The first time it happened, Sunset didn’t pay it any mind due to the circumstances. The second time it happened, she noticed it and brushed it off as the action of a concerned friend. The third time it happened, she finally figured out that Rarity was flirting with her.

6/20/2016: Now with cover art designed by the very generous Novel-Idea! Thank you so much!

Diplomacy has failed. Six years have passed Equestria's crowning of the princess of friendship, ushering in a supposed unprecedented age of peace and harmony. The concept of warfare is, to most ponies, nothing more than an unfathomable legend. They have let their guard down.

An unknown enemy has seized the opportunity to attack Equestria with terrifying new weapons of war, bent on taking the fertile land and restoring an ancient order. The valiant efforts of the Royal Guard have given Princess Twilight and her arcane scientists time to research and develop a response to their attackers, and the time has come for that response to be implemented. Utilizing weapons and tactics borrowed from another world, five squads under the command of Princess Luna will infiltrate the forests of the Equestrian Northwest to destroy a revolutionary magical matrix that Twilight refers to as the "radio" - a tool that allows enemy ponies to communicate across vast distances instantly.

Nightmare Two is comprised of three foalhood friends who, rather than be separated from each other in the draft, volunteer to become one of the five Nightmare squads. With their bodies forever altered to suit the needs of their mission, the three young mares join legions of ponies armed with powerful weapons to partake in a horrifying new breed of warfare - Equestria's first in over one thousand years.

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Heads up, folks. If you wouldn't mind leaving a comment alongside the thumbs-down, I'd appreciate it. This is my first foray into fan fiction and although it's a hobby I nonetheless wish to get better. :)

Got some FAQ's for you guys as well!

- Alternate universe in which the events of "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" did not occur. (As much as I loved it! :D)

- Numerical age tends to vary with headcanon, but the CMC here were just getting started with their adult lives when the draft went into effect.

- The war is pony v. pony, utilizing firearms and the Equestrian equivalent of a tank. The underlying headcanon is that ponies used firearms similar to muskets and tracked armored vehicles akin to our tanks in times of old, and what the enemy currently employs is essentially the natural progression of these technologies.

- There are no real-world weapons or equipment i.e. "Panzer IV," or "M16 assault rifle." Particularly acute details such as the caliber of weapons are also absent.

- Technology is based on that of WWI with some WWII elements. Firearms are primarily bolt-action.

- The "radio" spell matrix functions as what we know to be a radio, but is not identical.

- All four of a Night Mare's legs are permanently replaced by the augments.

- Night Mares are female. Stallions proved unable to properly animate the limbs.

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Hold up, now - fanart? You guys rock. Like, for real. Thanks a lot!

1. A great YouTube video coming from The_Pegasus_Box. Thanks, bud!
Check it out!

2. Click here for the collection on DArt.

3. https://derpibooru.org/740375?scope=scpeac921b191f688d04521575f31608785cbc3bbaa1
[img]https://derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/10/10/740375__safe_anthro_apple+bloom_gun_artist-colon-pusspuss_night+mares.png[/img]

After King Sombra's defeat and the return of the Crystal Empire, Princess Celestia came to the mane six with an offer: to become a manifestation of her will throughout the world, an elite team designed to solve Equestria's most dangerous problems. Warriors and diplomats, Twilight and her friends must leave their homes and their loved ones to ensure the safety of all. This pursuit will push them to new heights, and new depths.

The world is a dangerous place.

In an otherworldly night, a sleeper train is making its way back from the frozen north. Sleep, however, is eluding two travelers. One has a hurt that needs to be mended, the other has a dream that must be remembered. It is the perfect night for secrets to be shared.

A FlutterDash one-shot, set at the end of The Crystal Empire, on the overnight train back to Canterlot; uncomplicated romance with slight sad and comedy elements.

Enormous thanks to NATOstrike and Shadowsreached for their awesome proofreading and feedback-ing! Thanks also to Tarantad0 for letting me use that amazing Jousting Fluttershy picture.

This morning, an A-10C Thunderbolt II stationed at Osan Air Base in South Korea was vandalized. The pilot of the aircraft, one Captain Lawrence J. Robinson, has been declared M.I.A. The aircraft itself has not been found and a search and recovery effort is currently underway.

Lawrence Robinson, a Hog pilot in the United States Air Force, was on a standard training exercise and it seemed to be going well. Then he was in a land of colorful ponies. He must have missed looking in that one spot under the fuselage during the preflight.

The Elements have gone missing, and it's up to the mane six to get them back! Trouble is, they've been placed randomly throughout humanities darkest days of warfare. Now Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack must traverse the course of history, our history, and retrieve their respectable element before it's lost forever . . . Over there.

(Title inspired by the song)