Cake stood in the center of the throne room, Cadence was looking down at her with a mixture of anxiety and bewilderment. Shining Armor stood below the staircase leading up to the throne, roughly thirty feet away from the white unicorn mare who looked at the duo annoyed. The royal guards next to the walls and stained glass were shivering with anticipation, as their eyes darted from their towering leader to the black sheep glowing in her new orange steel plated armor. Twilight stood at the far end of the room next to the door, ready to react if she needed to, but staying out of the main conflict, Shining refused to look at her.
“I have two ponies on the heart, I can cast a basic message spell and they'll shatter it like glass. Surrender, Shining, Daybreaker offers mercy to those who admit defeat.”
“You know, Cake, when that landmine went off we were ambushed, griffons began falling from the sky, firing at us while more began to run out of the forest, but despite that I still was only concerned with you. I pulled you to safety and bandaged your legs to stop the bleeding. I was the one who stole a car and drove you to the field hospital. I thought at the time that I was saving my best friend.”
Cake's eyes shifted downwards as small tears began to fall down her cheeks. “You of all ponies should understand why I'm asking you to stop this madness! Do you honestly believe any of these ponies know how to fight, or that they could launch a civil war and tear apart Equestria?”
“What is the alternative? You swore an oath to Equestria, not Celestia. Its citizens deserve better than to be ruled by a tyrant and a warmonger,” Cadence chimed in.
“Can you shut the hell up for one minute you slutty candy cane?” Cake retorted before focusing back onto Shining. “Are you really going to be the one to send these young colts to their deaths? Some of them don't even look old enough to drink, they can't even use the spears they’re holding.”
“Everypony dies eventually, it's up to them to decide when and how,” Shining reaffirmed as if he was reading scripture.
“Are you even listening to yourself? These- children, have never seen war. They have no idea what they’rer up against, you sound like an old fuck general trying to line his pockets, or Hightail giving a speech to his blackclaws!”
“You have a lot of nerve to say something like that while standing next to the mercenaries of the griffon he sold his country to.” Shining said, his face turning red.
“After everything we've seen, after everything we’ve been through you’re still trying to wage war? Our entire purpose as a squad was to do everything in our power to prevent things like this, what I'm doing right now is trying to prevent that!”
“And you were always terrible at it.” Cadence chuckled.
Cake’s horn glowed and the glass ceiling above the throne room sparkled as the large shield dome covering the city dissipated, already the sound of chaos had filled the streets along with gunfire.
“You have given me no choice, Cake!” Shining took aim with his spear as he stood on his hind legs, then threw it at the mare's chest. Her horn flashed again as she tried to grab it in her magic, only to realize too late that in its hilt lay an anti-magic talisman that fizzled out her spell. It struck her hard in the chest as the world went dark around her.
She awoke, startled, in the spa room, next to the purple alicorn who looked at her concerned as she lifted a cucumber slice off her eyelid. “Is something wrong, Cake? Another nightmare?”
After taking a deep breath and picking herself up, the unicorn rubbed her head and looked back at the alicorn as if she had just realized she had been asked a question. “Yeah, yeah. I always get them before… I don't know, I wish I had talked to Luna about them before this whole mess.”
“Mess?” Sunrise asked coyly.
“Yes, Twilight, its a fucking mess! I mean- Sunrise. FUCK!” Cake continued to run her hoof over her forehead in agony. “And you’re supposed to be the sane one…”
“Never afraid to speak your mind, that's what I love about you, not one drop of fear even when speaking heresy to the high inquisitor.”
“What in Tartarus are you even talking about ‘high inquisitor’ you sound like those cultists in the Oleanian Rike. Well, before they lost to Chrysalis.”
“Daybreaker thought it was high time she got the recognition she deserves as a goddess, so she asked me to ensure the creatures of Equus know that she demands-”
“Yeah, exactly like a religious fanatic. She's not even the only pony to raise the sun! Unicorns used to do it and that was before we had several huge population booms. Hell, I think it would only take half the current unicorn population in equestria to raise the sun.”
Sunrise looked very annoyed, even angry to an extent. “And that's what I don't like about you, you never know when to shut up.”
“Speaking of, well, speaking my mind. What are we, Sunrise? Are we just friends now?” Cake asked in a somber tone.
“I don't… know. I guess I thought we were still dating, or at least seeing each other, but with everything that's going on and both our new positions-”
“Yeah, it’s probably for the best if we don't think about it. Let's just wait until the situation is more stable. The salt in here is making my headache worse, I think I'm going back to the castle. Tell Dilly where I went when she gets out of the massage room, I don't want her to worry.”
“Oh, yeah yeah. Will do!” Sunrise nodded as she reapplied the cucumber to her face.
Back at the castle, Cake felt a tugging at her mane to walk into the map room. When she did she was surprised to see the kirin from before going over files as she sat in the large crystal chair.
“Oh, hello commander. I was just going over these maps one more time before we set out for the empire. I like to know the enemy's weak points and things before I walk into urban environments.”
“That's good, but you will probably be going in with no lethal weapons. Make sure whatever weak points you plan on exploiting in the city don't involve setting stores on fire, or other ponies.”
“Oh, and what about the other creatures in the city? Isn't that a little specist, Cake?”
“I could go on and on about how primitive other species are compared to us ponies, kirin, like how for the last one thousand years Equestria has had undisturbed peace, while Griffonia looks like a non stop game of blood fueled chess and Zebrica burns itself deeper into tribalism and degeneracy. If only Daybreaker had arrived sooner…” Cake’s eyes shifted to the banners laid above the glass windows in the room and how they shimmered in the eternal sunlight. “You know, I read a newspaper on the way to the spa, the Griffionian Empire actually sent a letter to the Empress begging her to lower the sun because they've been in complete darkness for the last month! Can you actually believe the gall they have to do that after they banned Celestialism when the Archeon took over? Fucking bird brains.”
The kirin remained silent as she returned her attention to the city, writing down routes onto the small sheet of parchment she had stolen from a nearby stash of Sunrise’s and trying to ignore her commander's rant. “But, you still swam over here to enlist, so I guess maybe not all you kirin are brain dead communists…” Small embers began to flicker off the kirin’s fur, much to Cake’s delight. “You’d think after that whole stream of silence business you would have the fucking intelect to elect Autumn to lead your nation instead of the tallest bitch in the village, at least we can make the excuse ours is a alicorn and all.” Streams of smoke began to emit off her horns and the pencil she was holding while the unicorn continued on giggling. “At least the changelings were able to crawl their way to modern civilization, mostly by stealing our technology, but they still did it! Your entire continent on the other hoof is about to FORGET the wheel!”
The kirin simply picked up a small, black piece of parchment on the table and set it ablaze in her hoof. In an instant it was nothing more than ashes and vapor fumes. She took a deep breath and sighed as her attention returned to her commander with a lite smile. “Yup, only through Daybreaker will they ever see the light. Those poor ponies in the Riverlands aren't doing so well either, you know?”
Cake rolled her eyes at her failed attempt to make her squad mate blow her top as she trotted out of the room, down the hall, and back in her old bedroom. She looked around at how it felt as if she had never left. Her golden armor which she was sure was abandoned in Wingbardia sat battered and battle scarred on the wooden stand holding it. Laying next to her bed was a large crate, she recognized it as military when she saw it, not something Sunrise or Twilight would have used if they or- them, were to try and move her belongings out of the room. After flipping it open and pulling out the bubble wrap the orange tint shimmered over her eyes. The small letter tucked between the helmet and chest plate made her headache flare as she read it, a reminder from Daybreaker about the cost of royal armor and how she should avoid having this set end up like the last five pairs she had worn. She threw the pieces onto her bed as she lay down on the cold crystal, relaxing for a moment from the blistering heat, then Dilly opened the door and stepped into the room.
“It's time, are you ready?” she asked in a soft whisper.
“Yeah, I’ll just down a bottle of tylenol or get Twi to cast a spell on me, something,” Cake responded.
“You should be careful Cake, doing a mission while… wounded... It's bad luck. I don't want you getting hurt again.” Dilly put a hoof unto her commander’s shoulder as she lifted up the orange steel helmet and placed it on her head.
“Don’t worry about me, Dilly. Focus on those newcomers, if they fuck this up I’m going to be dead either way.”
Dilly nodded as Cake strapped on her chestplate and wiggled into her metal skirt. The pair trotted out of the room where they met the rest of the squad, along with Sunrise, waiting for them at the castle's entrance.
“How long is the train ride going to be?” asked Wander to Gunshot who was still drinking his large soda.
“I don't know, I don't use trains, the food on them sucks,” the large earth pony responded.
“I guess we all can't be blessed with an appetite for salad, or hay grass that hasn't been fried,” the kirin said with her nose up.
“Hey, don't get bitchy with me, Firestarter, it ain't my fault everything you put in your mouth becomes well done,” he responded in a huff.
“Really, Firestarter? You couldn't have thought of something better like Ash Fall or even Nuclear Winter? Christ, I should write a book on clever names to rename yourself to when you lobotomise yourself,” Cake said, rolling her eyes and taking the lead of the group.
“I chose Gunshot because it's my favorite sound!”
“SHUT UP!” Yellow Diamond demanded.
“Yes, do as she says for once.” Sunrise groaned.