//------------------------------//
// Assualt on FOB Clubhouse 
// Story: Revenge of the Nightmares 
// by Commander_Pensword 
//------------------------------//

	William was now dressed in his dress uniform and as they walked he looked to his left and right and seeing nopony else, he did pause at how he thought that instead of no-one else. He shook his head one thing at a time he thought to himself. He looked down at the medal that was below the image he remembered being part of what the fans had dubbed the New Lunar Republic. Below that badge of being a Moonbeam Division member was the sole medal he had been awarded. A moon white silk with three red stripes running vertical. The fabric was attached to a metal disk of the moon with the shadow of the Mare in the Moon, and across it was a sword.  “Princess.” The words he guessed were serious because she paused in her walk and turned her head.

“Yes?” She replied, looking at him curiously. They were paused in one of the many corridors of the Castle, one one side were windows of glass overlooking the valley that the Castle that was built into the side of the tallest mountain of the ridge of mountains that created one side of this valley. The other side of the Mountains were visible on the horizon. The other side had banners of royal houses of the nobles. William knew some of them, but not all. He blinked and shook his head focusing once more upon Princess Celestia. At the end of the hallway was double doors that hide their destination, or another hallway William thought to himself.

“What does the medal mean? I never got a chance to-” He closed his mouth quickly as Celestia glared at him akin to a mother giving a rude child a mother’s glare.

“That, represents,” Celestia smiled softly, “That you faced pearl and the face of opposition for the protection of the Princess of the Moon.” She smiled. “Luna was very happy to be rewarding that medal, you see, in the guard. It is key to keep your uniform with you and know where it is, and secured. You see, the Lunar Protection Medal, is awarded in secret and at a time when the soldier is not aware of it.” Celestia smiled that same smile that William knew from Luna’s mind was when she was thinking something from good days a thousand years ago. “You are the first person to be awarded it, and the third pony to receive it since her return. The other two happened during the Wedding Crisis.” Celestia turned back to face towards the end of the hall, and began to walk again, dropping the hall into silence.

William moved forward but before he could speak Celestia held a wing up to communicate that he was to remain silent. This left William time to ponder and think. Mostly about how it was that, thanks to Luna he was able to tell so much just by body language, for all he knew, without what Luna had given him it would have been an invitation to speak more. Instead he realized that it was a blessing, a blessing that he was very grateful for as it allowed much easier communicating with the world in general. 

The rest of the trip from where they were standing to the double doors was in silnce and still silence as Celestia opened the doors in her golden magic and there behind the doors was a room the like of which William could only describe as a mess between science fiction and fantasy.  The fantasy was that the room was full of the three pony tribes all wearing armor that reminded William strongly of the Roman Centurion. The room was paneled richly with banners of what William felt were more of Military Units then Noble Pony clans. It helped that they had images of strength; swords, shields, and etc. The Science Fiction was that their was a round oak table that upon it was a three dimensional map of  Equestria. He saw the towering mountains of Alicorn Mountain. He saw the name of the mountain hovering over the castle fortress. All the guards snapped to attention as Celestia moved to take the head of the table. For a brief second William felt as if he was at a table of knights. Celestia spoke as soon as she sat upon a cushion. “General, please, begin.”

“Of course your majesty.” The unicorn bowed his head and turned to look at the map. William noticed that Shining Armor was missing from the meeting but he returned his attention back to the General as he caused the map to zoom into the north. “Shining Armor is unable to reinforce us as he and the Crystal forces are dealing with a small band of rogue Frost Dragons. The Crystal 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalion are held up, along with the 10th Mountain. They also will be unable to deliver their 1st and 2nd Artillery Companies.”

Celestia only nodded. “Very well, I hope you have sent what we can to bolster his forces.”

“We have the 6th and 14th Canterlot Volunteers already stationed in the Capital city for protection of civilians.” The General finished. The Map moved back to the Castle proper, where in a stylized courtyard off to the side had images began to appear as the General mentioned them. “We are mobilizing the1st Equestrian Battalion who will be in charge of securing and protecting Ponyville proper. The Solar Guards will be fielding the 1st, 2nd, and the Sunray Divisions for attacks upon the Nightmares base. We also will have the Ponyville Volunteers mustering as we speak, as well as the Canterlot 4th Artillery. We are also mobilizing the 1st Wonderbolt Wing for combat. The Elements of Harmony will be on standby,” he paused before looking at Celestia, “With your permission.”

Celestia slowly nodded. “Yes, I fear they will be needed for the sealing process, keep them in Town Hall till they are needed.”

“Of course your majesty.” the General bowed his head slightly again. It was here that William noticed an uneasy look in Celestia’s face and he had a feeling that Luna was the main military commander, he wondered why but found his thoughts pierced again when the general finished. “We will have attached to the  1st Equestrian Division the 2nd and 4th artillery units, we are authorizing the deployments of Mortars and all pounders.”

Celestia only nodded her head as the map moved to the Equine Valley, William saw the map of Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres. Another of the staff members had moved to speak when suddenly a loud popping noise sounded in the room drowning the new voice. The others were already moving to point spears and weapons at where energy was forming into the shapes of two ponies. One was tall with wings spread out and horn spiraling from the head. The other pony was smaller and earth pony in shape with an odd shaped head that looked like a hat. With a loud pop and a shower of sparkles the two forms fully formed into Princess Luna and Applejack who promptly fell to her knees while Luna searched the room in a quick manner before locking eyes with her sister. An unheard discussion seemed to happen before Luna moved a wing. “William Howard, you will have armor provided you quickly now, time is short.”

William was only stunned as he stared at Luna. She was not wearing any of her royal vestments or even her small crown. She was instead dressed in a full set of armor, from the helmet that was pressed over her head and smooth as her mane of stars waves from the helmet. Her body was also covered with the same colored metal as the helmet of a dark blue. The armor wrapped around her chest up to her neck and on the front was the white crescent moon with the missing part of the moon facing down creating an image of a claw falling down onto one’s prey. The Armor continued down the length of her body and covered her four legs and hooves leaving a body of armor with only the face as the only weak point of the armor that William could see. Attached to the sides were a long sword on one side with the images of the moon and stars. The other side had attached to her hip was something that could only be handled by unicorn magic William thought to himself as it was a curved blade set into a black as night guard on side in the shape of the crescent moon. To William Luna looked like she was ready to lead an army to war right then and there. She just commanded respect, or as William thought to himself; the need to ask a question or two.

“What is the meaning here?” The General called out as he moved to his full height doing his best to be intimidating. 

Luna only grinned. “Oh Tia, you are teaching your staff to ask the questions, no matter who they are talking to.” She turned to look right at the General frowning a little upon seeing him wilt under her gaze. “Because,” She began, “the Nightmares just launched a small attack upon the Sweet Apple Acres, attacking the dreams of one filly, and slowly hunting for her and her friends.” She looked at William. “I need you to help me repel this incursion before any harm can come to this Filly.”

William blinked and nodded his head as he quickly moved to the corner of the room where Applejack just was returning to her hooves. “Understood Commander.” William spoke before blinking as he realized that he just called Luna by a title that she prefered to be called in the field. He found himself smiling at the smile in Luna’s eyes as she wrapped her wings around the two forms and her horn glowed with energy right before William felt a lurch and jarring. Putting two and two together in that moment, William realized that Luna was breaking through and weaving out a hole for them to teleport out of a room that had been warded to keep access out. He lurched hard as he stumbled to the edge of something, and found himself looking down at a forest he quickly pushed back from the edge and landed on the floor of the flying location to find himself looking up at Luna’s chuckling face. 

William only smiled and laughed a little that turned into a gurgle a little from a small bump. “So,” He began, “We are flying to Ponyville in one of your chariots?”

Luna smiled. “Oh, not just one.” She spread her wings and a glint in her eye made William pause as he realized that maybe like other deities who were based on the Moon, she too was a warrior. William in wonderment slowly rose to his feet, and paused to lightly reassure Applejack who was huddled in a corner of the chariot as she muttered that Earth Ponies shouldn’t be flying. After doing so William stepped to the side of the chariot which was he realized with a slight shock was the same one he saw in the episode Luna Eclipsed. He began to gaze the sky and found himself seeing about five or six more flying in a formation that were in protection of the middle chariot he looked down again to study and found that their was an exact duplicate chariot below Luna’s with shapes that were to look like Luna and more than likely some of her leading Commanders. He looked back up and turned around scanning the sky and saw even more chariots and some of those had a second carriage that was carrying some type of, he jerked up taller at what he realized what he was seeing. Cannons, Cannons that were covered in cloth that did very well to camouflage with the night sky.

“This is,” he began but found he couldn’t form the words.

Luna paused and looked around. “Not enough,” her voice low, “This is just the first wave. We are to secure the farm for the Solar Guards, but I need thee,” She turned to face him as her gaze hardened and bored into his soul. “I need thee to secure the Cutie Mark Crusaders Clubhouse.” She looked back at Applejack’s form. “She is worried, when my nightly dream walks showed that her younger sister Applebloom was being terrified of events encountered in the forest, I realized that they were being manipulated from without her mind.” Luna looked up and dead ahead. “In that clubhouse are four fillies all without Cutie Marks, those are perfect targets for a Nightmare, so much untapped potential that they could twist into their own desires.” She fell silent for a few seconds before blinking and speaking again, “I need thee to protect them while Applejacks helps with evacuating the main farm house, I have compensated them for the farm already in case damage comes to it. Buildings can be rebuilt, lives cannot be found once lost.” She looked saddened. “We shall crush this incursion.” This statement was strong and hard.

She nodded her head. “Your chariot is to the left of mine, I shall teleport you there where you shall find your fighting uniform, with a few patches I created for your use. You shall change into them, and use your rifle, I had modified one of the throwing knives to act as a bayonet for your rifle if you need it.” She closed her eyes. “Good luck William, may you find the courage you need to fight off the blank flanks of Nightmares.” She paused, “Do not hesitate to kill them, their bodies are just tombs trapping the Pony’s soul inside as the Nightmare consumes their inner magic. They are just like what you would call a Zombie, Do not worry they cannot infect you by bites or the like, they have to wear you down and implant a Nightmare into your head.” Luna looked at William one last time, one last question left her lips. “Are you ready to face the Nightmares?”

William quickly puffed out his chest and raised his head tall as he shouted out his answer. “Hooah.” William blinked as Luna only smirked and tapped him on the head. “That may work for your Army, but in the Lunar Guard we use something different” She smiled and took a breath as William caught a twinkle in her eye. What followed was a Royal Canterlot voice that would have made any drill Sergeant proud. “Goorah” even before the echo faded the others in the Moonbeams shouted out Goorah as well. William saw that Luna was waiting and so William took the same stance as before and shouted out “Goorah” as well. With a grin Luna touched her horn to William’s head and he found himself on the chariot that Luna pointed out to him. He looked around him to orientate himself, and to find the gear Luna mentioned was waiting for him.

“Easy now cadet.” A voice came from behind him causing him to turn around towards the back of the chariot. William only smiled at seeing two familiar faces. “Moonshade, Night, how are you both?” He looked back to the pile and noticed clothing that was based on his ACU’s. 

“Let us help you out of your dress uniform sir.” Moonshade replied as his horn glowed a soft dull color. William only nodded and as the chariot bumped and moved along in the air towards Sweet Apple Acres William changed into dark fatigues that would help him blend into the night terrain.

In the night sky and a little light from the two Lunar Guard’s magic he saw that the uniform was very similar to his normal ACU uniform; except that the colors were darker in their pattern, and the patches as well. He saw on his left shoulder was the Equestrian national flag. He saw on the other shoulder the same badge with scroll work, only over the top he saw Special Forces. Also he noticed no real look of rank on his body, he saw Moonbeams in capital letters over his heart, and on the other side same level as the Moonbeams lettering was his last name Howard. He was given a helmet that he put on and the night sky lightened immensely causing William to think that he just got some extra help with seeing enchantments. He could see the landscape changing and saw another flash of light from his right. He looked their only to have Night stop him. 
“that is Applejack being teleported ahead to get her family roused and moving back to Ponyville, we are to be dropping into the orchards near the clubhouse.” He closed his eyes and handed over his weapon wrapped in the red light of a Lunar Guard Mage. William took the weapon and began to check it as Night continued to speak. “We are cleared for full actions once we engage the enemy, we are to get to and hold the clubhouse till we can drive the enemy from the area.” A moment later Night handed over William’s Pistol and K-Bar making William smile a little at the thought of being armed even if he ran out of rifle ammunition.

William only nodded his head as he turned to look out into the frontier of the sky, the dark form of night all around them as they speed towards Ponyville. He looked at his watch as he was able to read it without turning on the green light to read the numbers. “Midnight.” he muttered as digital numbers flipped to the full zeros across the face of the watch.

“We still have half an hour till we reach Ponyville itself.”Moonshade spoke as William looked behind him more and saw they were not carrying a cannon. He turned to look at Moonshade.

“Can this thing go faster?” He looked around at the formation and saw that they were in the edge of it and William did a calculation based on his own limited knowledge. “They can survive if we speed ahead right? We are to keep and save lives, and our speed while fast, we have precious minutes ticking.”

Moonshade looked at Night with a blank look of terror. “But,” he began before Night held up a hoof and quickly wrote a note on a piece of parchment before opening a lighter with a blue flame he touched the parchment to the flame causing the parchment to vanish a small blaze of blue sparks that seemed to waft away in the breeze.

Moments later the light clicked and another parchment roll fell out of the bottom of the lighter. Night lifted the parchment and grinned. He trotted to the front of the chariot. “Full speed ahead Stallions, we are cut loose.” There were snorts and the chariot took off at a much faster speed that caused William to fall onto his bum as the chariot really began to race ahead. “We shall be at the drop zone in fifteen minutes now.”

William only nodded his head as he stayed where he was on the chariot floor. His eyes roved over the small area as he cradled his rifle in his heads he checked the magazine one more time and saw a full magazine of ammunition. “Right, I am armed,” he paused and looked forward, “We are facing Zombie Ponies?” he asked only to hear a little laughter.

“No, we are facing Blank Nightmares, their bodies and could have been abilities of being good at something were used by the Nightmares to create limitless batteries to store a Nightmare till it could be transferred to a stronger body to act as host.” Night spoke in a textbook tone of voice, “A Blank Nightmare is nothing more than a place for Nightmares to store extra Nightmares for possession.” Night closed his eyes. “We free those trapped and, and let nature deal with what happens next. The bodies are drained to the point of no longer being able to naturally support itself, we cut the Nightmares influence and, and the being finally dies.” Night looked to William their eyes locking, “Most of the Blank Nightmares have been alive to roughly a thousand years, less time than Luna was in the Moon, but still a very long time.”

The rest of the time past by in a slow and yet fast manner of silence for the three in the chariot and the three Pegasus with bat wings at the front pulling the chariot through the sky. William looked down at the pendant that he had been wearing with his dress uniform. In the moonlight the pendant glowed a soft green color of the iris surrounding the dragon slit. He looked to the guards. “So,” he pointed to the pendant. “This will help me located hidden nightmares?”

“Among other things as well.” Came the reply from Night as he closed his eyes and his horn glowed Red. “Prepare for drop.” He muttered as William didn’t know what that meant till he felt a light magic pressure strap him in.

“Drop.” Came the first words from the Pegasus flight team and suddenly the bottom of William’s stomach dropped out from him as the chariot lurched and the wind picked up speed around him.

“oh...” William moaned out and suddenly the chariot hit the ground jarring all inside a little. he also heard a crunch of something. He quickly poked his head up far enough to just look over the edge and paled. A small group of Blank Nightmares were shuffling through the night shrouded trees. The red eyes glowing as they had all paused and turned their heads to look at the object that fell from the sky. William froze upon seeing the creatures, he had seen fan depictions of the ponies from Sunny Town. The talk of them being like Zombie Ponies was very accurate. The Blank Nightmare he was focused on had the hoofs showing black with black bones showing through the taunt and mummified skin and fur. All the Blanks were the same coat color of black. The head of the pony he was looking at turned his head to face him as the red eyes seemed to shine brighter at him. the face was best to his mind a skull with skin stretched over it with the sides of the jaws allowing a look at the teeth of this creature. William’s hands began to shake as memories of zombie killing games he played came back to him. Only this was not a game but real life. If he got killed there was no restart or start from a checkpoint.

“MOVE!” Night yelled as the two Unicorns jumped over the edge of the chariot and fired off a few red beams of magic at the now shuffling monsters towards them. The yell and charge shook William from his frozen state and without thinking he raised the rifle to his shoulder sighted his first nightmare and pulled the trigger. The Rifle kicked back a little and he saw flashes of golden light impact the Nightmare right in the forehead causing a burst of black smoke from the injury and then it seemed as if gold veins began to form from the impact before the entire nightmare just seemed to fall apart into wisps of smoke. William just gulped as he heard a noise to his left and saw three Nightmares had snuck up on that side causing him to move his rifle and engaged the three with another burst of weapon fire.

The other two Unicorns were shocked at the loud report of the rifle but they were unable to pause for long. Their magic was dealing small damage but it was going to take a lot of work on their part. They looked at each other as the Nightmares were starting to surround them and with a nod they teleported out of the middle of the Nightmares and appeared back in the chariot only to see William moving a little bit to another part of the Chariot and fired again. To their shock they saw the Nightmares being overpowered by the Celestial Magic. Sometimes taking three hits or more.

“I don’t know.” William muttered as he pulled back as suddenly a beam of black inky magic tried to hit him. “But I think I just fired more than thirty rounds with this one magazine.” William shook his head as he raised the rifle again and fired back only to have another of the black beams of light hit his helmet and knocking him back into the chariot. “Magic users, they got Magic support.” William muttered in anger.

Night looked at his companion and then to William. “Cover me.” he whispered to the others. They both nodded and William put his helmet back on straight. Night waited till they both gave him nods of the head. He took a breath  and charged out and jinxing to the right as soon as his hoofs touched the ground. A Dark black bolt of magic hit the side of the chariot and he fired off a Red blast into the tree line. He heard the moan of a Blank getting hit before another black bolt fired from his left while he looked right. He dove to the ground and the bolt flew over his head even as he fired another into the tree line to the left. He could hear the rifle report open up again as he saw other creatures falling to the light of Celestia.

William took another deep breath as his other Unicorn guard Moonshade yelled out. “We got other nightmares coming in.” the unicorn looked nervous. William turned around only to see four Pegasus shaped blurs zoomed through the approaching Blank Nightmares before turned around and landing around the Chariot. The four Pegasus had batwings that had metal blades that were attached to their wings.

The Nightmares that they attacked found themselves suddenly on their sides as they found the ability to use their legs no longer working. As one the four pegasus jumped forward yet again and using mouth blades from their sides quickly dispatched the Nightmares on the ground.

The lead of the four turned back. “keep firing and covering Night, we got this side.” The lead Pegasus bat pony charged forward once more to engaged more shambling Nightmares that were working in moving towards the Chariot leaving William to return to fighting off the Nightmares that were coming from the other side of the Chariot.

Night heard the rifle begin to fire again as his eyes picked up another Blank Nightmare fall to his right from the firepower of the ranged weapon. He hit the ground as he felt another surge of Nightmare magic, he silently nodded his head with a grin at the name of the magic he had just created. He did not stay their long for as soon as the magic passed over his head he kicked out and started racing again. He turned around a tree and saw a ghastly sight. A full Unicorn Skeleton with nothing but the flowing black magic of the beams keeping the creature upright and moving. With a battle cry he fired off another red blast of magic at the skeleton smiling as he did so. The smile was still frozen on his face as he felt a piercing pain from behind and gasping from the pain he turned around and saw another Nightmare skeleton with a long sharpened tree pole impaling his back He gasped again and feel to the ground squeezing his eyes shut from the pain. He forced his eyes opened and looked one more time around him. He now saw three other Skeletons moving towards him the bones scraping against each other in a spin tingling manner. He closed his eyes and focused one more spell into his horn. Around him five Unicorn Skeletons lumbered towards him as a few Blank Nightmares were moving fast as well to his position. Suddenly from his horn a dark red glow began to form and it grew bigger and brighter.

William ducked gain at another blast of black magic but popped back up as he fired again at another Blank Nightmare and upon seeing it fall began to look around in confusion as suddenly there were no more in the clearing. He blinked in confusion before suddenly a blinding flash of Red magic with hints of a teal color blasted from the tree line uprooting some of them and creating a general mess of the area. William ducked down as the blast wave washed over the chariot and the sound of items hitting the side of the chariot ringing in the air for a long three seconds before everything began to calm down. William looked to his left and at Moonshade who had not tried to take cover from the blast. Moonshade had tears forming in his eyes. “Brother.” he whispered into the wind before looking around. “We need to move, we have to reach the clubhouse.”

William only nodded his head as he stood up and began to walk briskly beside Moonshade while the four bat Pegasus ponies stayed up in the air to give air cover as they all moved north of their landing. The few Blanks they found were easily dispatched while William paused to check his magazine only to slam it back into the weapon with a look of fear and half sick look before he shook his head to focus on his surroundings. The group were in silence till they saw through the trees the lights of a building in the trees take shape. The windows were lit up and around the building and moving towards the ramp were about thirty Blank Nightmares.

William blinked before Moonshade in anger and a cry of rage in his throat charged into the gathering of monsters. The other four pegasus acted before William charging into the fray also yelling a rage filled cry that stirred something in William who charged forward as well. 

William would later state in the classified official report that he took joy upon the look of fear that he conjured up in all who were around in both ally and foe. William didn’t fire a shot and used the bayonet against the Nightmare that first got into his way. He jerked away after plunging the blade into the living corpse in close quarters combat. He made a smart choice in that since it devolved into close quarters fighting and he didn’t want to risk hitting one of his allies. Still it was intense as in close quarters he was at a disadvantage with training. He fought like one who was just trying to get a hit in. It only helped that he had a long rifle with a bayonet at the end of it. Still it took time to clear out the area in front of clubhouse. The noise and din of battle fading while William and the other five ponies began to breath heavily from the energy exerted in the fight.

They all jumped a little and leveled their weapons at a noise only to shakingly lower them again as the noise was a door being opened and a little filly with a head of light golden yellow with red hair and a red bow poked her head out of the door a little more. “Oh thank you mister’s, I, I thought-”

“Now is not the time.” One of the bat winged Pegasus called out to the filly. “We are not done yet. Stay indoors and keep those lights on. They’ll help for a time.”

The filly only nodded her head quickly ducking back in and shutting the door with a slam. The Pegasus that spoke looked to the sky. “Move to the ramp, we have another drop, and it looks like we will have some heavier weapons to use.”

The Unicorn and William moved to the ramp of the clubhouse just as to his eyes two shadows flew overhead. First to fall were two of the canons wrapped up. Followed then with two chariots full of unicorns and then eight more bat pegasus flew into positions around the clubhouse. Without even a word the Unicorns began to dig a trench and foxholes while one unicorn pulled away with a wooden box on his back.

He walked up to William. “I have orders from Luna to present this to you with the following message, you have a weapon upgrade, use it wisely.” He floated the box in his magic and set it on the first landing of the clubhouse’s ramp. William opened the box and tenderly pulled out two items. His hand Grenades and the SAW. He grimly began to set up the Squad Automatic Weapon at the spot. He began to utilize the wooden box to create a place to place the legs to allow him to pivot the weapon. “Thank you.” he muttered before looking at the grenades. “Okay, I will give you a quick lesson, you pull the pin and throw this at the enemy.” He handled the Pineapple grenade gingerly. “can you do that? It can help you at the front while I give you back up.” he opened the bag up and handed a few to the unicorn. “Distribute these to the others on the front.” he looked at the two cannons that were already having dirt walls going up in front of them. The two cannons were anchoring the point where the trenches moved to create a horseshoe shape around the clubhouse. Already they could hear noises coming from the woods. Suddenly from the air the cry from some of the Pegasus came over the clear night air. “Incoming horde, Great Luna’s charge, We got nightmare fliers, All Pegasus engage the fliers keep the skies in our control.”

While the Lunar fliers engaged the enemy fliers, William looked back down at the front lines. He watched as the unicorns in the trenches threw the grenades into the marching lines of the Blank Nightmares. The grenades disrupted the lines with bursts of golden light and explosions that tore apart the nightmares in chunks of flesh that dissolved into black mists that dissipated into the air.

William took a deep breath lay down on his stomach and touched the SAW and swung it into a good firing position and pulled the trigger for three seconds making a unique sound that till then no Equestrian or Nightmare heard before. This new sound caused a lull and WIlliam grimly went to work at picking off the Nightmares he could reach. There were still a lot of them and the Battle would last for a while. He quickly shook his head to keep his mind on tracked and saw a small lull in the battle so he snuck a quick look into the sky and fell onto his back as he reached for his K-Bar as a Nightmare flyer of a two horned bat winged horse/pony type creature dove at him. He raised his arm to prepare for the blow and grunted as the knife got stuck in the leather skin armor. He also grunted with a cry as the creature rolled and the two ended up rolling down the ramp as the creature attacked him and William continued to stab or tried to. The knife was knocked from his hand hitting one of the small raised boards that created steps on the ramp and they rolled a little over the dirt and ito a side trench where the monster was quickly dispatched by the mages in the trench. William moaned and turned to his side before letting the contents of his stomach out on the floor before groaning softly from the abuse he had just gone through. “I hate Nightmares.” he moaned and narrowed his eyes at the nervous chuckles from the unicorns in the trench before they returned fire upon the crowd of approaching Nightmares a few black beams shot out over the heads of the unicorns before another blast bathed the sky above the trench lip a golden yellow.

“At least the Grenades are working.” William muttered with a smile on his lips before coughing as he sat up to try and breath again. He was probably a sight after being attacked and the physical fight with the flying monster. William moved a hand to his side and smiled as he removed his Beretta from the side holster and moved to the edge of the trench. “So, what can I do to help here?”

Moonshade who was next to him growled and threw his head back towards the ramps. “Hold the ramp and fight from there, we got enough for the moment. Just help us hold out here.”

William only nodded his head feeling a little bad for abandoning his post, “Right. He turned around and blinked. “A little help out?” He ignored the chuckling and then felt weightless as a mage lifted him out of the trench. William quickly began to crawl towards the ramp and the high ground. He kept his head low so as to keep it from harm, as well as to let the helmet protect his head as much as possible. He smiled as he hand touched the wooden edge of the ramp before his ears heard a screech from the air. Without thinking he rolled onto his back and pulled the Beretta from his pistol holster and pointed it into the air as another of the monster fliers barrelled down. Without thinking he began to pull the trigger as more golden streams of light erupted from the muzzle impacting the monster. The monster to William’s wonderment seemed to fall apart into a flowing cloud of blackness that dissipate into nothingness after a solid five hits from the pistol. William frowned and checked the magazine before slamming it back into place. 

“Another full magazine even after,” he trailed off and shook his head. “this is like infinite ammo cheats from bond.” he muttered as he looked to the sky and saw two more fliers burst into nothingness. He grimaced in pain as one Lunar Pegasus fell to the ground and rolled into a trench. The battle was not clean, then again war and fighting never was. 

Seeing that the coast was clear William quickly raced back to his nest while crouched low and slide into the position and quickly reached out his hand to grip the trigger handles of the small machine gun. “Okay. Time to-”

He was cut off with a spine tingling sound and saw the creatures actually falling back into the forest in a manner that said they were sneaking back to the Everfree forest. It was minutes laters that William even attempted to let out the breath he was holding in. “Okay,” he took a deep breath in and let it out through his nose in a steady pace. “That was an intense first battle.” He shakingly got to his feet as he cradled the rifle in his hands as he looked around the field in fear of an ambush.

The guards were now looking back at William in shock and awe. One of the Pegasus Night Guard landed beside William. “What is that? What do you humans call that weapon?”

William looked at the weapon. “We call it a Saw.”

“Rather crazy way to cut down things for something that has no cutting edge.” The guard muttered with a bit of both awe and fear.

“Uh, no, S A W, Squad Automatic Weapon.” William slowly spoke with the shakes and touched the weapon.

“Well, I like the name, shows that it is an action as well as an acronym.” The Guard spoke before walking back up the ramp to the door.

William took another shaky breath before looking at the clubhouse door. He began to walk up the ramp to the door. He took a moment and stood at his full height and attention before reaching out and knock on the door as a few Lunar Pegasi landed on the roof lightly and one landed on the landing William had just left. He blinked as the door burst open and once again he found himself tumbling down the ramp, rolled to the landing and rolled right off it falling a few feet landing on his back and gasped as the air was knocked from his lungs.

“Cutie Mark Nightmare Slayers YAY!” Came the cry above from four unique voices followed by a small bit of silence before a chorus of “Aww nuts.” William only could bring air into his lungs and at the same time fought to keep his chuckles from going too overboard. He had just been used as a Cutie Mark Crusade project. “That was fun.” William deadpanned with a grunt as a Unicorn was by his side checking his body for any more injuries.

With a little help William was helped up a little Unicorn magic. He staggered a little and slowly walked up the ramp a little slower this time and blinked as the Lunar Guards were standing over the weapons on the landing. Smart move he thought to himself as he saw four faces poking out of the clubhouse and we're looking at the outside with a worry. Behind them was the much brighter interior of the clubhouse.

“What are you?” a southern voice asked as one of the fillies, the same one from before tilted her head the red bow bouncing a little.

“I say we hit him again.” Another of the fillies growled out. “We didn’t make him puff into thin air.” her wings buzzing in anger.

“Hold on.” Moonshade cried out as he moved to stand in front of William. “He is on our side, he is a special weapon in Luna’s military.”

William only smiled as their eyes went wide. “Really?” A brooklyn accent called from inside the clubhouse. “Luna, how did she get away with creating such a weapon?”

“I volunteered.” William spoke and blinked as the four fillies just stared with wide eyes before they burst from their small abode and circled him on the balcony in front of the clubhouse door that then wrapped around the side and led to another ramp that went up into the tree. “Easy, easy, let’s get inside and you can ask a few questions, at least till your ride gets here.”

“Ride?” The only Unicorn in the group asked with a small voice. “Where are we going?”

“Away from here.” William muttered as they entered the clubhouse. He quickly saw that the room had been moved about. There were tables and other items pushed to the walls with sleeping bags in the middle of the floor and every single lamp in the place lit and glowing. “I am afraid this is not a safe play for you all. You sister trusted me to get you out alive and that is what I am going to do.”

“Okay, ah guess we can introduce ourselves to you.” She puffed her chest up. “I’m Applebloom.”
 
The other earth pony with freckles blew into her bangs. “I’m Babs Seed.” She grinned a little.

“And I’m Sweetie Belle, oh! you are with Luna, do you know how my sister is doing? I mean, if you got to see her, her being one of those element holders. I mean I can recognize my sisters clothing anywhere, never knew she did military.”

William smiled. “I did meet her, in fact she made some of my outfits for me to wear.” He smiled more at the look of pride on her face. “These are some of the best uniforms I have worn.”

“Yeah, Yeah, I bet you are good, but not as good as Rainbow Dash, I bet she would have taken those nightmares out in ten seconds flat.” The orange pegasus boasted with a look of pride. “Name’s Scootaloo.”

“A Pleasure to meet you all-” William began only to be interrupted as the four fillies bunched up and yelled at the top of their lungs.

“WE’RE THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!” the voices blended together into something that was almost close to Luna using a military command. William smiled and he noticed that the Lunar Guards were half smiling half in a stance of awaiting the next command.

William chuckled a little. “Anyway, why don’t you pack up the things you want to take with you, I don’t know when you can return here.”

The Fillies only nodded their heads and like all children began to pack everything up. Though a kind word from the guards convinced them to at least leave the furniture as the sound of another chariot landed outside. Thankfully this one didn’t drop.

William walked out with them and looked at the guards in the chariot. “Okay, I want the CMC taken back to the main evacuation center. Treat them like you would visiting generals.”

“Sir?” One of the guards asked in confusion.

“They have close ties to the Elements. Do you want any of them mad at you for letting harm befall them?” William asked while answering at the same time while narrowing his eyes.

“No Sir.” Came the shaken reply. “I’ll get the CMC to their post right away.” There was no saluting and the chariot took off into the air. As it fell away there was an echo shout about Generals. William face palmed. “What have I done?” He sighed and shook his head. “hopefully Luna will help them think this is just some big crazy exercise for her guards after the Changelings, Applebloom needs not know how close-” William trailed off

Moonshade looked back at William. “CMC?” They were walking back to the clubhouse to finish securing it and turning it into a outpost. 

“I wanted them to feel special and part of the-” He stopped and groaned. “Applejack be kind to me, I just might have caused more mayhem by doing that. The CMC around Lunar Guards.”

“They don’t seem bad to me.” Moonshade replied, “Though why they have industrial tree sap soap confused me.”

“Trust me when I say, you don’t want to know.” William responded as they entered the clubhouse. “They, just don’t ask, I have heard stories from Applejack and Rarity.” He closed his eyes and shook his head with a small chuckle.

William looked at the ladder that was off to the side leading to a trap door into a second story of the clubhouse. William moved slowly to the ladder. “Cover me, make sure nothing gets out, I am going to poke my head in and have a lantern to flush anything that might be lurking in the attic, rather not have anything eavesdrop on our conversations here.”

“Of course,” One of the unicorns replied. “I want you and you to take up spots on each side of the ladder.” William saw that their was a ring of unicorns around the ladder as he slowly ascended the ladder with one hand while the other tightened around the handgrip of the pistol he had been using.

He reached the latch and with a deep breath put his shoulder against the door so as to move fast and hopefully catch any nightmares off guard. He slowly counted to five and then Slammed the trap door up causing it to fly with the momentum to crash on the opposite side of the hole with bang of wood hitting wood. William did fully hear the bang as his head slammed into a monster spider that quickly wrapped its legs around and plunged two fangs into his head.

William blinked as he felt some pain but then nothing. He looked around the strange landscape in wonderment as he footsteps crunched on the light grey surface. The air was odd as the sound seemed to be deadened all around him. William took a breath of air and found it somehow being off to him. He blinked as his eyes took hold of something in the distance. A large white leaf tree that towered into the sky akin to the trees of fantasy that held physical power over the land. At the base and what appeared to be a depression around the tree were the tops of spires with flags fluttering in a weak breeze.

William felt compelled and followed through with a few steps forward only to seemingly traverse the distance in three steps as he now stood at the lip of the depression looking down at a city that surrounded the large massive oak tree. The bark he saw was a dark white color. In fact the buildings were made of the same material of the bark and what looked to be metals of some type. He could not see the tree actually dig into the ground as a massive palace was built around the tree’s base. Around the edges of the crater were odd plants and crops set up in a manner that was optimal in the circular city. All of this was in a, William stepped back in shock he was seeing a crater impact and a tree and a city as large as three ponyville if not more were there and that included the land of Sweet Apple Acres. At least from how he read the map earlier. “What?” he whispered. He looked up to the sky and his eyes bugged out. There hanging in the sky was the planet Equis or Earth or Equestria as all three were viable names if what Luna’s mind told him. Yet as he looked down at the crater one more time he got nothing but a big blank where usually he had found small tidbits of help. Here he got nothing so he looked around and found near his steps a staircase carved into the side of the crater wall of a impact zone on the moon. He paused once more and looked back at the staircase to the city and into the sky and then back around the three spokes a few more times before whispering in shock “I’m, somehow on the moon.” With a bit of numbness he took his first step on the staircase leading into the city. He saw the staircase ending a ways away at what looked to be a guard house.

“Oh no,” A sweet honey voice whispered in his ear with a deep chuckle under every word. “This is just a message for you to relay to our fallen Queen.” With horror William found his vision blackened before clearing from his view and revealing him to be standing on some spectators stand. The stand was ornate and richly decorated in the colors of Nightmare Moon. He saw empty seats, with two large ornate ones in the center. The Nightmare only laughed as it waved to the crowd in a manner as if to say to begin the ceremony. There was a trumpet sounded and to Williams horror the nightmare took even more physical form of a Shadowed Alicron while at the same time a parade began to march around a corner of the building he stood on and  onto the wide boulevard in front of him. The oddness that quickly took the front of his mind was that the pony type he was seeing was one he had never seen before and had no clue what they were he couldn’t even tell if they were male or female. They were the color of dark amaysist and they all had horns with some odd protrusions on the hind legs like barbs. At least the first group had the horns. The ears were almost rabbit like in structure and that was really all he could see as everything was blurred in the bleeding mist of blackness surrounding them all. The second group were nothing but fliers with leather bat wings that still kept the same general body of the unicorn moon ponies. While the third group seemed to be pulling weapon wagons. These were bigger than the other two, and William realized that these were Moon version of the three races. He shivered as his mind finally caught up to how they were marching as it was similar yet different at the same time.

That one thing they were doing was sending his spine tingling with fear. Images of the past came unbidden as triggers were firing and yet, he smirked in a poor sense of humor as he realized they looked more like Hyena’s marching in front of Scar from Lion King, however their march harkened back to a darker time of human history and his face fell into a look of ashen fear. He stepped back as an image of a black cross with the ends bent in different directions on a white circle surrounded by a red field came also to his mind.

“Good, our fear tactics are working, if they work upon thee, they shall work upon all thy brothers and sisters of earth.” Even as the voice spoke again the parade continued on as if displaying their forces for a leader unseen. As well as a show of force for any other nations that might watch the parade as well.

Behind them came cannons with more of the odd moon earth ponies pulling and marching beside them. Then came wagons with metal bolted to the sides, while crude in William’s eyes he knew that would cause problems on Equis. These armored wagons were then followed by a five large flat wagon with sixteen strong ponies pulling the wagon. each one could easily have been the size of Big Macintosh. As for what sat on the large wagons was what looked like a Saturn V space capsule. On the side of each capsule was the Crescent Moon blood red with a the tips looking more like sickles as it embraced a dim grey sun.

“The image of the Lunar Empire.” The voice sounded proud. “To you that is the Pony hammer and Sickle.” The laughter returned. “You fear your role, but be not scared, as our fallen Queen will return, to give her strength, we must have a King as well, you humans see males as power authority, do not be so sick as you shall lead many who will die at your command my liege.”

At those sick words that dripped of honey and yet William knew the poison laced in them as well his eyes saw the scene change to another location. An Elaborate throne room draped in dark colors devoted to something that harkened to Luna but one that had been corrupted to fit the creature sitting upon the throne. Nightmare Moon stood their in triumph as she watched with evil gleaming eyes as the last of the Element holders were corrupted into Nightmare versions of their true selves. But that was not what drew William’s eyes,at least that scene did not keep his eyes for long as he wanted to look away from the sickening scene, no what drew his eyes in his search away from the monstrous scene was an identical throne to Luna’s right sat William but he dressed in the trappings of an Emperor combined with a Military uniform. Upon both heads were black crowns that gleamed in a light of their own. Around William bled thick black smoke and William had to turn his head to the side as he couldn’t handle what he saw projected on the floor in front of the Throne of William. While the Nightmare William was human on the throne there on the floor was a dark laughing shadow of an Alicorn while the Nightmare William was human on the throne. 
William's eyes having turned to the side of the room now saw a map of Equis was covered in shadow with a large sickle moon eating the sun. As he saw white dots began to blossom on the map as another map began to grow.

It was here that William had seen enough and he closed his eyes willing to have it end, to fight it. He was shocked with he met no resistance in his pushing the enemy out of his head. the female laugh still lingering in his mental ears as the world shattered. “All I wanted was to show you that you are doomed, no matter what we will win and that will be your future. Your fate is sealed.”

William looked back and narrowed his eyes as the shadow of an Alicorn as black as night if not blacker, and suddenly around him music began to blare as the darkness and despair that has slowly seeped into his being was washed away.

William only smirked as he recognized the music “You can't take me” he whispered to the Villain as lighting crashed and thunder crashed. The Music began after the lightening and crash of thunder. A voice whispered what William just spoke. William found himself wielding a sword as the Nightmare cried and send mental shadow ghosts at him. William stepped back and while the music played from somewhere he was using the mental plane to become the sword fighter. As the music and singer’s voice swelled he began to move faster and more agile. dispatching the shadows that were the strange shape of a species he never saw. This was a mental war zone.

The Alicorn of Nightmares stepped back as she saw the ground William covering beginning to be covered by a bright red light that seemed to pulse with the beat of the music. Before suddenly William was right in front of her and with a smirk he smiled fully as he pointed his sword right at her forehead. 

The Alicorn of Nightmares found herself actually feeling something that she had not felt for a long time. She felt fear, and acting on that fear she rose a barrier between William and herself to keep that blasted sword from touching her. In fact she stepped back to put more distance from William and her eyes narrowed as she could hear the music drawing to a close and beginning to fade. She only smiled as she let herself fade away from William. “Our time is over, my message is sent.” She whispered before fading into nothing. William looked around at the throne room and saw it beginning to fade as well leaving the red pattern the had created as the only light around him and he watched in fascination as the color began to spread out to fill the entire space.

William sat up with a gasp of air as if he had been drowning and only now broke the surface. He found himself sitting on the ground and a large red barn to his left side and standing over him with the moon still on the horizon was Luna with a look of fear, worry, concern, and shame William was shocked at seeing the last emotion in her eyes. However as he gathered his thoughts he remembered what he saw and his eyes narrowed a little as he realized that he had been left in the dark in how to deal with that new situation. “Can we talk?” the tone of voice was one that Luna and Celestia had never heard from the human.

Luna bowed her head more in shame then anything before looking to her left.“Tia, you can lower the moon for me, I, there are things I need to speak about with William in private.” Her voice hitching a little as if trying to keep from crying.

Celestia who was to William’s right only nodded her head. She was also garbed in armor that at the moment was too bright for William to fully see the details. He just knew that she was in armor as it was a different brightness then the white coat of her body. Around her were a lot more Solar Guards as well all white and in shining gold armor with the blue star over their chest. William’s eyes roved to her side to see that a gleaming halberd hung ready for use. Of her military garb the halberd was the only thing he could really pick out as it was a darker look then her armor and yet from the memory of Luna it could get a lot brighter, and it hurt a lot when it bite into one’s hide and own armor.

Luna swatted William with a wing to his head. William looked back at her to see her trying to smile but failing. She held out a wing to William once he was looking at her and helped William to stand up and began to lead him towards the barn. Once inside she took a  breath. “LEAVE!” The smallish Royal Canterlot Voice cleared the barn rather quickly. Once the barn was empty she placed a bubble of pale blue around them and looked at a hale bale. “Sit.” She commanded and William with a look of worry and fear upon hearing a tone that so far Luna had not used on him moved to sit down on the hay bale ready to hear what it was the Princess Luna was about to tell him.