One week later, after hearing the news spread about how Luna's forces were able to reclaim the Crystal Empire, dethroning Queen Cicada from Princess Cadence's seating, all of the remaining Unicornian forces and the traditionalists outside of the Crystal Empire were completely outraged upon hearing of this defeat. The defeat of the Cicada's Changeling Army has reduced the allied power of Unicornia to 1/4 of a fraction. Furthermore, since Queen Cicada is no more, Queen Majesty ordered all of her forces to stand down from breaking through the front lines of the Yaks and the Griffons and to have them all return to base. Outside of Canterlot, Majesty, Morning Blade, and the remaining Changelings uphold a parting funeral for the fallen Changeling Queen before the rest of Cicada's remaining followers fled into parts unknown, ending their allegiance in disgrace. As for Tirek and his Badlands Army, they have been summoned from their homeland to reinforce the garrisons surrounding Canterlot and wait for further orders. For Morning Blade, he decided to make preparations for the rest of his Royal Knights and his army in order to avenge Cicada's defeat. Queen Majesty has issued an emergency decree, stating that all Unicornian Forces go on high alert 24/7 and deployed every single Royal Knight to all garrisons throughout the rest of Equestria.
Meanwhile back at the Crystal Empire, after Luna and Twilight were able to reclaim the city as their own once more, they also were able to successfully restore all of the defenses with the help of Princess Celestia, Flash Sentry, Princess Cadence, and Gladius Strife. When Cicada was defeated, Starlight Glimmer put her severed head on a spike and posted it on top of the gatehouse. As for Princess Cadence, she was able to recover her baby daughter, Flurry Heart from inside the Crystal Palace. Much to Twilight's surprise, it turns out that Flurry Heart was actually her niece who is also an newborn alicorn. After Rarity and Applejack recovered from their wounds, Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends were able to help the other crystal ponies fix and rebuild everything that was damaged during the siege, as well as gathering and foraging food for both the citizens and the LR Army. During the time they were rebuilding the Crystal Empire back to its fullest, Luna continued to dispatch some of her best scouts to gather information from the Unicornian Army. Princess Celestia and Princess Cadence helped rebuild the palace with the aid of some of the crystal construction ponies. For Flash Sentry and Gladius Strife, they helped retrain the Crystal Pony Guard in order to reestablish the Crystal Empire Army to aid the Lunar Republican Army in defending the city from any oncoming invaders. As for Discord, he was able to gather more materials from the Crystal Mountains in order for the Crystal pony smiths to forge new weaponry and equipment for the Crystal Empire Guard and the Lunar Republican Army.
After one month of rebuilding the Crystal Empire, Twilight and her friends were eventually called back to the Crystal Palace for another mission. This time their mission will involve rescuing the citizens of Ponyville and Canterlot from the concentration camps that were residing at the South of the Crystal Empire and North of Canterlot, including their families. Upon hearing this, Twilight and her friends wasted no time to carry out this mission, hopefully they'll be able to see their families again. Crimson Cross wished to go volunteer in this rescue mission as well because he said that before Morning Blade pressed him into the military, he did managed to steal some documents from the Concentration Camp that he was in and hid it inside his bag. The documents he stole were a full map of the concentration camp and a roster of all the prisoners being held there. Upon seeing the list of prisoners, the Mane 6 found out that all of their families are being held in separate bunk houses inside the camp. Undaunted by this information, Twilight and her team pressed forward with a foolproof plan of their own.
As Princess Twilight stepped in, she made her announcement to the rest of her team.
"All right every pony, this is where we finally rescue whatever is left of our families. They're all being held in a concentration camp 50 miles south of the Crystal Empire." Twilight spoke. "Because we have aroused too much attention from our previous missions, such as the bombing of their Research Prison Facility and the incursion back at Canterlot, there will be a very high chance that Queen Majesty will be sending in some of her Royal Knights to man the defenses at the camp that we're heading too. We'll expect heavy resistance at the concentration camp if they ever see us in their sights. Before we proceed, we'll be accompanied by a group of Changeling Republican soldiers disguised as prison guards and while we all disguise ourselves as prison inmates first. After that, we'll proceed onto one of the slave wagons that Daring Do's men hijacked back at the forests near Baltimare. As soon as we reached the camp, we'll pretend to act like them so that they'll let us in. When they bring us to work in the mines along with the rest of the camp inmates, we'll eliminate all prison guards residing in the mine, release the slaves, and hold our position until nightfall. As soon as it's nightfall, the Changeling Republic will move to the left side of the camp and wait for the signal. As for us, just as soon as we head to our bunks on the right side, we'll sneak into the Communications Center, which is in the middle of the camp. The Changeling Republican soldiers will leave our weapons crate in the barracks during the nightfall, which is located right of the Communications Center. Once we secure that building, we'll contact the rest of the Lunar Republic Army. They'll be waiting for us from outside of the camp. As soon as they get our message, they'll attack the camp with full force and the Changeling Republic will rescue the fillies, while we rescue the rest of the captured ponies from the right."
As soon as Twilight is done announcing her rescue plan to the rest of her teammates, they took out their prison jumpsuits and put them on their fur coats, before proceeding onto the slaver wagons. The changelings clasped chains and balls onto Twilight and her friends as soon as they went inside the slaver wagon. As they all proceeded to the concentration camp, with 2 Changelings, Flash Sentry, and Soarin have all disguised themselves as prison guards. Meanwhile at the concentration camp, General Morning Blade and several of his royal knights arrived while onboard a Unicornian Military Caravan. At the entrance of the camp, they meet up with Lt. Commander Dark Light who happens to be the one in charge of the camp's security.
"General Morning Blade, reporting for duty, sir!!!" Dark Light said as he saluted his commanding officer.
"Lt. Commander Dark Light, I'm sure you're wondering why are we here." Morning Blade said to the dark-green unicorn. "Ever since Princess Twilight came back from the dead and that we lost control over the Crystal Empire due to Queen Cicada's defeat, there has been a major rebellion spreading throughout Equestria like a wildfire. I will be assuming command of this concentration camp. You, Vermillion, and Black scythe will take several regiments and bolster up all defenses around this entire area. If any of you see any suspicious activity in or outside of this camp, you all report back to me immediately. However, if any incursions start to occur here, you will all have the right to resort to maximum use of deadly force to eradicate the threat by any means."
After Morning Blade moved on, all three members of his Royal Knights went to their stations to reinforce the garrisons around the concentration camp. The Camp was a huge outdoor complex with fences and barbed wire covering 2000ft wide and 2000ft long. The camp housed many ponies from all over Equestria, approximately more than a thousand. Unfortunately, because of how harsh they were treated and the lack of health residing at the camp, most of the ponies have succumbed to such unfortunate conditions. During the time of their enslavement, all of the ponies there were being separated from their families, that is many fillies, including the CMC, were being hauled off to the other side of the camp away from their parents. Their parents and the elder ponies were forced to work down in the mines, while their children were forced to work in the plantations and in the mess halls. Some of the elder ponies were former nobles and guards that once supported Princess Twilight Sparkle with fearless devotion. Because they refused to accept serving under Unicornia, they were either executed or forced to work in 24 hour shifts. To make matters worse, many ponies died either from starvation, malnutrition, or from overwork due to their forced labor in the mines. On the right of the camp, there was bunks made only for the adult and elderly ponies and on the left of the camp, they setup bunks for the little fillies. In the Center of the Camp, there was a huge Barracks, a Mess Hall, and Communications Center. Morning Blade decided to setup office at the Communications Center incase they needed reinforcements. Many guards and legionaries went up to the guard towers and to the battlements, by the order of Morning Blade. Most of the Prison Guards, Cyborgs, and the Terminator Ponies volunteered by guarding most of the buildings in the camp.
"I know you're out there, Twilight Sparkle!!!" Morning Blade growled to himself. "You may have killed Eagle Eye and blew up his Research Prison Facility, you may have taken down General Rasputin and his army, but you'll never get past me this time because I'm nothing like them. In fact, you'll just be running straight towards your execution in this god-forsaken camp."
As he went inside the Communications Center, Morning Blade makes his public speech throughout the entire concentration camp.
"All right every pony, you all know what you have to do in order to keep Twilight and the Lunar Republic at bay." Morning Blade said as he announced his speech through the microphone in his office. "Whatever you guys do, do not let them get anywhere near the prisoners. You'll destroy any LR resistance members heading your way, but remember, Twilight Sparkle is mine!!!"
Down at the mine shaft, there were several ponies digging up various minerals, gems, and metal ore from various places throughout the tunnels down below. As the ponies were digging up materials in the mines, some were being whiplashed by the prison guards for not working hard, while others were dragged away and locked up in separate cages without food or water. Shinning Armour was down in the mines, along with Big Mac, Maud Pie, Igneous Pie, Marble Pie, Limestone Pie, Fancy Pants, and Mayor Mare. All of them were beaten and tortured while harvesting orichalcum ore. For Twilight Velvet, Night Light, Granny Smith, Cloudy Quartz, Zephyr Breeze, Rarity's parents, Rainbow Dash's parents, and Fluttershy's Parents all were locked up in huge, separate cages for more than 4 hours without food or water. At the mess hall, the CMC, Shale Pie, Diamond Tiara, and the rest of the ponies from Ponyville were working in the kitchen; washing dishes and preparing food for the Prison Security. The rest of the ponies from Ponyville and from Canterlot were harvesting crops from plantation areas around the camp, with several of them getting whipped by the Unicornian guards.
Meanwhile, Crimson's wife Yellow Peach was working at the 3rd plantation alone, along with two of her children Bella Harp and Bright Song. Yellow Peach is an earth pony mare, with a yellow body and an orange mane and tail. She bears the cutie mark of a golden peach. Bella Harp, who is the oldest of Crimson's two daughters, is a little filly who has a red-peach body with a yellow mane and tail and bears the cutie mark of a bell. Bright Song, who is the youngest of Crimson's daugthers, is a little filly with a light-brown body and a beige mane and tail that bears the cutie mark of a "B" sharp. Crimson and his family used to live in Manehattan, until the Invasion of Unicornia changed their lives forever a few years ago during the civil war. The moment Unicornian troops marched throughout the streets of Manehattan, explosions erupted, many buildings caught on fire, and millions of ponies were running for their lives. Many response teams at Manehattan were all eliminated in just two days during the attack. After the mayor of Manehattan surrendered the city to the forces of Unicornia, Morning Blade gave the order to his fellow Royal Knights to apprehend and secure every pony citizen in the vicinity. The moment Blade's knights brought in Crimson and his family to the concentration camp, he had an interest for Crimson due to his impressive career record of farming and hard work. Without hesitation, Morning Blade pressed Crimson into his Army so that he can take advantage of the brown earth pony's enthusiasm. After Morning Blade took him out of his concentration camp, he brought Crimson to his army and after the war, he sent Crimson to continue his service at Canterlot as a Head Slave Master. However, due to the recent events revolving around Crimson's defeat, Morning Blade used his magic to incinerate Crimson's contract to consider the earth pony's resignation.
At the plantation that Crimson's family is working at, Yellow Peach was forced to dig up rows every single day while her two children were forced to plant seeds in every row Peach dug up.
"Oh my dear sweet Crimson." Peach sobbed silently. "How could those heartless ruffians turn him into a monster?? I know my husband would never do such a thing. I always believed in Princess Twilight's democracy because there's no way me and our family could handle over overwhelming farm crops alone. I always wanted to see the world change to a more well-adaptable future, were all races could live happily amongst themselves. WHY?? WHY CAN'T THEY LET PRINCESS TWILIGHT DO IT?? WHY DO THEY HAVE TO KILL HER??"
Yellow Peach started sobbing on the ground, worrying about what will become of Crimson Cross in the future. Before she saw what was going on, she started getting whiplashed by one of the guards.
"HEY, BITCH!!!" A Unicornian Guard shouted at Yellow Peach. "Stop your goddamn sniveling and get back to work or you're GONNA GET IT!!!"
As soon as Yellow Peach got back upon on her hooves and went back to work, she overhears some of the guards talking to each other on the other side of the plantation.
"Did you hear about the incident outside of Baltimare?" The 1st guard asked. "They said that Crimson Cross was captured by the Lunar Republic."
"Oh really?" The second guard responded. "Well, it serves that fool right. We're not getting him back since every pony is expendable."
"I know. As a matter of fact, I heard that he wanted to atone for his actions made against Princess Luna and Princess Twilight." The 1st guard said. "Well, because of how Morning Blade made him turn his back on those who were loyal towards Princess Twilight, I seriously doubt they would forgive him that easily."
"Well, even if they forgave him, we still better hope that Crimson won't show his face anywhere here or we're going to have to deal with him immediately." The second guard said. "Now let's go get some lunch. I'm starving."
After their conversation, the two guards went to the Mess Hall and disappeared from sight. When Yellow Peach heard about what those two guards said, she was starting to suspect that her husband might have came to his senses.
"Crimson, please save us." Yellow Peach silently prayed to herself.
At the main entrance of the concentration camp, a huge transport wagon of prisoners appeared before the security at the gate. After the security looked at the ID of a prison guard that is hauling the group of prisoners in, the main entrance opened up and the transport wagon moved in. As soon as the transport wagon stopped, two prison guards came out of the wagon and started hauling out 7 female ponies, dragging them in chains, wearing prison jumpsuits, with their hoods over their heads. They were dragged straight into the mines for work. However, as soon as the door to the mines closed, one of the new prison guards locked the door behind them. When the 2 prison guards unrestrained the 7 female ponies and when they went up closer to the nearby guards stationed at their workplaces, they all struck at them without warning. Before any pony could see what was going on, one of the new prisoners picked up a pick axe, in which was lodged near an orichalcum vein only to slammed the ax straight into a prison guard's chest, making him fall on the ground as he bled to death. One female prisoner took out a small dagger from underneath her jumpsuit and stabbed one guard in the head. The 1st guard punched a nearby prison guard in the neck, damaging his windpipe, while pulling out his flintlock from his holster and shot at him straight in the head. A female unicorn grabbed one guard from behind and twisted his neck, killing him. One female pegasus flew straight at another guard slamming him straight into a wall and trampled him to death. The 2nd guard slashed at one prison guard at the back of his neck with a knife and stabbed the other prison guard squarely in the chest, killing both of them at once. A cloaked female earth pony grabbed one prison guard by the neck with a headlock and bend it to his right side, killing him. Once all of the prison guards are dead in the mines, the rest of the prisoners stopped working and started staring at the 7 cloaked prisoners and the 2 prison guards, under a state of shock, while they unlocked all of the cages in the mines letting the rest of the other ponies out.
"What the??" Shinning Armour said while getting startled at the immediate chaos. "What the fuck is going on here???"
"Dearie, are you seeing this?" Night Light asked his wife Twilight Velvet.
"Yes, I am Night Light." Twilight Velvet said. "But I don't understand. What are they doing???"
The rest of the other ponies in the mines were all asking similar questions until the 7 female ponies and the two guards approached them without resorting to any further violence.
"Mom, Dad, BBFFF." One of the cloaked prisoners spoke while under her hood. "It's been a very long time. I missed you all."
After hearing one of the cloaked prisoners speak, the Sparkle Family was speechless. Until Shinning Armour spoke up first.
"T-T-TWILEY?? I-IS THAT YOU????" Shinning Armor spoke with tears coming out of his eyes.
"Hello, Shinning Armor." Twilight said as she unveiled her hood, revealing herself in front of all of the prisoners before their very eyes. "It's been too long, hasn't it?!"
"OH MY FAUST, TWILEY. YOU'RE ALIVE!!!???" Shinning Armor wailed as he ran towards his sister and gave her a great big hug.
"No way, P-Princess Twilight??" Mayor Mare spoke in a surprised tone. "I-I could've sworn that you were dead; we all saw you inside that coffin back at Canterlot."
"I-I don't believe it, Princess Twilight actually came back." Fancy Pant said to himself while under a state of shock.
As Shinning Armor hugged Twilight in his hooves, Night Light and Twilight Velvet ran up to their purple alicorn daughter and started hugging her in their hooves, both wailing very loud as they let their tears fall out of their eyes in happiness.
"Oh, my dear sweet baby filly. I can't believe that Faust brought her back to us." Twilight Velvet wailed as she held Twilight in her hooves.
"I know, mom and dad. I missed you both." Twilight said before she suffocated under her family group hug. "I...need...air...please."
"Princess Twilight, if you were really are here, then that must mean....." Igneous Rock Pie said before the rest of the cloaked prisoners and guards revealed themselves.
Before any pony could see what has happening the other six prisoners and the two guards revealed themselves as Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Sunset Shimmer, Trixie Lulamoon, Starlight Glimmer, Flash Sentry, and Soarin. Upon seeing all of them appear before their very eyes, Rarity's parents, Applejack's brother and Granny Smith, Bow Hothoof, and Windy Whistles came up to them and embraced their dear children in their hooves, crying in tears of happiness and reunion.
"Good evening every pony." Flash Sentry said as he took off his prison guard beret from his head revealing himself. "Do not be alarmed. For we are here to rescue you all."
"I guess that must mean, OH PRAISE QUEEN FAUST. Princess Twilight must've came back to save us all." Cloudy Quartz spoke to herself.
"P-Private Flash Sentry???" Shinning Armor exclaimed in a state of confusion. "I thought you were dead too."
"My apologizes, your highness." Flash Sentry responded to the unicorn prince. "I would've met a fate that's worse than death itself if it weren't for your sister and for that, I still owe her my life."
"What do you mean by that??" Shinning Armour asked the orange pegasus.
"Let's just say that they were conducting illegal experiments on me before I even knew what was going on." Flash said to Shinning Armor briefly.
"Um, Princess Twilight, what happened to our daughter Pinkie Pie, is she okay?" Cloudy Quartz said to Twilight as she bowed down to the purple alicorn.
"Not to worry, Mrs. Quartz." Twilight responded to the gray earth pony mare. "She's safe at the Crystal Empire."
"But Twiley, I thought that place was taken over by Queen Cicada." Shinning Armor spoke unable to understand what Twilight is elaborating about. "How is that even possible?"
"We already reclaimed the Crystal Empire, liberated all of its citizens there, and defeated Queen Cicada and her Army." Twilight spoke up, answering Shinning Armor's question.
"I see." Shining Armour said before he continued to ask more questions at Twilight. "But what about Princess Cadence and Flurry Heart, are they both okay?"
"Don't worry BBFFF." Twilight responded. "We already saved them both from Cicada's grip."
"Oh, thank Faust." Shinning Armour said, relieved that his wife and daughter were both safe and sound.
"But your highness, what about my sister Fluttershy? Is she okay?" Zephyr Breeze asked Twilight as he came up to her along with the rest of Fluttershy's parents.
"Not to worry, Zephyr Breeze, she's doing fine." Twilight said to Zephyr. "Discord is already taking good care of her."
"I guess I owe that Draconneques a lot." Zephyr said to himself. "It seems that he really did change despite his bad reputation 1,000 years ago."
"But Twiley, how are we going to get out of here?" Twilight Velvet asked Twilight Sparkle. "There will be guards scrambling all over the camp is something happens inside these mines."
"Not to worry, mom." Twilight spoke to Velvet. "Me and my friends already got it all planned before we even came here."
Meanwhile on the other side of the concentration camp, Yellow Peach was about to finish dig up another row at the planation she's working on, when all of a sudden, some unidentified prison guard appeared out of nowhere. At first, Peach thought that she was about to get torture again, until the moment the unidentified guard approach her, he grabbed the prison guard that was watching over Peach by the face and slammed him straight into a nearby wall several times before the back of his head started bleeding. After taking a brutal beating, the prison guard fell face flat on the floor dead. The other guard that appeared on Yellow Peach's left saw what was going on. However, before the second guard was about to raise the alarm, the unidentified prison guard ran up to him, grabbed him by the neck, and twisted it, ending his life in a heartbeat. The next thing Yellow Peach knew, the unidentified guard grabbed her by the hoof and dragged her inside an empty bunk, along with the two dead prison guards. After the unidentified guard hid the two dead bodies, he came up to Yellow Peach, not showing any hostility towards her, even though she started shaking in fear.
"What do you want from me?" Yellow Peach shrieked. "What are you doing??!!!"
"It's alright, Yellow Peach. It's me, Crimson Cross!!" The unidentified guard said as he took off his disguise.
"C-Crimson?? OH MY FAUST, YOU'RE OKAY!!!!" Yellow Peach wailed silently as she and Crimson embraced in each other's hooves, with tears coming out from both of their eyes, and started kissing each other. "How is it that you're able to come back for us??"
"Well, I had some help with Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends." Crimson answered Peach's question.
"Wait, Princess Twilight is here??!!" Yellow Peach said in a state of shock. "If so, how is it that she's not dead??"
"I'll explain later, but we have to wait until nightfall before we can make our escape first." Crimson suggested Yellow Peach. "For now, just keep doing what you're doing at the plantation."
"Okay, if you insist." Yellow Peach said as she came out of the bunk and started going back to work.