The altar was in sight as a scroll appeared in front Applejack and unrolled itself. She called for a halt and began to read it's contents that made a smile form on her muzzle. It was good news, Princess Luna had made it to the station with Sereen and the rest of the division unharmed. Her happiness was soon crushed however when the sound of a sonic rainboom detonated above the structure with dark color rather than its normal light ones. A stream of black shadows left from the barrier and the two collided in mid air creating a second detonation of a dark rainbow mist. Applejack didn't need somepony to tell her that was Rainbow Dash. Sometimes her pride in loyalty made it hard to keep the element of surprise, something Applejack respected.
She turned to face her troops, "We need to crack that nut! Unicorns this is your job, break that barrier."
There was shuffling in the formation as the unicorns moved to the front and the others filled in the empty places left by them. Applejack began the march to get closer to the barrier and give them a good strong hit. When they were about one hundred paces the unicorns cast a spell breaker in unison. The combined power was just enough to fracture a small portion of the barrier and keep it open to allow them through.
"Rarity, Fluttershy, go through the hole. Teams Hail Fire, Night Strike, and Swift Steel follow and keep them safe. Everypony else do what you can to keep this hole open for the others." Applejack ordered as they stepped through.
The sum of fifteen ponies followed with Fluttershy and Rarity close behind there friend.
The group stayed close to the walls and in the shadows of the building, They saw a dead unicorn every so often as they made their way to the center platform. Fluttershy was being guided by Rarity as she had her cover her eyes when she saw the first unicorn laying on the ground. Who ever was casting the barrier didn't notice or just didn't care they had gotten in. Applejack was hoping there would be able keep this that way for as long as possible. Eventually they made it to a large archway that lead from the entrance of the colosseum to the altar where a very powerful unicorn was casting the spell.
Applejack looked back to her teams, "Night Strike, get in close and eliminate the unicorns around the area and take their places."
The team of two earth ponies, one unicorn, and two pegasi saluted and galloped off.
"Um... Applejack, darling?" Rarity started.
With her gaze fixed on the unicorn at the top of the altar she replied, "Ya Rare."
Rarity removed her hooves from Fluttershy, "You just sent four ponies that cant pass as unicorns to pose as, well unicorns."
"Rarity, I know what I did. Watch and you will see, I know what I'm doing." she replied with a scowl.
The white unicorn glanced over to one of the unicorns that an earth pony Applejack has sent picked as his target. He pulled a blade from his side with his teeth and slit his victim's throat and with burst of green flame, took her identity.
Rarity whispered in shock, "Changelings."
Applejack looked back to her, "All of team Night Strike are changelings."
"Why? How does Celestia not know?" Rarity asked.
The orange earth pony looked back to the altar, "She knows. After the first incident and the team up of the most powerful ponies in Equestria, The queen of the changelings offered her help to prevent this from happening again. Celestia only accepted five of them that she could personally trust. And here they are, one of the most effective infiltration teams I have the pleasure of commanding."
Rarity felt a little concerned about how comfortable Applejack was with them. She acted like they were family to her, but six years can change almost anything she thought. She leaned in and placed a hoof on Applejack's shoulder.
The orange mare looked her in the eyes as she spoke, "Applejack, what aren't you telling me."
She raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean sugar cube?"
"You are too relaxed about all of this dear. In six years we have all found something more in life that make us happy, all except you. This, what you are doing here is good, but you don't seem happy with it. I'll say it surprise me to see you like this, but there is something more too it isn't there." Rarity said.
Applejack narrowed her eyes, "What are you trying to say Rarity?"
"What I'm saying is you are hiding something, or you aren't letting go of something else that's eating at you. Applejack, I'm worried about you." Rarity said in a soft voice.
She didn't like to see Applejack try so hard to appear happy when she could see in her eyes and know the truth. the orange mare shrugged off Rarity's hoof and looked to Fluttershy who shared the same look.
"Do you feel the same way Fluttershy?" She asked.
"Yes. We all do Applejack." she replied in a slightly louder than normal voice.
Applejack looked back to the altar, "Well, when we are done here I will tell you everything."
***************************************************************
Twilight charged Delgon as he fired the first round from his leg. It bounced off Twilight’s armor, the second clipped her left thigh.Twilight brought up her blade and pushed Delgon's leg up as it fired it’s third shot into the air. Delgon brought a hoof to her side as she turned and brought her right foreleg to his jaw. She felt a rush of pain run up it as Delgon only smirked and fired a round into her chest at point blank range. The rock tore through her abdomen and just missed her spine as it burst from her back. Before she could react to the pain she felt, Delgon spun around and kicked her in the head. Twilight fell to the ground as Delgon began to approach with a smile. In her quick thinking she fired a blast of pure white energy at the earth pony. The skin melted from his body as a howl of pain echoed throughout the canyon. Twilight got to her hooves and increased to power of her spell in an attempt to incinerate the pony. When the screaming finally stopped she let go and the spell faded from existence. All that was left of Delgon was a charred husk of black in his shape. The lavender Alicorn sat down and caught her breath as she thought about how easy it was to kill her attacker. Her comfort in the act scared Twilight as much as seeing Pinkie Pie do just the same.
"Well that hurt." A voice said.
Twilight looked up to see the charred pony slowly move as to break the bits that melted into place
and restricted his movement. Delgon was not only alive, but he raised his hoof and fired another rock that impacted just an inch from Twilight. The Alicorn used a trick from Sereen and used her wings to propel her away from Delgon's shots. She returned with a barrage of energy bolts that blasted the was left of Delgon's skin away revealing a robotic skeleton that housed the few vital organs he needed in a clear liquid inside the chest cavity. Twilight was shocked to see him, the pony was more than what he appeared to be. He must have been a project of Upgrade's.
That pony was one of the many minds behind Equestria's Technological revolution and one of her creations was about to try and kill Twilight.
"Oh don't be so surprised to see me like this. You just rode over a hundred miles and hour in a speeding hunk of metal, how am I the most shocking thing you have seen?" Delgon asked in a metallic voice.
Twilight sprung back onto her hooves and rushed the cyborg pony with her blade at the ready. Delgon did the same seeing no fun in dropping his target at a distance. He brought his hooves to bare and the barrel of his foreleg ready to fire. When Twilight was no more than ten feet away Delgon fired at her leg. The round hit true and the loss of footing was enough to send Twilight flying by her momentum, right into Delgon's hoof. The metal of his hoof came into contact with Twilight's forehead causing her to flip around and land on her back with a severe concussion that she nearly passed out from. The earth pony stood over her with its stare that filled her with fear, one that could only be matched by the Fluttershy or Cassius. He positioned his arm so Twilight was looking down the barrel of the chamber. Just before he fired a sword burst from his chest and was pulled it up into his neck virtually gutting him on the spot. Shadowheart was holding Dragonslayer as he kicked Delgon off his blade and let him fall to the ground.
"Are you alright Twilight." Shadowheart asked as he helped the wounded mare to her hooves.
"This isn't the worst thing that I've been through." she replied, already using a healing spell.
Shadowheart noticed her wounds were closing slower than usual when she used that spell, "Twilight, how much magic did you burn from that fight?"
The lavender Alicorn looked him in the eyes, "A lot. I can barely keep my concentration on this spell."
Shadow forced Twilight to sit by the wall of the canyon as he took over healing her.
To his surprise, she gave no objection and just relaxed to clear her aching head. He sat next to her and watched as the hole in her left hind leg closed.
Fire Heart was walking with Xilas, both of them carried a few bags of food, water and other needed items. Fire Heart stopped himself and Xilas when he saw a shadow laying on his haunches next to Twilight. He was given a confused look from the orange pegasus before she realized what the dragon pony was doing. The two watched from a distance at what they thought was going to be one of the key moments in time that Xilas had mentioned. From what they saw, Shadowheart was talking to Twilight as he healed her.
Xilas heard Fire Heart mumble to himself, "Come on Shadow, she loves you too. Seal the deal already."
As if hearing his friend Twilight glanced over to them and pulled Shadowheart in. The action surprised both of the pegasi. After about a minute of Twilight and Shadowheart not breaking the kiss, Fire Heart headed back to the transport as Xilas still looked on at her uncle.
The Dragon pony turned and called to her, "Xilas, that's enough. We need to get Pinkie Pie and move. Let them have another minute, then go get them separated."
***********************************************************
The train carrying Luna, Constance, and Sereen came to a grinding stop as it pulled into the station. Luna stepped off and was greeted by a few members of one of Applejack’s assault teams.
They had told her that Applejack and the others had arrived to the altar and were engaging The Faithless. The princes of the night was pleased to hear that and had ordered the others to create a portal link with the unicorns that were already at their destination. She was not going to leave Applejack without backup.
One of the unicorns sent a scroll with a teleportation spell in an attempt to have whoever was there to help bridge the gap on that end. It only took a moment before there was a reply and the presence of magic. Luna stepped forward and with a glow from her horn, the portal opened and Sereen was looking at an armored earth pony that waved them over with a hoof.
Luna looked over to Sereen and Constance, “Go through, I will hold the portal for everypony else to cross through.”
Constance nudged Sereen and the two stepped through with the other members of the Dark Libra Division. It didn’t take long before everypony was through and Luna was left to close the portal behind her. She looked to what appeared to be an earth pony that was a team leader for Applejack.
He held himself with dedication and determination as he gave a firm salute, “Your highness, The Commander is inside with the other bearers of harmony and teams Hail Fire, Night Strike, and Swift Steel. She has already placed Night strike in position and Rainbow Dash is engaging another pegasus with Prince Cassius’ shadow magic.”
Luna looked him over, then to the others that awaited her orders. She glanced to the sky and saw what had to be Rainbow Dash clashing with another. The situation was escalating and she could feel the power of the ritual behind the opening in the barrier wall. She took in a deep breath and and calmed herself. It was time to move and get her son back.
With her mind set she looked to everypony, “Its time to end all of this. We get Cassius back and kill anypony in our way. Move in, hit hard, and don't let them finish that ritual.”
With that they gave one last salute and hurried inside to help when Applejack gave the order to attack. Luna stopped Sereen and Constance along with a five pony team.
She looked into her daughter's eyes and spoke softly, “Sereen, I need you to stay here with Constance. These ponies will keep you safe out here. When I am finished, I have your brother we will go home.”
The young unicorn was about to give her rejection when Constance spoke, “We will your highness. Go get him back and give them hell.”
Luna gave them both a hug and hurried inside to help stop the reawakening. Sereen watched as the other ponies that stayed behind with them took positions around her. Constance pulled one aside and whispered to her, she glanced at the young unicorn and nodded. The yellow unicorn followed after Luna leaving her with the group. The pegasus she was talking to walked over and looked at her team.
She bent down to Sereen and said, “Okay Sereen. We are going to take you back to the station to wait for your mother.”
“But why? I want to see Cassius.” whined the little filly.
The scarlet pegasus looked her in the eyes and sighed, “It's dangerous here and your safety is more important right now. So lets go.”
******************************************************************
Rainbow Dash was hoof to hoof with Lizzy as she fought to get past angry pegasus. She was hell bent on keeping Rainbow away from the barrier and didn't care that the wound on her side has opened slightly. The only thing that Liz had on rainbow was the element of surprise with the first few collisions. The scientist was no match for her rainbow maned opponent. Rainbow Dash pushed off and kicked her in the head, causing the purple pegasus to enter a free fall for a few seconds from the blow, before catching herself.
She knew all she could do was hold off the chaos bearer until, "Lizzy!"
She looked around to see Talon was rushing Rainbow Dash from behind. This brought a smile to her muzzle that was quickly destroyed when Rainbow scowled and fired her crossbow at Talon. The arrow hit her between the eyes and she fell out of the sky, Liz shuttered at the ruthlessness she had just witnessed. At that moment the barrier fell from around the altar and the ritual was coming to an end.
"I have spoken to Queen Rosetta herself! This is her will and I am her instrument! Everypony listen well, this is our final hour and he is our judge! The last Guardian War is here!" Ghetsis yelled in joy with an echo of his own voice as he gestured to Cassius.
Liz saw Princess Luna throw an orange mare with a tan ranchers hat using her magic. She was sent in the direction of Ghetsis as he let the magic held in the spike above Cassius go.
She watched as the earth pony pushed him out of the way when it detonated blinding her.
Rainbow Dash covered her eyes as the flash hit and yelled at the top of her lungs,"APPLEJACK!"
The rainbow maned pegasus looked in horror as Applejack's hat rolled down the stone steps of the altar.