> Into the Darkness
>  by Subject 19
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> A New Enemy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been two days since Luna had thrown Christopher Razka through that portal. Two whole fucking days. CHECKMATE Arms, Razka’s company and private army, was at war with the United States and he was stuck in a land of talking horses. This did not bode well for him.
The chairman was staying in the guest room of Canterlot castle and had kept himself locked up in there the entire time. He was in the bathroom getting dressed and fixing his disheveled hair. He put on his black custom suit, fixing the pin of his company’s logo.  As he made himself presentable, his mind was plagued with his war. His war that he could not lead. His war that he had been planning for countless years. He could lose it all as he would be unable to stop it. Staring into the mirror in front of him, Razka did not see the most powerful man on Earth. He saw a useless, powerless man. Razka glared at the reflection.
“AHHHHH!” Razka tore the mirror off the wall and threw it to the ground. The mirror shattered into hundreds of shards over the tiled floor.
“Christopher, are you alright?” Luna nervously asked as she sprinted into the bathroom. “I was going to see if you were up and I heard you scream.” She looked down to see the broken remains of the mirror. Razka just stood there for a few moments, breathing heavily. The night princess walked up to the chairman and noticed his bleeding hands. “Let me get some bandages, there should be some in here,” she said as she began going through the cabinets.
Once she had the supplies she needed, the midnight colored mare got Razka to sit down on the floor. As Luna began bandaging his hands, she noticed the rage in his face die down. However, she could still see the pain in his eyes. “Come on Christopher, talk to me,” Luna practically begged.
Razka shook his head. “Have you been able to tap into Stahl’s dreams yet?” he asked, ignoring Luna’s concern.
“I did, but I was only in there long enough to tell her that you’re still alive. She woke up before I could say anything else,” Luna answered.
The chairman sighed silently. “I make Janet my second in command and at that very moment we start this war, my war, she’s forced to take on all of my responsibilities. How soon can you try to contact her again?”
The Princess of the Night hesitated for a moment. “Entering her dreams from such a great distance takes a lot of energy. I can try again tomorrow night.”
“I want to be there when you enter her dreams again. A lot can happen in just a few days, especially in the early stages.” After a moment of silence, Razka looked at the mess he made. “I’ll have this cleaned up by the end of the day.”
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll just send one of the maids to do it.” Luna began to walk out of the bathroom and motioned for Razka to follow her. “A lot has happened in my absence and most of it isn’t good,” the princess confessed as they walked down the hallway leading to the throne room.
“Is it serious?” the chairman questioned, genuinely curious.
“It is. Apparently Sombra wasn’t as dead as we thought.”
“Who?”
“King Sombra. He was the former tyrant of the Crystal Empire. I and Celestia were able to defeat him and banish him, but a few years ago he returned. Luckily Princess Cadence and the Elements of Harmony were able to use the Crystal Heart to finally put an end to him.”
“Or so you thought.”
“He’s come back again but this time he’s stronger than ever.” Luna frowned just thinking about the current situation. “Cadence and Shining Armor were able to escape and now they’re staying with us in the castle.”
“She’s the Princess of Love, right? One Mi Amore Cadenza?”
“Yes, and Shining is the former captain of the royal guard,” Luna confirmed.
Before Razka could continue the conversation, they had reached the throne room. It was about as grand as one would expect. It was big, well decorated and had two thrones sitting at the end. Razka quickly noticed the three other ponies talking together as Celestia, Cadence and Shining. Cadence was the first to greet the human.
“You must be Mr. Razka,” she started as she trotted up to him. “I’m Princess Cadence.” The chairman made a note of how sincere her smile was, unlike most people on Earth.
Razka put on a fake smile of interest. “Pleasure to meet you.”
“Celestia has told me quite a bit about you. I’m glad that someone with your expertise will be able to help us stop Sombra,” she added.
Christopher’s smile immediately dropped. “I’m afraid I’ve got bigger problems to deal with right now. She probably left out the part where I’m currently fighting my own war.” Razka didn’t mind when people asked for his help, but he did mind when they just assumed it. “Besides, what would I stand to gain by helping you, Cadenza?”
This somewhat hostile response caught Cadence off guard. “I’d figure you’d want to help us out of the goodness of your heart. Plus, wouldn’t you want to help Luna? She is your friend after all.”
Razka glanced over the four leaders in front of him. “Am I missing something here?”
“Beg your pardon?”
“Three of you are alicorns, the most powerful ponies in existence, and Armor is a former captain. You mean to tell me that the four of you can’t stop this one pony?” Razka shook his head. “Such a waste of power.”
“None of our tactics have worked,” Celestia argued. “Sombra is no ordinary pony.”
“Does he bleed?”
Celestia was caught off guard by the seemingly odd question. “Yes,” she hesitantly answered.
“Then he can be killed. No one is invincible.” Having nothing more to say to any of them, Razka turned to leave.
“Christopher,” Luna called as the man had reached the closed doors. Razka his head around, waiting for Luna to continue. “We’d very much like it if you could join us for dinner tonight.”
“Sorry, but I’ve got better things to do than pretend to enjoy the company of you so called rulers,” Razka spat. He paused for a moment before opening the door, as if contemplating something. Shaking his head, the chairman left. “I’ve worked too hard to get in arms reach of the prize only to have my hand cut off before I seize it,” Razka muttered to himself as he walked down the hallway.



Luna quietly entered Razka’s room. The human was standing outside on the balcony, staring at the star-filled night sky. The Princess of the Night could sense Razka’s anger and worry. Just as Luna was about to say something to make her presence known, she heard the chairman talking to himself.
“I can’t shackle myself to people I don’t know,” Razka said, barely louder than a whisper. “But not assisting could have its own consequences. I know almost nothing about this Sombra pony. The fact that Luna, Celestia and Cadenza all fear him means he’s powerful. I need those princesses alive if I hope to get off this planet.” The chairman let out a heavy sigh. Razka needed to see the bigger picture.
“How are you doing?” Luna asked, causing Christopher to whip around.
Razka frowned. “What do you want?”
“I want to know how you’re doing.”
“Let’s just cut to the part where you try to convince me to reconsider my involvement with Sombra.”
“It sounds like you’re doing that already,” Luna retorted. “What will it take for you to help us?”
“Two things. First, I need to know everything there is to know about Sombra. Second, if I do help you, I will have absolute control. I will control your military forces and you will follow my orders exactly, no exceptions.”
“You know I can’t do that,” the night princess challenged.
Razka walked up in front of Luna and leaned down to eye level. “Then good luck finding someone as pragmatic and effective as me. You wouldn’t have asked this of me unless you and your sister were out of options. I’ll let you think it over for the rest of the night. I’ll expect an answer by morning.”
> Razka's Plan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Razka was sitting behind his desk at CHECKMATE’s headquarters. He was looking over the latest battle reports on his computer. The reports were indicating that the American forces were closing in on him. He could feel the fear and anger of his imminent failure building.

“Sir!” Janet shouted as she burst into the office. “The Americans have entered the building, we need to-”

A bullet pierced through Janet’s throat, spraying blood all over the carpeted floor.

“No!” Razka shouted. As she collapsed, several US soldiers stormed into Razka’s office. The chairman pulled out a Desert Eagle and shot the soldiers dead. He rushed over to Janet and cradled her head.

“Chris…” Janet whispered, blood pouring out of her neck. “Where were you?”

Christopher shot up out of his bed trying to catch his breath. After his breathing returned to normal, he noticed that his sheets were soaked with sweat. He looked at the red alarm clock on the nightstand and let out a heavy sigh seeing that it was four in the morning. Knowing it was futile to try and get anymore sleep, he decided to take a shower and get dressed.


After having a pleasantly warm shower, the chairman dried himself off and started combing his hair. As he looked in the mirror, he noticed heavy bags under his eyes and quite a few new gray hairs. It had only been a couple of days and this whole ordeal was already getting to him mentally and physically.

Once he was dressed, Chris left his room and made his way to the kitchen. When he reached finally reached the kitchen, he was surprised to see that there was light seeping through the cracks of the door. The man cautiously opened the door and what he saw was quite a sight. Princess Celestia, the holy co-ruler of Equestria was feasting on a chocolate cake at four in the morning. The alabaster alicorn had a fork up to her mouth and was about to take another bite of the cake when she saw Razka staring at her.

“Christopher!” Celestia jumped, quickly putting the fork down. “Um, what are you doing up so early?” she nervously asked, embarrassed the human had caught her feasting on an entire cake before the sun was even up.

“I can only imagine what would happen if the public knew about this,” Razka said with a chuckle. He took a moment to look over the kitchen. There were at least four ovens and there were drawers and cabinets probably filled with plates, silverware and countless other supplies. His eyes stopped when he spotted a coffee maker, already filled and hot. “Have you considered my offer?” he asked, slowly walking over to the coffee maker and poured himself a cup.

“I’m not going to give you total control of my army.”

“If you want me to help you then I need to able to do things my way. I can’t get back home if you and Luna are dead.”

“So that is your main reason to help us, just so you can go home?” Celestia asked.

“Why of course, what other reasons should I have?”

“Ummm...How about saving our world as one of them.”

“To be perfectly honest, I don’t give a damn what happens to your world. Our interests align right now and that is why I am agreeing to help you. Besides, with me leading instead of your useless commanders, I’ll win this little war of yours in less than half the time it would take them.”

The princess let out a heavy sigh. “Fine, you win. We need to stop Sombra now before he can gain anymore momentum," she said, finally giving in.

“I want everything you have Sombra and his activity lately as soon as possible. I want to have a plan of attack before the end of the day.”

“Of course. Now if you’ll excuse me, it will be time for me to raise the sun soon.”

Razka silently nodded as Celestia left the kitchen.

“Razka?” Razka looked over to his left to see Luna looking at him with a concerned look “What you said before, its not true is it?”

“What?”

“That you’re only doing this just so you can go home, right?”

“*Sigh*....Look I’m not keen on seeing your world enslaved by a demonic shadow spirit, but you must understand that this is my ticket for me to get back to where I belong. I hate being here. Not knowing what’s going on with Checkmate.”

“Is that all you care about? Checkmate?”

“I have spent years plotting my uprising. You have no idea how much it truly means to me. Once I’ve dealt with the US, I will be able to secure my legacy. But instead of being where I belong, I’m here, forced to deal with your fucking problems!” Razka roared, his anger rising but quickly stopped to see Luna with her head down. Normally Razka wouldn’t care for such little things as other people’s emotions, but somewhere deep within his heart he felt that he crossed some line. “I’m sorry. I’m under a lot of stress right now and I’ve gotten very little sleep.”

“I know, I saw your nightmare. I want to help you.”

“And you are by trying to get me in contact with Stahl. It’s just that I can’t stand being kept in the dark. Waiting. Speculating. Worrying. I've never been in a situation as bad as this.”

“Well by seeing your nightmares, it’s no wonder why you are so on the edge.”

“Any luck with contacting her yet?”

“I think I can get into her dreams. We can try tonight if you want.”

“I would like that very much, thank you.” Razka said with a small smile as Luna smiled happily but couldn’t help but think on a question she wanted to ask him ever since she saw his dream.

“Do you...Blame yourself?”

“For what?”

“For putting Janet in the situation she’s in. I feel that the reason why you are having these nightmares is because you feel that it’s your fault.” 

“She could die any day. Something could go wrong and she would pay the price, not me. The entire war was my plan, not hers. I threw her into this at the last minute and now she has to be the commander in chief.” Razka paused for a moment. “I’ll be better once I know what’s going on.”

“Well, if you ever need anything, please ask,” Luna said before she walked out of the kitchen with Razka following behind her as he made his way back to his bedroom.





It wasn’t until late in the morning that Razka heard someone knocking on his door. Upon opening it he saw a white pegasus clad in golden armor holding a file under his wing.

“The princess told me to give you this,” he said.

“Thanks,” Razka replied as he took the papers. He frowned when he realized that the papers were at least an inch thick. He had a lot of reading to do.

The chairman spent the next couple of hours going over everything the princesses knew about King Sombra. The more he read, the more he realized that he wasn’t dealing with a power hungry psychopath, but an incredibly smart and tactical tyrant.

Razka chuckled at the similarities between them. They were both ruthless pragmatics and knew how to win a battle. But the key difference were their reasons. Sombra did it for the pure sadistic joy it brought him seeing others suffer. Razka fought to build a better world, even if it meant having to tear down the old regime. Another thing that was different between them was that Sombra used his slaves as soldiers to fight for him while he used skilled and highly trained soldiers, especially fighting against the US. That would be a weakness Razka would no doubt exploit when the fighting starts.

Based on what these reports were saying, Sombra was in an all out blitzkrieg. It was an effective strategy if you moved fast and hard enough. But that left him vulnerable to an attack on the inside. Only problem was figuring out how to get behind the enemy lines. After at least another several hours of plotting and planning, Razka was satisfied with the plan he had. It wasn’t perfect, but as a great general had once said, “a good plan violently executed today is better than a perfect plan executed in a week.”





Razka was in the dining room with Celestia and Luna. Having skipped breakfast and lunch, he was quite hungry. But he also had his plan to share.

“So, Razka, you have a plan of attack?” Princess Celestia asked.

“I do,” the chairman answered confidently. “For the first phase of the plan, I’ll need to have most of your troops engage Sombra’s forces head on. Make it appear as though we’re simply trying to stop his advance towards us. We outnumber his forces in that region five to one, that means if he wants any hope of continuing his advance, he’ll need to send almost all of his troops to our front. While he’s bogged down trying to regain momentum, we’ll send a battalion sized unit to swing past his eastern flanks with little resistance hopefully. We’ll then have them punch a straight hole to the heart of his beloved empire. If we move quickly enough, he shouldn’t be able to reroute his troops before we’re in the capital.”

“But what if by the time our soldiers get there they’re not strong enough to take on Sombra?”  Luna questioned.

“The two of you defeated Sombra once before, I assume you can do it again. Cadenza and Armor will stay back here in Canterlot. I have no use for them. As for me, I’ll be joining the two of you with the battalion.”

“This sounds very risky. What happens if our primary forces attacking Sombra from the north are overwhelmed?”

“Doesn’t matter,” he replied bluntly. “All that matters is getting to that son of a bitch Sombra by any means necessary. We can take a lot more losses than he can and keep fighting. He doesn’t have that luxury.”

The doubt in Celestia’s eyes was clear as day. “But do we have to risk so many lives?”

“I give her a solution and what does she do? She has to find a fucking problem with it,” Razka thought to himself. “If you have a better idea I’d love to hear it.”

“Well I may have a plan that WON’T cost so much lives.”

“And what is it?”

“What if we create a distraction?”

“What?”

“Since we have some personal history with Sombra we can lure him out. If we show ourselves using our magic it would no doubt provoke him to send most of his troops there. And we would be able to better protect our forces and minimize their causalities. While that is going on, you can still lead some of our forces behind his enemy lines while his army are distracted by us.”

“You have a point, but I think I’ve got something even better. Instead of you two we use Cadenza and Armor for the distraction. I still want you two by my side just incase the unit I'm with gets in trouble."

Celestia and Luna both nodded in agreement, satisfied with the adjusted plan of attack. “Then if you’ll excuse us, I believe it’s time for us to retire for the night,” Luna said. “We’ll go over the specifics of the plan tomorrow with Cadance and Shining.”

“Sounds good.”

“Oh and Christopher, I’ll tap into your dream tonight so we can get in contact with Janet,” the night princess added.

“I look to forward to it,” he replied with a grin. I'll finally be able to see how my war is going.

> The Chairman and the King
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Christopher!” Janet exclaimed as she gave him a hug. “I’m so relieved that you’re alive and well!”

Razka was surprised by the spontaneous show of affection from the usually reserved woman. He awkwardly shrugged Janet off of him. “It certainly is good to see you again, thanks to Luna.”

“I take it you’re here so that you can keep an eye on the war,” Stahl assumed, getting straight to business.

“Indeed I am. How are our forces doing?”

“We’ve been encountering the heaviest resistance around DC, as we anticipated. It could be quite some time before the president and his cabinet are dead,” Stahl regrettably informed the chairman.

Christopher nodded and turned to Luna. “Would it be possible for you to give us some privacy?” he asked.

“Of course,” the night princess confirmed. She began to dissipate into the air. “Just give me a shout when you’re done.”

Once Razka was sure the princess was gone, he returned his attention to Janet. “I might be here for a while.”

“What have they said in regards to getting you home?” Janet asked.

“Not much, but they do have a plan. How long would it take to get another portal built?”

Stahl gave her superior a worried look. “If I was to guess, I’d say at least a month or two?”

“A month!?”

“All of our resources are devoted to the war, we don’t have a lot of spare mechanics and materials,” she explained. “I’ll do what I can, but I need time.”

Razka ran a hand through his hair. “There’s something else I need to talk to you about.”

“What is it?”

“There’s a tyrant here that Luna and Celestia want me to help them deal with. He’s taken control of a neighboring empire and they fear he’s going to attack their kingdom.”

“How serious of a threat is he?”

“This tyrant, King Sombra, has enough power to make the princesses worried about an attack. I’d say it’s rather serious to them.”

“Can you handle this?”

“Sombra should be nothing more than a speed bump. The princesses don't have the tactical knowledge I do. What's serious to them may be nothing to me. You know, I almost pity the poor bastard. He didn’t choose to be put in my crosshairs, but I will slaughter him regardless.”

“How are the princesses treating you?”

“Well enough, but they seem hell-bent on befriending me. Their society holds friendship and love in very high regards. Friendship is power here.”

“And destruction is ours.”

“No, order is. Destruction is just part of the process of creating a perfect order of peace and control.”

"What about this 'Sombra' character? What makes you think he'll be so easy to defeat?"

“I have two immortal gods on my side. I think it’s safe to assume who the overwhelming victor is going to be.”

“Just be careful. We need you to come home alive, not in a body bag.”

Luna appeared in front of Christopher and Janet. “I’m afraid it’s time to wake up.”

The two humans nodded their acknowledgement.





“Well, Christopher, you seem to be in a good mood this morning,” Celestia commented as Razka took a seat at the dining table with a wicked grin on his face.

“Stahl is making exceptional progress with the US. With a bit of luck, I’ll have total control over America by the end of the year.”

“That’s… good to hear,” the princess said hesitantly.

“I want to discuss how exactly you plan to get me back to Earth, because right now all I have to go with is your word.”

“I’ve been looking into that actually,” she replied. “Thanks to the residual magic from the portal we used to get you and Luna here, I was able to figure out where exactly your planet is in relation to our own, so now you won’t have to build a portal on Earth.”

“Good, that will allow Stahl to focus committing our resources towards the war.”

“I’m curious though, what will you do once you’ve won the war?”

“We will rebuild the nation with me and Stahl in charge. We will beat down everyone that opposes us and reward those who stand with us. In time, they’ll see how right I really am, and how wrong they were. I mean, they spew out the most ridiculous things. Things like, we should be tolerant of those who disagree with us, or how we shouldn’t use violence to solve global problems. They’d rather use their words and risk defeat than use their fists and be guaranteed success.”

“Well, Christopher, I agree with those people. You should be tolerant of those who don’t agree with you and you should always try to find a peaceful solution.”

Razka shook his head. “And that is why I will never truly respect you as a leader,” he mumbled.

“What was that?” Celestia asked, not hearing what he said.

“Nothing.”

The chairman quickly finished his breakfast in silence, not feeling there was anything else to say. As he was returning to his room, he noticed Luna and a pony he didn’t recognize. It was a white unicorn with a black mane and tail. The unicorn's eyes were an icy blue

“Ah, Christopher, I’d like to introduce you to General Swift Strike,” Luna said.

Swift Strike gave a small nod. “A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Razka. I’m the leader of the 501st Legion.”

“Am I supposed to know who you are, general?”

“The 501st is our most effective group of soldiers in the army. They've all undergone intense training to make it into the legion,” Luna explained. “General Strike here has been in command of it for the past decade. He’ll be joining us for our attack on Sombra.”

Razka simply gave the night princess an unimpressed look before directing his attention back towards the general. "

“Humph….Well as long as he proves his usefulness then I have no issues,” he replied as he slipped into his room and shut the door.

The moment he entered the room, he noticed how cold and dark it was. Something was off. He quickly walked to his rifle leaning against his bed. Something was hiding in the shadows.

“It’s you, isn’t it,” Razka whispered. “Sombra.”

Spinning around the chairman was face-to-face with King Sombra. Razka aimed his rifle at Sombra’s head.

The dark tyrant simply laughed. “Go ahead, use your device. It won’t do anything. I’m merely a shadow projection.”

Razka lowered his gun and set it down. “So we finally meet.”

“When I heard about an alien in Equestria I had to see it myself. Tell me, what are you doing here?”

“Short version, I was forced into the portal I created to get Luna home. The sisters have agreed to help me home once we’ve dealt with you. Then I get back to managing a real war.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure. I won’t be stopped so easily this time. I’m much stronger now.”

Razka closed the gap between them until they were just an inch away from each others face, the chairman with a deep scowl. “You have no idea how truly insignificant you are to me. You are not a threat, you’re a nuisance.”

“Oh really. I may not know who you are stranger. But I can tell in those eyes of yours that you like seeing blood spilled.”

“Pardon?”

“Oh there is no bother denying it. Like all leaders of conflict you try and hide your love for the smell of your enemies’ blood as their bodies litter the battlefield.” Sombra said as he began circling Razka. “We both share some similarities. After all, we are like many others before us….masters of war. So why hide our monsters, why hide what lurks in our souls as it tries to claws its way out and rip whoever’s head is near….Don't you agree?”

Razka’s scowl changed into a wicked smirk. “A shame isn’t it that we are pitted against each other?”

“You call it a shame, I call it a cruel play from fate herself. Even now Celestia and Luna think that YOU are their hope and savior. How ironic that the two most peaceful beings who despise war and everything it stands for would side with a master of war itself.”

“Our interests align for the time being. They don’t care who I am, all they care about is that I can provide a solution. And once I do, I’ll be gone and we’ll never see each other again.”

“Oh is it ever that easy.” Sombra said sarcastically which made Razka raise an eyebrow.

“What's that supposed to mean?” 

“Do you honestly think that they will just...Let you go. Do you think for a moment that after learning everything about you and what your purposes are, do you honestly think that they will let you walk away... free? That's adorable.”

“If they don’t hold up their end of the bargain, I will slit their fucking throats. But so far, I have no reason to doubt them.”

“Heheheh...Not yet. But it will happen sooner or later. And when it does, instead of letting you go back to your war, they will stab you in the back when your job is done. They will then throw you in the darkest cell in Tartarus where you can't do ANY harm to anypony and you will sit there...For all eternity, if you last that long of course.”

“Luna has seen exactly what I’m capable of to those who oppose me. I assure you, she wouldn’t dare deceive me. They will watch as I slowly kill you. I will make you beg for death.”

“Ah….There’s the fire in those eyes of yours. It saddens me that I will have to kill such an interesting piece of work such as yourself, but like I said it’s a cruel play by Fate. And we all have to play by her rules. But the only question is, who will break the rules first.”

“You’ll see once the fighting starts that I have no rules. I’m not bound by ideals or morals.”

“We shall see soon enough...Razka.” With that, Sombra faded into the shadows from which he emerged from.

“Such a waste of talent and power,” Razka said to himself. “Oh well, his head will make an excellent trophy.”
> Rage
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Christopher was in a hospice room, sitting by the bed of an older man, half asleep from having been there so long. The man lying on the bed was 60 years old. Diagnosed with stage four colon cancer just a year ago, now barely clinging to life. The man was Christopher’s father, George Razka.

“Christopher,” George whispered weakly.

Chris immediately opened his eyes and grabbed his father’s cold hand. “I’m here, dad. I’m here.”

“When you go to my house… open the safe in my closet. The code is your birthday. There’s a flash drive. Open it on my computer. On it, are the tools for… you to build… an empire. You can change… the world, Christopher. You can create a new country. Ever since you were born… I’ve been working to… give you the opportunity I never had. This is my life’s work. I trust you… to do what I couldn’t.” Christopher’s dad closed his eyes, going back to sleep.

“I’ll make you proud, or die trying,” Christopher swore before letting go of his father’s hand.





The chairman spent most of the early morning thinking over his discussion with Sombra. As unlikely as it was, Razka couldn’t completely dismiss the possibility that the princesses could betray him. After all, it’s what he would do. He needed to think of a contingency plan just in case their deal went sour. For now though, he had to focus on starting the war against Sombra.

As Razka entered the dining room for breakfast, he noticed six extra ponies at the table. He internally groaned when he realized it was those fucking bearers of the elements of harmony he read about. He contemplated just turning around and leaving, but Celestia looked up at him just before Razka could bail.

“Ah, Christopher, I’m glad to see you’re finally up,” Celestia said, causing all eyes at the table to land on him.

He could see that the purple unicorn, Sparkle, was about to say something, so he beat her to it. “Celestia, I need to talk with you in private,” the chairman quickly requested. The alabaster goddess rose from her seat and walked over to him. They moved far enough away to make sure no one could hear them.

“Is something wrong?” Celestia asked in a hushed tone.

“What are THEY doing here?” Razka demanded, struggling to keep his voice down.

“I invited them here. I thought we could use some company. I know Twilight has been dying to meet you ever since I told her you were here.”

Razka wanted to strangle the life out of Celestia. “I’m trying to orchestrate an entire war and you want me to entertain that purple freak!?”

“Luna agreed to take care of organizing things for the next few days. I’d like you to get to know Twilight and her friends during that time.”

Something in Razka’s head snapped. He grabbed Celestia by the ear and twisted hard, causing her to shriek and kneel down in pain. “NOW YOU FUCKING LISTEN TO ME! I AM HERE TO WIN YOUR GOD DAMN WAR! DO YOU THINK THAT IS EASY, YOU PACIFISTIC FUCK!?”

The two guards standing by the main entrance rushed to the princess’s aid, but Razka whipped out his pistol from inside his suit and shot them both.

“YOU WILL NOT ROB ME OF MY DESTINY! NOW DO YOUR FUCKING JOB AND LEAVE ME TO DO MINE!” Razka yelled before releasing her.

Twilight and the others just stood paralyzed in shock and fear. Razka simply stood over Celestia, the rage and anger never leaving his eyes. “Now get those six fuckers out of this castle.”

Celestia slowly rose, giving Razka an equally hateful glare. “Against my better judgement, Christopher, I’m going to pretend that this never happened. That is, as long as you go to my room and wait for me there so we can talk.”

The chairman silently nodded and left the room, walking over the two lifeless bodies in his way.





Christopher waited in Celestia’s quarters for at least half an hour. The time had given the chance to cool down. This was the first time in ages that he had ever lost control like that.

“Feeling bad aren't we?” Razka turned his head to see a very familiar shadow lurking in front of him, with eyes of pure emerald. “Little boy being sent to time-out?”

“Fuck off.” Razka was in no mood for dealing with more of Sombra’s bullshit.

“She treats you like a child and you just accept it?”

“I don’t have explain my reasoning to you. And I’d like to know just how the fuck you know what happened.”

“Oh poor little delusional Razka.” Sombra cooed at Razka with a hint of mockery. “I have spies in your ranks. They allow me to see and hear what they do. And I must say, you sure have a way with children. Do your veins usually pop up like that when you’re angry?”

“You’re lucky you’re not really here. Otherwise, I’d probably chop off your hooves then skin you alive.”

“Now, now there is no need to get violent Razka. I’m here to talk to you on what just happened.”

“Go to hell.”

“Nah I’ve been there already. Believe it or not but hell can be a bit...Chilly.”

“Let’s cut the shit. What do you want now?”

“Humph...Straight to business I see?” Sombra said with an unamused look but then grinned. “Fair enough. Now I know about the little freak out that you just had with the Elements of Harmony and Celestia and how you didn’t feel bad at all. But you must of had a reason for doing so? Unless you have something stuck up your ass.”

“My disdain for the elements should go without saying. They’re nothing more than a bunch of freaks with bullshit powers that they call the magic of friendship. I don’t care about any of them, all I care about is securing my destiny and that won’t happen as long as Celestia keeps thinking I’m one of her beloved subjects,” Razka said but then saw the expression on Sombras face, as if he just captured his king chess piece.

“Oh really? Well if that’s the case, then let me ask you this...What are you doing?” 

“We made a deal, and I have made it abundantly clear what will happen if they back out. I’m not fucking around, and if you were really smart, you’d give up now.”

“*Sigh*...You are so unbelievably stupid.” Sombra groaned as he rubbed his temples.

“You’re only prolonging the inevitable. When this war ends, the dust settles, and I’m standing over you, barely clinging to life, just remember: you wanted this.”

“Tell me this Razka, how can you be this naive on how the outcome will end.” 

“I have two immortal gods on my side and an army better equipped and trained yours could ever be. You’re the one fighting an uphill battle, not me.”

“Maybe. But let me ask you this, remember that talk we had before but you were too ignorant to listen?”

“Yes, that pathetic ruse. What of it?”

“When I asked you on what you would do if the Princess went behind your back and you said you would kill them?”

“Without mercy.”

“Well, if that’s the case then take this into a consideration, lets say you did beat me and you won the war. What do you think will happen next, I know I said this before but before you lash out at me with your death threats, I want you to honestly think about it.”

“I have and I’ve come up with a contingency plan. And I’m not even going to waste the breath explaining it to pony who’ll already be dead.”

“Fair enough. After all, I may be a cruel monster but I’m one with class and cunning. You on the other hand would rather lash out at his allies. Don’t you see Razka, it’s like I said. You try so hard to hide that monster inside you, but I think we both know that they just got a little taste of the REAL you. And where I was watching, it was beautiful.” Sombra said with a venomous tone.

“You’re looking at the real me right now. The one you saw was… someone who is even darker than I am now.”

“Humph...I see. Well I think that will be the end for now.” Sombra said but right at that moment Razka hears cloping sounds coming from outside the door. “Oh you're in trouble, we'll continue this talk later. Have fun with Celly…..hahahah.” 

The king disappeared in a cloud of black mist just before the door swung open and Celestia trotted in. The princess had a deep frown on her face.

“You killed those two guards,” she stated.

“I got a little carried away trying to make a point,” Razka replied dismissively. “It won’t happen again.”

“I’m willing to put this behind us only because we still need your help. But what I said earlier will happen. Luna will take over for the time being you WILL spend time with Twilight and the others.”

“Is that my only option?”

“It’s either that or I imprison you for life. Which do you want.”

Razka remained silent for a moment. “I’m thinking.”

"Do you know why I didn't simply use my magic to overpower you?"

"No, why?"

“Because I was afraid I would have seriously hurt you. Despite what you may think, I do care about your well being. I’m not asking you to become best friends with Twilight and the others, I’m simply asking you to relax. And I think this will help you do just that, despite what you may think."

“Fine,” he sighed, seeing no way out of it. “When do I have to deal with them?”

“An hour.”

“Ugh... “ Chris groaned. “Whatever, just send them to my room when it’s time. There’s something I need you to do for me.”

“What?” Celestia cautiously asked.

“I have reason to believe there are traitors among the ranks. I want you to do an extensive search and find as many as you can. I think Sombra might be using them to eavesdrop on our plans.”

“Fine.”





“Your world is very strange compared to mine. Everything here is so much more… peaceful.” Twilight and her friends were sitting in a circle with Razka, listening to his story. It had taken them some time to get over their initial fear of the chairman, but eventually they decided to give him one more chance. The four guards standing close by in the room helped too. “On Earth, there’s no such thing as peace. The world is in a constant state of some form of war. The biggest problem was the United States, the most powerful country on our world. And that’s where I enter the picture. I devised a plan, Operation: Defiance, to overthrow the United States and take control of the country for myself. And right as I started my war with those pricks, I end up here. Luckily though, my army is in good hands.”

The six ponies just sat in silence, processing and trying to picture this strange alien world.

“Is everyone on your planet as...um…” Twilight stopped, trying to find the right words to say without insulting Razka.

“As cruel and mean as me?” Razka finished. The lavender unicorn slowly nodded her head. “No, they’re not. Most of them are like ponies on your world actually. But the people in charge are a lot like me. The only difference is why we do it. I appear evil to most people because that is what the world needs me to be. In order to restore balance, I have to be ruthless if I hope to gain control of the country.”

“Well if the people in charge are so evil, then why doesn’t everyone just kick them out of power?”

“Because most people are fucking idiots. They don’t know any better and just think their leaders have their best interests in mind.”

“Do you have any friends back home?”

“When you spend God knows how many years planning to overthrow the most powerful nation in the history of man, you don’t waste time making friends. So to answer your question, no I don’t have any friends back on Earth. Only allies and enemies.”

“It must be lonely,” Twilight said sympathetically. Earlier today she had been terrified of the human, but now she was starting to see him for who he really was. A man trying to make his world a better place. Even if he had more than a few flaws, she knew he meant well in the end. “What will you do when you’re done and you’ve made the country a better place,” she asked curiously.

This caught Razka off-guard. “I’ve never thought about it. All I’ve been focused on is reaching the end goal. It’s never once occurred to me what I’ll do once I’m done.”

Before anymore could be said, General Strike entered the room, much to Razka’s relief.

“Chairman Razka, we found the traitors,” Swift Strike informed.
Razka gave a dangerous grin. “Excellent. Take me to them,” he said as he rose and walked over to the general. “This will be fun.”

> Interrogation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Christopher Razka and Swift Strike were walking down the hallways of the castle, heading down to the dungeons.

“I’m surprised Celestia was able to find the traitors so quickly,” the chairman commented.

“She was able to use an old spell to detect any dark magic on the guards. Only a few ponies even know the spell exists,” Strike replied.

“How many did she find?”

“Just seven so far that were in the guard, but there’s bound to be more in the army.”

“See to it that they’re found. We can’t risk Sombra discovering our plan of attack.”

“The princess is already on it. She trusted that you would be able to get whatever information you could out of the prisoners.”

“Wow. Didn’t see that one coming. I thought I was going to have to beg and plead with her to question the bastards.”

“Luna told me how you handled the problem at your house when it was under attack. I think someone like you should be able to get them talking in no time.”

Razka gave the general an appreciative smile. “Glad to see someone appreciates my ruthlessness.”

“I do have a question for you.”

“Shoot.”

“Forgive my… boldness, but Luna was telling me about your war back on Earth. I was wondering, what makes you believe that you’re right and your enemies are wrong?”

Razka chuckled. “There’s a legend my father used to tell me when I was younger. The legend of Razgriz. When history witnesses a great change Razgriz reveals itself, first as a dark demon. As a demon, it uses its power to rain death upon the land, and then it dies. However, after a period of slumber Razgriz returns, this time as a great hero. He told me that there was a lesson to the legend. Making the world a better place requires two things to happen: destruction and reconstruction.”

“Do you believe you’re this... Razgriz?”

“As we speak, I am burning down an entire country. Most of the country, and probably the world, see me as a demon. But when I’m done, I will rebuild what I destroyed. I will make it better than what it was. When that happens, they’ll understand why I did what I did and hopefully regard me as a hero. So to answer your question, yes, I believe I am Razgriz in a way.”

They continued down a staircase leading to the dungeons. Once they reached the cell the traitors were in, Razka looked them over for a moment. There were two guards watching the cell, ensuring the prisoners didn’t try to escape. Razka noticed that not only were all four hooves of the ponies cuffed, but black metal rings were clamped onto the horns of the unicorns. He assumed they were used to inhibit the ability to use magic.

“I’d like some privacy while I interrogate these prisoners,” Razka told the guards.

“Sorry sir, but the princess gave us strict orders not to leave them alone,” one of them replied.

“And they won’t be,” Swift said. “It’s alright, you can wait by the staircase and we’ll let you know when we’re done.”

The guards gave him a questioning look, but complied nonetheless. They handed Swift Strike the keys to cell and trotted away. Once they were gone, Strike turned to Razka.

“Being a general has its perks,” the stallion chuckled.

An evil smirk formed on the chairman’s lips as he stared at the prisoners. “Give me your sword and let me in. I’d like to begin my interrogation.”

Strike nodded and unsheathed his sword and gave it to the human. He then walked over and opened the cell, allowing Razka to swagger in, his smirk never leaving.

“I think we can skip the part where I ask you to tell me everything you know and then you all swear you’ll never say anything, and go straight to the part where I torture you all one by one.” Razka leaned down to a red and white striped pegasus. “Let’s start with you.”

The chairman raised the sword over the pony’s left front hoof. The stallion quickly realised what Razka was about to do, absolute fear consuming his face. Before he could plead, Razka sliced off his hoof, blood gushing onto the hard brick floor.

“GAHHHHHH!”

Razka placed his hand on the stallion’s muzzle and lifted his head, forcing him to make eye contact with him. “If you want to keep your other hooves, you’re going to start talking.”

“Stripes, if you say a word-” the back of the unicorn’s head exploded, blood and bits of his brain painting the wall he was leaning on. Razka holstered his pistol and grabbed the pony’s throat.

“You see what happened to your friend there?” Razka asked, forcing the suffering pony to look at his dead comrade. “I didn’t like what he said. Just tell me everything you know and I won’t make you choke on your own blood.”

The stallion didn’t respond, all he could seem to focus on was the fear of this alien holding him and the searing pain where his hoof used to be. But when the chairman pressed the sword against Stripes’ throat, he broke his silence.

“Sombra’s planning an attack!” he said, fighting back tears of pain.

“When and where?” Razka demanded.

“Ponyville.”

“When?!”

“He will attack in…” Before the stallion could continue he started feeling woozy “He will attack…” That was all he could say before he soon started puking all over himself as it dripped on the floor.

“What the hell?”

“Oh my head...it hurts!!” The stallion then began to scream in pain as he gritted his teeth. Before Razka could just put a bullet in him, the stallion soon went limp and as his head hung low and puke and blood was drooling from his mouth. 

“What the fuck?” Razka muttered as he walked over and gazed at the know limp stallion. As he drew his hand closer to the body, it started to shake which caused Razka to back away. At first the stallion didn't say anything as his head was still hung over.

“Come on you son of a bitch, get up,” Razka said, kicking the stallion in the ribs. He was greeted by a small chuckle coming from the stallion. “What the fuck, you think this is fucking funny!”

The stallion continued to chuckle as it soon escalated to psychotic laughter as he still had his head down. 

“As a matter of fact, I do.” Razka was taken back as the stallion’s voice sounded different, it was filled with malice and darkness.

“Look at me you fucker.” Razka ordered.

The stallion slowly moved his head and Razka was left speechless. The stallion who once had blue eyes, were now green with red pupils as a dark aura was surrounding his now dominic eyes.

“Is that better...Razka?”

“Oh come on.” the chairman groaned. “I’m getting really sick of hearing your voice, Sombra.”

“Oh thats a shame to hear because I myself am really liking these...bonding sessions that we have. Its not my fault you’re not enjoying yourself. ” 

“What do you want this time?”

“Well since you were so kind to ask, I just wanted to drop in and congratulate you.” Sombra said as he crossed his forelegs (Or the stallion’s forelegs).

“For what, the inevitable slaughtering I’m going to give your pathetic cronies?”

“Well I would have called them slaves but cronies works too I guess. And yes, I want to congratulate you on finding out who my spies were, or at least some of them. And I must say you are doing quite a bit of….work on my cronies.” Sombra stated as he gazed at the body to his right.

“Take a good look, you’ll be sharing their fate soon enough.”

“Oh of course, I’ll keep that in mind when I rip you apart piece by piece. But lets not get into that, look I want to cut this short  because I have things to do so I will get to the point. Due to the stupidity of my slaves you know of my attack on Ponyville, am I correct?” 

“You are. And I look forward to disemboweling whatever poor bastards you send. God knows it’s been awhile since I’ve seen some real action.”

Hahaha...Thats the spirit. You know since I am such in a good mood and you have done a great job on….Working over my boys here, I am going to give you your prize.”

“And what would that be?”

“I’m going to attack Ponyville tomorrow near mid-morning.” Sombra answered bluntly which threw Razka off.

“Hubris will be your downfall. Why would you tell me that?”

“I’m just curious on how the outcome will turn out, after all I want to see some blood spilled tomorrow. So I’m counting on you to make that happen, okay.” Sombra said with a smile. “And I want the Elements of Harmony to be there when I attack.”

“You must think I’m an idiot.”

“You’d be an idiot if you didn’t. If the Elements aren’t in Ponyville by tomorrow morning, there will be no attack. Instead, I’ll wait and find somewhere else to attack. And there will be no way for you to stop me.”

“Fine,” Razka conceded. “They’ll be there, but you won’t get anywhere near them.”

“Well I think our time is up here, I have things to do and there was something else I had to say to you….what was it.” Sombra thought hard on what he was going to say until it came back to him “Oh now I remember, I want to give you a bit of a warning.”

“What?”

“When I leave this body, this stallion will come down with a terrible case of explosion.”

“Interesting.” Razka turned towards General Strike, who was still standing by the cell. “I think that’s our cue to leave, general.”

The stallion nodded and quickly let Razka out of the cell. “Ummm what did he mean by that?”

“Apparently, that stallion is going to explode or something.”

“Well thats odd-” Before he could finish, they hear a loud bang come from the cell as gushes of blood hit the side of their faces.

Razka looked down at his now blood covered suit. “God damn it. That son of a bitch ruined a perfectly good suit. Strike, do me a favor and deal with the survivors, if there are any.” The general nodded in compliance as the chairman turned to leave.





“Razka, why are you covered in blood?” Celestia asked in shock.

“You don’t want to know. But what you do want to know is that Sombra’s planning an attack on Ponyville,” Chairman Razka informed the princesses. “He’s going after the Elements.”

“Then we’ll just keep Twilight Sparkle and her friends here,” Luna said.

“No. We need to send them back to Ponyville immediately,” Razka argued.

“Why?” Celestia demanded, not at all liking the sound of Razka’s plan.

“Because Sombra clearly has soldiers behind enemy lines. Thanks to those prisoners-”

“Which we WILL be discussing later,” the solar princess interrupted.

“Whatever. Thanks to them, we know exactly when and where these ponies will be attacking. All I need to do go down there with the 501st, protect the Elements and wipe out the attackers.”

“Absolutely not,” Celestia replied. “I will not let you gamble with Twilight’s life.”

Razka ran a hand through his hair, a heavy sigh escaping his lips accompanied by an annoyed eye roll. “If we don’t stop this attack now, Sombra will just come up with a new one that I will not be able to prevent. Yes, your “faithful student” could die and to put it bluntly, I don’t give a fuck about her or those other five brats. If the Elements don’t return to Ponyville, Sombra may suspect we know he’s coming.”

“As much as I hate to say it, sister, Christopher is right. I don’t like it anymore than you do, but it looks like this is our best option,” Luna admitted.

“Well if you’ll excuse me, I need to wash up,” Razka said with a satisfied smile. “And I’d like my suit cleaned up, if that’s possible.”





After having spent an hour getting cleaned up and waiting on his suit, which remarkably was salvageable, Chairman Razka went to go see General Strike. He had very little time to get the 501st organized and into Ponyville. From what he gathered with his conversation with Sombra, he knew the dark king would be in Ponyville. If he could defeat Sombra there, he could end the war before it even started.

Swift Strike was out in the courtyard, sitting on a bench, enjoying the view of the lush garden as he waited for the human to arrive. He knew Razka was going to want to prepare them for combat in Ponyville. Part of him was nervous, owing to the fact that the 501st hadn’t seen battle since they were ordered to hunt down any remaining changelings in the aftermath of the Canterlot wedding. A wedding which had been years ago. Hunting the changelings was just that: hunting. This was a real army they going up against.

Swift was brought out of his thoughts by the feeling of a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Razka looking down on him, his face completely neutral.

“Good to see you again, chairman,” Swift said.

“A lot on your mind?” Christopher asked as he took a seat beside the stallion.

“Is it that easy to tell?”

“Not as easy as telling that this will be your first real battle.”

The white stallion chuckled. “You know, I’ve been waiting my whole life for a moment like this. But now that it’s finally here, I feel… anxious.”

“Don’t worry. If you’re as good as Luna’s made you out to be, you and your legion will do just fine tomorrow.”

“So what’s the plan?”

“Defend the town and protect the Elements of Harmony at all costs.”

Swift raised a questioning eyebrow. “I thought you-”

“Didn’t care about those six?” Razka finished. “There’s always another side to the coin. There’s a small part of me that admires their ability to make others believe in friendship. I will only be needed for a short time, but there will always be a need for them in this world.”

Swift nodded in agreement. “I never would have believed in the power of friendship if it wasn’t for those six. They’ve accomplished things no ordinary ponies could ever dream of doing.”

Razka got up off the bench and straightened out his suit. “You can start getting the 501st ready to mobilize. We’ll move out at dusk.”

“Consider it done.”
> Behold the Razgriz
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I may be returning sooner than I originally thought,” Razka told Janet. They were dreaming and thanks to Luna, they were once again able to communicate with each other. “Sombra’s going to be attacking a small town not too far from the capital. If we’re able to stop him and kill him there, I’ll have ended this war before it even begins.”

Janet smiled at the good news. “That’s good to hear, Christopher. But I’m afraid I have some bad news with our war.”

“What is it?”

“The president managed to escape and now he’s somewhere on the other side of the world. We’ll find him eventually, but you know that this is going to be a significant setback.”

“Son of a bitch,” Razka groaned, running a hand through his hair. “What about the fronts? How are they doing?”

“We’ve hit a bit of a roadblock on the western front, but we’re still pushing through.”

The chairman nodded in confirmation. “Have Captain Allen and the 516 hunt down the president. Until anything else develops, I think we’re done for now.”

“Sir,” Janet started, putting a hand on the chairman’s shoulder. “Please be careful. Luna’s shown me what Sombra is capable of. I don’t want to have to hear Luna tell me that you’ve been killed.”

“You won’t. I promise. Now, I’d like a few moments with Luna, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course,” Janet replied as she began to dissipate.

“What is it?” Luna asked curiously, landing beside the chairman.

“I want to talk a bit about Nightmare Moon, if you’re willing to.”

The night princess shook slightly, hearing the name of her alter-ego. “If you feel you must,” she sighed.

“How did Nightmare Moon start?”

“She started as a tiny voice in my head. She fed on my bitterness and jealousy towards my sister. The more I fed her, the stronger her voice became until it eventually consumed me.” Luna gave Razka a curious glance. “Why do you ask?”

“I’d rather not say right now.”

Luna reached out and took his hand in her hoof. “Please talk to me, Christopher. Please let me help you.”

“I’ll tell you when I return to Canterlot,” Razka said, looking into Luna’s brilliant blue eyes. “I suppose there’s a few things you deserve to know.”





Razka was jolted awake by General Strike nudging him. “Chairman, we’re here.”

Looking out the window of the train, Christopher saw that they were indeed in Ponyville. The sun was just starting to rise, painting the sky a brilliant orange. Now was not the time to admire nature’s beauty though, there was work that needed to be done.

“Out of the abyss peer the eyes of a demon. Behold the Razgriz, its wings of black sheath,” Razka whispered, still remembering the old legend his dad told him. He turned his attention back to Swift. “Get all of the Elements of Harmony to Sparkle’s library and set up a defensive perimeter.”

“Right away sir,” Strike said with a quick salute.

Razka looked back out the window. “Let’s show him what a true demon looks like.”





For the next few hours Razka and Strike set up a defensive perimeter around the town. Razka had the soldiers of the 501st round up the Elements of Harmony and brought them to Twilight’s library.

“Our soldiers are all in position, Razka,” Strike informed as he entered the library.

Razka was checking his gun, the CHK-75 he had when he was dragged into the portal. He was glad the rifle had a built-in 3D printer, allowing it to automatically refill an empty magazine. “Good, Sombra should-” An explosion cut the chairman off as both of them ran out to find the cause. Razka turned to Swift. “How the hell did he get through?” Then it hit him like a ton of bricks. Sombra’s forces were in the town before they even got there. “Son of a bitch! Strike, stay with the Elements!”

“Aren’t you staying here too?”

“You’re job is protect those six. Mine is to end this war.”

It took only seconds for the once peaceful town to erupt into chaos and destruction. The soldiers of the 501st, clad in their glossy midnight blue armor, clashed with Sombra’s forces, wearing matte black armor. Razka’s assault rifle launched a barrage at everypony in his path. The .50 caliber bullets tore through flesh like it was paper. The perimeter the 501st set up was rendered useless, forcing them to fend off enemies that were coming at them from all sides. Through all of chaos, the lone human punched through every pony that tried to stop him finding Sombra. But after just a few minutes, the chairman laid eyes on his target.

“You know I was worried you wouldn’t show,” Razka sneered.

“Let’s end this like the gentlemen we are. No magic, no weapons. Just raw strength,” Sombra proposed.

Razka grinned as he threw his rifle to the ground. “Just remember, you wanted this.”

The two warlords charged each other, Sombra’s horn aimed at Razka’s heart. Razka side-stepped out of Sombra’s way and brought his fists down on the king’s skull. Sombra collapsed to the ground, but was quick to get back on his hooves. Sombra charged again, but Razka was unable to counter him. Sombra’s red horn cut the chairman deeply across his chest.

“That’s it,” a voice said in Razka’s head. “I’M dealing with him now.”

“You’re weaker than I thought, Christopher,” Sombra taunted.

“MY NAME IS GRIMM!” he shouted, grabbing Sombra’s horn with both hands. “AND I WILL NOT LET YOU GET IN OUR WAY!”

Sombra directed all his energy to his horn and zapped Razka with everything he had, but the chairman didn’t let go. Razka could feel all of his veins burning in pain as he kept a firm grasp on Sombra’s red horn. The king’s eyes widened in fear as Razka whipped out a knife. “What are you!?”

“I am the demon of Razgriz reborn!” Razka roared as he brought the knife down on Sombra’s horn. Then everything went black.





The first thing Razka noticed when he woke up was the pain. The burning pain that seemed to be going through his veins. Whatever Sombra did to him, he was definitely feeling it. He could barely remember the fight. Taking the time to look around he quickly determined that he was in a hospital. Turning his head to the side he saw Princess Luna sleeping on a couch just a foot away from his bed. The Princess looked disheveled, like she had been in the room for a few days.

“We’re running out of time,” Grimm said.

“What the hell happened?” Razka whispered.

“When you were fighting Sombra, it looked like you needed my help. So I did.”

“Did you kill him?”

“I don’t know. We passed out when I cut off his horn.”

“Then he’s not dead.”

“Agreed.” There was a pause, as if Grimm was thinking about what he wanted to say next. “You can’t tell her about me. Not yet at least.”

Razka’s eyes shifted to the sleeping mare. “She knows what it’s like to have a voice in her head. She might be able to help BOTH of us. And don’t take it the wrong way, but I’d rather not end up being consumed by you.”

“Everything I do, I do for us. And we still need each other.”

“Until our war ends.”

“Chris, our war will never end. It won’t stop with the United States, it will continue until the world destroys us or we conquer it.”

“I’m still going to tell her. She deserves to know.”

“Fine,” Grimm grunted. “But I am not going to talk to her.”

“Just don’t have another outburst like you did with Celestia. I’m still shocked that we got out of that.”

“That won’t happen again.”

“It had better not. Once I’ve explained what I need to and we’re out of this hospital, we need to get the operation moving.”

“I may have weakened Sombra significantly, but he’s still alive. And as long as he’s alive, he and his army are still a major threat.”

“Exactly.”

“I’ll respect your decision, as long as it doesn’t change anything between us. We’re still in this together. And I’m confident we always will be.”

“Christopher?” Luna said as she slowly woke up.

“I’m awake,” he replied.

The midnight mare quickly trotted to the bed and gave Razka a tight embrace. Christopher grunted in slight pain. “I thought you were going to die.”

“It was that bad?”

“When you were fighting Sombra, at some point he blasted you with as much dark magic as he could. Had we not acted as quickly as we did, you probably would have died.”

“Is there any still left in me?”

“No, the doctors were able to get all of it out of you, again because of our speed. But you need to stay in bed for a few more days.”

Razka frowned at that bit of information. “How long was I out?”

“Three days.”

“THREE DAYS!?” Razka shouted. “What’s happening on Earth? What happened to Sombra?” he angrily demanded.

Luna put a reassuring hoof on his shoulder. “Everything’s fine on Earth. I’ve been in contact with Janet for the past three days and kept her informed on how you’ve been doing. She said there isn’t anything new to report and that progress is being made, but it’s just been slow. Sombra is still alive unfortunately, but you did manage to sever his horn. Our troops are all in position and ready to engage Sombra’s forces. The 501st is also ready to launch their campaign to the Crystal Empire.”

He let out a sigh of relief. At least nothing had gone to shit while he was out. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“What is it?” she asked, concern clear in her voice.

“You’ve seen my dreams, so I assume you know about Razgriz.” When the princess nodded, he continued. “There are two sides to the Razgriz: the demon and the hero. Shortly after my father died and I began building CHECKMATE, I started hearing this voice in my head. As time went on, the voice began… giving me advice on how to make my company successful and achieve mine and my father’s goal. I named him Grimm, after my middle name. After all, he is a part of me. Grimm is the darker side to me. He’s evil, ruthless and willing to do whatever it takes to achieve our goals.”

“Christopher, if this is true, then you need to get rid of that voice right away.”

“No, he’s not like Nightmare Moon. I need him and he needs me. This war I’m fighting would never have happened if it wasn’t for Grimm. He knows his place and he has no intentions of taking over my mind.”

Luna gave Razka a weary look. “He WILL consume eventually. I started listening to the Nightmare too much and in time she was able to consume me. The same will happen to you if you don’t do anything.”

“You can’t possibly compare me and Grimm to you and Nightmare,” he retorted. “Nightmare fed off of your jealousy and eventual hatred towards your sister. Grimm and I are working together because we want to make the world a better place. He is the demon and I am the hero. In the legend, when man wields a hallowed sabre, the demon is slain. That sabre is the end of the war. When the war ends, there will no longer be a need for Grimm; only me. And I will rebuild what was destroyed. I will be the hero.”

“I suppose I cannot convince you to heed my warning,” Luna sighed.

“No you can not.”

“So why did you tell me this?”

“Think of yourself as a contingency. If something does go wrong, you’ll know exactly what’s going on and how to fix it.”

“You don’t trust him, do you?”

“Grimm can be a bit of a wildcard sometimes. But he has yet to give me reason to seriously question my trust in him. Still, I want to minimize the risk as much as I can.”

Whatever Luna was going to say, it was interrupted by General Swift Strike entering the room. Strike gave Razka a relieved smile, clearly happy to see that the chairman was finally awake.

“It’s good to see you’re finally awake, Chris,” Swift said. “Luna here refused to leave the room. Had to send her meals directly to the room,” he added with a chuckle.

“Tell me, Strike, what exactly happened after I passed out?” Christopher asked, eager to know what had happened.

“You saved the Elements’ lives. After you cut off Sombra’s horn, he and his army went into a full retreat.”

“Casualties?”

“The 501st suffered minimal casualties, only about a hundred seriously injured or dead. Civilian losses were near one hundred dead or seriously injured.” Razka frowned hearing the civilian casualties. “Enemy losses were over three hundred dead or captured.”

“When does our operation begin?”

“Two days.”

“Well let’s hope this pain in my veins ends by that time. Is there anything else I need to know, Strike?”

“I’m sure Luna will say the same, but don’t rush your recovery. You saved a lot of lives in Ponyville and nearly gave your own in the process. All we need you to do right now is recover and be patient. We have your plan and we’re going to follow every little bit of it.”

Razka let out a heavy sigh. “I suppose I can afford to be bedridden for a little longer. Besides, when we begin the counterattack, my direct involvement in the fighting shouldn’t be crucial to our early success.” He turned towards Luna. “You and Celestia will be helping the 501st, right?”

“Of course,” Luna answered.

“Good, then we shouldn’t have any problems on that front at least.” A deep yawn escaped Razka’s lips. “Well, surprisingly I’m still tired.”

“I’ll come back tomorrow,” Swift said with a nod before leaving the room.

“I only have one more question, Christopher,” Luna said once Swift closed the door behind him.

“Shoot.”

“I’ve been in your dreams multiple times. How come I’ve never seen Grimm before?”

“Because I’ve spent a long time keeping him hidden. That’s all I wish to say and now if you don’t mind, I’d like to get some more rest.”
> The War Begins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Razka gazed the area around him, he knew he was dreaming as he took in the surrealness of his surroundings. “Well shit, now what the fuck am I supposed to do?” Razka questioned himself as he walked through on what he thought was his imagination.

“To be honest, I think that went rather well with Luna,” Grimm said, appearing beside Christopher. Grimm was a near mirror image of Chris, save for two key features. Grimm’s hair was jet black and his eyes were blood red.

“As long as she doesn’t tell anyone, we should be good.”

“You’re getting to close to that mare Chris. You should know better.”

“She’s a powerful ally. And as much as I hate to admit it, she and her sister are far more powerful than we are.”

“I can see through your lies, Christopher. You’re starting to develop feelings for her.”

Christopher merely scoffed at the accusation. “So what? As soon as we get off this planet, we’re never going to see any of them again. Besides, working with her is the best way to get back home. The war here will be over soon. Once we find Sombra again, we can finish him off.”

“It’s never that easy. Not with someone like him. I sense his dark magic in us and thus on him, even though I cut off his horn. He is somehow still able to give out a dark essence. From what I’m sensing, he is very... pissed off.”

“Fantastic. That means he’ll be more careless.”

“You're not getting on what I’m saying. Due to me not finishing him off, I fear this whole war has gotten a lot more difficult.”

“From what we know right now, our operation should go smoothly. Sombra’s weaker, which means he can’t fight on the fronts anymore.”

“Humph, you keep thinking like that. But I’m telling you, don’t be cocky. If he is this angry, we don’t know what he is capable of.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Make sure you do Chris. And remember don’t forget to let loose and let ME take over the steering wheel.”

Christopher gave Grimm a powerful glare. “Do not forget your place, Grimm. I’m the one in control here, not you.”

“Hehehe, sure you are Chris.”

“Sometimes I wonder if it was worth letting you in.”

“And sometimes I wonder if I should just bust my way into your self-consciousness and take over this pathetic excuse of a body. I would get so many things done.”

“I’m not that weak, and I sure as hell am not that desperate. Just stick to the plan we made all those years ago. The plan WE agreed to.”

“Humph, fine. But I’m telling you, I’m starting to lose my patience.”

“It’ll be over soon. Once we’re done here, we’ll be able to finish our war back home.”





Today was the day the war against King Sombra officially started. The bulk of the Equestrian Royal Army was launched in a head on confrontation against Sombra’s forces. The 501st split off from the main army with the intention to go through the enemy’s flanks with significantly less resistance. However, Razka was stuck in Canterlot due to his injuries from Ponyville. He hated every moment being stuck in the castle, but knew it was pointless to try and argue with the princesses until he could walk normally again. The dark magic had done considerable damage to some of his joints, which forced him to need a cane in order to walk.

Razka was out on his bedroom balcony watching the sun slowly rise. It had been a week since the war officially began. The door to his room slowly opened and a pony entered.

“What do you want, Luna?” Razka asked, not bothering to turn around as he heard the hoof steps getting closer. When he didn’t hear a response, he turned around to see a bat pony clad in armor approaching him. “You’re not part of my detail. Who the devil are you?”

The bat pony said nothing as he wielded a sword and lunged at the human. Razka was quick to dodge the attack and smashed his cane on the pony’s neck. With his enemy briefly stunned on the ground, Razka took the moment to whip out his pistol and put a bullet in the bat pony’s head. The gunshot rang through the castle.

Christopher let out a sigh as he looked over the now dead body. “Well I hope you’re happy. You ruined my fucking cane, asshole!”

“Christopher!” Luna shouted as she charged into the room. She immediately saw him standing over the dead bat pony. “What happened? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Razka said, looking down and rubbing his right leg. The rapid movement had caused it to burn in pain. Looking back up at Luna, he saw a familiar look of concern plastered on her face. “Sombra knew the guard didn’t stand a chance. He wanted to taunt me. Get under my skin. He’s quite literally adding insult to injury. Jackass.” It wasn’t until he finished talking that he noticed something. There were heavy bags under Luna’s eyes. “Is there a reason you haven’t been getting sleep?”

“I’m fine,” Luna said, hoping Razka would drop it.

“Don’t lie to me. You’ve been here for me, it is only fair that I be here for you. What is it?”

“Just what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Grimm demanded.

“Doing the right thing. Now shut up!” Christopher answered.

Luna cast her head down in shame. “I feel responsible for everything that’s happened to you. And when Sombra attacked you…”

Razka put his hand under the night goddess’ chin and lifted her head up. “You couldn’t have stopped any of this. I don’t blame you for what’s happened. I could sense it when I was in the hospital. The guilt you bear. The shadow of Nightmare Moon still hangs over you, doesn’t it?”

“How could I ever forgive myself of the terrible things I did?”

“But that’s the thing. It wasn’t you that did it, it was Nightmare Moon.”

“And I let her in!” Luna shouted, tears starting to fall from her eyes. “I turned my back on my sister and let the Nightmare corrupt me!”

“Everyone forgives you and knows that it wasn’t you who did those terrible things. The only one who still doesn’t forgive you, is yourself. And as long as continue to blame yourself for that, you’ll never get over it and it will haunt you for the rest of your life.”

“How!?” The tears were now flowing freely down her face.

“By believing that you weren’t Nightmare Moon and what SHE did was not your fault.”

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation.

“Just a minute please!” Razka shouted in an annoyed tone. “You deserve to be happy.”

One of the royal guards charged into the room. “Your highness, chairman,” the guard quickly bowed.

“This had better be fucking important!”

“I’m sorry sir, but it’s urgent. Something’s happening and Celestia has requested that both of you meet her in the throne room immediately.”





“What’s happened?” Razka questioned, quickly limping into the throne room with Luna close behind him. 

Celestia had a clear look of dread plastered on her face. “We underestimated Sombra’s army. Something happened to the 501st.”

“What happened?” he repeated, trying to hide the fear in his voice.

“One of Strike’s scouts returned to the castle. He said that they ran right into an army group just as big as the 501st. He said that they weren’t ordinary soldiers though. Something about them being enhanced by dark magic.”

“How many made it out?”

“A little over 100,” the solar princess regrettably informed.

Razka stood in disbelief as he ran a hand through his hair. “They’re coming for us.”

“Christopher, what should we do?” Luna asked worriedly.

“Reroute the army back to Canterlot in full retreat. Get Princess Cadenza and Prince Armor out of Canterlot and somewhere where they’ll be safe. Celestia, I need you to get Twilight Sparkle and her friends right now. They’ll go with the Cadenza and Armor to evacuate. Our first priority is ensuring their safety.”

“And what are we going to do?” questioned Luna.

“There’s only one way to end this now. We’re going to have to get to Sombra and kill him on our own.”

“But that’s suicide!”

“I know,” Razka sadly replied. “But if we flee with the others, there will be nothing to stop Sombra. If we don’t kill him, he will eventually find them and kill them.”

“And what about you, Christopher? What about getting back home?”

The chairman let out a depressed sigh. “Janet will make my life’s goal a reality. This last ditched effort to kill Sombra is the only chance I still have of getting home.”

“Christopher, you’re still wounded from your battle with Sombra,” Celestia reminded. “How do you expect to fight while your leg is still healing?”

“It’s good enough. Besides, if I don’t come with you, you won’t stand a chance against Sombra’s forces.”

“And what makes you think that?”

“Because you lack the ability to kill. If we’ve got an army of magically enhanced soldiers coming our way, I guarantee you Sombra’s being protected by soldiers just as strong. We cannot afford to make any false steps now. You both need to be willing to kill for your kingdom. And from this moment forward, I’m the one in charge.”

“Well I take it you have some sort of plan?” Celestia assumed.

“The plan is simple. We will perform a HALO drop on Sombra’s castle and kill everything in our path.”

“What is a HALO drop?” Luna asked.

“High altitude, low opening. We need to fly as high as you possibly can in order to avoid detection by Sombra’s forces. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to prepare." With that said, Razka left the throne room and went back to his room.

“I will not let you do this!” Grimm protested. “They can send us home right now if they wanted to! Make them send us home! Sombra is THEIR fucking problem!”

Christopher could see Grimm in his mind’s eye, lividly pacing around the room.

“And they’d be even weaker than Sombra right now. We’d be ensuring their demise.”

“Why do you care?”

“I admire their purity. It reminds me of what I wish to accomplish on Earth."

"I am not going to die on this planet. We've gotten too far just to die before we can claim what is ours!”

“This is happening, Grimm! It is the ONLY way we might still get home.” Christopher could feel Grimm’s resentment towards this plan of attack.

“I will not allow us to die here. Remember that. I will do whatever it takes to keep us alive.”

“You will do what I tell you to do. Do NOT forget who is in charge, Grimm.”

“You are treading on VERY thin ice, Chris. Don’t underestimate my capabilities. I’m much stronger than what you give me credit for.”

“YOU ANSWER TO ME, GRIMM! DON’T YOU THINK FOR A SECOND THAT YOU CAN OVERPOWER ME!” Razka snapped. 

“Why are you willing to die for them? Why the fuck do you care?” Grimm demanded.

“Because they have achieved what I’m trying to.”


> To Dethrone A King
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Princess Celestia and Luna were having breakfast with Chairman Razka when a royal guard burst into the dining hall. The corporal went straight to Christopher and whispered in his ear.

“What do you mean they’re missing?” Razka quietly demanded, making sure the princesses couldn’t  hear him.

“They’re gone, sir,” Corporal Orion said. “We don’t know what happened.”

“Well this changes everything now. You’re dismissed corporal,” Razka said with a wave of his hand. The corporal nodded and swiftly left the dining room. Christopher turned his attention to Celestia. “Twilight and the others have been captured by Sombra.”

“WHAT!?” Celestia roared. She stood up from her seat and began marching out of the room. “We’re leaving right now!”

Luna and Razka got up and followed the enraged princess.

“Christopher, get what you need and meet us in the courtyard,” Celestia coldly ordered.

“Understood.” Giving Celestia and Luna a quick nod he went straight to his room.

Razka grabbed something he had been working on for the past week. He had been modifying his CHK 51’s ammo. Using materials he gathered from a scientist in Ponyville, Dr. Hooves, he was able to make his rounds explode on impact. The results were devastating to say the least. The explosion was powerful enough to tear limbs off. He also grabbed a black trench coat one of the designers had made for him. The design featured CHECKMATE’s logo on both of the arms. Having everything he needed, Razka made his way to courtyard to prepare for their flight to the Crystal Empire.





Razka, Luna and Celestia landed on the roof of the Crystal Palace. The flight to the empire had been a quiet one. None of them uttered a word, the three leaders knowing what had to be done. As anticipated, the HALO drop allowed them to avoid any detection from Sombra's forces. The chairman noticed that Celestia looked livid.

“If he so much as touches a hair on Twilight, I will end him,” the solar princess vowed.

“Just follow my plan and we shouldn’t have any problems,” Razka reminded her. “We go in through the roof of the throne room. You two will deal with any guards in the room. Sombra’s mine.”

Celestia gave him a questioning look, but eventually nodded in agreement to the plan. The three of them observed the throne room from the glass skyline above. Minus King Sombra, there was no other pony in the room.

"He may be cocky, but he’s not stupid," Grimm warned.

Motioning to the princesses, they broke through the skyline. Razka dropped in directly over Sombra and pressed his gun against king’s head. “You move you die.”

The dark king chuckled. “I’m impressed.”

"His horn is back," Grimm observed.

"How the fuck did he pull that off?" Christopher wondered.

"It doesn't matter. We have the advantage on him. Even if he's back at full strength, the three of you should be able to handle him without a problem." Grimm said.

“This is where it ends, Sombra,” Razka stated.

“Not for me it doesn’t. And besides, without me Twilight and all her friends will die.”

Celestia charged the dark unicorn and pinned him against the wall. “Where is she!?” the princess demanded.

When Sombra refused to answer, Razka slammed the stock of his rifle against the back of the king's head. Sombra crumbled to the floor in agony.

“They’re being held by my best soldiers in the dungeons. Be careful though. If they see anypony that isn’t me, they’ll kill all six of them without a moment's hesitation.”

“How many?” Razka calmly asked.

“Six,” Sombra answered.

Razka looked over to Celestia. “I’ll take care of it.” With a nod of approval from the princess Razka left the throne room and headed for the dungeons. 



Princess Celestia and Luna were having breakfast with Chairman Razka when a royal guard burst into the dining hall. The corporal went straight to Christopher and whispered in his ear.

“What do you mean they’re missing?” Razka quietly demanded, making sure the princesses couldn’t  hear him.

“They’re gone, sir,” Corporal Orion said. “We don’t know what happened.”

“Well this changes everything now. You’re dismissed corporal,” Razka said with a wave of his hand. The corporal nodded and swiftly left the dining room. Christopher turned his attention to Celestia. “Twilight and the others have been captured by Sombra.”

“WHAT!?” Celestia roared. She stood up from her seat and began marching out of the room. “We’re leaving right now!”


Razka peeked his head around a corner of the dungeon’s long corridors and saw what he was looking for. The mane six with six soldiers guarding each of them. Pulling the pin on a flashbang grenade, Razka launched it at the twelve unsuspecting ponies. The moment he heard the bang, Christopher whipped around the corner wielding his personal rifle and opened fire on the hostile ponies. The first five shots hit their marks with lethal accuracy, the explosive rounds sending chunks of flesh and blood flying, but the guard protecting Twilight recovered before he could kill him. The black and gray unicorn used Twilight as a shield, his horn glowing a dangerous blue.

“One wrong move and I’ll kill her,” the soldier warned.

“Do that and it will the last mistake you ever make.”

“Drop your weapon!”

Razka hesitantly lowered his rifle and placed it on the ground. He kept his hands at his sides, making sure his suit jacket hid the pistol on his hip.

“Looks like it’s over for you, alien,” the unicorn soldier said as he aimed his horn at the chairman.

Christopher took this moment to grab his pistol and fire a single shot at the enemy. The bullet hit the soldier in the neck, causing his head to jerk towards Twilight. The defenseless lavender pony was hit by the blast meant for Razka, causing her to drop to the ground with the dead pony next to her.

“Twilight!” the other five ponies shouted in fear, rushing to their fallen friend.

Razka rushed over Twilight and placed his fingers on her neck, checking for a pulse. It was weak, but she was still alive. “Go up to the throne room, I’ll take Sparkle,” he ordered them.

The chairman carried the unconscious unicorn up to throne room where all the other ponies were waiting for him. The moment Celestia saw Twilight her heart sank and her eyes went wide. “No,” she whispered.

Setting Twilight down, Razka stepped back as Celestia rushed to her student’s side. “What happened?” she demanded.

“She hit by one of the soldiers. She’s alive but in serious condition. I don’t know if she’ll make it,” he regretfully informed. That’s when the chairman started to notice celestia’s mane and tail color start to change. It began to change into a blazing fire. “Celestia?”

In a flash Celestia charged Sombra and beat him to ground. The king tried to get up but the princess continued to pummel him with her hooves. 

"You thought you would get away with this!?" Celestia roared, consumed by her rage, still beating the defenseless unicorn.

Her assault continued for another minute until she ran out of steam. Luna and Twilight’s friends stood in shock, the jaws open in disbelief to what they had just witnessed. Razka simply stood with a neutral expression. The enraged princess refused to stop beating the defenseless unicorn, hooves breaking bone after bone from their powerful force.

The chairman walked over to Celestia, his pistol held firmly in his grip. He looked at the princess and motioned towards the bloody, beaten Sombra, seeking permission to end him. Celestia gave a nod through her heavy panting, her mane and tail returning to their normal colors. Christopher stood over Sombra and aimed his pistol at the fallen king’s head.

The two made eye contact, and that was when Razka saw a flash in Sombra's eyes. He knew that look. It was defiance. A black sphere shot out from Sombra's horn and hit the chairman in the chest. Razka squeezed off a shot but missed his target completely. Another shot of magic tore his pistol out his hand. Sombra was quick to get on his hooves. Razka and Sombra charged each other, hoof and fist colliding. Razka's momentum and strength trumped Sombra's, which the chairman used to his advantage. Christopher clenched his hands around the king's throat and squeezed as hard as he could. He then bashed Sombra's head into the marble floor. Razka continued choking Sombra until he was just on the brink of death, and then released his grip.

"I don't submit to terror," Razka said as he stood over Sombra, who was panting heavily. He pulled out a knife, knelt down and pressed the tip against the stallion's throat. "I make the terror." Razka shoved then knife into Sombra's throat and left it there, leaving the poor king to choke on his own blood.

Standing up once again, he walked over to the princesses and the mane six. All of them were in shock of the sheer brutality of what he had just done.  “We’re done here,” Razka said, snapping them out of their daze. His part of the agreement was finally done. Now it was time for Christopher Razka to finally return home.
> Victory
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chairman Razka was in his room looking out the window as the sun slowly rose over the mountain range. It was quite a sight to be honest, especially given the knowledge that a single pony was making this act happen. For Equestria, it was finally a time of peace. King Sombra had been dealt with and the Crystal Empire had it's rightful rulers back in power. All that was left now was for Christopher to leave.

“Christopher, we need to talk,” Luna insisted as she entered the chairman’s room.

“About what?” Chris asked, turning his back towards the sunrise to face the lunar princess.

Luna trotted towards Razka. “About what happened with Sombra.”

Raka let out an annoyed groan. “I did what I had to.”

“What you did crossed the line. It was inhumane and cruel.”

Razka stood up and leaned down, his face mere inches away from Luna’s. “So what? I am not a hero. I enjoy the thrill of battle and I love tearing my enemies apart. Viciously.”

“Be careful Christopher,” Luna warned, placing a hoof on his shoulder. “You are on a dangerous path, a path I myself have been on. I look at you and I see myself all those years ago.”

Razka looked down at Luna, making eye contact with the night princess, his expression softening. “Why do you even care anymore? Your war is over and in a few days I’ll be gone. We will never see each other again. So tell me, what is the point?”

“The point is making a difference in your life with what little time we have together. It’s not about what’s lasting. It never is, because nothing lasts forever.”

“Except for you, your sister and your niece,” Razka pointed out. “Immortality does have its benefits every now and then.”

“But my point is that everything I’ve been doing has been to help you. You need to be exceptionally careful with this Grimm you told me about. If you give him the opportunity, he will consume you. Then everything you’ve fought for will be undone.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Christopher replied dismissively.

Luna let out a defeated sigh. She had done what she could. All she could do now was hope.





A week had passed since Sombra met his end and the princesses stayed true to their word, making final preparations to send Christopher Razka back to Earth. Twilight made a full recovery from her injuries and the rest of the mane six were more than happy to put this whole ordeal behind them. Christopher couldn’t wait to return to Earth, where his new country awaited him. From Janet Stahl’s most recent reports just a few days ago, the conquest was going smoothly. Nearly all of the United States was under the control of CHECKMATE and only small groups of the US military remained.

Princess Celestia and Luna managed to cast a powerful spell on a mirror to create a portal to Earth. The spell was very taxing on both of the goddesses due to its complexity and strength. This was it. What Razka had been waiting for since he got stuck in Equestria. A way home.
Christopher looked over to Luna, probably for the last time in his life. He put his hand on her shoulder. “Thank you,” he said softly.

Razka then slowly walked through the portal. For a moment everything was black, then a bright light blinded him, forcing him to close his eyes. When the light vanished, he opened them to see he was in his office at CHECKMATE’s headquarters. Janet was at his desk and immediately jumped out of the chair.

“Christopher!” she exclaimed. “It had been a while since we last spoke. I was beginning to worry something had happened on your end.”

“I’m fine. How is the war?” Christopher asked his trusted friend.

“The war is over. We won, sir. We won! The fighting is over! America is ours!”

Razka could barely contain his joy, a massive smile forming on his face. “That’s… that’s wonderful! Now we can rebuild this nation. The way it should be.”

“So tell me, how was Equestria? What was their world like?”

“Their world is similar, yet very different from ours. What they lack in technology they make up for in magic. They are a very peaceful race too, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It gives me hope in a sense that maybe our species might one day find peace with each other.”

“Well, it’s good to have you back, sir.”

Razka took a seat behind his desk for the first time in what seemed like a lifetime. “It’s been a long time since I sat at this desk. The last time I was sitting here Operation: Defiance had yet to begin. And now it’s finished and we’ve won the war. Now we have to make sure it stays that way.”

“How do you propose we do that, sir?”

“Power and fear. We divert as much of our resources into the production of the Hellfire Weapons System.”

“Sir, if the rest of the world were to discover the creation of it, they would destroy us.”

“Yes but that is a risk we must take. Our alliance with the rest of the world is shaky at best right now. It won’t be long before they turn on us. We need Hellfire.”

“Very well, sir,” Janet said, letting out a defeated sigh before leaving Razka’s office.

Razka leaned back in his chair and put his feet on top of his desk, a satisfied smirk on his face. “I love it when I win.”