Jachs stumbled as the ceiling above him shook, with sporadic gunfire ringing overhead as the battle for Canterlot continued. “How ironic,” he thought, “that history repeats itself yet again.”
“Come on, we have to hurry,” his second-in-command, Oberstleutnent Alcippe said. “The city won’t last much longer.” Nodding, Jachs focused back on running as his friends followed close behind.
How did it come to this? Jachs could still clearly remember the days when it was just him and the gang in Canterlot, working to make the Pax Chrysalia a better place. Marsillio was so close to making artificial Love as potent as real Love, Finicus was just getting ponies onto his executive board, and he himself had just proposed to Alcippe.
Then Captain Dieter was assassinated in Severyana, Manehattan exploded into chaos and Tartarus broke loose. Even as he descended deeper into the crystal caves beneath the capital, Jachs could still hear ELF soldiers yelling as they fought the garrison for control of the city. Pieces of crystal fell from the ceiling as muffled explosions rang throughout the caverns.
“How… much farther… is she?” Finicus wheezed out as they rounded another corner. Jachs took a quick look around to see the wealthy industrialist, usually so composed and cheerful looking tired and being supported by Marsillio. Jachs couldn’t blame him; he probably wasn’t used to being kept up all night from the artillery barrages.
“Not much farther,” Marsillio told him. The surgeon-general wasn’t looking much better than Finicus was, with bags over his eyes as well. All four of them had stayed up last night debating and planning out what to do, along with pouring over maps of the underground cave system in preparation for this. “Just around here.”
Turning the corner, the caves opened up into a massive cavern, one Jachs knew very well even though he had only been here once before. Workbenches and notes were still strewn around the giant mass of metal in the center, from where the purple light emanated and lit the entire room. Alcippe, Marsillio and himself had already seen this once before, but he heard Finicus give a sharp gasp at the sight of the massive cocoon.
“We don’t have much time. Marsillio, hurry and get this thing open.” Nodding at him, the changeling pulled out his glasses as he reached the machinery. After a few seconds of looking over the console, he pushed one of the many buttons on it.
Purple smoke billowed out as the cocoon as metal folded and shifted at hidden seams, allowing them to look inside. There, restrained to a metal slab laid the Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle. It seemed that nothing had changed since they had last visited her; her mane and tail had fallen out even more and the probe in her horn continued to drain her magic. Jachs’ face turned into a frown at the sight as Finicus stepped back, shocked by the condition the alicorn was in.
“She looks horrible!” he exclaimed. “What have the Queen’s Guard been doing to her?”
Marsillio’s trained eyes looked over the pony as he spoke. “They’ve drained her of Love non-stop ever since they captured her. Twilight told us last time we visited that they had been barely feeding her, and it looks like that hasn’t changed.”
Jachs lightly shook the Princess, getting her to wake up. Feebly turning her head, her bloodshot eyes looked up at the changeling officer.
“I… recognize you. Jachs, right?” He nodded. “I didn’t expect you to come back.”
“We couldn’t just leave you here,” Marsillio remarked as he pushed another button, retracting the probe from her horn. A third one unlatched the restraints holding her in place, with Jachs and Alcippe catching her before she hit the ground. “Finicus, can you get some food and water?”
Shaking himself out of his stupor, his horn glowed and levitated out a daisy sandwich and a water bottle. “Hello, I’m Finicus Vesali, CEO of Main Hive Industries,” he said as he handed them both to Twilight. “I’m friends with Generalmajor Jachs.”
The Princess tried to take the sandwich in her magic, but quickly fizzled out, still too weak to cast any spells. Instead, she used her hooves to take a drink before slowly starting on the sandwich. “It’s nice to meet you, Finicus,” she said between bites. “Being honest, I didn’t expect to ever see any of you again, much less you all freeing me. Won’t you get in trouble?”
“There’s no one left to get us in trouble, Princess Twilight,” Jachs replied somberly. “The Pax Chrysalia is falling, and the Equestrian Liberation Front led by Starlight Glimmer and Trixie Lulamoon are right on our doorstep.”
Twilight’s expression brightened at the mention of the two unicorns. “Wait, then why are you all here?”
Alcippe put a hoof on her shoulder, causing Twilight to look at her. “We’re here to get you out of here, Princess, and make sure you get safely back to your friends. We may be on different sides, but no pony or ‘ling deserves what you’ve been through. You deserve better.”
The alicorn nodded, giving a small smile before finishing her sandwich.
After she was done, Marsillo offered her a hoof and helped her up. “We have to move, Twilight. It’s not safe in the caves with the fighting going on, and if any remaining Queen’s Guard come to get you we’ll all be in trouble.”
Twilight nodded, taking a first shaky step forward. As soon as she did, though, a bright flash of teal light appeared in front of them, revealing a pink unicorn. Jachs immediately recognized her from the reports he had read over the past few days; it was the leader of the ELF, Starlight Glimmer.
“Twilight!” She looked shocked for a moment at the state the alicorn was in before turning her attention to the changelings around her. “How could you?!” Her horn lit with magic, ready to cast a spell that Jachs could only assume would give the four of them some horrific death. In the state all of them were in, they were in no shape to resist.
“Starlight, wait!” Twilight cried out, reaching out with one hoof to stop her. “They weren’t the ones who did this!”
The aura around her horn abruptly cut out, and she looked at Twilight with a surprised expression. “Then what are they doing here?”
“We came down to rescue Princess Twilight,” Jachs explained to her. “The Queen’s Guard has been using this machine for years to drain the Princess of all her Love.” Slowly, he brought up a hoof to point at himself. “I’m Generalmajor Jachs. This is Oberstleutnant Alcippe, Generaloberstabsarzt Marsillio, and Finicus Vesali.”
“I’m Starlight Glimmer,” the mare said, awkwardly rubbing her neck with a hoof. “Sorry about almost killing you, but we’ve all been really worried about her for a while now. I found some notes saying Twilight was here in the caves, and well… I thought you were the ones doing this to her.”
A long silence followed as the changelings and ponies stared at each other, until Twilight finally walked across to Starlight. After giving the unicorn a tentative hug, she turned back to Jachs. “Thank you. All of you,” Twilight said, looking at all of them. “I told you that I expected all of you to do your best at spreading a bit of harmony wherever you go, and I can tell that you all listened.”
“I’m glad to hear we didn’t let you down, Princess,” Jachs responded. “Good luck.”
After nodding to Jachs, and then to Starlight, the two ponies disappeared in another flash of teal light.
“So… what now?” Finicus looked expectantly at Jachs, as if waiting for instructions.
Slowly and methodically, Jachs pulled out a single book from a saddlebag. It was an easily recognizable one, purple with the front having a horseshoe featuring six gems. The other three changelings gasped at it.
“Jachs, that isn’t…”
“Twilight’s Journal of Friendship?” He nodded at Alcippe. “Second Wind gave it to me after we took the Seeds of Truth. Since we have plenty of time before the ELF comes down here, I was thinking… maybe we could give it a read?”
The other three looked at each other before nodding. Clearing off one of the many tables around the cavern, the changelings took seats before Jachs opened the book and turned to the first page.
“Dear diary. This is the first official entry of the Journal of Friendship being entered by Twilight Sparkle…”