//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7 When Bronies Go To War 
// Story: The little Knights 
// by Bronycommander 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 7: When Bronies Go To War




Everyone just stared at what they just heard, unable to process it.

It seemed like hours until Celestia asked, “Did I hear that right, officer?”

“Yes, your highness. The class was supposed to be on the way back from the school trip, but never returned.” The guard reported, now much calmer.

“Then…we must organize a search party.” Midnight tried to get up, but collapsed on the bed.

“You’re still too weakened. Your Highnesses, if you allow, I could send one of my recon teams to find the school class.” James offered.

Luna and Celestia looked at other, unsure what to say. Humans were only a myth, how would the ponies of Equestria react to this? But, it may be the only chance they had now. “Permission granted, but they shall be undetected to the public,” Celestia replied, wanting to avoid a mass panic.

“Not to worry, your highness, those mercenaries are specialists in staying undetected, no matter what their mission is.” He assured and spoke into his radio, “Nocturnals, report to me ASAP.”

“Copy that, sir, we are on our way now.”

It took only a few minutes for them to arrive and the princesses, as well as the families of the Eternal Knights, saw two men and a woman in camouflaged uniforms before them. “Reporting as ordered, General. What is your request?” The man with short black hair and blue eyes asked him.

The ponies noticed an emblem on the uniform, divided into four parts.

First was a full moon on a black background.

Then a black sword over the moon, pointing north.

Then two crisscrossed daggers with silver blades and blue hilts over the sword.

Then three golden arrows with green fletchings pointing south, south-east and south-west.

The Eternal Knights recognized it, it resembled their weapons, called the Seal of the Watch Eternal.

“Cheerilee’s class went missing, we need you to find them.” The officer turned to the guard. “Where went they missing?”

The Royal Guard thought for a moment. “Appleloosa I think.”

“It is as good as done, general.” The apparent leader of the Nocturnals said and they moved out.

Twilight took notice of the device on James’ arm. “What’s this?”

“Oh, that? A portable radio, which is also able to display the wearer's stats and ammo. But it allows also allows recon teams to blend in with locals and to help agents impersonate others if necessary. Watch.” He pressed a few buttons on his “radio” and a blue-purple light engulfed him, causing everyone to cover their eyes.

The purple mare gasped in shock as the light cleared.

The man known as James was now a pony, looking identical to the Royal Guard. “Wow…” She was speechless.

“Pretty great, isn’t it?” The human asked in the guard’s voice before changing back. “That will help my soldiers to stay undetected wherever they are.”

“Fascinating. Celestia, we still should inform the public about this, it might calm them to know that we are working on it.” Twilight suggested.

“Very well, my former student.”

“And you, my loyal knights, focus on recovering,” Luna said to the Eternal Knights, they nodded in response.

About one day later, the same guard reported in. “Your Highness, we received a distress call from one of our search parties.”

“What is it?” The white mare asked with worry as the got turned in on.

“This…squad 42… unidentified hostiles…assistance!” It came through scrambled.

“It last known location was near Appleloosa.” The stallion added.

“Okay then.” James said and got his radio again, “Nocturnals, we got a squad of Royal Guard in need of assistance near Appaloosa.”

“We’ll be there in no time, general.” Their leader replied.





Sergeant Kidney Bean and his squad were holding their position at a small stone wall, being completely surrounded by enemies. They could only tell that their enemies were also ponies, wearing dark, dull blues, greens, khakis and grey, their faces covered by masks that looked like sort of amalgamation of eyes, skulls and tentacle, armed with rifles.

The guards fired their rifles in a desperate defense, holding them off, hoping their request for help had come through.

Bean was actually a medic, having been promoted to squad leader not long ago but was experienced enough for this role.

They ran low on ammo, knowing they were done for would help not arrive soon.

“Where’s our backup?!” A private yelled in despair, close to breakdown.

“I don’t know!” The sergeant yelled in response, aiming his rifle at a hostile that charged at him.

Click.

“Damn rifle’s jammed!” The unicorn yelled as he tried to fix it in time, seeing how the hostile came closer.

Noticing it was too late, Bean raised his hooves to brace himself, his life flashing before his eyes.

Bang!

Startling, the stallion saw that the charging hostile got thrown back, leaving a bloody, dusty trail in the sand as he fell to the ground, with all other enemies falling in the same manner shortly after. “What?” He asked in confusion.

Kidney turned to the side, noticing three humans with their weapons smoking before him. He was aware of the human mercenaries that were supposed to assist them, but never thought he would see them with his own eyes.

In surprise, he could only say, “We weren't expecting Special Forces.”

The squad leader of the Nocturnals gave him a pat on the shoulder with a smile. “That’s the point, Sergeant. What’s the situation?”

“We…We investigated reports about sightings of the class not far from here, as out of nowhere, those ponies attacked us.” The Sergeant replied, trying to catch his breath, his soldiers were breathing heavily.

“With them eliminated, we can search the area, if they tried to stop you there, we must be close.” Gottlieb concluded, confident of it.

“Most likely, thank you for the help.” Bean said with a relieved and grateful tone.

“H-help!” A young voice called out, sounding in pain and close to exhaustion, desperate for help.

They all turned around, seeing two Pegasus colts limping towards them from a distance, leaving a bloody trail in the sand, looking very relieved to see the Royal Guards, sweat running down their faces from the heat.

One had a gaunt stature and slight build, with a brown mane color, matching eyes, a short brown tail, and a cream coat, bleeding from the left wing, the other one a bluish gray coat, a two-tone dark gray mane and tail, and purple eyes, collapsing and crawling as his right hind leg was bleeding.

The medic wasted no time to get over and stabilize them. “Don’t worry, you gonna be fine!” He said a calming voice as he stopped the bleeding, they screamed in pain but eventually calmed down and he brought them with the others to the local hospital.

The confidants waited outside with the guards until the medic, together with a doctor walked out. “They are stable and responsive. It appears they got their injuries as they tried to escape from something.” The soldier reported.

“Good.” Gottlieb replied and walked in, seeing the two colts on hospital beds, they looked rather surprised at the humans, their wounds bandaged.

“H-humans?” The small colt asked confused, his eyes wide.

“Yes, we are humans. You have nothing to fear from us, we are here to help. The princess called us to find you as you went missing. What’s your names?” The officer asked in a friendly tone, although he knew them already.

“Rumble!”

“Featherweight!” Two voices called out, and the mercenaries saw three adult ponies ran in, looking very happy and relieved.

“Rumble...I...I thought I lost you like we did mom and dad…” The dark grey stallion cried tears of joy.

“My little Featherweight…” The colt’s mother hugged him.

For several minutes Thunderlane held his little brother close and so did Featherweight’s parents with their son, crying, happy to see each other again.

Then the three adults stopped to cry and looked at the humans. “We owe you something. If it hadn’t been for you, our child had ended up in a bag in the morgue.” Featherweight’s father said gratefully.

“It’s nothing, we are just doing our job. Now, boys, can you tell what happened? It will help us find your friends.” The officer asked.

Rumble started to tremble. “We thought we were going to die. On our way back from Appleloosa, some masked ponies surrounded us. As Miss Cheerilee asked them kindly to get out of the way, they used some gas or spell that made us all sleepy.” His voice was filled with terror.

“As we woke up, we found ourselves strapped on operating tables in a cave, gagged, unable to scream. Our friends and teacher were still unconscious in similar conditions. One of the masked ponies spoke about a….blood sacrifice to…h-harvest magic, so they could resurrect their leader and rebuild his army.” Featherweight finished with a shaken voice, his eyes small in fear.

The eyes of his parents and Thunderlane widened with a look of shock, gasping at what they had been heard. “My poor baby!” His mother hugged him again.

The three mercenaries had neutral expressions but were disgusted at what they had heard. “Sounds more serious than the princess suspected. We must report this at once to her and the commander.” Gottlieb said, knowing there was no time to lose.

Back in Canterlot, James put a hand to his chin. “Those are indeed very concerning news. We have to act quickly.”

“Yes, but the Eternal Knights are still too weakened, they are the only ponies experienced enough to deal with this.” Luna realized they were running out of time.

“It was smart of them, I give them that, eliminating the Knights by manipulating the spell, so nothing can stop them. But they don’t expect us.” James countered. “If you allow, apart from the Nocturnals, I could send a unit that is…specialized in dealing with such threats.” James suggested.

Again, both sisters looked at each other, not sure what to say, but they knew the lives of foals were in great danger. “Granted, General,” Celestia replied and left for Ponyville to prepare a statement of the situation 

At the town, she could see the desperate looks of the foals’ parents, Derpy, her husband known as the doctor, Tootsie’s sister Sparkler, Ruby’s mother Berry Punch and Pip’s mother Nancy looked at her for answers, looking most concerned out of all ponies.

The princess of the Sun took a deep breath. It’s never getting any easier.

“My loyal subjects…Today is a dark time. I’m afraid to say that the missing of Cheerilee’s class was a well planned and executed kidnapping.” Many ponies gasped in shock as they heard this. “And they incapacitated our best hope of freeing Cheerilee and her class. “She paused to find the right words.

“In this desperate situation, I and Luna accepted the help of foreign specialists.” She stepped aside to reveal James, earning confusing looks from her subjects.

“Your children will be saved with-in the day, that, I promise.” He said in a determined and honest voice. While the ponies were confused to see a human here, as they were only a myth, his promise was somehow calming, something told them he could be trusted.

Twilight walked up and cast a spell into the sky, looking like a canvas. “This will allow you to see the progress of the rescue team.” And with her word, they all saw through the helmet camera of a soldier preparing to enter a cave.





Dinky awoke with an aching head, trying to remember what had happened.

She and the others were on the way home from their school trip, as suddenly, several masked ponies attacked and knocked them out.

Slowly, her vision became clear, seeing her surroundings, only to panic. The filly was strapped on an operating table in a cave. Dinky tried to scream but she had been gagged and her magic was being nullified by a suppressor ring, looking around in fear as her teacher and fellow friends and class mates had suffered similar fates. Diamond and Silver were crying, Pip was frantically looking around.

“Well, looks like our guests are finally awake.” A voice said as she turned her head into its direction, spotting a pony in a dark, dull blues, green, khakis and grey armor, the face covered by masks that looked like sort of amalgamation of eyes, skulls and tentacle. Her heart soared as he stroke her mane.

“Such a sweet and nice mane and body, almost a pity to destroy. But…”He turned around. “Since you were responsible for our master’s defeat, and are the doctor’s child, you will be sacrificed and harvested first, together with your sister and friend.”

The unicorn looked at the pony in horror as it grabbed a bone saw and a syringe, two other ponies did the same and got closer to Tootsie and Pip.

The foals tried to break free as the masked ponies got closer, not wanting to end like this, their lives flashing before their eyes as the medical instruments were only inches away from their skin.

A loud piercing chill echoed in their ears, followed by screams of pain. The children breathed heavily as they saw that the ponies were holding their hoof in pain, the bone saws and syringes landing on the ground.

Out of the corner of her eye, the unicorn saw three silhouettes looking like ponies, holding rifles that were smoking. They walked out of the shadow and Dinky couldn’t believe her eyes.

Those ponies looked like the Eternal Knights, but they were wearing German WW2 uniforms and strangely stood on their hind legs.

Something told her those weren’t the ponies she had befriended, but this was also way too good for changelings to be like this.

“Move in!” A rasp, automated, deep and segmented voice followed from behind, sounding like a cold robot as the filly saw several red glowing eyes behind the three, coming of the shadow too.

They turned out to belong to ponies wearing dark blue armor, also standing on their hind legs, their faces covered by gas masks which lenses were the red glowing eyes, looking very terrifying.

“You strike at me...and you shall bring upon you the wrath of The God himself!” The masked pony that had spoken to her yelled at “Midnight.”

“Suits me. God or mortal, you're all gonna' feel my blade for this.” He replied cold, not impressed.

“You...blaspheme!”

“You bought him into this, not me. I admit, I'm no expert, and I've seen more scum that hide their dirty deeds behind the words of the divine than I care to remember...But if, however unlikely, that any god approves of what you do here...well...do you know what the phrase Gotterdammerung means?” The bat pony asked.

The masked pony stared for a few seconds before replying, “...no.”

Midnight smiled. “That's fine. Hell will. Don't expect to get out of here alive. If you want to live, you should surrender now, and put your weapons down, before the preachers arrive.”

Before the masked ponies could form any response, a hiss, followed by a wave of flames through one of the entrances, causing every masked pony and the school class to look into its direction in fear. “Too late.” Midnight added.

Out of the flames stepped a stallion in dazzling golden armor and a trailing gown of white with ribbons of saffron, ochre and crimson, having a collar made of giant dove wings and the back of his shoulder pads curved upwards into a great arch above him like a halo, his hooves being made of brass, making a clang with every step. He was armed with a rifle that had a flamethrower attached to it.

Another stallion with dark brown fur and with a grey mane, joined him and there was the sound of an engine, as a APC stopped behind them and more ponies armed with flamethrowers jumped out of it. They, together with the armored ponies surrounded the kidnappers.

“Come any closer and we kill them all!” The apparent leader of the kidnappers threated, sounding slightly scared.

“Try it, you’re dead before you can even blink.” The grey stallion countered.

One of the kidnappers started to scream and fired his rifle at the blue armored ponies. The bullets missed completely and they returned fire with LMGs, perforating the pony before it fell to the ground in a puddle of blood.

The golden stallion then pointed at the other kidnappers. “Burn them!”

Then all hell broke loose.

The three soldiers looking like the Eternal Knights charged forward, leaving the school class to stare in fascination.

“Midnight” fired his rifle with deadly precision, using the attached bayonet with mortal strikes whenever he was in melee range.

“Wolf” slicing the enemies with a knife or did throw her knifes at them in quick succession, firing a few rounds with her rifle at enemies that were out of range for her throwing knifes.

And the one looking like Fletcher fired a bow at the enemies. Despite being an elegant weapon, inferior to firearms, he fired his arrows rapid, using a knife and a pistol when a cult member got too close.

“Here we go!” The dark brown stallion ignited his flamethrower with the other preachers, suppressing with the dark blue armored soldiers the cult ponies, using their rifles and flamethrowers to keep them back from the school class.

But Dinky’s eyes went wide in horror as she saw one of the masked ponies lying dying against the wall, trying to aim his rifle at her, ignored by the attackers.

She closed her eyes, waiting for the bullet that could end her life.

Clang!

Despite the noise around her, the filly slowly opened her eyes, seeing a preacher, carrying a ballistic shield and a SMG standing in front of her, effectively protecting her from harm as one of the dark blue dressed soldiers cut her restrains.

“Stay behind us!” The preacher said to her and despite still feeling numb from the spell, the adrenaline made it easy to move, seeing that her class mates and teacher got freed in the same way. The shields formed a wall in front the foals and mare as they moved to the entrance the APC was parked.

The foals were terrified, shaking, but still relieved to be rescued, Cheerilee too, trying to say calming words to her students, as she saw to her own horror, how some of the kidnappers were set on fire by the SMG rounds, they screamed in pain and tried to pat the fire out before dying.

Only a group of hostiles was left, firing hopeless at the wall of shields before Dinky noticed how the golden stallion prepared to throw a grenade. “Incendiary!” He warned as he threw it, releasing a wave of fire upon detonation, burning the group.

“Sector’s secure.” A normal voice said and Dinky saw something she never thought would see again.

A human.

She had last seen them as she accidently landed on Earth, with Fray getting her back, also befriending a girl from an alternative Equestria. This human was a man, featuring an avenge build, black hair and green eyes, his face broad.

“I know this is confusing but we’re here to save you.” He said to Cheerilee who stared in shock at him.

“Th-thank you.” She managed to say.

Without any warning, the cave started to rumble and the soldier that looked like Midnight looked up. “The ceiling’s about to collapse! Move!”

The class wasted no time, running towards the entrance they were led, but Dinky tripped. She screamed as a large rock fell from the ceiling towards her.

With only a second to spare, the human pulled her away before the rock had been squashed her.

She was shaking as she tried to process she barely just escaped death, hugging him. “Thank you!”

“It’s my job. But we won’t go out here.” He said as debris had cut them off from the others, the golden and brown stallion, Pip, Tootsie, Ruby, Noi and two foals, one being a unicorn colt with grey coat, grayish olive eyes and brown mane, the other was a earth filly with brown coat, moderate aquamarine eyes and magenta mane, were with her and him.

“Hans, report in!” The terminal device on the golden stallion’s right fore leg buzzed.

“I’m fine, Gottlieb, and so are Fritz and Jens, Dinky, Tootsie, Pip, Ruby, Noi and two other foals are with me, we made it to the north entrance.” He replied.

“That’s good to hear, anyone seen the CMC?”

“Sergeant Müller reporting in, I have the CMC with me at the East entrance. “A male automated voice replied.

“Okay, the rest of the class and the squads are with us at the West entrance. Good luck, we meet you all outside.”

“Do-do you think there’s another way out of here?” Pip asked, afraid of being trapped in here.

“Of course, that cave is actually an old mine, all ways lead to Rome.” The stallion known as Hans replied and took the lead.

Despite this all, curiosity got the better of Dinky. “Who are you all?”

I’m Jens. And it’s a long story, Dinky.” He told her about how he found the Eternal Knights, who he belonged too and why they were here.

The filly smiled weakly. “I must thank you for helping uncle Fray and his friends. I was so worried when I heard they went missing. And why do your co-workers look like ponies?”

“Simple, we thought it might look more calming for you than our actual appearances.” The leader of the Preachers replied in a neutral voice.

“Makes sense, but why then do you look like our father, Mr. Fritz?” The grey colt asked curious.

“Your father appeared as background pony once and I liked his design, that’s all.” He quickly replied, “What are your names again?”

“Keen eye and Lily Pad.” The colt replied.

“Nice names your parents gave you.”

“Yes, they really suit you.” Jens added with a smile.

“I’m sorry about your…burns.”

“It’s okay, it’s in the past.”

“How…how did this happen to you?”

“Did your father ever tell you about his past?”

“N-Not really, he never talked much about it.”

“Let’s just say, I suffered a similar past as him.”

Keen Eye and Lily Pad pondered as they recalled Fritz’s words. Both children began to think that Fritz knew something about their father’s past. It had been something they had wanted to know for some time, but nobody, their parents, Grandmother, and even their friends or other ponies they know have ever really told them. They pondered until Lily Pad suddenly spoke out.

“Hey, Fritz?” Lily Pad asked.

Fritz looked up at Lily Pad. “Yes, Lily?”

“I…I have to ask you something…” Lily Pad briefly hesitates before summoning the courage to speak. “Do you know anything about our dad?”

Keen Eye, hearing this, spoke out too, realizing his twin sister had the same thing on his mind. “Yeah. I recall you said that he and you suffered a similar past. What do you know about dad, and what happened to him? You know, Fritz. We know you do.”

Hearing these children’s questions made Fritz become concerned. “I…I’m not sure I should tell you that.”

Lily Pad gave Fritz a pleading look. “Please tell us, Fritz. There’s a chance we might never see Mom and Dad again. This could be our only chance to know. Please?”

Fritz looked into the little filly’s pleading eyes with conflict. He was unsure whether he should tell them, but the sight of those children, along with the chance they might never see their families and friends again made him soft-hearted. He dropped his head, and let out a quiet, but reluctant sigh.

“Well, I guess it’s only right that you have the right to know,” Fritz said. “But what I will tell you two could be quite a horrible shock to you. And even if you do make it, the truth might affect you. So are you sure you want to know?”

Both Keen Eye and Lily Pad thought for a moment, before giving a determined nod while saying, “Yes.”

Fritz nodded. “Alright. But first, let me ask you what you know about your mother and father’s past. For instance, did they ever tell you about Tiger Lily?”

“Tiger Lily?” Keen Eye ponded briefly. “Yeah. We’ve heard of her. She was a mare that was married to Dad, before our mom. She was also Mom’s best friend.”

“Mom, Dad, Nana Mare, and everypony back home in Ponyville say that she was the sweetest, loving, helpful pony they knew. She was Nana Mare’s daughter.” Lily Pad frowned. “But they said that she died in a horrible accident.”

“A house fire, actually,” Keen Eye said. “That was years ago, about nearly four years before we were even born.”

Dinky and her friends had only heard from their parents, it was a tragedy what had happened back then.

“And what did they tell you about what happened after that before you were born?” Fritz asked.

“Well, like we said: Mom and Dad never really talked much about it.” Lily Pad sighed. “They said that all that we need to know is that Dad was so, so very sad when Tiger Lily died, and that something happened to him that we’re not ready to understand.”

Keen Eye took over. “And every time we try to ask then, they get upset, especially Dad. We even asked some ponies in Ponyville about it, and they either can’t tell us, or some even said “You don’t want to know.”

“I don’t blame them,” Fritz said. “For the story runs deeper than either of you know. But now you’re about to know the horrifying truth.” Fritz took a deep breath to gather his thoughts. “You see…what your parents and everyone back home in your world have avoided to tell you two was…well…your father was sent to prison.”

Both Keen Eye and Lily Pad were shocked by what they had just heard. “Prison?” The other children shared their reaction.

“You mean Dad was arrested and locked-up?” Keen Eye asked. “Why? What did you do wrong?”

“Well, it’s a bit complicated.” Fritz sighed. “But I will tell you.”

Lily Pad tilted her head. “What happened?”

“Well, on the day after Tiger Lily died in the house fire, an investigation team from Canterlot was called upon at your grandmother Mayor Mare’s request to investigate the cause of the fire. Then right after Tiger Lily’s funeral, a pony from a life insurance company in Fillydelphia came to your father to give him a large life insurance payout of over a million bits that Tiger Lily had arranged with the help of your mother and your grandmother Arithma.” Fritz pause to compose himself, knowing the two foal’s reaction. “But a few days later…police from Fillydelphia came to the apartment of your grandmother where your father was…and they arrested him…for Tiger Lily’s murder.”

“What?” Both foals could not believe what they heard. Their eyes were wide with shock, as wide as dinner plates.

“Are you saying Dad was a murderer?!” Keen Eye asked, his voice was loud with shock.

“It’s like I mentioned before: It’s complicated.” Fritz continued. “Over a week later, your father stood trial for Tiger Lily’s murder. Chief Inspector Blue Ward and Detective Lieutenant Cover-Up of the Canterlot investigation team presented the evidence against him in court, where he was found guilty of arson and her murder, and sentenced to life imprisonment at Hoofstrong Prison Center.”

Lily Pad began to shake her head, with sad tears slowly forming in her eyes. “No. …That can’t be true! Daddy wouldn’t do that! How could they think he’d do such a thing?”

Fritz turned to Lily Pad. “Well, this is where everything gets bad.” He continued to tell the story to the two foals. “When he got to Hoofstrong Prison, he found out the truth. Blue Ward and Cover-Up revealed to your father that they had framed him, and created false evidence in court to convict him so they could get his money.”

Keen Eye blinked. “They framed him?”

“In addition, they also were in league with Hoofstrong Prison Center, and crime rings, convicting innocent ponies for crimes they didn’t commit. They even had members of the royal EUP guard working for them, and even secretly recruited criminals to be guards within the prison.” Fritz groaned with suppressed anger. “Including one criminal that knew your mother and father all too well. A criminal named Rotten Eggs.”

“Rotten Eggs?” Lily Pad asked.

Fritz nodded. “An earth stallion who bullied your father in his childhood, and later in life got arrested for the kidnapping and violent rape of a mare. Your mother was the one who arrested, and got him sentenced to life plus fifty years. Secretly, Blue Ward and Cover-Up heard about his horrific crime, and organized to have him transferred to Hoofstrong, where they secretly recruited him into their ring. He was thrilled when he found out that Blue Ward and Cover-Up had chosen your father as their next victim.” Fritz groaned with suppressed anger. “It was there that he extracted his revenge.”

Keen Eye blinked. “Revenge? You mean…?”

“That’s right,” Fritz said. “The Canterlot investigation force were intercepting your mother’s mail to insure she could not interfere with their plans, until it was too late. They even wrote a fake letter to your grandmother Arithma to pose as her to say she couldn’t help. In my opinion, your father suffered a fate worse than death itself. For over two years, he was beaten, tortured, and raped by Rotten Eggs, and the other guards of Hoofstrong. No nightmare either of you ever had would even come close to rival the horrors he took and witness in that evil place.”

Keen Eye and Lily Pad’s eyes were wide with horror, and so were that of the other foals, Jens had an expression of disgust instead. The tale of hearing their own father being framed by members of an investigation force, and suffering from such horrors was beyond their wildest dreams. It was almost too much for each of them to bear. Seeing their looks, Fritz continued telling the tale.

“And all the while, your mother tried to get your father out and clear his name. Little did she realize that if she did find even the smallest thing to clear him, the scumbags at Hoofstrong would kill him, like they did to every other victim Canterlot force framed. Which he would have been, if it weren’t for someone telling her. That someone was Turncoat, a unicorn stallion who was part of the corruption ring, and was the right-hand of the evil warden of Hoofstrong. It was there, he secretly met up with her, where he told her everything, and even gave her the real evidence file of your father’s case.”

“The real case file?” Keen Eye asked, with a raised eyebrow. “Wasn’t there only one case file? And how did this Turncoat get it anyway, and why would he want to help?”

Fritz turned to Keen Eye. “Whenever Blue Ward and Cover-Up selected a target, they would construct a real one, and a false one. They would do it to show off to their victims that they framed them, then they would destroy the real case file in front of them, to rub in their faces, while the false one would remain in the records to cover their tracks.” He picked up a canteen, and drunk some water from it, before continuing. “As for your other two questions, it was because he didn’t want any part of what they were doing.”

“Turncoat was horrified at their secret crime operation, but kept his peace, knowing he would’ve been killed too. So he pretended to be on their side, biding his time, waiting patiently for a good opportunity. While also secretly studying the teleportation, and the duplication spell in secret until he mastered them to a point where he could use both those spells simultaneously without any suspicion. He would use them to create a duplicate of the real case files, and teleport them to a secret hidden bunker he built himself without everyone knowing. That’s how Turncoat was able to acquire your father’s real case file.”

Lily Pad blinked. “So…it was a copy they destroyed?”

“That’s right. And the fact that your mother was a private-eye detective at the time, it was the perfect opportunity for him to secretly come forward. At any rate, after hearing the information from Turncoat, your mother made contact with members of the F.P.I. office in Sydneigh, through connections she had. When they too heard of the corruption within Canterlot investigation force along with the horrors of what was happening at Hoofstrong prison, they took the case, and set up a secret task force.” Fritz sighed. “But sadly, there was another tragedy to come. While that happened, your grandmother Arithma got had developed terminal stomach cancer from her grief to what happened to your father, her son, her only child… and she died five months later. She passed away, never getting to see her son again.”

“Oh my gosh,” Lily Pad said. Her eyes began to form tears as she sniffled. “Poor Nana. She should’ve died.”

Keen Eye began to frown. “That’s so sad.”

“I know. Your grandmother did have one dying wish, and that was to be buried in Ponyville, right next to Tiger Lily. And as you know, that’s where she’s buried to this day.” He took another gulp of water from his canteen, before continuing. “After that, your mother continued to work with the secret task force with the F.P.I. that they dubbed "Task force River". They started an undercover operation against Hoofstrong Prison, as well as have members of the Canterlot investigation force put under surveillance. But they also needed help from another source. The F.P.I. office in Sydneigh had good connections with the Trottingham secret service, and was able to get help from them. They sent one of their best agents, Southern, to go undercover as a criminal convicted for a violent rape the F.P.I. had set up.”

“Hang on a minute!” Keen Eye suddenly spoke. “Southern? That’s the name of one of our parent’s closest friends, who’s also one of the police ponies back home. Are you saying…”

Fritz nodded. “That’s right. Southern used to be a secret agent for the Trottingham secret service, before retiring, and joining the Ponyville police force.” Pip knew Southern, he was his uncle, looking up to him as he did with Purple Patch.

“Wow, I had no idea!” Keen Eye said.

“Southern was successful in getting into Hoofstrong, where for the past eight months, he pretended to be part of their operations, while also gathering intel for Task Force River. At the same time, they organized a planned raid with members of the royal guards. Prince Shining Armor of the Crystal Empire was in charge of it, and selected random members of the royal guards to take part in it, though under royal command, he did not mention what the raid was.” Fritz cleared his throat. “Then on the night of the raid, Southern was able to weaken the security of the prison, which resulted in the raid being successful, and all the ones involved in the crime operation within the prison were captured, and arrested, including Blue Ward and Cover-Up, who were conveniently there with their last victim. But at the time of the raid, your father was severely injured.”

Lily Pad’s eyes widened. “What? Dad was injured?”

“Yes,” Fritz said. “Rotten Eggs and some of the other guards raped, and Rotten Eggs tried to force oral sex on him, only your father bit off his penis in a savage, psychotic rage. For the first time, your father fought back. But that resulted in the warden sicced his vicious dog on him, and nearly ripped his face off.” He groaned. “That dog would’ve killed him if the royal guards hadn’t raided the prison at about that time. Your father and Rotten Eggs were taken to the closest hospital, but because of the prison policies, he was unable to say in hospital for long. So they gave him minor to fix a torn blood vessel, and to get skin grafts on the damaged part of his face. The result gave him horrific scarring on the side of his face.”

Dinky winched at this. She had heard of how her mother was in Glanders Gate Asylum once, a horrible place, but that was nothing compared to what Abacus went through.

Lily Pad’s eyes widened with a mix of shock and sadness. “Oh, my gosh! So that’s how Dad got the scar on his face?”

“Well, Dad wasn’t lying when he got it from a dog attack,” Keen Eye said. “But I thought it was when he was younger. And it doesn’t look as bad as you say.”

Fritz turned to Keen Eye. “Well, not now, it doesn’t. That’s because he got plastic surgery sometime after he was released.” He turned his attention to both foals as he continued. “Anyway, your mother came to visit your father in prison a few days later. …she was horrified to see how much damage was done to him. And not just physically either, but also mentally too. He was even afraid of the royal guards that took over. But there was two within the prison that your father grew to trust. Again, they’re ones you also know. Lock Down, a prison class royal guard, and Rehab, who was the new warden of Hoofstrong at the time.”

Keen Eye blinked. “Lock Down? As in Uncle Lock Down?”

“Uncle?” Fritz asked Keen Eye.

“Well…he’s not really our uncle, but we call him that since he and his family are very close friends, and we don’t have any aunts and uncles. He’s also works with our mom at the police station, and is our god father.”

“And Rehab is another police pony friend of our family,” Lily Pad said. “He and his friends Derpy and Time Turner come by for tea and coffee.”

“Well, now you know that they were both prison guards. Rehab gained your father’s trust, only because your mother encouraged him to trust him. Lock Down however took much longer, until he was given the task of watching your father’s retrial at Equestria supreme court in Canterlot three months later.” Fritz picked his canteen, and drunk some more water from it, before continuing. “Which reminds me. As soon as the royal guards and the F.P.I. arrested all members of Hoofstrong prison, and members Canterlot police investigation force that were involved, your mother was able to successfully grant your father a retrial, since he was now out of harm’s way. However, it very expensive because it was to be in Canterlot. So in order to get the money to pay for it, she had to sell your father’s mother’s apartment, as well as her own in Fillydelphia. That apartment was so special to your father. He was born there, and grew-up there.”

Lily Pad frowned sadly. “That so sad.”

“Who would’ve thought that freedom would cost so much,” Keen Eye said. “And it costed two homes to do it.”

“When he attended his retrial, the judge found him “not guilty” on all charges, and was to walk out of prison as a free pony the next day.” Fritz looked up to Keen Eye and Lily Pad. “Although, by royal command, he, your mother, and everyone else was ordered to keep silent about everything that went on to the public, because the F.P.I. still had to find the rest of the crime ring members, and everyone else who was involved. If the word got out before they were found, the F.P.I. would never be able to find them.”

“Anyway, the next day, your father was released, but he felt distraught and betrayed, that he ran away before your mother was scheduled to meet with him. Where a day later, he attempted to take his own life by hanging himself. Fortunately, however, Princess Luna found him and broke the tree branch that had the rope, saving his life. And while he was unconscious, she created a dream of your grandmother Arithma telling him that her grave was in Ponyville, and that lead him to journey all the way to Ponyville, that took about a week to search for her.”

Keen Eye and Lily Pad’s eyes were wide with shock. “What? Dad really tried to take kill himself?”

Fritz turned to Keen Eye. “Yes, he did. And not just once.”

“Well, at least everypony in Ponyville must’ve welcomed him back and supported him.” Lily Pad said.

Fritz sighed. “I wish I could say that it was true.”

Lily Pad tilted her head. “What do you mean, Mr. Fritz?”

Fritz hesitated for a moment. “Well…you see…when your father was arrested, and when Blue Ward and Cover-Up presented their fake evidence in court…nearly the whole town believed it. They even called him by another name. Abacus Scum, instead of Sum. And when they found out that he was released and reported missing from copies of the Equestria Telegram newspaper, they were outraged, frighten, and still believed that he was guilty. Only a handful of those in town believed otherwise. Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends were among them.”

“How could they still believe he was still guilty?” Lily Pad asked.

Keen Eye nodded. “Yeah. Even if they didn’t mention anything about the whole crime ring, Dad was released, and was proven innocent. It doesn’t make sense.”

“It’s influence,” Fritz answered. “Canterlot police investigation force was regarded as one of the best when they were called upon. Also, Tiger Lily was a dearly loved mare in Ponyville. You see when people, or ponies in your case, are persuaded by those in such high regard, it can have a great influence on them. And given that it was to investigate the death of someone that was so loved by so many, and that there is a stigma of those who were in prison, it was all the greater.”

“When Princess Luna told your mother that he was Ponyville through a dream, she made her way down there on the next train. When she got there, she discovered that your father was found by Princess Twilight and her friends. They cared for him, and tried to get the town to see he was innocent. Sadly, it was a failure. The whole town made your father’s life so miserable, that he tried to take his life a second time, and it was a fail, yet again. When Princess Luna took him back to Canterlot with her, they made it clear that the truth had to be revealed to the whole town of Ponyville. So she and Princess Celestia extracted his memories, as well as the memories of the scum involved, and showed them, in every horrific detail. But sadly, by the time the whole town realized their mistake, it was already too late. Your father developed an understandable hatred and anger towards almost everyone in Ponyville, and vowed to never return.”

Lily Pad put a hoof over her mouth, looking rather distressed. “That’s so horrible. Poor Daddy.”

"I can’t believe the whole town treated him so badly." Keen Eye said.

Fritz look at the two foals. “There’s something else too. There were two ponies in town who were influenced the most, and were suspicious of your father, even from the first day he and Tiger Lily came to Ponyville. Blue Ward and Cover-Up even used it to their advantage. Those two ponies were Lady Justice, the town’s court judge…” He hesitated once again, concerned, knowing that this would be another great shock to them. “…the other…was Mayor Mare, your grandmother.”

Fritz watched as the faces of Keen Eye and Lily Pad’s eyes widened with a mix of shock and confusion, confirming his concern. Both foals could not believe what they were just told.

“Are you saying Nana Mare believed Dad was a murderer?!” Keen Eye asked, not bothering to suppress the shocked volume in his voice.

Lily Pad shook her head, with sad tears of disbelief running down her face. “No! Please tell me it’s not true!”

Fritz sighed. “I’m sorry…but it’s true. All true.”

“But why would Nana Mare believe he did it?” Lily Pad asked.

“Well…it has something to do with your grandmother’s past, and how her daughter, Tiger Lily was born.” Fritz picked up his canteen, and drunk some water from it, before continuing. “A long time ago, when she was a late teenager living in Canterlot, she abducted and raped by a stallion. A unicorn florist who was a once socially awkward, but close friend of her family. When he was arrested, he took his life, before he could be tried and sentenced. She was pregnant as a result of the rape, but her parents wanted her to have an abortion, because of their hatred towards that stallion.”

“Your grandmother hated that stallion too, but she couldn’t go through with taking the life of an innocent life at aborting a child. So she pretended to go have an operation and go on a vacation, but she didn’t. She just went away, and have that baby in secret. She travelled around until she got to Fillydelphia, and gave birth to a baby unicorn filly in her hotel room. A day after she gave birth, she found a foster care home, and left the baby on the front door of the foster care home in a box, wrapped in a blanket with a note that had her date of birth, and had a solitary fake tiger lily flower she got from the hotel bathroom.”

“Years went by, and your grandmother became a politician, and eventually became mayor of Ponyville, but she never forgot about her daughter. Then your father and Tiger Lily came, and moved to Ponyville. One day, when your grandmother came to her flower shop, she mentioned about her past, when asked about the tiger lily flowers. How she was abandoned as a new born, how her mother left a note of her date of birth, and a plastic tiger lily flower that she still kept. When hearing this, your grandmother began to suspect that she rediscovered her long lost daughter. So, with help from Lady Justice, she took some strands of her hair from her hair brush, and ran a DNA test with her own.”

“The DNA came back as a match. Tiger Lily was pregnant with her and your father’s baby at that time. She was planning on telling her, but sadly, Tiger Lily was killed in the house fire before she could.” Fritz sighed. “She felt angered and sad that her only daughter was killed. And when your father told her everything on what happened, she and Lady Justice got suspicious of his story, and even suspected that he possibly had something to do with Tiger Lily’s death.”

“They foolishly told Blue Ward and Cover-Up about their suspicions, not knowing that they were rogue, and part of a crime ring. So those scumbags used Mayor Mare and Lady Justice’s suspicions of your father to use to their advantage, and brought false evidence to convict him, with the motive being for the very high life insurance payout. When hearing the fake evidence, the two mares hated your father, and had no issue of not convicting him.”

“And when the truth that your father was innocent came out over two years later, they felt more shame and guilt than ever before. They took it out on themselves that they were equally responsible for what happened to your father. He even hated those two mares more than they once hated him. And finding out that Tiger Lily was Mayor Mare’s daughter, intensified your father’s hatred even more.”

Lily Pad and Keen Eye were saddened and shocked. To find out that Mayor Mare, the one who they knew as their grandmother, was part responsible for what happened to their father, and even hating him was heartbreaking. Lily Pad’s eyes began to water, as she silently began to cry from sadness and heartbreak.

Keen Eye looked down bitterly, saddened and angered by what he heard. "I can't believe Nana just assumed our dad of murdering her like that! Just because of what happened to her, it doesn’t mean other ponies are like that. No wonder nopony ever told us about any of this. Not even our own friends and family."

Fritz, seeing how emotionally affected by the whole truth of their family, stopped and looked at them. He kneeled down to their level, and placed a gentle hand on each of the foal’s shoulders. Lily Pad and Keen Eye looked up as Fritz began to speak to them.

“Listen,” Fritz said. “You shouldn’t hate your grandmother or Lady Justice. Your father did hate them, but he eventually learnt to forgive them both. Princess Celestia herself taught him about grace and mercy, and how one who hates, can never truly heal. But if you want to hate someone, it’s Blue Ward, Cover-Up, and all the ones involved with the crime ring.”

Both foals began to calm down from Fritz’s words of comfit. Then, Fritz removed his hands from their shoulders. “But there were positives to what happened. All the ones involved in the crime ring were arrest, tried, and sentenced to prison for the rest of their lives. Though, personally, I think they deserve to be sentenced to death for what they all did.” He got up and sat back down where he was sitting before. “And many good things happened to your father. He got his good name back, he made friends with many interesting ponies, including royalty, He became famous in Equestria, and even became one of the wealthiest ponies in Ponyville. But most importantly: he got something else. Something more than anything.”

“What’s that?” Lily Pad asked.

Fritz smiled. “Your mother, and you two. Your father still has post-traumatic stress, and depression, but he will always have friends and family who care and love him dearly and unconditionally for life.”

Lily Pad looked with a serious look. “Well, when we get back home, we’re going to talk with Nana Mare, and our parents about this.”

“Yeah,” Keen Eye said. “We need to understand more from them.”

“You two are very special, like your parents. It’s one of the reason why I admire your father greatly. He and I share a lot in common.” Fritz sighed. “But unlike him, I don’t have a happy ending…not yet at least.”

Keen Eye tilted his head. “Well, what’s your story of what happened to you? And how do you know so much about our mom and dad anyway?”

“That’s another story to be told another time,” Fritz said.

Dinky smiled weakly, feeling a sense of pride for her parents having helped Abacus back then.

“Stay quiet and alert, we don’t know if there are any stragglers down here,” Hans warned, Jens and Fritz nodded in response.

Dinky could get a look on Hans’ nametag, his last name was barely readable, mostly blackened by soot, but it was somehow familiar to her.

Pip could swear he had seen a shadow up ahead but it was so dim he couldn’t really tell. “Thought I saw something…”

“Probably nothing…” Jens mumbled before something knocked him down with great force out of nowhere.

The foals gasped in shock as it was another of those ponies, trying to stab him with a knife, he struggled against it.

The two preachers were engaged in close combat with another two ponies, struggling to keep the upper hand.

Without hesitation, Dinky, Tootsie and Ruby lit up their horns, firing a defensive spell at the attackers, knocking them back. Jens used this to draw his sidearm and shot his attacker onto the head.

“Hyaaaaa!” One of the masked ponies drew a small axe and hit Hans in the side of his mask, a hissing sound followed as he stumbled back.

“Gotcha!” The other one yelled as he did the same to Fritz, he had the same reaction as he got hit.

Jens barely managed to get up, aiming his P38 at the two cult members, who breathed heavily, but didn’t attack, just staring.

The foals watched as the two preaches removed their gas masks, seeing that one of the lenses had been broken, covered in blood.

They gasped as they managed to see the faces of the two men.

They both were heavily scarred, 3rd degree burns, only the back of their hair was left, breathing heavily.

Jens and even the cult members were shocked to see this, the letter stepping slowly back in fear.

The now de-masked golden armored stallion growled angrily and raised his rifle, his second hand did too, causing both hostiles to run.

They never came far.

The brown stallion shot one member in the head, blood splattered as he fell on the ground, Hans scored a shot on the left hind leg of the other, he grunted in pain as he hit the ground. Hans then made a sign to move forward before looking at the downed follower who crawled backward in fear.

“Come on, you're just delaying the inevitable.”

The grey unicorn managed to get a look in his nametag again, seeing a few letters on it, her eyes went small as she read them.

-sch-r.

Her mind raced as she processed the information, this man had apparently a German name she knew.

A name she would always remember.

The surname of the very human and found and took take of here as she landed on Earth.

“Why did you join the preachers?” Tootsie asked Fritz, it just slipped out.

“The preachers consist of men and women who have lost everything to such guys like those cult followers. Our goal is to prevent that others suffer the same fate as we did. Our light is a beacon of justice. One that brings sanctuary to the good and punishment to the evil. Drastic times call for drastic measures. Tough work but someone's got to do it.”

None of the foals could reply as a white light blinded them, coming from ahead.

Yet, they all realized, whatever had happened to the two men, truly awful for their faces to be scarred in such a way. The loss of family? Home? Friends?

They didn’t want to imagine but it had been bad enough to change those men into what they are now.

The children let all let out a sigh of relief as they had made it out alive.

“I hope the others are doing well,” Ruby commented with a hint of worry in her voice.





In the eastern part of the mine, the CMC was fascinated as they got told about the PMC by Leo and Müller, the latter being a part of the night squad, the personal unit of the Nocturnals, consisting of carefully selected members of the PMC.

“So, Müller, why did ya join?” The country filly was curious.

“To help to make the world and my home a better place. Back then, my family got attacked but I managed to overpower the intruder until police arrived to arrest him. However, due being understaffed, he got released without trial and punishment. I wanted to join the police force but they had no free job near my home and I wanted to stay near my family to protect them. Then I tried it with the military and made it in, but shortly after, the barrack got closed, and I was discharged.

In the Harmonious Guard, I can protect those in need, helping them when the authorities fail.” He explained, his voice changer was turned off, so they could understand him without problems.

“Sounds like a good cause t, me.” Scootaloo commented.

Suddenly, a round object rolled towards them, the mercenary looked at it and yelled, “Oh damn it! Take cover!”

Leo quickly pushed the foals out of the way before Müller pushed him out of the way and threw himself onto the grenade.

The explosion was deafening and the stallion got thrown against the wall.

The CMC and Leo coughed from the smoke, their eyes went wide as they saw that Müller was still alive, his armor having a few dents and exposed parts, showing he was a blue pony, appearing to be very muscular, more than Big Mac, his mask was also damaged, showing his hair and eyes were colored blue as he stood up, breathing heavily.

Before them stood an entire group of followers, rifles trained on them. “You won’t escape.” One of them said cold.

Müller grinned. “I beg to differ.” The hostiles fired at him and he…

Flinched, stumbling only slightly. “My turn.” And in a swift motion, he fired his MG42, mowing them down in seconds.

“H-how?” Scootaloo asked in shock.

“This armor was designed to offer best protection with good mobility. And as you could see, it can protect against a point blank detonation.”

“Cool.” Sweetie Belle commented.

“Heads up!” Leo yelled as several more hostiles moved in.

In response, his comrade drew a ballistic shield from his back, holding it with his left hoof, while holding the LMG simultaneously in the other hoof. “I got cover! Better keep your heads down! Leo, clear this AO!” He said and the foals stayed behind him and he and Leo slowly moved up, firing their weapons, cutting through any enemy that dared to fight them.

It didn’t take long until light greeted them, seeing they had made it outside.

“We made it! Thanks to you!” The yellow filly cheered.

“Just doing our job. I doubt the others have problems getting out.” The Brit replied with a smile.





At the West entrance, the rest of Cheerilee’s class was led by the Nocturnals and the rest of the mercenaries, the mare and children were all grateful for the help. They also were confused by everything at first, but that was replaced by fascination the more they got told.

“So, you are like White Wolf?” One of the young Deer, named Feverfew asked Stella, who grinned.

“Yes, young child, I may not be able to fly or use magic, but my fighting skills are very similar to hers, as I identify myself with her in the fandom.”

“And as good as dead.” A new voice added as out of nowhere, a group of heavily armed cult members stood before them.

The children let out a scream of fear before the preachers formed up their wall to protect the class, the Night soldiers also behind them.

Stella stepped in front of them, her rifle shouldered.

“What are you gonna do? You got nothing but your bloody knifes. We have guns.” One of the masked ponies pointed out, causing the woman to grin.

“You have bullets, you hope that when your guns are empty, that I’m no longer standing. Because if I am, you will be dead before you’re reloaded.”

“That’s impossible!” The masked pony exclaimed and aimed his revolver at her. “Kill her.”

Cheerilee and the foals closed their eyes and covered their ears as the woman got thrown back by the bullets, dropping on one knee as the firing stopped, her head lowered, breathing heavily.

She slowly stood up. “My turn.”

In a swift motion, the mercenary threw two knifes towards the bodyguards of the revolver armed pony who started in shock as they got hit in the chest and fell to the ground.

Everything seemed in slow motion as Wolf sliced the others as they tried frantically to reload, blood sprayed from their necks before falling to the ground.

One last member managed to reload it’s pistol, aiming at her, she threw a knife towards the pony, landing right between the eyes.

The apparent leader also had reloaded his revolver, seeing that Stella walked slowly towards him.

“Die!” He fired two shots which the mare shrugged off. “Die!” Another shot. “Why won’t you die?!” He yelled and fired until his gun made clicking sounds.

Stella stared at him. “Beneath this appearance is more than flesh. Beneath this appearance, there is an idea, cult follower. And ideas are bulletproof.” She then grabbed the pony by the throat, strangling it, the follower’s legs kicked for a few seconds before she broke the neck.

The deer stared at her before the second named Bryony asked, “How…did you?”

The woman tapped her chest, and a metal sound came from it. “I wear the same armor as the night squad under my uniform, there’s no better protection in the world.”

“If somepony can change the Phrase ‘never bring a knife to a gun fight’, it’s the Eternal Knights.” The third deer called Chamomile commented.

“And us. What I say is 'Never bring a gun to a knife fight.” Stella replied as she saw the light of the entrance up ahead.

The teacher let out a sigh of relief, happy that this nightmare was finally over.





In Ponyville, all of the ponies were happy and relieved to see that the class was alright. “In the name of Ponyville, I thank you.” The major said with a light smile to the human.

“It’s nothing, me and my loyal soldiers are only doing what is right.” He then turned to the crowd. “There’s no need to worry, the class is brought to a nearby FOB for medical treatment. The transport will be no problem.” As he said this, the sound of engines greeted the ears of the ponies, seeing a convoy of transport trucks pulling up at the town.

The parents of the kidnapped foals wasted no time to get in, wanting to see their children.

In Canterlot, the families of the Eternal Knights were surprised. “Wow…I must admit the woman called Stella is really similar to you, Wolf.” Lightfoot commented impressed.

“Yes, she is, I’m kinda impressed myself.” The blue Pegasus admitted.

“Well now, let’s meet our young tribe members, shall we?” Fallingleaf suggested.

“Of course.” Her husband replied.





Dinky groaned as she awoke. She could only remember that she reached the entrance with the others and suddenly everything went black.

Blinking, her vision slowly cleared, finding herself in a hospital room, her classmates and friends were on other hospital beds, all, save for Tootsie and Pip, were unconscious.

Her ears twitched as she heard hoof steps. To her surprise, a young woman in doctor clothes with blue color and black hair, avenge build and height walked in, having a smile on her lips. “Hello there, little one. How are you?” She asked with a calming voice, reminding the filly of Fluttershy.

The unicorn tried to get up, only to grunt in pain and fell back on the bed.

“Easy there, that knockout spell and gas they used, hit you pretty rough,” The woman explained as she turned and pointed a light to her left eye for a few seconds. "Pupil reacting normally, good. Your family should be arriving soon.”

“That’s nice to hear Ms.…”

“Just call me Anna.” The woman replied and walked out of the room.

“I thought that was it. That our lives would end.” the colt let out a breath of relief. “Thank the princesses they were around.”

“Yeah. It really was a close call. Too close.” Tootsie added.

“Dinky!” Derpy called out as she ran in, hugging her daughter with tears of joy.

“M-mommy…Daddy…I thought I'd never see you again!” The filly returned the hug, crying her heart out as the memories came back.

“Shh, Dinky, it’s over now.” Her father comforted her.

“Tootsie! Sparkler exclaimed as she ran.

“Pip! My son!” Nancy exclaimed. “I was so worried!”

Then in a matter of seconds, the parents of the other foals walked in, Berry was crying as she hugged her still unconscious daughter.

The unicorn then noticed a group of Deer entering the room, looking very relieved at Feverfew, Bryony and Chamomile as they slowly woke up.

“I really thought we had lost you…” one young male deer said with happiness in his voice.

Bryony chuckled weakly. “Your soft side is showing again.”

“You may be though on the outside, but soft on the inside.” Feverfew added.

“A big softy.“ Chamomile finished, teasing him, he let out a groan, his head lowered.

Dinky then noticed what appeared to be the emblem of this PMC, being hanged up on the wall of the room.

A silver and gold badge with Twilight Sparkle's purple star in the center.

For a PMC named the Harmonious Guard, it really suited.

She then looked out of the window, seeing two mercenaries chatting. “Hey, you know why the commander is called the Greybeard?” One of them asked.

“Tsk. Everybody knows that. He fought in the First World War, having suffered an accident withsome kind of experimental Poison Gas that made him ageless, having severed as medic and Sniper, being able to draw his weapons very fast, which earned him his nickname James, after the cowboy Jessie James. Then he fought in the Second World War as pilot and infantryman in Africa, France, the Ardennes and Berlin at the end of the war, never leaving a comrade or civilian behind, no matter what. He’s one though guy.”

“Yeah. He really has been through hell...But if anyone can pull this off to help Equestria, it’s him.” The other one replied before the sound of a helicopter interrupted them, seeing it landing on a helipad.

A man in a general uniform stepped out and they saluted him. “General, welcome.”

He made a sign to be at ease, making it possible for the filly to see his face, not able to believe her eyes.

She had seen this man before.

He was a friend of the very man that had helped her.

He walked into the room, getting very grateful looks from all parents, getting told how grateful they were for him helping them.

He held up a hand. “Please, I just did what was right. Rest assured, any remaining kidnappers will be brought to justice.”

He turned to leave as Derpy spoke up, “Wait. Can we know your name, we all owe you something.”

The man opened his mouth to answer.

“General!”

This had not been his voice.

It belonged to a woman in black trench coat and fedora, having blue eyes and stylish black hair ran in, being out of breath.

“What is it?” He asked.

“A few minutes ago, one of our scouts reported this.”

The woman gave him what seemed to be a tablet, his expression went slightly disgusted and angry as he tipped on it and an enlargement of the recording was shown on the wall, making every parent gasp in shock.

It showed an army of heavily armed followers and horrible looking bat pony like creatures at the great hills and mountains east of Ponyville.

“Those guys just don’t seem to know when to quit. So they wanna start a war? Then we’ll take it to their door.” James said with a mix of anger and disgust, turning to the woman. “Scramble all you can get. We need everyone who is available.” The woman saluted and ran out.

“Sorry everyone, but for your own safety, stay here.” The ponies just nodded in response before he moved out.





The Eternal Knights and princesses were also shocked as they had seen this.

The enemy had planned everything perfectly. Getting rid of the Eternal Knights, so they could resurrect their leader and capture Ponyville, if not all of Equestria.

“There must be something we can do to help.” Midnight tried to get up but was still too weak.

“Yes, but apart from you, we don’t have anypony who can deal with this or Nopony who can get to them in time.” Celestia tried to think of something, a worried expression on her face.

“I’m afraid, there’s nothing we can do than to rely on the Harmonious Guard.” Luna replied with unease in her voice.

They saw how the mercenaries were building up defensive lines around and in Ponyville, consisting of trenches and small bunkers as Gottlieb gave a warning.

“Keep alert! The enemy is upon us. They will attack with overwhelming force, but they must not prevail. We must defend our position!”

Günther looked around, quickly inspecting the defensives, having experience from Rommel. The Preachers and Pioneers would be the first defensive line, holding the enemies back with their flamethrowers, while MG 42s would be the second line, followed by normal soldiers, Elite soldiers, night squad members and blue devils. They all were the most loyal, most experienced soldiers selected for this, being also bronies.

He saw how nervous many were, including Jens and Leo as he took a deep breath.

“Loyal soldiers of the Harmonious Guard, madness is at our door. Beasts and demons of Marephistallion want to destroy Ponyville.

After making us all battle hardened and experienced, I brought us here us here to Equestria, unifying our people and our powers in this faraway world—a world that needs us, and our previous battles forged us and sharpened us into a stronger blade. A blade with which we will slit the throats of the traitors that crawl on their bellies toward our door. Soon they come! Soon they try to finish what they started. They want to end Equestria. They want to set up as a tumor on a healthy body, leeching the blood while growing fatter like a parasite. Destroy the world we all love and like. We must not give in. We mustn't allow this to happen. We must see them as they are:

Brutes and barbarians!” He raised his hand. “They are merciless. They are demons by name and nature, in the truest sense of the word. They shall show us no mercy and so must receive none. This is our zero hour, and I call you now to do your duty by the light of the glorious Harmonious Guard. The battle to come is not a fight for Equestria or even a fight for the Guard. It is a fight for the entire world. If we fail here, we fail everywhere. We fail our loved ones. We fail our children. We fail all who crave constancy and light in these dark times.

We pursue no other aim than to protect and help those in need.

Today is the day we fight back and defend our friends.

Today is the day the demon dies at the Guard's hand.

Today we take our future!

The battle is upon us. Here we stand! And here we must stand till the dust clears. Break them upon the walls we've built here. Send them back to the underworld they sprang from and protect this town!” He exclaimed, raising his hand, all defenders cheered at his speech.

He then took with Klaus and Linda position in Ponyville's clock tower as sniper position, his six female confidants activated the radios, looking like the mane 6.

Linda looked like Twilight Sparkle in camouflaged uniform, Anna like Rainbow Dash in a paratrooper uniform, Ava like Applejack as Pioneer with a flamethrower, Lily like Rarity in an officer uniform, while Anne and Becker resembled Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie in medic uniforms.

Ava looked at a fellow comrade that resembled Caramel, armed with a MP40, giving him a slight smile as he looked worried at her, blushing also, Anna did the same with a fellow blue devil that resembled Soarin.

The German-American woman flinched as someone patted her calming on the shoulder, seeing her big brother with a light MG42, resembling Big Mac, and giving her a smile.

Hans turned to his fellow preachers. “Remember why you're here!”

Müller mounted his MG42. “LMG, mounted and loaded! Time to get serious!”

James then saw two tanks pulling up in the middle of the town, having fully enclosed, rotating turrets, armed with twin anti-aircraft guns.

The Kugelblitz, the final development of the Flakpanzer IV in WW2. It never saw action during the war, not yet out of development when it ended, only a pilot production of five units had been completed, some sources said they had seen use during the battle of Berlin.

Those tanks were produced with plans James had recovered from the underground warehouses, and he knew they would be very beneficial against the flying beasts, called Flying Furies.

He knew this would be a hard battle, but not impossible. In past wars, there had been many situations were troops were outnumbered and held out for days against the enemy, so why shouldn’t the Harmonious Guard be able to do the same?

“Yes sir, we shoot them to pieces!” One of the tank commanders sounded ready for battle.

“We’ll shoot their grins out of their faces!” The others one added.

Jens and Leo nodded to each other before a fellow comrade yelled, “Here they come!”

And almost instantly, all mercenaries opened fire, black clouds filled the sky as the anti-aircraft vehicles fired into the sky, tearing the flying creatures apart.

James, Linda and Klaus fired their K98 rifles at every enemy they saw. His confidants used iron sights, due their high skills, he used a scope instead, as he was used to it.

Upon having a hostile in his sight, he pulled the trigger, the bullet went right through the mask, blood sprayed from the head as the pony fell dead to the ground.

The humans bravely stood their ground, moving the cult members down, or burned them with the flamethrowers, causing them to scream in pain before dying.

But despite suffering heavily casualties, the followers were not giving up. It was like on the eastern front.

The hostiles rushed the humans, wave after wave. For every killed follower, 10 others took his place.

Like the Russian Steamroller. Either the mercenaries would run out of ammo or their weapons would overheat.

James looked on his radio to see when help would arrive, smiling confidant as he exclaimed on the radio channel, “2 minutes until our reinforcements get here!”

“General, we get reports that Trottingham is under attack too!” One of his officers reported.

“Damn it!” He cursed and decided quickly, “Divert the air and navy reinforcements here for assistance!”

“Yes, sir.”





Trottingham was not unfamiliar with invasions from it’s past, having built huge bunkers to protect themselves, located in the underground train stations.

Even now, they were still serving their purpose.

Some time ago, demon forces tried to capture this town but got repelled. Now, they were back, trying to slaughter any civilian they could find, trying to get into the heavily barricaded train station, but the doors were holding and the Royal Guards were putting up a good fight.

“Sis, brother, I’m scared.” A young unicorn with dark blue mane, slimmer build, blue eyes and a silver heart surrounded by a platinum flower as cutie mark, said as she was on the back on her older Pegasus sister, who had a dark pink coat, curvier build, magenta mane and tail, the former tied into a ponytail and also blue eyes.

“Don’t worry, Shinelight, you and Passion will be alright.” Her older brother Speedy Silverstreak said in a comforting voice to her.

He was a blue Earth pony stallion in the Royal Guard, having the rank of Sergeant, trying to get his sisters to safety. He had been currently deployed here and his sisters thought about visiting him, which pleased him.

Unfortunately, this was shortly before this attack, and the chaos made them miss the raid siren.

As he saw the attackers, things were just as bad as he'd feared. The followers and demons had the Guards and police forces outgunned, outmaneuvered, and outmanned by five-to-one. It was a Suicide-mission.

The safety of his sisters was his top priority right now, then he would join the others. Tall Toby, the famous clock tower was nearby and would make a good hiding spot for them.

Almost there, almost…

From above there came an almighty screech and the sound of heavy wing-beats as a great gust from behind nearly knocked him and his big sister to the ground.

As they scrambled to their hooves, their ears pricked to a filly’s scream.

“Speedy! Passion! Help me!”

Their little sister was struggling in the grip of a flying fury, soaring high into the air, her face filled with terror.

“Shinelight!” Both screamed and Speedy took aim with his rifle.

The bullet shot through the air and blasted the fury clean through the head, sending it and Shinelight careening into the ground.

With only seconds to spare, Passion caught her little sister in mid-air and hugged her tightly. “Are you okay?!”

“Watch out!” The unicorn yelled before something hard hit the Pegasus and earth pony from behind, knocking them down.

“You snooze, you lose!”

The two turned around, seeing a group of the attacking ponies, their rifles trained at them.

“No, p-please…” The unicorn begged, starting to cry.

Her big sister took a protective stance.

Speedy tried to get up and reach his rifle but one of the cult members knocked him down. “Don’t even think about it. Face it, you have lost.”

The blue stallion looked at his sisters, not able to believe it would end like this.

He closed his eyes. Mom, I’m sorry.

There was nothing he could do but to accept his failure and wait for the…

For the…

Horn?

“What the?” The masked ponies looked around as Speedy’s ear twitched, it sounded like a ship horn.

“Look out! Enemy ships!” One of them yelled as he spotted three giant ships near the coast of Trottingham, firing their weapons on the demon forces outside of the town, one of them deployed fighters and helicopters.

Speedy and his sisters looked in awe and shock at the ships, the former had heard about the human PMC that is supposed to assist them but never thought he would see it in action.

The masked ponies fired their weapons at what looked like a combination of Gunship and transport chopper, he in return fired his MG, tearing them apart before landing and letting troops stepping out.

“Secure this area!” An officer yelled, looking like Shining Armor. He walked over to the three siblings. “Are you alright?”

It took the Sergeant a moment to answer. “Yes, we’re fine. Thank you.” The human helped him up.

“No need, it’s my job. Commander Maximillian König, at your service. Don’t worry, your sisters will be fine. Now, let’s push them back!”

Speedy looked into the sky, the gunships and transport helicopters played music from speakers as they systematically swept the city, with the latter deploying troops if required.

“Target at my niner, bankin' by the left!” König’s radio buzzed as a jet pilot shot down a fury out of the sky.

“That bastard is engaging me?!” Another pilot in a propeller plane yelled as he also shot down a Fury.

But that reminded the blue stallion of something. “Wait a second. We got the train station under siege.”

“No problem.” The human replied and spoke into his radio, “New priority target. The train station needs assistance, target maximum firepower.”

“Copy that, firing for effect.” Another choice replied.

One of the besieger hit the barricaded door with his rifle in an attempt to get it open, before a loud wailing sound came from the sky, spotting dive-bombers. They tried to fire their rifles at the planes but the Stukas, together with the Gunships slaughtered them, splattering blood almost everywhere, some panicked and dived for cover.

“Be careful, Speedy.” His younger sister hugged him.

“Of course.”

He grinned as he joined the other guards. It became a battle; a winnable battle.





Jens frantically reloaded, noticed his ammo was getting short and his rifle was getting heavy in his hands. The hordes simply wouldn’t stop coming.

Leo and the others showed signs of fatigue.

“Do they ever ran out of ponies?!” He heard the Brit yell in frustration.

The cult members wanted to tire them out but they all knew they couldn’t fail here.

“We destroy them! We crush them under our combat boots!” One Elite soldier yelled energetic, showing his dogged determination.

Jens took notice of a fellow comrade having the Russian flag with a bear as patch on the shoulder. “Fight for Equestria! Fight for your families! Hoorah! Fight! Hoorah!”

A scream of pain echoed in the German’s ears, seeing that Leo had been hit, falling to the ground, unable to move, bleeding from the chest.

“I got you! Hang in there!” Jens yelled as he grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him to the town square, where the last line of defense was, together with a place for the wounded. It was a miracle they had only a few wounded but no deaths so far.

“Watch out! Behind you!” Leo yelled.

Before he could react, a cult member tackled him to the ground, trying to stab him with a knife, he struggled against it.

“Die!” The pony yelled, slowly gaining the upper hand.

The knife came closer to his heart.

A loud echo and the pony’s body became limb, blood coming out of the head and the man threw the body of him.

The shot had come from Anna, her pistol smoking before she switched back to her MP40, firing at some hostiles that used the flying beasts to get over the defenses.

“I'm not gonna let you destroy this city!” She yelled in an aggressive tone.

“You have no idea who you're messing with!” Becker did the same.

Jens had never thought that shy and cheerful people like the two medics, could be so aggressive and deadly, being very accurate, almost always going for the head.

“They’re just throwing themselves at us!” Ava yelled, “We can’t hold the line!”

Making a quick decision, her relative ordered, “Retreat to the town square! Hold the line!”

A terrible roar greeted his ears, echoing through the town. What now?

He saw that his soldiers retreated as told, covering each other as the followers gave chase.

Meier quickly got up and grabbed his rifle, returning fire, noticing that Lily was using her Luger with a tactical Knife in her left hand, stabbing every hostile that came too close. Anna was sprinting from cover to cover, firing her FG42, ramming her bayonet into the enemies that were in melee range.

They all knew what was at stake, their minds only filed with determination to stop the cult from capturing the town.

Some were nervous, others scared, but together, they buried everything negative to fight. Even Jens was ready to die to protect the universe of his favorite TV-show.

If they would die, they would die fighting for a just cause.

Then there was another terrifying roar and everyone eyes went wide.

A gigantic monster was charging forward. An enormous, hulking mass of flesh, hard as oak, having abnormal muscular growth and covered with numerous scars and lesions.

Jens stared at it in shock, frozen. It seemed like slow-motion as the beast destroyed everything it its’s path, sandbags, barbed wire, it even threw one of the AA tanks over with ease, the guns not even making it flinch.

Only at the last second, he managed to dive out of the way.

All mercenaries that were in its path jumped out of the way as it charged towards the clock tower, ramming itself into it.

The shock was strong enough to throw the three snipers out, luckily landing in a carriage of hay.

“Like in Assassin’s Creed.” James mumbled as he quickly got out with the others, firing his rifle.

He knew the cult was gaining the upper hand but if they would win here, they would take the rest of Equestria and possible Earth too.

He saw how his soldiers concentrated fire on this beast but nothing seemed to stop it as it shrugged everything off, but he knew it could be defeated somehow.

Then he got an idea. “Hey! Beast! Over there!”

The monster seemed to hear him as it looked into his direction and roared before charging at him, he calmly waited as it came closer.

In the moment it was only a few meters away, he drew his side arm, a M712 and fired a short burst at its eyes and dived out of the way as it fell to the ground with a cry of pain.

To his surprise, it was still breathing, the mouth wide open and he knew it would soon get up again and fight.

Dodging bullets, he ran towards it and took a grenade from his belt, stuffing it into the monster’s mouth. “Bon Appetite!” He yelled as he jumped behind cover, the explosion splattered blood everywhere.

The veteran then had to realize in shock that his soldiers were desperately holding the position at the town hall, getting surrounded by the enemy.

It seemed hopeless, but the reinforcements were only a minute away.

Suddenly, the followers ceased fire, the humans looked in confusion and suspicion around.

The Cultists made way for a pony with the same mask and helmet as they wore but golden in color but instead of armor, he wore what looked like an exoskeleton bored into his flesh, apparently the commander. His body was scarred, his fur mostly gone, showing the flesh, it was pale.

“I admit I wasn’t expecting you.” The leader said with a cold, echoing voice. “You fought decent and admirably, but it will give me great pleasure to take you myself.”

The leader took his helmet off, showing that he was a unicorn. His face was pale and scarred, the metal covered the forehead, his lips were missing, showing his bare teeth. “Bow to me.” The voice said without any emotion.

“How does he talk without lips?” One mercenary whispered at a comrade who shrugged in response.

“We bow to no one.” James countered, causing the commander to laugh evil.

“Poor little apes...You're in the master's world now...” As he said this, the humans aimed their weapons at him but James held a hand up.

“Stay back! I will deal with him myself.”

“Sir?” Jens asked in disbelief as the officer stepped forward and Hans laid a hand on Meier’s shoulder.

“Trust me, he knows what he’s doing.”

Still, he watched his commander with worry as the cult commander said, “As you wish. I know more pain than you can possible imagine. I am Sepulcher!”

And with that, his horn started to glow in a golden light, causing James to cover his eyes.

As he uncovered them, he found himself in a burning Ponyville, corpses everywhere.

“What joy it is to fight such weakness, such pain, such a broken mind.” Sepulcher’s voice echoed through the town as the man moved through. It reminded him of Würzburg all those years ago, the most horrible moment in his life.

“What do you still fight for? If only the mirror of what you have become.” The voice taunted him. It was terrifying, yet Jessie stayed calm, he knew something wasn’t right.

Suddenly, a soft humming greeted his ears, the voice as very familiar to him.

It can’t be…

He walked towards the source, noticing a woman with brown hair in the distance, having her back to him, standing at a table, not paying attention to the flames, humming softly.

This is impossible! She died years ago at this horrible day…

James shook his head but the human wasn’t vanishing.

“L-l-Lena?” He asked as he came closer to her.

Without warning the woman engulfed into a golden glow and turned around, revealing herself to be the unicorn. The veteran quickly drew his pistol and fired, but the pony wasn’t even filching.

“Your puny weapons do not frighten me. Encased in this armor, I know pain far greater than any of your weapons inflicts.” Sepulcher then raised James into the air by his throat, the man struggled. “Now…you will join us.”

He lit up his horn and touched Günther’s head, who screamed in pain.

The man struggled to resist and screamed, using all his strength.

To the cultist’s shock, his victim slowly managed to grab him and pushed him back, then rapidly stabbed him into the throat.

The stallion fell on his back, holding his wound. “Only I had the strength to trap myself inside this armor. Will you end my torment?” His voice sounded rather curious, his expression one of hope, titling his head.

The man grinned. “I’ll show you real pain.” And with that, he brought the knife above his head to bring it down with considerable force and rammed it into the leader’s throat, a golden glow engulfed it as the burning town vanished.

The veteran breathed heavily as he found himself back in reality, his soldiers looked at him in shock, the cultists did the same, seeing their leader lying in a puddle of blood, but still breathing.

“The pain of defeat.” James finished.

The sound of several engines made the cultists turn around, their eyes went wide in shock.

Panzer IVs and Tiger tanks moved over the hill towards the town, equipped with pintle-mounted MG42s.

The cult commander breathed heavily in pain, the other followers panicked and started to run, many got shot by the MGs or blown apart by the cannons.

“Damned cowards!” Sepulcher yelled in a fit of rage by gathering his last strength, before looking at Günther with a grin. “You...are strong, human...You have a dark heart...” He laughed, coughing out blood. “I see why the master...favored you.” He held out his forehooves. “Finish me, twisted one. I have served my purpose here...You shall hear from my master...in time.” His laugh grew louder. “He has such interesting plans for you!”

James smirked. “Whatever you say.”

The man stomped him, killing him with a crack as the boot connected with his head.

The tanks quickly surrounded the city, cutting off all escape routes.

“Drop your weapons!” Jens yelled at a small group of survivors, they obeyed, holding their hooves up in surrender. “On the ground!”

The hostiles did as told, hooves behind their heads, some instead did begging gestures, like they were scared of what would happen to them. For some reason, Meier wondered if Equestria had the death sentence for such guys, or what would happen to them.

“We held our position long enough for our reinforcements to arrive, well done!” James praised his soldiers, they raised their rifles into the air and cheered, celebrating their victory. “Secure the prisoners, the princesses will decide what to do with them.”

Jens used this moment to look after Leo, seeing that the preachers were burning the fallen enemies, being relieved to see that his friend was bandaged but otherwise looked fine.

“How are you?”

“I’m going to make it, Jens, don’t worry. We got only a few wounded, no deaths.

The German smiled. “That’s good to hear.”

Shortly after, the princesses arrived at Ponyville. “That was a hard battle. Now rest, you all have earned it. We have prisons for such prisoners.” Celestia said as her guards led the cultists away.

“Good. Let us help clean up the mess and then we…”

“Party!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed out of nowhere, causing the mercenaries to smile.

After the battle was over, the ponies celebrated together with the humans, dancing and drinking.

Even the knights and their relatives enjoyed themselves, dancing with the foals.

“I’m proud of you.” James said to Jens and Leo as they clanged glasses, enjoying the champagne.

“Thank you, General,” Maier replied.

They then turned around, noticing that Hans and Fritz were standing in the corner, watching the people and ponies as Celestia walked up to them, together with what seemed to be the parents of Keen and Lilly. Their father was an earth pony stallion dark brown earth pony with grey mane and greyish magenta eyes, a counting frame as Cutie Mark.

His wife was a grey unicorn with spectacled brown eyes and matching mane, her cutie mark was an opened eye that was the same color as her own eyes. “So you are the men who saved your children. My name is Lawful Eye and this is my husband Abacus Sum. We are very grateful for your help.” The mare was smiling.

“Nothing to thanks, Mrs. Eye, we only did our duty.” Fritz replied, Jens and Leo could now she how he and Hans actually looked like.

Both had a slightly muscular build, Hans had blue eyes, Fritz brown.

Both ponies looked at them with a slight shock, due the burns the two men had suffered. “Forgive me to ask this, but, why? Why do you choose the appearance of my husband and…why joining the preachers?

“Well, we are almost the same.” He pointed at Abacus. “I was going to be a father but the house burned down. I managed to protect my wife from a sting flame, which caused the burns. Unfortunately, my wife died from smoke inhalation in the hospital. Then, I got accused for having caused the fire to kill my wife and got a life sentence.

But a friend of mine managed to prove my innocence after I spent one year in prison, also finding out, it was indeed Arson, with the suspect framing me for it.” He told with a neutral voice.

The parents stayed silent, trying to process it. “Was…Was it revenge?” Abacus asked.

“If the loss of your former wife had been Arson instead of an accident, had you wanted to avenge her death too?” Fritz countered causing Sum to think.

“…Maybe…”

“But I knew that revenge wouldn’t bring her back. I’ll do it to prevent that others suffer the same fate. I had nothing to look forward to after being released. No place to go. No job. No home. No family. Nothing. My friends felt so bad for me that they stayed out of my way, thinking I would blame them. I did not. The Preachers are my family now.”

“That…makes sense.” The grey mare replied, still trying to understand.

“I must thank you, for your hard work, Hans. But I must know…why did you choose…him as your pony appearance?” Celestia asked the leader of the preachers.

“We are kinda familiar in some things. At the age of 8, I lost my parents in a house fire, my mother pushed me out as a gas pipe exploded, burning my face badly. I only survived thanks to the quick response of Günther. He adopted me afterwards and I’m very grateful. As for the reason why I founded the preachers, the same man who was responsible for the death of Fritz’s wife was responsible for the death of my parents.

He was a Neo-Nazi, being very brutal. He burned houses down and killed innocent people, just for his enjoyment, sparing no one. Teaching others to be like him.” The man paused, taking a deep breath and looked at the other preachers.

“Those are, apart from the general and his confidants, the bravest men and women I’ve ever seen in my life. We’ve all lost someone, but they’re still willing to fight for a safer world. Like Heroes.”

The ruler of Equestria could understand what he meant, but it reminded her of a pony that was just too familiar, causing the deaths of many of her subjects. “I understand.”

Leo and Jens then noticed that Müller was chatting with an earth pony stallion that was identical to his pony form. The man himself was muscular, having brown hair and green eyes, being broad.

“So…you’re like me?” The pony asked him.

“Yeah. I joined this PMC to help making my country and the world safer, after my family suffered a tragic incident.”

“Sounds like a good cause.” The stallion smiled and raised his hoof for a hoof/fist bump, which Müller returned.

The princesses then turned to Jessie. “We are very grateful for your help, but how did you manage to get all your troops here?” Luna asked him with curiosity.

“Well, back in WW2, some German scientists experimented with something called the Black Sun Dimension and it’s energy, called Veil. The Allies destroyed everything, but the SS managed to salvage some of the equipment, storing them in the same warehouse I used to found this PMC. This included portals, which I used to get the troops here, and veil-powered armor, which is incredible durable, even without the Veil, which the Night squad wears.”

“Fascinating.” Luna replied.





But eventually it was time for the humans to go home. “In the name of Equestria and my subjects, you all have my gratitude for helping in the time of need.” Celesta spoke to the mercenaries.

“It was an honor, your highness. If you should ever need your services again, you know where to find us.” The veteran bowered respectfully.

The Eternal Knights gave Leo and Jens a friendly hug. “Goodbye, it was nice to be with you and we are grateful for helping us. “Midnight said with a slightly sad voice, Wolf was crying.

“And I need to thank you. You helped me to overcome something I never thought I could get over with.” Jens said as he returned it with Leo before a humming sound greeted their ears.

A big, green portal had opened in front of Ponyville and the humans started to walk towards it. Meier, Leo and James turned around, giving the five ponies a last wave before going through it and the portal vanished. The same happened at Trottingham, the ponies here watched as the ships drove through the portal and vanished too.

“I feel proud that we could help him.” Wagensroll commented.

“Yes, we all helped him through a difficult time.” Fletcher added.

“Indeed. But it is his fate to make the best out of it. “Wolf said as she wiped the tears away.

“I’m pretty sure he will. I can’t say what the future will bring for him, but I something’s telling me he will live positive again. “The grey stallion looked at the sunset.

Maybe they would never know, but they all wished their caretaker the best.