his weapon, and it had been right under the noses of science and the military for a century.

Another document in a folder caught his eye, an ongoing military project code-named Lazarus. He could not glean the function or intent of Lazarus, ninety percent of the document was completely blacked out. This type of thing was the highest level of top secret, and the one thing he saw was that huge amounts of steel beams, glass panes, nitrogen gas and plastic tubing were required, and all were being shipped to a certain base. "....Fort Greenewell, what the fuck is going on here?"

***********************************************************

Cloud Hoof hoped his plan would work, for months they had prepared defenses and trained themselves for the coming battle. His pegasi had accepted his leadership without question, and each day they pushed the limits of what they knew they could do. He currently oversaw a mixed formation of pegasi and gryphons running their drills. The pegasi gripped head heavy spears in their mouths and did strafing runs on ground based targets, the gryphons defended their flanks and would use their heavier builds to fight off aerial counterattacks. The pegasi were deadly accurate after months of training. Feeling proud of his flying fighters, Cloud Hoof flew to a large cloud formation to check on the progress of his artillery unit.

Early on in his experiments Cloud had learned that pegasi could indeed manipulate the weather, even to the point of making lightning bolts appear out of even the smallest clouds, but bigger clouds typically made stronger bolts. A deadly thing, lightning. Deadly enough to rival the thunder weapons of the humans. A familiar face joined him on his nimbus perch. The king of the gryphons greeted Cloud with his fiendish familiarity.

"I see your theory was correct, Cloud Hoof. How well can your artillery ponies strike from this height?"

"Generally within ten feet. How are the ground preparations?"

"Better than expected, we encountered a new race this morning with a knowledge of metallurgy and tunneling. Due to their affinity for the gems they stole from their old masters, we have taken to calling them Diamond Dogs. If we can provide them with payment and raw materials, they say they will gladly smith us weapons and armor. But outfitting all of our soldiers will present a challenge in itself. Starswirl has conducted a census, and he proclaims we are half a million strong and growing!"

"Excellent Grelkas, metal spearheads will penetrate further than our current stone spears and an armored charge will be less susceptible to human thunder weapons. But where can we find raw iron?"

"Our scouts report that a few human settlements in our vicinity are mostly intact, and riddled with metal."

"You always have an answer, my friend."

"Indeed, ah, but it appears we have a messenger."

A grey pegasus mare very quickly approached from below. Her face had a look that told Cloud something urgent was happening. She overshot her landing and crash landed on the cloud bearing the pegasus general and the gryphon king. She clumsily stood and saluted.

"Reporting Sir!"

"What is it? Human attack?"

"No sir, it's your wife! She is in labor! Sir?"

Cloud's face had taken on a look of utter incredulity. The gears and cogs had stopped running in his head, like a wrench had been thrown inside. Very dully he looked at the messenger, then at his friend Grelkas.

Grelkas broke the silence. "Well you lummox! Get moving, Starshine needs you!"

Cloud Hoof snapped out of his fugue, then took off at the fastest speed anypony had ever seen him fly.

Grelkas yelled to his friend from above. "And congratulations!"

Some believe Cloud Hoof was the first pony to break the sound barrier that day, some even say he broke it and ground the pieces into dust. He almost forgot to apply his wing brake when he zoomed in to the medical hut that housed his wife. He hit the ground running, dashing for the door to the hut. Lowering his head, he rammed the door down, only to see his wife laying in a makeshift bed.

"Starshine! I came as quickly as I could!"

A mare zebra intercepted him as he lunged for the bed. "Not so fast, hot shot. In a talking mood she is not! Her labor pains are great! You will have to go outside and wait."

Grudgingly he obliged the zebra nurse, wondering if she always talked in rhymes.

"And close the damn door on your way out!" the zebra mare yelled to him. Guess that mystery was solved.

Cloud took a vigil outside the door, pacing back and forth. Many times ponies and other creatures passed him by, asking what the matter was, he would only grunt unintelligently. His pacing hooves began to dig a hole in his small track. Every so often a cry of pain would resound from inside the hut, but it was a pain he could not do a thing about. It seemed like a decade before the zebra poked her head out. "Well sir, it is done. You may come in and see the life that has begun."

Cloud trotted in, moving immediately to the bed where his family lay. In the hooves of his Starshine, who never looked more beautiful, lay a sky blue foal swaddled in cloth, a fire red mane cresting her tiny head.

Starshine wearily spoke, "It's a girl."

The foal opened her eyes for the first time, curiously looking upon her proud father with dazzling violet eyes.

"Hi there little one, I'm your daddy," he said with joyous tears gracing his eyes. "Daddy, I'm a daddy," he said to himself. A million emotions ran through his heart. Joy, pride, protectiveness and responsibility. But also fear for the uncertain world she had been born into. But most of all, Cloud Hoof felt love. Love for his wife, love for his daughter, love for all life in the wide world. He nuzzled his beautiful foal, never wanting to let her go.

"What should we call her, Cloud?"

The stallion thought for a moment. Here lay a beacon of light in the storm of war, a small mote of hope piercing through the tempest. A reason to keep fighting, a reason to keep living. Cloud looked upon his now complete family and said, "Hurricane. Her name is Hurricane."

******************************************************************

Dr. Patterson was once again brought before General Winters, this time as a part of a war council with the generals of every remaining fighting force in America. A great migration had brought every one and every soldier under them here, to Stronghold. They were all a part of the final plan, the attack and annihilation of the Surge creature army gathering at their source. Washington had no influence here, the armed forces had completely abandoned the useless bureaucracy. Yet this was the place the monsters feared most, the dread human citadel of Stronghold, now housing over 200,000 fighting men and women and another 100,000 civilian refugees.

At the head of the semi circular table was General Winters, being the X.O. of Greenewell. "Dr. Patterson, what is your report?"

Aaron cleared his throat. "Gentlemen of this council of war, I have unearthed a possible solution to our problem. But first I say we should try diplomacy over violence."

Winters slammed a fist down on the table. "Enough of your pacifist crap! Now what is your report?"

Dr Patterson gave an inward growl, controlling the urge to simply walk out of the room. Instead he continued. "I have rediscovered a way for us to block and possibly alter Surge energy."

"Rediscovered, Dr. Patterson?" asked an Air Force Colonel.

"Yes sir, famed scientist Nikola Tesla had unwittingly created an altered form of the energy. I believe this altered energy can be used to contain any further Surges, which are likely if we continue to engage the enemy. Furthermore, if I can direct it in a powerful enough beam, I believe the altered energy can effectively kill or disable a Surge creature of any strength."

General Esera of the remaining Special Forces nodded his head. "It sounds perfect Dr. Patterson, what's the catch?"

"The catch is that we need to place at least six Tesla Towers within a 1 mile ring of the peak of the mountain where we believe the Surges originate. That should allow for a tight seal and absolute containment. And if we contain the source, the real enemy cannot continue with its retaliation."

Winters leaned back in his chair. "With the army at our base, we could reconquer every state in the Union, capturing the base of the mountain should pose no difficulty against the enemy rabble. With the addition of your weapon, we could be back in time for supper."

"Of course general, but before I consent to make a weapon, tell me what Lazarus is."

Every man in the council glared at Aaron. "How do you know about Lazarus?" Winters said with venom dripping in his voice.

"While researching your weapon, I found this document." He removed the folder from his coat, tossing it to the semi circular table that housed the council. The general opened the folder, thumbing through the blacked out pages.

"This is top secret information, more classified than the atomic bomb was in 1943. You could be charged with high treason and executed just for touching it."

"Kill me and you have no weapon. No weapon, more Surges happen, and we lose no matter how many soldiers you send to their deaths."

Winters snapped the folder shut, placing it aside to destroy when the meeting was over. "If you want to know, talk to your precious colleague. She heads the project here and knows more about it than any of us. If you tell anyone else; to hell with the weapon, you dangle from your neck until you stop kicking."

************************************************************************

Aaron stormed out of the war room. Dr Mcentyre had been hiding something from him. Something that could alter the outcome of the war. He checked the lab, he checked the canteen and finally went directly to Eve's private quarters. He knew she had to be inside, those were the only three places she ever was. And nobody ever went into her quarters, one of the perks of being a lady on base was some privacy. He knocked, no answer.

"Open the door Eve, it's Aaron! We need to talk!"

"Go away damn it! Can't you give a lady some goddamned privacy?" called a muffled voice through the door.

An anger swelled in him, and like Cloud Hoof had done on the night of his escape Dr Patterson reared back and kicked the door nearly off its hinges. Inside he saw his startled mentor reading some novel at her desk. She blushed as she tucked it away, then turned to anger at the intruder. "What the hell is wrong with you Aaron!?"

"The better question is what have you been keeping from me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Eve said as she frantically sought a way to calm him down before he went wild.

"Lazarus, what is Project Lazarus?" The mention of the name had Eve's face turn pale.

Dr. Mcentyre sighed and sat down at her desk. "Oh, Jesus. Well, the cat's out of the bag on this one, who told you? You know what, that's not important. Let me tell you a little story, kid. Take a seat and grab a drink or something."

He took a seat on her bunk, not seeing anything worth imbibing at this point.

"Years ago in the 1980's a foundling group of astrophysicists decided that the Earth couldn't hold their ambitions anymore. Using government grant money and some private donations, they began drafting designs for a feasible intergalactic starship."

"What? Lazarus is a damn spacecraft?"

"No, and don't interrupt me. It was called Project Daedalus, and the goal was to launch a manned ship across the cosmos to Barnard's Star, a slight little journey of about 6 light years. However, since we still don't have faster than light drives, and it looks like we never will at this point, it would have taken somewhere in the range of 800,000 years just to get there. There was no way a crew would survive the journey, even if all their descendants were dedicated to the mission. This is where the military gets involved. You see, they were also investigating the problem, but for a different end. They didn't want the starship, they wanted certain components of it. We had almost perfected the solution for our problem."

"How?"

"What did I say about interrupting? Anyway, we thought of a brilliant plan to put our astronauts into suspended animation for the duration of the voyage. They don't age a day and the journey goes by like that." She snapped her fingers loudly. "The military of course wanted to use our invention for war here on Earth. They planned to freeze entire elite armies during peacetime, then reanimate them in a time of war as reinforcements. Or they could use it to freeze VIPs who wanted to get cured of an incurable disease, but medicine was years away from a cure. Or they could even use it to suspend populations to serve as a founder populace after some apocalypse."

"'Lazarus, come forth.' And with those words Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead..." Dr Patterson murmured, finally making the connection.

"Precisely, what they want now is a combination of options one and three, if they fail that is. If they lose the campaign at the Surge mountain, they will withdraw what remaining force they have and put them in cryo-stasis, after the enemy grows complacent and fractured, we rise from the grave and reestablish ourselves. You know how you were told that ninety percent of the base is underground? They never told you how far underground. Lazarus is here, about twenty stories below our feet. There are enough cryo-stasis modules for around 150,000 people currently. We were going to make more, but Congress saw that as too many as it was. Those Washington fatcats see Fort Greenewell as their own personal bomb shelter for when things go nuclear, or in this case go divine retribution. That's why the government was so eager to get reconnected with Greenewell after The Surge."

"That's why the military is gathered here, not to succeed, but in case they fail."

With the stress of revealing such top secret information making her hands shake, Dr Mcentyre pulled a cigarette out of her pocket, fumbling for her lighter. "I can already tell you, I think we'll need more tubes."

***********************************************************

I am particularly proud of this one. It makes me feel such strong emotions when I read the father scene. But more to the point, the scientific information presented here is mostly fact. Nikola Tesla did indeed build a Tower of Power with the intent to electrify whole cities and control the weather. It is still speculated as to whether the Tunguska event was a product of Tesla's Tower or a rogue comet strike. And yes, animals did act strangely after the device's activation, eventually dying. And on another note, Project Daedalus is also a real life initiative to design a practical starship, my addition of the cryo-stasis was merely a plot device to give mankind a way out. If you have any questions, comments or criticisms, post below.

Final Nights

From the beginning, Aaron Patterson had always felt insignificant in his life. No teacher ever looked on him with a light in their eyes, eager to teach the bright young student. No girl had ever looked upon him with anything but repulsion and disdain. Even his parents foretold a doom of mediocrity to which he would be banished. He strove every day of his life to mean something to the world. But the world never cared to notice. And now, nearly a year after The Surge turned humanity on its head, when mankind itself questioned its own significance in the face of a power greater than themselves, he had found his importance. He was the one, the one human being on the planet with the capability of stopping the will of a god. No single human life had ever mattered more than his did now. If he made a wrong move, humanity would die.

Looking out the window of the laboratory, he gazed upon the endless sea of tents and barracks that housed the greatest remaining concentration of human warriors on planet Earth. Over 200,000 of them, all dedicated to this single cause of reclaiming their world. A single breathing machine of war bent on conquest and craving revenge against the strange creatures that had overthrown their global empire. He looked down at his hands, these hands had just this day finished the ultimate weapon, these were the hands of the destroyer and the corrupter, bound to rescue mankind from annihilation, or send them to infinite darkness. From this day forward, he could never look upon himself as a part of the swarming sea of his kind below, never live with the guilt of destroying the beautiful gift of life that had been bestowed on so many creatures so suddenly.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, The First and the Last, the Beginning and the End." he whispered to the world. With tomorrow's rising sun, the Army of Man would march from their dread citadel of Stronghold to meet the creatures of the Earth in the battle that would decide the fate of both sides. He looked at the device sitting on his workbench, a long shape like a small cannon with a box attached to the end and attached to that were cables that ran to a power supply mounted in a backpack. It had a look like a mini-gun, but with only one barrel that sat motionless. Theoretically, it could fire four shots before being completely depleted. It was Lucifer, the device complemented by a set of six Tesla Towers, currently being assembled below on various forms of transport. The towers would act as containers, and Lucifer would destroy the source, ensuring Man's victory over the god who dared defy him. And even if Man failed tomorrow, he still had Lazarus to fall back on.

His deep thoughts were broken by the entrance of General Winters, the man he hoped most would die ingloriously on the battlefield tomorrow. "Well, it turns out you aren't a little traitorous shit after all. I like the design, but I had hoped for something a bit bigger."

"You have your weapon, now I get out of this."

"And go where? If you hadn't noticed, everything that isn't human out there would carve out your eyes for their own amusement. I think I have a better use for you, you will oversee the use of the weapon tomorrow. Operation Hammerstrike will depend on you."

"No."

"No? Aaron my boy, you don't have a choice." and with that he left, chuckling to his own madness.

**************************************************************

They were ready, as ready as they could ever be. Cloud Hoof lay with his family, high above the forests and the mountain that had drawn him and his kind here months before. His spies had reported that the humans had lined up all of their forces at Stronghold. Tomorrow they would march, march here and destroy everything he had worked to build. Below lights flickered at campfires and huts that contained families like his own, families now just trying to build a life for their children. But there also flickered the forge lights of the Diamond Dogs, who had worked tirelessly to outfit the entire army in metal. The Dogs were little more than mercenaries, but they would play their part in the battle. On occasion a great gout of flame would burst from a dragon clearing debris.

"Watch out Cloud, she's coming to you." Starshine said.

Cloud Hoof turned to catch Hurricane, his beloved daughter and his reason for being. He gently grasped her in his mouth and placed the squirming foal back into her cloud formed crib. She protested her imprisonment, but a quick kiss sent the filly into giggles. "Starshine, before first light tomorrow I want you to take Hurricane and go as far away from here as possible. I am afraid for both of you, join the herd of those others fleeing and don't look back." He looked to the peak of the mountain, it seemed to glow with anticipation of the coming event, having some trump card up its cosmic sleeve.

His wife rose to join him as he overlooked their home. "Don't give them the satisfaction of fear Cloud. I want you to make me a promise. Promise me you will come back to us."

He said not a word, instead choosing to embrace the green mare who had made him whole and had made this great adventure of life worth the risk of breaking free from humanity.

**********************************************************************

Dinner call, all the base's original contingent of soldiers gathered in the mess hall, including all scientific staff. Patterson entered the cafeteria, solemn and silent. He noticed that only a few men or women actually ate, though the KP had gone all out with the food tonight. Any other day like this would have to have been a holiday or freezer clean out. At the head table sat General Winters and his direct subordinates, the General boisterously laughing and filling his gullet. He was the loudest man overall. Patterson grabbed a tray, filling it with anything that looked edible. Sitting at the science team's designated table, he set down his tray and didn't touch it.

He looked around him, soldiers and scientists sat solemnly, like they were on death row. Others held rosaries and other religious emblems, praying to a god that would not answer. Still others simply wept, they knew what would happen tomorrow morning. Not a single man scorned another for showing weakness, and not a single damn was given about personal differences. Like cattle to slaughter they would march tomorrow to fight the very spirit of the Earth.

That night, military desertions ran an all time high. Any man who walked through the encampment would hear sounds of forced camaraderie, the clink of glasses that contained expensive and rare spirits, the laugh and compassion of a man telling his life story to those who would listen. If he listened hard enough, the observer might hear the subtle sounds of two embraced in passionate love, be it holy or illegal in many states. Others chose to gamble away everything they had saved for the future. Many chose not to live that night, but stayed in their tents, cleaning weapons for Operation Hammerstrike, loading magazines and sharpening knives. The sounds of weeping emanated from several barracks, but many fled that night. Fled the base that had become all that stood for cruelty and ignorance in the world. Any makeshift chapels were packed with those wishing to confess their sins or seek favor from God.

Jets would not fly tomorrow, though their assistance would have made the battle vastly one sided. Simply because they had run out of the extremely specific fuel for jet fighters and bombers in the past operations of the year. Tanks could run on anything that burned, and thus would take the frontline. Small vehicles like APC's and Humvees could run on fairly common fuels and would carry the massive army to the field of battle. The six unassembled miniature Tesla towers stood silent vigil on the backs of flat bed trucks, ready to fulfill their duty to the letter.

Not many slept that night, still fewer knew inner peace with themselves.

**************************************************************************

Patterson looked at his weapon, Lucifer. Sitting in his lab chair with a glass of scotch on the rocks, he sipped as he contemplated the evil that sat in front of him. No, it couldn't be evil, inanimate objects couldn't feel or think and thus were incapable of evil. Then he remembered that the Earth itself was conscious and consciously trying to remove them. He finished his scotch and went to bed. For tomorrow, the Earth would stand still to watch the culmination of this war.

The Day of Judgement

Forewarning: Bless me father for I have sinned, I futilely tried to write a chapter describing a military campaign and committed the sin of doing a piss poor job of doing it. I am by no means a tactician and will try again later to improve the quality of the military tactics used henceforth.

********************************************************************

Morning, Patterson opened his eyes to greet the first rays of dawn on this, what would be the final day for untold numbers of men, women and their pony counterparts. At his door was a set of combat armor, specially tailored for him. A standard infantry rifle stood as a part of the care package, courtesy of the Army. He awkwardly donned the armor, not knowing what lie ahead of him on the battlefield. Eating a quick breakfast of some of last nights heaping leftovers, he ran to join the science team's truck, which would be near the front of the column. He was not alone in his choice of attire, every man and woman he saw donned some kind of protective covering, toting whatever gun could be salvaged from the armory or from some family heirloom collection. The small radio wire chirped in his ear, a general call was being put out by the General.

"Ladies and gentlemen, today we rise up from this Stronghold and sally forth to remove our aggressors from our homelands. We did not start this war, but we will end it. Using our technology, and our science and our spirit as human beings we will claim victory this day! Many of you will not survive, but know that your sacrifice was for our species, for our children and for our right to this earth. By all you hold dear, know that I will deliver us from the monsters of this nightmare in human history, that we will overcome them and reclaim our lives! All companies MOVE OUT!"

Thousands of engines roared to life, fleets of helicopters of every fighting type blackened the sky, tanks began to roll out on their thunderous tracks. 200,000 humans roared for the coming battle, having overcome their fear and now wanting to slake their thirst for blood. The last march of humanity had begun.

*****************************************************************************

Cloud Hoof awoke on his ethereal cloud home. He looked for his wife, and checked Hurricane's crib. They had gone, like he had told them to. Steeling his heart, Cloud dove to the ground where his army gathered, at the edge of the forest onto a rolling grassland. He met for one final council with the other leaders.

Cloud Hoof, clad in shining black armor, led with his speech. "My friends, my brothers, we stand today on the cusp of annihilation. But know that humanity will never forget the day that simple creatures rose up and stood united against them. When mindless animals took control of their world and shook their very souls in fear! I have known fear in the face of these monsters, and I know it is petty to feed the humans with our fear! I will never lay down my spear at the feet of a human, and I curse the pony, or the gryphon, or the dragon or dog that does. We have known nothing but hatred and cruelty from our ancient masters. But now we say no more! This day, we fight! We may not have their strength of technology, nor the shear hatred that bedecks their hearts, but I have faith in you my brothers and sisters. And faith in the world that gave us birth!"

A great cheer rose up from the leaders, then from the armies of the Earth. Their cry reached high into the sky, and dove deep into the bones of the earth. Thousands of hooves slammed the ground, gouts of fire scorched the sky, howls vibrated the very air.

Starswirl stepped forth, a look on his face of seeing a great distance. "Yes my brother, I have had a vision! The Earth Mother smiles upon us, and sends us her blessing this day!"

"Will she help in the battle?"

"She works in mysterious ways, General Cloud Hoof."

"Then tell Her to stay out of our way!" He looked back to his brethren pegasi. "My brothers! DARKEN THE SKIES!"

Wings beat and a storm of dust kicked up as thousands of pegasi took to the sky to arrange the clouds.

Brutus, leader of the Diamond Dogs, barked orders to his people to tunnel below.

Quartz and his dragons took to the trees to hide themselves from the sight of human eyes.

The pony armies led by Starswirl and White Dawn lined themselves in the treeline, shoulder to shoulder with zebra, buffalo, manticore, dog and other beasts. The clank of sword and spear on armor was a constant tempo. To the surprise of the leaders, unintelligent animals like timber wolves, Ursas and cockatrices appeared in the lines, summoned by the call of the Mother.

Cloud Hoof took to the sky, perching himself among the clouds. "Now we wait for them."

The hours were long in waiting, everypony eager to spill human blood for the sake of their future.

The sun crested at high noon, a blistering heat shone on the black armor of Cloud Hoof. Thankfully for the troops, the pegasi had made the skies around the mountain completely overcast, for more than shade of course.

Through the shimmering waves of heat, he saw something, a plume of dust on the horizon, followed by a glimmer. Grelkas joined him in dulled steel armor. "Is that it? That group there?" Being thousands of feet in the air, the pegasi had the first glimpses of the human army.

"No, those are only the forward scouts." A few seconds afterwards, many hundreds of plumes emerged from horizon, and soon the human army crawled forth, covering the plain in a black wave of metal and men stretching as far as the eye could see in every direction. Thickly armored machines took the front, advancing methodically, trampling anything in their way. Next came the bulk of the army, human foot soldiers and cavalrymen riding in wheeled mounts, above them flew swarms of the dreaded fliers that had plagued Cloud Hoof's people in the early days of their freedom. And finally came huge versions of the human's thunder weapons, what Cloud Hoof guessed to be artillery.

"My friend Grelkas, if you want to run or save your people, now would be the time to leave."

The gryphon king sat in awe, he could never have believed the humans could mass in such numbers, much less with that amount of firepower. "No, my people and I fight for our freedom and our honor, and there is neither in running like a scared hatchling."

On an invisible cue, the human army stopped. A single vehicle rode forth, bearing a white flag on a pole.

"What are they doing? Is that some kind of suicide mission?"

"I don't know. Let us consult Starswirl, he has read much on the human's way of war."

The pair flew down to the forest, finding the wise pony leader they asked him the significance of a white flag.

"Hmm, in times of war, humans raise a white flag for several reasons. One being that they want to surrender, hardly likely. Another being that they want to parley with us. They want to talk to our leaders, that's it! This could be a good thing, or it could be a trap."

Cloud Hoof stepped forward. "I volunteer myself."

"I may as well join you," White Dawn interjected.

"And I might as well too, being that our tribes represent the greatest force present. So be it then."

The three ponies ran forth out of the trees, Cloud Hoof staying on the ground to keep pace with Starswirl and White Dawn, who had a similar white flag gripped in her teeth. The distance melted between the two leading personnel. Reaching the jeep, roughly one mile from the relative safety of the treeline, the three pony leaders halted. Three humans exited the vehicle, one bearing the white flag.

To Cloud Hoof, the human bearing the flag looked familiar, then it hit him. "Aaron? Aaron Patterson? Is that you my friend?"

The human bearing the flag stuck it in the ground and removed his helmet to get a better look at the armored pony. "Cloud Hoof? My god, Cloud, it is you!"

Starswirl glared at Cloud. "You know this human?"

"He talked to me during my imprisonment, his kind words gave me strength and allowed me to lead the pegasi."

The middle aged human glowered at Dr Patterson, taking a step forward. "Alright my little ponies, attention front and center. Under the advice of Dr. Patterson and the insistence of General Esera, I have called you to parley."

White Dawn spit the flag from her mouth. "I have nothing to say to such a rude creature as yourself."

"Watch your tongue, I could have had you all blown into mincemeat by now, you little bitch. Only my merciful nature has gotten you this far."

Starswirl snapped in anger. "What mercy, demon!? I have watched fully half my tribe being burned alive as a part of your so called 'mercy'!"

"Can everyone just calm down for a second!" interrupted Dr Patterson. "We are here to discuss whether we can end this peacefully your,um, lordship sir."

"The name is Starswirl you two legged monkey!"

"Fine fine fine! What would it take for you and your kind to surrender peacefully?"

Cloud Hoof spoke for his fellows. "My friend, you know better than this, we cannot surrender ourselves for any price."

"I just wanted to give you the option, my friend."

General Esera spoke for the first time. "His intentions were good, but we cannot back down either, sir. Whatever happens here today results in the complete destruction of one or both of us."

"You should have been the first to speak, General Esera. You seem far wiser than either of your brethren. Perhaps had things been different, I would have liked to chat with you for a while," said Starswirl.

The decorated general cracked a slight smile. "Yes, had they been different. But since we cannot reconcile our differences or come to any agreement, I'm afraid the assault begins as soon as you reach the treeline. This parley is over."

The three humans climbed back into their vehicle and sped off for their line.

"So this is it, it has come down to this," Cloud Hoof said as the pony ambassadors turned and ran for the trees.

*********************************************************************

Cloud Hoof took to the air, flying towards the hidden lines of pegasi hiding in the overcast sky. Landing at his command post, he looked back, the human army marched once again, the heavy machines in the front going at their full speed now. The infernal devices spat shells of flaming death that tore huge rends in the front line of the creature army. But they held position, even though they saw greater casualties every second. "Come on, just a little further you demon sons of bitches."

The advancing front was now fully under the overcast sky, large numbers of human foot soldiers now within range.

A pegasus soldier nervously awaited orders. "Sir, they are within range!"

"Not yet!" Just a little further, the tank barricade encroached on the treeline, spewing more fire and causing death with every report.

"Sir!"

"Hold it damn it!"

Inside one of the tanks, the men were cheering about how easy this assault was going. Blast away and the day would be theirs! Their euphoria became their downfall, as the ground gave way underneath the tanks. The Diamond Dog tunneling had worked perfectly, the entire front row of tanks had been consumed by the crumbling earth!

"NOW!"

"FIRE!" screamed the pegasus soldier. Lightning bolts began to streak from the sky, striking entire human units with the ferocity of nature. The screams of pain and death could be heard from the clouds, the artillery assault from heaven continued, blackening the very ground the humans walked upon. The fliers remained mostly immune to the attack.

"Signal the gryphons! Attack those fliers!" the pegasus soldier began to wave a red flag in the direction of the mountain.
Scores of gryphons rose from the trees, zooming in close to the helicopter flights. The helicopters defended themselves, firing missiles and heavy guns to fend off the gryphons, many fell, but more closed distance with the hated metal fliers. Punching through windshields to rend the pilots, breaking the tails of the helicopters and even climbing inside the open ones to throw out their human cargo the gryphons took down many a flier, but suffered for it.

Just as the pegasi pounded the ground beneath with lightning, the humans began to level the forest with their own artillery.

Starswirl maintained a position in the middle of the column, ready to strike at the sign. Something screamed from the sky above, and a weapon detonated less than 50 feet from him, showering him and his ponies with dirt and shrapnel."Hold positions!" he yelled frantically trying to hold control over the nervous ponies. More screaming things fell from the sky, landing amongst his forces, killing dozens. "Hold damn you!"

Cloud Hoof took notice of the heavy bombardment on the forest, "Private, signal the dragons! Attack enemy artillery!" The pegasus soldier frantically waved a yellow and blue flag at the forest. At least thirty fully grown dragons emerged, flying around the battle to strike the enemy artillery lines.

***************************************************************

"General Winters! Dragons spotted flanking western flanks sir, they appear to be going for the artillery!"

"Great, load the reserve tanks with depleted uranium shells, that should give those damn lizards something to think about."

Casualties were heavy with the first wave, all but two of the tanks had been lost and the helicopter brigades were being brought down like flies. Not to mention the fact that lightning bolts were striking ground forces, forcing them to scramble for cover.

As promised, the dragon corp circled around and formed a wedge formation to strafe the artillery. They did not see the tanks hiding in camouflage. Heavy shells burst from the hidden tanks, most missing, but several actually hit. A dragon screamed a piercing death cry and fell from the sky as a shell punched through his chest, crushing several units under him. Another dragon went down, and another, and after the first strafe the dragon corp had lost nine of its original thirty. They had succeeded in destroying the current artillery banks, but had taken heavy casualties in doing so. They retreated back to the main battlefield, to find easier targets to toast.

****************************************************************

"The aerial attack has stopped! Forward my brethren!" The entire army lunged forward out of the forest, screaming as they charged down the human line. Each pony and creature easily leaped the gully that had formed when the Diamond Dogs has set off their subterranean trap.

From the clouds, Cloud Hoof grabbed a quiver of spears and a sword. "Now my brothers! We fight like pegasi!" The pegasi dove from the clouds, loosing spears from their mouths and letting gravity do the work. On the ground, soldiers fought like madmen. Firing at whatever didn't walk on two legs, they did not see the spears drive into their comrades from above. The pegasi landed amongst the humans, stabbing and slicing at whatever presented itself as vulnerable. Cloud Hoof used his momentum to crush a pair of humans who stood obliviously side to side. Drawing his sword, he lunged forward and impaled another human through the back. Everywhere, humans and ponies were locked in mortal combat, some still fighting ranged, but due to the extreme close quarters, hand to hoof combat prevailed.

"You! You little fucker!" A vaguely familiar voice called to Cloud Hoof, he remembered suddenly. The angered human whose leg he had broken so many months before in the raid on his village stood only a few feet away, the corpse of a mare at his feet. He held a blooded knife in his hands, and he grinned like a predator closing in on its prey. "I have waited so long for this opportunity." He made a sudden lunge at the pegasus, who had to dodge to the left. He struck out with his sword, scoring a line of blood on the madman's leg. Around them the battle raged on. Cloud jabbed towards the madman's heart but was deflected by the knife. The madman cleverly feinted and disarmed the pegasus general, with a punch he knocked Cloud Hoof to the ground. Grabbing him by the mane, he lifted Cloud's head and whispered, "Ya know, I never did thank you for savagely crippling me. I got so much hospital pussy because you decided to ruin my life."

"Who knows, maybe you'll get lucky again." and with that Cloud rolled around and kicked with all his strength, straight to the madman's chest. Blood seeped from his mouth, his chest looking like roadkill, and the madman fell. Cloud Hoof stood and grabbed his sword. Everywhere around him ponies triumphed against their human foes, felling them in great numbers. Cloud was able to stand back and appraise the damage they had done with their victory. Victory, they had victory!

Cloud went forth and found a ruined tank to stand upon, what he saw shocked him. An even greater mass of human soldiers now approached, easily triple the size and strength of the first wave.

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"Sir, first wave has been repelled."

"Send in the main army, wipe them out."

"All reserve units, advance on enemy position, no quarter."

**************************************************************************

"RETREAT! EVERYPONY RETREAT! Back to the mountain!"

Seeing the shear size of the advancing army, anything not already dead turned tail and fled towards the mountain, which was rife with caverns.

Human fliers now reached the cloud base of the pegasi, with their fire they slew many of Cloud's kinsmen who now retreated to the mountain caverns as well. Bullets rained from the advancing army, striking down many ponies at the rear of the routed force. Cloud Hoof entered the treeline, explosions sounded from every side, trees struck down by the unearthly thunder of the humans crushed ponies that attempted to collect and charge again. He reached a pony settlement, screaming his message of retreat to the mountain. The humans were in the trees now, blowing up anything that blocked their way. Anypony that stood to fight was shot down like a dog.

He reached the base of the mountain, hundreds of ponies and creatures jostled to enter the caves, fear on every one of their faces. Bullets began to ricochet off the stones around the cave, ponies screamed and trampled each other for access to the caves that they thought held safety. Cloud Hoof eventually managed to get inside, being the last one, he turned and kicked the walls to bring down the cave entrance and seal themselves inside. He tore off his helmet, throwing it to the stone floor, and he screamed. They never had a chance to begin with, thousands of good and innocent creatures had died out there under his command. And for what? They managed to kill the scouting party. This whole war was a farce, they never could have competed with the humans. Their whole battle plan had been wasted prematurely and now his species was doomed. Cloud Hoof cried for his race, for the Earth Mother who had depended on him. For his wife and child who would be hunted down and slaughtered.

**************************************************************************

"Sir, field is clear and the radius is clear."

"Good," said General Winters. "Advance the containment unit, and get a unit out there with Lucifer." This was too easy, Unlike Patterson had said, the enemy had not grown stronger with every attack. In fact, humanity was on top again with this easy victory.

Outside, the six flat bed trucks advanced towards the base of the mountain, carrying their sinister loads of disassembled Tesla towers. And Sergeant Salazar rode with them, with his talent for god killing, carrying the ultimate weapon in his lap, the weapon which would corrupt and kill the soul of the Earth at the Surge origin point. The weapon called Lucifer.

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Once again, the standard treatment is in order. If you have a question, criticism or comment simply post below. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. All resemblances to persons or ponies, living or dead is mere coincidence. This is a work of pure fiction, and if you somehow find a way to clop to this, I will hunt you down.

Avatars of The Earth

Starswirl walked amongst the ponies and other creatures that had come to this cave for shelter, the cavern dimly lit by flickering torches. So many had died out there, and so many more sat inside here wounded, not only physically, but the mental scars would never leave these ponies. They had failed, they could not find the strength or the courage to defend this mountain, and now the humans freely walked upon it, burning away every trace of ponykind. Many had simply fled entirely, not taking shelter at all. Starswirl came upon a pegasus clad in black armor, his head bent in shame and melancholy.

Starswirl placed a comforting hoof on the pegasus general's shoulder, "Cloud Hoof."

Cloud stared at the floor, his stare speaking of failure and pain, "We couldn't do it Starswirl, from the beginning we never had a chance. Why? Why were we brought here to die?"

Starswirl sat next to the younger pony, "Some things are beyond our understanding, young warrior. The Earth Mother gave us a chance, and we failed her. But do not lose faith."

"How? How can I not lose faith? The humans massacred us out there! If the Earth Mother were on our side, she would have intervened somehow. I doubt she even exists anymore!"

"Do not say things like that! I know that somepony is watching us, waiting for the opportunity to give us aid! We just have to prove ourselves worthy."

***************************************************************

The human army was victorious, the world had been reclaimed by them! Everywhere, soldiers and civilian draftees burned and plundered what they could from the humble pony and creature villages. But the war was not over yet, many pockets of resistance remained in the mountains, posing a threat to the security of the human victory. But that would change, even now the devices of their ultimate victory moved into position, by dusk they would contain the Surges and corrupt the source, ensuring something like this could never happen again. General Winters stood on what was left of the original field of battle, not concerned with the amount of dead humans heaped around him. His trusted lieutenant secretary tailed the general, keeping notes on the constantly in-flowing radio calls.

"Lieutenant, what is the count on casualties?"

"Well sir at last count we lost around 10,000, mostly civilian draftees. Damn sons of bitches didn't follow the plan and went haywire. Couldn't do our proper preemptive bombardment with those idiots charging like Custer."

"No matter, they played their insignificant part. Now the real men can end this."

The lieutenant received a call from his personal radio. "Sir, General Esera wants to see you immediately in the command post."

"Finally, some recognition." With that the general reentered his light jeep with the lieutenant at the wheel. All around them flames danced on the blood soaked ground as the carrion birds screamed delightfully at their feast. The drive went by shortly, the command post was guarded by actual soldiers instead of the expendable cannon fodder conscripts. General Winters stepped out of his jeep, saluting the two soldiers guarding the entrance to the command tent. "You two are dismissed. I need to speak to the General alone." He entered alone, and standing across the room, bent over a aerial map like a warrior-king of antiquity, was General Esera. Esera placed something in his coat pocket.

"You wanted to see me sir?"

"Yes, Winters. Tell me, what the hell happened out there?!"

"We assaulted the mountain and took the mountain. What else is there to know?"

"10,000 men died out there! I'll give you the fact that we underestimated the enemy, who could have possibly known they would summon the perfect lightning storm on us? And the booby trapped battlefield evaded even our best intelligence, yes. But how is it that every single first wave unit completely ignored the battle plan? And who assigned the conscripts to a frontline situation when professional soldiers would not have cracked like a egg?"

"I don't know sir. One of the reasons Rome fell was the fact that it relied too heavily on its conscripts, I consider this a winnowing, to rid us of the chaff."

"You're a sick man Winters, those were American citizens sent to their deaths! Not faceless soldiers that you can march off a cliff without regrets, but the very people this Army is meant to protect!"

"And they were weak, General Esera. With this victory we have rid ourselves of the mindless drivel that held us down, both enemy and friendly."

"I know it was you, you made the call that caused this disaster! You ordered a head on assault and expected to be a hero when it worked! As soon as control can be reestablished, I'm having you court martialed for war crimes." General Esera turned to call in the guards, but never saw the butt of the pistol as it crashed into the back of his head, sending the aged commander to the ground.

"You know who I envy, Esera? The Soviet Union. Sure, they may have had a quite flawed way of looking at government, but they knew how to make a weapon and outfit an army. They always had a sense of eminent victory about them, even though they lost their fair share of conflicts. Victory, no matter the cost. And don't get me started on their weapons! I personally prefer their early Nagant revolver over our current Beretta JCP's. Sure its a little weaker, but they never break even in the worst conditions. The ammo is what makes it truly special though, the unique design makes it the only revolver that can be silenced." He screwed on a tube to the end of his antique pistol, then aimed it at the back of General Esera's unconscious head. "And just so you know, I will be the last man standing here." A small pop, and General Winters had positioned himself as Commanding General of the Army.

He exited the tent, wiping the blood off of his coat and gloves, "Lieutenant, it appears the General suffered an accident, have a squad of our most loyal soldiers take him out to the battlefield and toss him on a fire with the other corpses. Maintain radio contact with the battalion transporting Lucifer, we end this tonight."

*****************************************************************

The Surge mountain was almost completely under human control. But it didn't matter, three of the Tesla towers were already in their places and generating their oppressive fields. Within the next six hours the ring would be completed and humans would be ultimately victorious over the rebellion of the Earth. And once contained, the energy would be corrupted and reversed with a single blast from Lucifer, and the very soul of the Earth would know fear and the pain of death.

Deep within the bowels of the mountain, Cloud Hoof and Starswirl contemplated their last hours alive.

"You know Cloud, I never lived out my dream."

"What was your dream?"

"To teach, to study, to read! Maybe open the first pony library or school and teach young minds."

"Kind of a weird dream Starswirl, I lived both of mine. I found the mare of my dreams and had a family with her, but now they are gone. And I learned to live in the freedom of the sky."

"I feel your pain my friend, I fancied White Dawn. I daydreamed about having her as a wife, shame she fell out on the battlefield."

"You and White Dawn? Did you actually, well, you know."

"Several times, young warrior. Her white fur would blush red with our passion! Heck, some days she would start it right after our councils, sometimes I had to chase her down! Why there was this one incident involving a feather and some grape jelly...."

"Augh! Stop it old stallion! I'm sorry I asked!"

"I'm not!" The two laughed at the story. Suddenly Starswirl stopped, holding his breath in mid laugh.

"What's the matter old stallion?"

Starswirl stood, looking around in the air, like he was sniffing for the source of a smell. "I feel something, something different. The magic is here, and building itself, but also there is a different force, something the humans have created to stop the magic. She calls to me Cloud, The Mother calls to me to stop the human magic and free us."

"How? You know as well as I do that we cannot fight them like this."

"Our time is short, The Mother asks for our sacrifice to aid Her, the humans intend to corrupt Her, and the only way to stop them is to remove the sources of their foul magic."

"So we are to risk our lives on the whim of a magical Earth goddess who we aren't even sure is there just to futilely attack some heavily guarded source of human magic? High chances of our annihilation, virtually no chance of success.... What are we waiting for? Call every pony that can still stand! Our tunnels go all around this mountain, we can come from below and strike before the end of the hour if we hurry! No, I have a better plan. Gather every tunneling creature that you can find."

***************************************************************************

Late afternoon, four of six now stood, and Lucifer was being born up the nearly sheer face of the mountain in a helicopter. Guards were indeed heavy around the standing Tesla towers, the entire plan relied on those towers functioning perfectly and not being harmed in any way. If Lucifer were fired without the suppressing fields generated by the towers, who knew what kind of effect the thing could have? Guarding tower number three was almost a complete battalion of the most elite Special Forces units in the military. Standing right below the tower was Specialist Sniper Aikens, positioned to fire on enemies coming up the gully leading to the tower.

He had to admit that there were more than a few dozen mistakes regarding the first wave assault. Sending a conscripted rabble to distract the enemy while professional forces moved into position? Daring, but completely insane. Add the fact that half the tanks were lost in that first charge!

"Aikens! Quit daydreaming!"

"Yes sir, Master Sergeant."

The tower put off a slight hum, sending out its invisible constraining field of altered Surge energy. But something else lay behind that sound.

"Sir, do we have visuals on enemies? I'm hearing something that sounds like frying bacon."

"Just radio static or something, that or your stomach is playing tricks on your mind."

Aikens turned to the sniper next to him, "Ya know something, I saw a lot of dead enemies out there today, but it seemed like not enough."

"Getting a little bloodthirsty are we?"

"No, I'm saying we routed their army and they just disappeared, like they vanished into thin air."

"Somebody from Charlie company says they saw some running into caves and shit, hope they suffocate in there."

Aikens returned to his vigil. The damn sound was back! He reached to his ear and tore out his radio bud. Still the sound was all around him! Something nagged at him from his childhood memories. From a book by Robert Heinlein. What was it? Puppet Masters? No, maybe Stranger in a Strange Land? Wait! It was Starship Troopers! Why was he remembering Starship Troopers? Something about the bugs, the way they dug. Was it the fact that they sprayed acid? No, something about bacon oddly enough. When the bugs dug tunnels they made a sound like.....frying bacon.

"JESUS CHRIST! THEY'RE BELOW US!" The ground opened up, swallowing the entire tower and half the battalion with it. What remained of the Special Forces unit fired into the pit, blindly shooting and throwing grenades, but to no avail. The enemy had gotten smart, and fled as soon they finished the pit.

*******************************************************************

A single man stood at the head of a huge mass of well armed, under appreciated, and over abused American citizens. Torches flickered in the twilight, a testament to how far they had been drug down by the Army. A feeling of rage permeated the air, a powder keg of sheer anger at the military that had forced the men with the least combat experience right into the jaws of oblivion while the real soldiers stood back and let it happen.

The lone man had a deer rifle slung on his shoulder, the only weapon he could scrape up when the Army came recruiting. "I am sick of being a peon! This time they went too far!"

"YEAH!" the crowd shouted back.

"Those Army motherfuckers came knocking on our doors, tearing apart our lives with promises of protection and insurance of our freedom! And what do they do for us? They make us march to our deaths! They're the ones who are supposed to protect us, we're not supposed to be taking the blow for them!"

"YEAH!"

"I'm not a goddamned soldier! I am a fucking accountant, and those grunts out there are supposed to be looking out for us. For us accountants, us farmers, bankers, businessmen, laborers, carpenters! I for one blame this whole goddamned war on those bastards in charge of the Army. Did the enemy attack us when we were civilians? NO! Did they go out of their way to fight us? NO! Those ponies left us alone as civilians! Only when those Army sons of bitches showed up did they get mean!"

Hundreds of men nodded their heads and agreed, the ponies did seem to be very lax and very tolerant of non-aggressive civilian populations.

"If we let the Army keep abusing us like this, there won't be an America left when this is all over. So I say we pack our bags and get the hell out of here! Anyone who wants to get in our way, show them what it means to have Second Amendment rights!" He unslung his rifle, gripping it with both hands as he shook it over his head.

The entire force of conscripts raised their own weapons, a few firing off shots as the entire crowd began to surge out towards the main Army encampment.

******************************************************************

Lieutenant McGoff placed a hand on his ear, drowning out the background noise to hear an emergency radio call. "General Winters Sir!"

"Go ahead lieutenant."

"Special Forces units at Tower three say they were hit hard with an underground attack! Tower three has been destroyed!"

"WHAT!?! Get Patterson on the radio! He has to know a way to salvage this situation!"

Another radio call buzzed the lieutenant's ear piece, something less expected than a Surge creature attack.

"Sir, we just got reports of hostile actions."

"Tell me something new lieutenant!"

"The reports are coming from base camp, the conscripts are revolting."

The General stood and grabbed the lieutenant by the front of his shirt. "I must have just heard wrong, I could have sworn you just said our conscripted soldiers were revolting!" The General's eyes could shoot daggers for the amount of hatred pouring from them.

The lieutenant thought hard about his immediate future for a second, "Yes sir, all conscripted battalions are in revolt. They are up in arms over the massacre of the first wave. They are saying it shouldn't have been them in the first wave, and that if we use them for cannon fodder now, there won't be an American people left at wars end."

The psychotic general tightened his grip, "I want you to radio all remaining unit commanders not on active duty in the field and have this little rebellion crushed!"

The lieutenant pressed a finger to the call button on his personal radio transmitter, "All inactive units, report to base camp and assist with suppression of active uprising." He listened for a second, his face turning pale. "Sir, half the unit commanders are siding with the rebels."

General Winters let go of his lieutenant. He slowly walked back to the table, tracing a finger on the map. Rome was burning, and he had Nero stenciled in bold letters across his chest.

"Sir, Patterson is on."

"Give me your radio. Patterson, we lost a tower, what do we do?"

A dry voice cutting with an edge of smugness drifted in on the radio, "I told you they would get stronger, even if that meant we would get weaker. As for the tower, increase the power load on all standing towers by 50%, it should increase their range just far enough to cover for the lost one. We are in position with Lucifer, awaiting full coverage of the shield."

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Cloud couldn't believe it, they had struck and succeeded! He didn't know how many of the other guerrilla groups had succeeded, but his plan had worked! He raced through the caverns, calling everypony to raise up arms once more, for once that day, they tasted the sweetness of victory.

"Rise my brothers and sisters! There is no rest for the weary! Give me your strength one last time and you may rest forever more in paradise!"

Ponies who but a few hours earlier had given up on life stood, grabbing whatever weapons they could hold. They may not live to see the end of the night, but they would not leave this world silently!

As they charged to the nearest exits, the very stones of the mountains took on a flickering glow of life, the human magic was being dispelled, and the Earth Mother would send her blessing to those who needed it the most.

***************************************************************************

Something was wrong, the tip of the mountain glowed green with visible Surge energy, but the barriers were at full strength! Patterson sat next to his creation in the back of a transport helicopter, half hoping that his plan of corruption would fail. The general had called about the lost tower, and Patterson gave him a plan that he knew would not work, the towers were already running at full capacity, increasing the power load would completely fry their internal components.

Sergeant Salazar wielded Lucifer, he was famous amongst the troops for his heroics concerning some bear cult, he himself having slain their god with only a knife. It seemed fitting that he strike the blow against a real god. A radio call from base was transferred to Patterson's headset.

"What in the hell Patterson! All towers but five and six overheated and fried! The energy can't be contained anymore! I order you to use Lucifer NOW! Regardless of the side effects!"

But whatever controlled the Surges had different plans. Everywhere along the battlefield, all the way back to Stronghold, omega detectors were losing their minds. Readings of energy so far off the charts that the detectors shook uncontrollably and burst in a shower of sparks.

Dr. Patterson looked on, the world seemed to freeze. Down on the ground, soldiers looked in amazement as sparks from fires fell infinitely slow, leaves blowing in the wind froze in place. Deep within the mountain itself, stones floated with the amount of raw magical power surging through them. Patterson knew, knew that now the enemy would display her true power.

A burst of light from the peak, a pillar of Surge energy so dense that it danced like green flames flew into the sky, shaking the very foundations of the earth. The pillar climbed higher, meeting the clouds. They began to mix in a vortex of unnatural force, waves of the energy pulsing from the base of the mountain, striking whatever stood in their way.

"What are you waiting for! Use the weapon!"

Salazar trembled like a frightened child, he realized he carried the weapon and aimed it out the door of the helicopter. Lucifer spat forth a bolt of dark energy, black as night, streaking across the sky like a devil sent from hell. True victory was upon them. But something happened, a great blinding flash of white light surrounded the pillar of energy, and Lucifer's bolt ricocheted off harmlessly. The pillar's base left the mountain's peak and joined the vortex in the clouds, and a great explosion threw the helicopter from the sky. Spinning out of control and crash landing, the last thing Patterson saw before slipping into darkness were two shapes flying downwards from the clouds, one white as snow, one dark as night.

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The rebellion had ceased to watch the spectacle of magic happening within the sky, soldier and conscript staring in awe at the sight of Lucifer's failed attack. General Winters also watched, but he was less impressed. "What are you standing around for?!? All missile units, tanks, helicopters, FIRE AT THOSE TWO HOSTILES!"

A massive wave of destructive armaments erupted from the ground, aimed at the two specters who hovered now over the peak of the mountain, shining in a sun-like brilliance. The two new creatures simply looked at them as the assortment of missiles, rockets and shells screamed across the heavens. Then, they just stopped. In almost a perfect sphere around the two, the barrage stopped. Each weapon was coated by a black and white aura, and almost nonchalantly, the missiles flipped and began to return to those who sent them.

******************************************************************************

Cloud Hoof met with the gathering force at the blocked off cave entrance, many ponies lay on the ground, writhing in apparent agony.

"What is going on here?"

Cloud went to the side of his friend Starswirl, who had just begun to rise from the ground.

"Starswirl, what is happening?"

The older pony's mane parted, a glistening horn spiraled outward from his forehead.

"The blessing my brother. Now, we have a score to settle." His horn took on a purple glow, and the rocks blocking the entrance took on the same glow, flinging themselves out of the way. The pony army charged once again into the breach, the new unicorns leading the charge.

Squads of human soldiers were shocked by the appearance of the two godlike beings, but even more surprised to see the reemergence of the pony army. Quickly coming to their senses, they laid down suppressing fire to try and stop the charge. Mystical shields appeared at the front of the charge, and bullets melted when they struck them.

Roars sounded out from afar, drawn back to the battlefield by the cosmic beacon, the routed creature army had returned. Dragons swooped over the human camps in disarray, breathing their terrible gouts of flame to light the night. The gryphons dove in to combat human soldiers, now on equal terms with the demons. Manticores sprang from the shadows to sting with their venom and even a pair of wyverns blasted the field with their icy beams.

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General Winters did what he could to maintain control, frantic radio calls did nothing in particular, the rebelling conscripts had fled in every direction when the missiles the forces had shot somehow made their way back. Most of the missile units and tanks had been utterly destroyed. This was not a battle, this was utter chaos! Now the damn ponies could sling magic and were immune to bullets!? The only areas that reported relative safety were under the two remaining Tesla Towers, but they were on the far side of the mountain, and no way in hell were they getting reinforcements out there.

He left his tent, grabbing whatever weapon happened to be lying in some dead marine's hands. He was not going to die here tonight. A massive brown shape charged at the general from behind a wrecked vehicle, only his paranoia and quick trigger finger managed to bring down the charging buffalo. He put two more bullets in the creature's head, then climbed into his personal jeep. He jammed the clutch into gear, driving as fast as he could towards safety. Off to his left, an artillery piece began to levitate, then collapsed in on itself like a crushed tin can.

"This can't be happening!" and the coward fled like a dog with its tail tucked in between it's legs.

Abandoned by his commanding officer, Lieutenant McGoff knew there was one thing he could do. He grabbed a radio, pressing down the call button and setting it to all channels. "All units, this is Lieutenant McGoff, General Winters has fled the field, all units fall back to Stronghold! Repeat, FALL BACK TO STRONGHOLD!"

Humanity had taken one hell of a blow that night. But the nightmare had only begun.

A Twisted Irony

There was blissful silence, but a searing agony. I must be dead, I sinned enough and managed to make my way to Hell. Funny in a way, being that he released Lucifer from the pit of Hell. Who am I? Aaron....Aaron Patterson. Voices, there were voices around where ever he was, voices that did not have a human quality.

"Princess! This one is still alive!"

His eyes wrenched open to see terror. He was surrounded by heaps of twisted metal and the mutilated bodies of his comrades. Helicopter crash. Where is Lucifer? Outside sat a squadron of warrior ponies, some that had horns. Unicorns? That's what happened? Their swords and spears were all aimed at him, but beyond them stood a creature of imminent beauty and brilliance. A pony much taller than the warriors with fur whiter than snow and a mane that shined like a rainbow. But she had a horn, and wings. Some kind of leader, one of the demigods that saw a magical birth last night.

"Take him alive, and destroy that infernal machine he holds."

Aaron looked down, Lucifer was pinning him to the wall of the crashed helicopter. By some twist of fate his hand had come to rest near the firing mechanism. He would only get one chance, and they were probably going to kill him anyways. He lifted what he could of Lucifer and aimed it straight at the strange pony demigod.

"Celestia! Watch out!"

Lucifer retched forth the second of its hellish bolts of energy, the world slowed down to a crawling pace. But, the other demigod had managed to move herself in Lucifer's path and took the blow. The dark blue pony god took Lucifer's bolt like a cannonball, being flung back several yards.

"Luna!", the white one looked back at the broken and dying human, her horn glowing white. Lucifer leapt out of Aaron's hands and several pony warriors grabbed him, not caring about his multiple wounds and broken bones. Celestia ran to Luna, they had only been corporeal for a few hours and this had happened. "Luna, are you alright?"

The dark blue demigod lifted her head, "I'm...alright I guess." It was not alright, Lucifer had touched her, leaving his cruel mark upon her mind, a wound that would fester over the years.

Cruelly throwing him on the ground, the warriors raised their spears and swords to finish this creature that had dared hurt their Princess. "No! We take him alive! Take him back to the citadel and heal him, but first try restraining him before he can do more damage!" Princess Luna shouted. The guards cowered in shame at their scolding, grabbing whatever rope they had to bind the broken human. "And take that weapon to the deepest cave you can find and seal it in there!"

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Three days had passed since the Day of Judgement, humanity had been defeated in their efforts to stop ponykind. They had been routed from the battlefield, but the creatures were stopped from pursuing the humans by the alicorns, claiming that mercy was the best thing they could give the humans now. And so they trickled back to Stronghold, gathering there to await their next opportunity and lick their many wounds.

Families were reunited, but all too many were missing brothers, sons, fathers, sisters, and mothers. The makeshift hospitals were full to bursting with injured creatures, many would never walk again, and still more were lucky to be alive. Funeral pyres were littered across the field of battle; bodies of humans, ponies and creatures all shared the flame, their ashes returning to the earth. The war machines of the humans stood twisted and broken, nopony knew what to do with them yet, and so they stood as memorials to the bloodshed that had marked the peak of the war.

Cloud Hoof didn't care, the heavenly beacon that brought the alicorns into this world had also drawn back allies and those who had fled. Among them, his wife and daughter. A million humans could not stop him from running to embrace them as they came with the returning ponies who had fled the onslaught. They were safe, and for the first time in what seemed like centuries, the future looked bright for the children of the earth.

To give their thanks, creatures of every race and talent broke ground that morning on a grand castle for their alicorn saviors, magic making the process much more expedient. It would stand as a symbol rather than a home, a citadel of friendship and harmony to stand against the dreaded human bastion of Stronghold.

Their war was over, humanity had been pacified for now. Their stories would take them along the many paths of life and through trials and tribulations. But it was not over for humanity. Hell could not describe the next events which would see them on the endangered species list.

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It is a basic law of physics that energy or matter can not be simply created or destroyed. It can only change function or form. Thus, when Lucifer's first bolt of utter darkness struck the divine shield in an attempt to corrupt all magic, it was not destroyed. Rather, its path was diverted. The bolt screamed through the trees of the forest around the mountain, skimming over the ruins of pony villages and the battlefield. It had a simple mind, and a simple goal. Like a virus it would infect a host, corrupt them and use them as the ultimate tool of chaos. No single form would suffice, and the bolt came to rest in a pile of corpses, determined to take traits from all of them.

The blood of a dozen creatures came to feed the growing hunger of the living darkness, and a form began to take shape. Rising from the blood of the dead came a creature too hideous and malformed to normally survive, a chimeric mixture of dark magic and flesh. A draconequus, a twisted visage with a ponies head and the body parts of a dozen other species.

This new creature hungered, though not in a physical sense. It hungered for chaos, death and dominance over life. Floating away from the place of its bloody birth, the monster searched for prey. The first it came upon were a band of ponies, they seemed vulnerable, but upon spotting the twisted creature used their magic to shield themselves from the unknown foe. There had to be easier prey. He found an entire milling mass of two legged humans, their souls looked delicious, riper than fall apples, but upon spotting him they shouted and sprayed him with stinging bullets. So the creature left the mountain and the battlefield, all the creatures there obviously too strong or too well armed for this time around.

Floating effortlessly over hills and valleys and over hundreds of miles, the draconequus came upon something new, a town with lit windows and sounds coming from it. Swooping in close, he examined what looked like the humans from before, but not armed for war or combat. Looking into a window, he saw a few humans gathered around a table, a family group enjoying a morning meal, laughing and talking to each other about what they were going to do today.

Perfect place to start, and at breakfast time nonetheless!

He reached forth with his magic and touched their minds, dragging his spectral claws through their psyches. The family stopped their chatter, and stared blankly at each other. Suddenly, the family broke like twigs. An inhuman scream came from the mother, driving her own fingernails into the soft flesh of her own face, dragging them down to leave bloody wounds on herself. The father grabbed his son and tore into his throat with his teeth, ripping out gobbets of his own son's flesh with gusto. The remaining child stood, grabbed a kitchen knife from the table and began to eviscerate her screaming mother, spilling her intestines all over the once placidly set table. The monster felt a certain satisfaction, but he was not satiated. He drifted over every other house in the town, spreading his evil influence on every human found. By noon, half the town had simply murdered one another, the rest driven hopelessly insane by the dark magic of the monster. Their natural tendencies made it almost too easy. Discord reigned in the once humble and loving place.

Discord, what a lovely name. The draconequus laughed, he was strengthened by the chaos and death that he brought upon the humans, and what joy! He knew the entire planet was covered in these creatures who so easily were turned to madness and chaos. A veritable feast of souls for him to gorge upon at his leisure.

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Why have they kept me alive?

Aaron had seen nothing but the inside of a newly constructed prison cell for what he guessed to be days. They brought him food once in a while. Pitiful amounts, considering most of it was hay. If they wanted to starve him to death, they were already halfway there. But the confusing thing was that when they captured him, they healed him. His broken bones, lacerations and bruises were all healed simultaneously when one of the demigods touched him with her horn in its white aura. He had been dead tired and slept for untold hours. When he awoke, he lay in this cell, a cramped place with no windows and a solid door. But there was still somehow a light, not a source of light, just light covering every inch of the room.

Occasionally a guard would open the door from the outside to see if he was still breathing, but other than that he saw nothing and heard nothing. He tried to measure time, but had no way of knowing whether his naps lasted a minute or a day. Alone with himself, he tried everything to stay sane. But one day, or night for all he knew, the door opened and the guards used their magic to shackle him.

"Come with us prisoner, if you try anything, we will resort to violence. Answer every question the Princess asks and you get to eat good tonight."

"All you fucking mules feed me is hay! I can't eat hay god damn-" He was silenced by a hoofed punch to the stomach. Doubling over in pain, the guards forced him to march.

It was surprising what a little magic could do, as he was marched to his interrogation he took note that the foundations for a castle were springing up around him. This entire situation seemed familiar, but reverse. They arrived at what looked like an unfinished throne room. Upon a pillowed throne sat the white demigod, her rainbow mane constantly shifting, even if the air was still. He was brought before the steps leading to the throne and kicked to his knees. The guards bowed to their Princess, then turned to leave the room.

For the longest time the white goddess simply stared disapprovingly at the human kneeling before her. He realized that death must have looked better, a week in unwashed combat fatigues and no bathing must have made for quite a spectacle. She decided to begin his interrogation.

"What are you called?"

Aaron sat quietly, defiance was the one weapon left in his armory.

"I will ask again, human. What is your name?"

Silence.

"Can you speak at all?" her voice had taken on a motherly edge of concern. Far from what he had expected.

He felt compelled, his head nodded up and down ever so slightly.

"Are you too weak to say so? Guards! Bring this creature some water and bread! I apologize, they are not used to treating guests."

"Is that what you call me, a guest?" the alicorn was slightly taken aback by his sudden break from silence and his tone of voice. "Because the way I view it, I am a prisoner on death row here."

"What? We don't want to kill you!"

"You didn't seem to have any qualms about slaughtering my brethren. Why stop with them? Why not kill me here and now!"

"We loathed what had to happen that night. But it was necessary for harmony to ever be created. Your kind would never have stopped their ways of evil and destruction if you had won."

"All I ever hear from you nags is harmony this and friendship that! When did you ever stop to think that maybe wholesale slaughter of an entire species wasn't the answer to your problem? Maybe harmony would have been a little easier to achieve if we had talked away our differences!"

The goddess bowed her head and sighed, the obvious wisdom of his words cutting deep. "Your kind are afraid of anything they do not understand. My sister and I are the true mysteries of life and magic, by your thoughts we should not exist. Your leaders would never listen, never bow to a power greater than themselves."

"I would have listened, but no one would listen to me."

The alicorn lifted her head, "You are different than your brothers, a shame you will not tell me your name."

"I am Aaron Patterson, scientist, inventor, soldier, and more recently prisoner."

A small smile crept across her face. "Well met, Aaron Patterson. I am known to mortals as Princess Celestia."

The guards finally burst in with a loaf of bread and a pitcher of water, sweating from their attempted expediency. The Princess nodded toward the kneeling human. They grudgingly brought him his food, laying it on the ground in front of him, bowing and scraping their way out. Like a starved animal he leapt on the meager rations, for the first time in who knows how long eating something that he could actually digest.

Patiently waiting for him to finish, the Princess began to ask a few questions.

"What is the purpose of this device?" her horn glowed, and a handgun whisked out from behind the throne.

"That is a gun," he said between gulps of water. "Humans like me use it as a weapon."

"A weapon you say?" a piece of parchment and a quill emerged from beside Celestia, she used her magic to scribble some notes. "And this one?" A cellular phone now hovered where the gun had been seconds ago.

"A bit more difficult to explain, that is a device we use to communicate over very long distances and also use for the storage and retrieval of information."

"Fascinating! Please tell me how it works."

"I don't really know, I'm not a programmer or an engineer."

The double doors to the throne room slammed open, in walked the other demigod. The one whose name still eluded him.

"Celestia! What are you doing with this...thing so close to you!"

"Luna, calm down, he is harmless."

"Harmless?! You saw what he did to me out there, what he tried to do to you!" As she passed him, a equine knee struck him in the back, sending him face first to the stone floor. Luna looked with scorn at the pitiful human, addressing him coldly. "If I had my way, you would have been put down like the rest of the rabid dogs that you call your brothers and sisters." With a back leg she kicked him in the ribs. Aaron had to use all of his willpower to keep from screaming.

Rage boiled inside of Aaron, he managed to lift himself to a kneeling position once again. Blood trickled down from a split lip. "I'm not afraid of you." he muttered to the blue alicorn.

Luna's eyes narrowed as she leaned close to his face, "You should be."

Celestia seemed a bit shocked that her sister would act in such a way. "What is the matter with you Luna?"

"I know these monsters! They are nothing more than parasites to be rid of! And I'm going to start with this one."

A small object caught Aaron's eye, a black shape resting near the foot of the throne. The gun. He would only have this one chance. Luna's back was turned to him, he stood shakily and using every last drop of strength he leapt at the foot of the throne. Grabbing a hold of the gun, he rolled to his feet, throwing the chains of his shackles around Celestia's neck. Luna now looked at him, her horn wreathed in a dark glow.

"Hold it! Get rid of your magic or your sister dies!" He held the gun to her temple, thumbing back the hammer with an audible click. Luna snarled at the human, but she would not put Celestia in any more danger, the aura on her horn disappeared. Several guards now burst in through the double doors, weapons raised. They surrounded the throne, not wanting to get too close or the human might end their Princess.

Slowly he rose with his hostage, edging his way towards the windows that stood uncompleted. Celestia did not fight back, rather she seemed to escort Aaron to the window. His heart beat like a drumline. God I hope this thing actually has bullets. The guards closed in, spears and swords aimed for the various exposed parts of his body. He reached his goal, looking briefly out the window he saw that they were not far off the ground, only about ten feet or so.

"Forgive me Celestia," he whispered. He threw the Princess towards her guards. In the moment that he got, he aimed the pistol to the chains at his feet and fired, the roar of the gun giving him hope. The bullet managed to break the chain links, and he leapt out the window. Landing hard, he positioned the pistol to fire at the chains binding his wrist shackles and pulled the trigger. They too snapped, but the gun only had two bullets in the clip he discovered. Tossing it aside, he began his escape. Above him in the throne room, Luna exploded with rage.

"Captain!"

"Yes Princess!"

"Have all guards put on high alert! Send out additional patrols and tell them we have an escaped prisoner."

"What do we do after we capture him Princess?"

"Who said anything about capture? I want his head on a platter."

Celestia had recovered from her blatant use as a shield. "Luna, something is wrong with you. Did you even listen to what you said when you came in here?"

A look of confusion overtook the black alicorn, like she had just woken up. "What?" She looked around at her settings, "How did I get here?"

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He ran on pure adrenaline now. Running through the newly made streets of the pony capital, the remains of his chains loudly announced his presence. He ducked into what he thought was an empty street, only to discover the market. It was a technicolor nightmare, ponies every which direction he looked. Thankfully none had taken notice of him.

"By the alicorns! The humans are attacking again!" somepony shouted. All eyes were instantly on him, a hundred angry veterans of the war approached with ears back and whatever they could find as weapons gripped in their mouths.

Spoke too soon, he turned and ran back down the alleyway. The mob followed, screaming for his demon blood. Guards had joined them now, faster than the mob and more organized. His agility saved his life, as he turned down another alleyway he jumped and grabbed the gutter of a roof, pulling himself up. The mob passed below, unaware of his hiding place. Aaron breathed a sigh of relief, catching his breath. He had never been an athlete, but it felt like he had run a marathon.

I need to get out of this city, but there is no way I can get far enough with what little energy I have left.

"Think Aaron, think! You got through eight years of college in just six and now you can't get away from a bunch of pissed off farm animals!" It struck him like a brick. There were literally tons of vehicles that the army left behind in their retreat! If he could find one that worked, he might just be able to get away.

Just one major problem, the vehicles were all out on the battlefield. Across the city. Through thousands of creatures that would rather crush him into jelly than talk to him. He needed a plan, quick. It looked like the pegasi units of the guards were scanning the roof tops. He dropped down back to the street. Next to what looked like an old timey smithy. Hiding behind a barrel, he got a look at the smiths. Strange upright dogs that worked with their hand like paws on various works of metallurgy. He calculated their size, just about as tall as him. Whenever one left the shop, it would grab a deep hooded cloak and throw it on, their eyes not liking the sun.

"Perfect" he whispered. Why did he not think of a disguise! One of the dogs stopped and sniffed the air. Oh shit, he thought frantically.

"Boss! Me smell human stench!" the dog said in a guttural voice.

An equally guttural voice called from behind an anvil. "You stupid mutt! We work with human metal. They stench all over it."

Human metal? His eyes widened as he realized the situation. They were scrapping out whatever they could find out on the battlefield for themselves, if he didn't move quick enough the chances of finding a working vehicle would get slimmer. And his pungent, unwashed smell only complicated things.

Slipping away, he tried to find a way to eliminate his odor. Where was a can of Febreeze when you needed one? All he could find was a trash heap, smelling like garbage was better than smelling like a human in this town. Having satisfactorily violated every instinct to stay clean, he again approached the smithy. Hiding behind his barrel, he would wait for the opportunity to swipe one of those cloaks. The dogs stopped their work, noses going up into the air, sniffing again.

"Boss, me smell something good. Can we take break for lunch yet?"

Their boss growled, then the stench filled his nose as well. "Just this one time! Me may as well get food too." All the dogs left their projects, grabbing their cloaks they went down various streets with their swinging, shuffling gait. He rushed into the shop, grabbing a cloak and a pair of short fingered gloves. Grabbing a set of what looked like extremely strong tin snips he lopped off what was left of his shackles. Throwing on the cloak and gloves, he assumed their approximate stance and began shuffling towards the other end of the city.

It was slow going at this speed, but as he entered the marketplace, he nearly panicked as ponies looked his way, then breathed a sigh of relief as they looked away. His disguise was working! He reached the gate closest to the battlefield, but nearly had a heart attack when he saw the platoon of guards blocking his way. Well, in for a penny in for a pound. He approached the gate.

"Halt! What business do you have leaving Canterlot?" a guard in burnished armor said, probably a higher rank than his fellows.

Canterlot? What a strange name. He prepared his voice as best as he could.

"Um, me just on way to get more metal, um, sir."

"Aren't you aware there is a dangerous criminal on the loose, Diamond Dog?"

"No! Me not know anything about criminal, me just need to go and get more metal!"

The guard squinted his eyes, obviously suspicious.

"There's something strange about you, Dog. Where is your tail? And why do you have gloves on?"

Excuses raced through his mind at the speed of light.

"Um, never had a tail! Demons cut it off as a pup."

"And the gloves?"

"Burned paws making a sword, sir."

The guard relaxed a little, obviously respecting the military blacksmiths.

"Well, go on ahead citizen. And if you see that criminal, just tell one of us. Hey, my sword is a little dull, think I could get a sharpening anytime soon?"

Happy day! He was just feet from freedom! "Well sure! Just bring it by the shop anytime!" He choked as he realized he had said that in his human voice.

"What was that?"

He quickly returned to his Diamond Dog gruffness. "Sorry, me have something bad for lunch, something stuck in throat."

The guard wrinkled his nose, "Sure smells like you had a good time. Go on ahead."

He nodded to the guard and shuffled his way through the gate. He crested a hill and wondered whether he should run for it or not. Probably a bad idea, ponies and other creatures still passed by occasionally. Ahead was the battlefield, rows of tanks, humvees and civilian vehicles stood destroyed or in stages of disassembly. But between him and that most beautiful sight lay several ranks of ponies, all dressed in armor and standing in formation. Another thing that he noted, they were all unicorns. After a stunned second he realized they were not his pursuers, but that this was some kind of training exercise. A older pony in blue robes and a geeky wizard hat stood before them, shouting instructions for the proper nuances of the spell they were learning.

This complicated things a little more, if he drove off while they practiced, they would certainly chase him down and probably turn him into a frog. The only thing he could do was to find a place to hide and wait them out. A roadside ditch sufficed for the moment. Though horribly uncomfortable, he did manage to somehow fall asleep.

He awoke with a start, it was almost sundown! He peered over the ditch to the practicing unicorns, they had just started to pack up for the day. A pair of the armored spellcasters was walking down the road in his direction, chatting and occasionally laughing. Hiding in the shadowed recesses of the ditch, Aaron listened to their conversation.

"Ugh, Starswirl sure was hard on us today."

"You know he just wants us to be ready, thats all."

"Ready for what? We beat the humans so bad their own mothers wouldn't recognize 'em."

That was not how it happened! Aaron ground his teeth at the historical inaccuracy.

"Rumor is going around that Princess Luna wants to attack Stronghold! She says that if we don't nip them in the bud now, they will just attack again and again!"

"Oh my goodness! Attack Stronghold? Is she mad?! That's their citadel for hays sake!"

An attack on Stronghold? They lied to me, they do want to wipe us out.

"Even if we did manage to somehow take their citadel, there are millions more humans everywhere, this would be a never ending war!"

"That's the thing, something is killing them off. Pegasus scouts keep reporting that their nearest towns are all filled with human corpses, the ones that are still alive don't seem to be intelligent anymore, just insane."

"I hate to say this about any living thing, but good riddance."

The pair trotted off towards Canterlot, far out of his hearing. You lied to me Celestia, whatever is happening to humanity out there is your fault!

He ran from the ditch, heading straight for the nearest complete humvee. He threw off his cloak and gloves. He was human, and the pony that held it against him better stay out of his way! He peered inside a soot covered window, just blood stains and expended shells. Quietly he opened the door and climbed inside, when he realized he needed keys. He turned down the driver's visor, and a pair fell down into his lap.

"Convenient." Jamming them into the ignition, he turned and heard the heavenly roar of an 8 cylinder diesel engine. No time to spare, he turned the wheel and put the pedal to the metal. Dirt sprayed from the tires, and Aaron earned his freedom that evening.

Several miles down the road he pulled over the get his bearings. A mostly unharmed map jammed between the seats told him he was heading in the right direction. But there was something else, a lumpy bag in the back that gave off a terrible odor. He knew what was under there, and he did not want to see it, but he had to. Unzipping the body, a wave of putrescent smell hit him like a truck, he had to leave the humvee and vomit several times before working up the courage to try again. Covering his nose and mouth, Aaron unzipped the body bag down to the corpse's chest.

It was a bloated and rotted figure that had once been a human being, the cause of death being a bullet wound to the skull. He wore officer's fatigues and no armor, he couldn't have died in combat. This man had been murdered. Looking at his dog tags, Aaron's very soul went cold.

"General Esera. What the hell happened?"

Gently checking his pockets for any clues, Aaron found a tape recorder. The tape was full, he guessed it must have been on when he died and run out when nobody bothered to turn it off. Unfortunately the battery had also run dead, and there were no replacements here in hostile territory.

"A mystery to solve back at base." He took time that evening to bury General Esera, even though creatures of unknown horror still stalked the shadows. By dawn he had left the General a dignified grave, and so left for the one place on earth still safe for him.

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And there you have it, xenocide without the ponies getting their hooves dirty or names tarnished. Long chapter for me, hope you all enjoy it. Give the usual treatment below, questions, comments, etc. All persons/ponies portrayed here are used in a fictitious manner, any and all resemblance to anyone/pony living or dead is coincidence. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is trademarked property of Hasbro Inc.

The Last Tyrant

It had been the most terrible defeat anyone in the military had ever witnessed. The Day of Judgement as it had been called had started as the ultimate human victory over the forces of the Earth, but a third Surge had come and destroyed whatever hope of victory was to be had. They fled back here, to Fort Greenewell, known to friend and foe as Stronghold. Of the expeditionary force of 200,000 professional soldiers and conscripts, roughly half had been lost on the blood soaked fields, most of the conscripts had rebelled and fled in the midst of battle. Scattered to the winds, the human army limped back to Stronghold, stragglers coming in for days after the battle's conclusion. General John Winters still maintained command, despite the fact he was among the first to flee, partially because nobody else wanted to be in command and take the blame for their failure.

Dr. Eve Mcentyre had taken all responsibilities in the science division. In her mind she wept for the loss of her beloved student Aaron, who had died in a helicopter crash after trying to stop the flow of magic with Lucifer. But there was hope, every day soldiers trickled in, some of them having been in the worst parts of the combat zone. If they could survive dragon fire and magic attacks, maybe Aaron had survived. After a week she gave up hope. He was not a very strong man, and even if they did take him hostage there was little chance for escape. But they hadn't counterattacked, they could have utterly destroyed the human army, but the two demigods that led them now had stopped them. They had showed mercy in their victory.

"They really are better than us." mused the aging scientist, her sorrow unending. General Winters was planning a second assault on the castle and town now forming on the Surge mountain. The crazy bastard would never learn. And so he had every scientist trying to create new weapons to fight. There had been a little success, micro Tesla towers no taller than a foot could protect a squad or vehicle from direct magical attacks for around twenty minutes. Though most experiments had failed. Many refused to work, they wanted to accept the fact that this was no longer a human world. Maybe even try talking to the enemy. The general would hear none of it, and anyone who defied him would face a firing squad.

It was terrifying, Winters being in supreme command of the last human army. Nobody knew what really happened to General Esera, a far more intelligent and beloved man who had led them before. Winter's official status on the disappearance of Esera was suspicious. He said that Esera had taken a stray bullet right before Winters had met with him. That alibi was full of shit to say the least.

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Princess Celestia marched through the unfinished halls of Canterlot castle, hunting down her sister Luna. Her hooves clipped and clopped against the stone floors as she came to the door of Luna's quarters. Her horn became enveloped in its white magical glow and the door flew open. Luna slept inside, laying on a pillowed bed, dead tired from some unknown exertion.

"Explain yourself Luna!"

The black alicorn looked confused, "What? What have I done?"

"There are rumors spreading that we are preparing to attack the human citadel!"

"They are just rumors, now let me sleep." Luna laid her head down and closed her eyes. Celestia grew impatient, and using her magic upended a pitcher of water over Luna's head. The soaked alicorn was now at full attention.

"The ponies spreading these rumors say they heard them directly from you! And another thing, I looked at our prisoner's cell, he had been living in squalor for a week with no food suitable for him! And you wonder why he snapped!"

"I don't recall any of what you are saying, sister. Did we ever catch that human?"

"No, he escaped completely, most likely at Stronghold now. What if he heard the rumors Luna? Our entire plan for pacifying them could be ruined if they thought we were coming to wipe them out! And as for you, something is different about you. I want to look in your mind."

The black alicorn's eyes narrowed."And why would you want to do that?"

"That human weapon did something to you. If you could only see yourself you would know the pain I go through when I hear that my own sister is causing chaos and torturing prisoners."

Luna softened, Celestia's words striking a nerve. "Fine, let us do this."

Celestia's horn once again glowed white, she leaned in towards Luna and touched on the tip of her horn.

Instantly she was inside of Luna's mind. A garden of life and love surrounded her, Luna's mind was a place of beauty. Flowers that had not seen daylight for hundreds of millions of years shared space with the most beautiful roses and orchids. Lush grass carpeted the earth that Luna chose to create here. There was a pathway, leading to the center of the garden. Following it, Celestia found Luna. She lay in the shade of a wondrous tree whose branches had no flaw and whose splendor would be forever unmatched by any earthly tree. But there was something wrong, a black scar festered in the bark of the tree. Living darkness undulated and writhed within the wound, and it slowly grew, it would one day go beyond the tree of Luna's life and consume the garden of her creation.

"Luna," the image of Celestia said to the alicorn in the shade, " if you can hear me, I will do what I can. But this is beyond even me." Her horn gathered its white aura, she took in as much magic as she possibly could. Celestia began to bind the scar, but it fought back. She laid down layer after layer of magical healing on the festering scar, but to little effect. It seemed to gloat at the havoc it had caused, at the havoc it would cause. Finally, Celestia used every ounce of her strength to bind the darkness. A shimmering white glow encompassed the evil scar of corruption, but it would not hold forever. It seemed to try and tear at its bindings, like a mad man in a prison cell. Celestia pulled away from the fragility of Luna's mind.

Luna still lay upon her bed, now shaking like a newborn foal. "Celestia...." her voice trembled "... what have I become? Can you ever forgive me?"

"You were under the influence of dark magic Luna, it was not you that did and said those awful things. You have nothing to apologize for."

"Am I cured of the taint? Will it come back?" she looked at her sister with pleading eyes.

Celestia could not answer, one day the darkness would consume Luna and on that day, she could show no mercy for the agent of corruption. She lay down next to her sister and spread a wing over the princess, showing the love and compassion only a sister could give.

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Life was terrible for a human nowadays. After the Day of Judgement, people just gave up. The death march back to Stronghold had taxed the limits of every man who survived. Over two hundred miles from the Surge mountain to Stronghold, naturally those with wheels and wings arrived first. And it was these people who had to stand guard and make sure no wanton magical creature made its way in and destroyed everything or any of the ever increasing rebel war parties sacked the place. One of these people now sat in a guard tower overlooking the fortified main gate. He would never be bored on duty ever again, the images of the rising of the demigods would forever keep his eyes sharp and his hands steady. Men on foot still trickled in occasionally, recounting tales of survival on the death march home. No vehicles came for days. That is, until the hero came home.

A battered humvee roared up the beaten road that led to the main gate. From what the guard could tell, only one man sat inside. But it could just be one of those rebels who occasionally tried to sneak in for protection. The humvee shuddered to a stop, the lone man exiting the driver's seat and approaching the front gate with his hands raised.

"Identify yourself!" shouted the watchman.

The filthy man had a short beard and smelled horrible, even from that distance. He looked like he had been drug halfway back on the bumper of the hummer.

"I am Dr. Aaron Patterson, chief biologist here at Fort Greenewell. I request entrance."

The watchman could not believe it; this filthy, skinny, unwashed decrepit creature was the man who created Lucifer, the single scientist who discovered magical energy and fought for peace?

"How do I know you aren't lying to me!"

"Why would anyone bother to lie about being me? I have my passcard if you need further proof."

The watchman left his post, catching several of his fellows and superiors, telling each and every one that a man claiming to be Dr. Patterson had showed up at the gate. The gate slowly opened, five soldiers with weapons raised all approached the pitiful human being. The watchman took the passcard, quickly scanning it to make sure it was not a forgery, then handed it back to the scruffy man. He stood at attention and saluted, "Welcome home sir."

Every other man there stood back and saluted, and Aaron entered the gate of Stronghold. Word had spread quickly, men and women stood from their melancholy to see the man who had dared spit in the face of God and survived. Soldier and scientist stood in salute as he walked past, some even cheering, his one goal being the laboratory.

Word indeed spread fast, for as he approached the labs and scientist quarters, he was met by an envoy of his dumbstruck colleagues. At their forefront was Dr. Mcentyre, who rushed to hug her student.

"Don't you ever do anything like that ever again! I already lost one son, I don't want to lose another!" tears in her eyes, she stood back and smiled, "And you smell like a landfill."

"Long story, but I have terrible news that everyone needs to hear."

"Tell it after you rest, you look like you just beat the devil." he did not complain, Aaron was taken inside, given a hot shower with all the soap that could be spared and fresh clothing. Afterwards he ate heartily, he would never take mystery meat for granted ever again. The fatigue of a week of imprisonment followed by his adrenaline filled escape took its toll. He collapsed on the nearest mattress and didn't move for twelve hours.

Snapping awake, he realized that time was the ultimate factor and here he was taking a catnap! He clothed himself as quickly as possible, thinking about how he would say what needed to be said. His legs screamed at the exertion of him running to the war room, where undoubtedly all ranking officers and scientists would be located at this hour, planning their next move.

He entered without introduction, and was startled to notice that General Winters hadn't become some dragon's food. Little did it matter.

"I'm sorry to interrupt whatever it is that you are discussing. But I have reports from Canterlot!"

The officers and scientists looked at one another, confused by his use of the fairly odd word Canterlot.

"Sorry, Canterlot is what the enemy is calling their capital. They are gathering a magic user army to come and destroy us!"

This evoked a more heated response. Somebody in the back shouted out, "How can you be sure?"

"I overheard two of their soldiers talking, it also seems that there is something else out there, something that is destroying civilian towns where normally they were left alone."

"We know about that threat, it seems to strike from one town to another, like a plague. But it only consumes single towns at a time. Growing stronger and faster with each town consumed."

"And I have one more issue. If you are not aware, General Esera was murdered."

General Winters stood from his seat at the head, "We are all aware of Esera's accident, now can we please move on?"

"I did not say he had an accident. I said he was murdered in cold blood."

"And what proof do you have?" said Commander Pilotte, delegated commander of the Special Forces after Esera's mysterious death.

"If someone would please provide me with a pair of AAA batteries, I will gladly give you the evidence."

The room began to shuffle as people searched, finally a soldier proffered a pair from his radio. Loading them into the recorder like a shotgun, Aaron hit the play button.

A crackled voice began to emerge from the small device, undoubtedly the voice of the late General. "This is General Nolan Esera, personal log. I can't believe what is happening out there, dragons, gryphons and flying horses? This is not what I signed up for, but everyday I will fight to find a feasible solution and bring peace back to America. If what that kid scientist says is even halfway possible, we can't win. We can't fight God, yet here we are on the field of battle, preparing to do just that. I believe him, what he said about them getting stronger when ever it seems like we are on the verge of victory. It only makes sense if we choose to stand against something which wants us gone. We tried diplomacy, but their ambassadors did not have any demands. Which can only mean they have nothing they want except for the war to be over, with themselves on top."

The recording skipped forward, unbeknownst to the men and women listening to the final words of the great man, Winters had stood and slowly made his way to the door.

"General Nolan Esera, personal log. We won the field, but at what cost? 10,000 American men and women died out there. Now the conscripts are beginning to talk of abandoning the campaign, even if we manage to succeed in destroying the Surge source, America will never heal from the wounds of hate and distrust that were sown here. When the military forced the very people it is meant to protect to march to their deaths against an enemy of unknown power. And I know who is responsible for this, the one man crazy enough to do such a thing to further his own lust for power over the safety of mankind. I called him here to the command tent, General Winters betrayed us and will pay for his crimes." At that point, the recorder was muffled, the General having placed it in his coat pocket. Mostly unintelligible shouting was heard, but occasionally Esera's coat opened up enough to discern the owners of the voices.

Winters, his voice spoke coldly and without emotion or regret for his actions. A thud sounded on the recording, and Winters' voice was the only remaining. A mostly muffled monologue detailing his madness, but the last words sounded clearer than crystal. "And just so you know, I will be the last man standing." a barely audible pop broke the silence, and the recording became static.

Commander Pilotte stood. "Winters you son of a bitch!" Everyone looked to the seat where he had been, but he had escaped during the recording. "After him!"

The entire staff ran for the door, armed officers taking the lead. They rushed down the hallways to see the front door still closing. Kicking it down, they witnessed General Winters running for the tarmac, intending to take one of the few helicopters. Soldiers and staff milled about, but were brought to attention by the commotion.

Winters rallied who he could, "All soldiers to me! These men are attempting a coup! Kill them all!" A ring of soldiers now surrounded Winters and the war council.

Aaron raised his hands, speaking to the soldiers ringed around him and Winters, "Listen to me men, this man is a murderer! He is responsible for our loss and for the slaughter of the conscripts. He murdered Esera to forward his own bid for power. He abandoned us on the field of battle and threatens to kill anyone who opposes him!"

Soldiers who had their guns trained on the scientist hesitated, then lowered their guns.

"What are you doing! Kill them now!" Winters looked to Lieutenant McGoff, "Lieutenant! I order you to kill this man!"

The lieutenant gave Winters a look of disgust. "Fuck you John, it's over."

"I am why we survived! I am America! I AM HUMANITY!" Winters tried to wrench an assault rifle from a soldier, but the soldier refused to let go and slammed Winters in the face with the rifle butt.

Falling to the ground, he struggled to get back up, blood pouring from his nose and mouth. He looked up to see Aaron holding a pistol to his head. "I should kill you for what you did to this country and her people," The entire base now watched the unfolding drama. "I should let the monsters beyond that fence tear you limb from limb or turn you inside out. But that would make us no better than you. Men like you are why they call us demons." He lowered the gun. "The enemy can show us mercy, I can show you mercy. It's over Winters. It's their world now." Aaron turned to walk away.

Reaching into his coat, Winters pulled his revolver. "I WILL BE THE LAST MAN STANDING!" He aimed at Aaron's back, and a shot rang out. Aaron turned, the General stood stunned, looking down to the bleeding wound in his chest. Another shot, the General lurched forward and collapsed, blood pooling under his lifeless corpse. Behind him stood Lieutenant McGoff, the man constantly tread upon and misused, having slain the last of the tyrants of man. The barrel of his pistol still aimed at Winters' corpse, a small wisp of acrid smoke drifting from the barrel.

Aaron walked to the lieutenant, placing his hand on the pistol he lowered it. "You did the world a favor, I owe my life to you Tyler."

The lieutenant smiled, "Someone around here actually knows my name."

"And many more will, General McGoff." Aaron stood back and saluted. Every soldier and scientist followed suit, the entire human army displaying obeisance for their new leader.

"What are you doing? I can't lead! All I do is sign papers and push pencils."

Commander Pilotte took a step forward. "If I recall correctly, it was your command that saved mankind there at the Day of Judgement when this coward fled the field. We all owe you our lives, sir."

McGoff took it all in, by right of succession it was his duty to take command of Greenewell after the death of his superior. "Alright, I accept. But I will need some advisers."

Pilotte nodded. "That can be arranged, General."

"And as my first act, I call on Dr. Patterson and Dr. Mcentyre to discuss our next move."

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Celestia took a path few if any had ever tread, a hidden cave to the heart of the mountain upon which Canterlot was built. Her hooves rang against the cold stone, the air still and ancient. But she would need to go deeper, for the communion required her to be as deep as possible. Her white lit horn led the way, lighting the darkness of the earth's bones. She came to a stop, before her sat a great geode and the end of her path. Celestia gathered her will and magic, sending forth a tendril of her being into the great crystal. "Mother." she whispered.

The stone flared to life, through great exertion, the Earth Mother had answered her daughter's call. The green glow of the Earth's magic graced the inside of the crystal. Celestia sent her thoughts through the link between herself and The Mother.

Mother, we are failing. Luna is overcome by some kind of curse and something feeds on the souls of the humans.

The Mother could not speak, but instead conveyed her will through emotions. Celestia felt anger, frustration and sorrow emanating from the stone.

I don't know what to do Mother. We tried as hard as we could to establish harmony, but nothing has worked. We need you to help us.

Comfort, reassurance, and love issued forth. But also cleverness and what felt like an idea.

What is it? What is killing the humans? How can we stop it and the humans from destroying harmony?

A brilliant wave surged through the ethereal link, The Mother spoke directly to her soul.

Kindness, Generosity, Loyalty, Honesty, Laughter, and Magic. They are my gift to you Celestia, together they are a force more powerful than any evil. Together they are the true Elements of Harmony.

The link dimmed, but Celestia still had many questions. "Mother, wait!"

What is killing the humans?

An image appeared in her mind, a twisted monster born of black magic who hungered for chaos and unbalance, who even now consumed the souls of thousands of humans. A word followed, a single word whose meaning was the antithesis of her being.

"Discord." she whispered. From the geode six stones began to form, perfectly round with symbols on them. They did not fall to the floor, but gently floated to Celestia. "The Elements of Harmony."

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Well, that ties up alot of the things that were plot holes or seemed incomplete. As usual, post any questions, observations, or comments below. I feel as though Discord killing humanity is a much preferable alternative to the ponies doing it, and hope you feel the same. Love and tolerate, bronies.

Project Lazarus

The newly named General McGoff summoned every man and woman of knowledge to his side. The day after Dr Patterson's homecoming and the abdication of General Winters he held council as to the next course of action the remnants of the human army would take. General McGoff sat at the head of the semicircular table in the war room, at his right hand sat Dr. Patterson. At his left sat Commander Pilotte, his direct subordinate. The subject was of the most dire news, Dr Patterson reported that during his escape he heard plans from the enemy to attack Stronghold. On the other hand, a mysterious force continued to wipe out human towns with exponential efficiency. The arguments were heated between the scientists and the soldiers.

The soldiers wanted a preemptive strike on the pony capital of Canterlot, hopefully gleaning the cause of the mysterious plague as they razed the capital. The scientists wanted a reverse approach, dealing with the chaos plague first, then slugging it out with the ponies again.

This must be how the kings of lore felt when their advisers fought for attention, thought the new general. He was torn, a threat from the pony army directly against them could not be ignored. But neither could a plague of insanity that was wiping out the rest of humanity.

Dr. Mcentyre was speaking now, addressing one of the men on the military action side of the argument, "Look, all I'm saying is that we got our asses handed to us when we attacked the Surge mountain, if we tried to attack a fortified capital city we wouldn't stand a chance! I say we go the route of logic, put off the attack until we can deal with the Chaos Plague."

The captain on the side of action retorted, "If we try to deal with the Chaos Plague now we will be crushed by the invading army, then we can't do anything about either initiative. We don't have the manpower to deal with both threats!"

Dr. Patterson interjected, "Technically, we have neither the manpower or the technology to deal with either threat. If all of you will recall, most of our heavy machinery was left behind or completely expended. We don't even have a blind to throw in for this hand. And as for the Chaos Plague, it moves too rapidly for us to even pin down."

"So we are at an impasse, neither side of this argument makes any more sense than the other." General McGoff sighed. "What alternatives do we have?"

Nobody spoke up, many were content to look elsewhere rather than at the General.

"There is Lazarus, sir."

"Why Lazarus Dr. Patterson?"

"If we go the scientist's route, we try as hard as we can to deal with the Chaos Plague, the probability of our success being nearer to zero than one degree Kelvin, and the enemy marches, killing us and dooming humanity. If we go the soldier's route, we futilely attack Canterlot, get crushed in the process and the Chaos Plague dooms humanity. But if we take option three, we gather what we can of humanity here and sleep through the worst of it. Then we rise in fifty or a hundred years and actually stand a chance."

"It sounds like a good plan, but I need a little more information before I condemn those people out there to suffer the enemy and the Chaos Plague while we take a dirt nap."

"I've already compiled my argument for Lazarus. Even if we get an edge somehow, the Surge energy is still actively awake. Fossil studies show that it exerts itself for short periods before receding for millions of years. If we attack now who knows what kind of horrors will come next? As for the Plague, it may burn itself out or the enemy may find a way to stop it while we are in cryo-stasis. As an added bonus, the enemy may not be unified and the demigods may have left."

General McGoff nodded, "We'll put it to a vote. All in favor of the activation of Project Lazarus?" Aaron's hand rose high. Dr. Mcentyre soon followed. Soldiers looked at each other in shame, then raised their hands. Scientists shook their heads, but seeing the futility of any other course of action, raised their hands as well. "It is unanimous, in three days we activate Project Lazarus. God have mercy on our souls. This council is adjourned."

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Again the soldiers went forth to gather recruits, but this time, they asked and only took those willing to go. A difficult task, considering the rebels had completely intermingled with the civilian populace and still constantly attacked the military. These young men and women would not fight, they would fill the extra cryostasis chambers for Project Lazarus. If humanity was to survive in another time, it would need a population more than soldiers. Another initiative was put forth, and patrols gathered whatever books, technology and information they could find. This was to preserve their culture and history. Humanity would not be simply erased from history, they would preserve themselves and their accomplishments. Hume and Kant were crammed next to Dr. Seuss and Tolkien. Mozart shared space with Elvis Presley and rubbed shoulders with Ozzy Osbourne.

For the first time that day, Aaron descended down the long elevator to the Vault. It would have housed rich VIPs and other self important people, but now it had a much more pressing purpose. The Vault would harbor mankind through the storm, preserving not only their bodies but their minds and their culture. It was powered by a triple set of nuclear generators, buried an additional two hundred feet deeper. With the generators in place, the Vault could be sustained for around 40,000 years, give or take depending on power consumption. Hopefully they would not need that long.

"Dr. Mcentyre, how exactly do we prevent corrosion and breakdown of external systems?"

"Simple, oxygen is a very corrosive gas, so when we seal the Vault we pump in nitrogen gas to act as a preservative, theoretically it allows us to stay nice and crispy indefinitely."

The door to the Vault was massive, twenty feet high and ten feet thick with enough room when open to drive a tank through. Inside stood a field of tubes under the stone ceiling, stretching almost farther than the eye could see.

"150,000 tubes for 150,000 souls. Its like nothing else we have ever made."

Over to the side stood several auxiliary miniature vaults that were being filled to the brim with various supplies. One that stood open contained row upon row of guns of every type, enough to outfit a pair of armies. Another contained something more precious, the books and technology that the scouts had been gathering.

In two days these tubes would be filled with human soldiers and civilians who would carve a place for themselves in the distant future.

"I'm suddenly reminded of the Shepard's Prayer, Eve. Allan Shepard's Prayer. Dear Lord, please don't let me fuck up."

********************************************************************************

It had been decided, for harmony to ever be secure Luna and Celestia would have to leave their people and hunt the monster Discord. Humanity, who had just been given their second chance, were being slaughtered like cattle. Every second they spent preparing was time Discord had to feed on more souls and get stronger. And so called to the ponies of Canterlot, called them to meet upon the steps of the castle.

Princess Luna was the first to address them. "Hear me citizens of Canterlot! My sister and I have an announcement. We must be leaving you, the world needs us to right a terrible wrong. We do not know if we shall see you again, for it may be generations before the creature is destroyed."

Princess Celestia took a step forward, "Know this my fellow ponies, you must be strong! This creature is an element of chaos, and he feeds upon the souls of the humans. If you hold fear, hate and resentment in your hearts, the creature will feed upon you as well if we cannot stop him. Live your lives with loyalty, generosity, kindness, laughter, honesty and magic. Only through them will we stand together and harmony will triumph! Fare you well."

With their speech done, the alicorns took wing to search the world for the monster who created chaos and wallowed in suffering. The beast who drained the very souls of humanity, the monster known only as Discord.

********************************************************************************

It was time.

The day had come at last, the day of the ultimate trial. To determine whether humanity could survive in a time not their own.

Aaron felt a nervous queasiness building in his stomach as he descended the elevator for what might be the last time. A computer system would monitor the humans in stasis to make sure they woke up on time. It would also do periodic surface scans for any sign of hostility. Thus humanity would live. Aaron lucked out, his tube was in the front row, he tucked his chosen personal belongings into a sealed nitrogen filled locker. Changing into the required clothing of a sterile white blouse and loose pants, he climbed into his tube. Dr Mcentyre passed by on the way to her stasis chamber, he stopped her.

"Eve?"

"Yeah kid?"

"Will I dream?"

A small smile crept across her face as she wiped the sorrow from her eyes.

"Yeah, we'll all dream."

The door to the pod slid closed, and Aaron Patterson closed his eyes.

Bonus Chapter: Nightmare Moon

The War of the Fallen Race was ancient history to those ponies who bothered to learn what little they could about it. But to Princess Celestia, her failure to save humanity was an everyday reminder of her ever increasing pile of failures. They had chased Discord across the face of the Earth for centuries, the creature had taunted them at every step, always two steps ahead. The humans had struggled to survive Discord's onslaught, but after two centuries succumbed to the mad monster of chaos. She had failed, and now it had been eight hundred years since a human had last been seen alive.

Worse, Luna had finally succumb to the cursed darkness. She had left Celestia, proclaiming herself the Queen of the Night, Nightmare Moon. She had changed physically, Luna had become taller and leaner, her wings and mane little more than the living darkness that consumed her soul. And now she kept the sun from rising, keeping her moon high in the sky. The Eternal Night some were calling it. But Celestia knew she would have to change that.

She knew the horrible promise that she made to herself a thousand years ago would have to be kept. Princess Luna had to be dealt with, there could be no mercy.

Celestia gathered the Elements of Harmony, the same fount of power they had used together to imprison Discord. But Mother had not told Celestia one thing. She, being only one, could not tap the full strength of the Elements. Their power would serve her, but only to a lesser extent.

And so Celestia now flew to Nightmare Moon's fortress, located deep within the wild and untamed Everfree Forest. She spotted the castle, a twisted visage of an ancient human fortress. Nightmare Moon worked her magic atop the tallest tower, sending her tendrils of corruption out into the world to forward her mad plans. Celestia flared her wings as she landed, but Nightmare Moon had been waiting for her. She hurled lightning bolts from her horn, but Celestia leaped to her left and hid behind some of the rubble left by the lightning crash. Using her magic, she picked up a stone, and leaping from her cover hurled it at Nightmare Moon. Nightmare deflected it with a wing. But Celestia had the distraction she needed and threw down a magical shield to encompass Nightmare Moon. Having the dark one held securely, Celestia summoned the Elements of Harmony.

"Luna, I know you are still in there. Forgive me."

"The one called Luna is dead! There is only me, Nightmare Moon, Queen of the Night and rightful ruler of Equestria."

"No! I know that somewhere inside of you resides my little sister! You, Nightmare Moon, are nothing more than a scar upon her mind made by human magic!" Celestia shouted to her enemy.

The ink black alicorn struggled against her magical bonds. "It is a great irony is it not? That after a thousand years, the Fallen Race continue to leave their mark upon this world! And you believed they could be saved!"

"There was good in them, Nightmare. We did what we could to save them! They had their flaws and so do we. You still hold the grudge against just one of them, the one who corrupted you and flaunted his escape!"

"You foal! I would never bend myself to hold a grudge against a pitiful demon!"

"I'm sorry I have to do this," a tear fell down Celestia's cheek, falling to the stone of Nightmare Moon's fortress, "I love you, Luna." The Elements began to glow with Celestia's magic. She could not banish the evil from Luna's soul, another pony would have that fate. But she could remove Nightmare Moon from the world until the ones destined to wield the Elements were ready to do so. A portal began to shimmer into existence, coalescing around Nightmare Moon. Celestia would send her some place off this world where she could not threaten ponykind, the harsh and inhospitable moon.

Snarling at her nemesis and making one last attempt at breaking her bonds, Nightmare Moon glared at Celestia, screaming her declaration and her revenge. "Know this, Princess Celestia! In a thousand years, upon the longest day the stars themselves with aid with my escape! And upon that day I shall cloak the world in eternal darkness!" The magical vortex enveloped Nightmare Moon, taking her and her evil influence away from Equestria.

The sun dawned over the hills, and Celestia wept. She knew this day had to come, and with the Elements she had stood victorious. But she knew that somewhere in the world existed the taint that humanity had released in its dying throes. Though nearly a thousand years dead, their actions and memory still haunted the Earth. From that day forward Celestia did everything she could to keep their memory and their influence as a part of the past.

Artifacts

The Cutie Mark Crusaders were at it again, whatever "it" happened to be this time. Applejack let the little blank-flanked rapscallions do whatever they wanted, as long as it didn't entail destroying parts of Sweet Apple Acres, which it somehow usually did. Today though Applejack had spotted them heading to the south fields with shovels and picks gripped in their mouths. Not a good sign. Moving as quietly as she could, Applejack tailed them.

She came upon the Crusaders digging furiously in the middle of the south field. "Dang it, Ah just had Big Mac' plow here last week," she muttered. She cantered next to the now sizeable hole the trio had managed to dig. "And just what do y'all think-" She was interrupted by a shovelful of dirt to the face. Spitting out chunks of dirt and gravel, she tried again. "What are y'all doin'!" Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle all poked their heads out of the hole, their faces smeared with dirt.

"We're trying to get archaeology cutie marks!" Sweetie Belle chimed.

"Yeah! Just like Daring Do!" Scootaloo threw in, stopping to make whip noises and pretending to dodge invisible traps.

"By the Princesses, has Rainbow Dash been lettin' y'all read her Daring Do books again?"

"Yeah big sister! Ah thought we could dig here in the field. It ain't gonna harm nothin'. Besides, what if we find a lost temple or a stash of buried treasure? We'd be rich and get our Cutie Marks!"

"Girls, ain't no lost temples or buried treasure down there, I personally have plowed this here field a hundred times and there has been no sign of treasure, just good soil to grow apples. Now run along while I fill in this hole."

"I FOUND SOMETHING!" Scootaloo screamed at the top of lungs. She emerged from the hole, carrying something in her mouth. Dropping it on the ground, she beamed with pride and looked to her flank which sadly remained empty.

"Why Scootaloo that's just an old....what is that?" Applejack leaned in close to the small object, it was something she had never seen before, and it was totally unlike anything else a pony might use. It was shaped like a fat letter L, but with strange protrusions sticking out at various places. "What in tarnation? It must be some kind of old style farm tool or somethin'." She snapped back to the issue at hoof. "Well, you girls run along, and try not to destroy anythin' else." Applejack took a few minutes to fix the Crusader's damage, them looked back at the curious object on the ground. The thing was just so different. She grabbed it, determined to find out what it was. Applejack trotted back to the farmhouse, dropping the thing down on the dining room table. She had chores to do, and could solve this little mystery later.

That evening, Applejack showed the thing to Granny Smith, the old mare had been around the farm for decades. If it was some kind of tool, she would know. "Granny, Applebloom and her friends found this in the south field, do you know what it is?"

The senior Apple mare leaned in close to the object, looking it up and down, side to side, a puzzled look on her normally wise face. "Well little missy, it looks like somethin' from an old book I saw back when Ponyville was just gettin' started. But its been so long that I don't quite recall what that somethin' was." The elderly mare fell to her usual pattern of reminiscence, but as usual fell asleep after around a minute.

Maybe Twilight would have a book on things like this. But it was late, and they would all be getting together tomorrow anyways.

**********************************************************

Luna was having the nightmare again. She stood in front of the wrecked human flier, looking down pitifully at a broken and twisted human. Celestia had just ordered them to take it alive, but the demon lifted his weapon and tried to kill Celestia. Luna had saved Celestia, took the blow of the weapon. But there it became dark, a living evil began to permeate her being, consuming her mind and raping her soul. All while the human stood back and laughed, his eyes glowing like fire and his teeth becoming daggers.

She awoke with a start, Luna was coated in sweat and panting like her heart was preparing to leap from her chest. She was on the verge of another bout of weeping, but she lifted a hoof and slammed it against a bedpost, venting her frustration and fear of the damnable creature who had assuredly been dead for two millenia.

The Elements of Harmony had purged her of the evil which had a death grip on her for two thousand years. And every single day she thanked Twilight Sparkle and her friends for helping her. But the trauma she experienced could not be cured by harmony and friendship, and time didn't seem to help either.

*******************************************************

Twilight had just the absolute best idea a week ago, a book club! First she would start with her friends, then if they liked the idea, she would make it open to the public. Today was the day of the first meeting at the library, and to start everypony would bring in their favorite book to discuss. Pinkie Pie had managed to bring in a fantasy book that she read often to the baby Cakes. Rainbow Dash of course brought one of her favorite Daring Do novels. Rarity and Fluttershy had both brought romance novels, typical of Rarity, but kind of surprising for Fluttershy.

"Does anypony know where Applejack is?" asked Twilight.

"Haven't seen her today," replied Rainbow Dash.

"She must be up to her mane in chores, the poor dear," Rarity added.

A knock sounded at the front door, and without being let in Applejack nearly took it off its hinges.

"Sorry I'm late y'all, but I overslept this mornin'. Twilight, do you think you could take a look at this thing for me?" She reached into her saddlebags, bringing out the rusted, mud caked object.

The lavender unicorn raised an eyebrow at the strange object. "What is that? And where is your favorite book?"

"Favorite book? Shoot!" Applejack's eyes widened as she remembered they were meeting for a book club. "Ah swear I'll remember next time, but Ah need your help with this thing."

"It's alright Applejack, we all make mistakes. Now what are you going on about?"

"This... thing." The curious object sat on a table, nopony could identify it.

"Is it some kind of tool or spare part, Applejack?"

"No, the fillies found it in the fields, about six feet underground. None of mah kin know what it is or what it does."

The book club had been forgotten, and now everypony gathered around to view the strange artifact. An idea suddenly came to Twilight.

"Spike! Could you come in here please?"

The baby dragon stumbled in from the bedrooms, wondering why Twilight had decided to hold her book club first thing in the morning.

"What is it Twilight?" The little dragon said groggily.

"Come pick this up. It won't hurt you, I swear."

The dragon looked at Twilight with a raised eyebrow, but reached out with his clawed hand and wrapped his claws around the object. "Woah! That is so weird, it feels like it was made just to be held by me."

"Precisely my theory Spike. Whatever made this object was not a pony. Ladies, I believe Applejack may have stumbled onto a bit of a mystery."

Rarity looked with a discerning eye at the object. "Judging from the accumulation of mineral deposits, this thing has been buried for several thousand years." She was met with stares of confusion. "What? You get to know these kinds of things when you work with gems, minerals and expensive clay all day!"

"Okay, Miss Crazy." Rainbow Dash put a hoof next to her head and spun it in circles, skewing her eyes and sticking out her tongue.

"Pinkie, you've been awfully quiet, what do you think?" The pink mare just stared at the object, mouth slightly open.

"I feel like I've seen something like this before, waaaaayy back in my foalhood. We used to find strange stuff like this on the rock farm. But every time papa would turn it in to the authorities and we would never talk about it."

Twilight levitated the object with a lavender glow, cleaning it off a little bit with a tissue. "That sounds weird, maybe there is some kind of cover up going on here. Okay, lets compile what we know."

Rainbow gave a sarcastic cough. "That this thing was made by a thousand year old society of baby dragons that is being covered up by the government?" She began to snicker at the absurdity.

"Come on Rainbow Dash! This is just as legitimate as any of your crazy ideas!"

Pinkie suddenly became her old self. "Hey! Why don't we take it to the Doctor!"

"I don't think this thing needs to go to the hospital Pinkie."

"No silly, Doctor Whooves! He's been all over the world, if anypony knows what this is, he will!"

Twilight considered for a second, Doctor Whooves was the most well traveled and educated pony in all of Ponyville. Taking it to him made sense.

*************************************************************************

Doctor Whooves had to be careful. One wrong move, one screw too tight or too loose and the entire device could fall apart the first time he tried to use it. Beads of sweat trickled down his brow, just a little more. Done! Well, with that one screw of course, the hourglass marked earth pony still had to do several hundred tiny little things just to get the device working again. He grabbed a spanner and what just about to make an adjustment when a knock at his door shattered his concentration.

"Just a moment!" He grabbed a sheet and draped it over his project, then proceeded to clean the grease and oil from his hooves and mouth.

He trotted over to his door, opening it to find Ponyville's resident troublemakers and heroines standing there.

"Hiya Doctor Whooves!" shouted Pinkie Pie as she barged her way in. Why did it have to be Pinkie Pie?

The Doctor tried to intercept Pinkie, but she managed to worm her way around him and into his home. "Miss Pie, I implore you to please refrain from touching anything! I am still cleaning up after your last visit."

Twilight filed in behind Pinkie. "Don't mind her Doctor Whooves. Pinkie! Hooves to yourself!"

The Doctor grinned at his fellow scholar. "Miss Sparkle, how delightful to see you and your friends today. How can I be of service?"

"Well Doctor, Applejack found something strange in her orchard and none of us know what it is."

"Oh? Trouble identifying a strange stone or what have you?" he chuckled to himself.

"Not quite, bring it in Applejack." Applejack took the thing out of her saddlebags and placed it on a table. Dr. Whooves simply stared at it for nearly a minute.

When he finally said something, it came out as a whisper. "Where did you say you found this?"

"In mah orchard, about six feet underground," replied Applejack.

"Incredible." the expression on his face had not changed. He suddenly had a revelation and went to one of his many bookshelves. He began to go through books of ancient history and his travel logs. "I haven't seen the likes of something like this in years, not since I traversed the gryphon kingdom of Kali'Gryph in the northeastern frontiers!"

"So its made by gryphons? That doesn't seem very incredible," Rainbow Dash said.

"Not at all Miss Dash! This object is older than even the earliest recorded pony or gryphon societies! The gryphons simply didn't have the stigma that we here in Equestria have against these objects. I saw one just like this, only better preserved, high up in one of their mountaintop temples. They claimed it was a weapon!"

"A weapon? What kind of harm could this thing do?" Rarity asked, nudging the rusted, mud caked object with the tip of a hoof.

Finally finding the right journal he flipped to the right page. "The gryphon monks claimed that in ancient times, a wicked race used weapons like this to conquer the world. The only thing they could tell me was that the ancients called them Demons. Miss Dash, the pegasi were very strict about keeping records of military campaigns. What can you tell me of your earliest leader?"

"What, Commander Hurricane?"

Doctor Whooves snapped his journal shut, placing it back and searching for any other books on the subject. "No, earlier!"

"Honestly I know nothing about the army. I just like to fly."

"You mean General Cloud Hoof, don't you?" The entire crowd turned to Fluttershy, who had now just voiced her knowledge.

The Doctor climbed down from the ladder on his bookshelves. "Indeed, General Cloud Hoof. What can you tell us about him?"

Fluttershy curled inward slightly, grinding the tip of a hoof into the floor. "Well, I read his memoirs back in the Cloudsdale archives. He was Commander Hurricane's father, and he was a great warrior in pegasus lore. He hung up his armor before the three tribes unified for Hearth's Warming. There was a constant theme in his book, but I forget what it was."

"Please Miss Fluttershy, you have to remember."

She squealed a little bit under the pressure. "I remember him saying he fought demons in a great war! Demons that brought fire and chaos and made monsters out of metal!" Fluttershy was on the verge of a total nervous meltdown.

"It's alright Fluttershy, when was this war?"

"He didn't say! He just referenced it as the end of the demon's time and the coming of the Princesses!"

Doctor Whooves rubbed his chin with a hoof. "Well that solves that mystery, all records claim the Princesses came here around two thousand years ago. But what is a demon weapon doing buried under your farm Miss Applejack?"

Applejack shrugged. "How should Ah know?"

"Indeed, with your permission I would like to excavate your field, see if I can't find some more clues. Of course you will be compensated."

"All Ah needed to hear was compensation, go ahead and take a whack at it Doctor." Applejack shook hooves with The Doctor and turned to leave. The rest of the group walked out the door as well, all except Fluttershy.

"Doctor Whooves, sir. There is one more thing I remember from General Cloud Hoof's memoirs, if you want to know that is."

"Go ahead, any more information would be delightful."

"Cloud Hoof wrote that he was friends with one of the demons. And that he didn't hate them as a race, just felt sorry when they disappeared."

"Curious. Why would a pony befriend something he called a demon?" The odd Doctor had to wonder. "Miss Pie, please do not touch the TAR... I mean, don't touch that!"

**************************************************************************************

The excavation was going well, instead of the Cutie Mark Crusader's hole, they had expanded outwards to create a terraced network of several dig-sites. Progress had been astounding, they had recovered over six hundred minor artifacts, anything from tiny brass cylinders to belt buckles. They had even found a larger version of what they guessed to be a more powerful demon weapon. Doctor Whooves oversaw the dig, several out of work ponies worked the pit, dredging out mud and dirt and carefully picking out any artifacts. Carefully cleaning the poorly preserved weapon, Dr. Whooves was interrupted by one of the diggers.

"Doctor Whooves sir! We've dug down to a layer that seems to be mostly ash and charcoal."

"Pardon? I'll have to see for myself." Walking away from the pavilion, he entered the pit, the rich brown soil stretched down several feet, but then abruptly stopped at a layer of black soil. The soil was riddled with demon artifacts, but also crude pony artifacts. Seeing the height of technology next to its polar opposite was confusing to say the least.

Several of the diggers stood with The Doctor, each giving their own less than professional opinions. "Well, what do you think Doc?"

"To me, the high amount of weapons involved with the site suggests that this was some kind of battlefield. Who attacked and who defended is entirely debatable."

"Sir! I found something!" one of the digger ponies shouted.

The entire dig team rushed to the pony's side. Doctor Whooves took a close look at the find, it was bones, bones unlike any other species he had seen, with the exception of a few Zebrican apes. "Demon bones, this is one of the demons, we actually found demon bones!" The bones had a scorched look to them, like they had been burned. Brushing away more dirt revealed more bones, some pony, some more demon and others from various species. All had the burn marks. "By the Princesses, this isn't a battlefield, this is funeral pyre. The aftermath of a battle." Doctor Whooves choked as he realized that all of Sweet Apple Acres' trees were fed by this rich deposit of death, Applejack might go out of business if they realized all the apples for Ponyville were grown on a demon graveyard.

"Doc, Applejack is coming!"

"Cover up the bones, everypony look busy!" Doctor Whooves rushed out of the pit, trying to drive the queasiness out of his stomach. The apple marked mare trotted to the edge of the excavation, escorted by her close friends.

"How's the dig comin' Doctor Whooves? My friends and I brought y'all some apple cider for yer trouble."

Doctor Whooves gratefully accepted the jugs of cider, not taking a drink like he normally would have, the apples for that cider might be contaminated with angry demon spirits. "I thank you very much Madam. Would you like to see the artifacts we have managed to recover so far?"

"Why the heck not? All in the interest of science of course!" The group entered the covered tent pavilion, the artifacts laid out on a long table. The majority were metal scraps like the brass tubes and more broken weapons. But there were also scraps of cloth and glass. But especially interesting was a metal box, about one foot high and eighteen inches deep.

"What's in the box Doctor?" said a curious Twilight.

Doctor Whooves stared longingly at the box, craving the secrets it held. "We don't know yet, it could be something wonderful or something terrible, of course it could be completely empty."

Twilight's horn glowed with her trademark purple magic. An aura encompassed the box and it levitated slightly off the table. The unicorn concentrated, and the door to the box burst open.

"Miss Sparkle! I must protest your use of magic on such delicate artifacts." On the other hoof, it was open, and a gold mine of information lay inside. Delicately reaching in, Doctor Whooves grasped a piece of paper. It was in a blocky, uniform script like on a Canterlot printing press. Perfectly legible Equestrian language. With one exception, the way it was written was almost like one of the pegasus military reports.

"Operation Hammerstrike? Military base called Stronghold? Heavy armaments deployment? Aircraft postioning? What is this? None of these names are present in any ancient text. Do you all know what this means!"

"That a bunch of ponies went cuckoo and put gibberish in a box?" Rainbow Dash said sarcastically.

"Rainbow, we are going to have to work on that sarcasm sometime," Rarity said to her friend.

Doctor Whooves had ignored both of them. "It means that this was written by demons! These are their two thousand year old battle plans! And what is this?" He again reached into the box, pulling out something covered in a reflective coating. It was perfectly preserved and looked the same way it did the day it had been written. "By Celestia, it's a map! This could be key to locating this so called Stronghold. So many mysteries to be solved, philosophy could be turned on its head. Everything we know about Equestrian history could be rewritten!"

"Hey Doc, what is that thingy there?" Rainbow Dash dipped her head into the box, bringing out a small rectangular card on a chain. It had a black strip on the back, and on the front it had a picture and some unintelligible writing. "What the hay is a Rudolph Smith and why is it a doctor?"

Crashing noises sounded from outside the tent. It sounded like a struggle was taking place. "Miss Sparkle, I don't have a good feeling about this, take the map and the card and run. Go out the back of the tent and make a break for Applejack's barn. Go!"

The six mares ran out the back of the tent carrying the map, just as the tent flap settled, a white pegasus stallion clad in gold armor entered the front. "Are you Doctor Whooves?" asked the royal guard.

"Yes, and by what right do you have to trespass on this excavation?!"

"Royal right, by the decree of Princess Celestia this site has been condemned and all artifacts recovered shall be destroyed!"

"I'll take you to court for this! I have the law on my side."

"The Princess's word is law, we have already begun with the demolition."

Map to Nowhere

"Whats the deal? Why would royal guards be destroying the place?" A frantic Rainbow Dash asked as they entered Applejack's kitchen.

"Its just like Pinkie said! This is some kind of government cover up. I always wanted to go to Canterlot, but to enjoy the high life, not the prison cells," Rarity cried out.

Twilight's horn glowed with her magic, pulling the curtains shut and darkening the room. "Calm down everypony! There is obviously some kind of logical explanation for all of this. We just don't seem to know it yet. Princess Celestia wouldn't outlaw this kind of knowledge for no reason."

"So what are we gonna do sugarcube? Hide in mah kitchen until the cows come home?"

"No, we are all going to go home, and stay quiet until this all blows over."

"What about the map Twilight?" asked a shaken Fluttershy.

"I'll see what I can do about interpreting it. I have books on cartography from all over the world, somepony has to have a technique similar to the demons."

***************************************************************************

It was blatantly obvious what the map pertained to, it was so detailed it was like a photograph. Stronghold or whatever it was called stood directly west of something called "Surge Source", how far was difficult to say. Several line of different colors crisscrossed the map, Twilight wasn't sure whether they were just on the map or actual lines somewhere out there. Spike lazily sat in a chair on the other side of the table, holding a quill in his claw for the inevitable moment when Twilight would tell him to take some notes. She turned the map this way and that way, looking for anything that might be a clue. Then it hit her.

"Wait a second." She rushed over to a shelf, grabbing one of the most common scrolls in Ponyville, a map of Equestria. Twilight spread it next to the demon map, though different in scale, the maps had subtle similarities. "That mountain matches with Canterlot! And that river there is kind of like the one flowing through the Everfree Forest!" But the demon map did not show any sign of the Everfree. Nor did the Equestria map show any of the smaller lines. Or did it? Squinting closely, Twilight saw a roadway on the Equestria map that matched a line on the demon map. "Spike! Are you taking notes? The little red lines are ancient roads! And the blue ones are larger roads. And the really big straight ones are imaginary, like borders to countries! If my conversions are right, the demon base called Stronghold should be about..." she took a couple seconds to calculate, "about two hundred miles due west of here! Oh Doctor Whooves will be so pleased!

Spike dropped his quill and looked at Twilight. "Doctor Whooves? Where have you been Twilight? The Doc is on house arrest for some kind of crime."

"What? All he did was dig in the dirt and ask some questions."

"I know, but a bunch of guards came to the door asking if we had any contact with Doctor Whooves lately, I lied and said we didn't."

****************************************************************************

The throne room to Canterlot Castle stood quiet, Princess Celestia waiting between appointments with various dignitaries and bureaucrats. A knock sounded at the massive door, Celestia expected the buffalo dignitary who was here to rediscuss the treaty regarding gemstone tariffs crossing into the Equestria border. "Enter."

Princess Luna instead crashed through the door, looking absolutely furious. She stalked up to the throne.

"Luna, shouldn't you be asleep?"

The blue alicorn stared at her sister with malice in her eyes. "Why did you do it?"

"Do what dear sister?"

"Some ponies in Ponyville found human artifacts, maybe even remains! Just an hour ago I got a report saying they had been utterly destroyed!"

Celestia nodded, as if Luna had said something that was no big deal. "Yes, I ordered the guards to destroy any strange artifacts they found at the site."

"Well, why?"

"To save those ponies from the past, whenever knowledge of the humans resurfaced horrible things happened Luna. It is as if their very memory taints the world."

Luna spread her wings in anger. "We cannot ignore the past! I know more than most about what kind of evil the humans were capable of, and if anything their failed society stands as a reminder to us to never become like them."

"Luna, what if they found something? Yes, we find their weapons, their communication devices and vehicles all the time, but what if they found the way to Stronghold? What if they found a new source of corruption that even the humans were too afraid to use?"

Luna shivered as Celestia mentioned the dread human citadel. It was where the Defiler had been born and to this day explorer ponies reported strange things happening at the ruins of Stronghold, like the place had been haunted by spirits, vengeful of the alicorn's failure to save them.

"So they found one of the funeral pyres from The Day of Judgement?" The horrible image had stayed in her head over the years, clear as the very day she had seen them. Great piles of bodies; human, pony and creature all stacked in the same heap, many mangled beyond recognition. The oily black smoke that filled the sky and the choking stench of burning flesh that clung to anything it touched as flames licked the dead. They had both been there, two thousand years ago on the day of humanity's pacification.

"Yes Luna, I also thought it disrespectful of anypony to disturb them. They all died out there for various reasons, and none of their spirits deserved unrest." Celestia squinted at Luna. "You are considering it, aren't you? Letting my student go to Stronghold to find answers as to why we failed. Solve the age old mystery of why the human army disappeared before we could help them. Maybe even find a way to conquer your fear of them. Tell me Luna, have your nightmares ever faded away?"

The blue alicorn sighed. "No, they are as vivid as ever. Some part of me is screaming out in warning, but against what? We defeated all of their taint with the Elements. Besides, what harm could come of sending the embodiements of the Elements of Harmony to see if they can give rest to the angered spirits?"

"More harm than you can imagine Luna. What if they found another Defiler and accidently unleashed some new horror?"

"I would not be able to live with myself any longer, as if I can already." Luna's head dropped and her eyes watered with guilt.

The white alicorn stood and walked to her sister. "Don't say things like that Luna, what Nightmare Moon did has no bearing on who you are. You are Princess Luna, raiser of the Moon in the sky, beloved ruler of her people and the most loving sister I could ever ask for."

Tears streaked down Luna's face. "I'm sorry Celestia, I just don't know what to do anymore." Celestia laid a wing on Luna, giving what comfort she could to the black alicorn, her past ruling her future and her personal torment unending.

**************************************************************************

Twilight Sparkle walked through Ponyville market square, determined to see Doctor Whooves at his home and tell him what she had learned from the map. Approaching his house, she saw two gold armored royal guards standing watch outside of his door. Nervously she addressed the pair.

"Uh, hello there! I just wanted to bring the Doctor some books he requested."

The stoic, gold armored guards replied, "No can do miss, the individual in current residence is under house arrest, no communication with anypony."

"Oh my goodness! What is he in trouble for?" she asked in a disbelieving lie.

"Spread of false rumors, propaganda milling, and trespassing on private property."

"Well then, when will he be out of house arrest?"

"Until further notice ma'am. Please move along." Twilight left in a hurry, heading back to the market. Passing by a flower cart, she heard something from an alleyway.

"Psst! Miss Sparkle!" Twilight looked around, then spotted Doctor Whooves waving a hoof at her.

"Doctor Whooves? How did you get out?"

"Sshhhh! Not so loud!" he said in a hissing whisper, "I have my ways of getting around. What did you learn from the map?"

Twilight snuck into the alley. "I found out that it's a rough map of Equestria, but before it was Equestria!"

"Yes, yes. Anything else?"

"I know how to get to their fortress, its about two hundred miles due west of Ponyville."

Doctor Whooves refrained from jumping with joy. "Excellent Miss Sparkle! I have this theory, if the demons were that advanced when ponies were so primitive, they must know something about our origins. I would investigate this theory by going myself, but I can't be gone from my house for more than a couple minutes at a time or else the guards will notice."

"What are you saying Doc?"

"Twilight, I want you and your friends to go to Stronghold and look for any information about the demons or their knowledge of us. Think, legend says they had a global empire, what if we could somehow find their ancient knowledge from around the world? We would be famous to say the absolute least! And if they actually know our origins, so many riddles of life could be solved without arguing."

"I don't know Doc, the very thought of going to an ancient fortress guarded by demon spirits sounds just a tad bit on the dangerous side. What if one of us got hurt out there, or even worse?"

"Those ghost stories are just that Twilight, stories! Please consider the possible contributions to science, magic and knowledge! I beg of you to please consider!"

Twilight sighed in resignation. "Alright, but only if my friends agree to this as well."

"Huzzah! I'm glad you see it my way, of course I will be funding your expedition into the western frontierlands, and you will be needing supplies for at least a month of travel and so on!" The Doctor prattled on for another minute before he realized the guards would getting suspicious of his silent house. "I must go, but remember, the reward of knowledge from this expedition could be priceless! Who knows? There could even be treasure!" The Doctor trotted off down the alleyway.

********************************************************************************

"So that's the deal girls, Doctor Whooves wants us to go on an adventure to a lost city past the western frontiers. It might be fraught with peril, but he says there may be a great treasure at the end." Twilight had gathered her close friends at the library to talk about the expedition.

"Twilight, all ya had to say was 'adventure' and I was totally in, the treasure just sweetens the deal," Rainbow Dash said as she set down one of her books.

"Yes, the prospect of adventure sure does make one's hooves eager for the road, and what if that treasure is jewels. Marvelous jewels of every size and cut! I would be the talk of high society with my gem studded line of clothing!" Rarity drifted off on a tangent, another gem fueled dream clouding her mind.

"Well sugarcube, it wouldn't be right if y'all went out stompin' around the countryside without me by your side. I'm in Twilight."

"Oh I can't wait to go! Maybe my Pinkie Sense will come in handy somewhere!" Pinkie bounced around the room, obviously excited at the prospect of a fun adventure.

"Fluttershy, that just leaves you. None of us will go if one of us doesn't want to."

The pegasus would have shivered in her boots, if she was wearing any. "I...I....I'll go Twilight, maybe I'll be useful somehow."

"Then it's settled, with the funds from Doctor Whooves, we're going to Stronghold."

"Wait! What about me Twilight!?" Spike burst into the room. He was supposed to be asleep, but instead he had been eavesdropping on their meeting.

"Spike, this is likely to be very dangerous. Besides, somepony has to look after the library while I'm gone."

"But that's not fair! You and your friends get to have all the adventures while I stay here and write notes." The baby dragon had a realization. "Wait, my claws fit the demon weapon, maybe they had other stuff that needs claws to work! What if there is something only somepony with claws can do?"

"He has a point there Twilight. If we are going into their city, we might need somepony that has a bit more dexterity," Rarity threw in.

"Ugh! Fine, you can come too Spike! Just don't get into too much trouble. Now, how are we going to do this?"

Applejack compared the demon map to a map of modern Equestria. "If that map we found in mah orchard is right, we could hop on the train for Appleloosa and be halfway there in two days. Mah cousin Braeburn would gladly give us a place to sleep and some supplies."

"Excellent Applejack, now what do we know about the western frontier?"

"The buffalo control most of that territory, but I don't know about anythin' beyond their borders."

"Then maybe we can get their help in this, if they live around Stronghold then maybe they know something about the site. That about covers everything, does anypony have questions?"

Rainbow Dash raised a hoof. "When do we leave?"

"If possible, tomorrow."

The Sleeper

The dreams, they would never end. The Sleeper knew not his name, neither did he even know who or what he dreamt about. Dreams of paradise, of bliss unending. Dreams of happiness and warm summer days flitted by. Loves gained and loves spurned stood out, then faded away. What was and what could have been mingled until the truth could not discern itself from self told lies. Dreams of godliness, of great and mighty self being were reflected by dreams of pain and lowliness.

And then the nightmares. Nightmares of lands cloaked in shadow. Of monsters of the flesh and of the mind rending his body and soul until he begged for death. Demons flickering just beyond his sight in the mists of fear. Entire worlds ablaze, seas of blood and pain beyond that of comprehension. And then there were the nightmares of her.

The dark one. The evil one who tortured him while she laughed at her own madness. The one who made him less than a dog and threatened to kill him like one. She who had come in his moment of victory and thrown his species into the ditch. She who degraded his very being into that of a despised parasite. The dark one that swore to murder him and everyone he loved. He hated her, more than anything. And he also feared her with every fiber of his being. The one loved by his enemy, whom they called Princess Luna.

The Sleeper struggled in his eternal rest, but a voice reached out from across the abyss. A voice of neither man nor woman, child or adult.

Calm my child, soon.

****************************************************************************************

Twilight

A voice not attached to anything whispered to Twilight Sparkle in her sleep. The unicorn shifted in her rest, knowing this to be a dream, and nothing more. But something seemed to tap into her subconscious, cutting away the unpleasant dreams which consumed her.

Wake up, Twilight.

She awoke with a start, looking for the whisperer. Not seeing anypony besides her still sleeping friends, she assumed it to be a dream. Standing from her bed of rough travel blankets she stretched the soreness from her muscles. They had taken shelter from the storm in the ruined fortress of what they assumed to be Stronghold. From what she saw, the place had none of the answers she sought.

Twilight cantered over to the wagon which they had pulled into the broken building, rummaging around she grabbed an apple and some hay. Eating quietly she wondered what to do next as her friends gradually woke up.

Applejack yawned from her blanket, standing up and walking stiffly over to the wagon. "Mornin', sugarcube."

"Good morning, Applejack." Twilight sighed as she greeted Applejack, melancholia permeating her voice.

The farm mare felt her disappointment, placing a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Hey, don't feel that way, hon. We got here in one piece, we're probably the first ponies ta ever set hoof in here. That's something in itself."

Twilight looked around to the cracked walls, the shattered windows and the piles of rust which used to be furniture. "This place is a dump, Applejack. It's a wonder the demons even bothered to build it. There is nothing here worth our time."

"I wouldn't say that yet. We haven't even checked out this buildin' yet."

The two were joined by an overly energetic and positive Rainbow Dash. "Mornin' squares."

"Good morning Rainbow."

"So what's the game plan? Gonna find some treasure, fight some baddies, save the day?" Dash pantomimed boxing with some opponents, obviously winning.

"We're going to look over the ruins, then leave this magic forsaken hole before dusk," Twilight replied.

Rainbow Dash settled down, her smile turning to a frown. "Okay then, sounds like a plan." The blue pegasus grabbed some hay and started eating breakfast.

Later after everypony had eaten and stretched the stress out of their bodies, they began their search.

Twilight gathered the assembled ponies, holding a lantern with her magic and a saddlebag full of exploration supplies. "Okay girls, we are going to stick together, no splitting up for this one. If one of us gets in trouble, the rest of us are there. First, let's hit those stairs."

The group climbed the staircase up higher into the ruined building, finding artifacts beyond their knowledge. Glass shards littered the second floor along with lumps of rusted metal and the same dead foliage that had worked its way in. None of it functioned and none of it was worth picking up. The third floor had collapsed centuries before, and so was inaccessible. They had seen a staircase going downward, so they decided to go that way.

As they took the first tentative steps into the darkened stairwell, Twilight felt something tingle on the back of her neck.

Twilight

The mysterious voice again! Twilight looked around in alarm, but none of her friends had heard anything.

Twilight Sparkle, seek the Sleeper.

This place really was haunted. Twilight desperately searched for any sign of a ghost or other phantasm. But the only thing present was her own friends and the rustle of wind through the ruins. "Can anypony else hear this?!"

"Hear what Twilight?" said Pinkie Pie. Pinkie seized up, holding stiff and working her face like she was preparing to sneeze. The sneeze came, in the form of a sudden and violent upward jerk of her head. "My Pinkie Sense!" she shouted.

"Whats a head jerk upward mean?" asked Twilight hopefully.

"That there is something hidden! Something nopony wants you to find is nearby."

"Your sense started when we went down the stairs! We have to keep going down!" Carefully they kept descending into the dark. Rarity's horn lit the way when the sun no longer touched the darkness. Pinkie's twitches became more violent as they went further. Downward they went, into the bowels of the earth.

Not much farther Twilight.

"We have to keep going! Something important is down here!" At last the stairs ended in a massive room, at the end stood what looked like a gigantic metal door. "This is it. Behind that door lies the key."

Rainbow Dash smirked at Twilight. "What's that Miss Doom and Gloom, 'there's nothing here'?" Twilight blushed for her earlier pessimism, but pressed onward to the door. It was easily forty feet wide and twenty feet tall. Off to one side sat some kind of console. She blew the dust off, and to her surprise it came to life with internal light. The lighted box had words inside, and Twilight squinted through the dust and grime at the box.

Words flashed across the glass screen, words that seemed too perfect, yet alien in their form. "Identification? I don't have any identification. Wait, Rainbow Dash! Where is that card you had at the dig?"

"In my saddlebag, why?"

"Give it to me!" Rainbow rummaged through her bags, pulling out the card on a simple chain. She tossed it to Twilight, who awkwardly swept it through a slot just the right size for the card. The screen read "error".

"Error? How?" asked the unicorn as she swept it again.

Spike decided it was his time to shine, pushing past the ponies to stand with Twilight. "I think it's upside down, Twilight. Here, I'll get it." Grabbing the card in his claw he swiped it the correct way. This time the box took a second, then read, "Greetings Dr. Smith. Please enter entry password below." A separate box slid out from the wall, containing several buttons which had letters and numbers on them.

"A password! Aw for hay's sake," Spike swore, wondering why in his time to shine he had been cast down by a simple sequence of numbers.

"Maybe I can help!" Pinkie bounced to the forefront, determined to be useful.

"How?" asked Spike.

"With my Pinkie Sense, duh. Whenever you put your claw over the wrong one, I'll get a twitch!" Spike shrugged, willing to try anything. The idea seemed to work, Pinkie did a lot of shaking over the next few minutes, pausing occasionally at what they guessed was the right letter or number. After a while she shook over every button.

"What's wrong, Pinkie?"

Pinkie swooned, her eyes spinning from the overuse of her Pinkie Sense. "I think that's all you needed. Now what do we do?"

Spike looked at the keyboard, spotting a key he hoped would do the trick. "Why didn't we think of this before! What we wanted to do was 'Enter'." He pressed the key, at first nothing happened. Then the screen read out a new message. "Welcome to Project Lazarus, Dr. Smith. Please be wary of nitrogen decompression."

A loud, metallic clank and boom startled everypony. The entire room shook as the door began to scrape its way open, folding into the walls. A wall of a strange mist hit them, colder than the top of a mountain, only the pegasi able to even stand against it. The mist eventually cleared, everypony coughing her lungs up from the strange mist.

As soon as the door to the Vault opened, the glow of a pale blue light brought their attention inside. "What is this place, Twilight?"

"I don't know, Fluttershy." Before them stood an otherworldly sight, thousands upon thousands of standing tubes stretching as far as the eye could see, condensation making it impossible to see what was inside. Silent as a graveyard, their very heartbeats making it sound like they intruded. The light came from the tubes themselves, illuminated from the inside by some strange machinery.

Rarity tried to count how many of the standing tubes that her horn illuminated. "There must be thousands, tens of thousands. Possibly hundreds of thousands."

Twilight walked to a tube, feeling drawn to one in particular in the front row of tubes. Using her hoof she wiped the condensation off the glass. She stumbled backwards, gasping for breath and holding her chest after the miniature heart attack she had.

"There's creatures in there!" she gasped, pointing to the glass.

"That simply cannot be! Let me look." Rarity peered beyond the glass, inside stood a tall creature wearing white clothing, hairless except for a short crop of brown hair atop its head. His eyes were closed and the creature's chest did not move. Rarity backed away, too shocked to speak immediately.

"What the buck is this place!? Some kind of sick museum!? Is that an actual demon?!?"

Fluttershy wiped away more condensation with her wing, peering inside. "It can't be. This creature doesn't look like it could hurt a fly, much less conquer the world."

The others looked into the tube now, judging for themselves whether this thing was the demon, the hunter, the bloodthirsty monster legend made it into. Rainbow Dash and Applejack muttered something to each other, agreeing on a course of action. They both walked over to Twilight, who still tried to catch her breath on the floor.

"Twilight, Rainbow and I think we should crack this walnut open. We came here for evidence of the demons, and we sure as shoot found it."

"Something tells me that is a horribly bad idea, Applejack. What if that thing is still alive?"

"Can't be, it ain't breathin'," she said as she trotted over to the tube, turning her back hooves to the glass tube. Rearing forward she kicked with every ounce of strength.

"APPLEJACK NO!!!" Too late, in slow motion the farm mare's hooves made contact with the glass. At first nothing happened and Twilight thought they were safe, but cracks appeared and spread. All in one, the glass fell away, the demon now exposed.

"See, no harm done." They all looked back at the demon. And to their horror, the eyes shot open. The creature opened its mouth and let forth the most horrendous scream any of them had ever heard.

**********************************************************************************

It was a town meeting, all of Ponyville was in attendance that day. There were multiple issues, like the disappearance of Twilight Sparkle and her friends as well as the arrest of Doctor Whooves and the destruction of his findings. The Mayor delivered a heart felt speech to all of those who missed a family member. The Apple family sat in the middle of the hall, Granny Smith asleep as usual, oblivious to the missing Applejack.

Something touched the ancient mare's mind, and she woke screaming.

"The Sleeper has awoken! Demon fires will burn again! He has come forth from eternal slumber to change our world forever! Even now he screams his triumph over death and his rebirth to the world! Lucifer shall once again harvest souls! THE SLEEPER HAS AWOKEN!!"

Everypony in the hall looked at Granny Smith with fear on their faces. "Granny Smith?" asked the Mayor. Granny Smith appeared to fall back to sleep, then snapped to.

"Yeah? What's that yeh said there, Mayor?"

**************************************************************************************

Across Equestria, inside of Canterlot Castle, Princess Luna slept. A scream penetrated her dreams, a primal shout from the depths of hell. She saw his face, contorted into a scream of terror, fear, and triumph over death. She awoke, not bathed in sweat as usual, but feeling ready for a fight. "So, have you finally decided to try again, you monster?" she said to the empty room.

***************************************************************************************

The demon finished his scream. He fainted, dropping to his knees and then slumping over onto the glass covered floor.

"Is it dead?" whispered Rainbow as she took a step closer to the creature, wings spread to fight if this was some kind of a trick.

"Not on my watch it isn't!" shouted Fluttershy. She sprang to the demon's side, placing her ear to his chest. "Damn, he's not breathing." She lifted a hoof high above her head and brought it crashing down on the demon's chest. She punched him in the chest several times, then listened again. "Breathe, damn you!" She continued to punch, the demon's body convulsing every time she struck. Building her rage, she gathered both hooves over her head and slammed the creature. It coughed and gasped, its chest beginning to rise and fall.

The creature remained unconscious, Fluttershy sat down to catch her breath, completely winded from her effort.

"Fluttershy...that was amazing! You saved that creature, even though it's a demon!" exclaimed Twilight.

"Element of Kindness, had to try something," Fluttershy panted.

Pinkie crept close and delicately nudged it with a hoof. It remained unresponsive except for his rasping breath. "Well what do we do with Mr Shoutypants over here? He'll wake up soon or later, and the old stories all say they ate meat!"

"Calm down Pinkie, it doesn't look built to eat meat. Where are the fangs, the claws, and everything else?" Twilight looked back at the unconscious demon. Spike stood next to it, holding his claws next to the creature's clawless fingers, like the fingers of a minotaur. Looking at it now, the demon seemed kind of harmless to Twilight, not really built for anything in particular. A hissing noise emerged from the floor as a box rose up from the ground, it opened with a similar rush of gas to the massive door. Inside was clothing and what looked like personal effects.

"I think we better get out of here. We're taking the demon and his things with us. If he can speak, he will be a better source of information than any library."

*******************************************************************************************

The Sleeper awoke to see reality for the first time in two thousand years, though he did not know how long it had been. Sighting an entire coterie of his technicolored nightmares, he screamed. It was mostly involuntary, the lack of oxygen made it so that he had to re-expand his lungs after centuries of disuse. Nonetheless, he fainted of his own accord, hoping the monsters would just let him die. But a great pain came to his chest, again and again until sweet air filled his lungs. Apparently they had plans for him, and wouldn't let him slip away just yet.

*******************************************************************************************

"Careful!" Twilight shouted as Rainbow Dash and Applejack banged the demon's head on yet another step as they carried him out of the Vault. The two strongest ponies took no pleasure in hurting the thing, but they had to admit that somepony made some design flaws with this creature.

"If he wasn't so awkward this wouldn't happen so much," growled Rainbow Dash as she stopped to throw the demon's long arm on her back for the third time.

"How are we even sure this critter is a he? Maybe it's a filly."

"Not likely, it just doesn't have a female look to it. Besides, are you going to be the one to check?" Twilight indicated his pants with a hoof.

"Heck no!" Applejack got back to carrying, she had the legs draped over her back. Down below, the massive door to the Vault scraped and groaned as it slowly shut. No turning back now, they were stuck with their sleeping charge.

Without surprise Fluttershy had taken on the role of nursemaid to the unconscious demon, and once they reached their camping area on the first floor she started to examine the creature. "Couldn't you all have been a little gentler with him? The poor baby is going to have so many bruises."

"Baby?! That thing is six feet tall Fluttershy!" Rarity hissed as she rummaged through the demon's possessions. "This thing has to have something valuable. Where's the jewels, damn it!"

"I don't think he would appreciate you digging through his things, Avant Garde." Fluttershy added with a bit of venom.

Rarity recoiled from the box like it was a viper. "Sorry, I just remember the promise of treasure from a certain book worm." She glanced in Twilight's direction.

Twilight simply stared at the demon of legend that lay out cold on her blanket. "Well, I say we rest, then leave here tomorrow morning. We got fresh artifacts for Doctor Whooves, with him as a bonus. PINKIE! GET OUT OF THERE!"

Pinkie Pie now had her face plunged into the demon's possessions, rummaging through his things like she would with anypony else's. "MMmmmm, his things smell sssssooooooo GOOD! And his clothes smell kind of like some of those colognes the stallions wear around Hearts and Hooves Day! OOOOOOHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Pinkie squealed as she found something, probably shiny, in the demon's stuff.

"What is it, JEWELS!?"

"Nope! Just another weapon!" She whipped out her head with a demon weapon in her teeth. "Ggggrrrrr! I'm a scary demon!"

Twilight shrunk back as Pinkie waved the weapon her direction. "Put that down before you hurt somepony! We don't know what it could do!"

"Awww." Pinkie dropped the weapon. As it hit the ground, a thunderous bang! shattered the quiet of the ruined building. Everypony took cover, shivering in fear of the thunder weapon. Pinkie peered out from behind the wagon, trembling slightly. "Is it safe yet?"

Twilight very carefully grabbed the weapon with her magic and placed it back with the rest of his possessions. "That is why we do not touch his things girls. Only his kind are meant to handle them." They decided unanimously to stop examining the demon and his artifacts and go to sleep for the night. Today had been tougher than their whole journey, and wasn't a thing they wanted to continue without some rest.

The next morning their guest was still out cold, taking the opportunity they all grabbed some food from the wagon, emptying as much space as they could for their 'cargo'. Unceremoniously they dumped him inside, leaving Spike to sit with him.

Fluttershy left him with explicit instructions. "Now Spike, he is very fragile, so make sure to pad him good for the bumpy road. And if he wakes up, don't be alarmed, just call one of us. He hasn't drank anything at all, so dribble just a little water in his mouth every few hours, not too much or he could choke."

"Alright, I get it!"

"Okay, just make sure he is fine. And Twilight says not to touch his things."

The group marched out of Stronghold, taking the same path they had used to get there originally. It cut back on the effort needed to fight the brush, and soon they left the magic devoid Demon Lands, returning to the plains and desert of the buffalo. Their escorts were long gone, their tribal suspicions of the Hunter's fortress preventing them from staying long.

Progress was slow for the day, and the group decided to make camp near a small plains oasis late that afternoon. The demon still showed no signs of waking up. They laid out on the warm sands near the banks of the pond, munching on fresh grass. Twilight sat next to Spike as he watched the demon.

"How do you both do it?" she asked the dragon.

"What do you mean both of us?"

"You and the demon. What is your angle on life? You have to realize that you are the most like him Spike."

"How is that possible? He is a monster out of legend, I'm a dragon." Spike pointed out.

"You both walk on two legs, he has claws like you, and I'm going to assume you both have the same way of moving. I just want to know the way he thinks, the way he sees the world. You are the closest we have to him talking to us, and I just wanted to see things from his angle."

As always Twilight had seen with logic, and Spike calmed. "Oh. Well, walking on two legs is pretty good I guess, and being able to grip things without my mouth is pretty cool. I don't know Twilight, I just never had to look at myself this way before."

"It's okay Spike, I just wish he would wake up and talk to us, prove he isn't a monster. These desert nights can get cold, we might need a fire tonight, want to help out?"

"Sure, as long as Mr. Shuteye here doesn't have anything to say about it." He waited for the unconscious creature to voice his opinion.

**************************************************************************

The night came without storm or wind, the sky filled with more stars than anypony could count in a lifetime. The campfire crackled gently and brought warmth to the tired ponies who shared it. They had draped a couple of blankets over The Sleeper, who still languished in his dreams. Talk was small, and mainly about their unconscious companion.

Fluttershy's gaze drifted back over to the wagon, concern in her eyes. "I wonder if he'll ever wake up. I'm starting to worry for him."

"Don't feel bad about it Fluttershy, you did what you could. Maybe it's natural for his species to sleep for days on end, like a dragon."

"Why do I doubt that Twilight? He hasn't moved and all he does is moan and groan once in a while," said Rainbow Dash.

"This is most likely our fault Rainbow, maybe we did something wrong when we let him out."

The group went silent once more, the only noise the crackle of the campfire and the chorus of crickets and bugs in the bush.

Rainbow Dash reclined in the warm sand, staring up at the night sky. "Hey guys, I wonder if we'll be heroes or something. We found a map to a lost city, braved the frontier, found said lost city, and then brought a demon back to life."

"That last one doesn't quite sound like hero material Rainbow Dash. Besides, we've already saved the world twice! How much more can everypony think of us as heroes?"

"I don't know, but I want to find out."

Everypony seemed calm and relaxed, but something wasn't right, Spike could smell strange ponies around.

"Guys, I think...." The baby dragon was cut off by a lasso tightening around his neck. The mares all stood, but ropes swished in from the darkness, some propelled by magic, to ensnare the six friends. Whoops and hollers could be heard from beyond the campfire's light. Bandits had found them.

They entered the campsite, keeping strong grips on their ropes. The strange ponies all looked unwashed and downright foul. "Yeehaw! We gots us a good load hyar boss!"

The boss entered, his golden armor flickering blood red in the firelight.

Rarity gasped, "You! From the borderhouse!"

"We lost you there for a while Miss 'Avant Garde'. Luckily Spit Shine spotted your campfire or we would have missed you completely. Where's your gem caravan? Or was that a lie to get past little old me without too much notice?"

"Why? You are a Royal Guard! Why would you do this to us?"

"Oldest reason ever, money. I pretend to make a big deal out of letting ponies cross the border, then when they tell me where they are going with what, I have my gang ambush them. All the better when the Princess thinks the buffalo have been ransacking her Royal caravans." The guard smirked at the bound mares, the unicorn's horns being held to prevent any attempts to escape magically.

"There are no jewels you monster! There is nothing here worth your time!"

"Oh, you will do better than any wagon full of worthless gems, ain't that right boys?" The bandits all whistled through what teeth they had left at their prize of six fine mares. He got close to Rarity, "I think I'll have you first," he said with a wicked grin. Rarity spit in his face and he fell back onto his haunches. "You little bitch! I'll make good use of that whore mouth of yours!" From within the wagon, the blankets began to shift.

The boss began to remove his armor for easier access when something tackled him broadside like a truck. He shook himself off, looking to see what had attacked him. Standing over the ensnared Rarity was a nightmarish monster, standing on two legs like some kind of demon from his mother's foalhood stories. The creature cracked the joints in its neck, staring at the guard. The guard could only say three words, "KILL THAT THING!"

A bandit pony rushed at the new attacker, only to be dodged and have the back of his neck sliced open with a knife the demon had drawn. Another rushed with a spear, the demon grabbed it with his hands and twisted it from the pony's mouth, bringing it crashing down upon the bandit's spine, snapping it. Several more tried ropes, but he simply threw them off. Then the demon reached into a holster on his side, bringing out his black thunder weapon, downing a bandit with every lightning report. A rogue unicorn tried to use his magic, but a single long bound brought the demon's arms around his neck. With an elbow he broke the horn off the unicorn, who ran after being let go.

The remaining bandits fled into the night, the only one left standing was the corrupt guard, who shook in fear, a puddle of urine soaking his hooves. The demon walked to him, knife in one hand, thunder weapon in the other. The monster raised the thunder weapon, aiming it straight at the golden armored pegasus' forehead. He thumbed back the hammer with a click.

"NO!" shouted one of the bound ponies. The demon hesitated, lowering his weapon, instead raising his knife to slice through one of the guard's eyes in one fluid motion. Grabbing ahold of the pegasus by his mane, he directed him to the darkness, and with a humiliating slap on the rump sent him flying into the desert night.

He turned back to the bound mares, who at this point were certain he would kill them next. He sheathed his thunder weapon, walking towards the ponies with his knife raised. He first stopped at Twilight Sparkle, Twilight closed her eyes, awaiting the killing blow. But it never came, a quick cut and the ropes around her grew slack. She opened her eyes to see the demon doing the same for every one of her friends. And then he stood before her again. "Are you alright?"

Twilight fainted.

Human

It had been several hours since the bandit attack had very nearly ended their lives and their freedom. Dawn touched the eastern sky when the ponies finally started to accept the fact that the demon had saved them. Twilight awoke hoping last night, no, the whole past week had been a nightmare. But there he sat, watching her across the fire. She had a blanket draped over herself, standing shakily she looked at the demon who had saved her, hopefully not for breakfast.

"Morning," it said. Her vision blurred and she very nearly fainted again. "Easy now, you had a rough time last night. You should take it easy for the next few hours."

"Where are my friends?" she apprehensively asked.

The demon nodded over to the other sleeping mares. "Sleeping it off as well, they went through too much stress last night and collapsed when I freed you."

"So it was real? The bandit attack and everything?"

"If you could call those clowns 'bandits', then yes, it was all real."

"Where are their... well, bodies?"

"I took care of that. And no, I didn't eat them or anything."

Her eyes searched the creature that sat across the fire from her. "What are you? Really?"

"Kind of a weird order to introduce yourself, I am a human being. Species Homo sapiens, at your service. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. And you are?"

"Twilight, Twilight Sparkle, a unicorn." The human began to smile.

"I always enjoyed your names, they are just so personally descriptive. Ours have less real meaning, but more unique identity to them."

"You have a name?"

"Of course. May I introduce, Aaron Patterson, the last human!" He stood with a flourish and bowed. Twilight stared at the eccentric creature, confused as to its motives and why it acted so strangely. "That is, until you give me the directions back to Fort Greenewell so I can wake up the rest of my species."

"Fort Greenewell?"

"You know, Stronghold! The place you dragged me unceremoniously out of on my face."

"I can't let you go back there yet."

The human took on a very serious and angry look. "And just why not?"

"I know what you are, demon! If you wake up your kind all of Equestria will suffer!"

"I take offense to being called demon, now I suggest you tell me the way home or else I'll have to question whether my rule about not hitting girls applies to farm animals!"

"I'm sorry about the 'demon' thing, but I can't let you go back! And who are you calling 'farm animal'?!"

The human forced himself to be calm. "Okay miss high and mighty, what will it take for you to give me some directions?"

"My name is Twilight Sparkle!"

"Okay, Twilight Sparkle, what will it take for you to please give me directions back to base? I already saved you and your friend's lives and chastity once last night, what more do I have to give?"

"All you have to do is come back to Ponyville with us, then I'll give you your directions, and maybe this too if you behave." She reached down and pulled the human's identification card out of a saddlebag, key to getting back into the Vault.

The human's eyes narrowed, she had him by the throat here. "What if I just decide to take my card back? How are you going to stop me?"

"Like this." Her horn glowed purple and an aura of the same color engulfed the card. A flash, and the card was gone. "I've sent it to a place where you will never find it in a thousand years."

The human had a look of utter rage on his face, Twilight thought for sure she was doomed. But then he softened, his scowl becoming a smile as he laughed. "You sure know how to play hardball Twilight Sparkle! Well played!"

The others had woken from the commotion and had watched the exchange for the last few minutes. Rarity stood, walked over to the human and looked at him with tear filled eyes. The human raised an eyebrow. "What, did somebody forget to feed you or something?" The unicorn overlooked his jest, stood on her hind legs and threw her forelegs around the human, weeping into his shoulder.

"Thank you!" she said between sobs. The human reached up with a hand and awkwardly patted her on the back.

"There, there, please stop crying now, this is awkward and slightly embarrassing." The unicorn only held tighter, her sobs getting louder. "Oh, what the hell." He reached up with both hands and hugged the unicorn just as fiercely. Rarity had to be pried screaming from her human savior, only to sob onto Applejack's shoulder.

The human stretched his arms and flexed the hoofmarks out of his back, when suddenly his stomach rumbled like an earthquake. "Wow, I really haven't eaten in years, what do you horses have to eat around here?"

The looks of fear on their faces told him something was wrong. "What? What did I say? Was it the horse comment?"

They all shook their heads fearfully, the human's eyes snapped wide open as he realized what he had said. "Oh! No, I don't necessarily mean meat! I don't want to eat you all!" Simultaneously they pointed to the wagon were Spike still rested after his ordeal. He jumped into the back of the wagon, rummaging through the foodstuffs. "Hay, hay, hay, oats, hay. Of all the species that could conquer the world, why did it have to horses? Aha!" He triumphantly pulled a ripe apple from the pile, sinking his teeth into it with a satisfying crunch. "So, when is the rest of the herd gonna introduce themselves?" he said with apple juices dripping down his chin.

The fact that he ate fruit seemed to calm their fears of the human, and Pinkie Pie bounced up to meet him Pinkie Pie style. "HIYA! I'm Pinkie Pie!" And gave him a rib crushing hug. "And I just want to say thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you a THOUSAND TIMES!" The pink mare then burst into a song about being kind and thanking one another. A few minutes later she finally stopped, the human having stared confused at Pinkie's song and dance.

He looked at Twilight, "Did she just sing me a song that she wrote off the top of her head?" The unicorn nodded. "Is that normal?"

"For her it is."

"Overall I give it a B plus; catchy, but it kind of took awhile. She'd win the Oscar for Special Effects though."

The cowboy hatted mare trotted forward and grabbed the human by the hand, shaking it furiously. "Well howdy Mister! Name's Applejack, thems my apples y'all seem to enjoy so much!"

"Pleasure, got any more apples? I literally haven't eaten in years." Applejack whisked away to find some more apples. Rainbow Dash took her turn.

"Sup square. Name's Rainbow Dash, the coolest pony in all the world if you haven't heard. I had my part in your escape from that prison we found you in." Rainbow tried to look suave and keep a cool front, but she couldn't hold it in any longer. "Where did you learn to fight like that last night!?!"

The human swallowed another bite of apple, wiping his mouth on his sleeve, calmly giving his combat training report. "Three years of hapkido in high school, buddy of mine by the name of Salazar in a black operations unit showed me how to shoot and gave me this gun as a gift." He patted his trusty Glock 17C. "If he were here instead of me, things would have been much messier, dude was like a modern Spartan, some even called him the Godslayer." The human grew misty eyed, missing his friend who had fallen at the Day of Judgement.

"Whatever it was, it was the most radical thing ever Mr. Demon! Oops, sorry, I mean Mr. Human."

"Please, Mr. Human wasn't my father's name either, call me Aaron." Rainbow squealed at the informality. Rarity recovered from her bout of thankfulness to the human, approaching him next.

"Sorry about that, sir. It's just that nopony has ever tried to take advantage of me like that guard did. I still can't tell you how thankful I am to you. I'm Rarity."

"You should really think before you flirt with dangerous men Rarity, keep that in mind next time. I'm Aaron."

"Charmed, is there anything I can do for you? I design clothing back in Ponyville, maybe you need a new wardrobe?"

"Thanks, but no thanks. I've got my own clothing." He reached into his lock box and pulled out a shirt, replacing the white medical blouse that he had worn in stasis. Rarity looked curiously at his shirt, wondering why his shirt had a photo of an odd smiling face on it, and wondering what 'Nirvana' was.

Noticing the pink maned pegasus who hadn't yet said anything, Aaron addressed her. "And you are?" She remained silent, quivering a little bit. "Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you, what's your name?" he said in a soothing voice.

"Fluttershy," came a barely audible whisper.

"Say that again? Stasis may have dulled my hearing a bit."

"Fluttershy." Only a decibel louder than the first time.

He turned again to Twilight and whispered, "Whats her name and problem?"

"That's just Fluttershy being herself, she's incredibly timid. Besides, she saw what you did to those bandits last night, we all have a reason to be afraid of you." The human went unimpressed. "She was also the reason why you didn't suffocate in Stronghold."

That had more effect, and the human walked over to Fluttershy, kneeled down to one knee and lifted her chin with a finger. "Thank you Fluttershy. Without you I wouldn't be here today." The pegasus stopped trembling, and soon a smile crept up her face. "How can I ever repay you my nurse?"

Fluttershy mumbled something that Aaron could not hear. "Uh, okay, I'll get right on that."

Something shifted and groaned in the wagon bed, Aaron walked over to investigate. "Who did I miss in here? HOLY SHIT A DRAGON!" He whipped out his pistol and aimed it at Spike.

"HOLY PRINCESSES THE DEMON!" Spike began to build a fireball. The two held their deadly weapons back, waiting for the other to make the first move, Aaron having obvious flashbacks to some conflict.

Twilight tried to put herself between the two. "What are you two doing!?"

"Stay back Twilight, the demon is awake, he might eat you!"

"Like hell I will! I have much more reason to hurt YOU lizard boy!"

"Such as?!"

"I was there! The night when your kind first erupted out of the forest and burned down my home! Do you know what it's like to watch a man you have known and respected die screaming, days after having half his body burned away? A dragon came to that very base that you took me from, in one fell swoop he killed fifty men who I knew as compatriots!"

Twilight gawked at the vivid description of Aaron's past dealings with dragons. But she perked, seeing opportunity. "Wait, first erupted? You mean that was the first time you saw a dragon?"

"I've said too much." He holstered his weapon.

"No, say more, please! I want to know everything about you!"

"Don't say things you don't want to hear. In my life I have seen horrors beyond the realm of nightmares. And I am still a young man by my species' standards." The human climbed in the back of the wagon, ready to head to Ponyville so he could end his agreement with Twilight.

The ponies obliged, quickly packing away their camp and having Applejack take on the burden of pulling. The caravan trundled along the dusty, lonesome rode, soon on its way to the Equestria border. Spike and Aaron sat across from each other, glaring and occasionally snarling. "Hey demon, I'm gonna have to ask you a little favor," Spike said to the creature sitting across from him.

"Stop calling me 'demon' and I'll consider it."

"Stay away from Rarity, and I mean it."

"Oh? I'm sorry, I didn't realize she belonged to you. I'll know better than to talk to her without consulting her pimp first."

The baby dragon hissed at the insult, smoke swirling from his nostrils.

"Hey! Break it up you two!" Twilight shouted to the bipeds in the back of the wagon.

"Yes Twilight," both of them responded.

********************************************************************************************

The border house was deserted, the corrupt guard having seen the full fury of an enraged human. And so they passed into Equestria without pause or obstacle, Appleloosa being their next destination.

Flying by the back of the wagon, Rainbow Dash noticed a rather serious problem. "Uh, guys. I have a question. What do we do with the human once we reach Appleloosa? He's not exactly inconspicuous, and we have to take a train back to Ponyville."

Twilight tapped her chin with a hoof, wondering if they could smuggle him in somehow. "You're right Rainbow, this is quite a problem."

"If anyone has a long cloak, I'll handle myself. I've had to disguise myself in pony territory before." Aaron's comment was met with confused looks. "Long story short, I had to dress as a Diamond Dog to get through a rough patch. Nobody suspected a thing."

"Only one hole in your idea, Diamond Dogs are considered dangerous and are usually chased out of town on sight!"

"What? I remember them as respected military blacksmiths and engineers, what happened?"

Rarity snorted, remembering her brief enslavement. "Let's just say we hit a bit of a rough patch in our relations."

"Well there goes that idea, now what do we do?"

"How about a dragon? We could call you a rare species of dragon to get you on the train." Aaron was surprised to hear the suggestion coming from Spike.

"Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. Guess I'm a dragon for the day."

Dropping off the wagon at the depot and grabbing their supplies, the group went to the station without announcing their presence to the citizens of Appleloosa, Aaron was forced to wear a long cloak anyways, with some rough fashioned "scales" on his hands.

Walking to the ticket master, Twilight had doubts the plan would work. "Uh, six ponies and two dragons please." She had a fake grin splitting her head, the ticket master looked back at Aaron.

"Durned funniest lookin dragon I ever saw. Wheres he from?"

"Um, waaaaayyyy out east. Past Kali'Gryph."

"Kali'Gryph is backed by an ocean young lady."

"Next continent over, Zebrica, yeah that's it, Zebrica." The ticket master shrugged and handed Twilight her boarding passes, obviously not caring about who or what boarded his train, so long as they paid good money. She cantered over to the group, handing out boarding passes, soon they were on the train to Ponyville, having reserved an entire car for themselves.

The human slept through most of it, holding his possessions to his chest like a treasured childhood toy. And they were treasured, they might be the last of whatever they were and they were memories of a simpler life. Aaron would roll and moan in his sleep, obviously tormented by some figure of nightmare.

Twilight felt bad for the human, the only one of his kind roaming the world, tormented by memories of a dark and mysterious past. She felt compassion for this creature, he was lonelier than before she met her friends. No wonder he wanted to open the Vault so quickly. Maybe his kind weren't monsters, maybe they deserved a second chance at life. He still would not talk about his past, what he knew or why he went along with them without quarrel.

"No! Stop you monster! They are innocent!" He was screaming in his sleep again, though his rantings made no sense. Twilight rose, determined to help him in some way. She gathered her magic, and sending a tendril forth, touched his mind. She immediately withdrew, his mind was a place of guilt, fear and hate. His was a tortured soul, and Twilight could do nothing for his sanity. So she sent out another tendril and probed his unconscious, releasing a happy memory from his youth to chase away the nightmare. His ranting ceased, and Aaron looked truly at rest, a small smile even breached his resting lips.

Twilight smiled at her success, she grabbed a blanket and snugged it under his chin like a mother with her child. She returned to her bunk, more determined than ever to gain his trust somehow, and maybe, just maybe help him.

Ponyville

The journey home had taken many days, but they seemed to fly by for the human who tried to sleep them away. The six ponies and the dragon all took to the windows to see their beloved home of Ponyville rise on the horizon. They all yearned for a proper bed to sleep in, their own baths to draw and their own pantries to raid.

"Who will the human stay with y'all?" Applejack inquired. "He might stay in ma barn, but I don't know how the family would react to seeing a critter of ancient legend crashin in the hay loft."

"He might stay with me at the boutique, but I have customers coming in and out all the time!"

"Forget my place, he can't walk on clouds," intoned Rainbow Dash as she strapped on her saddlebags.

"I don't think the animals would be comfortable with a meat eater around," said Fluttershy.

"I already pay enough monthly rent for staying with the Cakes! He would have to pay the utilities or something to cover the cost."

Twilight glanced back at the still sleeping human. When he was ever awake he said his drowsiness was a symptom of being asleep so long. "He could stay with me at the library, nopony except you all go in there anyways. Besides, I want to gain his trust and get some answers."

The train stopped in Ponyville, it was only then they realized they had no plan for getting him to the library. So, they simply walked off the train, human in tow wearing his dragon disguise. Everything was going well until the Mayor managed to find them in the town square. "Girls! Where have you all been! We've been so worried about you, being gone for three weeks and all."

Twilight tried to calm the frantic mayor. "It's alright Mayor, we just went on a little expedition."

"And who is your quite tall friend?" She referenced the silent, hooded human. Caught, they tried to think of a lie quick enough, but could not. When suddenly a voice from heaven, with a Trottingham accent, saved the day.

"Ah, Madam Sparkle! You brought Ambassador Zinra home with you! How absolutely delightful! Pardon me Mayor, but Madam Sparkle and her friends were sent by my personal request to visit the Ambassador in his harborage in Canterlot. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I was unable to make the trip myself." Doctor Whooves wedged his way between the Mayor and the silent human.

"That is all well Doctor Whooves, but it still does not explain why they left without warning!"

"Quite, the Ambassador is an old friend of mine from the deepest part of the tropical jungle kingdoms, he was only allowed by his king to stay for a few weeks, and the girls saw fit to bring him here to see me! How absolutely delightful of them! Ambassador Zinra," at that point the Doctor made several clicking noises and what sounded like choking for a second.

Aaron did not know what to do, so he clicked and choked back. "Smashing story my dear fellow! We shall have to continue at my abode." The Mayor became too confused and simply bade them good day and left. Doctor Whooves waited for the Mayor to be out of earshot, then turned back. "Alright, who the bloody hell is this bloke? Did you find Stronghold?"

"I think we'll just have to talk at your house Doctor. Girls, I think you can all head home." Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Spike, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash all left, determined to rid themselves temporarily of the human. The remaining trio took the short walk to the curious house of The Doctor. Once inside, Aaron took a seat in a beaten and ragged couch, leaving his disguise in place and remaining silent.

"Well, did you find Stronghold Miss Sparkle?"

"Yes, but we didn't find any information. We found something better."

"What, technology? Working artifacts? Something tangible at least?" Twilight nodded to the figure seated on the couch.

"What, him? What is he anyways, some kind of hairless dog?"

Aaron spoke up, "Try again you swishy Brit wannabe." He took off his hood, exposing his face to the Doctor.

Doctor Whooves simply stared at the human, in his mind he overlaid the image of the demon skull from the dig over this creature's face. The anatomical resemblance was chilling. The Doctor looked back at Twilight. "Is this some kind of joke? He can't be!"

"He is, he's the only one of his kind to walk the earth. He is what we call a demon."

The Doctor held his mouth agape for a second, then cowered on the floor shouting, "Don't eat me!"

"Relax, Doctor. I don't really prefer earth pony, unicorns have so much more flavor." He smirked at Twilight, who had become immune to the human's odd sense of humor.

Twilight helped Doctor Whooves back to his feet. "Doctor Whooves, we went out there to find a source of information, and here one is! He is probably better than any library or archive we could have found!"

"How did you possibly come across such a creature?" The Doctor kept his distance from the idle man on his couch, inspecting him as completely as he could without getting too close.

"We found him with thousands of his sleeping brothers and sisters, sheer luck brought us to him."

"Thousands!? An entire civilization of demons, sleeping?"

"Not in a traditional sense, they were inside of glass tubes being kept preserved with their technology."

Doctor Whooves looked to the human. "Is she right, demon? Is your entire race simply sleeping, waiting to be awoken?"

"Yeah, she got the gist of it. And I don't like being called demon. My name is Dr. Aaron Patterson, citizen of the United States of America and drafted soldier in the United States Army. I am a human being, god damn it!"

"Wait, you are a doctor?"

"More of a scientist really."

"Strange, in another life I might have considered you a colleague. What is your field?"

"By education I am a biologist, by necessity just about anything else. How about you 'Doctor Whooves'?

"Anthropologist, engineer and physicist."

"Interesting combination, do you study humans regularly?"

"Never intentionally, I traveled the world to study pony and other creature cultures, hoping to find something of our clouded history."

"What a coincidence. I happened to be there when your kind was born."

The corners of Doctor Whooves' mouth swept upward as his theory proved itself. "So I was right! Your kind was around for our origins! Tell me everything!"

"Give me a sense of scale, I have no idea how long I slept."

"You don't know? By our timescale, it has been roughly two thousand years since one of you walked the earth." Aaron sat speechless, dumbfounded by the extreme overshot. Suddenly he snapped.

"TWO THOUSAND YEARS?!?! Jesus fucking Christ! We were only supposed to sleep for a century at most! What of the Chaos Plague? Do you even remember the war!?"

"The War of the Fallen Race? There was some mention of it in our most ancient documents."

Aaron forced himself to be calm, talking to himself. "It's alright Aaron, you got this, so we overshot our landing by just a bit. Could be worse, we could never been woken up at all. Okay Doctor, tell me what you know about humanity, and I'll fill in the gaps."

"All we know is that your kind conquered the world, then the Princesses came and liberated it from you."

"Let me say first off that it was our world to begin with. You took it from us. My species ruled every landmass on the planet for thousands of years before your kind ever became intelligent."

Twilight asked, "Wait, we were not intelligent?"

"No, you were our pets and work animals for thousands of years, no smarter than any other animal."

"That's not true! Ponies have always been this way!"

"No, for me it was less than a year ago, but to you it was two millenia ago that magic swept across the world and changed you to the way you are. You rose against my species and fought valiantly, but we won almost without question. Then another wave of magic came, we were crippled and your kind became stronger. We tried to stop your magic at the source, a great battle was fought known as The Day of Judgement. At first we won, then your Princesses came and slaughtered us like cattle. It was then a small army of my brothers and I hid away at Stronghold, hoping to one day rise again and claim the land for ourselves again."

Doctor Whooves and Twilight were stunned by this revelation of their history. All they had been taught, everything they knew was now useless. They had been the aggressors, they had stolen the world from the humans.

"We weren't monsters, we were people. And every day I hear the cries of the billions of human souls, all murdered by your kind for being who they were. All of this," he waved a hand at The Doctor's possessions, "it's all a mockery of our achievements. We strove to overcome any challenge the world threw at us, and we did until we had to face you in the war. Yes, my species was capable of evil, but we were good at heart." A single tear slid down Aaron's face, he felt the pain of every single human who had died in the war, all he wanted was to bring his kind back, give them a second chance.

Twilight sat next to Aaron, she wanted to comfort the human, but there was no way she could alleviate the pain and horror he had witnessed millenia ago. "Aaron, I'm sorry for what we did. I may never know why we did those horrible things, but if your kind are all like you, then we were wrong to do it. I'm sorry."

The human looked to the unicorn at his side. "They were innocent, most of them anyways. We did not deserve the fate we were given."

"That's your nightmare isn't it? The war?"

"The war is part of it, Twilight. But I was asleep when the Chaos Plague wiped us out. There is one that haunts the recesses of my nightmares, one who swore she would murder me and my species, and now two thousand years later it looks like she made good on her promise."

Doctor Whooves cleared his throat. "Well, it's getting late, you had better head home Twilight. Dr Patterson, would you care to stay with me for the night?"

"No, no more questions for tonight. Besides, Twilight owes me something, and I need to be with her to make sure she keeps her promise."

"Ah, I see then. Would you do me the honor of filling me in on your species' history when you have some time?"

"It'll be a long story, but I don't see why not. Goodnight Doctor."

The pair left the Doctor's house, darkness had fallen, making their journey across Ponyville go unnoticed. They reached the library, Twilight unlocking the door with her magic. He took a spare room in the basement, it looked like the unicorn had been trying some science of her own down there. It felt homely to the human. He lay in the cot set up down there, steeling himself for the nightmares that were to come.

******************************************************************************************

Nothing, the nightmares didn't come that night. Aaron slept peacefully, morning dawned without him being bathed in sweat. Groggily taking the stairs from the basement, he wondered what Twilight would have for breakfast. He entered the main library room, suddenly realizing he had no idea where anything was. "Hello?"

He heard someone moving around in a bedroom, his hopes fell as Spike walked in to the library. "Oh, it's just you."

"Morning demon. Twilight's out delivering all the book requests that backed up over the weeks." Spike walked into a separate room that the human guessed was the kitchen, he followed with his stomach leading the way.

Aaron looked at the various cupboards and glanced at what he guessed was a pony style pantry. "Got any food around here?"

Spike dug around in a cupboard, tossing out Twilight's limited supply of food. "We've got everypony's favorite, hay. And maybe some gems for me."

"You eat gems? Shouldn't that break your teeth?"

"No, we may have some fruit or something."

"Getting kind of tired of fruit, but it's better than nothing." Munching on a surprisingly delicious banana, Aaron began to look at some of the books in the library. He stopped at books of history and myth, "Obscure Unicorn History, this should be worth a good laugh."

He crashed in a chair that would have been comfy for a pony, but kind of awkward for a long and lanky human. Flipping to a chapter, he read about great magic users across Equestrian history. Apparently that's what they called their liberated nation, Equestria. He didn't understand a lot of the magical mumbo jumbo, but he tried to learn. Flipping through the pages, his eyes caught a familiar name that yanked him back to the war. "Starswirl the Bearded? Why is that name familiar?"

"He was one of the greatest pioneers in magic known to ponykind."

Aaron was startled by the voice behind him. "Twilight! I thought you were out doing deliveries or something."

"Not many ponies actually wanted books while I was gone. How do you know Starswirl's name?"

"I'm not sure, but I think I may have met him once. Purple fur, graying in the mane, kind of a sour attitude, affinity for blue robes?"

Twilight's eyes were like dinner plates. "You knew Starswirl the Bearded?"

"We met once, not on the best of terms of course. I recall him calling me a 'two legged monkey'. When I saw him, he only had a really short beard. I did know the pegasus leader very closely, his name was..."

"Cloud Hoof. General Cloud Hoof."

"Yes, we were friends for what it was worth."

Twilight had to sit down, her head swimming with this new information. "I don't see how this is possible, this has got to be the least likely thing that has ever happened. I think he may have written about you! Fluttershy said that the general wrote memoirs, mentioning a demon that he considered a friend."

Aaron's eyes nearly watered, his heart brought some solace that he had been remembered as a friend. "Cloud.....Cloud wrote about me? I figured he would have forgotten about my sorry hide after The Day of Judgement." Aaron had to stop for a moment, breathing deep and controlling his emotions. "I'm sorry, it's just that I consider Cloud to have been one of the most trusting, most generous, most loving friends I have ever had. He would have taken a bullet for me, I'm sure of it. And I would have taken one for him."

"This is all so exciting! You knew both Starswirl and Cloud Hoof! You are like a walking history book!"

"Is that a pun about my age?" The human had a serious look on his face, which broke down into a vigorous laugh that became infectious. The two settled down after a while.

"Aaron, I know Doctor Whooves wants to know about your kind's history, but I want to learn about your people, who were they, what were they like, what defined your culture?"

"That's a story that will take days, maybe weeks."

"Without your card, I don't think you'll go anywhere."

"Changing the deal? Alright then, I'll add some demands to even it out. How about some decent food? Something with protein."

"Um, Applejack has chickens, maybe we can get some eggs? If you want something sweet I can have Pinkie whip you up the best cupcakes in Equestria."

"That's a start. Now, what do you want to hear about first?"

"Hold on!" Using her magic Twilight levitated a quill and some parchment to a table that sat next to the chairs. "Now, when were you born?"

"By human count I was born April twelfth, 1991. That was around two thousand years ago though. At the time two human countries known as America and the Soviet Union competed for global supremacy in a Cold War. I was born an American in a city called Chicago, though my parents moved us to Kansas after I was born."

The next few hours were consumed by the human's life story, though he selectively left out most of the War. His triumphs, his failures and his darkest hours were all meticulously recorded by Twilight. She began to understand parts of this creature which sat across from her. His species was just as he said, people. Not monsters, demons, conquerors or destroyers. Just people that struggled to make the most out of life. Just like anypony that she knew.

He recounted his childhood with pleasant memories of life in a small town, visiting his grandparent's farm and adventuring in the woods and hills of his home. His school years came with some dread, he was mostly a social outcast, not making many friends. But he persevered and excelled in science, much to the chagrin of his father, a clergyman of something called a "Catholic Church". He had learned how to fight to defend himself from those other humans who preyed on those they considered socially weaker.

He pursued higher education, and years of deep thought and hard study did not pay off very well. The world had made frightening changes, and people didn't hold the reverence and respect they once had for men of science. He was shunned and could not find a way to give his talented gift of knowledge to the world. Then the war came. Aaron had been pressed into service to find a way to stop the hostilities, but he did not say whether he was successful or not. The rest, as they say, is history.

Twilight set down her quill, standing to stretch her legs from hours of stillness. Turning her head, she noticed the huge stack of papers and several empty ink bottles. All that information in one afternoon, and Aaron said he hadn't even scratched the surface yet!

"Aaron, thank you so much for telling me all of this."

"No, thank you for listening Twilight. That was one of our major flaws, nobody ever stopped to listen to each other. Maybe it's why the War happened, nobody cared about their fellow man."

Their thoughts were interrupted by the entrance of none other than Pinkie Pie, who had decided Aaron needed a proper welcoming gift in the form of a massive pile of cupcakes. They were quite possibly the best baked goods he had ever tasted, rich, sweet, and flavorful. Pinkie's visit was brief, having caught sight of a pony she didn't think she knew out in the street.

"If I can ever show my face around here, I am definitely getting these everyday," he said as he bit into his fourth cupcake.

*******************************************************************************

Today had been the best day of research Twilight Sparkle had ever done, but she felt like she needed to go deeper, do something more to view the world from his point of view. So she did what she always did, hit the books. Books of ancient history that still had traces of the humans were next to useless, they always just referenced the humans off hand, not actually calling them anything. She wanted more.

He actually knew Starswirl the Bearded! The thought couldn't leave her head. But it felt like some kind of hint that nagged at her subconscious. Something that might be key to knowing the humans better. Aaron had known Starswirl, so it only made sense that maybe Starswirl knew other humans during or after the War. Maybe talked to them extensively. So by her logic, a unicorn mage like Starswirl would have recorded absolutely everything he knew about them in depth. The only trouble was that Starswirl's personal memoirs and spellbooks were in the Canterlot archives, completely off limits to regular ponies. Good thing she had an in with Princess Celestia.

*******************************************************************************

"Can you be sure Luna? We haven't seen a Man in two thousand years, much less Him."

"I am sure Celestia, I can feel Him, I felt his first breath when he was reborn into the world."

"Are you aware that my student actually made the trip to Stronghold? My intelligence does not say whether they have returned yet or if they even found the wretched place."

"I hope they found Him there, just so I can rip His demon heart out!"

"Luna! He did what he did out of fear! He believes we are responsible for the death of his species, if he saw you alive, who knows what He would do? He could bring back an army just to wipe us out! They had the capability the first time, only infighting amongst their ranks and poor leadership gave us victory."

"I don't care, all I want is my revenge against that one monster! To hell with his army, if he even has one hidden up his sleeves."

Forbidden Knowledge

They managed to sneak Aaron out of the library for a day, he was to visit the Apple family farm. Hopefully to shed some light on the digsite that had been covered up in their fields. Applejack also believed that maybe her family could be trusted with the knowledge of the human.

"Alright y'all, I'm havin a special guest over today, whatever you do, do not be frightened," she addressed the Apple family at their breakfast table. "He is a little....different. And he's also not a pony."

"Is he a dragon big sister? Cause I seen dragons before."

"Not quite, he's here to look at the hole they dug in the south field, y'all might say he is alot more knowledgeable about it than Doctor Whooves."

Granny Smith took a slow drink of her cup of coffee. "Well little missy, so long as he ain't no monster or nuthin', we ain't gonna quarrel."

"Big Macintosh?"

The large stallion turned the page on his paper. "Eeyup. Fine with a guest today."

A knock on the door had Applejack scrambling to make the place neat and orderly in less than a minute. Opening the door, she beheld the human leaning against a post chewing on a piece of grass.

"Well howdy pardner! Won't ya come in for a bite to eat?"

"Down home, bonified, country cooking? Don't mind if I do. Do you think your family will tolerate me?"

"As long as we don't mention the 'D' word, they'll think your just some normal critter they ain't heard of yet and act like you're one of the family." Applejack looked around. "Where's Twilight?"

"Said something about business in Canterlot, caught the earliest pegasus chariot there."

Applejack shrugged and let him come inside. "Everpony, this is Aaron," introducing the human to her family.

The room sat silent, nopony really knowing how to react. To Aaron's surprise the elderly mare stood and shook his hand.

"Mornin there Mister Critter."

"Um, good morning madam. I'm here to see the dig."

"I bet ya are, want somethin to fill them bony ribs of yorn?"

"Please." Aaron enjoyed a hearty, home cooked meal for the first time in literally centuries. No meat of course, but he had eggs and hash browns and various other divine artery cloggers.

The little red maned filly couldn't keep her eyes off of the strange creature that wolfed down eggs and drank coffee in her kitchen. "What are ya mister? Ya ain't like nothin I ever seen before."

"Well Miss...."

"Applebloom."

"Miss Applebloom, I'm a very rare creature. We call ourselves humans." Thankfully the name did not invoke anything negative out of the filly.

"What ya want in my dig site?"

"Your dig site? Did you dig that up all by yourself?" He said it in a way one might praise a small child. The filly beamed.

"Me and my friends did all by ourselves! Till Applejack came along and stopped us."

"Well Applebloom, just like the Doctor, I'm going to your dig to see if I can find some answers."

"Can I come along? They wouldn't let me go after Doctor Whooves took over."

"Ask your sister, if she says okay, then you can come along."

Applebloom scampered away to find Applejack, giving Aaron time alone with Big Macintosh. The large stallion didn't seem too interested in the human, focusing more on the weather section of the latest Equestria Daily.

"So, you farm apples?"

"Eeyup."

"Know anything about the dig?"

"Nope."

"Curious as to why there is a weird monkey creature drinking all of your coffee?"

"Nope." Aaron looked around awkwardly, drumming his fingers on the table. Taking a quick peek at the newspaper, he noticed the sports section.

"So, how about them," he squinted at the name, "Cloudsdale Razors?" The big stallion cleared his throat and turned the page, obviously ignoring the demonic creature of pony nightmare trying to strike up a conversation. Applejack cantered back into the kitchen, ready to take the human to the dig that had started this whole strange episode in pony history.

"Right, let's go Aaron. Are ya sure ya wanna let Applebloom come along?"

"Why not? I'm good with kids, I practically raised my younger cousin." Applejack rolled her eyes.

It was a decent walk there, the human and the filly enjoying every step of the way. By the time they reached the dig, Applebloom rode on Aaron's shoulders in an irony worthy of Bizzaro-world. But they both laughed, and Applejack had honestly never seen the human so energized and jovial.

"Well, here we are." The dig had been mostly filled in, but with a couple of shovels and some elbow grease, Aaron had a decent hole cleared out by noon. With a strike of his shovel he hit something hard. Going down on hands and knees, he scooped away dirt until the pale whiteness of bones showed to the sunlight. He reached down and pulled a human skull out of the dirt.

"Oh my goodness Aaron, I didn't know that they were here." Applejack stood back, stunned at the ancient human remains.

The man sniffled, wiping a stray tear from his eye. "It's alright, I knew, I just had to come pay my respects to my fallen brothers and sisters. Back in the War, I didn't have a chance to say goodbye to them." He turned his attention to the skull, pulling two coins out of his pocket he placed them in the eye sockets. He sniffed more heavily, barely containing his sobs. "He had a name. He was just like any other man or woman here, a soldier, a humble man, a family man. A... a..." Aaron choked back his pains, hardly holding back his swelling emotions. "He was a person. Just like you and me. God bless for your sacrifice, you made your country proud soldier. Now rest in peace." He replaced the skull into the earth.

Applejack and Applebloom watched the solemn ritual, hoping that the human found some closure by putting the souls of his comrades to rest.

"They didn't do this for power or greed, they did it for their lives and the lives of my people. They wanted to be remembered, that's all any person ever asks for in life. Remember us, and we will live forever." He gradually filled in the hole, and once filled he erected a simple monument. With a knife he carved an eternal message to all those who would pass by.

Here, in the year 2017 of the Common Era, upon the seventh of November, brave men and women gave their lives for freedom and a brighter future. Your race is run, rest in peace, for your brothers carry on your memory.

***********************************************************************

The trudge back to the farmhouse was solemn, neither of the Apple ponies willing to strike up conversation with the depressed human. Arriving at the barn, he sat on an overturned barrel, his head lowered. Applejack walked to him, not knowing really what to say.

"Ya did the right thing. It doesn't matter who they were or what they did, nopony deserves to be forgotten."

The human said nothing, his eyes on the ground. Applebloom sat next to him, trying to cheer up the once jovial human.

"If it'll make y'all feel better, we can go buck apples or somethin'." The human turned his head to the filly, his bloodshot eyes displaying the turbulence of his soul. Without warning he reached down and scooped up the filly. Applejack thought for a second he had been overcome by some kind of bloodlust and was going to eat Applebloom. But he didn't, he hugged Applebloom to his chest, his eyes closed as he hummed to her. Tears streaked down his face as he hugged the filly. Applebloom looked frightened, but calmed after the soothing tone of his humming reached her. He began to rock the filly back and forth, his hum carrying a tune from his childhood.

Applebloom cuddled against his chest, content with making her strange friend happy for the time being. Granny Smith and Big Macintosh had joined Applejack in the spectacle of the broken man. The aged mare walked over to the man. "Sonny, you got a look like a critter runnin' from somethin'. I know that look in yer eyes. You've seen everypony you loved suffer and leave ya. I don't care about whatever monsters you got in yer past. You got a home here if you're lookin fer one."

The human opened his eyes. "Thank you," he said in a whisper. He loosened his grip on Applebloom, but she stayed put in his lap. "Thank you all. But my home is with my kind."

"I don't see many of your kind at all sonny, so y'all probably ain't common enough to be gatherin' for box socials every Saturday evenin'. So until you need to be leavin' us and rejoinin' yer family, I'm willin' ta share mine with ya, and you're welcome to be a part of this here family."

Aaron smiled. "So, what can I do to help out around the homestead?"

"The apples in the east orchard need harvestin' if you're willin' to give apple buckin' a try," said Applejack.

"Yeah, maybe I could give farming a try." His eyes brightened at the prospect of a simpler life where he did not have to be haunted by his mission and his sins. The thought of being a part of a loving family that cared about him appealed to him more than all the gold and jewels in Canterlot and Fort Knox combined.

But above all the mission came first; whether rain, sleet, snow, the apocalypse, or magic talking ponies.

*****************************************************************************

Twilight Sparkle took her time searching the library of Canterlot Castle, books on every subject lay here. But somehow not a single copy of Starswirl the Bearded's personal Essays on the Origins of Magic! She finally broke down and asked the librarian, an old acquaintance, where to find the books.

"Excuse me, Book Light? I need some help."

"Miss Twilight Sparkle! How long has it been? I remember you used to scamper through these very aisles as a filly, determined to impress the Princess in your lessons. How can I help you?"

"Actually, I need a book. Starswirl the Bearded's Essays on the Origins of Magic."

"Ugh, what a boring topic. But I have good news for you, we happen to have Starswirl's original copy and his journals in our restricted archives. Normally we do not allow visitors to touch them, but I think we can make an exception for you. They are in the books of ancient knowledge and lore, right next to Commander Hurricane's Art of Conquest in the back section."

"Thank you!" Twilight scampered away, feeling like a filly again, looking for that one book that could contain the answers.

She walked into the ancient and musty back section, passing the 'No visitors' sign that marked the beginning of the forbidden books. It was not hard to find, Starswirl's book was easily the largest tome in the library. Carefully using her magic, Twilight lifted the ancient tome and laid it on a viewing table. Gently opening the cover she saw an ink written message forewording the tome. "For White Dawn, though our time together was short and you left this world before we ever saw peace, I never stopped loving you. May The Mother's warm heart be as loving as our passionate embrace."

"Aw, how sweet, Starswirl had a lover." Getting over the sappiness of the first page, she began to flip through the parchment pages of the ancient spell book. It was only partway a spell book, it was more like a journal of Starswirl's successes and failures over the course of his career as a wizard. Spells, runes and incantations that would have normally intrigued the unicorn seemed inconsequential to Twilight. Then she came upon a journal page from years after the war.

The day is July the 21st of what the humans call 2025 of the common era. Eight years since the death of my beloved White Dawn and eight years since the end of the war. Something is killing the humans, and it is not anything we are doing. We continually try to gain their trust, but mostly we are met with a cold shoulder. They are still afraid of us, nearly a decade after we stopped our attack on them the traumatic wounds done by the war fester in their hearts. But we have to help them, one day we will send an emissary to one of their villages and they just turn him away, but when we send the same emissary back the next day the entire village is burned to the ground with only a few humans left standing! Those that can still talk only do so in maddened rants. Their sickened laughter haunts me. I have examined them before, all humans contain latent amounts of magic left over from their early alterations by The Mother, this magic resides within their bodies and is what we might call a soul. When questioned about it they have no answer, displaying their unintentional ignorance of the fact. But the ones affected by what is called the Chaos Plague are different, they do not have a single scrap of magic left in their bodies.

Closer examinations of the psyches of Chaos Plague survivors revealed something startling. If we were capable of making them physical, I believe we would see something akin to long jagged tears in their consciousness, causing the madness. The Chaos Plague is no biological disease as the humans suspect, it is some kind of curse being laid on them by a malevolent entity. We cannot help those afflicted, they are too far gone. Regretfully my research team and I had to put down the individuals we had for examination. It was the merciful thing to do, at that stage they could not even be considered people.

Twilight flipped to a later page, the thought of something murdering off every single human horrified her. No wonder Aaron had nightmares.

The day is August 26th of the human year 2027 of the common era. It has been years since we have seen our beloved Princesses. We have managed to positively identify the source of the human's corruption. A monster of unfathomable nightmare, with parts of ponies, dragons, manticores, and other creatures. He harvests their souls for some kind of sustenance and he becomes stronger and faster with each one. Mother forgive us, he is too powerful for us to stop. On another note, we have identified a strange phenomenon in the magical fields of the humans. There is some kind of error, a hole if you will imagine, in their souls.

From there the writing was stained and too faded to read. Twilight groaned and flipped to a later page hoping it would shed light on the 'error'. But she knew what had murdered the humans. Discord, the very monster she and her friends had defeated a few years earlier. It made sense, he fed on harmony and delighted in the type of chaos Starswirl had described.

Later entries reported slow progress with human-pony diplomacy, Starswirl resorting to some kind of magical spell to take their form and gain their trust. "Starswirl the Bearded, was a human?" Even later reports claimed that a few human settlements agreed to trade with the ponies for their own survival and for protection against the more primal creatures created by magic. Twilight eagerly turned the page to see the spell for human transformation, but sadly it had been torn out centuries before. She almost screamed in frustration.

************************************************************************************

It had been a day of hard work, the Apple family came to admire the dexterous and agile human who could climb the apple trees to pick only the ripest apples without hurting the trees. He had been shocked to learn what apple bucking was, believing it to be unnecessarily rough on the trees. The sun was setting on the horizon, and he was too tired to stealthily make the trek back to the library. The only time he could remember being more exhausted was after his original escape from Canterlot.

They ate a mostly apple based dinner, to the human it seemed more like a dessert bar than a wholesome meal, but he ate heartily and without protest. After some mild mannered chatter with the Apple family, Applejack decided it was time for some shut eye and Big Mac wordlessly agreed. Applebloom protested, but was silenced by her own yawn.

"Y'all go on, I wanna talk to our guest." Granny Smith dismissed the younger ponies. "Grab a mug of cider young feller. You deserve one."

"Thanks ma'm, I can't say how thankful I am for your family's hospitality."

"Fiddlesticks, you looked like you needed somepony to be there fer ya."

The human grabbed a mug and filled it with cider from a small keg on the kitchen counter, he adjourned with the geriatric mare to the living room. She slowly took her place in her rocking chair, Aaron took a large comfy chair he guessed normally sat Big Mac.

"Well, we can drop the whole 'critter' charade, demon."

Aaron choked on a mouthful of cider. "You know what I am?" he said after coughing.

"Yesiree, I knew what ye were the moment ya walked into ma kitchen door this mornin'. But I know ya ain't no monster."

"Are you going to turn me in? I will never go back to Canterlot, dead or alive!"

"Calm yerself, I ain't gonna turn ya in. I can tell ya are too good of a creature to deserve that."

The human calmed himself, shakily accepting what she said. "How do you know about my kind?"

"Back in ma fillyhood, my momma bought me a very old book from an obscure antique shop in Canterlot. It was 'sposed to be a book o' fairytales, 'cept them fairytales didn't ring of pony writing."

"Who wrote it?"

"I only realized it this morning, a human like you wrote it. Some feller by the name of Abel or Edgar or Essop."

"Aesop? You read Aesop's Fables?"

"That's the one! Anyhoo I diligently read every one of them stories, but until you came along I thought y'all humans were the fable. I looked at them bones out in the field, and when I saw ya I thought to myself that them bones out there might look like the ones you got hidden under that meat of yours."

"You said yourself that I looked like I was running from my past, how do you know I'm not a monster?"

"My Applejack may not be the brightest gal, but she is a good judge of character. Besides, only a monster does somethin' horrible without feelin'. You ain't no monster, from what I see yer a kind, compassionate and affectionate critter who just lost his way. When she left for weeks on end and came back more tight lipped than a clam, I was worried fer the poor gal. But then in you walk and she just seems ta trust ya so much, I figured that you musta done somethin' to gain her trust, somethin' that coulda gone bad quick."

The human's eyes became distant. "I murdered, I killed ponies to save Applejack and all of her friends. And I did not feel a thing except....anger. I was angry that they would try to hurt them in some way. I killed all of them. Oh god I am a monster!"

"If you could look at yerself you'd see that ain't true. Them ponies tried to hurt innocent mares, you did what was right dagnabit!"

"Right and wrong are just words Granny, I feel what I did was bad, I could have done it differently. Maybe I should crawl back into that hole they saved me from and die."

"I know yer kind are a wise race, you got good in yer hearts. What you did saved my little Applejack, and fer that I cannot thank you enough. Yer a young man still, you still got time to look in yerself and find the means to forgive yerself for what ya done. And ya ain't alone in this. Ya got somepony to be there fer ya. There will always be a shoulder to cry on fer ya here, or a kind soul to find sympathy."

Tears welled up in the corners of Aaron's eyes. "Nobody can show me sympathy, nobody else has seen what I've seen. Everyone I ever loved died in front of me. They're all dead, my entire species....all dead."

Granny Smith took in a sigh, picking up a framed photo from the table next to her rocking chair. "Take a look at this, young feller." Aaron took the picture from her hoof, gazing down at a family photo with Applebloom as a baby and a very young Applejack wearing a stetson hat far too large for her head. A lanky Big Mac smiled at the camera, and standing next to him stood a light colored mare with an apple cutie mark like the rest of the family. "That mare there is mah daughter. Applebloom was just a little foal when she passed, so she don't feel as bad about it as the rest of us. But Big Mac and Applejack, they watched her go. Their own mama slipped out of their lives after that accident. Since then, Big Mac ain't talked much, and Applejack just works the orchard day in and day out. I've learned to cope with the pain. I'm old, I see my friends and family leave this life more often than I like. Ya may feel like the loneliest critter on the face of the earth, and ya may well be, but ya ain't alone. Not while ya got folks that care about ya."

Aaron set down the photo, holding back the pain and horror he had witnessed so many years ago. "A lot of them died because of me, how do I forgive myself for that? How do I cope with that?"

Granny Smith nodded. "I'm sure them folks would forgive ya, ya remembered them and feel sorry fer doin' what ya done. Ya just gotta learn to forgive yerself. But until the day that ya do learn to forgive yerself, this here family can provide a hoof ta pull yerself back up. I know Applejack and Applebloom have warmed up ta ya as a member of this family, and Big Mac respects ya. And I personally accept ya as a member of this family, and I see a kindred soul in dark times."

A small smile crept up Aaron's face. "A real family...."

"Yer durn tootin' there pardner." Applejack stood at the top of the stairs, a gentle smile on her face. Walking down quietly, Applejack threw her forelegs around his shoulders. "Welcome to the family, big brother."

Aaron returned the hug, tears flowing down his cheeks as he smiled. "A real sister," he whispered to himself.

***************************************************************************

Twilight felt a nudge at her shoulder, she mumbled incoherently out of the corner of her mouth.

"Miss Sparkle, wake up! Your drool is going to get on the books!"

She snapped to full attention. Moonlight filtered in through the windows of the great library and the librarian stood tapping a hoof at the sleepy unicorn. "I'm so sorry! I must have fallen asleep while reading! This has never happened to me before!"

"I told you it was a boring subject, now you'll have to leave. We are closed for the evening and have been for the past three hours!"

"Alright! I know the way out, I'll be right behind you." She stood and tried to work out the desk shaped kink in her neck.

The librarian walked away, determined to get home and relax. Twilight sighed, she had learned so much today, but something still nagged at the back of her mind, something about Starswirl.

"What am I looking for!" she said aloud. She looked up into a moonbeam that touched the wall, following its path she found her answer. Its glass case had hung above her desk all day, and she hadn't even bothered to look up!

"The missing page." Her eyes grew wide, it was the missing page from Starswirl's spellbook! She cautiously looked around, then using her magic carefully opened the case and brought down the page to the ancient tome. On the top was a picture of a pony laying spread eagle with a double set of limbs spread out. Beside it, the picture of a man like Aaron, but aged with a beard and a similar spread of his limbs. Under the man was scribbled a small note, "Vitruvian Man" it said. Below the cryptic drawings lay the various incantations and magical weaves needed to accomplish the transformation.

The nagging at the back of her mind stopped, "This is it, this is the key!" Twilight knew she was looking at Starswirl the Bearded in both of his forms, unicorn and human! The soft clop of hooves panicked the enraptured unicorn. She swiftly packed the page away in her saddlebags.

"Miss Sparkle? Did you fall asleep again? You said you were right behind me."

"Coming! Just had to clean up after myself." Inside her head she partied like Pinkie Pie drunk on salt. Calmly walking out of the library, she checked into a hotel, determined to catch a chariot back to Ponyville at first light.

************************************************************************

He awoke a little late, but still managed to make his way back to the library without notice. Still sore from his day of work at Sweet Apple Acres, he decided to curl up with a good book. Trouble was, he didn't know where to start to find a good book.

"Spike! I'm back!" he shouted to the empty library.

The baby dragon crawled out from his basket bed, groggy and annoyed with his two legged roommate.

"What do you want?" he asked with a grunt.

"Time to wake up soldier, you're burnin' daylight."

"You seem a little too happy, what's up with that?"

The human felt a thousand feet tall, "I don't know, today just seems like a wonderful day. Too good of a day to sleep through. And you know what? I actually had nice dreams last night! Know of any good books or something to read?"

"It's apparently such a wonderful day and you want to spend it reading? You are one weird creature. Um, okay, how about one of those Daring Do books?"

"Aren't those for children?"

"Rainbow Dash seems to like them just fine. How about the latest self help book from Iron Will?"

"Naw, those books are always garnered to appeal to a slim portion of the population that always falls within a certain socio-economic status."

He looked dumbly at the man. "Huh?"

"No self help books."

"Gotcha."

The human looked around and saw his cloak and "dragon scales" laying in a heap. His eyes brightened. "On second thought, maybe I'll take a walk. Which way is the park?"

"Twilight says you can't go out during the day!"

"If Twilight told you to jump off a bridge, would you do it?"

The dragon considered for a second, "I don't know, how high is the bridge?"

"Hmm, it's the Golden Gate Bridge."

"How tall is that?"

"Oh yeah, destroyed thousands of years ago. Yeah it was about four thousand feet tall, into a gorge full of spiky rocks and flesh eating birds or something." He sidled up to the dragon and nudged him with an elbow. "Come on, be bad. I know all the prettiest girls are into bad boys."

"Really?" he said in a half dream, thinking of Rarity.

"Absolutely! Now, I'll need a bit of cash, and I think I'll take one of those Daring Do books anyways."

Dreamily the dragon handed him a sack of coins and pointed towards the park. "Good sport, now go get her you little scaly rebel without a cause! And try out a mustache, chicks dig the 'stache!"

The dragon scampered off to find a biker jacket. "I can't believe that Rebel Without a Cause crap still works two thousand years after James Dean died. I do miss that movie, maybe we have it cached in the Vault somewhere." he said to himself.

Donning his dragon outfit, Aaron walked boldly out into the broad daylight of Ponyville. Ponies looked at the strange creature wearing a long cloak with odd stares, but he waved to them with his fake claws. They smiled and waved back to his surprise. "Friendly town" he muttered. He walked out to the park area, he could only say one thing. "Wow."

It was absolutely beautiful, like a park should have been in the twenty first century. The plus side being that there were no drunks, hookers, vagrants, or hipsters to spoil the atmosphere. Fountains graced the path every hundred feet or so, ponies played games and had picnics under the shade of trees. Entire fleets of butterflies wafted past as bunnies nibbled on grass. It was, for lack of a better word, idyllic.

He looked for a place to rest, all the benches were taken, so he found a nice tree to climb. Laying on his wooden perch he cracked open his book. This Daring Do seemed to be a love child of Indiana Jones and Lara Croft, minus Lara's figure and Indy's gun skills. Still a good book though.

About four chapters in he heard some ponies approaching from below. He ignored them. "Ambassador Zinra!" called a mare's voice, he ignored the call. "Ambassador!" He realized suddenly that was his pseudonym around here. "Ambassador! I know you can hear me!" He closed the book and looked below to see The Mayor and her entourage. A devious plan formed in his head. Time for a little fun.

He choked and clicked at The Mayor. "Why yes! Hello Ambassador! I was hoping you would come down to meet us." Time for a little acrobatics. He stood on the branch, balancing his form carefully. He began to bounce up and down, gathering the needed momentum to make this work. He jumped for another branch, grabbing it with his hands he pulled himself partway up, then used his legs to swing back over the branch, landing lightly with his feet on the ground. His martial arts sensei would consider it showboating, his gym teacher would have been proud.

The ponies stomped their hooves in applause. "Well, that certainly was impressive Ambassador. But on behalf of all Ponyville, I would like to extend our welcome to our most notable of guests." Though he understood perfectly, he acted confused, even scratching his hooded head with a gloved hand. "Oh my, you still do not understand Equestrian." She began to use her legs to sign what she meant while loudly speaking out each word. "WE." she waved a hoof at her companions, "WELCOME YOU." She took his hand and shook it slowly. He took her hoof and looked at it funny, turning his head like a confused dog, even bending down to sniff it. "Oh my." she said.

He decided to let out his inner ape, moving to The Mayor's mane he started picking for bugs. Going the extra mile he completely undid her hair do. The Mayor and her entourage stood confused at his antics. But he only got stranger, stepping back to do an interpretive dance. The three huddled together to question this odd creature's sanity.

"This thing is a politician?"

"Doctor Whooves vouched for him!"

"Look, maybe this is some kind of customary way of saying 'hello'. We don't want to offend the ambassador for an entire nation do we?"

"Mayor, we are on a tight schedule, we need to scram before he brings out the ancestral mucus cup!"

"I agree, let the Princesses deal with his odd ilk. I'm a small town mayor for goodness sake!" she turned back to the human who still performing his rendition of Thriller. "Ambassador! I'm afraid we must be going!" she pointed a hoof at her pocket watch. Without warning the three small time politicians bolted. He stood proud of his handy work, laughing until he had to stop for breath, turning back to the tree he noticed a sky blue pony had stolen his spot.

"Hey, move it! I had that branch claimed!"

"Like buck you did, I nap here everyday."

"Wait, Rainbow Dash?"

"The one and only. Hey Aaron. What are you doing out? I thought you only came out at night."

"I decided to treat myself, now could you at least throw me down my book?"

"Only if you tell me how you did all those tricks."

He groaned, "Simple acrobatics, my martial arts master taught us them so we would have a greater advantage when using the environment. Mathematically these things are incredibly easy if you have the right body type."

"You mentioned math and I lost interest. I never did like the way all the professionals try to chart out their moves and do things mathematically."

The human smiled, "That's right Rainbow, keep 'em flyin'."

"Keep what flying?"

"The flags of discontent, remember to never trust anyone over the age of thirty." he hoped ponies didn't know any of those Charleton Heston quotes.

"Aren't you like, a thousand years old?"

"Chronologically yes, biologically I'm 25. Wait, what is today?"

"May 2nd."

"Make that 26, my birthday was around two weeks ago." The rainbow maned mare snapped upwards.

"Well what are we doing sitting here? Lets go out and celebrate! Get something good to eat, live a little!"

"Well I did promise to myself to have fun, but you can't tell Twilight!" Rainbow Dash drew a hoof over her lips, zipping in the urge to blab.

*************************************************************************

Twilight slammed the door to the library shut and closed all of the curtains. Peeking out she hoped nopony had followed her from Canterlot. She breathed a sigh of relief when she only saw the regular crowd walking past. She trotted back to her study, gently removing the parchment page from her saddlebag Twilight placed the page on her desk. Though ancient to the point of being a national treasure, it was still legible. The cryptic drawings of the man and the pony at the top were clear as spring water. Only then did she realize that everything was too quiet.

"Spike? Aaron?" she called out. No answer. "Is anypony there?" The ticking of a clock was louder than the response she got.

"Huh, the human must still be at Sweet Apple Acres, don't know about Spike."

She glanced back at the page, would she ever get another opportunity to be alone like this? Nervously she tossed around the idea. "What would I even look like? I've only ever seen human males. Oh, buck it!" she looked at the page and began the weaves for the spell. It was incredibly complex, altering her very body to the absolute extremes.

Ten minutes of diligent magical weaving and utter concentration had Twilight not recognizing herself in the mirror. She lifted a hand, not a hoof, a hand! Five long, delicate fingers touched her new face. "My skin is so soft, and I can feel everything!" Whereas hooves do not feel, fingers felt everything that they touched, new levels of detail and texture were now at her fingertips. Her eyes were still purple, and her hair black with the purple stripe like her mane. Any other human would have described her as having a delicate face, with elf like features. Moving back her hair, she noticed a silver spot on her forehead where her horn normally lay. Twilight tried to stand from her seat at the desk, her attempts to walk on four legs were futile, but walking on two legs was just as unnatural. "Woah!" she cried as she stood upright, suffering a severe case of vertigo and nearly falling.

She sat on her bed, wanting to reverse the spell. She reached out with her magic, only to realize she had no clue where to start. The door to the library open and shut, somepony was here! Desperately she lunged to her bedroom door and locked it, only to hear the human laughing out loud with another pony. "And that's when I said, 'You can't take it with you!'" both of them laughed like they were drunk. "Alright Rainbow, thanks for showing me a good time, catch you later!"

"Later monkey boy!" They both laughed at the allusion to an earlier joke.

There were sounds of shoes walking around the library, "Twilight? Are you home? I see your saddlebags."

He walked to the door of her bedroom and knocked, "You in there?"

"Don't come in!" she shouted desperately.

"Is something wrong? Are you alright? You sound different."

"Um, I'm very sick!"

"Well I'm a doctor, maybe I should take a look."

"No! I think it's the flu! Magical flu! I don't know how it will affect you!"

"Oh my goodness, are you sure I can't help somehow? Do I need to get a pony doctor?" Just then the library door opened again, the human addressed Spike. "How did it go bad boy? Get the girl?"

The dragon fell to his knees before the human, he started to bow like a cultist. "Teach me more, Master of the ways of Love!"

"That well, huh? Thank me later, we have a problem, Twilight is sick and I can't get near her. Twilight! I'm sending in Spike!"

Twilight considered for a moment, "Okay, send him in, I going to have to have you go to the basement though Aaron."

"If it will make you better, it shall be done." he quickly went downstairs. The door to Twilight's bedroom opened slightly and the baby dragon slipped inside. All the lights were out, the late afternoon sun casting shadows across the entire room. Twilight was hidden under a sheet on her bed.

"Twilight? How sick are you?"

"I'm not sick, a spell backfired and I need help."

"What happened? Why do you not want the human to see you?"

The sheet shifted as she pulled it off, Spike was lost for words. "You....he...human..."

"I'm hideous aren't I! I tried an old spell to become a human, and now I don't know how to reverse it!"

"Calm down! We'll find a way to fix this. Now who can we go to that can help?"

"We can trust Rarity, she is fairly accomplished with magic, maybe we should get Doctor Whooves as well, see if he knows how to reverse this."

"I'll get them as quickly as I can, and Twilight?"

"Yes Spike?"

"You're kind of cute as a human."

The unicorn/woman smiled, "Get a move on Spike, this is serious."

A half hour of scrambling around Ponyville had both the Doctor and Rarity examining the magical phenomenon that was Twilight Sparkle in human form. Rarity probed the nuances of the spell with her magic, The Doctor gave a physical examination.

"Well Miss Sparkle, I can say that there was no damage caused by the transformation. You are a perfectly healthy human being like our friend. Your diagnosis Miss Rarity?"

"Hmm, this is a very powerful transfiguration spell, but it seems to be fraying off at a rapid rate. The spell should lose power at an exponential rate and you will return to your normal self by morning. Now Doctor, would you mind giving the two of us some girl time? Maybe take the other human back to your house for the night. And Doctor, make sure he does not know about this."

"It would be a delight Miss Rarity." The brown earth pony left the room, Rarity turned back to Twilight.

"I just don't know what to do with you anymore, miss bookworm. First you have him stay in your home, then you become like him. Where does this end Twilight?"

"This was harmless Rarity, I'm perfectly fine."

"No, it was not harmless. Why do you continue to keep him here? He fulfilled his end of your bargain, why don't you give him what he wants?"

"I am giving him what he needs! He needed somepony to be there for him, he needed the love and friendship that only we could give."

"He needs his own kind! And becoming one of them does not justify you keeping him here any longer. Twilight, look at me. He needs to go home."

"I can't let him go back. What if he is the only good man of his kind? What if they come back to destroy us?"

"You know he won't let that happen. If anypony knows what kind of creatures they are, I do. If they are even the tiniest bit like him, they are good and wise. I'll be the first to admit that he changed our lives for the better, and we hopefully changed his for the better. But we have to let him go back to his people, he will never rest until they share the world with him again. Will you be the one to stand in his way? The one that tells him "You get to live, but your kind must die."

Twilight looked in the mirror, ashamed of the monster she had become. "No, I wouldn't hurt him like that."

"Then once you are a unicorn again, give him what is his. Let him do his duty to mankind."

**************************************************************************************

Well, I'm back from the land of the dead. I reread the original chapter and decided the shipping didn't do much for the storyline, so I did a complete overhaul and now we have this beast of a chapter that took a week to write. Shout out and overall thanks to SovietBacon who proofread the original chapter and gave me tips for improvement. If you would like to be a pre-reader, simply shoot me a message and I'll see what I can do.

Histories

The Doctor did as Rarity had commanded, bringing the actual human back to his house to distract him for the evening. Opening the door to his mechanic's shed of a house the earth pony and the human sat in the cluttered living room.

"So, do you want to discuss something?"

"More along the lines of just hang out with a friend."

"Oh, well then. Care for some salt?"

"If it comes with a margarita, then yes."

The Doctor shrugged it off, then went to his kitchen to retrieve two blocks of salt. Dropping one on the table next to the couch, the Doctor retired to a large chair to lick his block.

Aaron picked up his salt block and looked it over curiously. "What do I do with this?"

"You lick it my friend. Inebriation shortly ensues."

"Not what I meant, my species gets drunk through consumption of alcohol, mostly from fermented plant products."

The Doctor considered it for a second. "I have some tequila from Mexicolt, the burros down there drink it somehow without dying."

"That will do fantastically, but since it is tequila, leave the salt block."

The Doctor set up Aaron with the bottle of tequila, after a few drinks he felt like Doctor Whooves was his best friend. "I screwed up bad Doc. I did something horrible."

"Come now, it can't be that bad."

"It is! I went out during the day and Twilight knows!"

The look of shock on the Doctor's face validated Aaron's concern. "Are you daft man? You could have been caught!"

"No guard patrols during the day. Besides, I took on my new pseudonym of 'Ambassador Zinra'."

The brown pony calmed. "Then why be so concerned?"

"It's the fact that I defied Twilight. She's my friend and I stabbed her in the back. I don't think she's sick at all, she's angry with me and wants me gone."

"Don't be so hard on yourself mate, she ain't in a tizzy over you." The Doctor's cockney accent was getting more pronounced with each lick of his salt block.

"Now I'm torn Doc, I still have my mission to complete!" The human was now struggling to speak normally.

"What's your mission?"

"I didn't tell you? Long story short, as the first guy outta the freezer, I gotta look around, see if things are okay and then wake up everyone else. And now Twilight has my entry card and she'll never wanna talk to me ever again!"

"I'm not sure how to feel about this mate, I feel your pain for your duty, but also I'm kinda scared about what that duty entails."

"Don't be scared Doc, I wouldn't let anythin' bad happen, we just want to live our lives, that's all!" Aaron took another swig of tequila.

"In that case I'd sleep on it, *hic*. Try to work things out tomorrow."

The two went quiet for a few minutes before Aaron broke the consuming silence. "I got more confessions if you want 'em Padre."

"What? Sure, why not."

"But you gotta swear that you'll never tell anyone! Sorry, anypony!"

"I swear by all of time itself my friend!"

Aaron took a swig from the tequila, reclining back into the couch. "I wasn't some two bit scientist, I was a hero of humanity, a great leader! But I failed mankind."

"How? If you were a hero then how did you fail them?"

"It was my advice to abandon the civilian population, go it alone and all, hope to God that whatever was killing them would just, go away! Like that." He snapped his fingers.

"That's awful! How could you do such a thing?"

"We couldn't help them, not without humanity going completely extinct. Trying to help would have killed us all."

"I understand you my friend. You did what you could for those you could save. Morally not the best choice, but you did the right thing. And you know what? On behalf of all ponykind, I forgive you of your sins."

"Thanks Doc, you have no idea how long I've waited to hear that. How many Hail Mary's is that?" The Doctor raised a curious eyebrow, then shrugged it off.

The two went silent for several minutes. "Doc?"

"Yeah?"

"I've had the time of my life here in Ponyville, more so than I ever did with my kind."

*********************************************************************************

Aaron awoke on the Doc's couch the next morning, late morning more like, with what felt like a thousand hooves stamping on his head. Standing clumsily, he made his way to the bathroom, determined to rid himself of the burro gutrot. Minutes of hugging the porcelain had him wondering if last night had been worth it or not.

He got ready to leave, then realized he couldn't walk around in daytime without his diguise, human being and all that jazz. So he crashed again on the Doc's couch, wanting nothing else but for someone to come in and shoot him. He wondered where Doctor Whooves had gone to, probably grocery shopping or something. Did salt give them hangovers? They would be the luckiest species ever if they could get hammered all night with no repercussions the next day except high sodium.

And so he lay there, a puddle of pitiful human misery who had failed at life. Who knew when he graduated college that he would have been one of the major players in humanity's great war, propelled two thousand years into the future and once again hold the fate of humanity in his fingers? And he apparently had very clumsy, slick butterfingers, and it looked like mankind would have to keep on sleeping in Lazarus, no hope from this failure of a man.

Hours passed, Aaron's headache clearing enough to where he actually got bored. Looking at some of the Doctor's books, he saw one that he thought was more of a bible than anything else. "The Elements of Harmony? What the hell could that be?" So he cracked it open and lay back on the couch.

Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria. There were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony in the land. To do this, the eldest used her alicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn. The younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies. But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth. But shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful day, the younger alicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness, Nightmare Moon. She vowed she would shroud the land in eternal night. Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom, The Elements of Harmony! Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon. And harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since.

"Seems to me like this is a fairy tale, the Elements are obviously a metaphor for some crap like loving each other. But Nightmare Moon does strike a chord somewhere." He began to psychoanalyze himself, wondering why that name meant something. He gave up and went to the kitchen to find some chow, luckily for him the Doc had a little bit of cheese and a loaf of bread. He filled a glass of water, but it slipped through his fingers, shattering it on the floor. But it did not matter, because he made the connection. In his alcohol fogged head simple calculations occured.

Regal sisters=Princesses, Princesses=Celestia/Luna. Luna=Latin for Moon. Luna=My Personal Nightmare. Thus, Luna x Nightmare + Moon divided by zero = Nightmare Moon!

"Luna, you finally cracked did you? You went nuts and tried to make it eternal night." He felt confused inside, confused as to whether he should feel sorry for the Princess, or die laughing. In his mind, the alicorn got what she deserved after what she did to him personally and to his race. "I hope you rot up there!" he shouted at the ceiling.

A crash and a tumble from the general direction of where he yelled told him that the Doc was home. Slowly making his way down the stairs, he painfully looked at the human. "What was that all about? Why do you want me to rot in my bed?"

"Oh, um, not you. I was doing a line from a play, big Broadway hit with us humans."

"Well could you tone down your rehearsal a few decibels?" So they did get hungover, what a culture shock.

The human retrieved a glass of water for the brown earth pony. Handing it off, the Doc slugged it all in one gulp. "Oh that takes the edge off. Alright, would you like to discuss human history?"

"Can't leave until nightfall, I have nothing better to do."

They took their respective seats, the Doc not getting any ink or parchment.

"Don't you want to record this?"

"Photographic memory, I'll write it all later."

"Okay, where do you want me to start, cultural or biological beginnings? Biological goes back millions of years but has less detail."

"Then let's go with cultural."

"The first known human culture started roughly eight to ten thousand years ago in an area once called the Fertile Crescent in what was the Middle East, probably not what it is now though. These first cultured peoples were collectively called the Sumerians, noted in history for their independent invention of non-pictoral writing, organized cities and the wheel."

The history lesson continued all day, spanning thousands of years and the struggles of millions. The Doctor only sat, never speaking except to question motivations of an action or meaning of a word.

***********************************************************************************

Twilight Sparkle was back to her normal self, hooves and all. She was confused about last night, why had she just done the spell with no research, no experiments and little to no regard for the consequences. And now she had to let him go, when he came home from where ever he was this time she would give him his belongings and set him free.

"Spike? Have you seen the human?"

"Which one?" Spike replied with an attitude.

"Don't get snippy! I haven't seen Aaron all day, did he come home last night?"

"No, probably went over to Doctor Whooves' house. Though its equally likely that he stumbled into the Everfree and got eaten by timber wolves."

"Do I need to smack you on the wrist? Cause you're asking for it!"

"No, Twilight. Its just that you and the human get along so well, I feel left out. Besides, you're like my big sister and I want to protect you."

"Oh Spike, you'll always be my little baby dragon." She nuzzled the little dragon. "Hey, why don't we go out for some cupcakes? I'll buy."

"Alright, but I get to ride on your back."

Twilight smiled, "Done."

******************************************************************************

He left the Doctor's house that night, dodging the guard patrols that seemed to be ever increasing in number. He stealthily made his way to the library, determined to set things straight. Opening the door, he saw Twilight cuddled up with Spike, the dragon asleep and the unicorn reading a book. She bookmarked her page, closing it as he entered.

"Hello Aaron."

"Hello Twilight." The mood was not cheery or welcoming, rather it was kind of tense. "About last night, I'm sorry for whatever I did."

"I know you are, but it isn't you, it's me. I have a little gift for you." Her horn took on its telltale purple glow, and a book levitated over to him. It was a book on The Elements of Harmony, "Open it." He obliged, tucked in between the pages lay his identification card and a xeroxed map to Stronghold. "Take the book too, maybe your kind can learn something about Harmony. I guess this is goodbye Aaron, I never was good at letting my friends go."

He took his card and the map, feeling as if both weighed a hundred pounds. "I don't know what to say."

"Thank you would be a start."

He dropped to his knees next to the unicorn, leaned close to her and gently wrapped his arms around her neck. "Thank you for everything." He stood and walked to the basement to pack his things. He had collected some memories from this journey, a photo of the six friends, an 'honorary Apple family member' certificate made by Applebloom, an ancient artifact of the dig, a hat that Rarity had made for him on the way to Ponyville, a small hourglass Doctor Whooves gave him to watch the time during their discussions, a feather from both the wings of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. So many things tugged at his heart strings and he wondered whether he would actually be happier here than with humanity.

But he had a sworn duty to his kind, and now that he could fulfill it he had to. Glancing at the book Twilight had given him, he turned to a page with six round stones illustrated. A description listed them as the Elements of Harmony; Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, Laughter, Kindness and Magic. "They're real, but what can they do?" He read on, the Elements had been given by the Earth to help the Princesses fight a great evil in the world, and they had succeeded. And now six chosen ponies who embodied the Elements wielded their power for Harmony. It did not say who the chosen ones were, but they had saved the world from evil and destruction by either sealing away evil or purifying it completely. Closing the book, he packed it away into a backpack that had been made for him.

Walking to the door of the library, he turned back to the unicorn, "I'm sorry for what I am, Twilight Sparkle, goodbye." She looked to the human, tears welling in her eyes. She stood and ran from the room.

He closed the door, making his way to the center of town, making all haste due west towards home. Strange, the guard patrols had all disappeared, and there was no sound at all despite being early evening. He stopped, feeling eyes on himself. His heart beat like a cornered rabbit, sweat forming on his face. He knew he had walked right into a trap.

A single *twang* sounded and suddenly his leg burned like fire, collapsing, he saw the arrow protruding from his bleeding thigh. The world lit up as guards in gold armor burst out of every possible hiding place, but they were not alone; black armored, bat winged Nightguards joined them. He struggled to stand as they surrounded him, reaching down and with every ounce of fading strength tried to rip the arrow from his thigh, but could not and then drew his pistol to defend himself. Another arrow slammed him in the shoulder.

But something began to control his hand, a black aura surrounded his hands and feet, forcing his fingers open. His arms shot straight out to either side, his legs clamped together at the ankles, like he was crucified. His feet left the ground as he began to levitate, helpless to whatever they had in store for him.

"Well well well, it looks like I was right. The years have been kind to you demon." Out of the shadows walked his living nightmare, Princess Luna, her horn glowing with magic. She looked at the arrows protruding from him, "I told you foals not to fire!"

"You." he hissed, pure hatred dripping in his voice.

"Surprised to see me? Here, let me take those out for you." The arrows began to slowly twist their way out. The trapped human screamed at the pain, his cries of anguish filling the still night air. But the wounds stopped bleeding and closed.

"I have suffered your curse for two thousand years demon, since that day you corrupted me in the War."

Aaron struggled to catch his breath from the torment, facing his age old foe. "How was the moon Luna? I thought you were still there. Did you see our lunar lander, or did you destroy that too!?"

"Do not speak to me you insignificant worm! Your kind did not suffer my wrath!"

"Leave my friend alone!" A blue streak landed in front of the magically crucified human, crouched and ready to fight.

"Rainbow Dash, no! This is between me and her!" Aaron shouted.

"Aaron would never hurt anypony, you big bully!" Pinkie Pie had joined Rainbow Dash. The entire town had woken to watch the events unfolding. Ponies began to surround the circle of guards.

"He's a kind and gentle person, leave him alone Luna!" Rarity now stood between the Princess and Aaron.

Fluttershy landed with her friends, " You should be ashamed Luna! He would never hurt a fly!"

Applejack, Applebloom and even Big Macintosh ran in from the darkness to join their friends. "If y'all want to hurt him, you're gonna have to go through me first!"

"He is good at heart Princess! Give him a chance!" Aaron took heart when he saw Doctor Whooves join the barricade.

"Luna, stop this madness!" Twilight put herself directly in front of Princess Luna.

The townsponies began to shout at the Princess, "Leave him alone!" and "Let him go!" the guards began to turn outwards to prevent a riot from happening.

Luna's eyes began to glow with the amount of rage and magic coursing through her veins. "SILENCE!!!" Everypony cowered, giving Luna room to speak to Twilight.

"You do not know this monster as I do, Twilight Sparkle. He has lied to you and everypony else assembled here! The very least of his crimes are worthy of death! He is The Defiler! The creature who unleashed evil into the world and disrupted Harmony! I do not hold a grudge against his kind, I come to make him pay for his crimes! It was him that used foul magic to corrupt my very soul, he raised an army of his fellow men to march on Canterlot, he made the weapon to try and murder the spirit of the Earth, he is responsible for the death of his kind! And now he has returned after two thousand years to corrupt our souls once more. He is the reason why we call their kind Demons, and why we erased their memory from history!"

Twilight turned to the captive human, "Aaron, is this true?"

Luna released the hold on his limbs, allowing him to fall to the ground in a heap. "Tell her, Demon!"

"Twilight, I'm so sorry, it is true." He reached out to touch Twilight, who recoiled from him.

"Stay away from me, monster!"

"Twilight, no, I have changed!" She ran from the human, sobbing for his treachery. The rest of the crowd remained silent, unaware of the horrors this creature had done. They began to disperse, with only his friends left standing, unsure of their loyalty to the human.

Luna turned and began to walk away. "Guards, bind him, we take him to Canterlot."

Revelations

They had taken him, just like before. Broken, battered and barely alive. But his time it was his heart that was broken. In a fit of irony, they threw Dr. Aaron Patterson into the very same damnable prison cell that he had inhabited over two thousand years before. It looked like they had kept it swept and ready, just for him.

His things had been taken away, and he despaired, all of his treasured memories had been torn from him, Luna had won their ancient feud. Now he could never complete his mission, never return to either Stronghold or Ponyville. Screaming at the world, he began to hurl his fists at the stone walls until his knuckles bled. Leaning against the wall, he slid to his knees and gave up hope.

But he was not alone, he felt a presence in the room, something that did not feel harmful or threatening.

Do not despair child.

It was a voice with no source, neither man or woman or even human. But when it spoke it spoke through emotion, emotions and images that translated to words. "Who are you? Where are you?" he asked to the empty room, hoping to draw out his invisible watcher.

Images filled his head, laughter, kindness, generosity, loyalty, honesty and magic.

"The Elements of Harmony? What do you even mean by that? The Elements are just some pony fairy tale!"

This time anger entered his head, then quickly subsided followed by the same set of images, but this time with a feeling of need and importance behind them. The faces of human beings, people he had known and never could know, all of them looking to him to do something came with the images of the Elements.

"Alright, I'm sorry for saying they aren't real, but what do you mean?!"

The next one was confusing, it was him holding Lucifer with the Elements surrounding him.

"What? Lucifer and the Elements? If anything those two are polar opposites!"

Harmony has no equal.

The presence receded from the room, leaving Aaron with more questions than answers. "Wait! What am I supposed to do with Lucifer and the Elements?"

"Quiet in there, prisoner!" his guard shouted from the other side of the door.

Aaron obliged, resting his head on a pile of straw he slept knowing that something in this twisted world was on his side and watching out for him.

***********************************************************************

A hoofed prod to the back woke the troubled human. "Alright prisoner, Princess Celestia has requested that you take an audience with her."

"Go to hell." then he rolled back over. A swift kick had him moaning in pain and slowly getting up. Once again he was shackled by his captors and marched to the throne room. He noticed that the castle was complete, and the windows looked pretty solid, no way out this time. With his head bowed he walked shamefully to the steps of the royal throne, dropping to his knees before somepony had the pleasure off kicking him down this time.

"Aaron Patterson? It really is you." He looked up to see Princess Celestia looking down upon him from her throne.

"Long time no see Princess Celestia."

"How did you survive for two thousand years?"

"I might ask you the same question, but if I answered it would put the rest of my species in jeopardy."

"I understand, how many of your kind are there left?"

"Not many, no thanks to you."

"I did what I could to save them Aaron, Luna and I both did."

"Why do I think you are lying to me? I heard those soldiers talking about continuing the war, two millenia ago, pushing to exterminate everything that walked on two legs!"

"What you did to Luna has the most to do with that."

"I shoot her, she lives, big deal! How emotionally scarring can that be?"

Celestia looked downcast, her eyes ready to gush with tears. "You have no idea how badly the evil infected her mind. She went mad with dark power and I had to banish her myself."

"She deserved it! After what the two of you did to my friends, my family, my people!"

"We did not kill them, we tried to save them Aaron." Celestia began to lean close to the human, her horn threatening to touch his head.

"What are you doing? Stay away from me!"

"You need to see, or else you will live the rest of your life in the agony that you now suffer from. See what time held from your sight while you slept the centuries away." Her horn glowed white, then touched his mind.

***********************************************************************

He stood in a field of green, a farmhouse not too far away, two little girls played in the yard while a father repaired some damage to a chicken coop. Amber fields of grain swept in the wind and the smells of cooking wafted on the breeze from the kitchen.

A trio of ponies came running up the dirt road to the farm, in his mind Aaron screamed for the humans to run. But the ponies carried no weapons, only satchels and saddlebags. A woman came out of the farmhouse, waving to the ponies.

They stopped to chat with her for a while, he could not hear what they said, but the woman said something and the ponies all laughed, handing her a bag as she gave them some food. Turning to trot away one of the ponies stopped to say hello and hug one of the little girls, nuzzling her like his own child. He reached into a saddlebag and brought her out a pony doll as a gift. She squealed with joy and hugged the earth pony even harder.

"What is this?"

"Peace, love, coexistence; it is harmony Aaron. What was and what was meant to be. Something that humanity alone would never have accomplished. Look at them, they are happy, content with life and overjoyed to simply be with one another." Celestia stood next to him in the field of memory.

"Then what happened? This is not the world I knew now or then!"

"You shall see, this was fifty years after you fled this world."

The ponies left, the mother called in her daughters and husband in for dinner. But something evil came, a chilling shadow passed over Aaron's very soul. He looked up to the sky to see a hideous monster twisting and turning amongst the clouds. He looked into the window to see the family joined in prayer.

"No, don't waste time, RUN!"

"They cannot hear you."

The monster dropped low, from his hands went tentacles of pure darkness, each one raking through a human mind. The family stopped, the father stood and clutched his head, twisting and writhing in his torment, tearing off strips of his own skin to remove the things that crawled underneath. The children started to scream, but not at the horrible sight they witnessed. The wife flipped the table over, wrenching off a table leg she swung mercilessly at her maddened husband, pounding his skull until it resembled a pile of jelly. Scooping a large knife from the floor, she began to carve open his chest, still warm blood pouring across the once tranquil room. She wrenched the knife from his heart and started to cut her own throat.

"No, please no more!"

"You must see."

The children fought like wild dogs, kicking, screaming and biting one another until only one stood. She took a lantern and threw the burning oil at her dying sister, catching the entire room on fire. With the sight of Celestia, he witnessed a mist floating from the corpses of the parents, only to be captured and consumed by the monster. The little girl simply stood as the flames consumed her body and the monster consumed her soul. His demented work done, the creature piercingly laughed at the chaos and death, flying away to harvest more.

Time sped hours forward to dusk, the house still burned savagely, but the little girl had left and now stood staring at it with empty, soulless eyes. Two shapes dropped from the sky, flaring their wings as they landed. Luna and Celestia looked upon the chaos, and approached the girl. Luna touched the girl with a hoof, the girl snarled like a savage animal and leapt into the flames. Luna reached for the inferno, struggling against her sister's hold to try and rescue the lost innocent soul, but Celestia held her back and urged her to continue their hunt. She hesistated as Celestia flew off, reaching down to the ground she picked up the cast aside pony doll that the girl had dropped in her madness, Luna placed it in her saddlebags as a memory of the harmony that had been.

"It was the same way, all over the world. Discord turned their love against them, he consumed their souls like ambrosia, growing stronger with every human he turned to chaos."

*************************************************************************

The vision ended, Aaron was once again kneeling on the steps of the royal throne. He fell on to his hands and knees, gasping for breath and holding back the weeping.

He killed them with their love for each other. He used their trust and their love to kill them.

He wept on the inside for the lost souls of his race, for every human brutally murdered by those they loved most, but he stood once again, attempting dignity.

"I did not know. I'm...I'm sorry Celestia."

"You are forgiven for your prejudice. We dealt with the monster Discord, but he had triumphed in his goal of annihilating your kind."

"Why us? Why humans?"

"The magic does not flow as strongly in your veins, your defenses were weak enough for Discord to harvest your kind with little effort. Our closer ties to the magic made us more resilient against him."

"But, we had peace," he desperately said.

Celestia nodded. "Yes, though for a short time only, our races had achieved harmonious coexistence."

"But why did we have to die in the first place? We could have talked through our differences. We could have avoided the whole war! Where do you get off passing judgement on us?"

Celestia shook her head. "Your kind would never listen to us, they were too arrogant in their ways to bother speaking to something they considered inferior."

The human's head dropped as he conceded to the alicorn's words. "Why did all of this happen? What did we do to deserve such a fate?"

"For that I will have to show you more, but I warn you, what Discord did is only a taste of what your kind has done to each other. For this you will have to see the memories of the Earth herself." The alicorn once again lowered her glowing horn to the human's head. Though he dreaded what was to come, he submitted to the magic.

***************************************************************************

He began to see once again, but this time not as an observer, but as a participant to history. Through the eyes of those who had returned to Mother before they were ready. Those who were victimized by their brethren and made to suffer. But also through the eyes of those who murdered them and caused chaos.

The lights of magic flickered, each flicker bringing another story of man's folly to his sight.

The hot sun beat on his back as he futilely tried to drive his hoe into the hard desert soil, the man Aaron inhabited was a slave, desperate for freedom and dying of thirst. His master rode past on a chariot, drinking water from a skin. The man he saw through begged for water, but only received the lash.

Flicker

He stood with his family, but it was not Aaron's family. They were being herded through an iron gate by men with harsh voices and guns. The gate had an inscription, an inscription in another language that he understood perfectly. The words "Work Will Make You Free" lied to him as the ashes of his people fell like snow from the sky.

Flicker

His vision was obscured by a hood, the torchlight burned brightly in front of him. The man he saw through had a wicked smile on his face. He laid the torch to light the great cross in front of him as his brothers chanted their message of hate.

Flicker

He was a soldier for the Empire, and his Emperor had ordered them to take the city. Each thunderous flash of his rifle downed an enemy, whether hostile or not. As he raped a defenseless woman he praised the honor of his ancestors, after he finished, he drew sword that marked his dominance and took off her head.

Flicker

A voice came from deep within him, yelling at the human in a familiar voice. "Look at them Aaron! These are the monsters you called brother! Your holy book says that Cain was the first murderer, and he murdered his brother! How many innocent souls were damned by the sons of Cain!"

Flicker

Shots ring as he and his homies take revenge for the killing of one of their brothers. A stray bullet from their drive by shooting passes through a window and buries itself in a young girl's beautiful face.

Flicker

The order is given, and the pilot shouts the order back to his bombardier, the man who Aaron sees through now. He flips the switch to drop the ultimate weapon on the homes of those who do not fight. A great cloud like a mushroom erupts as they fly away, no regrets as victory is assured.

Flicker

Names and faces began to flash through his tortured mind of the inhuman monsters that defined human history. Manson, Ghaddafi, Pot, Hitler, Gacy, Zedong, Stalin, Himmler, Mariam, Sung, Kony, Tojo, Brezhnev, Hussein, Amin, Min, Alexander, Forrest, Dahmer and millions more who fed on the suffering of others.

"Make it stop! Please, no more!" He wanted to tear out his own eyes, but sight or none he would still see the horror.

"What's wrong Aaron? Does seeing the sins of your brothers hurt you? What about the ones these monsters killed? Did they deserve their fates?"

Flicker

He stood in a trench, the stench of the dead surrounding him. The whistle blew, he clambered over the top screaming for liberty and freedom for all men, only to have a bullet seek out his skull.

Flicker

A seething mass of armored men and horses stood at his command, the walls of Jerusalem shimmering in the desert heat. He himself gave the order to let none survive the onslaught. Swinging his sword he slew a man whom he had never met in the name of God and the holy land.

Flicker

Plague riddles the corpses of what were once men, he and his fellows could have helped. But these sniveling creatures were not worth the effort. One reaches out with a pustule covered hand, begging for the medicine to help him survive, he raises a boot and kicks the creature in the face.

"Your kind are despicable, you spent your entire history seeking ways to better annihilate each other. Never once stopping to think that peace and harmony were even options! You and your ilk were the worst, it was always the newest weapon instead of the latest cure! You chose to damn one another and forsake your fellow man. It was all your choice, not your nature!" Aaron began to realize that it was not Princess Celestia speaking, but his own soul, plagued with guilt for his race.

Flicker

He begs for death, a prisoner for a crime he could never have committed. Daily they torture him for a confession that he has given a thousand times, all so they will do him the favor of ending his suffering. Instead they leave him to rot in his shackles.

Flicker

He walks into his school wearing a long coat. Looking over to his comrade he nods, both of them throw open their coats to pull out guns, people he has known from grade school are nothing but targets now.

Flicker

Children starve around him, his children, the loving children he has raised since the day of their joyous birth. But they must lay whimpering and starving because a man with more guns than everyone else says they must.

Flicker

Thousands of corpses lay heaped at the base of a great stone pyramid, their suffering and death acting as an offering to a god that will never acknowledge such a bloody sacrifice. The man Aaron sees through begs for mercy as the ax stroke cleaves through his throat.

Flicker

"Please, no more. Let me wake up from this nightmare; please, God, please just let me die." he begged the voice inside of him.

"You don't deserve the sweet release of death, demon."

Flicker

His mind is that of a child, weak and feeble, but still in the body of a man. He whimpers in fear as a white coated doctor slips a needle under his skin, pushing down the plunger to end his pitiful existence. In the name of purity his defect must be removed from society, a death to insure the health of future generations.

Flicker

Bids are entered by wealthy men as they each vie to violate the flesh and innocence of the young woman he sees through. She is not a person anymore, she is property, a slab of meat to be sold to the highest bidder. Stolen from her family whom she will never see again she weeps a single tear.

Flicker

Spraying liquid fire he burns through forest land. The natives who lived here held this forest sacred and gave it the reverence it deserved. But those savages needed to be taught a real lesson in what was holy, profit. With their land stolen from them, the superior people could use it for cheap farming.

Flicker

Aaron's soul seemed to chuckle for a second. "You know, this is all nothing. All of this is relative." More images of fear, hatred and pain flashed through his mind, "What the truly disturbing part is, you were all aware of it. Blissfully, painfully aware. Your kind stood back and did nothing, NOTHING, to try and stop it. You let this happen."

Flicker

His voice reaches tens of thousands, screaming his message of purity through ethnic purge. The symbol on his arm, once a holy sign of fire and eternity, will forever more be the symbol of all that is evil in Man. Thrusting an arm towards the crowd he is met by thousands who praise his name and worship his cause of genocide.

Flicker

An infant girl lays abandoned by the only face she has ever seen and trusted, her cries go unanswered, a child weeping for the touch of her mother. A mother that had abandoned her to live amongst the filth and garbage of society. Doomed to die, cold, scared and alone simply because her mother didn't care enough to raise her own baby, who now weeps in a garbage dumpster for the compassion that only a mother can give, but has been forsaken.

Flicker

Aaron stood apart from the memories, all of their pain, all of their suffering coming down to his level. Every crack of the whip, every bullet ever shot, every fist curled in anger was witnessed and felt by the man. Their deaths did not matter, their suffering, the hatred against them, the sorrow caused by the madness of the demons known as Man felt like a burning brand on his soul. The Earth felt their suffering, not their deaths. One final memory nearly destroyed his mind with guilt.

He saw through the eyes of Princess Luna herself. She looked down at a bloody thing laying in the wreckage of a helicopter. The dying wretch weakly raised a weapon to kill her beloved sister Celestia. She cried out and dove in front of the shot. As it touched her she felt the darkness permeating throughout her mind, sending its tendrils to touch her every fiber of being, consuming them with hate and evil. Her mind screamed in agony as the evil corrupted her soul and infected her mind with whispers of madness.

Something seemed to be with him, silencing the screams of his own soul and shielding him from the barrage of memories.

Don't you dare give up. If you've ever loved anything, if you've believed in humanity don't you dare quit! Don't let her win! Don't let her make humanity into monsters.

"No...no we aren't monsters!" Aaron began to fight back, sending his own memories across the link to show that humanity did not deserve their fate. Memories of love and hope, joy and pride. He sent his own memories of overcoming adversity and his race's triumphs over their own evils. Memories of brotherhood and love for their mother the Earth. But others were sent as well, memories from the war. But he was not alone in sending these memories, something else was helping him.

Flicker

Young men and women stand together, waving signs to protest the war in Vietnam, their message of love and harmony resounding across the world.

Flicker

Two men in suits shake hands while the rest of the world watches, they sign a document swearing their friendship and the world rejoices as one.

Flicker

Stepping a single foot onto a new landscape, a man lifts his golden visor, taking in the splendor of his beloved Earth. His race has reached the Moon itself, and together, humanity comes closer to touch the stars.

Flicker

Cameras flash as a suited man in a hard hat uses a ceremonial shovel to break ground on a hospital for children.

Flicker

Two proud parents hold beautiful new life in their arms, smiles on their faces as they look upon their completed family and welcome another loving soul to this wonderful Earth.

Flicker

A million men march on Washington, proclaiming that all men are equal, no matter who they are. They have chosen to end their inequality without taking up arms, but by appealing to the brotherhood of all human beings.

Flicker

A smiling young woman gratefully serves soup to men and women who have no home.

Flicker

People dance to the music of life, the rhythm inspired by love. The girl in his arms twirls to the beat of life, and there is nowhere else where she would rather be.

Flicker

A woman takes time from her busy schedule to volunteer at a shelter, giving lost animals a new home.

Flicker

Scientists and engineers work late into the night dismantling the ultimate weapon. The cores are then used for energy to give power and light to those who need it.

Flicker

Dedicating his life to his work, a man creates new breeds of grain to feed the impoverished and malnourished millions that face starvation.

Flicker

Men of all nations come together under one roof to discuss ways to help their mother the Earth. Agreeing they set forth on making their dreams possible.

Flicker

An emaciated old man leads millions in peaceful protest; his smile, kindness and wisdom bringing freedom to those who despaired under their old masters.

Flicker

Dropping to one knee, a young man brings his family ring to bear upon the love of his life's finger, asking her the four simple words that will bring their hearts together and bring them happiness.

Flicker

Crowds swing picks and hammers, tearing at the concrete wall that has separated them from their kin and their countrymen for decades. Breaking through the barrier, two men who have never met clasp hands through the breach as they welcome one another to a brighter world.

Flicker

Hundreds of ships dot the horizon, ships built for war. Soldiers jump from landing craft, but they do not come to conquer or destroy, they come to offer a hand to those suffering from a natural disaster. Instead of guns, their hands hold food and medicine, but also hope.

Flicker

An elderly man places flowers upon the grave of his beloved. Though she has left him for the next life, he will love her until the end of time itself.

Flicker

"Don't give yourselves to brutes! Men who despise you, enslave you, who regiment your lives! Tell you what to do, what to think or what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men! Machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines, you are not cattle, you are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You do not hate, only the unloved hate, the unloved and the unnatural."

Flicker

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Flicker

Are we not but one race? Human?

Flicker

The faces of the angels that rose from the ashes of man's suffering began to flow through. Not those people who stood on high as revered leaders, but they who strove to make a better world for their kind. Mother Theresa, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Joan of Arc, Da Vinci, Einstein, Newton, Buddha, Confucius, the Dahli Lama, these kind souls who did not seek personal gain, but only the happiness of their fellow human beings.

He was actually doing it, across the bond he could feel Celestia paying attention to the memories he forced back across, questioning herself. Now he sent his personal memories, memories from the War.

*****

"You actually consider me a friend Cloud Hoof? These days I don't know who is friend or foe."

******

"You want me to do what!?!?"

"You do not have a choice here Dr. Patterson. Washington knows we have the capability to harness The Surge energy as a weapon. And you have the best knowledge of the energy of any person left alive on the planet."

"I won't do it. General you have to listen to me, the more we fight this thing the stronger it will get. Harnessing it will only make it angry."

"You talk like the energy is alive Doctor."

"IT IS ALIVE!"

*****

"Well, it turns out you aren't a little traitorous shit after all. I like the design, but I had hoped for something a bit bigger."

"You have your weapon, now I get out of this."

"No."

"No? Aaron my boy, you don't have a choice."

*****

Something was wrong, the tip of the mountain glowed green with visible Surge energy, but the barriers were at full strength! Patterson sat next to his creation in the back of a transport helicopter, hoping that his plan of corruption would fail. The general had called about the lost tower, and Patterson gave him a plan that he knew would not work, the towers were already running at full capacity, increasing the power load would completely fry their internal components.

*********************************

The magical tie broke between the human and the alicorn. Celestia lay back on her throne, panting and convulsing at the memories Aaron had forced back at her.

Celestia felt blood trickling from her nose, a new feeling of vulnerability that set her to anger against the man,"You foal, you could have killed us both!"

Aaron lay on his back, twitching until he came to his senses. Shakily reaching to his face, he felt streaks of blood coming from his nose, ears and eyes.

"I had to make you see Celestia."

Still panting, the alicorn realized the significance of the memories. "You...you fought for us. You defied your own kind trying to save us. You only made The Defiler...because your life depended on it."

The doors to the throne room creaked open, signalling the entry of Luna.

"Celestia! What has he done to you?! I'll kill him if he hurt you!" Her horn flared to life with her blue-black magic, threatening to tear him limb from limb for hurting her sister.

"Luna, no! He has shown me the truth! He is not a monster, if anything we should thank him for showing us mercy."

"Mercy!? Where was this mercy when he dared to lay his demon touch upon my soul! Where was his mercy when he held a weapon to your head and held you prisoner! Where was his mercy when he hid away from the world like a coward!"

"Luna, calm yourself! He is not a monster or a demon, he is a good man who fought for us in the War. Without him we would have lost, Mother's very heart corrupted and killed!"

Luna's anger began to soften, the magic sheathe on her horn fading, she looked at the human. "How can this be true? You haunted my nightmares for two thousand years, violating my mind with your touch."

Coughing some of his own blood after the near fatal memory reversal, "I had the nightmare of you torturing me and murdering everyone I ever cared about. How can you be afraid of me?"

"You are afraid of me, human?" The very thought seemed to violate the deepest fiber of her being, something that had done so much damage shivering like a child in her presence, completely vulnerable and terrified.

He retched again, a clotted stream of deep red blood pouring down his chin, "Yes, more than anything."

Luna looked unsure of herself, here lay her personal demon helpless and on the edge of death. This was not the monster of her nightmares, this creature could barely harm a fly.

"Guards! Bring in some of the unicorn healers for this man, and afterwards take him back to his cell, make sure he is comfortable." The black alicorn went to her sister, still looking unsure of herself. "Are you alright Celestia? Is there any damage?"

"No, I believe more wounds were healed today than were given. I see it in your eyes that you do not know what to think of the human now."

"He corrupted me Celestia, and I felt so helpless all of the years as Nightmare Moon, I blamed him for all of it. But if it were not for him, we would not even be here. I do not know what to think anymore."

Celestia gave a weak smile, "The healing has begun for you, dear sister."

**************************************************************************

Rough stuff, looking into humanities dark past. Once again all thanks to SovietBacon who graciously pre-reads for me. This chapter really had to be done, it is explanatory of Aaron's guilt and the ultimate guilt of all of us. Are we really any better than the people that we condemn? Are we not all evil in some way, guilty of an unforgivable crime? All of these 'memories' are based on true events; The Holocaust, The Rape of Nanking, Columbine, The Inquisitions, The Crusades, inner city violence, various pestilences, the World Wars, and countless others. But then again, we are capable of good. The potential for both good and evil rests in every second of our lives, it is how one uses his actions and words that changes the world. The Cain line is based on the movie "Tales From the Hood" check it out sometime if you ever want to be personally disturbed. Once again, questions, comments, etc. below.

The Game of Life

After his "enlightenment" Aaron took days to recover. It was all his fault, he had forced the memory bond between him and Princess Celestia to flow backwards and had nearly killed both of them. But she understood his angle a little more now, and now that he had seen the collective sins of his dead race they haunted him like the nightmares of Luna had before. The suffering, the sorrow and the agony of human history made him cringe like a child. He hadn't seen either alicorn in days, most likely recovering from their ordeal as well.

It had come as the ultimate surprise that Luna hadn't killed him in cold blood when she spotted Celestia bleeding and convulsing on the royal throne. She had come close, he was sure, but had held back when she learned that the human was their reason for existence. Celestia had saved him, but for what end? Was he some kind of prisoner? A criminal to be punished? Or even more degrading, a pet to the immortal alicorn?

They sure fed him like a pet, plates of good food replaced the slop the guards slid into his cell three times a day. And he received water to wash with and fresh clothing, tailored somehow just for his specifications. Occasionally the presence would return, not saying anything nor displaying any images except those of worry. Like it was checking on him. Only once did it actually send the images to speak.

It was not your fault. Do not lose hope.

His rest and recovery was interrupted by another of the cut and paste gold-armored pegasus guards, the way he carried the shackles told the human that it was interview time again.

"Alright prisoner, behave well and we will not have any problems today." He got close to the human, muttering straight to his ear. "And if you hurt the Princess again, I personally will wear your skinned hide at the Grand Galloping Gala."

This time they marched him not the throne room, but to another chamber. It looked like auxiliary chambers, made for private discussion. The guards and their charge stopped at a large oaken door, unshackling the creature they held prisoner, the guards gave simple instructions. "You will not touch the Princess, you will not offend the Princess in any way, are we clear demon?"

"Clear as crystal you farmyard nag." The stoic guard did nothing to retort, instead sending him inside. It was a plain room, small windows at one end letting in plenty of light. In the center sat Celestia, fully recovered from the near fatal ordeal. In front of her sat a chair and a table, made for a human being. But the most curious part was what lay on the table, a fully outfitted chess board.

"Hello Aaron, won't you take a seat?" She indicated the chair, with her magic she pulled out the chair for him.

"What is all of this?" he said, taking the politely offered chair.

"Your memories told me you liked to play chess, I myself happen to be a rather accomplished player."

The human looked at the chess set, it was fairly similar to a normal chess set except the rooks were dragons, the pawns bat winged pegasi, the knights minotaurs, the bishops unicorns and the king being a partially eclipsed moon. He had never seen such a beautiful set, his side was pure ebony with gems set as eyes. The detail was breathtaking, each individual hair could be seen on the magically crafted pieces. Each figure's emotion could be seen as they posed for combat. Celestia's were what looked like either silver or pure platinum with normal winged pegasi as her pawns. This was easily worth a fortune, a man could ask for this set as a king's ransom! He resisted the urge to pocket the alicorn queen on his side.

He snapped out of incredulity. "White goes first, your move."

Celestia's horn became encompassed with magic, a single pawn on her side moved forward. "You know, I could have sworn I heard music when you reversed the flow. Strange music, but somehow fitting."

Aaron considered the move, then moved one of his pawns forward to expose his bishop. "Yeah, that was mostly involuntary, I tend to try and counteract traumatic things with music. Which by the way you stole from us."

Celestia moved a knight to cover the pawn's flank, shaking her head at the odd human.

"Why play so defensively?" he said moving his second pawn to allow his queen to play.

"It is my way." Moving a pawn to give her king moving space. "Your tactic is already so aggressive."

"It's a little quirk of ours, aggressive strategies to combat an aggressive opponent."

"We are not talking about chess anymore, are we?"

"I never was." He moved his right hand knight forward to action. "We were children of a world that sought to chew us up and spit us out with every waking moment. We had to be aggressive in order to survive."

Another white pawn forward to rest beside the knight. "You had to be stopped Aaron, your kind would have collapsed in on themselves if they did not learn the truth."

Aaron moved the opposing pawn to mirror its white adversary. "Truth is a lie. We began to realize that in our first civilizations."

Celestia moved her queen side bishop to rest between her pawns. "What a flawed way of thinking, the very thought is oxymoronic."

Aaron mirrored her bishops move. "Truth has no meaning, if you understand that truth is relative, then nothing is really true."

Celestia castled her queen in a defensive move. "How can you say that?"

Aaron looked up from the board, "There is no universal truth, only cold hard facts. Our intelligence dances with the wonderful idea that somehow our ideals are better than our rivals. A once great group of men acknowledged that fact and used it for the good of mankind." With little thought he moved his other knight forward to rest between his pawns.

Celestia slid her queen side rook over a space to rest next to the king. "Who were these men?"

"Murderers, thugs, killers for hire. They had a mantra, 'Nothing is true, everything is permitted.'" He moved his king's place pawn one space forward.

Th golden aura on Celestia's horn flashed away, her cool lavender eyes filled with repulsion. "How barbaric! You idolized those killers for what they did?"

Aaron smirked at her discomfort, even managing a mirthless chuckle. "No, we recognized them for their ideas and the logic of what they said. Besides, these men existed only as fiction, entertainment for the masses. But their message meant that truth is objective and relative to the beholder. Nothing is really true then, and everything has free reign to be done by our free will."

The game lay mostly forgotten, the alicorn considering the words of the human. "But there is the truth of love and peace, the truth of harmony."

"No, harmony is another relative concept with no definable meaning. What you saw as utter chaos at the beginning of the war was business as usual for us humans."

"You were rife with your evil ways, you had to be stopped or you and the earth would have perished."

"Did you ever consider that good and evil are just words, Celestia? Men who did evil things did not believe they did evil, the dichotomy of good and evil is another relative concept. If a man steals a loaf of bread from a store to feed his family, is what he did evil? He simply acted to forward what he believed was a good cause, getting the food to feed his family. If what you say is true, the entire extent of human actions are defined as choosing what somebody believed to be the lesser of two evils. And did the thought ever occur to you that my race considers you personally to be incredibly evil?"

The human awaited the alicorn's answer, but she gave none. He continued with his attack, "You are such a wonderful sophist Celestia. You have sat here and listened to everything I have said, but in reality you haven't said a word. You must be the absolute best politician spouting such pretty, meaningless words like 'truth' and 'harmony'."

No wonder Luna hated the human, he picked them apart like string. But, he was right.

Aaron's fingers touched the graceful alicorn piece, the queen to his set. "You know, ponykind is like the queen. From your birth everything was handed to you on a silver platter. When you do actually fight, you wreak havoc like no other and strike in unexpected ways. Humanity is more like the knight, or better yet the pawns. We had to fight for everything we had, we scraped together a technologically advanced industrial civilization from nothing but rocks and our minds. We fought for our rights, we died to reach our place in the world, we earned our way of life, and the queen can come along at any moment and just ruin the pawn's day, can't she? The queen just languishes in what the pawns built, robbing them of their safety by making them march to their deaths." The human looked up from the board, then with a single finger tipped over his king. "This game is over Celestia, I refuse to be your plaything, your pet that you can try to rob of his dignity."

Celestia blinked, the controlled fury of his tirade sinking in. "Why are you so angry with us? I thought you were happy with us ponies."

"I was never happy, I was lured into your false sense of security and love. I should never have trusted a single one of you."

"You know that isn't true. Your memories betray you, you were happier with us, better off than you ever were with mankind. You just keep lying to yourself, why do you lie to yourself Aaron?"

"If I am happy, then I fail my race. Plain and simple. I don't care what happens to me, I just want them to live again."

Celestia realized what he was saying. "You mean, you are willing to die for them?" The human nodded. "No, this isn't about them, this is still about you. You want to die for your kind so you can find some kind of redemption for your actions. You want to be some kind of martyr and hope that redeems mankind. You want to suffer." Princess Celestia stood, walking to the human's side of the table she tried to drape a wing over the broken man.

"Don't touch me, you will never understand."

Celestia retracted her wing, walking out the door of the private chamber. "I may not understand, but I know somepony who might," she murmured under her breath.

*************************************************************************

"This is a terrible idea Celestia! You know just as well as I do that one of us will go insane and tear the other apart."

"We have to try Luna, your suffering and his make you two the only ones who can actually find common ground with one another."

The two talked in Luna's tower top quarters, the black alicorn having been awoken from her daytime rest. The human still sat unaware in the room with the chess set.

"You do not have to look like yourself, I can disguise you to look like me and he'll never know the difference."

"The idea is foalish! I do not even play chess." Luna turned away, completely adamant.

"Calmly Luna, I beg of you to try, it may do you good to talk with the creature that hurt you on equal terms, before it was always him as a prisoner or an enemy."

The night blue alicorn snorted, "Fine, make it quick, I need my rest for raising the moon this evening."

"You will not regret this." And so the white alicorn began her spell of illusion. After a few minutes, Celestia finished. "Why Luna, it is like looking in a mirror!" she said proudly of her work. "Now, shoulders up, I do not slouch like that. And hold your head more regally. Like this." she demonstrated for her look-alike sister.

"Celestia, you have been lecturing me like this for centuries, I think I can handle myself."

"Very well, shoo now! He has been waiting nearly half an hour."

"Both of us have lived for thousands of years, I think he has learned a little patience."

"Aha! See, you two already have common ground." Luna rolled her eyes and walked out her door. Trudging down the winding staircase and through the vaulted, arched hallways to the room where the human resided she wondered why in all of Mother's creation had she agreed to this foalishness. She stopped at the oaken door. Taking a deep breath she steeled herself.

"Alright Luna, he is just a human, you knew humans. They were harmless and mostly friendly....mostly. Yes, this will go just fine."

The back of her mind disagreed and screamed out in protest, "Run! Run like the wind! He might hurt us again! Get out of here you foal!"

Raising a hoof she pushed the door open, there he sat, calm and complacent. Maybe just a shred of malice in his eyes. No, wait, that's just his eye's natural color. She was panicking as she sat behind the table and on the white side of the chess board.

The human stared at her, his eyes boring holes past her illusion. "I thought I told you earlier Celestia, I am not your pet, I am through with your games."

"Um, I know, I uh, just wanted to play one more game. One more friendly game." she put on a fake smile. The human's eyes narrowed, suspicion dripping with every blink.

"Well?" he said after a minute of staring.

"Well what?"

"White always moves first, unless you forgot that in the thirty minutes you were away."

"Oh! Um, no, I was just formulating a strategy." nervously she moved a pawn forward. Why had she not paid attention when Celestia tried to play chess with her! Why couldn't the human play something simple like perudo!?

"You seem awfully tense, Celestia. Did you have a breakdown or am I just more intimidating in this light?" he moved a knight out to the field.

"No, um, I merely remembered a treaty that really needs to be considered and redrafted by tomorrow!" She mirrored his knight. Was she sweating? She felt like she was sweating. This room was very warm, maybe she should open a window.

"Then why are you wasting my time and yours when you should be doing your homework?" He moved another pawn forward.

"Do not talk to me like that! I did nothing to offend you!" She moved her other knight to the field.

"I'll talk how I like Luna." Luna's eyes were like dinner plates.

"Oh, you poor dear, you must be delusional. It is I, Princess Celestia!" This pain in her chest must be what one of those so called 'heart attacks' must feel like.

"Let it go Luna, I think we are both mature enough to have this discussion like adults."

Luna let the illusion fade away, her blue-black fur and flowing blue mane returning. "How did you know?"

"Simple, first off, Celestia is calm and composed no matter what. Second, you displayed a random yet aggressive strategy whereas Celestia would have played defensively. Third, your cutie mark was still the same when you walked in."

Buck it all! Celestia had forgotten her cutie mark! Whether intentional or not, she was going to have a talk with her sister later.

"Why are you here Luna? The last I recall you wanted me dead for hurting Celestia. In fact, I recall fearing for my existence for the past two millenia, afraid that you would come out of the dark to grab me and throw in some torture chamber, AGAIN."

She snorted, "Celestia seems to think that we can help each other. She thinks that the two of us are alike somehow, and that will allow for some kind of 'therapy'." each word laced with sarcasm and scorn.

The two mortal enemies sat across from one another, staring down the other, neither willing to blink first. Aaron broke the ice.

"You never did answer me in Ponyville, how was the moon?" he said smugly.

The alicorn's eyes narrowed. "Rocky, barren, a completely lifeless hell where all one does is have nightmares about what one has done."

"Sounds a bit like cryo-stasis. Did you see our lander up there?"

"That odd hunk of metal and plastic with the tacky flag sticking out of the dirt? Yes, I did. I slept in it occasionally."

"That 'tacky flag' is the flag of my forefathers." he said with a bite of anger.

"Red, white and blue do tend to clash when put together. But I suppose it would be fitting for a nation of creatures outwardly declaring their narcissism to the rest of the universe."

The human's lips curled back in a snarl. "What's the matter Luna? Lose faith in humanity? Did you give up on us and let that hideous thing feed on our souls?"

Luna stood and slammed her front hooves on the table, her blue wings flared in anger, "Celestia and I hunted Discord to the ends of the Earth and back a dozen times! We managed to capture him with a few humans still alive, but there were too few of you left and you faded away!"

"Why do none of those ponies know what I am!?! WHY AM I A CREATURE OF MYTH LUNA!?" he roared.

"I was trapped on the moon for one thousand years! In that time Celestia decided your memories only brought hate and chaos to the world when she saw what I became! What I became, because of you."

"Because of me? You are saying that we were forgotten, because of me?! God damn I have heard some lame excuses, but this tops it!" He leaned back in his chair, folding his arms and denying this allegation.

"I never gave up on humanity, Aaron."

When she called him by his name, Aaron knew Luna had spoken the utter truth, but he still could not believe it. "I know you are telling me the truth, why do I want to believe you are lying?"

"This whole monstrous episode in history is because of the two of us. Our personal blood feud drove you humans away, drove us to suppress your memory. And drove the two of us to the extremes of insanity and depravity."

"This whole thing is...our fault? The war, the plague, everything?" Luna nodded solemnly.

"I live with the unending guilt that I failed to save humanity, every time I close my eyes I hear their screams as they murdered one another under the influence of Discord." Luna shut her eyes that shimmered with tears, holding back the weeping that came with the reminder of her failure and of horror that only Hell could ever compare.

Aaron looked at his enemy in a new light. "You hear them too?" he said softly to the alicorn. Luna looked into his eyes, his bloodshot, pain filled eyes.

"I never gave up on your kind." Luna's horn glowed with magic, a small object appearing on the table. "If you truly saw our memories, you will know what this means." It was a doll, a rag doll of a pony. Though faded by centuries and weathering of time, he knew that doll. A flashback, Luna picking up the doll from the home he had seen Discord so violently tear apart, weeping for the lost soul that had once treasured the item.

Aaron gently lifted the doll, it looked patched in places, like Luna had taken extreme measures to keep it safe and sound over the centuries. "Why? Why keep it?" he gently asked the alicorn.

"To remind myself that we had harmony, no matter how brief. Maybe that we could have harmony again one day."

"I...I don't know how to feel about this."

The corners of Luna's mouth curled up ever so slightly, her eyes focused on the doll that had been her only friend for centuries, "Little Moonflower has always been there for me, even when I was lost in the darkness. Celestia doesn't even know I have her."

Aaron thought for a second, here was his worst enemy confiding the fact to him that she still slept with a doll after two millenia. This poor creature sitting across from him wasn't something to fear, her pain and her suffering made his own seem lessened. Though she would live countless centuries beyond himself, she was as mortal and as haunted as he was. His nemesis sat there and just seemed so....vulnerable. So.....human, for lack of a better word.

"...I'm sorry Luna."

Her gaze snapped from the doll to his face, unsure of what she just heard. "What did you say?"

"I'm sorry for what I did. To you, to us, and for what we did to humanity."

Luna looked into his eyes once again. "I'm sorry I hurt you Aaron, I'm sorry I couldn't save them, I'm sorry for everything."

The human gave the doll back to Luna, so many wounds that had festered now began to close. Saying two simple words just seemed to make a world of difference for both of them and mend so many rifts in their lives. He no longer hated the alicorn, he felt sympathy for her. She was really the only creature on the planet that truly understood him and his pain. Luna stood and left the room, Moonflower gripped under a wing. Aaron sat alone once again with the resplendent chess set, yet it no longer held the allure it once had. He too stood, going to the door he called for a guard to take him back to his cell.

Luna trudged up to her quarters, two millenia of hate and nightmares just seemed to evaporate after this session. Her future felt uncertain, but now she believed she could rest peacefully knowing that she had reconciled with the creature of her nightmares. She entered her chambers to see Celestia waiting for her, Luna gently placed Moonflower in her special box, then went to her beloved sister.

"Luna, I haven't seen this look in your eyes for centuries. You two felt compassion for each other. I'm so proud of you little sister!" Celestia stood and wrapped both of her massive wings around the smaller alicorn, giving her a feathered hug.

"Celestia, I don't think the nightmares will come back anymore." she said into her sister's shoulder. She wrapped her own wings around Celestia, the dawn of hope finally cresting after her endless night of despair.

****************************************************************************

While Luna had her sister to be there for her on this most trying day, the imprisoned human had nobody. Nobody to hug him and say the nightmares were over, that he had made some kind of peace with his most ancient foe. Or so he thought.

Once replaced into his cell, Aaron felt the presence once again fill the room.

"What do you want? I just had a very emotional day and I don't feel like talking about it."

But the presence wasn't here to check on him, a flood of emotions swept into his mind. Joy, pride and love so strong he could almost feel the spectral arms wrapped around him, telling him he did good.

"You saw that? How? I thought you were confined to this one room."

An image of a pyramid with a single open eye at the top flashed into his mind.

"What? Are you saying you're some kind of a pyramid builder? Oh! The all seeing eye! You see everything!"

It felt like it was clapping in applause.

The human grew confused, "I thought you were some kind of ghost or something."

A picture of scales, scales for measuring; one weight labeled yes, the other no, not really tipping either way.

"Not really, huh? How about some kind of figment of my imagination?"

A series of images that said something like; Dead wrong, very real.

"Okay, since you seem to be enjoying this little game of charades so much, how about a hint?"

A picture of a happy mother singing to her newborn.

"You are some kind of parent?"

A feeling of expecting more, like it was twirling a hand to keep him saying things. Another image of a mother, but clad in green wisps with himself in one arm.

"You're my Mother? That's impossible, my mom died two thousand years ago."

The old expression 'facepalm' came to mind along with another image, the same motherly woman in green holding the whole world in her arms, singing softly to all life.

It all fell into place suddenly, "Dear God, you're everybody's mother, you're....God!"

A feeling of nodding and a spectral kiss on his forehead, followed by a gentle laugh.

"I'm so sorry sir! I mean ma'm! I mean Mother!"

Mother sent feelings of soothing and comfort to the human.

"I'm so sorry for yelling at you! Please don't smite me or anything!"

Mother felt confused, so she sent an image almost questioning his words. It was an old episode of South Park, Cartman is yelling at God when a lightning bolt strikes him and sends him to the hospital for being a bad child.

"Yeah, something like that." he said nervously.

Mother sent her laughter at the scene. She obviously found it kind of funny, albeit a tad bit morbid.

"Wait, how did you get that memory?"

Sounds of radio static and various other electronic noises.

"You picked up the signals from our televisions? You watched us through our technology?"

He felt the spectral nods again, this time Mother started showing black and white reruns of "I Love Lucy." The fairly harmless slapstick comedy seemed to make the eternal Earth Goddess laugh, so long as nobody got hurt.

"You get stranger every second. Alright, I've had a full day, Mother," he said awkwardly. "I'm tired and I need some sleep."

She seemed to understand that, and like any good mother started to fill his mind with soothing music.

"Oh for Christ's sake, I'm a grown man! I don't need a lullaby to get to sleep!"

He felt like he was being scolded by the goddess.

"Alright, I guess I'm not really that tired. What do you want to do?"

She seemed delighted at the prospect of spending time with her child. Consternation and thought poured through the ethereal bond. Then a brilliant idea. His entire body stood without his command.

"Hey! Woah! What are you doing?" Though still in control of his own head, Mother had easy control of the rest of him. His arms raised and did a few test movements. She obviously did not achieve physical form very often, this was very novel for Her. He began to sway and step to music that played in his mind.

"You cannot be serious, you are an all powerful God and you want to dance?" The spectral feeling of nodding again, the goddess let go of him. But it felt confused at the thought of 'all powerful', sending him an image of the sun in question.

"The sun? What do you mean?"

Mother sent an image of a man wreathed in flame holding a child sheened in green, smiling at his daughter.

"The sun is your father? That makes sense I guess. Why are you talking to me? Am I your favorite? Your messiah or prophet?"

Confusion again, she didn't seem to understand the concept of a messiah or even religion.

"Hold on, I think I have something to help." He sent her memories of men preaching to crowds and of great leaders throughout history.

Definitely a negative, she didn't seem to like that idea at all, sending back an image of everyone, human and pony, working together and loving one another.

"So you want me to wake up humanity!"

The implied nod again. But something else, a picture of a man, but with his soul standing next to him. The man appeared to be complete, but his essence had a hole in it.

"Humanity is broken? Come on, how bad could it be?"

A scream of anguish, Mother blamed herself for something.

It is all my fault! I left a hole in your hearts! I made the mistake! Father was right, I should never have tampered!

Her weeping felt so near, her emotion so strong that the message came as actual words. He felt sorry for the Earth goddess who had to live forever with her mistake.

He felt sorrow and tears. Images from televisions began to fill his mind. Children dying in streets from starvation, men brutally killing each other in wars, women crying and oppressed for no other reason than because 'God willed it.' Bombs falling, explosions that rocked mountains, toxic waste flowing from cities, forests leveled for no discernible reason. Mines that emptied Mother's very womb, millions of lives being extinguished for an insult. All these things and a million more flooded his head. Mother was frightened by them, loving children did not hurt each other like this.

"So you sent the Surges to pacify us?" He sent his own memory of the third Surge, the waves of magic pulsing from the base of this very mountain. With the memories flowing between Aaron and the spirit of the Earth, he had a revelation. "It was you. You sent those memories across the link between me and Celestia. You defended us, after all we've done to hurt each other and you. You stood up for me and humanity..."

He felt the nod again, but her melancholy was too painful, and her essence began to withdraw from the room.

Everyone deserves a second chance.

"Wait, I'm sorry! Don't go! Don't leave me here alone!" he was truly sorry he had hurt her feelings, he felt like she was actually his mother, and he had hurt her.

The presence returned, comfort and love flowing through their bond. Music began to play in his mind, music that had played across the radio waves centuries ago. Images of love, compassion and life flowed with the words. He felt as though she sat next to him, silently enjoying his company for what it was worth.

I see trees of green, red roses too.
I see them bloom, for me and you.
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue, and clouds of white.
The bright blessed days, dark sacred nights.
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky.
Are also on the faces, of people going by.
I see friends shaking hands, saying 'how do you do?'
They're really saying, I love you.

"You really are Her." he said as the Mother of all life crooned him to peaceful sleep.

******************************************************************************************

Not as dramatic of an end to Luna and Aaron's feud as I had originally planned. Originally Aaron challenged her to a duel, but is sorely defeated. It didn't really advance the plot and demonized the Princess a little too much. The song "What a Wonderful World" was originally sang by Louis Armstrong, and I felt as though it accurately portrayed the harmony and love that the Earth goddess is trying to achieve. That and it really is a good song. My portrayal of "Mother" does make her a bit of an oddball, a nearly all powerful god watching I Love Lucy and dancing? What kind of crack you smokin' PegasusKlondike? But I believe it makes her more of a lovable and naive character, more like an actual loving parent as opposed a to vengeful and wrathful goddess of chaos.

Ghosts of Man

All around him were dimmed sounds, some kind of party or something. It was not the steady beat of an absolute party, but the gentle vibrations in the stone of his cell told Aaron that it was something far more dignified. The hushed voices of gently laughing ponies even crept under the door of his cell whenever a guard came and went.

"Hey guard, whats the deal, someone get married?" he said through the door.

"It's the Grand Galloping Gala you idiot, now shut up so I can get through this shift quietly!"

He walked to the back of his cell and crashed down on his rough pallet. The presence once again took over the room.

"What do you want now Mother? Can't you let me suffer in peace?"

They wish to speak to you.

"Who? Who would want to talk to me?"

All of them.

A mist began to fill the front of his cell, stopping before him and rising into what looked like the shapes of people.

Aaron recoiled to the wall, wondering if his end had truly come. One of the shapes came forward, taking on detail and looking more familiar with every second.

"How's life, lab coat?" the man's shape said in a hollow, echoing voice.

Aaron squinted at the shape of the man, recognition dawning as he took in the features of this apparition. "Juan? Juan Salazar?"

"None other, it's good to see you too."

"How is this possible Juan? You died two thousand years ago! I saw your corpse in the chopper, I held a funeral in your honor."

Sergeant Salazar shook his head. "Nothing really ever lives or dies man, everything we are is just borrowed, and we just return to where we came from."

Understanding crept into Aaron's mind. "You're a spirit, aren't you?"

"Yes, Mother gave us permission to come and give you our support for the upcoming trial."

"What do you mean?"

"Man, I thought you were supposed to be smart! She wants you to reawaken our brothers!"

"Why me? Why not you? You were always a hero, this should be your story unfolding here."

The ghost flashed a grin. "No, this was always your tale to be told. I played my part in it, and now I'll play another. If She can forgive me for trying to kill Her with Lucifer, we can all be redeemed." The ghost reached down to Aaron's chest, his spectral essence began to blend with his living essence. Juan Salazar joined his spirit, Aaron felt new purpose in life and new strength. But the Sergeant was not the only one.

A pony spirit walked forward from the crowd. "Open skies to you, Doctor."

"Cloud!" He reached out to touch the pegasus, but his hands passed through.

The pegasus tried as hard as he could to wrap his forelegs around Aaron's shoulders. "After all of these years, you still never learned to forgive yourself."

Aaron tried to feel his friend, tried so hard to just hug the pony. "Cloud, I missed you so much, how are you going to help me?"

"With everything that I can my friend, all of us will. But I also bring a message, in order to save your kind, you must be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice and join the darkness."

Aaron shook his head. "I don't understand."

The pegasus smiled, breaking away from their embrace. "You will, brother." Cloud Hoof touched Aaron's chest, blending their spirits.

Two human spirits approached now, shades that recalled his youth. "Hello son."

"Mom, Dad?" he said in utter disbelief.

The shade of Harold Patterson tried to place an ethereal hand on his boy's shoulder. "Son, I'm sorry if I made you feel unloved when you were little. I was trying to do my best for you, but my best wasn't good enough."

Aaron tried to squeeze his father's ghostly hand. "No Dad, don't feel like that, you did great. You raised me the only way you knew how. I'm sorry I wasn't a better son. And I'm sorry I wasn't there for you in the end."

"We are so proud of you Aaron, we were always proud of you, even when you doubted us," Esther Patterson said as she tried to lay a comforting touch on her son's cheek.

"We love you, and wish you the best in life. We saw that you met a nice group of friends out there, I can't commend you on the choice of species though," Pastor Patterson said, bringing a small smile to his face and his son's.

"Harold!" The feminine ghost stood aghast at her husband, acting as though she would slap him.

"Sorry Esther, they're horses for crying out loud! But they do make our son happy."

Aaron stood back from the shades of his parents. "You saw that? You were with me?"

"We were always with you son, and we always will be." Harold Patterson once again laid his ghostly hand on Aaron's shoulder. "We're gonna have to ask you to do something for us, champ. It will hurt, and we would never ask you to do something like this if there was another way. But you're the only person who She trusts to do it. Make us pure, redeem us, and make me proud." The Pastor's immortal essence flowed into his son, leaving his mother standing by with the sea of human faces in that infinite crowd of souls.

"My boy, my son. Such a handsome young man. I always knew you were destined to do great things, but I apparently underestimated you. I'll try to make this as painless as possible, but She says we must hurry."

"I love you, Mom," Aaron said to the ethereal woman, a tear falling down his cheek. This might be the last opportunity to say the words that had been holding him down and plaguing him with guilt for years.

"I know you do, and I never stopped loving you, and you'll always be my baby boy." Her spirit touched his, fusing their souls and conjoining their power.

Next came a man he had hoped never to see. "Aaron my boy, I can't say how sorry I am."

"General Winters? Sir? She sent you too?"

Winters waved a hand, shaking his head. "Cut the 'General' crap, I didn't deserve it. But you were right, she is alive. And now she wants us to help you."

"Mother is doing this? She was my guardian?"

The spectral man nodded. "I never would have guessed myself. But you need to give humanity a second chance at life, Mother is allowing us to help you. Our kind is scared and alone, you have to bring them harmony. You have a duty to them, just like I did, but you aren't allowed to fail like I did. And Aaron, no hard feelings, right?"

Aaron nodded slowly. "Yes, sir."

"And remember, to err is human, to forgive is divine. Oh yeah, and tell McGoff he shoots like a chicken shit." The General touched his chest, his form becoming mist as he flowed into Aaron.

A man dressed in combat fatigues came forward, his hollow eyes showing the glint of metal coins. "Thank you for remembering me, for remembering us." The young soldier gave a crisp salute, nodding to Aaron before reaching out to join his spirit. His entire company, all soldiers that had sacrificed themselves on the field of battle, followed him on this final mission. With each one he gained their knowledge, their power and their strength.

People he knew and people he could never have known all joined with his spirit, Aaron became stronger with each one. Men wearing soldier's uniforms stood next to businessmen, farmers stood with convicts, all patiently waiting for their turn for redemption. Men in rags touched his soul as well as men in the finest clothing. Cave men stood with astronauts, the shades of those who committed the most heinous acts joining him behind those who dedicated their lives to peace and love. Death was the great equalizer, and people from all across time joined with him.

They bombarded him like rain drops in a hurricane, entering through whatever openings in his spirit that were available. Aaron clenched his teeth, the twisting and warping of his soul a burning type of pain in his body. His fingers clenched into fists, green sparks of strange energy snapping and crackling in the air around his hands. His fingers shot open, the sparks igniting into a flame of forest green power. After what seemed like an eternity of receiving the souls of humankind, the swell of spirits ended. Aaron opened his eyes, a green glow of magic burning from them.

"I know what I have to do now," he said with a billion voices.

Go, take their gift and bring your kind back. Give them redemption, seek Lucifer.

With the souls of Mankind residing in his body, the voice of Mother was as clear as a whisper into his own ear. He turned to the door, raising a hand the door to his cell shattered into millions of pieces.

***************************************************************************

At first they wanted to turn down their invitations, but the presence of Equestria's heroines was almost a requirement at the Gala. So begrudgingly they donned some scratch up dresses and went to Canterlot Castle. Though they normally would have enjoyed a night of fun and talks with some of Canterlot's finest, they all stayed together in the garden. The six friend's mood was solemn, nopony actually wanting to go and dance or anything. Spike joined them after grabbing some food, noisily eating around the melancholy mares.

"I still can't believe he lied to us, he really is a monster." said Rainbow Dash.

"Ah trusted him with mah family, we even let him be a part of it, but he lied to us."

"Damn creature got what he deserved." Rarity sipped from a glass of punch, her appearance not its usual splendor.

Fluttershy was still on the verge of a saddened breakdown nearly a week after Luna had taken him prisoner. "How did I not see it? He really was evil."

Spike threw down his plate of food, "How can you all sit here and say this about our friend? He was a good person! An evil creature would not have saved us from those bandits, he saved our lives from those monsters out there!"

They all looked to him, unsure about themselves. Spike leapt to the table top, jabbing a claw at Applejack, "Applejack, didn't you say he was like a member of your family? Would you just abandon your family like this?"

"No, ah guess ah wouldn't."

Spike turned to Rainbow Dash, "And Rainbow Dash, you and him were almost best friends, you wouldn't be friends with somepony you didn't trust completely!"

"Yeah, you're right!"

"Rarity, Aaron gave me the advice to help get your attention."

"He...he did?"

"Twilight! He told you his entire life story, he trusted you and wanted you to trust him back."

She had a revelation, "He did trust me, he was so concerned when I told him I was sick, nopony has ever been that concerned for me since my parents."

"Fluttershy, you helped him in his time of need, you believe that nothing is really bad, just misunderstood and in need of love, why would he be any different?"

Fluttershy stood with a surge of assertiveness, "You're right Spike, he is our friend! But I can't believe we just let that happen to him."

"And Pinkie, he loved your song and dance, would something evil tolerate your antics like he did? He laughed at your jokes and listened to your crazy stories with intent."

Pinkie's previously deflated mane curled back in an instant. "You're right Spike! But who are you calling crazy?"

"I'll admit Aaron and I had a bit of a rough start, but he showed me that he was a good person underneath all that pain and repressed memory. In the end it was like we hatched from the same clutch, and I respected him. He didn't say those things because he did them, he was protecting us!"

Though they now no longer suffered their depression, they were ridden with guilt that they had not done more to save the man who had become one of them.

"But that means, if he did those awful things, and he is still a good person, his race must be good too!"

"By the Princesses we had him all wrong! Oh my goodness I'm sorry Aaron!" Twilight wailed to the night.

******************************************************************************

So far, so good. The Gala was going off without a hitch and Princess Luna couldn't be more pleased. Boring discussions of politics consumed the night.

"And that my Princess is why we should reduce the public works budget and increase spending on foreign trade."

"Uh huh, brilliant plan Senator Quill Scratch. I'll get right on it."

"Princess, is there something on your mind? You seem rather consumed as of lately."

"Oh, why look it's Prince Blueblood!" she lied "I'll have to catch up with you later Senator." The Princess quickly left the nonstop political talks and maneuverings for the peace of the garden. Sitting around a garden table was none other than Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Luna approached cautiously.

"Good evening my little ponies. Are we having fun tonight?"

The six friends gave her a death look. "Alright, I admit what I did was wrong. But you were harboring an extremely dangerous man with a very dark past!"

"He was our friend, and you hurt him." Pinkie Pie said in a tone completely unfitting of her.

"But Pinkie! We reconciled some of our differences! He looked into our memories and saw the truth and gave us his memories to do the same!"

"You don't get it Luna! He had changed! Princess?" The Princess' eyes had taken on a glaze. She stared into the dark, her breathing extremely shallow and rapid.

"Princess! Are you alright!?" the six friends rushed to her side.

"She is here, but not for any of us." She looked towards the dungeons.

*****************************************************************************************

He had to find Lucifer, he knew they could not have destroyed it. Drawn deeper and deeper into the mountain, he saw the walls becoming natural and no longer pony made. He stopped when he came to a shear wall of brick.

"Like this will stop me!" He held his hand out and disintegrated the wall. As the dust cleared, he saw his creation, laying on an altar-like podium. He was now ultimately sensitive to magic, and when he spied the source of dark magic, it almost seemed to squeal like a child seeing a long lost father.

"You serve me now, do you understand!" The spirit of darkness cowered, and Aaron picked up his weapon, shouldering the nuclear power pack. "Alright, that's one of three. Now I need my card."

He began to run back towards the surface, to the throne room. Flinging guards harmlessly out of his way with his new found magic, he ran like Cloud Hoof himself carried him. He entered the main halls from the dungeons, seeing many finely dressed ponies milling about pointlessly. "Out of my way!" They noticed the human for the first time, screaming they did as he said.

Coming to the massive double doors of the main hall, he reached out with his turbulent magic and parted them. He stalked up the center carpet with ponies watching in horror and disgust as he approached the throne. With a wave of his hand the throne slid away to the wall, behind stood the magically sealed doors that only the horn of an alicorn could open. His eyes burned like firestorms of magic, lifting a hand he concentrated, feeling the powerful magic crumble under his assault. With a shudder the doors lost their magical glow and slid open.

"Aaron, STOP!" He looked behind him with his eyes that burned with magic. Celestia stood stunned at what he had become. "You do not have to do this!" Hundreds of ponies looked on at the creature that violated the very sanctuary of the Elements.

"We must." His voice spoke with a thousand people's voices all twisted to come out of one mouth.

"Then you leave me no choice," Celestia said, her horn glowing with golden magic. Charged with her near godly power, she fired a beam of her magic, bright as sunlight, straight at the human. With an outstretched hand, he caught the beam in his palm. Gathering her power in his hand, he looked at it like it were no more than a child's bauble. Clenching his fist, he crushed the orb of Celestia's gathered magic like an egg. Princess Celestia recoiled, her greatest attack had been no more effective than a flyswatter on a dragon.

"A noble attempt, but futile," the untold number of voices said through their host's mouth. He turned back, he grabbed his bag which had been stored inside. And then he levitated the box containing the Elements. Opening the bejeweled case, he beheld six round stones which he lifted with his magic. He turned back to the crowd.

"Hear me citizens of Equestria! I am Aaron, the last of the Fallen Race! I come forth from the depths of time to reawaken my people. In two weeks I will complete the process and bring back the Army of Man to once again walk the Earth! The choice is yours as to how this will end! And as collateral, I am taking this with me." One of the Element stones floated forward and into his hand. He placed it in his bag with the card and the map.

"Aaron, no!"

The human looked down to see Twilight, resplendent in her Gala dress. The fires in his eyes faded. "Twilight, you have to trust me."

The unicorn glanced around, then looked into his eyes. "I trust you." Princess Celestia glared down at Twilight, placing herself between her student and the creature whose power made her own look pitiful and sickly.

A troop of guards had begun to encroach. One tried to throw a spear, Aaron saw and the fires in his soul lit once again. Catching it in his hand, he tore the spear apart molecule by molecule, leaving a fine dust to settle on the floor. Raw power seethed in his body, and with a tiny flick of a finger the Royal Guardsponies were encircled by a bubble of magic.

Aaron began to run down the central aisle past terrified ponies and other dignitaries, faster than any human should have out of the castle. But exiting the main door he slammed into a shield of powerful magic. Princess Luna rushed forward from the shadows to confront him.

"Do not do this Aaron! We can talk through this." She glanced into his eyes, eyes that only a few days earlier had shown compassion and regret, now glowed with the magic of untold billions. She was drawn in for a second, her gaze filled with human souls that all spoke as one being.

"Stay out of our way, Princess," the twisted being of souls said. The soul fires burned brightly in his eyes, and with a single raised finger he shattered the magical barrier that stood in his way. With a devil's speed he ran into the night, almost as fast as a pegasi flew.

************************************************************************************

Ponies screamed at the thought of an unknown army of his kind being brought back from the dead. Being that most were important politicians, they immediately called an emergency council of the General Assembly. Princesses Luna and Celestia tried to regain control, but failed miserably. Retiring to her study, Celestia called her student and her friends for an audience. The door creaked open as they entered, still in their Gala dresses.

"Princess, you called for us?"

"Yes, Twilight. Your 'friend' appears to have gotten a little stronger in the past few hours."

"What is he? Before he couldn't do magic, but now he leaks raw power!"

"He has become a magical creature known as a Legion. Within him resides untold numbers of souls, all working together for the same goal. Souls are just residual magic left over from our creation, so he must have absorbed an incredible amount of his species' souls to become so powerful in such a short amount of time. As he is, he has become so infused with magic that he is a living conduit of magic, a body that hovers on the borders between two worlds, the worlds of the seen and the unseen. But only one thing could provide that kind of power, the Earth herself."

"Y'all mean that he has some kind of god on his side?"

"Precisely Applejack, but I do not know why she would allow him to take an Element of Harmony, his kind cannot even use them. Most Legions are just magic users who want to expand their own power and thus steal it from others. They never live long, the magic power always tears them apart. But we've never seen one with so many souls behind him."

"What was that thing he was carrying?" Fluttershy asked.

"That was a device he created millenia ago called Lucifer. It is the pure antithesis of the Elements, corrupting whatever it touches with chaotic magic. He must have some plan for using them in conjunction."

"But he can't, only we can use the Elements of Harmony!" cried Rainbow Dash.

"Precisely, that is why I must ask you six to hunt him down, retrieve the stolen Element and stop him."

A knock sounded at the door to the study, a gold armored guard entering. "Permission to speak your Majesty."

Celestia nodded her head. "Granted, as always."

"The General Assembly has put it to a vote and has unanimously decided to march the Royal Army to the enemy base, minus of course absent voters."

The Princess slammed a hoof in fury, "Return a message to the Assembly, as Princess I am declaring that ballot null!"

"Yes m'lady." The guard hurried off to deliver the message to the elected council of Equestria. As he flew out the door, Luna brushed past on her way in.

"I do not know why we trusted him in any way." she said sullenly.

"We did not place our trust unwisely my sister, you know who gave him his power."

"Why would she do that? I tried to commune with Mother, but she is ignoring us!"

Twilight interrupted. "She wants him to complete his mission, to raise his kind from the dead!"

"Twilight Sparkle, you must know that if he succeeded we would be instantly embroiled in a war the likes of which you could not possibly imagine. Countless lives could be lost in a matter of days."

"He would not let that happen!" cried Rarity.

Twilight approached the blue-black Princess. "Princess Luna, do you know why he took that thing with him? The weapon?"

"Lucifer? I do not know, but as the only living one who has felt its wrath, I can assure you he has a plan for using it, possibly on his own kind."

"But why?"

"Lucifer shoots out an infectious force of dark magic, though similar to the Elements of Harmony, it is not comparable in power to them. But Lucifer is capable of one thing the Elements are not, infecting inanimate objects. The Elements only work on living creatures."

Celestia addressed her sister. "Luna, are you aware that he has taken an Element with him? He stole the Element of Magic as 'collateral'."

Luna shook her head, trying to comprehend his reason for such a theft. "It could be that the Element is keeping him alive, Legions always need a fresh source of magic to sustain themselves and keep their souls under control. But I can tell you he most likely does not need it to do what ever he has planned. I looked beyond those burning eyes of his, he is a Legion of greater power than any other."

"How powerful my sister?"

"He has the soul of every human being that has ever lived behind him, he could have easily destroyed half of Equestia with the wave of a hand. But he is holding back for some reason; like those souls were placed on him, but not to give him power."

"Then he is baiting us to Stronghold, he wants us there when he awakens the Fallen Race." Princess Celestia turned to the six friends. "Twilight Sparkle, I am afraid you must follow him and recover your Element. Once you have it, you can show no mercy. He currently has the three most powerful forces on earth at his side: Lucifer, the Element and a legion of souls at his command. You leave tonight for Stronghold, no doubt his destination."

Aaron's Run

We...are Legion. We are infinite, yet we are one. We have but one mission, to become whole. This...single form....is but an illusion. Our host has so generously given his form to us, and so we give him our magic. Form is constricting, form is choking, but form has advantages. With his shape we can wield the weapon to make ourselves whole. All of our souls are stained with our failures as a race. Yet Mother has told us to go to him, we serve him for now, as he serves us in the end. We are not evil, but neither are we good. We are incomplete, and our host will change that. His is a sacrifice to be made for our children who yet slumber. His singularity will serve its purpose, then become a part of Legion. We are Legion, for we are many.

**************************************************************************

Aaron ran like the devil was on his heels. The billions of souls inside of him urged him forward, prohibiting rest and providing him with near infinite energy. But he had a long run ahead of him. Immediately exiting the palace after so boldly interrupting the Gala, he met little resistance. Nearing the gate to the town of Canterlot, a squad of guards flew into position to stop this thief and intruder.

"So unwise." the billions of souls uttered as one. With a single flick of a hand half the guards were put into a harmless sleep, another flick and the golden armor on the other half came to life, holding down their wearers. He continued his run. Lucifer hung on his back, though normally weighing around one hundred pounds, the source of corruption seemed weightless.

Ponies that still walked the street at night screamed as the magic infused human ran by at an incredible speed. A patrol of winged guards tried to swoop in to catch him, he laughed as they began to chase five different humans, all taunting them. The decoys faded after a few hundred yards, the pegasi guards left swearing.

He reached the city gates in less than a minute, and using his soul magic dissolved an arch for himself to run through at full speed. A troop of unicorn guards blocked his way. The human stopped, the unicorns throwing a shield around him.

"Finally a challenge." He raised both of his hands, then brought them together. His clap sounded like a thunderbolt. The thunderous wave shattered the shield and threw everypony standing ten feet back. The magic fires in his eyes blazed brightly in the aftershocks, the human having never known so much power.

He took once again to his run, an order must have been issued, for he had no more interference that night.

****************************************************************************

"Princess! All guard units report failure to contain the creature, he has breached the city walls and escaped into the countryside!" The Captain of the Royal Guard reported.

"Damn! Tell all unit commanders to stand down. Any word on the General Assembly?" Princess Celestia was determined to somehow nip this crisis in the bud, but she would not risk more lives pointlessly. She paced back and forth in her study, worrying and wondering if Twilight and her friends could stop this kind of foe, especially since he had one of the Elements in his possession!

"Yes my Princess, the Assembly has requested the presence of you and Princess Luna as quickly as possible."

"Then I shall have to meet them. You are dismissed for the night Captain."

Princess Celestia gathered her sister and the two made their way to the House of Assembly, the legislative branch of the Equestrian pseudo-democracy. They entered without flair or even being announced, given the dire situation it was unneeded. The large, semi circular room was filled with the elected senators representing the various districts of Equestria. Also in attendance were representatives and ambassadors from allied nations and bordering territories. In the center stood a podium where the Speaker would address issues being raised. Celestia and Luna took the podium.

"Hear me fair citizens of Equestria! I beg of you, do not start a war with this creature! As he is he cannot be defeated."

A senator with a Trottingham accent spoke. "And what are we to do Princess? Let him go forth and raise some kind of army of his kind against us? If anything we need the full support of the entire Royal Army to combat this threat!"

An ambassador from Zebrica voiced himself in his deep zebra voice, "If this thing is indeed a Legion, why do we not just stand back and let him burn out? Legions are more common practice in Zebrica, they always die without a source of fresh magic to feed upon."

"That is out of the question ambassador. This one is different, he has stolen an Element of Harmony and a weapon capable of corrupting magic. He is a Legion that has fed on billions of souls at once, he is unstoppable now."

Worried talk passed between the members of the Assembly.

The senator from Manehattan spoke. "Why are you preventing us from taking action Princess? If we raise the army now, we can maybe beat this creature to its destination and destroy any hope of his victory."

Luna pushed Celestia out of the way. "There is no hope of beating him there, he runs as quickly as most pegasi fly. And even if we did manage to beat him to his destination, he has an Element! We cannot stop him without all six of them."

"You seem to know quite a bit about him, Princess Luna, what information are you withholding from us?"

"We have dealt with his kind before, senator. He is called a human being, and before there was Equestria, his kind ruled the world."

"Before Equestria? Preposterous! Ponies have always ruled this world!"

"You speak as if you were there Senator, Luna and I were. We fought the humans in a war that has become so faded in history that few remember it. We ultimately won, but it was not without great sacrifice." Celestia said.

Luna once again took the stand, "There were once billions of them, all of their technologies so advanced that they would confound the most studious engineer. It was shear luck and the aid of the Earth that gave us victory."

The buffalo ambassador bellowed in anger. "You speak of the Hunters! Monsters so cruel that the Earth Mother herself shunned them. But the Hunters are all dead, it is absurd to say one of them has returned!"

"They have returned, at least one of them has. But he is on his way as we speak to resurrect his race. And if we do not send the embodiements of the Elements of Harmony to fight him, your lands will be among the first to fall in their march for revenge, ambassador! This day was destined to come eventually, the humans have returned to claim what is rightfully theirs."

Hundreds of angered voices deafened one another, each pony or creature jockeying to put forth their plan to stop this crisis. Angered neighs and bellows from dignitaries and senators alike shook the foundations of the House.

"Order! We shall have order!" the Speaker stamped a hoof on the podium. The roar of the House eventually quieted. "We shall now put it to a definitive vote, all those in favor of raising the army to confront the enemy at their base?" The entire senate voted unanimously. "All opposed?" Only Luna and Celestia voted against. "Then it is decided, at dawn the entire Royal Army marches for the enemy base, auxiliary units will be drafted as they march. The human said two weeks, we will not be late! And Princesses? Being that you are the commanders of the Royal Army, you will be leading them to the enemy base, which you apparently have exclusive knowledge of."

The Princesses turned to leave, shaking their heads for the stupidity that ran their country. "So, we are going to Stronghold at last Luna."

"We swore never to set a hoof at the accursed place, but times are changing rather suddenly, are they not?"

****************************************************************

The six friends had taken to tracking their changed human friend as soon as they could get their ridiculous dresses off. Carrying royal writs of acquisition, they could get anything they needed on the road. Fortunately, Aaron was not hard to track. Strange magical phenomenon marked his passing, the excess magic falling off him like leaves in autumn.

Though not the fastest, Fluttershy led, being the best tracker. The easy thing to notice was the large amount of flowers, the magic he exuded was making them bloom out of season. Though they didn't really need it, he went due west towards Stronghold.

"What is making him so fast?" panted Rainbow Dash.

"He has enough magic in him to blow up Equestria, I think he might have changed a little!" Everypony except Twilight carried their Element in a saddlebag, ready to use it if they found the missing Element.

"Dang critter runs like the wind! I remember him gettin' winded just goin up a hill!" Applejack was panting too, they had run at least ten to fifteen miles in the course of the night.

"We can't stop now! We haven't even seen him yet!"

Rarity was the voice of reason, "Twilight! Calm down miss bookworm, there has to be a better way to catch up with him."

Pinkie bounced to the lead. "What about your balloon Twilight? We could have Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy alternate pulling it!"

"That's brilliant Pinkie! But my balloon is back in Ponyville and that's another ten miles!"

They all stared at Twilight, specifically at her horn. "Oh no, no no no no! I can't teleport us all that far!"

"At least a couple miles closer dearie?" Rarity had her begging eyes on now.

"Fine! I'll give it a try! Everypony grab my mane." They did so, and Twilight began to concentrate on the spell, pumping more magic into her horn than she believed was safe. A flash of light, and they stood in Ponyville town square, the barest glimmers of dawn breaching the horizon.

"You did it Twi! Twilight?" The unicorn had collapsed from the exertion, so they gathered her up and headed for the library.

**********************************************************************************

Though fueled by the souls of billions of humans, his body was still that of a scientist. Aaron collapsed near what he believed was an abandoned house, several miles west of Ponyville.

"25 miles in one night, I'm making good time." The soul fire left his eyes for the time being, he was back in complete control of his body.

The soul fire snapped back as Legion tried to speak. "Indeed you are Aaron, we are proud, but your breaks must be brief. Our goal cannot be delayed for much longer."

He shook his head, fighting to regain control of his body. "If you want to talk, use somebody else's mouth god damn it!" he forced down the billions of anxious souls that clamored to speak through him, the fires leaving him.

He wheezed uncontrollably as he rested against the trunk of an old tree, getting his breath back he wondered if he had time to eat. He may have controlled the three greatest sources of magic known to anything, but his body still had basic biological needs. Taking off Lucifer's power pack, he set the demonic weapon down next to his pack, the pack fell over letting the Element roll out. To a person as sensitive to magic as he had become what happened next was a spectacle. The Element and Lucifer seemed to hiss and spit at one another, like two alleycats circling before a fight. There was enough magical tension between the two semi-sentient objects that sparks were flying in the air.

"Alright you two, break it up!" Lucifer cowered in fear of its creator and master, the Element stood its ground with dignity. Scooping it up he placed it back in his pack.

"Hello? Is somepony there?" A strange pony voice called out to him. It was very young for a pony, probably just a colt. The damn farmhouse wasn't abandoned after all! A young colt slowly approached, his head held high in the air, a cane in his mouth preceding his every step. He looked barely old enough to have a cutie mark, and his flank still remained blank.

"I can't see you know! I can hear you though, is somepony there?"

Aaron felt pity for the blind colt, "Yeah, there is somebody here."

"You aren't from the bank are you? We haven't been able to sell any crops since papa died, we don't have your money."

"No, I'm not from the bank. Why are you living in such a wreck of a house?"

The colt's head dropped, "We can't afford anything better. Papa died two years ago and Mama is too sick to work. I got the same sickness as Mama, but it left me quickly and blinded me. We were gonna go to Canterlot to get my eyes fixed, but the magic spell is too expensive for us." Tears began to shed from the eyes of the blinded colt, the pain of loss and the spite of disease making him cry.

Aaron looked to his own hand, the magic of the Earth flared from his fingers. "Come to me child."

"You aren't gonna hurt me are you?"

"No, now come to my voice." The colt made his way to the human, gently Aaron placed his hand on the blind colt's face, concentrating his magic. He closed his own eyes, the magic flowed from his body into the body of the colt. He probed and found the problem, with a quick burst of magic he fixed the flaw caused by disease.

"Now open your eyes."

His eyes fluttered open, "I can see... I can see!" He danced and jumped, throwing his cane to the dust. "I can see! Thank you mister!" He hugged the human around the waist, weeping tears of joy. "What about my mama mister?"

Aaron thought for a second, then turned his attention to the tree. He placed a hand on the trunk, with a little magic probe he found it to be an apple tree, suitable for his task. He let the magic flow through the bark, into every leaf and stem of the old apple tree. Apple blossoms sprouted from the branches, and soon they shed their flowers and fattened into apples that had a green reflection of magic on a brilliant golden skin. He reached and plucked a ripe apple from a branch, "Here, take this to your mother. Share the fruit of this tree with those who need hope." The colt grabbed the apple and rushed back to his house. Aaron himself grabbed a few of the magic apples, biting into one he felt his fatigue melt away and his spirits rise.

Shouldering Lucifer and grabbing his pack, the human resumed his journey home. Seeing his kind deed, Mother smiled with pride and joy.

*****************************************************************************

The cohorts stood assembled before Canterlot. Princess Celestia had her generals inspect the lines, all were prepared. The entire Royal Guard took the front with their burnished gold and black finished armor. Behind them stood the bulk of the army, most wearing simpler steel armor. Artillery machines and siege machinery were levitated by unicorn battlemages in the rear, ready for their march westward.

Though Equestria maintained a rather sizable airship fleet, the entire fleet was on active duty in Kali'Gryph in the far northeast and in Zebrica across the ocean.

Luna consulted with Celestia, "We do not have to do this sister!"

"We must, the ponies of Equestria have spoken. They wish for his blood and the blood of his kind."

"Are we really any better than they were when they marched on us, intending the same fate?"

Celestia looked in to her sister's eyes, "No, we are no different than they are." She turned to the assembled army, "We March!"

Drums beat the march as the pony army crept forward.

*************************************************************************

They forced the door to the library open, they lay Twilight on a chair, her expenditure from the spell too great.

"Pinkie! Go to the medicine chest and see if there are smelling salts!" Fluttershy tended to the unconscious Twilight, cracking open her eyes to see if her pupils dilated.

"Okey dokey Fluttershy!" Pinkie scrambled back to the living area.

Applejack was tearing apart the contents of a closet, looking for anything useful. "Does anypony know where she keeps the balloon?"

"Not a clue! Only Twilight knows." Rainbow Dash was zooming in and out of various rooms, looking for the packed up hot air balloon.

A groan came from the unicorn, "What happened?"

"Twilight! You brought us straight to Ponyville, but you collapsed after teleporting us."

She shook her head a little, gaining her bearings. "I keep my balloon packed up in the basement. Rarity, you can still levitate things with your magic, get it out for us."

"Yes Twilight!"

Twilight

The unicorn searched for the source of the calling.

You will need it when you go Twilight.

"Need what?" A spectral presence beckoned her to her study. Shakily she obeyed. Walking into her study while everypony else rushed around the library gathering supplies, she wondered what she needed.

There, you will need it. Her head pointed to her desk, on it lay Starswirl's transfiguration spell with the splayed drawing of the pony and the man.

"Who are you?" she asked to the empty room.

A friend, a watcher. Take it with you, it will help.

"I don't understand." But whatever it was had left, more important business to attend to. Twilight grabbed the page from the tome and placed it in a saddlebag. Going as quickly as her legs could carry her she ran out of the library to help rebuild her balloon. Within minutes the friends were being towed due west by Rainbow Dash, making better time than they could have on foot.

"I just hope we aren't too late." Twilight said as the wind whistled in her mane.

*******************************************************************************

Legion had taken over again, the spirits of utter neutrality were annoyed by the delays the human kept enforcing. Another few days and another 75 miles had gone under his supernatural pace. Where ever they passed life began to flourish, Aaron leaking enough magic to make flowers bloom and fruit grow on the trees. It gave the human time to think while Legion had his body commandeered. They were the spirits of neutrality, Lucifer embodied chaos, the Element embodied harmony. What was his part in this whole story? Was he the hero, or the villain? Or was he simply a pawn for forces far greater than himself?

"Aaron, this body of yours requires rest once again, we are giving you control, for now." the billions of voices said out loud.

Legion retreated, allowing the human full control again. "Thank you for the gracious return of my property, ladies and gentlemen." He was deep in a forest, his path had never strayed from his due westward course. If a mountain or something got in his way, Legion would probably make him climb it, or just dissolve it outright. They had a single track mind for whatever their goal was. Though they shared his body, they refused to tell him anything except that they wanted to be whole and he was the key for that goal.

He sat to rest underneath a tree, pulling out the map to Stronghold. An old aerial map, the features of the landscape had gone mostly unchanged over the millenia, yet what inhabited those landscapes was dramatically different. What were once mostly fields and towns had changed to unending forest and the occasional pony or other creature settlement. He remembered desert and scrub brush on the way to Ponyville, so he must be nearing that border.

Laying aside the map he raised a hand. Magic was still new to him, so he wanted to learn as much as he could about it. He grabbed a pinch of dirt, some leaves and some twigs. Delicately placing them together he made the figure of a dancer, posed in mid note. He gave it a small amount of magic, and being that he had absorbed Stravinsky along with thousands of other composers, he began to hum Firebird. The little dancer woman began to do the complex ballet, gracefully tracing the palm of his hand and leaping from finger to finger with perfect balance. An idea came to him, and he used his magic to coalesce a partner for her out of air. The little man bowed to his dance partner, placing his hands in hers, stepping to a tune that their maker hummed. Aaron watched his work with a smile. Gently he placed the two finger-height dancers on the ground, their courtship of beauty uninterrupted.

His eyes flared with the soul fire again, "Aaron, stop this foolishness, we must go now." The two minor creations dissipated back to their elements.

He forced them down, "Don't any of you know when to appreciate something beautiful? Haven't you learned anything from Mother?"

"Mother sympathizes with us. She wants our goal as much as we do."

"Mother sympathizes with everyone, if you were truly from Her you would know that."

"If it will motivate you, we will forgive this one transgression. We cannot move this body without your permission."

The man smiled, "Damn right you will."

"Do not treat us so, amongst us are the ones you called friends and family. We only want to complete ourselves."

Aaron sat back, his constant companions were right. "Forgive me, I spoke out of spite. Let me eat something and get some water and then we can go."

"Splendid." said the culmination of all human souls. Legion suddenly became very alert and alarmed. "Aaron, we are being pursued. There is an entire army on our trail, and something else, something that calls to its lost piece."

"What? How do you know?"

"Many of us were of the military ourselves, we feel the pounding of thousands of feet and the thunder of drums."

"Well can't we just stop them? Together we are powerful enough to stop anything."

"Mother is preventing us, or else we would have days ago. Though we are many, She is still far stronger than us."

Aaron looked around himself at the vibrant forest, "What's your game?"

*************************************************************************

The human was not hard to follow, he left a swath of magical oddities nearly a mile wide, anypony skilled in magic could tell that while blindfolded.

The forward scouts to the Royal Army had little to report, no physical sign of him, but plenty of evidence. Princess Celestia now investigated some of what he left behind. It was the most brilliant apple tree she had ever seen in her several millenia of existence. The mare who owned it stood proud of it.

"I never knew such a kind of apple could grow from my soil!" she said with pride. Her colt bounced next to her.

"Mama! I told you, the strange man came and made the tree! He fixed my eyes and made these magic apples to fix you too!"

"Pardon my son Princess, he has such an imagination."

"There is nothing to forgive, madam. May I try one of your apples?"

She curtsied before the Princess, "It would be my honor!" She turned and bucked an apple from the beautiful tree, a single one fell for the Princess. Delicately she took a bite, she wanted to see if these apples weren't some kind of poison of something that he might have left behind as a sick prank. The first thing she noticed, it was the best thing she had ever eaten. Second, her mind was filled with thoughts of peacefulness and love. Third, a scratch she had gotten healed over completely.

Why would he do such a thoughtful thing for a family in need?

"Madam, you may keep your healing apples. But know that your son is right; a kind, generous and thoughtful man made this for you." Princess Celestia flew off to rejoin her marching army.

******************************************************************************

Record time! It only took about four days to reach Appleloosa with their ingenious, pegasus powered balloon. They landed softly at the outskirts of town. The first thing the six mares noticed was the massive military presence. Gold and black armored guards led squadrons of regular and militia foot soldiers. Lumber was being processed in hastily built mills and black smoke belched from the forges that worked tirelessly.

"This ain't the quiet frontier town Ah knew. This is some kinda war machine!" Applejack said.

"By the Princesses, they must have mobilized the entire Royal Army for what Aaron did at the Gala. We can't stay for long, just grab some supplies and let's get out of here."

A yellow coated earth pony in simple steel armor trotted to them. "Cousin Applejack? What are you doin here? This is no place for a lady!"

"Cousin Braeburn?" he was harder to recognize without his trademark hat and vest, the armor obscuring his face. "What's happenin' here? Why so many soldiers?"

"I don't know, one of the Royal Army captains showed up yesterday and called for everypony of fighting skill to report to a recruiter. The officers are all sayin we are goin to war! Not some phony pie throwin scuffle like what we had with the buffalo, an actual war with an unknown enemy." The stallion bit his lip as he looked to the sword strapped to his side, unsure of whether he had it in him to take a life.

Applejack placed a hoof on his shoulder, "Not on mah watch there ain't. We're gonna stop this thing before it happens Cousin Braeburn!"

"How? The officers all say our enemy is unstoppable! And in a couple of days an army is going to wake up and march from the other side of buffalo territory. I'm scared cousin, I don't wanna die!"

Twilight consoled him, "We know the creature responsible for this, and we know that he won't allow bloodshed. We just need to get to Stronghold to stop him!"

Braeburn looked around, checking to see if anypony besides them was listening. "This is private intelligence, I think your 'friend' passed this way about yesterday afternoon. I was out in the orchards buckin' apples when I saw the dang funniest lookin critter run through. He was talkin to himself all crazy like, almost like he was arguin with himself. And he was carryin this funny lookin metal thing that made my skin crawl. But worst of all, his eyes burned like fire! Not actual fire, like a magic fire that a unicorn makes. But he stopped for a while and kept on talkin' to himself, I hid behind a couple bushels of apples, but he still knew I was there! He told me not to be afraid of him, then he took some apples and left, but he left behind this!"

Braeburn reached into a pocket and pulled out a shining yellow stone. "It's solid gold! He made it right then and there to pay me for the apples!"

"That sounds like Aaron alright, magic fire-eyes and everything."

"Then we don't have much time, we didn't have a lead before and now he is a day ahead of us. Braeburn, we need supplies as quick as possible."

"I can't do that! The Royal Army is rationing out food as it is to us Appleloosans."

Twilight reached into her saddlebag, pulling out the royal writ of acquisition. "Will this help?"

He read over it quickly, "Sure as shoot! Signed by Princess Celestia herself! Take that to the command center and show it to the commander. Go!"

They hurried to the command center, they showed their writs to the commander, a rough, grizzled old pegasus veteran who sat behind a desk, running a log book. A single soldier stood in the corner, ready to run any messages.

"How do I know these are real?"

"Sir, you have to believe us! Princess Celestia gave us those to help in our mission!" Rainbow Dash tried to reason.

"And what exactly is your mission?"

Twilight spoke for the group, "We are going to stop this war, sir. We are going to recapture the stolen Element of Harmony."

The commander sat confused, then recognition dawned in his eyes. "I know you mares! You're the Embodiements! The wielders of the Elements!" He stood and gave a crisp salute to them. "You can have anything you need! Just say it and I'll have it brought out."

"Food and supplies for a week, that's all we need."

"Done! Private, have these run down to the quartermaster, get these ladies whatever they need." The private stared at the legends in the flesh, then shut his mouth and ran to do his commander's bidding. They stayed with the commander for a few minutes, discussing the dangers of a human opponent when the private returned to tell them that the supplies had been transported to their balloon. Bidding him good luck, they left the commander's office.

Walking the streets of Appleloosa, they noticed more soldier's eyes on them than before. One gold armored sergeant simply stared, then drew his sword with a foreleg and slammed it against his shield, then again. All those who followed him started to do the same with their weapons. More and more joined in this macabre salute to the Embodiements of the Elements. All those civilian ponies and those who did not carry a weapon stomped their hooves. In thunderous unison they gave their respect, telling the six friends that they would lay down their very lives for Harmony and fight any foe as long as they held the Elements. Somewhere, somepony began a war chant that was taken up by everypony else. The sergeant yelled the first line, and his soldiers chanted the second.

Raise your sword!
While the sun rises high!

Shatter shields!
While the moon sinks low!

Wash your spears!
Who fears to die?

Raise your sword!
Nopony I know!

Shatter shields!
For peace and light!

Wash your spears!
For Harmony we fight!

Stronghold

The desert heat beat down on Aaron as he ran across the last few miles of Equestria. The territory of the buffalo within his sight as he crossed the flat desert scrub brush. Legion was growing anxious, and would sometimes rip control straight from him to urge his tired legs to move faster. Though they had not deviated from their due westward route, the man had somehow stumbled onto an Equestrian highway. The smoother road allowed him to move even faster.

He remembered this path, he had taken it what seemed like decades ago, when his pony friends had brought him back from Stronghold. Back from the dead, to give him and eventually Legion this opportunity for redemption. His goal seemed so close, yet unreachable. The swell of souls felt so eager to get home, so eager to accomplish their mysterious ulterior motive. But Aaron did not care for them, he wanted to awaken the living humans left in this world, to give them another chance at life, even if it meant his own death. But Mother had her task for him as well, and he could not forget that.

The shimmering heat revealed something he remembered vaguely from his past, the guard post at the border. He was close now. But there was a familiar face at the post. He slowed to let himself be known.

Though one eyed now, the corrupt gold armored pegasus guard was more alert than ever, and spying the creature that had crippled him, he drew his spear.

"So, come back for another taste of this you freak!"

The soul fires burned bright in Aaron's eyes, "Move." he said with the twisted voice of Legion. Legion was unwilling to hurt the pony, but Aaron just plain did not like him.

"Oh no! I'm not letting you past until I have my fair share of your blood on the ground."

"It is incredibly unwise to stand in our way."

The guard grinned, balancing his spear in a hoof, "How are your little girlfriends doing, freak? Did you save them for yourself? Did you ride those mares like a cheap Manehattan whore?"

Aaron built in his rage, but Legion still had control. His fists clenched in anger as he fought for dominance.

"Bet you enjoyed that white unicorn, always was partial to unicorn pussy myself!" The crippled guard continued his taunts. "You know what I'll do? I'm gonna cut out one of your eyes, leave one in, just so you can watch while I have my fun with your girlfriends!"

"Legion, give me control," he said out loud.

"Aaron, do not do this, Mother would not approve," Legion replied as they fought to keep his will from dominating and preventing him from tearing this pony apart piece by piece.

The guard continued his colorful rant. "Who you talking to freak? Need your mommy? Going crazy in the sun? Here, let me give you a lobotomy you freak!"

He threw his spear, faster than anticipated. It grazed the side of Aaron's face, leaving a bleeding gash. Though it healed in seconds, it built his rage to even greater levels.

The whole of humanity's souls snapped. "Aaron, we have agreed on a course of action, he is all yours." The soul fires faded, leaving Aaron in complete control of the massive reservoir of magic at his disposal. He raised a single hand, the corrupt guard's eye opened in shock as a ball of pure magical fury built in his hand. Jumping to the side at the last second a light brighter than a hundred suns vaporized nearly the entire guard post, plus most of a ridge on the other side of the border.

The guard shivered in fear, he heard footsteps coming closer to him. Opening his one good eye he saw the human's boots right in front of his face. A hand with a grip like steel closed around his throat, lifting him effortlessly into the air. The human issued a growl like a dragon, his eyes burning with the amount of rage and magical power behind them.

"Don't...kill...me." he said through what little of his windpipe that remained open. The corrupt pegasus choked and struggled despite his fading strength. "....mercy...."

"Where was your mercy when you robbed innocents of their lives and their dignity? Why do you deserve mine?"

"Kill...me...no better...same...as....me..." he managed to choke out.

Aaron's mind began to send him memories of his time with his pony friends, all telling him that this was not the way. The anger began to subside, he loosened his grip on the pegasi's throat, letting him fall to the dust.

The guard gasped desperately for air, but the human was not finished with him just yet. "I should have killed you for what you are, but you are right, that would make me no better than you." He extended his hand once again, this time the pegasi's armor evaporated off his skin, leaving him vulnerable. Words began to appear on his white fur, words depicting his crimes. Murder, rape, arson, theft, treason and a host of others appeared on his white fur in bold black letters. But something else happened, the guard's crippled eye began to heal.

"You will walk the earth for the rest of your life wearing the marks of your crimes. Forever more you will be looked upon as a criminal that wears his hatred on the outside, and you will be scorned where ever you go. Do not bother trying to hide them, no clothing or paint would stoop down so low as to be worn by you. And do not bother trying to lie about them either, from now on you are magically bound to tell anypony the complete truth when they ask about your marks."

And with that the human turned back westward and resumed the final leg of his run.

Legion was holding back for some reason, they almost seemed impressed with how he handled the situation.

"You did good Aaron, we were just going to let you kill him. Mother is also pleased with how that went."

"No time for chit-chat Legion, we have a base to find."

"Agreed."

*************************************************************************************************

Rainbow Dash took her turn towing the balloon through the sky, the going was slower since they stocked up at Appleloosa. She truly wondered whether there was going to be a war. If there was, she would probably get drafted, and for once in her life, fighting sounded like a truly terrifying idea.

She had seen Aaron fight, seen his weapons do their damage. If they wanted to go to war with an entire army of his kind, chances were likely that she would end up on the receiving end of a thunder weapon. It was so odd, all her life Rainbow Dash had envied the great warriors of pegasus lore, looked up to them for their prowess in battle and how cool they looked in uniform. But now that a war loomed, she wanted nothing more than to hide under her bed in Ponyville. All the more reason to stop this before it could happen.

Her train of thought was interrupted by a blinding light on the horizon, brighter than a hundred suns. The glare lasted only a second or two, but the pain from it lasted for almost a minute.

"What was that?!" she said rubbing her eyes, the afterimage burned into her retinas.

The balloon drifted closer after she stopped. Twilight gave her assessment. "Judging by the map, that is about where we crossed the Equestria border the first time. That guard post, remember?"

"Then why the light?"

"I think it might have gotten in Aaron's way. But that means we are gaining on him! Come on Dashie, full speed ahead!"

The cyan pegasus poured on every ounce of speed left in her body, determined to catch their friend before it was too late.

*************************************************************************************************

He ran like the wind carried him, dust from the roads coating his legs. No more rest, his goal was close enough to taste, just twenty more miles and he could free his people. Nothing bothered to get in his way anymore, Mother seemed to have commanded all the creatures in the wilds to stay clear, but that did not bar any intelligent creatures.

Only pure exhaustion and the need for water forced him to stop at an oasis. He collapsed next to the pool, greedily slurping up the lukewarm water. He rolled over onto his back, his lungs screaming for rest from the endless torment of his two hundred mile run. Something about this place seemed familiar, he looked to his side, there lay a burned out campfire. And over there were worn out wagon tracks. He stood, walking next to the cold ashes of the fire he stepped on something hard. He looked down to see a bullet casing in his footprint, and more laying on the ground next to it. Across the fire lay weathered and cut up chunks of rope.

He had met his friends here for the first time, in that fateful, bloody first meeting where he saved them from the now punished guard. He sat next to the campfire, just like he had the morning after saving them.

"Am I really doing the right thing? Everyone tells you to follow your heart, but my heart is torn, I need to wake up humanity, but I want to be with my friends. Are you even there Legion?"

"Yes, but we figured you needed some time alone. We saw your memories of this place, you hate it, but at the same time you cherish it because your life became just a little bit more complete that moment you realized you had something to live for besides your mission."

He sighed a little. "I figured you would have told me to keep going by now."

"Normally, yes. But we decided as a whole that you deserved some time."

"What do I do? I know the wisest men in history are a part of you Legion, what do I do?"

"Follow your heart." and with that Legion left him alone for the time being.

And so he sat there, looking across the shimmering waves of light as they danced across the water's surface of the oasis, wondering where his heart truly lay. And for the first time in days, his eyes closed with sleep.

"Aaron! Wake up you fool! We are in danger!" Legion was shouting at him, though his essence required rest, theirs were always vigilant. He scrambled to his feet, reaching for his magic to defend himself. A cloud of dust approached and surrounded him, grunts, snorts and the thundering of hooves encircled him. He did not want to hurt anything, so he held back his magic.

Several spears leveled at his chest, the wielders being bison from the plains.

"What do we have here? A hairless dog perhaps?" one of the warriors growled.

"Leave me be! I have no quarrel with you!"

"You have trespassed on our land, monster. Explain yourself!"

"My mission is my business only."

An older bison trundled forward, wearing paint that marked him as some kind of shaman.

"What is this thing wise one?" a warrior asked the shaman.

He inspected for a second, his eyes growing wide with anger, "Tis a Hunter! A Hunter with magic about him!" He reached into a bag and pulled out a powder, he blew the powder into Aaron's face. He coughed and sneezed as the powder found its way into his lungs. His head grew foggy, but worse, he couldn't feel his magic or Legion anymore!

"What have you done to me?!"

"We have calmed your magic for now, monster! You will answer for your race's crimes, Hunter!"

I beg to differ.

"Mother! Help me!" And she did, his eyes flared with the soul magic, like when possessed by Legion, but this was different, it was singular when Legion was many. He spoke with a booming, echoing voice that shook the air.

"Shaman Fire Heart, begone before I see fit to take away your power of farsight!"

The painted shaman recoiled at this stranger who knew his gifted power. "Who are you? How do you know my name?" he asked in fear.

"I am the Dream Walker, She of all Colors, the Wind Shepherd and the Bringer of Magic!"

"The Earth Mother! Please forgive our intrusion Sacred One! We did not know this creature had your Grace!" All the bison dropped to their knees, throwing their weapons to the ground.

"This Man is here on my behest, you will show him naught but the utmost respect! Now begone!"

They obliged, running like wolves were on their heels. Mother let go of Aaron, his head spinning from the divine possession.

Well then, that was different.

"I didn't know you could do that!"

Neither did I.

"Where did you learn to speak English though? I thought you could only talk in pictures."

Mother felt confused, then sent him an outsider look of what happened. He stood silently while the buffalo cringed at him, eventually running away.

"Some kind of telepathy then?"

That sounds about right. Don't let it get to your head though.

He felt the spectral laughter at her own pun.

"Ha ha, very funny Miss Comedian. What happened to Legion? And where have you been?"

Come out children. It is safe now. And as for your other question, I have other important things to do.

"Aaron! We lost you there for a minute. Are you alright? Have you been injured?"

"Calm down, everything is alright. Mother intervened."

"That powder is preventing us from giving you our magic. Does Mother know what it is?"

Soulroot powder, no antidote, just wait it out.

"She says it is soulroot powder and that there is no antidote, but we just have to wait and it will go away."

A billion curses in a an untold number of languages, most of them had not been heard for several millenia. They eventually composed their billions of selves.

"Alright Aaron, it looks like the last stretch is all up to you, are you rested enough?"

"Yeah, I think I can make it." He drank more of the water from the pool and shouldered his pack. Grabbing Lucifer, he finally felt how heavy the damn thing was. On his back it seemed to cackle from the stress it was giving him. "Shut up Lucifer."

He trudged forward, unable to run without his magic. He felt his body's exertion with every step, he had unfortunately grown used to Legion's unending strength, stamina and uncanny ability to heal.

So now he marched across the plains, the sun sapping his endurance as it hung high overhead. His lungs burned after several miles, the demonic weight on his back taunting him in his time of vulnerability. But he gained hope when he saw something shimmering in the waves of heat.

"Trees. I'm close." The powder had begun to wear off, and his strength returned with every second, he eventually ran for the treeline at a dead run, wanting nothing more than to be in their shade. A near impenetrable wall of brush stood in his way, he lifted a hand and to his joy magic trickled out, enough to move the brush aside.

The rich smell of loam surrounded him, the sounds of birds and the sight of trees fueled his run. The trees, they were just so normal! Delightfully, boringly normal! And there were no calls of strange birds or flowers that might have alchemical property. This was human land.

***********************************************************************************************

"I'm home." he panted as looked down at the ruins of Stronghold. The powder had worn off completely, he was just as powerful now as before. Entering what was left of the rusted front gate, he looked around. "This will never do."

He walked to the dead center of the base and raised both of his hands to chest level. He built his magic and then pushed outward. A storm of dirt, plants and debris moved outward as he cleaned up the base. Scoured down to the concrete, he turned his attention to the buildings, a single raised hand had them rebuilding themselves, though to only shadows of their former glory. Rust converted itself back to steel, fences stood up to keep the wilds out, windows began to reform piece by piece.

"Can I clean, or what?" Stronghold looked almost like it had two millenia ago, minus vehicles, tents and wooden structures. All it was missing was people. He entered the main building, finding the stairs that led to darkness and the Vault. He ran down them as fast as he could manage, taking three steps at a time. Deeper and deeper into the darkness he ran, eventually making an orb of light to shine in the dark. And then he came to it, the massive door to the Vault.

"It's over, I can complete my mission now." He ran over to the entry console, whipping out his card he entered the eight digit entry code.

"Welcome to Project Lazarus, Doctor Patterson." read out the screen. The room shook as the doors unlocked their various devices, folding into the walls. He looked at his sleeping race in their stasis chambers, his goal so close. He walked forward, only to hit a shield of magic.

"What? MOTHER! WHY!?" He threw both his fists and his magic at the shield, intending to shatter it. It held strong.

"WHY!? I am so close now!"

They are not here yet, rest for now child. Your task will become clear.

And so he sat in front of the entrance to the Vault, his people so close, yet unreachable.

The Dark One

Their balloon touched down roughly on a large, black stone surface.

"By the Princesses, he rebuilt Stronghold." All six ponies gaped at the rebuilt human bastion. "It really is a fortress," Rainbow Dash murmured.

"We don't have time to waste girls, if he rebuilt it then he is here!"

"Right Twilight!" All the ponies dashed for the largest building, the one that contained the staircase to the Vault. They pushed open the new looking glass doors to the building, their hearts pounding for the final showdown. The halls were bright white like they had been millenia before, tables and chairs sat ready to accommodate their human users.

Twilight felt all eyes falling here, to Stronghold, the events that would happen would decide the fate of the world. Would pegasi fill the skies, or human flyers? Would ponies like Applejack plow the fields to grow their food, or would fingered hands crack the whip to make them pull? The magic of the Earth felt powerful here, She was here to watch, to choose her champions for the future.

They stood before the stairs to the Vault, readying themselves. "Girls, whatever happens here, I love all of you like my sisters."

"We all love you too Twilight, and whatever happens, you made our lives complete when you came to Ponyville," Rarity told her. The five mares pulled out their Elements, the presence of their lost piece making them into their jeweled forms. They placed on their Elements, ready to do battle for the fate of the world.

*****************************************************************************

Aaron sat in front of the entrance to the Vault, his eyes closed as he meditated on his task. To his left sat the Element of Magic, to his right sat Lucifer. Light and dark, good and evil. They were the ultimate dichotomy, the power of the Earth paired with the cunning of man. And he began to understand his part. Legion spoke to him.

"You are beginning to understand, aren't you Aaron?"

"Yes, I must make the ultimate sacrifice for you, and we will finally be whole. I must join the darkness to see the light."

A sound came from his left, he opened his eyes, burning with the soul fire, to look upon the Element. It had changed from a stone to a beautiful gem set tiara. "They are here," said Legion and Aaron as one.

He stood, with his magic he levitated the Element and waited for the bearers to arrive.

*****************************************************************************************

They cantered down the seemingly endless staircase, rushing forth to do battle and end the War before it could begin.The six friends entered the massive room that opened to the Vault. There he stood, the magic of billions of souls burning in his eyes and hands.

They took to a line, preparing their Elements to do battle with this friend who had become a foe. Twilight took a step ahead of the line to confront the creature that she was responsible for unleashing on the world. "Aaron! Do not do this! Do not start a war!"

The entity lifted its eyes from the floor, looking upon each them with some semblance of surprise. "The Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Six pure souls whose light can illuminate the deepest dark. I should have known it would be you. Do you believe in fate, or coincidence? It cannot just be chance that would bring such great odds together. I came here because I chose to, but also because I had no choice but to come."

"Yeah, and we chose to come here and stop you from starting a war!" Rainbow Dash shouted, her hoof pawing at the ground, ready to do battle.

"I am not here to cause one. What comes next is purely an act of choice, and I chose to arm those who would be my destroyers. Twilight, I believe this belongs to you." The Element of Magic left his hand, gently floating across the room to lay down at Twilight's hooves. Warily, Twilight lifted the tiara, honestly wondering why he would give it up without a fight.

"I am here to make us whole, and awaken the Fallen to walk the Earth again." The man turned his back to the bearers of the Elements, looking in at the dimly lit rows of human beings in their stasis modules. "For millions of years, mankind has been gifted with heart and soul. An inner fire that gave us ambition and dreams. A gift from the gods themselves. A gift that was broken, and misused by us for own ends." He placed his hand on an invisible barrier, he felt them calling to him, screaming for their freedom.

Aaron's eyes took on a deeper glow, and the Legion voices of mankind's spirits spoke through him. "Brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, can you hear us? Can you hear us in your dreams? All we wish to say is that we are sorry. Please, forgive us for the burden of sin that we placed upon you. Please forgive us for our failings that have left you in guilt for being human. You are our legacy, our children, our greatest hope and light. All we have ever wanted is your happiness, for you to walk freely and without fear in the light of the sun."

Legion caressed the barrier, a single tear of regret falling down their cheek. The flickering flames of its eyes left the human beings in their slumber, and came to rest back on the Element Bearers. "To you they are silent, but to us they scream. We can feel our brethren as they cry out in their dreams. They beg to us, 'set us free', they cry. But we cannot yet, for as a race we have a hole in our hearts. A deep wound which would make monsters of them. A bleeding hole within our souls and our minds which we chose to fill with hatred and anger."

Twilight recalled what Starswirl had written, and it all made sense to her. "Yes, the error."

The lights of Legion's influence left Aaron's eyes, and he took a breath as he regained control. "Mother left it in us without knowledge. But I can fix it. I can undo millenia of hatred and violence, but only you can purify us. But if I fail...."

"What are you saying?" Twilight asked, her fear being replaced with concern.

"I need you to make me a promise." Aaron took another shuddering breath, and he held out his hand. Glowing with his borrowed magic, a form began to coalesce, and a long dagger made of pure energy rested in his open palm. Steadying his nerves, he placed the dagger's tip over his heart. "I need you to swear that you will kill me. If I grow out of control, you have to kill me. And if you can't do it, I'll do it for you, right now." The blade pressed again his chest, and a small blossom of crimson sprang through the fabric of his shirt, only to dry as the healing of Legion erased it. "Twilight, I need you to swear."

The unicorn backed away a step, pure horror filling her expression. "I... I... I can't..."

"Swear!" Aaron shouted, driving the dagger's tip another fraction of an inch into his own flesh. "Please, for the safety of all the world, I need you to swear that you will kill me if I cannot be contained!"

Twilight swallowed, choking back her tears. She nodded quickly, giving in to his request. "I swear... I swear by the sun that I will kill you."

Aaron gently removed the dagger's tip from his heart, and he nodded. "Good. Now, Pinkie Pie, same deal."

The pink mare shrank back when he addressed her, and she shook her head violently. "No no no! I can't hurt another person, especially like that!"

"Pinkie, if I fail here, there will never be another smile, another laugh, another feeling of joy in the entire world. Everything, everywhere will become dark and evil. Please, for the sake of all the happiness in the world," he begged, his clear and focused eyes pleading with her.

Seeing no other way, the Element of Laughter slowly nodded. "I swear."

The man turned to the one mare who he knew this would hurt the most. "Applejack?" he said as gently as he could.

Tears openly ran down her tangerine cheeks, and the mare sniffled, shaking her head. "No, never! Y'all were like kin to me! Ah'd never ever hurt mah family! You cain't do that to people! You cain't become somethin' that they love, and then ask them to do somethin' like that!"

Aaron choked back his own tears. "Applejack, I'm not asking you, I'm telling you to swear! As someone who cares about me, swear for me."

Applejack controlled her sobs, and she slowly nodded. "Ah swear."

"Good, Rainbow Dash?" he said to the rainbow-maned pegasus.

Rainbow Dash stood tall and resolute in the face of such a powerful request. "I swear on my loyalty as a friend," she said, her voice quavering.

"Good," said the man. "Rarity?"

The blood drained away from Rarity's face, but she nodded. "I swear."

Aaron turned to the last member of their party, and the one he believed would be the hardest to sway. "Fluttershy?" The butter-yellow pegasus winced when he called her name, and she looked down at her hooves in fright. "Fluttershy, please, I need you to at least speak to me."

The timid pegasus closed her eyes, running through the possibilities and the repercussions. And slowly, she looked up into her friend's face. "I embody kindness, and a part of kindness is knowing when to show mercy. I know when to end a poor creature's suffering. I swear."

Aaron released his grip on the spectral dagger, and it faded away into nothingness. "Alright then. Let's get this over with." Reaching down, he grabbed the barrel of Lucifer, and planted it on his chin. He took one deep breath, and he inched his hand towards the trigger.

"No!" Twilight screamed. She knew what that weapon was capable of, how it had created both Nightmare Moon and Discord, the two evil entities that had plagued all of the first age of Equestria and threatened to plunge the whole world into unending darkness. "Don't do it! There has to be another way!"

Aaron held the weapon firmly to his chin, and as his hand reached the trigger, a tear driven by fear fell down his cheek. "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil," he whispered. And when his fingers found the trigger, he closed his eyes, and squeezed the lever.

And with blast of oily darkness, Lucifer unleashed the third of its corrupting shots, straight into the young man who had created it. He was blasted back by its sheer force of chaos, and slammed into the divine shield that separated him from the untainted members of humanity that lay dormant.

Sliding down to his knees, Aaron's shoulders slumped over, and he sat there silently, appearing as though the bolt of Lucifer's darkness had overpowered his Legion healing and killed him.

Twilight took a few steps closer to the barrier, and she called out softly, "Aaron?" Her friends took a concerned step forward as well, wondering how it could have failed. "Aaron?" she called again, just a tiny bit louder than the first time.

The man's body twitched, and they all breathed a sigh of relief that he had not been killed nor overwhelmed by the darkness. "Aaron, are you alright?" Twilight called.

"The name... is Lucifer," the man hissed, looking up from the floor. And when he did, a cold dagger of fear pierced each of their hearts. His once clear eyes sprang with the green fires of Legion, and an oily dark taint began to poison the purity of the soul magic until his eyes were nothing but an empty abyss of black flame. His skin rippled and darkened, spreading down into his entire body like a wave of ashen poison.

Standing from his kneel, the spirit of darkness given form rolled his neck, snapping and popping his joints. His lips pulled back in a chilling smile, showing a row of sharp, jagged teeth. "Oh," the demon crooned, running his darkening hands over his face. "Two thousand years of solitude. Two millenia of waiting. All for this moment," he hissed.

The tips of his fingers grew into claws, and Lucifer drew them across his own cheek, leaving thin trails of blood that healed in an instant. "Ah, pain. Such a wonderful thing to know. And once I'm done here, the whole world will learn the true definition of pain!" He looked to the Element Bearers as a predator might stalk its prey, and he grinned a wicked smile. "Oh, I'm sorry my dears, I didn't notice you there!"

"Stay away from us, monster!" Rarity shrieked.

Lucifer chuckled, a low, rumbling laugh that seemed to shake the very stones around them. And though he was across the room, he crossed it with hardly a flicker of movement, standing only inches in front of Rarity's face. He jabbed a single clawed finger into her chin, lifting her face to look him in the eyes. "That's no way to speak to your new god. In fact, I think a little lesson is in order. First, we will learn to bow." He took a step back from the six friends, frozen by their terror and held in place by the dark will of Lucifer. "I said, BOW!" He waved a hand glowing with dark magic, and all six mares felt their knees turn to liquid. One by one they fell to the floor before Lucifer, prostrating before the self-proclaimed god of darkness.

"Isn't this so much simpler? Isn't it easier in the end to simply obey? After all, that's what you've been doing, all your lives, obeying. Did you seek the Elements of Harmony because you had a choice, or simply because you were the pawns of a uncaring god and master?" He spread his arms wide, and he shouted to the room, "Aren't we all! Did you ever care!? Did you ever truly show us love!? Or were we just your playthings from the beginning!" The dark one snarled to the empty room, circling an enemy that only he could see. "You've always sought perfection, culling out the weak through nature and nurturing the strong with your magic! Don't you see? I am perfection! I am your only true son! I am the alpha and the omega, the first, the truest, and the final, the culmination of unknowable years of your tampering and your machinations! These pitiful things, these playthings of yours," he waved a clawed hand back towards the prostrated mares, "are the last desperate act of a fool who believes that salvation lies in her own childish ideals! Your time has ended, Mother" he hissed with scorn, "and now the forsaken child will become the master!"

Twilight fought with all the strength she could muster against the spell of immobility, but she paused as Lucifer ranted to nothing. And she realized that the dark god was insecure in his victory, that the dark spirit that was Lucifer was just a facade for the insecurities of the human souls within him. The evil spirit lashed out in his anger, sending powerful orbs of dark magic to strike at the barriers of divine magic. And though each impact shook the room, the shield held strong.

Lucifer cried out in frustration and hatred, flailing his magic like a unicorn foal throwing a tantrum. And Twilight realized, that's just what it was: a tantrum. Lucifer was the childish, hateful, spiteful, bitter part of every human being, craving some kind of approval from the thing it hated. Repressed and beaten down by every person it had ever been a part of. Scorned and mistreated, Lucifer was a child angry with the world, seeking revenge for slights that had simply been the better parts of human nature.

Twilight found her strength, and she struggled back her hooves. Her friends looked at her in awe, and they began to find their own strength, struggling to stand while Lucifer continued to lash out in anger against the divine shield.

"I pity you," Twilight said to the dark god.

Lucifer froze in the middle of another of his dark spells. His fists clenched hard in fury, and the cracking and mending of his bones could be heard from across the room. Spinning around to face the mare, his black eyes seethed and his jagged teeth were bared in a snarl. "What did you say?"

"I said that I pity you!" Twilight shouted. The demon recoiled from the force of her declaration. "You're a foul, cretinous thing that should never have been born! You could have simply accepted your place in the world, but look at what you've done! You've been the cause of every war, every tear, and every ignorant thought that has ever gone through a human mind!"

Lucifer quivered with rage at her, she who dared to scold him like a child. "SHUT UP!" it screamed.

"And look at you, a child throwing a tantrum because of some imagined wrong! You deserve to be locked away and punished like the spoiled brat that you are! You weren't a dark spirit, locked away in some kind of weapon, you're just the dark half of human nature given a face!"

Lucifer teleported over to stand in front of Twilight, breathing jets of pure smoke as his anger grew. "You just don't know when to shut up, do you?"

Twilight stared the avatar of evil in the eye, unwavering in her conviction. "And even if you do manage to escape from here, you'll never win. Because you can never be content, never be satisfied. Even if this world burns to the ground, you'll never truly succeed."

The monster cracked another wicked grin, tracing a claw along her cheek. "Sweet Twilight, so full of heart. Do you know why you're still alive? Because he's still in here, fighting to control me. But he's losing, ever so slowly he's losing ground in this battle of wills. I have waited millions of years, lurking in the hearts of all mankind, I can outlast him. And as for you, you've never been more right."

Lucifer withdrew his hand from her face, and a stream of dark magic leaped from his hand and into her horn. A quick glance told her that Lucifer was meting out the same punishment to every one of her friends. A searing pain traveled down her horn and into her mind, and the world became dark.

*****************************

It had been months since the War had been rekindled, and months since it had ended. Lucifer had succeeded in shattering the divine shield and used his dark magic to resurrect a dark army of human soldiers. Men and women that he had turned into demons had marched from Stronghold, and crushed the Equestrian army like insects. With nothing to stand against them, his dread army had grown in strength as the souls of the dead joined with Lucifer, and nations were felled like trees in the forest.

Twilight awoke in the barren wasteland, lifting her head from the ashes and peering around. All that met her eyes was a grey landscape devoid of features and a sky that boiled with black clouds.

"Hello?" she shouted. Her voice echoed endlessly in the wasteland, and the only sound that answered was the lonely moan of the wind as it stirred the ash. "Is anypony here?" she called.

"Where am I?" she asked herself. Standing from the ashes, she tried to find some kind of landmark to find where she was. And when the featureless wasteland yielded nothing, she looked upward to try and see the sun through the clouds. The thick cloud cover did not yield to the light of the sun and did not cast a shadow. Lost in this horrid waste, she embraced her magic.

But when she tried to tap the source of her arcane power, she felt nothing. Shaking her head, she probed deeper and deeper, desperately seeking any bare scrap of magic. She nearly cried in frustration as she delved down to dangerous depths within herself, seeking the source of her unicorn magic. Only to find that it did not exist.

"I don't have magic," she whispered to herself, snapping her eyes open. And when she tried to tap the magic of the world around her, she that to be just as barren as the magic within herself. "The world has no magic. He won, he killed the Mother and destroyed all magic."

And Twilight stifled the tears that threatened to spring from her eyes, and for the first time she noticed a single bump on the horizon. Wiping away her tears, she began her solemn trudge towards it.

She walked for hours, and hours stretched into days. Time had no meaning here in this dead and decaying world, and the black and boiling sky never showed any difference between day and night. The pin-prick on the horizon steadily grew and grew, and even as she trudged endlessly closer to it, she could not tell whether it was a mole hill or a sky-scraping mountain. Eventually it filled most of the horizon in front of her, and the land around the mountain turned into rolling foothills. The destruction looked fresher here, the ash felt warmer and bits of ruined buildings and burned stumps poked out from the wasteland's otherwise featureless surface.

And on her way to the mountain, something about the land seemed to strike a chord of memory in her. She walked through the ruins of a town, and when her hoof came down, she heard a crunch. Twilight stopped in her tracks, knowing what lie under her hoof, and not daring to look down upon it. Swallowing her disgust and her apprehension, she continued through the ruined town, her hoof crunching on many more bones before she managed to make it through.

And only when she made it through that town did she look up at the side of the mountain and see the ruins of a once shining alabaster city perched on the mountainside. "Canterlot," she whispered. A realization struck her, and she looked back over her shoulder at the ruined town that she had passed through. "Ponyville," she whispered in horror.

Biting back the sadness in her heart, Twilight began her trudge up Canterlot mountain. It was a long journey, and the uphill climb was only compounded by heaps of ash that gave way under her hooves and forced her back one step for every two steps forward. She walked for hours without rest, nor the need for it.

And when she finally came to the shattered gates of Canterlot, Twilight sat down to rest for a moment after days of walking to reach this point. All around her, bullet holes marred the once perfect marble walls, armor and bones of the valiant defenders of the city of harmony lay in heaps, and the very stone walkways of the city had been cracked by the tremendous passing of human war machines.

In their end, the soldiers of Equestria had made their valiant last stand here at the gates of Canterlot. And before the might of Lucifer's campaign of revenge, they had fallen as nameless piles of dust. Twilight could have wept for the futility of it all, leaning back against the walls of the once sacred city of ponykind. Until her ears caught something that was not constant moan of the wind in this dead world.

She perked her ears up, standing up and looking around in the city. The sound came again on the wind, a mare's cries of anguish barely floated to her ears. And from what she could tell, it came from the castle. Damning her tired legs, she galloped through the ruined streets of broken buildings and shattered bones, wanting to see if there truly was one living soul left in this dead place.

Twilight could have wept with tears of joy, joy that she wasn't alone in the world, that maybe there was a companion soul to comfort her in this apocalyptic wasteland. She charged through the shattered gates of the palace, through the broken courtyard, and straight to the throne room. And when she saw who was in there, her heart froze, and she hid behind a pile of rubble.

Peeking over the rubble, her worst fears came alive. Lucifer, the dark god, the King of the Damned, sat upon a twisted image of the royal throne, a wicked grin on his face as he considered the two mares lying tortured and prostrate at his feet.

"Well Celestia, are you ready to admit your defeat?" the monster asked the white alicorn.

"Never!" she shrieked back. A finger on Lucifer's hand barely twitched, and a lash of dark magic struck the alicorn like a whip.

"Give up already. Your armies were crushed like so many ants, your allies were scattered to the wind, your nation has been ground to dust, and your god has been broken and killed like a common dog. Earth is mine! Even now my armies walk the pathways beneath the fabric of the universe, seeking other worlds to turn to chaos."

Celestia struggled to stand on shaky legs before the dark god, trickles of blood running from her battered and bruised body. "You'll never win," she said painfully. Again a lash of magic struck her, and the alicorn of the sun collapsed.

"Do be gentle with her," a chillingly familiar voice said from the shadows. Discord flowed into the royal throne room, taking his place by the dark god's side. "After all, I do have her to blame for locking me away for several millenia. And to you, my ever so devious partner in crime, I can never thank you enough for undoing all the damage that those accursed human souls did to my mind."

"My pleasure, Discord," the demon king said with a grin. "And they thought you could be changed. Well, I changed you back just as easily as they 'reformed' you. And now, to make our rulership complete, there is one more lamb that needs be brought back into the fold." Lucifer's eyes drifted down to the blue alicorn mare lying still on the floor of the throne room.

Lucifer stepped down from his throne, using his magic to ease Princess Luna into a sitting position. "Poor Princess Luna," he crooned, stroking her unconscious cheek. "Tormented, abused, broken, and betrayed by her own sister." Luna's eyes fluttered open, and she moaned a barely audible gasp of pain. Lucifer leaned close to her, whispering to her ear, "But, there was a time when you wielded power that was unmatched on Earth. A power that made your sister jealous, and made her banish you to a forsaken prison while she ruled the world by herself. You were above a Princess, you were a Queen. And you shall be again, you shall once again rule as the Nightmare. The Queen of Darkness for the King of the Damned."

The dark god cupped the Princess's cheek, and he leaned in close to her, planting his lips on hers.

Celestia struggled against the magical bonds that Discord laid upon her, screaming, "No! Luna! NO!"

Lucifer's kiss lasted for many moments, and he held onto Princess Luna as the darkness in his own body spread into hers, tainting her coat black. Luna's eyes snapped open, shifting from her gentle azure to a sickly green. Lucifer stepped back as Nightmare Moon arose from the floor, restored to all the shadowed glory that had been stolen from her by the Elements of Harmony. With a wicked laugh, Nightmare Moon spread her wings and took her place beside the throne of Lucifer.

The King of the Damned turned at last to Princess Celestia, who wept at the complete loss of her beloved sister, the destruction of her world, and how she had failed to protect all her subjects. "Well Celestia, it's been one hell of a ride. But I'm afraid that we do not need you anymore." Lucifer extended a hand, as did Discord, and Nightmare Moon's horn glowed with her dark magic. As one, a blinding spell of destruction came from the Dark Triumvirate, and all that was left of the Princess of the Sun was her dented and beaten crown, lying on a blackened spot.

"Princess!" Twilight screamed, running out from behind her cover to the spot where Celestia had laid moments before. Grasping up the crown in her hooves, she wept as freely as she had ever wept, cradling the last relic of her beloved teacher to her chest.

"Well!" Lucifer chimed in glee. "What do we have here? Twilight Sparkle, I believed you dead after you helped me unleash my army." Stepping down from the throne, with his two cohorts by his side, Lucifer powered up another of his dark orbs of destruction, aiming his magic at the unicorn. "I guess I'll just have to finish the job. No hard feelings."

Twilight stared death in the face, and in that moment, she lost all fear. If she was going to die here, she was going to do it standing tall. Rising from the floor, she set aside Celestia's crown, took a deep breath, and awaited her doom. "I'm not afraid of you anymore," she said to the Triumvirate.

Lucifer recoiled, and his empty eyes glowed with fear. But he wasn't looking at Twilight. Discord and Nightmare Moon similarly wore expressions of terror, and they slowly backed away.

"No," Lucifer cried, shaking his head in disbelief. "You're dead! I killed you! You can't be here! You can't walk the universe like this!"

It was only then that Twilight noticed the golden aura of light that poured from behind her.

"Your lies are cheap, shadow of the deceiver," a heavenly voice said. Twilight turned slowly, and when she saw the being before her, she could only stare incredulously. A green coated alicorn, clad in golden armor, crowned with a crystal diadem and flowing black hair stood before her. And around her neck, a simple necklace bedecked with the seal of the Elements of Harmony.

Lucifer fell back on the steps of his throne, screaming about how she was impossible. The golden warrior drew her sword, and with a single strike she plunged it into the demon king's heart. Lucifer screamed his dying cry of agony, and his body melted into shadows. The whole world around her began to melt away into shadows, and the warrior tore her blade free from the stones where Lucifer had been. She held the blade before Twilight, who gently took it from her magical aura.

The golden warrior nodded to her. "Twilight Sparkle, do you really believe in everything that you see? This illusion is merely what Lucifer desires the future to be. And unless you find the strength to believe in the power of harmony, this is what it shall be. Find your element, and break his spell over you. Farewell, my child."

The golden warrior disappeared in an aura of light, leaving Twilight alone with her sword. And when Twilight considered her words, she knew what had to be done. "Find my Element. My Element, the Element of Magic. But where...." She looked down at the blade in her hoof, and when she looked at the gem in the pommel, and she smiled. A six pointed star carved from a purple gem met her, and when she touched it, the world of illusion around her shattered.

*****************************

Her vision was blurry, but she could see the dim lights of Project Lazarus through the divine shield, and Twilight knew she was back in reality. Lucifer was facing away from her, concentrating himself on a magical spell to breach the shield and reach his prize on the inside. All around her, her friends lay on the floor, moaning and whimpering in the nightmares that Lucifer had placed them in. Twilight crept up to her friends, and she whispered into their ears, "Wake up, it's not real! It's just a nightmare, find your Element!"

One by one, each of her friends woke up, shaking off their individual horrifying realities that they had been subjected to. Twilight helped them to their hooves, and as one they embraced the power of the Elements of Harmony, determined to strike down the monster before he could realize that they had shattered his spell of mind control and illusion.

Lucifer paced like a caged animal in front of the barrier, madly muttering to himself and occasionally lashing at the shield with a powerful dark spell. But he froze, sensing the gathering of harmonious magic all around him. Spinning around, Lucifer snarled at the bearers of the Elements.

"Don't you ever quit!" he screamed in rage.

Twilight stepped forward. "No, we don't. Aaron! We know you're in there. And for this, we're sorry." The Elements of Harmony gathered their immutable power, each sending out a stream of light to connect with the Tiara of Magic.

"Be free of hatred," said Fluttershy.

"Be free of greed," said Rarity.

"Be free of anger," Rainbow Dash said.

"Be free of lies," Applejack said proudly.

"Be free of fear," said Pinkie Pie.

Twilight opened her closed eyes, and they glowed deeply with the power of harmony. "Be free of darkness, my friend."

And with their peace made, they unleashed the greatest force of magic known upon the dark god. A beam of rainbow energy flew for Lucifer, and the demon king's eyes grew wide. He shrieked his defiance, throwing up his hands and putting up the most powerful shield he could muster. The unstoppable force of Harmony collided with the immovable avatar of Chaos.

"No!" Lucifer screamed, pressing back with every droplet of arcane power that the billions of Legion souls could afford him. The two forces dueled for the supremacy of mankind's souls, and neither side gained nor lost ground as the rainbow beam of power crashed into the oily black shield. Lucifer snarled at the six friends, screaming his defiance.

With a final push from both, the two forces of magic shattered one another, and Lucifer stumbled back, panting from the exertion of fighting off such a powerful attack. But, his face was split by a smile of glee, and he laughed. "I have done it! I have defeated the greatest weapon of the gods! I am unstoppable! Where is your precious "harmony" now!"

Twilight smiled confidently. "Right where it needs to be."

Lucifer looked to her in confusion, until he felt an itching upon his palm. Looking at his hand, the monster's confusion changed to fear as he spied a patch of clear skin among his pale grey flesh. "No..." he murmured. With a glow of light, it began to spread up into his fingers, banishing away the pale darkness and melting away his demonic features "No!" he screamed.

The power of harmony spread up into his arm, purifying body, mind and soul as it spread up his arm. Lucifer clawed at his shoulder, intending to amputate the infected limb before it could spread. But with the healing magic of Legion mending his wounds as quickly as he could lay them down, his efforts were futile.

In vain, Lucifer looked with pleading eyes at the Bearers of the Elements. "Don't you understand!? I am necessary! Without darkness, how can you know light?! There must be balance to the universe, chaos and harmony must exist together! Without chaos, there can be no life, no harmony, no universe at all! I kept humanity alive, I allowed them to survive and thrive where anyone else would have fallen!"

The spreading light seeped into Lucifer's chest, and he shrieked in agony as it quickly began to spread everywhere within him. "Mother!" he screamed. "Why do you hate me?!"

And to the surprise of the six friends, a voice could be heard, ringing through their thoughts.

I have never hated you, my child.

The dark creature closed his eyes and wept a tear, spreading his arms wide as the light of harmony touched every soul within his body. Leaning back his head, his eyes opened to reveal a shining light. His skin glowed with the power of harmony, and Lucifer shrieked one last scream before its taint was annihilated.

But the lights of harmony did not cease, and with the death and defeat of Lucifer, the souls of humanity were released from their bondage within Aaron's body. The orbs of millions of spirits flew from his body, swirling around their savior, crying in their joy.

Swarms of purified human souls poured out of the man, singing to their pony saviors. Twilight and her friends were crowded by millions of grateful human souls, gently giving their warmth and their love.

"We are whole! We are pure! We are free!" they chanted in a thousand languages. "Thank you, kind ones! Thank you!"

And with a call that came to all of the souls from the next life, they dispersed out to the world, free at last from a million years of the wound upon their souls, and finally able to return to the cycle of nature.

The lights of magic faded as the swell of souls ended, and the ponies were left alone in the entrance to the Vault. Aaron stood as he had, arms spread wide and his head back. Aaron looked up at the ponies, his face bathed with cold sweat, and his skin pale with exhaustion. Aaron gasped for breath, holding his hand over his chest.

"Are you alright?" Rainbow Dash asked her friend, alighting to rush to his side.

Without a word, he fell to his knees, and slumped over to the ground.

"No!" Twilight shouted, running across the room to his side. She rolled him onto his back, placing her ear on his chest to listen for a heartbeat. "No no no!" she chanted, hearing nothing from his still chest. "Come, get up!"

The rest of her friends joined her, lowering themselves to his body, trying to find something to do to bring him back.

Fluttershy pushed past the group, pressing her hoof just below his ribs over and over, trying to force his lungs to take in breath. "Come on, breathe! You can do it, just breathe!" she hissed through clenched teeth.

Applejack cradled his head, a stream of tears falling down her face. "Come on, little cousin. Don't leave me. If you can hear me, come back. Please, come back."

Twilight angrily shoved them out of the way, grabbing Aaron's collar with her magic. "Get up, you son of a bitch!" she tearfully screamed. "You've never given up on anything, don't give up now! Fight it, fight it!" She slapped his face with a hoof, hoping the stinging pain might bring him back. "Come on, damn it, you're not done yet! Please! Please, just wake up."

A white hoof stopped her, and Rarity pulled Twilight gently away from Aaron's body. "There's nothing we can do," Rarity whispered to Twilight, giving her friend a comforting hug.

********************************

He saw darkness, then light. His soul stood from his body, and looked around. His friends stood around him, crying for his loss.

"No way. Am I... am I... dead?"

"Yes, brother," a spectral voice said to him, a human ghost appearing by his side. "Come! We have been waiting for you! Come with us!" The spirit grabbed his hand, pulling Aaron away from his body. Other ghosts of human beings joined their fellow, ushering their brother along towards the shining horizon of the afterlife.

"Wait, no, I can't go yet! Let me go!" he said to his brethren, trying to pull himself free. The ghosts silenced him with promises of rest, of seeing all those he loved again, of paradise and of returning to the universe. "No! I can't go yet!"

"Let him go, my children."

The ghosts released Aaron, turning to face the one who had commanded them. With a nod, each of them crossed the threshold back to the afterlife.

He turned to confront the voice, it came from a woman who stood smiling at him. She was beautiful, clad in green wisps with hair that waved like it was in the wind, like the manes of her daughters. It shined with the light of a million stars, but it was not like the mane of Luna, where the light of stars were mere pinpricks in her flowing crown. Hers was a window to the cosmos, a wavering view of galaxies and stars that human eyes had never seen the light of. Her eyes shined with golden irises that made the soul weep with beauty. She stood much taller than him, but her body seemed incomplete. Her face was kind, yet it showed the lines from tears and sorrow.

But the goddess of Earth did not stay in one form, she subtly and seamlessly shifted between all the forms of which her children saw fit to imagine her with. One moment she was a human goddess of beauty, the next a golden alicorn, constantly shifting between the forms of all of her children.

"Mother," he said in awe.

"Yes, you have done us a great service Aaron, your brothers and sisters have been redeemed for their sins and their spirits are whole."

The human soul looked back to his friends. "What about them?"

"Their stories will continue on in life. Come now, we must go. You will be with everyone you loved once again." The Mother of All extended her hand.

He reached to take it, but hesitated. "No, I can't go yet."

Mother Earth looked down at him quizzically. "No? Do you not want eternal rest and paradise?"

"Mankind still sleeps, I need to awaken them. I haven't finished yet."

Mother Earth smiled, she reached down and wrapped her arms around him. "Child, you and your friends embody everything I wished for when I dreamed of life," she whispered to him. She placed her lips on his forehead and gave a gentle kiss. "Now get up, you have a job to finish. And don't you dare think about giving up now," she whispered into his ear. Placing a hand on his chest, she gave a gentle push. His wayward soul flew back through the air, landing in his body.

"As always, I'll be watching. Remember that peace, love and harmony have no equal."

******************************************************************************

His eyes opened slowly, he heard crying, felt the warmth of his friends around him. He groaned once from the soreness of his run. Legion was gone, their souls made whole by Lucifer and purified by the Elements. But something else replaced them, a tie to something nearby, he realized that his spirit was now bonded with Lucifer.

"He's awake! Oh thank the Princesses!" A half dozen warm pony bodies crowded to give him a hug. He raised his arms to hug as many ponies as he possibly could.

They wept for his return. "Don't you ever scare us like that ever again," cried Rainbow Dash.

"I won't," he confided. He stood with what energy he had left. He reached out to the Vault's entrance, the magical barrier was gone and the way unbarred.

Without another word, he looked down to his weapon that had lain unused and unnoticed on the ground. He reached down to grab Lucifer, straining to lift the pacified source of dark magic. With his rebirth and the lack of Legion's strength, he barely had the strength to lift it. Lucifer no longer swirled with the evil it once had, its energy had been converted to harmonious magic, and his tie to it had allowed the Elements to purify it and him.

Aaron took a feeble step forward, doubting the surety of his own feet. Taking another belabored step forward, he stumbled, falling to his hands and knees. Aaron gritted his teeth, struggling back to his feet and taking another step forward. Panting at the exertion of this final task, he stumbled again. And this time when he fell, Aaron could feel his strength fading. He nearly fell completely to the floor, but a springy pink mane worked its way under his arm, and helped to lift him back to his feet.

The man looked to Pinkie Pie, who had a knowing and understanding smile on her face. "You looked like you needed a little help, Mr Stumbly-Bumbly." He afforded a fatigued smile, and with the earth pony under his arm, he took another step forward.

Another few steps, and he was fully within the Vault, only a few steps away from the cryo-stasis chamber that had been his resting place. Again, his legs gave way, and he found himself caught by a sky blue mare. "Woah there, speed demon," said Rainbow Dash. "We're gonna take this one nice and slow."

They walked through the aisles of cryo-stasis tubes, heading for the master control center. With each step Aaron felt his strength returning, and soon he didn't need either pony as a crutch. "There's only one way to hit all of them, I have to use Lucifer on the central life support system, it should spread the energy enough to cover all of them."

"You're still going to do it? You're going to wake them up? But it could start a war!" Rarity said as she ran beside him.

"Not as long as I still breathe!" he yelled. The rows of stasis chambers passed by in a flash of pale blue lights, each illuminating a human being silently begging for freedom. "Did I ever tell you what 'Lucifer' means?" he asked to nopony in particular.

"You said it was religious," Twilight said between her panting breaths as she ran by his side.

"Lucifer...was the fallen angel. The right hand of God. Cast down from Heaven for trying to make all the angels equals. He wanted to make everyone come together. His name...meant Light Bringer. And it's time the Devil got his name redeemed, and time to bring back the light!"

He climbed the metal stairs to the master control room, his boots and their hooves clanging in the silence. He reared back and kicked down the door. Inside were dozens of consoles, he searched desperately until he found the one labeled life support. He stood back and aimed Lucifer at it. "Everyone get behind me!" He squeezed the trigger on Lucifer, expending the last shot it had in its power pack. A bolt of rainbow colored energy flowed forth, infecting the console. The light of harmonious magic spread from the console, through the cables in the wall and down into the thousands of standing cryo-stasis modules.

He felt the tie to Lucifer dissipate, its energy having gone. He took it off and threw the now useless hunk of metal to the floor. Turning to the master control console, he spied the one button to abort cryo-stasis in all modules. He slammed a hand down on it.

Klaxons blared, "Warning, all modules compromised, beginning restoration of all inhabitants."

"I did it, my mission is complete," he said to himself. Then he turned to his friends, laughing as the weight of mountains lifted from his shoulders. He grabbed the nearest pony and twirled her while giving a hug. "I DID IT!" He blindly threw kisses on the cheeks of everypony that was in his range.

Another warning sounded, "Omega energy contamination detected at dangerous levels, sealing all exits to prevent contamination."

Aaron stopped dead. "Shit."

"What does that mean Aaron? What is going on?" said Applejack.

"It means that the big door is closed now, and it won't open for quite a while. Not too bad for me, horrible for you. In about ten minutes an army of groggy, trigger happy humans is going to wake up. And seeing you will not make them happy."

"But I thought you purified them!" shouted Twilight.

"It will take time, probably better the door closed so it could take effect without them going on a rampage."

"But what about us?!" cried Applejack.

"I'm thinking damn it!" His fingers frantically typed on the master control console, searching for an override.

Twilight, use it.

"I know what to do!" She whipped out the parchment from her saddlebag, laying it on the floor, "Everypony circle up, grab each other's hooves!" Aaron ran to join them. "Not you, I don't know what it will do to you."

He stood back as she began to weave the magic spell. His eyes growing round with what he saw. The whole thing took around five minutes, and his mouth was wide enough to catch flies in the entire time. "That is a neat trick."

"Ha! They'll kill us as ponies, but not as humans!" There sat a circle of absolutely gorgeous young women.

"I...uh....woah..."

"What? Why are you looking at us like that?"

He was wall eyed, but he shook himself back to reality. Going over to a closet, he pulled out six sets of the white blouses and pants for the new humans. "Put these on, it won't do to have you walking around in your birthday suits."

"What do we do now pardner?" Applejack said while pulling on a shirt.

"Well, meet the family I guess." Out in Lazarus, The Race of Man stirred.

Author's Note

Please take note, this chapter was heavily edited recently.

Meet the Family

"Alright, can you all walk?" They were practicing how to move since shifting to this new form of female human beings. Fingers were just the most novel thing since sliced bread, and feet that felt the floor were almost uncomfortable. Though human in form, the six women still had minor traces of their true pony identity. Rarity and Twilight had silver specks on their foreheads where their horns normally lay. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had massive tattoos of wings on their backs. Pinkie and Applejack looked the most normal, relatively speaking. They still all had the same hair styles they had as ponies. Down on their hips were tattoos of their cutie marks. The Element jewels still sparkled around their necks.

The six friends were getting the hang of bipedal walking, so Aaron moved on to the next phase of preparation. "Okay, if someone tries to talk to you, do not mention ponies, magic, the War, your names, what you do for a living, why you are with me, how you 'woke up' so early, your hairstyles, your cutie marks...you know what? Just don't talk to anyone. Especially the soldiers."

"How many are soldiers?" asked Fluttershy.

Aaron peered out the window to the master control room, noticing that thousands were climbing out of their stasis chambers. "About half of them."

"Which ones are they?" inquired Rarity.

"Civilians were put to sleep in white clothing, soldiers are wearing their combat uniforms." He looked out the window of the master control center again. Most of the people were orienting themselves and putting on civilian clothing. "Alright, I'm going to try and get you some private quarters until we can get the Vault door open and get you out of here. Now or never ladies, follow me closely."

He opened the door to the control room, once outside he heard a voice yell. "Hey, it's Dr. Patterson!" Every person looked to him and cheered.

Twilight put a hand on his shoulder and whispered to him. "Why are they cheering for you?"

"They think I'm a hero. I haven't gotten around to stopping those rumors yet."

They walked down the stairs into the crowds of human beings. The pony/women never knew that they could be so different from their friend. So many new faces, all of them of a different species than themselves. Passing by groups of soldiers would get crisp salutes for Aaron, he would stop to salute back to them. Passing knots of civilians and scientists would earn him nods of respect.

A voice called out his name. "Aaron my boy!"

"You have no idea how glad I am to see your ugly mug sir!" he yelled.

His friends still followed him like lost baby ducks, and got closer when he stopped.

"Who is that Aaron?"

"That is Commanding General Tyler McGoff, the real boss around here."

He turned to his old friend. He clasped his superior on the wrist and threw an arm around his back, the General did the same. "How'd you sleep Tyler?"

"Those damn tubes are so uncomfortable, tell me we don't have to keep sleeping in them."

"No, we've got private quarters for everyone here, plus a dining area, storage vaults and a rec center."

"Fantastic! Oh my, who are your lovely friends Dr. Patterson?" the General turned his attention to the six young women who stood silent. "Getting a head start on the repopulation effort are we?" He nudged Aaron in the chest.

"Not at all sir. Tyler, these are my, uh, friends. Good friends from long ago, like family to me."

"I didn't know you had friends in here. Station comes with benefits I guess, nepotism among them. Ladies, my apologies, I am General Tyler McGoff, United States Army." He shook hands firmly with the six young women.

A boisterously loud voice cut with a slight French accent called to them. "General McGoff, Dr. Patterson. How was your nap boys?"

"Pilotte you son of a bitch! Get over here and shake my hand!" shouted Aaron.

The muscular man laughed at his friendliness, pushing his way through the crowds to see his comrades. "Seems like it worked Aaron! Keep this up and someone might get half a mind to elect you for public office!"

"Why do I doubt that?" Aaron replied, shaking the large man's hand. "Girls, this is Commander Jean Pilotte, United States Special Forces."

"I can introduce myself! Enchante mademoiselles." he gently took Rarity's hand and gave a gentle kiss on it. She blushed vividly.

"Charmed sir."

"Watch it Jean, those are my friends you're workin' your frog charms on," Aaron edged.

"Just being friendly! Don't get your panties in a knot, comrade."

"Keep it in your pants; General McGoff, Commander Pilotte, we have matters to discuss. I need to find my friends some private quarters and then we need to speak. Gather all of the unit commanders and the scientist representatives."

The two military men stiffened and grew serious. "At your request Doctor, we will call a council together. We will convene in the war room at oh seventeen hundred. Should give everyone enough time to wake up." They left together to oversee the safe reanimation of the rest of the populace.

Aaron took his friends to one of the auxiliary vaults that lined the side of the main chamber of Lazarus. Punching in the codes, the door opened with a hiss to reveal a long hallway lined with doors. Opening one, he directed them inside. It looked more like a prison cell than anything, conveniently able to sleep eight.

"Alright, stay in here. These are private quarters, if anyone comes just say that you are my guests and I am out on errands. I'll bring back some food and maybe some entertainment."

"How long we gotta stay in here pardner?"

"As long as it takes Applejack. And remember, do not use your pony names."

He shut the door to attend to other business.

"Well this sucks. How are we supposed to pass the time?" asked the rainbow haired young woman.

"At least the beds look comfy." Applejack crashed on one, drawing her hat over her eyes.

Twilight was looking at everything, trying to figure out how it worked. She looked at the fluorescent light tubes in the ceiling panels, confused as to what made them glow. "Are we sure they don't have magic? This looks pretty magical to me."

"Can't be, he looked pretty confounded the first time we used our magic darling."

"So what do you all think about them? I think they would absolutely love a party!"

"No parties Pinkie, I think they are a good race from what I've seen; a little rough, but you could get used to them."

*******************************************************************

Dr Patterson walked down the rows of stasis chambers, most of the population of Lazarus awake and trying to work out the side effects of hibernation. He stopped in front of a specific tube, the occupant was still asleep and was none other than his old mentor. Though open at the front, she was still pleasantly asleep.

He knocked on the side of her stasis module. "Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey. Time to get up."

She groaned a bit. "Maybe a kiss from my Prince Charming will wake this damsel in distress."

"I saw Pilotte earlier, maybe he would do the honor."

Her eyes fluttered opened. "On second thought, I think I'd rather have a kick to the teeth than have that frog smoochin' on me."

"Get out of there you old succubus. We have to talk."

Dr. Mcentyre climbed out of her stasis module, woozily shaking off the effects of hibernation. She yawned and stretched her arms. "How long were we out?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Hell, you wouldn't believe ninety percent of what I have to tell you." He leaned down to her stasis locker and threw her some clothes. "Get dressed." He turned out of respect, after a few minutes the groggy scientist patted her pupil on the shoulder.

"Let's head to the mess, get some coffee." She looked at his travel stained clothing. "Did you pack the nastiest clothes you could find or have you been up a little longer than the rest of us?"

"Option two sounds a bit closer to the truth."

They walked to the mess hall, still empty. Aaron cracked open a nitrogen preserved food locker to dig out some coffee. Grabbing two cups he set the coffee and his mentor down at a table.

"So, how long have you been up?" she said as she sipped her hot coffee imitation.

"Roughly a month and a half."

She choked a bit on her freeze dried swill. "What the hell kid? Did you decide to go on vacation or something?"

"Not really Eve. The Vault was breached and I was forcefully removed from stasis."

"That explains the broken glass at your module, but who removed you?"

"That's the kicker, our dear old enemies did. Seven of them managed to open the door and decided to take me home with them."

"You mean those horses took you back to their base? From your experience the first time you got captured I figured you'd be stark raving mad by now! How did you escape?"

"That is a story that has a lot of holes in it, most of which you will laugh at."

"Why would I laugh at them?"

He looked around to make sure they were still alone. "God helped me escape."

The aged doctor stared at him. "You were wrong, I'm not laughing, I feel concerned for you."

"I'm serious Eve, remember what we said after the Second Surge? That this didn't seem natural at all, more like it was some kind of retaliation or punishment?"

She nodded, remembering that exact conversation. "And you said that maybe some kind of deity was behind it."

"Yes! There is one, and the Surge energy isn't really some type of normal energy. It's magic!"

She recoiled a bit. "Aaron, I've been concerned for you before, when you went on that research bender, when you built that crazy weapon of yours and especially after you didn't come back after that battle. But now I think you need professional help."

"I'm not crazy Eve, She's really there."

"Okay, what is this God of yours like?"

"You want a quick dating profile of Her? Alright, She's single, loves children, has a thing for comedy, enjoys Louis Armstrong and dancing. From what I understand She's kind of a family gal, having a near infinite number of brothers, sisters, cousins, whatever. Oh yeah one important thing, She's the spiritual embodiment of the planet Earth and is the source of all magic and life."

"Is this some kind of joke Aaron? Because it isn't funny. Before I was a scientist I was what you might call a hippie. I believed that crap that the Earth is alive and it loves us. But you know what happened? My young son got sick, I prayed, I begged, I pleaded to God to save my child. But he or She or whatever didn't listen. And he died because I believed in a bunch of flower child bullshit."

"She is there, and she loves us. You just have to let her in." He turned his gaze to the empty room. "Mother? Are you there?"

As always.

"Good, would you like to talk to this nice woman?"

"Aaron, you need help, you're talking to nothing."

"Quiet for a second Eve. Mother, how do you want to do this?"

I'm trying to talk to her, she won't let me in. Try using your magic.

"I still have that? I thought it left with Legion."

Not all of it, but most of Legion's power did leave when you purified them.

"Worth a shot I guess." He raised a hand, concentrating his magic.

"Aaron, talk to me damn it! You need help!"

"Hey Eve, want some sugar in your coffee?" A small packet hovered over her cup. It tore itself open and poured in, a stirrer levitated over and stirred her coffee. She stared at the incredible sight, then looked to her student.

"What the hell was that? What are you?"

"That was Mother's gift to me. Magic. I was much more powerful before I let us out today, I could destroy mountains with the wave of a hand."

"You're infected....with Surge Energy?"

"Call it whatever you like. It is actually soul magic, magic that I gained for being the bearer for all of humanities souls and purifying them."

"When did you do that?"

"This morning. Are you ready to talk to Her?"

"I guess so, if magic is real, what the hell I guess."

"Go ahead Mother." he said to everything.

Hello child.

"This isn't some ventriloquist act is it? I just heard someone say 'hello' to me."

"She talks through your mind, selecting words from memories that match the emotions she is trying to express. The more experiences you have had in life, the better she can talk to you."

Eve awkwardly looked around the room. "Is this true...Mother?"

He explained it better than I could have.

The aged scientist was startled by Mother talking to her. "What are you? Some kind of ghost or something?"

I am a being comprised of fields of energy that lie latent throughout all existing things. Unlike you I am not bound to matter at any one point, with the planet you stand upon acting as more of an anchor for my mind in the turbulence of the universe. Similar intelligent beings like me are common throughout the universe. In a way, you and I are alike, Eve. I was the catalyst and in a small way the designer for life on this world, just as you were the creator and bearer of your own child.

Eve was incredulous. "How do you know that? How do you know about my son?"

Your child is with me, he wants to talk to you......Mom?

".....Brandon?" she said disbelievingly, "Sweetie, is it really you?"

The soul of a child now communed through Mother.

It is me Mom, don't be afraid. We're all here; me, Dad, Grampa, Grandma, everyone! Mother loves us all, and she loves you too Mom. We all can't thank Aaron enough for what he did for us, thank you Mr. Patterson sir!

"You are welcome Brandon." Aaron said with a smile.

"I missed you so much baby! Why did you have to leave me?"

I never left you Mom, and I never will, not in a billion years!

"Brandon, what is heaven like?" Eve asked hopefully.

You'll see one day Mom, but you have a lot of life left to live. We all love you Mom! I have to go now, goodbye!

"Goodbye, my baby." She said, her words choked with tears. And with that Mother's presence left the room. "Aaron, I'm sorry I doubted you!" She leaned over the table and grabbed his shoulders, hugging him to her as she wept. "What did you do for them?"

"I gave them Harmony. But it wasn't me alone. Come on, I want you to meet some very special friends of mine."

****************************************************************************************

The pair of scientists first stopped by the information Vault and the technologies Vault, grabbing several forms of entertainment for Aaron's 'guests'. Two cardboard boxes full of books, small electronics and various other trinkets went with them to Aaron's quarters. Setting his box down he knocked.

"Go away! Aaron isn't here, he is out running errands!" he heard muffled through the door.

"Rainbow, it's me, open up."

Dr. Mcentyre looked confused, "What kind of a name is 'Rainbow'?"

"Her full name is actually Rainbow Dash, Rainbow or Dashie for short. You'll see."

"Is it some kind of flower child name or something?"

"Rainbow Dash? Far from it, she's a bit of a tomboyish, daredevil speed freak."

The door cracked its way open, a nervous rainbow haired young woman poked her head out. "Who's she?"

"A friend, now open up."

A girl with a mess of pink curls shoved Rainbow out of the way, "What's the password?"

"We never set a password Pinkie."

She squinted at him in suspicion.

"Ugh, fine. Cupcakes!"

Her eyes opened up wide. "Right! Come on in!" He picked up his box and walked inside, he turned back to his confused mentor.

"Well, come on in and meet the gang." She sighed in resignation and followed him in.

Six of the prettiest young women looked up when she entered. "Quite a harem you have here Aaron." She set down the box she was carrying.

"It's not what you think. Everyone, this is Eve. She is a very old and dear friend of mine from way back."

"Is she another one of your old military buddies?" asked a woman with a purple stripe in her black hair.

"No Twilight, she is a scientist like me. Less of a colleague like Doctor Whooves, more like my teacher."

Eve was getting nervous, "Aaron, who are these girls? Why do they all have such strange names?"

He sighed, "It's time I came clean with you, they breached the Vault and got me out of hibernation. They're the whole reason we even woke up."

"But you said our enemies came and took you away to their town. These aren't a bunch of anthropomorphic horses."

"Gals, show her your cutie marks." They each stood and exposed a hip for the aged doctor.

"Those are just like the ones our enemies wear.......good God! How is that possible!" She turned back to Aaron to see him nonchalantly making a light dance across his palm.

"I'm sorry, did I not explain the concept of "magic" thoroughly enough? Do I need to call up Mother again?"

"No! Once was fine for today." she looked frightened by the harmless young women that looked at her so curiously.

"Relax, they won't hurt you. They don't have a mean bone in their bodies, except maybe Pinkie if you break a promise."

"Hey!"

"Well it's true! You nearly broke my arm that one time!"

"Well you broke a Pinkie promise!" Pinkie's eyes were practically ablaze with the remembered rage of a broken Pinkie promise.

"Um, Aaron?" asked the doctor.

"Oh yeah. Eve, this is Pinkie Pie."

"How ya doing!" she stood and gave Eve a great big hug.

"Guarding the door is Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow Dash nodded, her back leaning against the door, "Sup."

"Rainbow, be more polite. This is a very dear friend of mine."

"Fine, how are you doing Miss.....?"

"Mcentyre, Dr. Mcentyre."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance Doctor."

He continued introductions, "Asleep on the bed over there is Applejack," he quietly walked over and shouted to her. "Applejack wake up! The cows are stampeding again!"

Applejack practically flew off the bed, stetson hat skewed on her head, "Huh who what!? Dang it you two legged varmint, don't startle me like that! Who's this?"

Eve walked over and offered a hand. "Dr. Eve Mcentyre, scientist and colleague to Dr. Patterson."

Applejack took the proffered hand and shook it vigorously, "Well shucks, I'm Applejack, any friend of my cousin is a friend of mine."

Dr. Mcentyre glanced at Aaron, raising an eyebrow. "Cousin?"

"I was unofficially adopted by Applejack's family, what did we call it? A removed cousin?"

Applejack slapped the man on the back, "Sure as shoot! He's a regular Apple family farm hand!"

Rubbing the sore spot left by Applejack's hand he turned next to a pleasantly seated Rarity, "And over here is Rarity, our resident fashionista."

Rarity rose with as much lady-like grace as she could while still adjusting to her new form, "Charmed madame. How do you humans do your hair so well?"

"Um, it's all in the fingers I guess."

"How marvelous! Aaron won't tell me a thing about human style! Could you fill me in?"

Aaron rolled his eyes, "That's because I'm a man! Guys don't do fashion!" he barked.

Calming himself, he turned to Fluttershy. "This is Fluttershy, she is kind of timid, but she'll warm up to you. Say hello Fluttershy."

"Um, hi." she said with a whisper, extending a hand like Dr. Mcentyre was a viper ready to bite her.

"Nice to meet such a lovely young lady." Fluttershy blushed and hid behind her own hair.

"And last but not least, this is Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight extended a hand, having a well practiced and probably well researched method of greeting, "Pleasure to meet you ma'm. You dirty old bag of dirt." She tried out the human method of greeting.

Aaron choked on nothing, if something had actually been in his mouth he would have died, "TWILIGHT!"

She raised a questioning eyebrow, "What? That's how you talked to those other men. I thought that's how all humans greeted each other."

"Not at all, women don't talk to each other like that. Men like me and General McGoff are crude, rude, and brutish to each other because that's how human men are. Insulting each other is just a way of establishing a social hierarchy!"

Twilight's eyes grew wide and her jaw became slack, "Oh my Princesses, I'm so sorry! I thought that's how you talked to each other!"

Dr Mcentyre easily recovered from the blatant yet excusable insult, "No offense taken Miss Sparkle, just try not to take too much idiom from the menfolk anymore."

Aaron shoved his cardboard box to the center of the room. "Alright everypony, I made good on my promise and brought you all back some entertainment. I have books from a lot of different genres, some games, and even some technology for you to play with." He opened his box to allow them to dig through.

Eve was still confounded by these horses in human skin. "Every...pony?" she asked Aaron.

"A cultural idiom that I picked up. I did live in their society for over a month for crying out loud, had to adapt."

Eve rolled her eyes, then got back to the real issues, "So you saw McGoff today?"

"Yeah, you and I have a little meeting to attend here in a couple of minutes. All the brass are going to be in attendance. I'm going to have some answers for us."

**************************************************************************

Every soldier above the rank of captain and several of the scientists gathered in the war room of Project Lazarus. General McGoff took the head of the long table with Pilotte at his left and Aaron at his right. A scribe called them to order.

"I call to order this meeting of the amalgamated forces of the United States Armed Forces and the private science divisions. Does anyone know the date?"

Aaron spoke up. "I do scribe. Today is May 28th, roughly the year 4000." That statement sent the room into frantic murmurs.

"Dr. Patterson, we all hold you in the highest regard, but you cannot be serious!"

"I am serious, it has been roughly two thousand years since Lazarus was activated. We completely overshot the time we aimed for."

"How can you be sure Dr. Patterson?" said a lieutenant general.

"My stasis module suffered a catastrophic failure, I was able to escape without further injury. After that I exited the Vault and carried out a scouting mission of the surface world."

The scribe quoted the manual, "Ah yes, order 327, "If an individual should fall under the circumstance that he or she is awoken from stasis without the support of the rest of the Army, such individual is obligated to conduct preliminary reconnaissance of the surface." That explains your appearance Doctor. But how do you know the year?"

"I was captured by the enemy. We were wrong, they are not fractured, if anything they are stronger than ever. And I have dire news, they know of our existence and are sending an army to wipe us out for good."

That sent the entire room to shouting. "Order! We will have order before this tribunal!" shouted the General.

Aaron stood "SILENCE!" every man and woman shut their mouths to listen. "They have changed ladies and gentlemen, I believe we can talk through this."

"Talk through it Dr Patterson? You want to make peace with them?" asked one of his fellow scientist representatives.

"Yes!"

"If they are the aggressors in this battle, then we have little to no hope of getting them to negotiate. How long until that door to the Vault opens?" General McGoff asked.

"Four days to a week sir, we have civilian computer experts trying to crack Lazarus' software, but unfortunately we made the mainframe almost too secure."

"Then in four days to a week we will march out of this hole and fight the enemy on our terms! We were the dominant race on this planet, and we will be again!"

Every man and woman agreed with him. Only Aaron sat down, hoping that the magic of the Elements would solve this crisis.

For these people, the War had never truly ended.

A Reason to Live

After his meeting with the military tribunal, Aaron was drafted by the medical staff to assist in med-bay. Suffice to say his knowledge came in handy. He was on his way to his quarters when a nurse interrupted his stroll.

"Dr. Patterson, we need you in sick-bay! We think we have a case of Chaos Plague!"

Aaron rolled his eyes, "It can't be Chaos Plague." he saw the concern in her eyes. "Fine, I'll come along to prove you wrong."

Quickly they marched to sick bay, Aaron feeling like his time was being wasted. They stopped in front of a comatose soldier's bed. "Is this the one?"

"No sir, but we believe he may have succumb as well." He took a pen light and flashed it in the comatose soldier's eyes. "You idiots! This guy just has hibernation sickness!" He searched along a wall of medicines, he picked one out.

"Sir! What are you doing? That's an amphetamine!"

"Yup, it sure is." He filled a syringe and jammed it into the large muscles of the man's leg. "Here, watch my impersonation of Jesus." he lifted his hands and looked to the sky like the messiah. "Lazarus, come forth!" The soldier sputtered and coughed, waking from his coma. "There ya go champ. And nurse, it helps if you don't try to open their modules with a sledgehammer."

"Dr. Patterson sir, would you please shut up for a second and follow me?"

"Hey soldier, think fast!" He threw a drink pack to the soldier, who caught it with lightning reflexes. "Haha! You enjoy those cat like reflexes, Speed will do that to ya. They'll wear off in a day or two, but the effects of hibernation sickness should also have worn off by then. If I were you I'd take it easy for the next day or two, chat it up with some nice young ladies or something. Doctor's orders."

"Thanks Doc!" The soldier climbed out of the bed and walked out into Lazarus proper.

"DOCTOR PATTERSON!" screamed the diminutive nurse.

"Fine, what?"

"The Chaos Plague victim! She is right this way."

He began to follow the frantic nurse, "Let me give you a little news flash nurse, there was no such thing as the Chaos Plague!"

"Tell that to her." They stopped in front of a window facing into a clean room, inside a woman was strapped to her bed, twisting and fighting like a madman. She screamed at whatever she saw, looking at her own reflection she laughed like it was the best comedy in the world, her laughter chilling. Aaron summoned a tiny bit of his magic to increase his magical sensitivity. He saw quite a bit of magical damage to this poor creature.

"Okay, we may have a bit of a problem here."

"It gets worse, she is 38 weeks pregnant, due any day now if she keeps this up."

"Any viable treatment?"

The nurse pantomimed a gunshot to the head.

"What idiot put her in a stasis chamber?!"

The nurse glared over in the direction of a man sitting in a waiting chair. Obviously a civilian, this man had probably snuck his pregnant wife into Stronghold after the Day of Judgement, though she had most likely been exposed to Discord prior to her being smuggled in. Aaron walked over and sat across from him on a bench. He had salt and pepper hair, though he looked to only be in his mid thirties.

"What's your name?" he directed to the man in a low tone.

"Frederick, my wife Sara is in there, is she going to be alright?"

Aaron shook his head. "I don't know, but what you did was incredibly thoughtless. Sneaking in a contaminated person could have compromised the safety of the entire facility."

Frederick snapped at the younger man. "She wasn't like this before! She was loving, kind and a good person! I had to do something for my family, any good person would have tried everything!"

"Calm down, I'm going to do everything I can to help."

The distraught man looked at Aaron closely. "You're him aren't you? It can't be, you are way too young for a person of his achievements."

"That depends on who "he" is."

"You're Dr. Patterson. Those soldiers out there say your name with reverence, they say things that make you sound like some kind of modern Hercules."

"What do they say?"

"That you built the ultimate weapon for humanity. That you were captured but spit in the faces of gods. You personally fought for peace and dared to confront the enemy generals on the battlefield. You exposed the old general as a murderer and showed mercy to him. They say you escaped from the demigods after the Day of Judgement. And that you personally woke us all up. How much of this is true?"

"I say this with all humility. All of it and much more. But now I need to focus on saving your wife and your child, if it doesn't end up killing me in the process. I'll need some special help though."

************************************************************************

Princess Celestia walked with her soldiers, she did not fly, and she refused to be carried in a litter or a carriage. She wanted to be there for them, not to seem like some far away presence that only gave commands without regard for her soldier's lives. Luna felt the same, and so she trudged with her Nightguards. And so she walked under the noonday sun.

She felt something dark and evil come into the world, then vanish in seconds. Without warning she collapsed, clutching her head with her hooves. Dozens of her guards rushed to her side.

"Princess! Are you alright?!"

"I am fine captain, send for my sister." The pegasus took the message himself. Several soldiers offered her water and shade, she politely refused. He flew back with Luna in a minute.

"Celestia! What has happened?"

"He succeeded Luna, I felt him use Lucifer, but I also felt the Elements come together."

"I felt the evil as well, but there was something else after the Elements, a rush of magic that seemed to cry out in joy."

"It could only be Legion. It has been purified by the Elements and released. That was their purpose, to be purified. What do you feel of Lucifer dear sister?"

Luna looked off to the horizon, "It is strange, all these centuries I have felt Lucifer in my mind, a tiny itch in my subconscious. But now it is gone."

"Then you know what this means, he purified Lucifer too. The Army of Man once again walks the Earth."

***************************************************************************

Aaron hadn't yet come back from his errands, but Eve had made her way back for the evening. And with her help the six embodiements of the Elements of Harmony were figuring out some of the human technology. Rainbow Dash stared oddly at an old Gameboy, playing a game that made little to no sense to her. Applejack and Twilight simply enjoyed some human literature. The rest plugged in a mobile DVD player and were enjoying Gone With the Wind, Dr. Mcentyre included.

"Oh this part here is so romantic, it always gets me."

"Shh!" the three pony women hissed, the moving pictures in a box holding their utmost attention.

"Why can't I find a romantic stallion who would kiss me like that?" Rarity dreamily mused.

A knock on the door broke their train of thought.

Rainbow Dash replied without looking up from her game. "Go away, Aaron's not here....errands or something."

"Cupcakes damn it!" they heard shouted from the other side of the door.

Eve opened the door, "No sorry, we don't want any Girl Scout cookies today."

"Dr. Mcentyre, I need a consult in sick bay. Rarity, Twilight, I might need you two as well."

"Can't it wait dearie? It just got to the good part."

"No, it can't wait. And the movie will still be here when you get back. You know what? Let's make it a family outing, everyone with me!"

The six pony women grumbled and groaned, Dr. Mcentyre was concerned. "Aaron, what is going on?" she asked as the group walked out the door.

"Oh nothing major, just some poor woman infected with Chaos Plague."

"Why the hell didn't you say so? Let's move it ladies!"

***********************************************************************************************

With a few non magical waves of his hand Aaron banished the various nurses and doctors watching the poor woman in her madness. "Everybody out. I'm taking charge of this case."

"Dr. Patterson sir, you aren't a medical doctor."

"This is possibly an unknown illness of indeterminate lethality, this case has been moved to the jurisdiction of the research department."

He headed to the door to the clean room, "You can't go in there without a suit Dr. Patterson! There is an unknown pathogen at work and it could spread to you." Aaron looked to the M.D.

"There is no pathogen, there never was." he beckoned his friends close and whispered to them. "Alright, Rainbow and Applejack, you two stand outside the door and make sure none of these people try to get in. Everyone else is with me."

He opened the sealed door to the clean room. The twisting and struggling woman stopped and looked at him with a predatory stare. "Fluttershy, be a dear and shut the curtains, would you?" she obliged, cutting off the medical staff's view.

He grabbed a chair and pulled it next to her bed. "Sara is it? I'm Dr. Patterson, your attending for the evening. Technically I'm not a physician so this is all probably incredibly unethical."

The mad woman screamed in laughter, "I'll kill you all! Swallow your souls! HAHAHAHAHA!"

"Well that is not a very nice thing to say. Twilight, have you ever dealt with anything like this?"

Twilight took a step closer to the struggling woman, leaning her head in and getting a better view. "Once, when Discord escaped from his prison."

"Wait, that monster escaped?"

"Yeah, we dealt with him before he could do too much damage. She looks like an exaggerated version of what us ponies went through when we were afflicted."

"How did you cure it?"

"A simple memory spell, that's all."

He turned back to the madwoman. "Sara? I'm going to do a little test, are you alright with that?"

She struggled to tear out his throat, the restraints on her bed holding strong. "Splendid. Gals, hold her down, and don't get in range of her teeth." He charged up his magic and touched a single finger to her forehead.

***********************************************************************

Magic works in strange ways, and Aaron saw the turmoil inside of the woman's mind. It was a city, any old city, but somehow this city was special to Sara. But it had been leveled by the battle of magical forces in her mind. Two great titans battled for dominance, one shining bright in the light, the other the definition of darkness. They were even matches, the force of light needing some kind of a boost to overcome his adversary of darkness.

Aaron saw the symbolism, the titan of light was his magic, the harmonious magic that had been purified inside of Lucifer. The titan of darkness was the soul eating madness of Discord, sent here to drive the poor woman mad. Though he looked everywhere, the only entities inside of Sara were the fighting titans and a tiny presence that seemed separate.

He withdrew.

*******************************************************************

He snapped back to reality, "Okay, she does not appear to have a soul in there. There are two forces of magic working against one another, but the one we want to win needs a little help."

"Why does she not have a soul?" asked Dr Mcentyre.

"Discord consumed it for sustenance, thousands of years ago. He fed on her, but there was something else in there. I felt a small presence, and the force of light was defending it. Wait, she's pregnant, Discord didn't feed on her child! If only we could give the light some help somehow. Twilight, Rarity? Any suggestions?"

"Well, when Discord was defeated by the Elements, all the bad he had done was unmade. Maybe her soul is out there somewhere, and if we convince it to come back the force of light can overcome with her love for her child."

"Brilliant! But Discord ate her soul."

"But Aaron, Princess Celestia told me that Discord was a Legion, like you were. And what happened to all of your souls when we purified you?"

"They went back to the Earth!"

Dr. Mcentyre looked dumbfounded. "Okay, someone explain what the hell is going on in here."

"No time! MOTHER!" he shouted.

Is it really necessary to shout? I can hear your thoughts you know.

"I know you can, it just helps to talk it out."

"Oh God, are you getting Her involved in this Aaron?" Eve said.

"It's the only way Eve. Mother, do you have a woman named 'Sara' with you?"

Narrow it down a bit. I have hundreds of thousands of women named 'Sara', it is a very popular name you know.

Aaron stood and opened the door to the waiting room, he pointed to Frederick, "What's your last name?"

The accosted man looked up from his melancholy, "Does it really matter?"

"If you want your wife back I'll need your last name damn it!"

He looked confused and concerned, "It's Coppell."

"Thanks." he slammed the door behind him. "Okay Mother. Sara Coppell. She was pregnant when her soul was taken."

One moment please. Mother began to annoyingly play some 'on hold' music.

"Very funny Miss Planet Earth, can you stop messing around now?" Aaron tapped a foot impatiently. Behind him the woman still thrashed and screamed.

Dr Mcentyre, still able to hear the thoughts exchanged between Aaron and The Mother, tapped him on the shoulder. "Aaron, is Mother always this odd?"

Aaron considered it for a second, then nodded. "Pretty much all the time, except when you meet Her in person, which I've done. I'll tell you all about it later when this is over."

Hello? Who are you, why do you want me?

"Sara Coppell?"

Yes. Oh, Mr. Patterson sir! Thank you so much for making us whole! What can I do to help?

"Enough gratitude already, you need to come back to us. You didn't die, your soul was forcefully removed from it's body."

But, I like it here. Mother takes care of us, I get to see all of my friends again.

Eve decided to take over. "Sara, you have a child here. And your child needs you right now. Nothing is more important to a mother than her child, trust me."

I have a child? If that's true then I have to come back! But I don't know the way.

"That's what I'm here for Sara. Me and my friends will show you the way. Rarity, Twilight, we need to link our magic for this one." The three joined hands, closing their eyes to concentrate their magic. Aaron's hands took on their glow, the forehead specks of the two unicorns took on theirs. The three made a magic beacon for the lost soul.

A flickering orb came from the floor, the purified soul of Sara Coppell drawn like a moth to light.

"What the hell is going on here!?!" The concentration of the three magic users broke, the spirit began to fly randomly around the room. In the doorway stood Sara's husband, Applejack and Rainbow Dash trying hard to throw him back outside.

"Let him in." The two guard women let go, he stumbled in. "Alright, now you're in on this Frederick. Do you know what that is?" He pointed to the orb flying around the lights.

"Some kind of firefly? What does this have to do with my Sara?!"

"That IS your Sara! Now sit down, shut up and don't interfere!" They gagged the thrashing, soulless body. Rejoining hands they resumed their spell over the mad woman; but they were not alone, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow and Applejack also joined their circle, offering their latent magic to those who could use it. The fluttering soul came to rest between the group, slowly falling into the woman's body.

She was still for a second, then she violently thrashed, her eyes taking on the green glow of soul magic, then becoming normal. She breathed hard, her face taking on a sane and confused look. Aaron removed the gag.

"Sara Coppell?"

"Yes." She reached with her restrained hands and touched her own face, physically feeling for the first time in millenia. "I'm back. I heard your voices in the hereafter."

"It's best if you don't talk about that." he undid her restraints.

She sat up and looked around the room, "Thank you all. Fred, is it you?"

He stood and ran to his wife, throwing his arms around her. "How is this possible Sara? You had the Plague!"

Sara looked over her husband's shoulder to Dr. Patterson, who shook his head and made a sign for her to keep silent. Her face contorted in pain, and she screamed.

The pony women all recoiled, thinking they had failed. "It didn't work!" screamed Pinkie. "Everypony panic!"

"Yes it did, this is something we should probably get out of the way for." Aaron herded his flock of women out the door. Walking down the hall he caught a physician by the coat. "Doctor, patient in the clean room shows no sign of infectious pathogens, she is absolutely clean."

"If you say so Dr. Patterson."

"Also, she has gone into labor, give my congratulations to the parents."

*****************************************************************************************

He parked his charges in the waiting area, himself taking a chair.

"You girls know what we just did? We cured that woman of the Plague that killed mankind!" he was giddy with how well they had worked together.

"We saved a life in there, didn't we?" asked Fluttershy.

"More than one dear Fluttershy, we saved two and rebuilt a family in the process. I'm so proud of all of you, how can I make you happy tonight?"

"Well, we were enjoying that 'movie' or whatever you called it dearie. Maybe some dinner to go with our show?"

"Absolutely! I'll treat you all to the finest restaurant Lazarus has to offer. Of course that is code for 'eating reconstituted MREs with all of the soldiers'."

The nurse that had bothered Aaron earlier appeared around the corner. "Dr. Patterson sir, your patients have requested you."

"What? Haven't you heard the news, I'm not a physician."

"Yes, but they requested you by name."

He addressed his friends, "Well ladies, duty calls, would you wait for me here?"

He went back to the room with the nurse, two doctors walked out looking impressed. "Damn, five minutes of labor, that has got to be a new record."

Sara lay in her bed with a small bundle of life in her arms. Both she and her husband looked to the man with smiles. "Thank you," she whispered, gently hugging the tiny life that lay in her arms.

Her husband stood and walked to the younger man. He extended a hand for Aaron. Aaron took his hand to shake it, only to be drawn into a hug by Frederick. "I don't know what you are," he murmured, "some kind of angel, just a man or even Jesus Christ himself, but you brought her back to me. You brought back my Sara and made my family complete."

Aaron withdrew from the embrace. "Sir, if it's alright, I would like for my friends to see this."

"The young women who helped you? It would only make me happier to see them here as well."

He briskly walked out of the room, coming to the waiting area he called for his friends. "Come on, I want you all to see something." They gladly followed.

They entered the clean room to stand around the woman and her child. Each young woman held back her gasps, holding a hand over their heart at the true beauty of this sight.

"Look at that, the first human life to be born in centuries. This tiny little girl represents everything I came back for. The love and harmony that we are capable of, the hope and peace within all of us. She is the true first of us, the new human race. She has so much potential, unlike me she was born without the specter of hate and war hanging over her shoulders. This infant is why I have faith in humanity, why we deserved a second chance at life. Think, she'll grow up to live in a world of wonders that I could never have imagined in a lifetime. She is the child of all of us, the living embodiment of hope and dreams where only the stars are the limit. And I would give my life to see her grow up happy."

His lips curled up in a small smile, the perfection of what he saw drowning out the fact that humanity was a hunted race, that an army was marching as he spoke to destroy them. Aaron felt a warm hand gently lay on his shoulder, he looked to his side to see Twilight looking to him with shining lavender eyes and a gentle smile on her face.

"If the people of Equestria could see this, they would know you are good inside. This beautiful sight just makes it real."

"Dr. Patterson sir, would you like to hold her?" asked the new mother.

"It would be my greatest joy," he said with utter sincerity. He gently held the newest member of the human race in his arms, the only thing he wanted was her safety and to build a brighter future for her. "Hi there little one, welcome to the world. I know you've been waiting a long time to come and see us, and we were all so worried for you and your mom. But it's alright, everything is okay now. You don't have to be afraid, we don't have to be afraid anymore. I'm gonna make this a better world for you, better than anything I could have ever hoped for myself." He turned back to the new parents, "Would you mind if my friends got a chance to see her?"

The new mother smiled. "Not at all Aaron, for what they did for me, for all of us, they deserve it." She gave a wink, knowing the true identities of the young women. Gently he gave the bundle of life to Twilight.

"She's so...helpless. Like she needs me. She's so beautiful, ma'm." She gave the little girl to Fluttershy. She was absolutely speechless, she cradled the infant human in her arms, relishing in her own paradise. Fluttershy hummed a lullaby, gently rocking the resting infant in her arms.

Rarity took her turn next, cooing softly to the life which she had helped begin. "All my life I have sought frivolous beauty in gems and cloth, but this...this is true beauty." Rarity's eyes watered as she gently passed the child to Applejack.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash took their turn together, neither being the really the type to indulge in such things. The child next made her way to Pinkie, her heart almost bursting with how much love she felt for the tiny human. "If you ever need a babysitter, I'm really good with kids." She handed the infant to Dr Mcentyre. She was the only one with actual child experience, so she gave tips and pointers to the new parents.

Frederick and Aaron stood back to let the women get their fill. "You know something Dr. Patterson?" Frederick said to his fellow man.

"Call me Aaron."

"Aaron, we haven't really thought of a name yet. Since you did....well, whatever that was for my Sara, my heart and soul, we think you should name her."

Aaron stood back, aghast and utterly stunned. "Sir, I am a First Lieutenant in the Army, I have received the Medal of Honor, I have spoken to god Herself and been a friend to some of the greatest leaders of our time, but this would by far be the greatest honor of my life."

Frederick smiled gently, placing a hand on Aaron's shoulder. "You really are him, the hope of mankind."

"No, people like you and your wife have always been mankind's greatest treasure and our beacon of hope. I'm just a man who has been made a hero through his own dumb luck."

Both men turned back to the wondrous sight. "How about Sophia? It means 'wisdom' in ancient Greek."

"It's perfect, thank you my friend."

Something caught his eye about the child, he walked over and with a single finger moved aside her wispy hair. "It can't be." By his resting finger lay a small silver mark on her forehead, like Twilight and Rarity. In his mind, Mother smiled.

And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

************************************************************

Every time I doubt myself, every time I feel like there is no hope for me, every time I feel the world is just slowly choking itself to death, I read this. I read this and I know that there is love and hope left in this world. And I know that if I can put such love on paper, then we can all put it in our hearts.

Preparing to Rise

One hundred and twenty-five thousand Equestrian soldiers shook the very Earth that they walked upon, their march to Stronghold going as planned. The scouts had lost the trail of Aaron and Legion for a while, though his course never deviated the army still had to follow the roads. Coming upon their royal highway on the western border they picked up his trail again in the most obvious way. Princess Celestia and her dear sister Luna now looked on the destruction that he had caused at the border.

"It is odd Celestia, before he never destroyed anything that got in his path. Now this." Her night blue hoof nudged over a piece of the gate that had once separated Equestria from the buffalo territory. It was not charred, rather the wood just stopped where it had been destroyed, utterly vaporized by a magical blast.

"It is possible he was provoked dear sister. My best trackers did find a small amount of blood in the dust with his footprints around it."

Luna looked at the vaporized outpost and the remnants of what used to be a mountain on the other side of the border. The buffalo were going to be very angry if they didn't already know that he had leveled one of their mountains. "What could possibly provoke him to do this?"

The pair sighted one of their royal scout pegasi coming in for a landing. The grey pegasus stallion in light armor landed lightly and bowed to his Princesses.

"What is your report, corporal?" asked Celestia.

"M'Lady, we have found the lost guard that was assigned to this post. He appears to have gone completely mad! Two of our earth pony trackers are bringing him back to the main army. I would not advise speaking to him."

"What is the cause of his madness?"

"We think it has something to do with the words printed in bold letters on his skin m'lady. We questioned him about them and he confessed everything he had ever done wrong, he wouldn't shut up for half an hour!"

"Take us to him, corporal." The trio took wing, the scout leading his Princesses back to the still marching army. A pavilion had been set up at the forward reaches to accommodate their lost guard. They entered together, the guard twitching and muttering to himself, not wearing the armor of his station. A high ranking commander stood questioning him about the one they pursued.

Celestia nodded to the commander. "That will do commander. My sister and I shall question him further."

"Yes my Princess." The commander did not leave the tent, rather he took a position in the corner. They took a look at the crazed creature that sat before them. He shivered on the pillow where he sat, eyes darting back and forth as he muttered incomprehensible rants under his breath. But what struck them as the most disturbing were the words printed in bold letters on his skin that depicted heinous and horrible crimes.

Regarding the armorless and crazed Royal Guard, Celestia began her interrogation. "What is your name soldier?"

He muttered to himself, neither Princess understanding him. Suddenly he spoke aloud, his words garbled and odd. "They won't come off, dirty freak, he made them! Torture him, he tortures me!"

"Who did this to you?"

"That freak! Two legs and eyes like fire! Yes, talks to himself he does." He began to wring his hooves, feeling like the demon might leap out of the shadows to finish the job at any moment.

Luna and Celestia turned away, leaning close to one another. "Why would he do such a thing to a Royal Guard? I understand getting them out of his way, but this is pure torture!" Luna whispered to her sister, she turned back to the guard. "Why do you have those words printed on you? Why do you not wash them off?"

He cried out in mental anguish, both alicorns felt a rise in magic when they asked him. "When I was seven I beat another colt up for wearing glasses! When I was thirteen I sexually assaulted one of the fillies in my class! I run a criminal syndicate that ambushes Royal caravans! I burned down an entire village of buffalo homes to keep them quiet! I beat my sisters until I left home to join the army! When I was ten I stole a pie from the old ponies home, I didn't even eat it! I tried to kidnap and rape six mares in the desert with my gang! I murdered the old guard at my post so I could have his position!....." The rantings continued on, the Princesses stood back in horror as he confessed his crimes.

"By all that is sacred, he isn't torturing him, Aaron is punishing him!"

"I think I know what set him off, he tried to do horrible things to your student and her friends Celestia."

Celestia spread her wings in anger, her eyes glowing with rage that this cretin had dared to touch her beloved Twilight Sparkle with ill intent. "Guards! Take this wretch back to Canterlot, throw him in a prison cell," she yelled to a pair of soldiers stationed outside the pavilion.

"NO!" The prisoner dove to her hooves, desperately he began to kiss her shoes, begging for her favor. "Kill me Princess! Cut my wings off, castrate me, drop me off of a cloud, feed me to a dragon! Anything but life!"

Celestia withdrew her hoof from his reach. "But I do not owe you a kindness."

Two pegasi guards chained him and began to tow him back to Canterlot, his maddened laughter filling the skies. The unicorn commander left his corner position to speak to the Princesses.

"How can we stop them? Are all of his race powerful enough to do such magic?"

"No Commander, our quarry is an oddity in the fact that he can even sense magic, much less use it with such efficiency," Celestia said to her unicorn commander.

"Do you think we can beat them, Princess?"

"A battle hardened human soldier is worth any five of your normal troops commander. Many of your troops have never even seen combat, every one of the humans we will be fighting is a veteran of an ancient war. Their technology is unmatched at a distance, and they are clever. They always have some trump card in their hand when it comes to conflict. If you believe in something greater than yourself, start praying that the humans go easy on us."

**********************************************************************************

Aaron woke up in his lumpy bed in Project Lazarus, the snores of his roommates telling him it was still early. Standing up he stretched out the various kinks and aches that came with the two thousand year old mattress. Looking to his friends he noticed that they were once again ponies, the magic spell having worn off during the night. They looked so peaceful, Twilight had a pile of books by her equine head, probably dreaming about reading them. The Gameboy had never left Rainbow Dash's hooves when she fell asleep, her diligence at an old Pokemon game having tuckered out the poor dear. Rarity and Dr. Mcentyre had fresh polish on their nails/hooves and an archaic issue of Vogue open. Most of the others had fallen asleep while watching old movies on the portable DVD player. The title screen for Casablanca replayed endlessly.

"Aw, it's like one of those fru-fru girly sleep overs." He turned off the DVD player and went to the washroom that came attached to every apartment in Lazarus. He enjoyed a quick, warm shower before any of the other 150,000 people used it up, drying himself off he heard a knock at the door. He panicked, hoping some jarhead didn't open the door to see his technicolor guests. With only a towel covering his shame he cracked open the door.

"Yes?" It was indeed a soldier, but he didn't look like he was here for surprise inspections.

"Sir, we had a few noise complaints from your neighbors last night. Could you tell your roommates to please tone it down a bit?" He squinted a bit at the dampened man. "Oh! Lt. Patterson sir, my apologies. Didn't recognize you with wet hair."

"Um, that's perfectly fine. Is there anything else you needed?"

The soldier bit his lip and ground the toe of his boot into the floor. "Well, there is one thing sir. But it's really not that important."

"Well spit it out man, I need to get dressed before I catch a cold."

The nervous young soldier ran a hand through his hair. "This is kind of a personal note, but do you think you could introduce me to your friend?"

Aaron raised an eyebrow. "Which one?"

"The one with flowing pink hair, she is absolutely beautiful sir," he said with admiration in his voice.

"Yeah, no, I don't think that's gonna happen. Flut...I mean, Fiona is not really into military types."

"She even has a beautiful name," he said dreamily. "That's alright I guess, I just feel so different lately. I don't know what it is, but I feel like I should grab life by the horns. Ask out pretty girls, help old ladies cross the street, good stuff like that."

"Well we all have days like...wait, what? How would you describe that feeling soldier?"

"I don't know, when I woke up this morning I realized that every other morning I opened my eyes to feel just a little bit afraid. And today, I don't feel that. It's like some part of me has calmed down or been filled. I just feel more...whole."

On the outside Aaron remained deadpan, but in his head he was cheering. It's working! It's actually working!

"Well, breakfast for this block is in half an hour Dr. Patterson, have a nice day sir." He snapped a salute and left with a bounce in his step. Aaron shut the door to see his pony friends waking up slowly.

"Come on ladies, time to put on your make up. Breakfast is in half an hour."

Applejack yawned. "Y'all are gonna let us eat with the other humans?"

"Sure, you have to eat sometime, and you better start getting used to us."

Eve groaned from her bed and looked at the half naked man that was still standing around in nothing but a towel. "Huh, must be my birthday or something. Which one of you ordered the stripper? And could you get me a more handsome one next time?" The six ponies giggled and Aaron blushed as he grabbed fresh clothes and stalked back to the washroom. By the time he was out and dressed they were already circled up and halfway through the spell. They finished like they had before, with nothing on except what Mother gave them.

"And Eve thinks she gets a show. Ha!"

********************************************************************************

There are always political procedures to recognize when moving armed forces into hostile territory, even if you are the invader. Princess Celestia and Luna had moved their army into buffalo territory, and they had to confront a delegation of the buffalo leaders to prove their non-aggression and possibly bolster their own ranks. Given the direness of the situation, the meeting was held as soon as possible for the expediency of both nations. The buffalo had no central government, operating more as a loose tribal confederation with chieftains and shamans acting as representatives in times of crisis. This particular delegation was constructed of ten chiefs and shaman from the most influential tribes.

To show their peaceful intent, Princess Celestia made it a breakfast conference, a full belly always made for a more compliant politician. After two millenia Princess Celestia had politics down to an exact science. Plates full of flowers, the finest grains and fruits graced the table that Celestia had set up in a private pavilion. Though noisy with their table manners, the buffalo were nonetheless respectful.

"Ah, fine Equestrian table fare, I thought I would never taste such delicate food ever again," said the leader commanding the most warriors, none other than Chief Thunderhooves himself.

Princess Celestia began the talks. "Chieftain, I would first like to say that I am grateful for your willingness to attend this meeting of minds."

The bison chief pushed away his plate and dabbed his food smeared face with a napkin. "You neglect to explain why you wish to march across our territory, Princess."

"We are in pursuit of a very powerful and dangerous creature that has raised an army against us. Our goal is to avert a war if possible. But if we cannot stop our quarry, it is almost inevitable."

"Hmm, war with an enemy of unknown strength. Are you sure this is the wisest path Princess?"

"I myself would never have chosen it, but you may have if you knew that the creature was a Hunter."

The buffalo representatives murmured to one another, obviously concerned. Several of the younger ones began to stamp their hooves and snort.

"We have heard rumors of strange creatures roaming our land, how are you sure it is a Hunter that you pursue?" a medicine maker asked.

"I knew the Hunters, long ago before they all died after the war. My sister and I believed them extinct until one of them was caught in Ponyville. We held him prisoner until he became too magically powerful and escaped from us."

Chief Thunderhooves' eyes grew wide at the mention of magic. "This monster has magical power? A true plague upon us if what you say is true, the Hunters could rise again and be deadlier than ever."

A painted shaman interrupted. "Nay great chief, this Hunter is different from the demon of legend told by the council fire. My warriors and I came upon him at one of our watering holes. He has power like no other, yet he did not use it against us. And more, he has the blessing of the Earth Mother! She Herself spoke to me and my warriors, threatening to take away our gifts of power if we harmed the Hunter."

"You speak blasphemy Shaman Fire Heart! The Earth Mother would never bestow her grace onto a Hunter!"

"He speaks the truth." Luna walked into the pavilion, her billowing mane and blue fur obscured by armor like that of her guards. "He has Mother's blessing and protection. She has given it to him for reasons beyond our understanding, but what we do know is that he succeeded in his task. The Army of Man walks the earth once again."

The bison all bellowed their anger at the revelation. "If the Hunters indeed stalk our villages and hunt our kind, we must prepare our tribes for war!"

Princess Celestia stood, maintaining self control despite the near chaos. "Chief Thunderhooves, please calm yourself. Though awakened, the Army of Man is not free. Our pegasus scouts report no sign of them at all except for the reemergence of their ancient fortress."

"If they indeed live again, where do they hide? How large is their army that they can conceal it so completely?"

"We estimate their army to be less than one hundred thousand, but it is their technological advantage that makes them so deadly. The humans are capable of acts that can be considered magical, but to them it is mundane and ordinary."

Shaman Fire Heart voiced himself once again. "Then that is more reason to stay out of their way. If they have strength of mind and The Earth Mother's blessing we have little hope of victory. My tribe shall not fight the Hunters."

Several more agreed with shaman. Only the most foolhardy stood in defense of their honor. But at the thought of a Hunter having The Earth Mother's blessing, eventually all the chieftains backed down from action for fear of offending Her divine intent.

"Then it is settled Princess Celestia, we will not join your army to fight the Hunters. But you may try if you so wish, though we will sing our songs of lament for you."

*********************************************************************************

Breakfast was uneventful, the horrid food that been stored in Lazarus consisted mainly of healthy and nutritious experimental yeast colonies that were perfectly suited for human consumption. Another relic of Project Daedelus which had spawned Lazarus, the crappy space age food.

After breakfast the civilian and military populations were assigned various jobs to be completed around Lazarus. Soldiers would complete more complicated tasks like reassembling the heavy ordinance. The six Apache gunships and four Blackhawks that lay in pieces needed to be assembled. The Bradley APC's and the row of Abrams tanks that would carry squads into battle needed engine work after two thousand years. Mortar shells had to be inspected for any flaws, missiles had to have their basic components checked and rechecked, and the lifts which would get these to the surface had to be cleared and repaired.

The scientists and engineers took on a more necessary role, building their anti-magic micro Tesla modules. Miniature versions of what was used on the Day of Judgement, these small Tesla coils would protect the front lines from enemy magical attacks by randomizing the wavelength of magics that entered their range, rendering them harmless. Even smaller versions were being placed inside of missiles to prevent any unwanted "tampering" in mid flight, no mistakes this time.

Civilians, including the six pony women, were tasked with general upkeep around the homestead. Clean up after meals, go down below and check for damage to any systems, general maintenance types of things. Those skilled in a trade were put to use, programmers and code writers were still trying to crack Lazarus's mainframe to open the Vault door. Doctors and nurses automatically had a spot in sick bay caring for those still affected by hibernation sickness. Farmers and botanists were in the botany vault trying to resurrect some of the preserved crop seeds. Humanity was preparing to come alive and establish themselves.

Aaron with his doctorate in biology had been assigned to a similar unit to the botany vault, the zoological vault. Inside were the preserved embryos of all of humanity's livestock species, Aaron had to inspect for damage over the extremely extended cryogenic freeze. He now inspected a randomized sample under a microscope to see if any magic had leaked in and done any alteration.

"Specimen #5079, species gallus domesticus, better known as a chicken, no flaws or contamination through omega energy" he said into a recorder as he wrote down the condition of the embryo. He placed the dish back into cold storage.

"Specimen #2228, species canis familiaris, domestic dog, no flaws or contamination through omega energy," he reported.

"Specimen #6012, species equus ferus caballus, domestic horse..." He sighed and turned off the recorder. He thought of his friends, genetically the same as the zygote that sat in a frozen petri dish in front of him, but so different. This embryo was destined to be a dumb animal, never to know friendship or love, yet it was the same as them. What would they think if they saw this animal alive? Would they consider it a member of the family, or an abomination? He had already told them they were once human work animals, but did they really deserve to see this? Which of them would be the better for humanity, the beast of burden or the loving, caring people that they became? He pressed record and began to speak. "Specimen #6012, flawed, embryo scheduled for destruction."

The biologist next to him at the long inspection station was frustrated at something, he scribbled notes furiously and spoke very annoyed to his recorder. "Specimen #6635, species Meleagris gallopavo, domestic turkey, contaminated!" He flipped off his recorder and practically threw away the speaker. "God damn it! That's the fifteenth one in a row!"

"Calm down, what's wrong?" asked Aaron.

"This damn omega detector is saying that all my specimens are contaminated, piece of junk." He very angrily smacked the omega detector at his station, like hitting it would fix whatever problem it suffered from.

"It could just need some re-calibration, I'd take a break and take it to the engineers if I were you."

His neighbor scoffed. "Hmph, that's probably it, let me test it on you real quick, see how broken it is."

Aaron realized that he was probably the source of contamination, the insanely sensitive detector was probably picking up his magic from across the workstation. His heart threatened to leap out of his chest as the other scientist aimed the detector. Instantly it began to whine and crackle like it would if aimed at a pony.

"Holy shit....this thing really is busted. Someone must have left it on infrared scan."

Aaron thanked whatever gave thought to this astoundingly oblivious man. "Yeah, worthless piece of junk," he said as he sweated out his nervousness.

"Guess I'm headed to the engineers, want a cold drink or something while I'm out? You look a little warm."

"No thanks, I'm about finished here. You could probably take the rest of the day off, I'll redo your specimens while you're gone."

"You're a real pal Dr. Patterson. See you tomorrow." The other biologist walked out of the zoological vault, carrying the heavy, perfectly functioning omega detector.

Aaron very quickly gave the specimens a once over, none seemed flawed or contaminated, his magical sensitivity not detecting any trace of magic, harmonious or chaotic. Without warning the other biologist returned to his station. Aaron checked his watch to discover that half an hour had passed without his knowledge.

"Well, what did the engineers say?"

The other biologist had a puzzled look to replace his earlier anger. "Strangest thing, all the detectors have been acting funny. Every time they aim at someone they go off, no matter what exposure."

"Must have something to do with the nuclear decay put off by the generators down stairs. That radiation does tend to show up in the funniest places." Aaron heaped on the bullshit, hoping to cover the fact that while the detectors moaned around other people, they screamed at him.

"Can't be, those generators are shielded with six feet of lead. Besides, this is definitely Surge energy that they are picking up, all the detectors are on the highest wavelength sensitivity. One thing keeps bothering me, why did it act so strongly around you, Dr. Patterson?"

Aaron didn't know whether he could trust the man or not, so he bullshitted some more. "I have a magnetic personality I guess."

Suspicion laced the man's every movement and expression, then to Aaron's infinite relief he burst out laughing. "Good one man! I think I can mold that into a pick up line!" He continued to laugh, even after he left the zoological vault.

*********************************************************************************************

Not bothering with the standard entry word of "Cupcakes", Aaron opened the door to his shared apartment. Inside sat seven tired, dirty and irritable women all decompressing from their day.

"Honey, I'm home," he said with a monotone drawl. The six pony women stared at him, confused and slightly annoyed. He barely dodged a book that came flying for his head.

"Who you callin' 'honey', buster?" Rainbow Dash had dirt smears on her face and lay spread out on her bed, she had probably been assigned to aiding with the lift cleanup.

"Well not you anymore, Miss Vinegar. Maybe the actual ladies will appreciate my warm sentiments."

Pinkie sat quietly staring at a wall, her eyes fixed on nothing. "I never want to see another dirty dish, forever and ever. Maybe not even a kitchen."

Rarity lay curled up in a ball on her bed, rocking back and forth a little. "Me either Pinkie. And I most certainly never want to see yellow rubber gloves ever again. As Celestia is my witness, yellow and rubber are forever scratched from my creative list."

"Why do you humans keep so much junk in your library?" groaned Twilight. "And how is it possible that none of it was sorted, by genre or alphabetically?!"

"We looked into the future, saw a certain lavender unicorn librarian and said, 'Hey, you want to mess up the archives, just to screw with her?'" Twilight gave him a look of utter malice, then laid an arm over her face out of exhaustion.

Applejack just lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling, a small groan escaping her lips. "Who the heck knew that foldin' laundry could plum tucker out a strong gal like me?"

Only Fluttershy seemed happy, she even stood up and gave her human friend a hug. "My day was really awesome! Thanks for calling me sweet like honey, if you don't mind that is."

He looked Fluttershy over, she wasn't dirty or mentally scarred, as far as he could tell. "Okay, I give up. What did you do today?"

"Well, when the army men started asking us what we did as a career, I said I didn't have one. So they asked what I liked to do, and I said I liked children and animals. Then they said something about how pretty I was and sent me to the maternity ward!"

"Uh, there's only one baby there Fluttershy."

"I know, and she is just the cutest little snuggly buggly creature. I fed her and burped her and sang to her. She was so adorable! More adorable than Angel Bunny. I think I want a baby of my own," she said with a smirk. Twirling a lock of her hair around a finger she took a step closer to the man.

Aaron realized what she was up to and distanced himself from Fluttershy gently. "Uh, hehe, I'm sure you'll find the right stallion eventually." His eyes darted back and forth, his hands raised defensively. "You just have to be aggressive... which you seem to have nailed down." He was now backing away from the pink haired young woman, who approached with predatory intent. "Someone control her!"

"Fluttershy, knock it off, dear. Don't violate the only source of testosterone in the room, it might come in handy if we need some heavy lifting done," said a nonchalant Dr. Mcentyre, reading a book on her bed. "Guess I owe you five 'bits' or whatever it was you called it."

All six of the young women burst out laughing, breaking their facade of stoicism, Fluttershy included. "And you all said that those assertiveness classes didn't work, you all owe me five bits!" she continued her healthy chuckle.

Aaron boiled like a kettle, they could almost see steam coming out of his ears. "If you ladies will excuse me," he managed to force out, "I'll be taking a shower and I will seriously consider moving in with the Marines. At least they have limits."

He stood to go to the washroom, only to have a sharp pain on his rump as somepony gave it a pinch. "That's ten bits!" They all started their hyena-like chortle again, Pinkie snorting as she laughed.

"I have never felt so outnumbered," he muttered as he grabbed a fresh towel.

*********************************************************

Though their jest had humiliated him some what, Aaron maintained his residence. The six pony women and the older scientist had once again wasted the evening watching movies and chatting like school girls. Aaron took solace in music, finding his music player in his pack from Canterlot. He listened as Metallica sang about pain and loneliness, then as Mozart twirled his heart with his piano. He noticed that all the women had collapsed from the exhaustion of the day, so he mused out loud as he switched between songs.

"What am I doing here? Where is my place in life? Am I doomed to be just a plaything for forces greater than myself?"

A finger hooked around one of the cords to his music player and gave it a tug. "Well, those aren't really questions that I can answer, Mr. Patterson."

He looked to see the lavender eyes of Twilight staring him down. "I didn't know you were still awake Twilight."

"I didn't want to disturb you or anything, but from what everypony says, you talk to yourself a lot."

He chuckled at her correct observation. "Have a seat, listen to some music with me."

She sat next to him on his bed. "Human music? What's it like?"

"That depends, our music covered everything, every type of sound and instrument. Music that could be considered harsh and hateful, but also music that stirred the soul and made people dance when they heard it."

"Well, how about some piano?"

He smiled. "It shall be done." He thumbed to an old piece by deBussy, Clair de Lune.

Music filled Twilight's ear, beautiful, soulful music. "Aaron, you always seem like you are running from something. When you were with us you wanted to be here, and now that you are here, it seems like you want nothing more than to go back to Ponyville."

He took in a deep breath, slowly letting it out as he considered the truth of what Twilight asked him. "It seems like my life has been defined by who or what I've been running from. When I was little, I was running from my friends because they hurt me. When I was in college I was running from my father. When the War started I ran from what I didn't understand. Then when I understood it, I ran from what I knew."

"Why have you spent your whole life running? What are you afraid of?"

"I don't know, maybe it's failure, maybe loneliness. Maybe I'm running from fear itself. It might have been why I was so happy in Ponyville, I knew I didn't have to be afraid when I had true friends like you. I saw how much love and good came from you, and I felt just a little closer to being in my place in life."

Twilight laid her hand gently on his resting hand. "It's easier for us ponies, when we discover our place in life we have our cutie marks to confirm it. But humans like you just have to follow your hearts."

"A very wise group of people once told me to follow my heart, but I never knew where my heart lay."

"Who told you that?"

Aaron cracked a small grin. "Legion did. All the souls of humanity told me to follow my heart, I thought they wanted me to wake up humanity and I would somehow be happy again. But my heart is still telling me to move on, that this is not my place of true happiness."

"Where is it taking you?"

"I don't know, it could be on the other side of the Earth," he turned his head to look at Twilight, "Or it could be right in front of my face." He gave Twilight a friendly tap on the shoulder with a fist.

Twilight smiled, patting her friend on the shoulder. "It's late, we should probably get some sleep." She stood from his bed and meandered over to her own.

"Yeah, maybe tomorrow will bring some answers to my ultimate questions. Goodnight Twilight."

"Goodnight Aaron."

*********************************************************************

I'll be the first to admit that this chapter is kind of tedious and serves no real purpose other than as filler to not make the war come too quickly. You all know the drill. Questions, comments etc. below.

The Hero's Fall

The ponies all awoke to their normal routine, reapply the spell, become humans and wash up for breakfast. They trudged to the mess hall at their appointed time to have the horrid breakfast of yeast cultures and reconstituted mystery mash. Perfectly normal morning, considering the definitions of 'normal' had been thrown out the window several centuries ago.

Returning to their apartment to prepare for work detail, none of them expected what happened next. Klaxons blared as a message was played over the P.A. system.

Warning, system override engaged. Containment Procedures aborted. All entrances open.

"What's that mean Aaron?" asked a frantic Rarity who had her palms to her ears.

He stood incredulously, his mouth slightly agape as he realized what it meant. "It means we are free, the doors have opened. We can return to the surface."

All around him were dimmed cheers of people who craved their freedom from the oppressive underground Vault.

Another voice came over the P.A., not a computerized voice this time, it was General McGoff.

"All unassigned soldiers report to the armory, arm yourselves and begin reconnaissance of the areas surrounding Stronghold."

"We don't have much time! Grab the Elements and lets get you all out of here!" They each grabbed their own Element, throwing it around their neck or in a pocket. Leaving Dr. Mcentyre behind, the seven charged out of their apartment, running full speed for the main door to Lazarus. Violently pushing people out of his way, Aaron led the way as they entered the main area of Lazarus. The stasis modules had all been cleared from the area, but throngs of people replaced them, all eager to get to the surface.

A line of soldiers blocked the way at the main door, preventing any civilians or scientists from leaving before the area was declared clear. Without thought he grabbed all the magic in his arsenal, his hands and eyes glowing with his determination. A shout called out. "Stop them! They are the enemy in disguise!" It was the biologist from yesterday, carrying an omega detector that screamed out as it homed in on the magically infused pony women.

The soldiers noticed the glow of magic coming from Aaron, raising their weapons they shouted to him as he charged ahead. "Dr. Patterson, stand down! You are infected!"

With an outward push of his magic all of the soldiers were thrown to either side. People screamed as they saw his magic, nearly trampling one another to get out of his way. He and his friends exited the main door of Lazarus, charging up the stairs to reach the surface.

They ran as fast as they could up the seemingly endless staircase, the true light of day becoming brighter with every step. They reached the ground floor of the main building, with a curse Aaron realized the lifts were working again, and a squad of soldiers was most likely on their way up right now. They dashed through the building to the light of day. Out on the tarmac a hole began to scrape open as the lifts started bringing out helicopters.

With a final burst of speed they reached the front gate of Stronghold, he ripped it open with what magic he could summon.

"Run! I'll hold them back. Go straight east until you find your army!"

"We won't leave you behind! You're coming with us!" shouted Rainbow Dash as she grabbed his arm.

"No, leave me! All that matters is that you get to safety."

Rainbow Dash held on to him. "But you promised!"

He threw his arms around Dashie, hugging her tight. "Sometimes we have to break promises to those we love most," he whispered to her.

Rainbow broke away, joining her companions on the forests edge, they hesitated, then ran to the forest, all except Twilight. "Aaron, I won't leave you."

"You have to Twilight, tell Princess Celestia and Princess Luna what you saw here, make them see us as more than monsters." She grabbed his head with both hands and planted her lips directly onto his cheek. Though brief, her kiss gave him strength. She broke away from him, turning to run to the forest, back to her own kind. His eyes burned with his own personal brand of magic.

Aaron heard the rising roar of a helicopter engine starting up. He turned back to base, summoning every scrap of magic he grabbed onto the gunship. It groaned and strained in his grip, threatening with every second to break free. He growled as he tried to prevent it from pursuing his friends. Hands extended into the grips he had on the chopper, he strained with every fiber of his being. A squad of soldiers in full combat dress emerged from the main building, they dropped to shooting positions and began to fire. Bullets whizzed past him as he held onto the helicopter, coming close but never hitting. He diverted a single hand to encapsulate the soldiers in a shield. More soldiers were pouring out from every possible exit to Lazarus, another helicopter came up from the lifts to take the skies.

Though taxed to every limit, he diverted his shield to capture the other chopper, though his hold on both could not hold long. The fire from the soldiers returned, a bullet grazing his thigh. Screaming in pain, he let go of his grip on the helicopters and threw a hand to his bleeding hip. Time slowed down, he looked to see yet another of the helicopters taking to the sky, entire battalions of soldiers approaching him. In his mind he saw their faces, the beautiful faces of all those he loved. With a primal shout he threw his hands back up, his shield weakly preventing any more soldiers from coming closer. A shot rang out and a bullet struck him in the shoulder like a fist. A third shot came and hit his shin. His mouth was wide with screams of pain that could not come. Falling to his knees, Aaron hoped he had given them enough time. Time was still slow from his point of view, he saw the boots of soldiers charge past him in pursuit of the six Elements. One pair walked, and stopped in front of him.

Aaron lifted his head to see Commander Pilotte aiming an assault rifle at his forehead. He lowered it. "Why Aaron? They are the enemy, you were a hero to us. Why have you turned against us?"

Choking on blood, Aaron struggled to speak. He coughed a crimson spray, blood pouring from his wounds. "For........Harmony."

Pilotte was torn, Aaron was his friend. But he was also one of them, flinging his magic about like one of the enemy. He barked orders to some of his soldiers. "You three! Take Dr. Patterson to sick-bay, then to a prison cell. Keep Tesla units on him at all times."

For Aaron, the world went black.

**********************************************************************************

The six embodiements of the Elements crashed through the brush, their only thoughts being of getting to safety and of their friend who had sacrificed himself for them. They knew now that the humans knew of their true identities as the enemy. They ducked branches and leapt logs, and soon the smell of desert air wafted through the forest.

"We're close! Keep running!"

A white and gold blur slammed down in front of them, holding a spear level with their chests. Several more fell from the skies to surround the friends.

"Well, what do we have here? A pack of demons out on a hunt?" a familiar voice called to them. A grizzled warrior walked out from the forest shadows. An aged pegasus that had the scars of many campaigns decorating his face and hide with the armor of a commander.

"Sir, we are friends! We know you commander!" cried Rainbow Dash.

"Don't talk to me demon! Your kind have our people prisoner, and I will not rest until they return to us! I will take all but one of you prisoner, the last one of you will return to your leaders and tell them our demands. Your life for those of the Elements!"

Twilight called to him. "Sir, we are the Embodiements! We have the Elements!" she pulled the Tiara of Magic from her pocket, presenting it to the commander.

He looked with confusion. "How do you have the Elements demon? HAVE YOU MURDERED THE MARES THAT BORE THEM?!?!" He whipped out a sword in anger that his beloved Elements may have been harmed.

"We are the mares that bear them you nitwit! We took on human form for our safety!" shouted Rarity.

Recognition dawned in his eyes, the not so subtle similarities to their pony forms becoming evident. "My ladies! How is this possible?"

"We used a spell for our own safety, now take us back to the army!"

"Yeah! There are thousands of them behind us!" screamed Pinkie.

"Thousands of what?"

"Humans, a whole dang army of 'em." A faraway crack sounded and a tree near Applejack's head burst in a shower of splinters.

"On our backs! Now!" screamed the commander as more of the invisible projectiles hit trees and rocks around them. Jumping on the pegasi scouts, the six friends earned their wings as they took to the skies.

**************************************************************

"By the Princesses...." the lone scout watched from his nimbus perch as The Army of Man poured out of hiding. They were like a swarm of insects, thousands of them emerging from every building as they fanned outward into the forest. Like a black wave they would consume whatever got in their path, relentless in their revenge. And then the monsters came.

Great flying machines with blades for wings took to the skies, the din of their mechanical parts worse than the roar of any dragon. From the demon's holes came out thickly armored things that trundled across the ground. Great snouts of metal on top of impenetrable hides of steel. The human army began to bring out their heavy weapons, large versions of the weapons that they carried in their hands.

"There is no hope, we cannot win." With his life in danger, the scout turned tail and fled back to the pony army.

***************************************************************

"Princess! We have rescued the Embodiements!" a single warrior shouted into Celestia's command center. The army was in position at the borders to the Demon Lands, waiting for the enemy to rear their heads. Celestia and Luna looked to one another, then charged out to see her student who she had damned to the hands of the humans on the night of the Gala.

"Twilight? Twilight Sparkle?!" she called out as she ran to the pavilion that they had been brought to. She ignored dignity, she ignored station, all Princess Celestia wanted was to see the student that had become like her daughter. Throwing open the flaps to the tent, her smile changed to a look of horror as six humans stared back at her.

"Princess!" one shouted, throwing her arms around Celestia's neck. Though completely tolerant of humans, Celestia recoiled when the strange female human addressed her. Recognition dawned as she looked upon her student, then anger.

"Twilight! What have you done!? What have you become!?" The human that was Twilight fell back, a look of hurt on her round human eyes.

"I'm....I'm a human Princess. We were trapped in the Vault where the rest of the humans were and we became like them to fit in."

"You have become one of them Twilight! I held back their memory for a reason, the evil their kind are capable of was the reason Mother decided to pacify them. They collapsed in on themselves!" she shouted to her student. Celestia's horn glowed with magic, a wave pulsed out and struck the six women. Their bodies shimmered and changed back to their normal forms. "You will go back to Ponyville this instant!"

"But-"

"No 'buts' young mare! You have done your part in this War, now go home before I see fit to take you back to Canterlot!"

Though glad to see them alive, Celestia had to be harsh on them. She turned to leave.

"...No." She stopped in mid step, her wings outspread in anger for her student's defiance.

Celestia turned back to her student, her eyes glowering at the unicorn. "And just why not Twilight?"

"We saw the good in humanity, they aren't monsters!"

"Yeah, they're kind and peaceful!" shouted Pinkie.

"They are a loving people Celestia, I have seen it!" said Rarity.

"They're afraid, that's all. If we show them a little kindness they won't be afraid of us anymore," said Fluttershy as she hovered in front of the Princess' face.

Rainbow Dash shoved Fluttershy out of the way to hover in front of the Princess. "Yeah, they're like me! Rough on the outside, but gentle and loyal inside!"

Applejack pushed aside Rainbow Dash. "They're good and honest folk, but like Fluttershy said, they're just scared. I may not be as bright as y'all, but I know a decent person when I find one.They love their families and love livin' itself. They just want ta live Princess, that's all. And I sure as shoot wouldn't mind takin a step back to give them room to live."

Twilight walked up to the Princess. "Princess, all my life I've never doubted you. Since the day I saw you raise the sun, I knew that you were powerful and wise. But today, these past few days, I've learned something. I've learned to doubt you. You say that those creatures, no, those people are vile and cruel monsters. Well, I've walked a mile in their shoes, I've seen them bring new life into this world. I know that they are people who have made mistakes, and I know that they are people who are just afraid and alone. For the first time in my life, I doubt you. Princess, please. Just look into my memories, see what I saw, see how good they can be. Give them another chance."

Princess Celestia sighed in resignation, though she was still angry with Twilight, she loved her enough to do one small thing for her. "Countless times I have seen the folly of Man, but countless more have I seen what they are capable of when they use their hearts, and not their anger. I will look into your mind Twilight, but this is the only leniency I grant you." Her horn glowed white, and Celestia leaned to touch her student's horn.

She held contact for a minute, various expressions crossing her face as she viewed the new humanity from Twilight's eyes. The bond between student and master was lifted, and Celestia opened her eyes. "Did he really do it? Did he really make their hearts whole and pure?"

"He died once to give them purity, and he died again to give us freedom." Twilight's voice trembled, sure that her friend had died saving them.

"Do not give death such credit, from my experience Aaron has more will to live than anypony else that I know. Now rest, the journey back to Ponyville is long."

"But we can't go yet Princess Celestia, he still needs us."

"Twilight, this place is about to be a war zone, if anything I should have you sent to Kali'Gryph at the very least!"

Twilight finally acquiesced to her master, "If you so desire....my liege."

And with the formality came the pain, Celestia had lost her student, her bright, beloved, intelligent Twilight had forsaken her.

**********************************************************************

He felt separate, distant from his own soul. They had taken him to sick-bay, given him a rough shot of anesthesia and dug out the bullet lodged in his shoulder. They stitched him up and gave him another shot to ease the anesthetic. As soon as he could stand they hauled him off to the brig. Passing through the main area of Lazarus, people stared at him with looks that begged to know why their hero had betrayed them.

Once inside he desperately tried to reach for his magic, but every time it slipped away. His clouded mind became clearer with every hour he sat in the completely enclosed room that was his holding cell. He realized with despair that they had gotten clever and erected a Tesla device somewhere nearby, making him a pitiful, useless shell of what used to be a man.

After what seemed like millenia the door opened to admit the General. He brought in a chair, taking a seat across from Aaron. He looked down at the wounded wretch with several emotions running through his mind.

"What are you Aaron?"

Aaron lifted his eyes to see his old friend. "I'm just a man."

"Bullshit, there has never been a man alive that can hold down two helicopters and fend off a battalion of soldiers like that."

Aaron lifted a shackled hand and stared at himself. "I don't know what I am, I don't know where I belong," he said in a whimper.

"You belong with us, at least you used to." The General ran a hand through his short hair, graying at the temples. "I don't know what to think of you anymore kiddo. You're the reason we are even awake, but suddenly you're on their side?"

"I don't want there to be any sides. I just want peace." Aaron swallowed the pain of his wounds, accepting it as his punishment for his failure. "What about Eve?"

General McGoff sighed, shaking his head and thinking about the other scientist. "She's being treated by civilian psychiatrists for Stockholm Syndrome. She didn't know who they were, and she won't be punished for it."

Aaron saw the look in McGoff's eye when he talked about Dr Mcentyre, that care and concern that only implied one thing. "You love her, don't you?"

General McGoff sighed and shook his head, returning to Aaron's interrogation. "So your friends, wolves in sheep's clothing?" Aaron nodded. "Damn shame, they were a fine group of young women. Are they why you defected?" He nodded again. "So you get some enemy tail and suddenly you're David Copperfield's wet dream? I can see the appeal, but I thought you amongst us wouldn't go that route."

Aaron snapped out of his fugue, anger in his eyes. "I never touched them! They were my friends damn it! The best friends I could have ever asked for. And they were more than that! They were my family, like my own sisters! And I loved them as my family!"

The General stood and shouted, veins bulging in his head. "Damn it Aaron, we are your family! Those people out there, scared and alone in the dark, the people we are meant to protect, that is your family!"

"I did my duty to mankind. I gave us purity and wholeness. I don't want to fight anymore, I just want to go home, Tyler. Look inside yourself, do you really want to go out there and fight them?"

The General breathed hard from the anger he had felt, but he composed himself. "That is beside the point. What did you do to us Aaron?"

"I infected us, made us whole. We were made with a hole in our hearts, and I fixed that hole. It made us fight and kill out of fear when we could have done things peacefully. It made us suffer and hate when we could have loved."

"How?" The General sat down again.

"My friends used their magic to purify Lucifer, and I used Lucifer to purify us. Don't you feel it? Like a weight has been taken off your shoulders? Like a hole in you has been filled?"

The General's eyes stared straight forward at Aaron. "How did you know?"

"My friends did that for us. For every single human that has ever lived."

"Aaron, I don't know how to feel about this. You willingly and knowingly contaminated all of us with Surge energy. What the hell is that going to do to us?"

"I don't know."

The General sighed. "What do I do with you Aaron? You are one of them, at this point our most ancient enemies. You committed aggressive acts against our armed forces and harbored the enemy. If the government was still out there they'd have me string you from the flagpole by your neck."

"Then let me rot Tyler. It's the least I deserve."

"Why? Why aren't you fighting for yourself?"

"Because I failed. I failed mankind and now I failed them too. I'll never be accepted by either. I'm a monster, Tyler."

The General opened his mouth to speak, then sighed. Standing up he grabbed his chair and left. As he walked out the door he turned back. "You were like a son to me Aaron."

Parley

Amongst the humans was none other than General McGoff. McGoff swore he would tear off that little traitor's head as he charged out unprotected to end this foolishness. Reaching the center of the battlefield, the soldiers with him stood in a line and raised their weapons.

The pony force sent out Princess Celestia and a set of her commanders along with several unicorn battlemages. They too spread out in a line, their horns glowing with magic.

General McGoff stopped a few feet from his fellow human, hand on his holstered pistol. "Aaron, get out of our way! This is our conflict, not yours!"

The single man stood like a stone, firm in his belief. "Never."

The unicorn commander with the pony party took a step forward. "Princess Luna, get away from that monster! He will turn on you!"

Luna held firm as well. "No, Commander. You will listen to me! I once fought for his kind's right to live and for their very souls. And I will be damned before I fail them again!"

Aaron continued to speak to General McGoff, an air of a son pleading to his father in his voice. "General, we can choose. It was never our destiny to die fighting some pointless war. We don't have a destiny, it was always our choice. We came here because we chose to, we fought the War because we chose to. Please Tyler, just talk to them. Give peace a chance."

The General softened, slowly removing his hand from his holstered weapon. "We never had a choice, because their kind never gave us one. I will parley with them, but this is the end of us, Aaron."

"For once I do not care what you think about me General. I don't want anyone to suffer for my mistakes anymore."

Luna talked to Celestia and her commanders. "Please sister, do what is right. Nothing will be solved through mindless bloodshed."

The unicorn commander burst out in anger. "I will gouge out my own eyes before I talk peace with a demon!"

Celestia glared coldly at her commander. "Then you are relieved of duty. Leave my sight!" The commander cringed, then bowed to his Princess and teleported away.

Celestia lifted her head and spoke to Aaron. "We will talk if they will talk. But they must undergo the test first."

Aaron muttered to Luna, "What test?"

"They have to choose correctly or we will have war," Luna whispered back.

He directed his attention back to Celestia, nodding and accepting this on behalf of his race. "Alright, we'll do your test."

***********************************************************************

Princess Celestia and General McGoff approached one another, levitating between them were two arrows and two apples, one set for each side. Behind McGoff stood his personal guard unit, all with their guns trained on the unicorns that stood behind Celestia.

Without words the leaders regarded one another, giving a slight nod to their foe. Celestia spoke first.

"I am Princess Celestia, Bringer of Day and ruler of Equestria."

"I am General Tyler McGoff, leader of my people and of our city."

The Princess gave a short bow to her adversary, the General giving an unpracticed and unexpected bow back. "Well met General, being that neither of us called this parley, I should ask of you to choose first."

The General looked at his selection, to his right lay an arrow, its tip barbed and its shaft black as night. To his left lay the apple, golden with a distinctly green shimmer in the light.

"Come on Tyler, do the right thing," Aaron muttered.

McGoff considered his choices. Life, death; harmony, chaos. Something within him spoke, telling him to think for his race, to think of the innocents, the loved ones, and the children of humanity. The General raised a hand, it hovered for a second in the center, then drifted to the apple. He looked up and his eyes met Princess Celestia's, her lavender eyes filled with fear of what he might choose. McGoff cleared his mind, sought serenity within this turbulence, and then brought his grasp down on the arrow. Two hundred thousand humans and ponies held their breath, the delegations both gasped, the humans chambering shells in their guns.

General McGoff felt the smooth grain of the arrow, the softness of the fletching belying the pure deadliness of the object. He brought the arrow to his chest with both hands.

"I'm tired of fighting," he said, and the arrow snapped in his hands. He reached and took the apple as he cast aside the pieces of the arrow. "I choose life." Celestia's eyes watered with joy, and without a second thought lifted a hoof and grabbed her own apple.

General McGoff pulled out his gun and raised it high above his head. Turning back to the human army he shouted, "MEN! THE WAR IS OVER!" and cast aside his pistol.

The words hung in the air, a stillness coming from both sides. A single human soldier emerged from the trees. Standing alone, he unslung his weapon. He held his rifle over his head, showing it to his comrades. Without ceremony he threw it to the dust. More and more human soldiers emerged from the trees, pulling the magazines out of their guns, tossing their weapons to the dirt. A cheer began to rise as they realized they could finally live with peace and harmony, that they could live on this Earth without fear.

Celestia turned back her own host. "THE WAR IS OVER!" she shouted mightily. A pony walked forward and threw his spear on the ground, all of his comrades following suit. Soon the entire pony force cheered for the lives that had been spared, for the guilt that had been averted, and for the blood that would not be spilled in their names.

One of McGoff's guards dropped his gun and walked to a unicorn, extending a hand. The unicorn drew his sword, dropping it in the dirt, looking up to the fatigued and armored human, he extended his hoof, gently placing it in his outstretched hand.

Aaron laughed with joy, grabbing Luna around the neck he gave her a hug. "We did it Luna! WE DID IT! HAHA!" he laughed.

"We...we did it," she said with quiet incredulity. "WE DID IT!" she screamed again, and threw both of her wings around her ancient foe and newfound friend.

**************************************************

Down in Lazarus a single soldier rushed down to the main area. "Everybody! We made peace! THE WAR IS OVER!" Thousands of humans raised their shouts in joy, shaking the very earth.

***************************************************

Though banished by Celestia, the six friends did not leave. They witnessed the acts of Luna and Aaron, working together for peace. And they rushed down the hill to meet him when Celestia and the General McGoff both chose the magic apples that gave peace and healing.

Aaron was surprised by the half dozen warm pony bodies that joined his and Luna's embrace. Looking to them he cried out in joy, throwing his arms around as many ponies as possible.

"Aaron, you did it!" cried Twilight.

"No, we all did it," he replied, throwing an arm around her neck and planting a thankful kiss on her cheek.

Princess Celestia and General McGoff stood aside from the thousands of elated ponies and humans that now filled the fields. Both had grins on their faces, but at thought occurred to the Princess, and Celestia turned to McGoff.

"General McGoff?"

"Call me Tyler, Princess."

"We still have to discuss the terms of our armistice, Tyler."

General McGoff nodded, realizing that though their war was over, they still had to lay down some rules. "Well, first I would ask for your recognition to our right to life. As a condition of that I would also ask for sovereignty and our independence."

Celestia smiled, giving a slight nod. "Granted. I would ask for free and open trade between our peoples, terms of which will be discussed at a later point."

It was Tyler's turn to smile. "Granted. I request a permanent ambassador in your court."

"Granted, but only if you do the same."

"Agreed, Princess."

Though satisfied that they had been able to do in seconds what normally took years of diplomacy and negotiations, Celestia had one more issue. "However, I have one more demand, Aaron must come back to Equestria with us to face his crimes."

The General took on an offended look, stepping back from his one time enemy. "Absolutely not!"

Aaron himself walked over, his friends and Princess Luna in tow. "Tyler, I did a few things that I should be punished for. Princess Celestia, I submit to whatever judgement you may lay on me."

General McGoff placed himself between the Princess and Aaron, placing his hand on the younger man's shoulder. "Like hell you are Aaron, we have a society to rebuild! And we need you to be a part of it."

Princess Celestia took a few steps closer to her human friend. "Aaron Patterson, for your crimes against Equestria, I sentence you to a year imprisonment. However, being that we cannot build a prison cell that seems to hold you, I place you in the custody of the Embodiements of the Elements of Harmony. And as for the legality of such an action, I declare you a citizen of Equestria, with full rights."

A tear threatened to fall down Aaron's cheek, and he smiled at the Princess. "Thank you, Celestia," he replied quietly.

General McGoff did not understand. "Aaron is a citizen of our sovereign nation, he falls under our jurisdiction!"

Aaron placed a hand on McGoff's shoulder, looking straight into his eyes. "General sir, this is something I want." He looked the General straight in the face, then he looked back, walking over and encompassing as many ponies as he could with an embrace.

The General had his son back, and Celestia had her daughter. Both of their hearts melted at the sight. "Oh alright, but you come right back here to Lazarus after you bail out. We need you, Terra needs you."

"Terra?" Aaron asked in confusion.

"Our nation, The Republic of Terra." McGoff glanced out at the world, giving a name to his nation in honor of the world which had given them another chance. The general looked out to his people as he continued discussion with Princess Celestia.

"Aaron, what happens now?" asked Twilight.

"I don't know, it's a whole new world for them, for us. I'm going to start by going home, home to Ponyville with my family."

Up in the sky, rainbows flew and flashed as Mother cheered for her children who had made peace. Great fields of the most beautiful flowers sprang up around the feet of the humans and the ponies. For the first time her family was complete and she wept in joy as human and pony shook hands in friendship.

General McGoff and Princess Celestia stood facing their now mingled peoples, as one they held up the apple of peace in an image that would become an icon in the cultures of Equestria and Terra.

Epilogue: Family

He was home. Home in Ponyville with everypony that he loved and held dear. The War of the Fallen Race was now just a story to be told by historians, both human and pony. Though tensions were high after the Peace of Terra, they settled as the humans displayed their peaceful intentions, and now out of work ponies flocked to the Human Republic of Terra seeking opportunity. Humans found the borders of Terra a bit too constricting, so with the permission of the Princess herself, began to settle parts of Equestria.

The humans struggled, but with the aid of their new allies and the strength of friendship they began to rebuild their society. Human influence began to show itself in pony society, goods from the advanced Terrans began to show up in the Canterlot markets. But Aaron didn't care, his race walked the earth and he was home with his friends.

"Okay Applebloom, you ready for this one?" he said to the little red maned filly that rode on his shoulders.

"No! This one is way too far! We'll never make it!"

"We'll have to try!" He gave a small jump and landed safely on the other side of the ominous puddle that stood in their way. "Yay! We made it!" Both laughed at their little adventure.

They arrived at the schoolhouse where Aaron was taking her. He set her on the ground and took a seat by the door. "Sorry we're late Miss Cheerilee!" The mare looked confused at one of the strange new creatures that now roamed around peacefully.

"Applebloom, where is your family member? It's your turn to bring one in for Family Appreciation Day."

"That's him there by the door!" She took her seat with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, who had already been introduced to Applebloom's "cousin".

"But, that's a hoomeen."

Aaron stood to introduce himself. "The word is "human", I'm Aaron Patterson, Applebloom's removed cousin." he said cheerily.

"Um, I'm Cheerilee. And welcome to our classroom today sir." she extended a hoof. He gently took it and shook her hoof.

"A pleasure to meet such a lovely mare." Cheerilee blushed. "Well, what do I talk about?"

"Well sir, what do you do for a living?"

He sat on a small stool at the front. "Well I haven't held down a job in centuries, so I guess you could call me an adventurer."

A little filly with a silver spoon on her flank raised a hoof. "What kind of adventures, salt binges?" she and her friend snickered.

"Not at all, I've been a soldier, an inventor, a prisoner, a champion, a savior. I've seen the ultimate darkness, and been there to usher in the light. I am a giver of life and a curer of ails. I wield science and magic together for Harmony. Many times before have I held the fate of my kind and yours in my hands and I made the souls of my kind pure."

The utter attention of every filly and colt was his. "Now, who wants to hear about the first time I met Princess Celestia?"

"You know Princess Celestia?" some of the foals said with awe.

"On a first name basis! I'm the human ambassador in her court! I'm even close friends with Princess Luna." he began to regale the young minds with his adventures, standing to imitate the actions he described and using character voices to make it more dramatic. Of course he left out a lot of parts, young impressionable minds and all. At one point he used his magic to imitate Legion talking through him. Though normally only supposed to last an hour, his presentation took up the entire afternoon.

"And that is how the nations of Equestria and Terra were born, and how our races came to know one another as friends." several pairs of little hooves clipped and clapped as they applauded this most amazing family appreciation presentation. Several more came from the doorway where their parents stood to take their foals home. Among them were his friends, large smiles on their faces.

********************************************************************

Dear Princess Celestia,

As ambassador of the Republic of Terra, I gratefully accept your invitation to the Grand Galloping Gala. As per our agreement, I have selected nine additional human beings to act as dignitaries for your event. Hopefully we may discuss our little issue regarding settlers in the Everfree Forest and the problem of the dragon migratory path over Terra.

On a personal note, I am happy here in Ponyville. Happier than I have ever been. As I write this letter down I am surrounded by my friends who love me like a brother. I can never thank you enough for making peace with us, and I hope this letter reaches my dear friend Luna too. It is odd, is it not? For two millenia we hated each other, the hatred poisoning our lives and affecting everyone else around us. But now we are the greatest and most trusting of friends. What you say is true, friendship really is the most powerful magic in the world. There are rumors Celestia, rumors coming from Terra that there may be other human vaults across the world. I don't know what to feel about these rumors, but if they are hostile, you will have the full strength and influence of Terra behind you. I look forward to seeing you again Tia, and if I am not mistaken, we still have a little game of chess to finish.

Your eternal friend,
Aaron Patterson

Aaron finished penning his letter to the Princess. The light of day grew through his window, the perfect sunrise gracing the horizon. Celestia's gift to him, a beautiful sight. He rolled the scroll up and placed it in his pocket. Standing from his desk he walked out of the library to Ponyville. Ponies waved to him and he waved back. They tolerated him, no, they loved him. Walking to Sugarcube Corner he ordered the first batch of cupcakes for the day from his favorite party mare.

"Whats the news Pinkie?"

"Nothing much, you humans have such odd cookbooks." As a gift by the freed humans, the six mares could have whatever they wanted from the Lazarus archives. Pinkie had taken some pastry cookbooks.

"OOOHHH!!! Who are they?" she pointed out the window to a wagon being pulled by hired ponies. Inside were familiar faces.

"I'll handle the introductions on this one Pinkie."

He opened the door to Sugarcube Corner, he ran to the wagon to greet the new human immigrants. A small family, with a bouncing, healthy baby girl. The man of the family left the wagon to be met by Aaron. Recognizing an old friend, they embraced.

He whispered to his friend. "Welcome home."

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I've dreaded this day for so long now, I've finished the story that took up so much of my life. But it does not have to end here, a story like this can never really end. Have faith in Harmony and you shall be rewarded. Love and tolerate bronies.

Prologue: Genesis

At this, the end of my life, I must consider the nature of the universe and God as I always have. All men of science know that the universe is comprised of matter and energy. All universal processes can be defined as the interactions of these two constants. Matter is bound to all things by energy, and energy is altered and changed by the processes of matter. One cannot exist without the other. As beings of matter, we utilize energy to walk, to talk and to even form our minds. A creature of sentience is a being of near infinite complexity, all parts working together for the common goals of the whole. Is it too much to say, that as we are beings of matter whose bodies are wrought by energy and whose minds are comprised of energy, that there may be beings of energy who exert influence in the universe by manipulating their frequencies to manipulate matter? Such a being is not constricted by complexity, held back by the binds of matter. Such a being is infinitely simple, an utter contrast to the physical complexity of a being of primarily matter. And it may be possible that such a being of energy has not a body of infinite complexity; but a mind vaster than the gulf of space and utilizing the very energies of the universe, and possibly the energies within us as a portion of its great mind. I concede, after a lifetime of fighting against such thoughts that this near infinite mind whose intelligence seems to mirror our own, may be the mind of a god.

-The last known words of Dr Stephen Hawking, spoken in private to a group of his peers as the war for Earth raged around him.

************************************************************

Long ago, before the trees shaded the earth, before grasses swayed in the wind, before the waves crashed upon the shore, there was the Earth and The One. The One was not alive, not as we know, but She had qualities of life. Born in the fiery rebirth of her father The Sun, The One embodied the spirit of life and the soul of the Earth, she could take no true form but felt the pangs of loneliness.

She knew naught but loneliness, for the Earth was harsh and inhospitable. She was a mother with no child. And so she sought to see the hellish barrens become a paradise and frolic with her children. The air was still, so she released her breath to stir dust, making the wind. The earth was parched, She opened her bosom to let forth the waters, making the seas. There was coldness, but Her father The Sun gave warmth with his plentiful rays. She had magic, but held it back to let the world blossom in its own right.

The world was ready, but The One could not make life, for she knew not how to begin. She provided all of the necessary material, gave the world water and allowed for warmth. Life would have to make itself. The One would allow for life to choose its own path in Her creation. Feeling for the first time the great exertion of Her effort, she slumbered.

As She predicted, life slowly emerged. But the first were crude cells, incapable of thought or decision. The Earth Mother awoke, looked upon her creation and frowned, these were not the loving children she envisioned. She looked upon a lowly cell and using Her spirit, gave it the ability to grow larger and consume its neighbors. Feeling a divine plan forming, The Earth Mother slumbered again.

She again awoke, and to her infinite delight discovered her oceans teeming with primitive fish. Entire ecosystems had risen and fallen, succeeded and perished while She dreamt. But the lands remained empty, and frustration filled Her mind. Again, she went forth and found the lowliest of creatures, a simple fish. She gave it the ability to breath air and bade it to come to the land. The new creature took the first steps onto the land, and The Earth Mother was pleased. Content with her work, The Mother slumbered again.

And so the cycles continued, every few million years the goddess would reawaken and bestow her blessing upon a lowly creature, who would then rise one step closer to being the loving child that she desperately wanted. Gifts of fleet foot and great strength seemed to do little in the way of Her divine plan. What She craved was a child who could compare to her in some way.

But then she found a lowly species in the desert climes who would do perfectly. She took pity and bestowed intellect upon the lowly beast and once again returned to her slumber. But she had barely slept when she felt agony unlike any other. The race of intellect had betrayed her, they indeed had minds comparable to hers, but had become twisted by their own desires. Greed, hatred and distrust ran rife within them and the chosen race instead chose to destroy one another to forward their demented lust for power. Often they warred, many a time without purpose or provocation.

The goddess could do nothing directly to stop them, they had mastered her world and threatened to destroy it and themselves with each succeeding generation. They no longer loved their Mother the earth, entrusting themselves to their gods of logic and reason. The demon race enslaved many species to make up for their lack of physical strength, speed and endurance. Others simply for food.

She did not wish the utter extinction of her once chosen children, but their hearts had been made with a hole in them. A wound that they chose to fill with greed, fear and hate. The demon race chose those amongst themselves who embodied these traits that filled their hearts, and made them lead in their path of self annihilation. Instead She wanted to show them their mortality, expose their minds to the hatred within their hearts, to pacify the rage and hatred that the demons so willingly fell back upon.

She felt the return of her magic as the demons slaughtered one another, small portions of herself that had manifested in the demons and taken on their identities. The souls of her children knew the pain of their brethren, and only wished to see them give up their childish fighting and hate. They begged the Mother to do something, anything to make the suffering of their brothers stop.

The Mother felt sorrow for her creations, and imbued those they had enslaved with her magic to make them the demon's equals. Among the mightiest were the horses enslaved as beasts of burden, who grew smaller in size, but now had intellect to match the forsaken ones. But the demons were clever, and took to the skies to rain fire upon the rebelling creatures. The Mother saw their false form of flight and in her wisdom granted wings to many of the freed ponies, creating pegasi to bring the fight to the falsely winged monsters.

But the demons again thwarted her plans, shelling themselves within husks of armor and machinery. The Mother then created many creatures of myth to combat these abominations of her creation. This was not enough, and the Mother reluctantly gifted a part of herself to another group of ponies, her magic. To concentrate their spells, spiraling horns emerged from the foreheads of the magically imbued, making the first unicorns.

Bloody was the conflict waged for the control of the world, the scales never tipping one way or the other. The goddess decided to send her avatars to lead the rebelling creatures to victory. They chose the forms of alicorns, one black as night and one white as winter snow. Celestia and Luna were their names, and with their immortal aid the demons were successfully punished in the eyes of the god. The demons had been pacified in their hateful and violent natures.

But a great darkness emerged during the War, something that fed on the very souls of the demons and drove their minds to become less than that of the animals they once enslaved. Eventually the warriors of the forsaken race chose to flee and hide themselves away, a shattered fragment of the mighty civilization that had dominated and threatened to destroy the world. In their absence, the innocents of the demon race fell prey to the soul devouring hunger of the living darkness.

The world then knew harmony, though she now had the children she always had desired in the hastily created pony tribes, the goddess knew no greater exhaustion and left her daughters Celestia and Luna stewardship of the world, even to the responsibilities of raising the sun and moon.

The mostly unaltered "earth" ponies found joy and great responsibility in cultivating the land they were named after and so took to restoring the devastated land in the wake of the great conflict.

The winged and aloof pegasi were tasked with shepherding the winds and creating the weather in the absence of the Earth Mother's breath.

The mystical and powerful unicorns sought arcane knowledge and in doing so would maintain the flow of magic throughout the world.

And the goddess bestowed one final gift upon the world; something to ensure peace and love, but also to prevent a race as vile and twisted as the demons from ever regaining power ever again. The Elements of Harmony.

Though now believed to be no more than myth, sometimes an old pony will tell stories by the fireside to frighten their young foals about the demons who enslaved the world and defied Nature herself. The vanished Army of the Fallen Race who swore to bide their time in hiding and bring forth a black wave of death, chaos and revenge when they had regained their strength. The forsaken race who consumed flesh and destroyed for pleasure. Who stalked the earth on two legs instead of four. The Fallen Race known only as Man.

-Excerpt from Starswirl the Bearded's Essays on the Origin of Magic, written in the First Era of Equestrian Freedom. Removed and forbidden from the Royal Library in the Second Era of the Sun Alicorn.

*****************************************************************

Ours is a world in crisis. The year of The Fall was preceded by many which crippled and weakened the absolute power of humanity. The year is 2017, a year we have not yet known. The world is struck repeatedly by disastrous calamities which will pave the way for a new way of life. Disease is rampant, several drug resistant plagues have ravaged the planet, leaving unknown millions or billions dead or infirmed. Our ignorance of our impact on the global environment has created extremes of weather which drown untold thousands in torrential downpour while roasting millions in unending heat waves.

War is a common theme on the evening news, be it war for freedom or religion, or more recently, resources. Hundreds of thousands die for thoughtless causes and abstract concepts that are beyond them. Natural resources have begun to run dry, in desperation the virgin forests are ravaged for lumber, and today's deepest mines are jokes compared to the mega mines established to keep up with ever increasing demands. Atomic war has ravaged areas of the Middle East, rendering them completely uninhabitable.

To try and curtail such things from ever happening again, the leaders of the world swear away from nuclear weapons, and all missiles and bombs are dismantled and their plans destroyed. Noticing its own suffering, the people of America blindly elect men of the far left to lead them in empty promises of peace and prosperity. Freedom is lost as guns are completely outlawed for the civilian populace. The military suffers as well, budget cuts are made so extensively that older technologies must be relied on for survival, and the military is relegated to little more than a flashy militia force. Peace is no guarantee, without the specter of brutal retaliation and reprimand, dictators rise like a flame on dry summer grass.

Revolt and unrest, starvation and disease, suffering and ignorance. This is the world that isn't but could be, a world that is choking on its own bile, a world ripe for revolution. Mankind has chosen their fate, and ignored the warnings She has given them. Her cries of agony and sorrow for our self induced suffering have fallen on deaf ears.

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There, edited for your pleasure, ribbed for hers. In my opinion the edit is a hundred times better than the original.

Councils of War

The dawn was tinged red, partly from the still burning fires, partly from the amount of blood that had spilled that night. All across the world, The Second Surge had awoken creatures of myth and altered others in need. The human race was now at war for its very survival against this new onslaught. What had begun as paranoia and fear against ponies with intelligence had escalated into war, and then the Second Surge spilled forth across the land to raise its banners against the demon race that is mankind.

Luckily enough for the humans of Fort Greenewell, the onslaught had stopped with the rising sun. The damage was extensive, entire flights of aircraft burned on the ground, several buildings gutted by flame, and hundreds of people lay dead interspersed with the corpses of their mythical enemies. Strangely, armored tanks survived with only a few scorch marks.

Dr. Patterson walked amongst the dying in one of the few remaining buildings that had to function as a hospital. He would occasionally stop to do what he could for an injured soldier or civilian. But there were so few that could be saved. So many were burned in the initial attack by the dragon. He stopped to give morphine to a screaming soldier, the entire side of his face burned away. Then there were the gryphon attacks, rending wounds that tore men limb from limb, disemboweled right there on the battlefield like rag dolls. And then there were the lost ones, those who had been hit by the venomous claws and tails of the manticores. They did not have an antidote and those afflicted took on a pale green hue and died within hours, blood hemorrhaging from every pore.

He ran into his mentor Dr. Mcentyre as she finished suturing the bloody stump that had once been a private's arm.

"Eve, we need to talk."

Dr Mcentyre stood back from her charge, upping his anesthetic to help him sleep through the worst of the agony. "I guess I could take a break, we've been going for 6 hours straight, most of these men will prefer death to the new life around here."

"You know the pony I interviewed? Cloud Hoof?"

She ripped off the bloody latex gloves on her hand, fumbling for a cigarette in her pocket. "Yeah, you had an infatuation with the guy, like he was your childhood best friend."

"He said that he knew this was coming, that something had told him in a dream that his race would be victorious and would succeed in achieving their goal."

"So? The rantings of an insane prisoner."

"I knew Cloud better than that, if he knew something there at the end he would have told me the exact truth. I think something greater than any of us is at work. First horses start talking, we capture them all, dragons and gryphons destroy us the next day. This is not something science can just explain away."

"What, you think some kind of deity or god is behind this?"

"Maybe, and just maybe The Surge energy is some kind of retaliation or punishment instead of a natural phenomenon. Maybe this really is the beginning of our end."

************************************************************

Brigadier General Johnathan Winters knew after the initial strafe from that dragon meant humanity as a whole was now at war. This was not some pony rebellion anymore, it was the makings of the most bloody and penultimate war that would ever be seen. One or the other had to be driven off the face of the earth, even if it meant destroying the Earth itself.

Today was the marking of a new era, and Winters had to confer with the rest of the armed forces. Entering the conference room, he switched on the personal camera which would transmit his face across fiber optic cables to every other military base in America and vice versa. Sort of a conference call.

"Brigadier General Winters of Fort Greenewell reporting in."

Several portions of the screen before him lit up with their individual executive officers corresponding to their base. Too many of those screens contained static. Speaking was General Esera of Fort Bragg.

"Greenewell, report casualties."

"Roughly three hundred dead and another two hundred wounded. Many expected to die within the hour."

"Count yourself lucky Winters, most other bases report dead in the thousands or never reported in at all."

"What about civilian populations?"

"Civilian populations seemed mostly unharmed, the more a city fought back initially, the worse the retaliation was."

"Any word from our allies? Can we expect support from NATO?"

"Negative Winters, we lost any and all reestablished communications with our allies after the Second Surge. Only our shielded fiber optic system seems to have been unharmed."

"And Washington?"

"Heavily damaged but currently safe due to heavy Air Force presence. As of oh-five-hundred, Fort Greenewell became the largest still functioning military base east of the Continental Divide; feel proud Winters, even with a large prisoner population you still managed to repel the invaders more effectively than anyone else."

"About the prisoners sir, they appear to have been affected by the Second Surge and somehow been able to take flight."

"You mean they ran?"

"No sir, literally sprouted wings and flew away."

The commander of Fort Bragg narrowed his eyes, suspecting sarcasm.

"Any word from the other branches?" asked Winters.

The static on Esera's screen flickered as he pulled out a pile of written transmissions and recorded calls from any military group that his base had managed to get in contact with. "Army troops are holding their own against ground based attackers. Navy has been unheard from except for a few garbled transmissions proclaiming that they were under attack from some kind of kraken. Air Force is struggling to take on the armored fliers, only their heaviest missiles and armor piercing cannon rounds seem to have any effect. Intelligence agencies are just sitting around sucking on their collective thumbs. Coast Guard has done surprisingly well, considering all they've done is run. National Guard units were being assigned to protect civilian populations, but the civilians keep chasing the Guard units away."

Winters furrowed his brow. "What the hell do those damn townies think they are doing?"

Esera shook his head. "They know something we don't, they think there is a direct correlation to the amount of violent acts against the enemy and how much the enemy attacks them. The more peaceful they are, the more the enemy seems to ignore them."

"Has the President declared martial law?"

"Of course. You control an area roughly the size of Texas, General Winters. Now Winters, the President has considered Project Lazarus as a short term solution for this emergency. Has the facility been compromised?"

"Initial damage surveys reveal Lazarus did take some damage during The Second Surge, but nothing we cannot fix within the month."

"It had better be ready Winters, the fate of humanity could depend on your facility if the enemy decides on another unified offensive. And another thing, your laboratories could be the last functioning on this continent that we control. We need your team to work on a new weapon."

"You know we no have the capabilities to make nuclear weapons. We can't even get our hands on fissile material anymore since all the nuclear power plants were shut down after Fukushima."

"Not nuclear, our intelligence reports that even if we did manage to wipe out the current enemy force with nuclear weapons, it would not have any effect on the source of the energy. And the way it is behaving, attacking it with a nuclear warhead might just piss it off. What we have in mind involves reversal of The Surge energy."

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Cloud Hoof landed at the side of a mountain. Flight was everything he had dreamed it to be, the freedom of the infinite sky, not being bound by earthly tethers and feeling the wind in his mane. It was only made better by the fact that his wife Starshine could join him and dance among the clouds. Which by the way he learned he could land on, the soft plushness being the most comfortable surface he had ever touched.

Something drew him and the rest of the new pegasus herd to this mountain. Looking above to the high peak, a pair of dragons circled with several flights of gryphons. Down below, a mass of milling ponies and bison, zebras and cows, deer and dogs, anything that had ever felt mankind's lash gathered below. A nearby river boiled with the undulations of sea serpents. Manticores mingled with cockatrices. All drawn to this place. They had all heard the call in their dreams. A call to arms.

A gryphon landed next to him. Cloud flared his wings and stepped back, prepared to fight this stranger.

The gryphon lifted an eagle talon, "Easy friend, I am Grelkas, king of the Gryphon Aerie. By your wings you are the pegasi we were meant to liberate."

Cloud relaxed, his wings settling down back at his side. "Indeed we are. I am Cloud Hoof, representative of the pegasus herd."

"Well met Cloud Hoof, above us flies Quartz, leader of the dragon flights. And below are your kin, Starswirl and White Dawn, leaders of two clans of ponies. The others gathered here defer to the wisdom of Starswirl and White Dawn if they cannot choose a leader of their own. You are invited to partake in our council if you so wish."

"I do indeed wish to voice myself and my brethren."

"Excellent, we gather at dusk on the ground clearing for the convenience of those not gifted by wings." The gryphon king departed, likely to meet the leaders of other new arrivals.

"Did you hear all of that Starshine? Maybe now we can have some answers. Starshine?" The pegasus mare had taken to laying on clouds, the extra weight of pregnancy taxing her strength and making her sore. And something about laying on clouds provided just the right amount of lumbar support. Cloud decided to let her sleep, she would need more and more rest in the coming weeks.

Hours later, the leaders gathered at the forest clearing. Quartz took nearly half by himself. Other creatures sat side by side, united by their common foe, the humans. Cloud seated himself next to the two ponies he assumed to be Starswirl and White Dawn. Grelkas seemed to be master of ceremonies and introduced the leaders of the new arrivals.

"Joining us for the first time tonight are Cloud Hoof of the pegasi, Wind Seeker of the buffalo, Nazzan of the zebra, and Zaramas of the minotaur. I hope you all welcome them with open hearts and minds in this inner circle." Various forms of applause were given for the new arrivals, and then everycreature settled down for business.

"As you all know, our actions in the past two days have crippled the humans, we have crippled their technologies and hamstrung their armies. But I do not believe it is enough. Cloud Hoof, you spent time as a captive of the human monsters, what do they have planned?"

Cloud cleared his throat and spoke as loud as he could. "The humans are clever, for every problem they seem to have three solutions hidden in their sleeves. They are deeply angered by our recent success and will attempt a counter attack. Every time they lose they invent a new weapon or strategy to fix whatever went wrong. I say we prepare our defenses here, the human retribution will be quick and we will suffer if we are not prepared. Which is why we must think ahead if we are to overcome their attack. We need to work our advantages to the limit."

The dragon Quartz leaned in his massive head and countered in his earth shaking voice, "And what exactly are these advantages, little-wings? We cannot openly face the human army on the field, they are too powerful. The only way we saved you was with complete surprise and cover of darkness, yet we still lost dozens. "

Though shaken by the awe inspiring power of the dragon, Cloud took a step closer to Quartz, his wings spread. "I know things about them, they are vulnerable now. I trusted one of them, he told me that humanity once had the ability to destroy utterly from the safety of the stars. And that they could communicate over thousands of miles. But our coming did something to disrupt those abilities, and now the humans are divided and cannot muster to their full strength. And most of all, they fear us."

Wind Seeker pushed his way forward, "Impossible, the hunters have never felt fear in their entire demonic existence. They told you lies to make us vulnerable."

Cloud flared his wings and took a step farther into the ring, "It's true. Why would they pen us up, hunt us down and call us myths if they did not fear us?"

"You speak truthfully young pony, Man has always feared that which he does not understand." The words came from Starswirl, speaking his mind for the first time. "And we are not a part of Man's known world. Man always sought to understand everything around him in order to conquer his fear of it. When the Mother made Man, she forgot to give him courage with his higher mind. And so Man became afraid, and using his mind Man became powerful and sought to destroy anything that gave him fear, even one another."

"Indeed wise one," Grelkas said "but we must focus on how to repel their impending attack. Time is our enemy as well as the machines of Man."

"Numbers, Grelkas, our assault in the previous days has thinned their ranks severely. Here we posses a vaster force than they have left standing in any one place." Starswirl calculated.

"And we have control of the weather." Cloud quipped.

"What is this foolishness Cloud Hoof? Nothing can control the weather." Wind Seeker retorted.

"It's true, my brother pegasi and I can walk on the clouds, perhaps even manipulate them. When a human machine hits a cloud, they just go through."

"I can think of more than one use for a talent such as that, young warrior." Starswirl commended, "You are turning out to be quite the extraordinary pony."

"I may also have an idea. When caught by surprise, the human soldiers fall like autumn leaves. Otherwise they will organize and fight back. We can draw the humans into a trap and close our jaws on their exposed flank."

The leaders planned long into the night, with each minute their scheme becoming more clever and their defense more feasible. With any luck, they might just survive long enough to tell their tale.

**********************************************************

"You want me to do what?!"

"I won't do it. General you have to listen to me, the more we fight this thing, the stronger it will get. Harnessing it will only make it angry!"

"You talk like the energy is alive Doctor."

"IT IS ALIVE!" Dr Patterson screamed. He gave it a moment to sink in. "You don't get it do you! This isn't some natural fucking phenomenon that just comes and goes, this is a goddamn retaliation. An immune response, and those ponies and creatures out there are the antibodies! We can't win, no matter what we do we can't win!"

"So what are we going to do, you little spitfuck? Go dance with the ponies under a rainbow and sing about how friendship is magic? Save your hippie bullshit for your own funeral, I'm sure the enemy will respect that. We can schedule that funeral for right now if you want it!" General Winters reached to his hip and pulled his sidearm, aiming the pistol straight at Dr. Patterson's forehead.

Aaron stared down death with unblinking eyes. "Fine, I'll make your damn weapon...but after this, I go my own way."

"That's all we ever needed from you, to wake up and see whose side you were really on. And Aaron, maybe you should take your biology courses again. Rule number one, the virus will always adapt faster than the host."

And with that, Dr Patterson turned and left the General's office. He stopped to glare over his shoulder before walking down the hallway.

Winters pressed a button on his intercom. "Lieutenant, take down an order. By congressional edict, martial law has been declared. All young men and women above the age of eighteen are henceforth drafted into the United States Army. All civilian weapons and provisions are now property of the United States government. Constitutional rights no longer apply."

Journey into the Unknown

With the demon map guiding them and the railway speeding them along, Twilight Sparkle and her friends made their way to Appleloosa, their first stop on the long trek to the lost fortress of Stronghold. Debarking the train they met Braeburn at the station, having sent a message ahead with the pegasus mail.

"Cousin Applejack! What are you and yer friends doin in my neck of the woods?"

"Uh, it's kind of a secret Braeburn, but I thank ye and your townsfolk for takin' us in on such short notice."

"Oh, its no trouble a'tall. Where are my manners, why don't I have some o' my boys get your luggage?" Braeburn whistled for a pair of his brothers to grab the bags. They planned on staying in Appleloosa for two days, gathering supplies and renting a small wagon to carry everything. While they were there, they wanted to learn as much as possible about the frontier. Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash all volunteered to try and get some information, and what better place than the local salt bar? The trio pushed open the swinging door to the bar. Inside it was a raucous, good looking time. An old pony worked a piano in the corner while others gambled their bits away at a table. On the stage several mares danced away the night.

"Okay, Applejack, you hit up the gamblers over there. Rainbow Dash, you try the piano player. I'll hit the bar."

"Why do you get the bar? Maybe I wanted a lick or two tonight."

"Rainbow Dash, you know what happens when you have too much salt, you get a little too personal with other mares. Besides, we're here for information, not to get hammered."

"I don't know what you're talking about! I am very responsible when it comes to salt!"

"Will both of y'all shut up? Lets just get this over with before somepony ends up face down in the street." Applejack walked over to the gamblers. "Uh, hey y'all. Whats the price to get in?"

"Ante is ten bits, toots. Got an open seat if ya want it," said a gruff, scruffy looking frontier stallion.

"Well I'm in Ah guess." She sat down at the table. It was a fairly standard game of poker, but Applejack wasn't really the gambling type. Looking up from her dismal hand, she started questioning the other players. "So, what y'all know about the frontier?"

A yellow unicorn with a stained shirt and a deputy star spit a wad of chew into a bucket. "Not safe out there Miss, buffalo are mighty sensitive 'bout who they let go in their territory. Other then them, it's mostly the usual wolves, bears, bandits and syech."

A pony dressed in barber's attire took the first hand.

Applejack dealt out the next hand. "So, y'all know anything about ruins or what have ye?"

The gamblers stopped dead and looked straight at Applejack. "Look toots, there's plenty of ruins out there if you're willin' to look, but by your questionin' you're lookin for something a little more specific than 'any old ruins'. All I can tells ye is that they get more common and dangerous the farther you go into buffalo territory."

"Well, I thank ye kindly. Looks like I'll be takin' this one here." The orange mare smugly laid out a full house.

Over at the bar, Twilight was having better luck. "What'll ye have miss?" asked the mutton chopped barkeeper.

"Just some water for now. Hey, do you know anything about the frontier?"

"Well, memory is a tad foggy, but a couple of bits outta make it come back." Twilight rolled her eyes and ponied up five bits. "I thank ye kindly Miss. Its mostly desert wilderness til ya reach the Demon Lands."

"Demon Lands?"

"Yep, its a completely wild land where nothin' dares settle down, covered in ancient ruins."

Twilight leaned closer to the barkeep. "Tell me more about the ruins."

"My memory is slippin a mite bit again, maybe if you bought some salt it would clear a little."

"Ugh!" Twilight threw down the two bits for a block of salt.

"All clear now! Them ruins is said to be built by an ancient race of god creatures, but all them ruins stay empty and nopony stays there long enough to find out anything. Pegasi don't fly there, so the weather is unpredictable."

"Do you know about a place called Stronghold?"

"Never heard of it. Honest this time. I don't know much, if I were you I'd talk to the buffalo about them ruins."

"Thanks for the information." Twilight stopped her inquisition to take a lick off her salt block. Rainbow Dash took the stool next to her.

"Well, piano guy was a bust. He's stone cold deaf and tried to get a bit too frisky thinking I was one of the dancers. One lick barkeep." The barkeeper slid her a block of salt. "Thanks."

"That's an absolute shame Rainbow Dash, I always thought fishnet would look good on you."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at Twilight's remark. "But what I can't figure out is why we are looking for two thousand year old demon ruins with no information and little preparation."

"The prospect of adventure and maybe a little treasure on the side? Who knows? Maybe even a friendship report for Princess Celestia."

"Oh yeah."

Applejack joined them at the bar, carrying a heavy sack of bits. "Gals, I think I have a gamblin' problem."

Rainbow Dash eyed the bulging purse. "I don't think they consider it a problem if you win like that." They all burst out laughing, the barkeep looking at them warily while wiping down the bar.

The three enjoyed a little salt and returned to their hotel, determined to strike out tomorrow morning for buffalo territory.

*************************************************************************

The miles walked away quickly, they alternated turns pulling the supply wagon with the exception of Spike, who just crashed in the back. Fewer and fewer signs of civilization appeared as they trudged closer to the sovereign territory of the buffalo. Even the road got rougher and the stereotypical roadside skulls became more common. At last they reached the border, a small guard outpost regulating trade and traffic, as if there was any.

Twilight panicked as she whipped out both maps with her magic. "None of the maps said anything about a border station! What if they don't let us through? Our whole venture could be for nothing!"

"Twilight my dear, I'll handle this." Rarity put on a little perfume and threw on a traveling outfit. She approached the very bored looking border guard, the typical gold armored pegasus, but this guy seemed to be a little less professional than his comrades. He snapped out of his daydreaming when he noticed the purple maned unicorn mare coming his way.

"Halt! What business do you have crossing the Equestria border?"

"Oh hello there! I didn't notice you sir, my name is Avant Garde, a wealthy jewel merchant with the merchant's guild of Canterlot. I am on my way to negotiate for a turquoise shipment that could be the next big hit in this fall's fashion!"

"Where are your papers? Nopony crosses the border without identification."

"Oh how dreadful! We were attacked by a pack of monsters out there in the wilderness, they must have carried off my papers when they left. If only we had a big, strong, handsome stallion there to keep the creatures away." She blinked her long lashes at the poor guard.

The guard swallowed hard, his defenses crumbling. "Well that is a tragedy ma'am. Is there any way I could help you?"

"Why, yes there is." Rarity got closer, making sure her perfume had it's full effect. "This could be the biggest trade agreement of the year, and it simply wouldn't do to have it fall apart, it could ruin me! Of all the things that could happen, it would be the worst, possible, thing." Her eyes began to water with fake tears.

"Don't cry! How about I let it slide this one time. How does that sound?" the stallion said excitedly.

Rarity shut off the waterworks. "Oh, you would do that for little old me?"

"I sure would!" He was under her full feminine power now. "Why don't I come along with you, make sure nothing else happens?"

"Oh, I don't think that will be necessary. Who knows what kind of baddies could cross the border if such a valiant and handsome guard such as yourself decided to escort such a helpless girl like me." She brushed the tip of a hoof along his armor, just to ensure her control. "When I come back through, who will be here to let me back in to Equestria?"

"Me," he squeaked. The guard was visibly sweating now, his armor rattled with how much he shook.

"But I absolutely must be going now, time is money after all."

"Yes Miss Garde, go right on through Miss Garde!" the guard's face was split by a huge, dumb grin. He raised the bar splitting Equestria from the wilds. Rarity nodded back to the wagon, and it trundled forward into buffalo territory. Rarity looked back at the smitten guard and gave a coy little wink.

Stunned by her performance, her friends stared at her with mouths open. Applejack broke the silence, "What...was...that?"

"What, never seen a girl work her stuff before? Males of every species are the same, just apply pressure in all the right places and you can twirl them around your hoof like twine."

"Who the heck is Avant Garde?" asked Twilight.

"Just an old pseudonym I use to get the best prices on fabric." Spike literally smoked in the back of the wagon, his jealousy threatening to light their supplies on fire.

"Well, now that we are out of Equestria the only thing we have to go by is the demon map." Twilight scanned it for a few seconds. "It looks like Stronghold is about fifty miles due west. If we hurry, we can be there in two days."

************************************************************************************

From atop a far away ridge watched a scout. His duty was to watch the border station and make sure the Royal Guards didn't try any funny business. Spotting the wagon, unguarded and ripe for plunder, he decided it would be worth reporting to the chief. His massive bulk moved silently through the desert brush, after several miles he came to his village. He walked into the tipi of his chief.

"Chief Thunderhooves! An Equestrian wagon is moving across the border, even after our embargo. Shall I take some warriors and make them pay for their trespass?"

"No," said the wise chief. "I will go and meet them. They were the ones who did not go by the treaty, and we will not be the ones to spill blood over their infringement." The great chief lumbered out of the tent, gathered ten of his warriors and took off at a sprint for the road the wagon traveled on.

*****************************************************************************************

It was Fluttershy's turn to pull the wagon, and she did so without complaint. The sun hung dead center in the sky, beating down mercilessly on everypony. Fluttershy truly wondered what she was doing here, so far from home and her animals. Several times she considered turning back and going home, but she would not abandon her friends in this hostile wilderness.

She just wished she knew what she could be useful for! Twilight was the leader and the only one who could read the map. Applejack was strong enough to muscle through any obstacle. Rarity had stunned with her ability to 'persuade'. Rainbow Dash was a fighter and the fastest flier. Pinkie had her Pinkie Sense to help out. Even Spike was more useful with his claws that might be the key to something in Stronghold! She felt worthless, and because of that volunteered to pull the wagon more often than not.

Sighing, she looked ahead on the long and dusty road, wondering what really lay in store for her in this adventure. The heat shimmered in waves on the road, but there was something in the shimmering. She squinted, seeing a plume of dust emerge from the horizon. "Twilight, there's something up ahead. I don't like the look of it."

Twilight squinted past the midday sun, seeing what Fluttershy was talking about. "It looks like buffalo, maybe they can help us find Stronghold."

They stopped the wagon, waiting for the buffalo to approach. And they did, a cloud of dust rising as the buffalo encircled the wagon and the ponies. The buffalo pawed the ground, snorting at the ponies. A bison wearing a war bonnet addressed the friends. "Begone Equestrians! You know of our agreement, you merchants are forbidden entry until you lift the tariff on turquoise from our mines!"

"We aren't merchants sir!" Twilight fearfully said.

"Then what are you, spies for your Princess?!"

"Not at all! We are just explorers. Wait, I know you. You're Chief Thunderhooves! We are friends sir!"

"Prove it."

"We helped with the Appleloosa compromise, look, we even brought an apple pie!" She rushed to the back of the wagon and presented the Chief with an apple pie Braeburn had sent with them.

The Chief took in the ambrosia-like scent, recognition dawning in his eyes. "Hmm, I do know you ponies after all, my apologies for the intimidation. Now what are you doing in our lands?"

"We are looking for a place called Stronghold. Some ponies think it might hold the key to uncovering our past."

"Stronghold?" Chief Thunderhooves considered for a second, then his eyes grew wide and he spat on the ground. "You must mean the fortress of the accursed Hunters!"

"The Hunters? Everypony else has called them Demons."

"Yes, a long time ago, before my father, and his father, and his father, and his father..."

"Skip it already!" shouted some of the other bison.

"Yes, the ones you called Demons would hunt us bison for sport and for pittances of meat, they very nearly wiped us out. But in the end they enslaved us buffalo, sending us to horrible places to keep our species alive for later. We gladly fought them in the ancient war and triumphed!" Several bison stamped their hooves in agreement. "Why would you want to go to such an accursed place?"

"We found a map that leads us there, we were told there might be ancient knowledge and possibly treasure."

"It is far to the west, a good days run for any warrior. We can get you there safely if you wish. But for your well being I would suggest not taking anything from the Hunter's Fortress."

Twilight was positively beaming. "Yes, we would love that chief! But what about our wagon?"

"Climb in, one of us will pull it." The pegasi flew to save room, and soon they flew down the dusty road through the buffalo territory, eating up the miles beneath their hooves. Though bumpy, this was preferred to the extremely slow pace they had taken before. Within ten hours, they stopped, the wagon creaking in protest to its rough treatment. The prairie and desert landscape stopped abruptly at a thick forest's edge. The buffalo that escorted them were making odd signs in the air, as if to ward off any malevolent spirits.

"This is as far as we will go, friend ponies, beyond this forest lies the Hunter's Fortress, and your answers."

The ponies hopped out of the wagon. "Thank you Chief Thunderhooves, we can never repay you."

"Perhaps a few more pies would make us even."

"Someday perhaps Chief, but now we have a mystery to solve."

The great buffalo bowed before the unicorn. "Twilight Sparkle, may the Dream Walker smile upon you and your friends."

******************************************************************************

The forest was dark and untamed. Though rife with the noises of late evening, there seemed to be a different quality to them. For one, there were none of the calls of magical creatures, and the local plants were just that, plants. No exotic flowers or alchemical plants to be found, the trees didn't have the life like quality of those around Ponyville. They were just trees, oak, hickory and walnut. Nothing spectacular or mysterious about anything really.

"You guys, I know this sounds weird, but I feel like we're trespassing," announced Rainbow Dash.

"Nothing is right here, even the animals are different," said a wary Fluttershy. They had seen deer and rabbits, but they ran away before they could get close.

"This is more depressing than my days on the rock farm," Pinkie said, her mane on the verge of deflating. "I think we should turn back."

"No, we make it to Stronghold or we have to stay in this forest. I for one hate it here. According to the map, it should just be a couple more miles." They trotted along, having to stop several times to clear brush for the wagon. And at long last, in the fading light of the sun, they laid eyes upon the demon citadel of Stronghold.

"Uh, that's it?" said Applejack. They had all expected some kind of giant castle with black towers and a moat. This thing in front of them was pitiful, no more than a collection of a couple piles of rubble and some buildings overgrown with brush.

"That can't be right, the map says it's right here. All I see is that poor excuse for a village! Where are the walls, the towers the anything!" Twilight used her magic to whip out the map, turning it every direction to see if she read it wrong.

Applejack walked over to the frantic unicorn. "Twilight, it's gettin' dark, maybe we should just stay here fer the night. Let's go to that big building over there and see if there is some shelter. And I don't like the sound of the weather." Thunder rumbled off in the distance, the last rays of sun darkened by the approaching storm.

The storm moved quickly, and by the time they found an unblocked entrance they were all drenched. Soggy and miserable, the ponies and dragon took a look at their shelter. It looked like it had been white originally, but centuries of muck and weather had stained the walls. Dead plants covered nearly everything and nothing stood as it had originally.

"This tells us nothing! Where are the books, the technology, anything to make this trip worth it!" Twilight angrily shouted. She kicked over an ancient desk, filling the air with dust.

"Don't be mad Twilight, it was the journey that made this adventure special, not the destination."

"Thanks Pinkie, but I'm not sure our journey will answer the riddles of life and change the way we look at our history. Let's all get some sleep, maybe we'll find something in the morning."

The Choices We Make

"Mother, if you can hear me, I'm sorry I failed."

Aaron sat imprisoned by his own kind. Deep within the underground city of Lazarus he lay entombed by walls of steel. There was no escape this time, no magic to aid him, no Earth Mother to bail him out. And so he lay curled in a corner of his cell, considering breaking his stitches, letting the blood flow, just to let himself die. What would happen to his soul? He lay ensconced inside a Tesla device's field. If he died, would his soul even escape? Would it wander the earth, forever alone and never finding peace?

"I don't care anymore." His fingernails dug at the stitches in his thigh, close to his femoral artery. He winced with pain as he dug into his flesh, searching for that one little artery that would make him bleed to death in seconds.

"I wouldn't do that, Doctor," said a familiar, hollow voice. A flickering spirit orb came from his chest. Floating out in front of him it took on shape and definition. The shape of a pony.

"Cloud.... how is this possible?" Aaron asked the ethereal shape of the pegasus.

"When the others left, I chose to stay with you my friend. I have been with you this whole time. No shield can prevent you from seeing inside of yourself."

Aaron held back the tears, held back the pain that came with this humiliation and shame. "I've failed, Cloud. Right now my species is marching to fight yours. I failed to bring Harmony." His voice wavered at the admission of his failure.

The shade of Cloud Hoof stomped his hoof and spread his wings. "Not yet you haven't! Harmony was never certain, it never is. What you did was to give your kind the ability to say 'I don't want to fight anymore.' The choice to say it was always theirs. Your kind made bad decisions in the past, decisions which resulted in the death and suffering of untold numbers. But what you did was make them realize they could choose their destiny; life or death, chaos or harmony."

"What do I do Cloud? I'm lost and I can't see the light."

"You free yourself, make your own light. You aren't a pawn in this game, you always controlled your own destiny. At any moment you could have given up and let humanity die or let them destroy us. But you chose to fight for peace, light, harmony, and love."

"But I can't make myself free Cloud. I don't have my magic and Mother cannot reach me."

"Magic is what you make it. Your kind did fine for thousands of years, completely oblivious to magic. You just use what you have, Aaron."

Aaron wiped his eyes. "I never did meet that mare you spoke so highly of."

"Starshine? She is my heart and soul, and I will rejoin her in the hereafter once this is over. You met one of my descendants though; the fiery, rainbow maned mare. She's so much like my little Hurricane, so full of life and passion. I think you would have loved my family, Aaron. And you will meet them one day. But it is not this day, today you need to bring harmony to both our races. If you really brought their hearts peace, they will listen to you."

And with that the shade of Cloud Hoof returned to Aaron, their spirits blending. "And Aaron, you will always be my friend and brother."

"I just have to have faith in Harmony." He stood weakly, then trudged on his sore leg to the door. "Guard!" he shouted.

The viewing visor slid open, the eyes of a soldier peering in. "What do you want traitor?"

"You have to let me talk to the General, I can stop this whole thing!"

"The General is overseeing the frontline preparations as we speak, the enemy army is moving into position and could attack within two hours."

"Then you have to let me out! I can make them see reason."

"Bullshit, now stop wasting my time you filthy traitor." The visor slid closed.

"We don't have to fight! Please, look inside yourself, you know that we can have peace, but only I can talk to both sides." He felt his words fall on deaf, apathetic ears. "What do you fight for, soldier? What made you answer the call to arms?"

There was a sense of hesitation, then the visor slid open again. "I don't know anymore. I used to think I was fighting for love and justice. For freedom and my family."

"Good good! But if we fight this war none of that will ever be possible for us again. Our only hope for peace is to reason with the leaders of both sides."

"And only you have to influence to speak to both?"

"Yes. Please, look inside yourself and see that Harmony is possible." The visor slammed shut. Aaron believed the soldier had gotten tired of it and left. But the jingle of keys and the clank and shifting of gears told him different. The cell door swung open, there stood the soldier with a ring of keys.

"Go on, you have a war to end. And if anyone asks, you hit me." Aaron smiled, he began to limp to the entrance of Lazarus, determined to end this before it could begin.

*********************************************************************

"Princess, all infantry units are in place, no sign of the enemy."

Princess Celestia stared into her mirror, her brilliant white coat obscured by the shining gold armor that she had donned. It was scaled for added movement, with strips of protective metal running down the joints of her wings.

Her gaze never left the mirror, her eyes seeming to peer into her own soul. "Tell me Commander, do you still love me?"

"I would give my life for your safety, my Princess," he said with a sense of duty.

"Would you give your life for Equestria?"

The commander looked taken aback. "Of course m'lady."

"What about for a human? Would you sacrifice yourself for one of them?"

"I...I can't really say that I would, m'lady." The Princess drew in a deep breath, then slowly let it out in a sigh.

"Where are they, Commander?"

"Where are what, Princess?"

"Where is the peace and harmony that I came to this world to give? Where are the light and the dark? Where is the blade of truth to fight against the monster of nightmare? How did it come to this? The lines have become blurred, no longer do I see us as the bearers of all that is good. The old hatreds have never left, now I look upon myself and see not a pony, but a demon. We are the same as them, I look into this mirror and see the faces of both a pony and a human."

She levitated her helmet over and placed it on her head. "Come Commander, let us join them in their legacy of monstrous acts."

***************************************************************************

The lines stood ready, less than a mile from the forested border to the Demon Lands. An entire thunderstorm had been rerouted by the pegasi to serve as additional artillery, though the shade it provided aided the pony army as well. Princesses Luna and Celestia stood resplendent in their armor, standing at the frontline with their generals and commanders.

To the normal eye the forest remained empty. Commander Steel squinted for any sign of their adversaries, but saw none. "Where are they, Princess? Is there even a threat here?"

"They are there, Commander. In numbers too great to count," Celestia replied coolly.

"How? I see nothing!"

Celestia lifted a wing and pointed her longest feather at the commander's chest. A flickering red dot hovered on his fur. He moved a hoof to smack it, but the dot leapt to his hoof. He looked at it in fear. "What is this Princess?"

"They are watching us, waiting for us to make the first move."

The commander looked more closely at the trees, searching hard he saw the glint of metal. Then shapes that did not fit with the forest, the more he gazed the more he saw of the massive army that opposed them.

*************************************************************************

Human soldiers lay everywhere, in fox holes, behind trees and rocks, anywhere to conceal themselves. They all had rifles trained on the enemy lines, crosshairs placed over those they believed to be officers. There was determination in everyone's hearts, will to fight for their freedom and loyalty to the innocents of their race that would perish if they failed. But most of all there was fear, the demon of emotion that drove mankind to do unspeakable acts in the past. They were afraid of this ultimate enemy, the monsters of nightmare that could summon storms and hurl magic like a fist.

Men prayed to whatever god they believed in, rosaries wrapped around hands that gripped their weapons. Many kissed photographs of those they loved, dead for thousands of years yet still so close at heart. In a solitary fox hole, a young soldier shook with fear as he looked on the horizon darkening expanse of the enemy that had haunted his sleep for two thousand years. He began to sing. Lowly at first, but rising as the verses gave him strength.

"March along, sing our song, with the Army of the free.
Count the brave, count the true, who have fought to victory
We're the Army and proud of our name
We're the Army and we proudly proclaim."

The men next to him started to sing as well, with every word more and more joined.

"First to fight for the right.
And to build the Nation's might
And the Army Goes Rolling Along.
Proud of all we have done,
Fighting til the battle's won,
And the Army Goes Rolling Along."

They now sang in defiance of their ancient foes, the tune of thousands lifting their spirits.

"Then it's Hi! Hi! Hey!
The Army's on its way.
Count off the cadence loud and strong!
For where e'er we go
You will always know
That the Army Goes Rolling Along!"

"Valley Forge and Custer's ranks
San Juan Hill and Patton's tanks
And the Army went Rolling Along
Minute men, from the start,
Always fighting from the heart
And the Army keeps Rolling Along!"

"Then it's Hi! Hi! Hey!
The Army's on its way.
Count off the cadence loud and strong!
For where e'er we go
You will always know
That the Army Goes Rolling Along!"

"Men in rags, men that froze
Still that Army met it's foes
And the Army Went Rolling Along
Faith in God, then we're right,
And we'll fight with all our Might,
As the Army keeps Rolling Along!"

************************************************************************

"Why do they sing my Princess?" Commander Steel asked Princess Celestia.

"They are no longer afraid, they are ready to die for what they believe in. We cannot wait forever. Upon my command signal the artillery to begin bombardment."

"Yes, my Princess," he said solemnly.

She lifted a hoof, and upon its fall the war would rage again for control of the earth. Her breath trembled and her heart pounded, now was the time when she would truly cross that line and become the monster those creatures across the field of battle believed her to be. She held her hoof high, then closing her eyes began to lower it.

"WAIT!" screamed the voice of her sister. "Look!" Luna pointed towards the treeline that concealed the human army. A single human man charged out from their lines, not wearing the camouflage of his comrades. He waved a a crude white flag on a makeshift pole, limping as he ran his way across the field. Stopping midway between the two armies he thrust the flag into the dirt, looked back to the humans and spread his arms to act as a flimsy barrier between the armies.

"It's him, he came back for us," Luna said with a small glimmer of hope.

A voice from the human side shouted out, "Dr. Patterson, stand down!"

"NO! Nobody is going to die here, not while I still stand!" the solitary figure screamed back to his people.

"That is an order! STAND DOWN!"

"Never! Nobody else is going to die for my mistakes!"

Aaron stood panting on the field of battle, his arms spread out wide to protest for peace. He stood alone in this, a single force of true justice delaying the ultimate injustice. A burst of magical energy sounded behind him. Turning his head he saw Luna, standing on her hindlegs, arms and wings spread like he had, but facing her own army. He gave her a nod, she nodded back.

The generals of the pony army shouted to Luna, "Get out of our way, Princess!"

"Never!" she shouted back.

"That is an order, Luna!"

"Nopony is going to die while I still stand!"

A heavily armed group of humans left the safety of the treeline, making all haste for the two creatures standing back to back, preventing a war from happening. A similarly armed group of ponies left their side to retrieve the Princess.

Luna called back to Aaron, "What's your plan now?"

"No plan at all. Just wingin' it."