> Pony Force
>  by 5thWriter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Laying the ground work
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

10 days before the defeat of Discord. 100 years before the banishment of Nightmare Moon.

“We have found them, Sister.” A dark blue winged unicorn known as an Alicorn cried out in both relief and joy. She was known as Luna and next to her stood her white furred and older sister, Celestia. Before them stood the Tree of Harmony and upon its branches hung the Elements of Harmony.

“Yes, we have Luna. Come we must hurry and stop Discord. Much of the damage he has caused will take decades to heal from.” Celestia said as the two walked up to the tree.

She and Luna held up their hands as their horns began to glow. Their magic surrounded the Tree of Harmony; soon their magic had connected three of the Elements to each of them. The Elements of Magic, Loyalty, and Kindness floated towards Celestia and the Elements of Generosity, Laughter, and Honesty floated towards Luna.

As the Elements broke away from the Tree of Harmony, a small flash of light blinked in and out of existence so fast that one could argue that the even never occurred. However, at that exact moment over two hundred thousand miles away, on the surface of the moon there stood a temple and deep within that temple on the floor of its deepest chamber there was a large circular stone. On the surface of the stone, etched into it, was an image of the Tree of Harmony with small glowing jeweled representations of the Elements of Harmony. The moment the Elements broke away from the tree, the jewels stopped glowing and a small crack thinner than the width of a hair appeared in the middle of the surface of the stone.

5 years before the founding of Ponyville. 78 years before the return of Nightmare Moon.

What a week it had been for Celestia. Her nation of Equestria had just been visited by not just an alien species, but an inter-dimensional one at that. The visitor came from another universe and was part of a species known as humans. It had been quite an enjoyable experience for Celestia. Although there were many similarities in appearances between the two races, there were also vast differences between them too. While both races stood on two legs, had hands, two eyes, ate with their mouths, and spoke with their mouth; that is where the changes started to differ. While they both stood on two legs, the human’s legs ended in what he called feet instead of hooves. And, humans were not born with horns or wings. He had also never heard of a Cutie Mark before as well. He had also said that while humans were born in a wide variety of colors, it wasn’t nearly as varied as the colors of Celestia’s little ponies. None from his race had been born purple, orange, green, or blue.

What fascinated Celestia the most about this human was two things. First, it was the human’s height. While Celestia herself stood at a regal seven feet and six inches without the inclusion of her horn. She had always been used to nearly everypony standing much shorter than her. This human however stood at impressive height of six feet and two inches. The second thing that fascinated her was hearing about the technology from the human’s world. Very few know this about her, but Celestia loved technology. If something was the best it could be then that was fine, but if there was a way to make it better why not seek to make it better?

After many days of talking the human had returned to his world with plans to set up a form of information trading and possibly even traveling to Equestria for his race. At this, Celestia didn’t mind as it would mean an eventual boost in technology for first her nation and then the world, but also increased revenue from tourist. The problem, were the nobles. If word reached them, about this it would be one long drawn out debate after another and once all the debating had been settled the first debater would have been dead. Also, the sudden appearance of an alien race more technologically able then her ponies might cause mass hysteria in the streets and Celestia did not want to deal with that. So, Celestia had sworn everypony who know of the human to secrecy. Threatening that if the secret was revealed to the nobles that they would be banished and imprisoned in the place they were banished to. To make things go smoother between the two worlds, Celestia would be starting a secret agency within her kingdom. This agency would be the best kept secret in all of Equestria. It would be their job to monitor all human activity. They would be the first, last, and best line of defense should any humans have less than peaceful means for her people. They would be the P.I.B.: Ponies in Black. Now, if only the pony she was appointing to be the P.I.B.’s first director would show up, so Celestia could inform her of her new position.

At that moment a knock came from the door of her office. “Enter,” called out Celestia from her desk. The door opened to reveal a blue mare with light blue hair. She wore a long black skirt, white blouse with a black suit jacket over it, and had her hair done up in a bun. “Ah, Secret Note, I’m glad you could make it.” She said as the mare walked up to her desk.

“The letter you sent made it sound very urgent,” replied Secret. “It isn’t often I’m told to burn a letter after reading it and bury the letter’s ashes,” the mare continued.

“Very true,” Celestia agreed before continuing on, “However with what we’re about to do it needs to be kept secret for as long as it possibly can. I am here by appointing you as acting director of a new agency I am establishing. You will report directly to me and take orders only from me, nopony else. As you know our world was recently visited by an alien being from another world, and while it is my hope that our people can trade and eventually travel between the worlds peacefully. I am not naïve enough to think that all humans will be as peaceful as the one we met, was. It will be the job of this new agency to make sure any humans who are harmful to the peace and prosperity to the subjects of Equestria be dealt with. This agency is going to help, slowly, bring about much change in the world…

3 days after the Changeling Invasion of Canterlot

Celestia sat in her office looking over the damage reports for Canterlot. In some ways they were lucky and in others, not so much. They were lucky in the fact that Chrysalis was the only Changeling who was an actual threat. They weren’t lucky that Chrysalis’s forces outnumbered them five to one. They were lucky that Canterlot was the only city attacked. They weren’t lucky, that no one saw over a thousand Changelings cross the border. They were also lucky for the new weapons that had been reversed engineered from human technology from the past seventy years. However, they weren’t lucky in the fact that guns barely had any effect of the Changelings due to their chitlin body armor.

When the technology of the gun was introduced it was truly a marvel of technology and power. The gun had a small built in generator that would power up the shot, which humans called phasers, and the shot could be set to different levels of strength. The first setting gave a very light electrical shock. The next setting gave a bit of a stronger shock. The third setting produced a shock strong enough to knock a pony clean out. It was the final setting that was the most dangerous. The final setting was strong enough to burn a hole through a body. It was due to this setting that Celestia had a minor change added to the gun. When the fourth setting was used a loud noise like thunder accompanied it, the generator was fried, and the barrel of the gun was warped just enough to make future shots difficult. Due to this one shot one kill option it made death by gun shots very low and those few who had killed with the gun’s fourth setting received the maximum sentence, death. Celestia loved all her subjects and always did everything she could to make she they were happy, but the taking of another’s life, while not protecting a life, was something that she could not excuse. Luckily, not too many embraced the technology of the gun. Ponies really embraced the technology of computers, motorcycles, and television.

Celestia knew that the city was lucky that Cadance was able to break Shining Armor out of Queen Chrysalis’s control and that together they were able to cast such a powerful shield spell. The Changelings took everything the Royal Guards could through at them. Even Celestia herself was bested by Chrysalis own love-powered magic. During all of this the Elements of Harmony had stayed locked away safely in the vault. It was after the fight, that Celestia realized how stupid it was to send Twilight and the others to get the Elements when they never would have even been able to open the vault. This however, made the white alicorn realize something else. What if the Elements were ever gone? It took Celestia only a moment to see that if the Elements were ever lost, then Equestria would be in trouble as there was no backup plan.

A sudden knock at her office door broke Celestia away from her thoughts. “Enter,” she called out as she looked towards the door. Door opened to reveal a dark blue skinned alicorn with a starry mane. This alicorn was Celestia’s younger sister who had been the force known as Nightmare Moon. Thanks to the Elements of Harmony, Luna had been restored and the darkness had been pushed back.

“You wished to speak with us, Sister?” Luna asked as she approached Celestia’s desk.

“Yes, I did Luna. Remember just after we had defeated Discord, you wanted to see if it was possible to other things with the Elements; maybe even draw power from them? However, I insisted we focus our efforts in fixing Equestria. Then we were made rulers of Equestria and there was the war with the Gryphon Empire. Finally, a few decades after the war, your banishment happened.” Upon seeing her sister nod at each of them and grimace a little at the mention of her banishment, Celestia continued, “It has come to my attention that if the Elements were ever lost that we don’t have a back-up plan. After your return there was an Ursa Minor rampage, Cerberus's escape, parasprites, my student’s moment of insanity, Discord’s escape, and everything else leading up to the Changeling attack on Canterlot. So, due to all of this I think it’s long past time we look for alternate options. I have stayed up the past two nights following the attack and these are what I’ve come up with.” Celestia then handed Luna a small stack of five folders.

Luna took the folders and looked at the title of each one. Operation: Ranger, Operation: Reform, Operation: Suicide, Operation: Armor, and Operation: Impossible. The Princess of the Moon carefully looked at the contents of each folder. Once she was done she looked back up at her sister and said, “which one of these options will we be going with?”

“All of them, Luna,” replied Celesta as she braced her ears for Luna’s rejection.

“ALL OF THEM!!” Luna yelled out, in her Royal Canterlot voice. Luckily Celestia had the foresight to put a barrier of silence around her office. Luna grabbed the folder labeled Operation: Reform and slammed it down on the desk. “Do you really think this one would even work?” Luna asked her voice returning to normal.

“I’m not saying that all of them will be easy or that they’ll all bear fruit, but we need more than one option,” replied Celestia. “We have to face facts sister more and more danger is coming to Equestria. How soon until we meet a force we aren’t prepared for?”

“Fine,” Luna replied with a huff. She knew her sister was right, but she didn’t have to like it.

“We’ll start the ground work for Ranger, Armor, and Impossible now as they will take the longest. I was thinking we’d use the Canterlot Cavern’s for our base of operations. It’s close enough to the city while still being outside the city. Next, we will start with Operation: Reform. I firmly believe that Fluttershy will have the best chance in reforming Discord. However, I think it’s too soon for us to start on that with the attack having just ended.”

“Very well,” replied Luna before asking, “Now, how do you propose we make the Rangers?”

“I was thinking we could go with your idea of using the Elements as a power source. For that reason, I want you to head up the research department to look for a way to tap into them. Once we’re able to do that, then we will start Operation: Reform.” Celestia replied, answering her sister’s question.

“And what of Armor and Impossible?” Luna continued in her questioning.

“Armor will take some time, but not as much time as Rangers will. And, let’s face it Luna, the guards really do need an update. They may have new weapons, but they are still using the same armor for the past thousand years. As for Impossible, that is a little trickier. We need a small group of ponies who can move about and not been seen. I already have a field agent in mind. The Apple family has been closely connected to us for a number of years. There connection was one of the reasons I gave them the land next to the Everfree Forest to start up their farm. Of the current members available, Mr. McIntosh is the only one who completed both guard and defender training. Even though, he didn’t join the Royal Guards or the National Defense Force. He is also one of the closest.”

“And what of the last one Operation: Suicide? I don’t see much promise there.”

“I’ll admit, at the moment, I don’t see much promise there as there simply are so few criminals in Equestria who would have the skills we need. So for the moment we’ll but that one for last. Now for everything else, here’s what we shall do.”

For hours the sisters talked on the contents of the folders and how it would lead to a change in Equestria’s defense. At the moment, they still had the Elements, but how long would that last?

One week after the Apple Family Reunion

The train sped along the tracks towards the capital of Equestria, the majestic city of Canterlot. In the early morning there, were only a few passengers on the train during the early morning ride. One passenger in particular stood out amongst the rest. In fact, when he stands he really stands out; as very few reach a height of seven feet three inches. But, ponies quickly took a look at his appearance, as he wore his ol’ blue jeans and simple flannel shirt, and many quickly dismissed him as no one of any importance. What many of them didn’t know was that this red furred stallion was McIntosh Apple, known to many as Big Mac, and he was one of Equestria’s deadliest fighters.

Years ago when his younger sister, Applejack, had left to go stay with their Aunt and Uncle Orange in Manehattan, he was feeling both sad and angry that she had left. Because to Big Mac you didn’t abandon family, you stuck with them through thick and thin no matter what, and Applejack’s leaving felt to him as though she was abandoning the family. So, over the next few days he began to get angrier and angrier. Now, he never said a harsh word to anyone or tried to start any fights with anyone, but it was the tail end of Applebuck Season and his parents and Granny Smith could tell he was bucking the trees to hard. The trees were suppose to be bucked enough to cause the apples to fall; not bucked hard enough that he left half inch deep hoofprints on the tree.

It finally happened three days after Applejack had left; Big Mac bucked a tree so hard it fell over. After that, his Pa tore into him and told him that if he was going to have such anger he was going to learn to control it and he would learn in boot camp. Still being respective of his parents, Big Mac agreed. He took a quick shower and then headed into town to take the recruitment test at the local recruiter’s office in Ponyville.

To the surprise of many, Big Mac passed the test with flying colors. Big Mac quickly got his shots and paperwork in order and the next day he was on the train heading for boot camp. Over the course of sixteen weeks, Big Mac was dragged through the mud, had his strength pushed to the max, and more than once tasted defeat in sparing training. The first twelve weeks were to get recruits used to boot camp life, working together, pushing beyond the limits of your strength, and becoming disciplined in the use of their strength. The remaining four weeks was specialized training. Despite Big Mac’s large size is was very quiet and easily overlooked as unimportant, so McIntosh decided to use this to his advantage and selected the Ghost training. Over the course of training he learned to you the environment to his advantage, see without being seen, and strike those in the light from the darkness without ever leaving the darkness.

Once boot camp was over, Big Mac decided to return to Sweet Apple Acers. Most of the recruits joined the National Defense Force, some even joined the Royal Guards, but a few did like Big Mac and went back to their regular lives only having gone through boot camp for the experience. A month later Applejack returned to the farm bawling her eyes out about how much she missed the farm, her granny, her parents, and her brother; and surprisingly Big Mac wasn’t angry with her. He just hugged her close and let her cry her eyes out; happy that his little sister was home.

The train’s sudden shaking from its breaks being applied brought Big Mac out of his thoughts. He looked up to see that he had finally arrived in Canterlot. ‘Time to see what this letter is about,’ Big Mac thought to himself. The previous day’s mail came with a letter from Princess Celestia requesting his presence in Canterlot the next day. 'I hope this isn’t about the carnival,’ he continued thinking as he stepped towards the royal guards waiting to escort him to the castle.

An hour later he was sitting in Princess Celestia’s office, sitting across from the Sun Princess. Big Mac would have to be out of his mind to say that Princess Celestia wasn’t beautiful. She was very beautiful and the tightness of her gown left little to the imagination of her body’s figure. However, Big Mac would also have to be completely insane to not admit that Princess Celestia scared the Apple Cider out of him.

“Thank you for arriving so quickly McIntosh,” began Celestia. “Equestria needs your help.”

Well that through him for a loop, but he left his face remain calm and collected. “What’s going on?”

“Since the Changeling attack all those months ago, my sister and I have been developing ways to defend Equestria should the Elements of Harmony ever be lost to us. Part of that defense involves this,” Celestia spoke as she handed him a slightly thick folder titled Operation: Impossible on the tab and blazoned across it in red were the words, CLASSIFIED. Celestia then continued speaking saying, “Understand McIntosh that if you open that file, you are agreeing to this. You can put the file down and walk away. However, I wasn’t joking when I said, ‘Equestria needs your help.’ The reason you are being asked to do this is because when you went through the final stage of your Ghost training, The Terminator, even though you didn’t have the fastest time you did have something unique. Two minutes into the training house and you disappeared from sight. Eight minutes later, you eliminated all seven of your targets and rescued the hostage. It wasn’t until you asked the time keeper your time, that anyone realized you had left the training house. You were given the time from your asking which put you at twelve minutes and forty-eight seconds. Over these past nine years you have steadily gotten better you last time from two months ago was five minutes flat. To many ponies you may just be a simple farmer, to your family you may just be Big Mac the dependable brother, and to the agricultural world you may just be Mr. McIntosh Central Branch CEO of Sweet Apple Inc.”

Big Mac’s eyebrow twitched at that. Very few knew that he and several of his cousins and joined their farms together to form a corporation. In fact, not even his sisters know that. AJ was always running around hanging out with her friends, helping them and other ponies, or saving Equestria. And Apple Bloom’s whole world revolved around school and crusading. Applejack was always there for Applebucking and she did a fairly good job in town when it was her days to man the apple cart. However, when it came to the finances she was always stumped, she left it to Big Mac and his ‘fancy mathematics’ as she called it. Well, with his fancy mathematics he was to discover that by joining several of the family farms together they could make a ton more bits. He brought this up with several of his cousins who checked the math and checked the situations with their own farms and agreed to join him. They then spoke to a lawyer and a month before Nightmare Moon’s return Sweet Apple Inc. was born.

“I and many others who don’t even know it however,” Celestia continued on. “Need you to do this. I know I’m asking a lot from you and you haven’t even asked for this or accepted it, but Equestria needs protecting and I can no longer rely on the old ways being enough to protect this country. I need ponies who are willing to go beyond, to do what is necessary.

After a moment of looking at the Princess, Big Mac finally spoke. “I’ll do it,” he replied. He had no idea what he was agreeing to but he had a lot in Equestria that he wanted to keep safe. There were his family, friends, the farm, and five very special someponies he wanted to keep safe. So, he would do what need to be done so they could have peace.

Big Mac opened the folder and began to carefully look over the contents of the folder. It didn’t take long for him to look back up and ask, “Is this even fucking legal?”

“For you, it will be. You will be granted the Fifth Freedom, the right to kill,” replied Celestia.

“You do realize that if anyone were to ever find out about this that we would lose our allies and the treaties would be broken resulting in war.”

“That’s why if you and your team are ever captured, I will disavow all knowledge of you.” Celestia answered. “I know it’s harsh, but none of this can be linked back to Equestria.”

“And who exactly is my ‘team’,” asked Big Mac.

“They are listed on the fifth page.”

‘Let’s see…’ Big Mac thought to himself as he turned to the said page. ‘Including me there’s of seven of us. We’ve got Milano Mash for hacking and computer diagnostics. Nurse Coldheart, as medical head. Heavy Lift as loadmaster and for weapons. Know All for data mining and intelligence analyst. And finally, Soarin and Surprise as pilot and co-pilot. Wait a minute, pilot and co-pilot?’ “Excuse me; Princess, but why would my team need a pilot and co-pilot?” Big Mac asked as he looked up from the page.

“The answer to that is on page ten,” the princess replied.

McIntosh turned to the directed page and stopped. The thing before him was a blueprint; a blueprint of a plane and a really big plane at that. When planes had first come out so many years ago they didn’t really take off. In fact, to this day most planes only carried a limit of 20 passengers and Equestria only had five airports as most still preferred to travel by balloon, boat, or just plain walk. But this plane was different; if Big Mac’s guess was right close to a hundred ponies could fit inside this plane. “What is this?” Big Mac asked aloud.

“That is the E-187J Pelican,” replied Princess Celestia. “It is the first and only plane of its kind. Once it is finished, this aerial fortress will be your base of operations, Director.”

“Director?”

“Yes. By agreeing to this as you have, Mr. McIntosh. You have now become the Head of Echelon; thus making you the director of Equestria’s smallest military department and also it’s deadliest. The six ponies on that list report to you and you report directly to Luna and I.”

Big Mac’s eyes widened at this. He had just become head of a newly formed military department. “I gotta say Princess, this is one heck of a plane,” Big Mac commented aloud.

“It should be,” replied Princess Celestia. “You will be going to missions so heavily classified that they will never be written down. I want this plane to be ready to handle anything; including being able to get you out of anything. After all, Luna would be devastated if anything happened to you.”

Big Mac’s head suddenly snapped up and he stared wide-eyed at Princess Celestia. “You know about that?” He asked as he thanked the Great Maker Faust above for giving him a red coat to hide much of his blushing face.

“She eventually broke down and told me what happed. It wasn’t too hard to figure out what had happened as it’s not often the Moon will stay in the same place for four and a half hours. Add to that seeing Luna grin like a manic for two days straight and I could piece it together. Once I called her on it, she caved and told me what had happened and whom it had happened with.” Answered Celestia.

“Oh… Um….”

“Don’t worry about anything from me, Mr. McIntosh,” Princess Celestia assured him. “Luna is plenty old enough to be making this decision on her own without my input.”

“Oh, okay. Thanks?” Big Mac replied in a confused tone.

“You’re welcome,” the princess replied. “Anyway, I should probably let you go; as you’ve got a lot of preparing to do before the plane is finished and before your first assignment. Oh and I nearly forgot, here.” Celestia said as she handed him a slip of paper.

Big Mac looked at the paper and saw that it was a bank voucher. When he saw how much it was for eyes widened slightly. “Not bad for a year’s pay. Thank you kindly Princess.”

“Mr. McIntosh that isn’t a year’s pay. That’s your pay for this month,” replied the princess.

Upon hearing this Big Mac’s mouth dropped open. ‘A month’s pay,’ he thought to himself. ‘Even after a great harvest year and everything being sold we only ever managed to come up just a thousand bits short of this. So, if this is what I’ll make per-month; then in a year, I’ll make over five million bits!’

“Well, I’ll let you go as I’m sure you’d like to talk to Luna before you go and also help your family in selecting some farm hands before your training begins,” continued Celestia ignoring the look on Big Mac’s face.

“Training?” asked Big Mac is he snapped out of his stupor.

“Yes, training,” replied the princess. “It will be at least nine months before the plane is completed in both its construction and test runs. In fact you won’t even have your pilots for another three months or your nurse for another 4 months. In that time you need to refresh yourself with everything you’ve learned and learn as much new stuff as you can. Such as using a wingsuit, HALO jumping, scuba diving, and a few new things that will just be for you. I expect you to report to Camp Hood in three weeks; I shall be sending them a letter telling them to expect you.”

“Thank you Princess Celestia,” replied Big Mac as he headed for the door to leave the office. ‘Great, I get to go back to boot camp,’ he thought with a slight grumble as he opened the door. As he stepped through the door he saw the Princess Luna was standing on the other side waiting. Upon seeing her, he asked, “Here to see your sister, Princess Luna?”

“No. I’m actually, here to talk to you Big Mac,” replied Princess Luna. “And how many times have I told you, just call me Luna. Shall we talk as we head to the train for your return to Ponyville?”

“Sure, Pri- …I mean Luna,” replied Big Mac.

For a while the two walked together in a comfortable silence until Luna asked, “How are the others?”

“Zecora, Lotus, Aloe, and Pinkie are all doing fine. They hope you’re doing well too and are looking forward to the next night,” replied Big Mac.

“Tell them I’m doing very well; even though I couldn’t walk for a couple of days after that romp in the spa’s sauna. Then again how often is it that a stallion can take on 5 mares and still be good to go after vigorously rutting each of them?” As Luna spoke her face stayed the same as though she was talking about the weather; Big Mac’s face of the other hand was redder than the apples his family was famous for.

“Um… Ah… I… Er…” McIntosh sputtered trying to come up with a proper response.

“Worry not, Big Mac,” replied Luna as she grasped his arm and leaned in close to him. “I rather enjoyed that night after the carnival.” Placing her lips next to his ear she continued in a low sensual voice, “Especially, Pinkie’s ‘Apple Cream Pie’!”

As Luna began to move away from him, McIntosh suddenly felt a sharp smack on his rear. Luna than began to walk again as she whistled innocently. ‘Of all the mares in Equestria I had to fall in love with the five most perverted and kinky of them,’ thought Big Mac to himself. ‘Lucky me,’ he thought in monotone.

5 hours after Discord’s reformation.

The room was silent. So silent that if a pin were to be dropped one would hear it land anywhere in the room. The said room was Princess Celestia’s office. To her left side was her younger sister Princess Luna. And before them both was a being of immeasurable power, insanity made to be sane, chaos made flesh. In short, the ancient being known as Discord was sitting before them sipping on some tea. And by sitting, he upside down on his head and by sipping tea, he was drinking the tea cup.

“So Celly, Lulu. What plans do the two of you have for little ol’ me?” Discord asked in a cheery tone.

“Well, Discord we were planning to have you help protect Equestria,” replied Celestia.

“Ah, because the Elements aren’t doing a very good job of it?” asked Discord. He then flipped himself right side up and continued. “Not really surprising, considering that most of the time you keep them locked up and the best they can do is weaken me.”

“They stopped you and they can do so again,” blurted out Luna. Her sister may hold her tongue but she would not.

Discord turned his head to the Princess of the Moon and said, “Oh is that what you think? Tell me, Lulu, what exactly am I?”

“You are, Discord the being of chaos and disharmony,” replied Luna.

“Yes, yes. Now what are the Elements of Harmony?” He asked.

“The Elements of Harmony are powerful pre-equestrian artifacts that help to preserve and protect this land,” replied Luna. “They are of ancient magic that dispels disorder in the land.”

“Ah, so close and yet so far,” replied Discord with a mocking smile. “While it is true that the Elements are ancient; they are not meant to protect this land. Well, that isn’t their main task. Their true purpose is in keeping dark forces sealed. Being able to dispel disorder is an extra feature that was unplanned in their creation. However, when they come across something, or some being rather, that is their polar opposite there effects are negated.”

“Meaning what and how do you know about the Elements creation?” asked Luna while her sister asked, “What dark forces, Discord?”

“To answer your first question, Luna, the Elements never turned me into stone. I did that myself. See?” With a wave of his hand Discord’s body began to turn into stone once more as though he had just been struck by the Elements of Harmony themselves. To the great surprise of both princesses once he was completely stone, Discord spoke once more. “While the Elements didn’t really turn me into stone, they did however hurt. Badly. So, I kept up this little disguise for a while to heal and to have a little break. If you had kept a constant vigil, on my statue you might have noticed a few times when I wasn’t there or that I was facing different directions. That whole ‘Discord has been freed’ thing a while back was cause I wanted to test the newbies on the block.”

“What a minute, you were free this whole time?” asked Luna. “Why didn’t you do anything?”

“I didn’t do anything because I wanted to see what would happen if I wasn’t there,” replied Discord. “And of course I was free. How else would I have Screwball?”

“And who’s Screwball?” asked Luna.

“My daughter,” replied Discord simply.

“WHAT!?” both princesses asked aloud.

“Girls I may be the lord of chaos, but that don’t mean that I don’t get lonely from time to time,” replied Discord. “I wanted to settle down and start a little family. Anyway we’ve been getting off topic. Now, to answer your second question Lulu, I was there at the Elements creation. The two of you don’t seem to realize this, but I’m old. I existed before your reign, before ponies found this land, before Starswirl even had a beard, and before ponies even possessed enough thought to join together in groups to better protect themselves instead of just staying in family groups. I know spells and magic that has been loosed to the sands of time. Magic that makes yours seem weak and childish. Many of your subjects may think your rule is long and your magic powerful, but to one as old as me; your reign is barely even out of its diapers and you know less magic then what I have forgotten about magic.”

“Now see here Discord,” Princess Luna shouted.

With a snap of his hand Princess Luna’s horn and wings disappeared and she shrunk down to the size of a new born foal. “No. You listen; I’m doing what I do because I feel like it. I will not be spoken down to by somepony like you. So I suggest you back off unless you want to see what happens when chaos stops being fun. Everything I’ve done was to give myself a good laugh or chuckle. Do you really want to see what happens when I do something because I’m mad, Little Moon?” As he asked his question Discord’s red eyes began to glow red.

For a moment Luna felt truly afraid. Not only was her magic and flying taken from her, but she was now a foal; barely even capable of walking.

“Discord,” Celestia’s voice cut through the tension. “Please return my sister to normal. I’m sure she did not mean to be rude, but Luna has always spoken what’s immediately on her mind and not considering the repercussions of her words.”

“Fine,” Discord said after a moment. With a snap of his fingers Luna returned to normal.

“Thank you,” replied sincerely. “Luna apologize.”

“Sorry,” replied Luna still slightly shaken at having her magic and taken from her and being changed into a foal.

“Now, Discord, about the last question,” spoke Princess Celestia.

“Ah, yes, your question Celly,” replied Discord. “To many of you ponies I may appear evil. However, I am not evil.” With a wave of his hand Discord’s bright red ruby studded sunglasses appeared in his hand and as he put them on he continued. “I’m just looking for a good time. In fact the only evil you’ve ever really come up against was Sombra.”

“What about Queen Chrysalis?” asked Celestia.

“What about her,” replied Discord. “She was despite to feed her subjects. The fact is Celestia you wouldn’t know evil if came in here and raped your guards. Ten thousand years ago this place was vastly different. Dark forces of such unimaginable power roamed the land. They eventually quarreled with each other and it was during this fighting that a group of powerful sorcerers was able to seal them far away. In order to keep them sealed the sorcerers made the Elements of Harmony and sealed the Elements into what you know as the Tree of Harmony.”

“And where were these forces sealed?” asked Celestia.

“It’s funny you should ask that,” replied Discord. “They were sealed in the moon.”

“What can we do to stop their return?” Celestia asked the Draconequus.

“Well, the first option would be to return the Elements to the Tree of Harmony. However, that isn’t a viable option at this point,” he replied.

“Why is that?” Luna asked speaking for the first time since she apologized.

“In order for the tree to accept the Elements, they must be freely and willingly returned. You’re student Twilight may indeed be bright and intelligent, but if she was to learn of this then she would insist that the Elements of Harmony to used to stop the forces. You would tell her to place them back on the Tree and while she would listen to you; she would have a small touch of doubt in the back of her mind. It would be this doubt that would cause the Elements to not be fully accepted back by the Tree of Harmony. For now, you’re actually doing the right thing by building up your forces with the reversed engineered human technology.”

“What are you talking about, Discord?” Celestia asked with confusion.

“Don’t try to play me for a fool, Celly. I may have been out in the gardens, but I can hear every conversation in this castle.”

“Very well, Discord,” replied Celestia. “So, how will you help us prepare Equestria?”

“Actually, I’ve been thinking about that and I’ve decided to do this.” As he spoke a file appeared in his hand, a file that was clearly labeled Operation: Suicide.

“That is not for you.” Celestia stated firmly.

“Oh, come now Celly. Think about it, what better way to show I’ve reformed? Then helping others reform?” Discord asked. “Besides, I’ve got a few candidates in mind. I’ll head up this department my way and have them help protect Equestria. They’ll be able to do the jobs that are too dirty for your precious student and her friends. We both know, that if Equestria is to keep its peace sometimes not so peaceful actions must be done.”

Time seemed to stop as Celestia stared at Discord. After several moments she finally spoke, “Fine, Discord. You got your shot.”

Discord stood up wearing a black hoofball jersey with a purple infinity symbol on it and said, “Thanks coach, I won’t let you and the team down.” Then with a snap of his fingers he disappeared in a flash of light.

The two alicorn sisters stayed silent for a moment before Luna spoke asking, “Are you really sure this is a good idea?”

“Honestly? No, I’m not that sure,” replied Celestia. “However we need help and we cannot be to overly picky about or allies at the moment.”

“You’re right, sister.” Luna said in slight reluctance. “It would have been nice though if Discord had told us where he’s going.”

At that moment a scroll appeared before the two of them. Celestia could already tell this wasn’t one of the scrolls Spike would usually send, as the scroll wasn’t wrapped and was written in a clearly different penmanship.

‘Not that it is any of your business, but I’ll be in Ponyville with my wife and daughter. And just to show that I’m such a good Draconequus and totally committed to helping, I’ll only use my powers when doing Suicide work. (After I help my wife, of course.) At all other times, I’ll look like a normal pony. In fact, that’s what you may call me, Professor Poni.’ The scroll read.

“He has a wife?” The sisters asked at the same time after rereading the letter.

“What kind of name is Professor Poni?” Luna asked as she looked at the odd name.

“A name that I really don’t feel like debating over,” replied Celestia as she leaned back and began to massage her temples. ‘Well, things have certainly gotten interesting,’ Celestia thought to herself. ‘I can only hope that Equestria isn’t destroyed in the process of trying to protect it.’

An unknown cavern

Pain. Dear sweet creator above, the pain. She had always heard that it would be painful but this was something else. If she ever saw him again, she would make him pay. Right then, the biggest wave of pain hit her. With a savage yell, she tightened her grip on the stalagmites with enough force that the rock formations were beginning to crack. Then, the pain was over and she collapsed onto her back with her swamp green hair cascading around her.

She breathed heavily for a couple of moments before sitting up. Lying in the dirt, between her legs, was the cause of her pain; an egg, her egg. Unlike regular eggs of her race, which were green, this one was vastly different; it was snow white with flakes of blue sprinkled about the egg. 'Well, it's obvious you've got your father in you,' she thought to herself. 'Let's hope you also got plenty of me.'

She then picked up the egg and held it close as she stood and walked out of the cavern. With the way things were now, it would be stupid up her to leave the egg in anyone's care, but her own and maybe the egg's aunt. 'But, I'm not on speaking terms with that bitch. Besides, I doubt she would even listen. Don't worry little one. Momma won't let anything happen to you.'
> Training
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

One year until the Elements return to the Tree of Harmony

The land was dark, barren, and grey; not at all like the fruitful lands of Equestria. In fact, if one were to look up at the sky that moment they would see the stars of the heavens and have a full view of all of Equestria, as one would have to be on the moon to see the entire country. Upon the surface of the moon, somepony would see an ancient temple that help been built long before the pony tribes of old and after searching the temple long enough one would find the deepest chamber and in this chamber one would see a large stone with what could have been a tree and with small glowing stones on it. However, it would have been difficult to guess as the stone was covered in cracks; in truth it was a miracle the stone hadn’t just collapsed. If anypony had been looking at the ancient stone they would have found it to be very boring and uninteresting, and they would have been right for it was what was on the other side of the stone that was interesting or terrifying if you weren’t insane.

“The seal is nearly to its breaking point. Soon we will be free of this wretched prison.” A deep baritone voice sounded through the darkness.

“Yes, and then we can finally stop having to listen to your complaining,” replied a second voice with a slight buzz to it. “Honestly, do you ever stop bitching about our being sealed?”

“NO,” roared the first voice in reply. “Sealing us was a cowardly act. If they wanted peace, they should have killed us for it.”

“You know they weren’t strong enough to kill us,” commented a third voice. “Besides, by not killing us we have been gifted with this second chance, Tirek.”

“Until we are free, we haven’t been given anything,” growled the being known as Tirek. “There is still time for them to return the Elements. Let us hope they are still stupid enough to keep the Elements from the tree.”

Six months until the Elements return to the Tree of Harmony

She glared down her beak at the small boulder before her. She had punched it over and over again with only the smallest of cracks starting to form. It had been nearly two years since she left that small town and only a few months since she came out here to these remote mountains to hone her skills. Why couldn’t she just get Rainbow Dash out of her head? If Dash didn’t want to be friends anymore then that was fine, it was feathers off her wings. However, with the loss of Dash as a friend made her realize that she didn’t have any friends. There were very few in Equestria she’d talk to simply for the fact she didn’t interact with the ponies who lived within its borders. It would be a cold day in Tartarus before she considered anyone back home a friend. Most back home didn’t see her, but rather saw a quicker way to be noticed by her father.

“Still angry, Gilda?” a voice behind her asked snapping her from her thoughts.

Gilda turned around to see tall lanky brown coated unicorn stallion with a dark grey mane and van dyke style goatee with streaks of much lighter grey running through both. He had dark grey eyes and was wearing a dark cream colored suit with a light green bowtie. And finally, he was grinning like an idiot at her.

“You the heck are you suppose to be?” asked the griffon.

“Well, to many and at the same time to a few I’m know as Professor Poni. You, however, may call me Discord,” he replied.

“You?” asked Gilda arching a feathered white eyebrow. “You just as heck don’t look like how the stories describe Discord. I thought Discord was suppose to be over eleven feet tall with razor sharp fangs and made up of more animal body parts than a Chimera.”

“Oh? You mean like this?” As soon as the question was out of the pony’s mouth he began to change. His body and arms lengthened as his legs got shorter. From his back two small wings emerged and his eyes grew in height as they grew closer together with one eye eventually being taller than the other. “So, how about now? Do I look like Discord now?”

Not being able to find her voice, Gilda just nodded her head dumbly.

“Wonderful then,” Discord cried out in joy. With a snap of his claw he reverted back into his Professor Poni form and said, “Now that we’ve established who I am, let’s get down to the reason I’m here. It seems that Equestria needs help and you have the talents to help it.”

“Why should I help this country of dorks?” Gilda asked with a huff.

“A few reasons actually,” replied Professor Poni. “First reason, you’re still angry at Rainbow Dash; you want to prove that you’re better than her. Well, the Squad just might be the best place to do it. After all, the things we’ll be doing Rainbow Dash simply can’t do. Second reason, you have the skills. For years you have trained, but none would dare to challenge you push the limits of your skills for fear of your father’s wrath. Which brings me to my third and final reason, ever since you were hatched you’ve been known to all in the Griffon Kingdoms as ‘Gilda the daughter of Silver Wing’ and all you’ve ever wanted, the very reason you had a friendship with Rainbow in the first place, was for others to just see you as Gilda. Join with us and you can prove that you’re better, have your skills pushed to the limit, and have others see you and not your father.”

Gilda considered the disguised pony’s words. Everything he said was true and more than anything, even proving that she was better than Dash, she wanted to be out from under her father’s shadow. Gilda stood for a moment longer to mull over the pros and cons of joining. She then looked up and extended her right clawed hand and said, “Okay. I’ll join up.”

“Glad to hear it, Gilda,” replied Professor Poni as he shook her hand. With his free hand he snapped his fingers, making a piece of rolled up parchment appear in the air. He grabbed it out of the air and handed it to Gilda. “In one month’s time you are to present this at the gates of Canterlot Castle. From there, we’ll begin your orientation into the Squad. I’ll see you then.” He then let go of her hand and began to walk away.

“Why a month?” Gilda called out to his retreating form.

“Because I need to get the other members of the Squad,” he replied back over his shoulder as he pulled out a small piece of paper with a list of names on it. He then grabbed a pen from the air and crossed off Gilda’s name. ‘Let’s see, next we have Beatrice. Well, this is shaping up to be a lot of fun,’ he thought just before he disappeared in a flash of light.

Wonderbolt Academy

“What?” shouted a voice across the Academy. Many looked towards the direction of the voice’s source; Captain Spitfire’s office. Inside the office Spitfire stood behind her desk as she stared at the two before her. In front of her was her long time best friend and vice-captain to the Wonderbolts, Soarin and the Wonderbolt’s most daring flyer, Surprise. “What do the two of you mean that you’re both quitting when the season ends next month?”

“Well, I can’t speak for Surprise, Spits,” began Soarin. “But I meant just what I said, ‘Here’s my letter of resignation. I’m quitting when the flying season ends next month.’”

“Its ‘Spitfire’ or ‘Captain’, to you Soarin,” snapped Spitfire. She wasn’t happy; two of the team’s best fliers had just told her they were quitting, so it wasn’t the time for buddy-buddy and joking. “You’re reason, Surprise?” She asked the blonde maned mare next to Soarin.

“Ma’am, I’m quitting the Wonderbolts for the same reason as Soarin. We have been summoned to Canterlot by Princesses Celestia and Luna for an unspecified amount of time. We have been asked that, before arriving in Canterlot, to end any other obligations we have to anypony.” Surprised explained.

Spitfire sighed and slumped slightly. She certainly couldn’t go against a princess’s order much less two! And, if both Princesses had summoned them then it had to be something really big. “Alright, fine. As you’re both being summoned by the Princesses you won’t suffer any backlash from getting out of your contracts early. However, before the season is up, I expect you both to continue on as normal in both training and our shows. And, you Soarin will need to select your replacement for vice-captain.”

“Understood,” replied the two before her. As Soarin turned to leave, Surprise stayed were she was and said, “Ma’am, I hope this doesn’t mean you won’t come to the party.”

“Party?” Spitfire asked.

“Oh, yes Ma’am. I’ll be throwing a small good-bye party for when Soarin and I leave,” she replied. “I don’t throw parties like my little sister, but even I like to party a little, too.”

“I’ll be there,” replied the Captain.

“Thank you, Ma’am,” Surprise said with a smile before bouncing away.

Spitfire watched her bounce away and not for the first time wondered how she got around so fast by bouncing everywhere. ‘Ah well, its Surprise just being Surprise,’ Spitfire thought to herself before going back to her paperwork.

Camp Hood or rather twenty-five thousand feet above it

The plane rumbled along as it leveled out high above Equestria’s largest training camp. It was at Camp Hood that any pony could be trained in nearly all aspects of the Equestrian Military; from underwater maneuvers to hand-to-hand combat to wilderness survival, and to its newest addition parachuting. There were a few different types of parachuting, but the one this particular plane specialized in doing during training was known as HALO jumping. It would climb up to a high altitude and then the ponies on board who were jumping would jump out and after falling for a while would open their parachutes and safely land on the ground. It was this type of jump that a certain large, red, Earth Pony, stallion was preparing to do for the first time.

‘I’m crazy,’ Big Mac thought to himself as he looked out the window of the plane and saw how high it was. He had done a few jumps up to this point, but never this high. ‘First, I lie to AJ, Bloom, an’ Granny. Then, I keep my new job a secret from everypony who’s important to me except Luna and that’s cause she’s one of my two bosses. Everything finally comes to a head when I tell AJ that I’ve hired some farm hands and she wants them gone. So, to push my point I had to inform her that maybe we wouldn’t need farmhands if she wasn’t always away from the farm and with the farm’s upcoming expansion we’ll need the extra help. I’m not just crazy, I’m insane. If I survive this, I really need to think about having myself committed.’

“Are you ready, McIntosh?” a voice asked in front of him, bringing him out of his thoughts. Big Mac looked away from the window to the source of the voice. In front of him stood a short, blue, Earth Pony Stallion with a light blue mane and a scar across the top-left of his face to the bottom-right of his face. The Stallion was Night Star, who held the rank of Chief Master Sergeant, but most just called him Sergeant Star. “McIntosh, I asked you a question,” Sergeant Star barked.

“Sir, my apologies; I’m ready to jump at anytime, Sir,” replied Big Mac as he stood at attention.

“Then, let’s go over your training one last time before we jump.” Sergeant Star said as he began to lecture. “As always double check everything before jumping and for the love of Faust, make sure your oxygen tank and breather are properly secured in place. When you jump, your helmet’s timer will start and once you reach the optimal safe zone do deploy your parachute a loud ringing will erupt from your head set. When it rings, pull your cord; because if it stops ringing, that means you’ve passed the safe distance and even if you deployed the parachute you’d still be approaching the ground to fast and wind up with several shattered bones at best.”

With the lecture over Big Mac began going over everything. He checked his parachute, the straps, his tank, breather, and helmet. Once he had checked and double checked everything, Big Mac began to make his way over to the plane’s sliding side door. As he grasped the side and looked out at the opening air, he had one last thought, ‘Well... I’ve lived a full life.’ He then inhaled deeply and jumped.

A road in the middle of nowhere

Her hooves fell softly on the dirt path that served as the road in the middle the barren field. For miles in every direction there was nothing; no buildings, no tress, no boulders. Not even a cloud in the sky. There was only the green grass, the blue of the sky, and the light of Celestia’s blazing sun. “Doing the right thing is harder than it looks,” she said to herself with a sigh.

“Oh, come now. It doesn’t have to be so hard,” a voice above her replied.

Her head snapped up and when she saw what was above her she let out a scream as she fell down in shock. “Discord! What are you doing here? I thought you were imprisoned?” She cried out in disbelief.

Up above her, lounging around without a care in the world, was the Draconequus, Discord. “Oh, I was ‘imprisoned’, but now I’m out on good behavior and being a good lil’ spirit.”

“I highly doubt that,” she replied.

“Oh, but why must you doubt me,” Discord asked. “I’m living in a cozy little home in Ponyville, I take my daughter to school like any other good father, I always make time for my darling wife, Screw Loose, and I even got a job. In fact, my job is why I’m here.

“And what job, might that be,” she asked with a roll of her eyes.

“Why helping Equestira of course,” Discord replied. “I believe after your previous stint in Ponyville, you wanted to become a better pony and help others. Well, here’s your chance to make it happen.”

“I highly doubt you’re doing it to help Equestria,” she replied. “So, no deal.”

“You are right, I’m mostly doing this because I just feel like doing it,” agreed Discord. “So, look at it this way. This is your chance to be a better pony, help your fellow citizens, oh and avoid having Celestia shove her hoof up your ass. Surly you didn’t think that she wouldn’t find out what you did? I mean usurping the government of a town and then thinking you can just walk away without any form of punishment is pretty damn stupid. Especially, if it’s the little town where the Elements of Harmony happen to live. And you won’t be getting the usual form of punishment, oh no. At best, your magic would be sealed and then you would be banished.”

“What would I have to do,” she asked with a barely contained fear. ‘That was nearly a year ago! I thought if I was to be punished it would have happened sooner!’

“You wouldn’t have to do much. In fact, I think you’ll like it as you get to expand on your hobby, Beatrice.”

“DO NOT CALL ME THAT,” she yelled at the top of her lungs. “I AM THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!!”

At Trixie’s outburst, Discord’s face became expressionless. He came down from his position in the sky and stood before the unicorn mare. Then, without warning his tail lashed out and struck her hard in her head. “Trixie, do me favor and never refer to yourself as ‘great and powerful’ again. Of the list of ponies who are great and powerful you are at the bottom of it. In fact, you’re so far at the bottom that the list ran out of paper five hundred and forty-two names above yours.” Discord then leaned in close and asked, “If you were to die right now, who would honestly remember you?” Without bothering to wait for a reply he continued, “don’t bother answering, I can see it in your eyes. No one would be there, no one would remember you. However, accept my offer and I can make you remembered.”

“What would I have to do?” Trixie asked quietly.

“As I said, it would just expand on your hobby; shooting.” Discord said with a smile.

“Wh-what? I don’t shoot for a hobby,” said Trixie disbelief.

“Don’t try and kid me. Other than magic, you’re good at shooting in fact, you’re better at shooting. I know about those three guns you’ve got on you. An H-45 automatic, a double barrel .50 Longshot, and a Sonic Boom 66, which is otherwise known as a hand cannon. I believe that last one was made illegal five years after its release. I must say, this isn’t looking to good for your probation.”

“That one was a gift from my heirloom form my father,” cried out Trixie.

“Wellll,” began Discord over exaggeratingly as he rubbed his chin and looked up as though he was thinking deeply. “Maybe if you accept my offer and join the squad; I might be convinced of your willingness to help others and just forget I ever saw anything.”

“Yes! Trixie agrees, she shall join the squad,” she said in agreement.

“Really, Trixie? You’d do that for me?” Asked Discord. “Well then, here you go.” Discord then summoned a rolled up scroll and handed it to her. “Present this to the guards at Canterlot castle on the thirty-first.”

“Okay, Trixie most certainly will.”

“Oh and you’ve only got thirteen days until it’s the thirty-first and if you don’t show up then you shall receive the harshest punishment for high treason.”

“And what is that?” Trixie asked with a touch of fear.

With a quick snap of his paw, Discord popped out and in his place appeared a tall muscular pony wearing black pants that were being held up by black suspenders. His face was covered by a black hood and in his hands was a giant axe. “EXECUTION!!” He yelled in a loud voice as lightning flashed behind him.

Trixie screamed at the top of her lungs and took off, she hoped, in the direction of Canterlot.

As the hooded pony watched her run away, he began to laugh and reached up to take off his hood. With the hood off it was revealed to be Discord underneath. “Ah, that was just too funny,” Discord said to himself with a grin.

“But dad,” a voice next to him spoke. “It is a fourteen day journey from here to Canterlot and its fifteen days until the thirty-first.”

Discord turned his head to look upon a young lavender filly with a purple and white mane and purple eyes with pink swirls. On the young filly’s head sat a beanie with a propeller on top. While this may all seem normal to most, the young filly was floating in the air despite being an Earth Pony; so she had no wings like the pegasi or magic like the unicorns To many ponies this filly was Screw Ball, but to Discord she was the chaos of his eye as she was his daughter. “That’s very true, sweetie. However, while daddy promised not to cause any world changing chaos, he never promised not to light a fire under his squad’s asses. They need to be able to do things quickly and get them done right.” Discord explained to his daughter. “Wait a minute, why aren’t you in school?”

“I didn’t feel like going, so I didn’t go today,” explained Screw Ball. “Besides, I wanted to watch you work.”

“Young filly I don’t care what you feel like, unless you are sick, in this family we do our best to meet our required obligations and if we can; we go beyond them,” began Discord as he pulled out a pair of glasses from seemingly nowhere. “I myself went through my required years of schooling grades 1 - Ÿ so don’t you complain to me about having to go to school for 12 years. After my basic education I went on to college where I earned my many PhDs and Master’s. You don’t think all those papers on the walls of my study are for show do you? Although I do admit they make lovely wallpaper. After finishing my 500 years of college I went backpacking across the dimensions of the multiverse and while traveling I learned even more. I learned how to survive on my wits and the bounty of the land, interpretive dance, and it’s where I picked up my love of throat singing. I’ll sing you some.”

Before anything could be done to stop him, Discord opened his mouth and proceeded to make a noise that sounded like it came from a large animal or even whale. Over and over the deep vibrating sound was made. Screw Ball grabbed her ears and fell from the air. “Alright, alright,” she cried out in frustration. “You win. I won’t skip school.”

“That’s good to hear, sweetie,” replied Discord. “Now come on, you’re mom is making dinner.

As the two hovered away Screwball asked, "Dad, didn't you mean 'your' instead of 'you're'?"

"Screwy, if I meant to say 'your' I would have said your," Discord explained with a sigh. This is what he gets for thinking having a kid would be a good idea.

Canterlot Luna’s private spell chambers

Deep within the private parts of Canterlot castle resided Luna’s private spell chambers. It was within these chambers that she had been working hard for the past six months in preparing a new way to access the power of the Elements. It had taking quite a while of planning and a little trickery to get everything ready. She had searched many hours for the purest gold and then spent weeks having it refined over and over again to have all of the impurities burned out. While the metal was being purified she had procured a vial of blood from each of the Elemental bearers under the guise of a blood drive. Fluttershy had been the most difficult to acquire as the mare was scared of needles. With the blood acquired, Luna then proceeded to chip away tiny fragments of each Element. The gems that Elements had composed themselves as were different from other gems. When a small piece was chipped away the main part would instantly repair itself; while the small shard would still retain the magic of the original piece. Once Luna had enough shards of each Elements she then took a small piece of her and her sister’s magic to add to the mix. Now, that everything was ready the hardest part was to begin.

Luna separated the gold into six equal amounts and added the shards to each amount of gold. Then, in the corresponding gold and shard mix, she added the vial of blood. Luna then carefully drained the magic of her and her sister into each mixture. As the final part would be the most difficult, Luna uttered a small spell and split herself into three. Each of the three Lunas took two of the mixtures and brought them over to a large metal table. As one, the three poured out the mixtures onto the table, being careful not to have the mixtures touch each other. They then discarded the containers that had been holding the mixtures and lifted a large mallet in each hand.

As one, the three began to chant, saying, “Spiritus senex, spiritus antiqua. Ades et anima mea virtutem. Praesta risus bonitas benignitas, probitas, fides, ac in novam formam luctus. Sed ut vis fac ut ex praemissis patet.” Rhythmically they struck the mixtures as they chanted over and over. With each strike a wave of power and magic was released and what was once liquid gold was now becoming a solid piece of metal in the shape of a coin and harder than steel.

With a final strike, the power that erupted was enough to send all three Lunas backwards and to the floor. The three formed formed back into one Luna as she opened her eyes. Luna looked towards the table and saw sparks of red, yellow, blue, pink, black, and white. She slowly stood up and made her way over to the table. Resting on the table were six golden coins, each with an animal emblazoned onto them. Luna gently picked up one of the sparking coins, a fierce bear looking back it her. “Well, it’s going to be very interesting to see where these things take us,” She said as she gazed down at the remaining five coins.

Canterlot Camp Hood 3 days after Twilight Sparkle’s ascension to Alicornhood

Tartarus. Pure Tartarus is what the last two months of training had been to Big Mac. After his HALO, gun, and maneuvers training, came the final leg of training torture and unpredictability. One the first day, his trainers had snuck into the room he was sleeping in took his entire bed, with him still in it, tied a limb to each bed post and then had the pegasi drop him from the air and into Voorhees Lake. Waking up to find himself surrounded by water hadn’t been even close to a remotely good time. From that moment forth, there had been daily psychological and physical tortures. One day he had received a phone call and listened to a mare who specialized in voices sound like Applejack and act as though she was being raped. The next morning he had woken up to an imitation body of his youngest sister Apple Bloom with her throat slit and hanging over her bed. Add in the random beatings and electrical shocks and at the end of the week McIntosh Apple was at the end of his rope.

However, he wasn’t broken. While true that he had been pushed and pushed hard, he was still standing. Many ponies, including members of his large family, always thought that Big Mac didn’t say anything because he didn’t have anything on his mind. In truth, Big Mac always had something on his mind; usually more than one subject. The night at the Ponyville Spa with his special someponies was one of the few times were he didn’t have a single thought in his head. But after his first week with torture training, Big Mac did have a thought in his head, ‘payback’. Before passing on; his Pa had always told him not to let others push him around and to give them a chance to stop pushing. However if ever forced to pushback, then pushback so hard that these who pushed him would deeply regret pushing him in the first place.

Over the course of the next month Big Mac made life for everyone at Camp Hood a living nightmare. He poisoned the food supply, causing everyone to have loose bowels. Had every article of clothing for mare and stallion alike destroyed and then triggered the emergency alarm at three in the morning. Rewired the camp’s closed circuit television to play a legendary hardcore porno called ‘Sun-Butts #9’ at full blast during the camp’s anniversary ball. Destroyed four of the camp’s eight barracks; all of them the mares. Through a sheer amount of luck, Big Mac snuck into the Captain’s office and duct tapped a grenade to the Captain’s desk. He then carefully tied a string to the grenade’s pin and the other end to the Captain’s boot. When the Captain woke up, he didn’t know the string was there and left his office like normal. When the Captain was several yards away from his office; his office suddenly exploded. The crown jewel of Big Mac’s payback was the camp wide riot he had stealthily started. A few well placed rumors here and there about some of the stallion’s wives and some of the mare’s sexual preferences; add to the mix some very convincing doctored photos and suddenly the entire camp as it each other’s throats. The riot ended with a hundred hospitalized, a hundred and twenty-seven injured, six buildings destroyed, four officers demoted, three divorces, two stallions coming out, and finally one huge flank chewing out by Celestia herself to the General.

The most shocking thing of all was while everypony suspected Big Mac, there was no physical shred of evidence to support it. Some of the cadets thought about getting back at the red stallion. However, they quickly changed their minds when a few of them were dragged through the Everfree Forest. This, and all the other acts that he had done, caused many of the older and more experienced guards to approach Big Mac with great caution. It wasn’t that he had done what he did, but rather that in a camp of slightly over five hundred ponies no pony had seen him do it. Big Mac had been good at hiding before, but now he was downright frightening.

The last week had pasted quickly enough and now Big Mac was approaching the end of his training. All the remained was to start training with the supplies he would be using out in the field and in the outfit he would be using. This particular training was to start today, which is why he wasn’t at the camp, but rather at the princesses R&D division in Canterlot.

“Hello Director McIntosh, my name is Jewels,” spoke the slender mare in front of him. She had a dark purple coat and a long green mane. She wore a simple jeans and t-shirt combo under her white lab coat. “I have been the pony personally overseeing the construction of everything for your department and I must say, you’re going to be getting to play with some very interesting toys. Shall we get started?”

“Certainly, doctor,” replied Big Mac. The two walked over to where a black outfit was hanging.

“This is your full body uniform. It’s black to help you blend into the shadows and is made out of a special material weave to stop most weapons including bladed objects and phaser shots, except for the fourth setting. The suit also comes with temperature regulator to help you blend into your surroundings thermal wise. Located on the suit’s left arm in your Operational Satellite Uplink, otherwise known as your OPSAT; this device will allow Milano and Know to be in constant contact with you as well as Princess Celestia as everything will come from her. Also, it produces an untraceable homing beacon that will locate you within a three foot radius of where you actually are. Attached to your OPSAT you have an optic cable to see around corners and under doors. Throughout the suit you have various pockets to hold everything you will need. Located on the suit’s right shoulder, you have a special pocket that is holding a reel of steel wire; it also has a small titanium razor attached to help cut the wire. That’s pretty much it for the suit, so next will move on the multi-vision goggles.”

The two walked away from the suit and to a nearby table. On this table rested a pair of goggles with straps to be worn over a pony’s head. It was also completely black like the suit, except for the three lens of the goggles which were emitting a low green light. “These goggles may not seem like much, but they will allow you to see a whole lot of shit, most ponies won’t see,” explained Dr. Jewels. “These goggles are equipped with Night vision, Thermal vision, Electromagnetic Field (EMF) vision, Electronically Enhanced vision (EEV), and Sonar vision. With a simple press of the buttons on the left lens you can change the filter. Next, we’ll be discussing your weapons.”

Big Mac and Dr. Jewels then walked towards the final table. The table wasn’t overly big, but it was covered in variety of gadgets. The largest object on the table looked like a gun, but it was too short to be a hand gun and wasn’t long enough to be a rifle. In truth it looked kind of stumpy and futuristic; like something Big Mac would read about in his Sci-fi books. “This is your gun, the CS-25,” Dr. Jewels said as she picked up the large object. “As you can see it doesn’t look like any normal gun on the market. That’s because these guns were never released. They are called assault rifles; they shoot more and pack a bigger wallop than your standard hand gun, but they don’t shoot as far as your standard rifle. Unlike normal guns, when you fire this gun very small metal shavings are released with it. As the shavings are not infinite you will need to replace the cartridge after every 250th shot. This gun has semi-auto and full-auto capabilities. It can also fire more than just phasers. Such as Sticky Cameras, Ring Airfoil, Sticky Shocker, Gas Grenade, and a little thing we call the Cottonball.” With each new item, Dr. Jewels held the item up for Big Mac to see the item. “You’ve also got Camera Bots,” Dr. Jewels said as she held up what looked like a little round ball with triangular legs. “You control these with your OPSAT. They’ll give you a wider view of the area and if need be you can detonate them for a nice distraction. The final gadget is behind you.”

Arching an eyebrow at the doctor’s comment, Big Mac turned around and was shocked to see a camera at his eye level floating in midair. “This is your personal aerial drone. Like the Camera Bots you control it with your OPSAT and can be detonated. Unlike the Camera Bots, the drone has night vision, Thermal vision, and EEV. It can also fire a limited amounts of phaser shots, so be sure to make them count. The final items will be your implants, which we will be putting in your tomorrow. I figured you’d want to see them, though.”

Dr. Jewels then held up a small vial and inside the vial was a small chip. It was so small that one could mistake it for a grey pill. “This will go behind the inside of your ear. It will allow us to hear everything you hear and communicate with you while you’re in the field. Now, as I’m sure you don’t want everything you hear to be known by others all the time; we will also be implanting the chips on/off switch into your collar bone as well.” Dr. Jewels held up a second vial with a slightly larger chip in it. This one had a very noticeable button on it.

“Do you have any questions to ask before tomorrow?” Dr. Jewels asked Big Mac.

“Only, what time will we be starting the surgery,” replied McIntosh.

“We will start the surgery at eight in the morning, so you will need to be here at seven,” replied the doctor. “Well, if that’s everything. You are free to go Mr. McIntosh.”

“Thanks, doctor,” Big Mac replied with a nod as he turned and left the office.

P.I.B. HQ

Ponies In Black Headquarters; the gateway to entering the world for humans. It was the duty of the agents appointed by this department to make sure that the citizens of Equestria and at large the world where not harmed initially or unknowingly by humans and to keep the truth about humans as secret as possible. At any given time there was up to two thousand humans in Equestria and another thousand outside of Equestria’s borders. As such, the agents were kept busy by all manner of obligations. One such agent was currently sitting at her desk going over an extensive report. She was lime green unicorn with golden eyes and a lime green mane with a white streak running through it.

“Hey L. What’s going on,” asked a voice.

L looked up and saw her partner W approach her and their desks. W was a brown furred earth pony with a matching brown mane and grey eyes. “Not much W, but look at this,” replied L and she swiveled her monitor around so W could see. W leaned down and looked at what his partner had to show him. It was a line graph; at the start of the graph everything looked normal. The line would occasionally dip or rise, but it usually stayed fairly low. However, three fourths of the way down and the line suddenly spiked to the top. From there, it went all over the place and three more times it hit the top. “Now, take a look at this graph,” L said as she brought up another graph. Unlike the first graph, this one had several spikes in it. However, like the first graph, three fourths of the way down suddenly it spiked to the top and did so three more times.

“L what exactly am I looking at?” W asked with an arched eyebrow.

“The first graph shows the threats; each spike is Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis, and finally King Sombra. The next graph show the fluctuation of magic. As you can see, at each major threat the magic spikes as well. This graph covers the past sixteen years.” L explained before bringing up a third graph. “Now, look at this third graph. This graph shows humans who have illegally sold blueprints of their technology. When we became agents five years ago the number doubled from five years before that. In the past five years that number has tripled. All three of these graphs end at a month ago. Now, here are the three graphs from last month to now.” L then brought up the final image and W’s eyes widened at what he saw.

“Aww… shit!” He exclaimed with shock. While the threat was currently low, the magic was spiked so high additional levels had to be added to the graph. And, the human incident graph had just caused the numbers to be quadrupled in illegal blueprints sold.

“Yep,” L said in agreement with her partner. “I don’t know what’s about to happen, but when it does it’s going to be one hell of a shit storm and we are going to be fucked.”

“Let’s hope we’re prepared,” replied W.

“Don’t worry partner, we aren’t going to just rollover.” L said with a smirk. “Now, let’s go. We’ve got work to do.” L then turned off her computer and the two walked out to begin a day of keeping Equestria safe without Equestria knowing about it.

Canterlot Lower Side

Despite what many ponies of Equestria, outside of Canterlot, would think, Canterlot did have a poor district. As it was such a large city, how could it not? The rich and nobility of the city needed somepony to serve under them. It was here, in the shadows of the light, that one’s dark desires could be fed; whatever they might be. You just had to be careful who knew of your desires.

With a quickening breath and a racing heart, he tightened the strap on his arm to bring out his arm’s vein. Once the vein was located, he grabbed the syringe filled with a light purple liquid and took the cap off the needle. Without even flinching he pushed the needle into his arm with practiced ease and drained the contents of the syringe into his body. With the syringe empty, he pulled the needle out and tossed it into the nearby wastebasket. He then leaned back and waited for the syringe’s contents to start affecting his body. In the blink of an eye, the changes started. His muscles bulged, his bones lengthened, the shirt he was wearing quickly became too small for his body and was ripped away by his growing body mass.

Once the change was complete he stood up and as all the times before marveled at the changes in his body. Before he would stand at a simple six feet four inches and was nicely built for a stallion of his size. But now, with the drug pumping through his veins, he towered at a height of eight feet two inches and his body was ripped with muscles. He was like a living mountain tall and imposing, but able to crush all in his path and crush them he would. Now, his body wielded power worthy of his status; unlike those sisters who sat on their flanks all day.

“My, my isn’t this interesting,” commented a voice from the doorway into the apartment’s bedroom.

His head immediately snapped toward the voice and saw a brown coated unicorn stallion with a dark grey mane and van dyke style goatee. “Who are you?” He asked.

“Oh, I’m just somepony enjoying watching your fall from grace,” then unicorn replied. “If of course, you could have ever called it, that.”

“I’LL CRUSH YOU!!” He yelled in rage as he charged the unknown stallion. Just as he was bearing down on the stallion, the unicorn shot his hands forth and slammed them onto his ears. Though he was disoriented, he was not so much that he missed what happened next. The unicorn began to change, his body shifted and meld until no longer a unicorn was in front of him, but the bringer of chaos, Discord. “Oh, shit,” he eloquently stated.

“You got that right!” Discord said with a grin. The Draconequus then wrapped his tail around his muscled legs and with strength, that many would think Discord didn’t have, lifted him into the air before violently slamming him into the ground over and over again. With a final thrash he was slammed into the floor and before his body could even register that he had been slammed, Discord stood above him. The Lord of Chaos pressed his goat leg down on his throat and kept it there with enough force to just allow a small amount of air, but still snap his neck with a simple twist of his leg.

“Here’s how this is going to work,” Discord began as he took out his nail file and began to file his eagle talon. “I’ve recently been put in charge of putting together a team. A team of less liked ponies in Equestria to help protect Equestria. And for a while I was wondering what to do about you. After all, if anyone is unliked by the populous as a whole it’s you. Most would take a dinner with a griffon torturer than you; because at least with the griffon there would be some actual conversation. So, I said to myself, ‘Dizzy, he needs to be on your team.’ I’ll see you at ten sharp on Saturday.”

“And if I refuse?” the stallion grunted out in gasps.

“I’m sure Celestia and Luna would be very interested to know what you’ve been doing,” Discord replied with a grin.

“Fine, I’ll be there,” he replied with anger.

Discord removed his hoof from the stallion’s throat and smiled as he walked towards the apartment’s door. “I knew you’d see it my way.” He spared one last look back at the stallion and said, “It’s going to be a lot of fun having you around Prince Blueblood.”